Bon_Mot

The Left Back question might get a little more intriguing. From: [Hidden Content] New Mexico native Edgar Castillo, who seemed unlikely to ever play for the country of his birth after representing Mexico’s Under-23 team in Olympic qualifying, said recently he’d be willing to take advantage of a new FIFA rule allowing players cap-tied at the youth National Team level to switch National Teams. “I would play for the United States,†Castillo said during a recent phone interview from Mexico, where he is preparing for the upcoming Mexican League season with Tigres. “I’d want to talk to them first, but I want to play for the US. I think it would be a very good opportunity for me, for my career. If they call me I would play for them. “ Castillo, a 22-year old left-footed player who plays both wide midfield and defense, grew up in Las Cruces, N.M. and was his state’s high school player of the year as a sophomore. But he never got much attention from the US youth National Team setup whom, he said, deemed the 5-foot-8 Castillo too small.

You're gonna need TeleFutura or Galavision to get a look at Torres because he went back to Pachuca and didn't make the final roster.

I apologize to you, Terrier, if I'm coming off like a jerk here because that's not my intention. I've played soccer since 1976 so I've endured quite a bit of "soccer is a commie sport", "soccer is for &#$s", "the US will never accept soccer", and "what if people like Player X played soccer?" And I realize that we will most likely never agree here, but... I really don't know how I've reinforced your ideas. On the idea of US athletes playing soccer? Seriously. I really don't think Lebron would be good at soccer. Or Larry Fitzgerald. They're too bulky. But am I ready to admit that soccer in the US would be better if it was as popular as football, basketball, or baseball? Sure. Probably so. Higher numbers in population give you more to choose from. That's why the UIL has classes. So there ya go. Just don't say that if half of the guys the NFL had chosen soccer instead of football we'd be on par with Brazil and Italy. First of all, you're saying that for some reason the rest of the world CANNOT produce athletes as good as the United States can. That's kind of arrogant. An incredibly large number of American kids play sports because they can. A large percentage don't have to work, aren't fighting in a war, or aren't expected to study when they get home like so many other cultures. That has nothing to do with what sport they play. Next. The US soccer system is jacked up. Everywhere else in the world, soccer is a ghetto/lower class sport. I can almost guarantee you that you could go around to the barrios of America and with a little training and put together two or three teams that would beat our USMNT on a regular basis. But here, your ability to move up in the soccer ranks is directly influenced by where you live, who your parents are, and how much money your family has. And the US has a guy who runs a 4.40! His name is Marvell Wynne...and he sucks. He has very little skill on the ball but keeps getting looks because he is an ATHLETE. I joke that he is one of the only players on the US team who can be beaten twice by a single person because he is so quick. Check this blog from Jen Chang: [Hidden Content] This is how most real US soccer fans feel about the Confederation Cup.

Against my better judgement I'm gonna jump in this debate... No one - and I mean no one - who is considered a top class soccer player looks like Lebron James, Larry Fitzgerald, et al. And to compare the Brazillian Selecao to any other national team, much less the US, isn't fair. They have skill, speed, and creativity. Brazil: Yes. That's all they do there. Futbol & Carnivale. But I think you hugely understimate the worldwide popularity of sports like Rugby and Cricket along with the rising popularity of basketball and baseball. Check out any NBA roster or any MLB line up. Are those guys not some of "the best athletes" from those countries? Imagine how good the German soccer team would be with Dirk up front heading in crosses. Or how good could Argentina be with Ginobli in the midfield. Who's we first of all? Those were not tears of complacency from Clint Dempsey. Are we a bunch of losers because we didn't beat Brazil? NO. I think most USMNT fans are happy with the result of the tournament but not the final game. Check out the US News & Analysis forum on BigSoccer. The mods on there are even threatening to ban people who hi-jack threads with "Fire Bradley Now" posts. : The Miracle on Ice... Villanova over Georgetown... Buster Douglas... Shall I go on? There is a reason why games are not played on paper. I think a major factor in the loss was fatigue. Brazil used every field player on their 23 man roster over the course of the previous four games. On the other hand, in addition to playing almost 90 minutes with 10 men, the US only used 16. Brazil is notorious for sending their B-Team to tournaments...and winning. The Brazillian bench is better than the US. (I can't believe I just typed that. ) And don't forget that Ronaldino didn't even go. Our legs were spent and it showed. Edu is a Cali guy and Gooch is from Virginia.

Are you basing this on his play or do you think that Spector is that much better? And I'm guessing you think HeyDude and Marvell Winn are better than Dolo?

Updated with a few changes: [Hidden Content] A couple of head scratchers in the midfield: Logan Pause and Sam Cronin? Oh well. Maybe that means more minutes for Stewie or Davy. I never thought I'd say it, either, but I think the forwards are our strongest posistion! Adu, Ching, Cooper, Davies, and Santino Quaranta. Those guys are all studs. I'm a little surprised that Freddy didn't want to go back to Monaco or Benfica and try to re-establish himself. I'm assuming that's why Torres isn't on the roster, so he could go back to Pachuca.

I was thinking the same thing! But looking back on it, I'm going to have to tip my cap to Big Bradley. I'm guessing the thought was: Spain will hurt us up the middle with short passes and 1-2's. They're not known as team that finishes a lot of crosses. Besides, the US backline goes 6', 6'4'', 6', 6'. They'll win the aerial battles against Spain. Tuck Donovan and Dempsey inside to reduce those passing lanes as much as possible. And it worked! Well played, RoboBob. Well played indeed! FIRE BOB BRADLEY?

The red card was bogus, first of all. Almost a reputation call like Ron Artest get Techs. Isn't ironic that the Center was the same guy who did our game against Italy in '06 and sent Pablo off for something similar. As far as the 'told you so' attitude? He can talk now, but eventually you gotta ask, "Where was this fire in Costa Rica?" That was a legitimate game. A qualifier! This tournament is dress rehearsal. And don't forget that we were one B.S. handball PK away from not advancing since Goals For pushed us ahead of Italy. And RoboBob had a good game plan for the most part. I almost cried a tear of joy when I saw that Boca was going to start at Left Back.

We're not the only ones sending our B Team ( [Hidden Content] ). It would be really hard for US Soccer to ask some of the guys on the Confederations Cup roster to miss another month from their club to play in the Gold Cup. Especially MLS guys who are in the middle of their season. A lot of the northern European leagues are about to start up, too, so guys like Benny and Charlie Davies need a little break. Also, a guy like Jozy needs to get into his club's preseason camp from Day 1 so he can battle for some first team minutes. Honduras will give us a good game, but Grenada and Haiti...

Have yall seen this quote from Michael Bradley! "All the f------ experts in America, everybody who thinks they know about soccer, they can all look at the score tonight and let's see what they have to say now. Nobody has any respect for what we do, for what goes on on the inside, so let them all talk now." At first I thought, "I really like his fire." But then, I started to get really annoyed. First of all, Mikey, get off of the message boards. Because you're absolutey correct. The blogoshpere is loaded with idoits who post negative garbage just get a reaction or to get hits on their site. Ignore it. You're always going to have critics. There are three things every man thinks he can do better than every other man: 1. Coach. 2. Grill. 3...This is a PG site so I won't go there. If I let the small percentage of moronic parents who blast me in the community get to me, I'd be a miserable man. Next, I know you're trying to take up for your Daddy on Father's Day and all, but what the hey-yall is RoboBob doing?! (See. I'm being That Guy referenced in the earlier paragraph.) Please justify any of the following: 1. Beasley. From now on, the only time I want to see DMB discussed with the US team is if the Dave Mathews Band is doing some kind of concert in conjunction with a game. The guy is out of form because he can't get minutes with his club. He has the touch of a new born girraffe. No confidence. He would find it very difficult to get time for the Houston friggin Dynamo, yet Bob thinks he should start against Brazil and get 20 minutes against Italy! 2. Connor Casey is a rocked up hustle-monkey. That's it. He's not a "hold-up" forward as evidenced by him dribbling the ball out of bounds Sunday! Hustle is good for the MLS, but we're not playing San Jose, Bob. We're not facing defenses with kids who just graduated from Chico St., Bob. 3. Why no Adu or Torres? Don't give me this rubbish [Hidden Content] by saying that Adu needs to get minutes. If that was truly the reason why he's not playing, then justify Beasley, Feilhaber, Guzan, and Jozy. And what did Torres do to make you mad? Is he related to Kenny Cooper or something? Ask anyone who knows a little about soccer what the US lacks, and they'll tell you CREATIVITY. Ask anyone to give you three adjectives to describe Torres (or Adu for that matter) and CREATIVE will be one of them. 4. Bob. You get 3 substitutions per game. You don't get to carry any unused subs to the next game like Rollover Minutes with AT&T. So when the other other team is POUNDING your goal, you've got tired legs on the field, and you want to chew up some clock while deflating the momentum of the other team... for the love of Cobi Jones! Use your last sub! Against Egypt you obviously went into Bunker Mode after the 3rd goal with the midfield since none of them ventured very much upfield in the waning minutes of the game. Get Dempsey's loafing tail on the sideline. We all know what he's going to do at the end of each game. He's going to do some stupid move like he's auditioning for So You Think Tou Can Dance. Lose the ball. Fall down with a look of disbelief. And shuffle back into the run of play...eventually. He's tired! We know it. The announcers know it. 5. Back to you, Lil Bradley. Don't give me this, "Look at me now!" bull puckey. (That's right. I went there.) You need to do a little reasearch on the term "sample size." I can't go high triple digits through 18 holes and then say, "But did you see that par on 16! I AM a good golfer!!!" Or did you forget Costa Rica. Needing a PK and yet another goal from a corner to beat Honduras at home. Giving up 3 unaswered goals to Italy. The debacle against Brazil. And that's just the last TWO AND A HALF WEEKS!!! 6. I ain't done with you Michael. Beat someone you shouldn't, and then thump your chest all you want! Egypt is currently ranked 40th while we're in the teens. Also, Egypt's top two strikers were hurt. Their next two got injured during the game. ANNNND Some of their players were a little "distracted" over the weekend [Hidden Content] and may currently be bachelors again as a result. The next two games are going to be very difficult ones - Spain and then either Brazil or South Africa in the Champioship or 3rd Place game. Give 'em hell. We'll support you - win or lose. Just don't be surprised if we make loud noises if you put in sub-par EFFORTS or crazy coaching decisions. If you can't take it, then quit getting paid to play soccer, find a cubicle, push a pencil from 9 to 5, and shut up.

LandyCakes may be the media darling, but he is the A-Rod of US soccer. Check out these guy's measureables. Not only are they built like athletes, they all play in Europe with the rest of the best of the world: Altidore, Jozy F 6-1 175 Bocanegra, Carlos D 6-0 170 Bradley, Michael M 6-2 175 Dempsey, Clint F 6-1 170 Edu, Maurice M 6-0 170 Howard, Tim GK 6-3 210 Onyewu, Oguchi D 6-4 210 Spector, Jonathan D 6-0 180 Guzan, Brad GK 6-4 210 Hahnemann, Marcus GK 6-3 220 When you say "Americas best athletes play football, basketball, and baseball." I'll give you football and basketball, but professional success in those sports is almost neccessitated by a certain body type. Lionel Messi (currently the best soccer player in the world) would never be successful at either, but does that mean he's not an athlete? Does "athlete" only mean freakishly big or fast? Are golfers athletes? What about hockey players? And America doesn't have a monopoly on baseball anymore, unless you mean North America...and Asia.

ManUtd are now in talks to sign Spanish forward David Villa from Villareal. Villareal are almost bankrupt, so they need to get some cash quickly. The usual suspects - Real Madrid, Barcelona, & Chelsea - are also trying to get him. I think Tevez is as good as gone. I've read that his agent wants him to go to Manchester City so he can stick it to ManU - and they've got tons of cash, but that would still give The Reds 3 world class strikers in Rooney, Berbatov, and Villa (who is a definite upgrade over Tevez IMO). I guess they really think Nani or Anderson will blossom on the wings because I think Rooney is much more comfortable up front. Just look what he's doing for England! And what about Macheda or Danny Welbeck? These guys would be starting at many top-flight clubs throughout Europe, but now they're still going to be fourth and fifth choice. With the defense strong and deep, the embarrassment of riches at forward, and the central midfield nucleus of Fletcher and Carrick, it seems that a winger would be the first order of business.

Link: [Hidden Content] Jermaine Jones from the FC Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga has decided to switch over the USMNT eventhough he's appeared in 3 friendlies for Germany. He's hasn't gotten any call-ups lately, so he realizes that his best chance at seeing international duty will be with another country. He's the son of a US soldier who was stationed in Germany. Apparently, Michael Bradley kind of recruited him and told him of the new (easier) FIFA rules on switching your international ties. He won't be available until later in the year, though.

Errr... [Hidden Content]

Good ridance, ya diva! Bring on Frank Ribery!!! I got sick of the drama long ago. When will Real Madrid realize that you can't buy Champions League titles with a bunch of over paid, flashy, offense-only players?

...and get then a date with Spain in the Semi-Final game.

The US in a group with (gulp) Italy, Brazil, and Egypt. [Hidden Content] I'll be happy to get a point out of this thing, realistically. Four points - with a draw against either the Eye-Ties or the Samba Boys - would be incredible. I just really, really hope that we shut Giusseppe Rossi down. He was born in Jersey! We NEED him!! Confederations Cup schedule Sunday South Africa vs. Iraq Johannesburg, South Africa 9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 New Zealand vs. Spain Rustenburg, South Africa 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 Monday Brazil vs. Egypt Mangaung/Bloemfontein, South Africa 9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 U.S. vs. Italy Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360 June 17 Spain vs. Iraq Mangaung/Bloemfontein, South Africa 9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 New Zealand vs. South Africa Rustenburg, South Africa 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 June 18 U.S. vs. Brazil Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa 9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 Egypt vs. Italy Johannesburg, South Africa 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360 June 20 Iraq vs. New Zealand Johannesburg, South Africa 9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 Spain vs. South Africa Mangaung/Bloemfontein, South Africa 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 June 21 Italy vs. Brazil Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360 U.S. vs. Egypt Rustenberg, South Africa 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 June 24 Semifinal A 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360 June 25 Semifinal B 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360 June 28 Third-place match 8:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360 Final 2:25 p.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360

Find the word "IF" in this post...

He's one of the best.

Let's see... Kingwood Park loses their best player (Juan Castillo) a few weeks before the season, has ZERO seniors on the team, and finishes second in probably the second toughest district (District 40 with Willis, Brenham, Waller, and Montgomery was pretty darn good.) on the way to the Regional Tournament. That's not good enough for you, huh? You're almost as bad as Friendswood Fan. There is nothing more pitiful than a coward who hides behind a screen name and attacks another man. Once again, if it's so easy: Get certified. Get a coaching job. Win state. Simple, right?

I'd like to join in on the lively discussion! I'm not going to do any hard research, but here goes. OK, Skippy, you say, can anyone around here hang with the Houston Area teams? Let's see, our area is comprised of two 4A districts (that include several 3A programs) versus the "Greater Houston Area" that is made up of SEVEN districts with prolly a hundred thousand kids to choose from... I don't like to gamble, but I would say the odds are not in our favor around here if you put it that way. And seeing as only three teams from this area have made it past the second round in the past few years...once again, the odds are against us. And so many things factor into play-off advancement: match-ups, coin-flips for sites, injuries, etc. Nederland BEAT the Kingwood Park team that made it to the Regional Tournament in a tune-up game, and then gave up 3 goals in 15 minutes to a third place team in the second round. And as recently as five years ago HISD was a JOKE! Now? Not so much. And I think you said something about Lumberton never plays anyone from Houston. Someone double-check me on this, but I think Lumberton went to the Cy Fair tourney the past two years. And I know that they went to the Brenham Showcase last year. Speaking of tournaments. I know that Kingwood Park is looking for a couple of teams for their tournament next season in week 2. Here are the teams committed so far: Kingwood Park Nederland Houston Reagan Houston Austin Friendswood Willis To answer the original question of who will win the Region, from the "Greater Houston Area," I think KWP has a really good shot at it seeing as they made it to the Regional Tourney without Seniors and without their best player (Juan) or maybe an HISD team finally. From our area, if Lumberton can find a scorer to replace Granato and a destroyer to replace Murrel (sp?) they'll be in the mix. And if Nederland can replace their MVP (Landry), keeper (Vidrine), and best defender (Washburn) then they should be pretty good, too.

I've already decided where NOT to go to eat seafood now...

Motivation - The reason for an action... Excerpt from: [Hidden Content] A financial catastrophe for the government school system means that our highly trained education professionals and all that they have wrought will be socially and politically delegitimized. This, in turn, will finally allow us to have a genuine discussion, not about "school reform", but about education reform. And perhaps, just perhaps, Christians and churches will begin to assume again the responsibility for education that they so foolishly abandoned generations ago. ACTION ITEM!! Help Paul The Bond Slayer The Continuing Collapse is never without solutions, and indeed there is something everyone of us can do accelerate the greatly desired collapse of the corrupt and decaying government school system. School bond levies are a major source of the cashflow that highly trained education professionals use to buy the support of their special interest friends. Killing those levies will accelerate the demise of the government school system. But how can we do this systematically without a large investment of time? Fortunately, all we need to do is let Paul Dorr (aka "Paul The Bond Slayer") know if we have a bond election coming up in our area. Paul The Bond Slayer has defeated about $1.2 billion in bonds so far and can increase that number substantially if he can get more information about where school bond elections are being held. So, all you need to do is let The Continuing Collapse or Paul The Bond Slayer know about the bond election in your area, and The Bond Slayer will take it from there.

I've tried to stay off the boards concerning high school stuff because I didn't want to come off as self-righteous or whiney, and because I can't fix stupid, but I'd like to weigh in on this Super Gold junk. Get ready for a lot of self-righteous whining: Mr. Clark called me and asked for my opinion. I told him that from what I saw there were few kids who absolutely should NOT be left off. #1 Scott Poole was the best player in this area, in my opinion. His combination of size, athleticism, skill, and determination hasn't been seen in this area in along time. #2 If Travis Greenway didn't make the team, it would be a joke. #3 Nathan Stockey was the best Keeper I saw this year. I told him that I would go to bat for Vidrine since he was my guy, and Shexnider shut us out and was an incredible athlete, but if I'm being objective, Nathan was the best I saw this year. As to our team's lack of 1st Team members, either Jordan Landry is one heckuva player, or something is wrong. We were Undefeated District Champions. Our record against local opponents was 13 wins 2 ties and ZERO LOSSES. In those 15 games we surrendered 3 TOTAL GOALS. TOTAL! Coach L, I know you're on here a bit. You guys were argueably the best team in the area. And I'm not blaming you at all, but just to get some perspective, how would you have felt if you had gotten only 1 player on the First Team while others you beat or finished ahead of in district received 2 or 3? I guess next year we're just going to have to do a little more to impress Mr. Clark...

Valid points points but... Remember that neither Donovan nor Dempsey enjoy playing forward unless it's a withdrawn one, and I don't think Jozy can handle being the target forward/distributer and doing the dirty work as well as someone like...oh I don't know... CHING! AND if you take one of them out of the midfield, who do you replace him with? We're not loaded with quality flank players. And to say that Ching reminds you of a much less talented McBride. Is that a shot or a compliment? I'll take a "much less talented version" of the greatest forward the US has EVER PRODUCED... What do you not like about Maestro's play at Destroyer? His crunching tackles or tenacious battle for every 50/50 ball? Frankie has had two solid games - including a goal and an assist in El Salvador. Once again, who do you want in his place? Dolo is hurt. Dude, I dislike The Bob and Sunil as much as the next guy on BigSoccer, but it's all about the best 11 not the 11 best. Bottom line, in my opinion, is we gotta do better on the road if we don't want to go 3 and out in South Africa next Summer.