English teams watching Brek Shea

So this rumour has made it from Twitter to the larger web.

English eyes on US starlet | Sky Sports | Football | Transfer Centre | Speculation:

Skysports.com understands a host of Premier League clubs are tracking American hot-shot Brek Shea.

The FC Dallas ace is regarded as one of the best young talents in America and is already an established member of Jurgen Klinsmann's USA side.

The likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have all been credited with an interest in the attacker who can play out wide or up front.

Liverpool and Manchester City are both believed to have watched Shea in action over the weekend as he created the only goal in the USA's 1-0 win over Honduras.

Shea is a really exciting player. He's a bit of a late bloomer and is just now finding his feet, so to speak. He was unplayable for the first half of the MLS season and looked an MVP candidate alongside Thierry Henry at the All-Star break. His performances have tailed off as the season has gone on, however.

For Neal's sake, I want him to go to Arsenal where he can play on the left of a front three. He would also give them some height up front, which would offer their attack a different dimension.

That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if he moved to Bolton or Fulham, teams that already have an American in place.

Holden Injured Again

American midfielder Stuart Holden to miss another six months with knee injury - Soccer Insider - The Washington Post:

It is rare that I get to link the blog of my favorite writer on US Soccer as there aren't many cross-over topics between his blog (mostly focused on the USMNT and MLS) and our Premier League and Premier League Fantasy blog.

Sadly, my opportunity comes on the occasion of Stuart Holden's relapse to the ranks of the long-term injured. Apparently he wasn't all the way healed and by coming back either unearthed or aggravated his condition. He required additional surgery yesterday and appears to be out until the start of next season.

Huge bummer for fans of Bolton, the USMNT, and fantasy managers everywhere hoping he'd get back to the form he flashed early last season.

Good luck for a speedy and full recovery to Mr. Holden.

Live Commentary - USA/France

Our live, minute-by-minute (almost) reactions to the first half of the USA/France Women's World Cup Semi-final.

Jeremy Spitzberg: let's go, USA!
Neal Thurman: happy to be back home in the office to be able to watch - wouldn't have been so lucky if I were still in Indy
Jeremy Spitzberg: ;-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: we don't get espn3 anymore :-(
Jeremy Spitzberg: but found an okay feed
Neal Thurman: firewall?
Jeremy Spitzberg: recording at home, just in case
Jeremy Spitzberg: provider?
Jeremy Spitzberg: dunno
Neal Thurman: got it
Jeremy Spitzberg: women keepers should just stay on their line
Jeremy Spitzberg: #justsaying

USA 3 - Columbia 0

While not quite the famous USA 1 - Columbia 0 from 1994, this was a good win by the USA women and showcased some spectacular goals. Special mention for Heather O'Reilly's screamer to open the match. Well worth a few minutes of your time.

USA/Belgium Friendly Scheduled

Neal, die-hard United States Men's National Team fan and recent admirer of the Belgian Red Devils is a happy man today. The Belgian Royal Football Association has on its website a friendly between the two countries scheduled for September 6, 2011.

Woohoo!! *Looking @ calendar* RT @jspitzberg: @nealjthurman wet dream! Official Belgian website US v Belgium on Sept. 6 http://bit.ly/jbsCxYless than a minute ago via yoono Favorite Retweet ReplyNeal Thurman
nealjthurman

It doesn't appear that the match is finalized yet as the US hasn't announced it, but this is certainly something to look forward to over that first, HIGHLY ANNOYING international break right after the Premier League season gets underway.

Scouting Ahead

You may be wondering what I've been up to since the Premier League season ended a couple of weeks back.  Jeremy has been keeping the blog pressing forward with updates from the player and managerial transfer market while my fingers have taken a much needed break from writing long form editorials 3 or 4 times per week.  That isn't to say that I haven't been paying any attention at all to things related to the Premier League or fantasy.  In fact, I've had the opportunity to watch some really good players (many of them live) since last I wrote and now that I'm back from my latest trip, I'll fill you all in on what I've seen and how it may apply to next season and beyond.

Best athletes just aren’t playing soccer in U.S.

Photograph by Matthias Calmer

This trope comes up every time soccer percolates into the American consciousness, that our best athletes just aren’t playing soccer. I saw it for the nth time this month today on Yahoo!.

Until 8-year-olds aspire to be Landon Donovan rather than LeBron James, the United States is as far away from matching the new world-standard Spain as it has been with any World Cup champion of the past 80 years.

I'm not saying I disagree.  In fact, I've been saying it for a decade now.  But what bothers me is that no one has taken the time to really mine this particular meme for all it is worth.  This is blog fodder of the purest form. Link bait extraordinaire!  So I'm, um...  taking the bait and am doing it myself.   Who would make the "USA best athlete" starting eleven, and why?

WC Travel Log, Take Two

Despite the fact that the US of A has gone crashing out of the tournament despite a game effort against Ghana, we still bring you some choice moments live from South Africa.  This post is courtesy of friend-of-the-blog, diplomat, troubadour, and all-around good guy Bob Gerber who is stopping over in South Africa on his way home from yet another posting in one of those war-torn parts of the world.  We're happy to be getting him back on home soil soon and in the meantime, we'll post his thoughts on his time in South Africa for those of you who, like us, weren't able to make it in person.

More on Landon Donovan's Goal

First Andres Cantor's radio call.



Let me take a moment to recommend Andres Cantor's excellent history of the World Cup, titled - oddly, if not surprisingly - Gooooal!.

And stirring reactions from across the United States.

Clint made a good run in the middle, the ball fell to me ... time kind of stopped," Donovan said. "You can't miss from there."

"We're not done yet," Donovan said. "We believe, man. We're alive, baby."

Considering Group C

The only goal-mouth action we got from England/Algeria.

In which we consider the situation in Group C after yesterday's matches and somehow end up talking about Arsenal. But then again, don't we always?

Talking Tactics

Should the USA switch to a 4-3-3 for it's final Group C match against Algeria?  Let's consider:

Robbie Findley's second yellow card in as many matches - this one for a hand ball offense when the ball clearly struck his face - rules him out of the Algeria match.  If he weren't banned, it still might be worth considering dropping him as he's been unable to make anything of his chance.  That leaves the USA with Jozy Altidore as their target man.  Bob Bradley could introduce Herculez Gomez into the starting eleven, but his speed probably isn't what is going to unsettle a fleet-footed Algeria side.

In fact, our best goal-scoring options - and indeed our best players - are our wide midfielders, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey.  Both players are as comfortable playing at striker as they are wide, so why not just bring them in from the flanks in support of Jozy?  That immediately gives the USA a direct, and in Altidore and Dempsey a tall and physical, front line.

Going for a front-three wouldn't just be a physical advantage, however.  It would also be a psychological advantage as it would signal the American's intent to win the match, which indeed they need to do if they want to ensure qualification into the next round.  Algeria were too comfortable with England's front two and this shift could unsettle what really isn't a strong defense.

Switching to a 4-3-3 would also be beneficial in helping Bob Bradley select the right midfield mix.  For my money that would be a central trio of Michael Bradley playing in front of both Maurice Edu and Ricardo Clarke.  The Ranger's man did his reputation a world of good with his performance off the bench today, and in truth Clarke didn't have a terrible game against England.  I'm not a huge fan of Clarke's but perhaps in tandem with Edu, sharing the responsibilities of holding the midfield together, he would do the job.

Those two holding midfielders would allow Bradley to roam forward more and support the front players with his range of passing.  This would be Bradley's moment to step up and run the show, and I think he's capable of doing so.

Playing two holding midfielders should... should... also help the shore up the USA defense and hopefully keep their sheets clean through the first 15 minutes of the match.  Algeria will likely try to exploit the USA's nerves in a must-win match when they've been unable to stop from going behind to early goals through qualification and into this tournament.  They will also look to exploit the space in front of the USA's backline from which we've had all sorts of problems.  I would expect Karim Ziani to live in that pocket between defense and midfield and if the USA doesn't pick him up he'll be able to put them under pressure from the off.  Between them, Edu and Clarke would deny Algeria this space.

Of course this formation will put pressure on the USA's fullbacks to offer an attacking impetus and give the team a wide outlet.  Before the tournament I would have been terrified of such a prospect, but after seeing this new and improved version of Steve Cherundulo play I think it could work.  I would even think we could play an unbalanced formation, a la Argentina.  Bocanegra would be the more "stay at home" defender on the left, and Donovan could play wider on that side to compensate for that.  On the right, Dempsey would tuck in closer to Altidore allowing Cherundulo to get forward.  Hopefully this overlapping would keep Nadir Belhadj from getting forward himself.  Belhadj is a much better attacker than a defender so it will be important for the USA to pin him back - something England failed to do today.

So that's my take.  What do you think?  I look forward to hearing from you in the comments.

Spot the foul

Spot the foul in the build up to what should have been Maurice Edu's winning goal and win a prize.



Offsides on Bradley? Really??

Dempsey Goal. Green Howler.

USA vs. England Running Diary

2:16 PM (Eastern Time) - I'm back from spending the morning watching the preliminary matches elsewhere - KOR/GRE at the gym and ARG/NGR outdoors with a surprisingly large crowd in Dupont Circle in downtown DC.  Watching the studio show on ESPN and it isn't bad - Alexi Lalas is just a natural in front of the camera despite his shameless homer pick of the US.  Ruud Gullit also apparently knows where his bread is buttered and picks a draw.  Macca seems to know that he has to go home to England and predicts a 3-1 win for the Three Lions.

2:20 - Starting line-up analysis: About what we all expected for the US.  Would have liked to see Torres over Clark but Bradley has been leaning this way throughout qualifying and the warm-up matches.  The England line-up is very odd, especially in midfield with three players - Milner, Lampard, and Gerrard - who are at their best attacking through the middle and two - Milner and Lennon who do or have played on the right.  They are the best 4 midfielders that England have but not sure they work well together.  I guess we'll see.

2:25 - Based on club performance, I'm not sure why Capello wouldn't have gone with Hart over Green.  Seems that national team managers get too risk-averse when it comes to playing younger players.  An entire season playing against the likes of ManYoo, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea is enough seasoning to face off against the US.

2:29 - Captains shake hands

2:30 - And we're off...

England vs. USA Part 4: This Time It's Personal...

The Spirit of '50

You may have read somewhere in your history books that the US has faced off against England a number of times throughout history.  In most of those encounters, the Yanks have been prohibitive underdogs.

The Revolutionary War (1776) - granted we had home field advantage in this one but if there were bookmakers in international conflicts at this point in history we would have looked a lot like North Korea going up against Brazil in the opening round of this World Cup.  No chance.  As it turns out, we did slightly better than expected.

The War of 1812 (well, 1812) - Washington, DC was burned to the ground and my soon-to-be hometown of Leesburg, VA (a bucolic town about 30 miles up the Potomac River) was briefly the center of government for the United States.  That said, home field advantage still held and we actually built a winning steak against the highly favored Brits.  Let's just say that we became their "bogey team" well before they started losing grip of their empire.

1950 World Cup - Could the magic hold when we didn't hold a decided home field advantage? Well, in 1950 we produced an incredible upset that, until we hosted the Cup in 1994 and started what I like to think of as the modern era of US involvement in the world's game, was without question the high water mark for US Soccer.  It may still be the single greatest accomplishment in the US game but since 1994, we've certainly had our share of moments that at least approach it (draw vs. Italy in 2006, beating Spain in Confederations Cup, etc.).

Since 1950, there have been friendlies between the two countries but there haven't been many moments that mattered.  The friendly matches have, as you might expect, been dominated by the more talented English squads.  So, where does all of this leave us? Well, I'm not a huge fan of sequels but let's see how this one is likely to play out...

Our Man in South Africa, Part 1 - USA vs. Australia Warm-up

Like all great news organizations, we here at the blog have a worldwide network of reporters and affiliates dedicated to bringing you the best from the world of soccer.  With fantasy and/or the Premier League usually being our major focus, that usually means that we have people stationed in front of televisions and computer screens in the US (birthplace of fantasy sports) and the UK (home of the Prem).  With the World Cup the major event of the day, we have spared no expense to bring you live coverage from the venues.  This coverage comes in the form of one Jamie Harper, a business school classmate of Neal's, member of the legendary Emory business school intramural-championship winning squad of 1997-98, soccer fanatic, and ex-pat living happily in South Africa.

Given that you can get a run-of-the-mill match report from the Associated Press or Reuters anywhere on the web, I have asked Jamie to give his impressions of the things you won't likely get from those match reports.  His impressions of the crowds, the flow of the match, the manager's decisions, and the overall experience.  So, with that typically lengthy introduction, here we go with our first installment of our live coverage from South Africa.  Take it away Jamie...

MLS Players on Gold Cup Rosters

Canada

• Kevin Harmse (Chivas USA - just traded from Toronto FC)
• Andrew Hainault (Houston)
• Dejan Jakovic (DC United)
• Will Johnson (Real Salt Lake)
• Ali Gerba (Toronto)

** Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux - opted to stay behind with Toronto FC.

Costa Rica

• Gonzalo Segares (Chicago Fire)

Greneda

• Shalrie Joseph (New England, injured)

Jamaica

• Donovan Ricketts (LA Galaxy)
• Tyrone Marshall (Seattle)
• Andy Williams (Real Salt Lake, out as his wife is ill)
• Omar Cummings (Colorado)
• Dane Richards (NY Red Bull)
• Shavar Thomas (Chivas USA, pending CONCACAF approval to replace Williams and King)

United States

See this earlier post on the USA's Gold Cup roster.

• Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City)
• Jay Heaps (New England)
• Chad Marshall (Columbus)
• Davy Arnaud (Kansas City)
• Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake)
• Colin Clark (Colorado)
• Sam Cronin (Toronto)
• Brad Evans (Seattle)
• Stuart Holden (Houston)
• Logan Pause (Chicago)
• Robbie Rogers (Columbus)
• Brian Ching (Houston)
• Kenny Cooper (Dallas)
• Santino Quaranta (DC United)

USA 2 - Spain 0

A live... well, contemporaneous, blogging of USA-Spain Confederations Cup semi-final.

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lineups - Riera? where's Silva or Iniesta? Cesc with the start. Neal will be happy.

US has Bocanegra back, and playing on the left. A more solid defender than bornstein. but good on the US for going 4-4-2 and not packing the midfield or backline

early chance for riera to cross, villa there but onwyewu clears. uh oh.

(BTW, I know how it ends but not how it happens. Dad with a big mouth.)

push on villa, but Howard with a punch right back up the middle. uh oh.

altidore earns a corner. lando to take... good one but no one there

nice pass out of the bck by gooch but casillas clears. donovan throwing himself around and earns a yc. uh oh.

and ESPN just runs the final score across the scroll. GOD DAMN THEM how stupid is that?

US seems to have identified their forward speed against Spain's backline as an advantage. we'll see if it pays off.

great bike from Davies! but jozy should have shot first time.

another good cross that davies gets a head to. NICE work. US working hard and.... Dempsey close from the top of the key! Great spell of pressure from the US. Spain not holding the ball in teh face of US pressure.

9 minutes in and this is like ManU/Barca. Almost feel like Spain will score now and turn the match. Cesc tries from distance, but that's not the magic moment. Clark needs to close down quicker.

Torres! Oh... Spain so dangerous but the didn't really have an angle - on replay. Still nice cross. Again Villa. How much do Valencia want for him? Might be worth it.

Spain passing better and getting the ball into the box. NOthing yet but they're sticking to plan A so far.

Lot of space b/w spain's midfield and defence. alonso the holding player and he's a playmaker not a water carrier. could be the space for the US to work.

torres in ACRES of space. great save by howard though torres was called - incorrectly - offsides. someone missed an assignment there!

riera a black hole for spain. was he really their best option for that spot?

shoot jozy! Shoot!

nice tackle by clarke at the top of the box. and he hasn't been sent off yet.

lando shoots from distance... again lots of space in front of the spanish defence.

pinball in the box from spain. anything can happen, but they aren't as sharp as expected for whatever reason.

28 mins - jozy turns his defender he's free! he must... iker gets a hand on it but it's a goal!!!!!!! USA 1 - Spain 0.

defender went for the ball off a deflection - capdevilla i think - but has to go the wrong way around jozy and gives him a straight run at goal. Lucky bounce but terrible defensive decision.

spector crosses wildly. oy!

ramos with a rainbow cross that lands right on villa's boot. no pot of gold though as the US clears.

villa again after riera's shot comes off torres but he balloons his shot! phew. layoff for the US.

i'm at my dad's place and have officially fallen in love with HD. just saying.

Spain getting away with seemingly clear free kicks. but dempsey called for the same thing. double standard?

US defending well. Hope I don't jinx something that happened 10 hours ago.

Altidore mugged by Capdevilla. Booked, but has Jozy's credit cards now.

Resulting free kick and Demps has a free header and manages to head it away from Bocanegra and the goal. D'oh!!!!

SO pretty when spain moves the ball around but with the final pass Cesc bangs the ball off Torres' heel. Not a good night so far for Spain's Scouse contingent.

Alonso chops down Jozy. 0-3 for Liverpool so far.

Sloppy free kick from Spain. Don't see that often. But they get the ball back and ram it right down the US and almost score. That's why they're so good. Ramos has the ball bounce off both his feet as he was escorted down by DeMerit, but no call. Couldn't have argued a PK there. Demerit has an armlock on him.

Can the US keep the lead through to halftime?

US doing a good job denying Xavi and Cesc the ball.

Torres shoots! Near post save from Howard. Leaning out, but kick save and a beaut! Great burst of speed and a nice cut back move from Torres.

HALFTIME

No halftime show from ESPN in this replay. Why not after ALREADY ANNOUNCING THE FINAL SCORE!?!??!?

Lando abuses Capdevilla again. Corner. Up and over from Dempsey. Karate kicked for his troubles too.

Howard clears Torres' cross. Then saves from Villa! Nice strike w/ the outside of his left boot. Guzan would have flapped at that first cross, I guarantee it!

Onyewu dribbles into trouble on the flank... but Demerit and Howard clear up against Villa through the middle. Uh oh.

Torres doesn't get the 2 in a 1-2, but the US under the cosh now as the ball isn't leaving their half. Another shot from distance and another Spain corner... nothing, but again the ball doesn't leave the US half and another corner. A bouncing shot from Villa a that Howard holds. But here comes Spain again. Demps whacked by Alonso again and the US gets a breather.

Davies onside from Lando... but over hits the cross

Xavi goes down in the box... no call. What the hell happened there? Great pass from Cesc and Lando leveled Xavi who was in on Howard.

Clarke carries the ball all the way to Spain's box to show how lousy his passing can be. Thanks.

Villa shoots again. Howard saves. How much for Villa again?

Jozy earns a corner with some nice footwork... Lando to take... nothing.

Alonso a step slow in anticipating Xavi's pass and the US break. Throw... Pique intercepts and brings it up... back to Howard now... Xavi spreads it to Ramos for ANOTHER corner.

Villa shoots wide from distance. US can't hold the ball at the moment.

Hour mark... time for changes?

Pique breaks again... Kolo Toure-like. He LOVES carrying the ball upfield. He'll get burned one day.

Riera hesitates and Demerit blocks his shot. Villa on it and it's 1-1.

Big shot... howard deflects the ball JUST wide of danger. Then another save with his fists.

Davies can't beat Puyol when he had options in the box.

Demerit and Spector JUST deny Torres. Again the US can't hold on ... Ramos' shot blocked! Nice work by Clarke who hasn't been sent off yet.

THo wasting time after a BRUTAL five minute spell. Where's Cobi Jones? No one carried the ball into the corner like he did in his prime. Or long past it for that matter.

68 mins - Cazorla for Cesc for width. Feilhaber for Davies for composure.

Torres can't bring down a long cross. Not his night.

Clarke saves a bad Bocanegra throw... Demps away... US possession around the Spain box... comes to nothing.

Good cross from Riera. Demerit snuffs out Torres run. Goal kick. Not Torres' night.

73 min - What a sequence! Bradley wins the ball... Feilhaber feeds lando who crosses... mix up in the defence and the ball falls to Dempsey who made a smart far-post run and it's 2-0!!! USA!! USA!! Great work by all involved. A beautifully worked goal.

Lando's cross hits off Pique ( i think) and wrong foots Ramos who can only kill the ball, not clear it. Demps on hand to finish. US made their luck there.

Jozy milking a foul. Jozy was offsides on the goal. Lucky it didn't run to him.

Ricardo Clarke still on the pitch. For better or worse.

Torres surprised as a cross lands at his feet. Not his night.

Villa hits it from the free kick... Howard holds again.

Shot from distance. Howard saves. Lather, repeat.

10 minutes left...

US holding the ball well. Nice change... Jozy offsides as they move it forward. Close call.

US living dangerously with the ball in and around their box... but what's new tonight? Spain could have a hatful but just don't look right tonight. Just a beat off.

(I can't believe i just typed that.)

Gooch clears this time. Another corner... Spain with 3 chances that time before the US clears for another corner... Now Lando on the break... but gives it right back. Sigh.

Casey (on for Jozy) could have taken it to the Cobi corner but is offsides. Here comes Spain again...

Red card! Bradley not Clarke. Hard challenge, but didn't look malicious. No studs showing... no trailing leg. Well, maybe maybe studs up on the replay but no need for a red card. US will miss Bradley if they advance.

Puyol gets the ball stuck under him. Anyone else - save for Riera - and Spain score there.

Gooch clears again. FIFA could have saved money and only played this match on one side of the field. Well, except for those two goals.

3 minutes added.

Good covering from Feilhaber. 2 minutes left.

Shaq to Cleveland. Too little, too late. Whooops, reading the crawl again. Almost bored with Spain's attacking now. It's constant but it's not very inventive. Just crossing for Torres and the US can deal with that. No Villa for a while... wait, there he is... goal kick. Looked like a corner.

GAME!!!!!!!!!!!

USA! USA! USA!!

Torres and Gooch trade jerseys. Torres doesn't look happy. I'm guessing that one doesn't get hung up in the rec room at Casa Torres any time soon.

What a night for US soccer. What a turn around from the team we saw against Spain and Italy. See you Sunday for the finals! The US will miss Bradley, but hey... this is ALL gravy for us! Delicious, delicious gravy.

Do you believe in miracles?

Okay, it's not quite the "Miracle on Ice" but after the first two rounds of Confederation Cup matches, the idea that the USA could advance to the semi-finals seemed laughable. In Group B, Brazil was leveling everyone in their path; Italy was grinding out wins as only Italy can; and Egypt were the surprise package and dark horse pick. The USA were out-of-sorts and down-and-out.

But what a difference a day makes. Brazil steamrolls Italy 3-0, and the USA surprises Egypt by the same scoreline. And just like that, the USA advances to play Spain in the semi-final of a major (kinda) tournament. What a crazy old game.