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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on May 28, 2006 20:43:13 GMT -5
Team USA had a solid win against Latvia this evening in which they absolutely dominated the first half with superb midfield play. They leave next week for the Team USA base in Hamburg, Germany. A few things are guaranteed about this cup - this is the best team we have ever sent to a world cup and we will be playing in our most hostile atmosphere ever for political and sports reasons (Europeans hate US soccer because they feel we are good at it without really trying - sort of like the Lance Armstrong thing in the Tour de France). We enter in the top 5 in the FIFA world rankings and are in one of the toughest groups and play the premier game of the first fixtures (US vs. Czech Repulic - 5 vs. 2 in the world). Should be some entertaining soccer if we can play like we did against Venezuela and Latvia. A lot of interesting questions too - can Reyna and Beasely who are talented but fragile carry their share of the load in the starting 11? How will Onyewou and others' debut in the world cup go? Can Landon Donnovan over come my antipathy for him?
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TigerHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by TigerHoya on May 28, 2006 20:54:05 GMT -5
How did Gooch (Oguchi Onyewu) look tonight?
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on May 28, 2006 21:19:30 GMT -5
How did Gooch (Oguchi Onyewu) look tonight? Didn't play.
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TigerHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by TigerHoya on May 28, 2006 21:30:25 GMT -5
Thanks
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on May 30, 2006 9:55:30 GMT -5
ussoccerstore.stores.yahoo.net/dtom.htmlNike is running out a new line of "Don't Tread on Me" soccer gear in connection with the jerseys worn by the team in their last send off game against Latvia - I would suspect that they will be running ads like the Gatorade one during the cup. Still the products look pretty cool.
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Madgesdiq
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by Madgesdiq on May 30, 2006 12:09:32 GMT -5
Watch out for the Ukraine as my darkhorse pick to make it to the semis.
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GUHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by GUHoya07 on May 30, 2006 12:50:14 GMT -5
Should be very interesting, cant wait till June 9th.
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CAHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by CAHoya07 on May 30, 2006 13:06:53 GMT -5
In response to 007... USA! USA!
Also rooting for Argentina, because I'm gonna be there starting late June. If they're still in the tournament by that time, that place will be nuts.
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GUHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by GUHoya07 on May 30, 2006 13:08:32 GMT -5
POLSKA! POLSKA!!!
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CAHoya07
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Post by CAHoya07 on May 30, 2006 13:15:58 GMT -5
Further proof that 007 is anti-American.
All kidding aside, this brings up a point: if you have dual citizenship or otherwise have dual allegiances to different countries, which country do you root for? Myself and others have given 007 some crap because he said he'd root for Poland over the United States even though he was born in the U.S. and resides here. Anybody else in a similar situation? What determines which country gets your loyalty?
I'm not a big soccer fan, but I definitely want to attend a World Cup game before I die. Just the way it unites (and divides) people all over the world is truly fascinating.
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miamihoya
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Post by miamihoya on May 30, 2006 13:22:04 GMT -5
Its not an issue this year, but in previous years I have rooted for Colombia over USA (both my parents are colombian natives). When Colombia is out of it, I root for team USA all the way, but my passion for soccer is rooted in my Colombian background so I have to support them. I couldn't even imagine what it would mean for them to win a World Cup tourney someday.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on May 30, 2006 13:27:30 GMT -5
Yeah they'll be pretty good - provided they don't get partitioned/invaded in the next 2 weeks. Not that I think it will happen - but it is Poland (Europe's door mat) ...
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on May 30, 2006 13:29:08 GMT -5
Further proof that 007 is anti-American. All kidding aside, this brings up a point: if you have dual citizenship or otherwise have dual allegiances to different countries, which country do you root for? Myself and others have given 007 some crap because he said he'd root for Poland over the United States even though he was born in the U.S. and resides here. Anybody else in a similar situation? What determines which country gets your loyalty? I'm not a big soccer fan, but I definitely want to attend a World Cup game before I die. Just the way it unites (and divides) people all over the world is truly fascinating. My boss got a cool jersey that is half south korean national team and half USA jersey. My Brian McBride jersey just arrived in the mail today so I'm good to go for the cup.
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GUHoya07
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Post by GUHoya07 on May 30, 2006 13:53:14 GMT -5
Yeah they'll be pretty good - provided they don't get partitioned/invaded in the next 2 weeks. Not that I think it will happen - but it is Poland (Europe's door mat) ... I honestly don't find that the least bit funny, really hard to not curse you out right now. As for rooting for Poland, anyone who gives me crap can continue to do so and I honestly don't care. My mom was born and grew up in Poland, she moved to the US when she was 19. She is the single most influential person in my life by a long shot. I may have been born and grew up in the US, but I've been travelling to Poland since I was 9 months old. I've been there about 15 times and have spent most of my summers there. My mom started speaking to me in Polish as a baby and I knew more Polish than English when I first started speaking. I still pretty much only talk to my mom in Polish, I have tons of friends and family in Poland, I am a Polish citizen and have an incredible love for the country. I could go on with more reasons why I root for Poland but the point is that I love the country and will always root for Poland over the US if they are competing. This is not to say that I don't love the US too, I think I feel much the same way that miamihoya does and its hard for people to understand this unless they are in a similar situation. And insulting Poland, go right ahead, but no matter how many times Poland has been beaten down and oppressed, we have always fought back and refused to stay down for long. It's funny how ignorant some people are.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on May 30, 2006 14:03:34 GMT -5
Ok, step back from the edge - I just wanted to provoke that.
You are SOOOO cute when you're mad.
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CAHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by CAHoya07 on May 30, 2006 14:18:39 GMT -5
Haha, 007, you know we love you and your Polish heritage, we're just giving you a hard time. As someone who also has Polish ancestry but doesn't feel nearly as strong about it as you do, it's nice to hear your about your passionate loyalty.
I brought up the loyalty thing because I thought it was interesting, and it always kinda Editeded me off when during US-Mexico soccer matches, a lot of immigrants would show up fiercely supporting Mexico. But then again, if I were in their shoes, I'd probably do the same thing, so I can't really blame them.
The real question is then, Poland vs. Georgetown, who do you root for?
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FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on May 30, 2006 14:44:19 GMT -5
I think part of the answer on national team loyalties also lies in the importance of soccer/futbol to that nation's sports culture. It would seem to be a lot easier to identify soccer/futbol as part of your "identity" as a Pole/Colombian/anything-but-American b/c the sport is so much more important to those countries. Inasmuch as you're choosing an "identity" to root for in a WC match...if it comes down to the U.S. vs. Poland/Colombia, if I were in 007's or miamihoya's situation, I'd probably root for my non-American half too. If it were basketball or baseball, I'm pretty sure the situation would be reversed.
Of course, if you have one/both parents that are from another country, that also adds something to the equation. And as a former soccer ref in South Florida, I've had quite a bit of experience with all of the national loyalties in CONCACAF and CONMEBOL.
This is, of course, why the rickety old Orange Bowl continues to be a rocking venue for preliminary round Gold Cup matches, but you will NEVER see a WC qualifier played in the State of Florida. On the subject of US-Mexico matches...well...no accident that the last two US-Mexico WC qualifiers on U.S. soil have been played in Columbus, Ohio (or that the Costa Rica game was in Salt Lake City, other qualifiers were in Foxborough and East Hartford, and Cleveland and Nashville are getting looks as venues). The "Cold War" match during the WC 2002 qualifiers was one of the greatest ideas ever.
On a side note, I really hope ESPN/ABC keeps John Harkes on as a color guy for the World Cup, because I can't wait for another round of people asking me if I've heard of him and whether we're related somehow.
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miamihoya
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Post by miamihoya on May 30, 2006 14:59:40 GMT -5
This is, of course, why the rickety old Orange Bowl continues to be a rocking venue for preliminary round Gold Cup matches, but you will NEVER see a WC qualifier played in the State of Florida. On the subject of US-Mexico matches...well...no accident that the last two US-Mexico WC qualifiers on U.S. soil have been played in Columbus, Ohio (or that the Costa Rica game was in Salt Lake City, other qualifiers were in Foxborough and East Hartford, and Cleveland and Nashville are getting looks as venues). The "Cold War" match during the WC 2002 qualifiers was one of the greatest ideas ever. Interesting..I've lived down here for ten years and always wondered why I had more opportunities to see Colombia play at the Orange Bowl than team USA, but that now makes sense. It wouldn't be much of a home crowd for the Americans if they played against any Latin American team in South Florida, or Los Angeles for that matter. I guess that explains why they play big games in Ohio so often.
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FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on May 30, 2006 15:31:18 GMT -5
And in the kind of coincidence that makes 4:30 in the afternoon a little more random, guess who played an international friendly this afternoon: soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=194783&cc=5901This is one you don't see every day: West Bromwich Albion keeper Tomasz Kuszczak's hopes of earning a World Cup starting place nosedived when he allowed Martinez's long punt to bounce over his head into the net in the 63rd minute. South American goalkeepers scoring goals is sooooooo 1998.
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Post by washingtonhoya on May 30, 2006 16:20:06 GMT -5
Seeing as how my ancestral country is the butt of jokes like this , I don't really have to make any tough choices. Convenient. That said, I have no idea what to expect of the US chances to advance this WC. Obviously they'll need to beat Ghana and pick up at least one point against the Czechs or Italy. The Send-Off Series wasn't all that inspiring, but the US never really played with the real starting 11, and they have a history of playing down to lesser opponents. The biggest questions are the midfield and the 2nd striker to complement McBride. Convey and DMB have both played their way into the starting line-up, but they're both only suited to play on the left, unless they let Convey drift around and weave through defenders like he did against Venezuela. None of the three forwards not named McBride have shown much. I'd like to see Arena toy around with pairing Donovan with McBride up top against Angola and using Dempsey as an attacking midfielder. Against the Czech Republic and Italy the team needs to dictate pace and create chances through their athleticism, because both of the Euro teams obviously have superior talent.
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