My Blue-Green World News
USA striker Eddie Johnson referring to Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez's attempt to cheap shot him after Landon Donovan scored the clinching goal: “I got like stud marks on my calf.”
I don't know how they do it, but our boys did it to Mexico again. 2-0. I love that score. Mexico out-attacked and out-shot the USA by a wide margin, but obviously that does not count on the scoreboard. I am not saying the USA were brilliant or even better. But once again they won the game. And that's all that counts amigo. Man oh man was I a happy guy last night. I went to Brits Pub in downtown Minneapolis to watch the match. There was a big turnout, but the mood was certainly nervous and maybe a little pessimistic before the game started. I know I was really nervous and grouchy as hell. Just before I left the house I called my Dad on the phone and in the background I could hear my Mom taunting me, "Mexico is going to win!" Damn, heckled by my own Mother! She was joking, but I told Dad that if Mexico wins I am not talking to Mom again. I guess I can talk to her now. Of course the room at Brits just exploded when Conrad scored the first one off the set piece. As the USA lined up for the corner kick my friend Charlie turned to me and said, "We're gonna score right here." The prophet has spoken. When Donovan scored the second USA goal we all went completely nuts, leaping around screaming, hugging and slapping hands. Glorious. I was leaping up and down so hard I bit my bottom lip and drew a little blood! Hahahahahahahahaha! Mexico brings out the best in all of us. Since the turn of the new millennium its now 8 games on American soil v Mexico, 7 wins and 1 draw, 13 goals scored for the good guys, and ZERO scored for the banditos! Hooray USA! Hooray Beer!
~ ~ ~ ~
The du Nord Three Stars Of The Match:
3. Andres Guardado - torched the right side of the USA defense for the entire second half. Wow he looks dangerous.
2. Landon Donovan - played with true grit (ha), and made some strong runs, then came back and helped defend. Put in the corner kick for Conrad to head home, and blew past the Mexican defense for the game clinching goal.
1. Jimmy Conrad - really solid in central defense, made tough tackles and then came up to slam home a headed corner kick for the game winning goal. Bravo muchacho!
~ ~ ~ ~
Two - Nil! Here's all the press you could ever want on the game:
-Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated examines the game from the interim coach perspective.
-Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated says Mexico needs to look in the mirror for answers, but they are in total denial.
-Miguel Melendez of the Orange County Register with the story of Jonathan Bornstein. Jonny B played another really solid game at left back. He is quickly becoming everyones new fave rave!
-Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with game analysis and USA player ratings.
-Several "of the moment" thoughts from Andrea Canales and Luis Bueno on their Sideline Views blog.
-Luis Arroyave with some good game notes on his blog The Red Card. He has words from Mexican players that I have not seen anywhere else.
-And of course Ives Galarcep has several interesting things to say about the game on his blog, Soccer By Ives.
-Ives writes a story on the small number of USA fans at the game, compared to Mexico fans. For the North Jersey Herald.
-Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his match report.
-Andrea Canales at Soccernet with a match report.
-Match report from US Soccer.
-Post game quotes from US Soccer.
-Games photos from US Soccer.
-Game analysis from Ken Pendleton of the US Players Assoc.
-Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with a great match report. I mean great!
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his thoughts on the game via his newspapers weblog.
-Soccernet has video clips of post game interviews with Tim Howard, Landon Donovan, Eric Wynalda & coach Bob Bradley.
-Luis Bueno at LA Soccer News says Jimmy Conrad's physical defending against Jared Borgetti was inspired by Oguchi Onyewu!
-Scott Viar at Matchnight with game analysis.
-Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America with his game analysis - and - player ratings.
-Robert Wagman of the Soccer Times with his game analysis and player ratings.
-Steven Goff of the Washington Post with some thoughts on the game via his blog Soccer Insider.
-Marc Connolly at the US Soccer Players Assoc with 5 Things We Learned from the match.
-And Simon Tanton of the USSPA with a look at the performance of Landon Donovan: When He's Good, He's Very Good
~ ~ ~ ~
The attempted cheap shot from Mexi keeper Oswaldo Sanchez at the end of the game was really brutal to watch. After Donovan scored the clinching goal, Sanchez went after Eddie Johnson with a vicious sliding cleats up tackle, but Johnson saw it coming and jumped to avoid it. It reminded me a lot of last years playoff game between Houston and Chivas USA when Juan Pablo Garcia went after Brad Davis with an ugly tackle from behind in the dying minutes of this teams loss. You add that to regular brutal tackles years ago from Alberto Garcia Aspe, and the 2002 World Cup attack that Rafa Marquez laid on Cobi Jones, and you have to ask yourself - "What is wrong with the Mexican players?" They are so angry! Nasty ugly sore loser cheap shots! Sad.
-Here is some exceedingly ugly stuff from the Guadalajara newspaper El Milenio. Big Soccer member Beadling Boy was kind enough to translate it for all of us. Oswaldo says some really nice things about the USA players. His big quote was "Fuck their mothers." That's special. Hey Oswaldo, do you kiss your mother with those lips? I bet she is happy with you for saying such sweet things about others.
~ ~ ~ ~
More completely minimal coverage in the Arizona Republic this morning. One article. One. And that one was very short, basic and cliche filled. Really poor.
-The Arizona Star from Tuscon that I praised yesterday only had the AP story today. What a joke. The game is in your town! Send someone out to cover it!
~ ~ ~ ~
Elias Sports Bureau with this interesting stat: Landon Donovan's insurance goal in stoppage time was his third against Mexico. The only other U.S. player with three or more goals vs. Mexico is Aldo Donelli, who scored all four goals in a 4-2 victory on May 24, 1934 -- the first-ever U.S.-Mexico match and the only one in which Donelli ever played.
~ ~ ~ ~
One last thought from me on the big game: Two games in a row now, USA right back Chris Albright has been completely abused by the competition. Against Denmark their left wing beat him repeatedly and nicely set up their only goal. Then we get CA's second half performance this game. It's not a big pattern, but thats all I need to see. We have to get some new faces in that spot NOW. Yes Steve Cherundolo is the starter there, but we need more guys stepping up to fight for it. Where is Marvell Wynn? Is there anyone else? How about Jonathan Spector?
~ ~ ~ ~
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says goalkeeper Nick Rimando is in training camp with the New York Red Bulls! So will they make a deal for him and ditch their current #1 Jon Conway?
~ ~ ~ ~
Lewis is also reporting that contrary to other views the Red Bulls are deep in negotiations with Ecuadorian striker Tin Delgado. I really thought this story was dead, but here it is again. Interesting.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News looks at two youngsters who will have to step up for the Los Angeles Galaxy defense this season - Troy Roberts & Nathan Sturgis.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Toronto Sun talks to TFC coach Mo Johnston who says that they just might sell out every home game this year and he plans on giving the fans a good show despite this being their first season.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Cleveland Plain Dealer with a feature story on a hometown boy, Chicago defender Dasan Robinson.
~ ~ ~ ~
DC United plan to sign young English-Nigerian midfielder Yinka Casal from Fulham. He has been playing with that teams reserves. Will this be another false alarm like Ruy was?
~ ~ ~ ~
In case you didn't listen to the podcast last week of Glenn Davis's interview with Mark Cuban, here is a transcript from the Houston Chronicle. Cuban is a really smart dude.
~ ~ ~ ~
There has been an odd amount of talk in soccer circles lately about baseball's Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. Several English management types have talked about how influenced they are by his "small market" team building techniques. Then there is his association with A's owner Lew Wolff who owns the rights to re-start the San Jose Earthquakes. Beane has even been involved with this project, and has a true interest in soccer. He attended the World Cup last summer, which was DURING the baseball season. This kinda fascinates me. Gary Peterson of the Bay area Contra Costa Times has a feature story on Beane.
~ ~ ~ ~
American defender Jay DeMerit tells Yanks Abroad it's "do-or-die time" for his Watford team.
~ ~ ~ ~
The last of the Copa Libertadores qualifying matches are this week. The group stage starts Feb 13!:
Last nights scores-
-Santos 5-0 Blooming - Santos advances 6-0 on aggregate
-Parana 1-1 Cobreloa - Parana advances 3-1 on aggregate
Thur Feb 8 game-
-Deportes Tolima v Deportivo Tachira - second leg - Tolima leads 2-1
~ ~ ~ ~
Barcelona's young star striker Lionel Messi has been given the all-clear from doctors to return to the pitch. He had been out for a couple of months with a broken foot.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune goes over all the measures implemented for safety at Italy's stadiums. Only 6 stadiums will be allowed to have fans in the stands this weekend. As I have written over the last few days, the San Siro in Milan will not be open to fans, including Champions League games, until the place is updated with a lot of new security measures.
~ ~ ~ ~
Hughes also looks at the good and the bad from friendly's all over the world yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~
Manchester United goalkeeper Eddie Van Der Sar, who had his nose broken in a nasty collision with Tottenham's Robbie Keane last weekend, plans on being ready to re-take the field for his teams Champions League match v Lille on the 20th.
~ ~ ~ ~
Reuters is reporting that Juan Roman Riquelme is going to return to Boca Juniors from Villareal where he has not even been dressing for the games. I still say MLS needs to go get this guy, NOW!
~ ~ ~ ~
German Berti Vogts who last coached Scotland (very unsuccessfully) is set to take over as the new coach of Nigeria.
~ ~ ~ ~
Spain beat England in Manchester last night on a goal by Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta. I bet that did not go down well with the punters.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jonah Freedman at the Sports Illustrated magazine web site with his all new World Soccer Power Rankings. The quality you have come to expect.
~ ~ ~ ~
Michael Moynihan of the Washington Post with a very cool story about a notorious/historic Dublin Ireland stadium, Croke Park, that has been refurbished and will host soccer & other sports again. It was the site of Bloody Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA.com with an article on Ajax midfielder Wesley Sneijder who was the star the Netherlands in their 4-1 demolition of Russia.
~ ~ ~ ~
More scores from International friendly's yesterday:
Uzbekistan 0-0 Azerbaijan
Iran 2-2 Belarus
Albania 0-1 Macedonia
Latvia 0-2 Hungary
Cyprus 0-3 Bulgaria
Georgia 1-0 Turkey
Egypt 2-0 Sweden
Croatia 2-1 Norway
Germany 3-1 Switzerland
Poland 2-2 Slovakia
Luxembourg 2-1 Gambia
France 0-1 Argentina
Belgium 0-2 Czech Republic
Venezuela 0-1 Chile
Colombia 1-3 Uruguay
I don't know how they do it, but our boys did it to Mexico again. 2-0. I love that score. Mexico out-attacked and out-shot the USA by a wide margin, but obviously that does not count on the scoreboard. I am not saying the USA were brilliant or even better. But once again they won the game. And that's all that counts amigo. Man oh man was I a happy guy last night. I went to Brits Pub in downtown Minneapolis to watch the match. There was a big turnout, but the mood was certainly nervous and maybe a little pessimistic before the game started. I know I was really nervous and grouchy as hell. Just before I left the house I called my Dad on the phone and in the background I could hear my Mom taunting me, "Mexico is going to win!" Damn, heckled by my own Mother! She was joking, but I told Dad that if Mexico wins I am not talking to Mom again. I guess I can talk to her now. Of course the room at Brits just exploded when Conrad scored the first one off the set piece. As the USA lined up for the corner kick my friend Charlie turned to me and said, "We're gonna score right here." The prophet has spoken. When Donovan scored the second USA goal we all went completely nuts, leaping around screaming, hugging and slapping hands. Glorious. I was leaping up and down so hard I bit my bottom lip and drew a little blood! Hahahahahahahahaha! Mexico brings out the best in all of us. Since the turn of the new millennium its now 8 games on American soil v Mexico, 7 wins and 1 draw, 13 goals scored for the good guys, and ZERO scored for the banditos! Hooray USA! Hooray Beer!
~ ~ ~ ~
The du Nord Three Stars Of The Match:
3. Andres Guardado - torched the right side of the USA defense for the entire second half. Wow he looks dangerous.
2. Landon Donovan - played with true grit (ha), and made some strong runs, then came back and helped defend. Put in the corner kick for Conrad to head home, and blew past the Mexican defense for the game clinching goal.
1. Jimmy Conrad - really solid in central defense, made tough tackles and then came up to slam home a headed corner kick for the game winning goal. Bravo muchacho!
~ ~ ~ ~
Two - Nil! Here's all the press you could ever want on the game:
-Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated examines the game from the interim coach perspective.
-Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated says Mexico needs to look in the mirror for answers, but they are in total denial.
-Miguel Melendez of the Orange County Register with the story of Jonathan Bornstein. Jonny B played another really solid game at left back. He is quickly becoming everyones new fave rave!
-Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with game analysis and USA player ratings.
-Several "of the moment" thoughts from Andrea Canales and Luis Bueno on their Sideline Views blog.
-Luis Arroyave with some good game notes on his blog The Red Card. He has words from Mexican players that I have not seen anywhere else.
-And of course Ives Galarcep has several interesting things to say about the game on his blog, Soccer By Ives.
-Ives writes a story on the small number of USA fans at the game, compared to Mexico fans. For the North Jersey Herald.
-Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his match report.
-Andrea Canales at Soccernet with a match report.
-Match report from US Soccer.
-Post game quotes from US Soccer.
-Games photos from US Soccer.
-Game analysis from Ken Pendleton of the US Players Assoc.
-Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with a great match report. I mean great!
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his thoughts on the game via his newspapers weblog.
-Soccernet has video clips of post game interviews with Tim Howard, Landon Donovan, Eric Wynalda & coach Bob Bradley.
-Luis Bueno at LA Soccer News says Jimmy Conrad's physical defending against Jared Borgetti was inspired by Oguchi Onyewu!
-Scott Viar at Matchnight with game analysis.
-Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America with his game analysis - and - player ratings.
-Robert Wagman of the Soccer Times with his game analysis and player ratings.
-Steven Goff of the Washington Post with some thoughts on the game via his blog Soccer Insider.
-Marc Connolly at the US Soccer Players Assoc with 5 Things We Learned from the match.
-And Simon Tanton of the USSPA with a look at the performance of Landon Donovan: When He's Good, He's Very Good
~ ~ ~ ~
The attempted cheap shot from Mexi keeper Oswaldo Sanchez at the end of the game was really brutal to watch. After Donovan scored the clinching goal, Sanchez went after Eddie Johnson with a vicious sliding cleats up tackle, but Johnson saw it coming and jumped to avoid it. It reminded me a lot of last years playoff game between Houston and Chivas USA when Juan Pablo Garcia went after Brad Davis with an ugly tackle from behind in the dying minutes of this teams loss. You add that to regular brutal tackles years ago from Alberto Garcia Aspe, and the 2002 World Cup attack that Rafa Marquez laid on Cobi Jones, and you have to ask yourself - "What is wrong with the Mexican players?" They are so angry! Nasty ugly sore loser cheap shots! Sad.
-Here is some exceedingly ugly stuff from the Guadalajara newspaper El Milenio. Big Soccer member Beadling Boy was kind enough to translate it for all of us. Oswaldo says some really nice things about the USA players. His big quote was "Fuck their mothers." That's special. Hey Oswaldo, do you kiss your mother with those lips? I bet she is happy with you for saying such sweet things about others.
~ ~ ~ ~
More completely minimal coverage in the Arizona Republic this morning. One article. One. And that one was very short, basic and cliche filled. Really poor.
-The Arizona Star from Tuscon that I praised yesterday only had the AP story today. What a joke. The game is in your town! Send someone out to cover it!
~ ~ ~ ~
Elias Sports Bureau with this interesting stat: Landon Donovan's insurance goal in stoppage time was his third against Mexico. The only other U.S. player with three or more goals vs. Mexico is Aldo Donelli, who scored all four goals in a 4-2 victory on May 24, 1934 -- the first-ever U.S.-Mexico match and the only one in which Donelli ever played.
~ ~ ~ ~
One last thought from me on the big game: Two games in a row now, USA right back Chris Albright has been completely abused by the competition. Against Denmark their left wing beat him repeatedly and nicely set up their only goal. Then we get CA's second half performance this game. It's not a big pattern, but thats all I need to see. We have to get some new faces in that spot NOW. Yes Steve Cherundolo is the starter there, but we need more guys stepping up to fight for it. Where is Marvell Wynn? Is there anyone else? How about Jonathan Spector?
~ ~ ~ ~
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says goalkeeper Nick Rimando is in training camp with the New York Red Bulls! So will they make a deal for him and ditch their current #1 Jon Conway?
~ ~ ~ ~
Lewis is also reporting that contrary to other views the Red Bulls are deep in negotiations with Ecuadorian striker Tin Delgado. I really thought this story was dead, but here it is again. Interesting.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News looks at two youngsters who will have to step up for the Los Angeles Galaxy defense this season - Troy Roberts & Nathan Sturgis.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Toronto Sun talks to TFC coach Mo Johnston who says that they just might sell out every home game this year and he plans on giving the fans a good show despite this being their first season.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Cleveland Plain Dealer with a feature story on a hometown boy, Chicago defender Dasan Robinson.
~ ~ ~ ~
DC United plan to sign young English-Nigerian midfielder Yinka Casal from Fulham. He has been playing with that teams reserves. Will this be another false alarm like Ruy was?
~ ~ ~ ~
In case you didn't listen to the podcast last week of Glenn Davis's interview with Mark Cuban, here is a transcript from the Houston Chronicle. Cuban is a really smart dude.
~ ~ ~ ~
There has been an odd amount of talk in soccer circles lately about baseball's Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. Several English management types have talked about how influenced they are by his "small market" team building techniques. Then there is his association with A's owner Lew Wolff who owns the rights to re-start the San Jose Earthquakes. Beane has even been involved with this project, and has a true interest in soccer. He attended the World Cup last summer, which was DURING the baseball season. This kinda fascinates me. Gary Peterson of the Bay area Contra Costa Times has a feature story on Beane.
~ ~ ~ ~
American defender Jay DeMerit tells Yanks Abroad it's "do-or-die time" for his Watford team.
~ ~ ~ ~
The last of the Copa Libertadores qualifying matches are this week. The group stage starts Feb 13!:
Last nights scores-
-Santos 5-0 Blooming - Santos advances 6-0 on aggregate
-Parana 1-1 Cobreloa - Parana advances 3-1 on aggregate
Thur Feb 8 game-
-Deportes Tolima v Deportivo Tachira - second leg - Tolima leads 2-1
~ ~ ~ ~
Barcelona's young star striker Lionel Messi has been given the all-clear from doctors to return to the pitch. He had been out for a couple of months with a broken foot.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune goes over all the measures implemented for safety at Italy's stadiums. Only 6 stadiums will be allowed to have fans in the stands this weekend. As I have written over the last few days, the San Siro in Milan will not be open to fans, including Champions League games, until the place is updated with a lot of new security measures.
~ ~ ~ ~
Hughes also looks at the good and the bad from friendly's all over the world yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~
Manchester United goalkeeper Eddie Van Der Sar, who had his nose broken in a nasty collision with Tottenham's Robbie Keane last weekend, plans on being ready to re-take the field for his teams Champions League match v Lille on the 20th.
~ ~ ~ ~
Reuters is reporting that Juan Roman Riquelme is going to return to Boca Juniors from Villareal where he has not even been dressing for the games. I still say MLS needs to go get this guy, NOW!
~ ~ ~ ~
German Berti Vogts who last coached Scotland (very unsuccessfully) is set to take over as the new coach of Nigeria.
~ ~ ~ ~
Spain beat England in Manchester last night on a goal by Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta. I bet that did not go down well with the punters.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jonah Freedman at the Sports Illustrated magazine web site with his all new World Soccer Power Rankings. The quality you have come to expect.
~ ~ ~ ~
Michael Moynihan of the Washington Post with a very cool story about a notorious/historic Dublin Ireland stadium, Croke Park, that has been refurbished and will host soccer & other sports again. It was the site of Bloody Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA.com with an article on Ajax midfielder Wesley Sneijder who was the star the Netherlands in their 4-1 demolition of Russia.
~ ~ ~ ~
More scores from International friendly's yesterday:
Uzbekistan 0-0 Azerbaijan
Iran 2-2 Belarus
Albania 0-1 Macedonia
Latvia 0-2 Hungary
Cyprus 0-3 Bulgaria
Georgia 1-0 Turkey
Egypt 2-0 Sweden
Croatia 2-1 Norway
Germany 3-1 Switzerland
Poland 2-2 Slovakia
Luxembourg 2-1 Gambia
France 0-1 Argentina
Belgium 0-2 Czech Republic
Venezuela 0-1 Chile
Colombia 1-3 Uruguay
posted by brucio at 15:26
8 Comments:
Excellant coverage Bruce. Thank you!
Bruce, I had to speed-read your post before my connection disappears again...loved the bit about Billy Beane--have you read Moneyball by Michael Lewis? Fascinating story of how Billy finds underpriced talent. I'm not sure it would work for soccer, as statistics don't tell its story the way they do with baseball. Thanks for the link.
Also, no one has commented about Timmy Howard getting his elbow jabbed with a nail that was on the pitch in front of the goal (this was during the warm-ups last night). Did you see it in the pre-game? I admit to a suspicious nature, but this does seem to be a new low for our southern rival's fans. And won't Concacaf or Fifa review the game tape (like the FA does) and impose some sort of penalty on Sanchez for going after Johnson?
Thanks for the croke park link bruce. The Bloody Sunday that most people are aware of(and U2 sang of) took place in Derry in the North when 13 civilians were shot dead in the streets by british soldiers during a civil rights march for better housing and jobs...the 25th anniversary was just over a week ago...no one was ever charged...side note:FC Derry's supporters sing "teenage kicks" by classic Derry punk band,The Undertones, as their theme song!that is all. dang
Arizona Republic had at least 2 other articles you missed. One was on Pablo being the captain and the other was on the crowd.
I would not have noted if you hadn't complained about it.
thanks for finding those two articles
next time you find stuff like that could you please post the links with your comment
thanks
bruce
does anyone have a link to the vid of sanchez trying to kill johnson? i watched the game but missed it EVERY time they showed the replay...
The Landon Donovan goal and subsequent attempt by the cowardly Sanchez to hurt Eddie Johnson is available at YouTube.
Go to Youtube.com and do a search for Landon Donovan.
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