Although some may be out celebrating some Irish holiday today, I would like to bring up the fact that today is a great day in American soccer history. 39 years ago today, one of the most dominant American athletes in the history of sport, along with one of the most prolific goal scorers in the history of American soccer was born. The athlete with the most goals of any international soccer player was born in a small Alabama town. They have been called one of the best 125 soccer players alive by Pele, and “perhaps the most important athlete in the past 15 years” by Michael Wilbon.
Mia Hamm is to this day still probably the most recognizable US soccer player around the world. Mia Hamm and the 1999 World Cup team created unimaginable interest in both soccer and and womens sports. As much as people talk about why America hasn’t ever brought out a world class player it seems that they forget about the importance and significance of Mia Hamm. To this day she is still in the very top level of greatest players in the history of womens soccer. Only a handful of players, if that many, have done what Hamm did for women’s soccer.
Sunil Gulati talked to US Soccer about a few stereotypes of soccer, along with the “reasons the US will never get soccer” that you get to see on every internet forum. I hate posting these kinds of things because I purely think they’re absolutely moronic things to say. Is soccer a men’s game? Isn’t soccer an immigrants game? Also this might be a little old (it seems to be pre-world cup), but I feel almost obligated to put up anything I can from someone in Sunil Gulati’s position.
In another instance of the USMNT getting a hair older, Landon Donovan turned 29 today. Not that that means he’s old but it does mean he’s no longer the young up and coming player we saw in the 2002 World Cup. Landon has been one of the best players I have ever seen put on a USMNT jersey, and is for many people up towards the top of the list of best American soccer players. Donovan may not have been the best American player during his career (although many would say he has, I would still argue Dempsey, and Howard might be a click or two better, but that’s an argument for another day) he has been the face of US Soccer for years. Donovan was the only current USMNT player to take part in the most recent failed World Cup bid. Donovan is the face of the national team for many American soccer fans and probably even more so for those who don’t closely follow the team. Landon Donovan may not have been the first American soccer player to be a house-hold name, but I would argue that as long as I’ve been watching soccer he has been far and away the most widely recognizable face of the national team. To remember just how far Donovan is away from that 2002 tournament, here are his 45 career USMNT goals (only for those interested in 10 minutes of Landon Donovan-centric USMNT glory). Of course I also had to throw in a little extra video of one of his most recent goals, seeing as the video literally never ceases to bring a tear to my eye I thought it was necessary for any celebration of Landon Donovan.
According to The Examiner. com and U.S. Soccer spokesperson Neil Buethe, the USSF is actively trying to put more women into position to referee in higher leagues. Surely American women know the offside rule well enough to be able to handle the job.
“No women are scheduled to work in MLS this season,” said Buethe. “The policy to make assignments is based on performance alone and we’ll look to integrate more female officials into the professional divisions this season, although probably not MLS, and evaluate performance moving forward.
The decision to select referees is based on performance alone. There’s no age, gender, race or religious discrimination in terms of the referees we select, everyone is rated strictly on their performance. There are now plans to develop female referees to work at the highest level.”
First I recommend reading the entire letter, I won’t just reprint it but I’ll give you the basic idea and explain why this doesn’t surprise me at all. You should still read it because its very well written and very strong.
>>http://www.matchfitusa.com/2011/02/response-from-sons-of-ben-member.html
“It also bothers me that he refers to me solely as a skinhead throughout the article. He knew my name and my age, knew my occupation and where I lived. He was shocked to find out that me and the people I go to games with are working class, with full time jobs and full time studies, and that we aren’t some rich suburban kids. But knowing that the Union support isn’t just middle aged accountants wouldn’t do him any good. He knows who I am, but giving me a face would be a lot less interesting than referring to me solely as “skinhead,” a loaded term.
I am a section representative and I help capo. I attend meetings with other representatives and the heads of the SoBs. I am not a hooligan, and I am not a bovver boy. I do not care about the EPL and its casuals, bovver boys and firms. I care about the MLS. I care about Philadelphia. I care about the Union.”
European “football countries” still see American soccer as a sideshow. In their mind it is still, and will always be, a country whose pro-league can’t survive without their Pele and their David Beckham, someone to draw fans into the seats. They imagine that American fans want nothing more than to emulate the English, the German, the Italian way of doing things. They will never see the United States as its own very good footballing country. It will always be a punchline who is nothing more than an amalgamation of the little bits and pieces we know about European soccer. Our fans most dress up as Italian ultras, or English hooligans. There’s no way they could be as loud as they are while watching such a bad game, although teams all over England manage to have similar fan groups doing similar things. I’m sure the guy leading chants at Old Trafford has just as much trouble following the action of the game as the capos here. MLS is a real league and we can do things our own way, this should come as no surprise to anyone. European reporters will always draw American fans as bad caricatures of the worst things that European fans have already gotten past. We will always be a country stuck in the dark ages of football, never to escape. Yet we’re still currently ranked higher than France. We still won our group against England this year. Italy didn’t even make it out. We are as good a footballing country as most, and the best thing about it is that we still have room to grow. England is a good team, but English fans won’t ever spend much more money on soccer than they do now. Americans could very easily do so. Europe has peaked, America is still rising. We are a damn good soccer country, and we’re only gonna get better.
bpmangan
mattsant16
Pat
