Tampilkan postingan dengan label U.S. Soccer. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label U.S. Soccer. Tampilkan semua postingan
Jumat, 30 September 2011
US Soccer's New Hope: German Black Guy Movement
U.S. Men's Soccer is trying everything to elevate their program so they can realistically compete for a World Cup in the future.
They've hired former German star Jurgen Klinsmann as head coach and are over hauling their development but their most promising initiative may be entirely unintentional: African-American servicemen based in Germany.
These men may have single-handedly created the next generation of American soccer players.
They're seemingly getting German women pregnant at a rate comparable to NBA players.
Although I'm pretty sure this isn't their intention when they're trying to bed German women. It's more like an unexpected benefit as they're serving their country in more ways than one.
A serviceman can theoretically tell the woman he got her pregnant that he did it for the good of U.S. Soccer, but that's probably not the best card to play in that situation.
It seems like there's an explosion of black German-born soccer players with American servicemen fathers who are eligible and want to play for the United States. It's crazy.
These players include Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, Timmy Chandler, and Danny Williams who all ply their trade in Germany.
It's almost the perfect plan because soccer people are always complaining that top U.S. athletes don't want to play soccer.
But in this case, the players come up through the vastly superior German system where they develop their technical skills and then the US reaps the benefit of the finished product.
In fact it's so good a system I wonder if US soccer is covertly behind it. If so, they should expand the program to other countries.
It's entirely possible the U.S. could win the World Cup by just getting women pregnant in soccer rich countries.
Jumat, 15 Juli 2011
Ian Darke: The Best Thing to Happen to American Soccer Coverage
You may not know who British play-by-play announcer Ian Darke is, but he has elevated American soccer coverage.
Since ESPN hired him to call the 2010 Fifa Men's World Cup, he has brought enthusiasm to the game of soccer that had been missing in the United States.
He continues to do this with his coverage of the 2011 Fifa Women's World Cup.
Darke's not pretending to be interested in soccer like some other play-by-men, he's genuinely excited about great soccer plays and it shows.
Nothing exhibits this more than Darke's call of Holland's Giovanni Van Bronchorst goal against Uruguay as "An Absolute Firecracker" in last year's World Cup (the video at the top of this post).
He's soccer's equivalent of Gus Johnson, the energetic football and basketball play-by-play who's a fan favorite.
They both strike the perfect balance between embracing a fan's excitement, but not going over the top.
American soccer has been fortunate to have two of its greatest moments enhanced by Darke's dramatic calls.
Landon Donovan's goal to beat Algeria and send the U.S. to the second round of the 2010 Men's World Cup and Abby Wambach's miracle 122 minute goal to tie Brazil in the quarterfinals of this year's Women's World Cup were both called by him.
They're great plays on their own, but Darke really captures the elation of these moments.
With Darke signed to ESPN through the 2014 Fifa World Cup, I look forward to more exciting soccer coverage from him.
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