Taking Shape

United States midfielder Michael Bradley chases down referee Koman Coulibaly.

The group stages are beginning to come to a close, and the knockout round of the 2010 World Cup is beginning to take shape.  Tomorrow the eyes of soccer fans around the globe will turn to Group C as the U.S. will try to punch their ticket, which will be guaranteed, with a win over Algeria.  At the same time, England will try to avoid complete and total embarrassment by defeating Slovenia.  If England fail to move on they will be grilled in the normally and already rowdy British press.  England being booted from South Africa tomorrow would be the equivalent of NFL football being a global sport and our national team exiting early from a similar world wide tournament.

This morning Group A and B were settled with Group A winners Uruguay now squaring off against Group B runners up South Korea in the knockout stage.  On the other side of the bracket Group B winners Argentina will take on Group A runners up Mexico.  Neither match are really that interesting, save for Mexico upsetting Argentina who are sort of a dark horse favorite to go deep in to the knockout round.

As far as scenarios go, the U.S., as previously stated, will move on automatically with a win.  The U.S. could also go to the next round with a tie and an England loss.  I’m sure there are other scenarios out there, but I’m too lazy to figure them out or even read about them.  Lose, and the U.S. will be coming home.

My point for posting this, beyond getting the above paragraphs out there just because has to do with that same old soccer fans versus the world in the United States type argument.  My real point, is to have a few words with said casual viewers.  I know ties, yellow cards and overacting players are hard to digest.  Trust me, I really have begun to have a passion for the sport and sometimes it is hard for me to identify with.  Mainly because the brand of soccer I watch, MLS and the Barclays Premier League (believe it or not, the technical name is not the English Premier League) are mostly filled with players who don’t turn in to gigantic vaginas when they brush up against anyone in an opposing shirt.

However, if you do make it to Friday and get beyond the group stage, you’re in for a pretty good show.  Like most sports here stateside, this is the postseason by World Cup standards.  It’s do or die, win or go home.  So the defensive minded, hang back and play the counter attack type play that has riddled the matches thus far with 0-0 and 1-1 results will become of thing of the past.  The sense of urgency is heightened and makes for more of a spectacle.

Don’t get me wrong, I have had my fun watching the play at the group stage, and I’m still going to watch the rest of the week to see who makes it in and who goes home..  I find a lot of the nuances of this part of the finals are pretty interesting, especially since upping my soccer I.Q. since the past two World Cups when I first started dabbling in the sport.  But I’m not going to sit here and preach like some soccer aficionados will do.  If you’ve watched a few matches and still don’t get it, you won’t get your face rubbed in it here.  I get that the sport is not for everyone.  I’m not one of those people who think it can or should catch on here.  If it does it does, if not we’ll live.  It seems sometimes soccer fans and non soccer fans get in to a, uh, measuring contest about their respective opinion on this particular sport.  I think that argument is a little passe, and a little boring.  You like what you like and if you don’t, move on.  But if you were hanging around as an observer still, and maybe you’ve only watched the U.S. matches, but if you hold on to watch the more exciting part of the the finals you probably won’t be disappointed.  Hey, at least the games won’t end in a tie.

The Way to the World Cup

Can Landon Donovan lead the US out of the group stage?

Two international friendly matches are all that stand between the United States national team and South Africa.  The roster will go from 30 and pared down to 23 before boarding a plane this Sunday.  At the moment, the US is taking on the Czech Republic and Turkey on Saturday.

More than likely, team boss Bob Bradley already has an idea of who he is taking to South Africa.  The squad will be challenged right out of the gate taking on seeded powerhouse England, whose roster reads like an all-star lineup.

There is no place but up for the United States after finishing dead last with a single point in the group stage in 2006 in Germany.  The one point came on a draw to eventual champion Italy, but a sound 3-0 loss to the Czechs and 2-1 loss to Ghana sent the Yanks home early.

The U.S. will look for a result closer to 2002 where they reached the quarterfinals in Japan/Korea.  The current lineup, most of whom played in Germany, are more experienced and have some major confidence in some of the victories they’ve picked up the past two years.  None bigger than shutting out world class Spain 2-0 in the FIFA Confederations Cup last summer, and nearly defeating Brazil in the final.

Right now as this is being typed up, the U.S. is up 1-0 with 23 minutes on the clock.