An interesting week for me...

It started last Wednesday, with my first double-header match i've participated in since I was in college (no need to discuss time frame, but it was a while ago). As the season ended in the league i'm currently in, we had to win to go on to the finals. Sadly, we did not do this, we actually played a pretty bad match and the opponents played an excellent match (no need to discuss the score, but there was a pretty big goal difference). The "consolation" match was between us and the last place team in the 5 team league. This match was played directly after our horrible loss...and was the last place team's ONLY match of the night. Though we were obviously a bit worn out from putting in the extra effort during the first match, ending proudly without getting shut-out, it seemed to be the warm up we needed...well, I needed. I thought I played pretty piss-poor in the first match but was not unhappy about my play in the second. Unfortunately, in the end, our second match was a draw though I think we had both control of the ball most of the match and several more shots on goal than our opponent. Here's to hoping we are able to find a keeper for the coming season...which starts in September.

Next we head to La Liga, another new season and another death to a prominent Spanish team's player. The captain for Espanyol, Daniel Jarque, died of a heart-attack this weekend. Yet another, high-end player in La Liga goes down to a heart problem. With little in the way of details about this, I'll just say it's sad to see such a thing happen to such a promising talent so early in life. And, like Sevilla's Antonio Puerta, from almost exactly two years ago, who suffered a heart attack during the first match of the season, Jarque had a child on the way. Just too hard to truly comprehend, but I do wish his family and his team well.

Also, in La Liga news, there were a few matches of an international friendly nature on US soil. The first I saw was the DC United vs Real Madrid match. I am NOT a fan of either team, but for some reason I still enjoyed DC getting their butts kicked by the La Liga giants. I'm not sure what outcome would have given me a more satisfying feeling but after watching Sevilla get knocked out of the Peace Cup rather early I've not really found any pre-season La Liga matches to be truly entertaining. Even was a little disappointed in Barcelona with their draw against Chivas de Guadalajara. Disappointing in that Barca held the ball most of the match and even had nine shots on goal to Chivas' two shots, but they were never able to get it in the net. Again, it's all pre-season friendlies i'll take with a grain of salt.

From here we head towards some good news in my book... St. Pauli wins the opening match of their Second Bundesliga 2009-2010 campaign, 2-1 versus Rot Weiss Ahlen. With two of their main attackers out with injuries this is a good start. Here's to a great season for St. Pauli!! To add to this, I just read an interesting article in which the author gives the MLS some advice about how they could learn a thing or two from St. Pauli and the way the team management/owners treat their "ultra" fans.

St Pauli in the pre-season

So things aren't looking too shabby for the boys in brown in the pre-season. First a draw with Scottish giants, Celtic FC, 2-2, and now they've beaten EPL team Stoke City a full 3-1. Granted Stoke City was probably testing out some of the younger players on their squad, but surely this friendly was an opportunity for St Pauli to play some of their bench sitters as well. Regardless of who was on the pitch, seems like a pretty good outcome...for now.

I can only hope this good form carries into the regular season which has not been their strong suit as of late. Seems they can do well in the pre-season AND even in some of the tournaments outside of the regular season, beating teams in the First Bundeliga, but have trouble in their own second division.

Good luck boys, always behind you!

A new season...

As the friendlies wrap-up in the pre-season, things are starting to feel like it's time for some action. Yesterday I made it down to the neighborhood pub to catch Celtic and Manchester City make a go of it for 90 minutes. While the ball stayed on the Celtic end of the pitch most of the time there were few shots on goal and things seemed rather balanced, albeit a bit flat, but nothing unusual for the pre-season, if you ask me.

Eventually, Man City punched in the first goal of the match well into the second half. And with Celtic frequently pinned in their half it wasn't looking good. But with a frenzy in the final 15-20 minutes, it was only a matter of time before the Hoops put one in the net. McGowan tapped one in from a cross and minutes later had a second chance only to have the shot hit the cross bar with high velocity and conviction. There were other chances to break the tie, but few, if any, were very serious. In the end, the final score was 1-1.

Afterwords, Manchester United played Juventus...I caught about 10-15 minutes of this match and was quickly reminded that a) I'm not a Man U. fan and b) I don't like Italian League teams all that much, so I left the pub and did some grocery shopping. With the season not even in full swing yet, there will be plenty more to see in the weeks to come.

Really?!?!

Evidently the U.S. Men's national soccer team has jumped up seven positions to number 21 in the FIFA World rankings. Personally, i'm still a fan of the ELO Ratings where the U.S. is in 18...even though I think they both have the US a little higher than they should be. Guess we shall see how we do in the next few friendlies leading up to the World Cup Qualifiers. Coming up we have a couple in Europe, with England on 28 May and then Spain on 4 June, followed by a return trip home and a match with Argentina (#1 in FIFA and #2 in ELO) on 8 June.

Anyone care to comment on their thoughts on the new U.S. jerseys? Not sure I like the new color, but I need to get a U.S. jersey. Of all the jerseys I have, both pro and national teams, I don't have a single U.S. jersey. Not right.

Edit: Just found out the U.S. Women's National team have now qualified for the Olympics as well. Let's Go U.S.A.!

U.S. in a few important friendlies

Today is the first of a few friendlies that the U.S.M.N.T. have lined for them. In our last two meetings with Poland, the U.S. has faired rather well winning in both European meet-ups. But, this go around everything changes, the Polish side has a new coach, who helped them reach the Euros this year (even beat Portugal and Belgium). Poland poses a formidable test for the Americans ahead of upcoming meetings with world powers England, Argentina, and Spain, all scheduled for later this spring. U.S. Coach Bradley will be fielding a mostly European based roster...said to be one of our strongest teams since our Gold Cup win last summer...which we won with a Benny Feilhaber goal that is still one of my all-time favorites.

Though this will be one of the strongest teams the U.S. has ever fielded, it will be tough as they haven't played together since the Gold Cup. A match or two at the least will be needed to give the team some cohesion and confidence I would imagine. This is what I would imagine these friendlies are for as we prepare for World Cup qualifiers that begin in June. Poland is probably doing the same as they work towards Euro 2008 which is also this summer. (Edit: That's On Point has another take on this "strongest team" thing, definitely check it out as well.)

Good luck the the U.S. Match is at 3:30p ET and airs on Fox Soccer Channel...which I can't watch at work! :(

(Newer edit: Can't record it but found another online ticker stream for the game. And it's on blogger.