And we will be John Cusack in High Fidelity bitter around these parts if those donkeys up in Revolution-land get a stadium sorted out before United do.
Given that this does make my 100th post, however scattered, short or lacking substance they may be, we can't have all things bitter. So come on United against the Fire in the Open Cup tonight.
I can haz radio broadcast?
Or a helicopter to make it from Arlington to the Soccerplex by gametime?
The Men's National Team came into its game against Argentina on Sunday night hoping to ward off suggestions of a shambolic defense and an average midfield all headed by an impotent offense.
What they at least put on was a gutsy, heart wrought performance against at least several pieces of the world's best team. Though the opening 30 minutes weren't promising, Timmy Howard showed every bit of his class and why he was once the starting goalkeeper for Manchester United.
Against any team, Argentina would have its chances and Sunday night was no different. The US defense hung on by a thread at times while at others looked surprisingly confident. Heath Pearce put together an impressive performance while Cherundolo did an admirable job dealing with Senor Messi. Even Gooch and Boca were bearable by their occasionally klutzy standards.
We may never know what left Pablo Mastroeni headed for the showers midway through the second half but I know I'm not the only one that figured the game would die off. The US would inevitably slip up and conceding one or two in the dying minutes as we floundered with a man less on the field.
I believe my words were: "That's the way to kill a friendly game..."
But after weathering a brief spell of pressure, the US actually broke out for some of its best attacking moments of the night and left all 78,000+ fans feeling like we got our money's worth. The US crowd grew its voices with the game and most of us were hoarse by the end from "U-S-A" one too many times.
When Landon Donovan, who in my book was excellent all night, sent Klestjan in on goal only for a deflection to leave the Argentinian goalkeeper helplessly stranded, I almost ended up in the 2nd level.
We all leaned back in agony as a thunderstorm rolled over and the final whistle blew. Breaking a series of US corner kicks and counter attacks in each direction that opened up in time with the rain. It seems incredulous that we were left wanting more, with every belief the US could have walked off with a 1-0 victory against the world's best.
That will wait for another day. Instead, what thousands of fans trekking from all over witnessed was an exciting, if scoreless, game with a final 20 minutes I'll never forget., including one that claimed to have flown back from community building in Affrica early in order to catch the game, When under pouring rain and lightning, all of us USA fans were confident we could bring down Argentina.
The US National Team has shown twice over the past week and a half that it is still far from world class. It might be hard pressed to place in the top of the second tier of international soccer given its inability to score and troubles holding the ball in the central midfield.
Away results against England (2:0 loss) and Spain (1:0 loss) don't look so terrible in isolation. However, the a general impotence in the final third and epic battles to simply keep the scoreline low against top level competition are rather distressing.
If you're looking to get pretty hammered, just make a game where you have to drink:
- Every time a central midfielder commits a turnover - Anytime Eddie Johnson either turns the ball back or wastes a goalscoring opportunity - Whenever you think we only have ten men on the field because Josh Wolff can't be found - Every time Gooch takes someone down with a forearm shiver
In any event... moving on to the moment at hand. This Sunday the USA caps off what amounts to an impressive array of opponents for any team with Argentina at 7:30 pm in Giants Stadium.
I've never been (although I hear it is misrepresented and in fact located in the lovely state of New Jersey) and this will be my first men's national team game that I can remember (although it's possible I attended one years ago).
Honestly, as defeatist as it may sound, I don't expect a result from this game. But boy would I like to see a game where we don't play like we've conceded, like we think we can score and where the same tired bodies are out there in the same tired positions.
Will be on a bus at 7:45 in the morning from Arlington to hopefully catch the opening Euro games and try to update on the journey/game come Monday with pictures. May try to update Twitter during the trip.
Well... it's a shame I let the site fall into disrepair as I've had plenty to write about.
Let's run down:
Head Automatica at Longwood University First NASCAR experience - Richmond International Speedway First trip to Nationals Park Several DCU games (mostly disappointing) Trips to Rochester and Ithaca A new soccer coaching gig and...
One extreme storm that brought down power for more than 24 hours... and here we are.
As I've said many times before, I'm going to try and get this up and moving again with regularity that will hopefully start with a post on my travels to the upcoming USA/Argentina game at Giants Stadium and possibly a preview post.
In the meantime, any of you that use Twitter, my info is on the side. I'm currently obsessed, so please follow and waste more of my time.
