Good call you two - IcyHot and DeadHead. Y'all are dead on. I play in a semi-competetive outdoor league and an extremely competetive indoor league here in Knoxville. The difficult league is absolutely dominated by anyone that is not American. What I mean is that almost every guy in the league has lots of talent; however, it's almost a rule of thumb that the one guy out of twelve from Italy, Mexico, S. America, etc... will score the majority of the goals. The Americans have great skill with headers, defense, even passing. But, the guys that do all the scoring are the ones that are not afraid to possess the ball and *gasp* make a move on somebody.
In the US, kids go outside and play catch or throw a football around, but they rarely stand around for hours on end playing with a soccer ball. That is a generalization, but fairly true. Having spent much time in soccer-as-the-the-only-sport countries, I have seen children at a young age playing in the streets with soccer balls for hours. That is where/how you develop those amazing ball-handling skills you see see in the Ronaldinhos of the world. The US has its advantages in soccer - speed, size, and simply that we have a very large pool of athletes to chose from compared to most other countries (based on population). Just my opinion...
I volunteered for the Texans/Reliant and had the opportunity to watch the game from field level. I must say the energy and atmosphere were unlike anything I've ever experienced. I had goosebumps for 2 hours straight. I can't imagine what a champions league or world cup match would be like. As for the game itself... - Moor and Corrales were in over their heads. It's clear the marking on set pieces was poor and they continuously got beat down the wings; fortunately Mexico couldn't finish. - Howard's still a stud - The US got beat bad by Mexico's speed/skill; Gio and co. will only compound the issue. - Mexico got beat down by US' size and strength (the officiating bailed them out several times); Jozy will only compound that issue (he towered over the defense). - Freddy got comfortable and showed some good skill after a few bad touches to start his night. - M. Bradley struggled in the second half after a fair start - I missed Beasley big time, Convey could not get involved. Overall a good match IMO. Glad to see B. Bradley let some young guys get quality time in a high profile match. Thrilled to see Jozy get the full 90 and tally his first goal of what should be many. 18 years old. Pinch me. sg
