Oly qualifying and other tidbits
USA vs. Cuba thoughts
So all 3 RSL players got the start in tonight’s match, along with Ianni, Freeman, Hill, Edu, Davies, McCarty, Jozy, and former RSL wunderflop Freddy Adu. Interesting to play Robbie in the midfield, this line up sure looks like it is designed to attack, and with a goal by Adu in the 13th minute it looked like it would be true. After about minute 30 Cuba started to exert some pressure and started controlling the midfield, and sure enough in the 43rd minute one gets by Seitz and we are tied at 1-1. Horrible defense by the US, lets hope the halftime adjustments can get some fire back under the US effort. The US and Cuba are both in Group A, along with Honduras and Panama, Group B features Mexico, Canada, Hati, and Guatemala. I imagine we will probably see Chivas boy Sasha Kljestan to help step up the attack early in the second half.
Wow did I have that right, Sasha comes in at the half and Jozy takes a seat on the bench. OK I have to go watch the match, I will update this after the second half is over.
Liverpool wraps up the group of 16 in the Champions league
Well could it be Liverpool’s turn to get another Champions League title? With AC Milan gone, and nothing else to play for in the Premier League, this might be the only chance for Rafa to keep his job safe. Whoever Liverpool faces in the next round, they will go into the first match without their captain Gerrard will miss the match due to cautions. So the final 8 will feature 4 Premier League sides (Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, and Chelsea), the other 4 teams will be Schalke, Roma, Barcelona, and Fenerbache, there could be some great match ups in the next round.
World Soccer Daily
So not sure if all of you know that you do not need Sirius to listen to the live broadcasts of the world soccer daily show (11-1 MST) you can use the listen link on their website (www.worldsoccerdaily.com) and join them live. I can’t say that I always agree with them, but they sure are the best daily review of worldwide soccer going on’s that I have found. So if Fox Football Fone-In isn’t enough for you, then here is a way to get your daily fix.
USA vs. Cuba 2nd half
Wow what a difference Sasha has made, the US is back to controlling the vast majority of possession and are getting plenty of shots, Cuba’s keeper is making some good saves. Well nothing found the back of the net so the final is a 1-1 draw, two things became very clear in the second half. First, the US can play controlling football, with some nice attacks and the second is that for the final 15 minutes the Cuban players dove, and dropped like flies, I know they are down a man on a horrible 2nd yellow. They are playing in Florida, but come on the people who live in the heat and high humidity are cramping up way too much for this to be real, didn’t see a single US player dropping with cramps and at least a half dozen Cuban players have. We need to finish, Robbie had a good shot, which he didn’t get much on early in the 2nd half, and another right before he was pulled out for Gaven. I also noticed that Freddy did not have the captains armband, did anyone see who had it, was Seitz the man with the armband?
OFF MY SOAPBOX
USA vs. Cuba the aftermath
So in their first match the Cuban team kept up with the USA team with a 1-1 draw, but after the match it seems that 5 cuban players decided that they wanted more of the USA, no not more of the match, but rather they seem to have defected. No offical word, but soccer know it all blogger Ives has posted the details (http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/03/five-cuban-play.html).
This entry was posted on March 11, 2008 at 9:15 pm and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.