Hallelujah. We're finally playing Mexico in Mexico.
As much as I appreciate all the money we (or rather Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and the anointed venue) pick up by playing them States-side, I think we all know by now what happens when the U.S. plays Mexico on U.S. soil (let's just say two goals seem to get scored by one team).
To take this one step further, I want Mexico to host next year's Superliga. Hell, alternate the thing. I'm sure SUM can arrange the situation to see they keep getting their slice. Ditto with the CONCACAF Gold Cup: rotate that thing around the region to any country that can so much as sorta support the event. It gives the host country something to go nuts about and, judging by the stadium in a place like Puntarenas, it'll be pretty damned exotic in the right climes.
Here's the thing: it may be true that there are "no home games" for the U.S. Men's team (Yanquis) - and, it's possible that even Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs aren't the focus of adulation during the Superliga (can't say; haven't seen a friggin' game yet) - but the permanent home-field thing the Yanquis and MLS clubs have enjoyed in recent years won't make our players any tougher or better. Consider the, um, "challenging locales" in which we'll wind up playing as "quality multipliers" for our CONCACAF opposition; the sterner competition now won't hurt us later in any case.
And there's nothing wrong with sharing the wealth either...
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Showing posts with label CONCACAF Gold Cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CONCACAF Gold Cup. Show all posts
Top 5, 07.03: Rookie of the Year; + Copa, Scheduling Moaning
Maybe Monday will be my big day from here on out....
- Seeing Michael Harrington's name on the score sheet for KC yet again has me thinking about Rookie of the Year for some reason. There's Harrington, New England's Adam Cristman, arguably Robbie Findley...and....and...I'm sure there are other candidates out there. Anyone want to enlighten a lazy man?
- I'm happy to see that the annual complaining about MLS scheduling didn't end with last week's post. Like this guy, I'm almost going to be thankful when the U.S. Men return home from the Copa early...and then Superliga will start and ruin it all...and the World Series of Football will take it a step farther and render it all very, very stupid. Seriously, there's too much going on, too many competitions squatting on top of one another. Clear out the summer, front-office: I vote for fewer regular season games and a big, happy gap in the middle.
- Well, shit. Seeing as we're still in the Copa, and seeing as I can't see the games, I'll do my bit by passing on the latest edition of Ives Galarcep's speculative Copa America roster. But this one comes with a bonus:
I am so pleased I'm not the only one who notices the piece in bold...my god, I thought I was losing my mind....
- Turning to this summer's other earlier tournament, scaryice posted an interesting table (as he's wont to do) on Climbing the Ladder that shows the all-time records of teams participating in the Gold Cup. The existence of the imbalance - i.e. the U.S. and Mexico's far superior records - doesn't surprise nearly as much as the degree of that imbalance. What is the Gold Cup? The Premiership?
- I posted this down below, but feel like it needs further highlighting: dude, Chicago is a mess right now.
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- Seeing Michael Harrington's name on the score sheet for KC yet again has me thinking about Rookie of the Year for some reason. There's Harrington, New England's Adam Cristman, arguably Robbie Findley...and....and...I'm sure there are other candidates out there. Anyone want to enlighten a lazy man?
- I'm happy to see that the annual complaining about MLS scheduling didn't end with last week's post. Like this guy, I'm almost going to be thankful when the U.S. Men return home from the Copa early...and then Superliga will start and ruin it all...and the World Series of Football will take it a step farther and render it all very, very stupid. Seriously, there's too much going on, too many competitions squatting on top of one another. Clear out the summer, front-office: I vote for fewer regular season games and a big, happy gap in the middle.
- Well, shit. Seeing as we're still in the Copa, and seeing as I can't see the games, I'll do my bit by passing on the latest edition of Ives Galarcep's speculative Copa America roster. But this one comes with a bonus:
"There's something about seeing Johnson running at full speed through midfield that makes coaches powerless to drop him. A video montage of Johnson repeatedly stopping runs to deliver harmless back passes might help."
I am so pleased I'm not the only one who notices the piece in bold...my god, I thought I was losing my mind....
- Turning to this summer's other earlier tournament, scaryice posted an interesting table (as he's wont to do) on Climbing the Ladder that shows the all-time records of teams participating in the Gold Cup. The existence of the imbalance - i.e. the U.S. and Mexico's far superior records - doesn't surprise nearly as much as the degree of that imbalance. What is the Gold Cup? The Premiership?
- I posted this down below, but feel like it needs further highlighting: dude, Chicago is a mess right now.
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