After an exciting, unforgettable and fulfilling five weeks in South Africa, I am about to head back home to the United States.
Apologies in advance for not providing SBI readers with my wrap-up diary on the trip, but illness prevented me from doing it before I left. I'll have 16 hours to kill on the flight back so I think I'll be able to write then.
Since the World Cup is over, and since I haven't had time to do a live Q&A this week, I figured it was a good time to do an old-school Q&A. Submit your questions in the comments section below and I will answer the best of them later this week.
I also want to thank the SBI staff, who held things down while I was on the other side of the world. Thanks to Avi, Franco, Travis, Adam, Kurtis, Anthony, Mike and Jose for doing their thing and keeping SBI Readers in the loop on all things soccer.
Now, send your questions my way and I will answer them once I'm back home.
Dang it. Fouled up my html or something. Or maybe just can’t use the a href tag.
Anyways, google confirms, the USWNT scrimmages elite boys teams sometimes. E.g., they scrimmaged U-17s from Bayern Munich (no result given, but the implication was clear http://www.womensprosoccer.com/boston/news/general/091103-lepeilbet-recaps-germany), and have scrimmaged against ODP U-16s to lopsided losses. http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=929075
I’m know I’m in the minority on this issue, but I don’t think the “system” is the problem with US Soccer. The high school/AAU/college/pro team system works for all the other sports in the US dominates on the international level–basketball, baseball, track and field, swimming, etc. This system even works for women’s soccer. I’m not saying the system is perfect, but in my opinion, the main issue is the coaches in the “system”. The US doesn’t have enough elite coaches with soccer minds to coach kids from ages 6-18 to play an international style of soccer. Most coaches are dads who grew up playing baseball and football so they use that mentality to train kids. So those are my thoughts, what do you think is the most pressing issue for the US Soccer program and how can it be fixed?
Ives, what can we do to stop all the diving? Not only does it ruin the flow of the game but it also seems to be a big sticking point for people who aren’t yet fans of the (now not so) beautiful game. Any chance of handing out yellow cards after the game based on video replay? They can hand out red cards or fines for things refs miss, why not yellow cards for egregious diving offenses?
here and here (obvs neither are direct support of Alex’s claim; however, both support the notion that the USWNT is scrimmaging quality U-XX boys teams).
Also, Raymon’s comment is really dickish. The USWNT play well, and are a great credit to US soccer.
Ives, except for the final have you ever seen goalkeeping this bad in a World cup? And we can’t blame it on the ball.
Does Bob Bradley deserve to remain the USMNT coach? If not who should replace him?
No.
See Revs game.
Ok skeeter…easy with the tone jacka$$…
I guess you believe everything that you read in the papers. Good for you. Do you really think if Adu was wanted badly that a team would try to renegotiate him at lower fees? Trust me. He’s not wanted.
don’t bite Terrapin…it’s a patently false statement from Alex
They should play for it.
Fun question!! I hope ives picks it. And I hope we see some in-depth reported pieces from Ives or his stable on devlopment.
which dp other then henry has the biggest impact on the mls- branko, mista, nkufo or someone else
Any reason to think Spector won’t return to old form after some rest. I’ve been under the impression an entire year of playing between international and club play just wore him out, which led to mistakes and a loss in confidence. With all the injuries he’s had over the years, this really was his first full season.
+1 to this, I’m also curious as to who you see on the starting XI for Gold Cup 2011.
Ives has already said he expects Donovan to be captain in 2014.
Link or some other proof of this statement?
What was the name of the musical piece that was played at every game as the teams were walking out onto the pitch and also who was the artist?
Ha! The Italian over 30’s are busy preparing for the Euros!
He can raise his arm, like the referees do in hockey, or like a soccer ref does on indirect kicks until a second player touches the ball. That way, you know there’s a “delayed penalty” coming up. The team that was fouled can push everyone forward because as soon as the offending team touches the ball, play stops. Just a half-baked idea.
I’ve been wanting to know this. Probably a coin flip. I think the owners should arm wreastle for it. Maybe a front office tug of war?
Miami thrice, Dynasthree, El tri terible…
Please more on this Ives
With Edmonton becoming the 4th Canadian city to get a MLS/D2 team, who do you see being the 5th and when will it happen?
Ok, dreaming aside, are there any big businesses out there that MLS could sell league naming rights to? For example, Barclay’s Major League Soccer, or perhaps Google’s Major League Soccer? There have to be ways to cash in on the post world cup interest window here in the US, no?
Dream Scenario: Paul Allen creates a $1 billion endowment for MLS, producing, say, $50million in interest that the league could spend annually. If you were commissioner, what would you do with the windfall to improve, market, or solidify the league??
Do you have any info about the US v Poland friendly that is listed on the FIFA site for October, in NYC? Is it going to be a doubleheader with the NYRB game already scheduled for that day?
actually all of you are wrong.
The women’t team plays the u16 reserve boys team and loses every time. The women’s team’s level of play doesn’t even match that of our mens
Any news on where super jay is going?
Soccer could take a lot of lessons from hockey, really: an offside rule that actually makes logical sense… a penalty system that fits the punishment to the crime… two referees for an area about 1/4 as large as the area one soccer referee is somehow supposed to cover… video review…
The difference is that hockey’s governing body actually realizes that rules should have the purpose of making an entertaining, attractive and competitive sporting event, while soccer’s operates under a theory which differs from Papal Infallibility only in the subject matter.
Is there any chance that Tim Ream gets a callup for the USA-Brazil friendly in August?
Can you tell us anything about what is going on with Joseph Guyau (spelling) or Carlos Martinez or Charles Renken or any of the other exciting players from that US u17 team
Hey Ives,
You’re President of FIFA for a day. What’s the best way to stop the terrible diving (and the even worse acting) while still staying true to the game? Is there any place for some kind of replay or is more officials on the field the answer?
After your successful one day tenure you are hired for the same duration by US Soccer to be its president. Do you re-sign Bob Bradley or do you maybe try and call Klinsmen first?
LA is clearly the top team in MLS right now, thanks in large part to their depth. Do you think that this will allow them to be the first MLS team to make some serious noise in the CONCACAF Champions League this time around? Also, do you think Arena can continue to reload the roster given the amount of aging players (Lewis, Berhalter, Klein, Kirovski, etc.) or is this year “do or die” for their chances of silverware any time soon?
Who will get the first draft pick in 2011? Portland or Vancouver?
boo. hiss.
boo. hiss.
Assuming Jermaine Jones get healthy this year and earns his starting spot back at Schalke, does he partner with Bradley at the Gold Cup next year? Or do we just move on from him and grow the Bradley/Edu partnership (assuming thats our best pairing) for 2014?
+1
Howard overrated? You’re joking.
First off, I think rating keepers is like comparing apples and oranges and that there is simply no way to come up with a “top 5” or “best in the world” title for any position, especially goalies. (i.e. Is Victor Valdes better than Iker Casillas? depending on your criteria you could come up with each of them as being number 1 but how do you determine that?)
I personally think that there are a group of about 25 world class keepers that on any given day and any given season they trade off being hot or lukewarm, but it’s a group that takes years to establish membership in. I think you’d be hard pressed to say that Howard doesn’t belong in that company.
What resources and support are being extended to Claudio Reyna to really go after solving the youth player development problem in the US?
A website with coaching guides and a travel budget for Claudio to observe how European clubs do – doesn’t inspire confidence that the USSF is committed to urgently tackling the fundamental problem limiting our potential as a soccer nation.
A Keeper and more depth at central defense, hopefully Koscielny meshes well with Vermaelen.
Will Dempsey remain a Fulham player or does he look for a bigger club??
Will Jonathan Spector leave West Ham this summer?
maybe I can help with #1.
I read that he has been battling mono for 6 months and is having issues with his spleen. In order to be 100% safe, West Ham would not release him for the upcoming Milk Cup. Rongen said that Lletget was devastated not to be able to play and that USA fans shouldn’t worry about him not playing for the stars and stripes.
Sounds like we shouldn’t worry.
All things being equal 4-4-2 or 4-3-3?
Where is Clint going? What have you heard on Davies performance so far in his first games back?
+1
With Chamakh as an attacker, and Cesc probably staying put, along with Nasri, Robin v Persie, Arshavin, etc., what else do Arsenal need to improve on their #3 finish at EPL?
68 game round-robin!
(In all seriousness, there’s a practical limit of about 20 games for qualifying. The current system is about the only way that CONCACAF can do qualification in a manageable number of games and have USA-Mexico actually play each other without running a major risk of one of them not qualify. Not sure why they’d want to change that…)
How does that reduce the amount of diving if you don’t know the referee will blow his whistle? I would think it would make them roll around more, but then again I barely know the rules of hockey..
Can’t see anything like this ever going through, even in MLS or college soccer
In his QA from SA, Ives said that they did not get the ESPN coverage. So he prolly cant answer questions about the performances of Ruud, Alexi, Martin, Ian, Jurgen, John Harkes, etc. on ESPN/ABC.