To read Mar. 30, 2007 Edition, Click here

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The US plays a different game. They look at their International Friendly fixtures as the arena to pick up FIFA Federation pts. Since their tournament play leaves a lot to be desired, the Americans look like no other team, with victory always surpassing obvious inconsistencies.

Yet, still the score line reads 3-1 the US, so Uncle Sam’s stands content that we are gaining in strides. Remember it’s an opening win to a build up that leads to the big one. Well unfortunately it’s our inability to see our program in the distance that gets lost in the immediate haze of sub-meaningful matches.    

Having said that, you would still expect Ecuador to play with more desire in front of a heavy away faithful at the Pirate Zone in Tampa, as they played as if it was their first day back from a European vacation—just returned. True, though many of their power players were not around, it wasn’t as if the Americans had the same luxury.

Thankfully for the US, Landon Donovan showed some of that star-dust he will be hoping to find form with in the prospect of playing along side of Beck-stars in LA. From his astonishing opening minute strike to his 2 game killing goals, Donovan showed the ruthlessness in front of goal, that if found more consistently would keep him more familiar with the likes of Ronaldinho, Kuranyi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni, Gerrard, etc. (all also multi-goal scorers at the International break!)

The Ecuadorians were content to represent their individual ability; however, they never really looked like scoring and lacked any incentive or inspiration to really get it done in the final third.

If Clint Dempsey or “Wing-foot” Demarcus were sharper, then the uninspiring midfield fulcrum of young Hispelgier and Baby Bradley might not have seemed so absurd. I guess the oversea academy systems are good breeding grounds for the affluent American soccer world.  See you against Guatemala!

The title should actually be Liverstinks vs. Arsecrud. Yes, the highly touted match up of years gone past is coming around this weekend; however, with Arsenal having a, shall we say, “A stinker this year,” and Liverpool finally finding an array of characters that might keep them in the limelight, circa the 80s, where Candy was written across there chests, literally, the game just doesn’t have the same appeal.

Liverpool, while having extraordinary success at the International Stage in the last few years, has been the whipping boys of the good Premiership teams.  I can’t comment on their style in the 80s, but Liverpool has been more like “Liverstinks” since then. Now with Kuyt, and The Android himself Peter Crouch, they are making a push for the next level. You don’t have to like Liverpool, but they still might hurt ya.

Arsenal F.C. is on the downslide since two years ago when they went undefeated and were appropriately named “The Invincibles.” That was before the regime of Jose Morinho and the Chelsea Berzerkers.

If you speak to an Arsenal fan, they might have their resent troubles chalked up to bringing in a fresher, younger team and a new stadium. Those things might be occurring right now, but it just could be up to a Supreme Commander that grew tired of winning with the new stadium in their sites.

So Wenger went with it and let his team get demolished along with Highbury. Wenger is calculating for the future, so he let Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires go and is trying to build some youngsters that can carry the name of Arsenal higher and farther, hoping they will come good in the Arsenal tradition.

Well the Emirates is now home, and the youngsters are settling in right into the team that is going to knock their block off. Rafael Benitez, does not go down without controversy, so Liverpool will either be destroyed as Arsenal Air flies over, or a Bellamy sting will have the little ones swatting at air.

In whichever case, I might not be as interested because, I think Real Madrid might be making a move por la Corona (for the Crown). They play Celta de Vigo on Sunday.

Something that does compel me to tune in to see Arsecrud is that last time they met up with Liverstinks this year, it was a 6-3 game with “The Beast” finding Arsenal Form.

Good Luck to anyone watching European games this weekend. Roma also plays Milan, with Inter vs. Parma.

To read Mar. 24, 2007 Edition, Click here

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International Soccer is coming to Tampa, FL this weekend Sunday when the US Men’s National Team take on Ecuador as Uncle Sam’s Army (as well as the team) begins its buildup for this summer’s tournaments.

Usually an International Friendly is time to give new faces a chance to play at the highest level; however, as Ecuador is also participating in the Copa America this summer, the game on Sunday takes on a different light as each team will be looking to establish the momentum and roster to carry them through.

You can expect the game to be a physical contest as the Americans will look to disrupt a speedy and skillful side in Ecuador (if judging from their recent World Cup performances in Germany). Ecuador will not be as pressed to “win” as the US, so look for the Ecuadorians to rely more on their skill than their work ethic, which could play into the hands of the Americans (as it usually does).

It will be interesting to see the defensive lineup for Bob Bradley, who will be making changes due to the retiring faction of US players. For the Americans, this is obviously a time to challenge the waters and solidify a spot that usually has already been groomed and engrained for untouchables.

However, I think every US Soccer fan will have it wrong if we only focus on the narrow view of a win on Sunday. Really we should be asking ourselves if the leadership from the top down has what it takes to raise our slipping level.

It would seem almost impossible now to name a new coach to the fold as we are only a few months away from tournament play. It looks like Bradley will have to weather the storm.

Portugal’s recent relative successes in both Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 looks destined to lose steam in light of their present struggles in Group A of the Euro 2008 Qualifications.

Currently, Portugal sits in 4th Place on 7 pts., behind Finland (11), Serbia (10), and Poland (10) going into the International brace of matches, beginning this weekend Saturday and continuing through the following week (Wednesday, March 28th).

With the era of Rui Costa and Figo finally played through, Portugal’s National Side is obviously going through some growing pains as their current form in the Euros suggests. Is Big Phil perhaps losing his touch with the program and bored with the current crop of talent? Or are players just not performing at required levels?

With players, however, like Christian Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma operating like wildfire on the wing for their club sides, it’s a shame that Portugal cannot benefit from such raw, wide play. Throw in the mix players like Deco, Sabrosa, Andrade, and Carvalho, and it’s a wonder why they haven’t been more productive in their Euro outings.

It will be interesting to see who Phil allows to run up front (thanks for retiring, Pauleta). Hopefully, he will go back to a traditional 4-4-2 as the one striker system of previous tournaments has shown to be futile in the end. If he opts for Helder Postiga, as the new Pauleta, and allows him to operate alone at the top it could be a lonely and frustrating week of football.

It doesn’t get any easier this stretch with matches against Belgium (Saturday, March 24th) and Serbia (Wednesday, 28th). Portugal hosts Belgium, who sits level on points with Portugal in 5th Spot, before traveling to Crvena Zvezda Stadium to try and turn the tables on 2nd Place Serbia.

Poland, on the other hand, actually has the best opportunity of Group A play when they host both Azerbaijan and Armenia who have only been able to scratch up 2 pts. between them. Only playing one fixture this time around, Finland at least has the advantage of also playing Azerbaijan on Wednesday to keep pace.

Cruz Azul faced Group 2 mid-table side San Luis on the road with the onus of taking 3 pts. and stretching their lead over Guadalajara at the top of Group 1.

With striker Borguetti consigned to a substitute role, it was difficult to see where the goals were going to come from for the Blue Cross. In a drab, holding game, both teams had seemed to play each other square when a San Luis midfielder was rewarded for his energy and straight drive dribbling.

Irenio Soares picked up the ball in midfield and drove straight at a pedantery Cruz Defense and slotted into an empty net, after surging into the penalty area and finishing off a richote, from off the keeper, who acted as the vacant center back and tried to step-up and stop the danger.

Cruz Azul were punished again this time by the forward Sebastian Pereira who added the security goal as the machine tried to push forward for the leveler,

Luckily for Cruz Azul, Chivas was also defeated (1-0) at the weekend by America, who rebounded strongly after their defeat at the hands of Monterrey last week.

In another tight match, the veteran German Villa flashed into the area to head past the keeper a ball that was played a 1st time volley back across the box by forward Salvador Cabanas. Considering the quality of the cross that set up the goal, America were rightful winners, and were rewarded themselves, as they reclaimed top spot (though level on pts. with Tigres) in Group 3.

Having not played the last two rounds, Pachuca is still the leader in Group 2 with the advantage of having 2 games in hand.

One of the greatest movements in soccer is watching a sweeping attacking move, or a fluid interchange in the midfield, that ends up at the feet of a crosser who plays a tantalizing ball that is finished for a goal. Ka-ching! Thank you very much.

Of course it takes time to become an important piece of the well oiled engine, called the attack, that produces such stunning goals; however, it is never too early to bring the technique of crossing into young minds and bodies of the game.

It is a very difficult task to go from running (usually at full speed) straight down the field, on the outside, to turning and passing in front of goal. It takes years of practice for many and many repetitions in each practice to be automatic when you cross. The repetition builds, and the ability to be automatic when you cross is called muscle memory. Remember it! You will hear that word again, in these newsletters and on the field.

If you are just beginning crossing, your first tip is to take a good preparation touch before that final ball in. Instead of just touching the ball straight down the field and then turning your leg and body sideways to hit the ball across, touch the ball in toward the goal just a bit. This will make it easy for you to push the ball across the mouth of the goal. Your body will not have to turn so dramatically.

Half the work of turning is almost done. Now, you can focus on making sure that ball makes it to its target, which should have destination: “back of the net” in his sights.

If you have that little tip down, time to throw a monkey wrench in your works. Who is the Monkey Wrench? A defender trying to stop you. Yes, as if crossing wasn’t difficult enough, people are trying to mess you up at the same time. So make sure you burn them early, so you have a little space to make that angled touch.

Now burning these defenders are not the topic of this article, and I think working on your crossing approach is enough for this month. So next month, we will continue with the crossing theme in Crossing Part 2 - Devilishly Accurate.

If you would like some tips on burning defenders, or want to finish learning about the skill of crosses today, go to Virtual Soccer Trainer and 6 Minute Soccer Skills, so you can speed up the return on the success of your crosses.

Give yourself or your players the audio/visual opportunity to view the techniques and hear the topics explanations to give them a better understanding of what it takes to deliver goal studded crosses.

Click here to view and hear the drills and drill topics of Crossing!

Chelsea came into its Quarterfinal replay against Tottenham with a slight reshuffle to its traditional power lineup on Monday.

Jose Mourinho tinkered with his squad tactic at an unpredictable moment and reaped the dividends by orchestrating probably what has been Chelsea’s best team performance this season.

With the two teams nil at halftime, Chelsea exploded in the 2nd half with two superb, breathtaking goals that all but gutted the Tottenham spirit that in truth had pressed and asked questions of Chelsea before the thunderbolts fell from the sky.

What turned out to be the true stroke of genius was giving Wright-Phillips the license and belief that he could pull the strings from a central midfield position. With the ex-Man. City winger operating away from his accepted role, Jose just might have unveiled England’s best central midfielder.

At least today, his quickness and mobility was enough to silence White Hart Lane. His first contribution was laying off and setting up for a wonder strike by Shevchenko in the 55th min. Even “The Drogba” stood mesmerized in disbelief as Sheva finally showed his master-class by hitting a left-footed bullet that curled into the back post upper 90.

Shaun Wright-Phillips finished what he started in the 61st min. by hitting an excellent volley again past Paul Robinson to the back post—“The Drogba” assisting with a set-up chester in the penalty area.

Spurs striker Robbie Keane pulled one goal back in the 79th min. from the penalty spot, but only to stop the bleeding as the damaged had already been done.

Next up is the Semifinal match against Blackburn on Saturday, April 14th. Hopefully, the resolute and stingy defense of Mark Hughes’ men won’t entice Mourinho to settle back into the Chelsea power surge.

To read Mar. 16, 2007 Edition, Click here

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