Cardiac Arrest: US U-20's 1-2 Austria

My heart is still pounding. I can't believe how disappointed I am. This loss destroys quite a bit of positive momentum surrounding the US U-20 squad.

Here's the only thing I can figure about this game: Austria made a brilliant substitution and Rongen failed the world with his. The US pressed and pressed and should have finished, but the clock ran out and every chance was squandered.

Seitz put in a hero's performance, injured and playing through the rain, but in the end the conditions proved to much even for him and the Austrians slipped through. Adu and Bradley were just as tenacious.

Wallace really did a disservice to the squad, getting himself ejected like that. As a young player I hope he takes this as a grand and costly lesson: it's easy to slip on wet grass and just as easy to fould, but a red card can seal fate. And there is no exaggeration about that. Otherwise, Wallace is one of my favorites and played really well throughout the tournament.

A lot of them did. Altidore, Bradley, Adu, Seitz, Zizzo, Szetela, Rogers, Sturgis, Valentin... The whole damn lot of them made a lot of people proud. Don't hang your heads, boys. This U-20 squad had class and chemistry, flair, finesse, perseverance... It's like the whole team had one pulse. The squad had everything you'd want a champion side to have. They really could have gone on to win the whole thing, I would think.

Good luck and f*ck off, Austria.

Time to walk away, Gringuitos.

Other notes:
--------------

- McCarty has a long way to go to become competitive on the world stage. (Ives agrees.)

- Adu stayed surprisingly consistent throughout the tournament.

- McCarty on for Szetela? I sincerely hope Rongen knows something I don't. (Apparently not.) - I'd rank Bradley, Seitz and Adu in first place for positive contributions on the pitch. Rogers, Zizzo, Altidore and Szetela I'd place second, with Wallace and Sturgis third. After this match, though, Wallace should have a lot on his conscience.

- ESPNU need to do something abot their damn scoreboard. That's ridiculous.

- Did a single one of Beltran's crosses come off? I think a few games ago I called him an offensive woe; now I think he's just offensive. I really don't have much respect right now for the way he plays.

- People will make the case that Altidore doesn't have world-class ball skills or an eye for the perfect pass, and justifiably so, but he has stunning composure and a first-class finishing touch, which, considering the qualities and deficits of US soccer today, I would estimate as infinitely more valuable.

- "Every touch he's had on the ball, Adu, has been a quality touch." - ESPNU commentator - I really don't know what to say about the refereeing this tournament. Probably something critical, if I could phrase it.

- Okotie is Austria's lovechild. A real Bavarian Messi, I'd say.

- The conditions today were a keeper's nightmare. The US U-20 program owes Chris Seitz a debt of gratitude.

- Some of these yellows were deserved, but I really wish referees around the world would learn from the refereeing in WC2006, US vs. ITA. Too many yellows will degrade a game completely and foster, rather than curb, animosity between teams. Or how about Portugal vs. Netherlands: too many yellows will remove a team from the tournament by dint of suspending all their key players for the proceeding match.

- I'm still considering whether US soccer has been an overall sucess or failure this summer. To be honest, I'm squarely undecided.

---------

I'll be back later for FC Dallas @ DC United.

I Actually Didn't Want to Post Tonight...

... but I'm realizing that in this fickle game we call blogging, one day missed is all it takes to fall greivously behind.

So, without further ado, here's a summary of today's news:

- No Open Cup glory this year, either: the Harrisburg City Islanders defeated DC United reserves 1-0. (Anyone else find the phrase "City Islanders" funny?) Here's D and BDR for good measure.

- Goff says that Namoff still looks injured, but Kpene looks like he might be ready come Saturday.

- @ Chelsea FC: Boulahrouz is gone. Alves might be coming.

- Uruguay's U-20's are just as sore as their senior MNT.

- Another Yank abroad? Dutch side HFC Haarlem is auditioning U-SanFran product Conor William Chinn.

- No, I'm sorry, but Eddie Johnson won't be heading to Derby County in the fall.

- Another gem from MLS Underground: Altidore, not Wolyniec, is drawing interest from Celtic.

- Orgasmical: Leo Messi continues to seduce the world.

- Beckham is coming. He'll be on vacation through the weekend, but after that, he's all ours.

And that about sums it up. I don't know how duNord does it so often.

Good night.

S.Y.N. And the Half-Assed Recap: US U-20's 2-1 Uruguay

I left to see a movie about sixty minutes in, so I don't have much to post here. I'll give it to you, but that was an ugly win so I think the less said, the better.

Who had a good game? Szetela continues to show well, Zizzo continues to impress, and Freddy was more than decent. That said, my bid for Man of the Match goes to Bradley as he (and sometimes he alone) kept the team in it through the finish. It's appropriate that he notched the go-ahead goal. You can tell that he's senior-squad quality.

Other notes:

- Wallace is solid.

- Altidore got cleated.

- The ref is whistle-happy.

- Beltran is having a better game than the one versus Brazil.

- It's amazing to see that the whole team is distracted in Seitz' absence. I'm sorry to say that Perk is giving folks a scare.

- Furthermore, the defense doesn't respect Perk like they do Seitz. There's a lot of miscommunication. I can tell at this point that Perk is a technically solid keeper, but I hope he is more confident than he looks.

- Neither team has had a solid shot on goal by the end of the first half.

- Akpan over Ferrari? Wtf? Did Ferrari do something to piss Rongen off or what? I'm dreaming up theories why Ferrari hasn't seen a single damn minute yet this tournament. The best I can come up with is that Rongen anticipates Altidore growing more fatigued as the tournament progresses and wants Ferrari as fresh as possible so that he can start over Altidore in the latter stages. Otherwise I'm thinking that Ferrari is already established with a European club whereas McCarty and Akpan aren't and Rongen wants the world to give them a look. Otherwise, WHAT THE F*CK GIVES???? (I missed it! Ferrari got some minutes and I missed it! Ives says he was fairly mediocre, though.)

- McCarty for Zizzo? I'm just as baffled. Rongen needs to start defending himself during the post-game interviews because these substitutions are inexcusable.

Setiz Out v. Uruguay!

It's just as I feared: Seitz won't be playing against Uruguay. Ives is pegging Perk for the start. I hope the kid has been good in practice, because Seitz has been phenomenal on the pitch. This strikes a bit of fear in my heart.

The only solace I have is that Seitz wasn't kept out of the match by the knock he picked up during the game v. Brazil. Apparently he was injured in practice. Here's to hoping it's mild and he'll recover soon.

And here's to hoping Perk makes a name for himself.

Pour les francophones:

Bien, j'apprecie que tout le monde peut voir mes mots, alors... Je parle un peu (pardon, un peu mal) le francais et si vous voudriez commenter, je l'appreciais bien. Merci.

Sorry to disappoint...

... but I don't think I'll be able to catch the U-20 match v. Uruguay tonight. That's not to say I won't watch the highlights or read the recaps, and I'm even toying with the idea of ignorning the thing completely until I can get my hands on a game torrent, but for tonight at least I'll be attending other matters.

Hope it's a good one anyways.

Update: nevermind, plans changed. I'll be right here singing the US' praises tonight.

Chris Seitz Interviewed

USSoccer.com (along with Center Circle & Studio90) tends to deviate sometimes from being the mouthpiece of US Soccer Federation to the lowdown, player-access type website you would expect from a club team. I really like that.

Recently they've come up with an interview with US U-20 and senior MNT hopeful, Chris Seitz. Spectacular kid, one of the gems against Brazil, and one of the few players whom I would personally select as a soccer ambassador from my nation to the footballing world at large.

What I found most interesting:

'CC: How did it feel to be named Man of the Match against South Korea?

CS: “Well, when I’m named Man of the Match that means that the guys in front of me didn’t play their best game. I hope we don’t have to face that situation again, where I have to come up with some saves. But, that did happen and I have to be ready for those kinds of games, too.”'

He speaks the truth.

Enjoy.

(And when you're done, there's this gem, culled from the US U-20 blog:

"Sunday, July 8 @ 7:45 p.m. Right as dinner started tonight, Thomas threw a bit of a curve ball at the guys asking them to go around and give one word that describes the team. Twenty-one players and twenty-one different answers, including ‘desire,’ ‘fight,’ ‘family,’ ‘heart,’ ‘friendship,’ ‘confidence’ and…ah, not sure we can repeat one of the answers, but a synonym is courage and it rhymes with ‘halls.’ "

Glad to see they're getting along fine.

Enjoy.)