US vs Poland Friendly in Chicago

I’ve never been a big fan of the city of Chicago — the traffic is horrible. But I am a fan of soccer. So, yesterday I made my way to the windy city to watch the US Men’s National Team take on Poland in a friendly.

This was the United States’ second friendly since the close of the World Cup in South Africa (the first being a 2-0 loss to Brazil), but only the first friendly since coach Bob Bradley was re-signed through the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Therefore it was the first somewhat meaningful match in the training period before the next World Cup. Going in, I had expected to see Coach Bradley experiment with different formations and available players. Also, Landon Donovan was not going to be available for the game, as he is with the LA Galaxy for the MLS playoffs.

As I took Chicago’s Red Line Train to the Roosevelt Station near Soldier Field, I was shocked at the number of Polish fans. As it turns out, there is quite a large Polish population in Chicago, and according to Wikipedia, “Chicago bills itself as the largest Polish city outside of Poland with approximately 1,100,000 people of Polish ethnicity in the Chicago metropolitan area.” It was almost an away game for the US team, as there was a very strong showing for Polska.

Before the game, retiring US striker Brian McBride was honored for his career contributions to the sport. He was the first overall pick in the initial MLS draft, going to the Columbus Crew. He later played for Fulham and the Chicago Fire. I remember him best from the bloody face he received in the game against Italy in the 2006 World Cup. He was my favorite player for a number of years, and he has truly done some great things for American soccer. I had hoped he would be on the roster for this game, and brought on as a late substitute to give him one final international appearance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be. At least he was recognized.

The game was exciting from start to finish. You can read recaps of the game on ESPN or Fox Sports, or whatever you prefer. That isn’t the intent of this post. But the game was really fantastic. I’m glad I went. The US team has a lot of work to do, though. Some random thoughts and then some pictures below.

• I was very surprised to not see Eric Lichaj come on as a substitute in his home town for his first cap.
• Cherundolo and Bocanegra are great. But they’re not getting any younger. Who will be there to replace them?
• Oguchi Onyewu had some great moments, but also so horrible ones (like the failed clearance that led to Poland’s first goal).
• Maurice Edu might end up being a decent defender.
• Jermaine Jones looked good, and may be the answer in the middle.
• I don’t understand why Benny Feilhaber was subbed out. He wasn’t fantastic, but he seemed better than Alejandro Bedoya, who I didn’t even really notice on the field.
• Stuart Holden looked really good. I think he has a bright future for the USMNT.
• Jozy Altidore finally scored, but he should have had more than just the one goal.
• Is moving Clint Dempsey to striker the way to get Altidore a reliable partner up front? I don’t know. It might be. He had a great game, despite the ugly black eye he picked up playing for Fulham.

The pictures were taken from Section 131, Row 1, Seat 10, in case anyone is curious. And it was actually the front row (I always wonder when I buy tickets what the view might look like).

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The Cleveland Browns Biggest Issue? Eric Mangini.

I realize it’s only the first game of the year. I won’t go so far as to say I had high hopes coming into the season, but it seemed to me that things were getting better. Jake Delhomme is obviously on the downside of his career, but he provides a good veteran presence, if nothing else.

In the first half, I saw a lot of things to like as Cleveland took an early 14-3 lead in one of their most winnable games on the schedule this year. And then Jake Delhomme hurt his foot.

I’m not sure what he did to his foot, exactly, but it was obviously hurting him. He was limping around. He wasn’t stepping into his throws at all, leading to him trying to whip the ball on arm-strength alone, which of course led to poor throws.

Fine, let him keep trying. He throws a bad pick, and the Bucs come back to bring the score to 14-10 at the half. I’m thinking to myself that the Browns will obviously take a closer look at Delhomme during the half and notice his foot problem. Clearly they’ll bring in Seneca Wallace and feature more of a Flash/Cyclone package power running game much like the end of last season when the Browns managed to win several to close out the year.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. Eric Mangini kept a gimpy Jake Delhomme in the game, and proceeded to have one decent drive followed by five 3 and outs. Five! And it was obvious that Delhomme was hurting. Sure, Peyton Hillis was having some issues holding onto the football. I can understand being concerned about feeding him the ball. But what about Jerome Harrison? He had only 9 carries. What about Josh Cribbs? He ended the game with 3 whole carries out of the Flash package, and I didn’t even see him lining up at wide receiver until the fourth quarter. Where was Seneca Wallace? Lining up at wide receiver a couple times on the four or five Flash plays that were called?

I realize I’m sounding a bit like an armchair quarterback here, but there is absolutely no reason the Browns should have lost this game. Mike Holmgren needs to admit he made a mistake in retaining Eric Mangini and start his search for a new coach.

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MLS and the Columbus Crew

A couple weeks ago, on August 28th, 2010, I traveled down to Columbus to watch the Columbus Crew take on FC Dallas. For those who don’t know, those are soccer teams of the US soccer league, Major League Soccer. I had fully intended to post this the night of or the day after the game, but life went and got in the way. My apologies. I seem to have a serious issue with timeliness on my blog posts.

Since the World Cup this year in South Africa, soccer has been a bit more on the general radar of Americans than usual. Of course, it still lags horribly behind other more popular American sports. ESPN is really letting me down here. They have a soccer section on their website, but they don’t regularly follow the MLS, reporting only on bigger games (such as yesterday’s game between the LA Galaxy and the Crew), and games which feature America’s soccer sweetheart — Landon Donovan.

Any way, back to the game I mean to talk about. FC Dallas came to Crew Stadium in Columbus, and I managed to pick up some pretty good tickets. The game itself was a bit lackluster, though. Neither team really seemed to be playing for the win, with both teams resting some starters. I can’t say I blame them, as the game fell in between a CONCACAF game and a MLS Open Cup game for the Crew. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself watching the Crew draw with FC Dallas 0-0. I look forward to getting back down to Columbus for a more meaningful game some time.

If you care to read through a recap of the game, there is one here at MLSSoccer.com.

Check out a few of the better pictures we got down in Columbus below. If anyone is curious, these were taken from Section 127, Row 5.

Make sure you get out to a game! It’s a really family friendly experience, so bring the kids along.

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