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American Midfielders Starring in England: Dempsey, Spector, Holden

January 24, 2011 — by Suman

Stuart Holden...American idol?

American midfielders have been getting their shine on in England.  Clint Dempsey has been leading Fulham, Stuart Holden has been a mainstay for Bolton, and Jonathan Spector has been a surprise performer for West Ham.  Moreover, Jermaine Jones recently debuted for Blackburn on loan from Bundesliga club Schalke 04–and we may soon see Michael Bradley also make the move to the Premier League from the Bundesliga (where he plays for Borussia Moenchengladbach).  According to a Fox Soccer report, Sunderland is lining up a bid for Bradley (apparently spending some portion of that staggering £24m they got in return for letting striker Darren Bent go to Aston Villa).

We’ll get a chance to see Holden play this afternoon, as Bolton host Chelsea (3pm ET, ESPND & ESPN3.com).  Meanwhile, both Dempsey and Spector scored over the weekend for their sides.  In fact, Dempsey scored two for Fulham yesterday, giving him eight for the season (which makes him the 5th highest scoring midfielder in the league, behind Kevin Nolan, Tim Cahill, Samir Nasri and Rafael van der Vaart, and just outside the Top 10 scorers overall):

Video: PL Highlights: Fulham/Stoke

Meanwhile, Jonathan Spector scored for West Ham over the weekend against Everton (scoring on American goalkeeper Tim Howard); it was Spector’s first-ever Premier League goal–although he did cause quite a stir a couple months ago when he scored twice against Manchester United in a 4-0 Carling Cup victory for West Ham.

Video: PL Highlights: Everton/West Ham

United StatesVideo

USA 1 – 1 Chile

January 23, 2011 — by Sean

The USMNT played a friendly against La Roja yesterday evening, and snatched back a draw toward the end when Kansas City striker Teal Bunbury (born a Canuck, btw) converted a 75th minute penalty. We couldn’t tell you how the game was, or how the teams looked, but we can share the goal call from Telefutura. Also included here, the inevitable remix.

CommentaryUnited States

USA vs South Africa: Subplot Action

November 17, 2010 — by Sean — 1

Somma hopes to continue his goalscoring at Leeds with the national side.

Today’s friendly seems like a pretty straightforward affair, but what would sporting news be if we didn’t inflate pseudo controversy into “genuine” talking points? (The answer is legitimate journalists, but we’ll ignore that for now).

Hot in today’s news cycle is Davide Somma, who has been called up for the South African side, and who has vowed to “destroy” the US in today’s game. Why for, Davide? Seems the 25 yr-old Leeds player could’ve represented the USA through some quirk of birth, but was consistently overlooked by Bradley and the US coaching staff.

I wanted to play for them so badly and they ignored me. I want to destroy them and it feels good. I am so pumped up for this match.

Somma has only had two practices with Bafana Bafana, and admits he doesn’t know much about the US team he’s facing. Still, he’s ready to show US what we’re missing. Good luck out there, buddy, and keep it clean.

CommentaryUnited States

How to Attend to a Soccer Game: A Beginner’s Guide

August 19, 2010 — by Sean

As I watched the nearly sold-out USA v Brazil game, I was reminded of thoughts I’d had while watching the sold-out Red Bulls v Galaxy matchup: New Yorkers don’t know how to get to a soccer game on time. It’s obvious when you tune in to watch on TV and see over half the stadium empty for the first 15-20 mins. But don’t blame the fans entirely. Baseball, (American) Football, Basketball—our homespun sports are very forgiving to the tardy and have surely created a mindset that simply isn’t applicable to the footy.

I can’t be bothered to look up the actual statistics, but I imagine baseball games average 3 hours. Football always seems to take four, but I’m usually watching at home (pre&post-game etc.). Basketball seems like it moves along more quickly, but there’s still plenty of breaks in play to get up and refresh a drink or grab a bite.

Soccer isn’t like this at all. You can’t be fifteen minutes late for soccer, because then you’ve missed nearly 17% of the game, and it’s not coming back. You can barely get up at halftime to grab a drink before the play is back on. And I don’t know about you, but unless I have a beer somewhere within reach I’m not completely enjoying myself at a professional sporting event.

NewsUnited States

USA v Brazil through Brazilian Eyes

August 11, 2010 — by Sean

Last night’s friendly gave Brazil fans something to cheer about again. After Dunga’s stifling tactics robbed the Canarinha of their usual flair in South Africa, the country demanded the return of joga bonito. TV outlet Globo (the largest commercial television network of Latin America and the third largest in the world) recapped the game with a to-be-expected nationalistic slant. Huge thanks to Mark Gannon, our correspondent on the ground in Brazil, for the translations.

For the original article in Portuguese click over to globoesporte.


Football is joy!  New Brazil attacks with strength and beats the United States

In the first friendly of the Mano Menezes era, the Seleção won 2-0 in New Jersey.  Neymar and Alexandre Pato scored the goals in the win. By Leandro Canônico, Direct from New Jersey (Globo.com)

Speed, dribbling, “pedaladas,” joy… the ingredients that were missing from the Seleção are back.  At least in the first friendly of the Mano Menezes era it went that way.  Well-organized defensively and offensive like in the good times, Brazil didn’t have much work to beat the USA 2-0 on Tuesday.

New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, full of fans wearing yellow shirts had room even for shouts of “olé” for the canary-colored team with Paulo Henrique Ganso, Neymar, and Robinho on the field.  And that trio that shone at Santos in the first semester was still reinforced by Alexandre Pato.

CommentaryNewsTacticsUnited States

Tonight: USA v Brazil — em Nova Jersey

August 10, 2010 — by Suman

USA v Brasil - Aug 10, 2010 @ New Meadowlands Stadium

An exciting day here at CultFootball HQ, and more generally in the NYC metro area–if one is a soccer fan, and in particular a fan of the USMNT and/or the Seleção Brasileira, as the two national teams will be facing off this evening em Nova Jersey, i.e., in New Jersey–at the brand spanking New Meadowland Stadium.

Yours truly will be heading out soon to make the trip out to NJ for the game, and so I’d been planning to write up some sort of match preview–at the very least to acquaint myself with who’s going to be on the pitch tonight, in particular for the Brazilian team.  As has been widely reported, Brazil’s new coach Mano Menezes has chosen to bring along only 4 players who were on the squad that went to South Africa for the World Cup (Robinho, Thiago Silva, Ramires and Daniel Alves), and so the remainder of the roster will be players that most of us haven’t seen play before–though in the weeks since the WC ended, we have reported on tranfer news regarding two highly touted players that we should be seeing tonight, Ganso and Neymar.

DispatchesUnited States

Durban-June25-26

July 21, 2010 — by Larry

[We are still going back in time to experience Coach Larry’s trip]

The drive into Durban went easily enough, and we arrived at the hotel around lunch.  We walked down to the beachfront and enjoyed the warm weather.  A mile of sandy beaches with swimmers and surfers, sand sculptors, and a wide promenade separate

Me, Frings in the middle, and the other German from our Jo'burg rikki

the FIFA fanfest area in the south and gorgeous Moses Mabhida stadium on the north end.  The casino and its food court are also in the north, hosting the secondary fanfest sponsored by Hyundai.  Hey look its Frings, and we all enjoy bidding,  “Arrivederci , Italia!” though regretting we will not be enjoying a Netherlands v Italy second round match on the 28th.

We decide to utilize the main fanfest for the Brazil v Portugal crunch on the 25th.  After we enjoy our toes in the sand and a lovely walk around the beachfront, FIFA opens the gates two hours before the match.  We sample some local foods, though somehow miss the bunny chow as we opt for more sausages.  

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