First off, THANK YOU to everyone for contributing to our first poll! With a couple hundred (now at ~400) more votes/suggestions on our poll, we’ve made further changes.
As we said before, the US Men’s team is without a nickname and we are working to find one that sticks. In order to keep up with our growing community, we’ve introduced a system of relegation/promotion for votable names. The latest names to be relegated were “New Boots” and “Independence”. Newly added are “The United” and “Stars”. Since I made the changes this morning, there have already been several votes for each of the new names.
If you have another name in mind, please submit. We can make history! Feel free to get creative. Just know that we’ve already dismissed the following…
The Pussycat Dolls
The Hamburgers
The Ponzies
The Nukes
The Bald Eagles
The Clan
PS: There has been some discussion about the pre-existence of “The Yanks” as a team nickname. This is not entirely true. The name was popularized by the English a while back and it may, if we so chose, be adopted by actual USMNT supporters as the official name. Some people have argued that the name is self-deprecating, while others see it as a perfect fit. You may notice that votes are fairly even at this point. We will tally all votes at the end of January, followed by one final set of changes. Two will be voted off, and two will be added. Our hope is to have a name chosen by the end of February so that we can get official shirts printed as we head into spring.
Thank you for your votes, suggestions, and comments!
At a Liverpool Press conference, the Spanish striker expressed a bit of frustration with Spain’s loss to the US this past summer.
“They beat us in the Confederations Cup and it was, I think, not the real thing…we had 27 shots on target but we couldn’t score.”
NOT THE REAL THING!? Them’s fightin words.
Wait a second. When a Spanish striker (possibly the best in the world) can’t get over a loss, something is up. We got under their skin. If we make it out of our group in South Africa, there’s a good chance that we’ll have an early shot at Spain. We’ll be ready.
photo credit: Getty Images/linked from Yahoo Soccer
Looking toward his June 12th opener against the US Men’s team, Wayne Rooney regards US internationals Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan as two world-class competitors who will give England a run for their money.
In 1950, the US squad became the first team ever to beat England in World Cup competition. A win for the US in June would be an equally massive upset. We’re dealing with the most gifted (and cohesive) English squad in decades. While critics accuse the Brits of always expecting to win the World Cup, they seem to be making a fairly convincing argument this time around. Rooney is scary. Defoe is scary. Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, etc etc…
To USMNT’s credit, the world watched us take a fully-stacked Spain to pieces in the Confederations Cup. We have finally achieved wild card status. If we can beat Algeria and Slovenia and lose to England, we face Germany in the round of 16. If we beat all three teams, we have the pleasure of facing a second place finisher in the round of 16. I digress. Our primary goal at the moment is getting Onyewu and Davies (and Jermaine Jones, perhaps?) back to 100% fitness.
Rooney is being a gentleman. He may not be doing any nut-stomping in South Africa, but he is a scrapper for life. Check out this vid from March.
This is great news for the USA. Opening match for the group is June 12th – US vs England. The word cup kicks off in Soccer City Stadium – Mexico vs South Africa June 11th.
Charlie Davies was catapulted onto the global football scene in ‘08 with critical goals scored throughout international competition. A stellar qualifying run was cut short on October 13th, 2009, when a car crash left Davies in critical condition. Another passenger lost her life.
Since being released from the hospital in November, Davies has been at a rehab facility in Delaware, working to regain his strength. A badly broken leg, a broken elbow, and a lacerated bladder could have easily taken him out of the game for life, though Charlie is hell-bent on getting back in the game. In an interview with ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap, scheduled to air on December 4th, Davies makes clear that he intends to play in South Africa.
We also learned that Davies has been training with teammate Oguchi Onyewu (also injured) at the same Delaware facility. If these guys can get fit, the US squad will have a fighting chance.
ONELOVE salutes Charlie Davies on making a remarkable recovery. Keep up the hard work!
Here is a glimpse inside the venue for next year’s World Cup final. Situated in between Soweto and Johannesburg, Soccer City stadium is South Africa’s largest sporting arena.
John Delaney, head of the Football Association of Ireland, is formally requesting (demanding) that Wednesday’s qualifier with France be replayed. Now that Theirry Henry has admitted to handling the ball, this may present an opportunity for some reform in world soccer policy. In all fairness, the Irish deserve a replay. France would probably still win, but it wouldn’t hurt either side to do so.
And what does this suggest about the future of in-game video playbacks? In soccer, the ref is god. He is responsible for keeping the game moving, for maintaining a level of fair play, and ultimately ensuring the safety of fans and players. If FIFA introduces camera playback into games, gameplay will be less fluid and the ref will take a back seat to technology. Playback works much better in sports like rugby and American football, where success can be measured out in smaller increments. But in soccer, breaking the flow of play could take the energy out of a game. We support FIFA’s idea to bring 2 extra ref’s into the mix. Until that change happens, why not have a replay?
Uruguay is a country of 3.5 million people though, somehow, they have won as many World Cups as Argentina. Today’s qualifying win (a tie actually) over Costa Rica put the once-revered national squad back on the map. Forlan and Lugano brought their best while River Plate standout Sebastian Abreu was responsible for the team’s much-needed goal.
This is Uruguay’s first time back to the finals since being eliminated in the first round in 2002.
