Live The Pitch

The U.S. Under 20 Men defeated hosts Northern Ireland 3-0 in the final of the 2010 Milk Cup. The Milk Cup is widely regarded as the top youth tournament in the world. This is a great accomplishment for the boys as they went 3-0 and played a great style of soccer.

Head coach Thomas Rongen put together a great group of players that look to have a great future as this is only the 2nd time they have won this tournament. The last in 2005, was led by Charlie Davies and Dax McCarty. Gale Agbossoumonde, Juan Agudelo, and Adrian Ruelas each scored brilliant goals to lead the U.S. to the championship.

The new era of Brazilian soccer will begin when Brazil faces off with the United States on August 10 at the new Giants Stadium.  New Brazilian manager Mano Menezes has named his 23 man roster that will make the trip to New Jersey.

Menezes will take this opportunity to give his younger players a chance to impress.  The Brazilian roster will only include 4 players from the World Cup Squad.

Bob Bradley has not  announced his roster yet, but look for him to include most of the roster that participated in the World Cup.

Brazil Roster:

Goalkeepers-Jeferson , Renan, Victor

Defenders-André Santos, Daniel Alves, David Luís , Henrique, Marcelo, Rafael , Rever , Thiago Silva

Midfielders-Carlos Eduardo, Ederson, Hernanes, Jucilei, Lucas, Paulo Henrique Ganso, Ramires, Sandro

Forwards-Alexandre Pato, André, Diego Tardelli, Neymar, Robinho

After 11 months at the helm, Diego Maradona will not be retained as Argentina move forward after the World Cup this summer.  Maradona led Argentina to a quarterfinal appearance this summer, but were embarrassed 4-0 by eventual 3rd place nation Germany.

The Argentine Football Association decided to not keep Maradona based on major coaching differences they had with moving forward.  The main issue was the coaches under Maradona.  Maradona wanted to keep all his assistants from this summer but the Association did not not see it the same way.  The Association offered Maradona a new 4 year contract to lead the team into Brazil but he insisted on  keeping his entire staff.

Maradona will be missed on the pitch, as he was always entertaining on the sidelines and in the press room.  With his outgoing personality, controversy followed him everywhere.  Honestly I am surprised that he was even offered a new deal after the way they left the World Cup.  After the defeat to Germany, Maradona was involved in a heated exchange with some German fans before having to be subdued by his daughter.

New French national team coach Laurent Blanc has suspended the entire 23 man World Cup roster for an upcoming friendly match against Norway next month.  Under former skipper Raymond Demenech the French were lucky just to qualify for the World Cup and were embarrassed in South Africa after going win less amidst in house controversy.

The drama started to unfold when striker Nicolas Anelka and Demenech were involved in a heated exchange in the locker room at halftime of the Mexico match.  Anelka was then sent home by the French Football Federation for his actions which did not suit well with the rest of the team.

The team decided to protest the decision to send Anelka home by not training which led to more team controversy.  There have been a few French players who have publicly stated that this was a stupid decision.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was quoted in L’Equipe: ”We acted as a team,  To strike was the decision of a squad who felt lonely, who believed that no one had stood up for them and who had a message to convey. We went too far. It was a very awkward decision, a big mistake. It was completely stupid. But there were so many problems.”

It is understandable to want to send a message to these players, but to suspend the entire team does not make much sense.  With a great nucleus of young players to choose from France will still be a top team when they face off with Norway.  Blanc will choose his young squad wisely to see who can come in and change the mentality of this broken team.

Spain will play in their first ever FIFA World Cup final Sunday after dominating International play the last few years.  After losing their opening match to Switzerland 1-0, the Spanish have yet to allow a goal and are dominating opponents with constant possession of the ball.  If Spain wins the match they will become the first team to ever lose their opening match and win the cup.

To beat the Netherlands, Spain will have to find the back of the net.  It’s that simple.  The midfield combination of Andres Iniesta, Xaxi Hernandez, and Segio Busquets have controlled every match and need to do the same in the final.  The Netherlands midfield is strong, but is no where near the technical side of Spain.  Xavi has been Spain’s MVP in my opinion as he is always looking for the ball and rarely loses it.

The question mark for Spain will be the starting lineup once again.  Fernando Torres started each match up top leading up to the semifinal but was benched as he failed to score a goal.  I like Torres up top even if he is not scoring as he allows David Villa to shift out wide left where he is at his best.

Spain’s defense has only conceded one goal so far as they have been superb in the back.  Defenders Gerard Pique,Carlos Puyol,Sergio Ramos, and Joan Capdevilla have been excellent in front of Iker Casillas.  Casillas has quietly had an excellent tournament showing why his is considered the best keeper in the world.

I do see Spain winning the game but it won’t be easy.  Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder have given defenders fits so far and will look to expose the Spanish defense on the counter. Dirk Kuyt has also been dangerous from the outside and if any team can break through the Spanish defense it’s Holland.  

Spain will win the match 2-0 and hoist their first ever FIFA World Cup! David Villa will score both goals to lead Spain to the victory.

Here is a great video of Spanish fans celebrating the goal.  I can only imagine if they win on Sunday!