Olympic Soccer

Bad News, Good Matchup

USA Soccer will be missing half its teams at the London Games this summer.  With a late, added time goal, El Salvador eliminated the US under-23 team from the Olympic competition, 3-3.  The US needed, minimally, to advance to the semi-finals from the CONCACAF group stage to qualify for the Games.  The recap is here; love CONCACAF matchups, biting, eye gouging, the whole bit!  And this one was in Tennessee!   Frustrating to keep reading these recaps where "Americans" root for the visitors, too- I'm guessing not too many folks flew in from El Salvador for this one.  Akron coach Caleb Porter's job with the nats will be in question, to say the least.  Here's the connection to youth development, at least in one writer's eyes.  So that's a drag...but we've still got our women's team, thankfully, and hopefully they'll set the bitter disappointment of the last World Cup right!

The women are off to Japan shortly for matches on April 1 (V. Japan)  and 3 (V. Brazil) (both on ESPN2/ESPN3).

In Champions League news, tomorrow's tantalizing Milan/Barca tilt offers something most folks may not realize; a matchup of one team that plays short, tidy possession, and another that hits more long passes than any team in Europe.  Read more on this point here.   This will be the focus of a post here later this week.

Clint Dempsey and Fulham played a cagey, determined match at Old Trafford yesterday, and while Deuce had a couple good looks, he wasn't able to equalize and the Red Devils took a 1-0 decision.  A late  PK was not awarded to Fulham...but it would have been a fairly harsh call, despite being clearly foot-to-foot contact by the defender.  C'est la vie, Cottagers.