Compelling Soccer

It's Monday, which feels less like a Monday than normal when you have to work Sunday.


-Funny thing watching the Hull City v. Wigan game. At one point a Wigan player dove in the box in a one goal game. It was clear he was trying to draw a penalty and the referee rightly produced the yellow card. Okay, no harm done. But what blew my mind was the announcers. They spoke of how diving was a part of a "foreign" element to the Premiership, going as far to say as while that might be acceptable in Spain, is not in England. Seriously, are you for real?
Diving not part of the Premiership? Diving is a part of every league and frankly every damn sport out there. It exists in Spain, Italy and England. It exists in the NFL, NHL, NBA and even at times in MLB. Embellishing opponent offenses is something that is done to gain an edge; how delusional do you have to be to think it doesn't exist in England? It's too bad too, cause the announcers were good up until then.



-Manchester United is making a habit at playing games of the week. Watching the end of the Sunderland game was incredible; some of the most compelling soccer I've seen since, well, Man U against Man City a few weeks back. I don't like the Red Devils and have rooted against them in both affairs, but one has to respect their ability to play to the situation. They bore down on Sunderland and you couldn't help but feel the vice closing. It was a race against time; you knew eventually Man U would score. The question was whether the whistle would blow before they could equalize. Then after Ferdinand's own goal leveled things, it was a wonder whether United would truly hand Sunderland heartbreak and score the go ahead goal. They drew four corners in a two minute span but couldn't put one more home. If they had another minute, I feel confident saying they'd have come out on top. It was incredible play and even though the result was not what United wanted nor expected, they can be pleased with the way they finished.

-Americans had a mixed weekend. Clint Dempsey was injured in Fulham's draw against West Ham but Eddie Johnson saw the field in meaningful action. Johnson had a chance that he put wide in stoppage time. It's unfortunate since Fulham isn't scoring and he could have gotten more chances. However, Johnson might be crafting quite a story for himself. He was off the radar completely and ended up a project at Fulham. Now he could be close to getting meaningful minutes. With the struggles of Brian Ching and Connor Casey being less than inspiring, there are openings on the US national team for forwards. If Johnson can secure a place in Fulham's plans, he can go a long way to getting himself in the mix for a World Cup spot. I've made fun of Johnson in the past for being a flash in the pan. But you have to respect a player who was willing to fight for his place rather than sulk and complain about it. (See Donovan, Landon)

-There was another Freddy Adu sighting Sunday. He came on a sub in Belenenese's draw against Sporting Lisbon and looked solid. But then it wasn't hard to do that when your teammates look incredibly poor. It will do Adu a lot of good to get serious playing time, assuming he continues to receive it. However, with these teammates I'm not sure how far he'll develop. Oh well, still a better environment than MLS, no matter what people might think.

-The US under 20's were officially bounced Saturday in what appeared to be no more than a formality. For another obituary on the squad that couldn't, Jen Chang on Soccernet has a nice write up. Oh well, if nothing else, I'll have some names to keep an eye on in the future.