When playing with house money...

The United State men’s national soccer team has a tremendous opportunity Tuesday night to shock the world and revive the confidence of the soccer fans in this country. Argentina await in a Copa America Centenario semifinal match.

In the Copa America Centenario so far, the U.S. has been, in my opinion, quite impressive. Right now, the Yanks ride a three-game win streak, won Group A and met the somewhat lofty, but realistic expectations, of making the semifinals. The team is on a high, and it’s been a great display of goal scoring, seven in three games, that has got them here.

The U.S. attack has been sprung because of a stalwart defense that has allowed only three goals all tournament. That should give U.S. supporters confidence. Yes, Argentina are extremely talented offensively, but the back four of the U.S. has been able to handle very talented opponents so far.
There is no reason to not attack in this game, but the Yanks must also be prudent and solid defensively. The last thing we need to see is a result similar to Mexico’s against Chile or Brazil’s against Germany.

To be fair, the U.S. could play a phenomenal match and still lose 3-0 because of that guy named Lionel Messi. However, a disciplined and efficient USMNT could easily find themselves in the final.

The problem now is the loss of three players who drove the U.S. attack due to suspension. Bobby Wood’s great driving runs from the wings cannot be replaced by any player on the U.S. roster. Alejandro Bedoya’s clean defensive work and quick transitions will be missed, but the biggest loss will be Jermaine Jones. His box-to-box work is the type of player the U.S. has needed in every match it’s played under Klinsmann.

But there are players in this U.S. squad who can fill in and minimize the Argentine attack. Di Maria will most likely not start, which gives the U.S. time to utilize not as occupied wingers. The center back pairing of Geoff Cameron and John Brooks need to prove their play this far is the standard with a strong handling of Higuain and Messi.

A high-class defensive performance could lead to numerous counter-attacking opportunities. The U.S. has been at its best when stymieing opponents’ attacks and then smartly passing the ball through the midfield and to cutting forwards.

The U.S. will have its chances, but the key is to minimize the chances Argentina will have in the box. Keep La Albiceleste out of your penalty area and you have a chance.

For the U.S., it is silly to expect to be able to win by defending the whole time. Even if the teams finish regulation tied, it's reasonable that Argentina would be victorious in a penalty shootout. So why not go out and try to be aggressive on the counter-attack?

The U.S. is playing with house money at this point. And when you play with house money, you go all-in.

Making the combined Copa America a permanent thing

Just before the U.S. men’s national soccer team played its second Group A match in the Copa America Centenary, a lot of the soccer sites, blogs and message boards I follow were stirring with the rumor that this combined Copa America might be a permanent—or at least recurring—thing and that it would be held in the United States for the succeeding renditions. My initial reaction to this was both yes and no. 

Copa America Centenario—USA 2016

Firstly, I love the idea of a combined championship between the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF regions. These two regions are very closely tied in both a style of play and culture. Also, since the dawn of international football, there has been a rivalry between Europe and the Americas (OK, South America) about who is the best continent for soccer. 

The one area in which Europe has South America beaten is the tournament competitions. Both the UEFA Champions League and European Championships overshadow their South American counterparts. One of the reasons Copa America is a weaker competition is because CONMEBOL only has 10 teams, and therefore has had to two invite teams to play in the recent competitions. Expanding to a 16-team competition featuring the best North and South American national teams would make the competition more attractive and competitive. 

Secondly, this competition would provide a better test to the U.S. and Mexican national teams. These two teams have dominated the Gold Cup, as in have won all but one of the biennial competitions since it began in 1991. Bringing the prize fighters from CONCACAF against the best of CONMEBOL would provide these teams with better competition outside of a World Cup year. 

What I dislike about this idea is the U.S. hosting every time. I think this cheapens the competition much like the Gold Cup is cheapened by having the tournament in the U.S. every playing. Yes, there is a lot of money to be made by playing a major international soccer competition in the U.S. every four (or whatever) years; however, this would make it seem like the U.S. is the host and not the confederations combined.

If this is to be a recurring event, the two confederations should alternate hosting. Obviously, the U.S. would be the most preferred choice of the North American countries to host, but there are a few South American countries who could also host. Brazil and Argentina being most prominent, but several countries could also pump enough money to host the tournament. 

Ultimately, I think this could be a good idea for both confederations. This would increase the level of competition the countries play outside of a World Cup and would reduce the need for friendlies between the confederations.

Furthermore, a tournament like this would bring in a ton of money to both confederations. There would have to be a revenue sharing plan negotiated, but both confederations would stand to being in a lot of cash from a major tournament. Obviously, that would be an almost guaranteed sum if the tournament were to be hosted in the U.S. every year, but there is certainly a large pile of money to be amassed from a tournament in another large country. 

Whether this is a rumor or not is yet to be officially determined, but I do plan on running with this idea for a couple more posts, so be on the lookout for those!

The most important USMNT match in two decades

The fate of the United States Men's National Soccer Team, U.S. Soccer and even American soccer is riding on the backs of this one, pivotal match tonight in Columbus, Ohio, against Guatemala. This is THE most important match the United States soccer team has played since becoming a regional power and actually thought of on the World Soccer stage--2002.

Why? Well, because of some uninspiring results against any decent competition in the semifinal round of CONCACAF's 2018 World Cup Qualifying, the USMNT only has 4 points after three matches and currently sit in third in Group C. Third is good enough to go home, nothing more. A total of one point in two (away) matches against Trinidad & Tobago and Guatemala.

But these results haven't all of a sudden turned bad, this is a trend since last summer's Gold Cup, where the USMNT lost to Jamaica in the semifinals--the first time the U.S. had ever lost to a Caribbean team at home--and failed to claim third-place. They continued in a Confederations Cup playoff loss to Mexico. And at the focal point of this demise is one man: Jürgen Klinsmann.

Klinsmann has been the biggest and most visible problem with this squad since the 2014 World Cup. His inability to pick a starting eleven he likes combined with his struggle to put players in positions to perform well have collided into a train wreck of epic proportions.

The fault lies with Klinsmann, in my opinion. We've never had a national team manager also serve as technical director of U.S. Soccer and now, we don't know what the combined position means. To whom is Klinsmann responsible? Especially with his contract running through 2018.

This match has much riding on it. It's not just a win-or-stay-home situation, it's the failure to move the momentum of soccer in the U.S. forward. A win keeps that momentum going--at least until September when our stomach ulcers return. Anything less puts the USMNT into turmoil.

Missing the 2018 FIFA World Cup would be devastating to soccer here in the U.S. We need to be in the World Cup. Our countrymen will watch it, but they'll find some other country to root for. Sure, we all have our favorite national team, but we need the U.S. to be there so we can all cheer for it.

We are now thought of as a country that plays soccer competitively. That much is for certain. No, we are not an international power, but for the better part of this century we have been a regional power. A loss tonight forfeits our claim to either of those titles.

We need a win to keep the sport growing in the U.S. We need a win to qualify for the World Cup.

This is almost as necessary as the 1989 match against Trinidad & Tobago--who we incidentally face on the final match day of this qualifying round--when we eeked out a 1-0 victory on the road.

The circumstances are almost the same. Then, we needed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup to justify our place in the world of soccer before hosting in 1994. Now, we need to qualify to stay considered a known entity in the world of international soccer.

We need to now reaffirm the hard work the men who played in the previous seven World Cup squads put in by winning tonight.

New U.S. Soccer crest leaked

As I wrote last year, the U.S. Soccer Federation leaked a new crest on the Internet. This new crest is less cartoonish, but possibly still comic book-ish, as it does look a bit like a Captain America or Super Hero logo. However, most people agree this is a vast improvement to the old one, and I will agree.

USSF announced the change through a very covert social media campaign in which current and former players showed the new crest in their profiles as seen below.

The new crest! #OneNationOneTeam pic.twitter.com/IyslX8KWZd

— Mix Diskerud (@MixDiskerud) February 29, 2016

New era, new crest. I dig it. U.S. Soccer #OneNationOneTeam
Posted by Stuart Holden on Monday, February 29, 2016

So now that we have a new crest, I would assume new uniforms will follow soon, as the next competition is March 2 as the women's U-23s take on Slovenia and Sweden.

The next senior competition is the USWNT's home match against England on March 3 to kick-off the SheBelieves Cup. Not sure if they'll trot out the same kits but with different crests or actually have new kits.

The UMNT will not play until their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Guatemala on March 23 and 28.

USMNT World Cup Qualifying Semifinals foes finalized

The USMNT now know all three opponents it will face in the semifinals of 2018 World Cup Qualifying. Guatemala and St. Vincent & The Grenadines now join the U.S. and Trinidad & Tobago in Group C. The teams will play a home and away match against each opponent, totaling six matches, and the top two teams will advance to the final round of qualifying.

Matches begin November 13 and will end on Sept. 6, 2016. The USMNT opens the campaign with a home match against St. Vincent & The Grenadines at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The last time the USMNT did not reach the final round of World Cup qualifying was 1986, which is also the last time the USMNT did not qualify for a World Cup final.

U.S. U-23s draw Panama, Cuba, Canada for Olympic qualifying tournament

The draw for the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying 2015 took place on Tuesday, August 18. This determined the two groups for the tournament to be held October 1-13. For the United States, this laid out the path to qualifying for the Olympics after missing out in 2012.

Only eight teams qualified for the tournament. As usual, CONCACAF gives the three North American teams a pass. Cuba and Haiti qualified through the Caribbean Football Union's tournament. Panama and Honduras were the two teams from Central American who qualified through that region's qualification by virtue of winning their groups. Guatemala and Costa Rica will play a playoff match as the runners-up of their groups to be the final team in the tournament.

Team USA (I use this because they're playing in the Olympics) drew Panama, Cuba and Canada in Group A. Below is their schedule:

Thursday, October 1: USA v. Canada, 6:30 p.m. ET, Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kan.
Saturday, October 3: Cuba v. USA, 5:00 p.m. ET, Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kan.
Tuesday, October 6: USA v. Panama, 8:30 p.m. ET, Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.

The semifinal, third place and final matches will be played at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. The top two teams in each group advance to the knockout round, with the two finalists automatically qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.  The third place winner will play a playoff match with a CONMEBOL team.

Remember, this is a U-23 roster. Expect to see a lot of guys from the U-20 World Cup as well as some full national team mainstays, though it does fall around the time of the Confederations Cup playoff match.

CONCACAF Confederations Cup Playoff date moved to Oct. 10

The playoff match for CONCACAF's spot in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia has been moved to October 10, according to U.S. Soccer's Twitter feed. The time has also been set for 6:30 p.m. PT--9:30 ET--and the location is the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif. (already known). The USA and Mexico are facing each other s the winners of the last two Gold Cups (read: because CONCACAF decided that they wanted more money).

Credit U.S. Soccer

This slightly upsets me because I'll be in Morgantown for WVU's Homecoming game against Oklahoma State, which will most likely be a 3:30 p.m. kickoff, meaning I'll be doing other things that day. I'll have to make sure to watch it with The Liberty Forum or American Outlaws-Morgantown while I'm in up in West Virginia.

Y'all make plans accordingly.