The FIFA World Cup 2018 is just around the corner and the excitement is through the roof for all us football lovers. Though many football stars, rookie or veteran, share the same passion of serving their country on the pitch, other players like Michael Carrick would rather Netflix and chill.
USMNT fans are in for a long summer, but they can at least look forward to an exciting slate of matches this fall. The USMNT Mexico friendly will reportedly take place during the September international break somewhere on U.S. soil.
If it's anything like most "home" matches for the USMNT against El Tri, expect green jerseys to outnumber those in red, white and blue.
Borussia Dortmund hammered top four rivals Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 at the Westfalenstadion on Saturday with goals from 18-year-old Jadon Sancho, Maximilian Philipp and a Marco Reus brace. Christian Pulisic provided the assist on Sancho’s opener after beating three defenders near midfield before playing in the English phenom.
Longtime Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger announced he will step down as manager at the end of the season on Friday. In the short term, it means an end to the Wenger In/Out meme. In the long term it means figuring out what’s next for Arsenal and Arsene. We have one suggestion for Wenger's next job: USMNT coach.
Long before that fateful day at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad, there was a glaring weakness in the USMNT that had been identified by Jurgen Klinsmann but had no real fix: essentially, an entire generation of players who should’ve been entering the prime of their careers had gone missing.
The USSF has launched its bio-banding initiative. The search for the American Messi is buoyed by widespread support for an increased scouting budget. And despite the U.S. team's absence this summer, World Cup fever will clear sporting goods stores of adidas Predators as surely as Brood X cicadas will reemerge in 2021.
Last week, U.S. Soccer announced its first youth initiative since the USMNT’s World Cup failure. Bio-banding was presented as a new way to encourage technical development in youth players big and small. It was an idea put forth by the U.S. Soccer High Performance Department. But it turns out, U.S. Soccer should have just asked Facebook, because scores of our readers responded and apparently every single one of them knows exactly how to fix U.S. soccer.
We just couldn’t help ourselves. With just over 60 days to go until the release of the most anticipated book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we had to celebrate Bruce Arena’s magnum opus, What’s Wrong with US?: A Coach’s Blunt Take on the State of American Soccer After a Lifetime on the Touchline (so blunt), by revisiting the former USMNT manager’s favorite dilemma — the MLS cohort versus their "hotshot" European counterparts.
In a certain light, Shaq Moore could be looked upon as a blueprint for young Americans looking to develop careers in professional soccer. The 21-year-old fullback spent time in the IMG Academy and the FC Dallas Academy before moving to Spain, where he rose through the reserve divisions and currently plays for Levante in the Primera Division. He has even appeared against Barcelona.
However, to hear him tell it, there is no blueprint.