the battle of algiers

What a day.  From heartbreak for German supporters to frustration and outrage for us Americans to depression and resignation for England's weary fans--it's been an exhausting and emotional day.

And we're only one week into this thing.

But if you're an Algerian supporter, you have a lot to feel good about.  After a dismal performance in their first round match losing to Slovenia (0-1), Algeria bounced back in today's game with England, drawing with the football powerhouse 0-0.  But unlike England's draw last week with the US which felt more positive, today's draw is a huge disappointment for the team and their supporters.  England, equipped with their star players, looked ragged, lead-footed, and flaccid.  Algeria, as the game stretched on, looked more capable and confident with each nifty one-touch pass and ability to strip England of the ball.  There were a few minutes in the second half when Algeria seemed to lose focus, but for the most part the Desert Foxes, as they're nicknamed, looked good.  They could give the US some problems.

How did this happen?  How did a team that everyone thought England would stomp on not only hold their own, but actually look as if they belonged in this tournament.

The Battle of Algiers, my comrades.  Yes, Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo's classic chronicle of political revolution and warfare was reportedly screened for the Algerian squad before today's match.  It's an incredible film and if you've never seen it, apm highly recommends you check out the three disc Criterion set released a few years back.  It just might inspire you to topple your own Goliath of choice.  Or, at least, even the score.

Below are featured the film's trailer from the 2004 theatrical re-release and Ennio Morricone's memorable title track.

more misc. links

Just some quick links before the Algeria v England match gets under way in a half-hour or so.

The first one is bit about how the Swiss beat Spain in that first round 0-1 match.  Seems that Swiss manager Ottmar Hitzfeld has Bob Bradley's tactics to thank.  Strange but true!

Second... work isn't getting done around the world.  I could have told you that was going to happen.

And last but certainly not least... in preparation for their match against England, the Algerians watched Gillo Pontecorvo's brilliant The Battle of Algiers (1965).  Brilliant.  Let's hope they practiced their offensive "skills" as well.

photos from usa v england match (athens, ga & berlin)

I didn't know what to expect from my new home Athens, Georgia during World Cup. American tackleball is huge here... a religion... and something taken very seriously. So I figured only a few places would be showing matches. Much to my surprise there are quite a few pubs, restaurants, and cafes doing so. Places were generally packed, which made me very happy. If you don't think football is popular in the States, you're simply not paying attention or you're being intentionally obstinate.

Here are a few of photos from The Globe, one of my favorite pubs here in town, taken before the match. The staff seemed a bit overwhelmed... and way too slow... but overall it was just cool to see so many people packed in wanting to root on the US squad. The upstairs was packed, as well as downstairs. A few people wandered around wearing English kits, including a little tyke who broke into tears during half time just minutes after English keeper Robert Green committed the blunder of the series so far. Cheer up, kid. Being an England supporter, you'll have a lifetime of disappointment and punishment to look forward to.

And these two bottom photos are taken by my friend M in Berlin who watched the US v England match in the Mitte district at a little outdoor pub. Pretty cool.

world cup 2010: usa v england 1-1

It shouldn't have happened at all.  Football, though, is filled with impossible imaginings, especially during World Cup.  Having trailed 1-0 since the 4th minute when Steven Gerrard delivered a beauty of a shot past US keeper Tim Howard, the Yanks nevertheless kept their composure for much of the first half, biding their time until an advantageous opening was conjured.  Clint Dempsey, the rough-hewn yet dangerous US forward, eventually stepped up in the 40th minute with a bold yet speculative strike at best, lacking that special spark of invention.  It shouldn't have happened at all.  Not much power or finesse fueled it... an easy save for England keeper Robert Green to make.

But Green bumbled it--the football gods deciding that it was time to make an example of the West Ham keeper, reminding us all that the ball is capricious as much as it is functional.   1-1.

England pressured Howard plenty in the second half.  Heskey, Lampard, and Johnson all tested Howard--arguably the US's best player--but no opening could be exploited.  Rooney, who had been invisible for most of the game, reasserted his vocation to scoring, though the ball remained unconvinced.  And in the end, both teams walked away with a point each.  For the US, it was a fair result.  Something to work off of and the players' confidence should remain high.  For England, it must feel more like a loss, a bitter gob of spittle at the bottom of the pint glass.

anxious and confident... waiting for the world cup

With less than two days to go before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa gets rolling, it's probably safe to say that I'm not the only football fan out there anxiously surfing the net reading blog posts, news stories, and tweets regarding the tournament.  Also, I'm glued to the television watching old World Cup matches on ESPN Classic... trying to manage to get some work done in the process as well.  Though honestly, it's been more of the former than the latter.

Of course, once the tournament ends in a month, I'll be relieved, exhausted, and anxious to forget about loyalties to country for a welcome return to league play.  As Lisa posted last week, despite my anxiousness for it to begin and my sometimes unfortunate romance of the game and the tournament... the World Cup is rarely pleasurable, hardly comforting in the manner that being hopelessly in love should be.  It's agony, pain, and masochism of the highest order.  What that says about my personality... well, I'll leave it at that.

But unlike previous years, I actually have confident, though cautious, optimism for the US team.  Still not a fan of the lumbering defensive-minded hybrid of catenaccio that coach Bob Bradley favors, but we look fit, solid, and confident.  Not overly-confident, mind you, like Ingerland, bloody Ingerland.  Confident in a good way.  So I have high hopes that we'll beat England on Saturday.  The World Cup rarely goes as predicted, though, so take my wish-fulfillment with plentiful salt, lime, and the tequila of your choice.

The last time we played England (I believe) was on May 28, 2008 at Wembley in London.  Two of us had just returned from three months in Spain and had plans to go see the game live... but we ended up watching the match at a pub down from our B&B instead... in a room full of English supporters.  We were roundly humiliated, as was the American team who lost 2-0 against a slovenly English squad. 

Last year's US appearance at the Confederations Cup in South Africa was a big improvement and I found myself falling for our scrappy Yanks in a way that I've never felt before.  Not only did the US look like they could beat Brazil in the final, the guys seemed to feel it as well.  This wasn't a fluke, this was the fulfillment of years of promise.  The US lost the final 3-2, but it was a line in the sand for me.  We weren't going back, we weren't going to return to the dark days of the 2006 World Cup embarrassment. 

We've done well in the big tournament before.  The 2002 World Cup for instance.  But our brutal assault at the feet of the Czechs in 2006 left some long-lasting bruises on many fans and will hopefully remain merely an aberration in the overall history of the national team.  Probably not, I know, but I'm trying to be optimistic these days.  Hopeful.

I know we can beat England.  They don't have any fear... but that's just a sad reminder of their arrogance, naivete, and penchant for self-delusion.  Crazy island dwellers, you know.  I don't for a second think we can win the whole thing, but I do know we can take down Ingerland.  And that's all that matters at this point.  One game at a time....

FA Cup: Chelsea v Everton

Well... I don't have a lot to say about this because I only caught most of the second half. But what I saw (that second Chelsea goal from Lampard was brilliant) seemed to favor Chelsea all the way. Malouda was robbed of that goal in the 79 minute too, so the scoreline should have been greater. But Chelsea is used to disappointment of late.

Not today, though. Not today.

Congratulations!

Chelsea 2, Everton 1. And I'll have to check out the replay to see the fastest FA Cup goal ever (25 seconds!) courtesy of Everton's Louis Saha. Good stuff.

in which Team USA embarrasses us in public

We had planned our return from beautiful Espana to the Anglo-Saxon world specifically to coincide with the US v. England friendly on May 28, but that was before the tickets actually went on sale. Thanks to the appalling exchange rate, the cheapest seats were going for a cool $60 apiece. That's far more than we paid to see Barcelona (and not even in the cheapest seats), and we really do not like either of these teams nearly enough to shell out that kind of cash. Why, what with current inflation and the weak US dollar against the pound, that's like five or six pints down the pub!

So it was off to the pub we went indeed, a fine establishment located literally steps from our London B&B, which was a bonus--in case things turned ugly, we didn't have far to run. Had we only known--the only running we'd need to do would be fleeing from the humiliation of seeing the Euro-dropouts run roughshod over Team USA, all to the accompaniment of sneering announcers making smug comments like "England showed America up for what they really are--a very very poor side!" They chortled over footage of Becks' recent 70-yard shot right into goal in the LA Galaxy vs Kansas City Wizards game a few days earlier ("Does America even have goalkeepers?") and following John Terry's (admittedly fine) header thirty minutes in announced that "it's taken England a little over half an hour to assert their superiority!"

Speaking of John Terry...did he look a bit teary-eyed after making that goal? John, you've got to watch out or you're going to get a reputation as a crybaby. He didn't do himself any favors afterwards by announcing that "I'm a man for the big games and I've shown that"--Jaysus, John, so the Champion's League final was just an insignificant blip and this was the match you've been preparing for all season? Perhaps the next time he opens his mouth someone ought to stuff a Jaffa cake in it. Might help with any future sobbing fits, too.

Anyway, as anyone who watched the match already knows, things went from bad to worse as Gerrard scored a second goal and the US were shut out all night. Worse, both goals were fine ones, so we can't take any satisfaction there either. English football announcers are just as annoyingly hyperbolic as American ones as they all but anointed the England team champions of the world based on the result. (You can't have it both ways, lads: either they defeated a poor side and therefore the result was meaningless or the US team is actually a bit better than you claim they are.) The patrons and staff of the bar were kind enough not to point and laugh at us like Nelson Muntz but perhaps only because, as is always the case with us when we travel, no one suspects we are American. We aren't really Team USA fans (as many of our readers know), but man, talk about letting down the side! It's embarrassing sitting in a pub in another country listening to announcers and patrons snicker and mock your national football team! Like being stuck in a room enduring an endless live reading of those tiresome "Yanks can't do football" articles from the Guardian! We drowned our sorrows in another round and slunk back to our room. Thanks for nothing, Team USA!

US Team Will Play England in Exhibition Match

It's been rumored for awhile, but it's been confirmed by the bigwigs at US Soccer that the US Men's National Team will travel to Wembley to play England (for the first time since 1994) on May 28. The US team had already been lined up to play Poland on March 26 and Spain in June. The match up between the Three Lions and the Uncle Sam is great news for fans of the US team and should be a fantastic prelude to World Cup 2010 qualifying which begins later in June.

You can read more about it here.