My Continuing Admiration for Soccer

After the 2010 World Cup finished up I told myself I would watch more soccer. Honestly, I started to care about things more often especially when it came to U.S. Men's Soccer but really didn't hop on board with any bandwagons of clubs. The reason why is I never made the commitment to get up early on Saturdays and Sundays to watch English Premier League, La Liga or Serie A matches. Truthfully, I didn't want to pick a team because I like Player A & B and they happen to play for Club X.  If I were to do it, it would be watching games on a consistent basis.

Fast forward to four years to 2014. Personally, I watched more World Cup soccer and grew fond of the sport including more of an understanding of what is going on in the game. Sure, I might not know everything nor do I pretend to be an expert of the sport yet at the same time, I do feel I have grown smarter as a soccer fan at least in International play. Further, it is understood that club play is a little different than what I saw out there this summer.  But my growth as a fan has grown to another level where my hope is to make more of an effort to become a fan of the sport consistently.

It is not tough to do for the most part on Saturdays and Sundays as most of the games get done before College Football and NFL get started. There is some overlap with College Football on Saturday with the 11 am start games for both soccer and football. Usually, 11 am games for college football are not the best of the bunch plus that's the beauty of having a computer to stream one or the other.  What's interesting is I could apply the same logic to College Football to the EPL or any of the other soccer leagues. I really don't have a college football team minus rooting for Wisconsin without any rose-colored glasses yet I still love watching sport every Saturday. Could I do the same thing for EPL?  

There are two major factors in my growth as a soccer fan. One of them being I have more Saturdays off. My current job does not allow that luxury so who knows this might be a pipe dream for awhile. But that's the beauty of a DVR I guess if we are being a group of forward thinkers. The other one is Time Warner's refusal to add NBC Sports Live Extra. This is a major problem during the playoff hockey season when I pretend to  know a great deal about hockey as well. This issue looks right now it is not being solved, but you can still watch EPL games using NBCSN if there are overflow not on their channels. The dream really is to write a diary of watching soccer each day with time, how I feel, mood, everything really to get you inside my head as I watch these games. This could be great blogging, but what the hell do I know.

Now, the other option would be to watch more Major League Soccer. It is in full swing right now, but no disrespect to the sport, I want to watch the premium product. I don't think I am giving myself a fair shake if I begin with the MLS as my go-to league to watch when there are much better versions of the product elsewhere. That might already make a little snobby, but MLS is not what we are getting from some of the greatest clubs in the world.  It is not like I will not check out the MLS now and again, but it is likely I will not get sucked in.

Hopefully, this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Charlie.

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Howard's Heroic Effort Not Enough for United States Soccer

The phrase "I believe that we will win" swept the nation over the past three weeks. It became a rallying cry for the United States and their upstart soccer team. The hashtag #IBelieve could be found all over Instagram and Twitter on gamedays, non-game days and countless other occasions. Although some people didn't like how it became trendy, but that's life because no one in this generation can be happy. Regardless, United States Soccer captivated a nation, and many people wanted to see things continue as they took on Belgium in the Round of 16. Unfortunately for US fans of old and new, the dream faded away on Tuesday with U.S. losing 2-1 with an all-time great performance from Tim Howard, you wonder about their conservative play and the future is brighter than ever before.

When people talk about the best United States player, they looked towards Landon Donovan and now Clint Dempsey but perhaps Howard deserved to be there all along. He wanted to redeem himself from the 2010 World Cup where he played after hurting his back a few months prior. Howard played one of the more memorable games in United States soccer history on Tuesday night. He stood directly on his head and kept United States level when it seemed like Belgium should have led by three or more goals. Had the U.S. won this game, Howard would be remembered like some of the other American greats who have led their national team to great victory. In a losing effort, Howard still deserves to be honored for his performance.

There will be dissenters saying 'Why should we honor someone whom allowed two goals' and those people are the walking idiots around the world.  Howard saved 16 shots. He didn't make a couple big saves, he saved 16 potential goals. It's the most goals saved since 1966. There are many questions today whether Howard will play in 2018 World Cup at Moscow with him being 39 at the time. I don't think he can actually be the starting goalie at that age, but he will still get chances to play in likely the Gold Cup and Copa America leading up to the World Cup. All the time in baseball, pitchers do not get the satisfactions of the team winning after a great performance, and this is exactly what it felt like for Howard.

Much of the reason why Howard had to be on his head is United States conservative play on Tuesday. They didn't exactly park the bus, but they really did not attack as much as you might have wanted them to. It seems like there was a legitimate fear about the counterattack from Belgium. Further even with a conservative gameplay, Belgium still had a great deal of shot attempts which makes you think if the U.S. attacked more Belgium probably would have even more opportunities.  People said if Algeria played like they did against Germany versus Belgium where they were much more attacking they would have beat this Belgian team. We can criticize the lack of attacking from the United States, but it was likely the only way to keep the U.S. in the game.

There were a couple chances for the United States to have two goals in this game making it a little bit more depressing. Chris Wondolowski had a perfect opportunity to give the United States the win in regulation, and he put it over the net. There is debate if the flag was up for the goal kick or if he was 'offsides' which he wasn't. There is some joy and solace in not knowing why the flag went up. If it went up for an offsides, that's all we are talking about this morning. After Julian Green made a statement with his first touch being a goal, the U.S. had a chance for a miraculous equalizer after being down 2-0 in Extra Time, but Clint Dempsey missed the Annexation of Puerto Rico set piece. U.S. was denied a chance to move to the Round of 8 for the first time since 2002.

The future is brighter than ever for the U.S. Men's National Team.  DeAndre Yedlin whom had to came in for Fabian Johnson is only 20 years young, Julian Green is only 19 and seven players on the current roster will be 28 or younger in 2018.  This team is ready to strike and could be a threat to make a long run in 2018. Everyone is right about soccer captivating the nation, and this also means more pressure on this squad. The expectations are raised to another level in 2018 which almost makes it more fun because for once, America wants to have a successful soccer team.

It feels great to have everyone into soccer. I was always a casual fan but remained on the sidelines, I always talked about doing a blog diary of watching different Premier League teams trying to find the one I would like to cheer for because like hockey, I don't really have a club. There is no reason to stop soccer watching with the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Champions League. And if you need the U.S. fix, Copa America is two years away, and we get the Women's World Cup next season.

Go America.

Charlie.

Quick Tap Podcast Episode 13 .

Quick Tap podcast decided to go live for another week. We would love to hear some feedback. If you guys hate this version and want me babbling for 20 minutes alone, feel free to let me know your thoughts. I thought this one was better despite a few technical difficulties on Seth's end. We do a draft of the top five TV characters of all-time which should piss some people off.  We move on to talking about if the excitement would be there for USA Football against the teams of the world like we had on Sunday. It continues with talking about what's more likely...U.S. Soccer not getting out of the round of 16 or Tiger Woods would miss the cut. Our discussion continues with talking about what we would be more successful at golfing left-handed or playing baseball left-handed. U.S. Soccer comes back into play talking about our reaction to the draw and finish with Carmelo Anthony talk.

Charlie.

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 93

Charlie and Mitch delivering the latest edition of Tapping The Keg Podcast.  We lead off with talking about whether you would rather be an East Coast or West Coast fan. There are obvious advantages or disadvantages on both sides. We break down the Brewers game from last night with Kirk Gibson hitting Ryan Braun plus Jonathan Lucroy being an MVP candidate with reaction from St. Louis' fans. We talk a great deal about the World Cup breaking down the latest United States chances with Portugal losing players by the minute. Further we discuss struggling Brazil among other things. We talk about the NBA Finals for a little bit more so about where LeBron James might go plus quick Kevin Love discussion. The podcast finishes with a talk about new world order with the Milwaukee Bucks front office plus a couple more hot topics at the end.

Charlie.

Jurgen Klinsmann's Appreciated Honesty

In every realm of sports and possibly corporate America, the leaders of these teams try to sugarcoat things when it might not work out the way people want it. The coaches, managers or CEO's come up with the most politically correct answer possible to make it seem like everything is alright even though things are on the verge of heading southward. The reason being is no one wants their team or the people whom follow them to have a defeatist attitude. But once in awhile, it is nice to hear some refreshing honesty. Jurgen Klinsmann, the manager of the U.S. Men's National Team, said multiple times in the last two weeks that the United States has an unrealistic chance at winning the World Cup. For me, it's better to be realistic than have our collective heads in the clouds.

The overreaction to this topic is laughable. Many people are rushing to pedestals saying how this is a terrible way to start the World Cup for United States soccer, and what a bad message it sends to the players along with their fanbase. ESPN's Michael Wilbon went to the hottest of hot take to tell Klinsmann 'to get the hell out of America.'  All of the sudden, it is un-American to making an honest comment. Isn't honesty one of the major pillars of the United States of America or am I missing something here? Klinsmann making comments about the actual realistic expectations of his team should be viewed as a breath of fresh air more than anything else. It would be great to hear Mike Pettine, head coach of the Cleveland Browns, to say "It's highly unrealistic we are winning the Super Bowl." Most Browns fans know it already so why not embrace it?  

Klinsmann did not say 'There is no chance this team is making it out of group stages, we are completely f---ed.'  If he said that, we can have a discussion about why he is managing this team, but instead, he said, it is highly unlikely the United States is the best futbol team in the world.  The people who have a problem with what Klinsmann said believe Brazil, Germany, Argentina or Spain are worse than United States. Grasp your head around that for a second and remember those people are out of your goddamn mind. Grasp your head around that one for a second. Klinsmann recognizes this therefore he adds these quotes to lower the expectations of the United States soccer fanbase. Don't ask for the world right now, it is not the United States time.  

The worst part of the whole thing is if the United States find its way to the Knockout stages, there will be media members making columns and talking on the radio about doing it to defy their manager. That statement will be bullshit when it happens even though the national media will make it look like a talking point for a couple of days. Further if United States makes some improbable run to the Final Four of soccer, it would be a true Cinderella run comparable to what we have seen in March Madness from a high-level mid-major. United States would be Butler basketball from a couple years past. Bet Brad Stevens didn't think his team had a realistic chance at making the National Championship final, but he probably never said it out loud.

In a way, Klinsmann put pressure on himself for 2018. People now have the idea that their year will be in South Korea even though so many things can and will happen in four years. But let's give a standing ovation to the blunt honesty Klinsmann brings to his job.

Charlie.     

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 92

Charlie and Mitch's usual Wednesday podcast for your listening ears where we start by talking about how we would handle being in Brazil for the World Cup. Next, we talk about Milwaukee Brewers with Marco Estrada's struggles and Scooter Gennett moving to the leadoff spot. NBA Finals talk looking at Kawhi Leonard, and why this series hasn't swung. Some NBA Draft talk with the Milwaukee Bucks working players out along with general topics about Donald Sterling and California Chrome. We finish with a preview the World Cup looking at the United States chances along with talking about each individual groups to the best of our abilities.

Charlie.