Copa America: US Falls to Argentina 4-1

After a really long travel day yesterday, I stayed up to watch the Copa America, US v Argentina game which we had DVR'd. At 2 AM CDT, the final score was 4-1 Argentina. It is a shame that we did not take our full squad to this tournament. We had Argentina 1-1 a decent portion into the second and lacked any depth to finish the last 30 minutes. Some quick thoughts on the game:

1. Depth - like I said, we had none. We subbed in Eddie Gaven and their left flank ate our lunch. It was the turning point of the game.
2. Ben Olsen - awesome game. I've always liked Ben even though he is sometimes a dirty player.
3. Benny Feilhaber - A number of great passes but just not visible enough in the second half.
4. Bornstein - Did a great job on Messi in the first half, which is a tribute to the talent JB has. Messi switched sides in the second half.
5. Keller - Weak off of his line all game. Has he lost his edge?
6. Messi - Looked on the verge of a game changing moment every time he touched the ball. This guy is so fun to watch...when he is not playing us.
7. Eddie Johnson - Continued to receive great passes from our midfield and then seem poised to be on a race to the net...but always followed by him mysteriously slowing down. He must lack confidence. I certainly have no confidence in him.
8. Twellman - No material impact on the game. So far he has been unable to steup up to this level. I do like his work rate and determination though. At least with him you know he is trying. If I had to pick either him or EJ for future squads, I would take Twellman.
9. Our new subscription to the Spanish channel package on Cox - Love it. For $3/month, we now get even more soccer. The only channel we don't get at this point is GolTV, which would require us to switch to Dish...hmmm...

Zidane: Real Madrid-Leverkusen

Another great goal - this time by Zidane. This volley outshines Feilhaber's recent strike. However, I have to admit that when I saw Benny hit the shot, I remembered this particular one from Zidane. Here it is. No joke, this is phenomenal.

(via Football Commentator...I wonder if Benny inspired his post...)

Ronaldinho: Barcellona-Villareal

For some reason my feed reader picked up an old post from Steve's blog (always an interesting read) that had a link to this amazing goal. Thus, I decided to continue the great goal theme and post the clip here. Enjoy.

I just spent 12 hours traveling today...not much new other then that.

US Wins Gold Cup

For those of you who missed the US win the Gold Cup against Mexico yesterday (2-1), you missed a cracker from Benny Feilhaber. This volley will go down as one of the greatest goals in our team's history. The game was intense, back and forth, with tons of action.

(Is it me or does the announcer call Feilhaber an asshole after screaming Goaaaaaaaaaal? Check out the commentary at second 35 of this video. Classic.)

Normally, there will be a horn to begin the game...

"Normally, there will be a horn to begin the game, end the half, begin the second half, and finally end the game. If no horn, just begin the game at 6:30 if players are present, a ball is available, and the field is open to play."

I used to organize a team for the 6 v 6 league (with a lot of help from Carlee) but the lack of organization and the casual approach of the people who run the league made it a little too frustrating for me. Now that I let other people organize the teams for the league, it is much more fun. The quote above is from the league's website - it gives you a flavor for how casual it is. I am ok with casual play and pick up games. When you pay $50 bucks per league though...casual can be a little frustrating sometimes.

Blisters

It is the 3rd weekend of the adult 6v6 league in Lafayette. I am playing in both the men and coed leagues, which means two 1 hour games back to back. I've missed the first two weeks because we have been traveling. It was a decent night for me - 2 goals and multiple assists, lots of good passing. I was pleased with my play (especially because it has been a month or so since I was in a game). I ended up not really playing in the coed game because I started feeling a weird pain in my knee...not something I want to mess with. I didn't feel it in the men's game so I am not sure if it is serious.

My knee wasn't the only pain though. I seem to have blisters on both of my feet. It may have something to do with my cleats. They have seen better days and are now being held together by athletic tape. The toes are busted out and the insoles are all worn out and loose. I think it is time to get a new pair.

Wedding Crashers

All dressed up on our trip to Maine. I'll stop posting Maine photos soon. Or I'll just get around to throwing them on Flickr. I kind of feel like I am forcing boring vacation photographs down your throat.

Maine Signs: York Harbor Lobsters

Travelin'

Starting tomorrow I am about to embark on a pretty big block of travel for the next month or so. Here are all of the places that I think I will be between now and the first week of August. I haven't looked into August yet but there may be some traveling there as well...

• Jackson, MS (2 days)
  
• Trenton, NJ (3 weeks or more)
  
• Newark, NJ (3+ days)
  
• Fairfax VA (2.5 days)
  
• Ottawa, Canada (2.5 days)
  
• Danbury, CT (1 day)
  
• Woods Hole, MA + Martha's Vineyard, MA (not sure yet...depends what the Whiskey says)
  

There may be some other stops along the way because the Ottawa-CT-MA trip involves a driving road trip.

Green Thumb

In addition to our jalapeño pepper plants, the citrus grove (it's 3 trees really, but I like to call it that) in our backyard appears to be in full swing. Check our our lemons and limes. They're small...but they're there!

York, Maine: Beach Scenes

A few photos from the beach outside of our hotel this past weekend that I thought were worth sharing...

Maine Signs: Hancock's Wharf

A slight deviation from my Cajun Signs theme based on our recent road trip to Maine. I have not studied photography so I won't get the terms right when I say this: I thought the perspective and lines in this shot of Hancock Wharf were wicked cool.

Long Weekend, Long Day

The weekend/wedding in Maine is over and it was a great getaway. However, the long weekend ended this morning with us waking up at 4 AM EST (3 AM CST) and flying back home. It has been a looong day but I needed to break the silence and post a picture or two. I have yet to weed through all the photos we took, but there were a couple that caught my eye immediately. These two are a good start.

The picture of the two of us was taken by a random biker who stopped when he saw us trying to take a self timer. Turns out that he was a photographer - go figure. If you look hard enough, you can see the lighthouse in the upper photo deep in the background of the lower photo.

Maine is beautiful. We were big fans. I'll post more throughout the day tomorrow. Off to bed tonight.

Destination: Maine

We are headed out of town for the weekend and delayed in Lafayette due to weather. My cousin is getting married (and I haven't seen her in probably over 10 years). Should be a cool trip. We are staying at the Stage Neck Inn in York Harbor, Maine (which is where the wedding is) and it looks pretty nice. I think my only regret (yes, I am anticipating a a past tense noun) is that we won't be able to enjoy Maine for more than a day and a half.

Unfair Play League

In the spirit of Cantona and McAteer's infamy, I thought I would encourage you to check out the following t-shirt from Goalhanger.com. It's worth a chuckle. Not sure about £16...but a chuckle at the very least.

Jason "Cantona" McAteer

Jason McAteer is an Irish footballer and in 1996 he managed to top Cantona in the flying karate kick challenge. Cantona did this to a fan, so in my opinion, he is the grand pooh-bah of them all. This video however, tops any thing I have ever seen about that Cantona incident (which I have only ever been able to find photos of). Brought to you by Who Ate All the Pies.

Lucky 13

The US MNT rose 13 spots in the FIFA world rankings this month. Any one else watching the Gold Cup games? The US is on an 8 game unbeaten streak under their new coach and in my opinion, playing the prettiest soccer I have ever seen us play. I am liking the quick pace, aggressiveness, and rapid 1-2 touch passing that we have going on. Much less long ball then before. We are now ranked 16th in the world.

Don't Look...

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth

Messi vs. Maradona: Hand of God

In the quarter-final match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, 6 minutes into the 2nd half, Diego Maradona used his left fist to finish the first of 2 goals in Argentina's 2-1 victory over England. The referee missed it. After the game, Maradona claimed that the goal was scored "un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios" (a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God).

A little over a month ago I posted a video comparing 2 goals between Maradona and Messi that had an uncanny resemblance. Check it out here (Lionel Messi's Goal Against Getafe). This past week, Messi did it again. 43 minutes into the first half of Barcelona's recent game against Espanyol, Messi tied the game with another identical goal to Maradona's.

Below is a video of the two goals. Maradona's followed by Messi's. At this point, the fact that this has happened twice is starting to blow my mind.

Regional Update - Headed Home

We dropped to South Texas in the semis today. It was the best competition we saw all weekend and most likely the best team in the tournament. One mental lapse within the first 4 minutes and we were down 1-0. The final score was 4-0 with 3 goals coming in the first half. The second half the teams were equal. We had a great season and I couldn't be more proud of the team - finishing in the top 16 of the country is no small feat.

Sweet 16

We beat Alabama tonight 1-0. The win puts us in the regional semifinals. We play South Texas at 8 AM EST. Being in the semis means that we are one of 16 teams left in the country.

Controlling Your Destiny

We dropped 1-0 to NC. If we win our next game we advance to the semis. We control our own destiny and play Alabama at 6:30.

Regional Update #1

One game down, four games to go. We beat North Texas 2-0 this evening. Two second half goals and we now have 3 points in our bracket with a +2 goal differential. During the first 5-10 minutes the North Texas team was out of the gates like race horses. Running at us all over the field and hitting us hard. 15 minutes and and we were chipping away. By the end of the first half we had hit the cross bar and missed a few decent chances to their one or two. Second half and we kept chipping away until we were dominating and ahead by one goal. Another five minutes and the nail was in the coffin as we put the second one in the net. It was a hard fought game and the guys deserved the win.

We have two games tomorrow and need to break bracket. North Carolina is at 12:30. Roll Thunder.

The 13th Man

Our first game (against North Texas) is tonight at 6:30 PM so we have had all day to relax. The team went to watch Ocean's 13 to eat up hours during the day and make sure we weren't out wasting energy in the sun. Good film - recommend it.

Game 1 tonight. Roll Thunder.

Flickr Football: 90 Minutes

I like this photo because of the meaning I put on top of it. Heading into regionals we are probably considered underdogs by many. Thing is, in 90 minutes a lot can happen and it all can all come down to mayhem in the box. I've always enjoyed being the underdog.

Anticipation

I seem to have a lot of nervous energy about this upcoming weekend. Carlee is finding me a little tough to handle. The schedules were posted today. We play North Texas, North Carolina and Alabama. It's good to get names and game times. In the end they mean nothing. Every team is a state champion so they are all going to be excellent. Our first game is 6:30 PM Friday. We start the drive to Tampa tomorrow at 8:00 AM.

Counting Down

Ever since we won the state title I have been counting down to the regional tournament in Tampa. The week has finally arrived. This Wednesday we are doing half the drive and then finishing the second half of the drive on Thursday. The tournament has yet to post the schedule or bracket pairings so it is a mystery who we will face.

The guys beat an adult team that I put together for a scrimmage on Saturday. It wasn't the Armadillo Bowl so I decided to coach rather than play. Afterwards we grilled out with the guys, watched the US MNT slaughter China 4-1 and played some volleyball in the backyard. We had a light practice Sunday as well. The guys look ready.

Roll Thunder.