USA! USA! USA!

Last night I watched the US play Mexico in the Gold Cup final (soccerball).

If hardworking, undersized, unspectacular footballers were at a shortage, the US would be a sitting on a goldmine. And so would England actually.

Apart from me, there were 5-7 US fans (one of whom I apparently played soccer against in college) and 10-15 Mexico/anti-US fans. The Mexico supporters were pretty loud. The only US supporter who yelled anything would only shout "GOOCH!" everytime Onyewu didn't mess up. This is another problem American soccer fans have.

If you didn't already know how popular the US team is here, take this into consideration: the game was broadcast only on Al Jazeera 2; audio was provided by an Italian radio feed. So it's about the same level of popularity as it is in the US really.

We won 2-1. GO AMERICA!

The US team, who I hadn't seen play since the World Cup last summer, looked about the same. They still run really fast and work really hard, but are lacking in quality when it comes to touch, and timing when it comes to tackles.

As usual, we fielded a great goalie who got extra practice because of our casual approach to possession and our tendency to stab and forget about marking.

So it was nice that we won, but I'm looking forward to the US developing a world-class playmaker or two that will raise everyone's level. I'd be really happy with a ball-hawking central midfielder and/or a quick-triggered stricker. I'm only sorry it couldn't be me.

Sorry for all the soccer posts. I'll try to get back to random irreverence soon.