Lookin' Good, Even in Defeat

I hate to admit it, but the biggest take-away I had from the U.S.-Netherlands friendly were the snazzy new uniforms rolled out by Nike. More often than not, I have preferred our dark-blue away jerseys over the home white. Barring some unexpected genius from the boys at Nike, I suspect I'll feel the same way about these.

I've never liked the idea of white home jerseys. What is white? It's nondescript and it says a great deal about the complete lack of soccer tradition in this country. Look at the soccer powerhouses: Brazil has the traditional Yellow, Italy has it's Blue (Azzurri!), the Dutch have their Orange, and the Germans...OK, well the Germans also wear white.

In an odd twist of events, both countries wore their away jerseys (thanks for using our friendly as a way to sell merchandise, Nike). Of course, as a Tennessee grad, this made it easier for me to root against the Dutch. I'm pretty much in favor of any rabid love of the color orange, regardless of how illogical it might seem to an outside observer.

The game itself didn't really tell us much about either side. The Dutch won 2-1 due to a penalty and an odd bounce in the box. It was a home game, the Dutch have a great squad this year, and quite frankly it was a game they should have won.

Unfortunately, the in the process, an already banged-up U.S. squad sustained another loss on a late challenge. Midfielder Stewart Holden will be out a reported 6-weeks with a broken leg. I'm sure he takes solace that he looked good while in excruciating pain. Or not.

Because There Aren't Enough Blogs

Welcome to my attempt to shine some much needed light on the US National Men's Soccer Team. If our draw is any indication, we stand poised to make a splash in this year's World Cup. I, for one, hope to be seeing more sights like this:



And preferably none like this:



Not too much to ask right? Of course with our players dropping like the proverbial flies (Davies, Onyewu, and most recently Holden), a deep run might not be in the cards. Since qualifying, we've looked anything but sharp, compiling an 0-3-0 record against Slovakia, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Sure, there are qualifiers to that record. All three games were played on foreign soil and none were played with the full line-up we are likely to see in June. We have two friends against the Czech Republic and Turkey on U.S. soil in May, and one scheduled against the Socceroos of Australia in South Africa prior to our pool play. If we come out of those with a similar record to the last three, then it might really be time to raise some red flags.

Until then, we wait...