Will Brazil Score More than the Bears?
I have to hand it to US Soccer. They have definitely raised some eyebrows by branding this weekend's friendly between the United States and Brazil as the "Clash of the Champions". While this seems more apt of a tactic by the UFC when promoting an upcoming pay-per-view, it has worked in that most people were not aware the US soccer team is a champion of anything. In fact, several of my non-soccer snob friends emailed asking what exactly the US were champions of. Here is how a recent Instant Message exchange went:
Friend of Vein of Form: Hey, what is this Clash of Champions all about?
Vein of Form: US is playing Brazil at Soldier Field on Sunday.
Friend of Vein of Form: Right. What are the US soccer guys champs of?
Vein of Form: The Gold Cup. They won it earlier in the summer.
Friend of Vein of Form: What is the Gold Cup?
Vein of Form: The regional championship. Or CONCACAF. Kind of like how Europe is considered UEFA.
Friend of Vein of Form: I am now away from my computer. I will answer your message when I return.
Anyways, this "clash" in my opinion has the potential to get ugly. Keep in mind Brazil are just over a month away from beginning their World Cup qualifying for 2010 in South Africa. The players will be looking to impress manager Dunga as several "A Squad" players were left off the squad as a Brazil "B Squad" romped to the Copa America championship. Suddenly, Dunga seems to have blurred the line between what most fans and Brazil players for that matter assumed were his best 11.
If Brazil are in the mood on what is to be a cooler afternoon in Chicago with a chance of rain, they could have this match decided before the half. Consider that Ronaldinho, Robinho, Kaka, Daniel Alves, Gilberto Silva and Elano could all be on the pitch at the same time on Sunday. Vagner Love and Julio Baptista are additional options to start but they certainly are not bad options to bring on as substitutes. Brazil will want to put on a show. They will want every fan leaving Soldier Field in a new national team jersey - and I promise you it won't be the host nation that sells the majority of goods. Brazil are everyone's second favorite team and I have a feeling the allure of just seeing Brazil play will draw hundreds (if not thousands) of additional non-hardcore soccer fans. A majority of which could be easily swept off their feet with a single dynamic performance.
The World Cup in Germany showed us a Brazil operating at far less a quality than we have come to expect. But that is ancient history now. Should the US be able to get enough time on the ball to work quality chances on goal the glaring problem of having terrible finishing could still plague them. We saw throughout Gold Cup, Copa America and the recent friendly against Sweden that the Americans just do not have a knack for finishing and it is routinely damaging them during matches.
Clint Dempsey and DaMarcus Beasley have gotten off to good starts in Europe. Landon Donovan and Eddie Johnson remain puzzles at the international level. What is Davy Arnaud doing in the squad? And Josh Wolff has gotten a recall after falling completely off the map in Munich - and it isn't playing for that Munich.
I hope the weather is nice for the match. To see Brazil under sunny Chicago skies as the summer comes to an end is really a treat. I hope the Brazilians play epic football but the Americans hold their own and do not embarrass themselves en route to a 5th straight loss. The Americans don't look to have a true "best starting 11" right now. Bob Bradley's tinkering - while effective in bringing some new faces to the team - has appeared to only create confusion about who the truly talented players are. Nothing was answered over the course of 2 senior squad competitions this summer. The U-20s showed us that Jozy Altidore, Freddy Adu and Danny Szetela are great players for the future. But doesn't the future begin now? Aren't those 3 (along with U-20 and senior squad standout Michael Bradley) football professionals that deserve a shot in these friendly matches? Qualifying for South Africa isn't quite as near for the Americans but they have plenty more questions about the squad than Brazil does. And let's be honest, nowhere near the same talent top to bottom that allows for an error in player selection to go without real harm.
The match will be on ESPN2 at the same time the Chicago Bears take the field in their season opener (away at San Diego) so I doubt this will be a sell out. Considering how stingy the Bears defense looks to be and inept its offense - if Chicagoans want to see attacking football on Sunday a team from Brazil might be their best bet.
Friend of Vein of Form: Hey, what is this Clash of Champions all about?
Vein of Form: US is playing Brazil at Soldier Field on Sunday.
Friend of Vein of Form: Right. What are the US soccer guys champs of?
Vein of Form: The Gold Cup. They won it earlier in the summer.
Friend of Vein of Form: What is the Gold Cup?
Vein of Form: The regional championship. Or CONCACAF. Kind of like how Europe is considered UEFA.
Friend of Vein of Form: I am now away from my computer. I will answer your message when I return.
Anyways, this "clash" in my opinion has the potential to get ugly. Keep in mind Brazil are just over a month away from beginning their World Cup qualifying for 2010 in South Africa. The players will be looking to impress manager Dunga as several "A Squad" players were left off the squad as a Brazil "B Squad" romped to the Copa America championship. Suddenly, Dunga seems to have blurred the line between what most fans and Brazil players for that matter assumed were his best 11.
If Brazil are in the mood on what is to be a cooler afternoon in Chicago with a chance of rain, they could have this match decided before the half. Consider that Ronaldinho, Robinho, Kaka, Daniel Alves, Gilberto Silva and Elano could all be on the pitch at the same time on Sunday. Vagner Love and Julio Baptista are additional options to start but they certainly are not bad options to bring on as substitutes. Brazil will want to put on a show. They will want every fan leaving Soldier Field in a new national team jersey - and I promise you it won't be the host nation that sells the majority of goods. Brazil are everyone's second favorite team and I have a feeling the allure of just seeing Brazil play will draw hundreds (if not thousands) of additional non-hardcore soccer fans. A majority of which could be easily swept off their feet with a single dynamic performance.
The World Cup in Germany showed us a Brazil operating at far less a quality than we have come to expect. But that is ancient history now. Should the US be able to get enough time on the ball to work quality chances on goal the glaring problem of having terrible finishing could still plague them. We saw throughout Gold Cup, Copa America and the recent friendly against Sweden that the Americans just do not have a knack for finishing and it is routinely damaging them during matches.
Clint Dempsey and DaMarcus Beasley have gotten off to good starts in Europe. Landon Donovan and Eddie Johnson remain puzzles at the international level. What is Davy Arnaud doing in the squad? And Josh Wolff has gotten a recall after falling completely off the map in Munich - and it isn't playing for that Munich.
I hope the weather is nice for the match. To see Brazil under sunny Chicago skies as the summer comes to an end is really a treat. I hope the Brazilians play epic football but the Americans hold their own and do not embarrass themselves en route to a 5th straight loss. The Americans don't look to have a true "best starting 11" right now. Bob Bradley's tinkering - while effective in bringing some new faces to the team - has appeared to only create confusion about who the truly talented players are. Nothing was answered over the course of 2 senior squad competitions this summer. The U-20s showed us that Jozy Altidore, Freddy Adu and Danny Szetela are great players for the future. But doesn't the future begin now? Aren't those 3 (along with U-20 and senior squad standout Michael Bradley) football professionals that deserve a shot in these friendly matches? Qualifying for South Africa isn't quite as near for the Americans but they have plenty more questions about the squad than Brazil does. And let's be honest, nowhere near the same talent top to bottom that allows for an error in player selection to go without real harm.
The match will be on ESPN2 at the same time the Chicago Bears take the field in their season opener (away at San Diego) so I doubt this will be a sell out. Considering how stingy the Bears defense looks to be and inept its offense - if Chicagoans want to see attacking football on Sunday a team from Brazil might be their best bet.
posted by Anonymous at 4:20 PM
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