Two U.S. World Cup factoids that will blow your doors off

I: Thanks to the BBC Web site, we now know that only two men have saved two penalty kicks in the same World Cup (excluding shootouts): Friedel in 2002 and Poland's Jan Tomaszewski in 1974.

II: Only three players in the world made their nation's rosters for both the 1999 under-17 World Championship in New Zealand and the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan: the U.S. Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley and Brazilian midfielder Kaka. Beasley and Donovan's achievement is even more remarkable when you consider that 1) 144 players from that U-17 World Championship were eligible for World Cup 2002 (i.e., their countries qualified for the finals), and 2) Beasley and Donovan combined for seven World Cup starts and 653 minutes played, while Kaka had zero starts and 19 total minutes.

If you're looking for a year-end summary, check out my take on soccer's Ups and Downs in 2002. In the meantime, let's answer some questions...

Donovan: The Leverkusen Perspective

2006 U.S. World Cup team: Reader response

Got plenty of comments about last month's survey that asked MLS and USSF coaches to name the U.S.' starting 11 for the 2006 World Cup. Mat from New York City made perhaps the best point:

"Arena proved that the 'starting 11' concept is almost immaterial. He rotated 19 guys this summer with impunity, changed formations and strategies and generally proved that in an extended tournament you have to be solid beyond just the first 11 spots. And boy, are we."

I totally agree. No World Cup coach showed more trust in his entire roster than Arena, who took a huge risk by shuffling the cards so often and tailoring his starters to the style he wanted to play against each opponent. It worked. If we wanted to be really hardcore, I suppose we could have asked each coach for a 23-man roster, but I still think it was a revealing exercise.

Interesting list. The squad usually changes more than we expect. Any idea why Edson Buddle and Jeff Cunningham didn't get any love from the coaches? Buddle's omission is a mystery to me.
—Ryan Heal, Sunnyvale, Calif.

Buddle, surprisingly, didn't get a single vote, but that may come down to something as simple as the fact that his injured foot kept him from playing in the U.S.-El Salvador friendly, which was played the week before our poll took place. As for Cunningham, I expect him to get called in at some point early, but he had better impress quickly, seeing as he'll be a month from turning 30 in Germany.

Whatever happened to Conor Casey, and why is he never mentioned?
—Larry Borys, Los Angeles

You might remember Casey as the target forward who played for the U.S. during the 2000 Olympic tournament. He's currently with Hannover 96 in the German Bundesliga, where he might have gotten a chance to increase his visibility this year had he not injured his knee. According to U.S. Soccer, Casey is expected to return after the winter break. You can be sure Arena will be keeping a close eye on Casey, since Il Bruce likes to go with a target forward (Brian McBride has been a mainstay in Arena's lineup as long as he's been healthy). Without many of those available, I expect McBride will remain at the forefront of Arena's plans despite his age (30), but Casey is among the next in line.

Also from Mat in NYC: "I'd like to drop two names: Chris Gbandi and Oguchi Onyewu. Gbandi, if he recovers fully from an ACL tear (which is expected) and gets his citizenship (who the heck knows), will push Wade Barrett for a starting spot in the defense. Onyewu is much like Gbandi, but three inches taller, right-footed and already a U.S. citizen."

Good point on Gbandi: We'll see how he does with the Dallas Burn (and the INS) before he gets a call-up. And Onyewu did get one vote (as the starting right back) from one of the coaches in my survey.

There has been a spate of incidents in college football whereby postgame celebrations have turned ugly. Do you notice any difference in the way the American media handles such incidents in comparison to their reporting of troubles across the globe associated with soccer matches?
—Matt Rhodes, (no hometown given)

I could write an epic on this one, Matt, but I'll leave it at this: Nobody in the American media blamed the sport of baseball for causing the Family Ligue to stage a pitch invasion at Comiskey Park in Chicago this year and attack a Kansas City Royals coach. And nobody in the American media blamed the sport of college football for the rash of dangerous pitch invasions that have everyone convinced someone is going to die soon if nothing changes. So why does the American media blame the sport of soccer for causing pitch invasions around the world? Two words: Ignorance and xenophobia.

Amazingly, no one has yet suggested that American sports teams build moats around their playing fields. Let me be the first.

The Woodshed or Victoria Street

Guess I didn't realize what a nerve I had struck by suggesting that the nickname for the soon-to-be-finished Home Depot National Training Center (the new home of the L.A. Galaxy) should be "The Woodshed." Reader Paul Burns from Orange, Calif., writes: "The Woodshed? That dog won't hunt. As far as a nickname for the HDNTC is concerned, the Brit expats here in SoCal already have it handled. The place is going to be known as Victoria Street, after the road that runs along the north side of the complex." As Mat from NYC adds, Victoria Street "has already been confirmed by the Galaxians, the Riot Squad and the rest of L.A.'s hardcore fans. Though The Woodshed isn't a bad idea, as in 'The U.S. took Mexico out behind The Woodshed in L.A. this weekend.'"

Thanks for the update, guys. I'll resolve to call the HDNTC by whichever name sticks. I still like The Woodshed better -- and I cringe upon hearing that "the Brit expats already have it handled," as if those dumb Americans couldn't figure it out -- but I'm willing to settle on changing the language only once: I was the first wag to use the term "pig-tailed hooligans" in 1998 to describe the rabid young followers of the U.S. women's national team. (Granted, this pales in comparison to my pal Landon Jones, who coined the term "baby boomers," but you do what you can, right?) In any case, I'd be remiss if I didn't pass along the HDNTC nickname suggested by Revolution fan Greg King of Boston.: The Toolbox.

Eleven random things

1. Did anyone notice that Landon Donovan got two third-place votes for FIFA World Player of the Year -- from the national team coaches of Cape Verde and, intriguingly, Mexico. Might this be the Mexican rationalization for their World Cup defeat? Donovan es el tercer mejor jugador del mundo! Es claro porque perdimos dos a cero!

2. Regardless of the Mickey Mouse voting process, it was great to see the pictures of Ronaldo and Mia Hamm together in Madrid this week as they accepted their World Player of the Year awards. While having the award is a real advance for women's soccer and while Hamm deserved to be nominated, let's hope the trophy goes to the most deserving player next year. Of the coaches whose teams had qualified for the 2003 Women's World Cup through Monday, Germany's Birgit Prinz was the clear winner, taking five of the eight first-place votes (with one each for Hamm, Norway's Hege Riise and Brazil's Katia).

3. Many observers scratched their heads when Tom Fitzgerald got the UCLA job a year ago, but he deserves a lot of credit for leading the Bruins to the national title in his first year in Westwood. Maybe he can give a few tips to the beleaguered Steve Lavin.

4. Stopped for a couple days in Bradenton, Fla., last week, long enough to conclude there's an outstanding Dawson's Creek-like reality series to be done on the U.S. under-17 national team (in residency at the IMG Academies) and their female tennis phenom groupies.

5. The U.S. men will meet Japan in Seattle on March 29 -- but this will be the first time the U.S. plays in the new Seahawks Stadium (designed for soccer) as opposed to Safeco Field. A grass playing surface will be installed for the game, which will serve as the litmus test for whether Seattle will host any World Cup qualifying games in two years. As a Sea-town boy myself, I hope it happens. The turnout for recent national team games here (38,000 for a men's friendly against Honduras and more than 20,000 for a women's Gold Cup game) suggests the U.S. could enjoy a real home field advantage in the Northwest.

6. As if MLS' signings of Donovan andMcBride weren't big enough news for the week, sources tell me the league has signed U-17 stars Eddie Gaven and Guillermo (Memo) Gonzalez to contracts. What's more, defender Jonathan Spector's signing by Manchester United is "virtually a done deal." Meanwhile, U-17 forward Corey Ashe (who has a verbal commitment to North Carolina) is being pursued by both MLS and teams in Brazil, where he wowed fans at a tournament earlier this year. All four players looked skilled and solid during the two games I saw them play in Florida last week.

7. For what it's worth, my esteemed colleague Seth Davis reports that Maryland hoops coach Gary Williams (who once coached soccer at the collegiate level) is a firm believer that the sport should do away with the offside rule in an effort to increase scoring. Disagree with him all you want, but it's cool that Williams enjoys talking soccer with the lay public.

8. FIFA boss Sepp (I Am Not a Crook) Blatter will be appearing in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria next Feb. 18 to accept yet another award (read: payback for granting the U.S. a future World Cup) from American toady Donna de Varona. Odds are the FIFA prez will say "The future of football is feminine" 29 times before attendees realize "Blatter" is in fact a malfunctioning animatronic doll.

9. Why do I always want to call Chilean-based U.S. keeper Jonny Walker by the name Johnny Knoxville? Is it because he's from Tennessee?

10. Talked last weekend with my buddy Steve Gunderman, a Kansas City Wizards season-ticket holder who took great pride in screaming "Bring back Ron Newman!" at Wiz games last season. I don't know why, but that just cracks me up.

11. If you ever see a guy typing on a laptop at Seattle's Uptown Espresso and wearing a Marcel Desailly Chelsea jersey, well, that's me. Stop me for a second and we'll talk some soccer.

And finally, we'll take leave of a historic 2002 for American soccer with a note from reader William J. Smith of Brooklyn, N.Y., who writes:

"You mentioned in your mailbag "Future Fodder" that St. Phil Anschutz cried when the U.S. beat Portugal. I know the feeling. I am a 37-year-old soccer fan and MetroStars season-ticket holder. I had been looking forward to WC 2002 from the moment we got knocked out of WC 98. My daughter was only six months old at the start of WC '02 and still waking up for middle-of-the-night feedings. The day the U.S. played Portugal, I got up to watch the match and she was stirring, so I sat with her in front of the TV and was feeding her formula when John O'Brien scored in the fourth minute.

"Silly as it sounds, it got to me. My daughter being there, what my country and city went through on 9/11, what this country means to people like my grandparents who came here seeking refuge, the fact that the Nats are made up of a mix of ethnicities but only one nationality (like this great country), how we've rooted for this league, all the nonsense we put up with from Eurosnobs, etc, etc. So much emotion. I started to cry and fought back tears for the rest of the game as I held my little girl close, somehow feeling that her being there made it all possible ... or at least all that much better.

"I don't know if I'll handle it when we lift the Cup over our heads in 2006."

On that note, enjoy the holidays! I'll be back in January.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl keeps you up to date with the world of U.S. soccer each month at CNNSI.com. To send Wahl a comment, question or story idea, click here.

 

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