In the months leading up to this summer’s World Cup in South Africa, few neutrals would have liked Japan’s chances.  Faced with Eto’o’s physical Cameroon, Holland’s A-list of superstars and Denmark’s experienced (and tall) squad, there seemed little chance of the Samurai Blue progressing out of Group E to the knockout stage.

Many of their own supporters were equally pessimistic.  “Nihon wa yowai yo (Japan is weak),” said a Japanese teammate of mine from Yokohama as we discussed the tournament in May.  “Zero point-o, to omou.”

The warm-up games were less than encouraging.  Park Ji-Sung’s South Korea dismantled the Japanese team 2-0 and then Japan scored two own goals in a 2-1 loss to England.  Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Japan’s half-Brazilian defender who is also their tallest player, scored against England and Japan in that match.  In their next match, a friendly against the Ivory Coast, Tulio managed to slip another one past his own goalkeeper.

“Tulio wa spy!” shouted someone at the Tokyo bar where I watched the match.  The clumsy central defender also managed to break the arm of Africa’s talismanic Didier Drogba arm with a flying horror tackle early in the first half.

Japan capped off their warm-up run with a 0-0 draw against world soccer minnows Zimbabwe.  Things weren’t looking promising.

But something changed during the tournament.  A scrappy 1-0 win against Cameroon in the opening match gave the Samurai Blue much-needed confidence and they were unlucky not to snatch a draw against Holland in their second game.  But it was in their final group match against Denmark that the Japanese finally showed their potential.  With two stunning first-half free kicks, Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo sent the notoriously uncontrollable Jabulani ball curling around the wall and into the Danish net.   In the second half, the excellent Eji Kawashima was unlucky to see his penalty save rebound straight to Jon Dahl Tomasson, who slammed it home.  After some nervy moments, a spectacular run from Keisuke Honda iced the victory, when he set up Shinji Okazaki for an un-missable close finish.  At the back, Tulio even managed not to screw up too badly.

For even the most die-hard Japanese fans, this victory against the towering Danes was something of a shock, but even more surprising was the success of Japan’s attack and ability to keep possession.  Unfortunately, against Paraguay in the Round of Sixteen, they reverted largely to conservative, negative tactics and ended up losing on penalties in one of the most stale and uninteresting contests of the World Cup.

For Japanese fans and foreign soccer fans living in this country, it is old news that Japanese soccer’s biggest problem is scoring goals.  And this frustration is not unique to the national team.  As anyone who has played on a Japanese team or even on a team with Japanese strikers knows, finishing is an issue right from youth soccer up to the Samurai Blue.

Why?  Well, that is the ten-million yen, question, really.  Everyone, especially foreigners living in Japan, seems to have an opinion.  Some fall back on the usual stereotypes about Japan—that individuality and creativity are crushed by group conformity, that “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” that nobody wants to shoulder the responsibility of being a game-breaker.

I don’t buy it.  Japanese players want to score goals just as much as any players in the world.  But there is a small measure of truth in the stereotypes, in that Japanese youth teams tend to focus their selection quite narrowly.  They don’t choose the tall, lanky, clumsy thirteen-year-olds who may later blossom into aerial threats or powerful, physical strikers.  They focus on small, quick players who already have strong ball control and passing skills.  While anyone who has seen such players in action will agree that their balls skills and fitness are among the best in the world, Japanese soccer definitely seems to be missing something by largely limiting itself to developing this type of player.

Japan is not unique in this respect.  West African soccer coaches and federations have recently spoken about the tendency of their countries to focus on developing powerful, bruising strikers over talented, creative players.  A lack of diversity within African teams seemed to be one of their downfalls in South Africa, without a doubt.  Canada and the United States also seem to produce strong goalkeepers with ease, but struggle to fill other positions as effectively.

If you’ve only got one real option tactically, you’re easier to shut down and easier to dismantle defensively.  During the World Cup, Japan showed flashes of change.  Personalities like Honda and Morimoto and yes, even Tulio, seemed to show hints that they could drive the team towards more exciting, dynamic, varied soccer.  The Paraguay match made us wonder, however, if this was all just a flash in the pan.

Last week, I was at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama to watch the Samurai play a rematch with Paraguay.  While it was only a friendly, Japan seemed like a new team, combining their typically hard-working defense and strong goalkeeping with moments of good attacking play.  They were rewarded in the second half when Shinji Kagawa smashed home after a string of quick passes.  Three days later, exciting young striker Takayuki Morimoto scored two goals in Osaka against Guatemala, lifting Japan to a 2-1 win.

In the stands at both games, no doubt watching carefully, was Japan’s new coach Alberto Zaccheroni (who, bizarrely, could not be on the bench because he hadn’t yet received a working visa!).  One can only hope that he encourages change and development in the Japanese game, rather than simply putting everyone back behind the ball and hoping for the best.  There is far too much depth in this country’s talent pool to let it go to waste.

Japan plays next in a marquee home friendly against Argentina on October 8^th as part of their preparations for the 2011 Asian Cup next year.

The World Cup is over and the soccer season is about to start in England and the rest of Europe are also preparing. Lets face it, we would love to say it was a wonderful World Cup and I was craving for it. I had great expectations, I was still having hopes of getting back the holy grail of soccer glory that Brazil served up in 1970 in Mexico or the last spectacle of a fantastic World Cup that we have yet to see in my eyes since ironically in Mexico too in 1986. 1982 the sweet summer of Spain would have been romantic too…God I would even settle for a vintage 1998 France or 1994 USA World Cup which threw up some excitement, but no nothing came and on July 11 2010 I waited for a better serving and a last one. I was hungry so I expected something to fill my guts, but though Spain were the better team (we hear that a lot now days when we see a boring match) nothing spectacular happened apart from the Dutch turning into Mr. Hyde in the final.

There was one last hope, a semblance of dignity and pride that soccer belongs to the good guys, it came when a certain Diego Forlan (photo) showed that in quiet confidence you can still do the business and show the world what you are made of, Cristiano Ronaldo please take note. Forlan could have been a tennis pro and I guess soccer is glad they have him, Forlan could have been a Wimbledon winner if he took up tennis, but we will never know.

What is incredible about the Diego Forlan story is that from humble beginnings he rose up to play for Manchester United and after a not so successful two seasons he was declared a flop and was loaded off to Spanish club Villareal. In Uruguay he played for Penarol and Danubio before going to Argentinian giants Independiente and from there lots of glory was expected of him when he was signed for Manchester United.

He played there for two seasons 2003-04,04-05 though he was not so prolific for the Red Devils he scored some vital goals for United. He scored in the last few minutes against Chelsea a stunning volley that made the United fans go wild and who can forget the stunning two goals he scored in the 2-1 win against rivals Liverpool at Anfield?

He did not deliver the goods or goals regularly for United and was even nicknamed Forlorn he signed for Villareal in 2004 and what happened after that baffles and still baffles United fans all over the world. Forlan did not go to Real Madrid or Barcelona, but Villareal a small club. He won the top scorer award that season in Spain and also won the European Golden Boot award where he shared this with Thierry Henry of Arsenal at that time.

This eventually led Manchester United to do some soul searching and when they sold Giuseppe Rossi to Villareal, they had a stipulation in the contract that they can buy him back and United were given the first option to do so. Meanwhile Forlan was set for bigger things and everybody expected him to move to Barcelona, again Forlan made a surprise move and this time it was Atletico Madrid in 2007. Observers thought this is where Forlan will slowly retire and go away quietly instead in 2008 Forlan struck gold again winning the Spanish league top scorer award again and the European Golden Boot award again.

It got sweeter this year just before the World Cup when he scored the winning goal for Atletico to win the Europa League beating Fulham in the final. In this World Cup he picked up the Golden Ball as the best player. He went on about his business without complaining and he showed character unlike his team mate Luis Suarez who made Uruaguay the villains when he used his hand and stopped the ball from crossing the goal line against Ghana for the Ghanians not to score.

Forlan was not just a goalscorer, but he was the play-maker rolled into one and his stunning goal against Germany for the third place play-off brought some magic back to the World Cup. In the last kick of that match he nearly scored from a free-kick and many neutrals were cheering for him.

He stood out in this Uruguay team and in some ways he reminded me of that great Uruguyan player Enzo Francescoli who was that lone marvel of a player for that disastrous Uruguayan team in that 1986 World Cup. They were shamed by Denmark 6-1 and played listlessly against Scotland and Germany.

He was still a shining light for a player called Zinedine Zidane who mimicked his style and even called his son Enzo after the Uruguyan icon. Perhaps it is unfair to compare that Uruguyan team in 1986 with this team that reached the semi-final, but Forlan mastered the ball the famous jabulani that was the talk of the town in South Africa. While many players are bought and sold and news about them come and ago and even their babies get the coverage, Diego Forlan just came and went like a shooting star, but sweet smell of success is still with him and this trail, my guess is he will still stay at Atletico Madrid and in some ways it will be nice to see him not touched by the commercialism of the soccer world, he still manages to elude the big clubs after Manchester United and yet deliver success at the highest level. The master of the Jabulani, the last airbender will after all be playing in the home of the world champions if he still stays in Spain and
Diego Forlan has definitely come full circle and there just might be a “Zidane” watching somewhere.

I told you so! You wait four long years to see your team have the chance to compete for World Cup glory; a chance which on June 27, 2010 was sadly stolen from England. In Bloemfontein we saw yet another complete travesty in the world of football which may have been averted had pre-existing goal line technology (GLT) been in place. England’s premature exit from the World Cup can in part be placed squarely on the shoulders of FIFA and its anti-GLT policy.

After going 2-0 down to a young German team, the England lions rallied amazingly to get a goal back through a Matthew Upson header. Through continued pressure and momentum, Frank Lampard (photo) hit a spectacular strike which crossed the German’s goal line. The whole England squad threw up their arms in accomplishment as billions, literally billions, of spectators around the world could see that Lampard had scored. Neuer, the German goalkeeper, however, simply picked the ball out of the goal as though nothing had happened and the only two people with the power to award the goal believed him when his actions nominally indicated that the ball had not crossed the line. The result? Another goal not duly awarded because of the inadequacy of the current officiating system, which proved to be the final nail in a team’s World Cup coffin. I’ve gone into detail in a previous article (The Day Technology Died) about the benefits of GLT and how ludicrous it is that is has not yet been adopted by the top leagues. It is, however, completely unbelievable that it is not being used at least at the World Cup- the largest sporting event on Earth. Any arguments against this technology are spurious and unfounded (again see The Day Technology Died), and I would like to know how many more unfair heartbreaks of this nature are required before Sepp Blatter and the rest of FIFA realize this and do something about it? When it happened in the English Premier League, it wasn’t enough. When it happened in the European Champions League, it wasn’t enough. Now that it has happened in the World Cup, is it enough? If not, what else will it take? Occurring in a World Cup final? I honestly don’t see how we as a soccer community can continue with such an obviously flawed system. If we do, we are no longer playing soccer. We are playing Russian roulette. Will this goal count? How about this one? The question players ask of themselves will no longer be how can we score? It will be when we score, will it count? Perhaps we should implement a new rule, a goal will only be considered a goal if the ball disturbs the net because apparently crossing the line is not enough. Not by a long way. Not even at the World Cup.

Frank Lampard’s shot (photo) today perfectly illustrates the game-changing scenario which alters the course of the entire game. Who knows what might have been had GLT awarded Lampard his well-deserved goal? England doesn’t go in at the critical half-time period a goal down, which boosts their confidence. After all, they’ve overcome a two goal deficit and they’re scoring now, both of which are extremely positive points. The young German side now become disheartened from an English equalizer and cannot afford to waste time as soon as the second half whistle blows. England now don’t need to devote so many men forward in their desperate attempt to score an equalizer (that will count), which most likely would not have led to Germany’s two lucky breakaway goals in the second half. As simply as that, the whole ballgame is different.

What truly pains me most are the talking heads on the major networks who, after the game, attempt to make it sound as though England would have lost anyway which is by no means certain. They say England would have merely lost 4-2 anyway. Not necessarily (and, in my opinion, not even probably) true. Decisions like these have far-reaching, knock-on effects in terms of team strategy that anyone even familiar with soccer would understand.

I am by no means saying that England would have won beyond a shadow of a doubt had the goal been allowed. My point is we will never know. England was denied their chance to compete and they will never get it back. Lots of teams’ World Cup runs are ended early due to contentious issues, but unlike some of those others, this issue has a solution ready and waiting in the wings. That is the tragedy.

The major issues with the adoption of GLT have always been cost and availability. As I’ve said before, the system may be an initial investment, but it costs almost nothing to maintain. As for availability, granted it cannot be in use in every game. But you would think that if it were anywhere, it would be at the World Cup where every game is an international game played by the best in the world. Is a month every four years really too much to ask? I know what England’s answer would be.

The World Cup was a huge event, watched by millions, perhaps billions of people worldwide. For a month, every part of our planet was overtaken by World Cup fever. Even in America! It really helped that the US teams made their games exciting by waiting to the last minute to score against Algeria to qualify and by going 2 goals down to Slovenia before deciding to rally a huge comeback which should have ended in victory. This helped with the media coverage, and the team even made the front pages of the national newspapers. Almost unheard of.

But now the World Cup is over, has it just drifted away into nothing again, not to be spoken of for another four years?

As an A licence coach who runs soccer academies in Orlando, and as a coach educator, training other coaches, I can honestly say that here in Florida there has been an impact. I am out working 4 or 5 nights a week and prior to the World Cup my academies would be the sole occupants of the soccer fields. Now, every time, every evening there are groups of people using the fields. Dads are out with their sons and daughters having a good old fashioned kick about, and there are groups of 20 – 30 young men playing pick up soccer.

This next story is true and really reflect the impact of the World Cup . As I was clearing up after my academy one of the young guys approached me, asked if I was a professional coach and then asked how he could find a way into the pros. I asked about his experience with soccer and he said he’d only just started playing a few years ago, didn’t play in college but now really wanted to be a pro. He was 23 years old. We spoke about soccer, I gave him some advice and asked what had prompted this idea of career path. The World Cup. Now, realistically, this guy has very little chance of making it. But, importantly, he now has a dream, bought about by our beautiful game. I told the guy the truth about his chances but told him not to give up on his dream. If you don’t try you will never succeed.

At my last coaches clinic the week after the World Cup I had 15 more sign ups in the final three days and my biggest group for months. Again, when I was addressing the group I bought up the subject of the larger numbers and again it boiled down to the same thing, The tournament had ignited peoples passion for the game.

Now, the next question is, will it last? I honestly don’t know the answer to this, but I certainly hope so and the level of interest I’ve seen post tournament gives me a positive vibe about the prospects of Soccer becoming a serious sport in America. I hope to keep the young players who come to my academies stimulated and excited about soccer, as well as the coaches that I coach. These people, the youth and the current coaches, are the pathway to success in the US. The World Cup has been a magnificent vehicle to bring the interest to the country, for Americans to see how much the whole world loves the sport and why, we now need to nurture it, and I think the future is bright. Grass roots soccer has been invigorated, let’s keep our fingers crossed that we continue to grow it and hope that one day, one day, the National team will reap the benefits.

The English national team is nowhere near good enough to win the World Cup. This tournament made that clear and so did the last one. What concerns me chiefly in this article is the quadrennial failure of the English to see this. A society’s inability to look reality squarely in the eye is a worrying trait; more worrying still is a society’s inability to discern it. And it isn’t just the fans. The nation’s top football reporters also thought England could win. They said as much, in print and on TV. Unless they are guilty of shameless hypocrisy, we must assume that they meant what they said.

There are many reasons for England’s failure – tactics, selection, and formation among them. But if a society’s collective delusions are to be lifted and progress to be made, it is vital to appreciate that all these factors are secondary, because nothing counts as much as quality. I stress this because it is the very quality of the so-called ‘golden generation’ that has always been taken for granted, inviting the soothing post-tournament rationalisation that the quality was there, it was just that England didn’t show it. Yet the really significant point about the need to bring Joe Cole in sooner is not that Capello erred in the first place by excluding him (though he did), but that it exposed how lacking England were in players with the technical gifts to succeed (or even impress) on the world stage. That Frank Lampard’s shot against Germany was over the line and should have counted as an equaliser must not be allowed to mask the fact that Germany’s young side outclassed their vastly more experienced English opponents in technical ability, creativity, tempo and pace. Holland, without playing particularly well, won their group stage with maximum points; England finished second in a so-called ‘easy’ group. Algeria practically passed them off the pitch.

Tactics. Selection. Formation. These are the responsibility of the coach. Recoiling in embarrassment from the disastrous decision to appoint Steve McLaren (The-Man-who-wasn’t-Hiddink), the FA went to the other extreme and appointed Fabio Capello, a highly successful club coach with a pseudo-patrician manner and a private art collection worth millions. Capello, they felt sure, would command the respect of England’s millionaire players, being a millionaire himself. Disdaining matey monikers like “Wazza” and “Stevie G”, he made surnames the order of the day. He made the players eat together, and switch off their mobile phones at table. The press loved him for it, especially when England qualified.

But Capello, paid a salary of six million pounds per annum, had never managed at international level; he had no experience of taking a team to a World Cup, of leading it through the Group Stages, or the last 16, or the Quarter-Finals, or beyond. Yet his job description might be summed up as follows: to get England to the semis, at least. In other words, everything preceding that stage was taken for granted, based on the record of England’s previous managers, and on the talent-base from which Fabio could expect to draw.

Now here’s the point: in no other area of life – not in Medicine, Law or Banking – would a professional organisation appoint and pay six million pounds to a man with no experience of exactly the level at which (and of precisely the context within which) he was expected to succeed. Looking at it this way brings the FA’s folly in appointing Capello into shocking focus. In the event, he didn’t even get England to the Quarter-Finals, the point at which – given his job description – he was to begin to earn his money. Six million a year, sports fans.

Most people don’t understand numbers (if they did, they wouldn’t do the lottery). I’m none too hot on them myself, but some simple arithmetic tells me that six million a year at a risk-free interest rate of 3% on gilt-edged securities yields a man £180,000 per annum. That’s £15,000 a month for life, with no risk of the initial six million disappearing – which, you would think, would be more than enough for most people. Except, it seems, Fabio Capello, a man with a private art collection. For if Capello was not, like Sven-Goran Eriksson, a slave to money (what else but the myopic effect of greed blinds a man to the ‘fake Sheik’?), the siren-like call of spondulicks was sufficiently strong for him to commit a crass error of judgement on the eve of the squad’s departure, in endorsing the ‘Capello Index’. (Incidentally, any football manager who can afford to spend his wages on building up a private art collection is being paid too much: the art market effectively exists to separate the ultra-rich from their cash).

So Capello must take his share of the blame, but he must not be used as a scapegoat (particularly given the fact that he is not English). For the plain truth is that the technical skills which allow a side to move the ball from defence to attack with penetrating swiftness, and the creativity needed to open up increasingly tight defences, were no more evident in England’s play in 2010 than they were in 2006. Whatever Algeria lacked in the final third of the pitch, man for man they were more comfortable on the ball than England. The real point isn’t that the three lions played badly and went home without the trophy. It is that they were never good enough to win it in the first place.

Unlike most American women, my husband has shown me the truth about soccer. It is
a perfect, beautiful sport. It unites people from all over the world, and represents unity
in many war-filled countries. In Cote d’Ivoire, soccer stopped a civil war. The sport itself
is like no other. It can end in a tie. You can have a scoreless game and walk away with
a point. Unlike basketball, where you can score 100 points a game, soccer is a intense
well-deserved victory if you score at all.

Being a girl, I take it all personally. I meet the players by checking up on them with the
help of wikipedia. I find out what they have overcome to get where they are. When I
first saw Landon Donovan, I didnʼt notice his amazing soccer skill. No, I noticed that
when he scored a goal, his wife would blow a kiss his way. In front of thousands of
screaming fans, he would catch that kiss and put it in his pocket. That moment, I
became a dedicated fan of LA Galaxyʼs #10. The Spanish guy, Andres Iniesta, who just
scored the winning goal in the World cup, took off his jersey to show a message to his
teamate that passed away a year ago. The message translated “Dani Jarque always
with us”. Now of all the players to where that shirt, he was the one who scored a goal.
He was the one who the camera was on. He was the one with a message. Things like
this happen constantly in this amazing world of soccer. Once you meet the players, and
you go through the journey of defeat and success with them, you will no longer be
content to read your book when soccer is on. You will sit next to your husband cheering
just as loud, if not louder.

With the excitement of the World Cup celebrating itʼs first time on African soil winding
down, my heart is recovering from the exciting journey it has been on this past month.
The anticipation. The noise. The victories. The defeats. As a fan of the beloved game
that brought 24 countries on an amazing thrill ride, I ask you soccer skeptics to take a
better look at this beautiful sport. I also want to challenge all of you die-hard soccer
fans to share the stories that will cause this sport to be more loved in our country. Pure,
intense, uninterrupted, heart-stopping soccer – and never forget this World Cup 2010
that brought millions together for a memorable month celebrating not only the sport of
soccer, but the people that were in it.

Serbia coach Radomir Antic received a four-game ban from FIFA, a news that will have a significant influence on the team’s chances of qualifying for the Euro Cup. After the game Australia – Serbia, Antic verbally attacked referee Jorge Larrionda for denying Serbia a late penalty that could have helped the team to progress into the second round.

Feeling that the punishment was too harsh, The Football Association of Serbia appealed today against FIFA’s decision, but considering that Antic admitted to the Serbian media that he had cursed Larrionda in Spanish, it is very likely that FIFA officials will not change their minds.

In Antic’s response to the four game ban, the coach stated that FIFA’s punishment is a direct attack not only at him, but at Serbian soccer too. He said that the final score of the match was a result of Larrionda’s wrong decisions. In Antic’s opinion, it is unusual that some countries receive an apology from FIFA for bad referring (Mexico and England) while others get punished.

This was not the only controversial decision that Larrionda made during the World Cup. He was sent home by FIFA after denying England a clear goal in the second round match against Germany.

The World Cup Final just doesn’t come along every day. In fact, other than the Olympics, it is difficult to think of a major sporting event that does occur less frequently.

The Super Bowl lumbers by each winter, the Stanley Cup laces up its skates (some would say inexplicably) well into spring, Wimbledon serves strawberries each summer (sometimes underneath umbrellas), and the World Series hits the bases in mid-autumn.

All of these seasonal classics deservedly draw their own legions of nervous fans, eager to see their team or player lift the ultimate prize of their sport. And I’m no snob when it comes to sports—to each their own, I say. Every sport can provide gripping, edge-of-your-seat thrills (remember how we even started watching curling during the Winter Olympics?!) and every sport is also capable of causing snores, swear words or slippers thrown at the television.

But there seems to me to be a belief with these yearly contests (and often, as I can attest as a lifelong fan of the Vancouver Canucks, an extremely deluded belief) that hey, there’s always next year, right? Pick yourself up and dust yourself off and back in the saddle.

Apologies to Shakira, but soccer doesn’t work that way; at least not when it comes to the World Cup. “Fall to the ground, put your head in your hands and let the man-tears flow” would probably be more like it. Because while many players do participate in more than one tournament in their lives, there is definitely the feeling that every World Cup match may be your, and your country’s, last chance.
Perhaps nowhere has this ever been more palpable than this year’s World Cup final. As I watched the Oranje line up alongside their Spanish adversaries in Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, I thought about the multiple layers of pressure on both sets of players: the fans, the media, the coaches and their own pride as sportsmen.
So many bragging rights were on offer. The first to survive vuvuzelas, swerving Jabulani free kicks and the glare off those dodgy plastic supporters’ helmets. The first to hoist a World Cup on African soil. And of course, biggest of all, the first representatives from either nation to lay claim to soccer’s gleaming golden prize.

The Dutch and the Spanish, despite both having won the European Championship before, were looking to exorcise slightly different demons on Sunday. Holland had, of course, been to the Final before: twice, losing to West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978. They are frequently referred to as the best team never to win the World Cup. The Spanish, on the other hand, had been regarded as perennial underachievers, regularly self-destructing due to internal squabbles, inflated egos and, some say, a lack of integration of players from areas like Basque and Catalonia.

There were other intriguing subplots: contrasting styles, hot girlfriends in the crowd, Sneijder vs. David Villa for the Golden Boot. But what struck me as the 2010 World Cup Final kicked off at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 11th, a day that I and soccer fans all over the world had been imagining for months if not years, was that ultimately, it was still a soccer match. Despite the “Waka Waka” performance and the fireworks and the dignitaries (although Mandela’s appearance and the crowd’s reaction was something I will always remember) it was still just twenty-two guys kicking a ball for ninety minutes (well, one hundred-and-twenty plus stoppage time, obviously) and yelling a lot at the referee.

As a neutral, I had none of the nerves that supporters of the Netherlands or Spain must have felt jangling through their souls as the game progressed. Selfishly, however, I felt anxious that this World Cup Final had to be the match of all soccer matches because I was there. Just like those players, this was probably my only chance.

The game, as you all saw, wasn’t a great final. Chances were few and far between and the 90,000 in the stadium and untold millions (or billions) watching at home were forced to wait 116 minutes until Iniesta finally fired Spain to a 1-0 victory. But it wasn’t a terrible final either—just a tightly-defended, feisty, cautious, nervy one.
As I watched Iker Casillas fall to his knees and weep with joy and Arjen Robben sink to his knees and dissolve into a puddle of inconsolable grief, I was reminded of why I love the World Cup so much.

It is because soccer is not only about the goals that are scored, it is about harsh reality: sometimes we do only get one chance in life and probably more often than not, we stuff it up (think of Ghana’s last-minute penalty miss…). It is about good fortune and bad luck, that thin line between success and failure, as slender as one slip of a defender’s foot or a single brilliant flick of a forward’s toe.

The best moment in my entire life was watching Landon Donovan score the game winning goal in stoppage time against Algeria during group play of the World Cup. My second greatest moment was watching Landon Donovan and Bob Bradley appear on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I especially loved Bob’s wardrobe of tennis shoes, jeans and collared shirt…where’s the Armani coach? Come on, you’ve got to represent!

In all seriousness, those were great moments, but they are in the past and we must move on. The biggest question for United States soccer fans is whether or not the United States Soccer Federation will bring back Bob Bradley or go another direction?

Put your money on choice A.
As much as many of us want to see Jurgen Klinsmann or another big-timer come in and take the United States to the next level (or at least put the right starting eleven on the pitch)…we will all be faced with four more years of Bob Bradley at the helm. And this is what will happen – the United States will coast through qualifying, get to Brazil and have a chance to advance if we get a favorable draw and pull out some wins in the waning moments.
Tell me that’s not progress!

There are two decisions the United States Soccer Federation can make right now. One is to stay with Bob and to protect a system we all know is flawed and to try and to expect a guy who has never been there as a player or coach to guide your team to the later rounds of the next World Cup. Or to go after a high profile winner with international experience and the confidence and ego to get the most out of all of his players.

Does Bob do that? I think everybody thinks he does, but aside from Landon’s three goals, what else did he do this tournament? Landon hid out most of the time and needs to be more of a force over ninety minutes. Everybody is comfortable with Bob and I think that might be the problem.

If the coach were somebody else, maybe Maurice Edu voices his displeasure of playing behind Michael Bradley to the media. Maybe Jay DeMerit calls out Michael Bradley in the press for not providing enough protection for the back four (if you think he does, let’s sit down together and I’ll show you on every goal against the United States how Bradley fails to do his job as a center mid). Maybe Freddy Adu (remember that guy, he’s still around) gets called into camp more than once every full moon. Maybe Benny Feilhaber gets the ball every time the U.S. mounts an attack so that they can keep the ball for more than five seconds at a time.

I’m not proposing that the U.S. camp mirror the French camp, but I do think that at a certain point a new coach must come in and be able to tell certain players…I need more. I don’t think that will ever happen with Bob, because I think he and a lot of other people think that they are getting the most they can out of their players. And if that is true, then the U.S. needs to go find other players. They are out there. The country has 300 million people in, go find them. But Jozy Altidore needs to get better. Landon needs to stop hiding out for eighty-nine minutes at a pop. Michael Bradley needs to stop passing to the other team all the time. Bocanegra needs to stop getting beat to the ball and somebody needs to go find a legitimate left back for this squad!

There’s a lot that needs to happen for the United States to have a successful run in 2014 and the current coach won’t be capable of getting more out of his players than he already has…and that simply isn’t good enough anymore.

Mark Vincent Lincir is the Editor-In-Chief of www.90soccer.com he can be reached at editor@90soccer.com

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Watching the USA bow out of the 2010 world cup was bitter and painful, especially after the relatively easy path to a semi-final match that generated, as compared to the rest of the 2^nd round teams.  Team USA had strengths in this World Cup that it could play off and use to propel themselves into the later stages of the tournament.  As a supporter of USA soccer, I can’t be alone in feeling that the sting and the hurt which was caused by the thought that realistically instead of Uruguay vs. Holland, it could have been USA vs. Holland!  The talent, the endurance, and most especially the belief were all instilled into this particular cast of American soccer players, and there isn’t a sole alive that could convince me that the 2010 Team USA locker room wasn’t having realistic dreams of making the semi-finals.  The three teams that potentially stood in the way of a historic semi-final birth were:  Ghana, Uruguay, and South Korea.  Um…not exactly the scariest or most intimidating group, at least as far as soccer teams’ goes.  Throw the USA in that group and it’s probably a 25% chance for each of those teams to make it to the semi-final.  Well, Uruguay prevailed over the others and found themselves matched up with Holland, who did impress me with their over all talent level, craft, and commitment to the game plan.  Uruguay on the other hand, was a bit underwhelming, and they could have won that game if a few bounces go their way at the right time.  Other than Diego Forlan, who is on a level that no current American player is at right now, honestly the rest of that Uruguay team could have been filled with American players just temporarily wearing the Uruguay jersey.  Which leads to the question, what is the state of American soccer, and what can fans expect in the following four years leading up to the next world cup?  To put it bluntly, does America have a quality and realistic chance of winning a world cup?

The Uruguayans, who prevailed from America’s quarter bracket, put up one heck of a fight, but to look at talent levels in the semi-final match and it was obviously a distinct advantage in favor of Holland.  Holland has big, quick, and intelligent players at every position on the field, and looking back throughout history, one will find that most teams that reach the finals have these advantageous characteristics.  With the wealth of resources available, American soccer has the capabilities of forming such a unique and distinguished team.

Holland’s first goal came from their left back, which sat coyly just outside the edge of the penalty box and fired a blistering shot into the upper right hand side of the net.  Does the USA squad have a guy that can produce that kind of magic?

Maybe…Does anyone remember Demarcus Beasley?  He’s been forgotten of late, but there is soccer talent in his athletic body, and if given the chance to learn the customary jobs of a left back, four years from now he certainly can pose the intelligent and athletic threat from the defense that Team USA has been lacking.  There are other options at the position, but Demarcus’s built is the kind that a championship caliber team wants out of their left back.

It’s not only Beasley; there is plenty of quality amongst the Americans that can fill out a frightening roster by 2014.  Landon Donovan has found his home roaming the wings and four years from now he should be at his apex as a player.  Then there is Clint Dempsey, a man with such an advanced understanding of the nuances of a soccer game, that one can find a role for him at nearly any position starting from the midfield and up.  I still think he would be a great central midfield player in the mold of Italy’s Pirlo, but he could also occupy a wing spot or a striker position.  Clint is a beast, basically.

One thing that is a glaring weakness in the 2010 USA roster is the lack of finishing ability at the striker position.  Uruguay’s star striker, Diego Forlan, dazzled with his precise and accurate strikes.  This really isn’t even a debate because it should be evident to anyone that watched USA’s games, but the team doesn’t have anywhere close to the quality needed in terms of putting the ball in the net.  By the time 2014 rolls around, hopefully a handful of Americans will have gained this ball striking precision in front of net, but right now, the options look slim. Jozy Altidore could get there if he put in the effort, and Clint Dempsey can definitely get there, but other than those two forwards, what else can American fans point at to calm their anxiety.  The only solution I seem to be getting in my head is that the USA soccer Federation put an enormous emphasis on this phase of development in the youth ranks.  Hire someone from Holland, France, Brazil, etc…One of the prominent soccer nations and have that guy come in and teach our kids the subtleties of scoring.  This might sound stupid and one would think that this option has already been exhausted, but if you watched the Holland vs. Uruguay game, and saw some of the Dutch’s attack, you might be inclined to think that there has to be something more than what the USA is teaching its kids.  While the ball would roll up to one of Holland’s attacking players, that player didn’t automatically take a touch for himself and than look up to try and make a play.  There were four or five Dutch players that if the ball came to them, they already knew where another two or three of their other teammates were and could make a play by a single touch, without lifting the head, or even sometimes, they just let the ball keep rolling because they knew one of their players was in a better spot than themselves for making a FINISHING play.  This subtlety just doesn’t seem to be instilled into most of the American players, and there must be a way to teach this kind of craft.

Although America isn’t ready for the finals quite yet, I think we can definitely see that the talent level on a whole is steadily increasing.  At the World Cup this year when the USA went down a goal or two, I wasn’t nearly as scared as I might have been four or eight years ago.  There was something inside me, encouraging me to think that there was enough skill on our side to produce some magical moments and create some goals, and that’s how it went.  Even on the bench, I knew that we had multiple guys that could step in competently and help make a serious push towards the opposition’s net.  The amount of talented American soccer players is growing and this is a positive, hopefully we can raise that talent level just to the next notch, and we might be looking at a Team USA going to Brazil to win the World Cup!