FIFA U-20 World Cup: Gloriously Rooting for Laundry

Whoever said kids should be seen and not heard has not been watching the U-20 World Cup. Stand up and shout boys, this has been one hell of a tournament. Watching the semifinals this weekend was euphoric and anxiety-inducing, just like good football should be.

Where to begin? With Portugal's one-for-the-ages penalties win over Argentina? Or how about with France gagging away a 1-0 lead with 7 seconds left in added time, and almost doing it again in extra time? And what about Brazil and Spain in extra time?

I wish I knew more about the players; I felt like I was rooting for laundry at times. I was. I was also rooting for good and dramatic football, which was hard not to do.The skill level is pretty high, in fact about the only distinguishing factor here from "senior" football is the size of the players. Most of them are tall and skinny and haven't really hit the weight room much yet as their older counterparts -- just a guess on my part.

Tactically however, the games are fun and fascinating to watch. They're playing for so much and for a lot of them, this may be their only shot at international glory. Imagine, all four quarterfinal matches went to extra time and two of them to penalty kicks. The games were tight, but you couldn't help get caught up in the drama. I can't advocate more than for you to watch tomorrow's semifinals. Brazil-Mexico and France-Portugal should be epic. A Brazil-Portugal World Cup final is epic at any level; Mexico, should it make the final, continues to make its case as a huge threat for the 2014 and 2018 World Cup (remember, Mexico won the U17 World Cup a few weeks back). France? Well, yeah, OK. Anyway.

MLS, Primera Division de Mexico to Merge; More than Half of MLS Clubs to Contract

Sources, yes I have sources, have told me in confidence that Major League Soccer will announce on Nov. 1 that it will merge with the Primera Division de Mexico and will contract more than half of its current 18 teams. The newly formed continental league does not have a name yet, but is the first salvo in a planned marketing war against Europe's top leagues. Europe has long promised to break off its top teams and form a SuperLeague. This is the thinking behind the Primera-MLS merger.

The Mexican league is apparently in deep financial trouble, something that's about to be made public in the coming weeks. It's trying to reach out the U.S. in order to tap the fledgling soccer market here, in particular on the West Coast and in the southern states. The Primera also promises to invest in U.S. player development camps, a la the academies that most of Europe's top clubs sponsor and support. The hopes are that the U.S. financial resources combined with Mexico's established football training philosophies will groom future stars not only for the new continental league, but for two countries' respective national teams.

The contraction decisions have not been made final by MLS or the affected clubs. The hope is that the clubs that are not invited to the newly formed continental league would form a second division of sorts. This gives legs to the notion that there may be relegation and promotion battles, and the elimination of MLS-style playoffs. The continental league would play on the world's football calendar and strictly adhere to FIFA rules and bylaws, especially with regard to stadia, pitches and other issues.

So the big question, I guess, is which teams would be contracted. I have seen an unofficial list and by the names on the list, I'm assuming these are the surviving teams:

1. LA Galaxy
2. Houston Dynamo
3. FC Dallas
4. San Jose Earthquakes
5. Seattle Sounders
6. New England Revolution
7. NY Red Bulls
8. DC United
9. Real Salt Lake
10. Columbus Crew

Obviously, none of the Canadian teams made the cut, nor did expansion Portland and Philadelphia. Can't wait to see how this shakes out. Stay tuned; I'm waiting on a couple of phone calls this afternoon and hopefully more details.

World Cup 2010 Running Commentary: South Africa-Mexico

Random thoughts while watching the first match of World Cup 2010 between South Africa and Mexico:

• ESPN has already had a bunch of audio glitches and video flubs. Um, you've only had years to get this right World Wide Leader.
• The hiring of Martin Tyler will prove to be ESPN's best move. Just awesome sparing us JP Dellacamera, Tommy Onion Bags et al.
• Mexico in black; looks wierd
• If South Africa has a strong on-field leader, they need him now in that huddle.
• Thinking of Senegal's '02 upset of France. Hmm.
• This is like a Mexican training session
• Wow. DosSantos should have buried that. South Africa is playing petrified.
• How many times do you see a team dominate completely early on, only to give up a bad goal in counter-attack. Not sure South Africa has it in them.
• South Africa is poor fundamentally. This isn't just nerves.
• Great point, don't be afraid to lose South Africa.
• That was promising, decent run down the right for The Boys, The Boys
• Just for fun, you know like counting yellow cars on the highway during a boring Sunday drive, let's count how many consecutive touches the Mexicans manage during a given possession.
• 10 ending in an offside
• 7 and out of bounds
• BTW, 13 mins. 0-0
• Poorly defended corner, Franco's header off the mark untouched. Should be 2-0
• Ref fell for a dive, dangerous spot for a free kick for RSA
• Ack. Bad miss son, at least put it on goal. 18 mins, 0-0
• One more free kick for RSA after handball, and another set piece disaster.
• robbery!
  

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