Falling In Love With Futbol...and Other News

My fascination with a sport that we Americans call soccer, began during the 2002 World Cup, and has developed from that fascination into all-out obsession. I knew I had become a fan when I woke up at 4 a.m. while on my summer vacation, just so I could watch the U.S. play Poland in what I thought would be a meaningless match. I was wrong. But the near heartbreak that game cost me proved to me what kind of a fan I'd developed into. I wrote about that game here. This sums up my thoughts about that game: "That morning, when I trudged back to bed at six, I was unable to sleep; the very thought that we were so close to elimination kept me awake for hours. The Poland game was a disaster, it was gut-wrenching. A game the U.S. only had to tie and they conceded three goals (to a team that had not scored any in the tournament) and lost by two. To think, the U.S. was a goal-post away from World Cup elimination." I had become a fan.

From then on out, it was difficult to keep me away from the damn sport. I obsessively took in MLS games, and could hardly contain my excitement when the 2002-2003 EPL (English Premier League) season started. In those days, I actually had Fox Sports World (now Fox Soccer Channel) on my cable and was able to watch EPL games on Saturday. A friend of mine told me I should pick an English team to support. I foolishly looked at history instead of at the current team and picked Liverpool. Well, I picked a bad time to be a Liverpool fan. Within a year I was so sick of Gerard Houllier and El-Hadji Diouf that I stopped watching the team altogether and was already looking for a new team to follow. After some deliberation I came up with Middlesborough, don't ask me why. However, like Liverpool that too was short lived. Finally, I latched onto Everton, Liverpool's cross-town rival. I began to live and die with their results and knew that I'd made a good choice. Their stunning finish in fourth-place last season only confirmed that sentiment.

Yesterday, Everton played the first leg of their Champions League qualifier at home against Spanish side Villareal. Unfortunately, they lost 2-1, and, barring a miracle away leg, will likely find themselves confined to the UEFA Cup. It's the "luck of the draw" (or, in Everton's case, the "unluck") I suppose. It still pisses me off that Liverpool was allowed to play in this year's Champions League tournament despite not finishing in a position that would allow them to do so. Their victory over AC Milan last spring was amazing, I'll admit, but winning the Champions League doesn't equal instant qualification. Maybe it's justice that the team I refused to support takes away the glory from their cross-town rivals who had fought so hard just to be there and then were forced to face a quality Spanish side. Fate can really suck.

In other soccer news, Bruce Arena, head coach of the US Mens National Team, today released his 20 man roster for the August 17 World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago. The most notable absence on this roster is center back Carlos Bocanegra. It's made all the more curious when one thinks about who's out due to injury, including Cory Gibbs and Eddie Pope. The only explanation is that Bocanegra is now fighting for a spot at his club, EPL side Fulham FC, and Arena told him to stay and win his spot. What starting line-up do I expect to see (not that it's necessarily the line-up I'd like to see)?

4-4-2
Goalkeeper: Kasey Keller
Defenders: Chris Albright, Oguchi Onyewu, Jimmy Conrad, Greg Vanney
Midfielders: Steve Ralston, Claudio Reyna, Chris Armas, DaMarcus Beasley
Forwards: Landon Donovan, Brian McBride

Finally, in other extraneous news, Bob Woodward expects a 2008 Presidential race between Dick Cheney and Hillary Clinton. While I respect Woodward as a journalist and think him one of the best in the business, I find this particularly laughable. While Clinton's a possiblity (although not a shoe-in), the idea of Cheney winning his party's nomination is almost comical. I can't even imagine him trying, let alone winning. He'd have about as good a chance of winning his party's nomination as Gary Bauer or Alan Keyes.