A Mid-Summer Soccer Post

After the USMNT piss-poor collapse in the Gold Cup Finals, there'd been little to watch until the Women's World Cup began a couple weeks ago. As one would expect, it hasn't had quite the coverage as the Men's equivalent last summer. I wonder why that is... oh yeah, sexism. That said, the games have been pretty good. At the moment, I'm watching USA v France, & here we have the the biggest conundrum of the summer. These 2 women's teams are sort of opposite in my mind from their men's equivalents. What I mean is that the french Men's team has been really good for generations while the USA men's team has only recently been worth watching. On the other hand, the French women's team has never made it to the World Cup (at least I think that's the case... I could be wrong), & the US team has been one of the best for years & years.

Watching these 2 teams, though, is tough. I think I would have preferred them to meet in the finals.I've been following the French Football Federation since the 1982 World Cup. As you know, they were robbed by the ref in the semi-finals then when the German goalie came out of the box, missed the ball entirely, & knocked the french player out cold... the ref said there was no foul.Italy went on the win the tournament which cemented a rivalry w/ our Italian neighbors... & cemented a place in my heart for FFF.

The French team is definitely looking better today, but the US goal was really nice. I gotta say, I haven't been nearly as impressed by Abby Wambach as the media would have me think I should be throughout this tournament. She's missed a few sitters & just looked a bit out of sorts. yes, she got the last gasp winner against Brazil, but in general, she's looked more like Bendtner than like RVP.

Speaking of Arsenal players, they had their 1st pre-season friendly this morning in Kuala Lampur against Malayasia XI. Arsenal won 4-0 w/ goals from Ramsey, Walcott, Vela & Rosicky. The good news (other than the decisive win) is that Nasri looked good & dedicated, Vermaelin was amazing, & Denielson's days look numbered. He subbed on @ halftime but was them taken off in the 61st minute. That can't bode well for his future. Of course, when he came off (along w/ a few other people), Nasri, RVP, Ashavin, & Sagna came on. It must have been rough for Malaysia XI to be down 3-0 & see that group of people waiting to come on.The final tid-bit of soccer info today comes in the form of a Verde FC alert. We're playing in a tournament on Belle Isle on Sunday afternoon. Come on down, drink so beer, & cheer on you local 5th division team. It'll be your last chance to see me play until the 2nd fall match... I'll be serving a suspension during the first match this fall. I was handed a happy b-day red card last month. Perhaps you heard about that. It made all the papers, well, it made my facebook status & I think I blogged about it too. Shocking, I know.

A Classy Weekend

Yesterday, my mom & I took Aiden & Solstice to the Detroit Symphony. They do a free family show about once a month. It was fantastic. I'd never seen them before, & wow... they know their shit. I shouldn't be so surprised, but I'd never see any orchestras before other than student ones. They performed for about an hour which was perfect for the kids. Next time, we'll have to plan ahead & get tix to a museum too... & maybe some Lafayette Coney Island in between. Nothing says classy like chili cheese fries. Anyway, between each piece, the conductor, Leonard Slatkin, talked to the kids about the subsequent piece, explaining what it was about & why they chose to do it. Here's what they played:
Overture to Candide - Leonard Berstein
Summon the Heroes - John Williams
"Hoe Down" from Rodeo - Aaron Copeland
Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin (featuring Michel Camilo on piano)
Tropical Jam - Michel Camilo
The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) - John Williams
Then today, while Dan & I were classing it up w/ staches for our 1st Verde FC match, My mom took Solstice to see The Magic Flute at the Detroit Opera House. She says she loved it. I'm so glad she got to go. I think she's looking forward to doing that kind of stuff more often. Verde, on the other hand, lost 3-0 @ home to Brighton today. Their first goal was due to a ridiculous defensive break down, their second was clearly offsides, & their 3rd was right @ the end on a counter attack while we were all pushed up trying to score. Plus, we had to deal w/ the wind which was harder for us than them because we demand a more beautiful style of quick passing... very much like a symphony, now that I think about it. They just play sloppily. (we play them again in a couple weeks in a cup match & would love to see you all out there supporting your local team.) So w/ these things in mind, we'll call it a draw. And that's some classy logic.

Verde FC & Team USA

The team is coming along nicely. Your local football club should be playing a pre-season friendly against Detroit FC in a few weeks. Be sure to come out and cheer us on and remember to order your fancy replica kit soon. The campaign will start at the end of April and run through June at which point we'll take a couple months off and then finish the remainder of the season from August to October. We'll also be playing in the state tournament and a tournament on Belle Isle in July. Here's to hoping we can improve on last year's rather shocking record.In other soccer news, we scored our tix for the Gold Cup matches @ Ford Field in June. I'll be taking Aiden down w/ Liz, Dan, & my dad. It's a double header; the first match is Panama v Guadeloupe followed by USA v Canada. It'll be Aiden's 1st international, & I think he'll have a great time. Perhaps a good showing from the fans will help convince the MLS that we need a team in this area. If they perform like they did @ the World Cup last year, it'll be hard figuring out which squad (Verde or USA) puts up a more embarrassing summer... hopefully neither will be embarrassing... cross your fingers.