Three Historic Games: American Soccer Show this week

On this week’s American Soccer Show Dave Denholm and was joined by Dave Brett Wasser, considered one of the foremost historians of the game in this nation.

The three historic games we focused on in the show were the 1989 World Cup qualifier in Port of Spain against Trinidad and Tobago, the 1993 US Cup match in Foxborough versus England and the 1995 Copa America match in Uruguay against Argentina.

Players in BOLD scored goals in the match.

Trinidad and Tobago 0-1 United States

November 19, 1989 Port of Spain T&T

This match put the United States in its first World Cup finals since 1950. Paul Caliguri scored the lone goal of the match on a 25 yard volley. The loss eliminated Trinidad and Tobago from the World Cup in 1990 and it would take several years for the small island nation’s football program to recover fully.

The US Squad that day: (4-4-2)

—————————- Tony Meola ————————————-

———————John Doyle——————-Steve Trittschuh———-

——Mike Windischmann——————————————-Brian Bliss

————————Paul Krumpe (John Stollmeyer)————————

—Tab Ramos—————John Harkes—————-Paul Caliguri——-

——————–Bruce Murray————–Peter Vermes——————-

United States 2-0 England

June 9, 1993 Foxborough, Mass

Graham Taylor’s England squad were struggling in an ill fated World Cup qualifying campaign when the Three Lions came over to play this match. The US was coming off a 2-0 loss to Brazil and would lose a seven goal thriller to Germany four days later in Chicago. Tom Dooley and Alexi Lalas scored the two US goals, both off set pieces and both while individual pieces of skill demonstrated the shambolic defending England has become known for in the past fifteen years internationally. The US squad was substastially better than the team fromthe 1990 World Cup. Why? The US had naturalized three outstanding European club players who were eligible for American passports, Tom Dooley (Kaiserslauten, Bayer Leverkusen), Earnie Stewart (Willem II) and Roy Wegerle (Chelsea, QPR, Blackburn, Coventry). Of the three only Wegerle had previously lived in the United States, and he had in fact grown up in the U.S. and even played NCAA Soccer and in the NASL before becoming a lethal goal scorer in the English top flight. But it was the naturalization of Dooley in particular that got the attention of the U.K. press after the match who tried to dismiss the US victory as based on the gates of Ellis Island. Ironically this was much the same allegation the British press had thrown at the US after the 1-0 American victory over the English in the 1950 World Cup.

The US squad that day: (5-3-2)

————————————–Tony Meola—————————————————–

–Des Armstrong——John Doyle—–Mike Lapper—-Fernando Clavijo——–Jeff Agoos————

Tom Dooley–(Alexi Lalas)———–John Harkes——————–Tab Ramos–(Cobi Jones)—

——————-Roy Wegerle—————————-Eric Wynalda (Earnie Stewart)————-

Argentina 0-3 United States

July 14, 1995, Paysando, Uruguay

Arguably the most impressive victory in the history of the US National Team. Simply put this is the best game I recall the US playing since I have been following the National Team (beginning in 1983). Interim Coach Steve Sampson came out with an attacking lineup of a 3-5-2, which at times looked like a 2-5-3, as the US confidently went forward and showed an attacking prowess we never saw before and have hardly ever seen since from the the national team. Eric Wynalda, Alexi Lalas and Frankie Klopas scored goals for the stars and stripes as we won our group in the Copa America and advanced to play Mexico in the Quarterfinals. The US run ended in the semifinals in a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Brazil when Frank Klopas almost buried a late equalizer.

The US squad that day: (3-5-2)

——————————-Kasey Keller—————————————–

—-Marcelo Balboa (Mike Burns)—–Alexi Lalas———————Paul Caliguri

———————- Tom Dooley——————–John Harkes——————

———-Cobi Jones————-Earnie Stewart——–Frank Klopas (Tab Ramos)–

——————-Joe Max Moore——————–Eric Wynalda——————

Listen to this week’s American Soccer Show at 2pm ET/11 am PT Tuesday March 4th to hear Dave Brett Wasser’s detailed accounts of these games. For more information on Dave’s soccer video collection visit davebrett.com.

For his detailed post match reports during the Pan Pacific Championship for the New York Times visit http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/

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American Soccer Show # 4: Eurosnob Discussion

Those of you who tuned into the American Soccer Show this afternoon or morning depending on where you reside were probably entertained by the passionate conversation my co-host Dave Denholm and I had on the subject of Euro snobbery. We hear the term all time with reference for football fans here in the states, but what exactly constitutes a “Eurosnob” in my mind?

A Eurosnob is a person who is not an ex-pat or a Latino/Hispanic that feels every aspect of American soccer should resemble the Premier League, or some other European league or FA of their choice. These people who are almost entirely new to the game in the past few years will take an opportunity to knock American soccer while not understanding or appreciating the game in this country at all levels. These people simply put have not taken the time to learn about our system in this country and have been deeply “affected” in my mind by what they see on television, hear on the radio or read on certain websites. Let me preface the remainder of this post stating I in no way hold those who emigrated to the United States from traditional footballing nations guilty in any way shape or form of supporting their native national team or club team. This discussion is based around American born soccer fans who have chosen for whatever reason to trash soccer in this country.

A common misconception of this Eurosnob crowd is that the US National Team is inferior to any in Europe or South America. Many in this crowd were spotted in Soldier Field when the US played Brazil in yellow and blue regalia. Others walk around the streets of suburbia USA wearing the blue French kit or the Azurri jersey. These people haven’t given their home nation a chance to show its quality in football. These”fans” of the beautiful game have never been spotted in any MLS, USL or National Team game unless it is of course to cheer for Brazil. Many of these people advocate the point of the view that “the US doesn’t matter” and that the “US stinks” while claiming to love the game. When I point out to some of these types of people that the US has qualified for more consecutive world cups than England, France, Mexico, Portugal, or Holland these people usually attack the CONCACAF federation or claim I am simply making this unbelievable fact up.

Another misconception is that the quality in MLS is that of let’s say League Two or the Conference in England. This is even more laughable than what we have discussed above. I don’t know many teams in the Conference who have full internationals with dozens of caps for nations that routinely make the World Cup or compete in Continental Championships. While Major League Soccer isn’t the Premier League or La Liga, it isn’t the Conference North either. In addition, does MLS have to be of the EPL standard to get support here at home? Another question for those who bash both the MLS and US National Team………..does the MLS becoming a mini Premier League help or hurt the US National Team? I’ll let those who have views on the affect of the Premier League’s power and the weight of certain English based clubs on the English FA and Three Lions debate that subject more thoroughly, but my view is that the circa 1990 England National Team featuring Gary Lineker, David Platt and Peter Shilton among others (let me admit the England 1990 team is one of my all-time favorite teams ever ranking up there with the “Total Football” Holland teams of the 1970s and 1980s) would wipe the floor in its prime with any England team since including the 2006 World Cup team dubbed a “Golden Generation of English Football”.

When discussing MLS many in the Eurosnob crowd encouraged by critics of the league state that the league’s calender is misplaced and that no other league in the world has a playoff system to determine a champion. So that must mean that the leagues in Australia, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Brazil and Sweden among others must be misplaced also schedule wise, and that leagues in Australia, Mexico, Brazil and South Korea must really not exist since they use playoffs to determine a champion. Since La Liga and the Bundesliga play August to May so must any other credible league in the world argues the Eurosnob.

A common Eurosnob complaint revolves around the speed of MLS matches. Well if speed was the determining factor in quality, Brazil and Argentina would play second fiddle to England in every World Cup. The English game is the fastest and in my opinion the most entertaining around. But entertainment doesn’t translate to quality. Speed doesn’t determine skill or quality. Besides, try running as quickly as Joe Cole does down the wing for Chelsea in blinding 100 degree summer heat in the USA after getting off a five hour plane flight where you crossed three time zones in economy class. The Eurosnob argument ignores the fact that most matches in England, Germany and even Spain or short hop away where ground transportation is more often than not used and the body doesn’t have to adjust to a pressurized air cabin or crossing multiple time zones. Managing in MLS is not easy because as our friend Eric Wynalda stated this year on Around the League with Gary Richards and Peter Brown, you must know how to handle the travel side of things to be successful in MLS.

Many other arguments are put forward by the Eurosnob crowd, but they are too lengthy to get into on this blog. Let me state that I unequivocally love European and Latin American Football. I watch games from all over the globe and prefer the English Premier League above all other football worldwide. But the game has evolved and is different in all corners of the globe. To assume simply because a product somewhere doesn’t resemble exactly the product elsewhere doesn’t deem it inferior or worthless. Moreover to claim you love the game and be an American means you must support the games growth here in the United States. To do otherwise could be catastrophic to the games evolution in our nation.

Other topics discussed on this weeks American Soccer Show with Dave Denholm, Michael Haley and myself are the transfer window being open, Beckham training at Arsenal and the future of Eddie Johnson. Please check out the show in the archive at CSRNUSA.com