USSD Mailbag: First Cap

It's Friday, time to unwind a little and ease into the weekend.  And what better way to do that than USSD's very first mailbag?  I've received some suggestions and questions through tweets and emails over the past couple of weeks, so I'll address them now.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments you want to throw my way, feel free to send them to US.Soccer.Daily@gmail.com.  When I get enough of them (and some free time), I'll be sure to get the best of the best into another mailbag.

With that, the following are from US Soccer Daily readers like you.  I didn't take the time to ask all of these people if it was okay to use their last names, so I decided to just play it safe and leave it to first names only (for the future, let me know your preference if you do send an email):


Dave: 
What would you rank as the best USMNT goal of all time?

USSD:
That's a tough one to answer; it depends on how you define "best".  In terms of importance, Joe Gaetjen's goal against England in 1950 is up at the top with Paul Caligiuri's goal against Trinidad and Tobago in '89. Gaetjen's was the lone tally in the greatest World Cup upset of all time, while Caligiuri's looping volley from distance ended that long, long World Cup drought nearly forty years later.  From an aesthetics perspective, though, I don't think I'd be able to say either of those were the best.  For starters, I've never seen Gaetjen's goal, and according to this long Sports Illustrated article on Gaetjens (worth a read if you can track it down), it was a glancing header in traffic that some say caught Joe by surprise and just happened to bounce off his head into the back of the net.  Caligiuri's was a little better, with that little feint to get past his defender before hitting that arcing volley on net.  Every time I see it, though, I just wonder how the Trinidad keeper wasn't able to stop it; it didn't have a ton of pace behind it and was up in the air for a good bit of time.  Great goal, but in terms of aesthetics, not the best, in my opinion.

For me, that honor goes to Benny Feilhaber's bomb against Mexico in the '07 Gold Cup final.  It was a perfectly hit volley, an absolutely rope into the far upper corner, and to top it all off, it came late in the second half of a tense tied final.  Such a pretty goal, I could watch it over and over again.

Brent: 
Who do you think will replace Bob Bradley for the 2014 cycle?


USSD:
With Jurgen Klinsmann recently stating he'd like to coach again, I'm sure many USMNT are hoping that Sunil Gulati offers him the job for the next cycle.  Only time would tell whether or not that's a good idea.  I could also see Sigi Schmid getting the job after his MLS success over the last couple of years (that's what got Bob the job, after all), and I would not be opposed to that selection either.  The frequent hirings and firings of the international game make speculation particularly tough, but those are two names that I think will be in the conversation (among US fans and pundits, at the least) after the World Cup.

With that being said, I don't think having Bob Bradley at the helm for another cycle would be a bad option (cue the uproar from the anti-Bradley brigade).  I've seen in several places the opinion that Bruce Arena faded in his second cycle, and thus it's probably best just to get someone fresh in there that can deal with that grind for another four years rather than keeping a coach for eight years.  But, in reality, Arena's '06 qualifying campaign was far more successful than the '02 cycle, where the USMNT had to win on the final match day to progress to the Hex and didn't secure a World Cup berth until the final CONCACAF qualifying match day.  In the '06 cycle, he won the Hex and won a Gold Cup.  The only thing that a lot of people remember, though, is the early exit from his second World Cup.  Of course, that's important, but to say that Arena faded in his second cycle ignores the build up to Germany and instead just oversimplifies the four years to three matches.

I don't think change should be made for the sake of change, and if Bob still wants the job (which he very well may not) and is the best candidate available, then why not keep him on for four more years?  He's had success to this point, and that shouldn't be forgotten.  Then again, if the US crashes out of South Africa, I don't think Sunil and co. will want to deal with the fan backlash that would ensue if Bradley was retained.


Cosman68 (via tweet):
How about an injury list for the USMNT? It's getting hard to keep track of who will be available for the World Cup.

USSD:
Alright, so there's been a lot of news over the past couple of weeks in terms of injuries.  Some guys have returned to the playing field after long lay offs (Dempsey, Cherundolo), while others have been sidelined with new injuries (Holden, Feilhaber). 

Right now, of these 23, only Onyewu, Davies, Feilhaber, and Holden are currently sidelined by injury.   Benny Feilhaber suffered an ankle injury earlier in the month, but the prognosis is good (a bad sprain rather than any serious damage) and he is expected to return after a few weeks of rest and rehab.  Holden, meanwhile, underwent successful surgery on his broken leg (thank you, Mr. de Jong...) and is expected to miss about six weeks.  He should be healthy for South Africa, barring any complications, and by that recovery schedule he should have an opportunity to get a couple of games in with Bolton before the end of the EPL season.

Gooch continues to progress nicely, and an injury to AC Milan teammate Alessandro Nesta (and Milan's defensive issues of late) could open the door for Onyewu to earn some Serie A playing time when he returns.  I expect him to be healthy well ahead of South Africa.  Charlie Davies also continues to move along remarkably, and after all he's done to this point, I'm just going to trust his belief that he'll be back on the playing field for Sochaux in April.  While he's not quite out of the woods yet, I feel like odds are that he will be in the final roster come June.


Kyle:
What's the deal with the 2011 Gold Cup?  Will it be in the US again, or some other CONCACAF country?

USSD:
This is something I've been trying to find out for myself lately, but I have had little luck in tracking down any information.  The US has been either the sole host or a joint host for all 10 Gold Cups to this point, including the last three.  I'm not entirely sure on this, but I think I remember rumors that Canada was trying to host last year's tournament, so I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to do so once again.  With that being said, CONCACAF knows that the US will provide plenty of stadiums and good ticket sales, and I don't know if Jack Warner and company would say know to a sure buck in favor of bringing the continental tournament north of the border for the first time.

If anyone knows anything on either Canada's attempts (if any) to host the Gold Cup or what will happen for the 2011 edition, please pass it along via email or the comments section.  I've looked in vain over the past couple of days; the lack of info on so many things CONCACAF gets pretty frustrating.  The one thing I was able to find, though, is that Fox Soccer Channel will once again have TV rights, so you'll be able to catch all of the USMNT games next summer, regardless of where they are played.


Christine:
I don't know if this would be the kind of thing you dedicate an article to, but what do you think are the best soccer movies?

USSD:
(And this question exemplifies why I have opted for the mailbag: I don't want to ignore any readers, but I'm not a machine capable of grinding out posts on every single topic that's loosely related to soccer. Nor do I want to deviate to far from the intended focus of this site.)

As for my favorites, I liked the first Goal! movie, but haven't seen either the second or the third (though I hear I'm not missing out on much).  To be honest, I haven't seen a ton of soccer movies; there a few here and there that I thought were decent the first time I saw them, but I haven't been eager to see them again.  The one soccer movie, though, that I could watch any day of the week is Victory.

I honestly think that that movie is so unintentionally funny that it's actually cinematic gold.  You have Sylvester Stallone, in between Rocky II and Rocky III, playing some brash, unorthodox goalie for the Allies, staring down Baumann before the late penalty kick, and then actually catching the ensuing PK.  Baumann is portrayed as an international star of the era, yet somehow Stallone (with just 90 minutes of competitive soccer under his belt) is not only able to stop his shot, but he's able to make a clean catch.  Fantastic.  Then you have Pele's dramatic bicycle kick (with a broken rib, mind you) where they show about 27 replays with random close ups of the Nazi official thrown in there, as well.  It's really hard for me not to laugh a little bit every time I see that scene.

Now, that's not to say that the movie is a complete joke.  There's some solid intentional humor thrown in there, as well as a decent plot.  Definitely worth watching for any soccer fan.  There's a reason I always watch it when it's on.


Carlos:
Where do you see the three CONCACAF teams finishing in the 2010 World Cup?

USSD:
Ah, tournament predictions are always tough because so much depends on how the other groups turn out.  I'll give you these guesses:

Mexico- First in Group A, lose in Round of 16
USA- Second in Group C, lose in Quarterfinals
Honduras- Fourth in Group H

Take all of those with a grain of salt because, like I said, what happens in the other groups will have a big influence on how any of these teams do in the knockout stage (if any make it there).  Who knows, maybe things set up nicely for the Yanks or El Tri and a CONCACAF team makes it to the semifinals for the first time since the USMNT's third place finish way back in 1930.  Or maybe all three crash out in the group stage.  It's tough to say three months ahead of time; injuries and form could change a lot before then.

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This was just the first in what I hope will be a recurring mailbag format.  If you have any questions or comments about the USMNT, international soccer, or something loosely related that you'd like addressed in the next one, send it over to US.Soccer.Daily@gmail.com and I'll do my best to include it.