It's been a while since I blogged on a Friday or even blogged at all, but here's what I'm thinking about this morning:
1. The "Young Guns." Lost in all the excitement of Bob Bradley's roster choices for the game against Cuba (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN Classic) is the fact that it's all well and good calling up young talents like Freddy Adu, Jose Francisco Torres and Jozy Altidore, but ultimately it doesn't really mean much if they don't play. While I like the roster, I'm taking a wait-and-see approach because between Bradley's generally conservative mind-set and the desire to secure qualification to the next stage with a win, I don't really expect more than a few token second-half appearances from the youngsters. Having said that, assuming the U.S. wins, anything less than a full-fledged youth movement against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday would be unacceptable in my view.
2. To be or not to be a target striker. I've said this before about Brian Ching, but regardless of whether one is a fan or not of the Dynamo striker, as long as the U.S. continues to favor a target striker-style forward in its lineup, he merits inclusion. It's simply because he's the only player the U.S. has in that mold on the international level. However, the more pertinent question these days is whether or not the U.S. even needs to utilize the target man on offense anymore. I can see the value of employing an archaic approach (spray it to the wings constantly, punt in high hopeful crosses time and time again and hope that said target man heads it home or knocks it down for a teammate) for teams with limited offensive capability (admittedly the U.S. for the most part has fallen into this category over the years).
However, times have changed and most of the new crop of U.S. youngsters poised to make a splash on the international level are more comfortable with the ball at their feet, using their pace and yes, even running at defenders. Last year's U-20 World Cup showed how effective Adu and Altidore can be when used in tandem, allowed to link and play possession-style attacking soccer. When you add in other speedy prospects like Charlie Davies, and factor in veteran holdovers like Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey that would also be well-suited to play in this fashion, it's obvious that the time has come for the U.S. to move away from its old formula on offense.
3. Michel Platini wades in with more anti-English bias. This past week, UEFA set up a working group which will meet in Geneva on Monday to discuss how to extend its licensing system and restrict the levels of debt that clubs are permitted to operate with. It's a development that could potentially lead to English teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United facing exclusion from the Champions League -- on the grounds that they hold excessive debt.
It's a proposal that is the brainchild of UEFA president Platini, who also said this week that England's clubs were in danger of losing their identity because of the influx of foreign owners into the Premier League. "Do you want in Liverpool an Arab sheikh as president with one Brazilian coach and nine or 11 African players?" he said. "Where is Liverpool in that? We have to make some rules.
"You have to have identity, that is where football's popularity lies. If you bring some people from Qatar and there is no one from Liverpool or Manchester on the pitch or in the company, where is Liverpool or Manchester?"
I can't help but think the basis of Platini's agenda is basically the fact that he, along with FIFA president Sepp Blatter, resent the English teams' dominance of the Champions League in recent years. After all, where was this type of rhetoric earlier this decade when Serie A teams were in their heyday, dominating the Champions League, while also incurring huge unsustainable levels of debt? Why does Platini only cite English teams such as Liverpool or Manchester United as teams that are full of foreigners?
In the case of Liverpool for example, the team might field a largely foreign lineup, but its typical starting lineup comprises 10 EU-eligible players and only one true "foreigner" according to EU laws (Javier Mascherano). It would be just as valid for Platini to criticize the top Spanish teams -- Real Madrid's typical starting lineup usually contains only three or four Spaniards, while Valencia (current table-toppers in La Liga) has a staggering debt of 700 million euros -- but he eschews that in favor of a narrow-minded outlook towards the English game.
I don't actually disagree with Platini's desire to balance the playing field, but it's clear that his motivation is designed to curtail the dominance of the Premier League. As for his actual proposal to curb excess debt, I think it's impractical. Given the way most soccer clubs operate financially, restrictions placed on debt would be almost unworkable given that the variety of debt structures in place range wildly across the board -- and also the fact that it makes no sense to penalize teams that are able to service their existing debt with existing cashflows.
The more logical solution is simply to implement the long-mooted salary cap -- which wouldn't be hard and fast like the U.S. version -- but which would restrict all clubs to being able to spend only a percentage (say 60 percent) of its annual turnover on wages. Larger clubs would still retain an advantage, but at the same time would no longer be able to stash high-priced internationals three-deep on its roster. At the same time, such a salary cap would force clubs across Europe to rely more on developing cheap domestic young talent, which would only be good for the game in general.
4. Memorable goals. In a week that saw Inter's Zlatan Ibrahimovic
score with an outrageous backheel, an effort he's bettered only with this famous goal
he once scored for Ajax, it reminded me of an e-mail I got last month from Conor Goodwin in Salem, Ore. In a game between South Salem High School and rival West Salem, South Salem goalkeeper Marshall Reese
scored on a 65-yard kick with less than a second to go to tie the game at 2-2. It doesn't get any more dramatic than that.
Jen Chang
