Scotland (National Football)

But, it gets better.

The possibility of a united Team GB football team appearing at the 2012 Olympics in London seems to become less and less likely as each day goes by.

Despite reassurances from FIFA that a joint GB challenge would not threaten the independence of any of the home nations for future international tournaments, the separate Football Associations seem unable to reach an agreement.

The majority of the opposition seems to be coming from north of the border as the Scottish FA fail to take on board FIFA’s claims.

With former Scotland manager Craig Brown fronting a ‘No To Team GB’ campaign, it makes me wonder why all the opposition seems to be from the one nation who, arguably, have the best chance of staying as an independent football nation in the near future.

Their have been rumors of an All-Ireland team encompassing both Eire and Northern Ireland into one team for a few years now.

England and Wales already compete as a joint nation in cricket, as well as Cardiff and Swansea competing in the English football league and FA Cup.

Brown claims he is a proud Scot and doesn’t want his country to lose it’s identity, but there is a line where pride turns to arrogance and moreover ignorance, and I feel the Scottish FA may have crossed it with their constant lack of cooperation.

Why would any of the home nations want to lose their national identity?

I can’t imagine a single young boy in England who grows up dreaming of captaining team GB, however as a one off event on ‘home’ soil it would bring great pride to a nation with a crippled economy and very little sunshine in the future.

Perhaps it is time for the people at the top to realise what Britain needs at the moment is to become Great again, to draw together, and support one another whilst times are looking particularly bleak.

Perhaps this could be a first step, don’t you think?

Perhaps the 9th ranking was all part of Frank Hadden’s master plan.

Pool A:
New Zealand
France
Tonga
Americas 1 (USA?)
Asia 1 (Japan?)

Pool B:
Argentina
England
Scotland
Europe 1 (Romania?)
Play Off Winner (your guess is as good as mine)

Pool C:
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Europe 2 (Portugal, Spain, Russia, Georgia?)
Americas 2 (Canada?)

Pool D:
South Africa
Wales
Fiji
Oceania 1 (Samoa?)
Africa 1 (Namibia?)

No Southern Hemisphere biggie. Argentina, who we have recently beaten. And our cousins from south of the border - currently in disarray and against whom our form is not necessarily an indicator of result - so if we played the World Cup today I’d be quite happy. However it’s still three years away and a lot can (and will) change. At least we didn’t get New Zealand in our group again. Who’s going to upset the home team’s apple cart? Oh look, they got France again…same again, or situations reversed with the plucky home team upsetting the rampant favourites? Seems unlikely given NZ are filling the role of both. Once again Ireland are in a group of if not death then mild  trauma with Italy and the Aussies. Italy have recently pushed the Aussies close and could be the Argentina of this tournament, if they continue to mature.

Talk has already begun as to how the draw has been kind to England (which it has). It has also been kind to us, and to Argentina. A lot of people on message boards everywhere are already assuming that this group will go according to the seedings with Argentina coming out on top, and England second. My apologies, but I would say this is one of the few groups that could go in any direction and Argentina on current form would not be favourites against Scotland or England. Scotland are the 3rd seed team England did not want. Because in a Scotland vs England match, even on the other side of the planet and even if England were by that point the top team in the world, anything can happen.

See you in Dunedin? I’ll be there.

The title of this article might lead some readers to initially believe that the author may be a huge Manchester United fanatic, but readers might be shocked to find out, the author has been a supporter of Liverpool Football Club for 21 years.

There is an automatic assumption made by many people—some United fans in particular—that every Liverpool supporter hates Manchester United, its players and its long serving manager; an assumption that has really started to annoy me a great deal lately.

I was not born in Liverpool, as far as I’m aware, I have no scouse relatives and don’t believe I have any ties to the city in anyway. It was by complete chance that I started to support Liverpool way back in 1988, at the unknowledgeable age of eight, and I believe that reason is why I am not tied to traditional rivalries that are common place with the majority of Liverpool and Manchester born supporters.

An Influencing Figure

My Granddad is the only member of my family that is a die-hard football supporter, and was my only influencing figure at a young age when it came to the sport. He's someone I am forever thankful to for introducing me to one of my biggest passions.

Growing up in South London my granddad is a life-long Charlton fanatic, so spent many conversations when I was young, strongly hinting that I should become an Addicks supporter.

My dad, who had no interest in football what so ever, knew of my growing passion that had been nurtured by my granddad, and decided to get me some football memorabilia. He came home one day with a box of goodies that made a young football crazy boy very happy indeed.

The box contained a 1978 Liverpool shirt—an incredibly itchy top if worn without a t-shirt underneath—several Liverpool scarves, a commemorative mirror with a picture of Anfield etched in to it, as well as some programmes, history books, and a football. From then on, whenever I was asked which team I supported, my answer was Liverpool Football Club; that answer never changed.

A Love of Football

Like many fanatics across the world, Football is one of the most important things in my life; I play it, watch it, study it, read about it, write about it, talk about it, argue about it; but most importantly I am madly in love with it.

I appreciate football when it’s played beautifully and respectfully, no matter what team or player it happens to be and am disgusted by some of the negatives that inevitably come with the game, no matter what team or player it happens to be.

This brings us back to the main point of the article—Manchester United and, more importantly the club's long standing manager, Alex Ferguson.

I find it annoying that some Liverpool supporters are too biased and stuck in the tradition of rivalry that they cannot admit that Manchester United are clearly a world class team led by the most successful manger in English history.

As a football supporter I have an incredible amount of respect for Manchester United simply because they play some of the best football in the league as well as being filled with some of the world’s very best players—who play the game how it should be played.

This is mostly down to their manager who has recently achieved an incredible 22 years in charge of the most successful English club in the last 20 years.

I have a great deal of respect for Alex Ferguson for his contribution to football.

Alex Ferguson

The Player:

Born on New Year’s Eve, 1941 in his Grandmother’s house in Glasgow, meters from the River Clyde, Ferguson’s early career path was as an apprentice tool maker in the Clydeside area.

Despite his father and brother building their careers in the shipyards of the River Clyde, the football mad youngster had his sights on a different job that would last the rest of his working life. He began an incredible journey that would eventually take him to the peak of domestic football some 50 years later.

Queen’s Park: 1957-60

Having already played for a few big amateur teams during his school days, Ferguson, aged 16, signed with the famous Glasgow based amateur club, Queen’s Park.

Whilst he continued his work as a tool maker, he played his way through the ranks and developed a good strike rate, but he couldn’t hold down a regular place and managed 11 goals in just 32 appearances before moving on to St Johnstone in 1960 at the age of 19.

St Johnstone: 1960-64

He struggled to maintain his apprenticeship as a tool maker during his part-time playing days with St Johnstone and despite another high scoring rate of 19 goals; he still could not manage a good run in the team and played just 37 games in his four years at the club.

His most notable match for St Johnstone was the defeat of his boyhood club, Rangers, in which he scored a hat-trick.

That display caught the eye of top-flight Dunfermline, who signed the young Scot in 1964 and gave him his first full professional contract.

Dunfermline Athletic: 1964-67

At the end of the 1966 season, Ferguson racked up an impressive 45 goals in 51 appearances for Dunfermline, 31 of which came in the league—making him joint top scorer for the season. By the end of his time with Dunfermline he had an impressive 66 goals in 88 appearances.

Ferguson was starting to make a name for himself as a player and his dreams seemed to come true in 1967 when he was signed for 65,000 pounds by his hometown club and boyhood team, Rangers for, what was at the time, a record transfer fee between two Scottish teams.

Glasgow Rangers: 1967-69

Despite another impressive goal return by the striker, 19 goals in 10 domestic cup competitions alone, what had started out as a dream come true soon turned in to a nightmare.

Ferguson was apparently blamed for conceding a goal in the Scottish Cup Final loss to Celtic in 1969 and was forced to play in their junior team until he reluctantly put in a transfer request to leave the club.

Falkirk: 1969-73

After two years and 57 games for Rangers, he had the opportunity to sign for Nottingham Forest, but with the request of his wife, chose instead to remain in Scotland and signed for Falkirk.

Ferguson played 106 games for Falkirk in the four years he spent with them, scoring 37 times, and was rewarded with a player-coach role. However, when a new manager took over the team, the role was removed, leading to Ferguson handing in a transfer request.

Ayr United: 1973-74

Ferguson moved to Ayr United, spending one season with the club playing part-time, scoring just nine in 24 games, before he retired in 1974, aged 32.

His record as a player can be considered very honourable, scoring 167 in 327 games, but his silverware was very limited, with just two First Division titles and two Scottish Cup runners up medals to his credit.

The Manager:

East Stirlingshire: 1974

Alex Ferguson started his managerial career at the Scottish club East Stirlingshire
way back in 1974 at the age of 32—long before his current players were born, let alone had thought about kicking a football. 

With no experience, a forty pound a week wage, a budget of two thousand pounds, no goalkeeper, and only eight registered players, Ferguson was looking at an uphill struggle. He spent the next 117 days at the club shaping his team and creating a managerial style that would eventually take him to the summit of world football.

His first position in charge saw him quickly being cast as a disciplinarian but, despite his age and lack of experience, he still managed to earn the respect of the East Stirlingshire players. His managerial style and tactical abilities saw the teams results improve considerably in his short time at the club—this also led to an interest from other teams.

St Mirren: 1974-78

His next appointment in 1974, took him to the old Scottish Second Division with St Mirren. Despite being one of the founding members of the Scottish League in 1890, they were considered a regular at the bottom end of the table with poor attendance records averaging around 1000. 

Within three seasons, the young manager had turned them into division champions and gained them promotion in to Scottish football's top flight.

Alex Ferguson was known for discovering many great young Scottish players during his time at St Mirren and he got them playing some great attacking football, a style that is still apparent today with his current team.

Despite his transformation of the club's fortunes, his reported behaviour and breaches of his contract, that included an agreement from Ferguson to join Aberdeen whilst still with St Mirren, meant that he was handed his one and only ever dismissal as a manager.

Aberdeen: 1978-1986

Ferguson eventually joined a buoyant Aberdeen in 1978, aged just 36. The club had not won the league in 23 years but were in good form at the time of his arrival, finishing second in the league the previous season.

However, his age and lack of managerial experience caused problems with some of his new squad, especially as he was only a few years older than some of them.

His first season in charge saw a disappointing fourth place finish in the league, they did however manage a good cup run, losing in the final of the League Cup and a semi-final exit in the Scottish Cup.

Silverware for Ferguson at Aberdeen never came until 1980, when he took them to the Premier Division championship. It was the first time in 25 years the club had won the Scottish top flight title—beating Celtic to the top spot by just one point.

This was the first time in 15 years that the league had not been won by either Rangers or Celtic.

They also reached the final of the League Cup, but lost a disappointing 3-0 to Dundee United. However, Ferguson finally felt he was earning the respect of the players that he was familiar with during his first two managerial posts.

The young Scot’s success was attracting attention from other club’s once again and this time an offer from English club Wolves was turned down by Ferguson, with a belief that he still had plenty to achieve with Aberdeen.

Ferguson's present personality as a manager was apparent early in his career with his days at Aberdeen; it is reported that he was a very strict disciplinarian when dealing with his team and there are such stories as him kicking a tea-urn over at half-time after a poor display from his players, a type of behaviour that he is still famous for today.

Ferguson's next success was in 1982, with a 4-1 victory over Rangers, the team he followed as a boy, in the Scottish FA Cup, also knocking out his former club St Mirren along the way.

Aberdeen had also managed a second place finish in the Scottish Premier league, just two points behind a dominant Celtic team. The victory over Rangers in the cup final meant Ferguson would take his Aberdeen team in to the illustrious European Cup Winners Cup and test his managerial abilities for the first time against some of the biggest names in football.

Aberdeen in Europe:

The next season was to be one of Ferguson’s most successful with Aberdeen as well as being one of the greatest managerial milestones in his career—European football.

Back in Scotland, his team fought a very close league campaign with Celtic and Dundee United, with Dundee eventually claiming victory on 56 points, closely followed by Celtic and Aberdeen who both finished with 55 points each.

Aberdeen finished with the league’s best defensive record for the third season in a row—something that Ferguson is well known for with his current team, Manchester United. But Celtic, having the better goal difference by two goals, took second place.

Aberdeen reclaimed the Scottish Cup by beating Rangers, who finished some 15 points behind them in the league, with a victory in the final for the second season running.

Listening to the post match comments made by Fergie, you would have believed that his team had just lost the game: "we played disgracefully, winning cups doesn’t matter, our standards were set long ago and I’m not going to accept that from any Aberdeen team".

These were comments later retracted by Ferguson, but at the time the players were said to have felt gutted by their managers response to the victory, especially as they felt they had done the best that they could have during the game.

Aberdeen started their third ever European campaign well, with a two-legged, 11-1 victory against Swiss team, FC Sion in the preliminary round. They navigated the next two rounds well enough and were rewarded with a tie against Bayern Munich in the quarter–finals.

A goal-less draw at home meant Aberdeen had to travel to Germany and win in order to proceed to the next round. Ferguson's men came away with an impressive 3-2 victory that saw them avoiding Real Madrid in the semi-final draw and instead facing Belgian team, Waterschei.

After a home victory of 5-1, Aberdeen lost their one and only game of the campaign in the away leg in Belgium, 1-0.  But the final aggregate score meant Aberdeen was in to their first ever European Cup final against Real Madrid.

In May 1983, a 2-1 extra time victory over the favourites from Madrid, meant Aberdeen became only the third Scottish side to ever win a European trophy—It was also Alex Ferguson’s first ever European title in his debut campaign, aged just 42.

Ferguson took Aberdeen to the League and Cup double the very next season as well as claiming victory over SV Hamburg in the European super cup, Aberdeen are still the only Scottish club to win two European trophies.

An incredible four years in charge of Aberdeen brought offers of management from Rangers, Arsenal, and Tottenham and was topped off in 1984 with Alex Ferguson winning a highly regarded personal achievement, when he was awarded the OBE for his services to football.

Ferguson had not finished with his very talented Aberdeen side and took them to the League title again in 1985; claiming victory with a seven point lead over Celtic and finishing with the best defensive record for the fifth season running.

1986 turned out to be his final season in charge of Aberdeen, a disappointed Ferguson saw his team finish fourth in the table, some way off the eventual winners, Celtic.

He did however finish the season by leading Aberdeen to success in both the Scottish Cup and the League Cup, bringing his total trophy haul at Aberdeen, in his seven years in charge, to: Three Premier League titles, Four Scottish FA Cup’s, One League Cup, One European Cup Winners Cup and One European Super Cup.

After Aberdeen:

Alex Ferguson’s record with Aberdeen saw just 53 losses in his 303 games in charge, his incredible silverware collection made him their most successful manager to date.

From 1985, Ferguson had spent some time as Jock Steins assistant manager for the Scottish National team. During the final qualifying match for the 1986 world cup campaign, Ferguson's very good friend, Stein, suffered a fatal heart attack.

This led to Ferguson taking sole charge of the national team for the World Cup Finals in Mexico, but managing just one point from their three games in the group stages meant that they were eliminated from the competition—this also saw the end of his time as manager of Scotland.

Thanks to his incredibly impressive seven years with Aberdeen, Ferguson saw managerial opportunities being offered from both Arsenal and Tottenham, but just as he had before, he refused both jobs.

On the 6th of November 1986, Alex Ferguson took charge of Manchester United for what would turn out to be his most successful role in charge of a club and would see him eventually becoming the most successful manager in English football.

His career at Manchester United will be covered in part two of this special series charting the rise to football greatness of the Scottish Legend –Alex Ferguson.

Tory leader David Cameron has foolishly suggested that the football team to represent Britain at the 2012 London Olympics should be decided by a home nation’s tournament.

If Cameron knew anything about sport or patriotism he may understand why this is a bad idea.

I understand that the football governing bodies of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland would want to protect their independence but for the sake of a one-off event, they should look aside.

If worse, comes to worse the Olympic team should be unquestionably English. It is London 2012 and the thought of no English participant in the team frightens me.

People from Scotland are Scottish, from England they are English etc. but for the Olympics and as a government, we are united.

For an event that occurs every four years it should be deemed reasonable we merge to become one and have a team that is not only competitive but to be proud of for the whole of Great Britain. Britain has not had a team in the Olympics since 1960 and it is wrong that the game we gave to the world is not contested by our patriotic state.

FIFA should promise those nations independence and respect that they are individual nations in the football world and should not be punished for wanting to protect their own football identity.

Sir Alex Ferguson has already been touted by Lord Sebastian Coe to manage the Olympics team and it would be good that a break in the normal Premier League season occurs to give Britain every chance to win a gold medal.

Olympic Football is not seen as the pinnacle of football as, rightly, the World Cup is seen as the biggest football event. Every footballer out there dreams about playing with or against the world’s best, which happens only at the World Cup.

Unfortunately, in the Olympics massive amounts of talent is missing and professional clubs like Barcelona reluctantly allow their players to participate.

If Britain wants a squad full of a talent to compete at the Olympics, surely it is up to FIFA to allow this to happen. Football should be given the respect it deserves and the Olympics are the most respected competition in the world.

There should not be a home nations scrap to find which country should play, there should be a team that is the best available to the state of Great Britain.

It would not be a joke.

We can finally hear something more sincere about an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman in a pub. The punch line: Together supporting their united team in a chance to win a gold medal.

Scotland today announced their team to line up against the All Blacks this coming Saturday.  Scotland are looking for their first ever victory against New Zealand and Frank Hadden has picked a team with a balance of experience and form players. 

A total of seven changes have been made from the team that won away in Argentina at the beginning of the summer and the likes of Sean Lamont and Jason White return to the starting line up.  The starting lineup for Saturday is:

• A Jacobsen (Edinburgh)
• R Ford (Edinburgh)
• E Murray (Northampton)
• N Hines (Perpignan)
• J Hamilton (Edinburgh)
• J White (Sale Sharks)
• S Taylor (Stade Francais)
• J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)
• C Paterson (Edinburgh)
• T Evans (Glasgow Warriors)
• B Cairns (Edinburgh)
• N De Luca (Edinburgh)
• S Lamont (Northampton)
• P Godman (Edinburgh)
• M Blair (Edinburgh)

Dan Parks has dropped to the bench with World Class Phil Godman given a starting berth and he will have a huge responsibility to ensure Scotland keep moving forward.  Given the starting line-up it would appear Scotland have gone for an experienced pack who can hopefully combat the aggression and drive of the All Blacks, and most importantly, secure ball for the backs. 

It's encouraging to see such an attacking set of backs, and, in my opinion, that is a back unit capable of scoring points…whether they’ll score enough to trouble the All Blacks is the big question!

RORY UPDATE: Here’s our bench:

Replacements: Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Dickinson (Gloucester), Mustchin (Edinburgh), Gray (Northampton), Lawson (Gloucester) or McMillan (Glasgow Warriors), Parks (Glasgow Warriors), Southwell (Edinburgh).

The referee is Wayne Barnes (huzzah) assisted by Dave Pearson (boo) and Paul, um, Dix.

And the New Zealand team is as follows:  Isaia Toeava; Anthony Tuitavake, Richard Kahui, Ma’a Nonu, Joe Rokocoko; Stephen Donald, Piri Weepu; Jamie Mackintosh, Keven Mealamu (capt), John Afoa, Anthony Boric, Ali Williams, Kieran Read, Adam Thomson, Liam Messam.

Replacements: Corey Flynn, Neemia Tialata, Ross Filipo, Richie McCaw, Andy Ellis, Dan Carter, Cory Jane.

Far from the first team, but look at that bench! If Scotland are anywhere close to a result with 15 to go expect them to pour that lot on and still beat us by 40 points. Am also disappointed that Rory Lamont or the big Stroker are nowhere to be seen, having been in better form than SRBlog favourites Hugo Southwell and Big Jason. They didn’t have to pick him just so we can shout Hugooooooooooooo…

Glasgow 9-15 Toulose
In the first half this was there for the taking, but by the time the second half got into its stride so did Toulose, With a couple of moments of typical clinical brilliance from Jauzion and Skrela forcing Glasgow to chase the result, and they actually came very close on a couple of occasions. In a country where wings are now either of the “bulky and powerful” or “dancing feet and turning ball over” variety, Thom Evans is starting to look like the real deal in terms of offering genuine pace to beat people with. The Sky commentators kept blabbing on about his 100m time - reputed to be sub 11 seconds - but in fairness on most of the occasions the ball got to him he displayed it to good effect, and was unlucky not to have added to his tally of tries this season. Even David Strettle said he wouldn’t fancy chasing him down. In addition John Barclay showed that after Mike Blair, he should probably be the second name on the team-sheet with a ferocious display of tackling on the pitch - he almost managed to stop Kelleher scoring a try while simultaneously (accidentally) kicking him in the head - and refreshing candour in the press afterwards. Mention should also go to the officials, who once again let a couple of blatant forward passes go.

Stade Francais 37 - 15 Llanelli Scarlets
It’s not often you see a lock kicking, or coming in at first receiver twice in ten minutes, but Simon Taylor showed up well at 5 during another frightening display of skill from Hernandez and Parisse. With Scotland locks Hines and Macleod currently injured, might Taylor find a place there for Scotland in the Autumn?

Ospreys 15 - 9 Perpignan
A grubby little game now beset by accusations of gouging, so the less said the better. Cusiter was given little to work with in terms of go-forward from his pack but still lacked in attack, preferring simply to distribute (this may be the USAP way). He’s obviously practicing for having Dan Carter outside him, but still.

Castres 6 -13 Edinburgh
To be honest this one should have been out of site with a 4-try bonus point by half time, with Mossy and De Luca butchering a couple of chances as Edinburgh - led by Cairns in the midfield - cut Castres apart seemingly at will. The second half saw Castres come back into it and Edinburgh were forced to defend solidly for large periods, never able to regain the sort of posession that had allowed them to dominate the first half. Godman did reasonably well to keep the backs moving with some brilliant passes moving his players on to the ball at pace, and Robertson showed guts and zip on the wing. Webster had a pretty quiet game though, and may be lucky to get in the Scotland team given some of the form other wingers are in (Lamont, Evans). Hoggy showed up well too and should be in with a shout for New Zealand depending on what Hadden decides to do with Simon Taylor. This was the Edinburgh team we remember from last season, and the team that sold all those season tickets for this year. Welcome back, we hope you stick around.

Other games: MIA Bruce Douglas, it turns out, has been at Montpellier all this time. The French team were the latest on the end of a 5 point hiding from resurgent Northampton Saints. Tom Smith still proved he is the man with a last ditch try saving chase - steaming in ahead of Sean Lamont to get there and clear to touch. Rob Dewey got a whole 12 minutes on the pitch in Ulster’s 42-21 kicking from ‘Quins. Rory Lamont displayed power and control as well as some great full-back kicking skills in Sale’s loss to Munster. Still, it was a great game so we can’t complain too much. The Gloucester boys were unlucky not to come away with something in Cardiff in another great game. Al Strokosch showed up well, but I’m not sure if 7 is the best use of his talents - or if it provides the best supply of ball for Gloucester…

Well,

• (46:13) T&T is attacking already. Luckily for the US, they were offsides.
• (48:22) Holy shit we are getting homecooked. Altidore is called offsides, but the replay tells a different tale. How many times will this happen? Hopefully, that’ll be the last one.
• (55:08) Yorke plays a nice corner in, and the US clears it out. Scotland (again) gets the ball back and takes a shot on goal but (again) he’s wide.
• (57:45) Altidore is taken down. No call.
• (60:11) I am really liking what I am seeing from Orozco. He looks very calm, cool and collected out there. He easily stopped Scotland from getting a shot off.
• (62:40) Goooooooooooaaaaaaaallllllll… But not for the “good guys”. T&T 1 - US 0
• (63:00) Carlos Edwards played a beautiful ball to the far post. Latapy scores on a goal I can’t even really describe. But I’ll try. Guzan deflects the ball, it takes a sketchy bounce and hits off the post… Then… yes… then it hits Guzan’s back and rolls into the net. Wow.
• (64:37) T&T almost scores again… Wow, the wheels are falling off.
• (66:00) Adu throws up a hail mary. It’s a little early for that, isn’t it Freddy?
• (66:01) Stern John is coming on for T&T. MLS fans everywhere rejoice.
• (71:34) Davies has been subbed in for Adu. Geez, Bob. If I was trying to score a goal to tie this thing, I think I would have left Freddy in…
• (75:14) Davies has scored in his first 4 minutes. Talk about fresh legs. T&T 1 - US 1
• (76:00) Charlie got the goal, but it really belonged to Altidore. I am still confused about how he didn’t lose the ball. To make a long story short, Altidore slammed into a couple of defenders and miraculously kept the ball. The keeper was forced out, and Altidore just laid it past him to the side for Davies to blast into an open net.
• (78:44) Orozco is my man of the match so far. He stymied T&T again. That Edwards is Dangerous. Note the Capital D.
• (79:57) Altidore has gone from hero to goat in a matter of five minutes. He’s called for a penalty in the box. Dwight Yorke (predictably) converts the penalty. T&T 2 - US 1
• (80:00) The crowd has gone from feeling dejected to insane with euphoria. Earning a draw here would be nice, but would we get out alive?  Oh and by the way, Altidore has also been booked.
• (81:13) The US is on the attack. Pearce looks like maybe he should switch with Edu. That guy can flat out run.
• (84:55) Davies and Altidore almost combine again for a goal, but the shot is wide.
• (85:10) Szetela is (finally) coming on. Altidore is out. He’s dead tired, and he’s got a card.
• (86:07) We’ve injured another player. Well, either that or he’s just lying down because its 98 degrees and he’s tired and he and his team would like a short breather before running out the clock. You be the judge.
• (89:00) Chris Rolfe will come on now too. Suddenly Bradley is like a t-ball coach. “Hey kids, everybody gets to play!!!”
• (Extra Time) We’ll have another 180 seconds apparently. Let’s hope for something magic, truly athletic or lucky. Well, let’s just hope for lucky I guess.
• (180 Seconds Later) Well, nothing magic or lucky happened. Not much athletic happened the whole game for the US. Overall, you have to be impressed with Davies. He played well (but not enough). Jozy is electric, that’s undisputed. But he’s also prone to making big errors. Both his assets and detriments were on display tonight. I actually thought Adu should have stayed in. He was playing better than Beasley and Kljestan. Torres was unremarkable, and don’t even get me started on Edu. I did like what I saw out of Califf and Orozco. Pearce needs polishing, but he could be a big contributor come 2010. Hejduk just doesn’t need to play so much. Frankie is a grinder, and I love him, but it’s time for Bradley to start thinking about the future. 2010. What I’m saying is: Wynne needs minutes.

Overall, we played OK. This was basically our B Team, and they showed some heart coming back from 0-1 on the road in a tough venue. T&T flat out played a better game. Now, the US did lose two huge opportunities to bad offsides calls. But, no excuses. A loss, yes. A learning experience?

I hope.

FINAL SCORE T&T 2 - US 1

The game is about to start and I will be memorializing my thoughts, stream of consciousness style, as it unfolds.

Bradley’s starting eleven looks like I thought it would. Beasley and Hejduk are starting (why?). Altidore is the lone striker. Orozco and Torres are getting their first starts. Adu, Edu and Kljestan are in the middle with Torres and Beas. Pearce is in the back with Orozco, Frankie and Califf.

T&T has there A Team this time, and I’m not referencing the Mr. T variety.

• (3:12) Torres makes a foolish early foul. T&T has a nice chance, but Guzan and Orozco ensure no goal is to be had.
• (5:34) The US has their first corner. It’s wasted by Edu, who trips over his own feet. Big Mo didn’t look too graceful on that one.
• (8:08) T&T has their first corner. It’s way too wide though.
• (11:45) T&T takes a shot from way out. Guzan smothers it easily.
• (14:11) Second corner for the U.S. It’s easily blocked.
• (16:27) T&T blows a chance right in front of the net off a corner. The US were very lucky.
• (19:00) It’s been ugly so far for both sides, but T&T has actually looked better and more composed. Edu looks out of sorts.
• (19:45) Beasley blows by his man and his cross is on target, but the US can’t put it away.
• (21:33) T&T looks much more desperate. They need the points. The US just needs to settle down and stop trying to play at such a breakneck pace.
• (22:50) Big Mo is settling down. He’s playing some great defense. Very tenacious.
• (23:50) The U.S. is clearly trying to slow it down.
• (24:10) Another save for Guzan. It was another shot from outer space. T&T is wasting the opportunities they have generated.
• (25:00) Altidore jukes his defender and makes a nice pass to Beasley, but DMB is offsides.
• (25:37) Oh no! There’s the replay. DMB was onsides. What a hometown call. Let’s hope it was the last.
• (28:11) Klejstan is lacking control tonight. I think the spirit of Michael Bradley has seized control of his body. It couldn’t stand to miss a game.
• (30:33) Edu has no touch. He had a chance to start a break with Adu, but he put too much on it. Why not just make him a CB?
• (33:45) We’ve injured someone. The crowd is none too pleased.
• (36:08) Jose Torres makes an unbelievably bad pass. We get the ball back though, and then he proceeds to launch one twenty yards over the crossbar from 25 yards out. I am not liking what I’m seeing.
• (37:10) I am not liking Pearce too much either. He almost just gave away a goal. He just plays scared sometimes.
• (39:07) Adu had been looking pretty good, but his little flick to Torres was so “cute” I wanted to hurl. Just pass him the freaking ball, you don’t have to make it the goal of the year.
• (40:22) Frankie hits a cross that was more like a shot. He probably should practice those more.
• (42:07) T&T has flat out looked better than the US this half. They look much more fluid. We look confused as to where we are and who we are playing with. 
• (44:00) We are called offside again. At least this time we were actually offside.
• (Extra Time) T&T’s Scotland narrowly missed. They’ve got four shots now, two on goal. Guzan needs a Tums.
• (HALF) It’s been ugly for the US. Just one shot, and none on goal? At least their current momentum may be lost at the half. At this point, Bradley has to be a little worried. Only Orozco has looked good, though Adu has been impressive in spurts. Altidore is not being utilized, that’s for sure. There are too many people in the middle! I would yank Beasley and put another forward up top with Jozy. Why not see what Davies can do? I would also bring on Szetela for Edu, who has to be up there with Torres for the award for “Most Incompetent First Half Performance”. I would also bring in Wynne for Hejduk. I love Frankie, but we need to get some other people some PT. Plus, Wynne looked great in China.