6/26/11 12:31pm
Ok, ok, ok. Let's get this out of the way. The US lost and lost badly. We went up by two goals. Then we lost our right back who is also probably our best defender and everything went to Hell. No excuse though. Mexico lost two of their best defenders and found a way to overcome it. Best 11 versus best 11 the USA matches up pretty well with El Tri. It was their depth that beat us.
As far as the rest of the day, it was fun. I met up with two punk show promoters, my friend Veronica and a girl named Nny. We rode all over Hell's half acre, that's in Albuquerque you know, putting up fliers for a few shows. It was cool. Well, actually it was unbearably hot but you get what I'm trying to say. We hit up all the usual places. Guitar stores, light poles, dimly lit saloons, the bar scene from Sin City... We started in east Albuquerque, then went to the Mall. Then we concentrated on Central Street which is aptly named by the way. I think everything else in Albuquerque is a huge facade to make the city look full. In reality it's all on Central. This is closer to true then I think any of you realize. Everywhere I go it seems is on or near Central.
At this point the girls and I parted ways. The girls went to a wildlife exhibit known as a "Greaser Roundup". How does one round up greasers you might ask. It's simple, beer and cigarettes. Car painted only in primer help too. Meanwhile, I was unknowingly walking into a trap set by my old nemeses Giovanni Dos Santos and... JONATHAN BORNSTEIN!!!! I have a nephew named Thomas. Thomas learned to kick a ball maybe eight months ago. I believe the national team should scout him for left back. He can't be worse then Bornstein.
It all started with the US getting beat off the field and leading by two goals. We weren't playing better but we were winning. Its called American soccer. More specifically, its called the USA-Mexico game. But in the making of that lead we lost our best defender and Hannover 96 captain, Steve Cherundolo. Dolo for short. Things went south (of the border, hahahahaha) from there. They put four goals past us and we looked like a wreck.
But everything else about watching the game, besides the game, was great. Tosh, the guy I met at the first USA game I watched in Albuquerque, showed up as did about two dozen other USA fans. And my punk promoting friends showed up at halftime. We had a beer and tried to not notice Jonathan Bornstein. For his part he was trying to lay low too. I don't think Dos Santos even knew he was there. And the atmosphere was great. There were people there wearing USA jerseys besides me. It was a little Twilight Zone-ish at first. They'd call offsides and it looked like the fans there understood what was going on. Once that shock wore off it was great.
Ok, now the Gold Cup is over and with it my soccer watching experience in famed Route 66. All in all, the signage and stuff is cool but the soccer is the same. The people were very cool and they appear to have a decent number of fans here. Its a shame that the two worst Gold Cup losses I ever saw happened while I was here. Hell, maybe not. Maybe this place is bad luck and me leaving will give us a new golden era for US soccer.
Or, more likely, me coming here coincided with the end of our golden era. We have good players and a better infrastructure but we're about to lose our best and the next generation isn't ready yet. Let's face it. The coming storm of US soccer players that is forever 10-12 years away hasn't come yet. We have the players but we have no coaches. I like Bob Bradley but the development system beneath him failed us. We don't need a left back, we need ten left backs. Right now we have one. And God help us if he gets hurt. We'll be back. We'll be better. We're America. We absolutely can't stand losing, not to Europeans. But It's going to take longer to get to that Promised Land then any of us had thought. And we might be made to pay for it fairly heavily in the years until we get there.
Ok, enough of that. I promise the next entry will be more interesting to people besides me. Ya'll stay cool. Later.
Madison
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