Words to warm a woman's heart

I heard Rod Stewart's 1977 song You're in My Heart today, which of course is often played on the airwaves. It's a tribute to a woman who is "beauty and elegance," but also, "a rhapsody, a comedy" and "every love song ever written."  But the real compliment is when Stewart says (at 3:00 of the song) "You're Celtic, United, but baby I've decided you're the best team I've ever seen."  What woman would not be charmed by that?

Stewart is a big soccer fan who used to kick balls from the stage into the crowd at concerts and my firm was once involved in a case where a fan was injured by a ball at one of his concerts at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.  His two favorite teams are Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic.

Following the lead of The New England Revolution, D.C. United is planning a 20,000 seat stadium within the City.  The New York Times reported today that the MLS team hopes to split the $3 million cost with the City and build at Buzzard Point on the Anacostia River, within a mile of the Capitol and the National Mall and a few blocks from the Washington Nationals' baseball stadium.  Later in the day the City Council approved the plan, which calls for the City to split the cost with United.

D.C. Mayor  Vincent G. Grey predicted that the project, which is to include development of three adjacent acres, would create $1.6 billion in economic opportunity, including 1,000 full-time jobs. 

United finished first in the Eastern Conference in the season just ended with a record of 17-9-8 but lost in the conference finals to New York Red Bulls.

Yale tops UNC in shootout (not really)

This is a pretty funny video of a PK shootout in the men's College Cup final between the inept penalty kickers of Yale and the even more inept shooters from UNC.  It seems that after a perfect first shot the Bulldogs can't find the back of the net while the TarHeels have a knack of finding Yale's heroic goalie, Scott Sterling.  The clip was produced by Studio C, the comedy show on BYUtv.

Revolution Heading to Downtown Boston?

Today's Boston Globe reports that the New England Revolution of MLS is looking at sites for a new, soccer-specific stadium in downtown Boston.  The team currently plays in Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, more than 27 miles from downtown.

One proposed location would be next to I-93, for those crazy enough to drive in Boston, but also near South Station and the MBTA Red Line.

Although averaging 16,681 per game this year, the attendance looks sparse in a large football stadium.  I can recall when the Philadelphia Atoms were thrilled with a crowd on 10,000 in the mid-'70s, but playing in the 70,000 seat Veterans Stadium, that number seemed paltry.  From a financial standpoint the Revolution president said the high end luxury boxes at Gillette are not as appealing as they would be at a smaller facility.  “I’ve been to other teams’ stadiums, and it just doesn’t compare,” Michael Johnson, 43, a 15-year Revs season ticketholder from Milford told the Globe. “I look at a place like Portland and I almost cry every time I see the support they get.”

The Globe article has a sidebar comparing distances from downtown for the other MLS teams and shows the Revolution further than all but Dallas at 27.5 miles.  The Union is 17.7 miles from Center City Philadelphia.  

How Did They Do That?

Check out this video to promo McDonald's World Cup app.  All I could think was how many takes did they need for each shot?

Loyden: US Soccer Needs to Take Action Against Solo

By not taking action against goalie Hope Solo, charged with assault on two family members, U.S. Soccer "is not living up to its responsibilities," says former keeper, Jillian Loyden in yesterday's USA Today.

When fans think of the women's national Team, they think of winning and success, of the most successful women's team in sports, of the "glad standard.  But Loydon argues, "U.S. Soccer must be the gold standard beyond the field as well."

"As professional athletes, we have leverage and influence in people's lives. People listen to us, and fans look up to us. We are role models and should strive to be champions both on and off the field. We have a responsibility to make our voices heard and make them count."

Loyden, who plays for Sky Blue FC in the NWSL, reveals in her article that her sister was murdered, allegedly by her fiance, who is awaiting trial. "It took my sister's death for me to stand up and speak out. When I looked into my nephew's eyes, I swore that I would not stay quiet anymore."

Loydon has organized the Jillian Loyden Foundation whose mission is to "to create and support signature programs and activities that motivate young people by empowering them and help them find value in themselves."

An uphill battle for Haitian women

Talk about underdogs.  The Haitian Women's National Team trains six months of the year in South Bend, Indiana - many miles from home - with no salary for players or coaches, used equipment and housing that has eight or nine women sharing an apartment.  Back home the team is ignored and the players worry about their families living in poverty and still feeling the effects of a 2010 earthquake.

Yet the team made it through one round of qualifying for the 2015 Womens World Cup to be held in Canada and are about to embark on the final rounds of the CONCACAF Tournament to determine the three countries who will earn a spot in Canada and a fourth team who will play off against Equador for another spot.

Jere Longman reported on the Haitian team's struggles in yesterday's New York Times.  "We played soccer to try to forget," Longman quotes midfielder Ketura Woodlyne-Robuste as saying.

Haiti is in a group with the United States, so presumably the best it could hope for would be a second place finish which would put it in a play-off with the other group's runner-up for the trip to Canada.  The opening match is October 15 against Guatemala in Kansas City. 

Hope Springs Eternal

Juliet Macur has written a number of thoughtful pieces in the New York Times on social issues involving soccer and other sports. But on Friday she took U.S. Soccer and the Women's National Team to task for allowing keeper Hope Solo to play against Mexico the night before in Rochester - when she extended her record streak shutouts to 73.  Solo was charged with assault back in June when she is alleged to have punched and injured her sister and nephew at a family party in Washington State.

"But look past the patina of glee and here’s what you will see: a team and a league — not named the N.F.L. this time — that are tone-deaf when it comes to domestic violence and how they handle players who have been accused of it," Macur wrote in Friday's Times.  She argued, "It takes a lot to match the N.F.L. these days when it comes to missteps in the handling of players charged with assaulting family members and loved ones. But Thursday, at a time when domestic violence in sports is dominating the national conversation, U.S. Soccer did just that — again — by keeping Solo in goal when she shouldn’t have been anywhere near it."

There are more than 300 comments to Macur's article on-line, some saying abuse is abuse and what's good for Ray Rice is good for Hope Solo, with others claiming that the cases are not comparable.

Neil Bueth, a spokesman for U.S. Soccer, recognized that Solo was dealing with a "personal situation" but then said, "At the same time, she has an opportunity to set a significant record that speaks to her hard work and dedication over the years with the national team.  While considering all factors involved, we believe that we should recognize that in the proper way.”  In other words, Solo is a marketable player and that trumps any off field behavior.

Scotland the Brave

  Scotland will vote on September 18 whether it should be independent from Great Britain, and according to the New York Times, "the country’s [soccer] stadiums have become key battlegrounds for the yes and no campaigns."

The article goes on to say that the debate is dominated by the Glasgow teams, Rangers and Celtic, collectively known as "the Old Firm," and that as is often the case, they are on opposite sides of the issue, with Rangers fans tending to favor remaining with Great Britain while Celtic supporters lean the other way, although the Times said it is more complex than that.

Interestingly, 18 well-known figures in Scottish soccer, including former players and two coaches, have come out in favor of a "no" vote, i.e. remaining with the U.K.  The 18 issued a joint statement that read, in part:

“We are proud Scots who have been proud to represent our country around the world. When Scotland calls, we answer.

“We are proud that Scotland has always stood on its own two feet but we also believe that Scotland stands taller because we are part of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is a country Scotland helped to build.

“We urge every patriotic Scot to help maintain Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom which has served Scotland so well.”

I have yet to get to Scotland but as one who has been to Europe many times, I'll be watching the results of the vote.  British leaders have urged Scotland to remain and some financial analysts say that if Scotland becomes independent England may leave the European Union, which would have ripple effects around the world.

Whatever happens, rest assured the pipes will still skirl, the pipers will still march, Scotland the Brave will be as stirring as it is now and the soccer games will go on.

Tough start to the H.S. season

   A nice night for soccer and the pre-game activities for the Haddonfield girls soccer opener went like clockwork (with much credit to phys ed teacher and boys basketball coach Paul Wiedeman, who set up the stadium and ran the scoreboard): everything was on time, everything worked, the National Anthem played just when I announced it, and we had a nice crowd to boot.

  The only thing that did not go right was down on the field as Sterling beat HMHS, 1-0.  We didn't play bad, they just played a bit better.  Credit to Sterling's Ashley Kerrigan, who made a nice move and found herself with a clear angle on goal and then made a perfect shot to the upper right with 18:43 left in the second half.

 It was a very close game, but the bottom line was they made one play and put the ball in the goal and we didn't.   But we sure will in the coming days and weeks.  It's a long season.  Next game is tomorrow. 

Back to high school - year 21

Tomorrow is a new high school season, my 21st doing announcing, program-writing, bookkeeping and whatever else a "special assistant" does at Haddonfield Memorial High School.  It's our second year on the new stadium turf and the second season with our awesome coach, Lori Quintavalle, who was maybe 12 when I first met her.  I always tell the parents that my daughter, Kirsten, graduated in 1997 (with Lori's sister, Beth) but they haven't found a way to get rid of me yet. 

Despite my years of coaching at a high level of club soccer, there is an appeal of the high school game, where most girls are playing for their town and their school, for their friends, for peer recognition, and hopefully for fun and good health. This post five years ago reflected on what goes into putting on a night high school game. 

I hope the games remain a memory for the players.  I'm looking forward to this season as much as the past seasons.  Here's to another good year, girls.

The struggles of Chivas U.S.A

As the New York Times reports, the MLS franchise Chivas U.S.A. in Southern California has struggled to stay afloat, the opposite of success stories in Portland, Seattle, Kansas City and elsewhere.  The league is operating the team this season while it searches for a buyer, with two conditions: that the owners live locally and that they build a stadium, preferably in downtown Los Angeles.

Heads up play

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on August 29  that The Shipley School, a private school in Bryn Mawr outside Philadelphia, has banned its middle school soccer players from heading the ball, the first school in the country to do so.

"We've seen a growing trend of injuries in our students, severe head injuries," athletic director Mark Duncan is quoted as saying. "They're sitting out weeks to months from school."  But interestingly, when invited to join in the ban, other schools in Shipley's conference (the Friends School League) declined. 

Although the ban applies only to middle schoolers, some high school players who had already begun practice last week were not high on the idea.  "I don't love the idea, and if it were me, I would be upset," said Hope Roehrs, 16, cocaptain of the varsity team. "Sometimes you need to head the ball, like into a goal."

Personal opinion here is that heading the ball, especially if taught the right way, is less of a problem than head-to-head collisions when two players are going up for a ball.

Best line from the World Cup

There was a guy watching the recent World Cup final between Germany and Argentina who apparently took some grief from his wife about sitting in front of the TV on a nice afternoon.  Recalling that Pope Francis is both a soccer fan and a native of Argentina, and assuming (correctly from what has been reported) that the Pontiff would be watching the game at the Vatican, he said, "How can I be wrong doing what the Pope is doing?"

Tough to argue with that logic.

Union makes an Impact on Montreal

Union mascot outside PPL Park

Went Saturday night with Debbie, Sarah, Adam and Zachary to see the Union beat the Montreal Impact, 2-1 to move into the fifth and final play-off spot.  Allison  was there with some friends, one of whose fathers had a post-game field level pass allowing them to stand down by the tunnel leading to the lockerrooms.

The game itself was interesting, and a win is a win, but it was sure sloppy at times.  Even interim manager Jim Curtin  called it, "not a great performance."

The Union scored first in the 12th minute when Sebastien LeToux controlled a long punt from his keeper,Zac MacMath, and got through two defenders before beating goalie Troy Perkins.  It looked like there was some miscommunication between Perkins and one of his backs.

In the 63rd minute LeToux took a pass from Andrew Wenger, who had just come on, and found the corner for a two goal advantage.

The Impact made it interesting with 11 minutes left when Maxim Tissot scored.

Overall both teams showed lackluster play and made mistakes.  The tempo was sluggish, but maybe we still haven't gotten over the quality of a month's worth of world Cup games.

This was our second trip to PPL Park - a beautiful  facility by the Delaware River, but not easy to get to after leaving the Barry Bridge.  Some better signs in and out of the place would sure help.  Like most other sporting venues, parking and food are overpriced for the captive audience.

The Union play FC Dallas tomorrow in an Open Cup semi-final followed by a league match at Houston Friday.

Germany's Lahm: Going Out On Top

German captain Phillip Lahm has called it quits at age 30, at least on the international scene, after helping win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He will continue to play for FC Bayern München where he is under contract until 2018.



Lahm, who earned 113 caps during his career, was my favorite on Die Mannschaft.  For one thing, he's short, only about an inch taller than I am.  For another, his playing style is similar to that of my son Scott: fast, quick play, winning the ball and starting the attack out of the back.  "He may have been one of the smallest players physically, but on the pitch Lahm was always one of the biggest forces," wrote commentator Andreas Sten-Ziemons.

The World Cup victory in Brazil made Lahm the fourth German captain after Fritz Walter (1954), Franz Beckenbauer (1974) and Lothar Matthäus (1990) to hoist the World Cup, and the first to have lifted it for a unified Germany.

The German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (literally, "German Waves) ran this story of the retirement, which it said caught the country by surprise. (The link is to the English version.)  And the Sten-Ziemons piece, also on Deutsche Welle, is here.

The German Soccer Federation (Deutscher Fussball Bund or DFB) expressed its appreciation for Lahm on its website under the heading, "Wir Sagen: Danke Philipp."  (We say, thank you, Philipp.")

Forget 2018 - Take a Look at World Cup 2022

We've barely finished one very exciting World Cup but already eyes are looking not at the next one, but the one after that: to be staged in 2022 in Qatar, the natural gas-rich Persian Gulf state with an average July high temperature of 106 degrees.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, takes an in depth look at Quatar, Hassan Al Thawadi, its British-educated lawyer who heads the country's World Cup Organizing Committee and at the FIFA process that awarded the Cup to Quatar over the United States.

Bottom line: despite the questionable bid process, the extreme heat and Qatar's questionable human rights record regarding migrant workers, Wahl predicts the tournament will be held there, although possible in November -December when temperatures are less extreme.

Obscenity in ESPN: The Magazine

There’s obscenity in the current issue of ESPN: The Magazine – The Body Issue.  No, not the naked bodies of athletes, all positioned discreetly to make sure we don’t see something we shouldn’t.  Rather it’s the full page tobacco advertisements.  There opposite the full-page photo of an unclothed (except for skates) Hilary Knight of the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team, is an equally full-page advertisement extolling the virtues of Camel cigarettes.  Same on the preceding pages with U.S. snowboarding gold medalist Jamie Anderson, and Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch.

Kind of ironic how The Magazine celebrates the human body of athletes on one side while promoting the single-most preventable cause of death on the other. 

It has been just over 50 years since the Surgeon General of the United States published, “Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service” and began a widespread public debate over the dangers of tobacco use and how to reduce them.  This year the Surgeon General published a report entitled, “The Health Consequences of Smoking — 50 Years of Progress.”  One of its major conclusions is that since the first Surgeon General’s report on the topic a half century ago, there have been 20 million premature deaths attributed to smoking.  Yet ESPN: The Magazine, which should be about the beneficial aspects of athletics, thinks nothing of glorifying smoking for the sake of profit.   

Now that’s obscene.

Immer Wieder Deutschland . . . or The Best Team Won

Die Mannschaft celebrates as Captain Lahm hoists the World Cup.

An  exciting end to an overall exciting World Cup.  Of course it helps if you were rooting for Germany, as Debbie and I and a number of others at the German Society of Pennsylvania were.

There was momentary gloom in the 31st minute when Gonzalo Higuain appeared to put Argentina ahead, only to be called offsides.  Replays showed he was offsides.  Then near joy when Benedikt Höwedes headed a corner towards the goal, only to see it hit the post.  Wouldn't have counted anyway, as Thomas Müller was offsides.

And so it went. Very few real chances, but sharp passing, some key saves by both keepers, momentum swings, superb officiating and incredible stamina from both sides.

Then suddenly it happened.  Andre Schürrle, who plays for Chelsea in the EPL, came down the left side and sent a perfect cross to 22-year old Mario Götze, who trapped it softly with his chest, whirled and vollied a left-footer into the lower right corner in the 113th minute.

Argentina had a last gasp in extra time as a foul outside the box gave a free kick, but Lionel Messi sent the free kick into outer space and Germany were world champions.

Here's the play-by-play from the New York Times.

Germany will have bragging rights for at least the next two years when the European Cup takes place.  Let the celebrations begin . . . or continue, since they started the moment referee Niccola Rizzoli blew the final whistle.

Nur nach Hause, nur nach Hause, nur nach Hause, geh'n wir nicht.

World Cup: May The Best Team Win, As Long As It's Germany.

Hamburg fans getting ready for the game.  From www.ndr.de

We'll be at the Rathskeller of the German Society of Pennsylvania to catch today's action.  A quick check shows the bookies around the world seem to like Germany, but when the whistle blows, that's irrelevant. There's a reason they roll the ball out there to play the game. The World Cup will be decided on the field of play, not on a computer, in a bookie's office or anywhere else.

Meanwhile, in a meaningless consolation game yesterday, the Dutch shut out Brazil, 3-0, leaving Brazil with a 1-10 goal differential in its final two games.  Victor Mather continued the New York Times' tradition of world class World Cup reporting with this piece on the game and the history of consolation games in general, which he called "a long-forgotten anachronism" in the United States.  Agreed.

But that was yesterday.  And yesterday's gone.  So bring on today's final.  And may the best team win.  Of course that would be Germany.

My Sunday Is Set

I surely would have watched the World Cup final this Sunday regardless of who played, but with Germany coming off an unprecedented blasting of Brazil going and going against fellow super-power Argentina, there is no way I won't be at the Rathskeller of the German Society of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately I missed most of yesterday's game and all of today's while at work, but received text updates from Debbie, who was mesmerized by the action.  The Germany-Brazil match was splashed on the front page of the New York Times.  I heard people talking about it at Starbucks and elsewhere.  It was a good day to be German, or in my case of German ancestry.

The Times' superstar soccer writer, Sam Borden, wrote in today's editions that Tuesday was supposed to be a magical day for Brazil, playing at home and one game from reaching the final.  "No one could have guessed the tears would come before halftime," Borden wrote.  "No one could have imagined there would be flags burning in the streets before dinner. Certainly no one could have envisioned that any Brazilian fans, watching their team play a semifinal in a celebrated stadium, would ever consider leaving long before full time.  It all happened."  He compared the Brazilian side to an "overmatched junior varsity squad that somehow stumbled into the wrong game."

Borden quoted Moacir Barbosa, the goalkeeper for Brazil when it lost to Uruguay in the 1950 final (also played in Brazil) as saying before he died in 2002 that ever since that game he felt as if he spent the rest of his life in prison.  "That cell just got more crowded," Borden wrote.  "Every player in a yellow jersey on Tuesday, many of them superstars, will most likely be defined, and imprisoned, by those 29 minutes."

Another Times article, this by Simon Romero and Seth Kugel, described the reaction in Brazil. A sports newspaper there called it the "largest shame in history."  Meanwhile, in Germany, Alison Smale and Melssa Eddy reported the opposite emotions of the crowds watching the game around Berlin.  The owner of a small pub had bought mini-bottles of schnapps to hand out to guests with each German goal.  After 3-0 she had to start handing out small drinks in glasses.

Given the exciting nature of so many games in the tournament thus far, I can only imagine what the final will be like.  

Oh so close

Now it will take a win or a tie against Germany or a tie between Ghana and Portugal.  Two weeks ago any of these seemed unlikely and the first impossible.  But as tonight's game and a number of others have shown, anything can happen in this World Cup.

Who would've thought Spain would be eliminated in the first round or that Portugal's hopes would end after two games?  The former has happened and the latter was just seconds away from happening - until Varestre Varela headed home a perfect cross from Cristiano Ronaldo in the 95th minute to salvage a 2-2 tie and Portugal's slim chances of advancing.

It was a great game, regardless of the outcome as the Americans fought back from a 1-0 deficit created by Geoff Cameron's bad clearing attempt in the 5th minute.  Unfortunately the ball went to his left rather than upfield, and landed at the feet of Nani, who took advantage.

A spectacular shot by Jermaine Jones equalized in the 64th minute and the fans were thinking a tie wouldn't be too bad after the opening round win over Ghana.  But when Clint Dempsey scored in the 81st minute, it appeared that a place in the quarterfinals was secure. 

In between Portugal's two goals, there was spectacular goaltending by American Tim Howard who very properly was named Budweiser Man of the Match.

You still have the like USA's chances as they need a win or tie against Germany Thursday or a tie between Portugal and Ghana, to go through.  The New York Times provides this analysis  of the possibilities.

Football or Soccer?

This article in The Atlantic explains that it was actually the British who coined the name "soccer" for the game most of the world calls "football."

Coach P's Soccer Blog Discovered

Someone must be reading Coach P's Soccer Blog.  

Yesterday I received via e-mail the alumni newsletter of my old high school, Penn Charter in Philadelphia (where I was Class of '64), and it offered links to various on-line stories about Penn Charter alums in the news, including Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro (Class of '83) and former U.S. National Team and Philadelphia Union player, Chris Albright (Class of '97).  What I did not realize until I clicked the link was that the article was from Coach P's Soccer Blog back in February. 

Nice to see someone is reading.

A story about Amaro, who was a very good soccer player at PC:  When he was a senior he was nominated for the annual Alumni Society Award, given to a senior who through scholarship, leadership, athletics and character exemplifies Penn Charter.  I was on the Alumni Society committee that selected the winner from among nominees by the faculty.

I recognized Amaro's name because of his father who played for the Phillies.  His academic transcript was close to all A's, his faculty recommendations off the charts and athletically he was not only a star in soccer, he was even better in baseball.  (He went on to play at Standford and then for the Phillies.)  Bill Bux was the only other committee member  and we agreed to confer by phone the next morning.  When I called him he immediately said, "I was thinking of Amaro."  To which I replied, "I guess we have a consensus."  And so Ruben's name is on the wall of the Assembly Room with some 80 other winners of the award,