EPL Talk » United States

The Damned United Movie Trailer: Now Available For US Release

The Gaffer — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:10:00 +0000

The Damned United will be making its cinematic debut in the United States on a limited release this September 25, 2009 in New York City and Los Angeles.

And now Sony Pictures has officially launched the movie trailer for the film. It’s quite a bit different than the UK version. The US version focuses more on the dynamic of Brian Clough’s battle to unseat Don Revie from the power of being the best and most successful manager in English football at that time.

Sony Pictures has also launched a website to coincide with the upcoming launch of the film in the United States at http://www.sonyclassics.com/thedamnedunited/ The number of features is extremely limited right now, but I’m sure more information will be added in the next few weeks.

Spain’s EPL Stars Shut Out In South Africa

Brian Louie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:30:50 +0000

Wednesday’s Confederations Cup semifinal between the United States and Spain had David v. Goliath written all over it. Coasting to the semis with three wins out of three, it looked like Spain was about to teach the US a lesson in tiki-taka.

With the US advancing to the semis after shipping six goals to Italy and Brazil, the drawbacks of a two group, eight team tournament were pretty clear. How a side that was blown out in two games and won one deserved to go through may not seem right, but hey it’s group play, and it’s not like Italy and Egypt did themselves any favors.

For European champions Spain, with the flash of Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas, and a partial spine of Barcelona in Xavi, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol, this should’ve been their 16th straight victory, and a record-setting 37-match unbeaten streak.

Instead, the US rendered Spain impotent, thanks to stellar netminding from Everton’s Tim Howard. The scoring came courtesy of Fulham’s Clint Dempsey, and Villareal’s loaned-out striker, Jozy Altidore.

How a squad could look so horrible against an aging Italy and look so good against a pretty side like Spain isn’t that surprising. Anyone who’s watched Arsenal fail to finish against a mid-table team will tell you that even the least technical and lumbering of sides can win if they’re organized and take advantage of mistakes.

And Spain’s mistakes cost them. Altidore’s goal in the 27th minute showed how strong the youngster is, but also made Joan Capdevila look like a limpid rag doll. Dempsey’s goal in the 74th made the Spanish backline look comical, from Pique’s deflection of Landon Donovan’s cross off his heel, to Sergio Ramos’ touch to setup the Fulham striker for the US’s second goal.

The big names like Torres and Fabregas were shut down by the lesser-known names like Dempsey and Howard, and it’s hard not think of Fabregas’ Gunners if you saw Spain today. So fluid and dominant in posession, La Roja look like Barcelona, with a few Premier League stars and a couple of Merengues at the back (and of course the Davids: Silva and Villa). But, like Arsenal, they lacked that final ball, and mistakes in defense hurt them dearly.

What can you take from this upset? Perhaps not much; though the US will ride a wave of euphoria until next summer’s World Cup, but whether or not the they can achieve results from the same tactics in a bigger and deeper tournament remains to be seen. For Spain, it’s merely a blip. It may put Vicente del Bosque in the papers a bit more for the wrong reasons, but with Italy on the wrong side of the hill, Spain still is the team to beat in Europe. It does however, show what you can do against the top-ranked team in the world if you can contain Xavi.

While there’s really nothing else to watch between seasons, the Confederations Cup’s perceived relevance is artificial at best. New Zealand and South Africa’s inclusion, as representatives of Oceania and the host of the 2010 World Cup, respectively, does little to set pulses racing. But the prospect of the United States possibly facing Brazil in a final may be enough to get Americans into football and away from sah-ker. That is, if South Africa don’t pull off an upset of their own on Thursday.

Spain 0 – 2 United States [FIFA]

American Ownership In The English Premier League Is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing

tyduffy — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:28:30 +0000

Those who would purify English football believe the current debauchery and debt stems from foreign ownership. That is not necessarily true.

American billionaire Stan Kroenke bought out the Carr family shares in Arsenal for about £45m, increasing his stake in the club to 28.3%, the largest individual holding.

Despite the Guardian’s assertions that this is part of “Silent Stan’s” insidious takeover deal, Kroenke’s involvement with the club has been viewed favorably. He has been seen as a benign bulwark against a strong-arming Usmanov.

The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, the group who would be outraged, praised Kroenke’s acquisition.

“We were the first shareholders at Arsenal to welcome Kroenke’s initial investment. We have since established a good dialogue with him and this will continue.

“Our position is that stability and plurality in ownership is to the benefit of Arsenal.

“New chief executive Ivan Gazidis has made a good impression and says he values our role and the importance of custodianship.

“We hope he will build relationships with all shareholders so that the club has stability off the pitch which is a vital ingredient for success on it.”

Kroenke is no carpet-bagging American. He enjoys owning sports teams, and successful sports teams at that. He co-owns the St. Louis Rams who won a Super Bowl while he was there. His Colorado Avalanche also won a Stanley Cup in 2001. His Denver Nuggets are often a playoff team.

He has invested in long-term growth projects such as Arena Football and Major League Lacrosse.

Most importantly, he’s a football guy. He owns the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. They are a stable club with a lovely, soccer-only facility and a development partnership with Arsenal.

The common thread with all of his sporting investments is that he has been successful, has not run the clubs into crazed debt and has not meddled with personnel decisions– exactly the qualities ideal for Premier League ownership.

Fellow American Randy Lerner bought Aston Villa in 2006. He has stuck with a great manager in Martin O’Neill, funded transfers and created the nucleus of a club set to challenge the top four. The club has also more than doubled in value under his stewardship.

There have been bad seed Americans. Manchester United has been successful under Malcolm Glazer, though he saddled the club with enormous debt. Ditto on the debt front for Hicks and Gillett. Rafa Benitez should be credited for being competitive despite the travesty of their ownership. However, there have also been good ones.

Some English owners have had farts smell like roses, others have run their club into the ground.

In a globalized economy, the notion of an English owner owning an English club, with an English manager and all English players is romantic, and probably xenophobic, nonsense. It’s not American or foreign ownership the Premier League needs to avoid. It is idiots.

How England Or The United States Can Win The 2018 World Cup Bid

The Gaffer — Thu, 29 May 2008 07:56:51 +0000

The United States announced this week that it’s interested in hosting the 2018 World Cup. No surprise there. They’ve been talking about bidding for the 2018 World Cup for quite some time although an official campaign launch isn’t expected until later this summer. However, the British media treated the news as a revelation and a threat to England’s own 2018 World Cup bid, but I have a solution which may satisfy both camps.

World Cup 2018 will be one of the most competitive bidding processes. In addition to heavyweight bids such as England and the USA, other countries interested in bidding are Russia, China, Australia, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Canada, the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and a joint bid by Israel and Palestine.

It would be a massive achievement for either England or the United States to win the bid against those countries. Both face stiff competition from countries that have never hosted the tournament. Plus FIFA will be salivating at the prospect of expanding the World Cup into countries that would generate huge amounts of revenue from new sponsors (yes, I’m looking at you China).

My plan to make the 2018 World Cup the best one yet is simple. Instead of competing against each other and offering weaker bids, England and the United States should join together and launch a joint bid.

You may think the idea is ridiculous, but consider the following arguments:

Joint bids are all the rage right now. Euro 2008 will be hosted by Austria and Switzerland. Euro 2012 will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine. World Cup 2002 was hosted by South Korea and Japan. So, without a doubt, the precedent has been set.
The distances between the United Kingdom and United States are not a concern. The driving time between the two farthest cities in this summer’s Euro 2008 competition (Geneva to Vienna) is more than nine hours (the mode of transport used by teams in the tournament will be buses). We all know how convenient it is to fly from the UK to the States, so consider the following flying times for direct flights between the recommended eight host cities:
1. London to New York: 7 hours, 25 minutes
2. Manchester to Chicago: 8 hours, 15 minutes
3. London to Miami: 9 hours, 5 minutes
4. Bristol to Newark: 7 hours, 55 minutes
5. Birmingham to Newark: 7 hours, 50 minutes

Birmingham and Bristol are preferred over other cities in England because they have direct flights to and from the United States. If the FA wants to expand the number of cities that host matches in the UK, that’s fine as long as they’re within close driving range to airports in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. The FA has already discussed the possibility of Bristol being selected as a host city, so a new stadium would need to be built there (groundsharing between Bristol City and Bristol Rovers would be the smart choice). Birmingham would be an ideal choice for building a new, larger stadium (or Villa Park could be used).

The US cities would be primarily east coast locations except for Chicago (Soldier Field). New York could have its own stadium by 2018. Stadiums in other cities could include Meadowlands (near Newark, New Jersey) and Dolphin Stadium (Miami).

The United States and England combining forces would present a formidable bid. Sure, there’ll be plenty of egos and pride at stake, so it’s possible that England’s FA (Football Association) wouldn’t consider the idea, but if the race gets more competitive, the best opportunity to bring the World Cup back to England may be to join forces with the country that hosted the most successful World Cup in its history, the United States (World Cup 94).

England v U.S.: Why Brits Hate U.S. Soccer Fans

The Gaffer — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:01:36 +0000

Earlier this morning, in the build-up to today’s England against United States friendly at Wembley (live on ESPN Classic beginning at 3pm ET), I wrote about why Americans hate English soccer supporters. To be fair, there are a lot reasons why Brits hate U.S. soccer supporters as well, which are revealed below:

Soccer fans in the USA continuously brag how U.S. soccer has improved both on the national and club levels, but when the United States faces tough opposition, the national squad and club teams fail to live up to expectations. Recent examples include the 2006 World Cup, 2007 Copa America and SuperLiga.The last time the U.S. soccer team impressed people and pundits internationally was during the 2002 World Cup when the side beat Portugal and unfairly lost to Germany 1-0 in the quarterfinals. But that was six long years ago!
When U.S. soccer fans call Brits and Anglophiles “Euro Snobs,” those same U.S. soccer fans are in fact being snobbish themselves.
George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Enough said.
Alexi Lalas — because of the stupid things he says.
Americans who insist on getting into preposterous debates about how Major League Soccer teams would rank in England and how some of the teams would do well in the Premier League. It’s preposterous because it’s all guesswork. Judging how a MLS team does in a friendly against English opposition and then equating that to how the American side would compete in England is ridiculous. Wake me up when a game between an American club side and an English side means something, when both teams are playing for a win or a trophy. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.

While this afternoon’s friendly between the United States and England has little meaning on the international level, a lot of pride is at stake. If England loses, their fans will chalk it up to a meaningless friendly. If England wins, their fans will drag the U.S. supporters through the mud and laugh about how they still reign supreme. Most importantly for the U.S. is that they give a good performance at Wembley where they can earn the accolades of the watching press, media and the public at large. It’s more important than ever for the U.S. to put in a performance that’ll make their supporters proud.