Szetela to Racing, not Roma

U.S. under-20 and Columbus Crew midfielder Danny Szetela has accepted an offer from Spanish club Racing Santander.

According to an article by Ives Galarcep for ESPNsoccernet, Szetela turned down Roma’s offer of more than €250,000 per season to sign with La Liga minnows Racing Santander.

Galacep writes, “Financial details of the Racing deal were not disclosed, but Szetela chose to take less money from Racing than Roma in order to have a better chance of seeing first-team action.”

His deal was brokered by obnoxious ass clown Shep Messing (see this post).

MLS received a paltry $150,000 transfer fee, as the article states, “[as] a result of Szetela's contract status (his current deal with MLS expires at the end of the year).”

MORE MLS TRANSFER NEWS

…The New England Revolution signed Gambian under-20 player Sainey Nyassi as a youth international. To make room for Nyassi, Arsen Oka and Ryan Solle were released. Who? Yeah, me neither.

…Columbus have signed Trinidad & Tobago defender Andrei Pacheco, 22, to a developmental contract to fill the spot vacated by Brad Evans who was placed on season-ending injured reserve with a torn left hip flexor muscle. Evans, a UC-Irvinem midfielder, was the Crew’s first selection in the 2007 SuperDraft.

VIlla sign American defender

With Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner's purchase of Aston Villa, the EPL club could be a prime destination for many talented young Americans.

Eighteen-year-old defender Eric Lichaj will join Villa's academy, and attempt to work his way into the reserve squad. Although he trained with the U.S. under-20s prior to the World Cup, Lichaj was not named to the roster that competed in Canada. He was, however, a prominent member of the U.S. U-17s, and was a member of the prestigious Chicago Magic youth club that has produced many MLS stars (such as Ricardo Clark and Ned Grabavoy). He also spent a single year at the University of North Carolina, where he registered no statistics according to their web site.

YA: U-20 star Zizzo to Hannover

Yanks Abroad is reporting that USA U-20 star Salvatore "Sal" Zizzo has signed a three-year deal with Bundesliga club Hannover 96.

According to YA, fellow American Steve Cherundolo, also with Hannover, helped persuade the youngster to join him overseas, calling up Zizzo's parents in San Diego.

Zizzo turned down an offer to enter the 2007 MLS Superdraft and returned to UCLA for his sophomore season, scoring seven goals and adding 9 assists in 23 appearances. But it was his performance in this summer's U-20 World Cup that convinced Hannover to sign the California native.

But is Germany the right place for young American players to develop their skills?

Zizzo becomes the fourth American player signed by Hannover, and with the exception of Cherundolo, the other two players, Clint Mathis and Conor Casey, struggled to develop, returning to MLS after a few miserable seasons. Zizzo's signing continues the UCLA-to-Germany pipeline that delivered former Bruins Benny Feilhaber and Kamani Hill overseas. In addition, according to YA, there are also 10 Americans playing in 2.Bundesliga or lower divisions in Germany.

Adu leaving MLS for Benfica

U.S. wunderkind Freddy Adu is on his way out of MLS. Washington Post reports say that a deal between MLS and Benfica of the Portuguese First Division is almost complete. According to the published reports, MLS is asking somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 million dollars for the 18-year-old.

Bidding Adu

It is the right move for Adu, whose career in MLS never developed as advertised. The hoopla surrounding Adu's entry into MLS was like nothing the league had ever seen pre-Beckham. At 14, Adu was the prodigal son and many were expecting him dominate the league, emerging as the first truly world-class American player. But the intense pressure that MLS placed on him, as the face of the league, along with coaches who never really understood his talents, resulted in a less than stellar four-year tenure.

Former DC United coach Peter Nowak must bear some of the blame for Adu's failure to thrive in MLS. The utilitarian Nowak never fully appreciated Adu's unique talents, placing him out on the left or right and limiting his distribution duties with defensive duties that would have been better suited to Nowak's style of play, not Adu's. But, of course, Freddy was also to blame at times, often acting his age, pouting or quitting in games due to frustration. Perhaps he was too young. In 2005, the steep learning curve began to flatten a bit, and in 2006, he posted his best season with United. However, despite the proximity to his childhood home, DC wasn't the fit Adu wanted it to be.

He was traded out to Real Salt Lake, where he hoped reuniting with his former U-17 coach, John Ellinger, would reignite his MLS career. But Ellinger, too, played Adu out of position and eventually RSL's poor play led to Ellinger's dismissal as coach.
Jason Kreis’ tenure as RSL coach has been relatively Adu-less due to Freddy’s national team call-ups.

And it might just be this time with the U.S. under-20 team at the U-20 World Cup that proves to be the turning point for Adu's career. As captain of the U-20s, Freddy led the young Americans to the quarterfinals, where they lost a close match to Austria. It was Adu's best string of matches since he became a professional and included a hat trick against Poland and an expertly orchestrated win over tournament favorites Brazil.

With deft flicks and feints, Adu demonstrated what he could do if given the freedom to work centrally, as an attacking midfielder or withdrawn forward. He also demonstrated the leadership, as captain, that helped the U.S. to come from behind in two matches. His performance turned heads both domestically and overseas and the Adu buzz began anew. After all, soccer is a sport of rebirth. And one may die several times in a career before being reborn.

Although this is the right move for Adu and will no doubt help his development, I can't help but feel that MLS has failed in some respects. Adu's entry into the league four years ago was heralded as a new era for American soccer. Fans circled their team's home matches against DC, in order to see this American phenom. He "put butts in the seats" as the saying goes. He was the original Golden Balls.

It’s just a shame that MLS couldn't find a way to develop this talent, couldn't find him a team where he fit with the players around him, and couldn't find a way to let Freddy be Freddy all the time.

Adu stood out because of his creativity on the ball, something that most critics of the American game say that our teams lack across the board. Creativity, imagination, Adu had these qualities, and if we want to advance as a soccer nation we need to learn how to develop these things in our players, so we can keep them here and not just ship them off to Europe when they play outside the MLS box.

U.S. U-20s crash out of World Cup

It was a tale of two halves, as the U.S. under-20 squad lost to Austria 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Toronto. The U.S. played brilliantly to open the match, but never found that rhythm after an Austrian equalizer, and the young Yanks finished a nice tournament run with a real stinker.

The match started off promising for the U.S., as they outplayed the Austrians, showing flair and confidence on the ball. Freddy Adu orchestrated well in the first quarter of the match with feints, backheels and no-look passess, and set up the U.S.'s only goal of the contest with a superb cross that Jozy Altidore headed off the keeper and in at the near post in the 15th minute. It looked early like the U.S. might run away with the match.

But even in the first half there were warning signs that it might not be too easy for the U.S., as Austria managed to look dangerous on the few opportunities that they were given, particularily off corners. And right before halftime, Austria managed to level the score after U.S. goalkeeper Chris Seitz spilled a long shot in front of the on rushing Rubin Okotie, who picked his spot and fired home the equalizer. Seitz didn't look himself today and may have been still bothered by the foot injury that kept him out of the Round of 16 against Uruguay.

As the rain picked up in the second half, the U.S. looked to be made of sugar, as giveaways and poor passing began to happen more frequently. Around the 60-minute mark, the referee remembered that he had brought cards to the match and began handing them out with great frequency. Coach Thomas Rongen trying to enliven his squad (and possibly trying to save a possible ejection) substituted Danny Szetela for Dax McCarty in the 63rd minute. The poor play continued, however, and Austria nearly took the lead if not for a goal-line clearance by Nathan Sturgis.

There was plenty of blame to go around though, as the entire team looked dreadful in the second half with any spark of an attack extinguished by a poor pass or a heavy first touch. Midfielder Sal Zizzo had his worst game of the tournament and Michael Bradley was inconsistent at best. The defence managed to hold up in the second half, however, and forced extra time. Defender Anthony Wallace was one of the few bright spots for the U.S. before he was sent off in extra time.

In extra time, Adu summed up the day for the U.S., as he made a mess of a clear scoring opportunity by touching it too wide and then blasting the ball over the bar. In the 105th minute, it would be the Austrians, not the U.S. this time, who managed the extra-time heroics, as substitute Erwin Hoffer tapped a deflected freekick inside the post.

Scoring Summary:
USA – Josmer Altidore (Anthony Wallace) 15th minute
AUT – Rubin Okotie 43.
AUT – Erwin Hoffer 105.

Lineups:

USA: 1-Chris Seitz; 5-Nathan Sturgis, 14-Anthony Wallace, 16-Julian Valentin, 19-Tony Beltran (2-Tim Ward, 85); 6-Michael Bradley, 7-Danny Szetela (10-Dax McCarty, 63) 11-Freddy Adu (c); 15-Sal Zizzo (17-Gabe Ferrari, 106) 8-Robbie Rogers, 12-Josmer Altidore, 15-Tony Beltran

AUS: 21-Michael Zaglmair; 2-Thomas Panny, 4-Sebastian Proedle (c), 5-Markus Suttner, 15-Michael Madl; 6-Michael Stanislaw, 8-Veli Kavlak, 10-Zlatko Junuzovic (9-Erwin Hoffer, 103), 11-Peter Hackmair, 14-Bernhard Morgenhaler (7-Martin Harnik, 37); 19-Rubin Okotie (13-Thomas Pirker, 120+)

Patriot of the Pitch© : Anthony Wallace

Opinions are like...

Well, we all know what opinions are like...but I'm getting sick and tired of part-time soccer "journalists" sweeping in to cover the U.S.., only to brand any success we have as "ugly" or "undeserved" or "lucky." In this latest installment of soccer by dummies (no doubt a wire story reconstructed from post-match comments), the "writer" for PA Sports Ticker states in his lead that, "The United States has no interest in playing the beautiful game when it meets Austria in the quarterfinals of the FIFA U20 World Cup on Saturday." Using as his basis for this hypothesis, he quotes several Americans discussing the "ugly" nature of their win over Uru-crybabies. Here's one quote:

"Americans teams have heart, American players have heart," midfielder Danny Szetela told FIFA.com. "You need to play with guts sometimes and find a way to win that isn't pretty."

Certainly the win over Uruguay was ugly, no doubt about it. But the U.S. weren't responsible for the state of that match. No it was the good ol' Uruguayan tactics of "slash and spill" that destroyed the beauty and creativity that could have been. If the writer of the piece had bothered to watch the game, he/she/it would have seen that Uruguay continued to dive in with reckless, two-footed challenges (slash) and then, fall at the slightest contact with an American player (spill). No, sir/madam/other, it wasn't the U.S.'s style that made the match ugly; it was the Uruguayans and the awful referee. But I wouldn't expect most North American mainstream journalists (or even biased European journalists) to understand that there is a difference in the way a Brazil plays versus the way Uruguay plays, even at the U-20 level.

But I do expect "journalists" to pull their heads out of their asses to take a look at some of the other matches that this team of "ugly" Americans has played in. You want the beautiful game, check out USA vs. Poland or USA vs. Brazil from the first round. Or better yet, do yourself a favor and avoid writing about a sport that you obviously know nothing about. Oh, and if you didn't know, opinions are like assholes.

Click here for an example of poor journalism

Click below for an example of the "Beautiful Game" used on its creators.

Uru-crybabies: post-match video of US 2, URU 1

Here's some post-match footage of the scrum between US U-20s and Uruguay, following the USA's extra time victory (courtesy of youtuber CannuckCapper.

U.S. into U-20 World Cup quarterfinal

The United States under-20 national team staged an improbable comeback in extra time to score a 2-1 win over Uruguay in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The young Yanks struggled in the first half, as Uruguayan pressure and piss-poor officiating made for a slow go at it in the first 45 minutes. The U.S. faired slightly better in the second half but surrendered a goal in 74th minute, as Luis Suarez capitalized on U.S. keeper Brian Perk spill to give Uruguay the 1-0 lead. But just three minutes from time, Danny Szetela took down a loose ball from a corner kick and crossed to Andre Akpan whose defender, Mathias Cardaccio, slid in and inadvertendly struck it past his keeper.

The own goal leveled the match and it would be a full 17 minutes of extra time before the most unlikeliest of heroes would find the back of the net for the U.S. Michael Bradley, coach's son and nepotism posterboy, finished off a Freddy Adu corner that somehow found him unmarked at the near post, following a blocked shot by Julian Valentin. 2-1 to the US of A and that's how it would finish.

At the final whistle, the Uruguayan players continued to demonstrate the sportsmanship that had guided them throughout the match by starting a shoving match with the U.S. players. Bradley became apoplectic, and had to be talked down by both coach Thomas Rongen and captain Freddy Adu. The scene was a perfect ending to poorly officiated match by match ref Ravshan Irmatov (UZB), who had absolutely no control over the match from the opening whistle and handed out a ridiculous four yellows cards to the U.S. just in the extra time, while ignoring the fouling and diving by the Uruguyans for much of the game. One foul in particular led to the early substitution of talented striker Jozy Altidore, who injured his calf and had to be subbed following a tackle from behind that wasn't even shown a caution.

The U.S. U-20s are into the quarterfinals, where they will face Austria on Saturday, July 14.

Scoring summary
URU – Luis Suarez 73.
USA – Own goal (Mathias Cardaccio) 87.
USA – Michael Bradley 107+.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Brian Perk; 5-Nathan Sturgis, 14-Athony Wallace, 16-Julian Valentin, 19-Tony Beltran (17-Gabe Ferrari, 81); 6-Michael Bradley, 7-Danny Szetela, 11-Freddy Adu (c); 8-Robbie Rogers, 12-Josmer Altidore (20-Andre Akpan, 51), 15 – Sal Zizzo (10-Dax McCarty, 54)

URU: 12-Yonaton Irrazabal; 3-Martin Cacere (10-Gerardo Vonder Putten, 117), 5-Roman Marcel, 6-Gary Kagelmacher, 7-Mathias Cardaccio, 8-Damian Suarez (c), 13-Juan Manuel Diaz, 14-Hugo Arismendi, 17-Juan Surraco (11-Elias Figueroa, 108), 18-Luis Suarez (19-Tabare Viudez, 83)

Misconduct Summary:
URU – Hugo Arismendi (caution) 19.
USA – Michael Bradley (caution) 24.
USA – Anthony Wallace (caution) 105.
USA – Julian Valentin (caution) 109.
USA – Freddy Adu (caution) 110.
USA – Gabriel Ferrari (caution) 112.
URU – Roman Marcel (caution) 117.
URU – Mathias Cardaccio (caution) 118.

Patriot of the Pitch© : Michael Bradley

Click here for the FIFA U-20 World Cup bracket

Encore, Altidore!

The U.S. U-20s defeated tournament-favorites Brazil 2-1 in the final group match of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Jozy Altidore score two goals for the red, white and blue, and the U.S. finished atop Group D.

The U.S. youngsters got on the board first when Altidore picked up a loose ball at the top of the box and turned on it, hitting a low shot inside the left post in the 26th minute. Brazil, fighting against possible elimination, equalized in the 66th minute with Leandro Lima's side-volley that richoceted off the U.S. defense and trickled in.

But the U.S. regained the lead in the 83rd minute, following some wicked individual play by captain Freddy Adu. Adu driven to the right corner and marked by two defenders, managed a clever flick to split the defense and continue into the box where his hard shot deflected to Altidore, who was alone at the far post and knocked it easily into the open net.

The U.S. U-20s will face the top third-place finisher in Group B, E, or F on July 11.

Scoring Summary:
USA -- Altidore, 26.
BRA -- Lima, 66.
USA -- Altidore, 83.

Lineups:
USA: 1-Seitz; 5-Sturgis, 14-Wallace, 13 – Sarkodi, 19-Beltran (2-Ward, 89); 6-Bradley, 7-Szetela, 11-Adu(c); 8-Rogers (4-Igwe, 82), 12-Altidore (10-McCarty, 92), 15–Zizzo

BRA: 1–Casio; 3-Luizao, 6-Marcelo, 13-Amaral, 15-Edson; 5-Roberto, 10-Augusto (18-Eduardo, 71), 17-Parana(c) (7-Willian,84), 20-Lima (19-Adriano, 78); 9-Jo, 11-Alexandre Pato

Misconduct Summary:
BRA – Edson (caution) 46.
BRA – Alexandre Pato (caution) 52.
USA – Michael Bradley (caution) 59.
USA – Freddy Adu (caution) 60.
USA – Amaechi Igwe (caution) 94+.

Patriot of the Pitch© : Jozy Altidore

The kids are alright

All you Freddy Adu haters can shut the hell up now! Adu scored a hat-trick and the U.S. U-20s embarrassed Poland's U-20s 6-1 in the second match of the group phase in the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The dominating win puts the U.S. young ones on top of Group D with four points. And Adu is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in both the U-17 and U-20 World Cups.

Poland, who upset tournament-favorite Brazil in their first match, actually opened the scoring against the U.S. in the fifth minute. But four minutes later, Danny Szetela scored his second goal of the tournament to equalize and the avalanche began.

In minute 20, Adu made a Polish joke out of the defense beating a player one-v-one before spinning around another in the box and firing home the go-ahead goal. The U.S. continued to dominate, holding the possession and converting several chances. Adu's second goal came in first-half injury time, as he fired a screamer to the upper-90 just before the halftime whistle.

Szetela continued to have a great tournament, scoring his second of the night in the 51st minute, as left back Anthony Wallace played Szetela through and the Crew midfielder beat the Polish goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski.

Red Bull forward Jozy Altidore added to the pile on in the 70th minute, tapping in a Robbie Rogers cross in at the far post. With the score 5-1 and the match in hand, Adu directed a metaphorical middle finger at his critics by completing his hat-trick in the 85th minute, deftly touching a Rogers pass around the keeper and into the open net.

The U.S. will face four-time U-20 champions Brazil in the final match of the group phase on July 6, and needs a win or draw to finish first in the group. But no matter the finish, the U.S. U-20s are doing a great job helping us forget about our "senior" side's dreadful Copa America campaign.

Scoring Summary:
POL - Dawid Janczyk (Patrik Malecki) 5.
USA – Danny Szetela (Tony Beltran) 9.
USA – Freddy Adu (Sal Zizzo) 20.
USA – Freddy Adu (Sal Zizzo) 48+
USA - Danny Szetela (Anthony Wallace) 51.
USA - Josmer Altidore (Robbie Rogers) 70.
USA - Freddy Adu (Robbie Rogers) 85.

Lineups:
USA: 1-Chris Seitz; 5-Nathan Sturgis, 14-Athony Wallace (4-Amaechi Igwe, 63), 16-Julian Valentin (13-Ofori Sarkodie, 33), 19-Tony Beltran; 6-Michael Bradley, 7-Danny Szetela, 11-Freddy Adu (c); 8-Robbie Rogers, 12-Josmer Altidore (10-Dax McCarty, 79), 15-Tony Beltran

POL: 1-Bartosz Bialkowski; 2-Ben Starosta, 3-Jaroslaw Fojut, 5-Kryzstof Strugarek, 6-Adam Danch, 8-Artur Marciniak (c) (19-Pawel Adamiec, 67), 9-Patryk Malecki, 11-Dawid Janczyk, 16-Grzegorz Krychowiak (7-Adrian Marek, 55), 18-Mariusz Sacha (14-Jakub Szalek, 46), 20-Tomasz Cywka

Misconduct Summary:
POL – Grzegorz Krychowiak (caution) 32.
POL – Jaroslaw Fojut (caution) 76.

All the goals from USA vs. Poland

U.S. U-20s draw with Korea 1-1

A goal by Young Rok Shin saved a point for Korea against the U.S. U-20s, as the young Yanks open their U-20 World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw. A diving header by Danny Szetela in the 16th minute made it 1-0 U.S., but Korea responded in the 38th minute. The U.S. will face Poland on July 3 in the second match of the group phase. Poland shocked tournament favorites Brazil today with a 1-0 result despite being short-handed in the other Group D match.

Scoring Summary
USA – Daniel Szetela (Freddy Adu) 16
KOR – Young Rok Shin (Young Sung Shim) 17

Lineups:
USA: 1 – Chris Seitz; 2-Tim Ward, 5- Nathan Sturgis, 16-Julian Valentin, 19-Tony Beltran; 7-Danny Szetela (10-Dax McCarty, 52), 8-Robbie Rogers, 11-Freddy Adu (capt.), 6-Michael Bradley; 12-Josmer Altidore, 15-Sal Zizzo

KOR: 21-Jin Hyeon Kim; 2-Chul Soon Choi, 3-Kwang Hoon Shin, 5-Sung Yueng Ki, 8-Dong Suk Kim (17- Jin Hyung Song, 70), 9-Sang Ho Lee, 10-Young Sung Shim (16-Hyun Seung Lee, 84), 11-Joo Ho Park (capt.), 14-Chung Yong Lee, 18-Young Rok Shin (19-Tae Goon Ha, 59), 20-Seung Jin Bae

They can't drink champagne from this Cup

The U.S. Under-20 team begins its quest for the U-20 World Cup championship on Saturday, June 30, against the Republic of Korea in Montreal. The U.S. roster is led by MLS stars Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu, along with Euro-based midfielder Michael Bradley, fresh from his tour in the Gold Cup. Looking over the U.S. roster, it got me wondering who would win between our U-20s and the senior side currently playing in the Copa America. I'm not sure, but one thing is for certain: Eddie Gaven sucks. Anyway, keep updated on the players' meals, pasttimes and moods, oh and occasionally get some soccer information. Here's a somewhat typical entry:

Sal is watching the Usual Suspects while Tony is watching Robin Hood... the Disney version. The one where Robin Hood is a fox. Their most creative activity, however, is Hide-and-Seek.

Hide-and-seek, Disney movies? Are you sure this isn't the U-6 World Cup? Good luck to our boys who open against Korea before taking on Poland and finally tournament favorites Brazil to round out Group D.

Here's what Freddy did to Korea during the U-17 World Cup


And here's a video recap of their recent match versus Chile's U-20s.
Click here for video

U.S. U-20s defeat Chilean U-20s

The U.S. U-20s defeated Chile 's U-20s, 2-1, in their final tune-up match before the U-20 World Cup gets underway June 30th in Canada. Exciting combination play between Freddy Adu and Josy Altidore created the first goal, while Columbus Crew forward Robbie Rogers' cracker from the left side sealed it for the U.S. youngsters.

ESPNU and ESPN360 will televise all the matches of the U-20 World Cup in Canada. The US U-20s open against Korea on June 30. They will face their other Group D opponents Poland and Brazil on July 3 and 6, respectively.