K.C. hopes to extend unbeaten streak at Columbus

Crew hasn't become a hot ticket

Wizards’ Wolff eager to get back on the field

Back to Columbus

Wizards practice 07-16-2008 returns and new looks

Conrad 365 Q & A

Davis: Big strikes from young and old

Roger Espinoza...Garbage or Quality???

MLS Player and Goals of the Week

K.C. hopes to extend unbeaten streak at Columbus

Wizards at Columbus Crew

Transfer List (as of 7/16)

U-23 WNT Open Nordic Cup with Win

Barrett on his Olympic chances

Happy Birthday Claudio Lopez.  Today he turns 34 years old.  Love to see him celebrate it with a KC win and a goal.   Claudio has started every game this season and averages 89 minutes for each start.  His point production isn't as high as we'd like.  He has 3 goals and 3 assists which means he's getting a goal or an assist every other game(about).   The team could use some of his veteran leadership and experience though.  It's clear he has vision on the field, something lacking from our other attackers.  Enjoy the birthday, let's go get a win,  even a goal.  And here's to a more productive second half of the season.  (OG)

AG

US Soccer Marketing Strategy

Is there any? I'm not trying to be cute here, but really, is there any? To me it seems the US Soccer strategy is HOPE! Let me give you an example of what I think the US Soccer marketing plan looks like:

We, US Soccer, HOPE:

• that people will somehow learn that soccer is a sport in their country
• that people will want to come to a stadium and watch a match
• that people will get tired of some other sport and maybe consider Soccer - if that would be OK with you other sports out there.
• that sponsors will see the light and choose to purchase TV coverage even though we won't try real hard to increase the market share.
• that more kids each year sign up for soccer leagues even though we aren't sure what to do with them after that.
• that people learn just how popular soccer is by the tens of thousand of teams playing each month at a tournament - even though we won't make any effort to let anyone know ourselves.

Major Problem - Relegation

1. US Soccer doesn't seem to want to fight against the other US sports to gain market share.
2. They are willing to take a back seat to all other sports - even NASCAR. (someone drives in a circle for HOURS, and it beats out soccer programing and news coverage!!!!)
3. They don't capitalize on the World Soccer movement. The #1 watched sport in the world.
4. There is a strong US Youth Soccer movement, that is untapped and taken for granted.
5. There are several key tournaments every month going on somewhere in the US and you would think the sports news reporters thought these were quarantine zones to avoid.
6. TV coverage is poor at best. There are a dozen good US matches on in a week, we can see 3 if we are lucky. (MLS, USL-1, W-League, MNT, WNT, etc.)
7. The MLS leadership/owners demands new mini-stadiums, further validating the sport is smaller then the others - AND THEY CAN'T FILL THEM!!!!

Get Serious - Become #1 - or at least try!

If US Soccer is going to do anthing, they had better start acting like they should be the #1 sport. Whether they can do anything about that now or in twenty years, I don't care. Stop acting like table scraps is a great way to dine, and demand some steak!

I began playing soccer in a time where Mia Hamm was quickly becoming household name and the U.S. Women’s National Team was well on their way to earning international recognition as a one of the most premier programs in the world. The success of the WNT led to a boom in popularity for the sport. The term ‘soccer mom’ was practically synonymous to the word ‘mom’ because practically everybody’s kid seemed to be playing soccer. Soccer was everywhere and girls’ soccer, in particular, was becoming more and more mainstream.

Every time the WNT came to Southern California I would be there, along with literally thousands of other little girls cheering and crying when they watch their heroes walk out on to the pitch. We all dreamed of becoming the next Hamm, Foudy, or Scurry.

Now here I am 17 years later; I almost finished with my college eligibility and as of right now my dreams of making the WNT are pretty much nonexistent. While my dreams of competing at the international level may have been stifled, a girl that I grew up playing against is currently preparing for the Beijing Olympics.

Amy Rodriguez was always a ball of energy; I remember my coaches instructing the defenders on my team how to mark her. Her speed alone made the feat practically impossible, and when you combined it with her technical skill and remarkable ability to make a connection with the net she was unstoppable.

For the past three years Rodriguez has been attending the University of Southern California. At USC she has had a tremendous career. This past season Rodriguez had 10 goals, three assists and three game-winners during USC's NCAA championship drive. These points elevated her to rank No. 6 all-time in career points (59), No. 6 in career goals (23) and No. 4 in career game-winning goals (9) at USC.

Rodriguez has played and scored in several of the CONCACAF tournament games, which were held as the Olympic qualifiers. The U.S. won the tournament and received the top seed for the Beijing Olympics. Now they are scheduled to play Norway, Japan and New Zealand in the first round.

In August I will be watching and cheering for the WNT as they compete for Olympic gold. My heart will be with all of them, but I will be rooting for Amy in particular. She is living proof that little girls can grow up and be just like Mia Hamm. Maybe one day little girls will grow up dreaming about being the next A-Rod, as her teammates like to call her.

-Tab

Aber geil wars! Auch wenn nicht so viele gute Bands gespielt haben. War dementsprechend auch nicht so voll wie die Winternachtsträume in den letzten Jahren (kam mir zumindest so vor). Richtig los geht's ja sowieso heute erst! Ich denke mal, da werden 2-3 Leute mehr kommen :-D . Und wie mein großer kleiner Bruder so schön gesagt hat: "Die Bands stehen auf dem WNT sowieso frühestens an 2. Stelle! Davor kommen die Menschen, die da sind." Und vielleicht Bier ;) . Aber Recht hat er!

Naja, Frühschoppen fällt aus organisationstechnischen Gründen wohl leider aus für uns, aber nicht weiter schlimm. Um 1 gehts wieder los. Ab halb 2 betrinken. Wobei ich wieder nicht viel trinken kann, weil wegen morgen fahren und so. Und 2 Stunden später fängt dann die erste Band an (die von meinem Lieblingsbruder ;) )

Wird bestimmt super, aber ich denke, ich werde morgen aus physischen Gründen nichts bloggen können :-D Aber macht ja nichts, liest ja so oder so niemand ;) .

Bleibt zum Schluss nur noch zu sagen: *Hatschi* Oh, ich werd wohl doch krank... Naja, ist ja nur noch eine Nacht. Und heute mit Freundin, dann kann man sich gegenseitig wärmen ;)

maheda

Another piece by Makato Kuro-o, focused primarily on mechanisms of Klotho action, also discusses the relationship between Klotho and Wnt.

(Remember this? That wasn't contrived or anything)

They've dominated women's soccer for years with all kinds of Olympic, World Cup and other international tournament wins. Of course, none of that matters and it never really did. I mean, let's face it, I can go to any High School in the nation, grab their Boys Varsity Soccer team and they'd MURDER any team in the Women's World Cup (No, it's IS true).

At any rate, none of that proud history seemed to matter after Coach Greg Ryan decided to bench regular goalkeeper, Hope Solo, in favor of veteran goalkeeper Briana Scurry, heading into the semifinal match against Brazil in the Women's World Cup in China. The WNT subsequently lost to Brazil 0-4 and Greg Ryan received considerable criticism for the sudden lineup change, most notably from benched goalie, Hope Solo. Peep her act after the game:

"U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!!! Wow! Have you ever heard ANYONE in ANY sport go after one of their own like that?!?!

"It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves."

Is this chick serious? First of all, the first goal was an own goal, her own player headed into their net, there was literally nothing Scurry could have done to stop that.

(With that said, it's hard to defend a chick who rocks a curl (and no it doesn't matter that it's a dry curl now). Hey, Bri, channel Fif Dog and understand the credo - if you can't extend it then you might as well suspend it, if you can't braid it, best thing to do is fade it.)

Second, every single goal was scored inside the 18 yard box. That's not the goalie's fault, that's a porous defense that can't stop the beautiful, silky smooth, more passionate and more intelligent Braziliant offensive flurry lead by Marta, my new favorite Brazilian woman.

(That goal was CRAZY, I love me some Marta!)

But even if what Hope said were true, which at best was a biased and completely speculative judgment call, what does it matter? The game is over and you just don't do that. Ohhh, I get it. It's Hope Solo's turn to hook up an inappropriate and very public CATFIGHT! YES!

Hilarious!!! Dude, even if all this stuff were true, nobody in team sports, especially on the international level, is supposed to blow up their coach and teammate like that!!! Damn lil mama, you must be hard core.

Come to think of it, after I saw what the coaches reaction was to Hope's comments, I can see why she punked him and everyone around that team. Dude is a complete p*ssy!

"Obviously there's always opportunities for reconciliation," Ryan said Friday. "This has only just happened. We'll work to try to get past this hurdle."

Try to get past this hurdle? What? Can you imagine a coach in any other walk of professional sports life saying something like this? No wonder she's kicking him in the nuts in the press, he doesn't even own a pair. Man up, dude. This is what Ryan should have said:

Privately: "Fuck a Hope So low and the horse she road in here on. She'll never play another fucking game as long as I'm affiliated with this team, she's finished!"

Publicly: "I'm the head coach, I make the decisions, not the players. Scurry has won games for us, she's our vet. If Hope Solo doesn't like it, she can catch the next thing smoking back to the States, oh yeah, and she's SUSPENDED for the duration of the tournament!"

(Run her down, make sure she never Fs with you again!)

I know, I know, he doesn't want to lose his job and Hope Solo is a future in the net. Is she? In four games she gave up two goals, that aint dominant. And even if she is, so what. If he has no respect from the team and allows the players to push him around, he's going to lose his job anyway!

This cat is trying to patch things up? This coach is a complete beeeyatch!!! Perfect reason to Fire this dude. How can you be a leader of men eeer women when you can't even handle a whinny little brat like Solo? No wonder she played you like that, you're more of a woman than any chick on that field (though by the looks of some of those "chicks," that's not saying much). HA, And what about the balls on Hope?!

(LOL.. throw up them thangs up girl! Incidentally, I can't decide if Hope is attractive or not. I mean, when I look at her, I'm both excited and a bit scared. On the one hand, she's got those cool eyes... Makes her look like a cat woman or something, which you just got to love. Still, something about her screams drag queen, sturdy chin special.) I can't decide. See, that's why women's soccer needs to go for the sex appeal. The Brazilians know how to present some female athletes and so they win. Check it.

Sheeyut, it's no wonder we can't compete!!!

The closest thing we have to that was that silly sports bra nonsense or I guess this chick:

(WNT defender Heather Mitts, ok, I can't hate on ya)

And then I guess there are a few more. There's that tatted up chick too, Natasha Kai from those ESPN commercials.

She's decent in a grimy kind of way. But let's face it, when can't win a chick karma battle with the Brazilians. Too many flavors. Too many bad chicks. Too much care for how they look, they're even more looks conscious that we are as a culture. It's the perfect storm.

And it shows.

At any rate, we'll see how Ryan handles the team's next game in the consolation round. If he plays Solo, he might as well just unpack all his shit and stay over there in China.. He won't have to worry about a thing, because he sure as hell won't have a job when he gets back to the states.. Sheyut, they need Coach Lake Arlington over there in China, then you'd see some results....Whippin h*oes into shape, trying to bang out a US defender pictured above, hollerin at the Braziliant opponents for my own Carnival con capirihnas back in the hotel room and gettin my authentic Kung Pao-General Tso combo po po platter with "rye" on.... Sounds like a perfect recipe for VICTORY. Yall got my number.

- 中國湖泊

One more Brazee pic for good measure:

I likeded that shit!

Here are some of the girls. Check out the other winners here!

ilovejohncena23

lizzx7

ohgravity

tracoyana

useyourhead

karenpanna

Ladies, you all look stunning in that stellar gold jersey. :) If you like how they look, check out our U.S. Soccer gear on Meez! Guys, gals.

Good job, also, to michikomagic, movie_starr_beas, spiderman_lover, freezingcoldgirl, and animallvr1420!

As the ladies get ready for the World Cup in China, they issued some new game day gear that you can buy to support the team! We've had such a good time working with U.S. Soccer in the past that it just made sense to make these jerseys available on Meez, too.

In fact, if you just wear the U.S. Soccer WNT White Jersey and tell us who your favorite WNT player is, you can win the very SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION WNT Gold Jersey that I'm wearing right now. Did I emphasize the SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION-ness of it enough? Does it stand out in CAPS? 'Cause it really is that special... Enter the forum contest for your free exclusive gold jersey here!

Only 11 female Meezers will have access to this special jersey, and they'll each get a spot on the U.S. Soccer Meez Women's National Team! Are you the next Abby Wambach? Or are you Hope Solo or Briana Scurry, defenders of the goal?

Enter the contest today! See you on the field!