Usual Suspects Still Have A Shot To Take Home The Cup

"Old power, like old money, still rules. At least in the World Cup, that's the way it goes.

America's sportswriters - all newly converted soccer experts - are still busy writing US coach Bruce Arena's pre-obituary. The overwhelming feeling is that after eight years at the helm, it's time for Arena to give way for new blood. It's sort of "an old dog cannot teach new tricks to young puppies" belief. And while there may be some validity to that, let's not move so fast. The postmortem, which will come, will be quite interesting.

The final tab on my predictions comes in at 13-3, with Ecuador, Australia and Ghana all welcome exceptions."

Read Marcos' full report on the Round of 16 at the Tampa Tribune >>

American Squad Misses Its Goal And Is Sent Home Early

"It's over. Auf wiedersehen. See you in four years' time in South Africa. There are any number of ways to approach this but the bottom line for Team USA: Short and not so sweet, and certainly not enough for soccer's version of the Sweet 16. Let me be clear on one point right away. The United States was one of the best 16 teams here, it just wasn't able to prove it. Instead the record book will show that a small country, west Africa's Ghana, will have gone to the dance in its first World Cup appearance.

Great teams find a way to overcome adversity, bad refereeing decisions included, and when they become great - as Arena pointed out the other day -funny decisions start going your way. So it is over for another four years. Arena's future, by his own admission, is uncertain. His contract is up and he has done much good as national coach. But eight years is a long time to be coach. In fact, he is the dean of current World Cup coaches."

Read Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>

Which American Team Will Show Up Against Ghana?

A Few Moments Between Marcos & Mooch

So here we are, ready to come face to face with a possible milestone in modern American soccer history. The big question: Which U.S. team will show up to face Ghana, a team also in the running for a second-round berth? For the West Africans, it's a simple matter of win and they are in. For the Americans, reaching the Round of 16 is a more complicated formula. In a long conversation with an old friend Wednesday, some interesting points emerged. The friend is U.S. assistant coach Glenn Myernick - "Mooch" to everyone in the soccer world...

So why is this U.S. team experiencing a roller-coaster ride? Mooch says there's any number of reasons.

"For one, we have two separate levels of players and play," Myernick said. "The players in Europe are at one, usually higher; the others are not, so it gets disjointed."

So should all the players be earning their living in Europe, as is the case for most of the teams at the Cup?

"Not necessarily. It is one thing to be playing in Europe, on top clubs and actually playing," he said. "It's another to be on a second-division team, or a lesser country, in which case it's better for a player to be a regular in Major League Soccer."

See Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>

T&T Done, US has Last Shot

As the US squad prepares for its final group game Thursday, the hopes of the Trinidad & Tobago side can only wonder what might have been after their hopes were dashed Tuesday afternoon in a 2-0 loss to Paraguay in the Group B finale while England and Sweden played to a 2-2 draw.

Globalization Came With Bosman Ruling

"Long before there was a United Nations, there was a world coming together every four years to kick around a global shaped object.

In the days before globalization, the past two days of World Cup matches could have been considered a meeting of first-world and third-world soccer nations. Just consider Monday's card: Togo vs. Switzerland, Saudi Arabia vs. Ukraine and Tunisia vs. Spain. Sunday, it was Australia facing Brazil, South Korea taking on France and Japan meeting Croatia. By the exalted perspective of old-world Europe or even the new, post-Cold War Europe - these games would have been established powers against pretenders. For a long time, the arrogant view in Europe has been that the European Championship, which is also held every four years, is a better tournament. The only thing keeping it from being a true 'World Cup' would be the absence of the two perennial South American powerhouses, Brazil and Argentina."

Read Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>

Long Day, Doubleheader Pay Off Nicely

"Unless you are Diego Maradona driving through a work zone, there is no speed limit to speak of on the autobahn. So we threw a bit of caution to the wind.

Saturday was a long, tough day but a rewarding one. We departed our hotel in Essen at 9 a.m., and by the time we returned, it was 5 the next morning. It was all in the cause of the green and red of Portugal and the red, white and blue of the USA.

In watching 10 consecutive World Cups in 36 years, never before had the opportunity presented itself to watch two games in the same day. With Portugal facing Iran in Frankfurt at 3 p.m. and the U.S. squad tackling (pun intended) Italy in Kaiserslautern at 9 p.m., the German autobahn system became the perfect ally."

Read Marcos' full report at the Tampa Tribune >>

Americans Prove Worth

"As I made my way into Fritz Walter Stadium on Saturday night, an amusing atmosphere was provided by six Elvis impersonators and four overweight white guys imitating the Harlem Globetrotters. As I took all this in, the thought of an embarrassing evening came fleetingly to mind. And as silly as these men looked, the thought was there that we just might need some entertainment, as well as some real scoring, inside the stadium. To play against Italy with a full 11-man team is never an easy task. To do it with nine men for almost 45 minutes is something very few teams in the world have been able to do. To his credit, Arena refused to lay the blame on several dubious refereeing decisions, simply hinting that "the day will come" when the U.S. will get dubious calls its way as the big powers often tend to do."

Read Marcos' full report in the Tampa Tribune >>