While both teams already qualified for the London 2012 Olympiad there is a certain amount of pride at play. For Canada's women this is an opportunity to declare that they deserve to be in that top tier of teams challenging for Gold or Women's World Cups. With the Great White North hosting the 2015 Women's World Cup it is matches like this and their second straight 20k+ crowd that demonstrate that they are a top nation in the women's game.

The United States women and Coach Pia Sundhage made it quite clear in this tournament that they are out to prove not just that they are the world's number one, but that no one else in CONCACAF is even close. In the group stage they had a +31 goal differential with 3 shutouts. In the semifinal they notched another shutout and another three goals. Canada was a clear #2 with a total goal differential of +14 and two shutouts.

Tonight's lineup for the USA is Solo; Mitts, Rampone (c), Sauerbrunn, O'Hara; Rodriguez, Lloyd, Lindsey, Rapinoe; Morgan, Wambach

For the Canadians; McLeod; Sesselmann, Woeller, Chapman, Gayle; Scott; Kyle, Schmidt, Parker; Sinclair, Julien

This is your gamethread for tonight's "meaningless" game in front of 25,000 raging in Red & White on NBC Sports Network (Comcast 34/626 or check listings) at 5PM Pacific.

The United States is running out of chances to find some solid form before World Cup qualifying starts in summer. Tonight, they take on a Panamanian team they really should beat and they will be returning to the 4-4-2 that Jurgen Klinsmann has seemed so intent on doing away with. Chris Wondolowski will start alongside Teal Bunbury at forward.

Neither Jeff Parke nor Brad Evans are in the starting lineup, but they will likely be on the bench. It looks like Klinsmann is going to give Michael Parkhurst and Geoff Cameron a second look at center back, which makes sense after their strong performance against Venezuela. Ricardo Clark will start with Jermaine Jones in the central midfield.

Enjoy

Panama starters: Mejía; Algandona, Dasent, Vázquez, Rodríguez; Waithe, Sánchez, Gómez, Quintero; Rentería, Pérez.

United Sates starters: Rimando; DeLaGarza, Parkhurst, Cameron, Loyd; Zusi, Clark, Jones (capt.), Shea; Wondolowski, Bunbury

The January friendlies are usually for the hardest of die hards. Being held outside of a FIFA sanctioned window means that player pool is reduced for both sides, and tonight's game isn't against the highest profile of opponents. Venezuela is decent, currently ranked 31st and slightly ahead of the United States by ESPN's Soccer Power Index.

For Seattle Sounders fans, and MLS fans in general, this is an opportunity for a small handful of players to take that step from fringes and get into the regular call. Both Brad Evans and Jeff Parke were on the fringe of the fringe, being called in only as replacements, but with health and other issues Jurgen Klinsmann is likely to give both of them playing time.

Tonight's match is at 6PM Pacific on ESPN3.com (or which ever name it goes by this month) and Galavision if your cable/dish provider carry that station. The biggest question that could be answered in these next two games will be who can score goals, something distinctly lacking when Donovan and Dempsey aren't in Red, White and Blue.

On a Tuesday morning Washington native and former United States Youth National Team player Preston Zimmerman (wiki) raised questions of national team identity over twitter (his twitter). It started with a critique of Jurgen Klinsmann's player selection

I thought it would be cool getting Klinsmann as US National team coach, but I think it's actually worse than when Bradley was coach....

— Preston Zimmerman(@PZimmerman88) December 28, 2011

But it gets broader

It is a discussion that many nations have about identity, nationalism and their relationship to the Olympics and World Cups. One that the US National Team coach has answered (Sporting News), yet one he may not be qualified to do so. Can national identity really be explained by a non-national?

Furthermore does a national team in a global era need to represent its nation? Or is it just there to win as many games as possible playing dual national mercenaries?

The answers are complex, individual and yet relevant to the national fanbase of Team America. It is a team for which we cheer, we hope and yet many will disagree about who belongs on the roster. Zimmerman raises these questions and each author here probably has a different answer.

Continue reading this post »

This report is from blogger/coach Tom Legg ( @tomlegg on twitter) who writes over at Eastern Promise. Though based in the UK he regularly visits East Africa and his passion for the game there is apparent. If you're on twitter you noticed a few retweets that showed that he followed the tourney. He and I have also talked over email a bit about Mrisho Ngassa, Tanzanian league play and Seattle's ambitions over there. Since at one point Ngassa was expected to be back in town for training camp with the Seattle Sounders I asked for this report.

Here's Tom's bio from his site;

An East African football enthusiast and UEFA B qualified football coach. Interested in African politics and current affairs.

And here's what Jonathan Wilson recently said about Legg;

whom I'm going to go out on a limb and describe as east Africa's leading tactical analyst

Finally what Tom shared from his observations of host Tanzania in the CECAFA.

Continue reading this post »

Slovenia is another round of teams better than the United States that Jurgen Klinsmann will test his system and talent evaluation against on a Tuesday morning at 9 AM Pacific on ESPN2. Similar to the USA the Slovenes faded since the World Cup. They weren't as high in the rankings, nor have they fallen as far. In the past 5 matches the southeastern European nation has wins over Serbia and the Faroe Islands with losses to Estonia and Italy. They also managed a draw against Belgium. Like the Americans, they have a new coach and Slavisa Stojanovic is finding new talent scattered throughout various leagues.

For Klinsmann he is still struggling to find a midfielder who can create. With Maurice Edu and Danny Williams struggling to pass effectively there is little ability to transition to his system. Considering the talents being ignored do have the skills needed for the system and the failures to generate offense there is a rising question as to when it is legitimate to point out that  his words are not matching his actions. Yes, the new coach has found a few new talents (particularly dual German-Americans), but they aren't matching his system. Friendlies are there for training, for learning, but there will come a time when he must win games and there is no evidence yet that his selections are able to play his system.

USA v Slovenia, 9 AM, ESPN2

If there had to be a United States soccer friendly on Veteran's Day there is no better nation to face than France. Considering the origin of the day (Armistice Day) and the history of France and USA share in battle it is suiting. For the USMNT this is another tune-up in the Jurgen Klinsmann era. It is another chance to develop into a team that passes out of the back using build-up play and finishes their chances. Early signs are that the new players aren't converting to the new style.

The lineup will contain disappoints. The result even more likely so. France is no longer the team they were, but their fall stopped, and they now climb back to being a power in Europe. Soccer Power Index makes this look like a result of 3-1 or 2-0 in favor of the other Red, White and Bleu even with France's weakened team.

ECS, AO Seattle and the Armed Services Group are hosting a viewing part at the Atlantic Crossing both live and a replay this evening. I'll be at A Terrible Beauty in Renton.

Game is at Noon on ESPN2, ESPN3.com, Univision and Univision.com. Follow the SBNation/soccer storystream for lineups. Follow along with your community here.

My annual note on Veteran's Day. The game makes things difficult, but the sentiment is the same.

In what is a fairly stunning move Fox has won the rights to the English language broadcasts in the USA of all FIFA events from 2015-2022. This will include the signature events of the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, as well as the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada and the 2019 Women's World Cup which has yet to be awarded to a host nation. There are also reports that NBCUniversal's American Spanish platforms headed by Telemundo won the rights for Spanish language coverage within the United States. In both cases this is a shift from the long time holders. ESPN had the English rights, while Univision had Spanish.

NBC recently reached an agreement with MLS for a new three year deal to carry the the League on both over-air and cable. Many had thought this was going to be a bit of leverage towards FIFA and a shot at the World Cup. Instead they will have as their top soccer property for the foreseeable future will be the American league. ESPN has already issued a statement that they remain committed to all of their soccer properties, to include MLS. Both the ESPN and NBC MLS deals run through 2014.

For a network that has subjugated the sport of soccer to one of the deepest of cable options, or tape delay in an era of instant news to win future rights to the World Cup must mean that the contract value was substantial. Fox has recently bumped some of their coverage of the UEFA Champions League to their main network, but the ratings struggled and coverage featured several of their NFL experts attempting to get up to speed. Now, their first major event is 4 years away, so assumptions of how they will cover things are too early.

Continue reading this post »