Boring monday

In the soccer world, Monday’s suck. Hungover from all that weekend goodness, all you need is just a little something to keep you going. But what do you get? Nothing.

So here are a few possibly delicious links to try to sustain yourself:

Lee Nguyen: Vietnam Superstar. An old link but a good link: for all of you wondering what the hell is going on with Lee Nguyen, This is American Soccer has an interview (hey, soccernet, why is it that bloggers are always out-reporting you?). Looks like the kid might be going to Dallas. Good for him and MLS, bad for his unpronounceable Vietnam team.

US to face Honduras in January friendly (Soccer by Ives)

Philadelphia Union putting out roots. Nothing too exciting here, but it’s good to read about the Union making connections with local youth teams.

Wayne Rooney sleeps through World Cup draw, admits that the US is a good team. (Guardian)

The only other soccer goodness today: Danish Superliga action. Benny Feilhaber and (future Unioner?) Jeremiah White should see the field today. Check your local illegal p2p site for live feeds.

US draws England, Slovenia, and Algeria for the 2010 World Cup

More late news (by about five hours). First of all, let me say that I don’t think this a catch-22 for the US–that is, our group is so easy that no one will care if we get through, and if we don’t get through it will be a major failure. Half of that is true: the boys have to get out of the first round. But the idea that getting into the round of 16 could be bad in any way is absurd. Even if we were in a group with North Korea, New Zealand, and Slovakia, getting through to the round of 16 would be a major achievement for the US. The US sports media and the casual fan only care about results–they simply don’t have the soccer savvy to understand anything else.

One final thought: Group A (South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France) is as much a group of death as Group G (Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal). The home team is always strong at the World Cup. None has ever failed to get to the second round. Mexico is in great form recently, especially if Giovanni Dos Santos brings his A game. Uruguay is an often over-looked South American powerhouse. And France is a tottering, weakened superpower, just waiting for any or all of these three hungry teams to knock them out of the tournament. I can’t wait to see what happens when these four teams collide next summer.