What this match means

After months of waiting, the day is finally here.  The US kick off their World Cup campaign against England at 2:30 ET, broadcast live on ABC.  This is, by far, the most hyped match the that US has ever played in.  Its also become one of the most important matches that we have ever played in.  Important not in terms just of points or advancement in the tournament.  The quarterfinal game against Germany in 2002 was more important in terms of advancement and, although the Confederations Cup is not the World Cup, the games against Spain and Brazil were in further rounds.  The truth is that we can still make it out of our round even if we lose badly to England. That becomes harder if Slovenia or Algeria walk away with a win, but it is by no means impossible.  No, its important in a lot of other ways.

To me, its most important in terms of respect internationally and with in our own country.  Its no new news that the US isn't a world soccer power.  We regularly are in the top 25 in FIFA's ranking system, but we don't get the respect that some countries with comparable rankings get.  We play in a weak confederation and we would be considered underdogs to teams like Croatia and Russia who didn't even qualify for the World Cup in any encounter we had with them.  With in our own country soccer takes a back seat baseball, basketball, football and even hockey for the average sports fan.  American soccer takes a backseat to European leagues and many fans have more pride in supporting teams like Brazil, Italy, and England over their own country.  Eurosnobs turn up their nose at domestic soccer and, as a result, the players that were spawned by it.  I have to have conversations with people who say things like, "I don't know who I would cheer for if the US played Country X."  In this way, the game against England is a measuring stick to the rest of the world. Its an undeniable stamp of approval if we can pull off a victory.  Fighting to a solid draw even gives us credibility.  Its not the Confederations Cup.  Its the world's biggest stage and it is where respect is earned.

My Take

I think that the US line up is pretty set with two positions still in flux, those being one of the centerbacks and Jozy Altidore's strike partner up top.  All reports point to Onyewu being fit and ready to start, but until it actually happens there will be some doubt in my mind.  If he doesn't start, then its most likely that Clarence Goodson will play next to DeMerit in central defense.  Ideas of Bocanegra trading his new leftback spot for his traditional centerback one seem to have fallen out of favor with Bob Bradley in the warm up friendlies.  I'll be incredibly surprised if that happens from the start.  I would be less surprised to see Bocanegra moved to centerback if Onyewu starts, but then needs subbed out.

Who starts up top is harder to call.  Although Gomez is a definite scoring threat, he is incredibly valuable bringing that threat off the bench late in the game.  Buddle and Findley have both made compelling cases for starting.  Findley with his speed and effort and ability to help setup goals.  Buddle with has actual scoring of goals.  I like Bubble's scoring form, but I would go with Findley over Buddle for this game because we desperately need a speed threat up top against England.  John Terry and Ledley King are the most likely combination to start for England at centerback and both present opportunities to a striker with the kind of wheels that Findley has.  Whether he capitalizes on that by setting up goals or scoring them, its an advantage that we dearly need.  Buddle is by no means slow and has enough speed to keep England honest, but I think that we'll benefit more from the ability to beat them in a foot race.  Especially if we take the tactic of ceding possession and soaking up pressure with a look to counter quickly.  There is a possibility of playing Dempsey up top with Altidore.  If this happens, I think it will be late in the game.  Dempsey has been much more effective from the start when he's been deployed on the left.  If Dempsey is played up top at all, I expect to see Holden if a spot opens up on the right or Beasley if its on the left.

Aside from those things, I think that the line up is pretty set.  Clark is my pick to start in midfield after getting the whole 90 against Australia and thinking that Bradley will go with defense and aggression over the creativity that Torres could bring.  Comparing the benefits of Cherundolo and Spector was a bit tricky at one point, but Dolo has by far been the better performer in every recent match.  I expect to see Donovan on the right where he can recap his performance against Chelsea last year in which he effectively shut down Ashley Cole for his temporary Everton side.  That puts Dempsey out on the left where he's consistently looked dangerous.

My line-up:

--------------Altidore -------- Findley-------------

Dempsey ----- Bradley ------ Clark ----- Donovan

Bocanegra --- Onyewu --- DeMerit --- Cherundolo

----------------------Howard----------------------

If you are in Indianapolis and haven't found a place to watch the game yet, I would suggest two different establishments.  The Chatham Tap on Mass Ave. is going to be hopping, with a projector outside somewhere.  They've drawn standing-room only crowds for big games pretty consistently, so it should be absolutely packed.  I'll be parked at Radio Radio in Fountain Square near my house.  Its normally a music venue, but the owner is British and is opening it for every game in the tournament.  Get out and watch the game where there will be some atmosphere.  It should be on in just about every pub you can find.  Go somewhere with fans wearing the colors.  If we win, then it will be a blast to celebrate together.  If we lose, well...misery loves company.

Great news on the signing front, Antoine Bethea is in the fold.  The deal is a very reasonably priced four-year $27 million deal.  There are several things to consider here:

• This will take Bethea to age 30.  Most safeties are done by then.  He's always been durable, but safety is a demanding position.  This effectively locks up Bethea through his prime years.
• The deal is front loaded to pay out $18 million in the first two years.  That's brilliant because there's no cap now, and there may be no season in 2011.  Even if there is some kind of cap moving forward, his number in the last two years of his deal will be modest.
• Everyone who whined about him missing OTAs needs to take a step back.  Bethea smartly didn't sign his tender.  If he had, he would have cost his family millions of dollars. 
  
• This is a great deal for the club and represents FAR less money than he would have made on the open market.  In essence, Bethea gets money to last him through the lockout.  The club gets cost certainty and a good player locked in for four years.  Ultimately, this is win-win, although I'm sure Bethea rues the day the NFL opted out of the CBA. Antrel Rolle got $37 million for 5 years, for example.
• Bethea has made about $2 million in his career up to this point.  This is a BIG raise for him.

Tomorrow it starts.  The 2010 World Cup will kick-off in Johannesburg, South Africa when Mexico takes on hosts South Africa at 4PM local time.  Mexico is going to beat South Africa 3 - 2, but the game won't be as close as the score line suggests.  Mexico will dominate possession and dictate the tempo of the game, but South Africa will get a couple of breaks and at least not be completely humiliated in front of their fans.  How do I know this?  Well, I don't exactly know it for sure, but that what I'm predicting.  I printed out my copy of the official ESPN SoccerNet World Cup 2010 Bracket and took a stab at predicting how this shindig is going to pan out.  A quick note before I lay down some prophetic utterances.  My predictions are half head and half heart.  They're definitely biased, but I at least tried to keep with in the realm of reality.

Group Stage Predictions

Group A - South Africa, Mexico, France, Uruguay

South Africa becomes the first host nation to not make it out of their group as Mexico tops the group and France squeaks past Uruguay to make it into the knock out round.  In the most exciting game of the match, France and Mexico play to a 2 - 2 draw in a rematch of the Battle of Puebla.  Tempers are already riding high before the red card filled match due to Giovani Dos Santos refusal to pay back Anelka the 50 pounds he owes him from that one time they went clubbing together in London.  In one of the weirdest red card violations in World Cup history, Anelka is sent off after sticking his hands down Giovani's shorts while searching for his missing cash.

Group B - Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Argentina assert their dominance in Group B, taking all nine points from their three matches.  Maradona gives us all a taste of what might be in store for the unfortunate inhabitants of Buenos Airies by streaking half-naked across the field after their final match against Greece.  Nigeria advance in second place.

Group C - England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia

In one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, the US defeats England in their first match and goes on to win the group.  Wayne Rooney receives a red card after the completion of the historic match against the US for kicking the ball into the net repeatedly and refusing to leave the field. England easily deposes Slovenia and Algeria for a comfortable second place.

Group D - Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

The Group of Death proves too much for the Germans as they get bounced by Ghana in their last match.  Ghana takes the group on goal differential and Serbia also makes it through in second.

Group E - Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

The Dutch waltz through their group, winning every game by multiple goals.  Second place comes down to the wire as Cameroon beat out Denmark on goal differential for second.  Japan gets humiliated, getting beat soundly in all three of their games.  This prompts calls for a seppuku watch in their team hotel the night before they fly back to Tokyo.

Group F - Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

An aging Italy and an uninspiring Paraguay comfortably place one and two in the snoozer group of the tournament.

Group G - Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Ivory Coast tragically fails to make it out of their group after fighting Brazil to a 2 - 2 draw.  After losing a heart-breaker to Portugal in their final match, Didier Drogba reacts completely out of character and lightly slaps Deco in the face and then screams obscenities at the camera.  Portugal take second place.

Group H - Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Spain destroys Switzerland and Honduras in their first two games and help Chile into second place by drawing them in their final game, while fielding a mostly b-team.  Switzerland breaks their historic stance of neutrality for the first time in hundreds of years, briefly declaring war on Spain before they come to their senses.  Shamed by their emotional outburst, the Swiss attempt to make amends by gifting custom designed Swatches to the Spanish national team commemorating the newly dubbed "Five Minute War".

Foxsports came out with a list of the top 10 underpaid players in the NFL.  I was surprised to see Pierre Garcon come in at number 10.  Though I love Garcon's upside, I've been a little surprised at how much people have made out of his reasonably modest production.  The text for Garcon reads like this:

While superstar Reggie Wayne's asking for a new deal, the Colts' other starting receiver will be making $470,000 this season. This sixth-round pick from tiny Mount Union College is in his third NFL season, and his 16.3 yard average in '09 was the team's best. Garcon should only get better and is one of the true bargains in the salary-cap era. Simply another example of a productive player with a low-draft status.

The article refers to Frenchy's 16.3 YPC average.  That was good for 12th in the NFL last year.  However, he also only caught 47 passes (74th in the NFL) for 775 yards (44th in the NFL), and 4 TDs (53rd in the NFL).  He also wasn't particularly efficient.  He had a DVOA of -0.4% (basically league average).  He was 47th in that stat.  He had a huge playoffs (or better put, a huge AFC Championship game), right up until he dropped a critical pass that might well have cost the Colts the Super Bowl.

His talent says he could become a serious force in the NFL.  His numbers say, "he's just a guy".

Pierre is a good young player with a HUGE upside.  He is not underpaid.

Next year...he might be seriously underpaid (fingers crossed).  For now, though, it's all potential.

It's a year early to included him on a list like this.

Its about 10PM ET on Wednesday night as I'm writing this.  In 36 hours, the first match of the World Cup will kick off.  As much as I would like to devote all of my time watching the World Cup and writing about what I'm watching, I can't.  The readership of 18to88.com deserves better than this and so I have compiled a list of the soccer websites that I turn to regularly for new, insight, and entertainment.

1. ESPN SoccerNet

2. Fox Soccer

3. SI.com/soccer

So, these first three sites aren't hard to find, but they represent some of the best soccer coverage that traditional sports outlets in the US have to offer.  They've all ratcheted up their coverage for the World Cup with fancy layouts and loads of analysis.  They'll have all the big breaking news, photo galleries, live game coverage, and all the top ten lists that you could ever want.

4. Goal.com

Goal.com my favorite all-soccer-all-the-time non-blog website.  They've got coverage of just about every league and cup that you could want to follow, in a seventeen different languages.

5. Soccer By Ives

Ives Galaracep, a regular contributor to Fox Soccer and a previous contributor to ESPN, runs my go-to blog for soccer news.  He has a number of writers that contribute to his site and is timely posting just about any big news.

6. Soccer Insider

The Washington Posts' Steve Goff runs a blog that provides timely news and pretty good analysis.  He's my favorite soccer writer that does coverage for a major newspaper.

7. Zonal Marking

This is the best site for tatctial analysis of soccer that I've found.  ZM does great job of breaking down the formations and tactics used by teams and is doing analysis of alot of the teams in the World Cup.  Also check out their series on tactical trends through out the 2000's.

8. Pitch Invasion

Pitch Invasion is a great blog that focuses on soccer culture, politics, and history.  They don't do a ton in the way of news, but provide some great analysis of a lot of the controversies and world events that swirl around the game.

9. The Run Of Play

The Run of Play is one of the best written soccer blogs on the Net.  Its run by a brilliant guy named Brian Phillips.  Some of his best work include the fictitious resurgence of the historical Italian powerhouse Pro Vercelli and a serial novel that he's currently releasing on chapter at a time.  He's writing for a number of other websites for the World Cup.  There's a list of where you can find his current work here.  Also, the design on this website is phenomenal.

10. Grant Wahl

Grant Wahl isn't so much of a website, as he is the best American sports writer covering soccer at the moment.  You might recognize his bald visage from his excellent coverage of the NCAA tournament for SI.  You can find his soccer coverage here, here, and here.

11. Dirty Tackle

The dirty-tackle-of-the-day isn't the only reason to visit this site.  Editor Brooks Peck has a stable of good contributors that post some pretty funny stuff.

12. Matchfit USA

Pretty good analysis and comment on a broad range of topics in US soccer.  Check out their regular Formula XI columns for US National Team analysis.

13. Who Ate All The Pies

A British site that normally has lots of good EPL coverage and humor to boot.

14. USA 10 Kit

This site is run by a talented group of soccer journalists from SoccerNet, Goal.com, and elsewhere.  The layout isn't much to look at, but the writing is pretty good.

15. du Nord

There is little original writing on du Nord, but Brucio's daily soccer news digest is a must read.  He must spend hours each day scouring the Net for his content.

16. The Guardian

I think that The Guardian provides the best soccer coverage of England's big newspapers.

16. More Than Mindgames

This site gets a little heady, but if you delve in to its archives you'll find lots of soccer history focused essays.  Pretty great reading if you have time for some longer articles.

17. Bill's Sports Maps

Not really a soccer website, but lots of World Cup related maps.  If you browse the archives, you'll find lots of baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer maps from all eras.

18. USSoccer.com

The official website of the US national soccer program.  One of the better places to find stats from national team games.

Those of you who are the 'mark the calandar' kind of folk, may have noticed that my book Blue Blood was supposed to debut today.

Sorry, you'll have to give it a few more days.  At this point, I'm hoping for Monday (with my fingers crossed).  It might be another week from now though.  Don't worry, it's still coming, and we'll have it out sooner rather than later, but it takes a few days for the online retailers to have the book show up in their systems.  There is a Kindle edition listed on Amazon, but it is NOT the final, approved version, so don't get ahead of yourself.  I don't even know if you can actually download it, or if it is just listed.  Either way, hold off.

I know this is annoying, so as a peace offering, I'll offer you all a first glimpse at the book.  Actually, it's just the table of contents.  Thrilling, I know, but I hope it wets your appetites...

Table of Contents
The Kickoff………………………………………………….………7
Chapter One: 1984-1986 C.O.L.T.S………………………………...10
Chapter Two: 1987-1989 The Big Deal……………………………..23
Chapter Three: 1990-1993 You Can’t Go Home Again……………..37
Chapter Four: 1994-1997 Captain Comeback and the Cardiac
Colts………………………………………………………………..50
The Second Quarter………………………………………………...66
Chapter Five: 1998-2001 So Good, So Soon……………………..…68
The Third Quarter………………………………………………….85
Chapter Six: 2002-2005 Dungy Ball……………………………..…..87
The Fourth Quarter…………………………………………….…105

Chapter Seven: 2006-2008 Blue Reign……………………………..107

Chapter Eight:  Unfinished Business..................................................126
Overtime………………………………………………………….145
Appendix A: Regular Season Indianapolis Colts Records…………..147
Appendix B: Games We’ll Never Forget…………………………..151
About the Author…………………………………………....…….188
Works Cited…………………………………………….…………188

Sorry for the long delay from my last article. I needed some time off to focus on finals and my MCAT. I’m happy to be back and will be contributing weekly for the rest of the summer and into football season. Today, I’m continuing with the second part of a four part series that looks at how the Colts evaluate talent based off of measurable statistics, known as metrics, as well as information such as conference and academic success. The goal of this series is figure out what kind of players the Colts want in each round of the draft. If successful at cracking the Colts code, we can then target and attempt to accurately project players that the Colts will draft in 2011 and beyond.

Through this research, I noticed some distinct patterns for three different groups: 1^st and 2^nd rounders, 3^rd and 4^th rounders, and 5^th, 6^th and 7^th rounders. Today, I will focus on the 3^rd and 4^th round selections from 2005-2010.

In the last 6 drafts, the Colts have selected 14 players in the 3^rd and 4^th rounds. Out of those 14, 13 were seniors in college when drafted. All 14 had at least four years in college. 13 out of 14 graduated by the year they were drafted. Only 3 of the 14 selections came from a non-BCS conference. One, Clint Session, was team captain.

Like the 1^st and 2^nd round selections, height does not seem to matter. This is especially evident in the linebackers, where the Colts selected both 5’10 Clint Session and 6’2 Philip Wheeler. Again, speed is crucial to the Colts. 11 of the 3^rd and 4^th round selections had at least near elite straight-line speed for their position, as indicated by forty times. Lateral agility is also a necessity. Out of those who ran the 20-yard short shuttle, only Dante Hughes posted a poor time.

Instead of posting the statistics for each pick under production, I chose to rate it on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 being poor, 2 being below average, 3 being average, 4 being above average and 5 being elite. In order to determine what category each player fit into, I compared his stats to those of his teammates and college football as a whole for the year he was drafted. Unlike the 1^st and 2^nd rounders, the Colts seem to be more flexible with production of these later picks. 5 of the 14 had only average production. However, it is clear that the Colts still highly value production, with 6 of the 14 3^rd and 4^th rounders either being All-Americans or number one at their position in their final year.

So what can we learn from these metrics? More importantly, how do the Colts separate 3^rd and 4^th round prospects from 1^st and 2^nd round ones? These new statistics only reinforce one of the definite conclusions from the previous profile; a degree is mandatory for success as a Colt. The only player who did not graduate, Vincent “Sweatpea” Burns, never saw the field. This only makes it more evident that the dedication it takes to graduate from college while playing football at an elite level is the dedication it takes to be successful in the NFL. Straight-line speed does not seem as highly valued as in the previous rounds. Other than Marlin Jackson, every Colts' 1^st and 2^nd round pick had near elite or elite speed for his position. Jackson’s was still above average. However, in these later rounds, the Colts were willing to select 3 players, Collie, Hughes, and Gandy, with average speed. Leadership does not seem to be as important in the 3^rd and 4^th round. Only one player was a team captain, compared to nearly half of the 1^st and 2^nd rounders This could also be because team captains are usually the best players on their team, and therefore not readily available by the end of the 3^rd. The Colts are also more willing to select from non-BCS conferences in the middle rounds of the draft.

Only one player doesn’t seem to fit the general mold of a Colt. Most Colts have either near elite straight-line speed or lateral agility. Many have both. Dante Hughes, on the other hand, is terrible in both. At his combine, Hughes had the worst forty time and vertical jump at his position. Furthermore, he was in the lower half for every other measurable statistic at the combine for cornerbacks. Why then did the Colts select a player that deviates so much from the prototypical Colt? The answer lies in his production and tape. As a senior, Hughes was the Pac-10 Defensive Player-of-the-Year and consensus first team All American. Obviously, the Colts ultimately rate players based off of a combination of production and metrics. For the 1^st and 2^nd rounders, they should have all three. However, as shown by Hughes, both are not necessary for the 3^rd and 4^th round selections. If a player excels in one of these categories, like Hughes with production, the Colts are willing to overlook the other and take that player somewhere in the 3^rd and 4^th. In Hughes case, the Colts ignored his lack of athleticism. While this did not end up working out as expected, it shows that the Colts are willing to deviate from their overall draft philosophy when they think they’ve found a special player.

Please feel free to comment, argue, and elaborate on this profile. Also, if you have a request for a draft related article, post it in the comments.

I'm glad that we beat Autstalia 3-1.  I am.  A victory is always a good thing, but any care that I had about the outcome of the match was far outweighed by apprehension that we were going to end up losing somebody important to a last minute injury.  Big name players have been dropping like flies the past couple of weeks.  Before the game started, I was sort of concerned.  After I started watching and realized that the pitch they were playing on was basically a giant sandbox with a thin layer of sod on top of it, I was ready to start chewing off my finger nails.  Fortunately, no one on either team ended up being stretchered off the field.  DaMarcus Beasley came the closest when it looked like his foot caught on the turf as he went down and his knee flexed awkwardly, but he was able to get back up and run it off.  Ricardo Clark also looks like he could have picked up a hamstring injury, but no information has been released after a full day so I doubt it was anything serious.

Let me reiterate, the field was atrocious.  It was coming up in clumps every time someone went in for a slide tackle.  By the end of the game there were so many divots that it looked like spots of weird pixelated distortion all over the place.  There were so many scuffed passes that it was hard to tell if someone was sucking or if they were just getting their cleats caught in the pitch.  I'm not going to mention it in the rest of this post, but the statement "it may have been because they were playing on something resembling a table-cloth covered sandbox" could be tacked on to any criticism that I give.  How you end up playing on a field like that in the lead up to a the biggest sporting event in the world I do not know.

Forwards

Buddle finished two really great chances and looked confident like he did when he was playing with LA early in the MLS season.  He scored nine goals in nine league games and assisted on two more before leaving to join the national team.  Confidence is uber-important for a striker and this should hopefully be the boost that he needs.  I'm anticipating that Bradley is going to start Findley against England for his speed, but Buddle is making himself a viable option if Altidore isn't fully recovered from his ankle injury.

Robbie Findley didn't score, but he did just about everything else right.  His pressure on Aussie defender Craig Moore caused the turn over that Buddle scored our first goal off of.  He beat the Aussie defense to through balls time and again and (most of the time) he made the smart play to hold the ball up and dish it off instead of rushing a bad shot.  That said, Findley missed two chances that he absolutely should have scored on.  These weren't just decent chances where he could have done better.  One was a WIDE open goal after he beat the keeper and he hit the ball hard and off target when he should have just tapped it in.  The other was a pretty brutal shot off the cross bar when there was no reason for the ball to have been struck anywhere near the crossbar.  Findley should be able to walk on the pitch confident of everything else he's doing in the game, but where it counts most he still hasn't capitalized.  That's gotta be pretty frustrating for both him and the coaching staff.

Herculez Gomez came off the bench again and scored, this time with a nice side footed shot off of a well placed pass by Landon Donovan.  He looked good in the rest of his play, making smart passes and harassing the Aussie backline.  The ability to come off the bench and score is sometimes more important than the ability to put in a solid 90 minutes.  That should pretty much assure that Gomez won't be starting against England, but will see time on the field none the less.

Midfielders

Unless Ricardo Clark really did hurt himself on Saturday, then I'm guessing that Bradley is planning on starting him and his son against England.  Clark and Michael Bradley both played the full 90 minutes against Australia.  It doesn't make much sense to me that you would partner up Clark for 90 minutes with Bradley if you were intending on not starting him on June 12th.  Honestly, I'd like to see either Edu or Torres starting instead.  I think that Edu has the athleticism to stand up to a tough England midfield and Torres has better skills holding and distributing the ball to gain us some needed possession.  Clark would be my third choice, but he can be dependable on his day against top class opposition.  Against Australia he as pretty invisible, inspiring neither a lot of criticism nor praise.  He can't play that way against England, though.

Michael Bradley was his typical, reliable self.  Not too much else to say.  He broke up attacks like he always does.  He covered well when others were out of position.  And he got forward occaisionally and only a great reaction save by Mark Schwarzer is all that kept him off the score sheet.

Dempsey looked good for the whole 90 minutes; a pretty great showing.  Bradley started him of the left and he played from there the whole game.  Australia had a hard time containing him.  He came very close to scoring.  He had a great shot off a break away that Schwarzer made a clutch save on and had a beautiful diving header goal called back (wrongfully) for being offsides.  He seemed to be the target of a disproportionate number of tackles by the Aussies.

Donovan was industrious, to say the least.  He had a great assist on Gomez's goal and setup several other clear cut chances.  Instead of saying more about his game, check out this very Donovan-centric game review from Henry Winter of the British Telegraph.

Beasley came on for the last 15 minutes of the game.  He had good speed up and down the wing, but didn't really get involved enough to say much about.

Defense

Our central defense looked very suspect on set pieces, corners and crosses.  They failed to clear the ball properly or just flat out missed it way too many times.  In general, our marking on set pieces was terrible.  England has got to be salivating over the thought of Rooney, Crouch, and Gerrard crashing the goal while Lampard whips in a cross.  If we defend them like we did Australia they'll destroy us.  Bradley had better be working hard on getting us more organized on dead ball situations.

DeMerit and Goodson started in the center.  Onyewu replaced Goodson at about 60 minutes.  Aside from the abject failure to defend balls that were in the air, Goodson and DeMerit did a decent job.  Onyewu coming on in the 60th minute was troubling for two reasons.  One, he's played a decreased amount of time in each of the last three friendlies.  This is raising some big questions about his fitness, as you would think that his playing time would increase if he were getting back in shape.  Two, he still looked awkward and lacking in confidence.  There weren't any big defensive breakdowns, but he was no where near as assertive as he should be if he's going to be a starting option next weekend.  I will say that he still looked good with the ball at his feet, maneuvering out of traffic when the opportunity presented to make a smart pass instead of just booting the ball forward.

Bocanegra and Cherundolo looked pretty good on the wings, with Bocanegra looking typically solid and having fewer defensive lapses than Cherundolo, who got forward with the ball more.  Cherundolo's run past Australia's Bresciano and cross to Buddle for our second goal were very nice and his short passing game continues to impress, although he didn't look quite as flashy as he did against Turkey.  He'll need to reign himself in a little against England seeing as he'll likely be lining up against Stevie Gerrard.

Bocanegra was replaced by Bornstein in the 55th minute and, while he didn't look terrible, he's still a big step down from either Bocanegra or Spector.  If this is who we start at fullback against England and we are looking to replace Bocanegra late in the game, I really hope that we are looking to Spector.

In Goal

Tim Howard played the first half and Marcus Hahnemann replaced him for the second.  Howard did what he normally does: he looked confident, made some good saves, and screamed like a mad-man whenever the defense broke down.  Hahnemann made a couple of good saves (one very good), but looked less than confident when he came out to punch away the ball and had trouble reading crosses.  The sun was very low and in his eyes, but that's a less than satisfying excuse if you let in an easy goal.  I think he's still got the number two spot ahead of Guzan locked up, but he needs to do better.

Here's the match highlights.

When I was in 8th grade, I made my middle school baseball team.  The week before the first game, I had to miss a practice to attend a National Junior Honors Society function.  I told my coach about it ahead of time, and he gave me permission to go.  However, come opening day, I wasn't in the starting line up.  Instead he started a scrawny 7th grader.  His reasoning was that only players who attended every practice could start.

We lost 35-1.

I pinch hit and got our only hit.

Obviously, had I started we would have won that game.  I mean, weak armed second baseman have a way of cutting 10-15 runs off a final score.  And I'm sure that had I had a second at bat, it would have made my first hit (a 20 foot ground ball that got stuck in the mud in front of the mound) look weak.  While I couldn't have changed the outcome by starting, the attitude of my coach was so bizarre and unfair, that it soured me on the season.  I quit the team three games later.  It's just about the only thing I've ever quit on in my life.  The best players should play.  Nothing else makes sense.

I bring up this story because it has direct bearing on the Mathis and Wayne situation. Some fans would like to see both players punished for their holdouts beyond just fines.  There are those who have implied that if the Colts really had 'open competition' for jobs, that Mathis and Wayne would be riding the pine come September.  Such thinking couldn't be more destructive or more erroneous.

First, let's address the issue of "open competition".  What it means is that the best players play come Sundays in the fall.  It doesn't matter what a guy's resume is, if there is another player who is better he starts.  What it also means is that it doesn't matter who practices more.  It doesn't matter who toed the line with the organization.  The only thing that matters is who can make the plays on Sundays.  If you are selecting your starting lineup based on ANYTHING other than what players will produce the best outcome, then you are doing a massive disservice to your fans.  Reggie Wayne and Robert Mathis will start (as much as Mathis ever 'starts'...he typically hasn't started much) because they are the best players at their positions.

What missing camp means for them is basically that they are taking a chance that some other player will jump up and take their job.  Could it happen?  Absolutely. If the coaches determine that Collie/Garcon/Gonzo are better than 87, then Wayne won't see the field.  Missing practice opens that door, but it does not automatically push other players through it.  The same thing goes for Mathis.  If Jerry Hughes starts ripping through quarterbacks, then he'll play.  Mathis missing some camp time might leave the door open for Hughes to show the coaches something, but it absolutely should not be a guarantee of anything.

Fans tend to think of these camps and practices as much more important to veterans than they really are.  This same issue comes up with Bob Sanders.  There are those that think that a player like Sanders missing practice or camp time due to injury is a big deal.  It isn't.  Bob Sanders has always practiced less than other players.  Why?  Because come Sundays, he's one of the best safeties in football.  It's not that practice doesn't matter at all, but for the most elite players it simply isn't that important.

There's another issue at work here, and that's the issue of punishment.  Just like my middle school coach wanted to make a statement that baseball practice has to be more important than anything else, fans want players punished who hold out.  There are punishments built into the system.  Mathis and Wayne will be fined for missing camp time.  However, when a team punishes a player for a legitimate negotiation tactic, it risks alienating the entire locker room.  Rule by fear is not an effective way to manage grown men, many of whom are millionaires.  Were the Colts to crack down hard on Mathis and Wayne, they would show that the organization is unreasonable and doesn't care about the players.  The tenor of both Wayne's and Polian's statements on the matter shows that everyone is maintaining the right attitude.  This isn't personal. It's just business.  There's no need to "show anyone who's boss".  There have been no recriminations or even condescending statements of 'disappointment' from the team.

Punishing the players with benchings just for missing some not overly meaningful spring practices would only punish the rest of the team and the fans.  We need our best players on the field as much as possible.  Barring some insanely unforeseen leaps in productivity from a few guys, there's just no way that Mathis and Wayne aren't among the best 22 players on the team.

Open competition. It means the best players play.

Not the players who attend the most practices.

It's the only way to run a team.

Last night, my wife and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.  In the process, we realized something disturbing about ourselves:

We have become hobos.

The gradual transformation from educated, professional people to train hopping, handkerchief on a stick toting vagrants came on without warning.

I had secured tickets to go to the opera.  The Colon Theater in Buenos Aires is a world famous opera house.  I'm not huge opera fan, but once or twice a decade I can handle it.  The Colon is a spectacular place to go, and we had not been in seven years.  We figured it would be fun to leave the kids with friends, dress up a little, experience high culture, and spend the night downtown.

My first clue that something was wrong came when I examined my closet for appropriate clothing.  You have to understand that I work with extremely impoverished people, and never wear anything but T-shirts and jeans.  I have no cause to wear nicer clothes.  I do have a suit, but that was back in States.  So when I opened the 'nice' side of closet, I found the following:

• 3 Ties.  One was emblazoned with the logo of the Indiana Pacers.  Classy.

• 1 grey collared shirt with white stripes.

• 1 pair of khaki pants.  They were one size too small.

Ouch.  For the first time in 33 years, it occured to me to bother being ashamed of my 'wardrobe'.  Three ties.  None of which went with the one bizarre collared shirt I owned.  I did manage to dig out a second pair of khakis that fit.  Technically, anyway.  They were actually too long, and I had once ripped part of the cuff by stepping on it.  It was sewed up pretty well though, so no one would notice.  Hobo-tacular.

We had a second problem.  All our overnight bags were at our team office because our house is too small.  So, Deb packed our 'nice' clothes into a plastic bag, and we headed off to retrieve our luggage.  Once we finally made it downtown, we had to park several blocks from the hotel.  So we toted a paisley coated suitcase down the city streets to the lobby.  The hotel had lost our reservation (stupid Internet discount site), threatened to kick us out, but eventually found us a room.  I think they were embarrassed to have us in the lobby.  Hobo-mania.

When we finally spruced ourselves up and made it to the opera, we had standing room only seats.  Seriously, you can't give real seats to hobos.  They smell way too bad.  Fittingly, we watched the first two acts of La Boheme (which felt oddly autobiographical), before I couldn't take it any more.  I was sore from soccer, and my back seized up from leaning on the railing for two hours.  Hobos aren't used to standing.  Typically, we recline against an old stump in front of a camp fire.

So, we slinked out at intermission and headed for dinner.  Though we were tempted to find a can of cold beans and an old ham-bone to gnaw on, we actually had a nice meal and thoroughly enjoyed our night.  At one point we did consider going to see the new Robin Hood movie, but figured we could not bear the shame of walking out of La Boheme to see a Russel Crowe flick.

Even hobos have some pride.

All this was a long winded introduction to say that I'm a little late putting up mini-camp links.  I'll get right on that.

By the way, anyone who goes to the free minicamp today and wants to post pictures and commentary is welcome to send it in.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to rage incoherently at a stray dog who is poking around at my handkerchief and stick.