The Post knows how to appreciate a draw.

Ever since the group draw for the World Cup, I’ve been excited about being in the UK to watch the US play England. I assumed that in Scotland I would watch the match with a relatively friendly, England-hating crowd. Then I arrived at St Andrews and found that most of the classmates didn’t care much for football one way or another.

Coach Sweatpants: Bob Bradley

I watched the match in a crowd of Englishmen and international students who seemed to believe supporting England was rooting for the home team. Aberdeen-born US player Stuart Holden received a warm ovation and shouts of “SCOTLAND!” when he entered the pitch, but overall the crowd were behind England and lustily celebrated Gerrard’s fantastic goal in the fifth minute of the match. I was glad I had left my “Don’t Tread On Me” flag back in the flat.

After the match the US received warm applause for their efforts, though most seemed to take up the line of argument suggested by the BBC and ITV commentators: both sides were awful, with England playing a bit worse and the Yanks being a bit more lucky.

This is, of course, completely untrue. While England looked disorganized, the US defense worked wonders shutting down Wayne Rooney. Ricardo Clark continued to be weak for the US (we can thank him for Gerrard’s goal), but Donovan and Altidore stretched England down the field and Tim Howard was an absolute hero, playing out the last 65 minutes of the match with what are probably broken ribs. The Post is right to call the match a 1-1 victory; England were lucky we didn’t beat them.

A little bit about ITV’s World Cup broadcasts

The ITV and BBC commentators have generally been disappointing. They have little of substance to say and generally make their audience glad for the drone of the vuvuzelas. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by Fernando Flores’s commentary on Univision.

During the US match, broadcaster ITV made some interesting decisions with their use of high-speed footage. Footage recorded at high-speed records greater definition of movement; however, when played at regular speed it renders all movements in dreamy slow motion. While we were treated to the requisite (and, as always, beautiful) shots of the spin on a bending football and how Tim Howard’s body crumpled when he was spiked on a contested ball, ITV frequently chose to show us high-speed footage of the coaches. Watching a very well defined Bob Bradley think about what tracksuit he’ll wear for the next match is anything but riveting television.

These high detail shots of the bench did provide for moments of merriment. After US twelfth man Robert Green gifted the Nats a goal, we were treated to a good seven seconds of David Beckham ruminating in high-speed slow-motion:

Becks disapproves.

There was a rousing jeer from the Scots and Americans in the audience, and the gratuitous length of the shot even inspired the England fans to laugh through their pain.

It’s unlikely that the ITV programmers have been inspired by Gogol and intended to evoke laughter through tears. The evening was full of poor choices by ITV; seconds before England scored the opening goal, ITV cut away from the game to a Hyundai advertisement in which cars play football, returning to the match just in time for the player celebrations. (Video here.)

Possibly the worst fake US soccer jersey ever, both in terms of believability and sheer tastelessness:

Remember Michael Jackson by wearing a poorly done fake US soccer kit.

Less than 11 days until the 2010 World Cup. Four years of waiting is almost over…

World Cup 94: The Worst Jerseys Ever

This week’s NY Times Magazine has an interesting article about Ajax’s youth system. The author does a good job of pointing out how America’s pay to play youth soccer system does disservice to our player development system. On the upside, we aren’t taking seven year old kids away from grade school for soccer practice.

The article lays the US’s lack of creative players on our youth system’s tendency to group good players together and focus effort on developing team work, rather than individual brilliance. The current generation of Yanks playing abroad have a reputation for athleticism (something of a backhanded compliment), but not creativity or brilliance. Dempsey has had his moments with Fulham last season, but our best-known player, Landon Donovan, is known for his assists and passes, not for clinical finishing.

America’s most successful players abroad have traditionally been goalkeepers…the loneliest, most individualistic, and, some might argue, most analytical/least creative position on the pitch.

When Saturday Comes, the best soccer magazine I know of, has a great article in print this month about Kulula Airline, a South African company that has royally pissed off FIFA. FIFA, the organising organisation behind the World Cup, forces host cities to go to insane lengths to “protect” the organisation’s copyright on World Cup related terms: “Pubs can’t even write ‘watch 2010 games here’ on their chalkboards, but must instead put ‘watch the football’ or ‘today’s game’.”

Kulula advertised itself as “The Unofficial National Carrier of the ‘You-Know-What’”; FIFA complained, claiming that by printing an ad with a stadium, soccer balls, and South Africa’s flag, the airline was “creating an unauthorised association with the 2010 FIFA World Cup”. Kulula responded with the following ad:

According to WSC, Kulula charges $140 for a flight that the official FIFA airline charges $750 for. No wonder FIFA’s so angry.