Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The WNT versus the World.




The United States women's national team ("The WNT") just learned about it's draw for the women's World Cup, which will happen this September in China. The Stars and Stripes will face off against North Korea, Nigeria and 2003 women's World Cup runner-ups, Sweden. More posts on the women's World Cup to come as the event comes closer.


Monday, April 23, 2007

CELTIC CHAMPIONS


Congratulations to the Celtic Football Club for winning yet another Scottish Premier League title
***
With Japanese ace Shunsuke Nakamura's stunning injury minute strike from a free kick, the Bhoys where able to defeat Kilmarnock 1-2 and secure their 41st(!) league championship with four matches to go. The three points earned at Rugby Park meant that the 81 points accumulated this season by the Celts is too high of a plateau to reach by the second place (and eternal rivals) Rangers.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

The First Post

THE OFFSIDER. With the Internet already inundated with countless blogs, with many devoted to a single subject, one question comes to mind and must be asked: what good would another blog do? Furthermore, how many people does one come to expect to reach out to? Even if I were to attract readers, would they return to visit, or would it be a one time experience?



As to the latter question, I do not know. As with any form of written language that would be available for the general public to view, I suppose that I do wish for a few passer-bys to somehow come across this work and take a gander, with perhaps even the hope that some would enjoy or at least appreciate my work to some degree. But I guess that my objective in this project is to produce something that I think is at least a bit different from the other football* related blogs that are available and with that perhaps learning something new about this game I love very much.



With THE OFFSIDER, I hope to offer a slightly different perspective about the beautiful game. There are plenty of Americans out there who regularly contribute with their own blogs about this sport, and some of them are of Hispanic/Latino background. But with this blog, I won't be writing so much about specific leagues, or devote paragraphs to performance summaries of such-and-such team or this-or-that player, but rather write about the stories that flesh out the scoreline and add an element of humanity to the global game.



As I mentioned, I am of Hispanic/Latino background. To be more specific I am an American-born citizen whose parents come from Mexico and Chile. My love of football was encouraged by my father, who brought his love of the game from Mexico. My mother, not to be outdone, is not as avid of a follower of game, but when the Chilean national football team is playing, she is as supportive as any other veteran of the terrace.



My own interest in the game, interestingly enough, actually occurred while visiting Chile. It just so happened to be that during my summer break from school in 1998 my mother thought it was time for her children to spend an extended period in her native country (the entire length of my vacation). It was enough time for me to experience a little event known as the World Cup that was taking place in France that summer. It also just so happened to be that Chile had qualified for this edition of the World Cup finals, so one can imagine the clamour and excitement of being in a football-mad country with a shaky national team that only manages to qualify for the biggest football tournament of them all every now and then. Needless to say, I was just engulfed in all the madness and excitement and it has shaped my view of this game ever since.



So with that said, I hope that this little experiment in football blogging will be a success, with interesting posts and hopefully insightful comments, etc. etc. Now a little disclosure, as I quickly describe my favourite teams, just so you know the full score:



United States: No "top flight" team in Miami right now, was a fan of Major League Soccer's Miami Fusion, but they folded back in 2001 or around that date. There is a Miami FC playing in the United Soccer League One, the equivalent of a lower league, but I am still hoping that the MLS will return to the Miami area some day.



Mexico: Without a doubt, "my team," regardless of league, would have to be Club America. Before France '98, my interest in soccer wasn't as strong, and I wasn't a strong supporter of any team, but I was so awestruck with Mexican striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco's performance that he became my favourite player. He just happened to play for America, but before you know it I became a full fledged supporter and to this day I support this club 100%. It also helps that a lot of Mexican League football is shown on the television here.



Chile: Unlike Mexican soccer, trying to catch a Chilean League game on the television is like trying to catch a glimpse of a comet: it happens so seldom that when it does happen it's almost worth celebrating. With that said, my level of support is lower than that of America, probably because I can't follow it as closely as the Mexican League (or even the English Premiership for that matter). My team is Universidad Catolica, although I suspect manipulation by my uncle and godmother, both of whom are big fans. What I love about my family, though, is that they all support different teams, which make for interesting conversation. My grandfather was a huge supporter of Union Espanola, while another uncle supports Universidad de Chile. My mother's brother-in-law lives by Colo-Colo, while my grandmother likes Audax Italiano. Good times.



England: Manchester City. I absolutely hate Man U, for the same reasons baseball fans hate the New York Yankees. Plus an acute appreciation for the music of Mark E. Smith of The Fall may have influenced this decision.



Spain: Barcelona. I usually like to root for the underdog when I don't have a team, and although Barcelona is quite the opposite of an underdog, I really appreciate the fact that they are so closely connected with the Catalan community and identity (especially during the Franco era)and create a sharp contrast with the right-leaning Real Madrid.



Italy: Livorno. Because they are the enemy of SS Lazio. Bunch of fascists! Not to mention Roma (more fascists!) and besides that, AC Milan is owned by Berlusconi and Internazionale is also a bit too elitist for my taste. And they are quite the underdogs when compared to this bunch. And don't even get me started on Juventus! Still not too happy with Germany 2006 by the way... :)



Germany: For some reason I never really found a team to support. In high school, I was friends with a German kid who was a fan of Bayern Munich (another Yankee-esque team) so I jokingly rooted for 1860 Munich, who probably are stuck in the Second Bundesliga by now (but they did have one of the coolest club crests of them all!). Starting to look at FC St. Pauli right now, because of the team's association with counterculture and all that, but they are in the Regionalliga, which makes it that much harder to follow. Time will tell.



Scotland: Celtic Football Club! Bhoys forever! The European side that I support the most, influenced by my distant Hibernian blood and an early fascination with The Old Firm.



France: Edge to Olympique de Marseille for their fans' support. I love Paris very much as a city, but Paris Saint Germain never motivated me much. And the Hapoel Tel Aviv incident didn't help much either.



Netherlands: Feyenoord Rotterdam, because of this kid:


:)

*By the way I like to use the word "football" over "soccer," although I will use the dreaded s-word from time to time. Just a note to my fellow Americans!