In a move that will make any US soccer fan weep with joy, ESPN has recently, and at the 11th hour, secured the rights to up to two English Premier League fixtures per week.  The two time slots fall at 7:45 AM EST or 10:00 AM EST on Saturdays and all of the Monday 3:00 PM EST fixtures.  With the top league in the world now on a major cable network for all to see, soccer will have its day here in this country. Even if it is quite early on Saturday morning, especially for the West Coast viewership.

But this morning, while watching Chelsea v. Hull City in HD, I couldn’t help but think how great it is that the highest level of soccer will be on display for those who find little joy in the currently mediocre talents of the MLS. The sight of Didier Drogba scoring from a vicious set-piece to draw Chelsea level at 1-1 had me yelling at the top of my lungs before the 9 o’clock hour had even rolled around, leaving my wife truly worrying about my mental state.

For at least the first broadcast ESPN has chosen to us the English commentator feed rather than using its own “talent”.  I truly hope this continues as the nuances and presentation of the game will be genuine for the viewing audience.  Anyone who has watched a US broadcast of soccer can relate to their constant need to lay the ground work, so to speak, for each and every minute of play.  They are keen to explain every little tweak on the ball to both solidify their credibility and tell you how you should be feeling about what you’re watching. Using native English play-by-play is a fantastic tactic and will do well towards raising the viewing audience to its level, rather than dropping the level of commentary to the lowest common denominator.

Before I let this article get ahead of me here, suffice to say this is the start of a great trend from ESPN to bring the world’s game to us and show what top-flight football really and truly is to the negative talking heads of the sports media. Now we can hope for the Worldwide Leader to really go great guns and get a much larger chunk of the Premier League’s television contract beginning with the 2010-2011 season… word on the street is that it is already in the works.

Soccer just became 0.1% more accessible in the US and my wife now knows she’s lost me another 0.1% to it.

David Beckham was supposed to be the savior of the MLS. There was supposed to be a flood of international talent that would rush over the league upon his arrival. To his credit there were a few players that defected from more popular leagues. But all that hype and media coverage lasted for a month or so.

But as the newest black eye for the MLS, it looks like Beckham will be heading back over seas. Pretty interesting considering the rhetoric “Becks” spewed when he first made the move to the L.A. Galaxy.

It’s also about being an ambassador for the game here and, hopefully, it is going to encourage other players to come to the States and be part of this because soccer in America can become much bigger.

That’s why I’m here. I want to be part of the growth of the game in the States.

The game doesn’t appear to have grown much. And this won’t help. Potential U.S. soccer fans won’t be quick to get behind a group of players that appear greedy and flighty and play a sport that is still very foreign in many U.S. communities.

But if the MLS is expanding, they’ve got to at least be doing kind of well, right?

Dear US, prepare to be dismantled. Love, David Villa.

The United States Men’s National Soccer Team find themselves in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in South Africa.  However, when they meet Spain on Wednesday in Bloemfontein (a completely real city, despite its seemingly fictitious name) they will not subsequently find themselves advancing to the finals.  Anything can happen in sports, but the fact that the US are in the semi-finals is a bit of a false indicator to the lay soccer fan.  In all honesty, they made it here by mistake.

The Confederations Cup is essentially a dry-run tournament for the country hosting the next World Cup.  With the World Cup a year a way now, it is a great time to test the infrastructure, logistics and crowd control that will make the worlds largest sporting event one equally large cluster-f***.  Why not have a mini-tourney to rile things up?

The US has been righteously sucking wind in its World Cup qualifying rounds and although it will make the tournament, the team has had less than dominating performances against teams supposedly fair inferior in their CONCACAF region.  Add to that the first two games of this Confederations Cup where they were tested by two of the best in the world in Italy and Brazil and failed miserably, losing 3-1 and 3-0 respectively.  While living life at the bottom of their group going into their final game the idea was to have a solid showing against Egypt to save a little face and end on a high note.  A decisive 3-0 victory there gave the US a life-line as they garnered enough goals to place second in their group on a goal differential technicality.  Welcome to the next round Bob Bradley and crew!

Of equal but opposite intrigue is that of a Spain side who has lost zero games in their last 35.  That is exactly zero games lost since November 2006.  They are the reigning UEFA Euro 2008 winners, and sport one of the more ridiculously star-laden rosters in the world.  What is most remarkable is the fluidity with which Spain play, and that will be quite the contrast to what we see out of our Yanks.

When it is boiled down, this tournament doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.  However, it is a great indicator as to when it is alright to make a mountain of a problem out of a molehill of a tournament. The United States needs to get better.  They need to get better at player development, playing the world’s game, but more importantly finding their own game – one that involves a cohesive footy-unit on the pitch.  Tomorrow’s match will be a showcase of how strong Spanish football has been and will be and consequently a stark realization as to the gap that still needs crossing to get the US onto the same competitive playing field.   Please, Mr. Bradley, have your troops surprise me.  I won’t be upset if you don’t, though, I already know the reality. I just hope it gets better before the world stage gets bigger next year.