Just a rant…

I live and study in the United States but “soccer” is a different thing here. Of course, as is often the case around the world a particular sport takes on characteristics of the area. The U.S. is no different. Check out this article. Basically football journalism in the States sucks. There are a few exceptions (this site for example) but for the most part it really does.

That article is an example. It’s still interesting to read though and has a couple good points but phrases like, “[France] successfully integrated its immigrant and minority communities onto the team” make no sense to me. The authors then mention the Dutch in the same context. The Oranje have been fielding players from Surinam in particular for a long time. Then it says the Dutch, “altered their youth-development and recruitment policies, yielding talented minority players at the heart of the national team lineup.” Do they mean…players of another ethnicity?

I assume the players at the heart of the new lineup include Hedwiges Maduro, Romeo Castelen, Khalid Boulahrouz, Dirk Kuyt, Ron Vlaar and Ryan Babel. Of these players only Castelen was not born in the Netherlands but instead in Surinam, like Edgar Davids who has 74 caps for the Dutch and was first picked back in 1994. The other players were born and raised in the Netherlands.

I realize I’m picking on but a few little pieces out of the article (I left out the “Fatherland” jibe). This is just an example of the poor football writing that floats around. For more information look up Max Bretos of Fox Soccer Channel. The guy is a real winner. Right, he probably drinks Budweiser while he watches MLS matches.