Brandi Chastain Called Me! (to talk about the Capital One Cup, media politics, the new Title IX generation & Arakawa's awesomeness)

Brandi Chastain and I talked on the phone today! Skip to bottom for the MP3 if you don't want to read my somewhat fragmented overview.

Chastain is remembered by most people for scoring the winning penalty kick at the historic 1999 Women's World Cup final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  (And for tearing off her shirt with joy - and the controversy the gesture created.)

She's had an unusually long career playing at the highest levels in the US and internationally, having retired from competition only recently, at the tender age of 42. Today she made the press rounds as the spokesperson for the Capital One Cup - a new annual award for Division I NCAA sports teams, recognizing them for their records and for the integrity of their programs. The $200,00 grant will fund student-athletes at the winning program who want to pursue graduate study. Chastain sings its praises, quite rightly as it recognizes the need to reward non-revenue generating programs, and celebrate, too, athetes' ambitions beyond their Division I careers. Their facebook page is a great way to learn more about the competition. We talked about this award, and then roamed across a variety of subjects, like:

The media's attitudes about aggression and gender as NFL players Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnegan threw fists at each other on the field last week, and the story barely made an appearance in the headlines (in contrast to what happens when women so much as swear, or knit their eyebrows at each other).

She spoke briefly about the Gold Pride's folding, and had very warm words for the team's primary investors - it sounds like they just got in over their heads, but had their hearts in the right place.  (Sorry for the consecutive body metaphors.) This makes the fold more tragic.  (Though check out this announcement regarding the formation of two California Women's Premier Soccer League teams for next season, which should form the backbone of two WPS teams in the following year.)

In this year's NCAA women's soccer final four we see some new faces -  Stanford, Boston College; Notre Dame, Ohio State. While we think of Title IX's impact being most visible in the '99 generation, Chastain pointed out that it is in the rising generation of athletes that we will really see what Title IX. The number of schools forwarding teams in NCAA women's soccer has tripled since Chastain played for Cal and then Santa Clara University.  This very large and growing wave of players are only just becoming visible at the top tier of the sport. Good news.

I asked Chastain what she's learned from international players, and she waxed about how much joy is in Eriko Arakawa's 'fro, I mean, style of play.  (She made the observation that Japanese players develop great footskills because most develop their game in small courts - I'd never thought of this, but it makes perfect sense.)  And we talked about how Germany's women's team has picked up another kind of game, in addition to the organization for which the team is famous. They now also have a flare to their game, just as the new generation of male players do. Brazil, she said is fun to watch, too, because in addition to the skill, you have the drama of "can they hold it together?"

I steared clear of the USWNT, as I figure we are all going to talk ourselves blue in the face about those gals in the next few months.

Anyway, in a From a Left Wing first, I've uploaded an MP3 of the interview.  It's minimally edited, and I'm rusty - lots of uhms and me ranting - thank god she's a good talker and managed to get a word in edgewise.  I was super grateful for the interview, and happy to help Chastain bring attention to the Capital One Cup - it's a fantastic idea, and somebody better figure out how not to give it to U Conn's basketball team, lest they win EVERYTHING.

Brandi Chastain, on the phone with From a Left Wing (December 1, 2010)

On the eve of El Clásico, we visit with an old friend

Yrsa Roca Fannberg, Sour Memory, watercolor on paper (2008) 

Tomorrow, one of the worlds great derbies - El Clásico - Barcelona v Real Madrid - two sides in astronomical debt in spite of the fact that their shirts are on every other back.

It's a good excuse to check out one of the most quixotic football blogs out there - artist Yrsa Roca Fannberg's meditations on Art versus Sport - entries drift from Barcelona's ups and downs (this goes back a couple years, to less glorious moments than the present), to the moods of the artist and the economic crisis in Iceland (she is half-Icelandic). Her watercolors center almost exclusively on Barça, and are just brilliant. No two ways about it - they appeal to any football fan, with the exception perhaps of the ardent Real Madrid supporter. Worth a look, as a pre-match warm up for the emotional drama. (The moody track on the site is "Partying with the bonus of youth," by The Male Nurse.)

Yrsa Roca Fannberg, Hope for the Enemy, watercolor on paper (2008)

US Women's National Team win reminds us that less is more

The US women's national soccer team qualified for the 2011 World Cup by beating Italy 1-0 in Chicago. We can thank both Amy Rodriguez for the goal, and Rapinoe for the initial shot (which capped a terrific sequence of footwork on her part).  Picarelli deflected Rapinoe's goal and Rodriguez slotted it into the net before any of the Italian defenders could get there.

The score is surprisingly low. In the second half, Italy really lost its game as the US squad controlled most of the possession and pace, and attacked non-stop. In the last fifteen minutes, the Azzurri seemed to revive but while attackers gained ground and created some real chances, they were alone.

Much as one might want one's team to CRUSH their opponents, these results are a good reminder that successful teams often get there with that 1-0 final score. As crucial as that 1 goal is, that 0 counts for more. Pia Sundhage (pictured) knows exactly what she's doing. It is not what fans most enjoy watching, but there it is. Think of Spain's 2010 World Cup run - 0-1; 2-0; 1-2; 1-0; 0-1; 0-1; 0-1. Throughout the tournament, fans moaned, until their team won.

Of course, we can ask questions about the American team's finish - they had so many opportunities, so many shots that went high and wide one can't even say the team was unlucky in not scoring more.  But, they got it done, which is what teams that go the distance in tournaments do.

I'm not going to complain at length today about ESPN - the commentary was great, if you could get on ESPN3.com - the site did nothing to raise awareness about this match. I'm just glad the national team is through, and very curious to see what happens this summer. 

Big Game: US Women's National Team plays for its World Cup spot

Tomorrow, the team ranked #1 in the world plays for the last spot in the 2011 Women's World Cup. Few saw this coming: a

US Women's Team Plays in the Dark: thoughts on today's unlikely win over Italy

Today, Alex Morgan saved the collective ass of the US Women's National Team. The Californian super-sub drew blood from Italy in the last breath of this crucial match, stepping onto the field in the 85th minute and scoring in the 94th. The two-game play-off with the Azzurri is the last chance for both teams to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. The Americans will play Italy in Chicago on Saturday, November 27th. Right now there is no plan to show the match on television. SHAME ON ESPN, the sexist bastards.

Twitter is the sport's friend, however, and my feed sparkled with expressions of thanks @AlexMorgan from fans who had been dismayed by the team's failure to cinch the win in regular time and were relieved - not to mentioned surprised - by the victory. The story of the game must have been Italy's stalwart defense. Maybe the Azzurri are bodying forth the following truism: national women's teams tend play the way their men do (not good news for USA).  Actually it is probably more accurate to say that international women's teams are playing as the men used to - before they turned into spoiled overgrown babies working for the world's biggest crooks.

On the matter of time and possible crookery: one might safely observe that the person who most helped the US today was the match's referee (Sylvia Elisabeth Reyes Juarez). Morgan scored her goal in the fourth minute of added time. Kevin McCauley, writing for SB Nation describes what happened:

Fergie Time might have to be re-named Pia Time after the United States' incredible stoppage time goal against Italy. Before stoppage time began, the fourth official showed two minutes of extra time. After three minutes, Italy made a substitution, theoretically requiring the official to add time to the clock, even though the match should have already been over. That extra time would prove costly for Italy as substitute Alex Morgan scored in the 94th minute and the fourth of six minutes of extra time. (McCauley, US Women v Italy)

Hmm. The most optimistic read on this is that the referee got confused and the US got lucky - allowing Morgan to do her work and rob Italy of a draw. More cynical followers of the game will wonder if this isn't the workings of the Sith Lords of Soccer, who can't imagine a successful (i.e. profitable) Women's World Cup without an invested American audience.

Speaking of audience: most of us fans didn't see today's game. We couldn't. ESPN exiled the match to the dark corner of the internet known as "ESPN3.com" - accessible only to some cable television subscribers. I followed Jacqueline Purdy's tweets - I assumed that the ESPN blogger was in the stands in Padova. I was wrong. She was in front of a computer screen. Last week ESPN sent a whole crew to cover the US men's team play a purely symbolic match against South Africa, but who did they send to Italy for this important qualifier? [Crickets.]

The recent under performance of the USWNT should raise loads of questions. Like: Is the USWNT overrated? While I believe the USWNT players and staff are fully aware of their international competition - the American press seems totally oblivious to the rapid gains made by national team programs like Italy, Nigeria (who won the 2010 AWC), and Mexico. The American loss to Mexico was not nearly as surprising as everyone makes it out to be.  Yes, it was an upset - but let's not imagine that Mexico's solid play or the US's lackluster performances were anomalies. If anything, today's game proved that there is something amiss in the golden girls' camp.  

An interesting detail to these recent matches: US players have been playing well AGAINST the US Women's National Team. Mexico's Veronica Perez (from San Mateo, California - see this Mercury News profile) scored the winner against the USWNT to force the US into its playoff with Italy.  And Italy's terrific defensive game must have something to do with their goalie Anna Picarelli (from Lakewood, California - see Purdy's story about her.) That playing abroad is an attractive option for these women says everything about the gains made by national programs outside the United States.

This is good news for women's soccer. It means that the US Women's National Team has to play a smarter, more aggressive game. Nigeria has shown itself to be stronger than most sides at sucking the joy out of their opponents' games, and has players with startling talent who show real leadership under pressure. We all know that Brazil has the skill to unravel a team's strategy - that once they crack that strategy, they can actually demoralize world champions (USA and Germany were both broken by Marta's crew in dramatic victories). Teams like England and Mexico are hungry to show their football-mad countries what their women can do. One of these sides is going to break through and represent the new face of the international game. 

We must stop imagining that other teams are bringing their game to us, and start bringing our game to them.

And we can show our support for the US Women's National Team by demanding broadcast of their games. Call ESPN and express your desire to see Saturday's game on television: 1-888-549-ESPN

On Mexico's Win: "Marigol" puts the US Women's National Team on notice

Maribel Dominguez scored against the US in only the third minute of the match. She's appeared on this site before (Why police the border between men's and women's sports?), as the player who provoked FIFA to rule that "the men's and women's game must be absolutely separate" when she accepted an offer to play for Celaya FC (a second-tier men's professional club). (Read a 2005 Guardian profile on "Marigol" here.) The team's second goal, a header, comes from Veronica Perez - formerly of the St. Louis Atletica (which folded). She's Mexican American, from San Mateo, California, and with that goal, she sends her team to the 2011 World Cup.

You can watch highlights below (if you want to watch these highlights minus CONCACAF's truly awful guitar ripping score, go here).

The first goal is classic USA - it's just normally the guys who dig holes for themselves at the start of a match.  Carli Lloyd makes her mark, it wasn't enough.  From these highlights, you can see that El Tri Feminil had a very large and very passionate crowd behind them. 

Coverage of the game universally emphasizes this as arguably one of the greatest upsets in the sport.  I don't disagree, but frankly, for me, the bigger story is that of the generations of talent in this sport who have been held back by shitty national federations and a lack of support.

I sure as hell hope the US side pulls itself together and gets the job done, winning their game on Monday.  But I also hope Mexico takes Canada - and have a great run in Germany. There are a lot of women in Mexico - and in the United States - who will be happy to cheer for El Tri, and are excited to see the international women's game truly take off.

A few other stories on this match:
ESPN's excellent Jacqueline Purdy, Greatest upset in women's soccer history
La Opinión, Jorge Jaramillo, Vence a EEUU y va al Mundial
ADN (Spain), Cueller dice que en Mexico hay talento y con eso vencieron a las mejores

Mexico's Women's National Team Beats the US in Major Upset

The US Women play Costa Rica for the 3rd place match and must win that game in order to play Italy, in order to qualify for the 2011 World Cup AND for the 2012 Olympics. (USWNT match report).

Carli Lloyd & Natalie Vinti/photo Roberto Fernandez/US Soccer

Apparently, Mexico played a solid match and enjoyed lots of support from the home crowd (in Cancun).  This is the US's first loss in a qualifying match in CONCACAF - and it's the first time Mexico beat the US in 26 matches. The latter team has been looking great - really solid, and won this match with guts and an organized defense.

As scared as I am for the US women, this is great news for the international women's game.  These things should be nail biters.

Is it too much to ask for an extension of the US/Mexico rivalry to the women's game?

Meanwhile, there is barely a peep in the press here about Brazil's 4-0 defeat of Venezuela in their first match of the women's Copa América - the region's qualifying tournament. In the Southern Cone, Brazil's women's team is at once totally dominant and almost totally neglected by the media. (Please share links to coverage of this tournament.)

Anyway: all of this ought to draw attention to the lame fact that women's teams are playing right now to qualify for two international tournaments, one of which is nearly two years away - How on earth is that acceptable?

Political Play: Day Laborers Stage Tournament at the Rose Bowl

by Fernando Romero, Guest Writer

Fútbol has long been used as a key organizing tool for day laborers and immigrant communities in Southern California. One perfect expression of this fact: The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) was born out of a pickup game between two teams made up of jornaleros (day laborers). 

The game that birthed the organization has grown into an annual tournament, played this past Sunday at the Rose Bowl. Jornaleros from all over the Los Angeles region competed in the 10th Annual Day Laborer Soccer Cup, on teams representing labor centers or street corners from Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire. Jornaleros, community leaders, students, activists, futbol fans (and yours truly) found themselves on the fields adjacent to the Rose Bowl on one of the mistiest days in recent memory. I was privileged enough to play with the team from Riverside.

This year’s tournament was played in the midst of one the ugliest moments in recent history for immigrants, documented or undocumented. The political climate in California and throughout the country has taken a range of horrifying shape, from the overt racism of Tea Party candidates (and the communities they purport to represent) to Arizona’s SB 1070, undocumented workers and immigrants are increasingly under attack from demagogue politicians and legal policies aimed to scapegoat and oppress. (Click here or here for information about immigration reform.)

The day’s events began with a press conference and an opening ceremony that included an introductory procession of each team. Each team held a banner with a theme relating to a current immigration issue such as the DREAM Act, Section 287 (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, E-verify, the Safe Communities Initiative, and, of course, SB 1070. Members of each team gave a brief description of their theme and the immigration policy or issue it represented. NLDON organizer Eddie Gonzalez explained, “the banners were meant to communicate a message between local governments and media that this is what the workers are asking for.”

West Los Angeles took the championship, Laguna Beach came in second, Pasadena third and Rancho Cucamonga fourth. The true purpose of the tournament was not the distribution of trophies, but to a plant a seed of political/social consciousness for the day laborers, a demographic that for their struggles as part of the working class and their invisibility in society, seem to carry the burden of the immigration issue on their backs. 

Gonzalez said the tournament has been used as an organizing tool, but also to give the jornaleros a day to come together as a community. He said the event also allows for the jornaleros to come together and work for a common goal.  “The hardest part (of the tournament) was getting the players there. Along with the jornaleros, we organized car washes in order to fundraise for transportation and other things needed for the tournament.”

Gonzalez explained that the anti-immigrant climate is felt by the entire community. Scare tactics used by anti-immigrant groups in the Inland Empire kept regular players from participating in the tournament and some of their members had recently been deported in raids. Most notably, last Fall, a Neo-Nazi group had fixated on a day laborer site at a Home Depot in Riverside near the 91 freeway, and gathered there to stage a series of racist protests, shouting “American jobs for American people” and “white power”. 

The atmosphere of the tournament itself was removed from the everyday struggles of the workers, who must navigate such extremism just to make a living. Instead, the mood was upbeat and relaxed - like that of any other Sunday in Latin America, where the day revolves around family and fútbol, whether one be in Los Angeles or Lima.

“You can see it their excitement to play and take part in the event, “ Gonzalez observed. "For a lot of them this day is the only time when they can forget about being a day laborer. When they can wake up and not have to worry about standing in a corner and wait for a job to come around. The one day you’re able to take away from being in the shadow.”

It’s been said that in places where people are poor, and mad for soccer, a revolution could be based on the sport’s intrinsic ties to the working class. That because of soccer’s appeal to the working class along with its mass following, it could serve as the spark for social change. I’ve been present at immigration rallies here in California that have implemented chants born out of soccer stadiums in Latin America. And every time, it’s a vivid reminder of the power of soccer to bring about social and political change.

People living in exile tend to be in contact with other people also in exile and share similar experiences. The purpose of the tourney is to bring together the day laborer community, a community so invisible, and distant from each other that no other activity or past time seemed apt to motivate them enough to give up a precious Sunday and drive to Pasadena.

Most of the players would not identify themselves as “political”, but it does not matter: the tournament aims to bring a sense community to a demographic so disenfranchised and invisible that it seems that only through soccer could that sense of community ever be accessed. The revolution may not be televised, but it might just start on a soccer field. 

Thank you Fernando for sharing this story with From a Left Wing! I'm finishing a book project, and have not been able to post regularly. Fernando worked with me and Alan Minsky on The People's Game and also worked on Gustavo Arellano's much loved program "Ask a Mexican" - both on KPFK, 90.7 Los Angeles.

Notes on Nigerian Football Scandals & the Amazing Falconets

Dr. Amos Amadu

Today Naija Football 247 reposted a Sahara Reporters story about journalist Olukayode Thomas's struggle with the Nigerial football/sporting executive Amos Adamu (FIFA and CAF executive board member). "How a David Defeated Goliath in a Nigerian Court" is well worth reading, as is a more recent story on the same site about the place of that scandal in FIFA's delay of the 2018 World Cup bid ("Nigeria's Amos Adamu Offers to Sell FIFA Hosting Rights for 500,000").

As most sports sections report on the corruption in the Nigerian football association, few seem to notice that in the midst of this story, Nigeria's U20 women's squad became the first African team to play in a World Cup championship final match. After beating the always strong Japan at the group stage, and knocking out the U.S. in the quarter finals (highlights of Nigeria's defeat of the US), the Falconets took down Columbia (another great story of the tournament) to reach the championship match. There, they lost (as so many do) to Germany 2-0 (highlights of that game here).

The story of Thomas's fight with Adamu (who has sued the Guardian journalist for libel) provides an interesting context for understanding the administrative chaos that surrounds the sport in Nigeria.

Nigeria's 2010 U20 Women's Squad, "The Falconets"

It is hard to imagine how the women's program survives at all - and they don't just survive. This summer, they played very smart football - the kind of well-organized, conservative game associated with perrenial powerhouses like the U.S. and Germany. Nigeria's women's teams are always stacked with talent and play well against much more well-funded and administratively stable sides.

And the more I read about what's going on in Nigeria's sporting community, the more I want to know about these players, and the men and women who support them. These are the unheralded superstars of the sport - for they do this with no hope of riches and international fame.

(And sorry for disappearing - am finishing a non-football related project!)

Wanlov the Kubolor's "Goal Again"

Wanlov the Kubulor produced Yellow Card in honor of the World Cup - it is, start to finish, a joy. This is my favorite World Cup related music - it's actually a concept album that lives up to the complexity of its idea.  Wanlov hails from Ghana (he was born in Romania & lived for a bit in the US), Yellow Card follows Green Card - and in the move from one to the other, I think you get a sense of the connections he makes. He calls his style/practice/philosophy "Pidgin music" - it's a hybrid of contemporary Ghanaian scenes. This album is clearly inspired by the texture of the everyday intersections of music and football in his home country. Yellow Card manages to be both upbeat and grouchy - the music of a passionate and beleaguered fan. "Goal Again" appears in the background to the "Obama We Are Sorry" World Cup celebration video I posted a couple weeks ago, and I just had to track it down.  I thought I'd share it with you all. Be prepared to move.

I believe you can download the album, legally, here. Wanlov the Kubolor has been giving this music away - but check out 2007's Green Card, too, which he sells on itunes.

Why We Fight (for real sports coverage)

Fans like yours truly want sports writers to sink their nasty little teeth into better topics than irrelevant fights between amateur players, playing in matches that matter to no one but those teams and their campuses.

We would like: Nasty rants about the shit refereeing in the women's college game (because that matters nationally). Cynical swipes at Marta's Amway deal. Follow up on rumors that players have been selling Amway to make up for their crap salaries, and let's hear more about that agent of Marta's while we are looking at the business side of things. How about some paranoid writing about the UNC-Chapel Hill cult. Let's hear about who pays for retired NWT players' knee surgeries. And why not rip into AEG, for the "good will" this WPS sponsor garnered for themselves while they sold out the best team in the league. (Called it here, natch.)

How about some bitching about player development systems? The weirdness of international scouting for the WPS? And the fact that FIFA can't think of anyone who knows how to play soccer besides Marta. (I mean, she's great - amazing - but four years in a row? Seriously?) Let's push up against the milktoast vibe of the USWNT while we are at it, and call out the US Soccer Federation on its apologetic attitude that the women's team has a (MUCH) better record than the men's team in international competition, as if this was something one should be sorry for. Or: let's call out FIFA on their paternalism and test this hypothesis: FIFA's involvement with the women's game has set the development of the women's game in most countries BACK, because FIFA requires that the women's program be run by - you guessed it - the men who run national football associations. Who are mostly corrupt bastards. Why won't FIFA deal with a separately organized National Women's Football Association in those countries which have failed their women's program?  Like: India, Uruguay, South Africa and, oh, let's say Spain.

Sports fans want their sport taken seriously - this doesn't mean uncritical boosterism - far from it.  We want reports on the highs, and the lows - especially the lows! - the problem with women's soccer has been that the real lows (see above) are not reported. Instead we get nothing, and then a blip of hysterical shit about how violent the women's game is (see the men's World Cup final, anyone??), and an open invitation to the morons who never watch the women's game, ever, to give their opinions about how lame it is. 

Every now and again someone writes something real about the game - Grant Wahl and Andrea Canales's stories about Hope Solo's return to the US Women's National Team after the World Cup fiasco, for example.  Coverage like this is rare - and, frankly, that controversy would have had a very different shape if sports writers had been more critically engaged with the USWNT from the start.

Sports fans gripe and complain, we obsess and worry.  Fans of the women's game have few forums to vent about the real stuff - and it's infuriating to watch this stories go uninvestigated and unremarked upon. We deserve better stories than the "news" that women lose their tempers. Much better.

News Flash: Women Fight!!!

The Huffington Post published a sensational story on its front page - players in a college soccer match got into a FIGHT! Can you BELIEVE it? Players, shoving each other?! Throwing sneaky punches? And then they got EJECTED from the match! Damn, that's intense. Oh, wait. That's not news. 

Women get into a scuffle!  In a college soccer match! And get two red cards for it! And make headlines!  I am so sick of this shit. If it were the WPS, yes, that's news - if the fight were truly spectacular, which this is not. But hey, why cover the WPS?

(The actual event is so singularly uninteresting that it boggles the mind. This is, to my mind, even worse than the Lambert incident, because not only was the confrontation totally ordinary, it was also properly refereed! Where is the news here??? My god - how many men 's teams finish with 10 players on the pitch because of stuff like this? It's utterly banal.) 

Scuffles, fights, shoving matches - none of this should ever be news because the players involved are women. That is the only reason this is considered newsworthy here - the only reason.

If we accept that as newsworthy - well, what else should we make headlines out of?

Women are competitive! Women get pissed off! Sometimes, they lose their temper! STOP THE PRESSES!!

Actually, I mean that last bit.

Stop this sexist press, or I am coming over there with my soccer-playing harpie warrior bitches, we are going to foul the living daylights out of you. And we aren't going to be pulling no ponytails.

Oh, sorry, was that too aggressive? Did I lose my ladylike composure?

I'm so fed up with stories about women losing it on the field - this is full-on media collaboration with the worst aspects of sexism: Make women out to be monsters, all the while burying the story of the very real links between violence against women, homophobia, and the mainstream sports culture that media produces.