| Orange County View |
By: Mike Besack
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| Posted: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 8:39 am |
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| Coach Tom Bamber |
The Brits don’t like our chances.
“England will break down the U.S.A. due to them having world class players.”
I asked a handful of British transplant coaches now working in Orange County for their take on how the England-U.S. World Cup opening-round match on June 12 would go.
“I’m not sure [U.S. Coach Bob] Bradley has the credentials or the players.”
I respect these guys. I wanted to get their insight, being football fiends from another land now teaching their passion here. I wanted to know why their predictions are the way they are.
“Because the U.S.A. are [expletive].”
These people live among us.
Las Vegas has the Americans as 11-2 underdogs in the big game, and apparently the Brits are huge gamblers. Basically, the bookies are saying there’s only a 20 percent chance the U.S. is going to defeat England.
OC Brits, meanwhile, seem to think there’s a better chance of surviving a game of Russian Roulette using an RPG than the Americans winning in June.
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| Coach Glen Gamble |
I’ll chalk some of that up to loyalty to their country, as well as to the off chance these guys actually know what they’re talking about. And if you’ve ever heard a British-accented coach bark instructions from the sidelines, you’re like me, and you’re mega impressed and blindly buying in to whatever they’re saying.
I don’t doubt that in some small way or another the OC Brits aren’t pulling for the U.S., being that they now live and work here and take pride in the strides our country’s “soccer” is making, both nationally and on the worldwide stage.
These gents replied to my question with the sort of well-thought-out, passionate answers I expected. Answers that any football lover and aficionado would provide. For the most part.
FC Blades coach and jokester Glen Gamble, who supports his hometown Leeds United team that is deeper in debt than the U.S. government, as well as stuck in the third division, is the owner of one of the colorful quotes above and predictor of a 5-0 England triumph.
He actually called for a 12-0 England thumping at first, but gave me the more refined 5-0 score when he stopped laughing and realized I was asking the question in earnest.
Andy Thomas, who coaches Mater Dei High and is the director of coaching at Laguna Niguel SC, gives the Yanks a little bit better odds.
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| Coach Andy Thomas |
“The score will be England 2, U.S.A. 0,” he said.
Thomas insists the likes of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe will be too much for the U.S. to deal with.
Add to that, “U.S.A. does not have the strike force to break down the English defense,” according to Thomas.
Thomas must not remember the Everton home crowd erupting into “U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!” chants after Mr. LA Galaxy Landon Donovan was breaking down English Premier League defenses to a tune of one goal and one assist off the bench in his final game at Goodison Park in March.
Hoooooo-ahhhh!
“My vote goes to England, 2-0,” said Roger Castle, Mission Viejo High coach and president of San Clemente United. “I hope the score goes that way, otherwise all us English guys will be on the first boat home.”
With the U.S. strong in goal and a lot of its players now playing in Europe, he feels the Yanks could make it an interesting game.
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| Coach Roger Castle |
“The problem with the U.S.A. is there are not many options to change the shape of the team,” Castle said. “Not too many game-changers offensively.”
Castle wonders how England will do coming off a long EPL campaign, how they’ll fare following the John Terry affair controversy and whether the team can survive without a world-class goalie. But when it comes to playing America, it’s England Head Coach Fabio Capello who could be the biggest factor.
“The difference will be the extra bit of quality and options offensively coupled with Capello’s ability and experience.”
I had to start wondering if there was a single OC bloke out there who thought the Americans had a shot. Whose side are these chaps on, anyway? Any love for the U.S. out there? I mean, do these dudes at least use chopsticks at Benihana? Bow at the Vatican? When in Rome, people! Hello???
I called on my pal Tim Woodcock, technical director for the FC Blades, who I know I can rely upon for good sense.
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| Coach Tim Woodcock |
“3-1 to England,” he said, and we are no longer mates. “[However], they will make it tough for England. England have a talented team, but the U.S.A. will be well organized and disciplined,” said Woodcock, who apparently is willing to dismiss Coach Bradley’s sweat pants-wearing fashion statement.
Then Woodcock said something interesting: “Who cares anyway, as long as we both qualify for the next round.”
His combination of the words “we” and “both,” fired me up. And, no, while I don’t necessarily like Woodcock’s wishy-washy — dare I say “AYSO-ey” — “everyone wins” take, I dig the duel-loyalty thing he’s got going on.
And before I knew it, more sympathetic Brits began churning up.
“It will be a very close game... 2-1 England or maybe 1-1,” said South County Premier SC DOC Duncan Love, and I’m suddenly uplifted while left wondering if anyone will ever listen to another thing Duncan Love says again.
“However, I believe we are a little stronger than the U.S.A.,” Love continued. “I think both teams have good scoring options, therefore there will be goals.”
Tesoro High and Laguna Niguel SC coach Nick Schofield also was a bit easy on the U.S., predicting a 2-1 English victory. The 2-1 mark also was the final score from when the two squads last played in Chicago.
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| Coach Nick Schofield |
“I think if Rooney plays, England will prevail,” Schofield said, eyeing the dinged-up English forward. “If not, I see it as a tie. It will be a very close game, but it may be decided by one goal.”
Now we’re talking, gents!
Feeling good, I pressed my luck and asked an e-pen pal of mine who lives and works across the pond. Tom Bamber is a coach in the Manchester United system and spends a few weeks a year in Orange County, coaching in the FC Blades’ annual EPL Summer Camp.
“My prediction is a 2-1 win to England,” Bamber said, not exactly hammering home the closing argument I’d hoped for. “Traditionally, England starts slowly in tournaments and to play the U.S. in the first game will be a test. However, our side is full of goals — Rooney, Lampard, [Peter] Crouch, etc. — and I can see us out-scoring the U.S.A.”
June 12 we’re going to find out.
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