This is a great day for US Soccer, signing Klinsmann was the best move to take
our team to the next level. I remember being in Germany for a week during the
2006 World Cup and Klinsmann brought a lot of excitement to the german national
team and the german fans (and took the team much further than his critics
expected). I think that we will now have a chance to be a big surprise in the
next world cup, possibly even a dark horse to win it. I might be dreaming big
but when the ball is round and you have a great coach anything can happen. He
also has a strong ability to find the most talented players and put together the
best lineups and formations. Very excited for the future of our national team
with Klinsmann leading us!

In an attempt to distract myself from dwelling on the USMNTs dismal performance vs. Panama, I decided to start a blog entry discussing what were the top five games that fans on this site have seen live (international games, european club games, MLS games, etc.) Here are my top five and hopefully others will post their top five also:

#1: USA vs. Italy in World Cup 2006, Kaiserslautern, Germany. USA drew 1-1 with Italy in a hard fought battle with Kasey Keller making amazing saves on Del Piero and other top italian strikers. Crowd atmosphere was amazing and huge amount of USA fans were in attendance (K-town has a lot of US military personnel stationed there). Italian fans were upset leaving the stadium while USA fans were going nuts (I think a lot of people forget that even though the 2006 WC was overall a disappointment for the US, we still were the only team that Italy couldn't beat during their run to win the cup that year).

#2: Arsenal vs. Leeds, 2003 (Premiership match), Highbury, England. Arsenal lost this game 3-2 but it was a very exciting match with Arsenal still trying to catch ManU to win the premiership title while Leeds were fighting to avoid relegation. Goals from Henry and Bergkamp were awesome goals, and Kewell, Viduka and Harte scoring for Leeds. Kewell's goal was off a handball trap so technically it should have been a draw, but regardless in was an amazing game with great atmosphere. Paid for north bank seats (which weren't cheap) and it was worth every penny even though the gunners lost. After seeing that game became a gunners fan for life.

#3: Juventus vs. Lecce, 2004 (Serie A match), Torino, Italy. Juventus lost this game mostly due to Buffon having a bad day in goal. Always been a Del Piero fan and he had a great game even though Juventus lost. The Stadia Delle Alpi was packed with Juve fans, singing the whole time and the crowd atmosphere was great. Unfortunately wound up on a bus filled with Lecce fans after the game but survived the trip back from the stadium.

#4: USA vs. Panama, 2005 Gold Cup Final, Giants Stadium, NJ. Intense game with a win in penalty kick overtime by the USA. Seeing the US celebrate with the Gold Cup trophy was a great experience with Giants Stadium packed with US fans.

#5: Philadelphia Union vs. Seattle Sounders, 2010 (PPL Park home opener), Chester, PA. Impressive win for the Union over the Sounders, with Union goals from Le Toux, Fred and Mwanga for the 3-1 win. First time seeing my MLS team in their own stadium was awesome, crowd was great and sons of ben chanting and cheering the entire game. Definitely a Union fan for life.

How about other top 5's out there?

Here are my predictions for the 2011 Gold Cup:

Group A standings:
Mexico: 9 points
Cuba: 4 points
Costa Rica: 3 points
El Salvador: 1 point


Group B standings:
Honduras: 7 points (first place on goal differential)
Jamaica: 7 points
Guatemala: 3 points
Grenada: 0 points

Group C standings:
USA: 9 points
Canada: 4 points
Panama: 2 points
Guadeloupe: 2 points

Quarterfinals:
Cuba vs. Jamaica (Cuba wins)
Mexico vs. Guatemala (Mexico wins)
Honduras vs. Canada (Honduras wins)
USA vs. Costa Rica (USA wins)

Semifinals:
Cuba vs. Mexico (Mexico wins)
Honduras vs. USA (USA wins)

Final:
Mexico vs. USA (USA wins)

Any other predictions out there?

Wondering what soccer fans thought about the Champions League Final later this month between ManU and Barcelona. Personally I'm not a fan of either team but I think ManU will win by a one goal margin. Barcelona are tough at home but since this will be at Wembley I'm giving the edge to ManU. Arsenal showed that Barca are beatable in their first leg at the Emirates Stadium and I think ManU will figure out how to break them down. How about other opinions?

Just wondering what premiership fans think about who will win the title? I thought ManU was in the clear but it looks like Chelsea might be the ones to take it. As an Arsenal fan, I'm not a fan of either one and was glad to see Arsenal win over the weekend. It was something positive but it was still a season I'm looking to forget. I still remember seeing my first Arsenal game when I visited London in 2003 and they were always winning something until recent years. Wenger has to do better at getting more players (and more experienced players) if the gunners are going to win something next season.

Also wondering what fans thought about who will get relegated this season?