I'm usually the Friday guy. But blazindw has the day off. As we all know, you don't enter Wednesday Freedom Kicks with the Freedom Kicks compiler you want, but the one you have. And you've got me.
USA vs Trinidad and Tobago: Kljestan, Altidore, Arriola score (VIDEO) | SI.com: Rumor has it, with USA winning its group, we'll face Mexico in Columbus on Friday, November 11th. Birdbomb a cero!
Guatemala se despide de Rusia y el "pescado" Ruiz marca una época | El Periódico de Guatemala: It's the end of an era for Guatemala, as Carlos Ruiz - once of the black-and-red [ed. note: and what a horrible time it was], and known as El Pescadito, the little fish, for his flopping-on-the-ground abilities - announced that last night's match versus St. Vincent and Grenadines would be his last. So how did he say adios? He scored five goals in one game.
D.C. United tweeted this helpful Chalk Talk video to explain how World Cup qualifying works:
#USMNT can lock their position in the Hex tonight @ 8pm #USAvTRI
— D.C. United (@dcunited) September 6, 2016
Chalk Talk: How to qualify for @FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/AD0juwwho2
MLS announces 2016 playoff format and schedule | OregonLive.com: The MLS Cup will be on a Saturday night (FINALLY) and will be aired on Fox and Unimas.
Geoff Cameron sees MLS in future, but 'in no rush' to leave Stoke City | ESPN FC: Same old story.
Watch: MLS prospect Abu Danladi scores two goals in 11 seconds for UCLA | MLSsoccer.com: Sure, neat trick, but can he do this with his elbows while yodeling?
New wave of American soccer players in Europe bucks a trend | New York Times: "Young Americans, we kind of struggle at times and we kind of doubt ourselves...We always get talked down on. People say we're not good enough as Americans. People say you play basketball or American football, but you don't really play soccer. You hear that a lot. So the hardest part is trying to find that confidence."
This is what solidarity looks like: Why soccer-star Megan Rapinoe stands with Colin Kaepernick | The Nation: Okay, point of personal privilege. I've never thought the flag and/or anthem stood for actually-existing conditions in this country. They stand for the common values that this country is supposed to represent: freedom, equality, justice for all. You stand for those values, even though you're dissatisfied with the progress made thus far toward them - because those common values are a unifying starting place from which our struggle on behalf of those values begins.
But if the flag and/or anthem stand for actually-existing conditions, I suppose I should sit down, lest someone think I'm satisfied with how things are. I'm far from satisfied, for many, many reasons. And if we're to understand the flag and/or anthem as representing actually-existing conditions rather than ideals, what other actually-existing conditions, besides, for example, police brutality or a racist criminal justice system, don't live up to the promise of this country? Rapinoe makes the point about LGBTQ rights. Others may start sitting down in protest of yet other actually-existing conditions which aggrieve them -- homelessness, gun violence, taxes, the gender pay gap, the mistreatment of veterans, lack of paid leave, abortion, the failure of someone to say "radical Islamic terrorism," an oppressive local zoning commission, etc.
And soon, everyone is sitting down, now ironically unified in having grievances, albeit sometimes very disparate grievances and of variable seriousness, that no longer even flow from a single axis of common values because we've long forgotten what those were in our rush to underscore our dissent from actually-existing conditions, at which point, to make a more emphatic point about the actually-existing conditions that are most important to you, you might have to stand up again in order to stand out from the seated masses and be heard. And soon it will look like a Catholic wedding mass where three-quarters of the attendees come from the Baptist groom's side, struggling to figure out whether to stand, sit, or kneel. Until, eventually, everyone ends up standing again -- in protest. And that's all I have to say about that.
Brazilians hope their Olympic soccer gold marks a turning point for their nation | Newsweek: Bread and circuses, dude. Bread and circuses.
El Salvador soccer players offered money to fix match | SI.com: Ugly.
FIFA president wants to make major changes to the World Cup | FOX Sports: Forty teams! Three host countries! A few human rights respected! Free Taco Town tacos for everyone at every game!
What crazy soccer-related stuff are you into lately, Wednesday people?