Back to Business: Battery Win One, Drop One, and Mexico Wins the Gold Cup

First off, sorry for the lack of posts lately, having no internet connection will do that to you. I'll try to get back to posting more often guys, its just been hard to lately.

Anyways, the Battery were very busy this weekend. They started with a trip up to Wilmington in a match to be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel. This was a chance for the Battery to make a statement.

And a statement was made. Seedy Bah and Dane Kelly got the goals in a 2-0 victory for Charleston in front of 5,117 fans at Legion Field in Wilmington. Shout out to Wilmington for the great atmosphere.

This was an enjoyable match to watch. Despite the lack of domination of possession, shots, and scoring chances in general, it was great to see the boys pull one out with their backs against the wall.

Man of the Match: Dane Kelly
Kelly gets the nod from me. After a good showing in recent matches, Kelly showed why he is our #1 forward right now. His goal was beautiful. Great pass, great move, great finish. He's playing active and smart football, and that's all you can ask.

In the second match, we had a bit of a let down. No rhythm was ever established, and the Battery looked tired in a 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Goals from Matt Tuttle and Shintaro would lead to Charleston's dismantling in front of 3,965.

Man of the Match: N/A
Nobody had a standout match for the Battery. Everyone looked tired and the team had trouble finding good scoring chances.

In International Soccer we had the Gold Cup Final in Pasadena, California. The USMNT faced Mexico in the final and it started off well for the Yanks.

Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan would give the US a 2-0 advantage before the 25th minute mark. Then El Tri came marching back and would win the match 4-2.

Let me say this, it came down to that Steve Cherundolo injury early. When Bornstein came in, we had two players playing unfamiliar positions in the back, and our fate was pretty much sealed.

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Good News For the US National Team

A lot of news has been flowing in since Monday, the end of the transfer window. The USMNT has had many players make moves, and have had a couple other pieces of good news come in that I'll cover.

First off; transfers. Many big moves this weekend for players on the US team. Turkey is getting its fair share of American internationals, with Jozy Altidore going to last year's Turkish champion: Bursaspor, and Freddy Adu going to second division, Rizespor. Altidore, who is on loan from La Liga's Villareal, is making a good move. I say this because the best way for Altidore to improve, is obviously experience, which he just wasn't getting at Villareal where he only appeared twice this year. Adu, who is on loan from Benfica of Portugal, will definitely be getting a lot of playing time, and though his shot with the US team is slim now with new players Agudelo and Bunbury, I'm always glad to see an American playing overseas.

The third big move was Michael Bradley's move from Borussia Mönchengladbach of Germany, to Aston Villa of the English Premier League. How great of a move is this? Any way of getting American's to one of the biggest leagues in the world, I'll take and Bradley's move is no exception. The English Premier League fits Bradley's box-to-box midfielder style well. Bradley had this to say about his move:

"Everyone can see that Aston Villa is a big club, a fantastic club, with tradition and great supporters. Over the past few years Villa have made big strides and are trying to challenge at the very top of the Premier League. I am excited to be part of that and I am excited to be here."

A pair of players, Robbie Findley and Eddie Johnson, both made moves to Championship sides. Findley finalized his move to Nottingham Forest and his signed for 2 and a half years. He picked up a thigh injury in training, that could sideline him for up to three months. This is just devastating. Findley has finally made his move to Europe, and this is a terrible start to his European career. Johnson moved from Fulham to last place, Preston North End. Though the team is in last, Johnson should get more playing time, which he wasn't getting any of at Fulham.

Also, Charlie Davies of France's Sochaux, is making a move back to the MLS. He is training with DC United after playing this season with the reserves at Sochaux. This is a good move that will be getting Charlie many minutes, and I'm excited to see him back in the United States, but I hate that he didn't get a chance this season with Sochaux. He deserved a little more than what he got, and, not to hate on the MLS, but the talent in Europe is much better and we want our players playing against the best. This is not official yet. Since the MLS transfer window is open until April 15th, Charlie can make a move later. The only problem that could happen is that the MLS only accepts transfers of players that can be bought outright.

And finally the biggest piece of news, for me anyway. As ya'll may not know, Seattle Sounders FC is my MLS club. Long story. The news being about the Sounders crafty midfielder, Steve Zakuani is considering playing for the US team. How great is that? Zakuani is one of the best players in the MLS. Though he played for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, his home country, he only played in friendlies. This means that he can still play for the US since friendlies are not considered official by FIFA in the sense of player's teams. This is big news for the USMNT.

Well that's all I've got for today. If you have any questions or need to contact me, you can by e-mailing me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com.