Official Trailer For "Laduma" Released

I just wanted to pass along the YouTube of an official trailer for a documentary entitled "Laduma" that my college buddy has been working on since the 2010 World Cup.

As you can see, it ties into our blog very nicely since the movie is all about following U.S. men's national team supporters in South Africa and also what the event means to the African nation.

I ran into this friend at last summer's U.S. vs. Spain match at Gillette Stadium and he's been keeping me up to date on this project since then. He works for a film company in New York and he majored in film at Ithaca College so needless to say, he knows what he's doing.

There is an impressive array of experts featured in "Laduma" including ESPN's Bob Ley and Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl, two of the foremost authorities these days on soccer in the United States.

Another side note, the song in the trailer is called "Jason" and it's by The Biltmores. I went to college with the guys in that band too and they are an awesome group. They are on iTunes, check them out. You won't be disappointed.

For more information on Laduma, their Twitter handle is @OneGoalUSA and their website is onegoalusa.com

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A Preview of One Goal's Documentary About The U.S. Men's National Team

LADUMA Sneak Peek from Juice Groove Films on Vimeo.

My friends from college have been working feverishly on a documentary on the U.S. men's soccer team. They just released this sneak preview and plan to have the full length film debut this fall in New York.

Please check it out at www.onegoalusa.com and like them on Facebook (One Goal).

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I guess they're OK: Spain finishes 2010 atop FIFA rankings

This was such a forgone conclusion that even FIFA couldn't screw it up: Spain finished No. 1 in the final FIFA rankings of 2010.

The Netherlands, which lost to Spain in July's World Cup final, is second while Germany has moved ahead of Brazil into third since last month.

Argentina and England remain fifth and sixth. Spain has finished No. 1 for the third straight year.

Egypt leads the African nations and climbs one place to No. 9, while the United States tops the CONCACAF region, rising six spots to No. 18.

Australia drops six places to No. 26 but still heads the Asian confederation.
One of the biggest movers over the last year has been Montenegro, which has soared to No. 25 from No. 74.

Russia, which won the right to host the 2018 World Cup earlier this month, stays at No. 13, while 2022 host Qatar drops a place to No. 114.

Vuvuzelas blow

I'm proud to say that for the entire 2010 World Cup, both Shimer and myself did well to not fall into the trap of the lazy American sports fan and writer: criticizing vuvuzelas.

Don't get me wrong, we don't love them either but I really didn't find them to be that much of a distraction during the games. A tell-tale sign of someone that never watches soccer jumping aboard the World Cup bandwagon was their first observation: "what's with those annoying horns?"

I bring this up not to simply toot our own horns (get it?) but since a bunch of English Premier League teams are banning the stupid plastic instruments.

The league itself hasn't made an official ruling yet but Tottenham, Arsenal, Birmingham, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, West Ham and Sunderland have all banned them from their home parks.

"Following discussions with the police and representatives from the local licensing authorities, the club will not be permitting vuvuzelas or similar instruments into White Hart Lane on match days," Tottenham said. "We are concerned that the presence of the instruments within the stadium pose unnecessary risks to public safety."

"Vuvuzelas [are] not welcome at Emirates Stadium," Arsenal said. "This decision has been taken to ensure the enjoyment and safety of supporters on match days, which is of paramount importance to the club."

Birmingham said it consulted supporters and health and safety authorities before banning the trumpet, while Sunderland will turn away the vuvuzela because it does not permit any musical instruments into its Stadium of Light.

Like Germany, this Dutch team is built to last

By now, we've all had over a day to digest the results of the 2010 World Cup final between Netherlands and Spain which the Spanish won 1-0 in extra time. While we can agree the best team won, the lasting image of the Dutch beating down (literally) the Spanish is an unfair one even though that's how the last match went down.

Clockwork Oranje were one of the most exciting teams to watch and it's a shame that their coaching staff felt their best chance to beat Spain was to play them (overly) physical. You're never going to win when you pile up nine cards so in many ways, it's a miracle that Netherlands hung around for as long as they did. Once they went down to 10 men, you had a feeling it was over. Thankfully, Iniesta scored a beauty of a goal and this Cup (between two great soccer powers that had never won it before) was decided without PKs.

It will be another long four years for the Dutch until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They've been in three finals (1974, 1978, 2010) but they have yet to raise soccer's most famous trophy. Still, this is a team brimming with younger talent that should be right near the top the next time around. I picked them to win it all going into South Africa and while that didn't come true, I was happy to see Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Co. provide countless thrills to their orange-clad fans.

Netherlands won Group E and were actually unbeaten going into the final against Spain so this wasn't a fluke by any means. Their win over Brazil was one of the greatest victories in their country's rich soccer history. Look out for the Dutch in Euro 2012 and they'll be loaded in 2014, don't forget this team.

Netherlands

Best Moment: Going up 3-1 on Robben's header vs. Uruguay, booking their trip to the final against Uruguay. It was a completely random moment of brilliance from a player known for one move and one foot.

Worst Moment: John Heitinga's red card against Spain in the 109th minute was the moment the momentum completely swung to the Spanish. With so many rash challenges all game, the Dutch were living on a razor's edge as Shimer said while we watched it. Still a bummer that they got a red card but it was completely predictable given the dumb style they were employing.

Best Result: The 2-1 win over Brazil in the quarterfinals was not only one of the signature results of the tournament, as I alluded to before it was one of the greatest wins in Netherlands' rich soccer history. They were down 1-0 in the 10th minute and at that point, who would have expected to see Brazil fold and not Netherlands? An awesome game that deserves major props.

Worst Result: The biggest layup we've had in the entire tournament. Losing to the Spanish will hurt for a long, long time. The Dutch can beat the Spanish when they're at their best. Robben had two great chances that he couldn't bury against Iker Casillas and the match looked destined for penalty kicks before Heitinga's silly red card.

Final Tally: Second Place - 6 wins, 1 loss, 12 goals scored, 6 goals allowed.

Best Player: Two players from Netherlands stood out above the rest: Robben and Sneijder. Not only did they score the big goals but they were dangerous every time they touched the ball. Robben really played well in the final and it's a shame that he couldn't put a goal or two in. As Shimer said, Sneijder slowed down in the last few matches but scoring five goals from center midfield is ridiculous in this level of competition. Not to mention how many dirty passes Sneijder sprayed all around the park. Just a complete stud and as Shimer and I said the other night, he's a certified lock to win the FIFA player of the year in December, you can book that.

Worst Player: Midfielder Mark Van Bommel epitomized why the Netherlands failed in the final. He was out of control every time you saw him near the ball and that seemed to seep over to his more talented and steady teammates. He's 33-years-old so it's impressive that he was still out there for such a good team but I won't be sad to see him gone from this squad in the near future.

Just call him the Golden Baller

Class on the field and class off of it, Diego Forlan exudes it.

Going into the World Cup final Sunday four players had separated themselves from the rest in terms of their play throughout the tournament and were the only real contenders for the Golden Ball or the best player in the World Cup - David Villa, Wesley Sneijder, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Diego Forlan. I also thought the player from the winning team in the final would take home the Golden Ball.

However, I commend the media and voters for selecting Forlan a player that scored five scintillating goals and had one assist while helping this not so well known Uruguayan team, the second smallest country in the tournament with a population of around 3.2 million people, win Group A.

In the process Uruguay got two notable scalps, they're tie with France in the opening match helped send that team into turmoil before going home in complete disgrace, and they're win over South Africa in the second match ultimately meant that for the first time in the history of the World Cup the host nation would not advance past group stage into the knockout round. Once into the knockout round, Uruguay found themselves in the most favorable draw to get the semifinals playing South Korea in the round of 16 match before having to take on Ghana in the quarterfinals. Forlan and company took care of business in both matches and even though they would fall short against the Netherlands in the semis and Germany in the third-place game, 3-2 both times, Uruguay had its best finish in the World Cup since 1970 when Forlan's father was playing for La Celeste.

In fact Uruguay are the forgotten world soccer power. Having won two of the first four World Cups in 1930 and 1950, more recently failed to qualify in 2006, ranked 26th in 2002 failing to get past the group stage, and also failed to qualify in 1998 and 1994. Not exactly great credentials.

Like his home country, this tournament was all about redemption for Forlan. A famous flop at Manchester United after coming over from Independiente in Argentina, it took Forlan eight months to score his first goal for the club as fans became restless with his performance. He would go on to score several big goals there, but it was not until he moved to Spain where he became a household name leading La Liga with 25 goals at Villarreal before he moved on to his most recent team Atletico Madrid.

But enough about his biography, Forlan for me was one of the most pleasurable players to watch in this tournament. He never looks like he's going to do much, but all of the sudden he will make a deft-cutback move, take one more touch and then unleash his deadly accurate shot from either foot. Getting better as the tournament progressed, Forlan scored in each of Uruguay's last three games in the knockout round, all of which were world class.

Unselfish as well, Forlan may have only had one assist, but his ability to pick out teammates on free kick or switch the point of attack to people like striking partner Luis Suarzo was incredible all tournament long. He was also one of the few in the tournament to have figured out the Jabulani Adidas ball scoring one of the most memorable free kicks against Ghana, the only goal for Uruguay in regulation.

I think going back to the fact that Forlan continued to perform and may have even gotten better as his opponents got better speaks to why the voters selected him.

Neither Sneijder nor Villa exemplified themselves late in the tournament. Sneijder did score two in the quaters against Brazil - probably his crowning moment in the tournament - and then one more against Uruguay in the semis off a deflection, but in the final he was could not inflict his will on the game as Spain essentially shut him down with Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets marking him throughout. Villa also fell off track because his coach Vincente Del Bosque had to put him into Fernando Torres's center forward position with Torres failing to live up to expectations. Villa simply just does not play as well in the middle as a smaller player often playing against giant center defenders as opposed to when he is slotted on the wing, and he did not score another goal after the switch of positions.

And lastly no team depended on one player more than Uruguay depended on Forlan to score goals and be "the guy." Sneijder had Robben, Kuyt, Van Persie and even both Elia and Van der Vaart off the bench to act as side kicks. Villa had Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Torres, Puyol, Pique, Alonso, and Casillas all to protect him. Spain and the Netherlands and even Germany were all vastly more talented than Uruguay, who did also have Suarez and a few other decent talents, but again Forlan was the marked and still came through.

Taking a look at Forlan's work, I think you will see why I think the voters chose "wisely."

Start backing up the brinks truck for Forlan

In every World Cup there are players and teams that come out of nowhere and provide countless thrills to you. For me, Uruguay midfielder Diego Forlan was the top revelation in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Formerly property of Manchester United, the Atletico Madrid man is about to get paid big time. He scored five goals in South Africa and nearly every one was vital to his team and spectacular in nature. Uruguay has some other fine players: Luis Suarez, Diego Perez, Martin Caceres to name a few but more than any other player in South Africa, Forlan carried this team to a fourth-place finish that nobody could have predicted.

Uruguay won Group A and won two absolute thrillers to get to the semifinals: 2-1 over South Korea and a penalty kick win over Ghana. They lost 3-2 to Netherlands and 3-2 to Germany but in both cases they went down swinging and never gave up until the last whistle against superior opponents.

Uruguay

Best Moment: Sebastian Abreu's cheeky PK which was the clincher against Ghana was one of the top moments of the 2010 World Cup. It's tough to quantify how big your balls have to be to take (and make) a shot like that with so much on the line.

Worst Moment: Giving up Arjen Robben's header which gave Netherlands a 3-1 lead at the time. Uruguay added a second goal in injury time but that was the one that sent them to the third place game and ultimately fourth place.

Best Result: This is going to sound way too ra ra for my liking but their 3-2 losses to Netherlands and Germany were proof that Uruguay is a legitimate team and weren't simply lucky to be where they were. Granted, their path to the semifinals (could have been you U.S.) was sugar-coated but you can't blame them for that.

Worst Result: Again no shame in losing to Netherlands but it doesn't take even a bobo like Alexi Lalas to figure out that's the match they'll be thinking about for the next four years.

Final Tally: 4 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw. 11 goals scored, 8 goals conceded

Best Player: I've written enough about him to be sent to therapy so I won't write another love letter to Forlan. He's my man.

Worst Player: Fernando Muslera. There is probably no bigger fraud in the 2010 World Cup in terms of goalkeepers. Yes that is harsh and Muslera is only 24 but talk about a front-runner. He started off the 2010 World Cup with three straight clean sheets. Incredible right? It was against decent teams too (France, South Africa, Mexico) for the most part, sorry French. Uruguay only gave up one goal to South Korea and Ghana and advanced past both but when the going got tough, namely by facing Netherlands and Germany, Muslera disappeared. Off the top of my head, I can't remember him giving up any real weak goals to the Dutch but today was a nightmare for him. The first two goals were directly his fault (giving up a cheap rebound right to Germany and whiffing on a cross) but there wasn't much he could do on the third.

Forlan hits crossbar, game over: Germans win

It doesn't get closer than that. With his injured quad, Forlan hit the crossbar with the free kick from right outside the box. It was perfectly placed over the German wall and Butt's hand but it couldn't get low enough to sneak under the bar.

And that was the last play of the game as the final whistle sounded with Germany winning 3-2. One can only hope tomorrow's final will be half as entertaining as this match was. Some great play on both sides in sloppy conditions.

Final stats:

Uruguay Germany
16(6) Shots (on Goal) 18(7)
13 Fouls 11
6 Corner Kicks 12
2 Offsides 3
46% Time of Possession 54%
1 Yellow Cards 3
0 Red Cards 0
4 Saves 4

Yellow card for Friedrich, dangerous free kick for Uruguay

Right outside the box, Friedrich pulled down Suarez.

3-2 Germany in the 93rd minute.

2 minutes of added time in the third place match

Sebastian Abreu came on for Uruguay and Ozil is out for Germany with Serdar Tasci in for him.

3-2 Germany in the 92nd minute.

Kiessling should have had his first goal with Germany

The ball was put as Ian Drake said "on a dinner plate," but Kiessling rushed it and shot it over. Truthfully, he had time to take a touch and then shoot but he's young and nervous so it didn't happen for him.

They just showed Klose on the bench and apparently he's accepted that he's not going to win a World Cup and be extension, break Ronaldo's record at this point.

3-2 Germans in the 90th minute.

Germany is trying to score 4+ goals for the fourth time

Jerome Boateng's shot was just smothered by Muslera as Germany trys to become the first team since Hungary in 1954 to score 4+ goals in four matches at the World Cup.

3-2 Germany in the 88th minute and I don't know if Uruguay has any magic left in them at this point.

Khedira puts Germany ahead 3-2

A bunch of chances for Germany paid off as Sami Khedira pounced on a loose ball right by the Uruguay goal and headed it past Muslera in the 81st minute.

Toni Kroos came on for Jansen.

3-2 Germany in the 86th minute.

Kiessling almost scores

With his first shot, Kiessling nearly scored. Muslera was forced to make a tough save and Germany got it back but Kiessling was offsides.

Diego Perez is out for Uruguay with Walter Gargano replacing him.

2-2 in the 79th minute.

Kiessling in for Cacau

Cacau is the first German player subbed out, for Stefan Kiessling.

Schweinsteiger just had a shot over the goal but deflected by Uruguay for a corner.

2-2 in the 75th minute, Germany has taken over after their last goal.

Cacau should have done better

Not known for his lethal touch, Cacau had a chance at the top of the box but it sailed over and wide.

2-2 in the 72nd minute and surprisingly there hasn't been one substitution so far.

Four-way tie for the Golden Boot

Forlan, Mueller, Sneijder and Villa are all tied with five goals right now in the 2010 World Cup.

2-2 in the 67th minute. You get the feeling there might be a few more goals before this one is over.

Jansen ties it up, 2-2

German midfielder Marcell Jansen tied it up in the 56th minute with a header after Muslera whiffed on a cross and got caught too far out of his net.

This game has been one of the best of the tournament. Diego Perez picked up a yellow card for Uruguay and Suarez's long shot was stopped by Butt's diving save.

2-2 in the 64th minute.

Forlan says "don't you, forget about me"

It has been an unbelievable tournament for Diego Forlan and he just topped even himself with one of the top goals of the 2010 World Cup.

In the 51st minute, he one-timed and half-volleyed a cross past Butt, who was completely frozen.

1-1 at half

I keep saying Neuer is in goal for Germany but its actually the backup and Bayern Munich backup Hans-Jorg Butt.

Both teams have to be happy to get into the dressing room since they're getting drenched. It was an entertaining first half and Mueller became the youngest player since Pele to get five goals in the World Cup.

Halftime stats:

Uruguay Germany
6(1) Shots (on Goal) 7(3)
2 Fouls 5
3 Corner Kicks 6
2 Offsides 2
47% Time of Possession 53%
0 Yellow Cards 2
0 Red Cards 0
2 Saves 0