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Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Purple in an Orange and Green World

Life on this side of the Columbia River has its challenges. The speed limit never goes past 65. Lots of people wear patuli oil. Others knock on my door, sporting "IMPEACH BUSH NOW" t-shirts, telling me I should give them 50 dollars to help make sure nobody drills for any more oil in Alaska.

But that's not the worst part. Every Saturday during football season, thousands of yutzy football fans break out their Ducks/Beavers apparel and wear it around town, proud of their once-pathetic football programs that have gotten decent in recent history (thanks in large part to Phil Knight/potato salad sales at Costco, respectively).

A couple years ago, this wouldn't have bothered me. I could walk around Portland with my head held high, believing my Huskies would end up hammering the Oregon schools and move on to a bowl game.

Those days are gone now. I'm a Husky, and everybody knows it. What used to be a good thing is now an opportunity for people to crack jokes about the worst football being played at the Montlake cut in 35 years. What's worse, I've even been having some run-ins with Cougars, right here in Portland. After this weekend's thrashing at the hands of Cal and his team's win over Nevada, one Cougar alum smugly smiled at me as I walked past him in church and said, "What a great weekend."

Still, there are a bunch of reasons to keep the faith. I'll talk about those another time. In the meantime, I'll be praying for a win over Idaho.

Zoom on...

Thursday, September 08, 2005

US Reserves Tie Guatemala 0-0

Last night a squad made up primarily of MLS players tied Guatemala 0-0 in a qualifier played in Guatemala City. Only two of the starters do not play in the MLS, the US started a side missing their key stars in a match they didn't need to win.

Having already qualified for Germany with their victory last week over Mexico, Coach Arena used the match as a chance to see complete his roster for next summers Cup. Many were making their first start or appearance in a World Cup qualifier. SPU Alum, Marcus Hahnemann got the shut out for the US, making a couple of great saves.

Mexico defeated Panama 5-0 last night and booked their trip to Germany as well.


Zoom on...

Sunday, September 04, 2005

US Qualifies for 2006 Cup

Last night the US officially qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany with their 2-0 victory over Mexico. In qualifying for their 5th straight cup, it was even sweeter as it was at the expense of their rivals Mexico. Mexico was forced to watch the US celebrate being the first CONCACAF team to qualify. Mexico has all but qualified too, needing only 1 point from it's last three matches, though their performance yesterday leaves more questions than answers.

After a scoreless first half, the US scored two goals within a five minute span to continue their dominance over Mexico at home. The US has not lost to Mexico at home in a World Cup Qualifier since 1972, since 2000 the US is 6-0-1 at home versus Mexico, scoring 11 goals while holding Mexico scoreless. Entering the match the US was ranked 6th in the world while Mexico was 5th, leading by only 2 points.

The US has three games remaining, though Coach Arena will look to his reserves more so in those games as stars head back to Europe with the start of the 2005-06 season.


Keller celebrates the shutout by letting everyone know who is #1

Zoom on...