Journal
US Soccer News
12 June 2006 › 11 comments
If you’re a fan of the great game of soccer, called football by everyone other than us Yanks, then be sure to check out US Soccer News. It was put together by my coworker Sam Westbrook, who works as a server-side developer.
The site is using the Google news API and the XMLHttpRequest object to pull in aggregated news about the United States men’s and women’s soccer teams from around the web. While I didn’t have a part in making this site, I did help to evangelize the cause of Ajax and Web Services around the office, which is what prompted Sam to start work on this site. Next up: Pleading the case of pure CSS versus tables for site layout! Anyway, if you’re looking for a one-stop site to keep you abreast of the current happenings in the World Cup as it pertains to the US soccer team, be sure to bookmark this site.
Little known bit o’ trivia: I used to play soccer, and was actually pretty good, before blowing out my knee, tearing my Anterior Cruciate Ligament. So, every four years when World Cup fever hits, I find myself getting nostalgic. If you’ve never given soccer a chance, I’d encourage you to check it out while the biggest football event of the world is underway. Viva la America, Goooal!
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 Jon
I’m so psyched about the World Cup. I’ll definitely be bookmarking US Soccer News. It’s too bad the games are severely conflicting with my work schedule—I’ll have to make some major use of my capture card in the upcoming weeks. Football (the real football) is an underrated sport here in the states and it’s too bad that the sport is pushed aside so quickly.
As a halfway random rambling: some of the commercials the sponsors (Nike, Adidas, etc) are putting out are completely excellent.
#2 Justin Perkins
> Viva la America, Goooal!
Not today ;)
#3 Brad Garland
Man, they looked like crap today though!
UGH!
#4 Nathan Smith
Yeah, the USA didn’t do so well. Neither did Japan. :(
Jon: I think my favorite soccer commercial of all time was the one with the demon goalie that gets blown away by a flaming kick from a member of the Manchester United. I forget if it was Adidas or Nike, but I’d love to be able to archive that one somehow.
#5 Tim Huegdon
Pssst… Nathan?
“Viva” is Spanish and “La” is French – should be either “Viva América” or “Vive l’Amérique”
/pedant
As a British football fan I have to admit it’s nice to know there are some Americans out there that care about the beautiful game! Especially when they’re obviously so techie about it too… ;-)
Good job Sam!
#6 Nathan Smith
Tim: Yeah, I was just being silly, trying to encapsulate the multi-national nature of soccer via language. I guess I just came across as ignorant.
#7 Allan R.
I have to agree it’s a shame football is underrated in USA, a defeat like the one they just suffered empowers the fact that they need more media support…
#8 Eric F.
Ah, the ACL – been there, done that, twice! Same knee, too. American football did it for me.
#9 Nathan Smith
Allan: I agree. With no fans, no media support = no money = no talent recruitment (good players go to Europe). It’s a brutally vicious cycle.
Eric: Speaking of brutal, that sounds really rough man. I just had single ACL tear. Ironically, it was not soccer or even an organized sport that did it for me. It was just a simple game of driveway basketball gone terribly awry.
#10 Josh Illichmann
We also call it soccer over here in australia. so don’t worry ;)
GO AUSTRALIA! WORLDCUP 2006! WOO!
#11 Sam Westbrook
What a terrible performance by the US – we better get it together by Saturday or Italy will make gelato out of us. I watched the Socceroos play – they looked very good. Why can’t we play like that?