Von Dir laß ich mir meine gute Laune nicht verderben, vielleicht hättest Du mal soviel Einsatz zeigen sollen, als vor wenigen Tagen unsere Roten mit Angsthasenfußball, langweilig,typisch EL usw. beschrieben worden.

Btw: entgegen allen Erwartungen wird also nun doch Schalke sein Interesse bekunden.....tja, das hätten wir ja nie gedacht!

Cherundolo pokert. Rangnick will mitbieten.

Damit kommt wieder Rangnick ins Spiel, der Cherundolo zu Schalke locken könnte. Mithin dürfte Rangnick auch Cherundolo locken. Der fühlt sich zwar in Hannover wohl, wie er gerne betont – die Aussicht auf Einsätze in der Champions League und die Verdienstmöglichkeiten könnten Schalke aber attraktiver machen.

Wenn ich mir die Diskrepanz zwischen Überschrift und Artikel ansehe, wird mir doch ein starker Unterschied zwischen Behauptung in der Überschrift und Willeke-typischer Spekulation im Artikel selbst klar.

Schalke: schon lange nicht mehr Meister der Herzen, sondern nur noch größenwahnsinnige Abzocker der Liga.

Ist zwar wohl 'ne Fotomontage, aber wenigstens lustig anzusehen.

In Kalifornien hatte sich der Außenverteidiger noch mit lästigen Zahlenspielen beschäftigt. Die Nationalspieler streiten mit der U.S. Soccer Federation um einen neuen Rahmenvertrag, in dem Prämien und Startgelder geregelt werden. Sie fordern eine Gehaltserhöhung im hohen zweistelligen Bereich. Cherundolo, beim 2:0 in Hamburg von US-Kotrainer Glenn Meyernick beobachtet, soll im Frühjahr wieder in der WM-Qualifikation spielen. Der Verband droht jedoch damit, bei der WM 2006 College-Spieler einzusetzen. GN

Wir haben ja Verständnis für die Fans. Aber wenn dich die eigenen Leute auspfeifen und Sprüche gegen den Trainer machen, ist das unangenehm. Sie sehen nicht, wie wir jeden Tag arbeiten. Wir verlieren ja nicht mit Absicht.

Dass ich das nochmal schreiben würde, hätte ich nie erwartet, aber Steve beeindruckt mich immer mehr. Seine schlimmen Fehler hat er ja schon seit längerer Zeit weitgehend abgestellt, aber nun wird er ja langsam zum Führungsspieler. Die Brandrede in der Halbzeit hat Wirkung gezeigt und auch gegen Wolfsburg hat er das Spiel ja fast aus dem Feuer gerissen. Und dann noch das:



Steve ergreift das Wort, vermittelt zwischen Fans und Mannschaft und reißt die eigenen Spieler mit. Respekt, das hätte ich ihm niemals zugetraut. Aber solche Spieler brauchen wir in unserem Verein!
Wenn das so weiter geht, kaufe ich mir noch ein Trikot mit seiner Nummer!

For Mt. Carmel High grad Steve Cherundolo, Germany is home sweet home

By Mark Zeigler
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

June 1, 2005

Steve Cherundolo has been the captain of the U.S. team at the under-20 World Youth Championships. He has made Olympic and World Cup rosters. He was good enough to sign with a pro club in Europe after his sophomore year in college. He has helped a modest German club gain promotion from the second division to the Bundesliga, and then helped it stay there.

But perhaps the biggest accomplishment by the 5-foot-6 defender from Mt. Carmel High is this: When he says something to a teammate in Germany, the response is in German.

It is a subtle but significant linguistic transaction – the ultimate sign of acceptance, of admiration. Cherundolo has become one of them.

"They joke around and call me 'Ami' sometimes," Cherundolo says. "But I don't think guys look at me as an American any more. Germans speak to me like another German. I think they respect me."

You can make a strong argument that of the dozens of American soccer players who have plied their trade overseas, or at least tried to, Cherundolo is the one who got it most right. He is 26, has seven seasons of solid pro experience behind him and is the regular right back on a U.S. national team with more and more interchangeable parts.

The usual story for a young American in Europe goes like this: Sign with a big club, sit on the bench, leave big club, return to States. Cherundolo's road was the one less traveled. Pride firmly shoved in pocket, he signed at 19 with Hannover 96 – then an unfancied club wallowing in the German second division but a place where he could get regular playing time at a juncture of his career when he most needed it.

The equation was simple for Cherundolo: less money, less fame, more playing time.

"Just going over there (to Europe) doesn't mean it's better," says Glenn Myernick, the lead assistant coach on Bruce Arena's national team. "I think players forget that sometimes. It's all about playing. It's not just being in a little bit better soccer culture. It's playing in one."

It meant that American soccer fans largely forgot about Cherundolo. It also meant he could forget about being home for 50 weeks a year.

"My life," Cherundolo says, "is a constant juggle between maintaining my relationships with my family in America and my relationships in Germany. It's a constant, I don't want to say struggle, but a constant task keeping the two up to date. In the ideal world, I'd have the Bundesliga in the States – the quality of the league, the salaries, the (fan) interest.

"But that's the sacrifice we make by playing in Europe."

The other thing Cherundolo did differently was stay in one place, something American players have found difficult in Europe. Midfielder Claudio Reyna, the national team captain, is on his fifth team and third country. Defender Greg Berhalter has been on five European teams. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller has been on six. Forward Brian McBride has switched teams seven times.

"The one thing I've learned is you have to integrate yourself in the culture or you're going to be miserable," Cherundolo says. "Otherwise it becomes the world's longest training camp. You go to training, you go home and play PlayStation or watch a movie, and you completely forget about living your life."

So Cherundolo worked hard with language tutors and became fluent in German. He got a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Hannover. He got a German car (Mercedes) and a German girlfriend. He has a group of German friends that he hangs out with who have nothing to do with soccer.

The effort did not go unnoticed. Earlier this season, his Hannover teammates voted Cherundolo – the unassuming kid from Southern California who didn't speak a lick of German when he arrived in January 1999 – as their vice captain, an enormous honor for a foreigner and an almost unspeakable honor for an American.

"He's carved out a nice little niche for himself in a very good league," Myernick says. "He's represented himself well not only with his play but with his popularity to put him in that (vice captain) position. And that's impressive. There's still a stigma over there that the United States is still a second-class soccer nation."

Having won over Germans, Cherundolo sees his next task as convincing Arena he should be the starting right back at the 2006 World Cup. Cherundolo was a late cut from the 2002 roster, then made it after a teammate was injured, then was injured himself and never played.

"I'm slowly becoming – I hate to use the word – a veteran," Cherundolo says. "One of my goals is to become consistently good and cut out those really bad games. I think Bruce can rely on me now. I'm the first to admit it: I think there was a problem for a long time, where you didn't know what you'd get from me. But I think that's changed now."

...ur-amerikanische success story...

...den USA die Anerkennung bekommt, die er mittlerweile verdient...