World Cup Note: Connection(s) Between Blue & Gold And Red, White & Blue

by Nestor on May 21, 2010 5:34 AM PDT

If you have joined BN in recent months of even recent years you should know that we are going to be very interested in the upcoming World Cup and keep a close eye on it. Lot of us on frontpage enjoy and love watching soccer and there is an obvious UCLA connection when it comes to US soccer. Three former Bruins - Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein and Benny Feilhaber - were selected to the preliminary 30-man U.S. World Cup roster little more than week ago.

Blair Angulo from tWWL had little more the connection between blue and gold and red, white and blue:

U.S. men's national team head coach Bob Bradley -- whose daughter is a student manager on the UCLA women's soccer team -- has until June 1 to trim his final roster to 23. Training camp begins Saturday in Princeton, N.J.

Bocanegra is all but a lock. A defender who starred at UCLA from 1997-99, Bocanegra was the U.S. captain during qualifiers last year and played in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, making two starts at left back.

Bornstein, a defender who played the 2004 season at UCLA after transferring from Cal Poly Pomona, made six starts during qualifiers last year. He plays for Chivas USA, a team he won MLS Rookie of the Year honors for in 2006. Feilhaber is a midfielder who was born in Brazil and walked on at UCLA in 2003. He did not play in the last World Cup, but he has international experience after competing at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Yanks are going to play two exhibition matches - Czech Republic (May 25) and Turkey (May 29) - before heading down to South Africa. If you want to get a sense of how emotional this event is going to be here is a taste:

Good luck to all our Bruins.

GO BRUINS.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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LOVE World Cup

I don’t love waking up at 3am (or back in 2002 when I was still in college, just staying up til 3am) to watch the matches but it’s only once every 4 years.

by freesia39 on May 21, 2010 9:23 AM PDT reply actions

HAHA

A group of us watched every game from like 11pm-6am for what seemed like a month. We stocked up on booze nightly & cheered our asses off. We were in the suites & got cited like 7 times for noise violations. It was epic.

by impaulv on May 21, 2010 10:20 PM PDT up reply actions

The old lady who lived next door to us

told my mom that I was “possessed by the devil” because I woke her up in the middle of the night when Brian McBride scored the 3rd against Portugal.

For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 21, 2010 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions

2002 was my initiation into the WC as well

The midnight matches were a great complement to my insomnia, gave me the chance to see uninterupted high-level soccer, and really let me feel how much excitement there really is surrounding the sport. A year later, I was studying in the UK thanks to EAP, and really didn’t have much of a choice not to follow the sport.

2006 was particularly fun for me; mid-day matches (on the east coast), and one of the librarians at my law library set up a TV in one of the side rooms, allowing the summer researchers (like myself) and staff to take a nice, couple-hour break to watch the matches.

Anyone else watching the Champions League final right now?

formerly bruinhoo

by Patroclus on May 22, 2010 12:09 PM PDT up reply actions

I've written about my love of soccer before

and the World Cup is undoubtedly my favorite sporting event ever so I can’t wait until the Cup. It’s going to be incredible and the fact that I’m going helps a bit too!

For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 21, 2010 12:15 PM PDT reply actions

If you are able to

We would certainly love to read your world club travel blogposts here.

by Nestor on May 22, 2010 8:45 AM PDT up reply actions

I'll see what I can do

I plan on doing some writing while I’m there for some other places, but I’ll see if I can sneak in a couple things Bruin related too.

For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 24, 2010 4:00 PM PDT up reply actions

Bradley

His other daughter is on the tennis team. Let’s just say they aren’t too bad to look at

by lil eg not cs on May 21, 2010 1:14 PM PDT reply actions

Very jacked about the WC.

Will be buying my Team USA jersey soon. By chance, I will be in Germany for the first knock out round. It should be fun to watch some games at a Deutschland beirhaus.

by orlandobruin on May 21, 2010 4:38 PM PDT reply actions

Got my Team USA T-Shirt

My non-UCLA favorite Rose Bowl moment was USA v. Columbia in 1994. I was there for that game. It was amazing and I will never forget a near miss of a goal that happen in that game, Marcelo Balboa’s spectacular bicycle kick.

I will be watching it as well and it is good to know that BN will be posting on it.

by DCBruins on May 21, 2010 7:24 PM PDT reply actions

I have that match on DVD and have watched it a few dozen times

Make sure you check out ESPN’s 30 for 30 this summer. They’re doing one on Andres Escobar, the Colombian defender who scored the own goal and was later killed.

For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 21, 2010 8:27 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah that part is a bit scary

I remember all the Colombian fans were there with their blond wigs for Carlos Alberto Valderrama Palacio. While Columbia was favorite, it was hard to take too serious a team whose fans dressed in blond afros. However, obviously some Colombians took the game too seriously.

by DCBruins on May 22, 2010 12:06 PM PDT up reply actions

USA!

& Go Bruins!!!

Can’t wait till the WC starts :-)

by impaulv on May 21, 2010 10:18 PM PDT reply actions

Benny and Bocanegra should be locks

Not so sure about Bornstein, but I am hoping all 3 make the final cut. Its always nice to have some Bruins on the roster to cheer for. I’ve been collecting the Panini World Cup stickers and grabbing everyone´s double of these 3.

by makenji on May 24, 2010 1:33 PM PDT reply actions

All three are pretty much locks

Bornstein will make it because of two reasons. 1) He’s a Bob Bradley favorite. Bobbo drafted Bornstein and has always been a guy that he liked. 2) We don’t have much else at left back. Boca can slide out there and might play, but in terms of natural elft backs, it’s Bornstein or Pearce. Bornstein is better than Pearce and for all the crap that fans give him, the players feel pretty good about him.

For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 24, 2010 3:59 PM PDT up reply actions