Women's Euro Game 4 highlights

My scheduled slate of games at the Women's Euros concluded Friday with one of the first actual upsets in the tournament, as Austria took out Norway 1-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. With two of the top 10 attacking players in the world, according to many (Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen), Norway were the popular pick to finish second in the group. ESPN's Soccer Power Index gave them more than a 60-percent chance of winning the game outright, which was what they needed to advance.

But after losing 8-0 to England on Monday in just a jaw-dropping display of attacking firepower against a porous defense, Norway was under incredible pressure. They never got anything going and were being outshot 13-2 at one point before getting a couple of late chances.

Having closely watched Austria's Cinderella run to the semifinals in 2017, I was not surprised by the outcome: I told Danielle Slaton, my partner, I expected a tie that would have been enough for Austria to advance. So it was nice to be right, for once, and to call another big moment in the progression of Austria women's football! Check out the highlights:

Women's Euro Game 3 highlights

Thursday's ESPN2 game had Iceland and Italy playing what was essentially a must-win in Group D. There were a lot of things to focus on, starting with Italy's response to its 5-1 loss to France in the tournament opener: five lineup changes, including star forwards Cristiana Girelli and Barbara Bonansea starting the game on the bench. The changes didn't really work, as Iceland - always a challenge for broadcasters with its succession of -dóttir last names - scored first and created enough chances to get a second goal.

They never got it, however, and the second-half insertion of Bonansea ultimately proved enough for Italy to come away with a tie. Given the final matchups in Group D, Italy (playing Belgium) probably comes away with the best odds of advancing behind group winner France, but this certainly has proven to be an unpredictable group!

I felt good about our call. Danielle and I, and Christina when the occasion warranted, knew the teams and the stories and the implications of this game. Our Italian and Icelandic were pretty well honed. So even though both teams walked away disappointed with the result, I think we had a right to walk off satisfied. Time for our biggest game yet in the Group A decider on Friday!

Check out the highlights:

Women's Euro Game 2 highlights

We were fortunate to call a five-goal thriller Wednesday, as the Netherlands - missing four starters, including one of the best players in the world in Vivianne Miedema, jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Portugal. Having rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie their opener, Portugal fought back to tie the game early in the second half, only to see the game decided by a fantastic 20-yard strike from Dutch midfielder Daniëlle van de Donk (who suffered a gruesome ankle injury in late November and raced through rehab to play in the tournament).

This game had some serious pronunciation challenges that I felt we did well with, even if we weren't perfect. There are some Dutch noises I just can't make.

At any rate, these highlights cut off some of my goal calls and omitted a few exciting plays to keep things short and efficient, but I think everybody could tell I was pumped! Here's to more games like that one.

Women's Euro Game 1 highlights

Austria took care of business against Northern Ireland on Monday, pulling out a 2-0 win that, coupled with Norway's collapse against England, means Austria can reach the quarterfinals with a win or a tie in Friday's decisive game against Norway.

Here are the highlights from my ESPN2 call with Danielle Slaton, our first game of the tournament. A good start!

UEFA Women's Euro commentator announcement

It was announced last week that I'll be part of the team calling the UEFA Women's Euro for ESPN this summer! After calling the final in 2017, I've been looking forward to this for a LONG time, and it's been quite a process, so even though it was no surprise by this point, it was awesome to see the official announcement.

I'm thrilled to be part of our coverage of this tournament, incredibly proud to work with such an amazing group, and looking forward to a month of exciting games.

Please join us all month on ESPN networks, mostly ESPN2, with games at noon (11:30am pregame) and 3pm (2:30pm pregame) ET most days. My games are currently scheduled on ESPN2 the week of July 11-15. I'll share more when (if??) there's time.

Here's the ESPN announcement!

If you're interested in the tournament, I'm curating this Twitter list with posts from various accounts, reporters, and personalities around the tournament. It should keep you informed!

Tremendous goals in Women's FA Cup Final

I was thrilled to be assigned commentary on Sunday's Women's FA Cup Final, the culminating event on the women's club football calendar in England before this summer's Women's Euros. I was even more psyched to call a game that was interesting from start to finish and had some simply fabulous goals.

The game was in London, I was in Connecticut, and partner Julie Foudy was in California - just another day in soccer broadcasting - and we had a blast calling it. I didn't nail every call 100%: I couldn't tell if the first goal was touched on its way in, and I talked into Erin Cuthbert's screamer a bit. But overall, I felt good about our call. I think our excitement for the occasion, the players and teams involved, and ultimately the plays on the field, certainly came through

I call a men's cup final (the DFB-Pokal in Germany) next weekend, which should be really dramatic as well. Then I'm looking forward to finding a rhythm with a regular run of games this summer, although I don't yet know what I'll be scheduled to work. No guarantees I'll get goals as good as these, though!

Euro 2017 championship game highlights

This game should get a much longer post from me in the near future, because I think it will go down as one of the most memorable games in European Women's Championship history, but I'm so happy and excited to have called it that I wanted to post the quick highlights here. You can watch a full replay of our coverage (I was happy with how we handled the post-game scenes and the trophy ceremony) at this link, and the quick-hit highlights are WERE below (but are no longer available at this time):

RIP Tony DiCicco, friend and storyteller

I (along with the entire U.S. soccer community, I imagine) was blindsided by news Tuesday that Tony DiCicco, coach of the U.S. women's national team that won the 1999 Women’s World Cup, passed away. I am stunned and sad right now. It’s a crushing personal loss for anybody who knew him.

I’d known Tony for less than 3 years and even then only in a work context, yet he was somebody I unfailingly looked forward to seeing, to greeting, to catching up with, regardless of the soccer or the broadcast. I loved working with him and talking soccer, of course, but the pre-game lunch or dinner (or both!) together was just fun. He could listen and find a way to relate to almost anything, he could be both positive and realistic at the same time, and he was a heck of a storyteller.

In my experience (again, a small sample size compared to many), a meal with Tony meant some serious entertainment. Whether it was the restaurant in the hotel or a chain in whatever small town we were in or a fancy Italian place in Chapel Hill, he had stories. They could be funny and/or insightful, eyebrow-raising and/or sobering. They involved a lot of recognizable names, too, but it wasn’t overt name-dropping, just Tony talking. Stories about the 1999 World Cup team flowed just as easily as those about his family or his goalkeeping days or other teams he coached.

He was confident in his views and opinions – anyone who has heard him second-guessing other coaches as a game or studio analyst can attest to that – but it never felt arrogant or disrespectful to me. He was just sharing his take and could not help but think about soccer and coaching in terms of what his approach would have been, as if he could visualize just how things might play out.

It felt like almost every coach we came across had a connection to Tony's coaching tree. Some were, as I was at first, intimidated by the heights of his success. Others wanted Tony to do them a favor. He was happy to meet, greet, and help each however he could.

Courtesy Ben Solomon

We called a number of college games together, which typically meant a conference call with each coach to get a little background on that team, a guess at the lineup, and an anecdote or two. I would let Tony take the lead, and he would say to the coach, “Tell me about …” whatever the immediate topic was, and away we went. He asked the right questions and knew what to take from the answers, how to read between the lines, and how to work that information into a broadcast. We would always compare notes, and I couldn’t help my bemusement that he always listed formations as 1-4-4-2 or 1-4-3-3 instead of just 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 – he wasn’t about to take the goalkeeper for granted!

On game days, you would never have known the heights he scaled as a coach, watching him interact with the production crew and the locals. “Hi, I’m Tony,” sufficed as an introduction. We got some good games and some crap games together (if I’m honest, our last working together was pretty blah), but we always had fun and we were always in it together. We would eat together, drive to games together, approach coaches together, and leave together afterward … it seems obvious, but it made an incredibly positive difference in our on-air chemistry.

I have to believe that focus on togetherness and connection and unity was something that set him apart as a broadcaster, as a coach, and, far more importantly, as a man.

I was looking forward to comparing notes with and hearing more stories from Tony this fall, and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I won’t have that chance. But it was a privilege to know and work with him for the last few years, and I feel terrible for his family, close friends, former players and colleagues, and everybody who knew him better and longer than I.

Joy and unity, caring and storytelling. We will all miss Tony DiCicco.

USA-Germany highlights

I got to call the top two women's national teams in the world on Wednesday night, as the US faced Germany in what amounted to the championship game of the inaugural SheBelieves Cup.

Here's how the drama looked and sounded from Boca Raton:

Wonderfully busy start to 2016

I can assure you, fewer than 40 days in, that 2016 is a year I will never forget.

But if my year's signature moment already happened (I've been on my version of paternity leave since the NWSL College Draft on Jan. 15), that still leaves another 11 months to try and maintain a solid body of work.

Thankfully, I've set my plans for most of the next two months with a schedule that will be fun but will also challenge me.

That's not my pom-pom, I promise.

It starts this week, with two basketball games as part of my five-game stint covering the MAAC for ESPN3. One of those five is already in the books, although the game we were attempting to broadcast was curtailed by a leaky ceiling.

So on Thursday, it's up to the Bronx to see Manhattan play Quinnipiac (8 p.m. ET, ESPN3), while Friday will see me taking the PATH train back out to Jersey City to give the Yanitelli Center a second chance as St. Peter's hosts Niagara (7 p.m. ET, ESPN3). To complete my MAAC stint, I'll be up in Buffalo at Canisius for a men's game on Feb. 20 and a women's game on Feb. 25.

The MAAC is pretty much a one-bid league, but it's a really exciting one. While Monmouth is one of the most talked-about mid-majors in the country this year, Manhattan is the two-time defending tournament champion, and all the schools I've researched have either a great scorer, a great story, or both. Since moving to New York in the fall of 2013, I've been hoping to do some broader basketball coverage, and I'm excited to get this chance.

• Current 2016 broadcast schedule

Once March rolls around, though, it will be back to my bread and butter. While I won't be a regular part of Red Bulls radio broadcasts this year, I've got five televised MLS games and a US women's national team game already lined up, and that's more in-person TV work than I get in some MLS seasons. I'll work FC Dallas-Philadelphia Union for opening day on March 6, and then I'll call play-by-play for at least three Red Bulls games on the MSG Networks while lead voice Steve Cangialosi is on Devils duty. I've actually never called a TV game at Red Bull Arena (my MSG work last year came on the road), so I'm looking forward to that first.

These games really get me excited to start what I hope is going to be a terrific year of broadcast work (while I simultaneously figure out how to raise a child, cook for my wife, study for those games, and, y'know, sleep). I hope you'll enjoy any portion of it that you might catch!

2016 NWSL College Draft

On January 15, I hosted the video stream of the NWSL College Draft, the first time the league's draft has been video streamed.

Spectacular. #nwsldraft pic.twitter.com/SPca6lGHvT

— Michelle (@xphile101) January 15, 2016

While it took a whole four hours and certainly stretched our abilities of pontification and endurance, it was a blast. I worked really hard in the build-up to research the player pool, which was pretty difficult considering there was not much consensus after the top 20.

The actual event turned out really well, I thought. I enjoyed getting to meet and interview the players in attendance, I wound up having researched 39 of the 40 players actually selected, and despite the stress, I just had fun.

You've really got to give it up to @jtyardley - two draft calls in less than 24 hours. That is after hours and hours of research. Well done

— Marc Connolly (@mconnolly10) January 15, 2016

It was also great to work with a fellow Rice alum, Jen Cooper of Keeper Notes fame, whom I have known since I was an undergraduate sports editor and she was the school advisor to the student newspaper; we talked soccer even then!







Here's the draft, in all its glory:

Tables turned, I become the interviewee

It doesn't happen often, but a fellow media professional turned the tables and made me the interviewee this week, as I had the good fortune of being a guest on the Mixxed Zone podcast with my long-time colleague, Jen Cooper. We didn't do TOO much Rice reminiscing (at least not that we recorded), but it's good fun.

Jen (aka The Keeper) is one of the people who knows the most about women's soccer, and it's always a pleasure to be part of and discuss that world. Take a listen:
You can also download the episode directly via this link.

Overtime drama in American Athletic Conference women's soccer semifinals!

Given that I woke up at 6:22 am ET in New York this morning, flew to Dallas, called two overtime soccer games, and got back to my guest room at 11 pm CT this evening, I'm feeling pretty good.

I got to call two entertaining, dramatic games today in the American Athletic Conference women's soccer tournament, I did it with a very good partner and crew, and I got to call sudden-death game-winners each time.

Check out the highlights:
Game 1 - UConn vs. Cincinnati:



Game 2 - USF vs. UCF:


Not a bad day's work! Now to get ready for Sunday's final.

Catching up with Megan Rapinoe, a soccer flashback, and more

OK, so I've been a delinquent blogger lately. I've got some good excuses, but let's try to provide a brief recap:

Since my one-off return to college football in Troy with the inimitable Mickey Matthews on Sept. 12, I have called four college soccer games (one men's, three women's) with three different partners, all in different parts of the country. I've seen some great goals, a landmark win for Mississippi State (which was extra cool to see because I saw them struggle last year), and a rematch of last year's national championship game in women's soccer.

The highlight, however, had to be meeting and interviewing US women's national team star Megan Rapinoe, a woman I respect as much for her off-field public personality and leadership as for her on-field exploits. By just about all accounts, she's one of the best role models you could suggest for a niece, nephew, child, or friend. She was on hand at the Oct. 18 Portland-Santa Clara game as the Pilots celebrated their 2005 national championship team, on which she played, and joined another former Pilot, Shannon MacMillan, and me for an interview at the start of the second half.

Even more good news is that my soccer season is far from over. I just arrived in Dallas to call the American Athletic Conference women's semifinals (today, for the American Digital Network) and final (Sunday, for ESPN3/ESPNU). With the tournament being held at SMU's Westcott Field, this brings back some memories: As a student, I called Rice's trip to the 2003 WAC Tournament at the same venue, culminating in a heartbreaking, last-minute loss to SMU, then the conference's powerhouse.

I'm pretty sure those were my first soccer games called on the road, and I definitely remember some technical difficulties (note the old-school connection via phone line and an actual phone). Probably a good thing that, to my knowledge anyway, no copies of those games exist!

The four teams left in this year's field are all competitive, with UConn leading the way at No. 10 in the country, and links to watch the games can be found here.

At any rate, next weekend I will turn back to the men's game, calling the Sun Belt Conference men's tournament in the somewhat remote town of Boone, N.C., home to Appalachian State University, in what will likely close the book on my 2015 soccer season.

Much more on that later, however. For now, I'm off to watch and call some top-25 teams play elimination games with a conference title and more on the line. Not bad at all!

Pictures from my latest Georgia trip, ESPNU broadcast

I made my second trip of the year to call a game at the University of Georgia last weekend, including what felt like my umpteenth flight from LaGuardia to Atlanta. Many more still to come, of course!

With a free Saturday night and no college football in the area, I went to see Silverbacks Park in north Atlanta, home to the Atlanta Silverbacks of the North American Soccer League. Small stadium (c. 5,000 capacity) with a large youth-soccer presence in the crowd.

I was very surprised by two things: 1. The wind made it quite a cool evening. 2. T-shirts for 'MLS Atlanta 2017' were sold side-by-side (from a third-party vendor) with those of the home team, a member of a league often considered in competition with MLS. Very interesting.

My partner for Sunday's game, airing on ESPNU this time instead of the SEC Network, was former US women's national team star Shannon MacMillan, who won the MAC Hermann Trophy as the nation's top player in 1995 while at Portland, then was a key player as the US won the 1996 Olympics and 1999 World Cup and later played in the WUSA.

What had not occurred to me was that the 1996 Olympic soccer competition culminated in Athens, Georgia, with MacMillan scoring the semifinal game-winner and a goal in the final in games played before capacity crowds in Sanford Stadium, the Georgia football stadium! This was Shannon's first time back to Athens in 18 years, and even though she was performing in a much smaller venue, I think she had a great afternoon.

Most of us working on the broadcast were shadowed by University of Georgia broadcast television students as part of ESPN's Campus Connection program, and Shannon and I had the chance to talk to a bunch of them before things got too crazy, so that was a lot of fun.

Great opportunity for @UGAAthletics Students to learn from @jtyardley & Shannon MacMillan @ESPNU Campus Connection pic.twitter.com/ByqwRALPyM
— Meg Aronowitz (@megaronowitz) October 19, 2014

The game itself was a little hectic. A half-marathon held in the morning had limited our crew's access to the site, so there were a few things that wound up being done on-the-fly. In taping our opening segment, we were about to complete our best take when the stadium PA system launched into The Star-Spangled Banner, a definite no-no. So we did the open live, and except for one word stumble on my part (which I fairly successfully worked through), it still went great!

Afterward, with flights from Atlanta scheduled for Sunday night, we both high-tailed it out after the game, but not before I changed clothes and took a quick selfie with the stone Uga (pronounced like Uggla without the L) that keeps watch over the UGa Soccer Stadium!

Once I got to the airport, I could not convince TGIFriday's to switch any of its televisions away from Sunday Night Football, so to catch the first half of LA vs. Seattle for the MLS Supporters' Shield title, I used their wireless signal instead.

Finally, here's a link to our post-game segment, including both of the game's goals.

Calling battle of SEC heavyweights on Sunday: No. 6 Florida at Arkansas

Only two women's soccer teams remain unbeaten in SEC play through four rounds of play, and those two will go head-to-head Sunday morning (noon ET) in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when No. 6 Florida (9-2, 4-0 SEC) takes on Arkansas (6-2-4, 2-0-2 SEC). I'll have the call on the SEC Network with 1999 World Cup-winning coach Tony DiCicco (nice resume, eh?).

Where we'll be watching from.

Florida's won five games in a row, including a dramatic 1-0 win at Texas A&M on Friday night in a battle of the conference's top two teams. Arkansas is no slouch, though: The Razorbacks made a Cinderella run to the NCAA Round of 16 last year in the first NCAA tournament appearance in their 28-year history! They play a rough-and-tumble polar opposite of Florida's smooth passing game, so it will provide yet another game featuring a contrast in styles.

You want stars? Florida has US U-20 forward Savannah Jordan, who scored 22 goals as a freshman last year and had the game-winner against A&M (and scored to eliminate Arkansas in last year's SEC quarterfinals). The Gators have 6-foot-1 goalkeeper Taylor Burke, a dual soccer/high-jump star who is one shutout away from tying the Florida career record. They also have a 6-foot Slovenian international with crazy hair and one of the best center-back tandems around. Fun team to watch.

You'll be happy to know I got a lower-key rental car this week.

Arkansas has US U-23 attacker Ashleigh Ellenwood, whose long throw-ins are a vital part of the Razorback game plan -- sometimes it looks like her arms are more tired than her legs at the end of a game! Senior Tyler Allen has already been on SportsCenter twice this year, thanks to her habit of sending in dangerous free kicks from deep positions. The Razorbacks also have bright underclassmen in goalkeeper Cameron Carter and attackers Sparky Fischer and Nicole Ortega. (I use the generic term "attackers" because trying to assign consistent spots to Arkansas's formations is extremely difficult.)

Moving planks one at a time. to support the lift

When I landed this afternoon, I went straight to Razorback Field, where our intrepid crew was setting up for the 11 am (local time) kickoff on Sunday. That meant I got to see how they lined up the scissor lift for our end-zone camera without messing up the stadium's grass: CAREFULLY.

Well worth it for a great view on Sunday.

Coaches love to talk about chess matches on the field ... this one was at the airport.

Calling top-5 matchup between Virginia, Florida State on ESPNU Sunday

Our midfield view at the Seminole Soccer Complex.

My fall slate of soccer games hits its most high-profile contest on Sunday, with No. 3 Virginia (ranked No. 2 by Soccer America) taking on No. 5 Florida State at 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU. If you like watching soccer at all, this game is worth checking out. Here's why:

1. The best player in college soccer. Morgan Brian is 21, a senior at Virginia, and part of the US women's national team. You may have heard of them. She won the Hermann Trophy as the country's top player last year (this highlight reel gives you some idea), and she's already got three goals and five assists in seven of Virginia's 10 games this year, missing three while playing for the US. An O-mid in college and D-mid for the US, she is an exceptionally technical player, equally comfortable playing one-touch passes and using intricate dribbling moves. I've been very impressed watching her on video, and I'm looking forward to seeing her play in person. On the Virginia side, I'm also looking forward to seeing US U-20 forward Makenzy Doniak (I called her games this summer in the U-20 Womens' World Cup) and versatile midfielder Danielle Colaprico, a New Jersey product who has played all four midfield spots this year and excelled in each.

2. International flavor. Two of Florida State's top offensive threats hail from Iceland, 5-foot-11 Dagný Brynjarsdóttir (herself a candidate for this year's Hermann Trophy) and 5-foot-9 Berglind Thorvaldsdóttir. Yes, that means their fathers' names are Brynjar and Thorvald. The Seminoles also have players from Ireland, Finland, Japan, Germany, and Canada.(and New Jersey!)

3. It's going to be close. 17 of the last 20 games between these ACC rivals have been decided by one goal or finished tied, and their last four regular-season games have gone to overtime. It will also likely be played with pace and skill rarely seen in the college ranks.

4. Virginia's ridiculous offense. The Cavaliers led the country in scoring last year with 3 goals per game and are averaging 3.6 in 2014. They have scored at least two goals in every game this season and have scored in 44 consecutive games, the longest active streak in Division I. They've also won 31 consecutive regular-season games. Their last regular-season loss? In overtime at Florida State on Oct. 14, 2012.

5. These teams need to be tested. Both went to the College Cup last year and were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion by national champion UCLA. But this year, they have not faced a lot of sturdy opposition. Florida State has played two ranked teams, beating Portland and losing (at home) to rival Florida, while Virginia has yet to play a ranked opponent.

After flying in on Saturday afternoon, I watched Virginia's walk-through on a bumpy football practice field (in the shadow of Doak Campbell Stadium) and checked out Florida State's facilities, including the softball field (which shares a concourse with the soccer stadium) and baseball stadium. Not surprisingly, humidity and bugs were everywhere, but I have a feeling that won't slow these teams down this afternoon.

I'm excited to work with ACC, NCAA, and Olympic champion Cat (Reddick) Whitehill for the second straight week, with coverage starting on ESPNU at 4 p.m. ET or after the conclusion of the Florida-Mizzou game that starts at 2 ET (also worth watching). Should that game go into overtime, our show will start on WatchESPN. But whenever and however you have the chance, it'll be worth watching!

All Chinese to me: Preparing for players whose names you can't read

I take the preparation and research for my broadcasts very seriously, and I got some special help this week.

This summer brought me a terrific opportunity, as I was asked to call games at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup for ESPN

That meant learning how to pronounce a ton of names, many of them in languages unfamiliar to me. We've already covered some of my French background with this #HumbleBrag post, but the Asian teams … that's another story. Is pronouncing the transliterated versions of Chinese and Korean phonetically really the best way? With the US drawn against China in the group stage, I had to find a solution.

Thankfully, my family came to the rescue again. My older brother happens to have married a Chinese-American woman and has learned plenty of Chinese himself. So I spent a good 30 minutes on Skype listening to him make sounds I never thought he could. (He actually looked online for a roster in Chinese characters to make sure he was giving me good advice, but he never could find one.)

After repeating his pronunciation of player after player, I then wrote them out phonetically for myself (Lyu Siqi became lyew suh-chee, for example) and began practicing. When watching China's first two games, I said the names out loud as players passed the ball around, constantly reminding myself to use only the family name (the first name listed) on second reference. So if I wanted to use what we think of as Lyu Siqi's "last" name, I would say, 'lyew.'

Between the first and second group games, I got my sister-in-law on the phone for a test run, and she only corrected one of my 22 pronunciations, so I felt ready to go for the US-China game on Tuesday.

When preparing my scoresheet, instead of writing out the players' names as listed by FIFA (LYU Siqi) or what appeared on their jerseys (LYU S Q), I went with a combination of accuracy and phonetics. Since I had most of the last names down and wanted those to be used more often, I wrote the last names in all caps in their proper spelling (LYU). Then I wrote a small-caps, phonetic version of their individual names (SUH CHEE). So if I had forgotten No. 5's name, I would look down and quickly get LYU; suh-chee might only be used if I had time to get into any of the (minimal) background information I had come up with.

I went over the names with my partner, former World Cup- and U-20 World Cup-winning coach Tony DiCicco, who has been great to work with for all the US games. Plenty familiar with Chinese national teams from facing them over the years, he also focused on getting the last names correct. Since there were only a few duplicates in the lineup, that mostly sufficed.

The broadcast went off without a hitch, at least from a Chinese names perspective, and the time we put into our preparation was well worth it. How else could we quickly be able to correctly identify and pronounce TAN and TANG, LYU and LIU, LI and LEI, ZHONG and ZHANG? For that I am very, very grateful to my brother and my sister-in-law.

Now for Saturday ... anybody know Korean?

Compliments en français

This is not going to be the most humble post in blog history, so bear with me.

In preparing to call the US-France women's game on Thursday, I worked really hard to learn the correct pronunciations for the French players' names. I watched the women's French Cup final, I watched France's friendly against Brazil, and I watched one of their qualifying matches against Austria. I also watched their behind-the-scenes YouTube videos from the 2013 European Championship. I read a lot of French articles and tweets about the French women's team, known as Les Bleues (feminine version of Les Bleus, as the men's team is known). By far the most French studying I had done since my junior year of college.

Two soccer broadcasts coming up next week

Storm brewing during Open Cup game between
Philadelphia and Rochester in 2012.

The eyes of the soccer world are on the World Cup in Brazil, and mine are as well. But soccer continues elsewhere, particularly in the United States, where the US Open Cup, USL PRO, and NWSL all continue playing. I’ve been fortunate enough to schedule two broadcasts so far during the World Cup, both coming next week.

First up, on Tuesday, I’ll be calling the online stream of the US Open Cup game between the Philadelphia Union and Harrisburg City Islanders. I love the Open Cup. I love the pressure the single-elimination Open Cup creates in each game, its potential for upsets, and (if I’m honest) its role as a niche competition overlooked by many. I lived in Philadelphia for almost a year in 2011-12 as my better half finished her studies, so I saw two games during the Union’s run to the Open Cup semifinals in 2012 (including their win over Rochester, pictured above), and I’m excited to be calling their home games in the tournament this year.

Tuesday's game will mean a little something extra to Philadelphia players because it will be the first game for interim manager Jim Curtin, and thus the first chance for players to prove they deserve playing time in the future. Harrisburg is off to a slow start and relies on four on-loan Union players during league play. That quartet will not be allowed to play on Tuesday, one reason Harrisburg is a decided underdog. Don’t write them off, though; the City Islanders have advanced in five of their nine all-time meetings against MLS clubs in the Open Cup.

My second broadcast next week, on Thursday, is exciting in a very different way. It will be my first chance to call a game for the women’s national team, the top-ranked team in the world, as they take on No. 4 France in the second of back-to-back friendly games. These teams’ recent competitive meetings (2011 Women’s World Cup semifinals, 2012 Olympics) were both highly entertaining (3-1 and 4-2 US wins), and France is one of the few teams that can hope to match the US in terms of skill, so this is as big a friendly as you could hope to call, and it will be streamed on USsoccer.com.

Watching tape (and by tape, I generally mean YouTube, although sketchy streams from France have also been used) on both France and the US has been a lot of fun. Both teams will bring some of the best players in the world, particularly on the attacking side of the ball, but we'll also get to see some newer faces at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., all hoping to make the squads for next year's Women's World Cup in Canada.

I took French in both high school and college and loved trying to read the daily sports newspaper L’Equipe when I have traveled in France, so determining the correct pronunciations for French players’ names has been a blast. It’s made for a busy few weeks of preparation, and it should pay off when I call both games next week!