Tuesday, October 14, 2008

My take on Torres

Here's my Tuesday PE column on Jose Francisco Torres.

It's along the same lines as the things I wrote when he first accepted the call-up to the US national team. But there was one prominent voice in this column that I hadn't mentioned here before.

I actually got to write a last-minute story on, not just Torres but the whole Mexican-American issue for Futbol Mundial. At first the story was supposed to be sort of a general piece about the Edgar Castillos and Michael Orozcos of the world. But then we got word that Torres had committed to the US and it was on. It became a rather timely piece for the magazine, which is great since fortunes change in the soccer world quickly. For instance, we could have written about a coach or team in qualifying but who is to say that said coach or said team will be in the same shape as before.

Anyway, I talked to Sunil Gulati about Torres and the issue in general and some of what didn't make it to the magazine wound up here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.soccerpubs.com/boards/index.php?s=&showtopic=30618&view=findpost&p=649317

A.C. said...

Joe Biden said, “The reason I’ve been relatively successful is that I have never questioned the motive of other senators, and that’s instinctively Barack. Barack doesn’t start off, ‘Well, you disagree, you must be a, you know, an S.O.B. or you must not care about the poor or you’re sexist or you’re racist or you’re a whatever.’ He doesn’t think that way.”

Anonymous said...

Gulati is wrong. Torres had little chance of playing for Mexico. His chances in US are better. so it is a good choice. The Chile callup says it all.

Anonymous said...

Kudos for the story, LB. Excellent work, again.

Anonymous said...

"Should Torres and/or Orozco play for the United States in Mexico's famed stadium, it would be tangible proof that while Mexico is still a strong pull for Mexican-Americans, the United States has an equal if not stronger pull."

I don't really get this last paragraph. Are you saying that Torres or Orozco could take a pass on playing against Mexico in the Azteca? But if they accept the call-up, it would prove that Mexican-Americans prefer playing for the US over Mexico????