Too often I think an approach to defining strategy is all-inclusive. Usually it takes a definition of strategy and then people/systems to follow. As I was reading this article on Jurgen Klinsmann and his brief flirtation with the US Soccer team, I was struck by his thoughts on defining the US Soccer brand of play.

You just have to go ahead and define it and say: ‘This is what we are going to build. Do you buy into it?’ You won’t get everybody being on board. You will lose probably 20 or 30 percent on the way. And then you have to tell players or even staff people: ‘You have to move on. I have to get other people on board who believe in this system, who believe in this style of play.’

I believe this mentality to branding/strategy is one of the smarter approaches, but is used less frequently as there’s a large (and, many times, wasteful) effort to “gather consensus.”

There’s been some critique of Usain Bolt for being lazy and slowing down in his record sprints. To me that just shows his true talent. Now, we’re hearing Bolt has ambitions of playing professional soccer. I’d tend to agree with Kottke, a wide receiver may be a more natural fit.

An ode to Lionel Messi, the best footballer in the world.

Messi simply does things — little things and big things — that other players here cannot do. He gets a ball in traffic, is surrounded by two or three defenders, and he somehow keeps the ball close even as they jostle him and kick at the ball. He takes long and hard passes up around his eyes and somehow makes the ball drop softly to his feet, like Keanu Reeves making the bullets fall in “The Matrix.” He cuts in and out of traffic — Barry Sanders only with a soccer ball moving with him [joshpremuda: amazing metaphor] — sprints through openings that seem only theoretical, races around and between defenders who really are running even if it only looks like they are standing still. He really does seem to make the ball disappear and reappear, like it’s a Vegas act.

Kottke mentions Messi is having a great World Cup even though he’s only registered a single assist. I agree and would add that if you watch the way he plays, Messi basically plays with one foot — his left. And that’s what’s impressive about him to me. Everyone knows he relys on his left foot, yet no one can defend him.

He [Howard] refuses to take medication for [Tourette's] for fear it will make him “zombielike” and impair his motor skills. “I’m very adrenaline-filled, and I wouldn’t want to suppress that,” Howard said. “I like the way I am. If I woke up tomorrow without Tourette’s, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.“

First, I had no idea Tim Howard has tourette’s. Second, I completely agree with his philosophy on medication. I’ve had a similar experience in my life and not taking the meds caused the occasional rift in my life, but I made the choice not to take it because I didn’t feel like myself (when I took it). And, I like me (how I am).

Here’s an excellent World Cup Preview from n+1 for those of you who are still getting a feel for the teams. It’s a quick read and gets right to the point (and I wholeheartedly agree with all the assessments).

The more discerning USA fan knows that Donovan is Cristiano Ronaldo Lite—overrated, overexposed, and a bit of a whiner. The US actually relies on Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, and Tim Howard, all of whom are equal to or superior to Donovan in ability but for various reasons less marketable.

Dave Eggers takes a look at why soccer hasn’t become a more popular sport in the US. GOOD and the New York Times explore the same question, but with a twist: is America’s obsession with college getting in the way of producing more soccer talent?

No other nation has as comprehensive a college-sports system as exists here, and none assume that an elite athlete will seek (or benefit from) higher education. “You have a major problem in the ages of 17 to 21,” Huw Jennings, now the director of the youth academy at Fulham, in the English Premier League, told me when I visited him in London. “The N.C.A.A. system is the fault line. I understand that it is good for a person’s development to go to university, but it’s not the way the world develops players.”

It’s a very interesting discussion and now makes me think about the NBA’s age/college requirements. If we’re talking NBA, I think more players looking to skip college should take the Brandon Jennings route (but maybe for longer than a year).

Take from the information what you want, but some quants for JP Morgan have predicted, using some sophisticated models they developed, England winning the 2010 World Cup.

Billy Beane (GM of focus in Moneyball) has the same feelings on Arsenal and Tottenham as I do. While he’s a fan of Tottenham as a club, he’s a fan of how Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger manages the club comparing him to Warren Buffett.

Jay-Z could be interested in buying soccer club Arsenal. I like his philosophy (on business).

I don’t know a lot about the business of soccer, but in the future if the right opportunity presented itself, then who knows? I am a businessman, and I will always look at an opportunity, and if it feels right great.

Fascinating stuff with the success rate of a penalty kick in correlation with how quickly you take the kick after the ref’s whistle. Makes a lot of sense when you think about the reasoning.

Sports psychologist Geir Jordet and his colleagues have found that, on average, the less time a player takes to respond to the referee’s whistle before running towards the ball to take the penalty, the more likely they are to fail to score.

The researchers say the finding is consistent with the idea that choking is a form of “self-regulatory breakdown”. In other words, an intense threat to our reputation can cause so much distress that we do whatever we can to end the situation as quickly as possible, even if taking this action is harmful to our performance.