RAF Mildenhall airmen take on local football club in World Cup preview
June 8th, 2010 | Soccer | Posted by Mike Hoffman
A day before U.S. and England’s national teams square off in the World Cup Saturday, airmen at RAF Mildenhall, England, will challenge a local Mildenhall football club to a match.
What they are calling a “World Cup kickoff match,” Mildenhall’s base team will play Mildenhall Town FC at 6 p.m. on June 11. The teams will play only two 15-minute halves, which sounds more like a dog-and-pony-show than an actual match. A standard half lasts 45 minutes, but organizers have allowed for interviews and photo opportunities with the teams an hour before the game.
Tech Sgt. Kevin Wallace, one of the organizers, said he knew the game had to end before the first game of the World Cup scheduled that same night if he wanted anyone to attend.
Mildenhall doesn’t have an official base team, instead they formed an All-Star team amongst the squadron teams on base. Each coach got together and selected the best American players. Plenty of Brits also play on the squadron teams, but Wallace said they wanted to pick only American players in the spirit of U.S. vs. England.
Soccer is obviously England’s game of choice. In fact, most people refer to it as religion across the pond. As England’s first match against the Yanks approaches, Wallace compared the atmosphere in the country to the Super Bowl — but bigger.
“It’s ridiculous. Everywhere you go. Any road you drive down the cities and rural areas have world cup signs. Every third car you pass has English flags draping the cars. When you are here it’s the pulse. It’s the same feeling as a Super Bowl, but for the whole country,” Wallace said.
Christiano Ronaldo gets his face painted by airmen
June 7th, 2010 | Soccer | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Portugal footballer Christiano Ronaldo takes a break during an air force training session. (AP photo)
Since ESPN has deployed senior anchor Bob Ley and invested millions to make sure Americans don’t continue the time-honored tradition of ignoring soccer at least until the World Cup passes, we here at After Action will drink the Kool-Aid and try to find a couple military connections to the festivities down in South Africa.
Still searching for that inevitable U.S. military member connected to the U.S. national team or the pre-game speech by a Green Beret. But until then, we will turn our attention across the pond to some comical photos of the Portugal national team including fancy boy (and regrettably the second-best player in the world) Christiano Ronaldo applying some face paint and training with the Portugal Air Force.
Now, a few Marines or soldiers might snicker at the thought of any sports team turning to the Air Force for fitness guidance. And to no one’s real surprise it looks from these shots taken at the end of May by the AP that the training regimen doesn’t look too strenuous.
Enjoy, and we promise to have more U.S. national team updates soon. OK, I’ll admit it. ESPN did it. I’m legitimately excited for the World Cup. Anytime we can prove our dominance over those English nancy boys is an oppurtunity worth taking.
More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Looking for some relaxation? Try Iraq
October 22nd, 2009 | Army Iraq Marine Corps Soccer | Posted by Phil Ewing
"Soccer Warriors" of the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry blew off some steam in Kirkuk Province in 2008 // Staff Sgt. Ave Pele-Sizelove/ Air Force
Is your normal job taking up the time you could be using to practice your penalty kicks? Are you working so much at your assignment in the U.S. that you can’t learn new jujitsu moves? Well break out of that rut and get yourself to the world’s new sportsman’s paradise — Iraq!
Iraq is so placid these days that American troops stationed there have plenty of time to just cool out, according to this story in USA Today. Rather than loading up the vehicles and going out to crush some skulls, today’s forces sound like college freshmen taking eight credit hours this semester because they “felt like they needed some time to themselves.” They’re playing soccer, taking martial-arts classes, starting book clubs and doing karaoke.
(Although, a caution: Karaoke in the war zone can be haunting and poignant, rather than drunken and hilarious.)
For as much as U.S. troops enjoy not being in constant peril, they didn’t join up so they could debate Baudelaire at Balad:
Many troops express relief at the diminished threat of injury or death. Yet some say they have struggled with depression because they don’t feel like they are doing enough. Others say they are frustrated by the sense they’re being underutilized — particularly at a time when their comrades in Afghanistan are struggling to beat back the Taliban.
“It’s been hard to get used to how much things have changed,” says Army Staff Sgt. Wayne Kersh, 31, of St. George, Utah, who is on his third deployment in Iraq. “During the other tours, we were always going. You went on patrol, you ate, you slept, and then you did it again. You never had to think about keeping a soldier occupied.”
Then again, at least they’re on dry land… try being stuck on a ship for six months.