2015: A Forgettable Year for US Soccer in Many Ways

Year in Review: More lows than highs for American soccer in 2015

It was a forgettable year for American soccer fans, but there were some highlights to help offset the down moments, writes Ives Galarcep.

You can forgive American soccer fans if they don't have fond memories of 2015. Sure, there were some unforgettable moments, and accomplishments, but overall there was something thoroughly disappointing about the year as a whole.

The bad taste can be attributed in large part to the struggles and disappointments of the U.S. men's national team. The good vibes created by the 2014 World Cup quickly faded, and while there were flashes of promise at various points this year, the lingering memories will be of the team's Gold Cup failure and subsequent CONCACAF Cup loss to Mexico. That defeat didn't just mean there will be no 2017 Confederations Cup for the Americans, but much more painfully, was a realization that the U.S. had handed back the crown as King of CONCACAF to Mexico. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of Goal.com.

Kicking Back Comments: I agree with Galarecp and in fact would expand on it that the worlds game did not have a very good year in general. Things are a bit "off" right now.

Very un-holiday like I agree, but (and I hate to say this) we have not seen the bottom yet. Maybe the back half of 2016 if the World's Game gets its act together will see promise ... but I am not hopeful.

For my New Year's wish, I hope the power struggle at FIFA is figured out and the criminals are not allowed to return. Only then will things begin to take form.

It's just in time too as 2016 will see us one step closer to Russia 2018 and I hope a new venue for 2022.

Best wishes from us at Kicking Back to all of you for a prosperous and healthy 2016.

A New Year ... and then some

I have to say I am mostly happy to be back ...

Mostly because it was great to unplug for a few weeks and "take a breath" and also evaluate our year ahead.

I leave 2013 with very mixed emotions as it would have been my last year on The List should I have attained such an honor. It also reminds me just how full of crap FIFA is to cap the age at 45 as I think a pretty compelling case can be made (actually based in science) why the very best referees should be able to work to 50 ... as FIFA used to allow. We will save that for later this month.

It did force me to reflect on my career as a referee and what would have been my forced retirement and my actual retirement from the collegiate game and celebrate Jr. getting geared up to become a referee in early 2014.

It also was a time of recognition from an active career as a referee, to one of a referee coach, assessor, and instructor. It is clearly time to give back for me.

Now before I get all misty, I am still refereeing, actively, just not as much as I used to. Also, my *focus* is no longer my refereeing, but others.

Kicking Back is going to change a bit too in this regard as in looking back at my musings over the last years, it has increasingly stepped away from analysis, and more toward bashing (FIFA).

While I don't intended to stop that practice, especially with some of the lunacy coming from Sepp these days, I think it is important to get back to what Kicking Back was initially intend to be, a thoughtful commentary on sport and how that intersects with refereeing of all types.

To accomplish this however I will be writing a little less in an effort to go a bit deeper in topics so please bear with me as we change form right before your eyes.

I do however reserve the right to rant on occasion about the lunacy that is going on on the international stage ... in fact ... Fridays are that day ... Free-for-all Friday's where there will be little content and big rants.

It is a World Cup year after all, so let's see where we go.

Next up, year 5.