The story was written by Steven Goff from the Washington Post and I have to say that once again supporters of the US Men’s National team are going to get screwed. If you thought that you couldn’t find the Mun2 channel for USA Vs Mexico in English then you will be completely out of luck on a possible clinch to South Africa when the live event won’t be on Pay Per View.

The Honduran Football Federation sold the rights of  the live event to an American company named Media World which is a division of Media Pro that is based in Spain will be selling the match to Latin American restaurants & bars on Close Circuit Television. That means your going to have to watch with some people that won’t be wearing your jerseys, but that’s never stopped us before.

Remember the last time we had to watch these two sides in Honduras for World Cup Qualifying only it was on PPV? Back in the final round of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup I was at Nathan Hale’s near City Hall in New York City and we saw Earnie Stewart launch a long distance rip past the keeper in the first half for a one goal to nil lead. Honduras would pull one back in the middle of the second half till inside the final ten minutes, the USA would get a free kick and right away I was screaming in the pub for Clint Mathis to take the free kick. As we all remember that was the beautiful free kick where Mathis bent the ball inside the near post for the match winner and the USA was on their way to a fabulous start in the first half of that World Cup Qualifying campaign.

But once again we have a problem when ESPN is suppose to be the top sports network to show American Soccer & our American league, never negotiated with Media World for the live English language rights. The asking price was under a million dollars and somehow ESPN and other outlets who inquired about broadcasting the match said no. THEY SAID NO?! WHAT IN THE HELL IS THEIR PROBLEM?! THE USA IS ON THE VERGE OF TAKING ONE OF THE TOP THREE SPOTS IN THE STANDINGS TO QUALIFY FOR THE WORLD CUP AND ESPN SAID NO?!

What the hell is wrong with these people? Even Mr. Skipper has to be held accountable for his mistake of not accepting this price to bring in this important road qualifier and providing us with Rob Stone, J.P. Dellacamera & John Harkes for commentary. Where the hell is Fox Soccer Channel as well? Don’t they want to pick up the ball when ESPN drops it? I guess all they care about is showing live World Cup qualifying from Europe & Asia? GOL TV? MUN2?

Where is US Soccer in all this? Where is the head of the communications department Michael Kammarman in all this? He’s too busy sitting on his lovely chair in his office looking out the window and admiring the warm day in Chicago instead of trying to bust his rear end and fight for every US Soccer fan to watch this important match live. Not only is he doing a dis-service to the American soccer community, but the American press who wants to cover this match live.

Obviously no worries if someone comes like an Univision or Telemundo will swoop in and grab the replay and put it on after Mexico plays, but what would happen if it doesn’t? Tell me right now how would you feel if there was no replay at all and you would have to beg for the bartender at El Cid (Yes it’s a made up name of a place) to tape the match and then transfer the tape to You Tube so everyone can see it either in sections or just the highlights? The moment is ruined & whose fault is that? US Soccer and the top channels showing the game to their viewers that wants to see our National Team qualify for the biggest tournament in World Football.

This is where you have to call them Euro Snobs when it comes to these channels, when they are begging for European club football, the European Cup, UEFA Champions League and refusing to grow the game in their own country. Aren’t you folks getting sick and tired of being shafted not just by the local channels but our federation who refuses to give a helping hand to get live T.V. of an important World Cup Qualifier that could be the clincher on Saturday, October 10th. This isn’t the qualifying cycle from the last World Cup where it took the seventh match against Mexico in Columbus to officially book US Soccer’s ticket to Germany.

It is getting very frustrating when something so important can’t be controlled by the necessary outlets to help us out. If it’s so freaking important to get the rights to broadcast the World Cup its self, how about the ten qualifiers to get to the World Cup. It’s not about “Oh don’t worry, the replay will be shown and everything will be fine” No that’s not the point. Either get it now or make sure you can get it done the right way. Stop messing around and take care of the situation. But unfortunately, we as diehard supporters will never win.

http:\/\/voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2009/09/usa-honduras_tv.html