Soccer Poet

Poetheads, are you ready to get your World Cup on? Is your red, white and blue ready to be gloriously glorious? Are you fired up to watch Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo and friends kick some global backside at the 2015 Women’s World Cup? Oh hell yes! I don’t know why, but I just have a feeling that this is our year. Believe me; as a Philly fan, I've learned to set my hope meter at something just above abject despair, so this is way out of my comfort zone. I honestly haven’t felt this optimistic since ’99, and I can’t explain it, but I just have this undeniable feeling that this is the year that we recoup the cup.

To celebrate the 2015 Women’s World Cup and a fervent patriotism for the Stars and Stripes, I’m going to be giving away copies of my new book (that hasn’t even been released yet!), and there’s no reason you shouldn’t win one of them. Keep on reading I’ll tell you how in just a moment.

In other news… Since the launch of Soccer iQ, many readers have suggested how awesome it would be if there were videos to go along with the book. And because I’m a big fan of awesome, I couldn’t agree more! So as another arm of my WWC celebration, I am happy to announce the release of the first Soccer iQ video. It’s a companion to Chapter 36, Turning the Corner, and it features a few of my all-time favorite people/players. Check it out and let me know what you think. If you like it, please share the link because Lord knows how many players will benefit from watching it. Incidentally, I apologize in advance for my comically bad narration. Clearly I’m no Kevin Copp.

Okay, let’s get back to that contest. This is how it’s gonna work…

The prerequisites:

First off, you need to have read Soccer iQ, either Vol. 1, Vol. 2 or (preferably) both. It’s not that I’m trying to strong-arm you into buying a book; it’s just that if you haven’t read either of these suckers, you won’t know what to look for.

Secondly, you have to be a Twitter follower of mine - @SoccerPoet.

With that out of the way, here’s how it works… Spot a Soccer iQ moment from any match and tweet it to me with the hashtag #SocceriQ. The ‘moment’ must be referenced in either Vol. 1 or Vol. 2. Describe the moment, include the teams, the running time of the match and stick the hashtag #SocceriQ on there. For example…

@SoccerPoet USvAUS 62:15 AUS forward Worlds Dumbest Foul #SocceriQ

@SoccerPoet JAPvSUI 24:40 JAP fwd tries Impossible Pass #SocceriQ

As Soccer iQ is about the most common mistakes, that’s mainly what we’re looking for – mistakes – not examples of players getting it right… although there certainly are some exceptions. For example… someone hunting a rebound on a penalty kick, or a toe poke for a goal. That kinda stuff will work too.

The tweeter of the best Soccer iQ moment of each match (as selected by our blue ribbon panel of judge) wins. If multiple followers tweet about the same moment, the one who tweets first will win.

At that point I’ll need to get your shipping address (no P.O. boxes) and soon I’ll be sending you a free copy my upcoming release Shutout Pizza – Smarter Soccer Defending for Players and Coaches. Then we will all celebrate our shared good fortune as Team USA emerges victorious as world champion!

So you see, it’s really quite simple, yes?

Oh yeah, one more thing… you can win up to three times.

Remember, the tournament starts this Saturday, June 6, and the US opens its play on Monday, June 8 against those Matildas from Down Under. My prediction? PAAAAIN.