Create an account on KYCK before Wednesday’s USA vs. Mexico “International Frenemie” match, and you could win a Jozy Altidore USA jersey OR a Chicharito Mexico jersey! (Courtesy of SoccerPro.com)

In the latest episode of KYCK 90, we discuss the MLS All-Stars against Chelsea, our recent KYCKchat with Alexi Lalas, the USWNT’s Miley Cyrus-inspired music video, address some user feedback and give you a sneak-peek of KYCK v3. Let us know your thoughts!

What a weekend of action across Europe! Juventus lifted the Scudetto after securing the victory last weekend, Dortmund put their stamp on Germany by winning the DFB Pokal to complete their double, and, oh yeah, there was a pretty stunning finish in Manchester as well.  These are the best uses of social media from the weekend. 

With all respect to the mothers out there, Sunday was really all about Manchester City. In one of the most amazing finishes in recent memory, City came and scored two goals in injury time to beat QPR 3-2 and secure their first ever Premier League title. Midfielder Nigel de Jong tweeted this picture of City captain Vincent Kompany and himself with the Premier League trophy. Congratulations City!

Joey Barton is an internet sensation. If he weren’t a professional footballer, he likely would be one of those people who has 55,000 Twitter followers yet you still don’t know who they are.  When he was sent off against Manchester City for elbowing Carlos Tevez and then kneeing Sergio Aguero, I pined for his inevitable post-game Twitter rant and did he ever deliver. Apparently, he was completely in control of the situation and it went all to plan. Nice plan Joey. One wishes he would have promoted these tweets like he has in the past.

Dutch and Juventus winger Eljero Elia gave us this glimpse into the dressing room after their victory against Atalanta to complete their undefeated season. The Old Lady won the title last weekend but had to wait until Sunday to finally get their hands on the Scudetto.  Full credit to manager Antonio Conte who lifted the shroud in Turin to reveal an entertaining, attacking side worthy of the title.

Dortmund and Serbian-American center back Neven Subotic posted this picture to his Facebook of him in the Dortmund dressing room after their smackdown of Bayern Munich in the DFB Pokal final.  Well done to the former University of South Florida Golden Bull.

Forgotten American midfielder Sacha Kljestan collected a winners medal for Anderlecht in Belgium last weekend. He tweeted this picture out this weekend.  With a season like that, will be interesting to see if he’s in the picture for US qualifying. Think he deserves a shot?

What was your favorite social media moment from Survival Sunday?

Once again, the KYCK blog highlights the top 5 moments in social media from this weekend in the fútbol world.

El Clásico, the biggest match from this weekend, all but settled the La Liga title race as Real Madrid beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp 2-1, breaking a seven-match winless streak against the Catalans.  Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos (@SergioRamos) tweeted out this picture of Xabi Alonso (@xabialonso), Esteban Granero (@eGranero11), Pepe, José María Callejón and himself after the match. Rough translation: “3 points more to glory. To continue working.”  If they can win the Champions League, there’s no doubt they are the best team in the world this year.

Vancouver Whitecaps captain and defender Jay DeMerit (@D6MERIT) apparently kicked it with some of the chaps from Coldplay before the ‘Caps 1-0 win over FC Dallas.  Vancouver is about as rainy as London, so no surprise DeMerit’s a fan of the Brit rockers.  Cool to see Will Champion (left) and Guy Berryman (right) showing the MLS some love.

Would you hire this man as your club’s manager? Apparently Shanghai Shenhua thought that Nicolas Anelka (@anelkaofficiel) was perfect to play the role of player-head coach.   Well, Le Sulk took the time to let the world know it was his first victory as a coach. Does that mean he’s previously coached teams that have never won a game? We’ll monitor this one closely.

Chelsea’s Spaniard in London Juan Mata (@juanmata10) wished his teammate David Luiz (@DavidLuiz_4) a happy 25^th birthday and gave the world an exclusive look at the Brazilian’s custom birthday cake.  Yes, that’s The Simpson’s Sideshow Bob dressed in a Chelsea kit. We can sleep easy knowing the Chelsea dressing room also recognizes the resemblance. 

And finally, Australian journalist Neil Sherwin (@neilsherwin) showed us a little too much of the gory details when he tweeted this up-close-and-personal shot of Perth Glory striker Shane Smeltz’s (@shanesmeltz) broken nose.  Good use of social media? Um, yes, purely based on shock value.

Who was your favorite follow from the weekend that was?

Ronaldo vs Messi

In the United States, we recently made a big to-do out of NIKE unveiling their new versions of NFL teams’ jerseys, only to realize NIKE hardly changed a thing. We’ll most likely see more and more changes over the next few years keeping in mind professional teams for any sport Stateside can change their jerseys yearly on a whim.  When you’re creating a national teams’ jersey however, the pressure is on. Not only does your design have to be distinguishable while remaining true to flag and history of said nation, you’ve got to remember it’s the kit they will use for at least the next 2 years. Simply put, you can’t screw this one up like you could a one off for a pro club.

Wth that, the KYCK marketing team decided we would nominate our favorite kits and share them here. Regardless of whether you agree with us or not, you’ll get a little something out of it at the end of the post….should you want to shop for a kit yourself. 

First up:

REID PHILLIPS:

I vote Portugal’s kit this year as the best all around home-and-away kit out of the lot.  Both jerseys seem to scream PORTUGAL without appearing to scream at all (the hidden art behind kit design). Home kit is as simple as they make them and stays true to the historic Portugal kits while still weaving in cool design elements on the sleeve and it’ll work well with their green-and-white shorts. The Away Kit is probably my favorite of all the Euro kits home or away. Again it’s not in your face but still is recognizably Portugal and the design elements on the chest are first class. Invert the green and white shorts and you’ve got yourself a winner in my book.

Lastly, I’ve got to say I feel the away kits in general are more appealing to me than most of the homes (France, Netherlands, Denmark, to name a few). I think Germany is the only one that went awry in this pattern abandoning their solid black kits from last year and adopting a solid green. Still works just going to take some getting used to for me. 

Honorable mentions: Germany’s Home and Ireland’s Away Kits.

CLINT IRWIN:

The new Sweden away kit is master of the understated. Like its Swedish brethren, on first glance, it doesn’t strike you as a feat of garmenting brilliance, but says simply, “Here I am.” It is not Portugal’s garish flag-on-chest design, nor is it Santos’ samba magic.  The kit is Swedish. It’s elegant yet functional, and has a subtle way of burrowing into your idea of what a kit should look like. While Umbro is an English sub-brand of an American icon, this kit wouldn’t look out of place at your local IKEA.  This summer, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic ,with his Viking locks, is scoring goals for fun and taking the world by storm in this kit, you can rest assured, it’s typically Swedish. 

TRENT HAWTHORNE:

“When it comes to futbol jerseys, my taste resides in extremes — either hit me with an electric neon orange that screams “I am wearing a loud but rad jersey”, or lull me to sleep with subtlety & class. The all white NIKE kits recently released by France do the latter, and they do it well. This French squad has a better shot at winning Wimbledon than winning the Euro Cup, but after they’re eliminated in the Group Stage of the Euros in time to qualify for the classiest racket tournament of all, at least they won’t need new kits.”

MAC LACKEY (CEO):

Santos… They are celebrating 100 years of history. A history that includes the greatest soccer player to ever live - PELE. A club based in Brazil, the birthplace of jogo bonito. Santos has recently regained it’s former glory somewhat driven by another player who is already being talked about in the same breath as Pele, Maradonna, and Messi… The young mohawked Neymar. With its deep history and recent rise to the international stage all those who love the beautiful game can wear the Santos FC jersey proudly.

JASON YARBOROUGH:

American pride is defined by patriotism and heritage. It’s where we have come from, who we have become, and the strength in which we stand. This jersey stays true to not only our heritage as a country, but our heritage as a National Team. A team that hasn’t always been known for their outstanding performances on the pitch, but a team that has stood strong and proud, nonetheless. This kit keeps the heritage in tact with the patriotic red, white, and blue, along with a shaded sash, hailing from the same shirts donned by the U.S. Men’s National Team in the infamous defeat of England in 1950.  

I must say, the Oranje kits will, once again, make The Netherlands as fresh as ever. Tough decision, but I’ll stick with USMNT and Mr. Dempsey.

So, does all this talk of new kit designs have you ready to buy your favorite release? Or perhaps buy an old one? Or maybe you’re just in the mood to jump over to soccer.com and buy some new gear. Well, good news, if you spend over $100, you can use the KYCK coupon code, 1KYCK, to receive 10% off of an order of $100 or more. Happy Shopping!

Which new kit are you loving the most?

The Social Media Review Show is back for a second week!  Read the Top 5 Social Media moments from this weekend in the footy world, and tell us your best moments in the comments.



Injured Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva (@LucasLeiva87) tweeted this Instagram out moments after the Reds 2-1 FA Cup semifinal victory over Everton.  Not many fans get this perspective of the match and especially at a massive venue like Wembley. Gorgeous picture to boot!

Where there’s a winner, there’s always a loser. Everton defender Sylvain Distin (@sylvaind15tin) owned up to his catastrophic back-pass that let Liverpool back into their FA Cup semifinal match. Refreshing to see, but you can’t help feeling a little bad for one of Everton’s standout players this season.

After Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Sporting Gijon, defender Sergio Ramos (@SergioRamos) tweeted this Instagram of him and Morante de la Puebla, a famous Spanish bullfighter.  Look at that scarf and velvet jacket, with a solid victory cigar tucked into the pocket. Is he The Most Interesting Man in the World?

In the other FA Cup semifinal, Chelsea’s second goal (or was it?) prompted calls for video review of goal-line incidents. Manchester United’s Michael Owen (@themichaelowen) said what everyone else was thinking. If the players want it, and the fans want it, why can’t FIFA just make it happen?




Finally, the other big story from this past weekend was the death of Piermario Morosini, a midfielder for Serie B side Livorno, who suffered a heart attack on the pitch.   Players reacted through social media with thoughts and prayers for the family of Morosini.  Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) passed along his well wishes. Rafael van der Vaart (@rafvdvaart) retweeted Wesley Sneijder (@sneijder101010) thoughts.

Lucas Leiva (@LucasLeiva87), with the Muamba incident in mind, tweeted his thoughts. Leiva says (translated): “I believe that the increased intensity of the game in recent years may have influenced this. We are always doing blood and heart tests but it seems it’s not enough.”


What do you think of the Morosini incident? Are players being pushed to hard? Or is it tragic coincidence? Share in the comments.

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Clint Irwin is a KYCK team member, a professional player for Charlotte Eagles and a coach with Charlotte United. He was an Academic All-American, Hermann Trophy nominee, and Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award nominee at Elon University. You can follow him @ClintIrwin.

We have big ideas.  All of them are good ideas too.  There is no shortage of them.  The problem is saying no to most of them in order to deliver the right ideas first.  Imagine trying to decide the seven fingers you want to keep.  It’s a daily debate held in a leadership meeting or my head as I juggle the production schedule.  Our current feature list could carry us through the rest of 2012 and that doesn’t include an Android app which several users have requested.

On the other side, we know there are bugs in the product and we thank all of our users for their feedback.  We record and investigate each one.  We prioritize these as well.  We tend to fix bugs that affect the largest group of users first.  Beyond that we address the ones that cause us the most personal pain or affect features we plan on improving soon.

Our goal with each new product release is to include at least one new feature along with bug fixes and polish.  Apple’s review process limits how often we can push out new versions but know we prefer a higher frequency of product iteration.

Three final and somewhat related notes.

·         We are looking to grow our product team which will speed up our version releases.  If you know any web developers who want to make the jump to startup life, tell them to mention @LesPorter in a tweet.

·         We submitted our latest iOS update to Apple today and it includes lots of fixes and improvements.  You definitely will want to update the KYCK when you see the App Store notification in about a week.

·         Lastly, we’re working on a big update that will include a lot of new functionality for soccer teams and fútbol clubs.  Send me an email or tweet if you would like your club to be considered in our alpha testers group.

Do you remember what following your favorite footballer was like before Twitter, before Facebook? You probably don’t.  In the most predictable statement written (so far) on this blog, social media changed the way we as fans consume the game.  And if you ask a journalist, they’ll tell you the same thing. 

The biggest change in the way sports are covered now is access.  You the fan now have direct access to Clint Dempsey, Wayne Rooney and Gerard Piqué. No longer do you read what the papers say the players said after the game. Instead, you read the reaction of the player on Twitter.  Journalists have been bypassed and the players are talking directly to the fans.  Want to know what Gerard Piqué is up to on his off days? Find him on Twitter, and, would you look at that, there he is in a pool with his clothes on. 

This flies in the face of “how it’s always been done.”  In Europe, players treat old media with a wary eye.  After games, most players don’t even engage the media. Unlike the United States where reporters mill about in locker rooms waiting for a quick quote, in Europe they are siphoned to an ambiguously named area called the “mixed zone” and wait for a line to file in their match reports as footballers walk past on their way to the bus. By no means are the players required to speak to them and most times they don’t.  

If a reporter wants a sit-down interview with Mario Balotelli or Carlos Tévez, good luck.  Journalists will be sent through all manner of go-betweens, agents, club officials and sponsors to make sure that interview is chocked full of useless, bland remarks from what are obviously fascinating people.  Want a photo spread with England keeper Joe Hart? Better make sure the new Umbro kit and goalkeeper gloves are displayed prominently.*

Social media, though, has made the mixed zone irrelevant. The mixed zone now is Twitter.  Fans tweet players with pictures and comments, telling them how bad they suck and how great they are based on performance. And unlike the press conference, it’s a two-way exchange.  Players can answer questions in traditional form but can also tell the fans to go get their heads examined. 

And this access is only increasing as players start video blogs on YouTube, Facebook fan pages and host Skype sessions with fans.  The social media world is flat. Now go outdo Grant Wahl.

*Next time you’re reading FourFourTwo, see if you can spot the “sponsored” interviews.

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Clint Irwin is a KYCK team member, a professional player for Charlotte Eagles and a coach with Charlotte United. He was an Academic All-American, Hermann Trophy nominee, and Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award nominee at Elon University. You can follow him @ClintIrwin.

You’ve heard the music before. Swelling strings and a swooning crescendo of voices let you know that it’s Champions League time. You’ve set aside your Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon to watch the best of Europe compete. But why has the Champions League assumed Super Bowl levels of importance to many clubs?

Short answer: money.

As multi-stage club tournaments go (qualifying stage, group stage, knockout round), the Champions League is the granddaddy of them all. Qualification for the Champions League can mean the difference between profitability and prolonged financial difficulty for many clubs.

Here’s the cash breakdown*: just for reaching the qualifying stages UEFA, the organization that runs the Champions League, awards teams about $2.8 million. If clubs are lucky enough to reach the group stages, they receive $5.2 million plus $733,000 for every group match played. Wins in the group stage get $1.06 million. A perfect group stage record of six wins could earn a club $19.8 million, plus the $2.8 million if they have come through the qualifying rounds.

Reaching the knockout rounds means even more cash. Round of 32 participants get $4 million, quarterfinalists get an additional $4.3 million, semifinalists another $5.3 million, finalists $6.9 million and winners sit on $12 million. So, if a club goes from the group stage to lifting the European Cup, they will earn about $41.2 million. That’s a lot of dough.

This type of money goes a long way to securing the best talent from around the globe for many clubs. The best players demand the best wages; wages that can only be paid by teams flush with Champions League cash. It’s not only wages that attract the best players, but the chance to challenge themselves in the most competitive club games around. Robin van Persie wants to play at the highest level: against the best clubs with the best players. Missing out on the Champions League likely means clubs seeing their best players seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

Competing in the Champions League brings further opportunities for clubs as well. The commercial side of the game has become increasingly relevant in the last ten years. Sponsors, another revenue source for clubs, want to be in front of the largest audiences for soccer (the 2009 Champions League final was the most-watched annual single sport event in the world). Match-day revenues, an important part of many clubs’ financial planning (Arsenal earned $4.4 million per match in 2011), increases, because, no surprise, there are more matches for fans to attend.

So next time you’re watching Barcelona play AC Milan or Bayern Munich against Real Madrid, realize that Champions League matches are crucial for many clubs. Once you’re in, it’s a self-perpetuating cash cow that, in theory, should set you up for long-term success. But breaking the two to four club stranglehold in many countries, that’s the difficulty.

*All financial figures courtesy of the excellent football finances blog, The Swiss Ramble.

Written by Clint Irwin, Content Creator at KYCK.com, Professional Soccer Player for the Charlotte Eagles, and Coach for Charlotte United.