October 9, 2015

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Sports October 9, 2015

Next Chapter In U.S. Vs. Mexico Soccer Rivalry Kicks Off Saturday

Members of the Mexico team celebrate a 4-2 win against the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., June 25, 2011. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Jae C. Hong/AP

Here we go: some international soccer news that doesn’t involve FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, the United States men’s national team will square off against Mexico’s in a one-game playoff that’s being called the CONCACAF Cup. It will be held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., a historically pro-Mexico venue, and the winner of the game will go on to represent the region in the Confederations Cup in Russia in 2017.

Saturday’s game between the rivals has been looming for months, ever since Mexico won the Gold Cup in July. Tournament rules required the tiebreaker game because the U.S. won the 2013 Gold Cup and Mexico took the following title this summer. The winning team advances to play in the Confederations Cup, a tournament held one year before the World Cup that allows the best teams from around the world to see how they measure up against stiff international competition.

Here’s what you need to know about the game:

1. U.S. Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann Under Pressure

After a disappointing performance in this summer’s Gold Cup, Klinsmann started to feel the heat. While the German’s leadership and vision for the U.S. squad has been questioned repeatedly since he took over in 2011, former U.S. star Landon Donovan ramped up the rhetoric this week, calling for Klinsmann’s job should the U.S. lose, according to ESPN.

“Around the world, if a player plays poorly and a player has a bad string of results, they get dropped from the team. Jurgen said many times he wants our players to feel pressure — so if they lose a game they can’t go to the grocery store the next day. If they lose a game, they are getting hammered in the press.

“Well, the same holds true for the coach, and so we had a very poor summer with bad results in the Gold Cup. The last game against Brazil was probably the worst game I’ve seen them play under Jurgen.

“The reality is that now, anywhere else in the world, if this coach had those results, and they lose this game against Mexico, they’d be fired.

“I think if Jurgen wants to hold all the players to that standard, then he has to be held to that standard too.”

Of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that some bad blood lingers between Donovan and his former coach after Klinsmann decided to leave the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. off the 2014 World Cup roster. But then again, former U.S. head coach Bob Bradley was fired after the team lost to Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup final, which could be seen as a precedent should the U.S. decide to cut ties with the coach. For what it’s worth, the U.S. has never lost to Mexico under Klinsmann.

2. Mexican Star Giovani Dos Santos Out With Injury

The Mexican national team confirmed on Twitter this week that Giovani Dos Santos is suffering from a muscular injury and will not be with the team.

“Gio tiene un problema muscular y no podrá estar con nosotros. Estamos viendo quién conformaría el plantel”: Ferretti
#ElFutbolEsNuestro

— Selección Nacional (@miseleccionmx) October 5, 2015

The 26-year-old striker already has 89 starts with the national team and 17 goals, including the winning goal in Mexico’s 4-2 victory over the U.S. in the 2011 Gold Cup final.

Dos Santos’ absence could definitely hurt Mexico, but El Tri has a talented cast of characters ready to step up and fill his cleats, including his brother, Jonathan Dos Santos.

3. Battle Of The Advertisements

Remember the ad aired on Mexican TV last month that used Donald Trump’s controversial remarks on immigration to hype the game? As we reported at the time, the ad spliced snippets from Trump’s comments with footage of the U.S. team losing to the Mexican side.

“In the ad, an electric guitar wails ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in the background as the Republican presidential candidate says things like ‘we don’t have victories anymore’ and ‘the American dream is dead.’ Meanwhile, a video montage plays of Mexican players scoring goals, frustrated U.S. players and disappointed American fans.”

On Friday, Fox Soccer responded with its own ad, again using Trump’s words. In this promotion, however, Trump is seen saying, “Our country has tremendous people, tremendous potential,” and “we will make American great again.” He also says, “I love the Mexican people.”

(2/2) Well, now watch this Trump pump up video for the #USMNT! Get ready. #USAvMEX kicks tomorrow on @FS1!
https://t.co/1mfnfZiqTo

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) October 9, 2015

The ad immediately incurred backlash on social media. There were hundreds of negative responses to the commercial, including from U.S. men’s national team player Herculez Gomez and the Twitter account for one of the main U.S. soccer fan groups, American Outlaws.

I’m 100% positive that this view is not shared by all @FOXSoccer employees or @ussoccer fans. We’ve come too far to stoop to this.

— herculez gomez (@herculezg) October 9, 2015

.@FOXSoccer @FS1 No.

— The American Outlaws (@AmericanOutlaws) October 9, 2015

I don’t think Fox understands the demographics of the American soccer-watching public.

— Travis Waldron (@Travis_Waldron) October 9, 2015

.@FOXSoccer @FS1 Delete your account.

— Russ Andolina (@rjandolina) October 9, 2015

Business October 9, 2015

Volkswagen Faces Uphill Battle In Repairing Tarnished Reputation

3:54

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Volkswagen faces two enormous repair jobs: fixing its polluting diesel cars and its battered reputation. Both may be much harder to fix than anything other scandal-plagued car companies have faced.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Volkswagen now faces two enormously difficult repair jobs. First, fixing millions of polluting VW diesel vehicles, and second, fixing Volkswagen’s reputation after the company was found cheating on emissions tests. Car companies have patched their battered brands before, but, as NPR’s Sonari Glinton reports, the scandal at Volkswagen is different.

SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Some practices on Capitol Hill get repeated so often, they become rituals. Every year or so a car CEO gets taken to the woodshed by Congress. It’s kind of like an annual rite – the shaming of the car executives.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I don’t see here in GM they’re just whistleblowers.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: You would also be insane if the top executives from the three automakers came here on private jets.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You just can’t say now, now, and forget the past because people died.

GLINTON: Those were from car hearings past – General Motors’ ignition switch, the auto bailout, Takata air bags, et cetera. And I don’t have to play you a montage to give you a sense of how Congress feels about Volkswagen this week – this bit of tape from Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky does the trick.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JAN SCHAKOWSKY: The company’s word isn’t worth a dime. The only thing I want to hear today is exactly how will Volkswagen make this right by consumers.

REBECCA LINDLAND: It’s just another black mark against an industry that, to some extent, people love to hate.

GLINTON: Rebecca Lindland is senior auto analyst with KBB.com. She says the backlash against Volkswagen is different. Beyond the inherent deception, Lindland says the cheat feels personal to people in the U.S. who specifically sought out VW, especially Gen Xers, who are most loyal to the brand.

GLINTON: We went out on a limb. You know, we didn’t go with the obvious choices of a Chevrolet or a Honda. We went with a Volkswagen, and that’s a statement.

GLINTON: Lindland says fixing that relationship will take years, and so will fixing the actual cars.

LINDLAND: The reason that the fix is going to take so long over time is that there’s a number of different generations that are involved and there’s a number of different fixes. So not all vehicles can be fixed through a software upgrade.

GLINTON: Lindland and others say as bad as it may seem for Volkswagen, the company could actually improve its relationship with customers by handling the fix quickly and well. Jack Fitzgerald has been a car dealer since 1966, and he’s had two VW dealerships since the ’90s. He says when it comes to the VW fix, speed matters.

JACK FITZGERALD: Well, the most important thing they can do is to get the matter resolved quickly, get whatever the fix is going to be, and get it installed. And the sooner they do that the sooner the interest in the media will calm down.

GLINTON: Fitzgerald says the anger people feel about Volkswagen is anger he’s felt many times before about other big car companies.

FITZGERALD: Is it cheating to knowingly put out a car with a defective emissions switch that you could fix for a buck or less? How about air bags that you were told by your own employees, it’s going to blow up. But you do it anyway. Isn’t that cheating?

GLINTON: Fitzgerald says customers have a right to be angry, but he’s not surprised.

FITZGERALD: These manufacturers do so many things like this so I suspect that we will periodically run into things like this forever.

GLINTON: Fitzgerald says the real fix would be if consumers paid more attention to recalls, and regulators found the problems and caught the cheaters sooner. Sonari Glinton, NPR News.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

Health October 9, 2015

Washington, D.C., Council Proposal Sets New Standard On Paid Family Leave

3:21

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Critics say the U.S. is one of the few industrialized nations not to offer any paid leave for new parents, but now the Washington, D.C., Council is considering a bill that would grant workers in the nation’s capital 16 weeks of paid leave — more than anywhere else in the U.S.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

We hear a lot that the U.S. is behind other countries when it comes to paid maternity and paternity leave. People in Germany get 14 weeks. In Bangladesh, it’s 16. In Cuba, it’s 18 weeks. All at full pay. Martin Austermuhle, of member station WAMU, reports that city council members in Washington, D.C., are proposing that workers get 16 weeks of paid family leave.

MARTIN AUSTERMUHLE, BYLINE: Rob Keithan became a dad last month when his daughter was born seven weeks early. But for all the joy of becoming a parent, he says he’s now adapting to the reality of being a parent.

ROB KEITHAN: Neither my wife or I have any paid leave. She works for a small business that has great, great people, but a small business, and doesn’t have any kind of paid leave program. And I’m an independent consultant. So I don’t get work, I don’t get paid.

AUSTERMUHLE: Keithan says he and his wife were forced to save up so they could afford to take time off with their new daughter. And they’re not alone, says Vicki Shabo, of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

VICKI SHABO: Only 13 percent of workers nationwide have access to paid family leave. Just 40 percent have access to temporary disability insurance. And only 60 percent of workers – 61 percent of workers – have access even to a single paid sick day.

AUSTERMUHLE: Shabo says only California, New Jersey and Rhode Island have paid leave laws on the books, but they could soon be joined by Washington, D.C., where this week a bill was introduced in the city council that would give workers like Keithan and his wife a full 16 weeks of leave, all of it paid. David Grosso is a member of the D.C. Council and wrote the paid leave bill. He says the bill would require all employers to pay a percentage of each employee’s salary into a fund run by the city.

DAVID GROSSO: Higher-paid employees you pay up to 1 percent, lower-paid employees you pay as little as 0.2 percent. And then that money goes into the fund where the fund then gets paid out people who are out on leave.

AUSTERMUHLE: But that the cost would fall largely on employers has sparked opposition from business leaders like Harry Wingo of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce.

HARRY WINGO: You know, our concerns is that this would go further than any other type of legislation in the nation, and in a bad way. The burden would be completely on employers. So this would be employer funded, and in fact, employees would not be contributing as they do in other systems.

AUSTERMUHLE: Business owners also say that operating costs have steadily increased as the D.C. Council has passed new laws like mandatory paid sick leave and a higher minimum wage. Barney Shapiro says that cuts into the bottom line at the trash hauling company he owns.

BARNEY SHAPIRO: In theory, we all want better lives for our workers – at least I do. But you have to also take into consideration we still have to make money.

AUSTERMUHLE: But Grosso, the D.C. Council member, thinks the city’s skeptical businesses should look at paid leave in a different light.

GROSSO: So you’re going to be able to retain employees. You’re going to be able to attract good employees. You’re going to have employees coming back to work happy. They’re going to be more productive.

AUSTERMUHLE: The paid leave bill still faces two votes in the council, but a majority of council members say they already support it. For NPR News, I’m Martin Austermuhle in Washington.

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October 9, 2015

Best of the Week: 'Fast & Furious 8' Finally Found a Director, Marvel Announced 'Ant-Man and The Wasp' and More

Next Chapter In U.S. Vs. Mexico Soccer Rivalry Kicks Off Saturday

Volkswagen Faces Uphill Battle In Repairing Tarnished Reputation

Transcript

Washington, D.C., Council Proposal Sets New Standard On Paid Family Leave

Transcript