Maradawga

Not as bad as 2002 but still ...

2006-08-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

Most people who read these things remember the 2002 photo spread of the men's national team in the New York Times that was so awful for its implied homosexuality. Not that I care if you the soccer player are gay or not (or anyone for that matter), but, c'mon US Soccer, we needed your help there and you didn't give it to us.

That said, I'm not linking to them. If you want to find them you can do it on your own.

The point of this post?

Reggie Bush in a photoshoot for GQ doesn't look like our soccer boys at alllllll. No, not at allllll.

Sure there important things afoot, but this is too funny ...

2006-08-17T17:39:00.000-04:00

There are not many things that I've yet to accomplish since moving to New York. One of them, however, was having a legitimate conversation with a crazy person. And not only was she crazy, she was uppity as well.

Therefore, she is named CrazyUppity.

Last night, I convinced some friends to go watch the D.C. United - Red Bulls game at a bar around the corner from hockey practice. The bar was nothing special (I don't even remember the name) and, though it had been confirmed they'd show the game, had only Wheel of Fortune on their one television when we walked in. There were two people at the other end of the bar and CrazyUppity hanging out on the end near us. We took our seats.

Next to us sat a blond woman of obvious New York ancestry, probably in the 50 - 55 age range and not sharing her burger and beer with anyone. She looked like many of my relatives and certainly sounded as if she had just come in from the Island with an accent thick enough off which to bounce a ball.

After politely asking the bartender to change the channel to the Red Bulls, CrazyUppity asks us what that is. I respond, nicely, that it's a soccer game.

"Fuck that," was her reply. She instructed the bartender to put the Yankees or Mets game or some other real sport and that soccer was awful. Not asked, mind you, but instructed.

CU: Soccer's awful. Put on a real sport.

Me: What's wrong with soccer?

CU: It's a boring ass sport that only pansies play.

My friend quickly commented that the Yankees game wasn't on (even though I think it was) and she eventually relented.

But she wasn't done. CrazyUppity continued railing against soccer and all the variations thereof. According to her, she hates the American team but is happy that Italy one because she's an "American-born of Italian descent." It kills me that at this point I completely forgot to ask her why she hated America.

Me: Are you a communist?

CU: No, I'm a pure-blooded American.

Me: Then why didn't you root for America?

CU: Cause I hate them. I'm glad everyone beat their asses. Especially Italy, which is my team. (ed note: We tied Italy 1-1 in the only good game we played) I'm American-born of Italian descent.

Me: You should like the American team if you're a real American (ed note: If you have Hulk Hogan's entrance theme in your head now, my apologies)

CU: I'm glad when Brazil beat their asses.

Me: We actually beat Brazil last time we played them in Copa America.

CU: Whatever, I hate the American team.

I did ask her if she's a communist, though. She said she wasn't. She also thought her idiot friends are insane because they were all rooting for Brazil for some reason.

Wait. It gets better.

After some brief quiet time, she tells me I must not be from around here. Did I move to the South? I thought those of us below the Mason-Dixon had dibs on the phrase.

Anyway, a heated argument ensues.

CU: You weren't born here, though.

Me: I have a long lineage from this city.

CU: But you're not from here.

CU: Where are you from?

Me: North Carolina.

CU: Winston-Salem or Greensboro? Those are both awful towns.

Me: Greensboro. And I don't appreciate that.

CU: Then what are you doing here? You don't live here.

Me: Actually, I do live here.

CU: Makes sense. This is where it's at. There's nothing down in North Carolina but rednecks. It's so slow. This is the center of civilization. It's bad enough you're from Greensboro unlike those idiots in Winston-Salem. (ed note: That's the first time anyone outside of my high school has ever insulted Winston-Salem specifically.)

Most of the time was spent with my friends pleading with me to stop jousting with her. True, it's something I wouldn't have done five years ago but, hey, this is the new me, capable of verbal reparté with crazy people.

We played four country songs on the jukebox when we left and, frankly, I totally want to go back and go at it with her again. I still don't believe I didn't ask her why she hated America.

Interesting tidbit ...

2006-08-16T11:39:00.000-04:00

Saw this in Jack Bell's article in the New York Times today.

D.C. United is expected to announce the signing of Matías Donnet, a 26-year-old Argentine midfielder. M.L.S. has received a $2 million offer for Kansas City striker Eddie Johnson from West Bromwich Albion of England.

To that I say this: Take it, Garberinho, as fast as you can.

What a Week ...

2006-08-12T15:29:00.000-04:00

The news that Real Salt Lake has broken ground on its Sandy stadium today caps an amazing week for MLS. Five sold out international exhibitions including two of MLS teams versus the world's best, two new stadium groundbreakings set and an All-Star team win over Chelsea is something that even last year didn't seem very likely.

But it's the stadium thing that's got me thinking. Even though it's not "official", apparently, the RSL stadium seems to be all set to be up and running for the summer of '08.

And that means that nine teams could have their own SSS (or be in total control of scheduling of their stadium) by July 4, 2008: New York, RSL, Colorado, L.A., Chivas, Chicago, Columbus, Toronto and Dallas. I can't remember if the Nationals are out of RFK by 2008 or 2009.

Which gets me thinking ... this could be the July 4, 2008, slate of games:

D.C. at New York - Red Bull Park

Chivas at RSL - Sandy Stadium

New England at Chicago - Toyota Park

TBD Expansion Team at Colorado - Commerce City Stadium

Houston at L.A. - HDC

K.C. at Dallas - Pizza Hut Park

Toronto at Columbus - Columbus Crew Stadium

Combined with fireworks shows ... could that be the first date in Major League Soccer history where a day's games, involving all of the league's teams, are completely sold out and all in soccer specific stadiums?

Tantalizing.

More good stadium news ...

2006-08-11T16:51:00.000-04:00

According to It's a Simple Game, there's hope yet for David Beckham to stick the first shovel in the ground.

"If Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson is to be believed, there will be a groundbreaking for the stadium tomorrow. At least that is what he said on the Doug Wright show on local radio station KSL."

That's a lot of stadium news in one day. Could you imagine a day in 2008 when all games being held in a day are in a SSS? Wow.

Some Good Stadium News

2006-08-11T13:41:00.000-04:00

In the good stadium news department, it looks like K.C. is barreling towards a deal to keep them in K.C. (hat tip: DuNord). Mr. Checketts, if you're listening, please copy and paste that formula for acquiring a stadium into your own.

In other news, although I don't have my own Bob the Janitor, I have heard that the official announcement of the Red Bull Park groundbreaking (with new renderings that look very sweet) could be coming as early as today. (EDIT: Looks like it's official.)

Finally, some good stadium news.

MLS in the real world ...

2006-08-11T12:12:00.000-04:00

It's easy, being as immersed as we all are, to forget that there's a whole big world out there that doesn't care about (or even know) MLS.

So while this article is full of minute errors and assumptions, it's a good snapshot of what people think of MLS right now.

So much to say ...

2006-08-10T14:33:00.000-04:00

Well, aside from showing me to be a Dave Matthews fan, that accurately represents what's happening with our favorite little league this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

All-Stars over Chelsea. D.C. tying Real Madrid (and selling out in less than three weeks). New TV deal (biggest thing to happen to the league. Ever.). Youth systems. Red Bull Park groundbreaking on September 19.

That all goes to show the slow but steady progress soccer is having in this country. What's that they say about a rising tide lifting all boats?

In the coming years, soccer will start to make inroads as an accepted sport in the U.S. And it won't always be MLS. It's going to be frustrating for those of us who think of D.C. first when someone mentions United or Houston when someone says Dynamo ... but we're just going to have to be patient.

Last year at this time, you wouldn't see this on CNNSI.com's homepage and there's no way you would have seen this on ESPN.com. There would have been on ESPN.com sponsored Premier League fantasy game last year and there was no way the premier ESPN columnist would have been devoting an entire column to his new love for the beautiful game.

Some people ask why it's hard for us to enjoy this and why all we see is disrespect when the Sports Guy isn't picking Chivas USA (not saying D is whining or anything, it's just the best post I remember about the situation). "They're not paying attention to our baby!" we reply, hoping that somewhere someone will just shine a light on something that we love.

Well, someone did. John Skipper did (and if you don't know his name you betta' find out who he is and then send flowers his way). Jose Mournihno did. Adidas did.

Now it's time for us to force the spotlight on ourselves. Take someone to see their first game and be hero.

Without spending $150 million in the process.

Dempsey going overseas?

2006-07-19T17:53:00.000-04:00

On their site today, Eurosport's rumors section reported if their pursuit of Tranquillo Barnetta falls through, West Ham is looking at Clint Dempsey as a second choice.

I don't know if he passes the Work permit issue, but if there's not a more perfect team for Deuce to end up on, I don't know what is.

Verrrrry interesting ...

2006-07-14T15:51:00.000-04:00

Who is this Amado Guevara fellow that's playing so well for the Red Bulls?

The bright side of a bad situation ...

2006-07-12T13:44:00.000-04:00

So apparently Uncle Dave is bringing MLS into the modern era of American sports by threatening to move the team out of town if he doesn't get money for a stadium (I think his request is entirely reasonable -- what business isn't going to need infrastructure improvements?).

That said, it's interesting to note St. Louis as a possible destination. What's the bright side of that?

At least they wouldn't have to change the initials; they could still be RSL.

Response to a soccer hater ...

2006-07-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

I started responding to this guy and didn't stop until I passed a bunch of characters, so I reposted it here.

Hey Jay,

Let's look at your post point by point:

1) As of 2004, and it's the last stats I could find, almost a third of homes by 2008 will have a DVR allowing many fans to watch games "live" with a 30 minute delay in order to avoid commercials. I know that when I watch Georgia football games (Go Dawgs!) that I always start them 30 - 45 minutes late so that I can skip listening to Vern Lundquist wax poetically during halftime. Usually by the time I've fast forwarded all the commercials (and the injuries and the instant replay), I'm usually caught up to the game in the late fourth quarter.

All this goes to prove is that Americans don't love commercials. I watch Chicago Bears games at a bar here in NYC and nothing says fun like a bunch of pissed off, drunk, tired-because-they've-been-there-for-four-hours Bears fans sitting through yet another commercial break waiting for the game to start up again. Americans don't love commercials, although I agree we are a fast food nation, and I think soccer's lack of commercials will be something that works toward soccer's favor, not its detriment.

2) No American based TV station has taken the risk on International FIFA soccer, reason being no breaks in play for commercials.

That's actually not true. ESPN/ABC/Disney paid $100 million for the rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Univision, though aimed at a Spanish speaking market, paid $325 million for US rights for the same cups. That's $425 million for rights to the next two World Cups based on American viewing habits.

12 million English-speaking Americans watched this year's final on ABC while 5 millions Spanish-speaking Americans watched. That's 17 million fans who tuned into or just less than 1/3 of the entire population of England (1/3 of the UK population being what tuned in to the game -- appx. 20 million).

That was nearly triple the audience for the last championship game in 2002 and, overall, it ranked as the third most-watched men's soccer game on ABC.

3. My advise for televised soccer here is air it on public broadcast or put channels from overseas on cable so people can watch Manchester United, Arsenel, and any of the Italian Sierie A league.

Fox Soccer Channel and Gol TV both air European games (FSC has Premier league rights and Gol focuses on La Liga and Serie A) so fans with cable can see every game their heart desires. At least here in New York, and I know we're different from everywhere, I always see fans up early on Saturday morning headed to the pub to catch the latest games.

Fans can also catch American soccer on ESPN and ESPN2 as well as having almost every match streamed live on MLSnet.com.

4. Some will say we have the MLS. Yes, we do. What superstars do we have playing in the MLS?

This is the thing that always gets me about this argument ... well, because we don't have great players in MLS we shouldn't watch it. MLS, indeed, doesn't have the greatest players in teh world.

It is, also, only 10 years old and for fans of soccer, it gives not only an American fan a chance to see high quality players (Carlos Ruiz, Dwayne De Rosario, Landon Donovan, Paco Palencia and for another year, Freddy Adu) who have either starred on the world's stage or will star soon up close and personal. It also gives young American fans, like New England's Michael Parkhurst, to see that soccer in American has a future and that he doesn't have to quit playing when he reaches seventh grade so he can pick up gridiron football or basketball or, G-d forbid, golf, because there's nowhere to go with it.

In addition, because of globalization and Europe's goal of finding young, cheap talent, many Americans are heading overseas at younger ages in order to fill out rosters and get great experience which they in turn bring back to the American national team infusing it with new ideas and talent that eventually helps us get better as a national team.

There's so much to be excited about in regards to soccer in America but only if viewed in a long-term frame. Looking at soccer as a snapshot now is looking at the NFL in 1940 when no one kenw about it and thought nothing would ever beat a Yankees game in the afternoon (I'd still say not much beats a Yankee game on a spring afternoon but that's beside the point).

So this is my extra-long, non-confrontational disagreement with your post. Soccer in America has a bright future. The present ain't that bad either.

Liveblog of US - Ghana

2006-06-22T09:41:00.000-04:00

Final: A friend of mine compares Arena to Dom Capers ... that's the most accurate thing I can think of right now. "The World No Longer Wants to Play You". In what ... tiddlywinks?

Final: Let's just hope MLS isn't folding as we speak (that's a joke). It's up to our domestic league to create better players to help us compete on the world's stage.

Final: Donovan, Beasley, Johnson. That's supposed to be the holy triumverate. Whoever the next coach of the US is (and it better not be Arena -- he's a good coach but he's taken us as far as we can go) has got to make people start challenging for their place. Too much is taken for granted with this team. I don't even know if it's new players but Reyna, McBride, etc., those guy's time is done.

Final: US falls 2-1 to Ghana and finishes fourth in the group. No wins. One goal scored by us. 4-5-1 the whole way through. A disappointing World Cup for us and completely devoid of inspiration. Congrats to Ghana. They are the better side this week.

93: This the same way we played in game 3 in 2002. Bruce should be let go.

90: Five minutes of stoppage time and Olsen gets a great shot! that is blocked and Ghana gets the ball back and takes it into our end and Ghana earns a foul. Milking it.

90: Ghana gets a shot off and almost scores. 'Celo praises US effort ... I think we played scared not to lose. Ridiculous.

90: Ghana fans booking passage into the next round. They'll face Brazil and we'll have Eddie Pope and Clint Dempsey and Jimmy Conrad and Ben Olsen back playing MLS in two weeks.

89: Beasley plays for a Dempsey run as Italy finishes up their game with a 2-0 win. Did what we needed. We didn't handle the business.

89: Ball going everywhere. No real chances for the US.

87: Corner garners nothing. Another shot over the bar.

86: Corner to the US while Pimpong stays down from some random foul that no one saw. Allows Ghana to get back and get water.

84: Cross in to Boca who tries to head a low ball with the back of his head and pops it over the goal.

82: Italy scores again. They're doing everything to help us but we can't do it. We get on a break, Convey with a chance and floats a cross too far so we don't get a chance to finish.

Note: Boca made a great play to deny a Ghana chance.

81: Convey gets drilled NFL DB style on the edge of the 18. If we're going to do something, let's do it now ... Donovan takes ... horrible. Too long and wide trying to float it to Dempsey on the back post.

80: 10 minutes to go. You guys feel like playing yet?

79: McBride goes after a jump ball and Kingson goes down as if he's been shot.

78: US out of ideas. Just lobbing long balls down the field.

75: Ghana offensive player goes down and keeps himself on the gorund while Dempsey plays it out. Nice sportsmanship but only 13 minutes left in the game.

75: Johnson gets a foot on it but out for a GK.

74: Convey is coming in for Lewis. I don't understand this at all.

73: Ghana gets a counter opportunity but Conrad gets in the way.

73: Beasley with a foul on the left flank.

71: We've got to take some more chances. This is ridiculous.

70: Eddie Lewis offsides this time.

70: To be honest, Ben Olsen has played pretty well. Though we're wasting too many good opportunities.

69: Donovan offsides. He's been invisible today.

67: Boca has a go and earns a corner. Taken by Donovan ... AND GOOCH JUST HIGH! Argh.

66: Another cross in and Kingson plays it away!

65: McBride nearly ties it! Drills the outside of the post and it bounces back.

64: Ghana with all 11 men back. They have to give up 2 to not go through.

64: Drummond gets tremendous jump and is wide open all the way down the left and US lucks out when he can't cross well and is cleared out for GK.

63: Keller handles weak cross in. Keller punts it all the way down the field and Kingson picks it up.

61: Wonder what Freddy Adu is thinking right now.

61: EJ coming on for Cherundolo. I don't understand that ... what the heck is the formation now? Who cares. Just run around and SOMEONE SCORE!

60: O'Brien salivating over EJ who is now putting his jersey on.

59: Ghana brings in Eric Addo (who rules for PSV on Championship Manager) for Amoah. Defensive substitution.

58: Dempsey gets to endline and crosses into the box but easy for Kingson.

57: Dangerous Ghana cross just goes wide of the net.

57: Too much time wasted by the US right now. Too much time.

55: Ghana player injured in the box. They have to take him off. Down to 10 for corner by Donovan ... short corner to Beasley which doesn't get us anything. Ghana counters and long shot by Amoah tipped wide by Keller.

54: Apparently US players now warming up. Perhaps they heard 'Celo. Ghana called for a high kick near the corner flag. Pseudo corner for the US taken by Donovan ... dangerous. Cleared out by Ghana for a corner.

52: If the ball isn't played right to Beasley, he's not going to make the effort to go get it.

51: 'Celo says he wouldn't have waited to put Johnson in. Notes that no one for the US is warming up.

50: US doing too much screwing around.

49: We better get this time back.

47: Essien goes down and stays down. Beasley was going to start a counter but graciously plays it out.

46: Donovan floats a cross in and Kingson comes out to snag it.

46: Ghana kicks off, US going left to right on your TV screen.

46: No changes for the US. Incredible.

Halftime: Italy and Czechs come back out. It looks like Italy is going to win this. We're getting a golden opportunity. Time to take advantage of it.

Halftime: Alright, since we've already used one sub, here's the idea. Out comes Lewis, Beaz out left and Johnson in up top. We have to score twice and we're clogging the center of the field and STILL giving up counters. Let Benny stay back and let the other five go forward with Beaz and Dempsey tracking back.

Halftime: The US has avoided the right side of the field for most of the game. It's frustrating but we're clogging the midfield. Look at it this way, we've given up 2 with 9 men behind the ball, we can't do much worse with only 8 guys back.

Halftime: Apparently the Czechs have had a player sent off. We've got everything going our way, we're going to need to follow through on our end of the bargain.

Halftime: US looked like they weren't ready to play for the first 40 minutes and Dempsey's goal really shook them back to life. I'm not sure what we're going to do but we have to bring in another attacker and get forward. They counter well, but we don't go through with only a draw. Losing 4-1 is the same as 2-2.

Halftime: We've got to be more aggressive. 45 minutes and we need two goals. Johnson has to come on.

47: US gives all the momentm right back. Gooch called for a bogus foul on Pimpong in the box. PK taken by Appiah and .... buried in the back of the net. 2-1 Ghana.

44: CLINT MOTHERFUCKING DEMPSEY! Beasley steals a ball back, streaks down the left, crosses a pinpoint perfect pass to Dempsey and Clint BURIES the ball in the Ghana net. I take back everything I said about Beaz.

43: Essien dives but doesn't get the card and earns a foul. Free kick passed to the right and then shot wide.

43: Essien dives but doesn't get the card and earns a foul. Free kick passed to the right and then shot wide.

42: Dempsey makes a great run into the box but can't get the final pass off.

41: Reyna has to come off and ... Ben Olsen comes in. Ben Fucking Olsen is playing in the most important game the US has played.

39: Lewis gets in behind Ghana defense, crosses in but everyone slips trying to slow down for the ball.

38: Corner from Donovan not high enough, nodded it out and Ghana counters. Now controlling in the attacking third. We get the ball back and are streaking forward until Dempsey leaves it for Beaz who just stops. Kills momentum.

36: Dolo earns a foul on the right edge of the box, cross in from Lewis ... Kingson knocks away a dangerous ball.

35: US' first good chance. Long ball to McHead who nods it down to Donovan who can't get it on target from 14 yards.

34: It's not like we have Koller up top ... why do we keep floating in long balls into the box?

33: Ghana player (#7) picks up a yellow for a headball challenge on Dempsey. Dempsey could play for Italy, he goes down at a stiff wind.

32: Ghana continues to put pressure on the US before turning it over on a handball.

31: 'Celo is spot on so far. We look slow and uninterested.

29: If Bruce doesn't put Johnson in for Beaz at half, he should be fired on the spot.

29: US looks dangerous for first time today, Reyna gives it away and Pimpong nearly scores (like, inches away) on the counter. We're awful so far.

28: Reyna's back on the field. He's killing me today.

27: ITALY SCORES! We have to come back and win this game.

26: Lewis with a corner from the left ... Kingson comes out to knock it away. Looked dangerous for a second. US gets one more chance on the attack and heads meekly to the keeper.

23: Reyna gives the ball away on our 20 and #23 dribbles in for the easy goal. Now Reyna seems down with a left knee injury. He's done for the day.

20: Conrad dives back to clear a good cross from Ghana and heads it out for a coner. Appiah with the corner .... whistle in the middle and we're going the good guys' way.

20: Donovan looks like he forced a corner kick but is incorrectly ruled offsides. Win some, lose some.

19: Gooch fouls in the midfield and luckily does not pick up a second yellow. He'd be out against Brazil if we go through.

18: Lewis comes back on and US continues to misfire trying to get the ball out to the left.

17: Corner for the US. Gooch comes up ... Dempsey gets a head on it but right at the keeper.

16: Lewis gets cut on a header challenge. Adrian!

15: Italy match: Czechs get a great shot on goal but Buffon keeps it out.

15: Donovan tries to reach the end of a free kick from the top of the box but heads meekly to the keeper.

14: Both teams look tentative. Ghana doesn't want to make a mistake and the left side of the US offense looks allergic to the left side of the field.

13: McBride offsides on fantastic scoring opportunity.

11: Very dangerous turnover by Beasley (shite!) turns into a counter that Ghana is just offsides on.

9: Free kick taken to top of the box and Essien shot goes well right.

9: Conrad gives up a foul in a hugely dangouers area right outside the box on the right side.

8: Eddie Lewis picks up a card from Markus Merk for intentional handball even though it doesn't appear to be intentinoal.

5: Yellow to Essien for a rough foul on Captain America.

5: Ghana plays with the ball in the back, keeping possession.

3: Dempsey and McHead go for a ball int he box and foul on US. Ghana player shaken up. Good job by Lewis to get ball back in box.

2: Gooch tries long ball down right to Dolo. US Looks for cross to McBride but keeper nabs it.

1st minute: US kicks off going right to left on your TV screen.

10:01: Kickoff! Also, Italy kicks off with Czechs. Forza Italia!

9:59: Ghana comes out in 4-4-2. Are we actively trying to lose?

9:58: US fans sound in full voice singing along to national anthem. We need the 12th man.

9:57: O Say can you see ...

9:56: Ghana anthem is on. More people join us in the office to watch the game.

9:54: It's hard to work up much hate for Ghana but Adam comes up with a winner: Ghana About to Discover that Beating U.S. Means No More AIDS Funding.

9:53: Flags are presented. I stand up and sing along to the national anthem.

9:51: Ok, he's not as bad as Brent Musberger, but he's not good at all.

9:51: Dave O'Brien comes on the air. I wish I could just tune him out. Worst. Announcer. Ever.

9:49: The Gatorade "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" ad comes on. It becomes harder and harder to hate the drink the Lizards make.

9:48: Julie Foudy is blathering on about something to do with the midfield. All I can think is EJ is our best player and Beaz has mailed it in all tournament. I'm not listening, I'm mostly just sitting here trying not to puke up the bagel I had.

9:44: The US roster is announced. Bruce has lost his mind. 4-5-1 with Dempsey, Reyna, Lewis, Beasley, and Donovan in the midfield.

9:38: More ads on ESPN for this crazy show on ABC tonight about people power sliding tractor trailers into parallel parking spots.

9:37: It's been a busy time, but nothing is more important than this morning's Ghana game. The following is a liveblog of the most important game in the history of US soccer and the start of the most hyperbole used in a two hour period ... ever.

Of Red Cards and Red Faces ...

2006-06-14T09:37:00.000-04:00

I wonder if Steve Nicol, esteemed talent evaluator and, oh, also coach of the New England Revolution of "the" MLS, was watching the Trinidad and Tobago game last week. Well, I'm betting he was because his rarely-used fullback, Avery John, was playing for T&T.

I wonder, also, if when Nicol saw John go studs up and earn a straight red, if his exact reaction wasn't "That's why you don't f****'in play for your club team!"

I think it might have been something like that.

Welcome to the end of days ...

2006-06-06T13:45:00.000-04:00

Real Salt Lake and the number 11.

What do those two things have in common?

Well, as of today, Real Salt Lake, the most inept looking franchise through seven games this season, now has 11 points on the season. That's one more than Chivas USA (though the Goats have two games in hand) and four more than the Galaxy. True, we're only 1/3 of a way through the season but as of this point, RSL are in the playoffs.

Let me repeat that, RSL, as of today, are in the playoffs.

Did anyone see this team play earlier this season? They were horrible. Not just Chivas USA bad (in which they battled around but couldn't seem to turn the corner), the Monarchs were flat out awful. By far the worst team in the league.

So, someone, tell me what changed? Is it just pure dumb luck that the team has caught fire just as their opponents have been eviscerated (got L.A., K.C. and the 'pids after WC callups and the Fire at the end of a 9-game road trip)? Did it just take seven games for the talent to jell? Since it's 6-6-06, can we postulate that John Ellinger really did sell his soul to the devil?

Someone fill me in. What's in the water by the Great Salt Lake?

Is that Roberto Carlos?

2006-06-05T10:00:00.000-04:00

No, it's Ritchie Kotschau!

Holy crap lions.

Corporate takeover of the Free Beer Movement ...

2006-06-01T12:16:00.000-04:00

I commend all of you who are taking your friends to MLS games this summer and buying people a beer. Later this summer, I will be taking a friend of mine to a game locally and buying him a beer (or soda, or whatever he drinks).

However, if you live in the greater Columbus area, the Crew, awful on the field as they may be, are making it easier for you to participate in the Free Beer Movement:

The Crew Cup Kickoff Party

Basically, you get a beer stein when buying this package and can redeem that stein for cheap beer during World Cup watch parties at Crew Stadium. Imported beer, at that.

Two snaps for Los Amarillo.

Great to be an American soccer fan...

2006-05-27T12:28:00.000-04:00

Sorry for my protracted absence. I know you were chomping at the bit for more second-hand analysis ... so I return to give it to you.

One of the few great things about being an American soccer fan, with its derth of coverage and lack of mass-communication is that you can, as I did, DVR the American national team's game and not have to worry about running into the score before you get a chance to watch it later that night.

Impressive, to say the least.

As for teh game, I was greatly surprised that we didn't give up a goal. It was an exciting, entertaining affair in which we should have posted 7 or 8 on the scoreboard but the two we got were nice. It almost looked like a glorified MLS match. Except for the 30,000 in the stands. Cleveland rocks, indeed.

A glorified MLS match, sure, but one thing stood out above all others: Who's this Bobby Convey kid anyway and how can he possibly not be starting on the left side of whatever formation Los Americanos throw out there on June 12. He was Dick Vitale-awesome on Friday night. Super, scintillating, sensational.

I love Bones but in no way should he be starting ahead of Convey right now. The only downside to Convey's workrate is he's blown his load by the 65th minute and he's got to come out. Not bad to put a guy like DMB in behind him, though.

D.C. United alumni continuing to make us proud. It's nice to know that Freddy Adu the previous can lay the groundwork for what's possible with Freddy Adu the present.

Virtual fellatio

2006-04-27T10:43:00.000-04:00

Stephen Goff at the WaPo continues to be the best beat writer in the league.

The salary of every MLS player »

Quavas Kirk, Memo Gonzalez and Nik Besagno should be arrested because they are STEALING MONEY from their MLS teams.

The week that was ...

2006-04-24T19:48:00.000-04:00

I guess it's only a good idea if I do it weekly ... so, here's another for this week.

Five and Five: Five things I liked from the weekend that was in Major League Soccer; five things I didn't like.

Things I liked:

1. Alecko Eskandarian. I don't really care that much for the guy (in that he's the guy I love to hate because he's a cocky sob) but fantastic goal celebration. Hell, it made PTI today. It gives MLS more of what I've always said it needs: sports hate. D has his take on it while many other people to whom I won't link because I'm lazy like that weigh in.

My thought. O'Rourke should have put a boot up Esky's ass. His not doing so proved to me all I needed to know about this year's Red Bulls.

2. Husting Hoops. Nice job by Kenny Cooper and Aaron Pitchkolan in Sunday's win over the Blues. Cooper should have drawn a penalty, and, yes, Bo Bo should have punched that ball somewhere into the vicinity of Plano, but neither happened and Cooper's husting gets him a goal (and the worst celebration ever ... more on that later). Pitchkolan made up for his lack of playing time by running full bore for his entire time on the field, making something happen and getting the Hoops the three points.

3. Crew Nation! I didn't get to see the game (yes, HDnet pays MLS a rights fee -- bet you didn't know that with all the hubub about the ESPN/ABC rights-fee deal for next year -- but would it kill you to make it available online if you're exclusive?) but it's nice to see the Bees pick up three points. That team will be good in two years or so ... they just have to get through this year.

4. 8,475 people in the NYC metro area. That's how many people Red Bull said showed up to the game. I was there and I think they're actually probably close. Kudos to you folks for braving a miserable day and coming out to a game (even if you did hide, like me, under the overhang). Also, kudos to the DC fans and ESC who gave at least a little energy (haha, I keel me) to an otherwise drab affair.

5. MLSLIVE.tv. Ok, so it would have been nice if you could have launched this when you said you were going to launch it, and I'd appreciate it if you would not show me the score of the game in the player window, but the game that you did sell me for $20 loaded perfectly. I don't mind paying for the service. Just stop showing me the score.

Five things I didn't like:

1. You're owner manufactures an energy drink? Just a miserable performance by the Red Bulls. Even D noticed that New York never adjusted to the field which you think they'd be able to considering it's their home pitch. I can't remember how many balls were splayed out of bounds because no one seemed to notice that the ball might run a bit on the wet, slick surface. Just a miserable display. Hopefully they weren't fighting for their coach's life because if they were, Mo's a dead man.

2. Amado Geeeee-vara. I don't know what I can say about this guy other than just a miserable performance. I guess his performance matched the team's but he just deserves to be called out for a horrendous performance.

3. The Wizards big three. Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolff and Davy Arnaud had no goals on Sunday. At one point, the Wizzle had FIVE forwards on the field and only Alex Zotinca could get on the board. Speaking of Zotinca, at what point are we no longer going to have players in our top flight outdoor league who didn't come here to play indoor ball?

4. Real Salt Lake. I didn't think their performance was actually that bad ... but seriously, what does it take for that team to get a win?

5. Stoppage time. Someone was, rightfully, complaining about this on BigSoccer. Seven minutes in the Crew game. Five minutes in the Dallas game.

That's too much time! If the teams can't get it done in 91 or 92 minutes, then too bad.

Saturday

2006-04-21T12:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the disappearance; holidays and travel'll do that to you.

The lineup I expect to see Saturday at Giants Stadium:

                           Buddle

    Peguero

              Guevara -- Djorkaeff

                     O'Rourke

Henderson                                   Wynne

         Mendes -- Graham -- Canero

                      Meola

I don't see how this is going to work but it appears to be the case (after the rumored trade of Thiago Martins and a first-round pick to the 'Pids for JP).

Weird stuff, mang.

Can we still call them the Wizzle?

2006-04-07T12:34:00.000-04:00

Good news from the Yellow Brick Roadsters. (video link)

Apparently the sale of the Wizards could go down in less than a month to Neal Patterson, founder and president of health-care giant Cerner. Also, there seems to be some public support for an FC Dallas-like Johnson County stadium project which is always a good thing.

If this goes down, this would get us to only four teams which didn't have individual owners: the AEG three (Houston, Chicago and D.C.) and Columbus/Dallas (whichever one HSG doesn't keep).

Exciting times. Does the 2005-2006 offeseason mean we get Garberhiño nominated for Sports Commissioner of the Year?

Budgetary Considerations

2006-04-06T20:12:00.000-04:00

There's been lots of hype, both within the league and from the outside, around the Red Bulls home opener. As well there should be.

The team, from what I've heard, could very well sell out the game. Now, a lot of this is directly attributable to Dietrich Mateschitz and Red Bull blowing it out for this one. Shakira and Wyclef, Pele and Franz won't be here for every game but of 80,000, if 25-30k come back on a regular basis then you've got the making of the new MLS attendance leader.

And when the team moves into a 25k seat stadium, then you've got the making of a hot ticket. It'd help if the team could win, though.

That said, something caught my eye the other day and has caused me concern. Apparently Red Bull and Ronaldo (yes, the Cup-winning Real Madrid striker) are interested in each other for after the World Cup this summer.

"I hope Dietrich and Red Bull can pull it off because it would be wonderful," Red Bulls coach Mo Johnston said.

Then the coach quipped with a laugh: "I don't think we can afford his hairdresser, and Ronaldo doesn't have any hair."

Now, I don't really think this is going to happen but this rumor, combined with the rumor that Donadoni (after being sacked in Italy despite being on the verge of UEFA) might come back to coach the team if Mo doesn't get the squad rolling, has me worried that fitting into MLS supposedly-rigid spending ways won't be possible for the Austrian Overlords.

If they can pay for Ronaldo's transfer fee, combined with fitting him into the salary structure (back loaded with a free apartment in Soho, etc.), who's to stop them? And how does Columbus (with Danny Szetela) and Salt Lake (Cunny's a stud, sure) match up with this? If they start trying to break the bank, does MLS turn into the NASL?

If they don't, does Red Bull really become the Super Club? And if MLS says nein to Mr. Mateschitz in bringing in Ronaldo, does he take his money and go home? Let's be honest, Pepsi offered him $67 billion for Red Bull ... he's not lacking for cash.

Gaste el dinero, Chivas

2006-04-05T11:00:00.000-04:00

I like Chivas USA, I really do. They're one of my favorite teams to watch because I like the way they play and, admittedly, I want to see them succeed.

But the following occured to me yesterday while Las Chivas were announcing the acquisition of US International John O'Brien at the Home Depot Center.

Claudio Suarez: Mexican International

'Paco' Palencia: Mexican International

Juan Pablo Garcia: Mexican International

John O'Brien: U.S. International

Ante Razov: Making at least $200k

Brad Guzan: US national team player pool

With five internationals and at least one more guy making the max ... how are they even close to under the salary 'budget'?

Five and Five

2006-04-03T11:53:00.000-04:00

Hopefully a new permanent Monday-morning look at the week just passed.

Five things I liked from this weekend:

New fans. All of the games this weekend had at least 18,000 fans there and many of the stadiums had over 20,000. Houston by far was the biggest surprise as nice weather helped a healthy walkup and nudged (the) Dynamo over 25k.

New faces. A lot of the rookies from last year, as well as a few young'uns from this year's crop, played very well. Mostly I'd like to call out Roberto Mina, Kenny Cooper, Kei Kamara, Matt Groenwald and Sasha Klejstan. I thought all of those guys stepped into starting roles they didn't previously have and did a pretty good job. Especially Kamara ... I think that kid is going to be a very good player in this league. He's wicked fast.

Another kid I was really impressed with is Marvell Wynne. I didn't think he'd adapt to MLS as fast as he did (no pun intended) but his speed cancels out a lot of his technical shortcomings. I think as he gets more comfortable he'll start moving forward more in attack.

Familiar faces. Aside from Eddie Johnson's ridiculous 8-pack, the former FC Dallas man and current Wizzle Wizard had a fine debut for the Blues on Saturday. In addition to the goal, just having him on the field really opened up space up top for K.C. and allowed them to attack mercilessly. That and a pourous Columbus D.

ETA: Oh, I almost forgot. Welcome back, Esky. I'm not a big fan of his but it's nice to see him back on the field and healthy. Now I can go back to hating his game with a clean moral conscience.

Chivas USA. The laughingstock of the league last year looked lethal on Sunday, picking apart an admittedly lackluster RSL side. Ante Razov may very well catch Jason Kreis in the goal-scoring charts before Carlos Ruiz if he keeps up this pace though I should temper my expectations, I know, because I could have sworn Columbus would have won the league after last year's First Kick victory over the Gals.

Red Bulls. Bringing 800 fans to D.C. and upping the ante on an already good rivalry really accentuated the play on the field. Yeah, they're the same ol' team (can't protect a lead, can't hold the midfield) but at least it's a point in the first game.

Five things I didn't like from this weekend:

Freddy Adu. The kid had an ok game notching two assists and when he looks up to pass the ball, he made great reads and even better placement on his passes (especially the one that set up the second goal). Still, would it kill you to pass more often, son? I know you have more individual skill than just about anyone else in MLS but you don't have to beat everyone off the dribble. You've got some other good teammates, too.

Real Salt Lake. Where was the fire, lads? Where was the heart? Where was even a semblance of tactical organization? Granted it's just one game, and L.A. came back from a 3-0 drubbing last year to do pretty well, but I don't see Landon Donovan falling in your laps this year. Does this start the Ellinger hot-seat watch?

Galaxy. After a touching tribute to Doug Hamilton, the L.A. Galaxy I remember finally stepped on the field. I don't like L.A. even when they are playing well so it goes without saying that I didn't like their gameplan on Saturday. New England manhandled the the gold and green and kept them from getting anything set up. You have this guy on your team named Landon. I've heard he's pretty good. Perhaps you should try and get him the ball.

Clint Mathis. Talk a bunch of crap about Ellinger and then go off after 19 minutes? If EJ's 8-pack made me embarrased, it should have shamed you and your pudgy self since you, y'know, get paid to be in shape.

BigSoccer. There were six good games, great crowds and beautiful color on TV all weekend and all these yahoos do is complain the whole time. Oooh, we're going to have to pay for games online. Oooh, MLS isn't on FSC. Oooh, the referees are horrible. MLS is back after what seems like a longer offseason than ever, has a bunch of great storylines and you guys can't just shut up and enjoy the weekend for a change? C'mon.

2006-04-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

Eddie Johnson's 8-pack makes me feel inferior.

That was fast ...

2006-03-20T16:45:00.000-05:00

It appears that the Red Bulls plan to bring their fans with them went swimmingly.

Apparently over 600 people took los Toros Rojo up on their offer of a free bus trip and a free game ticket. The team was expecting around 150 or so people to sign up and actually got that in the first 45 minutes.

I figured, including $15 tickets, this trip will probably cost RBNY about $20,000. Chump change for the organization but a huge publicity and good-will program for the fans.

Kudos.

Top o' the Mornin'

2006-03-17T10:07:00.000-05:00

As has been widely reported, the Red Bulls will be shipping "pretty much" as many fans as want to go to D.C. for the opening game of the season versus United.

The catch? Well, it's not really a catch, I guess. It's free.

Fans have to go to the team's website, newyorkredbulls.com, on Monday at noon to sign up. It's a $25 deposit which is refunded if you get on the bus. Don't get on the bus? You forfit your $25.

Sounds simple to me.

Now, there are some people on the BS Red Bulls board decrying this as a blatant attempt to pander to the hardcore Metro fans and to get them to get over the greivances.

Well, duh.

Who cares what the reason is? Red Bull bought the team in order to improve the Red Bull image in the New York market place. Owning the team is primarily a marketing tool for them ... a way to make money on their primary product. Know what? Welcome to sports in the 21st century. If it makes your team better, and there's no way Red Bull's going to allow the team to suck for long, then do as Teh Belly says and enjoy it and have fun.

If not, go find another team.

SNL's not really that funny ...

2006-03-13T15:46:00.000-05:00

But, still, when the TFKATM (team formerly known as the MetroStars) are featured in a segment of Weekend Update (video is here »), well, that's more publicity than the team has received since 1996.

Still happy with the sale.

(Hattip: FirstRowIdiots)

Home sweet home ...

2006-03-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

So, construction appears ready to start on the Harrison Stadium for the Red Bulls and the update includes one interesting tidbit I hadn't heard before.

Plans for the 20,000-seat stadium, which will also be designed to host concerts and other special events, may change slightly to include a retractable roof, McDonough added.

Someone tell me again how having Red Bull as an owner in the league is a bad thing?

Upside of Anger

2006-03-11T00:53:00.000-05:00

First things first: the League, the AEG corporation, soccer and, most importantly, his wife and son are worse off for Doug Hamilton's passing late Wednesday night. Not only is it a shock because it's not something I would have seen coming for a man who ostensibly was in great shape, but it's a huge loss for the league. He was someone who really understood how the system worked and how to grow the sport in America. He will be missed.

On to less important issues:

Yoda had it right: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Suffering leads to watching golf on television. Or maybe it's the other way around.

Still, the people who are seething over the MetroStars name change and decrying it as something shameful for this act of including a product in the name of a professional sporting unit (see BigSoccer, The) are entirely missing the boat.

It's never been about the name.

So, get over it. And welcome to the 21st freakin' century. It's the best thing to happen to MLS, well, probably ever, and sometimes when you have the brass cojones to make big decisions (see Garberhino, Donald) you're gonna have the lesser balled taking potshots at you.

No one loves a sports franchise, be it collegiate or professional, because of the name of the team. Never have, never will. I love the University of Georgia because I spent five years in the greatest college town on Earth (four studying, one internship) and I gave blood, sweat and tears to that place. I grew up with it and became an adult within its confines. It's in my blood. Doesn't matter if it's a Georgia or a Nebraska or a Akron State ... the passion that a sports fan develops comes from being raised to appreciate a particular institution, a college or an athlete.

It's about discussing boxscores with your mom or dad, sleeping outside in the cold for playoff tickets or planning your weekend around the game. It's learning to love players, to love colors or to love the stadium atmosphere.

And you're saying, "Well, Perro, you're shooting holes in your own argument. If the Metros were still around, there'd still be that tradition, that love that we've built over the last ten years."

To you I say, "Yeah, you're probably right. But the players haven't changed. The stadium's still the same. You're now going to get what's probably the best stadium in MLS and you might actually see your team being marketed."

The Metros weren't going anywhere. Not sentenced to a quick rip, like taking off a band-aid like the fans of San Jose, but of being left to whither on the vine, ignored until it was too late.

Frankly, you should be happy that someone said, "I see potential there. I see opportunity. I see a club that I want to save."

You were going to lose your club. At least it's not a permanent loss. Now you have a chance to build up that love again and this time without worrying if it will be here for the long haul. New York Red Bull, and by extension MLS, is here to stay. And if they want to call the team Red Bull, it's just something you get to learn to love.

Here's a Vodka Red Bull to toast Mr. Hamilton. May he rest in peace.

First half thoughts ...

2006-02-10T23:42:00.000-05:00

Thoughts from the first 36 or so minutes of the U.S. - Japan friendly.

Not as much of a pro-Japanese crowd as I would have thought.

After suriving a blitz in the first 6 or so minutes, the Fighting Gazelles have really taken it to the Japanese.

Clint M'f'in Dempsey. Who knew he had a left foot!?! How is he not starting for us on the right in Germany? I don't know the answer to that question.

Eddie Pope looks like he's 22, not 32. Really well done for the pride of Greensboro, North Carolina, to come back from his dismal performance last year against ~~Germany~~ England to where he is now.

Taylor Twellman with two assists in the first half ... does that book his ticket to Deutchland? I think he's well on his way.

I'm really impressed with our tenacity. After the first six minutes, the U.S. has really done an excellent job of taking it to Japan and, in general, being more fired up than Japan.

The Japanese goalkeeper is the only thing standing between the U.S. and a 4-0 lead.

I'm hoping Eddie Johnson gets in for Josh Wolff in the second half. I want to see how EJ is progressing this year.

Todd Dunivant. Okay, so I know it's the Norwegian Beer-Gutted U-23's and Japan but, well, he gives us a natural left-sided defender in a place where we've lacked depth.

Twellman reminds me of Steve ~~Woje~~ ~~Wojo~~ ~~that Duke guard who was a real pest~~ Wojciechowski. A real pest, a hard worker, a gnat, as we'd call them with the higest praise in Georgia ... someone who pisses off a defense so much but is really effective and makes things happen.

Good Call

2006-02-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

According to the Mirror, England has removed Guus Hiddink from consideration for the post of manager of England.

The new England manager will be either Martin O'Neill, Stuart Pearce or Alan Curbishley. FA chief executive Brian Barwick wants O'Neill to replace Sven Goran Eriksson in the summer, but now has his three man short-list for the £3million-a-year job. He has ruled out early favorite Sam Allardyce, and also the foreign contenders Guus Hiddink and Luis Felipe Scolari.

Which is fine by me since I'd really like to see Hiddink replace Il Bruce if the U.S. manager decides to leave after this World Cup.

Player Ratings

2006-02-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

In a previous post the question of player ratings has been raised.

Here's how I see them (influenced greatly by ~~Championship~~ Football Manager).

4 - Crapped the bed.
5 - Crapped the bed but at least had the sense to get out of it.
6 - Not the greatest game in the world but at least he held his cheeks together.
7 - A standard game. Nothing great, nothing horrible.
8 - Fantastic performance.
9 - Only have a few of these types of games per year, truly in the zone.
10 - Fans will be talking about this for ages.

What's your rating scale?

Viva las Gringas Chivas!

2006-01-30T15:50:00.000-05:00

~~I don't have a link yet, but word is~~ The MetroStars agreed to ship Bob Bradley favorite Ante Razov to Chivas USA for Thiago Martins and part of an allocation. What are the Metros going to do with Thiba? Does he stick with the Metros or go somewhere else?

I remember when Ante used to be the shiznit. Surprised he got traded for Thiba.

We did win, didn't we?

2006-01-30T15:46:00.000-05:00

Jeff Carlisle over at ESPN's American-only Soccernet posted his ratings for the American team for yesterday's friendly

Really, I have just one question.

We did win yesterday, right? Because reading his ratings I could have sworn that we lost 0-5.

I'm pretty sure the only reason Soccernet even covers the American game is to get bloggers like us all riled up. I don't think they could honestly assess anything if their lives depended on it.

We netted five? In one game?

2006-01-29T19:29:00.000-05:00

It's hard to rate performances of players in a game like this where we're basically playing another nation's U-23 squad. I think my highlight of the day (from a 'look who we're playing against' standpoint) was seeing Petter Vaagen Moen on the field for the Norwegian squad.

Though he doesn't know it, Vaagen Moen starred for my Liverpool team in Championship Manager '05, bravely racking up an 8.17 career rating.

That said, three things stuck out at me today.

1 - We didn't play down to the level of our opponents. One of the things that's always gotten to me about the U.S. national team (and the Georgia Bulldogs, for that matter, in every sport but gymnastics and swimming -- yes, I paid attention to those sports in college) is that we would always play up or down to the level of our opponents.

On Sunday, though, the U.S. team came out and absolutely demolished their opponents. I can't remember a time (well, ok, a short burst after we scored the second goal) where we not in control of the game. Excellent job all around.

2 - Taylor Twellman. The guy, who has for the most part been on the schnide (is that really how we spell schnide?) in the colors of the red, white and blue (as opposed to being MVP in his club's red, white and blue) broke out with a hattie against the Norwegians. He did the first one with his foot and then twice pumped them in with his head.

Not much I can say about this but based on Il Bruce's squad choices so far, Taylor seems to have one-up on the competition for the forward spot behind McBride and Johnson. The only bad thing I saw him do was come back too much to play defense. I imagine he was trying to impress Bruce with his hustle but in a World Cup setting he won't be able to play that much defense and realistically expect to start (I say this b/c he will take McBride's place in the event of an injury). He'd wear himself out.

3 - Clint Dempsey. I had heard that Clint had really improved during the offseason but I had no idea he thought he was MC Ronaldiñho out there. He had individual moves, played beautiful passes all over the park and even rifled one off the cross-bar that would have beaten even Petr Cech. He's my man of the match, not so much for what he did (which was brilliant) but that he, more than anyone else on the field, seems to have taken that next step over the winter.

Someone find out what's in his Wheaties and pass it around the squad. I wouldn't imagine we'll see much of Clint this side of the Atlantic once the World Cup is over. Someone in Europe is going to snatch him up.

4 - I know I said three things, but here's number four. Landon Donovan suffers from his own greatness. Here's what I mean: the guy absolutely runs the show for the American attack and is the primary reason I'm not worried if Reyna's hurt. Donovan works best as a #10 and seeing him distrubte the ball today just reminded me that he and Reyna play basically the same position and I think we're better with Donovan at the 10 than with Reyna at the 10 and Donovan at forward.

I think the strategy you saw today is how we will attack the bigger Czech and Italian teams. Spread the ball around, run 'til you puke and make them play defense.

Scoring early would help, also.

I'll see your bet and raise you 1000 ...

2006-01-24T22:54:00.000-05:00

I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in D.C. and doing my pitch to get him to buy a ticket to one of the games once the schedule comes out.

He was perusing the the 2006 season ticket options and said something that I found very interesting.

Apparently, the season tickets he has for the Washington Wizards (NBA team) in section 402 (about halfway up the section --- I went to a game with him) are twice as much per ticket as the most expensive D.C. 18-game season ticket. Granted, there are 20 more games for a Wizards season ticket ... but his seats were way up there. And on the endline (er, baseline).

That just shocked me. I'm gonna keep working on him.

The next 10 years ...

2006-01-22T01:07:00.000-05:00

Most marketing folks will tell you that a sports generation is about 10 years long. Every decade a new set of sports fan emerges and provides a new base/sucker/loyal supporter for those folks looking to make sports even more financially lucrative in this country than it already is.

At MLS, the new decade is of critical importance. Sure, the past score has been one of growth, of gaining a foothold and simply trying to survive. To become the league that most MLS fans want not only will it take time, it will take a new perception. Right now, for better or worse, soccer (and as a byproduct MLS) is viewed as a sport for those kids who couldn't hack it as a quarterback or defensive lineman.

The next decade of MLS will be defined by Marvell Wynne, the first overall pick at Friday's MLS SuperDraft, and those players like him who come into the league over the second decade of major professional soccer in the United States.

Don't believe me? Take a look at what Marvell said:

Well, shit. I can't find the quote and I've been drinking but basically it said something along the lines of him being the kind of player that soccer in the U.S. has been trying to attract. He's fast, strong (a tank is how our graphic designer responded to seeing him) and, let's not ignore it, African-American. He's the kind of guy I would expect to see being drafted by Houston ... the Texans, not the 36ers. He's not the 14-year-old prodigy and he's not the 17-year-old who won't play in MLS during his rookie year.

We've always wondered what it would be like if the best American athletes played soccer and in MLS. Well, we're about to find out. With Wynne and EJ leading the way, MLS is going to have it do its best to market itself as a league to be taken seriously, not somewhere where everyone gets to play.

This isn't 8-a-side-for-the-fun-of-it-for-kids-who-are-unable-to-play-anything-else. Not everyone gets to play in this game. You're not guaranteed to get playing time. To be a real league, it's got to be about the players in the uniform, the colors on the badge.

Not the guys on 5th Avenue. Not the expansion and the business of soccer. It's got to be about the players and "will my team win this year?" not "will we survive until next year?". When it gets to that point, that's when I know soccer will have arrived. And guys like Marvell Wynne (and Clint Dempsey and Juan Pablo Garcia) will be the guys who get MLS there.

I'm looking forward to it.

The Guevara soap opera...

2006-01-17T17:48:00.000-05:00

The Amado Guevara soap opera that has transpired most of the winter took a turn for the incredibly interesting today when Guevara said he doesn't want to play for the Metros as long as Lexi is there.

He's backed up by his agent, Richard McCabe, who said the following:

"I haven't spoken to Amado, but I don't need to," McCabe said Monday. "It's pretty clear to me that the MetroStars want to get rid of Amado. They are doing their best to trade him."

This is important to me for two reasons:

1) MLS can use all the Hot Stove news it can get.

2) This is on the team's official site. It's long been an argument between the teams, league and the company providing the production of the websites (Baseball Advanced Media, the brains behind MLB.com) about what can go on the team sites. The teams, for the most part, want a straight Pollyanna view on the website while BAM wants as much interesting, and sometimes "bad PR", as it can get.

Perhaps the addition of Will Kuhns (former editor for Soccer America) as the new Director of Communication of the league is already having a positive impact on the stories getting out.

Yeah, Wizzle ...

2006-01-13T14:49:00.000-05:00

More good news for the Wizzle (via US Soccer Players) and it seems to me, at this point in the process, that things are looking very good for K.C. area Wizzle fans.

I need them to stay around because I haven't come up with as good a nickname for any of the other teams.

Well, finally some good news ...

2006-01-13T10:35:00.000-05:00

It appears the Toronto FC investment group is in New York at the league offices today.

With construction set to start next week on a stadium, things are looking very good for Toronto to be announced soon *coughcoughnextweekcoughcough* as the official 13th league franchise.

Exciting, I do say.

Also, other news that I've heard: Houston will announce their team/logo after SuperDraft. ~~It may not be the one everyone thinks it is because a certain mogul wasn't that fond of it.~~ Apparently it will be the name that everyone is thinking. Shows what I know.

Head scratcher ...

2006-01-12T12:45:00.000-05:00

So it appears that Columbus is trading Chris Henderson to the Metros for Tim Ward. Which begs the question: I had pretty much decided that Columbus was going to trade up to the No. 1 spot to take Marvell Wynne.

But with Frankie on the right and Tim Ward on the left, do they need Marvell? I doubt Chivas would take Marvell (although what do I know about chivas with Bob Bradley there now -- Wynne would be an excellent wingback in a 3-5-2) and if they don't (David Arvizu isn't in the draft pool), the draft could get very interesting.

That said, Tim Ward is doing wonders for me with PSV in Championship Manager, and Chris Henderson is ancient, so even in the real world I don't understand this trade. Ward was the best option at left back for Metro last year, and is going to be a starter in this league for quite a while (if he doesn't go to Europe), so I don't see how giving him up helps Mo win a championship this year.

Flabbergasted

2006-01-06T15:09:00.000-05:00

I am shocked, shocked I tell you that D Centers hasn't commented on the new DCUnited.com header and the new badge.

Shocked, I tell you.

Feliz Navidad

2006-01-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

Happy new year to all who are still visiting this site. Now that I'm back from vacation and wild hinterlands south of America's most European city, I'm ready to rock and roll through all the exciting information MLS is pumping out on a daily basis.

Er, what's that? Nothing's happening?

Well, I'll do what I can.

One of the big things being railed about on that bastion of we-only-exist-to-cause-controversy-where-level-headed-people-can-easily-see-there-is-none, Soccernet's U.S. home page, is how MLS is making a horrible decision to play through the World Cup this summer.

Well, aside from us only losing about 20 - 30 players (if that many) for those six weeks (or, in T&T's case, four weeks --- two weeks to get ready, two weeks to go 0-3-0), what better opportunity to get people out to the stadium?

Where do people want to see World Cup games? On the biggest screen available. How much more perfect does it have to be for MLS to have World Cup/MLS doubleheaders? Get to the stadium at 2:00 p.m. in Columbus, watch the game on the big screen and then stick around to see the Crew players take on the Fire or something like that. People get excited about soccer during the World Cup ... if MLS gives them a reason to watch, I think it can be a real boon.

Now, the real reason we're playing through is the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots. Because we're stuck having to fight them for scheduling (as well as UH and the Nationals), MLS can't afford to give up dates where the stadiums are free. Well, that and if you add six weeks on to the calendar, we're either starting in late February or ending in December.

It's not going to be that bad. I think it'll actually turn out to be good for the league in the long run.

It's not about the fans but all about the fans ...

2005-12-15T12:23:00.000-05:00

Joe over at WCIS had a pretty good appeal to the fans of the Boys in Blue to get out and support their hometown team in hopes of encouraging the local authorities to have reason to build a stadium.

That stands in contrast to why San Jose is moving. With the news coming out that San Jose is all but gone and most likely headed to Houston, many Earthquakes fans are angry that they're the team being moved. Those fans feel that because San Jose had a better fan base than K.C., the Wizzle should be the ones on the chopping block.

To that I say: You, sir or madame, have missed the point.

San Jose isn't moving because of a lack of fans or interest from the local population. The franchise is moving because its owner, for the time being at least, couldn't or wouldn't afford to pay for the team to play in the deal they had. AEG refused to pay for the team to play in the deal that Spartan Stadium had offered them and wasn't able to get either a new stadium or a temporary home.

No one can force AEG to own a team and fans need to understand that. AEG felt that it was important to have the team in the league but to have them in San Jose wasn't something they were willing to do. To have them in Houston, though, they were willing to foot the bill because they got a better deal. No one knows right now how much better Robertson Stadium will be than Spartan Stadium but AEG didn't get to be a multi-billion dollar company by making stupid moves. I think we'll hear news about a new Houston stadium soon and I hope MLS will be back in the Bay Area before too long.

But it's not AEG's fault. So, San Jose fans, stop blaming them and help find someone with deep enough pockets to take over the team and get you guys a stadium built.

In which I play the role of United analyst ...

2005-12-14T11:26:00.000-05:00

In today's article, Steven Goff of The Washington Post discusses United contracts, who's coming and who might not be back for 2006.

Now, I'm not the DCenters and I certainly don't purport to be a United expert (also, check out his interview with United's Hispanic Marketing Manager -- it's good stuff).

However, if D.C. gets rid of the biggest goon in MLS (Dema), it provides United with some interesting options. Nowak has, for as long as I've been paying attention, used a 3-5-2 with United. The question that begs is was he using this formation because it best fit his squad or because he really prefers that formation. IF Nowak isn't married to the 3-5-2, this could be a great chance to get Freddy a starting role. With Moreno and Walker up top, Quaranta on the right, Gomez and Freddy in the middle and Gros on the left of a 4-4-2 ... well, that'd be a pretty formidable lineup.

I'm just sayin' is all. It also gets Boswell and Erpen on the field at the same time.

In more unfortunate news for United fans, los capitalinos resigned Nick Rimando's contract. I really do enjoy watching other teams take crosses against United. High comedy.

Well, that sucks ....

2005-12-13T10:54:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to write something for the last few days about the soap opera going on in San Jose. But with the news last night coming out of the Bay Area, it looks like the fate of the Earthquakes is sealed.

For a long time I've felt like both parties were merely trying to save face on this arrangement. Although small, the Quakes supporters are loud and the Mercury News was covering the situation pretty closely. The Mayor couldn't just let the team walk and AEG wanted to look as though they were making the best effort to sell the team.

But no one wants a team in Spartan Stadium. Spartan Shops, or SJSU, or whomever, wasn't interested in working with the Quakes to get them a deal that would allow them to survive.

I personally believe the deal to move them team to Houston was hammered out long ago and the parties involved in San Jose (AEG, SVSE, San José and MLS) have been trying to make it appear as though they were doing everything possible to put this together. Who knows, maybe there were even honest negotiations going on.

But as we've seen in every other MLS city, stadiums don't happen in two weeks. Ask D.C. Ask MetroStars. Ask Chicago. Hell, even ask Salt Lake. It takes long-term negotiations from a committed owner, not a group of people trying to offload a franchise at the earliest possible convenience.

I don't blame AEG. They did what they could ... as The Don said, "this isn't a charity." AEG didn't want to own a team and there should be no reason we make them. At least there will still be 12 teams, with Kansas City staying at least one more year, and hopefully soccer will be back in northern California sooner rather than later.

World Cup World Cup World Cup

2005-12-09T16:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we're not in the group of death (that'd be group C: Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia and Monetengro and Netherlands) but our group isn't any easier. We open up against the Czech Republic (hello Nedved) and then face Italy in the second game. We'll finish up with Ghana. Let's just hope Freddy doesn't decide to up and play for the land of his birth because of the matchup.

If we win our group, we face the second team from Group F (Brazil, Croatia, Australia and Japan) and we finish second, we'll face the winner of F (most likely Brazil).

It's not an easy group. But I think we can do it.

Haven't disappeared ...

2005-11-30T18:58:00.000-05:00

I haven't disappeared though work has lately made it feel that way. Combine it with a well-timed Thanksgiving holiday and it's been lack of updates for me.

To be truthful, since I don't have a seriously favorite team like D or Kali, I don't follow the day-to-day team actions as much as they do. Nor do I have as many thoughts on those matters.

I do care about Bob Bradley at Chivas USA and the Super Club on Made on MTV. More details on those tomorrow.

The offseason of my discontent ...

2005-11-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

First off, congratulations to the Galaxy. I think they were one of the most talented teams this entire year and they're built to be cruelly effective in the postseason MLS tournament. So, kudos to them.

The other thing I don't understand (okay, so I don't understand a lot of things, namely how McDonald's burgers can be made out of stuff that's probably not natural to planet Earth yet still be crackaliciously delicious) is why people are upset with a #8 seed winning the whole shebang.

In other sports, Cinderellas are celebrated, not derided. No one said baseball's playoffs were less than legitimate because the Wild Card-winning Astros, who had one of baseball's worst records in May, made it to the World Series, no one continiously castigated UW-Milwaukee for reaching the Great Eight last year and I've yet to hear wailing and gnashing of teeth that the Patriots winning the Super Bowl as a Wild Card makes gridiron football obsolete.

Yeah, the game wasn't the most beautifully played game. Championships usually aren't. And, as an aside, why is a 0-0 or 1-1 hockey game that goes to seven overtimes thrilling but a defensive soccer battle isn't? I'm just curious about that.

But in the end a team that couldn't put it together in the regular season came together when it mattered. If the Patriots put it together in the playoffs this year and win the Super Bowl, no one will remember that they were 5-4 at one point. It doesn't make them less of a champion.

No, the reason people hate the way it shook down this year is because it's Landon Donovan and the Galaxy that won. If the Metros had done the Cinderella act, I think you would have heard more stories championing their leader's fortitude (he made them eat haggis before the game) or Djorkaeff's calming influence in these pressure packed games.

But because it's Donovan, the American soccer press' favorite whipping boy, the 'hired gun' (who really is too good for this league right now) de-legitimizes the championship. And Sampson being the coach, who his own team's fans can't stand, didn't help matters. It's really a no-win situation for FC Entertainment (except, of course, they will add another star above the badge next season).

In the future this won't matter as much because there'll be more teams to separate the wheat and chaff during the season. There won't be two absolutely dreadful expansion teams to negatively influence the season. And we won't have this argument.

Ideally I'd like to see the playoffs be a home and home in both the first and second round to reward the higher seed by having the second game at home each time and then a one game final. But the way it is now, though not the perfect answer everyone will love, isn't that bad.

Also, bring back the Golden Goal. That's good stuff right there.

MLS Pictures ...

2005-11-12T14:10:00.000-05:00

This is Fan-Fucking-Tastic. If they could do this as an HBO: Inside the NFL kind of thing every week on Monday instead of MLS Wrap on Saturday night ... that'd be just huge for MLS.

Just, unbelievable. Way to go MLS and adidas. If you haven't seen it, make sure to see it.

Get out the red pens ...

2005-11-12T13:01:00.000-05:00

I grade the U.S. - Scotland match:

Goalkeepers
----
Kasey Keller - 7 - Did what he needed to do. Couldn't have done anything about the goal but was never really tested. He's the number one ... I'd like to see Howard or Hannehman get a shot to get some PT.

Defenders
----
Jonathan Spector - 8 - I was very impressed by Spector and thought he got forward very well and once he got used to the speed and intensity after the first 15 minutes that he got involved and physical when needed. That elbow to the chest he gave late in the game will get him a red card in the World Cup so he's gotta be careful about that.

Carlos Bocanegra - 7 - Did what he needed to do.

Gregg Berhalter - 7 - Didn't hear much about him. I guess that's a good thing when you're on defense.

Steve Cherundolo - 8 - Glad to see him back in the lineup. Really is an impressive player, holds down his side and does an excellent job getting forward, something that's very important in Il Bruce's philosophy.

Heath Pearce - 7 - Had to play out of the position but didn't wet the bed so he gets an average grade for this one.

Jimmy Conrad - n/a - Wasn't on long enough to make much of a difference.

Midfielders
----
DaMarcus Beasley - 8 - Easily the U.S.'s most dangerous player. Looked great with the ball at his feet but it's obvious he doesn't like the right foot. To make the leap as a player, he's going to need to get better moving to his right. All over the field today. Scotland couldn't match his speed (though, really, aside from USC, who can?).

Kerry Zavagnin - 6 - Il Bruce is looking for someone to replace Chris Armas if he isn't ready to go by the time the World Cup comes around. KZ didn't help himself. Maybe Bruce is trying to get him enough caps to play in England or something.

Brian Carroll - 7 - I thought he played really well early on but sort of disappeared later in the game. Controlled the ball well and distributed well. Stayed deep.

Eddie Gaven - 5 - Did he touch the ball in the first half? Bruce moved him to the left trying to get him some touches. He's just not a wing player and there's not a whole lot of room in the middle of the park. Not sure what's going to happen to Gaven ... I think he needs to go to Europe if he's going to make a leap as a player.

Ben Olsen - 8 - Well done, Bennie. He played the Armas role perfectly and is exactly what the U.S. needed when he came in. Raised his stock greatly in this game.

Santino Quaranta - 6 - We really need to develop someone to play wide right. Quaranta wasn't really bad, he just didn't really do anything positive. Sort of a ho-hum performance.

Forwards
----
Josh Wolff - 7 - Wolff's pass to Beasley which set up the penalty kick which Wolff converted which in most matches would have gotten him an 8 rating was brilliant. The finish was nice, too. He was also buzzing around and getting active. However, he flopped too easily and never really seemed to have his feet today. A better performance than I'm used to, though.

Brian Ching - 6 - Bruce seems to want him to be a Brian McBride forward but I'm not sure if that's really teh role he's suited for. Ching missed a couple of good header opportunities and couldn't stay on his feet long enough to do stuff. Didn't really win the long headers up front, either.

Chris Rolfe - 7 - I don't know if he's ready for the World Cup this summer but he's going to be very, very effective in our offense. He is Landon Donovan part 2 without the intimidation yet and can play the same withdrawn striker role that Donovan has perfected for the national team. I don't know if Bruce has room for him this summer but Chris is going to make it impossible to leave him off the roster at some point. I don't know how much longer he's going to stay in MLS but it just goes to show that Chicago has the best scouting department in the league. Beasley, Bocanegra, Ralph and now Rolfe? That's really impressive.

Overall
----
It's great for us to get a match like this in a hostile environment that we can honestly be disappointed to not win with our B team. Would have liked to see more offense from the Americans but it was a great match for the environment we should expect to see next summer. Overall, we got what we needed out of that match.

Wow!

2005-11-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

Look at that new Fox Soccer Channel studio! Snazzy!

And Max and Harksey are in Glasgow? Y'know, actually at the game? Could it be that FSC is becoming a real studio and they're going to spend some real money on this?

That'd be huge.

Perhaps we're doing it all wrong ...

2005-11-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

Sure, Los Angeles and New England are in MLS Cup and I should spend some time breaking down the game. I'm sure I will. But that's not really why I started this blog in the first place.

Let's look at a thought: how to build attendance at games and interest in the league in the U.S. There are two common thoughts which we've discussed here: build through team loyalty or through interest in league operations.

Apparently, there's a third way that I never considered: have team cheerleaders gain national notoriety for having sex in a public bathroom and then punching out the people that tattled on them.

From the ESPN report:

In the police report, witnesses claimed Thomas and Keathley were having sex with each other in a stall when other patrons grew angry that the two were taking so long in the bathroom.

Another woman waiting to use the bathroom got into an argument with the two, and Thomas hit that person in the face, according to details of the report posted on TampaBay10.com, the CBS TV affiliate's Web site.

I didn't realize that was even possible but there was so much traffic to Panthers.com this morning that the site crashed. It's on the front page of ESPN.com.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the ChivaGirls and Metrogirls really have to step it up.

The second most important MLS event ... ever.

2005-11-03T22:44:00.000-05:00

Watching a sports league grow up is similar to watching a human being grow up. At the age of 10, you're really looking to see if the kid you're raising starts to make firm decisions that will be the foundation of their beliefs going forward.

In the first ten years, we've seen Major League Soccer go from the newborn with whom everyone was infatuated to the ten year old who people tend to forget about. Entering the stage where we go through awkward changes trying to figure out who we are will require formulating the basic structures of what will define us as a league.

One of the main foundations of the structure of the league has been the creation of Soccer Specific Stadiums, something that's absolutely required for the league to reach solvency and maintain an appearance of legitimacy in a marketing culture constantly looking for "the next big thing." D.C. United seems to be the next team to have their own home and it's something that MLS is absolutely correct to be purusing.

The second crux of the foundation of MLS is something that has come out in the last week and I am shocked at how little press it's received:

MLS will be receiving a rights fee for the first time in league history. Stadiums are absolutely important but of all the things I didn't expect to see, this is tops of the list.

Here's why this is important: at the current time, at 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon, when the primary demographic is out playing soccer, with no promotion, MLS games receive approximately a .2 share on ESPN2. That's 200,000 households in the United States that are watching the game live because they care about soccer and want to see what's happening.

And that's with no effort on the part of ESPN/ABC. Now, with ABC/ESPN acquiring the English-language rights to the 2010/2014 World Cup rights, MLS will receive a rights fee from ESPN as part of the package. It's not official yet, but ESPN will be paying MLS money in order to broadcast the games.

Ok, so this isn't the $2B that the NFL gets every year, but let's say it's $10 million a year. First off, the pays for half of the league's player salaries. Secondly, instead of SUM/MLS paying ESPN and taking care of all the broadcast details, ESPN will handle all that.

Why's that important? Now, ESPN is putting forward the money to produce this and the money for the right to broadcast it. SUM's deal previously allowed SUM to garner the advertising revenue (hence the Side by Side advertising this year) but now ESPN is the one making money off advertising. How do you make more money? Higher ratings. How do you get higher ratings? More advertising. If ESPN is on the hook, they're going to be the ones doing the advertising.

And that's the reason why this is so important. The reason you can't escape the NFL in America isn't because the NFL is doing a lot of advertising, it's because Coors and Tostitos and Visa are shoving the NFL down your throat because they've invested a lot of money for the right to do that. It's a compounding effect. The more companies that will take up the banner of something, the higher the ratings accrue and the more companies that sign up.

This is the first step for MLS and I give huge credit to the MLS brass and the Don for their leadership in this matter. Lots of people thought this deal was dead about two months ago and this group brought it back from the flatline.

I cannot overstate how important this is for MLS. The more people MLS sign up to carry the water for the league, and even better if they're willing to pay money to do it, the better the league will be in the future. This is the first step and it's the most important thing that will happen to MLS this year and makes any bad news easier to accept.

Even if Chicago and Colorado are in MLS Cup.

If I know one thing, I know it's about money ...

2005-10-31T11:48:00.000-05:00

Somewhere deep inside the bowels of MLS HQ, the league, even though they won't say it publicly, longs for a Galaxy - United MLS Cup. Sure, they'd be happy with an FC Dallas - United matchup this year since the Cup matchup is being held in the Brick Oven, but promoting Freddy vs. Landon, as they did two years ago in Freduardo's first game, is a dream come true.

Which is sort of what made yesterday's game between the Fire and United yesterday all the more suprirsing. No, I didn't expect United to be given any benefits. However, since I've been following the league (which has been the last two seasons) I always found that United came through in the big games. They got all the soccer-karma and, if needed, would find that spark to win.

And yesterday they got the snot kicked out of them. It just shocks me to not see them in it anymore.

Now we're left with the worst of possibilities for MLS Cup. Could you imagine trying to promote a Colorado - Chicago MLS Cup final? Egads. Sure, the Galaxy and the Revolution would be interesting, and a good game, but it's not Landon vs. Freddy since the Revs haven't really gone out of their way to make Taylor, or Cleetus-lite, a big name draw. At some point the league is going to have to make their own superstars and not wait for the national team to do it for them and until that day arrives, those of us who root for the league over one particular team are going to fret and worry all through the playoffs that the Rapids and the Revs get knocked out as early as possible.

[BASA] Defender of the Year

2005-10-27T13:49:00.000-04:00

Scaryice put up today's vote for Defender of the Year, won fairly comfortably by Danny Califf.

Here's my vote.

Defender of the Year
===================
1: Danny Califf
2: Eddie Robinson
3: Samuel Caballero

I really thought Caballero played well this season and although there are a lot of good defenders in MLS, I thought he came in this year and gave the Fire muscle in the back that Curtin and Brown didn't offer. That said, Dave Sarachan went and promptly benched him for the Segares - Curtin - Brown backline last weekend.

Calling Blogger knowledgeable folks...

2005-10-26T14:29:00.000-04:00

I'm having a problem with my template that appears on the archive version (example here ») of my pages in IE. On the right side, only in IE, the Blogroll and previous posts, show up in all capital letters, with weird spacing and in bold.

On Firefox, it looks like it should.

Anyone know why this is happening? I checked the blogger help files and the only thing I found that would be of use didn't seem to work.

Also, I know Firefox is better than IE. You don't need to reinforce that.

[BASA] Rookie of the Year

2005-10-26T10:58:00.000-04:00

Scaryice put up today's vote for Rookie of the Year, won handily by Michael Parkhurst.

Here's my vote.

Rookie of the Year
===================
1: Chris Rolfe
2: Michael Parkhurst
3: Scott Sealy

The way I looked at it, Rolfe's performance as the only dangerous striker that Dave Sarachan decided to put on the field this year (where, oh where, has my little Chad Barrett gone?) made Rolfe the slightest of margins more impressive than Parkhurst, who certainly had a fantastic year manning the backline of the Revs. That said, I think Parkhurst had a little more help at the back than Rolfe had at the front.

Looking back, I should have put Guzan at third instead of Sealy. Man, Guzan just got dumped on this year and until he had his face broken, he kept coming back and putting in good performances. I could see Guzan with national team implications by 2010 or 2014.

[BASA] Coach of the Year

2005-10-25T14:54:00.000-04:00

Scaryice put up today's vote for Coach of the Year, won handily by Dom Kinnear.

Here's my vote.

Coach of the Year
===================
1: Dom Kinnear
2: Steve Nicol
3: Peter Nowak

I thought about putting Mo Johnston on the list at 3rd, but it was for regular season only and though he did get them to the playoffs, I think Bradley would have gotten them there as well. That said, I think Mo is much better for what the Metros need right now than Bradley.

Even if Il Bruce disagrees. (hat tip: Kin of Fish)

BASAs

2005-10-24T15:33:00.000-04:00

Stat-freak scaryice over at Climbing the Ladder has put together the BASA's where various soccer bloggers put their votes in for the same awards the guys who get paid to write about soccer decide.

Since I participated, I felt it only fair (like D and Mike H, to name a few) to post my picks once scaryice posts his (in $2,000-a-night-callgirl fashion --- it's a tease, folks).

Goalkeeper of the Year
===================
1: Pat Onstad
2: Matt Reis
3: Jonny Walker

The first two (though some people varied on the order) are pretty common picks but I thought Jonny Walker proved that he still has something left in the tank and will find himself starting somewhere next season (RSL, anyone?).

Peter Nowak is killing D.C. United

2005-10-24T11:37:00.000-04:00

Cheers to the Metros for making my prediction of a Metros - United Eastern Conference Championship at least possible, if not likely.

Jeers to Brian Hall for, well, that entire game. And how is that not a goal?

Cheers to Landon. Welcome back to MLS. I hate it but the best thing for MLS is a Los Angeles - D.C. United MLS Cup. Landon vs. Freddy. Oh, and thanks Landon for speaking out on the playoff structure.

"To be honest, it sucks because they have been, far and away, the best team this season, and what's their reward? A two-game series," Donovan said. "Fortunately and unfortunately, that's what our league is. You don't get rewarded for playing well for 32 games. You get rewarded for playing well in four. You pick and choose your moments.

Good points all around.

But here's my main point: Peter Nowak is killing MLS's only 'superclub' before they got a chance to be a dominant force. The DCenters has a great take on all of this but I'm not partial to D.C. so I don't mind picking sides.

Peter Nowak is wrong.

Sure, he's a great player. Would he make a good gridiron coach? Probably. But he is handling this situation entirely incorrectly.

The primary job of a coach is to win games. Without Freddy, D.C. United did not win on Friday (and should have lost ... thanks, Brian). And with this distraction looming over los capitalinos heads for the next week, when it easily could have been put to bed last week, Peter is jeopardizing D.C. United's chance at a fifth MLS Cup championship.

D says:

Piotr doesn't want Freddy to think he's above the team. I'm fine with this.

Well, guess what, Peter? You're making him bigger than the team. By dragging this out, singling out Freddy and requiring him to apologize, you're making this issue bigger than the team when you should be rallying your team to the cause of winning.

If you don't fix it soon, this Freddy mess will sort itself out. And you can see him four times next year when he's wearing the other team's colors.

Busy and have to jot these down before the playoffs start ...

2005-10-21T18:30:00.000-04:00

Here's how I see the playoffs breaking down.

Eastern Conference
==========

1) New England
4) MetroStars

I think the streaking Metros pull off a shock one-goal win over the Revs at Giants Stadium tomorrow and then manage to keep it a draw at the Big Razor.

2) D.C. United
3) Chicago Fire

These matches have been classics all year. I think the Fire jump out to an early lead, maybe even draw at home. The Black and Red though win in the return leg and advance.

2) D.C. United
4) MetroStars

I don't think the Metros have enough to down D.C. a second time but they'll be close. D.C. advances to the cup.

Western Conference
==========

1) San Jose Earthquakes
4) Los Angeles Galaxy

I think we find out how good San Jose really is and the Quakes are never really tested in either match. Quakes win. Dom's toasted. Sampson's fired. Donovan demands a trade to NoCal.

2) FC Dallas
3) Colorado Rapids

I'm inclined to pick the Hoops only because I still have this belief that the Rapids are shite and incapable of winning anything other than against Las Rayadas and the 'Pids Rocky Mountain Rivals. No real reason to go against that thought process. Hoops on.

1) San Jose Earthquakes
2) FC Dallas

Should be a good game but the Hoops are too decimated. Any Hooters in NoCal?

MLS Cup
==========

2) D.C. United
1) San Jose Earthquakes

In what I think will be a fantastic battle between De Rosario's Quakes and the team he think is the best team he's faced this year, I take the Quakes in what should be a thriller. Hope the stadium is full!

All the world's a stage...

2005-10-21T17:12:00.000-04:00

Said the indomitable D ...

The playoffs have begun, even if the games haven't started.

I am quite excited. I'll be back with a Metros - Revs preview a bit later as well as my predictions for how things shake down but, just for a little while, I'm enjoying the excitement of a playoffs that have started but not yet begun.

On second thought...

2005-10-20T16:06:00.000-04:00

What Freddy said to Steven Goff, I've now decided, was the best thing that could have happened to MLS.

I'm not going to discuss the ramifications of where Freddy might play or how it impacts the team's psyche, because many other people have handled that issue.

No, the reason I think this is important, not only in content but, more importantly, in timing, is that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Here we were, Tuesday afternoon, and MLS is rolling towards the playoffs with nothing less than an nanoblip on the public radar. Derek Rae wasn't on ESPN breaking down the matchup between the Gals and the Quakes, Wynalda wasn't doing in-depth-make-you-cry pieces with Donovan and how his return hasn't worked out how he liked and Tony Meola wasn't showing Terry Bradshaw how to eat an entire turducken in one sitting.

Ok, so that last part is a weird nightmare I had last night.

Point being, after Adu started talking, commentators came out left and right, some of them not particularly of the soccer persuasion, to make their opinion known on the matter. We had a front page mention on ESPN.com and BigSoccer lit up like a Chernobyl Christmas tree.

People were talking about soccer. Most of them were saying Freddy was stupid for what he was saying and when he was saying it, or complaining that MLS overhyped the lad and should be to blame for fans not seeing what they came to see, but, people were talking about MLS and how the playoffs start this weekend. You can't buy that kind of pub.

Not Joe over at We Call It Soccer even wondered if a full-blown scandal would help MLS get some pub. It might ... but probably only if it involves Freddy.

The way this thing went down probably won't make anyone who follows the Black and Red very happy, but it will make people pay attention to MLS, and, in the end, that's what Freddy was brought here to do.

Freduardo in the Swamp

2005-10-18T16:26:00.000-04:00

So, Freddy wants out of D.C.?

Ok, so the article doesn't say that he wants out of D.C., just that he wants more playing time and that he feels like he's practicing well, just not getting in the game.

Will Freddy be playing for MetroStars next season? Think about it ... Johnston brought in as full-time coach, Guevara gone, Freddy as an AMC with Djorkaeff and Razov up front. That sounds like a formidable attack to me. And we'll sell some MetroStars #9 shirts (cause you know Freddy will get the number).

I don't think this is what Freddy signed up for ... he could have gone to a youth system abroad and gotten similar action to what he's getting now (although less money) but what has been the benefit for Freduard for sticking it out in MLS?

I'm not sure he's gotten the best deal for him. He's been great for the league.

That said, he was never going to play in Germany in 2006. That's just bitching on his part.

Holy Cheetos

2005-10-16T19:10:00.000-04:00

Today's game between the Metros and Chivas might well have been the most exciting regular season game in MLS history to have been broadcast on ESPN2. Usually we end up with horrible, boring games as the league's primetime advertisement but this time we got a must-win that either team could have won.

Wasn't the most technically beautiful encounter but, hey, when the ball hits teh woodwork four times and Tony Meola 2005 looks like Tony Meola circa 1994, sometimes it's just meant to be.

The thing that struck me in this game is how bad I expected the Metros to be this season.

Remember back at the beginning of the year when the Metros got the season underway? There was no way Djorkaeff would be any good, and even if he was he wouldn't last through the season. Abbe Ibrahim? Tim Ward? Zach Wells? Galvan Rey?

Even though Wells didn't stay as the starter, he held the team together early on. Galvan Rey played well enough not to be a huge punchline and the addition of Razov gives the Metros someone effective up top.

I think it's impressive that the Metros made the playoffs. And, even though Kansas City has done nothing to me personally, I'm glad they didn't make the playoffs. I just couldn't stand to see a playoff game with only 20 people in the stands this Saturday that wasn't televised.

Well, the playoffs are here. I, for one, am excited to get it started Friday night. Should be a good game!

Drinking non-alcoholic beverages from the reserve cup ...

2005-10-14T15:11:00.000-04:00

SO, more exciting possibilities for MLS.

In my last post, I described the inherent unfairness of having more than one team owned by the same owner even if the owner is by all accounts a great guy and has no reason to do such things.

In this post, I wonder aloud if D.C. really wants to win or if it's just lip a service.

United and the Wizzle are down to the wire for the Reserve Division title and the 20 large that comes with it.

Interesting thought: United is locked into the second playoff spot in the East no matter what they do. Why not send everyone from the first team but Moreno (he needs to try for the Golden Boot) to play for the reserves this weekend? United loses nothing but could you imagine the Crew's reserves facing off against Freduardo, Dema, Ben Olsen and others on Sunday morning? I'd say United would be in pretty good shape for the title.

And it's not like Kansas City could do the same ... they need all hands on deck to down the Waldos, er, Hoops.

Veeerrry eeeentereesting. How 'bout it, Piotr?

Friends of my enemies are my friends...

2005-10-14T11:24:00.000-04:00

So, let's say you own a Major League Soccer team (three, actually!) and that one of your teams, we'll call them the Waldos, is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Entering the final weekend of the season, the Waldos are locked into either the second or third seed in one of the conferences where the argument for being the lower seed is actually quite good.

The Waldos are squaring off with one of your other teams, the Yellow Bricks, who are locked in a playoff battle with Milanabees for the last spot in the other conference.

If the Yellow Bricks defeat the Waldos, then the Yellow Bricks are all but certain to be in. Otherwise, if it's a draw or the Waldos lose, the Milanabees can still get in to the playoffs with a win on Sunday.

While the latter would be the more exciting option for the league (a nationally televised playoff battle in front of what should be a large crowd), if you owned Waldos and Yellow Brick ... would you tell Waldos to, y'know, take it easy, rest a bunch of starters and only try and keep it competitive?

Real Sandy

2005-10-12T12:39:00.000-04:00

I had a chance to see two of the renderings for the new RSL stadium and, well, if they pull this off as designed, it's going to give Bridgeview a run for its money as MLS' best stadium.

Can't change this feeling, way out of touch ...

2005-10-11T14:23:00.000-04:00

MLS is in a very interesting position. Sure, we have our B-team boys being blown out in Saprissa, and perhaps we're not developing players as fast as we thought and the Landon-Bones-Gooch generation really is as much an anamoly as the Golden Generation was in Portugal (which means we need to get to the nickname makin' quickly).

But two things are happening today and tomorrow that make me wonder exactly what MLS is going to look like in the future.

This afternoon there'll be a conference call to say that Toronto is going to be in for 2007. That's exciting news! And they'll have their own stadium which means any team MLSE puts together is already ahead of the fiscal schedule as compared to someone like, say, D.C. United (who need their own stadium in the worst way).

The other news is that tomorrow RSL will hold a press conference to announce that the Monarchs will be building an FC Dallas-like facility in Sandy, a southern suburb of the Utah capital. That means that in the start of 2008 (granted, that's two years away) only three teams will be without their own stadium deal: San Jose, United and the Wizards. And, certainly a lot is going to change with San Jose and K.C. over the winter and United could end up with a stadium at any moment.

Which is why I should feel good about MLS, right?

However, I just feel like it's a constant struggle for MLS. For example, I was talking to someone about MLS Cup and how we both hoped it was FC Dallas versus D.C. United because then we'd get a sellout. Or even the Galaxy versus United and how we hoped it wasn't a Colorado - New England final because is it a championship game if no fans attend?

Which begs the question: if no one outside of its cult fans (myself included) care about a league, does it have real hope for the future and will any of us be alive to see that future?

Other things besides soccer

2005-10-07T14:28:00.000-04:00

With the Jewish holidays this week and the push to the playoffs, work has kept me from commenting on the big happenings this week: Metros dropping Bradley after the Metros completely tossed in the towel against D.C., Freddy's now-that's-what-I'm-talking-about goal and the rumors of the Siginator taking over in Cowtown.

I'll get to those, I really will.

But this weekend is Georgia - Tennessee. I know it's not soccer, but I'm so psyched for this game. And that it dovetails nicely into a night of MLS action (I really want to see the Metros - United game and see if the Metros really do look different under Johnston or if Wednesday was an illusion).

But it's Tennessee. I can't wait for us to smack to hose slack-jawled hickolian hill people back to from whence they came. Which won't be a far walk since we're in Knoxville for this one.

C'mon, Hunker Down You Hairy Dawgs!

(As an aside, this is what MLS needs and what it will get with time. I had this conversation with D (and, seriously, can I call you something other than D?) that what MLS needs is sports-hate. If someone terrorist attacked Tennessee, I'd be all for sending in troops to help cleanup ... after I thought about it for a second or two. MLS will get that, but it just takes time. I know they'll be a time, hopefully soon when they're good, where RSL fans will truly hate going up against the Rapids -- and TV won't be able to ignore it. Though Kroeneke might be able to, since Alteetude has ignored the 'Pids all season anyway. This is a really long parenthetical.)

I'm not the first to get this ...

2005-10-03T15:19:00.000-04:00

Ok, so check this out (I first saw this at Du Nord).

On Saturday this past weekend, D.C. United traveled up I-95 to face their Gotham rivals, the MetroStars. D.C. United's best player (or one of their two best players not named Freddy Adu), Christian Gómez, was suspended for acquiring too many yellow cards during recent matches. That happens all the time in soccer and isn't a big deal.

However, what happened Saturday is.

Check out this video and scroll to approximately 3:45 in (it's a 7 minute highlight reel from the game). The guy you see banging the drum in the Argentina jersey is the aforementioned Gómez who brought his entire family north to New Jersey, bought tickets to the game and proceeded to bang the drum with the supporters section (I don't know if it's Barra Brava or Screaming Eagles) going to prove that although MLS isn't one of the Big Four, there are still very cool things going on within MLS.

I swear, we're going to get there. I don't know when, but we're going to get there.

When you get destroyed by your arch-rivals, at least hope your announcers aren't praising D.C.'s best player for being in the supporter's section ...

2005-10-03T15:02:00.000-04:00

So, first things first, L'shanah Tovah to all the Members of the Tribe reading up today. Happy Rosh Hashanah to all the other non-Jews and yes, tomorrow is the day when all the Jews in your office are all out yet you to have to work. Don't worry, it evens itself up on Good Friday.

Now to the weekend that was. Once the regular season is over I'll begin a recap of each team, it's strengths and weaknesses but one team just required that I take a closer look right now. And I'll do that, but in a second.

How about San Jose? I thought they were going to be exposed this weekend. I didn't think that any team that was resting one of its two MVP candidates (in my book) this weekend had a chance against what I thought was, on Friday, the best team in the league. Impressive job up in New Eng-er-land, Quakes, and you're now five points clear for the Supporter's Shield. And you already reach 60 points. That's impressive.

But let's turn our attention to the Funk in the Swamp, the MetroStars. Watching the game this weekend, it wasn't the blowout that I think it looks like from the 4-1 scoreline. Then again, it's a 4-1 scoreline and that can only lie so much.

When the Metros took the lead, I thought it was the one of those late-season comebacks that MLS is famous for ... only with the Metros in the role of the Revs. Sure, the Red and Black didn't look solid in the back (have they at any point looked solid in the back?) but I thought they might be able to squeak out a 1-0 win behind a spirited crowd.

Then D.C. turned it on. The own-goal was something close to a death blow for the Metros. It was as if once they got scored on, the entire refrain was "oh, here we go again" and the team immediately thought they were going to lose. It didn't help that no one bothered to mark Ben Olsen and the route was on, even though it looked like Metro might pull one back.

I'm not sure what to think about Bob Bradley. I remember at the beginning of the season people thought the Metros might well be one of the worst teams ever (before anyone knew how bad Chivas and RSL might be) and here they are battling for the final playoff spot. But Bradley was also the one in charge when Agoos was brought in to anchor a 3-man back line ... something the Metros are ill-equipped to play.

So do you blame him for the wrong players and poor performance since then or do you credit him for even having this team fighting for a playoff spot?

I don't know.

Wherein I play the role of Scaryice

2005-09-27T10:22:00.000-04:00

I got to thinking and one of the things that frustrates me most about the current MLS setup isn't the lack of focus or intensity in regular season games, it's the number of the times the same teams face each other.

Now, nothing really alleviates that other than more teams. With that in mind, I'm planning for 2007 already.

Let's say in 2007 that one team (Toronto) enters the mix because the other team (Milwaukee) won't be ready until 2008.

East
--
D.C. United
MetroStars
New England
Columbus
Kansas City
Chicago
Toronto

West
--
Chivas USA
Colorado
FC Dallas
L.A. Galaxy
Real Salt Lake
San Jose Quakes
Milwaukee

When we get to seven teams per league, I think it works out pretty well for a 32-game regular season. That's three games against intra-conference rivals (18 games) and two games against non-conference rivals (14 games). That adds to 32 pretty well.

However, if only one new team comes in 2007, what the heck happens?

Ugh

2005-09-26T17:53:00.000-04:00

Yes, that foul on Alston in the U-17's match against Holland that broke his leg (and that the company providing video for FSC decided to replay a hundred million times) isn't a red card because more than likely it's a 16 year old kid being late to a tackle, but, man, I hate it for the kid.

That was Theismann-esque. Or it looked a lot like the broken leg Cisse for Liverpool suffered last year. Just disgusting. I hope the kid can come back.

"I hate those bloody I-ties!"

2005-09-21T10:29:00.000-04:00

I don't have any personal animosity toward our friends in the boot-shaped country (and I'm sure that's a very offensive slur I just don't know about yet) but that is one of my favorite lines from Eurotrip, a highly underrated stupid movie. And it aptly describes my thoughts after watching the mini-Yanks totally outclass the mini-I-ties in a 3-1 win at the U-17 Championships in Peru yesterday.

During the course of the match (in which we could have easily won 5 or 6-nil if not for some just-wide shots and the complete howler the U.S. 'keeper let in (perhaps it's not just Timmah)) we played with more speed, athleticism and talent than the Italians. I'm not sure if it's more to do with the players being 16 and 17 years old and not being talented enough to overcome superior athleticism or if we were really that good.

We played solid defense and moved the ball forward with ease. None of the players seemed comfortable on the FieldTurf field (all matches in this tournament are playing on FieldTurf as FIFA tests it out for future matches) and I think that hurt the midfield play to a point. Still, we were barely on our end of the field, had a goal nullified (that would have been credited to RSL first pick Nik Besagno) for no particular reason and Italy had no answer for forward David Arvizu.

Honestly, in eight or ten years, I'll be able to say I saw when David Arvizu started to become a star. The kid was all over the place. He could stand to improve his finishing but italy had no answer for his speed, his ball control and his ability to push past people. An all-around great game from him.

Except for the howler, the defense was also in good form. Besagno came back to play in the center of defense (instead of his usual role as a d-mid) and I'm sure Coach Ellinger was watching and wishing he could have Nik back for tonight's game against Colorado. Man, RSL needs some help on D. Anyway, Besagno went out with a sprained (maybe more?) ankle but that was the only downside.

Oh, and get this, the Italians were so pissed (after a straight red in the 60th when the assistant referee noticed something the head honcho didn't see) and countless late struggling fouls that after the game was over, they tried to start a fight with the US. One player was so frustrated that he started making motions like he was shooting a basketball, telling the U.S. fans (parents) to go home and play basketball (theoretically in reference to Italy being the first country to beat the U.S. after the U.S. started using NBA players in international competition). Classic.

All in all, a good win. Next up is the Ivory Coast but no Didier Drogba. U.S. is already through to the quarterfinals.

I love Real Madrid, but I'd like to coach Barcelona

2005-09-20T15:03:00.000-04:00

DCenters picked up on a story originally posted at Du Nord that I think shows perfectly how far MLS has to go.

John Harkes is apparently interested in the yet-to-be-vacated spot at the peak of Mt. Metro. Harkes admits that his heart is still with D.C. United but that he'd be excited about the post of the Black and Red's supposed arch-rival.

How?

Look, if you're working for the Dawgs and head ball coach's old spot comes open at Florida, you don't profess your love for the Gators (at least if you don't intend for your vehicle to make it through Athens unscathed). If your an assistant manager for Liverpool, you're not professing your love for the Everton top spot (especially if Moyes is still in charge, which I'm not sure will be much longer). If you work in the youth system for Real Madrid, you don't drool over the Barcelona top spot.

MLS needs some rivalry, some animosity and some honest-to-goodness sports-hate (* - to be distinguished from actual hate which should be reserved only for the likes of Hitler, terrorists and Dema Kovalenko).

Unfortunately, those kinds of things only come with time and the events on, and off, the field will build up rivalries that take years to develop. Or, we could just stack Chivas next year and have them win MLS Cup. That'd certainly piss some people off.

NOTE: If you can, check out the mini-Eagles as they take on the mini-I-ties at 4:30 ET on FSC.

NOTE part deux: If you stumbled on this particular outpost on the web thanks to Grant Wahl, welcome. Grant ... if you end up in NYC in the near future, your next beer's on me. Thanks for keeping the beautiful game's stories alive in the U.S. Oh, and Lech Yisrael!

A true oh-fer

2005-09-19T19:05:00.000-04:00

I don't pay a super-duper lot of attention to the EPL other than to see that I'm winning my fantasy league (check!), the Americans keep playing well (check! -- hopefully that includes Bones next season ... he'd be a good replacement for SWP at Citeh) and a passing interest in how Liverpool is failing ... er, fairing. I'm much more excited by Champions League.

But I noticed this week that Chelsea is on a roll again. They are 6-0-0. And, get this, they haven't even given up a goal yet. They're six points clear of their closest competitor and the only challenge I see for them this year is if they can win the Treble and finish the Prem season without giving up a goal.

Meanwhile, in our own backyard, the Eastern Conference of MLS, with less than five games left in the regular season, has five teams that could win the conference ... and one of whom will miss out on the playoffs.

Hrm. Maybe "mediocrity" does beget excitement after all.

A question of loyalties ...

2005-09-16T13:42:00.000-04:00

I'm a diehard MLS fan ... moreso than I probably should be but at least it means I can Tivo the 8am Saturday morning Prem match and watch it later without feeling guilty.

That said, I'm in a bit of a pickle.

I make it a point to purchase products from companies that sponsor MLS. For my feet I'll bypass Nike sneaks (though they do support US Soccer) for adidas footwear, I make an extra effort to shop at Radioshack (even though they never have what I need) and I encourage all my homeowning friends to shop at The Home Depot. I draw the line at Sierra Mist because, well, I'm from Georgia and it's not soda, it's Coke. Or Diet Coke in my case.

That said, here's my problem:

The red and black of the Georgia Bulldogs has flowed through my blood since I was accepted to school there (Mara ... dawga ... it's funny now that you know where I went to school, innit?). And Gatorade, despite being a huge sponsor of MLS, also racks up a few more $$ for the University of Florida every time someone buys a refreshing orange or lime colored beverage.

So, I'm torn. Do I buy Gatorade, support MLS but also support Florida or stick with Powerade which has done the job just perfectly for me since I was in school but doesn't help MLS.

I like MLS, but I don't know if I can help UF.

Eight is enough...

2005-09-16T11:52:00.000-04:00

One of the most common complaints I hear with the MLS playoff structure is that too many teams get in.

"Eight teams! Up until last year only two teams missed the playoffs! Now over half the league makes it! You can play crappy all year and still win the cup! It makes the regular season meaningless! More exclamation points, please!!!"

To me, that's a silly argument. One, limited playoff spots doesn't make the regular season any less or more exciting. Talk to me sometime when you're watching a Clippers-Bobcats regular season NBA game or a Royals-Tigers midseason MLB game. Not impressed? How about a Blue Jackets-Hurricanes mid-January NHL game or, G-d bless 'em, a mid-January Bolton-Middlesbrough slugfest?

Right now nothing will make the regular-season more meaningful unless players decide to play harder. And, frankly, over the course of a 32-game regular season, I don't expect every matchup to be fantastic. No sport has that.

In time, once the league has expanded (in 10 years or so), we should be at 18-20 teams and that will mean that less than half of those teams make it into the playoffs. Do I think we'll push higher than that in team locations? Sure, I expect MLS to eventually have 24 - 30 teams in its stable and never, never will promotion/relegation enter in the conversation.

The one thing we're lacking here that Europe and South America has, and that only College Football has in the U.S., are alternative competitions. Not only is the fight for the Prem title huge, once Chelsea's 50 points ahead of everyone by February, at least other teams can fight for Champions League positions. Or UEFA Cup. Or Libertadores. Or Sudamericana.

Once Conmebol and Concacaf combine (I have a gut feeling that's less than 5 years away -- post 2010 World Cup), we'll see our opportunities for auxilliary competitions increase and instead of 12 teams fighting for one cup (and the U.S. Open Cup ... whose merits have been debated plenty over the past few weeks) we'll have lots of teams fighting for lots of cups ... and more to play for.

Central American National Team

2005-09-14T10:17:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday was big news in the world of footcer with all the English clubs winning in the Champions League and Lyon laying the smack down on the Galacticos.

But no, fair friends, that's not the news that piqued my interest yesterday.

The news that most got my attention was right here in our own back yard. The L.A. Galaxy traded Jovan Kirovski to Colorado in exchange for a draft pick ... in 2007. Sure, this move was made possible by Herculez! Herculez!'s recent run of form and with the extra spot on the senior squad, Snr. Gomez will also be given a better contract.

While I think it's great that the Gals will give their developmental players who perform well senior roster contracts (you listening Chicago Fire?), it's still jarring to see a guy who has played in the Bundesliga, Champions League and England being traded to the league stepchild for a draft pick down the road.

Also, in other completely unsurprising moves, Marcelo Saragosa is coming back to the Galaxians in Steve Sampson's quest to remove every American from the team. C'mon, Stevie, you've only got Landon, Pete, Cobi, Chris and Hartman to get rid of! [Rob Schneider voice]You can do it![/Rob Schneider voice] (Yeah, I know there are more Americans on the team, but I can't remember the last American he brought in --- I don't count Landon, AEG brought him in.)

Also, Colorado brought in Diego Serna (I'd link to it if the Rapids site weren't down -- seriously, what is it going to take for them to give up their site to us?) in the 'Pids attempt to corner the global market in mediocre forwards. Seriously, don't they have something like 8 forwards on their roster? I'd check, but as I mentioned, their site is down.

More Champions League today and Open Cup tonight. I love MLS, I really do, but I'm a Thunder fan tonight.

1-0 PSV

2005-09-13T15:32:00.000-04:00

There's no more sure way to stir up my wanderlust and my desire to move to Europe to attend all these wonderful matches than to listen/watch Champions League football.

Right now I have Liverpool - Betis on the screen and am listening to PSV - Schalke. PSV is up 1-0 on a Hesselink header off a Bones corner.

Someone call Virgin Atlantic, I'm ready to go.

So what did we learn from the weekend ...

2005-09-12T11:11:00.000-04:00

I didn't get a chance to watch the games this weekend (yeah, yeah ... I only get so many weekends where I'm not watching every game) but with the recaps and the highlights, here's what I've learned:

1) If Dom Kinnear is not the CotY, it's a crime. San Jose is challenging for the Supporter's Shield depsite losing two of its best players (Donovan and Mulrooney) and doing it outside of the media spotlight. And kudos to the fans who showed up 22,000 strong to officially knock las rayadas out of the playoff hunt. Anyone know how many of those fans were Chivas fans?

2) Steve Nicol's not doing too badly himself up in New Eng-er-land. If his team had been gutted like Kinnear's in the offseason then he wouldn't be choice numero dos in my voting.

2a) Also, how is it Taylor Twellman can be terrorizing MLS but can't seem to break through on the national stage. Yeah, he was facing el amarillo but that doesn't discount his hat-trick. Also, another thing of interest is that gives Twellman 14 goals. Last year, our co-goal-scoring leaders had only 12 (one of which was EJ). With five to seven games remaining for teams in the regular season, it'd be nice to have someone pushing 20 at the end of they year.

2b) Yes, I know a lot of this has to do with the two expansion teams but in the same number of games from last year, we already have two teams north of 50 points. Last year's Supporter's Shield winner, the aforementioned Crew, had only 46 points. With 18 points on the table for Los Terremotos and the Revs, one of those teams could be pushing 60 points. Just from an outsider's view, I think it looks better when teams are pushing higher in the points category. I imagine that point total will be down next year as RSL and Chivas get better and get some of those points back but it certainly looks impressive this year.

3) Don't look now but the Talisman and his Galaxians are in second place in the west and have all but secured a Dallas-LA first round matchup in the playoffs. Speaking of the Super Hoops, what the heck happened? Is there a curse on the Brick Oven?

4) Discounting what I said above, the 'Pids have two games in hand on the Hoops and the Galaxy ... could the American Nerazzuri make a run at second place in the West? I don't think anyone wants to play San Jose right now.

5) Meet the new D.C. United, same as the old D.C. United.

6) Some pretty good team is going to miss out in the East. Amazing that Chicago could have been in first place after the ASG break and still be looking at missing the playoffs. It's also pretty certain that a team with an over .500 record is going to miss out on the playoffs ... that'd be a first for MLS.

7) Should be a good game Sunday when RSL travels to Frisco to face the Hoops at Pizza Hut Park. I'll be tuning in.

World Cup brings out the best in us (bloggers, not the team)

2005-09-08T01:02:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been away for a while ... with plenty of coworkers off work and all the Katrina stuff, soccer blogging's been the last thing on my mind. But I'm back ... dunno if that's good for y'all or not.

My thoughts on tonight's WCQ:

• What does it say when the U.S. can send basically a B team (Landon came on late and so did EJ, but, still ...) and realistically be disappointed not to come away with a win on the road in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. Granted, we stopped playing defense late but I don't expect to see Jimmy Conrad on the World Cup roster.

• Yeah, EJ should have scored. Would have liked for him to keep up his goal-scoring streak but a guy who hasn't played a national team game in months still looked pretty good in action.

• We didn't have a ton of scoring chances but was not impressed with the finishing. Question: Would McBride have finished those chances? EJ is otherwise a first-choice striker.

• I know Donovan is the Talisman but I really think the U.S. looks much slower and less dangerous without Bones in the lineup. Without his speed, it doesn't open nearly as much space for the rest of the team.

• I'm not convinced Convey is the answer at left wing and I'm less sure of who the right winger is. I know Bones is set but it seems to me he can play either left or right so one of those positions is up for grabs. Convey? Not sold. Quaranta? Not dangerous enough as a starter yet (though I do think he'll be good). Dempsey? The Steven Gerrard of the U.S. national team. Ralston? I just don't feel he's consistent or dangerous enough.

• So if Beasley starts on the left, who starts on the right?

• I'm not impressed with Mastroeni ... I don't know what it is but I just don't feel like he's effective.

• Hanehman did alright tonight but it's just a reminder of how great Kasey is.

• We looked slow tonight. Donovan may be The Talisman but Bones is the engine that makes this team go.

• Cap Adu! (I just had to toss that in there.)

I can still learn things

2005-08-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Chivas USA - MetroStars game at Giants Stadium. A good crowd, a great game and a tough finish for las rayadas made for quite an enjoyable experience. Here's what I learned at the game.

• Chivas USA was as good as any team in the league in the first half with Ramón at the back. They transitioned from defense to offense in spectacular fashion and quickly had themselves in the counter-attack after every Metros foray. Juan Pablo Garcia was the catalyst in attack and Palencia came back to help in defense far more than I expected.

• In the second half, Chivas USA wasn't nearly as attacking oriented. I don't know if they were just shocked to have the lead but Garcia was gassed in about the 60th minute and the attack dwindled after that. He's going to be the key for getting the ball from defense to attack.

• Antonio Martinez on the left side had all sorts of room to run in but he kept running offsides or couldn't get anyone to serve him the ball. At least in the first half he could have beaten Jeff Parke no less than five times but couldn't time his runs to get the ball. He was begging for it.

• Palencia is the real deal. If he played all season (as I hope he will next year), he could easily have 20 goals. His shot from 20 yards was one most MLS strikers would have put 60 rows up behind the goal. His flick on the corner wasn't anything to scoff at, either.

• Metros benefitted from some iffy refereeing. My issue with the referee wasn't that he called the penalties ... it's that he wasn't consistent. Sometimes playing rough was let to play on while sometimes the slightest thing was a quick whistle. I learned that refereeing is not expressly controlled by MLS but that they don't have that much to work with.

• I learned Chivas USA is still overmatched on defense.

• I learned that Amado Guevara is one of three or four players in MLS who can take over a game by himself (which he did in the second half after being pretty invisible during the first half).

• I learned that goalkeepers still can't believe Guevara's going to shoot low and to the left EVERY TIME he takes a pk. Dive that way until he doesn't or something.

• I learned that I can get from my apartment on the upper west side, to the stadium and back in four hours. That's not bad (including the two hours for the game). I was out of the stadium at 8:15 last night and in my apartment by 9.

• I learned that Chivas USA will be a force next year.

• And, finally, I learned that no team needs its own home stadium more than the MetroStars. Good luck to 'em.

A question from the crowd...

2005-08-16T11:41:00.000-04:00

There are thousands of threads on bigsoccer and similar message boards concerning the schedule that MLS plays. We should play over the summer! No, we should play in the winter! No, we should split our seasons and play spring and fall!

Here's my question to you:

Is it better to:

A) play during the day in August in Chicago (soon to be Bridgeview) where it is 95 degrees and 90% humidity and no one can move

or

B) play during a Saturday night in February in Chicago (soon to be Bridgeview) when it's 25 degrees with snow blowing and winds cutting through your skin.

Thoughts welcome.

Playing the Real game...

2005-08-11T13:55:00.000-04:00

Du Nord has a list of MLS players supposedly going to face Real Madrid on August 23rd. The catch? Each MLS team can only be tapped up for a max of two players. That said, here's the team I'd pick under the same situation. Keep in mind that I want to win and that Real will be pissed if we don't bring the stars on this 24-man squad (each team gets two picked to be fair).

Coaches
--
Steve Nicol (edit: I swear I didn't know this before I posted this)
Bob Bradley (so I can see how the Metros'd do under Mo)

Starters
--
GK
Joe Cannon (COL)

DEF
Greg Vanney (FCD)
Samuel Caballero (CHF)
Frankie Hejduk (CLB)

MID
Youri Djorkaeff (MET)
Thiago (CHF)
Shalrie Joseph (NER)
Landon Donovan (LAG)
Amado Guevara (MET)

FOR
Eddie Johnson (FCD)
Taylor Twellman (NER)

Subs
--
GK
D.J. Countess (RSL)

DEF
Jimmy Conrad (KCW)
Eddie Pope (RSL)
Douglas Sequeira (CHV)
Chris Albright (LAG)

MID
Freduardo (DCU) (if he's healthy, if not, Christian Gomez)
Brad Davis (SJE)
Mark Chung (SJE)
Eric Vasquez (CLB)
Chris Klein (KCW)

FOR
Paco Palencia (CHV)
Jeff Cunningham (COL)
Jaime Moreno (DCU)

Thoughts from a full day of MLS action

2005-08-07T01:30:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know the Championship, Bundesliga and a host of other leagues got started today but the only league I really care about right now (yeah, I'll probably wake up for the Community Shield match tomorrow) had a full dose of action to start the second half of the season.

In no particular order:

• Excellent game between RSL and Chivas USA. Certainly a fight around the 20th minute gets the blood pumping even if the ref had no chance of keeping order or handing cards to the right person. Yeah, Cleetus didn't deserve a red card (and what did Arias do?) but the ref was out of league to start the match and his crew was ill-prepared to handle that situation (although great coverage by ESPN2 of Romo's dive). Refs should take care of that stuff in the pre-game meeting! That's why you have it in the first place.

Also glad to see someone like Andy Williams get the 5,000th goal and ecstatic that it wasn't a Matt Behncke own-goal or something like that. Talk about a nightmare situation for the league.

Glad the Monarchs could pull out the win. Tough luck that Colorado also picked up a win tonight over teh Galaxy. At some point, we're going to stop worrying about whether RSL can catch the Rapids and the Galaxy is going to have to be the ones worrying about whether they make the playoffs at all. Up only five over Colorado and ten over RSL, it's not likely the Gals will miss the playoffs but I just don't see how Sampson survives this season. If I didn't want him for our next national team boss I'd tell AEG to break the bank to bring Gus Hiddink in. Actually, I wouldn't, since the only MLS team I don't like is FC Hollywood.

• I was supposed to produce the KC - New England game tonight but I did just enough to get that up and running so that I could tune in to the opener of Pizza Hut Park.

First off, let's say this: any time MLS opens a new park it's big news. Outside of Harrion opening tomorrow, opening the Brick Oven is the most important thing MLS will do this season.

Playing games at the Cotton Bowl was becoming a soul sucker for this franchise and with brand spanking new unis, this was a team that needed a shot of adrenaline that all the Carlos Ruiz wundergoals weren't going to bring about.

And the stadium was beautiful tonight. One of the things that most stuck out at me was the shot of players playing a game in Dallas with fans behind them. I'd become so used to the empty stands at the Bowl that seeing fans in the stand, and an aboslutely luscious field, just caught me off guard.

It helped that the game was great. Each team scored excellent goals (both of Ruiz's and Youri's second) and each team could have rightly justified two additional goals (how did EJ miss that?).

Teh Grown Ass Man is still, clearly, not match fit but Carlos Ruiz is. How is it the most talented are often the most mercurial. We might be able to list all five nominees for Goal of the Year from Ruiz this year ... that backheel was sensational. Not a bad chip from Youri, either.

Just a great way to open the stadium and, for the first time that I can remember, Dallas had the highest attendance this week ... and the rest of the games weren't slouches either (except for S.J.).

• I feared a low-attendance backlash for the Summer Soccer Celebration last month where fans just needed a week off to let their credit cards cool off. While it certainly wasn't a banner night, we did have one over 16,000 and two 14,000 games. Only NE was a disappointment. I'm used to San Jose not drawing well and still don't understand how the city thinks they deserve a team when they can't draw anyone to what otherwise looks like a decent facility (despite MLS not making a dime there). I can understand why FCD had such a hard time drawing and the MetroStars Giant dud proved itself.

I just don't understand what's up with that area.

• Here's something I wasn't expecting at the beginning of the season ... San Jose is in first place. Even though FCD has a game in hand, here's my vote for Dom Kinnear for Coach of the Year.

• I still think Chivas USA can make the playoffs but they really, really needed the game today. I can't wait to see what they look like with Palencia and Loquito in the lineup. A good offense makes a porous defense look better.

• I didn't get to watch the D.C. - Chicago game but here's the big thoughts

Damn, the Franchise got hurt. He should have come off as soon as he got hurt ... I think we all forget he's 16. His body can't handle the stresses the same way an adult's can. Read the quotes from the game. Freddy knew he was done ... don't force it, Nowak. That's the future of American soccer right there.

Every game these guys play is good. Here's to a D.C. - Chicago Eastern Conference Final.

• Final thoughts? Good weekend. Everything was flying with the those start times. In the future, I really hope we can stagger some of these games. One, because that makes my job easier but, two, I really want people to see these games. Could you imagine a 2:00 p.m. Eastern start time (yeah, it'd be hot), a 4pm, 6pm, 8pm and 10pm? All day soccer. That'd be awesome.

Of course, with seven games in a weekend (after the next round of expansion which is when the TV deals get renegotiated), we could do two 6pms, two - three 8pm/7:30pms and two 10pms. Perhaps even a Sunday game at the new Metroplex in Harrison.

Lots of positives out of this week. None moreso than the Brick Oven. It's going to be an exciting stretch run.

All-Star Misconceptions ...

2005-07-30T15:13:00.000-04:00

I think the outpouring of venom about the MLS All-Star Game is misdirected and that a lot of the people who don't really enjoy MLS' version of the midseason classic are missing the real point of the game.

It has nothing to do with the game.

In most industries there is a yearly convention which allows people from disparate locations to come together, meet face-to-face and do the deals away from the convention hall that are really impossible to do over the phone or via email. Most conventions (and I've been to a lot of them) have nothing to do with the actual stuff on the showroom (or convention room) floor. Sure, you'll walk around and see what the latest gizmos for the industry are but that's not the real reason you're there. The real reason is that Joe from SuperCorp on the West Coast that you don't get to see except once a year is going to be there and you just know you can push through a deal to be their supplier. That's why you're there.

The MLS All-Star Game is the same thing. It's a point during the year to get a large number of media, agents, players and decision makers in the same place so they can talk, do interviews and schmooze sponsors with everyone in the same location. This kind of personal interaction is invaluable and having it during the middle of the season, instead of at the end of the season when all the good feelings dissapate within a week, the gains display themselves over the course of the second half of the season.

Oh, and it's a game featuring an MLS team broadcast nationally on ABC. Sure, the 3:30 p.m. start time sucks (especially when the game is in L.A.) and I'd love to see it be its current setup (MLS stars vs. a big team) broadcast at 8pm on ABC, but I like what we have.

It gets people talking about MLS and, if that's the only legacy of the All-Star game, I'm fine with that.

Can we get a hawg caller?

2005-07-27T17:00:00.000-04:00

D.C. United is having a press conference tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in D.C.

No, they are not announcing a new stadium.

Yes, it is major news.

Good luck, Mr. Payne.

Nocigental dwarfism and other things I don't understand ...

2005-07-24T14:00:00.000-04:00

Thoughts from a weekend full of soccer.

Chivas USA is on to something. I don't know what's changed in the back (aside from the removal of Suarez and the maturity of 'el Guzano') but they seem to be a doing a much better job than earlier in the season.

With the addition of Paco Palencia and 'el Loquito' in August, they might be able to reach for a playoff spot. What's interesting is that the weekend of their biggest win they couldn't gain any traction as both RSL and Colorado won.

I still think Chivas will win a playoff spot this year. I think Westerhof is the second best coach in MLS this season (behind Dom Kinnear of the Red Headed Earthquakes).

Here I was, being the good soldier, trying to watch the D.C. United - L.A. Galaxy game on Saturday. Granted, I'd been out late the night before and I was pretty exhausted but I was going to fight through it and stay awake for the entire match despite being full and the game being atrociously boring.

With ten minutes left, I resigned myself to a nil-nil draw (good result for D.C., tough for the Galaxy) and left for work. Once I got to work, what happened but I found out that Freddy finally decided to be Freddy and won the game for United. I thought Hartman would have had the ball if not for the deflection but sometimes a superstar needs a little luck to get jumpstarted.

About Freddy: I see Freddy as the Barry Sanders of the #10 position. Barry was a great running back but he was the kind of guy who would get you 2 yards on one carry, -3 on the next and then break one for 80 yards. I think that's where Freddy's at. He doesn't have the solid skills and decision making enough of the time to start him over Gómez but Christian is not going to do what Freddy did yesterday. Just can't.

So here's my thing with Freddy. He's a #10 ... he's not a forward and he's not a Bones-type winger. Just isn't. It sucks that Untied has an all-star in Gómez but I think the team is better off long term if Nowak can figure out a way to get Freddy on the field in the middle of the park. Yeah, good luck with that.

On the ESPN2 broadcast, and later the Columbus Crew radio broadcast, it was mentioned that United all but had a deal in place to build an SSS inside the district limits. Now, I consider myself pretty up on this stuff but has anyone heard anything concrete on this?

Where the heck has RSL been hiding all year!?! Three goals against FCD? I think it's that field (and boy did it look horrible with the gridiron lines on it). That's a team that needs a new stadium (or at least a real field). Good for Cleetus that he's off the shnide and scoring goals. Good that Jason didn't score ... I need some more time to build his 'Countdown to 100' graphics.

And what's up with missing the sitter, Jamie Watson? Tarheels finish better than that. Would Michael Jordan haved missed an open dunk? Oh, well, I guess everyone is entitled to one. Make sure it was your last. I'm not posting Jamie's Journal if you do it again.

Columbus is on a nice little undefeated streak since the Polish Rifle took over. Looks like he'll probably get the deal at the end of the year as is Crew tradition.

Just me thinking out loud here but it'd be nice if the Crew just cleaned house and started over. Though they did have 15,000 there last night I'm still shocked they didn't bother to start selling All-Star tickets until three or four weeks ago. And there's nothing much to leverage there so one of the big thoughts was to offer two tickets to the OSU-Texas college football game to a random person who had bought tickets. They might have sold out if they did that.

Is there any more depressing team to watch (or, in the case of last night, listen to) than Kansas City? Just depressing.

Knox Cameron should be required to participate in every match since he gives us so many great titles for articles (Knox holds down fort, Knox answers opportunity, etc.).

San Jose is in first place! Good for the little team that couldn't stay in the Bay Area. I'm pretty sure they're gone at the end of the year, too, but I'd really love for them to stay ... mainly because that's the only place that isn't 1,000 degrees in July in the U.S. and I'd like to keep them for that.

The MetroStars. Dunno what more you can say.

We're going to pretend that Chicago game didn't happen. Everyone's allowed a do-over, right? Can't wait to see the game on Wednesday.

Thoughts from the USA - Cuba Gold Cup match

2005-07-08T00:42:00.000-04:00

I'm surprised this didn't get more play in the mainstream press (read: non-sports press) because it's America vs. Cuba. Certainly I mean before today's events in London.

They played the Cuba national anthem before the game! That's gotta be a first in a recognized setting. I know that the Cuban baseball team played the Orioles in an exhibition game in 1999 but I don't know if the Cuban national anthem was played before the game at Camden Yards.

An interesting 3-5-2 for the US using the vaunted V formation. Telefutura says (I think) that Brad Davis is the point and that Bones is at forward. Five minutes into the game this is no longer the case as Brad is out left and DMB is pulling the strings.

Someone tell Tony Sanneh the game started.

The U.S. looks uninterested in the first five minutes. The three-man backfield looks weird.

Goal for Cuba. And they lead 1-0. Someone said (and I've spent 10 minutes looking for the link even though I work for the site) that if the Yanks didn't score a touchdown, it was because they were bored. Forget the touchdown, I'd just like to get the win.

Someone tell Tony Sanneh it's ok to jump for a ball.

Brad Davis! What are you doing shooting from 30 yards out!?!

Bones is by far the most skilled player on the field. It's a shame no one can seem to get him the ball.

'Tino has looked pretty good so far. He's going hard after the ball and making some creative runs.

Ben Olsen? Hello? You there, lad?

Goal Clint Dempsey off a great Bones feed. Excellent replay confirms Clint is onside. 'Bout time we got a goal.

Tony Sanneh ... I know you want to be a midfielder, and you can cross the ball decently well with your left, but if I watch you out of position one more time, I'm taking back your kit.

This second half has been totally devoid of anything noteworthy except that we continue to miss wide open chances.

Looks like Il Bruce wants to win as The Talisman enters the game in the 65th.

Look, Frankie Hejduk drives me crazy, too, but nothing shows more why I love having him on the team then him delivering not one, but two great crosses all while MISSING HIS RIGHT SHOE! I found that incredibly impressive.

Great to see John O'Brien back on the field. A bit unlucky for Brad Davis to be the odd one out because he had an admirable game but Ben Olsen, I'm sorry it didn't work out.

Goal for Landon Donovan on a brilliant free kick from 20 yards out! My question is this ... if I saw Josh Wolff point at Wolff's right shoulder while looking at Donovan (put it in the left upper 90, he seemed to say), then how come no one on Cuba's team noticed that?

Uh oh, here comes the prison break. Goal for Bones (who deserves one tonight) on an assist from the Talisman.

Donovan's free-kick goal is what one would find if one looked up "back-breaking goal" in the dictionary (assuming that term were actually in the dictionary). Goal for Donovan on a pretty little number from Bones. Let's see Donovan's line: 25 minutes played, 2 goals, 1 assist, seven points. Nice fantasy numbers if you had him.

Wrapup: Everyone in the world knew we should win this game except the Cubans. Valiant effort by them but, really, we should have scored the touchdown Tino Palace predicted. I think Dempsey's miss almost rivals Vagenas' against RSL or what's his name from West Brom who missed off the goal line.

What we learned: The U.S. doesn't have the manpower to run a three man backline just yet. Il Bruce has not lost his mind calling up Quaranta but 'Tino is probably two years away from regular senior team callups. We can play well with our C team but we can't win with it. As goes Donovan, so goes the U.S. Beasley has developed tremendously since going to Holland. You listening, Eddie Johnson? Brad Davis has a future on the left side ... excellent crosses. Tony Sanneh? Done. Unless we need a really, really slow midfielder. Goalkeeper? Please don't get hurt, Kasey.

I live by the riiiiiver ....

2005-07-06T08:40:00.000-04:00

So London has officially been "elected" as teh host city for the 2012 Olympics. Why is this important to me?

Well, for the following three reasons:

1) I would love to work for the Olympic games and I would love to live in London. Perhaps my company, which has opened the possiblity (however remote), might work on the Olympic website. We'd need a London office, right?

2) I live currently in New York so it means I'm up early this morning with thoughts of going to Rock Center for the announcement. Doesn't do me any good when I'm up for 20 minutes, and before I leave, to find out New York's been eliminated. So I'm in work early.

3) This is one the one that actually relates to MLS. As the Soccer Junkie pointed out, AEG is heavily involved with the London bid and stands to make a lot of money off the projects in the dilapadated East End of London during the course of construction for the Olympics. If AEG is doing well, so is MLS. And that's good for me.

3b) As Incendiarymind over at Footcer pointed out, the Olympics won't allow the U.K. to enter four teams into the Games for football (soccer, footcer ... whatever), only as a whole. Up until now, the municipalities haven't agreed to do that. However, Becks and Sven have said they'll support a united, er, United Kingdom soccer team for the 2012 Games if London was to win. It'd be neat to see a unified, er, United Kingdom soccer team featuring a 37-year-old Beckham holding down the last spot on the bench.

Thoughts from the YWC

2005-06-21T13:56:00.000-04:00

Stop reading now if you don't know the score.

I'm extremely disappointed in the United States' performance in today's Youth World Championship quarterfinal match against Italy. Is it unlucky to have to face a powerhouse like Italy after winning the group? Yep. Still doesn't matter.

The U.S. team was outclassed, outplayed and outhustled all over the field today and did not deserve to win the game. Our one goal was lucky and, yes, the Italian keeper was tremendous, but we still can't finish.

That wasn't what pissed me off.

As the game drew to a close, the U.S. reenforced the world perception that we're a bunch of whiny, petulant sore losers. We wouldn't play the ball out when the Italian player went down and Chad Barrett shoved every player he even came close to. We are going to lose matches as a nation and, as tough as it is, we need to play with class and sportsmanship. I do not want this group of players to follow in the mold of the European teams who constantly complain to the referee and harrass other players when they're losing.

Is it easy for me to say these things because I'm not on the field? Yes, it is. However, these players are representing my country and when they put on the colors of the U.S.A., I believe I have a right to expect them to represent me in a professional, mature, respectful manner.

Shame on you, U.S. U-20 team.

MLS Weekend Recap

2005-06-20T11:05:00.000-04:00

Jeff Cunningham! With Ante Razov scoring two goals this weekend also, this means that Greg Andrulis let go two strikers who scored five goals this weekend. How much longer is it going to take before they sack this guy? Also, how in heaven is Jeff Cunningham, of the perenially inept Colorado Rapids, leading the league in goal scoring?

Someone call Dr. Frankenstein! D.C. United pulled themselves of the dust pile of MLS on Wednesday with an excellent 4-3 win over Chicago (with 14,000 in the stands ... can we just play in L.A., RSL and D.C. for the rest of the season?) and then broke up the Revs 2-0 on Saturday.

Now, I know this is an unpopular theory, but United needs to trade Freddy. Trade him to the Metros, to the Galaxy, I don't care. But this team works best without him and Nowak isn't interested in bringing him along. Freduardo would start with the Metros and could definitely learn great things from Youri and the newly-nattily attired Bob Bradley. Plus, it'd be a huge boost to the Metros sagging attendance and would fit the mold of what Alexi Lalas was talking about in regards to bringing in superstar-type players. I'm not sure who the Metros would have to give up to get him. Amado wouldn't help D.C. and I'm not sure if formerly-NY-NJ will give up Eddie Gaven (though I would). It'd be worth an allocation and cash, though, in jersey sales alone.

My favorite team, Real Salt Lake, is now the most goal-inept-for-the-longest-consecutive-period-of-time team in MLS history, bypassing the previous record set by the Galaxy. It's been 511 minutes since RSl scored a goal ... that's almost five whole games. Someone dive for a penalty already! With Mathis out this Wednesday due to yellow card accumulation, internet cult hero Jamie Watson will most likely get a start ... hopefully the UNC product will cause a goal for the Monarchs against Landon and the Galaxy this Wednesday.

Break up the MetroStars! My second favorite team, the one with the head coach now sporting the finery, is unbeaten in their last five and is creeping up on second place in the tough Eastern Conference. Razov, as noted, scored twice this weekend and is going to have to carry the team up front while Ibrahim is out with an injured knee.

FC Dallas downed the Gals without Mulrooney, Ruiz or Johnson in the lineup. And here I thought Colin Clarke was in over his head. Clearly the class of the West right now.

How do we put Chicago-Kansas City on ESPN2? The rest of our teams need to get good in a hurry to make our Saturday afternoon broadcasts more exciting. This weekend should be a good one, though, with the Quakes and Gals on under the lights in NoCal.

Chelsea-United game confirmed

2005-06-15T17:41:00.000-04:00

It's already a popular rumor but we just got the official confirmation at work to post on the site so I thought y'all would be interested.

July 28th
D.C. United vs. Chelsea
8pm
Live on ESPN2
from Fed Ex Field

I wish they could have played at RFK.

What does it all mean?

2005-06-14T00:43:00.000-04:00

With the promotion of Alexi Lalas to the post of President & GM of the No-Longer-New-York-New-Jersey MetroStars, the question that immediately springs to mind for me is what happens next.

Well, during the conference call Tim Lieweke announced that the oft-rumored Harrison Stadium project was within a "week or two" of being finalized. Many Metros fans will remember fondly the more recent history of "60-90 days" and are naturally cynical. Based on what I've heard there may actually be some very good news this Thursday.

So, if the Metros have a stadium, a less-than-pariah general manager and some positive karma, what's next for the club?

Alexi Lalas outlined some of the things he thought were most important but one of the things that stuck out most was his double focus. He wants to bring groups and youth and the kids to the stadium but also at the same time make it possible for the die-hards to find what they're looking for. Let's face it ... Giants Stadium holds 77,000 people. If there's not room for everyone, I don't know where there is. You can't really blame the lack of attendance in San Jose on 'Lexi as he's had to fight the constant threat of the club being moved (which seems more and more likely with AEG moving Lalas out of San Jose) but he's got a hard road ahead of him in the swamp.

I personally think the fallout happens as such:

Lalas doesn't do much this year and focuses on bringing good vibes to the stadium and watches Bradley eke the team into the playoffs and maybe get past the first round. In the offseason, Lalas dumps some of the higher salaried guys who are wasting bench space (that means you, Sergio Galván Rey) and hires a new coach in the Gus Hiddink mold. No, he's not going to get Gus Hiddink, but he'll look for someone who focuses on bringing along young talent (something Bradley's good at) who also preaches attacking soccer and is media saavy (two things which do not describe Bradley).

Also, in the offseason, to build momentum for the new stadium, the team changes its name to ANYTHING OTHER THAN METROSTARS as that's the worst name in professional sports. They dropped the New York/New Jersey about four years ago but people insist on calling them that. Maybe they pick up Empire FC (though that lends more credence to the New York part) or call themselves the Metro Wanderers. I don't care. Just something that isn't the stupid name they have now. At least when I say Real Salt Lake, people know I'm talking about a soccer team.

Then, next year, the Metros go out, challenge a Clint Dempsey-less (he's been sold to PSV or Feyenoord) Revolution for best record in the league and win MLS Cup 2006 (which will conveniently be held at the new Bridgeview complex, which, after the naming rights were sold, is known as Sears Field).

Sure, it'll happen just like that.

Big news for the MetroStars

2005-06-13T16:07:00.000-04:00

Huge news coming for the MetroStars. The GM, Nick Sackewicz, who has single-handedly run this team into the ground, is moving on.

Official word from the team, which hasn't announced this yet but will later today or on Tuesday, is that he's being promoted. Stephen Hamilton already has the job of overseeing soccer for AEG so I'm not sure where Nick's going.

That's good news for the Metros. I don't know who the new GM will be but he's got to be better than Nick.

Maybe Peter Wilt is available?