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Osei Can You See?

Bill Archer — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:37:51 GMT

The morning after a team gets knocked out of the playoffs there's always a good deal of finger pointing, blame seeking and what-iffing.

As dutiful, diligent, longtime fans of the Beautiful Game, we all know perfectly well that blaming a loss on any one play or one call is simply unfair.

What about this or that pass or this or that shot or this or that run that someone did or didn't make? Soccer consists of 90 minutes of opportunities - taken and missed - and the fact that so many games are low-scoring or no-scoring affairs demonstrates just how tenuous the whole deal is.

OK, have I been clinically analytical and dispassionate enough yet? Good.

Here's Emmanual Osei tossing New Englands' season down the crapper:

Everybody who follows the game knows that the obstruction rule is, basically, just there for appearance sake. 20 times a game we see a defender ushering the ball into touch like a Britney Spears bodyguard while some attacker, who at times appears to be frantically attempting to breed with his opponent, tries to get a foot on it.

We can have long, learned discussions about whether the ball was "within playing distance" and all of that officiating minutia, but the basic fact is that the defender had no thought whatsoever of doing anything but acting as a roadblock.

Which is the way the game is played and that's OK I guess, but someone needs to tell Osei that you need to put a little effort into it sometimes. The ball has a ways to go before it gets across the line, but he seems to feel his mere presence in the vicinity will be enough to make Nyarko turn and head up field for the New England throwin.

Nyarkos' pocket picking aside, it still took a nice piece of on-the-ball calmness from our man Cootiemac to send Chicago on to the Conference final, but the fatal error belongs to Osei alone.

Until that moment the game looked almost certain to go into extra time as the Revolution simply locked down the final third of the pitch, although not until they coughed up posession and allowed this lovely bit of ball movement after Jay Heaps seemed more interested in knocking Blanco down than playing, you know, actual defense:

All of which will likely ease Mr mcBrides' pain this morning after Mr. Reis made the point that it was, in fact, HIS area thank you:

Still, it's not like the Revs didn't have their chances, including this early Christmas gift for Pat Phelan:

Phelan, apparently, prefers to wait until Dec 25th to open his presents.

USSoccerProject.com members to have opportunity to own Soccer team.

FrankB — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:23:34 GMT

USSoccerProject.com was launched only a month ago, as the first soccer specific social network dedicated to the American soccer community. The initiative includes several offline plans to help further the acceleration of soccer in America. One of which, includes purchasing a European team which will be used as a conduit for elite players to enter the highest level of competition in order to accelerate their development.

Members of USSoccerProject.com will be given an opportunity to become minority owners of the team. Potential minority owner benefits may include various voting advantages as well as other opportunities.
If you are interested in being apart of USSoccerProject.com, join us free.
Here: http://ussoccerproject.com/signup2.php?s=org

The Real Issue

monster — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:01:54 GMT

More than a week has gone by since Kevin Payne made comments critical of some MLS teams which earned him a fine from the league office. Since then, Paul Gardner has weighed in, just as have so many Internet pundits. I have taken some time to think about the situation and can only come to one conclusion.

Kevin Payne is full of crap.

First of all, I watched a lot of DC United this year and think leaving them out of any conversation which addresses unwatchable soccer is a crime. Never mind that some of the teams Payne whined about had much more attacking success than DC. They also were more fun to watch for me.

Secondly, Payne, Gardner and so many people who agree with them about �unwatchable� games in MLS have fallen prey to a immature sensibility which starts with the assumption that MLS has some fatal flaw not present in other leagues.

Every league has unwatchable games. There are games difficult to watch in MLS. There are also difficult games to watch in the EPL, in World Cup qualifying, in Spain, Italy, Japan, Russia and every other place where people play soccer. Acting as if that's not true dooms Payne's attempt to make a point from the start.

There is no fairy tale league with unicorn referees and strippers working as the fourth official where every single game is action-packed, exciting and filled with technically precise soccer. When complaining about the quality of MLS play and tying it to defensive strategy, Payne just shows that he should be watching more of these games because then maybe he would understand the real problems.

That doesn't mean there aren't thinigs to complain about in MLS. There are, but the anger here is misplaced. Payne points to conservative play when I believe it's exactly the opposite. Games are killed by backs who can't play the ball through the midfield and instead hoof it upfield. Games are killed by disorganized midfields who ping the ball around with no idea where they are trying to send it. Games are killed by an over-reliance on orwards who need to poach instead of those who want to help create.

As an angry DC United fan, I submit that I pretty much just described the 2009 version of Kevin Payne's team. People may disagree, but I think they have to admit tactics are the least of people's worries in MLS. I think it's also hard to admit that we have found every single game from Europe and South America compelling and completely satisfying.

Admitting that there will be bad games no matter what happens and finding ways to limit those will make a much bigger difference than crying and whining and acting as if MLS has some sort of defect that doesn't exist in other leagues. But a nuanced approach aimed at pushing the entire league forward instead of just thumping your chest about past victories wouldn't get Kevin Payne in the headlines.

Crew Can be Proud of Adversity Overcome

Prost Amerika — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:55:14 GMT

Farewell and Thank You, 2009 Crew

The consequences of last night�s elimination of Columbus Crew from MLS 2009 are still being considered. Last night, unfancied Real Salt Lake completed a double over the Ohio side with an unlikely 2-3 second leg win at Crew Stadium. The first fall-out of the Crew�s elimination will be to rekindle the debate, if it ever died, whether sufficient reward and recognition is given to the side that wins the league during the regular season. True, Columbus pick up the Supporters Shield for being the best side in the regular season, but in the eyes of many that was an award created to appease those soccer hard core who think that, as in most of the rest of the football world, that if you win the league you should be the Champions. It is very much doubtful that is much of a consolation for Robert Warzycha�s men this morning.

Neither is the reward of getting to play at home second sufficient in the eyes of many. However it could also be said that this debate shouldn�t really hinge on Columbus� ability to beat Real Salt Lake in this instance, and what was good before remains good. The second and perhaps most obvious consequence is that the best side in MLS has been eliminated from the tournament. This should give rise to increased optimism among the other contenders that the door is far more ajar than had been the case. Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy especially will consider their chances of snaffling the biggest prize in MLS as having been increased as a result of last night�s elimination.

They both have home advantage to come in the second leg after creditable draws in Seattle and the LA derby respectively. Not that their opponents, Sounders FC and Chivas USA, won�t have taken note. They both have good reason to fancy their chances slightly more than the average away side in the return legs, Chivas because it is still their home ground too, and Seattle because of their recent excellent away form.

But what of the retiring Champions themselves? Following the fortunes of the Crew has been quite a roller coaster of emotions since coach Sigi Schmid abandoned them for Seattle within days of their claiming the 2008 MLS Championship. At the time, the promotion of Poland international and legend Robert Warzycha from within the ranks seemed like a smart choice, guaranteed to ensure continuity and minimal disruption. But Columbus failed to win any of their first seven MLS games and scribes of doom were gathering around both Warzycha and the side.

It didn�t help that Schmid�s new side Sounders FC had already clocked up four wins in that time. But a 3-2 win over Kansas City ended the drought and was part of an incredible run that saw Columbus Crew beaten only once in 19 games. In that time eleven wins and seven draws were attained. They scored 32 goals and conceded just 15 as the good times more than returned to Crew Stadium. Schmid was forgotten as once more Columbus were the team to beat and they almost guaranteed their post season during that run as the rest of the Eastern Conference floundered while seeming unable to sling together consecutive wins. Only a 5-0 defeat at a very good Cruz Azul side in the CONCACAF Championship disrupted the flow and Columbus played more than a half with ten men after Eric Brunner was sent off, conceded a soft penalty and put out mostly a reserve side anyway. The reverse could be explained away. Not so much the subsequent 1-0 defeat to lowly New York Red Bulls four days later.

Nonetheless, the two week international break helped them recover and Columbus leapt back to form by beating Houston Dynamo in a run of six more games, with just one defeat, in the return against Cruz Azul to blemish it. The win over Houston confirmed to many that Columbus were the nation�s top side, and for any others, the convincing 2-0 win over the Galaxy 13 days later should have done so. But that defeat of the Galaxy was to be the high point of the remainder of the Crew season.

They only won one more time in their remaining eight games. They lost 1-0 at RFK to a DC side that had looked incapable of winning a game of tiddlywinks on their home ground in the approaching weeks. They lost to a hopelessly out of form New England side on the last day to allow the Revs to sneak into the play-offs. Their 22 game unbeaten streak at Crew Stadium also went by the wayside when Sigi Schmid returned with his new Seattle Sounders team. Most observers put it down to the Crew taking their foot off the pedal a little bit, especially as their Supporters Shield rivals began to combust and contrive to hand them the trophy with far less effort than they could have expected.

Nonetheless, when the dust settled and the fifth placed team in the Western Conference became their quarter final opponents, Columbus Crew remained hot favourites to beat a distinctly average MLS side. RSL had a fantastic home record with just one defeat and five draws interspersed with nine home wins. As the game approached the dying minutes, the 0-0 score line seemed a heavily satisfactory one for Columbus. Even Robbie Findley�s 87th minute goal seemed to do no more than tilt the scales slightly more in RSL�s favour where they had weighed heavily against them at 0-0. Only a few dared to suggest that the loss may be part of a deeper more sinister trend, that the form slump that had bedeviled every other MLS side had come to Columbus at the most inconvenient and devastating time. (Tight as a Trappist Monk�s Lips).

But the doom mongers were soon silenced as two early goals, one tinged with a little Schelotto luck, the other scrawled all over by Schelotto genius, overturned the first leg deficit and put the home side firmly in the driving seat. Then came what was to be the last hour of Columbus Crew�s 2009 season. Unlikely goal providers such as Andy Williams and Jamison Olave arose from the RSL pack. Frankie Hejduk was harshly adjudged to have conceded a penalty in the crucial seconds leading up to half time. Jason Kreis made a courageous decision to attack in the second half rather than defend the narrow aggregate lead the late developments of the first had allowed him. In the end, RSL became not only the first American side to score more than two goals against Columbus, but the first side to do it twice. They have beaten Columbus three times this season, 1/3 of all the Crew�s domestic defeats.

This offers one plausible explanation why the Crew aren�t retaining their title. Maybe RSL just have their number. It is not unheard of in the soccer world, for a lower side to repeatedly outfox a better one for no apparent reason. Secondly, a quick review of last night�s statistics suggest something else. We have mentioned some unlikely names coming to the fore in Salt Lake�s goal machine. Worth also considering is the fact that Columbus have ten shots on goal last night, and converted just one in five. RSL had five with a 60% success rate. One of MLS�s less heralded goalkeepers, Nick Rimando made eight saves. Perhaps, it was just one of those nights. All sides have them. There isn�t too much a manager can do other than hope they arrive at the times they do least damage, which for Columbus wasn�t last night.

So the 2008 Champions retire gracefully after a season where trophy seemed happy to swerve to catastrophy at will. No-one can fail to have harboured heartfelt sympathy for Robert Warzycha as his side started terribly and scribes of doom wrote him off when not throwing Sigi Schmid�s contemporaneous success in the club�s face. Then as they recovered, the club became once more the target of envy and the benchmark as they proved themselves to still be America�s best. Last night, the 2009 rollercoaster finally stopped. No doubt Robert Warzycha will watch and re-watch that last hour of their season, as so much hard work and effort hit the rocks.

But despite their intense disappointment at the way it has ended, there are many positives to have come out of 2009 for the retiring MLS Champions. Their drama has been fascinating to watch, their resilience easy to admire, their successes joyful to applaud and their early tribulations impossible not to empathise with. They have been a credit to MLS. We have to say farewell now to the 2009 Columbus Crew. We also have to say thank you.

Are we teaching our women a different game? NM/BYU

thebes20 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07:25 GMT

Curious question, I have seen young girls play soccer and when they are tackled, a lot of them jump back up and play on, while in my son's games, the player might have the same thing happen, but his response is to try and milk the infraction for a card. If this was a professional men's game, then, you know that the player would have fallen like a sack of rocks and rolled around on the ground trying to get a card. The stretchers would have been on the field. Do we tell our daughters to "man up" and our sons to flop and get the card? Is the way the women play the game different than the men? Do they try to be tougher? You know that there is not a male player that would have stood for that sort of physical play from another opponent for that long. Is the way the women view the game, and the men different? Do the women try and be tougher to impress the coach, and the men try and be drama queens in order to impress the coach?

Anybody's ballgame

Dan Loney — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:39:56 GMT

I'm happy for Salt Lake fans and all, but let's face it, Columbus losing is going to have some horrifying consequences.

(1) Some may suggest that Frankie Hejduk should not be on the World Cup roster next year. What, just because, contrary to what I predicted, he played perhaps the single biggest role in the Crew losing? Talk about fickle! What about...I only wanted Hejduk on the US roster for emergency purposes anyway, on the theory that if we need a third or fourth line defender, we're better off with an experienced psycho than a nervous understudy. That's not going to be a popular position now.

(2) The refs are going to come in for a pasting thanks to the Williams handball non-call, but...what would you expect? If an American defender in the Azteca had been whistled in a similar situation, we'd scream the sky down. No Crew player was challenging him, for one thing. It was like not touching the bases on a routine double play. Refs won't even want to make a call like during the season, let alone in the playoffs.

Yes, I know. A non-decision IS a decision, a non-call IS a call, and it changed the season anyway. That doesn't mean the Crew have a sympathetic case. (Crew fans seem to realize this, preferring to focus their wrath on Warzycha and Hejduk, for the most part.)

Besides...it was just the wrong day for the Crew. If Columbus gets that call, GBS puts it wide left again. Sometimes you're Handbanana, sometimes you're Carl.* C'est la guerre.

(3) Christ, NOW who's the favorite? I was avoiding facing the emotion-churning possibility of Beckham's Galaxy winning it all because, come on, Columbus was gonna crush them assuming LA got that far. Same with the terrible chance of Chivas USA, MLS Champions. Who can stop the SoCal teams now? Luis Angel Landin? Denis Hamlett? The Revolution bench? Sonic Youth, or whatever the crap LA's Seattle fans call themselves?

(4) This, the entire offseason: THE BEST TEAM DIDN'T WIN! GET RID OF THE PLAYOFFS! MLS IS A JOKE! IT'S ALL SO TERRIBLY UNFAIR! Over and over and over again. You forget how nice it is to have a Shield/MLS Cup double until it's over.

*I thought Handbanana would have been an excellent unofficial Crew mascot, just like the Mooninites would have been for the Galaxy, and, of course, Master Shake for San Jose.

Pumas goes Retro, Beats America

John Jagou — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:52:03 GMT

The Big Puma was Back, at Least for a Night

Rare is the sight in Mexican futbol of a stadium packed to capacity. It happens in some places with regualrity: the two Monterrey stadia, Santos, and San Luis Potos� seems to have sell outs every game. The big teams, on the other hand, only seem to pack the place when it's either a rivalry game or a late rounder in the liguilla.

That was the case last night in CU. Pumas, who are not having a good season at all, went to a uniform that conjured up memories of teams with Boras, Cobras, Cabinhos, and extra large mexi-fros. The stadium was full. Flasgs were waving. The Goya chants were thunderous.

Pumas have looked nothing like the team that won the previous season, and their stadium was getting more and more cavernous as a result. This year, the college football team was drawing better crowds at the Ol�mpico(they are tied for first in the league). But they sent their fans home happy by converting a stoppage time PK to win 3-2.

Pumas had gone ahead 2-0 with two headers of corner kicks by Paraguayan international, Dario Veron. But America saw Pumas' Guaran� and called with one of their own: Salvador Caba�as answered with a brace of his own, including a superb free kick that took the air out of the stadium around the 80th.

Ultimately, the game meant nothing more than pride for Pumas. Atlante's win the night before put a berth in the liguilla out of reach. America, barring a collapse, will be headed to the post season for the first time in a few years and are one of the favorites to lift the trophy.

As a Pumas fan, it's nice to see the team beat America. But it was much nicer to see the jerseys go back to normal. I only had one lingering question: why didn't they do this sooner?

Cat Fight!!

Bill Archer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:10:56 GMT

ESPN is running a college soccer feature this morning.

But before the nice folks in the various BigSoccer forums concerned with such topics get too terribly excited about NCAA womens' soccer finally getting the serious recognition it so richly deserves, they might want to take a look at the segment:

YouTube- Cat fighting gets ugly during BYU vs. New Mexico women's soccer match

The player in question is one ELIZABETH LAMBERT who is apparently on a one-woman crusade to prove that thuggery is not an entirely male province.

I'm thinking there's a better than even chance that New Mexicos' AD is going to spend a little time on the phone with the NCAA today.

Just a guess.

ADDENDUM: I'm not avoiding a summary of the playoff game last night. MLS hasn't posted the clips yet.

New Name for the Bridge?

j.fisher — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:59:54 GMT

http://bluecelery.wordpress.com/2009...or-the-bridge/

News has come out that Chelsea are very much open to selling the naming rights to Stamford Bridge. Newly brought in chief executive, Ron Gourlay, said in a Chelsea TV interview that the club would consider selling the naming rights for Stamford Bridge. Of course attempting to spin the news into the category of �for the best interest� of the club. Here are a few quotes from Mr. Gourlay:

�What we are not prepared to happen, and I am sure our fans will appreciate this, is allow our rival clubs in England and Europe to gain a competitive advantage over us in terms of the revenue they can generate through either expanding the capacity of their existing stadia or moving to a new stadium and then invest that upside in their team or the club.�

And putting ALL fans minds at ease:

�We understand that this is a sensitive issue for our fans and that is why we would keep the name Stamford Bridge in any deal.�

Feeling better? Me neither. Now is this a big deal to me. Not because I�m someone who doesn�t understand that money is EVERYTHING in sports. There are few to NO examples of where money does not drive a sports team to a certain move or decision. This pisses me off due of course to the fact that it�s STAMFORD BRIDGE, it�s always been Stamford Bridge. It�s not like when Arsenal moved into a new stadium and chose to have is sponsored, the Bridge has history behind it and shouldn�t be sold out. Along with that, lies given to justify it are just plain insulting. Worst of all, it�ll give all those United and Liverpool supporters more to throw at the Chelsea fans. I mean point blank � this is the same idea Newcastle United came up with. Do we REALLY want to follow any path that ********ing Newcastle United has gone down.

At the end of the day I know it really doesn�t matter as far as the name attached. Whatever happens the ground will always be Stamford Bridge to all the Chelsea supporters. All I can hope at this point is that we don�t end up having to here; �Coming to you live from the Royal Dutch Shell @ Stamford Bridge� every time there is a game on television. But I guess we�ll just have to watch this space. UP THE CHELS!

MLS Anti-Awards 2009

Dan Loney — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:55:50 GMT

I, too, am removing my name from consideration for DC United's head coaching position.

Bill has his own take on the nominees. That reminds me, I need to fill out my MLS awards ballot.

Quote:

Voting will close on Monday, October 26 at Noon ET.

Oops.

Well, the good news is, you won't be able to blame me for any of this year's winners.

The only thing I wanna add to Bill's post is that, yeah, Omar Gonzalez laid a big donkey egg on Sunday, but without a ridiculously manful performance week in and week out, the Galaxy probably miss the playoffs, and certainly don't finish first. There might be tougher positions to put a rookie in, let alone starting every damn game, but central defender is right up there. So what if the Galaxy have been doing it three years in a row? How well has it been working out for them? And so what if Omar had Berhalter to guide him? Berhalter is probably teaching him a lot, but it's not like Gonzalez was pairing up next to the Gregg of 2002. Or the Tony Sanneh of 2002. I'm sure there were a lot of unofficial assistant coaches helping out Gonzalez and De La Garza, but they still had to execute.

Anyway. People are all over the actual awards, so let's do the Anti-Awards.

Roach Coach of the Year
John Carver asplodes, and he's still not a serious candidate for this title. Matt still can't believe Juan Carlos Osorio resigned before being fired, nor can the civilized world.

Comedown Player of the Year
Despite fierce competition from stadium-mate Edson Buddle, Sacha Kljestan's fall from grace has both Lucifer and Jon Gosselin wincing.

Orange Cone of the Year
Followed up calling Kei Kamara a mental midget by being thrown off the roster of the worst defense in the league and onto one of the biggest trainwrecks in the world. A year to forget for Nick Garcia, despite the fact that he's right about Kamara.

Matador of the Year
Not, statistically, the worst keeper in the league, but I'm going to bend the rules and count the Open Cup final for Josh Wicks. DC United probably had the second and third best keepers...in the entire Los Angeles Galaxy roster...from last year. Wow, are we sure they can't convince Soehn to stay?

Foul Play Award
Conor Casey committed more fouls in fewer games than Atiba Harris. But, he scores ONCE in a while. The easy choice, though, is Carlos Johnson, whose club and country career this season was positively Kljestanesque, if not downright Alvarezesque. The biggest red card to games played ratio since Metrostars legend Branco sealed this award.

Plague Rat of the Year
Given to the worst newcomer, we salute Alfredo Pacheco, accepting for any number of Red Bulls. Is Walter Garcia actually alive?

NAMBLA Team Public Relations Award
Matt on Stan the Man:

Quote:

I feel bad for Colorado, who lost literally every winger on the roster to injury by about mid-August and ended up unable to create a goal for the life of them. (Also, Rapids owner Stan Kroenke refused to splurge even 100k on a new signing� you see that Arsenal fans? You see that? You definitely, DEFINITELY don�t want this guy owning your team. Do what you can to discourage him � mail him a turd sandwich, start an online petition, whatever you have to do, do it. He�s cheap. He�s a loser. Don�t say you haven�t been warned.)

Whatever, Matt. I'm still giving this one to Leiweke. The attendance numbers say it all. Michael Hitchcock fought hard for this award, but it just wasn't enough. Lew Wolff looks like a hell of a competitor for next year, though.

Humanitarian of the Year
Dane Richards, for his Facebook Fan Outreach Program.

Hush Puppies Referee of the Year
Usually, I take the real MLS refs, and say "three-way tie for last." Jair Marrufo pretty much scuppered his career for Blanco's shirt, though, which is like taking your bribe money in Pogs.

Sunsweet Prune Juice Overstayed Welcome of the Year
I don't give an award for worst rookie, because I don't believe in criticizing rookies. (Well, #1 overall picks, maybe. But Zakuani was perfectly good, even though my campaign to nickname him The Life Aquatic With Steve Zakuani got nowhere.) So this award is to the great, tough veteran who basically pulls a Bela Lugosi in Plan 9.

It would be cruel, sick and cruel, to put Jaime Moreno here....although, come on, the end of the road has to come sometime. This probably would have been Tony Sanneh's award easy, if Arena didn't come to his senses just as the season started. But Claudio Suarez and his mini-Brett Favre nonsense is the clear winner. If you unretire and screw up your club, you'd better actually be healthy and ready to play. Even Favre knew that.

Worst XI
Josh Wicks, Galaxy Old Boys
Bakary Soumare, Boulogne
Alfredo Pacheco, FAS
Nick Garcia, Expansion Draft
Cory Gibbs, Expansion Draft
Sacha Kljestan, Celtic
David Beckham, AC Milan
Justin Mapp, Chicago Fire Reserves
Bobby Convey, San Jose Frogs
Luis Angel Landin, Jenny Craig
Kenny Cooper, 1860 Munich

Edsel Least Valuable Player
SECOND RUNNER-UP: Before Kenny Cooper...after Kenny Cooper....just saying.

FIRST RUNNER-UP:
Bobby Convey stands down and out even among the Quake retreads, and Soumare did leave the league in hilarious fashion. But the Battle Spider - oh, my God, that last game against RSL, with everything on the line - the perfect end to the perfect season. Colorado has bigger problems than Cory Gibbs, but not many.

WINNER:
Paid millions of dollars out of pocket to show up late and challenge fans to fight. Doesn't even draw fans or sell jerseys anymore, at least not Galaxy fans or Galaxy jerseys. Sneered at Grant Wahl for writing a book about him, when it could and should have been called David Beckham Is a ********ing Cancer. Will be wrongly credited for the Galaxy getting this far, God help us if LA wins MLS Cup.

Or if England wins. Jesus, it never stops. *Kinison scream*

The Nedved Interview: Sido Jombati & Florin Pelecaci

Nedved* — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:33:08 GMT

Here is the most recent post from my blog, Nedved's Notes (http://nedvedsnotes.blogspot.com). This post is an interview with Bath City's two foreign players. How did they come to be playing lower league football in England, and how do they find the different styles of play? Read on to find out....

Sido Jombati extended his hand, and with a warm smile on his face said, 'My name is Sido.'

I couldn't help but laugh. I had just contacted him a few days ago to tell him what a big fan I was, and to request an interview with him for this blog. I certainly knew who his name. I was to learn, though, that Sido is as unassuming as he is friendly.

He had suggested we speak after the AFC Totton match. 'How will I find you?' I asked. He wrote back, 'Anytime, just call me and I will come to you.' It sounded too easy and I worried it wouldn't' happen. In the end, however, I 'called to him' while he was having his post-match meal in the club bar, Charlie's. After he had finished we stepped out the side door. I turned on my dictaphone and tried my best to pretend like I knew what I was doing.

The reason I wanted to interview Sido was simple. Besides being an exciting player to watch, he is a rare example of an overseas footballer in non-league football. I wanted to know exactly how he had come to play football for Bath City. Sido is also central to the mysterious appearance of Bath City's other foreign player, Florin Pelecaci. Reportedly, Florin had started training with City after being recommended to Adie Britton by Sido. But how did a twenty-two year old from Portugal come to know a twenty-nine year old first-division footballer from Romania? It all seemed a little bizarre, and so far the local football media had failed to discover any sort of explanation.

I contacted Sido without really expecting him to agree to be talk to me. I am, after all, just some strange blogger. I was very pleased when he agreed, and even more pleased when he asked Florin to speak to me as well. Having never interviewed a footballer before I was pretty nervous, and began peppering him with random questions as soon as he introduced himself.

Sido Jombati was born in Lisbon in 1987. He was on the books with Sporting Lisbon as a youth player until he was sixteen. Finding his opportunities in Portuguese football limited, he was encouraged by a family member to try his luck in England. I was surprised to hear that one of the main reasons for the move was money. 'The pay in the Portuguese second division is like the Conference in the UK,' he said. I assumed I had misunderstood him, so I had him say it again. I had not misunderstood. 'The pay I get at Bath City is about the same as the second division in Portugal.'

After a short spell with Exeter at age eighteen, he signed for the then Conference National side Weymouth. He moved to Basingstoke last season, where he was voted 'Player of the Year' by the supporters, and finally to Bath City last summer. One of the reported reasons for his move to Bath was family living in Somerset, but when I asked him if he had any family locally he said he no longer has any family living in the UK.

'Do you miss Portugal?' I asked.

'Yeah, a lot.'

I asked him if he went back regularly. 'I used to but not recently. Now that I live in Bath, though, I hope to start flying from Bristol'

I asked him about the different styles of football played in Portugal and England. 'Playing in Portugal is easier,' he began. 'You have a lot more space. England is harder. I prefer the ball on the floor. Here you don't have any space. You don't have time for two touches. This league is very tough. If you try to take one or two touches you just lose the ball.'

At this point we were joined by Florin Pelecaci. I was more nervous about talking to him because I hadn't spoken to him directly before. I also wasn't really sure how interested he was in being interviewed by a supporter. I was only nervous briefly, however, because despite coming across as a serious and earnest person, he was remarkably friendly and unguarded. I asked him how he liked playing for Bath City.

'I like it. I like Bath, only today I am not happy because I did not play.'

I asked him why he thought he had only been used as a substitute.

'It was something to do with a tactical problem. It was [Adie Britton's] option.'

The big question for all Bath City fans, however, was why Florin had come to City and what his plans were. Not knowing how to build up to this exactly I just dived right in and asked him.

'Firstly, I want to do my job for Bath,' he began. 'To play very well in the [FA] Cup firstly. This is our chance, the Cup.'

After pressing him on how long he expects to stay in Bath and where he would go next he said, 'I will stay here for the next two months for sure, and I don't know in the future what I will do. It depends on my football, on how I will play, and it depends on what the club wants for me. At the moment I hope this level can help me to go where I want.'

Where does he want to go? 'League 1, because it is comparable to the top of Romanian football.'

Sido and Florin then explained to me how they knew each other and how Florin had come to wear black and white stripes.

During Sido's time with Sporting Lisbon he became close friends with a Romanian trialist named Bogdan. Bogdan was not signed by Sporting, but he and Sido stayed in touch. Bogdan now lives in London where he plays for step-five non-league club London Tigers. Bogdan, it turns out, had a cousin named Florin Pelecaci.

After an unsatisfying year with top flight Hungarian club Di�sgyőri VTK, Florin was looking for a new employer. He was tempted to London by an agent who claimed that he could arrange trials for several League clubs. These failed to materialise. Instead of giving up and going home he got in touch with his cousin Bogdan. Bogdan introduced him to Sido, who arranged for him to start training with Bath City. The training went well, and he was offered non-contract terms in mid-September.

It was good to discover the mystery of Florin's sudden appearance, but I was left with one important question.

'When is Bogdan going to come and play for Bath City?' I asked.

Both Sido and Florin laughed. 'He is a very good player,' Florin explained, 'but for the moment he needs to play more. He has spent a lot of time working and not playing.'

Sido popped back inside Charlie's for a few minutes to talk to some friends and I continued talking with Florin. He was born in Baia Mare in Northwestern Romania, not far from the current Hungarian and Ukrainian borders. His athletic ability was noticed at a very young age. At six years old he began training competitively in gymnastics. Two years later he won first prize for his age group in the individual floor event in the Romanian national championships.

'Is this how you learned to flip?'

It was indeed. Florin had stunned the travelling Bath City fans at in his second match against Willand Rovers. He celebrated his twenty-five yard goal with a series of somersaults and a flip. He had repeated the feat at home in the recent Basingstoke match.

'Against Basingstoke it wasn't my goal. It was an own goal, I think. But I felt I must do this [flip] because it was 2-2 and I knew we could win this.'

The rest of this interview can be read here: http://nedvedsnotes.blogspot.com/200...ti-florin.html

Very Late Edition of the UEFA Champions League Prediction Thread. Get Yer Bonus Points Here!

Aaron Stollar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05:28 GMT

Late notice on this one thanks to the dunderheads at Comcast and some other issues beyond my control, so as a result, everyone who posts any pick at all gets 10 bonus points today.

Decent lineup of matches in the Champions League today, and like yesterday, these are the reverse fixtures of Matchday 3. That might not be good news for Liverpool, who have to find a way to reverse their last result while playing away today. Rangers also might not be looking forward to today�s task, as they try and avoid further embarrassment at Unirea Urziceni.

You know the scoring rules, and I�ll have the updated totals for these two days of games later tonight. In the meantime, here are my picks for today. Leave yours in the comments section and get your 10 points.

All picks due by 2:45 p.m. Eastern.

GROUP E (home teams listed first throughout)
Fiorentina 2-0 Debrecen
Lyon 2-2 Liverpool

GROUP F
Rubin 1-3 Barcelona (Barcelona has to get revenge, right. Right?)
Dynamo Kiev 1-0 Inter

GROUP G
Sevilla 4-2 Stuttgart (I wish these teams played every week.)
Unirea 3-1 Rangers (Can�t back a Scottish team away in the CL.)

GROUP H
Arsenal 5-1 AZ
Standard Liege 1-2 Olympiakos

Good luck, everyone.

UK Police Force

DJ_DeanJourno — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:43:44 GMT

Why a UK police force would benefit travelling English fans abroad.

For what I am about to say, a lot of credit has to go to the people of the 1970�s and 1980�s who every Saturday, rioted at football matches, these people have given English people, and English teams a bad reputation, when they travel out of the country to watch football matches. The police, in full riot gear, and sometimes even the army line the terraces and outside the grounds, to make sure English fans do not get �out of control�. Thankfully the days of football hooliganism are long gone. Of course there�s the odd bit of trouble at games, there always will be, the rivalry between teams will never leave the game, and if it does, well in my eyes, that�s the death of football.

I�ll traveled to Europe to watch my team play, and I personally have seen football violence first hand, many thanks to the police force of Rome, who led Chelsea fans to the heart of the notorious Roma Ultras, who were lying in wait. Fans clashed, but it wasn�t until Chelsea fans tried to defend themselves that the Italian police decided to respond, again only using their weapons on the English supporters. And this isn�t an isolated incident, Manchester United suffered similar abuse whilst in Rome, an Arsenal fan also encountered Rome hospitality when he was stabbed, and in 2006, thirteen Middlesborough fans were taken to hospital whilst in Rome, how Rome was chosen to hold the Champions League Final is beyond me. Tottenham Fans, including a man in a wheelchair were attacked by police in Seville. Chelsea fans in Valencia nearly came face to face with police truncheon, only the use of Video Cameras by some fans made the Spanish police but their weapons away, I wonder why that was. These are only a few examples of the treatment English supporters go to, just to watch their team play.

In England, the police go out of their way to make sure visiting teams are comfortable, can enjoy the game and are in no danger, and i am very proud of that, that in the country were all the men who go to football are thugs make visiting teams welcome, just two weeks ago when Atheltico Madrid visited Stamford Bridge, visiting Madrid fans and Chelsea fans drank and talked to each other at a local bar. Something I have never seen in any of my visits abroad, your often roaming the streets looking for a Red Lion or the nearest Irish Pub in order to have a drink in peace. Around grounds there is hardly any police in riot gear, apart from the odd few, but abroad all there is, is police waiting for the first excuse to lay into the visiting English fans, if this ever happened in England there would be uproar, and that�s a good thing.

My solution, an UK Police Force that travels abroad with supporters to make sure they don�t have to suffer attacks when they go to watch their team, these would come from both the police stations that are nearest the football clubs, and deal with the trouble makers on a regular basis. As well as new officers who are trained to cope with crowd troubles. They would liaise with the local police where they are visiting, and would supervise supporters inside and outside the grounds to make sure they had a enjoyable trip and stayed safe while watching their teams play. Most people who go to football just want to have a good time and watch their team play, of course there�s always a village idiot who gets too loud, but on the whole supporters are well behaved. They pay a heck of a lot of money to watch their teams play and deserve to at least be looked after when they travel. The new UK Police Force would create new jobs, and in the current economic climate would be a good thing, and with English dominance in Europe, they would be kept busy.

Now I do not know about costs and how this would be put into practice, it is simply an idea. And any comments are welcome.

Nothing to See Here

Bill Archer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:52:18 GMT

Normally, we try not to give rank stupidity a link, for obvious reasons.

In this case though, if I did not, people would claim I was making it up.

So here you go:

MY LINK OF THE YEAR.

I am forever indebted to BS loyalist "evangel" for passing along this article which, I admit, I read several times because I couldn't believe that it was not a parody.

Of course, there's also the realm of self parody, like when a certain blogger whom Aaron had SOME THINGS TO SAY ABOUT the other day breathlessly passes along the shocking, almost inconceivable news that in the ongoing kerfuffle between USL1/NuRock and the TOA "THE TOA HAS APPROACHED AN ATTORNEY" who "could be handling" one thing or another. Possibly. At some point. Maybe.

Well stop the frikkin presses! You mean to tell us that two opposing parties of businessmen with millions of dollars at stake are squaring off and someone rang up some shyster at Dewey, Cheatem and Howe?

Of course, if you guys would ever let me get away with that many "we are told by sources" and "from this we can presume" and "this would appear to" and "we have been told" and "we have recieved word" and "based on our reporting" and "according to one source" etc., etc., etc. I could provide this page with daily blockbusters the likes of which even Dan Loney on a ten day ether and grain alcohol bender couldn't imagine.

But I'm not complaining. You're a tough audience and that's fine with me.

Better that than an audience that lets you get away with bizarre comments like:

"Americans don't much like to have it pointed out that it's important to have a presence in the New York market." (Hat tip to FAKE SIGI)

So take THAT all of you who keep saying that we should get the hell out of New York. Whoever the hell you are.

But since this is the same blogger who sends me mash notes with blown kisses like

"Just understand that I'm watching closely and if you ever cross the line of fair comment I will legally act... Defamation is reverse onus in British Common Law."

(thanks Bud, I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Or not) I'll just move along.

I had a nice chat with a Seattle fan yesterday wherein, among other things, we talked about the reason why a lot of MLS fans seem to have a negative opinion of Sounders fans.

Immediately afterwards, someone sent me THIS LINK which proves that if nothing else, even the supposed professional journalists up there have a shockingly tin ear:

"We all know that Seattle is the center of MLS soccer, that no other city supports its team like this one, that Seattle has set attendance records and every game was sold out this year. And that other MLS towns like to hate on that, like this city is afforded special status because of the support for the team or something ridiculous.

Did you catch that? He starts out by taking for granted the proposition that Seattle "is the center of MLS soccer" and then ridicules the idea that people think the city is "afforded special status".

Pardon me, Einstein, but you yourself just got done "affording" Seattle "special status" (I believe "the center of MLS soccer" was the term you used) and then said that doing so was "ridiculous" and is caused by (what else?) "hate".

Then, as further evidence of Sounders modesty, he ends on a humble note:

"Furthermore, do you think that Sounders FC is on the world map now as far as a destination point for foreign players?"

Oh, I absolutely do, so long as none of them believes Seattle has "special status".

Since this piece seems to be about nothing at all, I'll take this opportunity to right a couple of wrongs:

First, I used some facts from the always worthwhile CLIMBING THE LADDER yesterday and forgot to provide attribution. The MLS Foul Awards post is very interesting, and the one below it breaking down MLS Goal Details is enough raw material to keep even the most depraved US soccer fan entertained for days on end. Enjoy.

Secondly, highly regarded Moderator (and thus, Stupidface) Stan Collins passed along the bit about the England bid committee providing expensive designer handbags to the FIFA greedheads and I forgot to give him credit, whether he wanted it or not.

And while I'm on the subject of juicy nuggets from my inbox, I have no idea what to do with THIS DISTURBING ARTICLE provided by Sachin, another well respected Moderating Stupidface, except to say that, after seeing TFCs' futility in the box this season, one thing nobody can say is that they kick like girls. The girls apparently kick much harder.

Worst uniform ever

Dan Loney — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:31:51 GMT

Working on the MLS Anti-Awards for 2009. Last chance for suggestions, but I'll give you a hint - couple of local Southern California players figure big.

But speaking of worst, I wanted to point out that the Daily Telegraph is an idiot.

The topic is worst sports uniforms. Coincidentally, one of my favorite sites, UniWatchBlog, is running a contest for worst American sports uniform of all time. So, yeah, there's your chance to vote for the Colorado Caribou. A 1996 MLS kit is nominated, too, but it's one that, to my recollection, was no worse than the fourth or fifth worst uniform of that season, let alone of all time.

However, the Telegraph is saying all time, everywhere. They're leaning heavy on soccer, too. Sure, they pick some real disasters.

But there's no excuse for leaving off the only choice. We're talking game, set, match, end conversation.

This is one story behind those shirts:

Quote:

I remembered from World Soccer magazine, the same one (not the same issue) that had the photo of the players in Spain wearing a fan�s name on the back of their uniforms, that Fiorentina had a contract with Lotto to supply their uniforms in the early 1990s. In the magazine they mentioned that Fiorentina opened their season wearing a pattern that was completely chosen at random by a computer. The computer was on Lotto�s end, but the pattern that came out was a swastika. Surprisingly this pattern, which was only on their away shirts, made it into their early games before being changed.

I�ve been looking for a picture of this shirt, just to see how over the top the swastika�s were (godly large or small). Having lived in Japan and seeing the reverse swastika�s for Buddhist temples, I was surprised to find a picture of it this morning.

I would say the design had plus signs and arrows, but where they intersected, they became swastikas.

I wish I could find the version I read, but as I recall, it had more to do with Fiorentina's YOOGE financial problems at the time. It's a shirt that, as you can tell, doesn't NECESSARILY scream out "Nazis," until you see the swastika...and they you can't see anything BUT swastikas. It's like the FedEx arrow, only with, y'know, swastikas.

Anyway, from what I recall someone actually noticed in time before they took the field, and these shirts were promptly mothballed...until the season rolled along, the financial losses piled up, and Fiorentina couldn't afford to pay for new away shirts. So they thought...well...maybe no one will notice.

And the rest is history.