BigSoccer - Blogs - Dan Loney Blog by Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php en Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:45:43 GMT vBulletin 30 http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg BigSoccer - Blogs - Dan Loney Blog by Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php Sunil Gulati More Popular Than Saddam Hussein http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7559 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:56:06 GMT You know what's even more cool than winning a Super Bowl?

Levees.

Tell you what, instead of giving Haiti money, let's give them an NFL team. Since apparently that makes everything all better.
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Hey, speaking of sports being incredibly important. I see that the United States Soccer Federation, otherwise known as NORTH KOREA, "unanimously" re-elected Sunil Gulati to as Grand Poobah. How could this possibly have happened, after reading months and months of messages about how Gulati has a conflict of interest with Kraft Soccer, how he bungled horribly the Bob Bradley hiring, and how he stupidly failed to certify either USL-1 or the NASL? I haven't been this mad since someone told me sarcasm doesn't work on blog posts.

Unanimous, huh? Tell me something, how man of you voted? Who out here actually had a voice? Did you even know there was an election? Who...well, you know, I'm actually skirting on a valid point here, so maybe I should drop the snotsnark.

At some point, very very soon, the interests of youth clubs and the interests of fans are going to cleave entirely. Running a nationwide little league racket and fielding a quality international team AND trying to get various leagues from throttling each other are entirely different missions. And the semantics of which priority best serves "promoting the game" will be with us forever.

Couple of things, though.

(A) Barring a serious restructuring of the international game, we're stuck with this. FIFA runs the sport like a protection racket, and it has very specific franchisees. You can't open up a McDonald's without permission from Old McDonald, and you can't open up a soccer federation without permission from Sepp Football.

I know - of course you can. You'd just have to do it without players who want to play in accredited leagues, is all. But FIFA is a cartel, one of the most efficient in history, and asking any USSF official to do anything about it is as close as you can get to pissing up a rope without an actual rope and a twelve pack of Keystone Light.

Unfortunately, it means we're stuck with CONCACAF. Maybe Televisa - sorry, I mean, the FMF - and Sunil are working on a way to undercut Jack Warner's power in the region, but the upside of putting up with Warner is a virtual free pass to the World Cup. I'd like to see the Caribbean left to fend for itself with half a spot (sorry, Jamaica and Trinidad), but I like the whole region having three and a half bites at the apple more. The sport here is in no condition to risk missing the World Cup.

(2) The stuff you're ticked off with Gulati about doesn't matter to any voting bloc in the federation. Unless you really think Sunil sent hired goons to your local association to make sure that they voted the right way.

Association football is still on the upswing in this country. The national team not only wins a lot, but has built a fan base. And the World Cup bid - the only thing that matters right now - is still going well. Maybe you think Gulati should take the blame for Blatter handing the 2018 spot to Europe, but it wasn't as if England's bid was going to be worthless, and now the Fed can concentrate on outdoing Australia (c'mon, Oz. 2026, OK? Gives you a chance to settle things with all the other football leagues).

Maybe you think Gulati should take the blame for Chicago not being on the initial bid list, but the initial bid list might as well have included Centralia, Pennsylvania for all the relevance it will have twelve years from now.

Should fans have a voice in electing the Fed president? Well...um...no? Shareholders have a minor say in some teams, but extrapolating that to every part-time casual fan who wants to know why we can't hold on to a lead against Brazil - I just can't get there. The wisdom of crowds is a fallacy unless there's an equal availability of information and education.

But even if the fans had a voice this time, and even if the fans all agree that Gulati is the worst thing to happen to the game since NASL expansion, this year the fans would have been shouted down, and we'd be back where we are today anyway. Gulati would have a 75% mandate instead of a unanimous one, is all.

The fans' voice, ultimately, will overrule all others...but it will be expressed through ticket purchases, television ratings, and support of sponsors. I'd love to see sports run as a democracy among its supporters, but let's let boxing and NASCAR try it first.

If you really want Gulati "fired"? Cheer against the US this summer. Three and out might not get him to immediately retire in disgrace, but you gotta start somewhere. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7559 By any other name would smell http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7548 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:17:04 GMT Remember when I ranted about a fake Fred joining DC United? Well, for several weeks now, the... Remember when I ranted about a fake Fred joining DC United? Well, for several weeks now, the Galaxy have done them one better. Alex, Juninho and Leonardo are going to bring a little samba flavor to look, I'm sorry, can we or they seriously take a minute or two to come up with new names?

Okay, no one's going to think that the AC Milan coach is back in the United States to hunt down and finish off Tab Ramos. But there's also a Leonardo at NAC Breda, one at Shakhtar, one at AEK, and God knows how many more.

It's actually almost plausible that the Galaxy got the Juninho from Boro, or the one from Lyon, but this is another one.

I already had trouble keeping the Alexes straight. Hey, the Galaxy did have a partnership with Chelsea, it COULD have been one of the famous ones.

I don't care how cultural it is. I don't care who it's a tribute to. I don't care how few last names there are in Portuguese. The Screen Actors Guild makes people come up with unique names - that's why Michael J. Fox had to be Michael J. Fox, instead of Michael Fox.

I mean, you can't trot out some three-legged beanbag out to the track and call him "Affirmed," for God's sake. So why are soccer fans given less consideration than the toothless reprobates blowing their Social Security checks on their gambling addictions?

Oh, sorry, sport of kings, that's right, I forgot.

If they can't come up with names on their own, and they're ashamed of the ones their parents gave them, then get R. Lee Ermey out there to call them "Joker" and "Gomer Pyle."

Between the Sol, the "lockout" scare, the Sampson/Wynalda/Harkes nonsense, the "NASL," and now these guys, there has been way too much flammery and jive-turkeyism of late. Don Garber should do something about it.
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....except he's all hip and now and today, according to Soccernet, so I'm sure he's too busy partying it up with the cast of "The Jersey Hills" or whatever it is you young people are watching these days.

Well, you want to know what tattooed, cigar-smoking trendsetters I consider "hip"? THE MEN WHO TOOK IWO JIMA, that's who! And the trend they set was FREEDOM! GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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Yes, actually, I am proud of this post. It's February, I don't give a honeymoon ******** about the Super Bowl, and I have a "Crap that has nothing to do with anything" label for a reason. So how's your week going? ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7548 Other Temporary Assignments http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7541 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:16:24 GMT Dumpster diving in Google trying to corroborate my memories of the 1998 World Cup, I came across... Dumpster diving in Google trying to corroborate my memories of the 1998 World Cup, I came across this post from this very site:

Quote:
In fact, I kinda have the suspicion that w/in 5 years time, "Amy Wynalda" will be cited as the most important factor in the US' failure that WC as opposed to the true problem: 3-6-1.
uclacarlos, visionary. Although he was a couple of years off - it only took a little over two years.

Mark Ziegler with a great article here. Makes up for saying a lockout by MLS owners was likely.

Quote:
“Not playing the position (outside right defender) I wanted him to play, or (him) going out the night before the Belgium game was one thing,” Sampson said of two prior issues with Harkes. “I could have overcome that and I was prepared to find a way to work it out. After I was informed of the third incident, about the relationship between John and Amy, I felt he had crossed over a line I couldn’t ignore.”
Let's also recall Harkes' play at the end of 1997 and the beginning of 1998, which was absolutely godawful for club and country.

Many of our younger readers are saying to themselves, "What's the big deal about a bunch of guys who were terrible in MLS?" Completely valid question, whippersnapperariat. 1998 is as far away to you as the demise of the Cosmos was to us back then.

But 1998 was such a turning point in American soccer history, because it was the first real setback the program had suffered since the end of the NASL. It was a series of shock, fear, disillusionment, and ultimate defeat. Bruce Arena got into the Hall of Fame just by fielding a team after all that.

In the 90's, the US was our club team. We didn't have the divided loyalties that we have today, where no one cheers for both Landon Donovan AND Brian Ching EVERY game. International fans have had to reconcile divided club and national passions from before birth, but U.S. Americans didn't have to. They were our boys. That was our team, every one of them. Having to follow them through tiny little wire service reports made the devotion even greater. More fans would come later, and I'm the last guy to say it isn't better today. But there were no casual fans back then, and there were no other teams to cheer for. From 1990 to 1995 or so, the flame burned hotter for being pure.

Then, MLS came along, and with familiarity came contempt. It didn't help that "mildly disappointing" was the absolute highest level any prominent US national team member managed to achieve in MLS for several seasons.

It wasn't like they were saving their good performances for qualifiers, either. What would have happened this cycle if in a must-win game, the first and only goal came in the final five minutes? How many fans would call that game the greatest moment of their soccer-watching lives? Well, for a long time, Portland in September 1997 held that prize. There was a fan section! We won! It was a sellout! Soccer was here to stay, and Portland was destined to get an MLS team!

The US followed up that performance - remember, this was the high point in qualifying in the history of the team, as far as anyone knew - by bumbling and stumbling home and away against Jamaica, getting a miraculous 0-0 point in Mexico, and basically being so very inspiring that Alan Rothenberg kept Sampson waiting until that December before confirming that he would, in fact, remain the coach.

Sampson celebrated that announcement by losing the Gold Cup final and trying to convert Eric Wynalda into a midfielder...in favor of Roy Wegerle, hero of the Canada game that sealed qualification.

As every schoolchild knows, Eric Wynalda would eventually become the 1 in the 3-6-1, a role he performed so well he was benched. The late Mike Penner wrote the definitive report on what happened against Germany, and Penner took no prisoners.

Quote:
It looked good on Formica. But if this had been a truly realistic demonstration, the silverware would have sprung to life, started cursing in German and begun hacking and slashing the sugar packets until all Sampson had left was white powder sifting through his fingers.
....

Sampson replaced Wynalda with Roy Wegerle in the 63rd minute, claiming he wanted "more energy out of that position."

Translation: He wanted someone willing to run on occasion.
I think this helps solves the mystery of why, given what we think we know now, Wynalda took Harkes' side over Sampson's at the time. Wynalda may or may not have believed what he had been told about Harkes and his wife, but he definitely knew he was being benched and repositioned.

This Amy Shipley article is only available for free in a snippet - thanks, Washington Post - but I think the snippet captured the flavor of how Sampson and Wynalda were getting along:

Quote:
There had been no reason for Eric Wynalda to mention Steve Sampson, the coach of the U.S. national soccer team. There had been no query about Sampson, no reference to Sampson, no mention of Sampson. Yet Wynalda, standing on a windy hill overlooking the team's training site here, shouted unexpectedly:

"No, I will not talk about Steve Sampson!"

Sampson happened to be within earshot of the remark, having climbed the stony path to the crest of the hill after the national team's workout. Both Wynalda and Sampson -- who looked over in surprise before saying, "Good answer" -- laughed. "A lot has been said about Steve's and {my} relationship, like we are butting heads," said Wynalda, 28, ...
There's probably never a good time to hear about your relationship or marriage from an outside party, but hearing from your dickhead boss...yeah, it's easy to see why Eric might have chosen to believe his wife and his best friend over Steve Sampson.

Still, it's very hard to reconcile what was said at the time with what's being said now.

Sampson told Ziegler that it was all about the off-field issues:

Quote:
"I was a huge fan of John Harkes and to this day, on the field, he was one of the best captains the U.S. has ever had," says Sampson. "To say I was disappointed is an understatement."
But...that's not what I remember. Something about embracing the left back. If only there were some way to compare what Steve and John said at the time - oh, thank you, Soccer America:

Quote:
"In regard to John Harkes, we had a conversation about a month ago as part of the process to begin informing players whether they are or are not in my plans for the World Cup. I told John in a half-hour meeting that I am not intending on him going to France. This is a decision based on his performances on the field, most notably since our Jan. 5 training camp, and on some leadership issues. In regards to that conversation, it will remain private between myself and John, but I will address the technical issues in regards to my decision-making process."
....

"He has attacked more frequently than he defends, but there has to be a balance there, especially in the midfield. He has at times expected others to get back and cover for him, in many instances that is appropriate, but in other cases it isn't. Any individual willing to accept the role and sit in and play defensive midfield behind Claudio Reyna, who is going to be the playmaker of this team. The key area, though, has been in working back defensively and accepting the role tactically during the course of the match."
Oh, and he was dropped as DC United's captain around the same time, which I had forgotten.

So, I didn't just dream that part of this was the fact that Harkes wasn't playing well. Unless I also dreamed that Jeff Rusnak article:

Quote:
Now, in light of his ouster from Sampson's World Cup roster this week, Harkes' words, like parts of his game, sound long on good intentions, but short on substance.

Contrary to what he said in Miami in February, Harkes, in Sampson's words, did not "embrace" a prospective change to left back "with any kind of vigor or enthusiasm."Harkes' failure to take one for the team isn't all that will keep him from playing in his third World Cup. Sampson has also been unhappy with his captain's play in the midfield.

"He has attacked more frequently than he defends," Sampson said, "but there has to be a balance there. He has, at times, expected others to get back and cover for him. In many instances that is appropriate, but in other cases it isn't."

Since returning from a successful English League stint a few years ago, Harkes has often played with an exaggerated sense of his own abilities. He's shown a penchant for giving the ball away too easily, and he's worn his captain's armband with too much authority, especially, it appears, for Sampson's taste.
It was and will remain a controversial decision, but to pretend years later that on-field performance had nothing to do with it helps nobody.

Unless the theory is that the punishment for adultery is a change of position.

Allow me to advance the theory that Sampson has belatedly hopped on the pro-Harkes bandwagon for the same reason his former players did after the World Cup - sheer self-serving revisionism. Penner - again - distilled some of the best anti-Sampson rants at the time, but key and consistent message is that, like John Rambo, they weren't allowed to win because of faulty leadership. If only Harkes had been there, they cry. If only they had been coached better.

Not, if only they had been younger, better players.

Sampson is doing the same thing. Without Harkes, we're now told, what other option did we have but to start six midfielders? What else could be done, besides start Mike Burns against Germany, then Moore and Ramos against Iran as d-mids? If only Harkes and his leadership had been there. But, there are certain lines one can't cross.

I'm just one fan, of course. But I'm just one fan who had to watch the US-Iran game in the one god-damned bar in Santa Monica crammed with Persian supporters. The line has to be a lot closer to Polanski territory to justify losing to god-damned Iran. If winning World Cup games means keeping a discreet but steady supply of small, cute furry animals available to the team hotel, then PETA be damned.

Besides, if the idea was to drop Harkes because he was hurting team chemistry, and dropping Harkes obliterated team chemistry, then exactly what was the point?

Only Harkes has been entirely consistent, denying then and denying now. (That may change later this week, but if it does, it will probably cost Harkes his World Cup commenting gig, so I'm thinking John's going to stick to his story.) He and Amy are the only people who really know for sure. (Roy Wegerle might, but I refuse to speculate on the manner in which he obtained his certain knowledge of the affair on the grounds that I just ate.)

No one to my knowledge has asked the former Mrs. Wynalda about it on the record, but...well, okay, here's what Wynalda said about Harkes after the disaster in France:

Quote:
"As far as I'm concerned, when he cut John Harkes he tore the heart out of the team and threw it on the floor and expected us to pick up the pieces," U.S. forward Eric Wynalda said in an interview this week with the San Diego Union Tribune.
(Boy, thank God soccertimes.com's archives are indestructible.)

Meanwhile, George Vecsey of the New York Times described Harkes and Wynalda as "best buddies."

It was on the strength of such public statements that I and other overly trusting souls chalked up the adultery rumors to malice.

Instead, we should have chalked them up to irrelevance.

By early 1998, the peak years of the US "club" were done. The best players were old or injured, frequently both. By cruel fate, the next generation were either too young or not good enough, frequently both. I defy any of you by hindsight to construct a team that would have made it to the second round that year against Germany and Yugoslavia. (Yeah, they probably should have beaten Iran.)

Steve Sampson had infamously tried open auditions to replace nearly every prominent member of the team. David Wagner and Michael Mason failed quickly, Brian Maisonneuve and Chad Deering didn't fail quickly enough, Frankie Hejduk and Brian McBride wouldn't fail until long after Sampson was gone. The 3-6-1 was borne out of desperate madness, but the key word is desperate. There were simply too many holes.

Those who do not learn from the past are blah blah yadda yadda oatcakes, fine - but 1998 will not be the last time the talent ages faster than it can be replaced. (It arguably happened in 2006, too, but that team refused to self-servingly pile on the coach.) The key is to minimize the damage when this does happen.

And it might happen this year, too. If it does, I'd much rather read about how steps were taken to expand and deepen the talent pool, rather than how we'll police the romantic lives of adults.

Apparently a slimeball called John Terry figures tangentially in this story, and a debate is raging over whether he should be dropped. Of course he should. Preferably from an airplane, or the side of a very tall building. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7541 F*C* http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7527 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:39:00 GMT Please, enough with the FC's. This goes for you too, ACSTL. It's already tired and played. We have official nicknames in this country. If you want to be traditional, call yourselves the Tigers or the Crimson or whatever. Leave the FC for the UK.
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The Galaxy should wear white shirts with blue shorts at home. Not just because it looks good, but because it makes all the road teams look ridiculous. Maybe Manchester United can rock the dark shirt and white shorts look, but precious few others can.
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Wow. MLS without Steve Ralston.

So that leaves...

*goes to MLSnet...players page...sort by years of experience....*

That leaves Corben Bone, Krzysztof Krol, Andrew Dykstra, Sean Johnson....

*hits the sort button again*

That leaves Jesse Marsch as the last original original. (Jaime Moreno didn't show up until midseason in 1996.) I guess Ante Razov missed a whole year in Spain or wherever - I couldn't tell you what club he played for if you hooked me up to a car battery. And I guess we're not counting Brian McBride's extended break in London.

So we have our last original player standing. Amazing, in a way.

Well, unless Ralston is signed in mid-season by an MLS team and said team compensates New England...or the new contract agreement allows for internal MLS free agency....so I'm going to hold off on the "Stone Cold Steve Ralston - Fine Player, Fine American" post. He didn't die, he just went to St. Louis. Insert punch line here.

Besides, Jesse Marsch has played for Galaxy archrivals literally his entire career, and I don't want to have to say something nice about him until I absolutely have to. The guy's been a big freaking pain in my ass since he joined the league...which, come to think of it, IS something nice about him, since that was his damn job all these years.
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Oh, the "internal free agency" thing. I made that term up, because I don't know what we're calling it.

To me there's a pretty sharp distinction between the "free agency" wherein one MLS club wants a player not wanted by other MLS club, and the "free agency" wheren MLS club would no longer keep the rights to a player out of contract who skips the country. The former strikes me as "but of course" and the latter as "sucks, but what can you do".

So, "internal" free agency yay, full free agency liberation like every other player in the world yay in theory and good luck if you can get it but you're really gonna strike over it?

Although I can see the system being royally abused, to the tune of "Oh, you want Brian McBride? Well, you have to give us compensation for him, even though we don't want him at all."

What do you mean, that already happened?
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"But Dan, they're FC Tampa Bay Rowdies, not FC Tampa Bay. How come it's all right for Seattle but not Tampa Bay?" It's not all right for Seattle. It's just as stupid there. Unless the theory is that the "FC" and the generic Space Needle logo was what brought in the extra 25,000 season ticket holders.

Look, this whole "traditionalist" naming thing is a fad, just like the singular names were in the 90's. You can probably chart this stuff, if you want to. In the United States, it went from colors (Red Stockings, White Stockings) to cute animals (Cardinals is the literal development of this) to tough animals (Cubs led directly to Bears) to civic or regional references (Steelers, Cowboys, Vikings) to focus group names (Mighty Ducks, Heat, Magic).

Hell, Tampa Bay itself is a microcosm of this. Tampa Bay Rowdies - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Tampa Bay Lightning - Tampa Bay Devil Rays - Tampa Bay Rays - FC Tampa Bay Rowdies. The theory doesn't fit perfectly, but hey, that's what they said about Marxism in Russia.

This "FC" nonsense, from Texas to Toronto, is just another sales pitch. It's not nostalgia if it never existed. It's marketing. And when this fad dies down, the Sounders and Rowdies (if they still exist) will quietly drop the superfluous letters, Dallas will have another naming contest, and Toronto will be stuck with the soccer equivalent of the Raptors.
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We're about to find out who deserves credit for El Salvadors Hexagonal run. Former ES coach Carlos de los Cobos has brought in Julio Martinez, and Why Haven't They Moved Somewhere Else In The USA has signed Osael Romero.

Both the Chi teams are hoping the answer isn't "None of the above deserve credit, I mean, they did finish fifth." But hey, so did Salt Lake, and that worked out fine.

Anyone in the mood for another rant about how Chivas USA signing players in the Galaxy marketing sphere is bad for both teams? Yeah, didn't think so.

Speaking of de los Cobos, anyone in the mood for another rant about how foreign coaches with no MLS experience are bad for the league and invariably flop? That's a relief, because I don't feel like making one. For one thing, the reverse proposition definitely isn't true, as Toronto and DC are about to find out. For another, the "with MLS experience" caveat is there simply to explain away Peter Nowak. Yeah, the Fire taught him everything he knows about the game.

For another...are we now counting Juan Carlos Osorio as foreign or domestic? I've lost track.

For another - the sample size isn't exactly even. If the Red Bulls hire Sir Alex, how would it go?

No, you don't know. No one knows. Maybe the Red Bull curse claims him. Maybe Harrison becomes the world capital of the sport. But we'll never find out. Not only is MLS coaching and roster management so insanely specialized that it's impossible to replicate anywhere else, the job doesn't pay enough to compete with jobs abroad. A good foreign coach will get a good offer elsewhere. MLS gets the John Carvers of the world for a reason. If MLS wants good coaches, they can't look very far.

I guess that's a reason not to hire de los Cobos, then, because as soon as he gets good, someone will come calling. MLS is the Broadway Danny Rose of international soccer, after all.

And besides, what you need more than anything in MLS with a talented international playmaker. That's how you win, not hiring the right coach. Make sure you get Christian Gomez in the right year, and make sure you get Barros Schelotto and not Claudio Lopez, though.
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So this is the kind of post you get when I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop on Landon Donovan and Everton. Either the Galaxy sell him to Everton, or Donovan flops yet again - that was going to be the story. I wasn't ready for the possibility that Donovan would do just fine to really good, then report back in March like nothing happened.

The fact that the play in Merseyside for a couple of months then return to LA scenario is exactly what Donovan, Arena and Leiweke have been insisting would happen is, sadly, not evidence we can take into account. In fact, the only reason I can see them going through all this is - sending a valuable player on a very short loan, then bringing him back as if nothing happened - is to mess with David Beckham. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7527 LA is S.O.L. http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7508 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:47:05 GMT I don't care how many times you've read that headline the past 24 hours. It's the last time I'll get to use it, and I'm going to get milk out of the Comedy Turnip if it kills me.

Everyone now knows what has been obvious for weeks - the Sol have set. For a bad time, call 1-877-4-SOL-TIX.

Well, everyone knows, except the clueless numbnuts who wrote this last week:

Quote:
However, I've been told not to worry.The Sol sure are acting like they're in turmoil, but it's still only registering as a 0.2 on the Gullit scale.

Quote:
“We appreciate AEG’s commitment to help launch the league in 2009 and build a footprint for WPS in the Los Angeles area,” said WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci. “Together we accomplished that goal. AEG has assisted the league during this transition to a new ownership group, who will be focused on the continued growth and success of the Los Angeles Sol brand.”

....Let's remember that San Jose itself is proof that just because Phil up stakes, doesn't mean he's salting the earth behind him. This isn't totally unheard of from AEG.

That doesn't mean it's awesome, by any means. But WPS is still expanding, which means they're doing better than General Motors and Citibank. They'll even still be in the Home Depot Center, which means they'll get all the love and attention Chivas USA gets. Yay, more 10:00 am kickoffs!
HA! What a ********ING MORON! Nice sources, citizen journalist!

I never got the chance to meet Tonya personally, but I'd like to take this opportunity to thank her for making me look like the single biggest chuckle******** on the net today outside Paul Shirley. (Don't Google him, it'll just depress you.)

I don't know how on earth she plans to top-

Quote:
"In terms of the viability of Los Angeles as a WPS market, we don't think that's in question. Suspending operations doesn't mean we won't be trying to find new ownership for 2011."
You know, we have a saying in Tennessee...and in Texas, I think it's in Tennessee too...but we have a saying: Fool me once, SHUT THE ******** UP.

WPS will be have one team west of the Mississippi next year...fortunately, it was one of their very, very least popular, so I anticipate no consequences to this. Hysterically enough, that's also where WPS has their league office.

It's easy and fun to blame AEG for this, and there's probably a lot to that. However you feel about what they did during contraction, they showed a hell of a lot more patience and effort in San Jose than they did for WPS. You'd think with all the lighted billboards and theaters they're putting up in Los Angeles, they'd need the tax writeoff.

Maybe not, though. That movie they made about the dead child molestor was a big hit, but I guess they thought they would make more money with a singing and dancing child molestor than with a dead one.

By the way, Michael Jackson was a child molestor.

And AEG based their business plan for 2010 on a child molestor with a drug problem.

So, thank God they got away from the stigma of Marta and WPS, that might be bad for their image.

Having said all that, the E in AEG may stand for Evil, but there's no S for Stupid. They couldn't genuinely have thought the Sol would be the biggest thing in town instantly, and they couldn't genuinely have thought knocking it over after one year would solve anything.

Sure, I believe everything Tonya Antonucci tells me, but that doesn't mean Tim Leiweke would have, right?

It's possible Leiweke said to Antonucci, "Yeah, we'll be in for the long haul...PSYCH," which actually means it's impressive WPS is still wobbling around instead of already in an urn. If Phil and Tim ever said to Don Garber "BTW, L8RS, LOL," MLS wouldn't look too pretty right now, either.

Still...it's their money. If they want to spend it on animated billboards and dead child molestor memorabilia, there's not much we can do to stop it.

Slightly along those lines, I want to take issue with what Bill said in his comment to Andy's post.

Only one part of it, he's right about the rest, and so is Andy. But it's not incumbent on any do-gooder to rescue WPS or the Sol. If they're looking for a charity, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders and Haiti are ready when they are. WPS is a business, and if it can't run itself like one, that's not Oprah Winfrey's problem.

As to the future of WPS...well, they do seem to feel confident about Philadelphia and Atlanta, and...wait. I just remembered. Not my ********ing problem. See you on Bumpy Pitch T-shirts. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7508 Bruce the Builder; Saturday Night Feeble http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7488 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:18:51 GMT Great news - we're even closer to being able to field a Hall of Fame team made up entirely of people who were disappointing for the Metrostars/Red Bulls. We already have Balboa, Agoos, Lalas and Dooley, with Ramos as his captain. It's just a matter of time before Meola, Reyna and Pope arrive. If the veterans take care of Vermes and Sorber, we're more than halfway there!

Shame Sergio Galvan Rey isn't eligible. Yet. Unless we put him in as a Builder, like Bruce Arena.

Arena probably gets in as Builder on the strength of his Virginia career, let alone DC United. So he probably doesn't need to thank Park Ji-sung in his induction speech (although it would be awesome if he did). Congratulations, Coach.

Hey, if Sigi Schmid had won a trophy this year, he might have gotten in.

Really? But I checked wewintrophies.com just now, and Sigi wasn't mentioned....?
______________

Meanwhile, Operation Make England, Slovenia and Algeria Overconfident is going even more smoothly than we had hoped.

There's a saying that there's no such thing as a worthless experiment - it can always be used as a bad example.

Or, as Bob Bradley put it:

Quote:
The starting point for the game in January is always assessing players. Seeing them in a good game, a tough game, gives you the opportunity to find out what guys are all about. It gives you an indication as to where they might fit in as you move things forward. So we take a lot from it.
All true, every word. US 1, Honduras 3, ladies and gentlemen.

I should be mad at Bradley for this performance, but I just can't get there. Unless the premise is that ten or twenty domestic-based players were overlooked somehow (and that Klinsmann would have found them), the players had a very simple job. Impress. People talk about how worthless we were tactically, but how imaginative were we going to be? Besides, it wasn't like Honduras was out there auditioning for the next chapter of "Inverting the Pyramid."

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Daltrey
And now, for those of you who bought tickets for the first night of a tour - WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN!
Ideally, this would be the first reel of "The Bad News Bears." They start out worthless and sucky, then after hard work and self-belief, and a couple of extra players, they are forged into a team that plays well and learns a little something about themselves.

Except in this version Walter Matthau's going to bring in about fifteen or twenty Jackie Earle Haleys. So it's not THAT heartwarming.

Although I would watch the hell out of that movie, come to think of it.

They said we were no-hopers. They said we had no chance. They said we couldn't play. So they cut me and a bunch of other people, and replaced us with better players. The next season, they won the championship. And I watched it at home.
THE IAN JOY STORY - coming to a theater near you

Oscar gold.

There are a couple more games - Salvador (which will prove nothing) and Holland (who ought to be a better measuring stick). I'd be startled if the federation finally gave into coaches' and MLS teams' wishes, and didn't schedule two or three friendlies after the roster is announced. They'll get better.

Or we can give our spot to the Republic of Ireland. One or the other.
________________

I want to make sure that I'm talking about a tiny minority of fans here.

But the guys who decided "Mow my yard" would be a funny response to Honduran taunting? Stop going to games. Soccer doesn't need you. And if it does need you, it deserved to die anyway.

If you hate Central Americans that much, then man up like William Walker and go do something about it. Otherwise, don't hide in the safety of a sports stadium and tarnish the reputation of innocent bystanders like me.

Why didn't I say anything to your faces? Because you were drunk and bigger than me.
_____________

Because I'm a much more passive fan these days, I really shouldn't give too many notes to the guys trying to generate a little atmosphere.

And I know how tough it is to get the fans going when the team is stinking it up. I was in that very space the past few years with my fellow Galaxy fans, after all. If the players aren't into it, it's awfully hard for the fans.

But leaving "America - ******** Yeah!" off the song list? Simply inexcusable.

Unless they did it and I just missed it. But "A-FY!" is an three times a half song if ever there was one. It should be on the team crest, like "You'll Never Walk Alone" is for Liverpool.

Still, better to shake the rust off in January, than blow it in South Africa. We want our loud drunken obscenity fun, not racist. (And we shouldn't need January training camps for that, either.) ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7488 US Nats begin Best Year Ever http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7480 Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:22:19 GMT [EDIT - Fake Sigi checks my math, and I have been found wanting. He or she basically kills me for this post, by the way. If you want to see me get left dead in the ditch, click the link.]

So this is how the Best Year Ever begins. With the B-team in the rain.

The NFL games aren't until Sunday, so there's not a full slate of sports competition. But this game still should have been in February. The only sports competition in February is the freaking swimsuit issue.

It's not only (possibly) our Best Year Ever, either. Catrachostan also believes, correctly, that they are in an advanceable group. They're not gonna beat no Spain (although I've said that about CONCACAF nations before, and been wrong), but if you can't go to the World Cup thinking you can get the job done against Chile and Switzerland, just stay home and let Ireland go in your place.

I think Honduras can do it. And some of the role players who will help them do it will be playing tomorrow! We won't see Costly, Suazo, Palacios, or in fact anyone from outside the Honduran league except for Kansas City's villainous Roger Espinoza. I'm intrigued to see whether Georgie Welcome cements a place for South Africa - we'll remember him as the guy who beat us in Olympic qualifying a couple of years ago. (That was the game with the woman in the bikini running onto the field. See, now you remember.)

By the way, there is no truth to the rumor that Chivas USA and the Galaxy will unveil a statue commemorating Amado Guevara and Carlos Pavon, and all they meant for Los Angeles soccer.

As for the United States...I'm tragically late on this, but it's just enthralling. The equivalent January camps from 2002 and 2006.

[EDIT - sorry, misremembered]Fifteen of the players called up in 2002 made the roster...well, if you count Chris Armas and Greg Vanney, who lived the nightmare and missed that World Cup due to injury. This squad pretty much was the World Cup squad, in other words, except for the European-based players: Friedel, Keller, Reyna, Sanneh, Berhalter, O'Brien, Stewart and (last and least) Regis. (Weirdly, Eddie Lewis of Fulham was there for the US in January.)

Only eleven out of the squad in January 2006 made the summer roster - and that's counting Chris Albright as a substitute for Hejduk. Missing from that camp: Bocanegra, John O'Brien, Reyna, Berhalter, Convey, DaMarcus, McBride, Gooch, and all three keepers. All of those guys were in Europe. Hm.

This year? Well, I'd be surprised if more than five of this current roster made it. Bornstein, Casey and Rogers are the only ones I feel have a decent shot.

I know Wikipedia is a horrible source, but this recent call-up chart is so useful. Check out how many good players we actually have. Yeah, some lemons, but basically, those guys will be the core of the team.

Now, check out how many American flags you see there. Be sure to put a mental asterisk next to Donovan's and Holden's. How many of our World Cup team actually plays in MLS anymore?

That's right. We're slowly turning into Ireland. Or France.

One of the big points of pride of 2002 was that MLS players made up half of a quarterfinalist. (Which was more than Serie A could say.) That has no chance of happening again this summer, and not because the United States stinks.

January squads have gotten worse every year, but it's not because in January 2002 the US was hosting the Gold Cup and in January 2010 the US is hosting a rainstorm. I was in denial about it, because I haven't seen Frankie Hejduk called in, but these are the best American MLS players right now.

Now, a couple of things could happen. Bob Bradley could absolutely fall in love with guys like Robbie Findley. Well, we're all in love with him right now, because the most popular national team member is always the forward who hasn't embarrassed himself recently. So not only might MLS produce the next generation of stars, they could do so as early as tomorrow!

Or, Europe will siphon off good American players faster than MLS can produce them, and we'll be back to where we were in the early to mid-90's, where Bora Miltunivoic didn't even want to count games where European-based players didn't play.

Or, American players will get so good that what we'll see in MLS is as good as it's been, it's just that we're producing better players than we ever have.

Except, last summer's Gold Cup proved there was a serious and significant gap between our front-line and our understudies. Imagine the current camp against our players abroad, or the current camp against the 2002 camp. It would be pretty ugly.

This isn't just a talent issue, it's a marketing issue. MLS was able to spin the Confederations Cup showing into the "Summer of Soccer," armed pretty much with just Landon Donovan. Can they really do that again?

And who with, if Landon is in the Premiership?

Okay, but what about the actual players? Who will make a splash tomorrow, and then onto next summer?

Nobody. The dumbest thing a hopeful player could possibly do tomorrow is play well. In 2002, Jeff Agoos scored an unassisted goal in the Gold Cup final...and he would go on to score unassisted goals in Korea.

Taylor Twellman tore it up in 2006. He was masterful. A hat trick in the game against Norway. And then he was left off the World Cup roster, the worst disappointment in a career only Charlie Brown could really empathize with. (Twellman is, as we speak, going insane live on Twitter.)

So tomorrow, take a good look at the Man of the Match. It may be the last time you ever see that man smiling.

Now - remember when I mentioned France? Just because our players play abroad, does not mean our team is bad. And what's good or bad for MLS might not be good or bad for the USMNT, and vice versa. The two are certainly diverging, probably for a while.

I happen to be of the opinion that a strong MLS helps the US national team - after all, look how many of those Yanks Abroad (hey, that's a good name for a website) did time in the Major League. That's probably going to continue. But if MLS can't make a go of marketing future and former stars, then whence the next generation?

Sorry, "whence" came up in my Word of the Day calendar, and I had to use it.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to post.

I wanted to post, AGAIN, how vitally important it is to work Grand Funk's "We're an American Band" and Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" into the US fans' song rotation.

I'm prepared to give a little on Wilde, who was English and talked about something called "East California." But US fans HAVE to do Grand Funk in South Africa.


Assuming any of us end up going to South Africa. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7480 <![CDATA[You won't have me to kick around any more, because this is my first press conference]]> http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7470 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:41:45 GMT I'm sure you've all heard the good news by now. I'm very proud and happy to announce that I have been named the Minister of Information for the National Association Football Federation.

I very much believe in the future of this new, dynamic league, and hope to do my part to put AssBallFed on everybody's lips. Even though the AssBallFed has not yet been sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, we look forward to working with the USSF and its stupid, blinkered president who should be fired.

I see this new position as the natural progression from my reporting on the growth and development of this wonderful new league and the unfair opposition it has faced from entrenched corporate interests.

Although I won't be reporting on my blog site on these topics, at least not under my real name, I have every reason to believe that my blog will provide the same fine, trustworthy and accurate reporting and analysis that you have naturally come to expect. My skill as a reporter enabled me to bring information to you, the reader, and now the company I was covering has hired me. I believe my qualifications and record speak for themselves.

I have absolutely no reason to apologize for any of the reporting I have done on this subject. I am very proud of articles such as "The National Association Football Federation is Here, and It's The Best Thing Ever," "The N Stands For National, Not Necrophilia," "You Won't Believe This Juicy Tidbit I Just Happened To Hear From the National Association Football Federation," "It's an Extremely Good Idea to Get Into a Protracted Legal Fight Over Second Division Soccer, Considering the Millions and Millions of Dollars at Stake," and "Oh ****, I Need a Job."

Besides, I have covered many, many more topics besides how fantastic the people are who I now happen to work for. I have also brought you "Barack Obama Needs Major League Soccer," "People Will Stop Being Soccer Fans If Steven Cohen Isn't On Sirius," and "******** You, I'm Not a Blogger, I'm a Citizen Journalist."

I also anticipate absolutely no problems in dealing with the mainstream soccer media in my new position, because making the transition from demanding respect from the mainstream soccer media to fronting for the interests of the people who I was covering extremely favorably isn't in any way, shape or form a painfully high-pitched truck driver gear change.

After all, the larger issues of who controls soccer in the United States are still here. The AssBallFed was formed to challenge the pernicious corporate dominance that the Premier Development League exerts, and we will continue to do so. The AssBallFed will not rest until the millions of soccer fans in this country have a true, authentic alternative to the PDL.

In the meantime, I don't anticipate any particular challenges in dealing with the people to whose destruction I have committed myself.

The AssBallFed is proud to carry on the tradition of the great names in soccer history: the San Jose Earthquakes, the New York Giants, the Hartford Bi's, the Cedar Rapids Vapor, and the Rolling Stones. We are using a number of social networking sites, such as Craigslist and Usenet, to put together another three teams.

While we're on the subject, there have been some rumors about trademark infringements, we hope to settle those completely meritless cases very soon. After all, it should be perfectly clear that seeing "Tonight! The Rolling Stones!" on a marquee in front of a sports stadium would refer to a soccer team, and not a musical quintet. Besides, I am led to understand that the music group in question do not actually have anything to do with stones, rocks, or boulders, whether in motion or at rest. So who's really being misleading here?

Most of all, I'd like to thank all of my fans. This couldn't have happened without you. If you take one thing away from this, it's that fans who have taken the time to learn the issues, who haven't bought into buzzwords or slogans, who have wanted to take an active role in how soccer is run. After all, who really puts time, money, and effort into making sure games are played, leagues are formed, stadiums are built, and the game continues to grow? The owners who spend the money? The players who practice every day?

Of course not. It's the fans.

You made this all possible.

So. Questions?

"All persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental" - Kurt Vonnegut ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7470 WPS skorting the issues? http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7460 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:23:46 GMT Like you...provided you're a diehard LA Sol fan...okay, so probably nothing like you...I read Nick Green's article the other week, about AEG bailing out of WPS, and "chimped out," as I believe the kids are saying these days.

However, I've been told not to worry.The Sol sure are acting like they're in turmoil, but it's still only registering as a 0.2 on the Gullit scale.

Quote:
“We appreciate AEG’s commitment to help launch the league in 2009 and build a footprint for WPS in the Los Angeles area,” said WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci. “Together we accomplished that goal. AEG has assisted the league during this transition to a new ownership group, who will be focused on the continued growth and success of the Los Angeles Sol brand.”
AEG - the A stands for Altruism!

I just made every fan in San Jose puke. But I did that for a purpose. Let's remember that San Jose itself is proof that just because Phil up stakes, doesn't mean he's salting the earth behind him. This isn't totally unheard of from AEG.

That doesn't mean it's awesome, by any means. But WPS is still expanding, which means they're doing better than General Motors and Citibank. They'll even still be in the Home Depot Center, which means they'll get all the love and attention Chivas USA gets. Yay, more 10:00 am kickoffs!

But that's not what I was truly concerned about.


A catwalk? Seriously?

I'm sure it was meant, and treated, ironically. See, they're not skinny, underfed, vacant models! They're happy, active young athletes! We're subverting the paradigm! This is what women should aspire to! This is what should be on the covers of magazines, not the vapid mannequins being peddled by patriarchal capitalism!

And I completely agree. Put that piece of paper in front of me with those words, I will sign that piece of paper. However much of a problem one might conceivably have with the short-tempered, volatile Marta as a role model, she's leagues and leagues better than nearly every woman on television.*

Now, explain to me how any of that sells a ticket to a game.

And that's IF you get the irony. If you're just skimming the surface, then it looks like attractive women modeling soccer gear. If the selling points of the league and the sport are fun, joy, excitement, achievement, and camaraderie, why the fashion crap? If you act like H.U.G.S., you're going to get treated like H.U.G.S.

Besides, it's not like the shirts themselves stand out. Sure, I like the Blackburn Rovers look the Sol now have, assuming they take the field. The rest of them, though...I don't care what Fake Sigi thinks. Apart from Chicago, they're monochrome, and Chicago should wear the white shirt at home anyway.** The vast majority are the same as last year's, anyway, so what was the point?

So what if they're better than MLS jerseys? As a wise man once said, it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel.

*Except Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. They're awesome. I think that needs to be said in a footnote to a soccer blog post.

**Great, another Sky Blue at Chicago game where the Red Stars wear sky blue and the Sky Blue wear orange. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7460 <![CDATA[I think we're in Kansas, Toto]]> http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7464 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:54:07 GMT [EDIT - and by golly, they did break ground a day later. Congratulations to the Wizards and their fans!]

[Wait, a DAY later, to start a stadium? I gotta make an appointment for a freaking oil change on the weekends.]

I shouldn't bite on this. No ground has been broken, the economy is still driving a bright green Yugo in the slums of Scheissburg, and the stadium was apparently designed by Claude Monet.

And if I had a nickel for every time a premature stadium or franchise announcement was trumpeted on MLSnet, I'd have...a dollar or so, at least.

But man, I'm pulling for this particular tooth fairy. The Kansas City Wizards have been on Dame Fortune's sh*tlist since MLS had teams in Florida. A decade of horrible uniforms. A logo that brought all the homophobe soccer fans out of the closet...okay, y'know, let me work on that metaphor. Being dumped by Lamar Hunt. Moving from an oversized NFL stadium to a wacky minor league ballpark. Choking themselves out of the playoffs, whenever they deigned to attend the playoffs at all. Being used as a steppingstone in the career of Curt ********ing Onalfo. Even their double-winner is possibly the most despised and detested MLS champion ever.

They were moved to the East, which all but obliterated their rivalries with Colorado, Dallas and Los Angeles. And seventeen out of the next eighteen expansion teams were to their west, which means they're stuck trying to break into the Mutual Hatred Society of the Atlantic seaboard. Sure, they hate Chicago, but everyone hates Chicago and Chicago hates everyone. The Fire are the M. Bison of MLS.

And whenever there's a "move such-and-such MLS team" thread, who is suggested even more than Chivas USA? The Wizards.

You know who used to get mentioned along with Kansas City in that context? Colorado and Dallas. Until they built stadiums, that is.

So if Kansas City does what more than a half dozen MLS teams have already done - but, and I love this stat, which no NASL team ever even considered - that's a cause for dancing in the streets of both Kansas Cities. Soccer fans across the country should cheer for this, even diehard Wizards-haters. If there were such a thing.

Construction is supposed to start tomorrow, says the article. I should wait 24 hours before being giddy. But...I can't get over it. How well is soccer doing in this country? The Kansas God-Damned City Freaking Wizards are here to stay.

(Unless there's a strike.)

(I don't think there's going to be a strike, either, by the way, but that's a different topic.) ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7464 Draft Beer, Not Players http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7448 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:04:43 GMT J.R. Eskilson can see the future.... J.R. Eskilson can see the future.

Quote:
This is as close as you may ever see to a perfect draft. Every single player has a purpose for the team and could see significant minutes by the end of the season. Mwanga immediately gives Union a player to build around.
How can he possibly know this? We're talking about a draft so deep, so rich in talent, that Bruce Arena thought Clint Mathis is a better choice than at least fifty of them.

MLS teams don't build around the draft anymore, if they ever did. It was five years ago that Salt Lake took Brad Guzan, building a foundation that would lead them to MLS Cup, while Chivas USA built their team around Nik Besagno, and they've struggled ever since. Oh wait.

As the draft gets less important, you see fewer of the big draft day trades that brighten up the occasion. The majority of these guys picked are probably not going to contribute to their teams - not based on what's come before.

There's a reason that the SuperDraft has come to a grinding halt. The NCAA is not the optimal way to develop players. But it's still where most of the players are coming from.

It's very difficult to scout the NCAA, because so few games are televised. There are greater number of college basketball teams and college football teams, but it's vastly easier to get information on them.

MLS teams don't have the resources to do the kind of scouting that other pro teams can. It's not like you see high school baseball on television, either, but MLB sends scouts everywhere.

I thought you couldn't judge drafts until five years have elapsed. I was horribly wrong. Go back and look at the 2008 draft.

Yeah, Houston did a fantastic job with their first pick - they did manage to land Geoff Cameron. Of course, that was the 42nd pick overall. Just about the only other guy in the entire draft worth mentioning is Sean Franklin. And this was only two years ago.

So why do it? The rationale for it in other American sports - to afflict the strong and comfort the weak - doesn't work in MLS. The mechanism to help bad teams equal the playing field is worthless in the hands of those who won't or can't help themselves...or, more precisely, can use other tools to better themselves more quickly and efficiently.

MLS should ditch the draft, and let teams discover their own players and do their own research. The only reason to have a draft in MLS is if a team folds...maybe not even then. The players shouldn't be asking for the end of free agency or single entity, they should be asking for the end of the Superdraft.

...which would go a long way towards free agency, of course, which is why we're struck with it. It's fall-down astonishing that grown men with rare and valuable skills meekly accept being assigned to play for, say, the Los Angeles Clippers. But if basketball, baseball and football players don't have the clout to play for who they wish to play for, then soccer players have no chance.

Sure, it works in other sports. You know, it probably even helps with parity in other sports. Doesn't make it less embarrassing. "Wow, all my life, I've dreamed of being a Washington National."

So we're stuck with the SuperDraft, and every year teams wake up on Christmas morning with the roster equivalent of the blood-soaked wooden pickle from "Bad Santa."

And you're telling me the Philadelphia Union had a perfect draft? What, you mean they got THREE players who will still be on the roster in 2012?! ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7448 Soccer-Tennis Entrepeneur and Indoor Star Named to Hall of Fame http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7438 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:12:20 GMT We would also have accepted "1998 US World Cup Superstars Elected".

Preki's election isn't a surprise, because he was the top non-winner last year, no one hugely impressive entered the ballot, and someone had to go in. Preki and Dooley avoided the indignity of a runoff or a Hall pass or whatever it would have taken to avoid having nobody accept induction into a closed building.

117 votes were cast, down - WAY down - from 159 last year. Years of unexciting ballots? Or did the Hall take my advice and Cull the Unworthy? This would explain Dooley's election as much as anything. Preki got 96 votes last year, which was only six out of ten. This year, he got 80, which put him just over the magic two out of three.

Thomas Dooley, meanwhile, got 85 votes last year, and 83 this year. Either Thomas himself was in charge of the ballot list, or he changed a heck of a lot of minds over the past few months.

From anecdotal evidence, people change their minds on Soccer Hall of Famers very gradually, if ever. First year on the ballot? Last year on the ballot? New people on the ballot? Not a heck of a lot of change.

But the percentages went nuts this year. Dooley went from 50-50 (and thus, nowhere near election) to seven out of ten and a red jacket.

Earnie Stewart went up fifteen points in the polls, Valderrama went up ten points...and Etcheverry held pretty much steady. Oops.

Whether Earnie will hold out against Cobi Jones and Eddie Pope next year is a good question. But there's another factor.

Shannon MacMillan inherited all the Cindy Parlow voters, and there isn't going to be another decent female candidate for years and years. Mac got 51 votes last year, and 64 votes this year. With 32 fewer voters. No one else got more votes this year than last.

Okay, except Chris Henderson, for all the good that will do him.

So next year's election is going to be pretty fiercely contested. Maybe even enough to open the place back up somewhere.

Do Dooley and Preki deserve it? Sure. Provided you rate them against their peers and don't use their stats to try and judge their successors. Dooley's national team totals are wonderful, but he should be judged with the Harkes-Waldo-Balboa era. If future voters conclude "He was in two World Cups, and in one he was pretty awful, so that's the basis for Hall of Fame voting" - well, that would be bad. He was an early 90's star, and probably should be the second-to-last of that gang inducted (we're still waiting on Tony Meola).

Preki - yeah, unless "sweet goal against Brazil" is going to be your benchmark, you're judging him on his MLS career. (Or you're a serious 80's indoor soccer honk...and there are more of them out there than you might think. Be afraid.)

Hopefully he and Jeff Agoos have proven that a storied MLS career is good enough for induction...but there's Etcheverry, sitting there way off the pace, and I wonder whether people are just looking at cap totals.

Anyway, it's nice the little guy has something to cheer him up after what's left of his club coaching career gets...okay, since he's in Canada now, do I have to spell it "sodomised"?

Dooley's post-playing career has been much less stellar than I thought it would be - he's now player development guru for a youth club in SoCal, but we're getting to the point where there's one youth soccer club for every child down here. He's also tried his hand at promoting beach soccer and "soccer tennis", the latter of which apparently has a website on perma-renew. Hopefully adding "Hall of Famer" to his resume will get him some attention. I mean, he hasn't even coached the Red Bulls yet. Of course, neither has Preki. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7438 Not Heard Round The World http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7427 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:21:46 GMT You've seen the picture of the Joe Gaetjens goal from 1950, right?



Except it's a fake.

Here is a closeup of a worse quality print, but one that is nowhere near as retouched. I got this from a reader who may or may not choose to remain anonymous, but who I would trust implicitly. You shouldn't trust ME implicitly, but you should trust HIM. Trust me. Anyway, here's the picture.



Okay, yeah, I was sort of hoping that would scan better. But I think it's enough to prove that what Gaetjens and Bert Williams are looking at is a miss. The net is under the ball, being dented away from the camera, not towards it.

Why am I so sure? Because Geoffrey Douglas and the Soccer Hall of Fame told me so:



That of course is from a terrific book that was made into a lousy movie. (Kinda like "Fever Pitch," or the Bible.)

Why take the miss shot and "improve" it? Well, because the actual goal shot doesn't look like a goal.

But...the retouched one doesn't either. Ah, but it looks like a fluke goal, doesn't it?

The game may have been a huge upset, and maybe the better team lost - but the goal wasn't a fluke. Bahr and Gaetjens knew what they were doing.

Unfortunately, the retouched shot is what Google Internet Search comes up with for "Gaetjens goal," and as far as I can tell the actual photo is nowhere online. It's difficult enough to appreciate our soccer history without the Daily effin' Mail falsifying it.

(Also, Adam and Greg may also be doing their part to celebrate history, but if Walter Bahr pronounces it "Gate-jens," then I don't feel bad about having mispronounced his name all this time.) ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7427 Togo http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7407 Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:00:11 GMT Thanks to Matt for forwarding me this link: Togo officially disqualified from African Nations Cup... Thanks to Matt for forwarding me this link: Togo officially disqualified from African Nations Cup

There just had to be a better way of doing this.

This was semantics, of course - the Togolese government pulled the team over the wishes of the actual team:

Quote:
We have simply withdrawn our team, it is not a matter of withdrawing for the mourning period. The information that has been circulated on some websites saying the players are just back for three days' mourning and will then go back playing is quite wrong.

"We withdrew our team on the basis they have been the victim of a terrorist attack.''

Huongbo also hit out at the way Togo has been treated by the organisers of the tournament.

Huongbo insists the decision to withdraw was not made in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, but after support from CAF proved non-forthcoming.

He added: "Management did not give us enough assurance. We would not leave our team being exposed to similar risks. Therefore we deciced to pull our team out of the competition against our will.

"We will have hoped that one can have serene discussion with the host country, with the Confederation, to assess what has happened, assess what one has to do. We received no co-operation from the Confederation in terms of any kind of assessment.

"Our analysis is that they want it [the shooting] to be seen as a non-event and the show must go on as planned; there mustn't be an official change and Togo is causing problems to the festival.''
Both sides made good points, it was a very difficult decision to make, and withdrawing was probably the right move. There should be a better way to put it in the official record, though, than a "disqualification."

As far as Huongbo's larger charge, that of Angolan and CAF attempts at downplaying the tragedy...one is forced to reluctantly agree with him. Reading the official press of a one-party dictatorship is always a dreary task, which can be summarized rather easily just by looking at headlines:

Quote:
1/10/10

Luanda
African statesmen arrive for CAN's opening ceremony

Angola
Super Eagles prepare for debut game in Benguela

Angola
Diplomats praise government's organisational capacity

Luanda
Angola squad's coach regards attitude as essential to beat Mali

Angola
Portuguese diplomat congratulates Angola on holding African Cup

Angola
Angolan Premier reassures CAF's chairman on CAN2010

1/9/10

Luanda
Togo assistant coach dies
If you're interested in the official news report, it's linked. It certainly won't take you very long to read.

"A plague on both your houses" is the lazy, first-world, ethnocentric, bigoted reaction to when the very real problems of the world's underclass are thrown on our doorstep and we search for a reason not to care. It also happens to be the correct response in this case. The Voice of America quoted Mohamed El-Khawas, of the University of the District of Columbia and his very harsh judgment:

Quote:
As for holding football matches in Cabinda, he says, “It was really a stupid decision. It is unfortunate. It was tragic. And I really don’t understand the logic behind having it there, knowing that the political situation there is not stable, that the separatists will take advantage of having these foreign teams coming into Cabinda and try to make a statement.”

The Luanda government believed it had “things in hand in Cabinda.” However, he says, “It backfired and I really believe the government made a terrible mistake.”
The Angola government was aware of the threat, and although hindsight is truly unmerciful, the air of complacency is hard to miss:

Quote:
“I categorically insist that all conditions for peace and security have been met in Cabinda,” said Antonio Bento Bembe, who once led the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) but is now a minister without portfolio tasked with human rights.

In recent months, FLEC has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Chinese worker and the killing of several Angolan soldiers.

“These are lies,” Bento Bembe told AFP. “The world doesn’t lack for thrill-seekers, and some are belligerent, but these are fabrications, pure and simple.”
In fairness, the Guardian had a long article before the attack on Angola, and didn't mention Cabinda at all.

And now we have all heard of Cabinda and their plight. A soccer yapfest is not the place to go into the larger issues of where war and crime become one and the same. The reasoning that acts of terrorism should engender sympathy to the perpetrators rather than the victims still belongs more to pathology than psychology, but war against civilians has a long history and a bright future.

If one were tempted in this case to ponder what drove drove these people to violence - as if human beings ever needed reasons - then one might conclude that the saying "to understand is to forgive" needs serious revision:

Quote:
"This attack was not aimed at the Togolese players but at the Angolan forces at the head of the convoy," Mingas told France 24 television. "So it was pure chance that the gunfire hit the players. We don't have anything to do with the Togolese and we present our condolences to the African families and the Togo government. We are fighting for the total liberation of Cabinda."
"Mingas" being the spokesperson for these reprobates.

But Mingas is inadvertently right in one thing - this isn't about Togo, or football, or anything to do with civilization.

I was asked whether I think this will affect the World Cup later this year. I doubt it, for the mostly negative reason that now the people involved with security in South Africa will truly be on their toes. Last week was an embarrassment, and South Africa has more to prove than ever that they can host a successful World Cup. I think they should be given the chance. ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7407 Love Potion #9 http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7388 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:23:02 GMT Am I reading too much into Landon getting Dixie Dean's old jersey number? I realize they don't retire numbers in association football, but Brazil and Argentina don't give the backup goalkeeper #10, either.

It's just that 9 is a very low number to give to a guy that's just going to be renting, is all. I'm probably reading too much into it.

Landon's saying all the right things...except, if he changes his mind, they will be all the wrong things.

It's a little tough to reconcile this:

Quote:
“We only have one shot at life and I want to be the best I can be. That means that for the next 10 weeks I am here at Everton and every day I am going to be as good as I can be.

....

“So every game is going to be important. I am only here a short time and I want to take advantage of every opportunity.”
With this:

Quote:
"I am aware of the history of the number nine here in the Premier League and also the history of it at Everton," he declared.

"I am proud that Everton would give it to me and I intend to do the jersey proud as well. It did come as a shock when I was told I would be number nine.

"At the end of the day you get on the field and play but it is an honour to wear a special number, especially here."
Or maybe it's just that Artela wouldn't give up #10 and 9 was just lying around. Would have seemed just as easy to give him 13 like Bayern did, though.

______________

WPS news, and this one hurts. Jay Hipps tells me (well, and the world) that the LA Sol have offloaded Camille Abily to the Gold Pride for Tina DiMartino and "the rights to one of FC Gold Pride’s 2009 International Discovery Players." DiMartino started 18 games and is on the US fringes, so she's not necessarily flotsam, but it's unlikely your kid has a DiMartino poster in her room.

The key unknown here is which International Discovery Player we're talking about. The best-case scenario, for LA, would be Solveig Gulbrandsen. But this sentence from the blurb argues otherwise:

Quote:
She hopes to serve as a coach and educator in the Bay Area with the Pride and FC Gold Pride Academy, share her love for the game and help others reach their full potential in soccer and beyond.
I realize FCGP was a death ship last year, but she sounded like she was willing to give them a chance.

So it's probably not her.

Maybe it's Christine Sinclair. No, probably not her, either.

But it's a bad move because it's any kind of move at all. The Sol gagged in the final because they were hurt in the back, because Abily was off being all Euro and stuff, and because God had Sky Blue season tickets last year. Two of those things are going to be solved for next season - it's not like all those defensive players the Sol signed are going to have another ridiculous string of injuries. And with Abily around, Marta was able to run riot over the league.

With only Han Duan and Miyama providing cover though, Marta's too easy a target. Maybe Duan remembers how to shoot next year, but I don't think Aya ever will.

So it's going to depend on who that extra player is. Maybe it's Inka Grings HA HA HA crap, I'm gonna watch Marta being kicked and throwing tantrums all next year.
________________

The Thunder are dead, long live the Insert Naming Contest Winner Here?

I'll miss the Thunder, and I'll treasure the rain cloud scarf I have. But my first thought, and I'm sure your first thought, was that the KICKS ARE COMING BACK!



If you don't love that logo, then YOU CAN'T BE MY FRIEND!

Then I thought, MAYBE THIS IS ALREADY IN THE WORKS! Let's see what we get when we type in minnesotakicks.com!

Quote:
Error 403 - Forbidden
You tried to access a document for which you don't have privileges.
...okay, that's not great, but it means SOMEONE OWNS IT! LET'S FIND OUT WHO!

....oh.

I'd have more sympathy for vulturesquatting if (a) their shirts didn't have that stupid faux-distressed look pre-fabbed in, and (b) I thought they were actually in the business of selling shirts to people. The company named when you call that 877 number doesn't match the name of the companies on the website, there's no links to any order form, but there is a link to a list of trademarks they own.

Which is not a coincidence - these are the same people who are suing the New Rowdies.

So no Kicks for me.

In fact, by posting that logo, I'm probably violating federal law! Oh no! I'd better take it down before I go to jail!

On the bright side, we have a second division again! A league that consists of unprofitable teams with owners who hate each other run by a distracted bureaucracy headed by an MLS intimate that will schedule games between teams located in two and a half different countries covering distances larger than any sports league in the world (except when Vladivostok is in the Russian Premiership) and whose most popular and profitable teams are guaranteed to jump as soon as 2011. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

And now, my entry in Sarcastic Question for 2010. I know it's early, but I think I can clinch the title early. Here goes. Wish me luck.

Wait...no FC New York? ]]> Dan Loney http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7388