BigSoccer - Blogs - http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php en Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:26:58 GMT vBulletin 30 http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg BigSoccer - Blogs - http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php <![CDATA[MLS CBA Crunch Time II: Who's Zooming Who?]]> http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7562 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:09:18 GMT Not to rain on anyones' MLS Preseason Parade, but unless I've been too buried in hate-drenched, spittle-flecked anger from north of the Ice Curtain to have heard the news, MLS is still operating sans a labor agreement.

(Of course it does appear that said curtain has moved several hundred miles south this week and now runs through Albemarle County North Carolina)

In any case, herewith - and I apologize for repeating a gimmick - my contribution to jump starting a sense of urgency:



Over the three month span between Real Salt Lakes' delightfully improbable MLS Cup victory and the January 31 drop-dead date for the leagues' collective bargaining agreement with the players, much comment was made about - well, about how little comment was being made.

Aside from Bob Foose's ill-conceived "End of the World as We Know It" predictions and FIFPros' equally irrelevant "Workers of the World Unite" malarkey, there wasn't much for fans to chew on. A couple of veteran players made some carefully couched comments, Keller and Donovan issued strident statements that sounded so much like they were reading from a script that you could almost see Eddie Popes' lips moving and, beyond that, the silence was deafening.

And of course from the league office we got the occasional "Gosh, everything is just hunky-dory; we don't know what the fuss is about" blather but literally nothing else.


Then came the last minute "We're not done yet but we're going to keep plugging away until we either get a deal done or the hotel runs out of fois gras" media blurbs from both sides, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and preseason preparations continued apace.

But if anyone thought this inaugurated an Era of Good Feeling and Transparency with regard to the proceedings, they've surely been bitterly disappointed. We still don't have a clue about what they agreed on, what they still need to work out, how far apart the sides are or even if they're actually meeting at all.

Fortunately, sometime in the next however many hours the counter above reflects, someone is going to have to tell us something. Either a) there's a deal b) there's no deal but they're extending again or c) Bob Foose and Don Garber are in holding cells down at One Police Plaza after having assaulted each other with exquisitely hand-stitched leather briefcases and Mont Blanc fountain pens.

Oh the humanity.


So while we're waiting for puffs of white smoke to finally emerge from the vent pipe in New York, this is as good a time as any to point out that by rights there really needs to be a third party represented in that room:

The fans.

(I'd be happy to engage the firm of Loney, McGuire, Collins and Selzer as our negotiating team, with the proviso that they have to buy their own lunches. Like MLS, us fans are a pretty stingy bunch when it comes to expense accounts.)

Fortunately, both the parties agree that their highest priority and concern is the same as ours:

Quality of play.


Now I'm going to leave aside my deeply held personal desire to whack Commissioner Garber and his bosses on the head, repeatedly, with a tire iron while calmly lecturing them on the fact that "quality soccer" and "plastic grass" are mutually exclusive terms - witness MLS Cup 2009 - and instead move on to the larger issue, that being that of the three indicated entities, the fans are the only ones who aren't completely full of crap on this issue.


For the players, it's an easy one:

Now, I'm certain that somewhere deep down inside they'd love for the league they toil in to be an amazing extravaganza of footballing skills and tactical genius, each match a gleaming jewel of art and loveliness.

But mostly they want more money.

Because let's be honest here: when presented with the choice of either a) "quality play" or b) a better dental plan and a league-matched 401k, do we really have to point out which way they're going to vote?

In reality, the problem for most of them is a tricky one: they want MLS salaries to go up as much as they can without going so high that they start being replaced by better players.

Because of course the ugly secret is that if Garber and Foose emerge arm-in-arm on Friday afternoon and announce to the assembled world media (ie. Galarcep and Goff, plus Beau Dure if USA Today has made any money this month) that the MLS salary budget has been raised to $20 million per team, a good two thirds of MLSPUs' membership might as well go back to the hotel and start packing their bags.

It's just a fact.


For the owners, it's a lot more complicated.

Back in the good old delusional days of the 1990's, the prevailing theory was that all you needed to do in order to tap into the vast base of soccer fans in the US was to open some stadiums, send 22 assorted guys in short pants out onto the field and, presto, like magic, the money would flow like the waters of Babylon.

Said theory having come dangerously close to shutting the league down entirely around 2001, the owners - most of them of recent vintage, but not recent intelligence - have scaled back their expectations to a more realistic model.

That said, as the recent success of the various "Greed Across America" tours by various debt-besotted European clubs have proven, there are a lot of people residing in the US who will indeed plunk down cold hard cash to watch soccer and, by God, if MLS could somehow tap into all that lovely money, what a wonderful world it would be.

(That still wouldn't mean that the teams would be interested in sharing it with Bob Foose and his boys, but that's their problem, not ours)

When you ask those thousands upon thousands of Eurosnobs why they'll mortgage the house to go watch Barca but won't cough up $40 bucks for a Family Four Pack from their local MLS side, the answer is always he same:

The Euro sides are better.

Well stop the presses, Butch. Who knew?

Now you and I strongly suspect that MLS could field 16 teams this season capable of whomping the bejeezus out of the entire EPL ten times a week and that just wouldn't matter. A lot of those "fans" wouldn't know "quality play" if it popped out of their asses singing "Give My Regards to Broadway" while playing the ukelele.

They're in it for the image, period. Nothing MLS can do, now or ever, to get them through a turnstile.

Still, there is undoubtedly some percentage of them who could in fact be lured into MLS stadiums with "higher quality play", and the league desperately wants and needs them in order to grow.

The problem is: what will they cost?

A long time ago I had to give up my cherished dream of dating Heidi Klum; not because I'm not astonishingly handsome, debonair and charming, but because, frankly, I can't afford her.

Similarly, MLS knows it can't afford that group of ready made soccer fans.

Because to them, "quality play" means EPL or LaLiga or Serie A levels of play. And that costs.

And raising the MLS salary cap to anything even remotely likely - let's say $20 million - wouldn't do it. It's simple business economics.


I used to do some work with a huge electric generating station, and the chief environmental engineer and I became good friends.

He used to say that, when the government started cracking down on emissions, eliminating the first 50% of the garbage was relatively cheap. Removing the next 25% started to get pretty pricey. The next 15% was astronomically expensive, and getting the next 10% was going to bankrupt the company.

Not that they couldn't get it, just that it was going to cost more than they could make in return. (Of course, this being a government mandate, they had to do it anyway, but that's another tale)

The case with MLS would seem to be somewhat similar: they'd love to get the existing soccer fans in the US and Canada, but the enormous amount they'd have to spend to do it isn't worth what they'd get in return.

Alternatively, MLS aims much lower: rather than buying soccer fans, they work at creating them.


Now some people say that one solution to improving the overall caliber of league play is bringing in more Designated Players. However, this ignores the fact that they've been bringing them in since 2007 without noticeable affect beyond of course Mr. Posh.

Unless you're prepared to argue that DPs in New York, Kansas City, D.C. United, Columbus, Seattle, Houston and Toronto, talented as they may be, did a thing to move the attendance needle last season - and I'll save you the trouble; they didn't - then arguing that the solution is more of what didn't work previously only makes you sound like a bureaucrat begging a legislature for increased funding.

It hasn't worked, it isn't working but, doggone it, lets do more of it.

Now you can certainly say that said DP's have increased the "quality of play" in those cities and be on very solid ground. (Well, OK, we can argue about a couple of them, but work with me here). What you can't say is that it made a dimes' worth of difference at the gate.


So while the Commissioner repeatedly tells us that the league's main goal is to increase the "quality of play", and he's probably not lying, it's pretty tough to argue that raising the average MLS salary 10% or 20% or even 30% is going to materially change anything.

More importantly, show them that raising the "quality of play" (by some abstract measure) will increase revenues to a commensurate degree and they'd do it tomorrow.


Bottom line, regardless of what comes to pass behind those doors this week, the fans' negotiating team, as highly motivated and talented as it might be, doesn't have a chance in hell of coming out of there with anything like what it is WE want.

Just the way it is. ]]> Bill Archer http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7562 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.
_____________

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 Toronto: Stars Upon Thars http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7558 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:41:42 GMT *As they say*, a picture is worth a thousand words: Image:... As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words:



"Look Mommy! I got a star!"

A couple of years ago, when the disgusting greedbags who run CONCACAF decided there was money to be made in the creation of a CONCACAF Champions League, modeled after similar competitions around the world (but, of course, most notably in Europe), they found there was one slight problem:

Despite the fact that almost every flea-bitten third world sinkhole of a country with more than a couple dozen residents and/or cattle has a domestic professional league and could thus send a "Champion" thereof to serve as fodder for the Mexican sides, our neighbor to the North had, as has been noted in this space once or twice in the past, no national league.

And unlike in the case of most of the other countries who find themselves similarly leagueless - eg. Guyana, Montserrat and the Cayman Islands - Canada actually has a sizable population, a little money and enough TV sets to make it a market from which Warner & Co. (motto: "No Cash Left Unstolen") can wring a few bucks.

So with the entirely unacceptable alternative of actually leaving a few dollars on the table having been cast aside with the hearty "Yo-ho-ho" of the true pirates that they are, a lot of Canadian residents - particularly those in Southern Ontario - felt that the best solution was to simply send Toronto FC since, as the only Division I professional team in the entire country, they were obviously a) the only ones qualified and b) were beyond question the best team in te country.

Unfortunately, not even the shameless crooks who operate CONCACAF were able to swallow that idea. If Canada was going to have an entry in the "Champions" league then said entry was simply going to have to be the "Champion" of something.


Fortunately, where there's a dollar there's a way, as they say, and the solution they came up with was to hold a kind of after-school inter mural round robin with Division 2 Montreal and Vancouver serving as window dressing/cannon fodder for the inevitable TFC victory, "Championship" celebration and glorious march to CONCACAF immortality.

As we all know, this plan for getting TFC into the Champions League got off to a rocky start when the Impact won the thing in the first year and went on a startlingly successful run through the CONCACAF brackets, the highlight of which was the extraordinary quarterfinal match in hoary old Olympic Stadium which, stuffed to the dusty and decrepit old rafters with soccer-crazed Francophones, served notice to Don Garber that there was money for him up there as well and maybe he should start taking Joey Saputos' phone calls instead of telling his secretary to make loud farting noises into the receiver.

So TFC entered the second year of the now-legendary "Nutrilite Canadian Championship and Parking Lot Flea Market" determined to recover the pride that Montreal had been gleefully kicking around for the previous 12 months and retake their rightful place as unquestioned champions of Canada's First Division, in which, being the sole members, having finished second was a tad embarrassing.

And let the record reflect that after a glory-laden struggle which saw TFC manage to claim the coveted NCC Trophy via the storied "Goal Differential" route over a lower division team, Toronto proceeded to get their ass handed to them in the Pre-pre-preliminary round of the CONCACAF Tournament, never even making it into the regular brackets before being summarily dismissed by Puerto Rico, another second division team.


To a lesser outfit, this entire ugly affair might be considered something of an embarrassment.

But in Toronto, which after three long sad years of membership in another country's Division I Professional league has yet to finish with a record over .500 or so much as sniff a playoff game, the desperation to prove their relevance and success is palpable.

So Toronto has decided that their glorious march to a percentage points win in a three team round robin over two lower division teams in a two year old cup competition sponsored by a vitamin company has earned them that most coveted of all honors in the footballing world:

A star above their crest.


Now to the unpracticed eye, this might be the functional equivalent of similarly adorning one's uniform after winning the Carolina Challenge Cup - which, one could note, includes three times as many first division teams - but such cynicism is easily dismissed.

And in fairness, it's unclear whether they, like latter day Sneetches, intend to wear Stars Upon Thars in MLS matches.

One would presume (indeed hope) not, particularly since taking the field against a team like DC United, which proudly wears four stars on their uniforms as tokens of hard fought campaigns that culminated in Cup wins (in, it should be noted, an actual League) over talented and worthy opponents, might very well engender, shall we say, some mild form of mockery from the ever-polite and gracious Barra-Brava and Screaming Eagles sections, who know - obviously much better than they do in Toronto - what those things represent.


The point here is that, as with the fourth grader who brings home an 8/10 spelling test which Mommy sticks to the refrigerator with a plastic banana magnet, it's important to find some method via which to acknowledge that even mediocrity deserves some form of reward.

And regardless of how pathetic this might look to some, as if - incredibly - TFC were so desperate for some kind of glory that they stooped to profaning a football tradition which in other places and circumstance actually means something, I think it's incumbent upon us all not to chuckle, as if this were some ludicrous piece of meaningless self-aggrandizement.


The funny thing is, I never ever expected to find myself actually feeling sorry for Preki, who thought he signed up to coach a soccer team and woke up to find himself in the middle of a group therapy session. ]]> Bill Archer http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7558 Black is the New Black http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7553 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:55:42 GMT Image: http://euro.mediotiempo.com/media/2010/02/05/playera-negra-tri7.jpg Femexfut made...

Femexfut made official what we all had known for months. Mexico’s alternate strip will be black. As a traditionalist, if the alternate was not going to be white, I would have preferred the claret (guinda) that Mexico used for years. The black looks nice, I guess. Who am I to judge, though? My favorite all-time strip was the Aztec Calendar infused shirt from 1998.


Chivas made it four in a row to start the Bicentenario tourney with a 2-0 win last night over a plucky Queretaro team that has been re-energized by Club America legend, Carlos Reynoso. After changing managers at an alarming rate (even for Mexican clubs, it was pretty excessive), Chivas seemed to have settled nicely with an inside man, Jose Luis Real, and are playing some of their best futbol in years. Chicharito Hernandez got his seventh goal of the season five minutes after Omar Bravo got his first. The difference maker last night was Adolfo Bautista. The second half sub catalyzed the offense and provided service for Bravo’s goal. Bautista is clearly happy to be back “home” after a spell in the selva chapaneca. If he can keep it up, he might have to change his plans for the summer as well.


Salvador Cabañas has improves steadily over the past week. He is sitting up, eating, talking, and getting better all the time. According to the attending physician, he has recovered most of his motor skills, but his cognitive skills are still far from returning to normal. Keep fighting, Chava. All of us are with you.


The FMF has announced that one of the TBD opponents will be North Korea, to be played March 17 in Torreon, Coahuila (Santos’ gorgeous new stadium). If Mexico had wanted to play North Korea, it probably had to be in Mexico. Securing visas for the North Koreans to play in the States would have been a tall order.


Giovani Dos Santos seems to be settling at his new club, Turkey’s Galatasaray. By the looks of the crazed fan support, he had better. He started a game for the first time since late summer, a 0-0 tie against Kayserispor. There is plenty of rust, and there is till plenty of promise. He’ll get his sea legs back. We hope.

One last thing. Is it too much to ask for FIFA to stop referring to the Americas as the New World? I know they are a little entrenched in tradition, but the New World? Is it 1510? ]]> John Jagou http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7553 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.
_____________

....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!
__________

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 Chelsea free to trade after paying off Lens, sticking it to Fifa http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7546 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:06:49 GMT After three-way talks over hot, young thing named Gael, Fifa settles for a blow as Chelsea and Lens... After three-way talks over hot, young thing named Gael, Fifa settles for a blow as Chelsea and Lens kiss and make up.

Alternately: Murky Lens contract wiped clean by Chelsea cash. Fifa left holding the ban.

Or: Fifa ban goes pear-shaped after
Chelsea make appeal. Deal bears fruit for Lens as Kakuta allowed to blossom.

6's and 7's is somehow not surprised. Full article here ]]> PeteCorrie http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7546 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 <![CDATA[Damarcus Beasley's Car Torched in Glasgow]]> http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7538 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:24:00 GMT UPDATE: SOME DETAILS FROM THE DAILY RECORD... UPDATE: SOME DETAILS FROM THE DAILY RECORD

According to a report just now moving on ESPN Sportscenter, USMNT and Rangers winger DaMarcus Beasley has posted on his Twitter account that:

"Someone blew up my car"

Glasgow, Scotland police will say only that the incident is "A willful fire raising" and that an investigation is ongoing.

Beasley has been the target of frequent racist taunts since arriving in Europe in 2004 ]]> Bill Archer http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7538 Sampson Cut Harkes for Diddling Mrs. Wynalda http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7537 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:27:59 GMT The nominations for Strangest Soccer Story of the Year 2010 may not be closed quite yet but we've got one today that's going to be tough to beat.


One of the most commented-on stories in US Soccer history, after possibly Belo Horizonte and The Shot Heard Round the World has been Steve Sampson sending John Harkes home from France '98 after ceremoniously naming him "Captain for Life".

At the time it was said that, to make a long story short, Harkes was acting like it was his team or, put another way, was getting a bit too big for his britches.

It now appears that if Harkes was having problems in his britches that Eric Wynalda's wife was the one responsible, according to comments Wynalda himself made on Fox Football Fone-in on Monday night.

After more than a decade of silence on the subject, SAMPSON IS CONFIRMING in a copyrighted AP story that the reason he summarily dumped Harkes was that he was doing the Tube Steak Boogie with Mrs. Wynalda and, well, that kind of thing tends to cause, you know, some tension in the locker room.

For his part, Harkes is quoted as saying

"I am not going to rehash the things that have happened in the past...1998 was devastating to me and my family. It was hard enough not to play in the World Cup, but it was even difficult to go through that time period, the most difficult time period of my life."

Sampson says he discussed his decision at the time with then-U.S. Soccer Federation president Alan Rothenberg, Hank Steinbrecher and Sunil Gulati.

According to the AP story, Rothenberg said Tuesday he had no memory of any discussion of the matter, Gulati declined comment and Steinbrecher did not return a telephone message.

Sampson says:

"The private issues for me were the most serious issues. I think I could have lived with everything else and kept John on the team if it had not been for the private issues. It's one thing to have an affair outside the team. It's another to have one inside. ... There are just certain lines that one cannot cross."


------------(Dan Loney Line)-------------------

I hate to pour cold water on a good, heartwarming story - a stripper in a thin t-shirt, sure, but not a good story - but I really think someone should and, well, I'm nominating myself.

For the last 24 hours the soccersphere has been positively awash with dewy-eyed comments about how Steve Ralston - AKA Saint Steven of Foxboro, MLS "Great, Great Guy Emeritus and Hail Fellow Well Met" - has decided that his deepest desire in life is to a) go home b) go back to his roots c) go back where it all started or d) track down the first girl he ever bonked, and so, at great personal sacrifice and motivated solely by his love for his home town and the goal of helping professional soccer take root there, he's signed up to play with AC St. Louis of the NASL/USSF-2.

I think it's appropriate that you all take a moment, bow your heads and reflect on the tenderness of this display of selfless devotion to the game.

While you're doing that, I'll be in the can tossing up lunch.

Let me say up front, just prior to being deluged by angry Ralston fans, that this is not about anything he has said or done but rather what's being said about it all.

Like everybody else I like Ralston fine and long ago forgave him for the ugly claims that he and Reis tossed around last year about all the bananas and machetes raining down on them in Crew Stadium. Despite the frantic photoshopping efforts of MLSTumors - efforts which would be comedic if it weren't for the fact that they were meant to be taken seriously - it's generally conceded that in fact no cutlery or tropical fruits were involved.

In any case, I refer you to the inimitable FRANK DELL'APA of the Boston Globe:

Here's the money quote from Ralston:

“I thought I was going to be back and something would be worked out for this year. I’m still in shock that it’s come to this. I will not be part of the Revolution. But this is a business and I understand that part of it. They have to do what is best for their side and I have to do what is best for me and my family.’’

Bottom line, it came down to - well, the bottom line. The Revs wouldn't fork out the kind of money Ralston wanted and he walked.

Not exactly the way it's being portrayed in St. Louis and elsewhere. ''In fact it reminds me a lot of the situation a few years back when a veteran American star couldn't get the contract he wanted in MLS and so ended up with the Battery in Charleston, where he promptly blew out a knee, ending his career.

(I was actually there, although I was up in the Three Lions Pub with a Boddington's in my hand watching on the TV).

What was the name? Oh yes:

Eric Wynalda. ]]> Bill Archer http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7537 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.
_____________

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.
_____________

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.
___________

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?
_____________

"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.
______________

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.
_____________

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 Chicharito Hernández Steps Up http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7534 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:21:20 GMT Image: http://euro.mediotiempo.com/media/2010/01/30/gran-partido-de-chicharito-0.jpg No one has...

No one has started the season hotter than Javier Hernandez

If you’re a striker whose national team has historically had trouble finding the net, and you are on an absolute white-hot tear, life is pretty good for you. The fact that it is happening right before a world cup is monumental. Javier Hernández, you could not have picked a better time in your career to showcase your stuff.

Chivas has won its first three games of the season for the first time in over 10 years. And in each of the victories, young Mr. Hernández, “El chicharito”, if you will, has tallied a brace in each of the three games. I know what some of you are thinking, it’s only a matter of time before he cools off. And you are right. No one can keep up a 2 goals per game average. But it is not as if this is a fluke either.

The 21 year old striker has started 27 games for Chivas. In those starts, he has scored 17 of his 19 goals. A little more than ½ a goal per start. He was the top national goal-scorer in the league last season, scoring 11 of Chivas’ 23 goals. So the boy can score. Chicharito is a third generation Chiva. His epithet is such because his father, El Chicharo Hernandez, had pea green eyes. As the son, he is given the diminutive version of said nickname.

Chicharito has proven to be the very rare well-rounded striker. He can score with both feet, he has a great snap header, and he is very sly at beating the off-side trap. He creates his own holes, he poaches, he out-jumps, he does everything a good striker is supposed to do. And most importantly, he scores.

But can he do it with the Tri?

The truth is, we have no idea. Chicharito has only been capped once since he turned professional. He came on as sub last fall at the Cotton Bowl and served up an assist in Mexico’s 2-1 defeat to the Cafeteros. One of the few bright spots in an otherwise forgettable friendly. Thanks to Mexico’s robust world cup prep, he’ll have plenty of games to prove that not only that he belongs, but that he can also handle the pressure. I think he can. His detractors say his is too young and inexperienced to carry such a burden. I disgagree. There have been plenty of youngsters who have excelled on the world cup stage: Whiteside, Scifo, Owen, and Donovan seemed to do okay. And they were younger when they got the chance.

If he can handle playing and starring for Chivas at such a young age, then this should be another opportunity to relish. There is more to it than finding the back of the net, though. Lesser players have been crushed the 100 million soul weight of expectation. If he keeps scoring goals, there’ll be more mics at his locker during the week, the inevitable endorsement obligations will eat up his time(y’all should really watch a little Mexican TV in the months before a world cup. Every commercial and every show are world cup related. It is impressive), and everyone he sees on the streets will ask him (or threaten him like Porky in Rudo y Cursi) to get those goals in South Africa.

If he can navigate that labyrinth with relative ease, wouldn’t it be great, then, if the word Chicharito became as famous as the word Schilacci?

And, yes, that was a massive sunshine pump. ]]> John Jagou http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7534 <![CDATA[It's Greek to Me, Ralston as Curt Flood and Getting a Long Tan]]> http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7522 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:36:09 GMT In the absence of photos of MLS players huddled around 55 gallon fire drums in front of Rio Tinto... In the absence of photos of MLS players huddled around 55 gallon fire drums in front of Rio Tinto and RFK this morning, American soccer fans are forced to look for actual soccer news for our Monday morning amusement.

(Although one positive to the former scenario might be that a few stray sparks, possibly from burning the extensive porn collection they found in Josh Wicks' locker, might waft stadium-ward and burn the old barn to the ground, but then I've never liked Baltimore that much.)

High on a lot of people's lists today is the clip of Freddy-Adu-to-Eddie-Johnson:


A nice enough piece of execution, to be sure, but I have a hard time not focusing on the venue: Scoda Xanthi Arena, built in 2004, has a capacity of 7,422.

Like a Greek version of Stade Saputo, we're assured that they can add a fourth set of bleachers and thus raise the seating to a whopping 9,000 or so, but judging by the "crowd" in the clip that's not something they need to move to the front burner anytime soon.

Like most people, when we hear news of this or that American player heading for fame and glory overseas we envision them playing in front of insane crowds at Anfield or the San Siro. Scoda Xanthi, on the other hand, makes that circus tent San Jose currently plays in look like the Azteca during a USA qualifier.

One thing we always hear from Euro-bound footballers is how they want to "experience the tremendous atmosphere" at games over there. Well maybe, but when CommunityAmerica in Kansas City, minor league baseball stadium, can double your attendance, well, something in the story doesn't connect.

On the other hand, one good thing about playing at Scoda Xanthi is you don't have to listen to constant carping from dimwitted Canadians complaining about your attendance and demanding that your team be moved someplace else.


In the hard news department comes news this morning that PENNSYLVANIA POWER & LIGHT (affectionately known as PPL) will be the stadium sponsor for Philadelphia Unions new digs.

I'll have warm thoughts every time I write them a check.


In this blogging thing, sometimes the pieces you don't write are the ones you're happiest about.

Take the one I was pounding out over the weekend about STEVE RALSTONS' COMMENTS regarding his soccer future.

His "I'm not going to re-sign with New England" statement struck pretty much everybody as a bit odd, given MLS' ironclad contract controls. Unless he had overseas options, which seemed unlikely given his age and recent injury, what could it mean?

Well, yours truly thought he might have connected the dots and come up with the answer: Ralston was obviously setting himself up as the MLS version of Curt Flood.

He was planning on mounting a challenge to the league, providing us all with enough blog and message board fodder to last two years at least. And best of all, it was going to be me (I'm not "renowned" but there are one or two people who don't say entirely awful things about me. Don't worry, I'm working on them) who figured it out.

I was going to be a hero, maybe even get a job as the PR director for a league which doesn't actually exist. It was going to be my ticket.

Unfortunately, IT APPEARS THAT TOM TIMMERMAN has outdone me in the connecting-the-dots business by using - jeez, like this is fair - actual facts instead of wildass drunken speculation:

According to Timmerman

AC St. Louis has called a news conference for 1 p.m. on Monday to introduce its first player. Now, maybe they’re going to introduce somebody nobody has ever heard of. But the first Athletica player was Lori Chalupny, so I would think the ceremonial first AC St. Louis player will be somebody other than someone off the street or someone they saw at the tryouts over the weekend. And keeping in mind the previous post about a certain St. Louisan who has decided not to re-sign with MLS …

Now of course while one of us is definitely wrong, and both of us COULD be wrong, I guess maybe I'll go with Timmerman until someone comes along with something better.


The eminently talented Tripp Mickle (whom we would never make jokes about based on the fact that his name reminds you of a urinary tract infection of some kind) HAS THE SUBSCRIPTION-REQUIRED POOP on DC United owner Wil Chang's search for some new investors.

Toward hat end, Mickle tells us, Chang has hired Inner Circle Sports, a noted sports management and investment firm, to beat the bushes for him. (Please note: making the connection between Washington DC and beating a Bush will simply not be tolerated here, do you hear me? I'm serious. Don't make me stop this car) headed by their CEO, Rob Tillis.

I'm guessing though that the prospectus, printed in six color brilliance on the finest of glossy paper, won't include TILLIS' REMARKS REGARDING MLS from a few months ago:

While acknowledging that the league has been around for 15 years, he nevertheless told the writer:

"To say that a league like MLS has staying power - I don't think we're there yet"

But that was before he was charged with getting people to sign on as investors. Now, presumably, he'll be telling them to stop wasting their time on shaky bets like gold in favor of the rock-solid security of a million or two sunk into Major League Soccer.


You might very well have missed, or glossed over, San Joses' signing of one Joey Gjertson, previously of the USL before it became whatever it is now.

BUT YOU MIGHT FIND HIS STORY INTERESTING. Here's a guy who played at a community college, got a spot based on a tryout and has slogged his way through a few years in the minors before finally landing in MLS at the age of 27.

You know, the kind of story we'd like to see more of, which tends to prove that there really may be some point to second division soccer after all.

Imagine that.


Soccer is single handedly providing the grist for a Monte Python-type skit featuring odd names.

First we got Dilly Duka, followed shortly by Bright Dike and the even more prosaic Two Boys Gumede.

Now, apparently in a shrewd bid for the hitherto undiscovered Chinese entertainment dollar, the Tampa Bay Rowdies (or whoever they are today) have signed a forward named LONG TAN

Tan played last summer for the United Soccer League's Atlanta Blackhawks in the Premier Development League, scoring seven goals in 12 games for the club. He had previously played for Shanghai's Pudong Zobon in the Chinese First Division.

Since I'm already hiding from Tripp Mickle today, I have nothing to add. ]]> Bill Archer http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7522 From Parody to Parity: Global Warming in the Premier League http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7520 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:18:56 GMT This is a season in which no team is running away with things. Perhaps it's a credit to the quality of the whole of the Premier League. Perhaps it's the bust, following a massive bubble of dodgy loans and takeovers, settling in and knocking debt-bloated and over-committed teams back to earth. Perhaps, even, we owe this return to a semblance of parity to global warming. Why not? It has resulted in deserts flooding, glaciers melting, and even moved Owen Coyle to swap one relegation stationed team for another: "It's just warmer here in Bolton!"

6's and 7's has spent most of the afternoon untying the knot in its stomach. Not because we can't get that image of the polar bear stranded on a ice cube that used to be Antarctica out of our head, but because we watched the Arsenal get outplayed, outworked, out counterattacked, out front, out back, not to mention outscored, by Manchester United.

We've been trying to decide if it was the fourth latte or the complete lack of solid food that made us so prone to emotional contortion. Or if it was just watching an uninspiring (when not totally absent) Cesc Fabregas lead the Gunners to a cringeworthy humbling. Or maybe it was Andrei Arshavin's obsessive ball hogging, Manuel Almunia's lack of directional sense or goalkeeping sense, or the entire Arsenal defence's unwillingness to mark anyone, anyone!, but especially Wayne Rooney.

6's and 7's has also been trying to justify the feeling that this loss doesn't put Arsenal out of the title race, as many are claiming it does. We've pondered this over yet more tar-like espresso, and shortly thereafter we've pondered this in the loo. Strangely enough its our gut that tells us "No." It tells us loads of other things, unrepeatable in mixed company and resulting in equally unspeakable gastric horrors, but mostly right now it's saying "No, it would be silly to count Arsenal out of the race for the title of England's Premier Football League, the English Premier League."

Manchester United have shown this year that somehow, with a injury-stricken squad and without playing terribly well, a team can carry on right near the top of the table. They've been beaten or outplayed by teams as illustrious as Burnley, Birmingham, and Fulham. Arsenal have been ravaged by injuries and haven't been all that good either. And sure enough they're only five points off the leaders Chelsea and only a couple weeks ago were, briefly, leading themselves. To their credit Arsenal have suffered their losses to United, Manchester City, and Chelsea. Notwithstanding a freak 1-0 loss at Sunderland Arsenal have dropped points mostly to their main rivals.

Speaking of Chelsea, they've dropped loads... of points at the feet of Wigan, West Ham, and Birmingham. West Ham are ensconced in the velvety embrace of the relegation zone with Wigan their better by a single point. Chelsea have had the least injury problems of the top three, but with their aging squad it is a serious worry.

Chelsea, United and Arsenal have all dropped points, and will probably keep doing so until the end of the season. If Chelsea and United continue to be unconvincing against the middle men and bottom feeders, Arsenal's record against those same teams will give them a shot indeed.

This all might sound like we're just trying to paper over a demoralizing defeat with a bunch of caffeine addled puns, strange and weak parallels between the brittle state of the world climate and football, and just plain delusional rationalisation. But, all's we're saying is that this is a topsy-turvy campaign, this is. And to bet against Arsenal's title chances after a loss to another title contender is like betting a slightly smaller Hummer will halt the Greenhouse Effect. ]]> PeteCorrie http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7520 Cabañas Wakes Up (update) http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7513 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:16:34 GMT Image: http://euro.mediotiempo.com/media/2010/01/27/cabanas-0.jpg Mexican futbol unites in...

Mexican futbol unites in supporting Chava

Salvador Cabañas has been improving steadily over the past 24-48 hours. According to his doctor, The cerebral edema has appeared to have receded, and he has shown movement in his arms and shoulders. It is unclear, though, if those movements are voluntary or reflexive.

It was his best day since being admitted Monday morning.

Update 1-31-10
Yesterday, Chava woke up, recognized his family and the Club America officials in his room, moved his arms and feet nad said some words in his native Guarani -- "ipora" Which means, "I'm good." Great news.

He still has a long way to go, but it is a very good sign. Todos estamos contigo, Chava. ]]> John Jagou http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7513 MLS, Union Agree to Deadline Extension http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7511 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:07:28 GMT They're not going to get it done by the 1st, but THEY'RE GOING TO KEEP TALKING

"While we still have areas of disagreement, the talks have been constructive and both parties believe it makes sense to continue to work hard to reach agreement," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. "This extension provides both MLS and the players the opportunity to continue our discussions while clubs are in training camps preparing for the 2010 MLS season."


"Both the Players Union and MLS have concluded that a new agreement will not be reached by February 1, but we have agreed to continue to talk and we will be meeting over the next two weeks to determine if a new agreement can be reached," said Players Union Executive Director Bob Foose. "In the meantime, MLS Players are reporting to training camp, and preparations for the 2010 season will continue." ]]> Bill Archer http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7511