Dallas avenges both 1998 and that one guy who held up that sign back in 2007
Posted on September 14, 2009 3:19 pm
There should be an opposite of ESPN Classic. Like, ESPN Horsesh*t. Because Saturday’s LA-Dallas game deserves immortality, but calling it a classic would be rank false advertising.
I’m sure in the 130 years or so they’ve been playing association football that there have been weirder games. That Caribbean tournament where the loser of the group game advanced to the next round, or the one where the dog was red-carded, or one of the experiments where kick-ins replaced throw-ins, or an NASL game in Veterans Stadium with the 35 yard offside line.
But this one was just…yeah, didn’t see that coming.
Except I did. Up until a week or so ago, I was screaming at anyone who would listen – which, of course, was nobody – that the Home Depot Center hosts the two biggest frauds in the league*, maybe in the history of the league, and that it was only a matter of time before the Good Ship Lollipop pulled an Edmund Fitzgerald.
Too much attention is being given to David Beckham – so I’m about to completely lose perspective and put the entire loss on him. And I mean, seriously lose perspective. I read Bill’s post and thought, “I can’t believe I’ve been misunderstanding Kim Jong-Il all these years.” THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. THE REST OF THIS IS ME GOING OFF ON BECKHAM YET AGAIN. IF THE TOPIC BORES YOU, THE OTHER BLOGGERS HAVE GREAT STUFF TODAY, PLEASE READ THEM INSTEAD.
Remember this guy?
Not since Richard Jewell has someone been so wrongly vilified, so badly misunderstood, so horribly rejected. This man was a prophet. This man was a visionary. Wherever and whoever this man is, I belatedly and apologetically hail you for your insight and courage. God bless you, and that wonderful expression you had that day.
I know it sounds stupid and blinkered to blame a comprehensive loss in a team sport on one person, but that’s just it. It’s a team sport. Beckham is a passenger. Forget that the good option right now is that he’s back to dogging it during MLS games – he’s hurting the Galaxy in so many ways. Why did Stefani Miglioranzi have the worst game of his career? Because he was the only central midfielder. Wherever the action was, Beckham wasn’t. It’s not just that he’s a Valderrama on defense these days – that’s not what he’s there to do, I understand that. He’s hilariously out of position on offense, as well. He’s walking around all the time, dekameters out of position, killing the counterattacks that Bruce Arena teams live on.
The worst moment, and this speaks to the entire Galaxy organization, was in the first half. Beckham is about to take a corner kick, and he fakes a hamstring injury. Eddie Lewis runs up at full speed, sends a short corner to Beckham – TRICK PLAY! – and Beckham sends the ball right off a Dallas defender, starting a counter the other way that nearly resulted in a goal.
Which Dallas wouldn’t need, because the Soccer Gods were as pissed off and ashamed of that crap as I was. Faking an injury for a trick play. Beckham should have been red-carded on the spot, and Arena as well. Think about it – they practiced that. That was a designed play. “This is where Beckham fakes an injury, and we catch the other guys napping!” Absolutely reprehensible.
And people are worried about Beckham grabbing Daniel Hernandez’ neck? It’s Daniel Hernandez. That’s what his neck is for.
By the way – now that I’ve got a nice, solid Beckham rant going – you enjoy seeing the game live? Maybe you did in Texas, but it was tape-delayed locally. Because it wasn’t close to a sellout. David Beckham, Landon Donovan, the Los Angeles Galaxy, with a game that would put them in first place. And people stayed home in droves.
Yeah, Ohio State-USC was on TV. USC’s been on television before against the Galaxy. The Galaxy have cracked 20K against Laker playoff games back in the day.
Yeah, it’s a recession. It’s the same damned recession in Seattle, and their DP also doesn’t want to be in the same country, apparently, but somehow their homeless crack addicts can beg enough change to sneak into a game, so why can’t ours? Announced attendance was just over 18,000 or so, and the HDC has been telling attendance fables all year anyway, so you can imagine where it actually was. Huge swathes of green in the midfield seats, general admission tickets available.
Beckham is done in Los Angeles. No one here cares anymore. Yeah, everyone loves slowing down and watching the car crash, but once the paramedics have driven away, the show’s over. The difference here is, no one’s bothered to take away Beckham’s corpse. But there are only so many people – 18,000, according to the Home Depot Center – willing to watch Beckham stay dead.
It’s still the same problem it’s been all year. Every time Beckham steps on the field for the Galaxy, he risks his World Cup spot. Maybe Fabio Capello is happy with that kind of preparation. And he’s probably right. He’ll show up for Milan or Arsenal or whoever (strange, Sir Alex doesn’t seem interested), and a few months in Europe (as opposed the whole season that the rest of the England squad will have endured) will be enough for a roster spot.
We’ll see if the Galaxy are still willing to pay Beckham for all this if he stops drawing in fans. It’s a really good question. Remember that Milan friendly that Tim Leiweke demanded as the price of Beckham’s services? Cost them Edson Buddle for two months and Alecko Eskandarian for the year. And I guarantee you the Galaxy would do it again if they could. It’s one thing if Beckham doesn’t care about making the playoffs, it’s quite another if the Galaxy don’t care, either.
Oh, hey, look, a Galaxy season ticket renewal package. Perfect timing.
Should I give Dallas some credit for the win? Well…no. Jeff Cunningham missed an easy, easy sitter in the first minute or so. Dallas started Atiba Harris. This isn’t a team that, frankly, deserves a lot of credit. There’s a reason they came into town in sixth place, and left it the same way. Buzz and the gang gives the FCD perspective, but I still think the story is more about Galaxy suckulence than Dallas in the course of one week turning into a last-second playoff contender. Unless you think a LOT more highly of Heath Pearce than I do.
*I did miss the call on the CUSA-Revs game, by omission, and I’ll tell you why. I KNEW that Chivas USA was going to win that game. The Revs were hot, CUSA was junk, it was the MLS “impact game of the week” – biggest sucker bet of the month. If it had been in Foxboro, I would honest to God have put money on CUSA, because that’s how wacky this league is. Since CUSA won at the Home Depot Center, it MIGHT be because Sacha Kljestan has finally adjusted to not playing for Celtic, and for blowing his spot on the national team, and is taking it out on his fellow MLS schlubs. Had the game been in Gillette, CUSA would have won because MLS is weird.
(By the way – I would watch ESPN Horsesh*t ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. White guys fighting for boxing titles! The Maryland-Indiana 2002 Final Four championship game! Fran Tarkenton’s greatest Super Bowl moments! Baseball in DC – three centuries of glory!)
You know, if you spent more time watching MLS and less time obsessing about some douchebag who used to have a satellite radio show, you would’ve known that
a. Dallas came to town in seventh place and left in seventh place, and
b. the reason they did so is more because of the first 18 games than the last six.
LA was doomed from the start. In reality, Berhalter could easily have been sent off for the obvious tackle from behind….with no itention to get the ball……..while denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
FCD has actually only lost one home game since May. They’ve been playing very well at home. Their last home game would have been a win if it weren’t for a red card………which the league office has now admitted was the wrong call.
This day was coming for FCD……….and LA.
On the other hand, it could just be that the reason Stephani Miglioranzi had such a terrible game is because Stephani Miglioranzi virtually oozes suckitude, to a frightening extent. The guy is just a putrid soccer player. He has one or two sterlin plays per year, but they hardly redeem the 1000 or so minutes that he is simply bad.
I’ll be damned if I count Colorado.
(Thank you, outdated Simpsons reference, for covering my inability to count up to eight)
So wait, the last 3 months of the season have been a charade, but one game over the weekend is truly indicative of the Galaxy’s strength?
So you had a problem with Beckham too, eh?
Hey, where is that asterisk supposed to go to? ESPN Horsesh*t? (loved that line)
They have one horrendous game you get this worked up??? Be easy Dan I think Burnley beat Manchester this year you think Manchester is complete Garbage now too???
Best use of dekameters I’ve seen in a long time.
I swear on the lives of your children that since the Spice Boy came back from his Italian Job that Miglioranzi has actually been decent because he’s just had to play as a true defensive mid. This shocked me because he was the SM we all knew and loathed before that when Arena didn’t have anyone really to play an offensive mid, kind of like Saturday night.
Well, I drove from San Diego to LA with my family to attend this game. Truly, neither team has a defense or, as far as we could see, a goalkeeper. It was 6-3, but it could have been 8-6. The ref called one back, missed a clear handball in the box that should have been a PK, missed the FC Dallas GK handling the ball at least a yard outside the box, and even the players contributed to this idiocy with a bunch of easy misses, a la Cunningham.
Beckham was just lost. He was out of position frequently and, by my count, passed the ball to empty space (and out of bounds) at least four times. His trick corner was actually kinda cool, and I’ve seen him do this in England (where it at least resulted in a shot on goal, and not a counter for the other team), but you’re right that it totally didn’t work and could have backfired even further. I was struck by the oddity of the match report later, when I noticed that Beckham earned only his 2nd assist in this game. Other players who earned an assist in that game and still have more than Becks? Atiba Harris, Jeff Cunningham, Dax McCarty, Brek Shea…um, Brek Shea?
Others in my posse were impressed with Donovan’s passion and work rate. Here’s one guy, at least, who plays for the badge. He didn’t show up with any points tonight, but he was on the field and the FCD defenders knew it. It doesn’t hurt that he’s STILL the fastest guy on the pitch. Wow, just wow. AJ DeLaGarza had a great game, and Mike Magee was notable for a great work rate in the first half, though it seemed to disappear as the game progressed.
Of course, Donovan is probably the best player in the USA and on this team, but the rest of his club must have been formed by the AARP. I mean, how old is this team??? Ricketts (32), Berhalter (36), Sanneh (38), Beckham (34), Miglioranzi (31), Lewis (35), Klein (33), Kirovski (33). I expect many of these players will leave in the fall, including Donovan. Becks will probably stay, unfortunately…
Oh, and I’d say that 18K attendance was about right. Maybe 17K, but it wasn’t empty.
Pretty much incorrect on all three counts: He tackle attempt was from the side, he was going for the ball, and the attacker was still driving forward towards the end line as opposed to goal.
Actually this one they got right according to the TV replay. Sala’s feet were over the line but he did shift his body well enough to keep his hands over the line…
Yeah good teams never have bad days, it’s all Beckham’s fault, the LA Galaxy have never sucked in a game before
One would think from reading the original post and the comments that Geoff Cunningham was Chad Barrett, and that he continued to miss everything after he missed the sitter.
Archer has him down as an enigma. The enigma is why is he so underrecognized. DC will have to raise box diving to new artistic heights to keep Moreno ahead of him. He could retire as MLS’s first 150 goal man. This is the second touchdown Dallas has scored since Cunningham’s being untethered from Kenny Cooper. Cunningham is making a case for being brought into the national team. But, oh, he missed a sitter.
No, not really. It was because evidently the only Rev who got on the plane on Friday was Reis, and he only did that to go visit his family.
After reading the Beckham Experiment and the events of this summer, who is surprised that Beck’s has already checked out the door and would rather LA not make the playoffs so he can get to Milan or London that much faster? I just hope the LA brain trust has enough ability to sell the idea that he’s a great on field asset and not just a ridiculously overpayed one-trick pony.
just for your information you asshole, DB was grabbing hernandez’ neck because he was asking him his neck size so he could get him a dress shirt. It was a sweet gesture. I do it all the time when I want to buy a friend a dress shirt
As a neutral, and someone with the benefit of instant replay, that was a clear red card-worthy foul by Berhalter. The evidence:
- Completely missed the ball. Not even close
- Crudely took out the attacker. It sure looked like that was his intention as well.
- Last defender and denied a clear-cut scoring opportunity.
- Presumably a cynical tackle from the get-go as Berhalter couldn’t catch Jeff Cunningham with a 10 second head start.
First class rant, Dan, i’m going to be laughing all week at this one:
Points one, two, and four aren’t necessarily red card-worthy. Beerholder was the last defender but Cunningham had not really made his turn yet towards goal, which means one of US Soccer’s 4 D’s wasn’t met.
You may want to re-watch that sequence.
I’m talking about the play around minute 5 where Berhalter was very, very lucky not to be red-carded. The play where the ref was reaching for his back pocket and then (apparently) decided not to eject someone so early into the match.
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