Other Team Discussion Thread Part IV: A New Hope (ALL Teams, ALL Leagues, ALL Competitions - R)

Word on the TFC board is that Andy Welsh has been waived and is headed back to Blackpool.
He would be an SI next year when he turns 25 and is making over $200k this year so I would doubt that anyone will claim him off waivers.
He started off the year really well, and I am not sure how much his struggling can be blamed on the terrible team around him.

 

We've banned all game day use of such energy drinks on my rugby club (That is if we see it. Not much you can do about a secret sipper). Just too dangerous considering what it does to the human heartbeat.

 

That and a quick burst won't really help you in an 80 minute match.

 

I heard he fell foul of Mo. Gave an interview to the local Trono media where he complained about this and that, mostly about playing time. He became a permanent fixture on the bench after that. Now out the door...

 

Stupid pet tricks, esp. w/ a coach who doesn't stand for that kind of thing. At least he didn't tap his watch after scoring a goal.

 

So Yves is reporting Becks out for 6 weeks

K

 

120 Minutes of hard play, Beckham getting yet another boo boo, and Donovan reminded of why he really left Europe...

Who's betting on a second-in-a-row RSL win...?

 

Lucky you! I have class everyday at 8! Needless to say I skipped all my classes today

 

Thanks for the reminder! I have to go and edit my picks for the weekend.

 

Yep. Showing up the man is the best way to get PT. I still think of that Mathis bit every now and then. Amazingly stupid.

 

You got hosed. I had one Friday class ever (completely by choice) and never anything close to 8 am.

 

If only Crew fans could be so creative:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/highschool/08/30/bc.fbh.student.stadiump.ap/index.html

A high school student who tricked football fans from a crosstown rival school into holding up squares of construction paper at a stadium that together spelled out, "We Suck," was suspended for the prank, students said.

 

VIDEO at Crew stadium!

 

Close call. First to 22 wins.

 

Bears number one in the threatdown last night. Although it was pandas....

Beckham out for six weeks. http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news?slug=ap-galaxy-beckhaminjured&prov=ap&type=lgns

I think I have passed the point of schadenfreude and into just feeling bad about this whole sorry situation in LA. The debacle that has been Beckham's on field experience (at $21K/min) is not good for MLS.

Lessons learned:
(1) Lalas truly is an idiot. He might make a good PR guy, but he couldn't build a team if you spotted him ten players.
(2) Beckham is the real deal. Not only does he instantly make LA better and more dangerous, but he seems to really care about the team being sucessful.
(3) Donovan is the anti-Beckham. For everything that's good about Beckham (toughness, tenacity, grit), Landycakes is simply lacking, especially when it comes to leadership. He couldn't lead a van full of sailors on shore leave from the parking lot to the Chicken Ranch even with the door standing open and all the "specialists" out front waving. The guy appears to be in full sulk mode. If he is US Soccer's real best player, I weep for our future.
(4) Yallop is history and it may not be his fault. But it might be. There are some players in LA, just not enough. But that's true in the entire league and only LA has only 14 points.
(5) Watching a train wreck might be fun, but eventually you have to call an ambulance. And that's no fun.

 

I have a hard time putting enough blame on Yallop to justify a firing. Lalas. no problem, but not Yallop. He's playing the hand that Lalas dealt him and unfortunately his hand was so bad he had to fold. I wouldn't blame Yallop for quitting but I wouldn't fire him. The biggest mistake he made was playing Becks against Chivas after just coming back from england. The team became a mess when Lalas decided that becuase of Beckham they had to get rid of their youth and get older guys becuase that would some how make them more competetive. It's been downhill from there.

 

Well, right. But I still don't think that saves his job. You look at the situation as rationally as any internet nut can but for general consumption, the view is different. Lalas has painted AEG into a corner with the decisions he's made and now they need to make a big move. Just firing Lalas won't do it, because the casual fan (or poorly informed LA fan, (wait, is that redundant?)) says "Hey Lalas brought Beckham here and your firing him? I don't get it!" But if you fire both, that fan says "Finally, they're going to bring in a coach that knows how to use Beckham and Donovan and Xavier!" And if AEG can really bring in Klinsmann, well then, they have a chance at recapturing the hype machine.

 

Does Lalas get credit for bringing Beckham to LA? Or was he just in for the ride? Was it not more AEG brass getting Beckham than it was their inept GM?

I have to say that I have become a fan of Beckham. I did not have much of an opinion of him before his arrival but seeing that he is a team player, that he cares about his team, as hopeless as they are, and that he did not come here to retire, has impressed me. Hope his recover goes well.

 

My feelings exactly. For all the hype, he has done far more than could have been expected of him. Perhaps he's even done too much, and that has led to where he is now. He's highly competitive and I think that's exactly what MLS needs to see in its DP signings.

I just want to note that I find it hilarious that the Galaxy are bitching about the number of matches they have coming up and about how tired they all are. They're the ones who backloaded their schedule to fully exploit Beckham's presence. It was an extremely cynical and mercenary decision, and it's coming back to bite them in the ass now. Did they really not think that playing all these matches would cause extreme fatigue, poor performances, and injuries?

Let's hope they start making rational soccer decisions before they destroy their best player.

 

Hillarious. The kid should be given credit for putting it together and pulling it off.

So a high school football game was played in August in a Soccer Specific Stadium?

 

We were all wondering what Dallas was going to do re: their S-I situation. They had four (Richetti, Ruiz, Saragosa and Serioux) and have added Denilson. Adding Denilson meant (in principle) that they needed to dump one of the other four S-Is to stay under the four S-I limit.

Well, apparently the answer has turned out to be "none of the above." Saragosa has had some nagging injuries, and they've decided to move him to the season-ending IR list. This list allows teams to avoid roster contraints that prevent them from replacing a player that's injured, it also apparently allows them to dodge the four S-I rule too . . .at least until the end of the season.

 

My understanding was the Beckham and AEG had worked it all out. I think they got together a year or two ago for Beckham's Soccer Acadamy in LA and London. The Galaxy were just part of the equation.

As for Lalas, I imagine, LA will keep him around as their mascot.

 

Whole new meaning to "Flaming Carrot"

 

This is a good plan. I think they'll make him stand outside the team tunnel and have every Galaxy player rub his red hair for luck as they run onto the field.