US vs. Barbados results / thoughts

Here comes the score so if you TiVO’ed the game don’t continue reading if you don’t want to know the score. Of course if you are on a sports site looking for this sort of thing you are a moron for looking at it as you should expect to see a score, right?

Well the US began it’s World Cup qualifying campaign by blitzing Barbados 8-0..yeah, 8-0.

Reading that it probably sounds like everything is fine in Whoville but it’s not. Here is the line up we started with and tell me what is wrong with it:

——Landy–Ching—-

DMB————–Deuce

—–Junior—Pablo—–

Dolo–Gooch–Boca–Pearce

———Guzan——–

Have you spotted the errors yet? I have. I’ll give you a few more minutes with that and also give you this article from Yanks-Abroad, a site I often disagree with but am finding myself agreeing with a whole lot more in THIS CASE.

I have been a Bob Bradley supporter. I think he is great at motivating people and getting the most out of them. However, watching this game it is clear he is a bit tactically retarded, or simply gun shy.

There is NO EXCUSE for playing a 4-4-2 (with 2 FUCKING d-mids AGAIN!!!) against Barbados. I’m sorry there isn’t.

Even if you want to start out this way and wait til you have a few goals to experiment I guess I’ll accept that, but it never happened.

A game like this is PRIME real estate for trying out new formations that you MIGHT need to use if you find yourself a goal down or understaffed etc. Basically what I’m saying is this game was BEGGING for a 3 back formation and yet, you are still sitting 5 behind the ball…against fucking Barbados…a team that had a website begging for players.

MLS Week 12 thoughts

Well, the parity machine that I alluded to last week is full on back.

Columbus had been struggling for a few weeks and got back in the win column.

Chicago lost its second in a row for I believe the first time all year. Of course, both of their losses came to teams (DC and FC Dallas) who haven’t won in forever it seems. Oh and DC managed to win over RBNY who was allegedly championship material this year despite doing jack and shit all year and looking even worse lately with little help on the horizon now that Altidore is gone and Osorio’s promises of bringing in quality international talent has gone unfounded. (Osorio caught in a lie…how weird. Enjoy, RBNY fans. )

New England scored a win over the once seemingly resurgent Dynamo.

LA blasted the Quakes and TFC won against a Rapids team that until 2 weeks ago looked like a legit contender to win the West.

Oh and RSL beat Chivas USA for the first time in forever.

So as you can see the folly of trying to pick winners in MLS is a fools game. Sure there are teams that are better than others, but there really isn’t an elite once again this year it seems.

Some argue that is a bad thing, but I don’t think every team being able to legitimately beat any other team is a bad thing. There really isn’t nothing more boring that watching Bayern take on some tiny assed, bound for BL.2 side or Manchester United stomping on Derby.

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing Bayern win as much as possible, but there is little intrigue when it’s teams they are talking a walk in a park over.

Just my thoughts.

I wouldn’t even imagine doing a power rankings of MLS. Chicago was top for a while but with 2 losses in a row are looking less ‘powerful’ than they were looking. Of course, no one else has really distinguished themselves THAT much other than New England…what was POUNDED twice by Chicago.

That aside, I’d have to reluctantly put New England at the top of the heap for now…

…I’m sure that will change next week.

USMNT: USA vs. Barbados roster

The roster for the USA’s ‘monolithic tilt’ against Barbados has been released. It looks like this:

GOALKEEPERS: Dominic Cervi, Brad Guzan, Tim Howard.
DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra, Dan Califf, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Frankie Hejduk, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce.
MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Eddie Lewis, Pablo Mastroeni.
FORWARDS: Brian Ching, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson.

Allow me to be the first to say that I should and everyone else should stop making wise cracks about Barbados. Sure we SHOULD win, but Barbados isn’t exactly San Marino, they play defense. Oh!

Beside, we only beat them 7-0 and 4-0 last time.

US Open Cup: Chicago downs Columbus 3-2

So one of my favorite competitions kicked off for the Fire yesterday against Columbus in Peoria. Is it really all that surprising that it’s a favorite competition of mine as a Fire fan? They are thinking of naming it the ‘Fire trophy’ after all…OK not really.

I am happy to hear that unlike Dave “Shit Bird” Sarachan, Hamlett is taking it seriously this year. Luis also has a list of who started on the RED CARD as well.

I hope the Fire can bring in Open Cup number 5. I hope not only for the prestige of having yet another title for the trophy case, but also because winning the USOC is one of the US qualifiers for the newly launched CONCACAF Champions League along with the MLS CUP winner, Supporter’s Shield Winner (team with the most points in the single table) and the MLS CUP Runner Up.

So as you can see, this might be the first time in a while more MLS teams actually put more stock into the USOC since a place in the Champion’s League will mean a CONSIDERABLE bump up in pay for participating and an even bigger bump if you finish well.

MLS week 11 thoughts – lite edition

I am late again and this is kinda the throwaway time of year anyway with all the international action going on so this one will be brief.

Well here comes that parity again.

Not that I mind it, mind you. Chicago lose a heart breaker to DC United at the death. This after DC was rained out vs. Houston after 20 minutes or so. No make up date on that yet.

Can we please get McBride in there? Oh and perhaps play like we are at home while at home, Chicago? Thanks in advance.

New England continued a strong run of form to remain top of the class for a second week.

The Galaxy continue to show that the strategy this year will be to simply score 4+ goals a game and pray to got they don’t give up more than 3.

There are also rumors that Edgar Davids will be joining them. I’m not sure how they will afford him considering they can’t afford enough decent defenders but this is MLS with the phantom salary cap and mysterious rules.

Columbus continues their yearly tumble from grace losing to the Earthquakes. They are doing this despite not really losing anyone but Hejduk to international duty. Imagine what will happen once Bradley pulls his head out of his ass and starts calling Robbie Rogers in?

KC vs. RSL…ends in a 0-0 ‘thriller.’ Anyone really shocked by that? I am excited to see RSL’s new stadium though, the drawings looked fantastic.

Houston continues to look like they are finding form after delivering a pounding to TFC. At the same time, TFC looks like they are falling back to earth a bit. They still could have a shot at a play off spot though as I have little doubt that the West won’t get anymore than their 3 guaranteed spots this year.

RBNY continues to bore the living shit out of everyone. They beat a resurgent Chivas USA 1-0 on Thursday in a really shit game.

That’s all for now.

US vs. Argentina roster for the USMNT

Here is the roster for the USMNT vs. Argentina on Sunday 6/8

GOALKEEPERS: Dominic Cervi, Brad Guzan, Tim Howard.

DEFENDERS: Dan Califf, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Frankie Hejduk, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, Drew Moor

MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Eddie Lewis, Pablo Mastroeni.

FORWARDS: Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson, Kenny Cooper

Kenny Cooper and Drew Moor weren’t on the original list. This is a SHAM that Cooper wasn’t called in immediately but Eddie “I can’t head a ball into a wide open goal” Johnson gets called in AGAIN.

If Bradley is smart and has any sense in that fucking head that thought his son wasn’t gassed after 65 minutes, he WON’T start EJ and give Cooper a chance with Donovan up top.

In fact once has to wonder why Altidore didn’t make the list. He was supposedly healthy. Perhaps Villareal asking that he not play as a ‘courtesy’ since he will be gone for the Olympics.

bundesliga: “Fuck you, America!” Mönchengladbach cancels summer tour

I had to write this because it pains me as a fan of Bundesliga. Borußia Mönchengladbach has canceled their summer tour of the US. Here is the article from Soccer America on the issue:

German team cancels its U.S. visit

Friday, Jun 6, 2008 6:45 AM ET

NEWLY PROMOTED GERMAN BUNDESLIGA CLUB Borussia Moenchengladbach has canceled its summer training camp in the USA after club and Bundesliga representatives visited training facilities in Colorado and deemed them unsatisfactory for a preseason camp, according to the Bundesliga’s official Web site. Gladbach was slated to play against the Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas on a trip that Bundesliga’s chief marketing officer Tom Bender had hailed as “a milestone in our partnership with MLS.” In March of 2007, MLS and the Bundesliga had announced a partnership that was part of the German league’s campaign to popularize itself internationally.

When will Bundesliga stop shooting themselves in the foot? They used to be the most popular league in the US by far. In fact, the airing of Bayern games on cable and FREE over the air TV is a major reason why I got into the league. (well that and family being Bayern fans since they are from there but still, being able to keep up on the TV helped)

Lately, the Bundesliga has been hellbent on alienating the market completely. There was the debacle with Bayern playing it’s D team against Manchester United’s B/C team a few years ago among a number of other debacles leading up to this.

I’m sorry, but Colorado has a GORGEOUS facility. Anyone who has seen where ‘gladbach trains knows they aren’t exactly the Ritz Carlton of Germany.

There must be some other reason to cancel. I’m guessing it’s money since they were relegated and are coming back to BL.1 next year meaning they will need to pony up more for top players to stay afloat.

That excuse would be fine, though pride prevents them from saying it. However, they choose the “fuck you you suck and your mom sucks and we are too good for this shit’ approach.

This is especially disturbing given that BL and MLS signed a partnership agreement last year. The agreement was for MLS to show BL how to market (which they have been woeful at and moves like this demonstrate this fact in stark relief) in exchange BL would trade TV production tips with a league who relies on a network (ESPN) that can’t be bothered to be told how it should do things.

With shit like this, the partnership is doomed. It was basically doomed the second BL decided that ‘gladbach would be the club they’d send over given their ‘massive’ following. I guess Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke, Bremen, Stuttgart, Bayer or HSV were too busy.

It really does sadden me but it makes it harder every year to keep following the BL. I pretty much am already at a point where I only give a shit what Bayern does and the rest of the league can go to hell. La Liga has been getting far more of my attention of all the Euro leagues.

I hope you can fix it soon BL. If not for someone who is a built in fan (half-German with tons of family there and an automatic connection to one of your clubs) then do it for a casual observer….or better yet, do it for both. You need it if you want to keep up with the EPL, La Liga and Serie A.

Nachtle.

garber finally gets it! Streamers are prohibited (kinda)

There had been debate raging about the use of streamers the last 2 years. Houston fans started the trend by tossing them at each other at the beginning of games and after goals.

TFC fans brought it to another place by tossing them at players during corner kicks making it difficult for the set piece to be taken. (even doing it while they are down a goal which makes a lot of sense since you are merely killing time off the clock since we all know all the time lost is never totally added back on)

Garber defended the use of streamers after Michael Wilbon of Pardon the Interruption on ESPN said it was a ‘Bush league practics’

However, after an incident in Columbus where streamers were used to mask batteries and full water bottles and flares being tossed at players (amongst other no-no’s) as I have been saying would happen all along if it hadn’t happened already, Garber has finally relented.

The commish, via his BLOG on June 6th, has finally said enough is enough. He rightly points out that tossing them at players during the game slows it down and there are opportunities to hurt players being exploited.

Now, i don’t think he went far enough. There needs to be threats of abandoning the match if it is done as they do everywhere else on earth when shit is being thrown on the field. While throwing people out is a good start, there needs to be the threat of your team losing points.

Listen, I love tossing streamers after goals, or at the whistle like DC fans did at the start of the DC vs. Chicago match on ESPN a few weeks back. (the game Chicago demolished them on national TV in case you forgot) That sort of use looks cool and brings out the joy of supporting your team. Throwing the shit on the field to stop players from playing though, is just senseless retardation and needed to stop.

Thankfully the Don has spoken.

If some of these fans wanna have big displays they need to talk to their front offices. Chicago allows full tifo before matches if Section 8 wants to do it. I think Chivas USA is the only other team that takes advantage of that. Tifo is radical johnson and gets the crowd hyped. That’s how it’s done. Tossing shit at players is retarded.

That is all.

Congratulations to Jozy Altidore on going to Villareal

Reports are everywhere (check out MLS’s homepage for details) that Jozy Altidore has agreed to a transfer to Villareal effective July 1st.

It is a GREAT move in my opinion as we have had FAR too many players going to England and the utter lack of imagination and ability to possess the football have become horribly apparent on the senior national team. (though the youth teams possess a latin flair that I hope remains with them once they become full senior internationals because this Brit-ball shit is killing me)

Most people are of the mind that Jozy will be loaned at least initially to Recreativo Huelva so he can get more playing time.

In any event, La Liga is the best league in the world. Teams actually focus on technical skill and not just brutish thugball like they do in the Prem. If things pan out for Jozy we really could have our first true footballing superstar from the US. With his size, speed and technical skill he could really do something special at Villareal. If he keeps it together, I could even see him figuring into their Champion’s League run this year.

Let’s hope Jozy will join Jovan Kirovski as an American with a Champion’s League medal. (Kirovski won with BVB 09 in 1997 a fact that many forget as I’ve heard the lament that ‘we need an American who goes deep in CL sometime and/or win’s’ which Kirovski did and even scored a goal on their run so it wasn’t all from the pine)

USA vs. Spain the aftermath

What can be said about the US vs. Spain other than it was a tale of 2 halves (kinda)?

The teams were pretty evenly matched in the first half, though if we are going to be fair, Spain was likely keeping the foot slightly off the gas so as to avoid injuries prior to the Euros this weekend.

Still, there weren’t a ton of embarrassing performances. Even Eddie Johnson looked almost like a professional footballer (in the first half). The back line held together fairly well also stifling most attacks, though no one is going to convince me that Onyewu is the best option. He is still very SLOW. He is a nice target to have on set pieces, but do we REALLY want a centerback who’s best quality is his height on set pieces? Because in all honesty we have two of them in Bocanegra and Onyewu. (though I think Boca beings a bit more to the table defensively)

Time to give Orrozco some run, Chief

However, the true story for the US was the emergence and the brilliance of Freddy Adu. He was dangerous all half. Causing havoc for the Spanish backline and even gave defenders as vaunted (and rightfully so) as Carlos Puyol all they could handle with artful passes and runs into the heart of the Spanish defense.

Unfortunately for Freddy, his passes went for naught as they were still being sent to EJ who squandered them basically at every chance he got.

Of course it all came crashing to a halt when Puyol was beaten and lunged at Freddy stepping on his foot.

The second half, while not a disaster, was not pretty. Negative play. Returning to the dreaded ‘empty bucket’ formation. Lack of possession. Michael Bradley playing the full 90 when he clearly didn’t have enough gas to go more than 60 and it showed when he was one of the people torched on Xavi’s brilliant goal scoring run. (P.S. can we stop playing Michael Bradley as a d-mid, Bob? He is playing out of position and it shows)

The forward play became non-existent and the introduction of Josh Wolff showed us that these last 2 matches should be his farewell to the national set up.

Another troubling performer is Clint Dempsey. He has absolutely sucked the last 4 months or so for club and country. It’s time to sit him. I’m seriously getting sick of Bradley picking much less playing, players based on past reputation. It’s a shit way to select a side and an even more shit way to get the most out of players when they know they can go out and go through the motions, do shit and still get picked.

One other thing that needs to be addressed is the style of play. We have REALLY regressed hard into a shit, route 1, Brit-ball cunt style of playing. A year ago around the Gold Cup we looked like a team more interested in keeping the ball on the ground and holding onto it more. No longer.

Maybe missing Donovan and some others has meant that much, but it’s disturbing nonetheless.

Hopefully this weekend when we play Argentina we get Donovan back. Kenny Cooper is expected to play which is a LONG overdue call up as he has been RIPPING it up and the new Villareal man, Jozy Altidore is expected to figure into the scene as well. If Adu is healthy all 3 of those players prefer a possession ground attack to the shit long ball automatico stuff.

The big positive to take away is we played more positively than we did against England and Spain is a light years better team than England is.

There are still things to address (Bradley’s negative tactics, playing players out of position, poor substitutions, his sudden loss of touch when making halftime adjustments, players developing worse and worse first touches among other things) However, nothing that should stop us in the first couple rounds of World Cup qualifying…I hope. I’m sure Bradley hopes as well as there are already a ton of people calling for his head and I gotta say…I’m starting to agree with it a bit.