2008 Re-Cap

What a year it was for USA soccer. Both the national team and the national league had it's ups and downs, but steps were made in the right direction for both. The Columbus Crew dominated the MLS league season and deservedly won the MLS Cup. The national team played more meaningful games than ever, and swiftly went through the Semi-final round of the Concacaf qualification process. Here's a breakdown for each:

MLS:

• The Los Angeles Galaxy once again failed to make the playoffs, and could be in for more trouble next year with a first year coach, and the possibility of losing some key players. Landon Donovan and David Beckham will both be spending their break not on the beach, but on European soccer fields, a much better way to spend your break.
• America's best striker of all-time came home as Brian McBride joined the Chicago Fire halfway through the year as the Fire made a valiant effort to win the title, but fell short

• The New York Red Bulls showed how mediocrity in MLS gets rewarded by an MLS Cup appearance....the league seriously needs to discuss refiguring its playoff strucuture

US SOCCER:

• Once again proving their dominance in the region, easily qualification through the semi-finals looked easy. It may not be so easy in the final round, with Mexico to start, Honduras looking dangerous, and Costa Rica always being a tough draw

• The backline looks incredible. Onyewu and Bocanegra look to be the best centerback pairing this side of the Atlantic, and Heath Pearce solved the left-back problem quite well
• A new youthful midfield looks to be in good shape, with Michael Bradley looking strong in midfield and Maurice Edu still growing into his own. Jose Francisco Torres looks a good fit in the squad, too bad he plays in MEXICO!
• The Forward position looks to have the most question marks. Clint Dempsey, the man without a position, fits well at one of the forward spots, Landon seems to be playing more right midfielder than striker, which leaves one spot up top. Josmer Altidore, Kenny Cooper, and Brian Ching seem to be the men to fight for the spot, we'll see what happens when Mexico comes calling...

So with 2009 fast-approaching, what will the new year hold for US Soccer?

Concacaf qualification is #1 on the priority list, with the Confederations Cup also in the calendar year. So here's to you, US Soccer, continued success, and Happy New Year.

Until next year,
Come On You Yanks

Big Win in Guatemala

A hard fought, tough first test for the Americans. Tough tackles, bloody heads, kicked heads, anything you want in an American football match. Not for Soccer though, but that's what you get when you go to a 3rd world country like Guatemala (man that place is dirty) And can we get some lights in the place....my god.

I thought the back line played extremely well. The Bocanegra-Onyewu partnership in the middle is becoming more and more consistent. Still not much up front for the Americans which is a concern. This team needs a forward that can score, not just work hard. I'm so tired of hearing how good Brian Ching plays, or Clint Dempsey does, when they're not even on the score sheet. Sure I know they "hold the ball up" and "bug defenders playing it through the back" You don't think forwards are capable of doing both? I'm ready for more Kenny Cooper, and Josmer Alitore, and ready to get rid of the Brian Ching's and Eddie Johnson's of the world.

I thought Timmy Howard had an excellent game, he was all over the place, and is turning into the leader this team desperately needs. I thought the moment of the match (apart from the goal of coarse) was when Tim got in Carlos Ruiz's face after Carlos deliberately kicked Tim in the head. You saw the fire in Tim's eyes, and it's becoming more and more evident that he is the true leader on the pitch.

MLS Re-Cap

Some really exciting games in Major League Soccer this weekend. It's becoming gradually more and more important for the mid-table teams to start picking up points and securing play-off births.
The weekend was kicked off in Carson with the Superclassico. Cobi Jones' L.A. Galaxy (man that sounded good) got a very important point, considering they were 1 minute away from getting nothing from the match. L.A. needs to start picking up the pace if they want to make the playoffs. And no one talks about Chivas USA, but they are slowly but surely dropping out of the playoff race as well.

As far as the rest of this weekend's matches:

New England Revolution 0 - 4 San Jose Earthquakes
Surprise of the weekend by a large margin. If San Jose would have started to play like this at the beginning of the year, they would be up near the top of the Western Conference, easily. New acquisitions plus a little self belief have gone a long way for this club. As for the Revs, its just a small yield sign in the middle of their long and successful year.

Kansas City Wizards 1 - 2 Colorado Rapids
A whole 35 people saw the Rapids pick up a hard earned 3 points as Conor Casey delivered for the crazy waves. Kansas City is the under-performing team in the league this year. Claudio Lopez is wondering more and more what he got himself into...

Real Salt Lake 3 - 4 Houston Dynamo
Game of the Week, and what a game it was. 6, yes, 6 goals in the first half and a lone Dr. Goal tally in the second half. A big game for Houston that sees them leap-frog Salt Lake to the top of the West. Dare I say this is another late season push by the Dynamo?

D.C. United 1 - 0 Chicago Fire
The Brian McBride return was a sour one for the Fire faithful that had been waiting for a good 2 weeks to see the American Messiah return home. A lone Carreiro goal was the difference as D.C. looked dangerous throughout. Chicago had a good couple of scoring chances, but were unable to put them away. For the start that D.C. had, I'd say it's been a hell of a year for the Volkswagens.

F.C. Dallas 1 - 2 Columbus Crew
Not a whole lot in this match as the Crew got 2 late goals to put the Crew atop the Eastern Conference, and the entire MLS for that matter. Dallas was unable to put away chances, and were beat on set-pieces. Dallas is in a good position however, with journeyman goalscorer Jeff Cunningham pairing with Kenny Cooper, this offense will wake up, and in a weaker Western Conference, this bodes well for the Hoops of Dallas.

Toronto F.C. 0 - 2 New York Red Bulls
Team Canada was unable to repeat its gritty performance from last week, I think, I don't really know because the field was covered in grid-iron lines....New York is gaining momentum, but it might be too little too late.

Knocked Out

A day after the United States' Olympic run ended and I still don't know what to think. Sure the competition means very little, but the entire competition I was rooting for the guys just like it was a World Cup. Dumb, yes. Unexpected? No. I love this team and I love this sport.

What could have been will be asked over and over of the players involved. What if Stuart Holden had not hacked at the Dutch players leg outside the box like it was a piece of wood? What if Charlie Davies header had been 3 inches lower and cracked the back of the net? It's these questions that make this game so frustrating at times. But when you do put everything together, and it all works, it can be so amazing.

Overall it was a good experience for the younger guys, with some bright spots and some not so bright ones.

I found it fitting though that the US needed a result, in the last game of the group, against a strong African side slightly Ironic. Sound familiar?

Quite Impressive, But Not Done Yet

It felt like a loss for the US Men in their second game of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After starting poorly, and going down early to the European Champion Netherland side, the Americans showed will, determination, and grit to come back and grab the lead from the Flying Oranje with goals from Sacha Kljestan, and Jozy Altidore. But a late foul near the edge of the penalty area gave the Dutch the opportunity they needed, and showed class by capitalizing on the mistake.

Freddy Adu quoted it well, saying the Americans came out scared,"Me personally, I got mad. I was like, 'We can play with these guys.' I had seen our guys day in and day out. ... These guys [from Holland] aren't gods."

This is the kind of attitude we're looking for out of these new age American players, and we're increasingly seeing more of this "We're just as good, if not better than the rest of the world" attitude. It's this kind of mentality from the younger players that will propel this country to bigger and better things in the Soccer world.

So well done to the guys, but the job is certainly not done. It will still take some work to do, a loss from the Netherlands, and/or any result from the Nigeria match will see the Americans through.

Olympics Underway

The US got their Olympic campaign underway bright and early this morning (4AM where I'm from, and yes, I was up watching) and the start was exactly what the Americans were looking for and expected.

A tough first test against a quality Japenese side. Japan created a number of chances but simply couldn't put that round thing in the square thing. A goal from Scottish born Stuart Holden was the difference between the two sides as the Americans got a hard earned 3 points, and because of the other match in the group, the USA now leads the group going into the 2nd game.

MATCH GRADES:

Brad Guzan (6) - Didn't have much to do, but when he needed to get off his line and pounce, he did. A descent first game for the Aston Villa man, he'll be tested more in the second match.

Marvell Wynne (8) - I never thought Marvell would have been one of the better players on the field, but he was. Marvell has a tendancy to look slightly akward on the field but typically makes up with shear speed. Today his passing was spot on, the runs he made were excellent and if he got beat, he got back quickly.

Maurice Edu (6) - If this was separated between the first 75 minutes and last 15 the grade would be different. Was excellent the entire game, but got caught out of position towards the end of the game and could possibly have been called for a penalty on two different occasions.

Michael Parkhurst (6) - Did his job, wasn't beaten the entire game, and cleared danger when he was needed. Didn't see as much action as Maurice did, but did everything he needed to.

Michael Orozco (5) - Wasn't impressive to me, never made any dangerous runs down the flanks (see Marvell Wynne) and made some poor decisions. The first game tough, he's a quality young talent so I would expect him to have a good game against the Dutch.

Stuart Holden (7) - The goalscorer and Man of the Match according to those in higher ranked posisitons than I. Was the most dangerous midfielder by far with accurate tight passing and some dangerous runs. Was in the right position on the rebound and finished well.

Michael Bradley (7) - Cleaned up the midfield, which is exactly what he's in the team to do. Distributed the ball well to Rogers and co. and was in the right place defensively when he needed to be. Organization was excellent.

Sacha Kljestan (4) - Simply didn't bring it for this game. We've come to expect more from this young talent since he's been playing so well with Chivas USA (rebrand please) Don't expect him to be benched, he's a leader on this young team.

Robbie Rogers (7) - Made dangerous runs and some well-timed crosses, played well, not much else to say.

Freddy Adu (5) - Will the real Freddy Adu please stand up. Got knocked around the field by the Japanese, couldn't stay on his feet because he played around with the ball like it was a knock-around game in the backyard. Dear Freddy, quit crying, start playing better and go by people instead of whining about not getting 100 fouls called on you.

Brian McBride (6) - Not exactly the best fit for this particular team, but does what we as American Soccer Fans have seen from Brian since he began his international career. Cause trouble, draw fouls, knock down balls for everyone else. I expect Jozy to start against Holland

Slow Days for American Soccer....

Sadly enough, there's not a whole lot to report in the eyes of American Soccer fans. But for what it's worth, here's a couple views on some things:

• The New England Revolution completed the sweep of the Mexicans in the Semi-finals of Superliga. The final, a non-story game between New England and Houston. These two teams are slowly turning into the big brother-little brother combination of MLS. Obviously we know which one is which....
• After making the previous post, we learned that Kenny Cooper is staying with his hometown club, F.C. Dallas, at least until the end of the season. We'll see what happens after MLS Cup, if Kenny has a good second half, we can only assume a European club having scoring troubles would look at Mr. Cooper to fill the void.

MLS Action this weekend and we have some great match ups to say the least, be back Saturday for re-caps.

Until then

Trades, Transfers, and More

Well to say it's been an interesting week in MLS is an understatement. Trades everywhere, ongoing negotiations for some, done deals for others, add that to the fact that we've had some extremely quality league play and I'd say MLS has had a pretty good week.

The busiest club during this week long period: FC Dallas. Let's analyze:

Should I Stay or Should I Go?
The two most dynamic players arguably on the roster have both been rumored to be out of the Big D, and more than likely, both deals will be completed within the next week or so. Kenny receiving offers from Rosenburg of Norway, Cardiff City of the English Championship. It's hard to debate which would be a better fit, because frankly we don't know. English Premiership Ambition, or Champions League play? Only a higher power knows....

The Juan Toja situations is a bit more tricky. Stay in Dallas, improve as a player each year and try and get a better offer, or move to Steaua Bucharest, a Romanian powerhouse. Personally I would love to see Toja wait a few years and see if he could get a better offer, but we all know he's making next to nothing compared to other quality players



Other news and notes:

• San Jose adds to the roster with the likes of Fransisco Lima, and surprisingly enough, an FC Dallas player, Arturo Alvarez. In my honest opinion, the most frustrating player in the entire league. He has more upside than most, but more often than not just doesn't show up. We'll see if the return back to where his career started, with the Manager that signed him will make a difference.

• The Brian McBride saga is done. It appears that Toronto will receive allocation money and possibly Chad Barrett (lol) Glad to see a great American player come home and play for the hometown club. Couldn't be happier that Brian is back.

Superliga Action tonight...

MLS Re-Cap

Kansas City Wizards 3 - 3 Columbus Crew

Arguably the best game of the week. The return of the most talented, what happened to this guy, Josh Wolff. Goals galore, if you turned you're head in the first half, you probably missed something. The result didn't change much in the eyes of both teams. Kansas City still can't get out of the bottom part of the table, and the Crew remains a consistant, point-getting team.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Guillermo Barros Schelotto


Real Salt Lake 0 - 0 Chicago Fire

I could be extremely lazy here and say no post is needed, but there were some things noticeable from the match. First of all, the Chicago Fire fans are great, Section 8 is underrated as a Supporters Group. Second of all, Justin Mapp is fun to watch, the guy is all over the field, and if he can get back the confidence he had 2 years ago while getting national team call-ups, he can be a good replacement for the injury prone Damarcus Beasley

PLAYER OF THE GAME: The goalposts at both ends
PLAYER WHO NEEDS TO BE IN THE USL: Chad Barrett


Colorado Rapids 2 - 2 F.C. Dallas

A small rivalry based on playoff appearances in the past, this game always seems to be an interesting one. Face it, when a goalie punches a guy in the face after a heated post-season match-up, there tends to be some fireworks after that. No fireworks here, just goals. Kenny Cooper with another performance to be noted (goal and an brilliant assist) Juan Toja looked dangerous, and Conor Casey continues to be relatively quiet, but dangerous. Dallas is going to struggle to make the playoffs if they continue to get draws at home.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kenny Cooper


San Jose Earthquakes - Toronto F.C.

Another snooze fest of a match, as both offenses look like they have never played on turf before. Can we please get grass on these pitches please? The new Earthquake pick-ups looked quite dangerous. Huckerby has more pace than people realized, and Lima (while older than my grandmother) looked ok. And seriously, Glenn Davis, we know that Toronto has a good fanbase, let's sound a little less surprised.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carl Robinson


New York Red Bulls 2-2 Los Angeles Galaxy

Best game of the weekend in my opinion. Up and down play the entire match with stars all over the field. Beckham looked lost most of the game, hanging out by the sidelines talking to the 14 year old girls, Donovan was dangerous, Carlos Ruiz looked, well, like Carlos Ruiz. Carlos should have his own adjective. Dave van den Burgh is an underrated talent, and I really liked Dane Richards, until he got hurt. New York is having trouble winning games, and Los Angeles keeps plugging along, we'll see where each team goes from here.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jorge Rojas
PLAYER WHO NEEDS TO BE IN THE USL: Gregg Vanney

Superliga 7/16 Re-Cap

New England Revolution - Pachuca
Has anybody else woken up from the deep sleep that this game put you in? What a howler this match was. A couple of points to make from this one and I'll move on:


1) Khano Smith is a dangerous winger. He's big, strong, quick, and has learned to use his right foot at times. He used to be fairly one dimensional, now a very dynamic player on a dynamic team.
2) As much as I hate to agree with the Mexicans, that was clearly not a penalty, although I thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish call "Penal, penal, penal, penal...penalty!"

3) Pachuca fans whistling at Pat Phelan while he layed motionless on the ground was absolutely ridiculous. Honestly, he had a neck brace on and wasn't moving...


Chivas USA - Santos

Best game of the night by a wide margin. Up and down the entire game. Santos should have scored early, but the goalie's best friend, the cross-bar was there to save the day. Couple quick points from this one:

1) Sacha Kljestan is an absolute stud. Best player on the field, was dangerous the entire game. You never see him make a bad pass. He looks more comfortable on the field than he ever has. He'll be a great talent in the future.

2) Oswaldo Sanchez is still the most annoying keeper on the planet. Who runs the length of the field to argue with a linesman?

3) To be fair to Where's Waldo, the linesman did have one of the worst games I've ever seen from a linesman. The goal that would have tied the game was more onside than Carlos Ruiz has ever been in his entire playing career.

Ohh well, better luck next time around FMF

Superliga 7/15 Re-Cap

A disappointing day for the MLS clubs in the illustrious Superliga tournament.


D.C. United essentially gets knocked out of the competition fairly easily. Unless D.C. wins by 3 or more goals against Houston, and Chivas wins, Unted are done.

Traditional United play, lots of buildup, get the ball wide, try and play it back through the middle, and nothing is there because it's closed down by then. The defense was piss poor, you could tell by the end of the second half that most of the players weren't intersted anymore. Fred looked like he wanted to be back in Australia frolicking with some kangaroos. I'm beginning to think D.C. United is becoming more and more like the Arsenal of MLS, plays good attacking soccer, but wins absolutely nothing when it matters.

Houston was the better MLS team by far on the night. Still in the hunt for getting a place in the semifinals, the mighty orange played well for the most part but gave up a fairly easy goal, with Omar Arellano dribbling through a number of Dynamo defenders without much harm.




How Ricardo Clark was not sent off is beyond me.







More to come tomorrow, New England and Chivas USA playing tomorrow, with Chivas USA needing to win.

Trade / Transfer Rumors of the Day

Some interesting trades and transfer talks have surfaced from the day, here's my reaction to what's gone on:

TRADES and Signings

• Scott Sealy, Dan Huckerby to San Jose

Much needed moves for the offensively hibernating Earthquakes. In a season where it was well known that San Jose would have its struggles, we did not however know they would score a measly 11 goals in 16 games. Reinforcements are on the way however, Huckerby is a talented front man, and we've seen Sealy score some really good goals. Sealy has better than average speed and should be a good fit for the 'Quakes.

Rumors

• Victor Sikora to FC Dallas

Not very well known to the American public, we'll see what comes of this signing if in case it happens. The Dutch winger is currently training with Dallas, and we all know that training with the team does not neccessarily mean anything. Recent teams include Dutch giant Ajax, NAC Breda (US Soccer fans will remember that former legend Earnie Stewart is currently employed by Breda), SC Heerenveen, and my favorite, Go Ahead Eagles. And yes that's spelled correctly.

• Hakan Sukur to Toronto FC

A talent to say the least in his day. But today certainly isn't Hakan's day. The 37 year old Turkish Star become well known with the Turkish team that finished 3rd in the 2002 World Cup, scoring 6 goals in qualifying, and an extremely important goal against the hosts South Korea. This isn't the first time a well-known, over the hill striker has been rumored to Toronto (see Nuno Gomes) so we'll see what happens.

Superliga 2008

This year's edition of the "MLS v. FMF" tournament, otherwise known as "Superliga" is off and running. An interesting tournament in it's second year of existence has something that last year's version did not have. Teams that deserve to be there. Rather than the four teams from each league being chosen by the hierarchies of MLS and FMF, this years wonderfully glorious Superliga trophy is being fought for by teams that have earned the right to be there.

What's at stake? Well the intangible reward is what we as American Soccer fans want more than anything...Supremacy over everything Mexican. Mexican clubs or the Mexican National Team. Which I agree is a high reward. As a new age American fan, what we want more than anything is respect, by the rest of the "footballing" world, which we are increasingly becoming more deserving of.

The tangible reward is what needs to be debated. What Soccer United Marketing officials have told us is that the winner of the tournament receives a $1 million dollar prize. What we have recently found out though is that not all of that prize money is going to the MLS clubs. It's a topic that is repeatedly being brought up, the lack of respect and money that MLS players earn.

Superliga is something that we as American soccer fans can look forward to, we'll see if the on the field product is as good as last year's version, which we have no reason to believe will not happen.