. . . . . . The Daily Soccer . . . . . .

If Clint Mathis can resurrect his career in Greece, I'm back in the blogosphere. I got temporarily sidetracked by life, I promise that won't happen again.

I'm back! If Beckham can be recalled to the Real Madrid roster I think it's fitting that I awake from a long blog post slumber. More to come...

My trek to Toyota Park last night to see the Wizards vs. the Fire in a U.S. Open Cup matchup ultimately led to an evening of no soccer. Wicked lightening and then a torrential rain made anything outdoors in Chicago last night impossible. However, I think the fans at Toyota Park and Wrigley Field were the only sad folks around...everyone else was thankful for the 20 degree drop from 95F at 7:00 pm to 75F by 9:00 pm.

I did snap an awkward photo of Chris Armas calling his babysitter to tell her why he wasn't going to be home by 10 p.m. I also saw an injured Josh Wolff chatting on his cell phone with his family in tow. It seems whenever I run across USMNT players in public, they're always on their cell phone. They must think they're famous and need to pull a Lindsay Lohan trick.

One thing I have noticed after standing next to or near Chris Armas, Josh Wolff and Frankie Hejduk in the last two months is that these guys are tiny. I expect them to be marathoner skinny but they're definitely lacking in height as well. Soccer may be the only sport where a lack of size may actually help you with a lower center of gravity...to a point. Maybe our smallish size hurts us internationally. LD, Ben Olsen, DMB, Bobby Convey, Reyna, Dolo, Eddie Lewis...these guys are all skilled but small. More guys like Dempsey and Gooch might help us fend off a few Essienesque tackles in our big international games that could lead to the difference between victory and defeat.

Kudos to the Fire for offering me to exchange my tickets for another Wednesday night game in August. (Bostrom)

Arggggh...no soccer yet, just lots of blaring techno music.

I'm off to the Fire vs. the Wizards (can there be a worse nickname in all of soccer) in a U.S. Open Cup matchup. It will be my first Fire game at Toyota Park and the weather looks perfect, if a little hot. I'm pumped. Will get there early enough to hear the pregame pep talks...as there should only be about 5,000 of my closest soccer friends sauntering into attendance throughout the evening. I'll try to refrain from ridiculing Josh Wolff as that would be tough to explain to Bjorn. ("Uh, he deserved it because he used to be good an now he's not!")

Bostrom

Here's my new posting strategy...start the timer, 5 minutes later hit the post button. Oh, that's what you thought I was doing already, huh! Well...

Took in the Crew/Everton match last night, second half only. It was more interesting that I thought. I essentially watched the spring training Everton reserves vs. the midseason Crew reserves/injury-rehabbers. So it's unfair to compare the teams other to say that if the Crew reserves can hang with anyone, that's an overall good sign. And they didn't play that badly. But what I noticed more than anything else was that the Everton players, and teams from Europe in general, have mastered the 7 yard low-flying chip pass.

Here's the situation...you're on the ball and you have two defenders crawling up your back. You spot your mate a few yards away beind you. And instead of trying to thread a little short/square pass to him on the ground, you (the enlightened European player) instead hit a little chip upon a quick turn that goes no more than two feet in the air but also stops right after it goes about 5-7 yards due to the excessive backspin. What this little cheeky pass does nicely is get the player out of a tight spot but also gives the ball to your teammate stopped on a dime. If I had a nice YouTube video, this all would make sense. Hopefully you can envision what I'm saying.

The point is, I don't see stateside players using this trick often They should. (Bostrom)

In the runup to the World Cup, our players were routinely thrown together in conversations about transfers to some of Europe's biggest clubs. Gooch to ManU. Adu to Chelsea. Dempsey to anywhere in the EPL. EJ (by his own admission) to anyone who would take him. Gooch to Middlesborough, at the very least. Well, since the World Cup, there has been relative silence on the transfer front for any of the U.S. based national team players. Sure we were disappointing in our play. But doesn't anyone want our players? No one even wants the hard-tackling Pablo Mastroeni??

I guess not.

Perhaps the transfer market will heat up in the winter as the MLS guys will have received a well-deserved break after a long winter, spring and summer of soccer. But it is a small dose of reality that our current crop of youth is not garnering much attention overseas. Yet.

FIRE AWAY

I took in the Fire-DC United game this past Saturday night and was underwhelmed. I say this as my expectations for the match were fairly high. Very high, in fact. DC has been playing out of their minds all season and the Fire are the hometown team with a lot prove in the brand new stadium. Even the league sent their best ref, Mr. Kevin Stott.

Well Mr. Stott was in for a long night. The Fire came out very aggressively (perhaps a tad bit dirty I have to admit) and the game got very punchy very early. But then again whenever Ben Olsen is on the field, I have a tough time garnering much sympathy for him as he's an easy target to dislike with his physical, and sometimes, whiny play.

But the most interesting aspect of the night was that the Fire owned the play in the first half. And even after they went down a man in the second half, they still played well enough to win. The Fire do have talent...especially at forward. Chris Rolfe returned from injury, Andy Herron has been on fire (so of course he pulls up lame), Nate Jaqua has scored enough to get on the all-star team, rookie Calen Carr has looked dangerous when he sees the field and Chad Barrett started a slew of early games. Add Tiago's runs forward, and there's no shortage of guys looking at the goal.

As the game just barely got going, Mr. Stott started flashing yellow as if it was the recent World Cup. But most of his decisions were just. Perhaps if he had shown Logan Pause a straight red in the first half, the game wouldn't have been so rough. But Pause still earned his ejection soon enough after the break on the silliest display of basketball I've ever seen on a soccer field.

In the end, I turned off the set disappointed in DC's play. The great Jaime Moreno looked like he ate a steak right before kickoff and wasn't to be found. Perhaps he didn't like the in-your-face defense of CJ Brown but that's what CJ always brings to the table. And Freddy Adu is all but a wasted talent on the left side of the field. Granted, he could have tracked back a bit more to win back possession and he didn't seem especially sharp, but DC essentially leaves him out on the wing and gives it to him when nothing else is available. That being said, he really didn't beat anyone 1v1 in the first half and his first touch looked Beasleyesque at times.

Then Freddy moved into the center of the park for the latter stages of the game and looked like an all-star. His natural position is definitely attacking midfielder but DC possess one of the best in MLS in Christian Gomez. Too bad Mr. Gomez has a good bit of disdain for Freddy imho and tends to look for Jaime and Alecko Eskandarian as his first choices. Of course, those aren't bad options but the whole thing adds up to bad chemistry for Freddy. I used to think having Freddy on the leading team in MLS was the best for his development, and while it isn't retarding him too badly, he'd be much better served being the maestro for any of the other 11 teams. Imagine Freddy in Los Angeles, where the Galaxy have no one to run the offense (sorry, LD). Freddy would easily find a way to blend in with LD and he'd be a offensive star. Oh well, he'll be off to Europe as soon as he's old enough.

On Monday, I checked out the box score of the Fire/DC reserve league game from Sunday. I had no idea the kind of talent that the reserve league gets. Alecko played 45 minutes, Jim Curtin (former all-star) played 90 and Santino Quaranta (former Nat team midfielder) played major minutes as well. That's a game I'd actually watch to see who's coming off injuries and who's trying to earn their way out of the doghouse. Now I don't think you could pay me to watch an RSL/Crew reserve league game! I may be one of the few who would watch a first team RSL/Crew tilt, but I do have my limits.(Bostrom)

Now that it's almost been a month since the end of the World Cup (or a couple weeks anyway), I'm finally getting into the swing of MLS again. But I still have a couple unanswered questions from the World Cup...

* Still can't get over the lack of criticism for Wayne Rooney's actions. Everyone in England seems co-dependent with his anger management issues. Maybe I missed something...

* The ratings for ESPN stateside were very good so it looks like lead announcer and soccer newbie Dave O'Brien will get to keep his gig, as amazing as that sounds. So I'll be watching to see if Dave shows any passion for the game during his MLS broadcasts or interviews. Here's a hint Dave: instead of bashing passionate soccer fans for being upset at a broadcaster that's just learning the game, admit you have a lot to learn but that you absolutely love this game. That will kill much of the criticism. Don't be an Alex Rodriguez and play everything right down the middle. You have that persona down pat. Now show some passion. Please!!!!

But on the homefront, here's what I'm looking forward to...

* Attending my first Fire game in person at the new Toyota Park. Sure ticket sales have been slower than anyone wanted, but the facility seems great and people are showing up. Saturday night, the Fire will do a very wise thing and put their game against DC United on local cable. While that may have cost them a few thousand at the gate, they desperately need to build awareness and what better way to show off the park than against the best MLS has to offer with Freddy and the boys. Or, more accurately, Jaime/Christian and the boys who every once and a while give Freddy the ball.

* Watching the travails of Landon Donovan. He's playing great and nobody cares because it's just the MLS and that's been pointed to as the root of all his problems. So, if he plays well, everyone says it won't translate to the international stage. And if he plays poorly, everyone will say that he's washed up after his WC '06 experience. So what's he doing...he's playing great and hopefully developing some thick skin. It will be fascinating to watch his national team development now that the bloom is off the rose and he has to impress a new coach. No, I'm not talking about how he'll play against CONCACAF opponents, but how he'll play against real competition, if we can ever get a good game in the next 12 months.

* Watching the stadium issues develop. In Salt Lake City, there's a lesson in Negotiations 101 going on. Both sides are playing hardball and the endgame is soon to come. Will be fun to watch. In New York, the future looks bright for a stadium but no one will really believe it until a shovel hits the ground. Now, the groundbreaking has been put off until the Spring because of a new and better plan. Yeah, right! The funny thing is that that might actually be true. We'll see. With Bruce Arena on board, that will help tremendously with the locals for credibility of the organization.

* South Jersey / Philly. I'll let George fill in the details, but more and more rumblings point towards a 2007 team with a move to the new Rowan stadium in '09. And shovels may actually hit the ground soon. Or not.

* If stadium issues don't get you excited (I admit a weakness for them...I've always been a big picture guy and nothing says more about the future of the league than these soccer/concert venues) than you can always focus on the start of the EPL season. After a couple globe-trotting tours to the USA and other locales, the EPL will start up in mid-August. That's just plain awesome.

(Bostrom)

It's been a while since I've updated the blog and I have a much to say. And I'm saying it all via my new MacBook so expect many more entries to follow as I break in this beautiful laptop!

The biggest current topic has to be the passing of the coaching torch for the U.S. Men's National Team from Bruce Arena to ??? and Bruce's subsequent move to the RedBulls.

The early money for the USMNT job is all on Juergen Klinsmann. While I was surprised that Juergen stepped down as the German National Team coach, I wasn't shocked. The whole of Germany from Angela Merkel on down were begging him to stay, but "Klinsi" has always marched to his own drummer. And that drummer firmly resides in Southern California with a family that has no intention of relocating to Germany. So even if the U.S. job wasn't in the offing (and it wasn't officially open the day Juergen said goodbye), Juergen likely wouldn't want to continue to commute to Germany for any coaching stints. That leaves him a free agent and Sunil Gulati and the rest of the U.S. Soccer Federation should be ready to offer the whole of the Chicago to lure Juergen in the fold. At this point, I would be surprised if he doesn't sign after the new year when The Bruce's reign officially ends. But I wouldn't necessarily count on it as well. Everyone thought Juergen would play a few years for the Galaxy of MLS when he was residing in Southern California and still on the good side of forty, but he never relented. So we can only hope he comes. Here's why I'm hoping:

1) I can't wait to see how the veterans respond to new leadership. Landon and the rest will have reprove themselves which can only be a good thing in the long run. This would be true of any new coach, but Juergen will have the credentials to bench whomever he wants without hearing much, if any, criticism.

2) I can't wait to see the attacking style Juergen will implement. I'll be shocked if he trots out the 4-5-1. He won't. Klinsmann played the whole world cup with two forwards and encouraged most everyone to get forward.

3) I can't wait to see the schedule of friendlies that we'll play. JK will likely get a slew of European teams to come here or host us for a much stronger slate of opponents.

4) I can't wait to have a coach that may be short on words, but is also short on sarcasm. I loved Bruce's sarcasm but it was wearing after a while. Not just for me, but for the whole of U.S. soccer. The players still seemed to love him BUT I firmly believe we had too much of an us vs. them mentality. How does that relate to sarcasm? I think it's not a stretch to realize that Bruce didn't make many friends outside of U.S. soccer due in large part to his ornery/sarcastic demeanor. So we bunkered down. JK won't alienate nearly as many in the soccer world. He's alienated a more than a few along the way, but he's also the hottest commodity going and shows an openness to other ideas and people.

5) Ironically one of the friends that Bruce did make was Juergen. He wanted knowledge and Bruce let him in. And to this day, I believe both men have a healthy respect for each other. So that will make the transition that much smoother. Juergen will likely build on what Bruce built...IF JK signs. So please, JK, don't make us beg.

Bruce's reign begins in New York with nowhere to go but up. Bruce will likely succeed because he is a good coach but also because the Red Bulls will give him several years to build a system. That's a luxury none of his predecessors has had.

Other things in my brain...
Defensive Soccer
In the NBA if an offensive player is on his game, the defense is pretty hopeless to stop him. But in soccer, if an offensive player is playing out of his mind, there are many tricks the soccer defender can use to stop him. He can push, trip, hold and the like and usually just yield a harmless free kick, if that. In the NBA, those moves usually put the offensive player on the line for free throws. Thus, I think even more must be done to open up the game. FIFA was on the right track by cracking down on cynical fouls, but they went too far. And the they started on the world's stage which was a very bad testing ground in front of millions. But they need to find the middle ground. Shirt holding and the like must be kept to a minimum. Don't give up FIFA, even though you looked foolish with refs handing out 15 cards a game.

One Ref = One Bad Idea
Put two refs on the field. Nothing else needs to be said. The game is too fast for one man and the players are too smart.

Bad Actors
Institute video replay AFTER the games. We don't need it during the run of play. But we do need it after all is said and done to punish the worst offenders who demean the game. I'm talking about the pathetic diving and incessant play acting that pushes people away from the game far more than low scores. But it can be punished. After every game, all FIFA needs to do is review the video tape much like the NBA does. If player dives and the ref doesn't catch it, no problem. It's no shame on the ref for FIFA to punish the player the next day. FIFA needs to rid itself of the idea the ref is a god. He needs help. Give it to him. Even if it takes 24 hours.

MLS Update
I fear for the long-term health of this league, I really do. Attendance is very spotty and not very accurate to say the least. Without getting into the details of game by game attendance figures, it's safe to say I'm happy when over 10,000 show up for a game without some major promotion. There are bright spots. DC United consistently draw 15 - 20,000 for average Saturday night games. The L.A. Galaxy also regularly get somewhere north of 20,000 and the Houston Dynamo have done well in their first year. But K.C., Colorado and New York are lucky to get 10,000 even in the best of conditions. And the slew of Soccer Specific Stadiums seem to be drying up. After Chicago this year and Colorado and Toronto next year, there are no other stadiums that have broken ground. I'll believe it when I see it for New York and Salt Lake City has run into a political logjam with their plans. And even when a stadium is built, there's no guarantee the people will come. The Chicago Fire have averaged just over 10,000 for their first five home dates and that includes an opening day sellout. So while it's nice to have the added revenues of concessions, parking and the like, not to mention better control over scheduling, I don't know that 10,000 a game will cut it in the long run. Do I have the answers? No. I have many ideas that I'll share in coming posts, but suffice to say I worry all the good MLS press this year will be followed by a lot of bad press next year.

On the field, there are many storylines to follow. 1) DC United is playing as well as any MLS side had ever played. Check them out if you can. Freddy Adu is in the best MLS place he can be and the fact that he's earned a starting role in this team full of talent bodes very well for him. I don't care if his goal scoring is down this year. He's playing out of position but playing very well. 2) The LA Galaxy and Chivas USA have built a real rivalry. Catch one of these inter-city classics if you can. The fans are great on both sides, and if Landon Donovan is playing for the Galaxy, the soccer isn't all that bad now that Bob Bradley is at the Chivas helm. 3) The Houston Dynamo are for real. But you knew that when they played last year as the San Jose Earthquakes. Dwayne DeRosario is as fun a player has MLS has. And with Brian Ching as his target forward, this team in orange is easy on the eye.

That's all for now. (Bostrom)

Since we’re down to the final four teams, I thought it would be a good time to clear out some of the random thoughts that have been building up in my head:

France – Brazil: A very entertaining match (just like France-Spain) where both teams just wanted to play rather than practice their acting (do you hear me Portugal?). Zidane continues to amaze. He’s my favorite player of all time so to watch him in his final days is something to savor. He always seems to have absolute control over the ball while effortlessly navigating past numerous defenders.

While Zidane is getting most of the credit for France’s resurgence and rightly so, the reason that they have gotten this far has been the return of Makelele and Thuram who returned to the team at the same time that Zidane did. The work that those two did along with Gallas and Viera was nothing less than spectacular. Those four made the middle of the field impassable to Brazil’s elite attackers and when they tried to attack from the wings, Sagnol and Abidal give them little to work with. Usually, Brazil’s backs can always get into the attack, but both were unable to yesterday. Cafu seemed too slow, perhaps showing the effects of age and major knee surgery earlier this year while Roberto Carlos was too busy trying to lock down the elusive Franck Ribery. Before this World Cup, Ribery had no caps for France and was a long shot to make the roster. Now, he is arguably one of the true breakout players in the WC.

Poor Brazil, they just never seem to perform well in a WC when they are the overwhelming favorites (similar to ’82).

Italy: I don’t know if anyone has realized this, but the US is the only team to score on Italy in this WC so far. True, it was an own goal, but that 1-1 result in group play is starting to look better and better each day. The Italians seem galvanized by the match-fixing scandal and are getting better each game. Good for them to focus on the WC since many of them will be playing in Serie B next year unless they can get transferred.

ESPN/ABC: While I won’t spend anymore time bashing Dave O’Brien since he’s so bad and hasn’t improved one iota, he has actually made Cello worse (if that was possible). When you compare them to DellaCamera and Harkes, it’s like night & day (and that includes some of Harkes’ mispronounciations). They are truly terrible together and it goes to show you that, just like in the corporate world, the best and most talented people don’t always rise to the top.

Their pre-game and half-time shows aren’t bad. Each of the three hosts (Revsine, Rece Davis and Mussberger) do a very good job of running the show. I have actually been impressed by Mussberger’s performance.

Their analysts aren’t bad either…Foudy can make some good points, Wynalda is there to serve as a daffy Bill Walton type with outlandish statements, Chinaglia must have taken some charm lessons since ’02, etc., but the one thing that bothers me is why Alexi Lalas is there? Besides offering no worthwhile analysis, I can’t get past the fact that he has a full-time job with the Galaxy. So that gig doesn’t keep him busy enough? Aren’t the Galaxy in last place? Shouldn’t he be trying to fix that rather than being on ESPN’s WC team? Can some please explain this to me ‘cause I just don’t get it.

USA Aftermath: While much is being made about Arena’s supposed negative comments about MLS, I think his point is valid. MLS is great at developing young players into good ones, but has yet to evolve into a league that can make good players into great ones. True, MLS players performed well in the WC (i.e. – Dempsey & Conrad), but in order for them to make the next step, they need to go abroad. If you look at what happened to someone like Donovan who played great in ’02 and has not really progressed since, you can see Arena’s logic. Plus, when good players leave MLS, other players need to step up and take over their roles which helps increase the player pool in the US. Perhaps someday, MLS will be a strong enough league where talented players won’t need to leave it to reach their full potential, but that day is pretty far down the road right now. I think that Rafa Marquez’s comments about Mexican players needing to go abroad in order to get better show that this is not just a problem isolated to the U.S.

The other point that I want to make is that Arena needs to leave his post as US manager. Even though he is the best and most successful coach in US history, eight years is a long time for any manager and he seems like he needs a change. It’s only natural that players start to tune the manager out after all this time. At this point in time, the team & federation need some fresh ideas and bringing in a new coach will achieve this. While everyone is calling for Klinsmann, there are others out there that need to be considered (i.e. – Scolari).

Predictions: I’m going with Italy (2-1 over Germany on a late Totti goal) and France (2-0 over worn out & ill-tempered Portugal side) to make it to the Final. (George)

Today's quarterfinal matchup between Germany and Argentina could have been the World Cup final with the way both teams are playing. But, I don't think Germany has enough in the tank to keep up with Argentina. Argentina's biggest foe today may be their coach, Jose Peckerman. He's been stingy in doling out minutes to wonderkids Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez. Even if both of them don't see major minutes, expect Argentina to overcome the home crowd. The biggest concern for Argentina would be an early strike from Germany. That will get the fans even more riled up and give an already confident team no reason to expect anything less than a victory. If that does happen, it will be fun to watch Argentina play with their backs against the wall. I don't expect a boring and defensive game. While both teams won't take unnecessary chances, both will attack when given half a chance. I can't wait!