What Dallas Burn need . . .



. . . is a time machine.

A little box they can all walk in to and come out again in February 2005. They could walk out right to the new dressing room at the Frisco stadium complex and start getting ready for the season. Well, most of them. A few need to be tapped on the shoulder while the others are filing in and given the "Not so fast, [insert name of least favorite player here]" speech.

That way they could put the horrific Dragon Stadium behind them, and they could make a few changes to:

a) shore up the porous defense

b) get someone to help not hinder the most prolific goal scorer in the league, Jason Kreis, and, finally,

c) have a healthy Ronnie O'Brien back, which could very well solve a) or b).

I just hope the combination of an unfortunate stadium situation and an unfortunate product on the field isn't driving away so many fans that the beautiful Frisco Stadium the time machine lands on isn't already boarded up due to lack of interest.

More on Foe



This is a quote from the live match report from Eurosport.com:

71 : Foe is down! He took a hit to the back of the head! There is not much movement from him! It could be serious!

The Sports Illustrated website however, reports that no one was around him when he collapsed. It will obviously be a while before we really know what happened.

A brief bio can be found here: Marc Vivien Foe.

Confederations Cup Tragedy.



Cameroonian international and Manchester City midfielder Marc Vivien Foe collapsed and died during the semifinal between his country and Columbia today. The game was being played at Stade Lyon, where Foe had played for Lyon from 2000-2002 before moving to the Premier League.

It is still to early to know the cause of his death, but it seems impossible that a 28 year old man in peak condition and at the height of his powers could just up and die like that. Life is more fragile than we like to admit though, isn't it? I can't imagine what his friends, teammates and family are going through. Say a prayer and light a candle for Marc Viven Foe. Requiscat in pace.

I'll update this story when more facts come out.

Soccer Haiku #1


Bend it like Beckham
All I have to say is this
Roberto Carlos

Welcome To Footballs Are Round



First post for America's Fastest Growing Soccer Website*

I started my two-week trial subscription to Yahoo! Platinum yesterday. I did this to see Colorado v LA, since I didn't see it listed on the Shootout schedule. Is it worth 10 bones a month to see a webcast of an MLS match? I'm not sure yet. The picture was clear, albeit very small. I don't know, I pay 50 bucks a year for the Shootout package on DirecTV, so it would be more than twice that to have a year of teeny-tiny soccer on Platinum. Comments? I'll let you know what I decide, though at this moment, I don't see it happening.

As it turns out, I missed the live broadcast because of a meeting, but saw it later. They immediately archive all the games on Platinum, so you can watch them at any time. One thing I absolutely hated was that they GIVE THE SCORE on the link to the archived game! So instead of seeing the entire match, as it had been ruined by such a wantonly thoughtless act, I skipped around to the goals, having found the time of each on MLSnet's recap.

Chung and Spencer for Colorado, no surprise there. I will NEVER have an MLS fantasy team without Mark Chung on the roster. Probably the most underrated player in the league, next to Steve Ralston.

But ohmygosh! A brace for Chris Albright! Four years in the league and he scored roughly a third of his total goal output in this game! Pod People? Perhaps. Where was that touch in France last week, huh buddy, huh?

What's that?

He didn't go to the Confed Cup? Oh. Never mind. . . . . WELL WHY DIDN'T HE, HUH? HUH?

Over/Under on a BigSoccer poster berating Bruce Arena for not having Chris on the squad: Noon today.

If I had some money lying around somewhere, I'd buy a ticket and go see US/Paraguay July 6 in Columbustown. Hang out at the tailgate with some BigSoccer folks, drink a little, scream spanish imprecations at the Paraguayans (ok, not the last part. I got nothin' 'gainst no Paraguayans). Ah well.

*among soccer websites published out of my house