WEEK 13 NOTES

• I still think Amado Guevara is a punk, but he is one talented, deadly-finishing, quality punk. He and Ruiz both should have SAG cards, but dogonnit they’re good.

• Wow. Just wow. Eddie Gaven became a man tonight. He scored two goals in the first half against the Galaxy. The first was extremely well taken, composed, clinical, a thoroughly professional, top-notch goal. The second, well . . . the second was just incredible, world-class, impetuous, Homeric. If it’s not the goal of the week they need to quit giving away the award. It could well be the goal of the year. This time last year the kid still hadn’t returned the tux from his prom.

• No Freddy in the Freddy v Jason matchup in Dallas. Not until late in the game anyway. I’d call it a let down, but I’m more excited about the Dallas part of the DC-Dallas match-up anyway. Jason gets the 89th goal of his career, becoming the all-time leading goal scorer in league history. Class personified, this guy is.

• Alecko Eskandarian continues the rampage he started on last week, scoring the equalizer for DC, and effectively relegating Adu to more bench time in the process.

• Hey wouldn’t it be cool if the last thing the Dallas Burn did before their name change takes effect was win an MLS Cup? Wouldn’t that throw a wrench into the plans?

• What does it say about MLS that Troy Perkins has to work a part time job to make ends meet? Is this the mark of a major league sport? If Shaq had to spend part of his week working at sporting goods store . . . well I can’t even go on with that analogy because it’s just too ridiculous. What gives? Pay the guys already. I’m a schoolteacher for pity sakes, and I’m probably doing better than this kid. Of course, he’s got that whole “playing soccer for a living” thing going for him, so my sympathy is limited.

• Felix Brillant showed why Eric Wynalda is wrong about attackers diving. Brillant could easily have gone down and been given a foul in the 63rd minute against Metrostars. Rightly so too, he was definitely fouled. But instead, he stayed up, showing strength and determination, and scored. Beating three guys for a goal is so much cooler than diving. Brillant may be a rookie of the year candidate, along with teammate Clint Dempsey, who also scored.

• Dempsey has had three goals in three games. He’s easily the cream of the crop of young Americans in the game today. I wish he played for Dallas. He’s from Dallas, by the way. Ahem. . . are you listening, Dallas front office?

• Matt Reis, after playing brilliantly for 90 minutes of that game, almost self destructed in stoppage time. First he fouled Magee in the box and gave up a PK to Guevara, and then he pushed the Referee’s Assistant after scuffling with Guevara over who would get to pick the ball out of the net. Expect a suspension for Reis after the league office watches the tape of this one.

• Jean-Philippe Peguero’s goal for Colorado against Columbus probably won’t be a goal of the year contender, but if there was such a thing as Most Difficult Goal of the Year, he’d be right up there. Tough chest trap, man on him, tough half volley finish. It was a good one.

• If Edson Buddle stays healthy, he’s going to turn in to one of the more dangerous forwards in this league. He reminds me of Eddie Johnson; always on the verge of breaking big, but not quite there yet. Probably not as fast as Eddie, but already a better finisher.

• Jovan Kirovski scored from about fifty yards out to snag the winner for the Galaxy against the Fire. Henry ring came aggressively off his line to stop a breakaway, but unfortunately didn’t clear as well as he’d have liked. Jovan hit it first time, really with the side of his foot, letting the velocity from Ring’s clearance do all the work. Henry Ring hasn’t made many missteps this year, but that was one of them. In the old CISL it would’ve been a three pointer.

Stream Of Consciousness

The lasest SOC match report is up, thanks again to the good folks at 3rd Degree.

The other day, I professed ingnorance on why the Atlanta A-League team might be named "Siverbacks". I received a nice note from Marty, giving some background on the name:

I'm sure that unless you're from the southeast(and maybe even unless you're from the Atlanta area...), that you probably WOULDN'T know why our team is called the Silverbacks. It actually IS relevant to Atlanta, in a way. The Atlanta Zoo was always famous (locally, at least...) for their gorillas (silverbacks). One in particular -- named Willie B. -- was almost as much of an Atlanta institution as Hank Aaron, and it was REALLY big news here when he died a few years back.

Who knew? Thanks to Marty for the 411.

WEEK 12 NOTES:

• Danny Califf is back in the lineup for Los Angeles this week. He got burned on the first Metrostars goal, but having said that, most of LA’s defense this year has consisted of scoring in bunches and having Kevin Hartman in goal, so this is can only be a good thing in the long run.

• It was a much maligned young American player who got the ball rolling for Metrostars today, though; Kenny Arena (yes, he is related) scored his first MLS goal, while essentially being mugged by Califf. Good stepping-up for Arena on a team that was missing nine players from their normal roster today.

• Another young American futurestar headed in the winner at the 90 minute mark: Mike Magee. So Bob Bradley got a good scrappy win today from the youngest lineup ever put on the field in MLS history.

• DC’s first goal this weekend was their first in 272 minutes. Ouch. I’m not sure what Peter Nowak said to them this week in training, but they came out playing as if their lives depended on it today against Columbus.

• Alecko Eskandarian’s goal in the 33rd minute of that match showed why he deserves to start over Freddy Adu right now. The ability to play intelligently off the ball, and, for now, more efficient finishing. His second goal was just beautiful.

• New England are turning into the Badluck Schleprock of MLS. Beat to death by injuries to begin with, they had two goals snatched from them in the second half against Kansas City. One by the linesman, and one by the post. They finally found a late lifeline in the irrepressible Clint Dempsey.

• Dempsey’s goal set up a barnburner of a final 15 minutes in a game that hadn’t been all that exciting up until then. Matt Taylor finished his brace in injury time to put New England away. Taylor’s two goals for the Wizards were his first as a pro, by the way. Not a bad start for the rookie from UCLA.

• Chris Henderson became the all-time leading scorer in Rapids history recently, and this week he becomes the all-time leader in minutes played for the club, overtaking Marcelo Balboa. Congratulations to one of my favorite players.

• Kyle Beckerman is a hugely talented player, but has been an underperformer in MLS. I’d like to see him live up to his potential and become a star.

• Colorado picked up Joey Digiamarino this week. Digi, who has been with the team for before, was waived by Metrostars earlier in the season.

• Chicago, tied with Metrostars for the Decimation award, missing Armas, Beasley, Joseph, Williams, and Selolwane, still almost pulled off a miracle win against San Jose, thanks to up-and-coming futurestar Nate Jaqua. Nate scored Chicago’s first goal, but the Fire were doused (sorry) after Razov was stoned on the potential winning PK by Pat Onstad. The PK call was verrrrry questionable in any event; Jeff Agoos was so upset he got two yellows for dissent in the space of a minute and was sent off. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

• Notice I said Jaqua’s was Chicago’s first goal in a 1-1 game. The Fire’s second came when poor Evan Whitfield scored an own goal to keep the Quakes in the match.

• Oh yeah, San Jose were missing some kid named Donavan. He’s like, German of something, I think; you hardly ever hear anything about him.

• You understand of course, that only a year ago, Ronnie O’Brien nearly had his legged snapped off, right? Ok, keep that in mind next time you see him play, as he jets past any defender he chooses with impunity.

• Memo to Dave Sarachan: enjoy, no, savor the WCQ game against Grenada. Your fortnight of darkness is over.

My latest STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS match report at 3rd Degree.

Cool!

The A-League is back on Fox Sports World. I'm watching the second half of the Syracuse Salty Dogs at home to the Atlanta Silverbacks.

First off, let's talk about these nicknames.

Salty Dogs - now this is a really stupid name, but, I give them high marks, nay, I give them my eternal gratitude, for not spelling it "dawgs". That's just more than I can bear. Also, the official name of the club is Syracuse FC, which I like.

Silverbacks - brilliant! Original and Euphonious. Not exactly relevant to the Atlanta area, that I can see, but that's neither here nor there. Silverbacks is the best new team name since . . . hmmmm . . . I'll have to think about that. I can't remember the last time an expansion team came up with a good name.

Unfortunately for Syracuse, they are stuck playing on a baseball field. An artificial turf baseball field, at that. We're not talking about the new field-turf stuff that is somewhat grass-like in look and feel, either. I mean we're talking old-school carpet over concrete astroturf. The bounces are huge, like a superball, I can only imagine what it feels like on the knees and ankles, and, oh, every once in a while you get to run through a dirt area where the bases go. The lines are extremely difficult to make out, being pale yellow in color and eerily incongruent to the baseball infield lines and the not quiet invisible remnants of the football lines that were obviously present at one time. Very yucky.

That said, If I lived in Syracuse, I'd be there every week without fail.

The game itself was kinda choppy and slow. Kind of unavoidable what with the ball bouncing around like that. It doesn't look like a bad crowd, most of the people gathered down what would normally be the third base line.

Memo to the Syracuse gameday staff: Cut the loud music. Just cut it. It's amateurish and annoying. Show me one legitimate study that says this is a draw and I'll apologize, but until then, just stop it.

FSW's coverage features Dave Johnson, who, if he weren't so young, might be referred to as the dean of American soccer announcers. He's been around a long time, like the pre-MLS days. He and Seamus Malin and JP Dellacamera are the old hands in this country. I like his work. I'm not sure who his partner was tonight, but he was knowledgeable and un-annoying, which is all you can ask most times.

Atlanta's first goal was a nice 3/4 overhead volley by Gary Brooks. I've never heard of Brooks, but I guess we should all keep an eye on him.

Syracuse features ex-Dallas Burn Temoc Suarez, and also Ian Woan, who spent many years with Nottingham Forest and Swindon Town in England, while Atlanta has Alex Pineda-Chacon, the 2001 Major League Soccer MVP.

By the way, Atlanta scored in stoppage time to win the game 2-1.

And I, I now have my Friday evenings taken care of for the next few months.

Which is nice.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate this

Edmond won’t get MLS team
2004-06-11
By Francsico Ojeda
The Oklahoman
(used without permission under the fair use doctrine . . . so sue me)

A Major League Soccer expansion franchise won’t come to Oklahoma in 2005.
And it could be a long wait before one might be considered.

The two-year process of attracting a pro soccer franchise to Edmond has come to a standstill. MLS will award expansion franchises to two cities for the 2005 season — neither will be located in Edmond.

Said Mark Abbott, the MLS chief operating officer, “It’s fair to say that it is not a possibility anymore. An ownership group has not resulted, and there are too many things that did not pull together in time."

Burn v Revs Match Preview

If you're a Burn fan, you must read James Fougerousse's weekly Behind Enemy Lines column. He breaks down the next opponent and gives us an idea what to expect. He's a seriously talented writer.

If you're not a Burn fan, read it anyway, just because it's good.

Boca beats River Plate in "brawl" marred game

I added quotation marks to "brawl" because it was more like a grade-school slapfight. The Boca 'keeper was bleeding from the nose and cheek . . . from scratch marks. I kid you not, a River player grabbed Abbondanzieri's face and raked his nails across it like a little girl might.

I hope this is not indicative of the general state of Argentinian manliness. Grown men scratching each other?

You know, somebody could lose an eye that way.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup kicked off this week.

This is one of the oldest soccer competitions in the world, this being the 90th time the cup has been contested. Last years's Winners, Chicago Fire, look to be favorites again, but you certainly can't count out any of the MLS sides. For that matter you can't really even count out a few of the A-League sides, most notably Rochester.

For coverage of the race to claim the Dewar Cup (the competition is called the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the cup itself is named after a man named Dewar), you can't beat USOpenCup.com, which has updates of all matches just minutes after they reach full time.

OK, I'm sick, but I'm not THIS SICK.

180 bones? I went this route instead, for a mere $15.

The online Euro2004 package is a happy median between paying through the nose for PPV and waiting 3 to 5 days for rebroadcasts on FSW. With the online package, you get the entire game a mere 90 minutes after full time. Even though we're talking about an online video feed, not television, it's not bad for 15 bucks.

Stream Of Consciousness Match Report at 3rd Degree.

Welcome

3rd Degree, Dr. Chuck, MatchNight, and The Harfang's Perch to the link list.

The Harfang's Perch: World Cup Qualifying for Dummies

You MUST read this post if you have any interest at all in whether or not the United States qualifies for the next world cup. You'll not find a better summary of what it takes to qualify from our region (CONCACAF) in any publication anywhere.

Week 10 Notes:

• I’m not changing my fantasy soccer lineup any more this season, save for injury or National Team callups. Pat Noonan and Damani Ralph BOTH stabbed me in the back by putting up hat tricks as soon as I benched them. I feel somewhat Sir Alex Fergusonish with my newfound ability to get players to perform by benching them, but I don’t get near the payoff SAF does.

• I will of course, make exceptions to the no substitution rule for any fans who’d like to slip me a twenty in return for benching someone from their favorite team. I accept paypal, visa/MC/amex, and, of course, good ol’ fashioned cash money.

• DaMarcus Beasly was shoved to the ground on a breakaway in the first minute of the Chi/DC game, but he ended up hitting Troy Perkins before he ever made it to the ground. DaMarcus, who is not a big guy by any stretch of the imagination, took quite a shot, and looked to have seriously jammed or separated his shoulder. Here’s the point: first, he didn’t roll over once after he hit the ground; second, he didn’t stay on the ground a second longer than necessary; most importantly, the kid never even thought about coming out of the game. Why? Because he’s an American, that’s why.

• I haven’t seen the attendance report for the Fire game today, but it looked and sounded like a good crowd on TV.

• Ronald Reagan died this morning in California. As a result ABC switched to news coverage during their WNBA broadcast. The WNBA game was moved to ESPN2, while the coverage of Fire v United was bumped. The vitriol on BigSoccer was unbelievable. I’m not sure if they were angrier at poor Ronnie for having the nerve to interrupt a soccer game, or at ABC/ESPN for honoring their contract with the NBA. But they sure were angry.

• How ‘bout them Burn! Finally, after a month of frustrating futility, Dallas played up to potential this week and put the smackdown on Metrostars. Amado Guevera got a yellow card; a red would have made it a perfect evening. One can’t have everything however. I’ll take a two-goal-road-shutout any day of the week.

• Watching Metros/Dallas was made more entertaining by listening to Shep Messing’s call for MSG Network. For you whippersnappers, Shep was one of the few famous American players in the old NASL. He has pretty much done all you can do in soccer in this country: two-time All-American (at Harvard, no less), Olympian in 1972, 10 caps, Soccer Bowl champion in 1977 with Cosmos, multiple MISL championships with New York Arrows, and now broadcasting MLS. He’s also one of the true characters in the annals of the American game. Maybe coaching is next for Shep? I’d like to hear his thoughts on the matter.

• DirectKick lists the LA/KC game as being televised at 9:30 central time, but I got nada here. MLSnet.com says no TV. I’m miffed. Harumph. Even Tivo can’t help with this dilemma. I blame the inherent media bias against soccer in this country.

• If Dan Patrick cared about soccer, he’d say “You can’t stop the Columbus Crew; you can only hope to contain them.” Three wins in a row? Six games unbeaten? Have I dropped into Bizarro universe? Dare I say . . . “en fuego”?

• It just didn’t pay to be playing at home this week. Three of the four matches taken by the visitors. Ouch.

• Despite their loss at home, New England can continue to be encouraged by the rapid development of Clint Dempsey and Felix Brillant, who gave Columbus all sorts of trouble. When Twellman gets on track and with Ralston and Noonan continuing to play their consistent steady games, New England is going to be around at the end of the season. Oh yeah, there’s also that Shalrie Joseph kid, who can play a little, too.