Another new league…sorta

WooHoo!!! The long anticipated CONCACAF Champions League has finally been announced.

I won’t bore  you with the details cuz it’s blogged and published everywhere else.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m excited or not about this. Yeah, it’s another opportunity for MLS Clubs to show how competitive they are. Yes, another. Is the SuperLiga still part of the mix? Houston and NE still have the Champions Cup (the old version to play this Spring as well. Another question, which two MLS Clubs get the other two spots? It should be Chivas and DC….but will LA somehow slid into the mix? Will Toronto get a back door in every year?

Why am I so negative? Which Mexican Clubs participate? Will the best two still go to the Copa Libratadoras? Or will this be a second (third?) International Competition for them.

I do like the idea of dumping the rest of the competitions and making this the premier competition for our region, but until my questions are answered, it won’t be. We keep hearing comments about fixture congestion yet we continue to see more matches…though I will say that at least this isn’t some “made to make money” meaningless friendly against some big Euro Club.
Also, what about TV coverage? Will we even get to see the games? I’m thinking this is yet another idea from the CONCACAF Brain-trust which hasn’t been completely thought through.

DC clutching at straws

Sorry I missed this the other day.

DC United is still MLS’ best – Washington Times

Fair enough, the Supporters Shield the better judge of who was best over the entire season…but MLS recognizes the MLS Cup winner as Champion so, nice try DC.

Last night’s playoff match

Say what you want about the playoffs, it’s format and anything else you feel like complaining about.  I’m not buying any of it right now.  From a neutral standpoint, that was a highly entertaining match and well worth the complaining I got from my wife who wanted to watch Survivor.  Gimme DC and Chicago in a playoff second leg any day.  Great DC crowd too.  Love it.  Who needs Beckham to sell tickets?  Games like last nights should be doing the selling.

All systems go…

The stadium looked good. Undersoil heating? That’s not exactly a new concept. They’ve used it in England (and probably other places in Europe) for years. I enjoyed the game…but about 5 minutes after Kickoff, I had to mute the TV because, 1) my son was taking a nap and I didn’t want him to wake and 2) I just could not stand listening to the drivel O’Brien and Foudy were spouting. Any chance they could just forget about commentators and leave us with just the crowd sounds?

Was that really EPL highlights at HT? Wow. Not one snide comment either. Times are changing.

Still, it was entertaining. Glad to see Herc get the first goal at the Dick. Yeah, LA got Cannon, but they gave up a lot to get him. I’m sure Herc will score a bucketful this season. I’ve always been a fan of his. Fun to see DC get one back late in the game. It was cold…but not that cold. Granted, I don’t live in Colorado anymore. But those temps shouldn’t be enough to keep that many ticket buyers away…oh yeah, it was on ABC, never mind.

I’m so glad the season has started. Only an hour til we see what FSC will offer.

Boy, you blink and…

I don’t think I can remember an off season quite as busy as this one for Soccer in this country. It’s about time MLS kept the news flow going during the winter months.

So, I’m now getting used to the fact that Bob Bradley is the new national team coach. I’ve had a few days to reflect on the hiring and I’ve decided it’s not the end of the world. I’m sure he’ll do a great job. But the thing is, he’s not the guy who is going to give the team (and USSF in general) the shake up it needs. True, Bradley isn’t Arena. He’ll bring his own flavor the the team. I don’t think I’m going to be truly impressed with an American head coach until we having someone we actually saw play in a World Cup heading up the program. Perhaps John Harkes is working towards that…boy would that be fun.

Anyway, the big news the last 24 hours was the blockbuster trade between DC and RSL. Now, I’m cynical at the best of times, but for (RSL Owner…errr investor) Dave Checketts, this is probably a dream trade. In case you didn’t know, there’s this stadium Checketts is trying to build for the team. None other than LA’s future Spice Boy participated in a fake groundbreaking last summer. However, the stadium is hardly a done deal and the media, while giving the team very good coverage, is making it tough for Checketts to just railroad public money into the venture.

A few years ago my baseball team (San Diego) was trying to get a new stadium built. There was a lot of opposition to the use of public money to get it built and it ended up being put on a ballot for voters to decide. Wouldn’t you know it, the Padres suddenly had a great team and won a record 98 games in 1998. They then held a swap meet, sold their best players and were crap again until recently. Funny thing, the Chargers (love the Bolt) are trying to get a new stadium and they aren’t playing bad ball right now either. The reason I mention that is RSL are trying to get a stadium…right now it looks as if public opinion could be their best ally. Trading for Adu should go a long way towards helping that. Of course, winning a few games and actually making the playoffs wouldn’t hurt either.

The only question I’m left with is, how long will RSL get to keep Freddy?

BTW, getting Nick Rimando in the trade is probably the best part for John Ellinger.