Catching up on some stuff

It’s been an interesting week on the MLS Coaching front.  Of course, LA now have a Dutch coach….a coach who I idolized as a player.  The guy was awesome.  My hope is that he can introduce Total Football to the HDC.

I was fortunate enough to group up in the Total Football heyday.  While I lived on the other side of the North Sea, Bobby Robson had brought a taste of Total Football to Suffolk in the late 80’s when he signed Arnold Murhen and Franz Thijssen.  The think of love about the style isn’t the obvious, ball movement, it’s the player movement.  Players off the ball finding and creating space so the player with the ball can use them.  That’s what gave me goosebumps when done well.

How will it work in LA?  I don’t know.  I do remember (fuzzy memory again here) back in the Rose Bowl days when LA were getting pretty close there.  I don’t remember if Zambrano or Schmid were in charge at the time.  It may have been ’98.  Anyway, I hope he can bring some of it to LA.  Sampson killed anything entertaining and Yallop was never given the chance to develop it.

Pele has been getting in the news while watching Ipswich go down to Sheffield Utd.  He claims that MLS sold Becks as a goal scorer.  Um, I know I’m getting old (another birthday this week) but I honestly don’t recall anyone saying that.  In fact, I seem to recall everyone explaining to those who aren’t as familiar with the sport that he is a midfielder and is a great passer and freekick taker.  Nothing about goals.  Granted, there were many who made comments about his productivity in terms of stats when assessing his impact on the field this season.  But then again, I’m not sure the average American sports writer can write anything without citing some type of stats.  For me, I saw a different team when he was on the field.  LA were much more organized and seemed to have more direction and flow when Beckham was getting touches.   But what do I know?  I’m sure Pele saw all the matches he played for LA and is more an expert on those things than I.  Beckham, for his part, only said great things about Pele when asked to respond.  What a class act.

Speaking of Ipswich, I loved this result.

Is it me, or are things in NY (ok, NJ) at a standstill?  (Insert 60-90 day’s joke here.)  Is Red Bull going to pull something amazing out of the hat?  Firing Arena (yeah, I read the statement) just seems a bit drastic.  Now they are making changes to the stadium plan…well, according to Ives who is one of the more reliable reporters–ad the stadium probably won’t be ready until 2010!!!  Now, I’ve sat on this for a few hours and given it some thought.  My conclusion is, this may not be a bad thing.  Granted, there are things in Red Bull Land which need to be addressed.  However, I think this shows a long-term commitment to the team and the league.  Also, I’ve a feeling that Red Bull–who don’t do things half-way–are going to create one heck of a sweet stadium.  I just wonder how much longer the Red Bull loyal can wait?

So, Seattle will have an MLS team sometime in the future–possibly before Red Bull moves outta the Meadowlands.  Drew Carey will probably now get grief from my buddies in LARS but I guess I don’t really blame him.  What’s interesting is where I read something along the lines of the team having fans buy shares of the club and allow them to vote on things.  With Red Bull in NY, Chivas in…err, Chivas, Toronto doing something no other MLS team can–like selling 16,000 season tickets before the previous season is finished.   Back to my point, there’s more investment from people who arefamiliar with how the game is run in other countries coming into the league.  The league isn’t anything like it was in ‘96–and I’m not just talking quality of play.  I’m just surprised it’s taken so long for the owners to realize things things.  Maybe I’m not seeing the right picture but things do seem to be headed in that direction.  I just wonder how much longer we’ll have to put up with matches on FIFA International dates?

Anyway, enough rambling for today.  I’ve not been good about writing much lately…I’m blaming school.  However, if you are interested in random comments and the occasional live match comments, check out my Twitter.

Rent-a-fan???

Perhaps Red Bull should take note.

We should have seen this coming

Red Bull Stadium opening delayed 60-90 days.

It’s lonely at the top

My Chargers just hired Norv Turner to be head coach??!!!! What’s Spanos thinking???!!! I mean, this has to be….errr…sorry, wrong football.

So, Zidane isn’t greedy. After all, he doesn’t want Backham money. Someone needs to explain to him that Beckham isn’t being paid to play. Perhaps MLS should structure a deal just like the one Becks has. Half of shirt sales etc. Nah, he’s French. It’s not as if the French are arrogant or anything.

Speaking of Becks, does anyone feel sorry for their current house hunting plight? Finding the right home for the right price in LA isn’t easy. Besides, why are they so opposed to remodeling? I’m sure they could have everything done by July.

Now that the US is playing in Copa America, people are still complaining. Ok, so it’s only Jamie Trecker. Problem is, he’s missing the point. First thing, the coaches of the players who are with teams in Europe probably aren’t too excited about them playing in two tournaments this summer. It’s much easier for him to justify playing them in our own competition than in a tournament where we are invited guests. Second, the World Cup is now 3 1/2 years off. Most of the Gold Cup players have played in big events and have that experience. The younger players he’ll be taking South for the most part won’t have that experience. Why not give them a chance to get their feet wet in games which don’t mean anything to teams from our Confederation?

The reason the Gold Cup (and Open Cup) is perceived as meaningless (as Trecker pointed out) is because hacks like him make it out to be that. Well done to Bradley for doing this right.

Could the World Cup be returning to these shores? I’d be willing to bet it will sooner rather than later.

Catching up on some things

I’ve got a little time today so I thought I’d quickly mention some things which has caught my eye lately.

Where the heck is Collinsville? Continuing the trend of putting stadiums well outside the cities the teams are named after, St Louis looks like they are well on the road to getting a stadium for a possible MLS team.

Speaking of stadiums, will RSL ever get theirs?

…And then there’s KC who have had to bring in reinforcements to find somewhere (anywhere) to play. I’m hoping something good happens soon for them.

There’s always Cleveland.

Not one of those stadiums is in the cities they are named after. One of the great things about going to Ipswich games was being able to meet up with friends in a pub near the town center and be able to walk to the stadium from there in 10 minutes. Heck, I used to get stuck in traffic for more than 10 minutes trying to get to the HDC from Pasadena. That leaves less time for pre-game beers.

I meant to post this some time ago…but never got around to it. Soccer Dad did a good job of analyzing what happened with the Klinsmann fiasco. We’ve all had a lot of time to digest what happened and after the match last week I’m sure more of us are now comfortable with Bradley at the helm. But I will still maintain that the news wasn’t the story, the news was how much the media covered the story—and this was before the Beckham media blitz.

You’ve got to love the idea of a soccer made earthquake.

Even six months after the World Cup finished, Dave O’Brian is still catching flack.

It looks like some net geeks are trying to cash in on Beckham’s move to LA.

Speaking of big signings (well, not quite that big)…Reyna has now joined Red Bull. Anyone not think that was going to happen?

Wow, Chicago went after Zidane. Guaranteed every sports hack would be discussing the head butt 24/7 if it did go through.

Getting back to Beckham a bit. As a kid I used to stand on a milk crate in the Churchman’s Stand at Portman Road. Back then Town were managed by Bobby Robson. Now, Sir Bobby’s first management job was with the old NASL Vancouver Royals back in 1967. I’m guessing he hasn’t watched much soccer from over here since then based on these comments.

Now, back then Robson’s top striker was Paul Mariner. MLS fans may know him as the guy with glasses who’s always next to Steve Nichol on the bench. Back the 70’s/80’s, Mariner was one of the top strikers in England and was capped several times. He’s been in the US for a while now and I have to agree his response to Robson’s comments.

It’s an interesting observation. To be perfectly honest, far be it from me to disagree with such a great man, but I think I’ve seen more games and been involved in more games than my ex-boss has seen. I think it just goes to show that the general perception of leagues the world over, we take a look at the A-League in Australia, what level do we think that is, the J-League in Japan, what level do we think that is, I mean, for that matter, what do we think of the Portuguese League? I mean it’s all a debate, that’s why football is such a fantastic sport; everybody can debate until they are blue in the face what (the different) levels are like. For the boss (Robson) to say that we are sort of League One is completely wrong. I think it will be interesting to get David’s quotes at maybe six weeks or three months into the league and find out if he thinks this is League One. I would be absolutely shocked if he would say that it was… Having seen some English games over the Christmas period, from the lower leagues to the Premiership, I think that we are doing very, very well for a relatively young league. I think we are doing great and I think the stuff that most (MLS) teams are delivering and the product that MLS is trying to put together is fantastic for a league that is so young.

Problem is, if Beckham comes over here and does well then it proves their point that MLS isn’t any good. If Beckham comes over here and doesn’t take the league by storm, it proves that Beckham is well past his prime. Ya can’t win either way.

Oh and now all the “interesting” people looking for their 15 minutes of fame are taking advantage of the Beckham move. Can’t say I blame him for trying.

Finally, I’m still trying to decide if change is a good thing here. True, Johansson was a clueless muppet…but Platini…well, he is French.

Ok, that’s enough for now.