Catching Up With Atlanta United (VIDEO)

Way back when we first started Gruffgoat's Soccer Blog in 2008 and 2009, we dreamed of what it might be like to have an MLS team in Atlanta, GA.

It seemed as though every year, it was on, and then off, on, and then off again. Fast forward to 2014 and the days of wishing are officially a thing of the past!

Major League Soccer announced that Atlanta would host the league's 22nd team.

As you no doubt know by now, the team will be called Atlanta United and as it is Gruffgoat's hometown team, it will feature heavily alongside Everton in future posts.

Now enjoy this video of the Atlanta United brand reveal (and if you pay close attention, you will see me in here).

~G

DC United scrap out the point against New England

I caught the last 40 minutes of the Friday night match between DCU and New England and it did not disappoint.

New England went up in the first half on a Shalrie Joseph header and looked like they would hang on to the 1-0 margin until the end in spite of some heavy DC United pressure.

Ben Olsen mixed it up with Wells Thompson after Wells helped Ben out of the touchline by a generous shoulder.

In a touch of payback, Ben beat Thomson to a nicely placed Jamie Moreno far post free kick to slot the point saver home in stoppage time.

Are you ready for 8 months of football America? The MLS Schedule is here.

Straight from the MLS, here is the March 2009 Schedule for your reading pleasure.

The remaining schedule is out at MLS.com or you can go to your team's page and pull the schedule specifically for that team.

Sadly, there remains no Atlanta team; so once again I'll be following the Houston Dynamo again this season. Find your side and start planning your road trips now!

MARCH 09:

Thursday, March 19
New York Red Bulls v. Seattle Sounders FC 9:00 p.m. ESPN2, Deportes

Saturday, March 21
Columbus Crew v. Houston Dynamo 8:00 p.m. FSC, FSE
Chicago Fire v. FC Dallas 8:30 p.m.
Toronto FC v. Kansas City Wizards 8:30 p.m.
Colorado Rapids v. Chivas USA 10:30 p.m. FSC, FSE
New England Revolution v. San Jose Earthquakes 10:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 22
D.C. United v. Los Angeles Galaxy 3:00 p.m. TeleFutura

Saturday, March 28
Toronto FC v. Columbus Crew 4:00 p.m.
Chicago Fire v. D.C. United 7:30 p.m.
New England Revolution v. New York Red Bulls 7:30 p.m. FSC, FSE
Kansas City Wizards v. Colorado Rapids 9:30 p.m.
Houston Dynamo v. San Jose Earthquakes 10:30 p.m.
Real Salt Lake v. Seattle Sounders FC 10:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 29
Chivas USA v. FC Dallas 3:00 p.m. TeleFutura

DVD Review - History of the MLS Cup

Awesome DVD - period. I've got to admit, I really didn't know what to expect when I popped History of the MLS Cup in to the old DVD player.

Frankly, the MLS Cup is a match that barely registers on the radar down here in Atlanta, so it's typically only the die hard fans, such as yours truly, who tune in to the match with conviction.

I already own "Game Breakers: The Stars of Major League Soccer" - a video with a rockin' soundtrack, some really good interviews, and excellent highlights - so I figured MLS had set the bar fairly high for their DVD productions, and with History of the MLS Cup, I was not disappointed.

They video tracks the cup from the absolute monsoon that was the 1st MLS Cup in 1996 through to 2007's Dynomic Dwayne De Rosario's second half header to deliver back to backs for Houston.

Impressive locker room footage, great camera angles of all the major goals and fantastic game winning saves (I'm looking at you Tony Meola and Pat Olmstead), make this one a must have for any American soccer fan's collection.

Thumbs up from me.

Buy it now from Amazon.com:


Check out all of our Soccer DVDs at Gruff's Soccer Store by amazon.com.

Weekend Football Roundup

This weekend I didn’t get to watch as many full games as usual. I did get to see bits and pieces of different games as well as goal highlights so I didn’t miss out too much. I have to say that the best goal of the weekend was from Glen Johnson of Portsmouth who smashed a screecher of a shot off his chest and on to his right foot putting it in the upper 90. I had no idea that was physically possible. This weekend also marked one of the few times the Big 4 couldn’t score goals (although Chelsea fans I’m sure feel that they scored a few). Even though it was a historic weekend, the action was hard to come by.

As there were no early games on Saturday, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all played at the same time with Manchester United playing Aston Villa in the late game. The Chelsea game provided me with highlights of the Hull City/Portsmouth match as well as the single highlight of the Stoke/West Brom match. I missed most of the Boro/Bolton highlights so I cant speak to what that game was like, although it was apparently one of the better games to watch.

The main game I focused on was the Chelsea/Newcastle match. Chelsea was completely dominant holding possession on Newcastle’s side of the pitch for more than 75% of the time. They managed 26 shots with 14 of them being on target. Newcastle managed one or two shots, but neither were on target. Luis Scolari said it best when he said that Newcastle were the victors because they came to Stamford Bridge for the tie and succeeded.

Arsenal visited the City of Manchester Stadium hoping to silence the critics and failed miserably. The Gunners gave up three goals and never looked like the better side. Mark Hughes’ side played remarkably well and truly showed what kind of a team they could really become. Arsenal’s problems are larger now as they sit on the outside looking in at 5th in the table.

Liverpool played host to Fulham and seemed like they only wanted to kick the ball around and really didn’t care about scoring or winning the game. Fulham actually looked to be the better side on the pitch, but even with amazing shots from Jimmy Bullard couldn’t capitalize and left with a well deserved point. Liverpool needed a win to get two points clear of Chelsea, but again played down to their opponents ability and are still tied at the top of the table.

I really wished I had watched the Portsmouth/Hull City match because from the highlights I saw it looked like both sides fought with tenacity of clubs looking to break into European competition. One team would score and the other would fight back and get an equalizer. A 2-2 result was fair and showed what teamwork along with drive could result in, goals. Big 4 take note.

The late game Saturday was Manchester United vs Aston Villa. I missed most of this match running errands, but caught the 15 minutes surrounding half time. From what I could gather and read was that Aston Villa was in control in the first half, until United woke up and just blasted Villa’s keeper with shots. Rooney missed a golden opportunity in a second half again dominated by Villa and really encapualted what the match was like. After hearing of the scoreless draws from the teams above them the Red Devils couldn’t get the three points they surely needed to try and play catch up.

On Sunday I was only able to see the second half of the Tottenham Hotspurs match where they beat Blackburn Rovers 1-0. The game was largely dominated by Spurs with Blackburn giving Gomes a few hard shots, but nothing the Brazilian couldn’t handle. The later match finally saw West Ham United secure a win after a horrible slide of losses. They visited Sunderland and managed a goal in a game that was, admittedly, largely dominated by Sunderland. Sunderland’s Cisse wasn’t able to finish and Roy Keane’s boys left with nothing in front of highly disappointed fans.

Sunday afternoon was an under advertised MLS Cup Finals. The New York Red Bulls beat the best the Western Conference had to throw at them to advance to play the Columbus Crew in an entirely Eastern Conference final. The first 20 minutes of the match looked to go the Red Bulls way where they managed six or seven shots compared to zero by the Community Shield winners. However, Columbus’ Moreno changed all that with about 10 minutes in the half with a low shot just out of the keepers reach to put the Crew up 1-0. The rest of the game was fairly even with possession, but momentum remained with the Crew as they went on to win 3-1 with all three assists going to the MLS MVP, Schelotto. It was a highly entertaining match to watch and as a DC United fan I was extremely happy with the result. The Crew celebrate their first MLS Cup and beat three very skilled teams to receive it so congratulations to all Crew fans.

Seven cities, including Atlanta, bid for 2 MLS expansion teams

I know this is officially old news now, but it's worth repeating. Arthur Blank and co, did submit their bid for an MLS franchise in Atlanta along with six other cities. Here is the breakdown of cities and who is backing the bids:

Three Canadian cities -

Montreal: bid submitted by the family of Liverpool co-owner George Gillett, who also owns the NHL's Montreal Canadiens and the Saputo family, who control the dairy processor Saputo Inc.

Vancouver: bid submitted by long time soccer player and NBA MVP Steve Nash, Greg Kerfoot, owner of the United Soccer League's Vancouver Whitecaps, and Jeff Mallett, a former president and chief operating officer at Yahoo Inc.

Ottawa: bid submitted by Eugene Melnyk who owns the Ottawa Senators

Four US cities -

Atlanta: bid submitted by Arthur Blank, the Home Depot co-founder and current owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the Arena Football League's Georgia Force

Miami: Personally this is a very interesting bid...the parters are actually Spanish football giant Barcelona along with BrightStar Corp. chairman Marcelo Claure, a Miami resident who owns the Bolivian club Bolivar. The fact that Barca is interested in owning an American franchise sends a number of positive signals...clearly they see growth potential both as a team co-branded with Barcelona and with MLS as a rising world league.

Portland, OR: bid submitted by the Paulson family, who run the USL's Portland Timbers and Triple-A baseball team the Portland Beavers

St. Louis: bid submitted by Jeff Cooper, a St. Louis attorney who also heads the St. Louis WPS franchise and is on the board of Brentford Football club of England's League Two (the fourth tier of English football).

Ugly Thursday match between FC Dallas and San Jose

Sorry to fans of both these clubs, but up until the late penalty kick to tie up, the match reminded me a lot of high school soccer. A lot of flat play, long balls, and very little creativity from either side.

That is until Kenny Copper and FC Dallas were given an absolute Christmas present from the referee in the 89th minute. Francisco Lima was in the box with his arms out by his sides, when FC Dallas smashed a ball in to the box, striking Lima's right arm. The ref whistled and pointed to the spot while an incredulous Lima and team argued furiously in vain against this highly suspect call.

The 6'3" Cooper slotted the ball home easily and tied up a match that San Jose felt they could take to the bank. The resulting equalizer sparked a lot of late fire from both sides but the game ended up with a point to each.

CONCACAF Champions League Preview

Well as I sit here watching both Chelsea and Liverpool beating on their French opponents in the UEFA Champions League, I must point out that over here in North America the group stage of our own Champions League is starting tonight. After both the New England Revolution and Chivas USA were eliminated in qualifying the only MLS teams left are DC United and the Houston Dynamo. Hopefully this will turn out to be a repeat of the CONCACAF Gold cup with both reaching the semi-finals. However, this time around hopefully one of the teams will advance to the finals to have an MLS team win this innogural tournament.

Now lets take a look at each group:

Group A: DC United, Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica), Cruz Azul(Mexico), Marathon (Honduras)
Group B: Houston Dynamo, LA Firpo (El Savador), San Fransisco (Panama), UNAM Pumas (Mexico)
Group C: Atalante (Mexico), Olimpia (Honduras), Joe Public (TnT), Montreal Impact (Canada)
Group D: Santos Laguna (Mexico), CSD Municipal (Guatemala), Puerto Rico Islanders, Tauro (Panama)

Looking over the groups I would say that the toughest group is going to be Group A and I say that without any bias. I think that Group C would probably be just as hard as Group A and may even surpass it as the most difficult group. The biggest shockers I would say would be that a team from Canada's Lower Division and a team from USL1 have made it all the way to the group stage. Congrats to both the Montreal Impact and the Puerto Rico Islanders. On the other end, its surprising to me that CF Pachuca didn't even make it to the qualifiers after winning the Champion's Cup and Gold Cup earlier this year. The door is open for every team with no one having an absolute advantage over anyone else. Here is the schedule for our local teams this week.

DC United vs Deportivo Saprissa, 8 PM tonight. TV: FSC
Houston Dynamo vs LA Firpo, Postponed.
Montreal Impact vs Joe Public, 8 PM tomorrow.

2 Week MLS Recap

Being busy here at Tech I haven't had an opportunity to recap on the MLS matches I caught. However, here is what I have seen since the last time i posted.

DC United 1-2 San Jose Earthquakes
The only match I got to see two weeks ago was DC United travel to the west coast to take on the Quakes of San Jose. I missed most of the first half, but got all of the second half. After being down 1-0 DC was looking for some pivitol road points. However, as is usually the case, the defense let the team down and allowed the Quakes to go up 2-0. With DC pressing hard Santino Quaranta steps up for a side missing both Luciano Emilio and Jamie Moreno and scores a fabulous goal to bring the side within one goal. However, even though United tried as hard as they could, the Quakes held strong and the final scoreline was 2-1 with the Quakes getting all 3 points.

After looking back on all the games that have happened in the last two weeks, it seems that I only caught 2 of them. Chalk that up to the semester getting extremely busy. Anyway here is the recap on last week's United match against FC Dallas

DC United 2-2 FC Dallas
Again this match DC starts without Emilio in the squad, although this time he subs in during the second half. With a quick start Kenny Cooper absolutely shredded the midfield and defense to put Dallas up 1-0 in only the nineth minute. Being at home, United called on the strength of all the supporters and in the 26th minute Hamie Moreno delievered a cracking header into the goal to tie game. At half it looked like DC were containing Cooper and in turn looked to be the stronger side. Coming back out and with the strength of Emilio, United wanted the win badly. Playoff spots are on the line this late in the season and every point counts. That's why in the 69th minute with the help of Ivan Guerrero and Jamie Moreno, Satino Quaranta gets his 5th goal of the season to put United up 2-1. With only 20 minutes left to play at home, DC was still trying for the third goal and looked to be able to put the game away. That all came crashing down when the team was caught napping and Andre Rocha scored a devestating equalizer. That would be the way the game ended and DC would only get a point and concede forth place in the east to the NY Red Bulls after their win over Real Salt Lake.

US Open Cup final preview. Battery vs. D.C. United

The Charleston Battery of the United Soccer League's Division 1 take on MLS' D.C. United tonight in the final of the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

With its official beginning dating back to 1914, the U.S. Open Cup is the oldest tournament in any sport in the United States. The Open Cup is America's version of the FA Cup by organization as it gives all US Soccer affiliated sides, both amateur and professional, an opportunity to play for the title. This tournament has been flying under the radar for decades so it's certainly not the same as the FA Cup in terms of prestige or history - however, with the introduction of professional teams in 1995, the US Open Cup is slowly starting to carve out a more prominent place in professional soccer in the US.

This year's tournament is culminating with two excellent sides vying for the title as the normally consistent yet recently skidding Battery - still sitting at the third spot in the USL-Div 1 table, but who also haven't won a league match since August 3rd - will take on D.C., who are coming off of an 0-0 draw with New York after an emphatic 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids.

The match kicks off at 7:30PM Eastern at RFK Stadium and will be live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Football Week In Review - 26 August-1 September

As I sit here watching the start of the CONCACAF Champions league second leg I have to look back at all the happenings this past week in football. This week featured more tournament play, the start of La Liga and Serie A and the close of the fall transfer season for the EPL. The big transfer news is that Man City stole Robinho out from under Chelsea and Manchester United finally got Berbatov from Tottenham. The rest of the transfers can be seen here. Now lets get to some match recaps.

The start of the week saw more Carling Cup action. Newcastle was paired with Coventry City in what I have to call the match of the week. This match flew under plenty of people's radar, but was extremely exciting. I thought it was going to be a fairly big blow out, but after Newcastle went up 2-0 Coventry dug deep and brought it back. They pressed hard on the Magpies and netted their first goal at the close of the first half. As the second half went on it was a back and forth struggle with Coventry trying to press in to find the equalizer. It finally came at the close of the half again which must have had Newcastle fans fuming. With the tie the game went into extra time and newly returned Michael Owen got the go ahead goal in the first 15 minutes. With a match this exciting I knew it wasn't going to be the end and Coventry pushed with all their might to try and set it to penalties. Their wish was almost granted, but the ball was just an inch high and flew off the crossbar. When the final whistle came both teams knew the outcome was fair and there was nothing but good sportsmanship on the way out.

Later Tuesday night was the start of CONCACAF Champions League and the New England Revolution traveled down to Trinadad and Tobago to take on Joe Public. The Revs just looked terrible and were lucky to come out of the game only losing 2-1. Joe Public was just on cruise control the entire game and right now (in the second game) are winning 2-0 at half time. Seems like New England won't be able to net 4 goals to go ahead and advance so that is one less MLS team in the group stage.

Wednesday afternoon was the second half of the Carling Cup matches. I got a chance to see Nottingham Forest take on Sunderland. As with the Newcastle/Coventry match it was exciting for the full 90 minutes. However, this one didn't go into extra time much to the chagrin of the Forest supporters (myself included as I have adopted them as my Championship team). The game was 1-1 for the longest time and was about to end before Sunderland put a beautiful shot into the net. Forest couldn't get the equalizer in the tiny amount of time that was left and the game ended with Sunderland advancing.

Thursday was an off day/night, but Friday picked back up with the UEFA Supercup. Manchester United and Zenit St. Petersburg traveled to Monaco for the battle of champions. Although it seemed like United would win because of possession, Rooney, Tevez and Scholes could not get a ball into the net to save their lives. O'Shea got a good deflection to put the Red Devils back into the game. However, the Zenit attack with their Argentinian striker proved to be too much and they got the go ahead goal in the middle of the second half. Try as they might United couldn't get another equalizer and ended up losing for the first time since Middlesbrough in last season's EPL. Next up is the always exciting and brutal Liverpool/Manchester United match.

Saturday morning I only got to see one match as it was the start of College Football (American Football). It was worth it though as I got to see West Ham United take on the Blackburn Rovers. Both teams are very attack minded and thats always something I like to see. In what was a close game turned out to be a blow out when the Hammers netted two goals in stoppage time at the end of the game. Blackburn suffered its first loss under its new boss, but seemed not too deterred. It may have something to do with the loss of Santa Cruz as Blackburn searched for a new name to get them some goals. The Hammers on the other hand looked superb and thankfully kept Ashton after the close of the transfer market. I can't wait to see what the rest of the season holds for them and certainly think its within their power to make a European competition.

Saturday night was another DC United MLS match with this week's opponents being the always hated NY Pink Cows. I am not going to hide my bias as if you are a true DC United supporter you could never give NY a fair shake and so if this bothers you, please skip to the next match recap. Anyway, as bad as the Pink Cows were, DC just couldn't get the ball into the net. Even with a PK the ball went just wide and the great penalty taker Jamie Moreno just stood there in disbelief. DC had some great chances, but it seems like the ball and the goal had the same polarity and the ball would curve wide every time it got close to the net. The most entertaining part of the game was new goalkeeper Louis Crayton who was faking out attackers with the ball and almost made it to midfield once with the ball before passing it. It may not have been the smartest thing to do, but dammit it was entertaining. He got another shut out though and that's all anyone can ask. DC has two games this week and one is the US Open Cup final against the Charleston Battery Wednesday night. Here's hoping the Black and Red can actually get the ball into the net in those two games.

Sunday I saw one half of two different games. First was the second half of the very boring Liverpool/Aston Villa match. The game ended 0-0 and really had nothing of note. The one bad thing for the Scousers was that Torres was injured and will be out for the next three weeks. The second match I saw was Real Madrid's opener against Deportivo. Unfortunately I turned it on after all the goals were scored, but seeing both teams play really impressed me. Real losing 2-1 didn't hurt things either. I am going to have to start watching more La Liga games as the players seem extremely skillful.

That's it for now until next week. Remember, no EPL matches this week (and possibly other leagues are suspended as well). World Cup Qualifying starts up again and the US takes on Cuba at Cuba Saturday night. Enjoy your week!

DVD Review - Game Breakers: The Stars of Major League Soccer

I just finished the new DVD from Major League Soccer and A&E Home Video titled, Game Breakers: The Stars of Major League Soccer and I’ve got to tell ya, I was quite impressed.

The DVD was just released on August 26th and so – like Kramer in Seinfeld – that practically makes me the premier!

The video covers some of MLS’s hottest properties, including the homegrown talent you’d expect to see: Landon Donovan, Taylor Twellman, Brian Ching, Brad Guzan and Dwayne De Rosario as well as the leagues top imports: Of course David Beckham, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Juan Pablo Angel, and Luciano Emilio.

I also quite enjoyed the video exposes on MLS’s young talent – a section vindicated by recent transfers – as Jozy Altidore and Maurcie Edu have made their way across the pond. One of the other rising stars profiled was Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA whose recent national team exposure has been more than decent and I fully expect he will continue to grow in to his attacking midfield role.

The video itself is packed with interviews from the old guard – guys like Jeff Agoos, Cobi Jones, Eric Wynalda, John Harkes, and former national team coach, Bruce Arena…add to that bit of American soccer history, some driving rock tunes and great goal highlights, and you have yourself a nice product from MLS.

Keep this one in mind for the MLS fan in your family; you can pick it up online from Amazon.com:


Check out all of our Soccer DVDs at Gruff's Soccer Store by amazon.com.

Football Week in Review - 18-25th August

With another great week in football that saw its end with a great match between Manchester United and Portsmouth, I look back at all that made it special.

This week started early with a game between DC United and the New England Revolution. This match comes after New England lost to San Jose 4-0 and DC beat Colorado 1-0. A very hard fought battle by both sides, but it seemed like The Revolution wanted it more. DC ended up losing 2-1 with Jamie Moreno scoring the lone goal for United. The one issue I saw that I hoped the team could rectify was finishing inside the final 20% of the field. DC held possession for a majority of the game, but could not put the ball in the net.

The next game that was on was the US Women's Gold Medal match against Brazil. I missed much of the game and was only able to catch the overtime. It turned out not to matter as the only goal scored in the game was scored in the 96th minute and the US Women took home the gold. The final 15 minutes were extremely tense and the game could have gone either way, but the ladies held out.

After getting back to Blacksburg my days of seeing live DC United matches comes to an end, but now I get to see the Virginia Tech team live. Friday night the Hokies took on VCU in an exhibition game before the season starts. The game ended in a 1-1 tie because of an amazing free kick from VCU. Tech had problems sticking the ball in the net because they would just pass in front of the goal over and over until the ball was taken away. One other time a player tried to fake out the goalie instead of taking an easy shot. With the loss of Patrick Nyarko to the Chicago Fire there is a gap left for a pure goal scorer and that role has not been filled. Only time will tell if Tech can get it together and try for a repeat of last year's Final Four appearance.

Saturday morning was the start of the second week of EPL. I didn't get to see many games this week, but the few that I did get to watch were really exciting. The first one was Tottenham against Sunderland. Amid turmoil with trying to figure out the Berbatov situation Tottenham was not on their best game and ended up losing 1-2 to Sunderland. Berbatov did not play in the game and most likely will not play until he is transfers or otherwise acts to the organization's preference. The game seemed likely to end in a tie until a beautiful late goal to give Sunderland the three points. A great turn around after last week's 1-0 loss to Liverpool for the club. Tottenham is still searching for their first point.

Next up would be my match of the week. If you failed to watch Fulham's win over Arsenal then you really missed out. With a struggling Arsenal side, Fulham rallied together to beat them 1-0 is an extremely close game. Fulham seemed to gain strength out of their Week 1 loss to Hull City while Arsenal played as poorly as they looked against West Brom. Wegner is going to have to get their squad in much better shape if they hope to finish in time to grab a Champions League spot by the end of the season.

One game I didn't see which would have been even better than Fulham's win over Arsenal was Stoke's 3-2 win over an extremely surprised Aston Villa squad. I'm not sure where these Championship teams came from but if the first two weeks are any indication they won't be going back down any time soon.

Later Saturday night we switch from English football back to MLS. DC United played their third game in 7 days, but did not look fatigued in the least. They put an impressive 3 goals in Colorado's net while letting none in their own. DC's keeper Louis Crayton secured his second shutout in three starts and looks to be United's choice for the rest of the season. The three goals came from two new United players, Joe Vide and Quavas Kirk, while the third was scored by Santino Quaranta. Joe Vide's goal seems to be a lock for goal of the week in MLS and word's cannot accurately describe how great it was. Hopefully DC can ride this great win into next week's match against New York.

The only game on Sunday I wanted to watch was West Ham against Manchester City. However, after a red card to the Hammers and 2 quick goals by City I had to turn off the game in disgust. The game ended up being a 3-0 win for City who have recovered from their 4-2 loss to Villa in the first week.

The last match of the week was Manchester United facing their Community Shield foes Portsmouth. After getting Tevez back and the lads on United playing superb football, there was never a doubt that they would win the match. They seemed to have the same problem with putting the ball in the net that DC United had earlier in the week, but the duo of Ferdinand and Vidic kept the chances for a comeback close to zero. Once United get Ronaldo back or finally sign Berbatov they will have no problem winning games when they can get a plentiful amount of goals.

Thursday Night Football: Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire

We are minutes away from MLS' Thursday night line up but quite a few familiar faces will be missing due to World Cup qualifying commitments.

Missing:
LA Galaxy will be without: Landon Donovan, Eddie Lewis (USA; WCQ v Guatemala); David Beckham (England; v Czech Rep)

Chicago is missing: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico; WCQ v Honduras); Marco Pappa (Guatemala; WCQ v USA); Gonzalo Segares (Costa Rica; WCQ)

Football Weekend In Review - 16/17 August 2008

This weekend was certainly packed with really exciting games and I am here to offer my thoughts on the ones that I watched.

The Blackburn/Everton game was certainly the most exciting of the weekend in my opinion. Blackburn looked very strong in the first half and Everton was lucky not to have given up more than one goal. With the amazing goal by Everton to tie the game and end the first half it seemed like this game would go until the end and that it did. Blackburn seemed to come out of the second half disheartened after giving up their lead and fell behind. However, by a miraculous resurgence they rallied to field two goals with the final coming minutes before the game ended. A strong finish from a club that will be one to watch in the coming season.

The Boro/Tottenham game was next up and what an interesting game that turned out to be. Tottenham came out strong in the beginning of the game, but without their strikers could not net a goal to save their lives. First half ended 0-0. Boro quickly controlled the second half and got the lead before Berbatov was subbed in. Boro then went up 2-0 and would have ended the game there if Spurs hadn't got a lucky own goal for the game to end 2-1. Spurs definitely need a finisher up front to get the club into a good finish which is why they are so reluctant to send Berbatov over to Manchester.

I caught the replay of the West Ham/Wigan game enough to see the fabulous goals by Dean Ashton. For a club I was unsure of after seeing them play against the MLS All Stars I have high hopes if they can keep all of their players until the trade deadline passes. Ashton looks to be one of the top strikers in the league this year and I hope he can help the Hammers improve on a disappointing end to last season.

The Liverpool/Sunderland game was pretty boring so I only caught bits and pieces of it. Sunderland's new pick ups seem to give them a fierce tenacity I was not expecting. Keane didn't seem to be all that strong in his first match with his new team and looks like some chemistry is still to develop. Torres threw in his hat to the Player of the Year race early with a spectacular strike that Sunderland's goalie had no chance with. Absolutely spectacular.

Saturday night is MLS night and that means DC United time. I was pretty worried seeing as Chicago and DC have a very heated rivalry and after the trouncing United received last week from NY I didn't have very high expectations. That all changed when Louis "Two Hands" Crayton took the net over former starter Zach Wells. (The nick name was created in the pub with all the supporters drinking so take it with a grain of salt.) The team gelled perfectly and scored on an amazing corner that was put away by Fred, a player that hadn't had a ball go even close to the goal posts in a very long time. Two things that was saddened to see though was all the diving by Chicago, especially by Mapp, and the terrible finishing by United in the last 20 minutes of the second half. It always seems to plague United that they get content with a lead and won't pressure the last 20% of the field. Something to work on before Wednesday against New England.

Speaking of New England after the DC United Match was the New England/San Jose match. Not much to say about this other than it was already 1-0 when I started watching it and left with 5 minutes left and still managed to miss a goal by San Jose. I don't think New England has lost by 4 goals all season and to be beaten like that by the last place team in the MLS must sting. Playing without Joseph, but with Twellman and Nyassi the Revs seemed to be in full strength for the most part, but could not seem to do anything right. I didn't have any audio where I was so I don't know why Matt Reis was taken out of goal, but New England's back-up goalie is absolutely abysmal. The Revs must not ask him to tend net very often and who can blame them when they have the best keeper in the MLS. That isn't to say that the Quakes weren't playing a stellar game, because they really were. Ive always held a certain affinity for them as I'm not a fan of anyone else in the west and I hope they prove everyone wrong, including myself, and make the playoffs.

By Sunday I was getting a bit saturated by soccer, but I had to see how the other United would play with a very depleted roster against a sure to be resurging Newcastle squad. What I was not expecting was how well the Magpies' goalie and defense would play against the returning EPL champions. They seemed to be playing for the tie after the 70th minute ticked by and who could blame them. Try as they might the Red Devils couldn't penetrate the net, or Martins' face, a second time and the game ended 1-1.

Later that day I watched about 30 minutes of the NY Redbulls/Toronto FC match before turning it off at halftime. It was enough to be throughly disgusted with the field they were playing on (faded soccer lines, bright white NFL lines) and how poorly each team played. The Redbulls went ahead 1-0 by an amazing pass and run with a superb finish and apparently ended the game up 2-0.

Now to get ready for this week's upcoming soccer matches which include 2 DC United games, an exhibition Viriginia Tech match (that I will be attending live) and countless EPL matches with the possibility of a Championship match.

MLS Sunday Recap

This should have been typed up earlier, but similar to recent DC United games it had to be postponed because of things beyond my control. That said this weekend had some really exciting games. I got to watch a few of them and here are my thoughts on the four matches this past Sunday.


Dallas FC 4 - LA Galaxy 0
The only match that I caught all of was the Dallas FC and LA Galaxy match up. I have to say that it must have been pretty embarrassing being a Galaxy fan and watching the game because Dallas totally dominated the entire match. The game ended 4-0, but could have easily been close to 7-0. LA had a few chances that hit the crossbar but even so they wouldn't have been saved.

Kenny Cooper had a very masterful performance, but Dominic Oduro had an equally great game. It looked as though the Galaxy forgot how to play defense as the pair of Cooper and Oduro combined for three goals and two assists. Cooper also missed a one on one with the keeper that should have been a gimme goal, but it really wasn't needed. Hopefully that will be corrected in the playoffs when they will need every goal they can get.

There really isn't anything to say about the Galaxy except how poor they played. Other than Beckham, I thought I was watching a high school team. I feel sorry for the man because he plays so well still (completing over 90% - 95% of his passes) but has no striker or forwards to pair up with. The only person that seems to be consistent is Landon Donovan but in my opinion he really isn't that great at all. It seems like he never wants to score as can be seen in this game where he has an open net to shoot into while standing in the penalty box and instead passes the ball which eventually gets turned over. Simply pathetic. Maybe Edson Buddle will step up and become the man Beckham needs to get a few more wins for the Galaxy who are 0-3-3 in their last six games.


NY Redbulls 1 - San Jose Earthquakes 1
I only got to see a few minutes of the NY Redbulls and San Jose Earthquakes game because it was the same time as the Manchester United/Portsmouth friendly. From what I saw it looked like your typical last place match-up with nothing really happening. However, the tie did NY into a four way tie for 4th place in the East. San Jose seems to be the Derby County of this season and is still a far distance from the next lowest team and cannot get a win to save their life. It is unfortunate for them because the only way that the Redbulls pulled out the tie was by the most hilarious own goal I have ever witnessed (other than the Liverpool one during Champions league which is only hilarious because of the situation surrounding it).


Columbus Crew 2 - Colorado Rapids 0
I watched the first half of the Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids match Sunday night. It was a pretty exciting game with a lot of back and forth action. I haven't had the chance to watch either team much this season so I was glad for the opportunity to do so and wasn't disappointed. I was really surprised at how well Columbus attacked the net. It seems like their defense needs a bit of work, but outside of Houston and New England, what team doesn't.

The Crew's first goal was a beauty and after watching the highlights the second one looked just as good. I was kicking myself for turning it off at half time (East Coasters have to be at work early!) because the second half looked extremely exciting with Colorado getting so many near misses. The Crew are now within two points of New England keeping the race for first place exciting. I will have to tune into more of their games in the future.


Kansas City Wizards 0 - Chicago Fire 0
I don't really have anything to say about the Kansas City Wizards and Chicago Fire game because I don't find either team that enjoyable to watch outside of seeing the Wizards get out of last place. The game ended in a scoreless draw and MLS only had one shot on goal as the highlight so I guess that speaks for itself.


Next Week:
This upcoming weekend looks to be great and I think the best match up will probably be the Houston Dynamo and Columbus Crew game. My boys in DC play their last home game until taking on New England in the US Open semi finals so hopefully they can get a few points to keep the race for the playoffs alive. With injured players looking to return and hopefully the team working on fixing what has been going so wrong lately it seems like it will be a good game to watch.

Monday Night Football - Toronto vs. Real Salt Lake

The only soccer action to speak of today after a busy Sunday of MLS soccer is tonight's Monday night match up between a recently struggling Toronto FC (6-6-4) and Real Salt Lake (sporting an evil record of 6-6-6).

Toronto FC is missing their top scorer, Danny Dichio, and are likely to look to 16 year old Abdus Ibrahim for help in finding the net against a defensively strong Real Salt Lake.

TFC gaffer, John Carver, has admitted that placing the scoring burden on the shoulders of a 16 year old is both unwise and unsustainable, but considering the goal drought they're in, he has little choice.

You can catch the match on CBC and MLSlive.tv.

West Ham vs. Columbus Crew Fight Follow Up: Much Ado About Nothing

It would seem that in the media’s push to latch on to something tantalizing – yours truly not exempted of course – that the first reports of the so called "brawl" at Crew stadium were more than slightly overblown.

Some thoughtful exchanges with eye witnesses as well as some digging around for first hand reports prove that the so called 130 person hooligan style brawl was more of a scuffle between a handful of security guards and a few inebriated West Ham fans.

How the drunk Hammers ended up in the Crew fan section is a question for Crew Stadium security to answer – but at any rate, a drunken scuffle does not hooliganism make. I’ve seen more fighting than that at a Jimmy Buffet concert yet I don’t recall the media getting up in arms about those dangerous and disruptive parrotheads.

If the old adage stands true that any publicity is good publicity, then let’s hope that Crew football can get something out of what was otherwise pretty much nothing.

West Ham vs. Columbus Crew: the Fight and Reflections on Hooliganism

As we close out the soccer week in America, I’ve got to reflect on the MLS All Star game and events that led up to it. I’ve always been a critic of the MLS all star game – more the format really than the match itself. In fact, if America insists on a All Star game, I suggested in an earlier post that we look to Australia’s State of Origin rugby league match up and emulate their format for our match. At any rate, this week’s match proved quite entertaining…but it was an event a few days ahead of that match which deserves some review.

On July 20th, the Columbus Crew met up with West Ham United for a “friendly” and somewhere along the way, about 100 Crew fans thought it might be clever to get in to a brawl with about 20 West Ham supporters.

There are many many books and studies about Hooliganism out there folks and I’d like to recommend that we all read up on a couple. As football continues to rise in popularity in the US, we as American fans need to ensure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

One of the great consolation prizes that we have in America is that, because our professional football is still so young, we can hopefully mature without going through that particular growing pain which has caused so much violence and destruction for football across the world.

Come on fellas, we can do better than that.

* READ MY FOLLOW UP ON THIS POST HERE *

MLS All Star Game: Teams 1 - ESPN 0

I have to admit that this was the first MLS All Star Game that I have ever watched. After finally getting back into MLS after 8 or so years I was really excited about seeing everyone play. Even though none of my DC United players made the squad (I have to admit that only Emilio was qualified to play) I knew it was going to be a great game. Even better was the fact that they were playing West Ham United, one of my favorite teams to cheer for in the English Premier League. As a mostly unbiased viewer I thought the game turned out amazing.

The beginning started out shaky as many would expect it to with players getting used to playing with each other on the MLS side and the Hammers just starting their pre-season. However, after the first fifteen minutes the game opened up and the stars began to shine. I thought it was good that West Ham scored the first goal because it really showed that the All Stars had to actually try to play together to win the game. After the resounding comeback with amazing goals and support between Blanco and Gomez the game went to half time with everyone knowing the game would live up to expectations. The second half of the game kept the excitement up, except for the final ten minutes where it looked like West Ham wasn't pushing up as much as they could to try and get the tie. All in all it was a great game that really showcased what the MLS is capable of.

Now with all that said I would like to raise some complaints I found with the game. As big a support base that TFC has, I think they could afford to get a real field. I don't think any sport should be played on turf, especially soccer. It just doesn't seem natural to me and the physics related to sliding on the ground and the ball bouncing just aren't right.

Another thing that was horrible about the game was ESPN's involvement and the terrible announcers they keep pushing on the viewers. Having to listen to those two blow hards try to talk about soccer just grates my ears. They hardly ever talk about the game and really have nothing to add. It seems those two just seem to like to hear each other talk and every so often talk about how amazing Landon Donovan and David Beckham are at soccer. The other thing ESPN does it not take soccer seriously at all. Each half they interrupted the game to tell us how some boring baseball game was progressing. One of the biggest MLS games that every fan would be watching and they proceed to interrupt to tell us about a sport that is only mildly more entertaining than golf to watch.

ESPN did get one thing right and that was their pre-game and half-time male correspondent. I don't remember his name but he was hilarious. Thankfully he didn't defer to Julie Foudy (who I also cannot stand) very often and just kept making me laugh. The bit with the hawk and the food was just amazing. Get rid of JP Dellacamera and his cronies and just put this guy on for all of the next ESPN broadcasts.

All in all I have to say that this game was really fun to watch and makes me look forward to next year's All Star Game. I hope they can get another great Premier League team to play that has some draw here in the States and Canada. I just hope ESPN can fix their coverage because I love to be able to watch the game in hi-def.