March 11, 2008 by f4denz.

USA vs. Cuba thoughts

So all 3 RSL players got the start in tonight’s match, along with Ianni, Freeman, Hill, Edu, Davies, McCarty, Jozy, and former RSL wunderflop Freddy Adu. Interesting to play Robbie in the midfield, this line up sure looks like it is designed to attack, and with a goal by Adu in the 13^th minute it looked like it would be true. After about minute 30 Cuba started to exert some pressure and started controlling the midfield, and sure enough in the 43^rd minute one gets by Seitz and we are tied at 1-1. Horrible defense by the US, lets hope the halftime adjustments can get some fire back under the US effort. The US and Cuba are both in Group A, along with Honduras and Panama, Group B features Mexico, Canada, Hati, and Guatemala. I imagine we will probably see Chivas boy Sasha Kljestan to help step up the attack early in the second half.

Wow did I have that right, Sasha comes in at the half and Jozy takes a seat on the bench. OK I have to go watch the match, I will update this after the second half is over.

Liverpool wraps up the group of 16 in the Champions league

Well could it be Liverpool’s turn to get another Champions League title? With AC Milan gone, and nothing else to play for in the Premier League, this might be the only chance for Rafa to keep his job safe. Whoever Liverpool faces in the next round, they will go into the first match without their captain Gerrard will miss the match due to cautions. So the final 8 will feature 4 Premier League sides (Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, and Chelsea), the other 4 teams will be Schalke, Roma, Barcelona, and Fenerbache, there could be some great match ups in the next round.

World Soccer Daily

So not sure if all of you know that you do not need Sirius to listen to the live broadcasts of the world soccer daily show (11-1 MST) you can use the listen link on their website (www.worldsoccerdaily.com) and join them live. I can’t say that I always agree with them, but they sure are the best daily review of worldwide soccer going on’s that I have found. So if Fox Football Fone-In isn’t enough for you, then here is a way to get your daily fix.

USA vs. Cuba 2^nd half

Wow what a difference Sasha has made, the US is back to controlling the vast majority of possession and are getting plenty of shots, Cuba’s keeper is making some good saves. Well nothing found the back of the net so the final is a 1-1 draw, two things became very clear in the second half. First, the US can play controlling football, with some nice attacks and the second is that for the final 15 minutes the Cuban players dove, and dropped like flies, I know they are down a man on a horrible 2^nd yellow. They are playing in Florida, but come on the people who live in the heat and high humidity are cramping up way too much for this to be real, didn’t see a single US player dropping with cramps and at least a half dozen Cuban players have. We need to finish, Robbie had a good shot, which he didn’t get much on early in the 2^nd half, and another right before he was pulled out for Gaven. I also noticed that Freddy did not have the captains armband, did anyone see who had it, was Seitz the man with the armband?

OFF MY SOAPBOX

USA vs. Cuba the aftermath

So in their first match the Cuban team kept up with the USA team with a 1-1 draw, but after the match it seems that 5 cuban players decided that they wanted more of the USA, no not more of the match, but rather they seem to have defected.  No offical word, but soccer know it all blogger Ives has posted the details (http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/03/five-cuban-play.html).

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March 9, 2008 by f4denz.

FA Cup Update

Lots of quick thoughts about a lot of things but first has to be the state of the FA cup tournament, so the premier national tournament in the world continued this weekend and one thing is clear, the premier league has some issues. There are 4 teams left in the tournament and a single one is from the premier league Portsmouth which defeated Man U 1-0 at Old Trafford, Barnsley (the team that eliminated Liverpool) just made Chelsea their latest victims as the continue to be giant killers. Cardiff City, and West Bromwich complete the 4 semifinalist, who would have thought that the 4 best teams in England would be Portsmouth, Barnsley, Cardiff City, and West Bromwich. Perhaps a team from the “pub league” beating a EPL club in a friendly this past summer, really wasn’t such a upset or fluke, perhaps on any given day a team with lower paid, and lesser talent can beat a better team?

The Golden Balls tour

First let me thank Fox Soccer Channel for covering Golden Balls so much, and then letting their guys on FFF rip him on such a regular basis, it truly shows that soccer broadcasting in the US has a long way to go. Oh FSC, please figure out the time differences prior to starts of matches, when something starts at 2am EST, advertising it as 3am EST, isn’t a good way to keep fans, and please don’t tell us you can’t figure out Daylight Savings time, who are you Jamie Watson (sorry that had to be said). Anyhow from the highlights it looks like the Galaxy once again controlled play against a hodge podge lineup, which featured a bunch of players who simply appear to have been interested in getting their picture taken with Beck’s. The second half was entertaining despite a pitch that looked to be in horrible shape, LA has shown that they have a decent attacking team; even without landycakes (does anyone believe he is really hurt and not just sitting in the corner pouting?). They have also shown that a team that can counter attack can do well against them, even with lesser talent. So the tour ended with another loss on PK’s against a team that LA should have dominated, just proves that having 3 DP’s on your roster does not mean your team is going to walk through the MLS, or in fact against any team that can put 11 players on the pitch.

Soccer goes mainstream in the USA?

OK, I have to throw this one in, today was the first day that I saw soccer talked about on almost every TV station that exists, shame is that it was about coaches, players, fans, and riot police getting into a serious riot in Columbia. Ah those silly people in Columbia, first they think they should be able to attack terrorists that have been tearing that nation apart for over 30 years, and now they try to tear apart the stadium and each other because an official missed a call. Can’t we all just get along?

RSL 2007 vs. RSL 2008

So last year this time there was a lot of buzz going on around RSL, we had picked up Freddy Adu, Nick Rimando, and our #1 draft pick was Chris Seitz. We had the 2006 golden boot winner Jeff Cunningham, and everyone was expecting the team to shine in their 3^rd season, so after a 0-2-2 start with only 2 goals in those first four matches, the boot dropped on the coaching career of John Ellinger. But John continued for months to control the team from his new position of Technical Director and Director of Soccer Operations, it really wasn’t until some major trades that the Jason Kreis era began. Those trades include Cunny to Toronto for Esky, a draft pick, and cash considerations, moving Chris Klein to the Galaxy for Findley and Sturgis, and the trade that rocked fans on both sides of the Rockies, Kyle Beckerman for Medhi Ballouchy. Then the move that was a sign of things to come for RSL the trip to Argentina and Jason coming back with the three amigos (Espindola, Mantilla, Morales). All of it ended up with RSL failing to deliver on Dave Checketts promise of making the playoffs, but we did capture the Rocky Mountain Cup during the last match of the season.

So once again there is a buzz going on around RSL, we have picked up some players from leagues all around the world. We have Dr. “goal”
Kenny Deuchar from Scotland, Ian Joy comes to RSL from St. Pauli in Germany, Nat Borchers from Norway, JAMISON OLAVE from Columbia, and it looks like Indra Daud from Singapore, and Matías Córdoba from Argentina may be getting offers as well. I can see that our roster will contain over 20 different names on starting day this year than were on the starting day roster from 2007, it is clear that both Jason and Garth have put a very different stamp on RSL than did John Ellinger. The question is will it make a difference, only time will tell but the results from a poll recently on the MLS Zone blog showed that 55% thought RSL was the most improved team in the west. Let’s hope that the future is as bright as many (myself included) are hoping.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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March 3, 2008 by f4denz.

So like so many of use looking at a roster of RSL talent and seeing a lot of names of players that we have never seen in uniform I thought I would put together my starting line up for our home opener, now under 4 weeks away. A quick thought on what the 2008 season will hold for RSL and those like me who keep on showing up at the matches, including a look at what is turning out to be a nightmare for the Beckham boys and their trip through the far east.

My Starting Line Up

Rimando

Joy-Borchers-Mantilla-Kotschau (cut) Wingert (Updated on 4/4/08) How did one of Jason’s old league buddies get cut?

Beckerman-Talley-Morales-Sturgis

Deucher-Findley

The real question on everyone’s mind is what can we expect this season? I think RSL will make the playoffs (barely) and be in 4^th place in the west behind Houston-Chivas-Dallas, right behind us will be Colorado-Galaxy-San Jose. The reality is Houston is simply the best team in the league still, and will be until someone can take the MLS Cup away from them. Chivas, has not made any major moves this off season, but they also have not lost many pieces from a team that was a couple injuries away from knocking Houston off their pedestal. Dallas always seems to hang around as a quality team, no matter what changes and this year there are a bunch (Ruiz, Gbandi, Goodson, and DP Denilson are all gone). Colorado was a mess at the end of last year, and do not to appear to have done anything to deal with it, San Jose has made some interesting moves, but as Toronto found out last year being a new franchise is not easy.

Then there is the LA Galaxy, wow as bad as RSL has been in the past, I think the Galaxy will have a horrible season. They simply have too many holes, did anyone stay up late and watch them play Gamba Osaka? It may be the worst performance I have ever seen, despite leaving Golden Balls in for the full 90 minutes, they followed it up with a win against a Sydney FC but it sure looked like Sydney was going through the motions and ready for their off season. On the continuation of their Beckham on parade tour of the far east, they lost on PK’s to FC Seoul, I have this matched Tivo’ed but have not watched it yet, next they face Shanghai Hong Kong United on Wednesday. They wrap up their trip with a match against Hong Kong Union on Saturday, I believe this will be a Hong Kong all star team they will be facing. All this being said, I have not seen anything from the LA Galaxy, to make me think that they will be a playoff team this year, but they have not put all their stars on the field at one time yet this year, so far Princess Landon has yet to make an appearance, I am sure he can’t be bothered by the Mr. Golden Balls Dog and Pony tour.

So the playoffs do seem like a solid reality for RSL, despite only having 5 home matches after the all star break. Now what will happen in the US Open Cup, I think we will make it into the tournament, but will bow out very early with a loss to a USL team. I think the Real Madrid match will be a hit, they simply are one of the best organizations in the world. Now for my big bombshell, RSL will sign a DP in August and it will involve a player from Real Madrid coming to RSL on a loan. Finally our lovely new stadium, I believe the stadium will be ready for action in mid-August, but RSL will blow it really bad and fans will only see two matches in the new stadium, the final two in October. Oh I also predict that the transfer from RES to ??? will be a huge mess and result in a lot of loyal fans simply taking their money and spending it somewhere else (this one can totally be prevented, I pray that it will be, but based on the history of the FO I am not holding out hope).

Well that is it for now.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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