Stories Of the Day: Health Triumph & Jerseys

A bit of good news followed by mixed reviews...

Good Health News: After a number of unfortunate health stories in the past few weeks – Fabrice Muamba’s cardiac arrest in England and the passing of Livorno player Piermario Morosini in Serie B this week – there is finally a triumphant story in the medical department of the sport. Paraguayan international Salvador Cabanas returned to competitive play for the first time since being shot in the head.

Cabanas, playing for Club America in Mexico at the time, was shot in January of 2010 during an argument in a Mexico City bar. For his new return, he called upon his first professional team, Club 12 de Octoubre of Paraguay’s third division.

Red Stripes: No, not a six-pack of the Jamaican beer. The US Soccer Federation and Nike unveiled the new unified national team jersey designs that will be worn by both the men’s and women’s programs. The new jersey design featuring solid red hoops in one afternoon is quickly getting mixed reviews and interesting comments, such as Where’s Waldo jokes and comparisons, not surprisingly, to the kit of FC Dallas.

Stories Of the Day: Too Much Hype

Three big stories in the media today, arguably all with too much hype…

MLS Southeast Expansion: Major League Soccer officials concluded their recent trip to the Triangle (North Carolina) for exploratory discussions, which included the NASL Carolina RailHawks, regarding expansion to the region. The trip comes not to long after a similar visit to Florida, where they met with Orlando City of USL Pro. The league, through Don Garber, has been very clear about expansion. Team 20 WILL be in New York City.

Until then, it would be nice if everyone jumped off the crazy train and just treated relaxed a little when it comes to potential expansion. Things are going well and there is no need to add more expansion buzz for a few more years.

Mullan Melodrama: With Colorado coming to Seattle Saturday with Brian Mullan in the lineup, everyone has been keenly focused on Steve Zakuani’s devastating injury suffered a year ago. It all seems to be about how the team and fans are going to react to the return of Mullan, though Zakuani says “My advice [to the fans] is let it go and use that energy to support the team,” Zakuani added. “The guys will need it.”

That’s a good thought. And though I would probably get skewered a bit from the fans for suggesting it, it would be nice to see the media let it go as well. Players do stupid things all the time, but obsessing over the visiting team only distracts the home club from focusing on what they need to do. And with Colorado sitting third in the conference and coming in with a new coach this year, it would be wise not to let side stories leave the club in the bottom half of the table.

Schmoozing in Vancouver: The Whitecaps revealed today - what they termed a major strategic announcement - the addition of former Vancouver Olympics chief John Furlong as the new executive chair of the club. The announcement was vague in what role Furlong will play with the club.

According to this report from Steven Sandor, the decision grew out of a casual chat Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot had with Furlong several weeks ago, prompting the response of being surprised by Furlong himself. That tidbit makes this sound like one of the many lower division attempts at swaying public officials by forming ‘advisory councils’ comprised of city officials and prominent figures that meet on a few occasions. I have never really seen any of these councils amount to much more than their obvious intent to make important people feel special and included.

On the surface it would appear like a good addition, but the Vancouver Olympics were of the Winter variety, having no connection whatsoever to the sport of soccer. Hopefully Furlong has connections in the corporate and political world via the Olympics that will pay off for the Whitecaps, though that would have been more beneficial when they were trying to build their own stadium prior to the renovation of BC Place.

Stories Of the Day: Retroactive

Before Chelsea was unveiled as the MLS All-Star opponent, the topic of the day appeared to be retroactive punishments…

Out of England: The referee saw the foul, therefore, according to FIFA and the England FA no punishment could be handed out to Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli for a nasty studs-up challenge on Alex Song of Arsenal this weekend. "Retrospective action can only be taken in scenarios where none of the Match Officials saw the players coming together.”

In the U.S. of A: In Major League Soccer, however, New England’s Shalrie Joseph got more than his game-issued yellow card for his tackle from behind on FC Dallas’ Ricardo Villar. The league suspended the Revolution captain one game in addition to the levy of a fine. 

The retroactive punishment situation is becoming an increasingly discussed topic. Whether or not a ball crosses the line in any given league match is nothing in comparison to a grizzly tackle that takes a player out of the lineup for weeks, if not months at a time. It is still amazing that in this modern time of the sport when we all know that perceptions can greatly vary based on the angle in which you are viewing an incident, that FIFA has not amended this rule to give leagues more latitude in assessing penalties for match behavior.

And as frustrated as some fans may be, let me tell you that it can be just as bad for league officials who have their hands tied. As a long-time league administrator at USL, there were countless times when things occurred off the ball that we could not do anything about either due to lack of evidence or because of the laws of the game. Worse yet were red cards that could not be rescinded. There were almost always at least one or two cases each year in which a foul was either not as bad as the referee though or completely feigned by the player being fouled. But unless the player received the red card out of mistaken identity, there was nothing you could do.

Stories Of the Day: Henry Player of the Week, Cooper helps roll eggs at White House

It was a fairly quiet day - on this side of the Atlantic, anyway…

Henry Does It Again: With teammate Kenny Cooper and Chris Wondolowski also scoring twice this week, you would have thought French great Thierry Henry would have had a more difficult task in taking Player of the Week honors again. Not so much. He also had an assist in the 4-1 win at Columbus, two other great chances and the finishes on his two strikes were effortless and perfectly executed. That all led to a history-making third consecutive selection, a first in the league’s 17-year history. It also marked only the 10th time that a team had a player honored three straight times.

When I was selecting my vote, it was a difficult choice. I was leaning toward the Red Bull hero again, but went with Chivas USA midfielder Ryan Smith. Trailing 1-0 in Portland, he came on at halftime and provided perfect crosses on both strikes as the LA club rallied for a surprise win on the road that catapulted them above the Timbers and their Home Depot Center rivals in the Western table.

White House Easter Egg Roll: Cooper was invited to the White House with teammate Stephen Keel; the Philadelphia Union’s Danny Califf, Brian Carroll, Zac MacMath; and DC United’s Stephen King, Robbie Russell and Ben Olsen. They helped volunteers and employees from the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition lead youngsters through a simple dribbling course as part of the event’s “Eggtivity Area,” designed to remind participants and their parents of the simple joys of movement and play. Elsewhere on the South Lawn, a live music stage pulsated with sound, renowned poet Maya Angelou read books at a storytelling area and celebrity chefs like Andrew Zimmern and Marcus Samuelsson showed how to cook up healthy dishes.

Cooper spent part of his childhood in Maryland, but never got to visit the iconic building on Pennsylvania Avenue. On Monday, he looked out across the South Lawn and panorama of the National Mall beyond it, and said he gratified by the opportunity to grow the game in such an illustrious locale.

“There’s obviously a lot of kids out here that seem to enjoy the game,” he told MLSsoccer.com between autograph and photo requests from young fans, and even a few Easter Egg Roll staffers. "So it’s fun to see that. Being passionate about the game myself, it’s fun to share that passion with other people. I actually grew up in Baltimore, and even growing up here, I never had an opportunity to come out to the White House South Lawn. It’s definitely something I’ll cherish for a long time and it’s also fun to interact with the kids out here.”

Stories Of the Day: Dark Clouds

Red Bull Lite: It is a good thing the Red Bulls found its offense of late. It will surely need it to be highly-caffeinated for a while with more bad news at the other end of the pitch. First there was concern over Wilman Conde’s health, which has sidelined him for, at least, this weekend. Now, it turns out a knee injury suffered at training Thursday by Teemu Taino, who impressed in his last outing, will cost him 4-6 weeks.

Nice Threads in Minnesota: Clubs unveil special jerseys all the time, usually with some unique color scheme or patch on the sleeve or chest. In Minnesota, however, the club announced a true first for North American soccer – a literal tribute to its fans.

“They are unbelievable. The away kit that we’ve done this year is something that I don’t think anyone else in the country, maybe even in the world has done before,” said team CEO Djorn Buchholz prior to the unveiling in a Q&A with local writer Jon Marthaler.

Djorn is right, though the home fans will not see them in the Opener Saturday at the Metrodome. The special jersey is the club’s away jersey, which is adorned with the motto, “Everywhere We Go… Dark Clouds Follow.” The saying is in tribute to the club’s supporters group, the Dark Clouds, whose name was derived from the former club name, Minnesota Thunder.  The away jersey’s unique feature though is the jersey numbers on the back. Instead of being the typical solid color, the filler of each number is made of a the Dark Clouds in match-day celebration. 

Interesting Stories: Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune has a good story about the new wave of coaches in Major League Soccer. Not only are they younger, but many of them are players with lengthy history in the league.   Scott French writes about the slow start of the LA Galaxy and how there is plenty of time, something coach Bruce Arena points out, laughing about how seriously everyone is taking their struggles thus far. Question is, is it really a laughing matter?

Stories Of the Day: Faces in new places

Stepping away from the big leagues for a moment…

Superstars in Seattle: Fresh off their three-team, two-match tournament in Japan, a handful of US internationals landed in Seattle yesterday and took in, as spectators, a Sounders Women training session before getting in the action themselves soon. The group signed on to play with the W-League team is Stephanie Cox, Sidney Leroux, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo, who is a Washington native and University of Washington alum. It will certainly be interesting to see how this turns out with the Olympics on the horizon, and in the long-term for professional women’s soccer.    

Islanders in Alternate Venue: Just days before they are set to kick off their 2012 campaign at home, the Puerto Rico Islanders revealed that the club has expanded the Bayamon Soccer Complex from 1,000 seats to approximately 3,000. The club has been forced to relocate to the training facility due to renovation delays at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium, which will now be unavailable for nearly half the season, if not more. The smaller venue will certainly create some drama, but it is a shame the momentum the team has created off the field the past few years with the community may be curbed by fans being alienated due to inability to get tickets.

Swinehart is not in Charlotte?: I have been reading and skimming numerous player signing reports over the past few weeks as the lower divisions prepare to kick off their 2012 seasons. Sure, the signings of WPS and international players in the in the W-League and WPSL Elite have been headlines, but those leagues have always had those kinds of players come and go when the pro leagues have not existed or with collegiate internationals.

Today, however, one signing really caught my eye. Ashley Swinehart signed with someone other than the Charlotte Lady Eagles, where she has played since 2002. One of the star players of the W-League, Swinehart will not be donning the orange this year in favor of the blue and red of Central SC Cobras, located in Columbia, SC.

"Ashley has had a great career as a W-league player with the Charlotte Eagles. When I learned she was living in Columbia, I knew she would add great leadership and experience to a first year franchise. We are excited to add a player with her goal-scoring pedigree," Burris said.

It will certainly make for some interesting Carolina derbies as the two clubs will meet three times this season with the first coming just three weeks into the campaign.

Stories Of the Day: International Issues

No matter how much you may want to forget about it, the topic of Olympic Soccer is not going away…

Injury Concerns: The United States Women have played seven friendlies since wrapping up their Olympic qualifying campaign, and fellow qualifier Canada has also played some recent exhibitions. Both were fortunate not to lose any significant players to injury. The same can’t be said, however, for England. The Brits may have lost star striker Kelly Smith for the Olympic tournament not from playing a friendly, but from a promotional video shoot.

Smith is expected to be out for two months, making fitness and availability a major concern for the July 25 Olympic break start date.  The injury was an aggravation of a stress fracture that remained from a broken leg she previously suffered. It was worsened while not wearing a protective boot when she kicked a ball during a video shoot.

Keeping Caleb Porter?: US Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann held a media conference call today, and among the topics was the U23 team  led by Caleb Porter. Klinsmann: "We had a long meeting with Caleb and discussed the whole experience. Obviously it's a huge disappointment for all of us not having our Olympic team going to London this summer. The goal is to keep Caleb connected to us, because we really think that he has a lot of upside. I think he learned a tremendous amount during the last four months."  

The idea of keeping Porter will anger many, but if Klinsmann likes the style Porter is instilling in the players for transition to the senior team, then this makes sense. As I noted in a previous post about the Olympic failure, I think we have moved past a point where we need to live and die on the performance of our youth national teams. They should be used for development and not be relied upon to be our standard bearer on the international stage – that is what the senior team does.

Klinsmann: "How mature are they really for the senior team level? You look at these players and say, 'OK, they couldn't get the job done, so where are they in the bigger picture going into our May/June camp?”

Toronto Trounced in Mexico: The fact Toronto FC led on two occasions in the first half gave many some false hope as they eventually fell 6-2 in Torreon, 7-3 on aggregate. It is a familiar result with Seattle being bounced by the same club, 7-3 on aggregate, in the last round due to a 6-1 loss in Torreon.

It is nothing new either as many clubs from all over the confederation run into the same problem in Mexico. The heartbreak goes back to the tournament’s debut when the Montreal Impact, then second division, saw a 2-0 first leg lead vanish against the very same club in a 5-2 second leg loss in the quarterfinals and the Puerto Rico Islanders saw their 2-0 home win countered with a 3-1 road loss to Cruz Azul in the semifinals.

Maybe Seattle and Toronto can take solace in the fact that it just seems to be the year for Santos Laguna and defending champion Monterrey. Monterrey drubbed fellow Mexican side Morelia, 7-2 on aggregate, in the quarterfinals and is dominating the other semifinal series, up 4-0 aggregate at halftime as I write, against another Mexican foe, Pumas.

Back on Track: It has been a week since the last edition of SOD; and for good reason. I have been working on creating a new site to cover my home region – Inland Northwest Soccer News. It is off to humble beginnings with plenty of room and plans to grow. We may not have any pro clubs in the region, but it is not exactly void of the game; so I want to share it with everyone. As for the The Soccer Barn, I am also planning to add more coverage of lower division soccer to the mix, also a topic lightly covered on a national scope.

Stories Of the Day: Misbehavior

It looks like the theme of the day is behaving badly…

Bumbling in Brazil: On the very day that FIFA officials met with the new leadership of the Brazilian soccer federation, news broke that Brazilian coach Mano Menezes refused a breathalyzer test when stopped at a police checkpoint after midnight last night. As if  the new administration did not already have enough on its plate with World Cup hosting preparation drama, now they have to deal with trouble on the football side of things.  

Precedent for Profanity now Three Games: Major League Soccer announced its punishment for Dynamo midfielder Colin Clark, who uttered a profane gay slur at a ball kid in Friday’s game in Seattle. The punishment laid out was three games, an undisclosed fine and sensitivity training. Three games seems a little harsh, but given the salaries in the league, it is difficult to issue a comparable penalty that other major leagues have levied on its star players. All in all, it is a fair result. Though it was allegedly the heat of the battle, it was really only seven minutes into the game and a ball kid dropping the ball instead of tossing it to him in essentially was the midfield – what exactly was the big dramatic rush there that would justify any kind of complaint, profane or not.

Tussle in Toronto: If you have not seen it yet, I am sure the video will be making the rounds soon enough. Following the 1-1 CCL draw between Toronto and Santos Laguna, in which the hosts played well against a visiting side that finished with 10 men, a fracas broke out between players on the two clubs. Star Santos Laguna striker Carlos Quintero struck at TFC player after the final whistle, which drew a post-game red card from the official and sparked the post-game shoving contest that could, perhaps, result in more punishments being handed out.


Side Notes

Speaking of Santos Laguna: As a former USL staffer, it continues to be a treat to see Herculez Gomez, a USL Second Division find, continue to excel. It looks like a Mexican club has finally decided to give him more of an opportunity, and he is not disappointing. Soccer By Ives put together a great look at his recent success.

Pizzolitto Retires: Another standout in USL, Nevio Pizzolitto called it a career after 17 seasons today. He was always one of the best defenders in the USL First Division for Montreal, drawing the ire and respect from the opposition. I always liked that name too… but maybe that’s because I enjoy pizza.

Stories Of the Day: Do You Believe in Miracles? Nevermind

What a wild day news day surrounding the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament…

Another Tournament, Another Disappearance: It seemed as though Cuba was finally going to survive a tournament in North America without losing any players to defection. Then news came out of Nashville during the team’s final group match today that Yosmel de Armas, who started in the team’s 4-0 loss two days prior, was listed as “not present” on the roster, immediately sparking rumors of defection.

Miracle Day for Cuba: The possible defection aside, it was a day for believers. On the same day the Pope made his first visit to the nation of Cuba since his predecessor 14 years ago, the Cuban national team found their own miracle in Nashville. In the first minute of stoppage time Maykel Reyes headed in a free kick to stun Canada for a surprising 1-1 draw. The result locked the Canucks into second place in the group and an unfortunate pairing with a red hot Mexican side that has dominated its group while also opening the door back up for the United States to finish first, as was expected.

Prayer Plentiful in Prime Time: With the shocking result of the first contest in the doubleheader, the second match between El Salvador and the United States turned into a thriller that had fans of both sides praying for rallies throughout the affair. The US scored just seconds into the match courtesy of Terrence Boyd and looked ready to resume a role as regional power.

Then two minutes in the middle of the half completely reversed the momentum. Mark Blanco headed in a corner in the 35th to level it up and Andres Flores tallied less than two minutes later to give El Salvador a commanding advantage, needing only a draw to move on.

Boyd would strike again for a resurgent US in the middle of the second half, equalizing in the 65th. Then Joe Corona gave the hosts the 3-2 lead eight minutes later. But just when it looked like the miracle was going to happen for the United States, El Salvador found fortune in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Jaime Alas scored from long range for a 3-3 draw, giving the nation the opportunity to reach the Olympics for the first time since 1968.

Stories Of the Day: Split for Canadians, Unfortunate Remarks

It was a huge day Saturday for Canada with extreme highs and lows…

National Pride: Canadians all across the country united behind a splendid start to the day as the Canadian women’s national team delivered a bit of a surprise. Though it was a friendly, the lady Canucks upset no. 4 ranked Brazil, 2-1, on a pair of Christine Sinclair tallies.

Later in the day, the U23 Canadian men registered what will likely go down as the upset of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament when they shocked the United States, 2-0, in Nashville. Two corner kicks doomed the US squad as Doneil Henry and Lucas Cavallini took advantage of a “listless performance... [and] criminal defensive work.” Now the US men must beat El Salvador, who played Canada to a scoreless draw, to advance as the second seed from the group to the semifinals, where they will face Mexico, which demolished T&T and dominated Honduras.    

The day, as a whole, was a disaster for the US. Before the game it was announced striker Juan Agudelo’s meniscus was torn, knocking him out of the tournament and sidelining him for the New York Red Bulls.

Club Calamity: While there was much to celebrate from national team results, there was literally nothing to celebrate at the club level as all three Canadian MLS teams went scoreless on the day. The only consolation, perhaps, on the day was that Vancouver managed a draw, though it was against previously pointless DC United. Toronto lost 3-0 at home to San Jose and Montreal fell, 2-0, on the road to Columbus, which picked up its first positive result.

It is not a good sign as Toronto heads into a Champions League semifinal series Wednesday against Mexican power Santos Laguna.

Red Card for Intolerance: On Friday, I brought up a point where supporters clubs were upstaging FIFA at the organization’s own mantra, FIFA Fair Play, with their “Show Racism the Red Card” initiative. Well, the well-planned event will undoubtedly take a back seat this week following the incident in the first game of the weekend, Houston at Seattle. During the match, Dynamo player Colin Clark approached the touchline expecting the ball, but when the ballkid rolled it to his feet instead of with a toss, the veteran MLS player stunned many when he turned to the kid uttered a gay slur at him (f***ing f****t), which was caught on NBC Sports audio and from fan video cameras. 

Clark, apologized online via twitter and to a gay advocacy group following the match, but the incident will be long remembered and will most likely result in league penalties.  

It is a shame an incident of this sort occurs so soon after the offseason announcement from David Testo, a veteran MLS and lower division player, that he is gay. At the time I commented (on Extra Time @ TheCup.us) that I was very surprised he was open with his friends and teammates, but that it had been respected by those who knew around the sport, but had not said anything publicly.

It was noted at the time by former coach Marc Dos Santos that Testo was occasionally the target of homophobic abuse while playing, but no response came from any league officials (MLS, NASL, USL), so far as I know, at the time about stamping out the offensive action. Perhaps it had been addressed, this innocent youth would not have been placed in this position and homosexuals around the nation would not have been offended.

Stories Of the Day: Fair Play - Fans follow what FIFA does not

"FIFA Fair Play" - while fans support anti-racism campaigns, apparently that program and mantra does not matter to its own issuing governing body off the field...

Seeing Red: Got to give a hand to the supporters groups around North America that are part of the Independent Supporters Council (ISC) ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ initiative. Creative and nice to see something so widespread and organized that does not come from MLS HQ.

FIFA Accountability: A story from The Associated Press was published today involving FIFA transparency.

AP: FIFA's anti-corruption adviser called for swift publication on Friday of a Swiss court document revealing which soccer officials took millions of dollars from marketing agency ISL as kickbacks from World Cup broadcasting deals.

I seem to recall over the past year, especially during the CONCACAF conundrum, numerous occasions when Sepp Blatter said FIFA was on a path to transparency. Continued refusal to share this kind of information is wrong. FIFA is a large, important sporting organization and, like The Olympic Games, should be far more transparent to be corruption free, especially with as much money involved and gambling associated with the sport.

You can't completely eliminate wrongdoers and scandal, but you have to make an effort instead of looking the other way and telling outsiders 'nothing to see here.'

The sport should model itself, in some respects, after the American political system where government officials disclose their financial dealings. FIFA, the confederations, federations and the top officials from each should be releasing all of the applicable financial documents associated with the business they do.

Everyone knows there is an obscene amount of money moving around the sport. Fans and media just want to know that it is being used properly. To know that individuals in positions of power are not abusing the access they have or placing the game in disrepute.

And it is not just fans and media that deserve full disclosure. FIFA is strict about governments not interfering in the game, but on the other hand expect host nations to spend millions, if not billions, building venues and supporting soccer programs. These countries who spend millions on bidding for things like the World Cup, should have the security to know that the money they are spending is not being wasted while other nations and/or federations are surreptitiously cheating or undermining the system. 

Stories Of the Day: Shock and Awe

Two big items for the day, and they both involve the current CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament…

Pissed Off Peter: First there was a kerfuffle in Philadelphia over Danny Califf being benched without explanation. It has since been allegedly calmed. Now, coach Peter Nowak is miffed over the US call-up of his Union defender Sheanon Williams for the U23 National Team at the last minute to replace Molde’s Josh Gatt.  

Hard Route Becomes Impossible Path: After the first day of action in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament, it is pretty clear what lies ahead for everyone. The race in Group A was to finish first and, likely, avoid playing Mexico, as the winner of the other group, in the semifinals. With the US getting an easy 6-0 victory on 10-man Cuba, the advantage is clearly in the hosts favor now as Canada and El Salvador did themselves no favors in a scoreless draw. Though odds were against it, they both probably hoped they had a chance at taking the top spot if they could earn a draw against the US, but now they will be left scrambling to better one another in the remaining two contests to finish second just to keep hopes alive that a miracle 90 minutes against Mexico will result in an Olympic berth.

Wonder what thoughts were going through Nowak's mind as the game finished out with Williams on the bench? At the very least, he had to be happy to see Freddy Adu hit a fantastic strike.

Stories Of the Day: Consequences

Today’s items focus on consequences… good, bad and undecided…

Tracking Your Moves: A great feature on the Philadelphia Union’s rewards program describes the benefits available for season ticket holders. The system awards points based on which games they attend or watch as well as other team events they participate in.

Atlantic Round-Trip: I feel for Thierry Henry as a concerned former teammate of Fabrice Muamba, but your club has one goal in a pair of losses to open the season. Is now really a good time to take a couple days to fly across the Atlantic when you have a big home opener Sunday against a 2-0 Colorado side? 

Speaking of Being Unbeaten: A quickie from Simon Borg on MLSsoccer points out the odds of teams making the playoffs after a 2-0 start is quite good. That’s great news for KC, Houston, RSL, Colorado and Vancouver.

Bad News from a Beat Down: It looks like the consequences of a player-involved tussle at a bar are getting out of hand itself. A Houston police officer, who was off duty at the time, is not only filing suit against the players, but the Houston Dynamo, seriously. I’d love to hear the lawyer’s rationale for this one.

Side Note - MLS on NBC Primetime: So, as I was typing this up, I had Whitney running on the tube. In one of my occasional glances up at the screen, l noticed one of the apartment sets featured a giant, what I am assuming, schedule magnet for the Chicago Fire on the refrigerator that must have easily been about a square foot in area. Now, sports product placement is certainly not new for NBC, but it is nice to see the network pushing it’s MLS relationship beyond the sports channel and into the mainstream – though I am not sure we should be proud it was on Whitney (only had it on because everything else was repeat or reality, ugh).

Stories Of the Day: In the Kitchen

What’s the famous Bill Parcells saying? "They want you to cook the dinner; at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries. Okay?"

Burning it Up: That is definitely something you want to hear about a striker. However, the trouble is that in Vancouver it currently is in reference to rookie Darren Mattocks, who accidentally suffered serious burns to his arm and shoulder over the weekend from an incident that occurred while preparing dinner.

Ballack Agent Blasts Red Bulls: The agent for Michael Ballack took a swipe at the New York Red Bulls and their general manager Erik Soler. The drama stems from the fact that, apparently, the Red Bulls have decided to go in a different direction, looking for a younger and more creative attacker in the midfield, and have their eyes on Stephen Ireland. Making matters worse, Soler allegedly told the agent, Michael Becker, he thought at this point in Ballack’s career, he was more suited for a defensive role, which Becker was offended by.

While this will undoubtedly create more drama in New York, where there is a history of failed star imports; you have to let the club shop for the groceries they think is right for the current team. Just because Ballack is a big-name star that is still a good, capable player that may fit well at another MLS club does not mean that he is what New York needs. Only hindsight can prove otherwise when the meal is cooked.

Speaking of Picking Ingredients: Olympic qualifying is right around the corner for CONCACAF. The US squad made what is likely it’s last change to the roster today, adding Sheanon Williams, a third Union player who currently plays under the leadership of former Olympic coach Peter Nowak in Philadelphia. Up north, the Canadian coach Tony Fonseca trimmed the roster, letting loose the older players in favor of a young squad of 20. The tournament starts Thursday.

 

Stories Of the Day: Surf’s Up

Water, water, everywhere…

Keane finds pot of gold for belated St Patrick’s celebration: The LA Galaxy struggled through its first three games in MLS and CONCACAF Champions League, but on Sunday Robbie Keane came alive and threatened all game long. In a match where he could have had several more, he finished with two goals and was part of the build-up in the third as the defending MLS winners, who literally received gems pre-game in the form of championship rings, dominated visiting DC United.

Wave win another MISL title: Speaking of champions, the Milwaukee Wave repeated as title holders in the Major Indoor Soccer League, winning their sixth in franchise history. It was not as easy as one might have expected following Friday’s 14-2 blowout in Game 1. The Baltimore Blast forced overtime on the road in Milwaukee only to come up short of forcing a mini-game with Joe Hammes scoring the 12-10 winner for the Wave.

Rapids roar in Philadelphia: Up a goal but down a man following the second-yellow ejection of Jeff Larentowicz, the Rapids got a stunning strike from Tony Cascio four minutes later to put pressure on the Union. Despite several chances and a Lionard Pajoy tally, the hosts could not make up the two-goal hole in the loss.

Stories Of the Day: Tragedy and Triumph

It was day of extremes as the day started with unfortunate news out of England, but concluded with big nights in the Northwest…

Football Takes Back Seat: It was a big day in English soccer. American eyes were on Bolton with Tim Ream on the roster. Ream would not see the pitch as the quarterfinal contest was abandoned just before halftime when his teammate Fabrice Muamba collapsed away from the play with an apparent heart attack. The situation was critical with dramatic efforts being made to save the 23-year-old’s life and after a lengthy delay, the match official Howard Webb made the decision, in consultation with both clubs, to abandon the match. That is not an easy decision to make, and it made me wonder: what would happen if something like this occurred in MLS, the lower divisions or the US Open Cup. Schedules are so sacred because re-scheduled matches are difficult to sell. And with the new format of the US Open Cup running rounds in consecutive weeks, how could you possibly replay a match unless it is the very next day.     

Rave Green Beer Flows in Seattle: There was plenty to celebrate in Seattle on St Patrick’s Day just days after heartbreak at the hands of the green-and-white clad Santos Laguna in Mexico. Alvaro Fernandez and David Estrada seemed unstoppable on the night, playing a factor in all three Sounders goals in the 3-1 win. Estrada will be a front-runner for Player of the Week with the hat-trick while Fernandez, credited with two assists, was a key figure in all three tallies by his teammate.

Merit-orious Result Away from Vancouver: Last year, the Whitecaps were the first team since the 2009 New York Red Bulls to go without a victory away from home. It was a tough pill to swallow considering their Cascadian rival Seattle went 5-5-5 in their debut MLS campaign three years prior. This year, the club came out and decided to put an end to that status in its first road game of the year. It was not the most thrilling game to watch, but when David Chiumiento’s corner kick found the head of defender Jay DeMerit in the 68th minute, it looked like the Whitecaps knew that monkey was coming off their back. And it did as the American’s tally stood up for the 1-0 decision.

Stories Of the Day: Powerhouses

Tonight, I take a look at two completely different aspects of the game, but with arguably its two powerhouse clubs.

Big Money = Big Advantage: ESPN-LA writer Scott French reports on the impact of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s newly announced 10-year extension of its sponsorship deal with Herbalife. He quotes AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke about how the local deals - Herbalife and broadcast deal totaling 99 million over 20 years combined – give the club a significant edge in comparison to the other clubs that have a much larger percentage of their revenue coming via the league’s single-entity system of sharing. Two areas in particular benefit from the addition revenue. The less glamorous side is the youth development programs the club operates. The high profile area is in money available for Designated Player salaries. While other clubs search for bargains that hopefully won’t be busts, the more local money the club brings in frees the Galaxy to spend money on players that are almost certain to be successful in the league.

Wave Drown Opposition Again: Can anyone dethrone the Milwaukee Wave? It doesn’t look like it, even with one of the Major Indoor Soccer League’s other perennial contenders, Baltimore Blast, going up against them in the championship series, which kicked off Friday. Game 2 is set for Sunday with a mini-game scheduled for immediately after should the Blast be victorious.

Stories Of the Day: Eye Opening CCL Action

The CONCACAF Champions League definitely grabbed the headlines for the day.

SHOCKING Results: Part I - Sure, it is difficult to win in Mexico, but all the Sounders needed to do was earn a draw to win the series. Instead, Seattle became the first Major League Soccer team to allow six goals in a game under the new format of the Champions League, home or away, as they fell, 6-1 on the night and 7-3 in the series. In fact, it was only the fourth time an MLS club has allowed five or more in a game – see list below – and tied a Columbus group match as the worst margin in a loss.  

It was the 12th time a Mexican club, however, has tallied at least six in a game, reaching seven on two occasions. In knockout stages, however, it was only the second time in the four years of the event a Mexican club has run up such a large victory as Pumas drubbed Marathon of Honduras, 6-1, in the 2009-10 Quarterfinal second leg after a 2-0 road loss.

Part II – In general terms, Seattle’s loss to a Mexican club was not as surprising though as the Galaxy falling to Toronto FC. The Canadian club has definitely taken advantage of its MLS peers in Champions League play to reach the Semifinals. They downed FC Dallas, 3-0, in Frisco to close out the Group Stage in second. And although many would have expected the star-studded Galaxy to cruise, they needed to rally from two down in Toronto a week ago to keep the series level for the return leg. And tonight, an own goal was their only tally with a lineup featuring Edson Buddle, Robbie Keane, David Beckham and Landon Donovan – and that was just to level the series once again since Toronto had scored first again. In the end, the 2-1 result sends TFC onto to face what will more than likely be two Mexican powerhouses as they will take on Santos Laguna next. And in the Final they would face either Monterrey, who destroyed league peer Morelia 7-2 on aggregate, or the winner of the Pumas (MEX) and Metapan (El Salvador) series, which concludes Thursday with Pumas at home surprisingly trailing 2-1. 

Goals Not Only Thing Missing:

Following the match center on CONCACAF.com, I noticed something kind of surprising. I am not one who typically follows all of the nationalities of the players, but the little flags the site places next to the players made it extremely noticeable. Who would have expected years ago that an American MLS team would field a lineup of only three American-born players in a Champions League game against a Mexican club with a much greater percentage of domestic-born players.

I am not making any judgement on the situation. As far as I am concerned this comes with expansion, either the quality of play is either going to lag as the domestic talent pool adjusts or the overall talent pool widens with supplements from abroad. I discussed this quite often at USL in regards to what the Premier Development League offered its players. It is to the benefit of the younger developing players to play alongside and against better, more experienced older players. The same holds true in MLS. As the league expands, it is good for the American game that quality players are more prevalent in the league because that means with the relatively new Academy programs the younger players are battling with and learning from the foreign competition for places in the roster and for the game-day lineups.  

Kicked Out in Wisconsin: Overlooked in January 30, Eric Anderson reports on the revocation of the Wisconsin Adult Soccer Association’s membership in the US Soccer Federation, an extremely rare circumstance. While the organization is apparently free to re-apply, they now have competition from their youth equivalent, the WYSA. USSF would not disclose why, but one would have to figure it is largely over financial issues if they are being given the option to re-up (and/or pay the bills possibly) by the May 1 deadline.

Potential unknown financial issues aside, the WASA has not exactly been the most organized of state associations. Reportedly, the WASA is virtually non-responsive to media inquiries according to TheCup.us editor Josh Hakala. And last year, the state association embarrassed itself in US Open Cup qualifying, allegedly losing the check and application submitted by the Milwaukee Bavarians, regular participants, to play in the Open Cup. The organization subsequently forgot to submit the Bavarians, as the only team that applied, to the Region II management for inclusion in the regional tournament, denying them the opportunity to qualify for and play in the US Open Cup.

Appendix:

Major League Soccer Losses
Dallas 3-5 @ Tauro (PAN) Group 2011-12
RSL 4-5 @ Cruz Azul (MEX) Group 2010-11
Columbus 0-5 @ Cruz Azul (MEX) Group 2009-10

Mexican Primera Division Wins
Santos Laguna 6-0 v Isidro Metapan (SLV) Group 2011-12
Cruz Azul 6-0 v San Francisco (PAN) Prelim 2010-11
Cruz Azul 6-0 @ Arabe Unido (PAN) Group 2010-11
Santos Laguna 6-1 v Municipal (GUA) Group 2010-11
Cruz Azul 6-2 @ Herediano (CRC) Prelim 2009-10
Pachuca 7-1 @ Jalapa (GUA) Prelim 2009-10
Pumas 6-1 v Marathon (HON) Quarter 2009-10
Toluca 7-0 Marathon (HON) Group 2009-10
Cruz Azul 6-0 v Hankook Verdes (BLZ) Prelim 2008-09
Cruz Azul 6-0 @ Hankook Verdes (BLZ) Prelim 2008-09
Pumas 6-0 v San Francisco (PAN) Group 2008-09

Stories Of the Day: Executive Decisions

Looks like today ended up being all about the men behind the desk, most of them with powerful wallets:

Where have you been? The following was the comment from Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC Sports, during the Portland Timbers match Monday night’s contest:

"I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been in the sports business, I’ve been with NBC for 34 years, and I have never seen anything like this tonight. This has blown me away,” Miller said to a media scrum at halftime of Portland’s 3-1 win. “I’ve been to NFL playoff games, and World Series game sevens, and this fanbase should be really proud of itself.”

That is a great testament for the boisterous MLS faithful that are continuing to grow around the league. The shame is that Miller seems completely shocked by this, something you would not expect of a top executive of a sports network that bid on purchasing the television rights to the league. To me, that does not seem very well informed. Granted, sports programming is driven by the numbers – ratings, butts in seats, advertising dollars, etc – while news programming, far too often, is driven by vivid imagery. I guess the good news is that perhaps the impressive audio and visual display made Monday night will have a long-term impact on the ratio of games aired on NBC versus NBC Sports – a significant difference. After all, they air a dozen hockey games currently on the ‘mother’ station as opposed to the three regular season MLS contests.       

Unfair Scheduling amidst CCL: Bubbling beneath the surface with the Los Angeles Galaxy seems to be a little bit of jealousy… or maybe just plain old disgust. You can’t really blame them, for some reason they were the lone team of the three MLS clubs playing in the CONCACAF Champions League that had a league match this weekend. You could argue Santos Laguna probably is a little jealous the Seattle Sounders had the weekend off between their first and second league games, but the issue is that the Galaxy are playing league foe Toronto FC in the two-game series. If you had to pick one team of the three to make idle, you would think that would fall on the Sounders so that you are making sure that among your own clubs, you are keeping the additional competition fair and balanced as well as you can. At least the Galaxy are home Wednesday with a 2-2 draw from the first leg and have an entire season to make up for the opening weekend defeat.

Show me the money: Major League Soccer may not have the ratings, following and revenue that the other big league sports do yet, but one area where it stands out is in the bank accounts of those in the owners’ box. Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy owners Paul Allen and Philip Anschutz rank second and fourth, respectively, among the richest soccer owners in the world. Even bigger, they are in the top six world-wide among all sports team owners.

Stories Of The Day: Red, White, Blue & Green colors of the day

An unusually busy Monday with MLS action in the evening preceded by big news at the international level. Here are my top story selections for today:

No Real Change in Composition of Olympic Hopefuls: Sure, it seems like the world of US Soccer has changed a lot over the past couple years – in fact it looks reversed. The MNT is led by the German Jurgen Klinsmann and the U23 Olympic team by the American Caleb Porter while four years ago it was an American at the top and the Polish Peter Nowak heading up the Olympic team. But looking at the team heading into Olympic qualifying, surprisingly the composition has not changed very much. Campared to the 20-man roster for the 2008 Olympic squad, the 19-man list released today by Porter has the same number of MLS players in the mix: 13. Those coming in from abroad are a little more concentrated with three of the six coming in from Germany (1 each from Norway, Belgium and Mexico). Four years ago six players came in from five different foreign countries: Germany (2), Mexico, England, Portugal, Sweden. While Nowak has moved on to coach in MLS, ironically his Philadelphia Union player Freddy Adu is yet again on the U23 squad since he was 18 the last time around.

2008 Olympic Qualifying Roster By Position
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)
DEFENDERS (6): Josh Gatt (Molde), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Gent; Oslo), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy)
FORWARDS (5): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)

2012 Olympic Qualifying Roster By Position
GOALKEEPERS (2): Dominic Cervi (not under contract), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (7): Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Corruption Comes Up Again with FIFA: Speaking of Olympic soccer, its organizing association FIFA was back in corruption headlines today for improper activity by its members surrounding the World Cup. In a case of old news resurfacing, Amadou Diakite and Ahongalu Fusimalohi saw their appeals of two-year suspensions fail today. There were caught by The Sunday Times of England instructing undercover journalists how to bribe FIFA officials. The bigger news, though, was the resignation today of Ricardo Teixeira, who has been the head of Brazilian soccer the past 23 years and, recently, the 2014 World Cup organizing committee. Though never officially charged with corruption, scandal has followed him for quite some time, making him a controversial figure in one of the sports’ most successful nations.

Brazilian great Romario, who was the co-leading scorer in the USL First Division in 2006 while playing for Miami FC, stated on Facebook and Twitter: “Today we can celebrate. We exterminated a cancer from Brazilian football. Finally, Ricardo Teixeira resigned.”

Timbers trump Philly in second half: In the final match of Opening Weekend, the Portland faithful did not disappoint on Monday Night Football… and neither did the team on the field. A lackluster match gave way to a dynamic night six minutes into the second stanza when Gabriel Gomez put the visiting Union on the board. The Timbers responded with three unanswered to match RSL as the only 3-goal outings on the weekend. Jack Jewsbury set up two goals, finding defender Andrew Baptiste for the equalizer and Kalif Alhassan for insurance. The second-year Alhassan set up much-heralded newcomer Kris Boyd for the winner in the 3-1 Portland victory.