Girafinha

Just two small teams from Glasgow

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:20:55 -0600

And no, I don't mean Partick and Queen's Park. Queen's Park means something, and Partick has a shred of dignity.

I mean the other two, the Old Firm. Celtic and Rangers. Two clubs that are about as important as Charlton and Leeds in the grand scheme of things.

Everyone knows by now that the Premier League turned down another attempt by the corporate best friends club to join their money printing enterprise, Premier League chairmen of clubs not named Bolton just didn't see the benefit of adding two clubs tarnished by racism and sectarianism to their ranks, and rightly so. If Crystal Palace or Watford had ten times the revenue of every other club in their division they'd draw 50,000 a week too.

But I'm not sure it's far enough. Celtic and Rangers take arrogance to a new level, they have the egos of Bayern Munich and PSG and play like, well, err, PSG. They enjoy bullying the smaller clubs in Scotland and telling them how things should be done, and with the notable except of Hearts, run by a complete mentalist, the clubs usually roll over for their Glaswegian masters. What gets me about the submissive nature of the other clubs is that it makes you think they need the Old Firm, when in fact it's the opposite. Celtic and Rangers are actually poisoning the rest of the Scottish League and the smaller clubs would not only survive, but flourish without them around. Bill Leckie of the Scottish Sun seems to understand that.

It's obvious to everyone that Celtic and Rangers simply put-up with Scotland, they want no part of it. Hell, judging from the grounds you'd think Celtic played in Cork and Rangers in Portadown. If they wanted to play in Scotland they'd focus resources on growing the Scottish game rather than taking any chance to bolt south to greener pastures. With this in mind, and the prospect of a competitive, financially balanced league without them, why in the world would Scotland take them back? It makes one of football's most ancient, and proudest nations look like an abused spouse that keeps on crawling back.

Leave him, you're too good for him.

Manchester United 2 - 1 Arsenal

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:14:11 -0500

This result was extremely hard on an Arsenal side that out played Manchester United in nearly every facet of the game, now some will say that's whining, but that just says they didn't watch the match. Arsenal's passing was crisper, control neater, and finishing more accurate. But they lost, a mental lapse by Abou Diaby, who otherwise had a fine match, will go down in the scoreline as the reason Arsenal lost this match, but in truth the odds were never with them.

Wayne Rooney did dive. Man Utd's fans will argue with great vigor that Manuel Almunia took out the England man but slow-motion replays show Rooney collapsing well before contact with the Pamplona-born stopper. There was contact, and that's why referee Mike Dean -- who had a horrible match -- awarded the penalty, he had no choice, he was conned by Wayne Rooney. To rub salt in the wounds, Manuel Almunia was booked for the incident.

Rooney beat his man on the play and found himself one-on-one with Almunia who had cut down Rooney's angle but had already committed to ground. Rooney knocked the ball beyond the reach of Almunia -- and into the Stretford End -- and began his fall into Almunia's sprawled arms, thus creating the contact Mike Dean, and many others at the moment of contact, believed Almunia had created. From his point of view Dean was correct to award a penalty to Manchester United.

This was clever from Wayne Rooney, his dive was much more believable than that of Eduardo, but he's no less guilty. Questions, but not blame, can be thrown at the feet of Almunia - what in the world was he thinking? But the guilt is squarely with Wayne Rooney.

I'm not disputing Mike Dean's call, though I will say that he missed a clear penalty in the exact same location in the first half when Darren Fletcher took out Andrey Arshavin. What I am calling for is for Rooney to receive the same punishment that Eduardo received. There was public outcry for Eduardo to be punished, yet many of those same people have turned a blind eye to Wayne Rooney.

I accept the loss, it's over. As is so often the case, the better team didn't win. It's a fickle game, and I accept that. But just like I also accept, and admit, that my player cheated Celtic, Manchester United fans need to accept, and admit, that their player cheated Arsenal.

And yes, I know Eboue is cheat.

Does Rooney get banned now?

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:25:48 -0500

Because that was a dive, he goes before Almunia gets to him. Does this mean Wayne Rooney will be retroactively given a two match ban and miss the Manchester Derby?

We've heard about how diving spoils the game all week, and how UEFA is doing the game a favor by (rightly) handing Eduardo da Silva a two match ban for his dive against Celtic. Or is it only a dive when a non-English player (or Peter Crouch) does it? Did Rooney just "know what he was doing"? Was it just an "intelligent play"?

No, he's a cheat. Wayne Rooney, England's golden boy, is a cheat. He's no better than Rivaldo, or Eduardo, or Cristiano Ronaldo, or Diego Maradona, or Jurgen Klinnsmann, or Didier Drogba, or Robert Pires, or Marco Materazzi.

Shame Peter Crouch, an actual decent human being and fair footballer, can't get the Rooney treatment.

Almunia's yellow card should also be rescinded.

USL sold to NuRock holdings

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:32:54 -0500

United Soccer Leagues presser.

I knew it wasn't going to be Major League Soccer, but people kept throwing gasoline on that fire. Hopefully they'll hush now, MLS only had passing interest and Nike's asking price was way too high for their liking.

NuRock is an Atlanta, Georgia-based real estate development company, they already operate a PDL team in Atlanta and the rights to USL First Division teams in Atlanta and also Birmingham, Alabama. It'll be interesting to see what happens to those rights now that NuRock controls the league itself. It's also worth noting that Atlanta's old USL First Division team, the Silverbacks, hasn't been officially folded yet and has until the registration period for next year to decided whether or not they will compete anymore.

Apperently there was a lot more interest in the USL than Nike ever expected, Traffic Sports USA, owners of USL First Division club Miami FC, were among the other bidders.

I personally don't know much about NuRock, but long time American soccer blogger Kartik Krishnaiyer says they do good work and thinks the USL is in good hands with them. He'll probably have an update on either his personal blog, or MLS talk later today.

The people involved with NuRock obviously have some financial clout, and seem to be real soccer people, so the future for the USL and thus, US Soccer as a whole, could be very exciting.

Arsenal 3 - 1 (5 - 1) Celtic

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:37:32 -0500

So that's where Willo Flood is now.

I know that everyone will point to the obvious dive by Eduardo that got the scoring started, but that was simply a magical display of football by Arsenal and helps to set up a mouthwatering tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford this weekend.

The second and third goals were nothing short of sublime, exactly the type of football Arsene Wenger wants to see his men play. Emmanuel Eboue continues his climb back from zero to hero as he notched the second, Abou Diaby was involved up the left hand side and the Ivorian international made no mistake at all when he went for goal.

Arshavin was left on the bench to start the match but came on as a substitute for Eduardo and scored a final goal with what was almost his first touch. The way he turned Donati was simply superb and the Russian knew just where to go with the ball, Boruc - who to his credit was Celtic's man of the match - had no chance.

Celtic did manage to score with the final touch of the ball, Donati was able to poke home a cross to grab some scant consolation for his side.

That makes it 15 goals in 4 matches for an Arsenal side who saw themselves largely written off following the departures of Adebayor and Toure to the blue half of Manchester, but Wenger knew exactly what he was doing and while it's still very early days, you'd have to dig pretty deep to completely write-off Arsenal claiming some sort of trophy this season. And to think, we still haven't seen Nasri, Rosicky, or Walcott.

Sol Campbell's shocking Notts County move

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:13:04 -0500

It only seems like yesterday that people like me were donating $10 or $20 to help save Notts County, the world's oldest professional football club, from extinction. The Magpies were literally less than a week from going to the wall. I'm glad everyone was able to save the club, despite it's league placement the club and it's Meadow Lane ground are a vital part of football culture.

But they've lost their freaking minds.

Or maybe the haven't. If Sol Campbell, a competent, veteran professional, is the only signing they splash an obscene amount of cash on they may well be onto something. Campbell is vastly experienced and that can only serve to help the young players on the books at County, but if they go spending shocking amounts on over-the-hill players, and at 34 Campbell himself may soon fall into that category, they could be in for more misery.

Little is known about the new owners at Meadow Lane, as Tom Dunmore looked into awhile ago, and nobody (except the owners themselves) is exactly sure how much money they have. This isn't the case with Chelsea or Manchester City where it's pretty well know how much each owner is worth, it's more like the sad case of Gretna, and I hope that the same fate doesn't befall County, because I'm not sure how many people would step-up to bail them out this time.

North Carolina Derby

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:22:48 -0500

Yes! This weekend!

I know, it's not exactly on most people's radar, but I still wanted to talk about it, so I will.

About the derby: The current incarnation of the North Carolina Derby is contested by the Charlotte Eagles -- twice USL Second Division champions -- and the Wilmington Hammerheads -- champions in 2003. The derby itself actually dates back to 1993 when the then Greensboro (now Carolina) Dynamo met Charlotte for the first time, making it the oldest active professional intrastate derby match in the United States.

The Charlotte Eagles Soccer Club is a not-for-profit organization run by Missionary Athletes International, the club was founded in 1991 (and joined the league in 1993). The main objective of the club, and it's sister-club the Charlotte Lady Eagles, is to use sport to attract people into the ministry. I realize that some people will look down upon that, but it's worth noting that the club does a tremendous amount of work in the Charlotte community and beyond. The club is captained by forward Dustin Swinehart, who joined the club in 1998. This will be his final derby as he has announced his retirement. The Eagles play home matches on the campus of Charlotte Christian School, in Stonehaven, Charlotte though they soon plan on moving to the Mecklenburg Regional Sportsplex in suburban Matthews, southeast of Charlotte proper.

The Wilmington Hammerheads were founded in 1996 and entered the league at the same time, they play home matches at the 6,000-capacity Legion Stadium and have become one of the USL's cornerstone clubs. Unlike Charlotte, which sometimes has a difficult time garnering support in a city already saturated with professional teams, the Hammerheads have become a source of pride for the Port City of just over 100,000 residents. The Hammerheads' greatest accomplishment is the 2003 USL Second Division championship, but throughout their existence the club has used their home field advantage at Legion Stadium to claim several MLS scalps, including a victory over the Chicago Fire this season.

August 22nd will mark the fifth and final meeting between the two clubs in 2009, each has claimed one league win, while the third resulted in a draw. Wilmington defeated Charlotte 2-0 in the first round of the US Open Cup before moving on to beat Cary's Railhawks in the second round, eventually Wilmington fell to Rochester in the quarterfinals after beating Chicago in the third round. Wimington won the USL-2 regular season championship while Charlotte finished fourth. The match kicks off at 7:00 pm EDT from Wilmington's Legion Stadium.

A look at the trimmed down US 2018/2022 World Cup bid

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:41:26 -0500

Today the USA Bid Committee announced the thirty-two venues (in twenty-seven metro areas) still in contention to host World Cup matches in either 2018 or 2022 should the country be selected.

There are a couple of surprises on the list, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium chief among them, but the inclusion of the extremely narrow Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor may also raise some eyebrows. Michigan Stadium, or "The Big House" to fans of the University of Michigan, is the largest stadium (not counting auto facilities) in the United States so maybe it's inclusion isn't such a mystery, but some major modifications will have to be done in order for the stadium to house the seventy yard wide pitch required to host the FIFA World Cup, the same goes for Jacksonville though there is a long shot of that happening anyway. RFK Stadium does have history as a soccer venue but it's hard to get passed it's crumbling, cookie-cutter facade and small capacity, especially considering that the 90,000-capacity FedExField in nearby Landover, Maryland -- another venue that falls into the above category -- is also bidding.

Washington, DC is one of five "markets" (for some reason terming cities "markets" really irks me) that have two stadiums in the running, the other two are Dallas, Texas (The 89,000-capacity Cotton Bowl -- a 1994 host venue -- and Arlington's 100,000-seat Cowboys Stadium), Los Angeles, Detroit, Michigan who in addition to the aforementioned Michigan Stadium have also put forth Ford Field, located in the heart of Detroit, and Seattle. No city is going to get two host venues, not in a country with as many options as the United States so there's a good chance we can rule out Ford Field, though there's still a glimmer of hope for the Cotton Bowl as the Cowboys Stadium seems to have some issues when it comes to hosting soccer matches. RFK Stadium will very likely be demolished by 2018 anyway, stopping any potential debate regarding a possible capital venue.

An interesting debate is about which Southern venue will host matches if only one is chosen. Atlanta is the largest city in the South (though Charlotte proper is actually larger than Atlanta proper) and would seemingly get the nod without much debate, but it's stadium, the Georgia Dome, is in the same boat with Ann Arbor, Jacksonville, and Landover in it's inability to fit a proper pitch unlike it's rivals Charlotte and Nashville. Charlotte has the largest stadium of the three at just shy of 74,000 and will have rail links in place by the time a potential World Cup rolls around, and Nashville is probably in the most central location of the three. However, with the American population demographics continuing a Southern shift there is no reason why two of the three couldn't host matches.

Florida has four venues in the mix: Jacksonville is joined by Miami (Land Shark Stadium), Orlando (the Florida Citrus Bowl) and Tampa (Raymond James Stadium). While geographically in the South, Florida's sheer size and status as a tourism hub means it merits separate status when determining host venues. Miami may well be a shoe in, it was kept out of the mix in 1994 because baseball's Florida Marlins were unable to vacate then Joe Robbie Stadium for the required time, but the Marlins are moving to a new stadium within the next few years and will no longer present a problem. Rumors continue to circle around the potential fate of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, residents of the city-owned Jacksonvile Municipal Stadium. Jacksonville, oddly, is somewhat of a Rugby League hotbed and if the Jaguars up sticks to Los Angeles it could mean that the Axemen get a sweetheart deal on the stadium which may merit a widening of the pitch, but unless this long shot happens Jacksonville is likely to lose out to Miami or Tampa. While Orlando hosted matches in 1994 the Citrus Bowl is nowhere near up to standard and the city has bigger worries than renovating a stadium without a big tenant.

In the northeast New York (East Rutherford, New Jersey) is essentially a shoe-in and one would think the same of Foxborough, Mass. (near Boston). Philadelphia and Baltimore may end up being left out in the cold given how close they are to New York and Washington.

The only automatic choice in the "heartland" is Chicago's Soldier Field. Chicago is a soccer hotbed and the second city and couldn't possibly be left out. St. Louis (with the Edward Jones Dome), Kansas City (Arrowhead) and Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium) are also bidding. Arrowhead is rather famous for it's noise but doesn't present much else that would stand out to the electors and the two domed stadiums have retractable seats which allow them to fit soccer fields but reduce capacity. All three of these places are likely to lose out to a second Texas venue in Houston's Reliant Stadium.

Out west you have several strong candidates including two famous venues in Greater Los Angeles: The Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl. Both stadiums are starting to show their age though both may be set for a renovation in the near future, if it gets renovated the Rose Bowl will almost certainly host the final. Seattle is looking to capitalize on the rousing success of the Sounders and has put forth Qwest Field which doesn't face much competition in that area unless you're willing to include Denver's Invesco Field. Glendale is an interesting one as it has the fine University of Phoenix Stadium, it looks likely that it would host ahead of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Qualcomm Stadium and Stanford Stadium. Husky Stadium has no chance.

My final bid would be: Foxborough, East Rutherford, Washington, Nashville, Charlotte, Miami, Chicago, Arlington, Houston, Glendale, Seattle, and Pasadena.

Columbus v Puerto Rico

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:00:01 -0500

That was a deserved win for Columbus, I think they're unbeaten in twenty-two or something at home now and it was easy to see why, they dominated large swaths of the match and were technically much better that the Islanders as well so 2-0 was a fair score line.

Colin Clarke missed this match, he's still suspended for fighting in a CFU Champions Cup match, and it was somewhat apparent. Is Fabrice Noel injured or otherwise unavailable? He should've been in the match for Puerto Rico, particularly considering they missing Jagdeosingh through that phantom red card he picked up against Toronto. Addlery looked isolated and I don't think the Islanders ever really tested Hesmer, Steele's crossing was uncharacteristically poor.

The first goal came indirectly from a set piece, Schelotto -- who's brother incidentally used to play for Puerto Rico -- put in a cross which eventually found it's way to Steven Lenhart via a low cross, Lenhart was never missing, in fact, a patio broom would've scored.

Near the end the second goal also started on the right hand side and finished with Robbie Rogers putting beyond Bill Gaudette, Gaudette it must be said again gave a good account of himself as his goal was more or less under siege for the entire match.

Columbus looked like the MLS champions in this one, and they're obviously a better team than Puerto Rico's previous opponents, Toronto, but I wish they had as many songs as Toronto. I'll probably be hearing that one in my sleep.

Both teams have difficult tests ahead, Champions League runners-up Cruz Azul and Costa Rican giants Saprissa round out the group. Both teams travel next week with Puerto Rico on the plastic pitch at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, while Columbus travel to the Mexican capital.

The USL buyout saga

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:00:15 -0500

This weekend a Canadian newspaper reported that Nike had put the United Soccer Leagues up for sale and that Major League Soccer was one of the parties interested in buying the USL. The paper also noted that this was "unlikely" but that didn't stop the news spreading like wildfire, and the discussion from descending to elementary depths.

Kartik Krishnaiyer of MLS Talk wrote a piece on topic today which addressed how a small, but extremely vocal minority of MLS fans are injecting misguided garbage into what should be an intelligent discussion of the future of the American game. Many of these fans are the same people who brand critics of Major League Soccer "eurosnobs" and help to chase away potential converts claiming that one day they'll replace them with American sports fans, something that won't happen. If you can convert an NFL fan to soccer he won't watch MLS exclusively, they're used to seeing the best and will therefore be attracted to the likes of Arsenal, Barcelona, Juventus, and Manchester United. I myself have been branded a eurosnob for not supporting my "local team", DC United, despite the fact that my true local team, the USL-2 Charlotte Eagles, play three miles, as the crow flies, from my house. This really shows the type of people we're dealing with here, and I feel sorry for the MLS fans that have to deal with this minority of idiots on a daily basis.

Now I must digress to the topic at hand, the potential USL buyout. I personally hope that MLS doesn't buy the USL, I think that would be bad for the game in this country. Soccer isn't baseball, I've said that before, a full-blown farm system like the one used by baseball in this country wouldn't work for soccer because of the impact the independent USL has made. It would be difficult for supporters in cities like Charlotte, Charleston, Des Moines, Rochester, Pittsburgh and Wilmington to pay money to support a team with less intentions of winning the division than developing players for a Major League side in DC, or San Jose, they just wouldn't do it. Baseball doesn't have this problem, it's Major League teams have fans all over the country with a real interest in seeing the prospects play, you just don't see a lot of DC United apperal in the Cape Fear region like you do Atlanta Braves gear.

People speak of how soccer needs an "American" twist to appeal to Americans, competition is very American -- In fact, the aspect of promotion and relegation is American in that it potentially allows for a team from a small town, say Bentonville, Arkansas, to be the biggest dog in the country, but that's another discussion for another day. -- A competitive USL would force the MLS to continue to, wisely, improve it's product. They can't continue to market themselves as America's premier soccer league if a USL team outlasts them in the Champions League, can they? No, because results speak higher than slick graphics.

I enjoy seeing MLS be successful, like I said, it's good for the game, but I also enjoy seeing the USL have success because that's also good for the game. We need both of them, and we can throw in the NPSL too. It's stupid to limit competitive soccer to, say, twenty-six cities just so you can pretend to be like the NFL, you aren't the NFL and you never will be. It's a multi-billion dollar monster. The more cities with competitive soccer teams the more of a chance the game has to grow.

I know that the acquision of the USL would probably be good for MLS in a business sense, but bare in mind that what's good for the tom isn't always good for the clowder.