Tuesday, September 20, 2005

My Finger Is Not In My Nose, And I Am Not Picking The News

-If you are in the Twin Cities you really ought to come out Wednesday night and join fans of the Minnesota Thunder for their annual post-season banquet. Awards are given out to the Player Of The Year & Newcomer Of The Year as voted on by fans at Blue Sky Soccer. The party begins at 7pm at the Local in downtown Minneapolis. There will also be video highlight and an auction benefiting Grass Roots Soccer (check those details at Blue Sky). Be there for a great time.
-BQ sent me this article about the chip in the ball at the U17 World Championship. The article is good at explaining some of how the technology works, but it does not tell how the ball knows it is completely over the line.
-I don't remember if I said this yesterday or not, but the USA U17 team beat North Korea 3-2 at the World Championship. They play Italy today (who beat Cote d'Ivoire 4-3). While the USA scored three good goals, I was amazed at how little possession they kept. Almost every pass, was long and forward, hoping to connect. How many games can you win like that?
-With defenders Sergio Ramos suspended and Ivan Helguera injured, will Jonathan Woodgate finally play his first match for Real Madrid on Thursday against Athletic Bilbao?
-Youri Djorkaeff was named MLS Player Of The Week. He is still that good!
-In other Metrostars analysis: I wanna mention Tim Ward. I think he has a bright future. He looks really good going forward, still needs lots of work defensively, but seems to have all the skills needed to make it. Having Youri Djorkaeff as captain was a great move for this team. It must be pretty amazing to be a young guy like Mike Magee, Michael Bradley or Eddie Gaven and have Djorkaeff with you everyday at practice and on the field in games. And Youri seems to really enjoy these young guys too. So after last weeks 5-4 lunatic match, we get the rematch this Saturday - New England v Metrostars at 630pm central on FSC. Tune in or be a fool.
-MLS Golden Foot standings:
15 Taylor Twellman
13 Jaime Moreno
11 Landycakes Donovan
11 Jeff Cunningham
11 Carlos Ruiz
-After a 2 goal game and 2-1 victory by Chicago, Chris Rolfe is right at the top of the list for Rookie Of The Year, along with Michael Parkhurst and Scott Sealy. I am not sure who I would pick just yet. That's why I pick after the season.
-From a few days ago - Stephen Goff at the Washington Post writes about DC United midfielder Brian Carroll: Carroll's Play Shows a Lot of Hard Work. Carroll is an interesting character for DC. He arrived at the team when Ray Hudson was still coaching and didn't see one single minute on playing time. A year later Peter Nowak took over the club and Carroll has barely left the pitch. Some coaches just see things different ways I guess, but how did Ray miss the mark that bad? Don't answer that.
-John Harkes wants to be a head coach (what will he tells his players? "Look at this!", "Watch this!", "Did you see that?!" etc etc cuz that all he ever seems to say when he is on TV analyzing the game), and he wants the Metrostars job. He told the Newark Star Ledger: "The MetroStars need a shot in the arm. They haven't had success. They need some changes." Aaaaaaaaah, we have our own Hugo Sanchez now.
-Ives Galarcep in the North Jersey Herald lobbies in favor of Bob Bradley keeping his job: Barring collapse, Bradley must stay
-Phil Ball talks about: Partying in the Suburbs
-Everton lost again yesterday, 2-0 to Arsenal. They have 3 points from 5 games in the EPL, got knocked out of the Champions League in their first round, and got pulverized in their first UEFA Cup match. Could it all be too much for them, or is this just the down spin of the yo-yo.
-Did you wonder where Clint Mathis was last week as Salt Lake lost down in Dallas? He was away from the team all week attending to "personal affairs". No word on if he is back yet.
-I saw an article refer to Dallas' new home Pizza Hut Park as The Hut. Now that is funny! (Say it out loud a few times.) And I will use it from now on.
-Manchester United and Argentina have lost a great left back for many many months to come: Gabriel Heinze has blown out the ACL on his left knee.
-Rob Hughes tells us all about the new awards that players are giving themselves: World players choose their own Dream Team
-The Houston Chronicle's excellent Week In Review
-Roberto Baggio is going to take an unnamed position with Inter Milan. Very cool.
-Glenn Davis says adios to El Tri at ESPNSoccernet: Make way for the new king
-Big tip of the hat toward regular reader and world class keeper Ken. You should watch his squad Fiorentina take on Lecce live at 130pm central on Wednesday via FSC (with a re-showing at 7).

5 Comments:

Blogger Zathras said...

From the RSL board regarding Mathis in practice this past week:

he only thing that I could even remotely suggest was when Mathis drilled Danilo, the Brasilian tryout, with the ball. It appeared to me that it was a flagarant attempt to actually hurt the guy. I did not see the lead up to it but it was obvious that there was some tension between them.
Mathis was not taking a shot on goal... and I have never seen anyone attempt a pass with that much force. The clincher for me was the kid crumpled like a house of cards when the ball hit him in the gut, mathis spit in his general direction and turned and walked away. No regard for whether the kid was alright or not. Danilo was down on the ground for a good while. The kid could have been seriously hurt.
The mood of the entire practice changed after that.
It went from a loud raucous practice to a subdued practice with players grumbling and not communicating.
I left practice after that with very little respect left for Mathis...

I have heard since then that it was not that incident but something that happened in the locker room, but I really don't know what the incident was...

11:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

funny, i was just thinking the other night watching the first half of that metros-revs game what a fine young player tim ward was. and then his team went and gave up four goals. so i was kinda having second thoughts on that assesment.

11:34 AM  
Blogger incendiarymind said...

I think this is the Everton that everybody expected last year. They've just arrived a year too late after playing beyond expectations last year.

12:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Everton will turn it around, bad luck with injuries, Tim Cahill over travelled & in desparate need of a pacy striker. European competition has possibly distracted them from league play.

Wigan this weekend, the season has to start somewhere, & apparently an Everton win will make them the only team in the EPL to defeat all 38 other teams that have particpated since the EPL started.

Congrats on the GW mention.

10:32 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

surprisingly, i know a lot of everton supporters and they feel the same way you do unsy
i hope it goes well
i like their coach a lot

11:16 AM  

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