Peace & News My Little Lovelies

-A rather dull game from Guatemala City last night ended Guate 0-0 USA. A couple bright spots and blight spots. Bright: Marcus Hahnemann - some very nice saves; Jimmy Conrad & Chad Marshall center back combo - Conrad works his ass off, and Marshall is the future. Blight: Marcus Hahneman - what in the name of Sam Hell was up with those punts and goal kicks?? I counted at least 7 that went the full length of the field and directly to the other teams keeper; Chris Albright & Greg Vanney, the outside backs - Albright was too erratic ala Hejduk (simple, man, simple) and Vanney has lost it as an outside back cuz he is waaaaay toooooo sloooooow; Clint Dempsey still can't find a position to be effective from, with New Eng he does great in the 3-5-2 where he can stay in the middle and roam freely but in a 4-4-2 he needs to be much more creative and not just a great garbage man, then he totally got lost out on the right wing.
-Nice article by Michael Rand in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune about the Mighty Minnesota Thunder coach Mighty Buzz Lagos who coaches his last ever regular season home game on Saturday against Atlanta (after 16 years at the helm): Heading out
-Mexico wins 5-0 over Panama (in front of only 35,000 in Azteca) and are now in the World Cup along with 9 others: Germany, Argentina, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea, Ukraine, United States, Brazil
-And Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about it: Without bombast, Mexico qualifies for World Cup
-And and and and our man Glenn Davis asks a lot of questions about the Mexi-melts: Mexico's effort, tactics in question after defeat
-England lost to Northern Ireland. Hahahahahahahahahaha. Oh my god this is funny! Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Coach Svenie (a Rico Suave of sorts) says he is not going to resign. Of course he is not, what fool would walk away from all that money. If they fire him, they have to pay him.
-Here is another vid clip of the Beasley goal for USA v Mexico, taken from the stands on the far side of the net, and pretty close to the pitch. Its equally as insane as the one I posted yesterday.
-Yesterday I was bitching about Chivas USA stupidly benching Brad Guzan. Today Fred Robledo of the Long Beach Press Telegram asks why: Keeper Guzan benched, at least for now
-SI's Grant Wahl gives his view of what the USA World Cup team might look like: Up next, the world
-And then Wahl gets to spend a few minutes of precious "quality time" with Landycakes: First Person
-Soccer America's regular column MLS Confidential is always packed with goodies: Reis remains unrepentant
-According to Soccer 365: Fox Soccer Channel and 12 Division I men's soccer programs have reached an agreement to broadcast a "College Soccer Game of the Week" on Friday nights this fall. So? I like this less than watching USL on FSC. Could the production values be any lower?
-I don't know if any of you guys ever read columns written by Richard Snowden over at Soccer365, but he IS Neil from the Young Ones.