Bright Sunshiney Grey Day Sky Blue News
-ADDITION: Will Kasey Keller sign a new deal to extend his contract at Gladbach or will he come play in MLS? That is the question in the article from Sky.
-More on the Freddy Adu cocking off story. Yesterday I spouted off about the Mike Wilbon story in the Washington Post where he didn't so much defend Freddy as rip MLS for hyping Freddy, and then not giving him a chance to deliver. I took some flack for my stance, and now I want to defend what I said.
OK, so I will definitely agree that the gist of Wilbons article is correct. MLS sold the common sports fan a bag of hot air when they marketed Freddy initially. But all of us real fans of the game in America knew Freddy was not gonna play all the time the day MLS said it. We knew it was not true. It's called Marketing. Whether we like it or not, hucksters run the league. Hucksters run every sports league and entertainment enterprise in America.
On the other hand, it's not like the kid has never played in his 2 years. He played in every single game last year and did ok at times. Here are some of Freddy's stats for this year as reported Wednesday in the Wash Post by Steve Goff: Adu played in all 25 regular season game for which he was available this year, starting 16 of them. He is tied for 4th in goals with 4 and is 4th in assists with 6. Of the 22 players who have appeared in a league game this year, he ranks 9th in minutes played.
Not bad at all, especially with Gomez and Moreno ahead of him in the pecking order at Freddy's preferred spots.
My real problem with Wilbon jumping into this fray is this: When was the last time he wrote anything about soccer, especially when it wasn't controversial news (He never just steps up and writes about all the great stuff.)? When? It's a long time between. He can rant all he wants if he covers the game regularly. Otherwise, I say, "Go away dude! I don't want to hear from you."
We all saw Freddy play horribly at the U20 World Championship this past summer, for all we know he still might be too young even for that level. We know he has almost no chance in hell of making the USA World Cup squad next summer, and guys like Wilbon would have no idea if Freddy has the goods to make that team or not, cuz besides the coach and about 3 players, I bet good money Wilbon couldn't name another guy on the whole USA team.
Freddy also showed a huge drop in quality down in Saprissa Stadium when DC played in Libertadores. He came on late and his first effort was a really bad foul that gave Saprissa a great spot for a free kick, and they converted to tie the game late. He blew two more chances with the ball to kill time or take away some momentum. I don't want to blame Freddy for that whole disaster, but he got his chance, and he sure didn't help. The international pressure is still too much for him.
Lastly, my biggest problem with all of this crap is the timing. Support yer team Freddy dude. Deliver when you are called upon, and the rest will sort itself out.
-Columbus post season awards: Jonny Walker (3 awards) - Comeback Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, & Defender of the Year. Chris Henderson (2 awards) - Hardest Working Man of the Year, & Coaches Award. Simon Elliott - Most Valuable Player. Robin Fraser - Man of the Year. Jon Busch - Humanitarian of the Year. Edson Buddle - Golden Boot. And Eric Vasquez & Jamal Sutton tied for Goal of the Year.
-MLS Playoff first legs this weekend:
Fri
Chicago v DC United - 8pm - Direct Kick
Sat
Metrotars v New England - 6pm - FSC
Colorado v Dallas - 8pm - FSC
Sun
LA v San Jose - 2pm - ESPN2
-Ives Galarcep with a playoff preview for ESPNSoccernet.
-Sigi Schmid is going to keep Robert Warzycha in Columbus as his new teams top Assistant Coach.
-MLS named DC's Jamie Moreno as the best player to participate in all 10 years of the league. That's not too tough to pick. The rest of the top 5 looks like this: 2. Jason Kries, 3. Eddie Pope, 4. Cobi Jones & Preki. I would pick Pope #2 and drop Kries to a tie with Jones and Preki for third.
-UEFA Cup Matchday 1 scores (see all the group standings here):
Viking 1-0 Monaco
CSKA Sofia 0-1 Hamburg
Maccabi Petah-Tikva 1-2 Palermo
Halmstad 0-1 Hertha
Steaua 4-0 Lens
Dnipro 1-2 AZ
Grasshoppers 0-1 Middlesbrough
Basel 0-2 Strasbourg
Tromso 1-2 Roma
CSKA Moskva 1-2 Marseille
Dinamo Bucuresti 0-0 Heerenveen
Rennes 0-2 Stuttgart
Shakhtar 1-0 PAOK
Zenit 2-1 Guimaraes
Besiktas 1-1 Bolton
-If for some reason you have World Cup tickets that you do not want, FIFA is setting up some thingy where you can re-sell them at face value only.
-Three of the Four first legs were played this week in the Copa Sudamericana. Here are the scores so far (those road goals could come in very handy!):
Fluminense 2-1 Universidad Catolica (Nov 9 return leg)
Corinthians 2-1 Pumas UNAM (Nov 9 return leg)
Internacional1-0 Boca Juniors (Nov 10 return leg)
America v Velez Sarsfield will be played on Wed Oct 26 (Nov 2 return leg)
-Alex Chick covers "The Ammonia Incident" for ESPNSoccernet. I love France. Can you imagine how big this story would be if it happened between major clubs in England.
-Big Games this weekend around Europe:
Arsenal v Man City
Barcelona v Osasuna
Real Madrid v Valencia
Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart
VfL Wolfsburg v Schalke 04
-Primera Division de Mexico this weekend:
Saturday matches:
Toluca v Atlante
Cruz Azul v San Luis
Monterrey v Necaxa
Morelia v Santos
Chiapas v UNAM
Atlas v Sinaloa
Sunday matches:
Pachuca v Guadalajara
America v Veracruz
UA de G v UANL
Points Leaders:
29 America
24 Necaxa
24 Monterrey
23 Cruz Azul
22 Pachuca
-More on the Freddy Adu cocking off story. Yesterday I spouted off about the Mike Wilbon story in the Washington Post where he didn't so much defend Freddy as rip MLS for hyping Freddy, and then not giving him a chance to deliver. I took some flack for my stance, and now I want to defend what I said.
OK, so I will definitely agree that the gist of Wilbons article is correct. MLS sold the common sports fan a bag of hot air when they marketed Freddy initially. But all of us real fans of the game in America knew Freddy was not gonna play all the time the day MLS said it. We knew it was not true. It's called Marketing. Whether we like it or not, hucksters run the league. Hucksters run every sports league and entertainment enterprise in America.
On the other hand, it's not like the kid has never played in his 2 years. He played in every single game last year and did ok at times. Here are some of Freddy's stats for this year as reported Wednesday in the Wash Post by Steve Goff: Adu played in all 25 regular season game for which he was available this year, starting 16 of them. He is tied for 4th in goals with 4 and is 4th in assists with 6. Of the 22 players who have appeared in a league game this year, he ranks 9th in minutes played.
Not bad at all, especially with Gomez and Moreno ahead of him in the pecking order at Freddy's preferred spots.
My real problem with Wilbon jumping into this fray is this: When was the last time he wrote anything about soccer, especially when it wasn't controversial news (He never just steps up and writes about all the great stuff.)? When? It's a long time between. He can rant all he wants if he covers the game regularly. Otherwise, I say, "Go away dude! I don't want to hear from you."
We all saw Freddy play horribly at the U20 World Championship this past summer, for all we know he still might be too young even for that level. We know he has almost no chance in hell of making the USA World Cup squad next summer, and guys like Wilbon would have no idea if Freddy has the goods to make that team or not, cuz besides the coach and about 3 players, I bet good money Wilbon couldn't name another guy on the whole USA team.
Freddy also showed a huge drop in quality down in Saprissa Stadium when DC played in Libertadores. He came on late and his first effort was a really bad foul that gave Saprissa a great spot for a free kick, and they converted to tie the game late. He blew two more chances with the ball to kill time or take away some momentum. I don't want to blame Freddy for that whole disaster, but he got his chance, and he sure didn't help. The international pressure is still too much for him.
Lastly, my biggest problem with all of this crap is the timing. Support yer team Freddy dude. Deliver when you are called upon, and the rest will sort itself out.
-Columbus post season awards: Jonny Walker (3 awards) - Comeback Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, & Defender of the Year. Chris Henderson (2 awards) - Hardest Working Man of the Year, & Coaches Award. Simon Elliott - Most Valuable Player. Robin Fraser - Man of the Year. Jon Busch - Humanitarian of the Year. Edson Buddle - Golden Boot. And Eric Vasquez & Jamal Sutton tied for Goal of the Year.
-MLS Playoff first legs this weekend:
Fri
Chicago v DC United - 8pm - Direct Kick
Sat
Metrotars v New England - 6pm - FSC
Colorado v Dallas - 8pm - FSC
Sun
LA v San Jose - 2pm - ESPN2
-Ives Galarcep with a playoff preview for ESPNSoccernet.
-Sigi Schmid is going to keep Robert Warzycha in Columbus as his new teams top Assistant Coach.
-MLS named DC's Jamie Moreno as the best player to participate in all 10 years of the league. That's not too tough to pick. The rest of the top 5 looks like this: 2. Jason Kries, 3. Eddie Pope, 4. Cobi Jones & Preki. I would pick Pope #2 and drop Kries to a tie with Jones and Preki for third.
-UEFA Cup Matchday 1 scores (see all the group standings here):
Viking 1-0 Monaco
CSKA Sofia 0-1 Hamburg
Maccabi Petah-Tikva 1-2 Palermo
Halmstad 0-1 Hertha
Steaua 4-0 Lens
Dnipro 1-2 AZ
Grasshoppers 0-1 Middlesbrough
Basel 0-2 Strasbourg
Tromso 1-2 Roma
CSKA Moskva 1-2 Marseille
Dinamo Bucuresti 0-0 Heerenveen
Rennes 0-2 Stuttgart
Shakhtar 1-0 PAOK
Zenit 2-1 Guimaraes
Besiktas 1-1 Bolton
-If for some reason you have World Cup tickets that you do not want, FIFA is setting up some thingy where you can re-sell them at face value only.
-Three of the Four first legs were played this week in the Copa Sudamericana. Here are the scores so far (those road goals could come in very handy!):
Fluminense 2-1 Universidad Catolica (Nov 9 return leg)
Corinthians 2-1 Pumas UNAM (Nov 9 return leg)
Internacional1-0 Boca Juniors (Nov 10 return leg)
America v Velez Sarsfield will be played on Wed Oct 26 (Nov 2 return leg)
-Alex Chick covers "The Ammonia Incident" for ESPNSoccernet. I love France. Can you imagine how big this story would be if it happened between major clubs in England.
-Big Games this weekend around Europe:
Arsenal v Man City
Barcelona v Osasuna
Real Madrid v Valencia
Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart
VfL Wolfsburg v Schalke 04
-Primera Division de Mexico this weekend:
Saturday matches:
Toluca v Atlante
Cruz Azul v San Luis
Monterrey v Necaxa
Morelia v Santos
Chiapas v UNAM
Atlas v Sinaloa
Sunday matches:
Pachuca v Guadalajara
America v Veracruz
UA de G v UANL
Points Leaders:
29 America
24 Necaxa
24 Monterrey
23 Cruz Azul
22 Pachuca
posted by brucio at 10:18
3 Comments:
2 comments...
1)Great, in depth Q & A with DMB at cnnsi if you haven't seen it already.
2)Couldn't disagree more with this:
My real problem with Wilbon jumping into this fray is this: When was the last time he wrote anything about soccer, especially when it wasn't controversial news (He never just steps up and writes about all the great stuff.)? When? It's a long time between. He can rant all he wants if he covers the game regularly. Otherwise, I say, "Go away dude! I don't want to hear from you."
The whole Adu thing has been good publicity for the league, and I think that slowly over time we'll see more and more main stream non-soccer sports guys commenting on the game. Whether it's MLS or the US team or whatever, it's all growth in getting the sport out there into people's subconscious. And at first, those types of people are only going to comment on big stories - good and bad - and not about day to day stuff that's interesting to those of us who follow the game more closely. So if Wilbon only writes about soccer 2 or 3 times a year, so what? As long as it keeps increasing and maybe next year it's 3 or 4 times, that's fine with me.
I gotta go with leper on this one. The irony is that it was all the original hype that makes this Freddy fiasco national news now.
The moral of the story: We need more hype. What else can we hype?
fair enough
i like when guys smarter then me read this crap i write, comment on it, and shed some light for me and others
thanks dudes
you are true dudes
and dudes are good in my book
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