Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Always More Team Chaos News

The London Daily Telegraph, which is an ever-so-slighlty-less-tabloidy paper when compared to most English trash, says US Soccer is talking to Jurgen Klinsman about the USA coaching job. I am not so sure I believe this, but would not be surprised either.
~ ~ ~ ~
FC Dallas has signed Trinidad & Tobago keeper Shaka Hislop.
~ ~ ~ ~
World Cup Semifinals:
-Yesterday it was Germany 0-2 Italy in extra time.
-Wednesday July 5 in Munich - France v Portugal at 2pm central time on ESPN
~ ~ ~ ~
Read about the dirty diving wankers pulling off the stunning late 2-0 upset against the home side.
-Los Angeles Times Grahame Jones
-New York Times Jere Longman
-The Financial Times Simon Kuper
~ ~ ~ ~
Simon Kuper also had a story yesterday on Germany's imported American fitness guru's.
~ ~ ~ ~
Todays big match - Zidane v Figo
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune asks: Who Wants It More?
-Simon Kuper on the Frogies: Les Bleus turn back clock to togetherness time
~ ~ ~ ~
World Cup Final:
Sunday July 9 in Berlin - Italy v the other semifinal winner at 1pm central time on ABC
~ ~ ~ ~
DC United midfielder Ben Olsen has some not so nice words for people who have gone out of their way to lambast Team USA over their World Cup failures. He says that criticism and disappoint are absolutely fine and right, but the ridicule is not. I bow my head to you Captain Caveman.
~ ~ ~ ~
One of my favorite American soccer writers Andrea Canales examines that criticism for ESPN Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~
Brazil's Roberto Carlos has retired from his national team.
~ ~ ~ ~
All during the World Cup I was having trouble identifying the dark haired fella that was seemingly always at German coach Jurgen Klinsman's side. Now I know who he is. He is Joachim Loew, a long time journeyman player and coach. He is an assistant coach for Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS July 4 scores:
Dallas 0-1 DC United - Up to the point of the winning goal, DC was outplayed by the home boys, but the incredible attacking trio of Jaime Moreno, Freddy Adu and Christian Gomez struck on a counter after a blocked free, kick with Moreno carrying the ball into the offensive third, passing to Adu who beat a defender and then laid the ball back to Moreno who tipped it off for Gomez to finish. WARNING: linked article from Dallas Morning News begins with Kool & The Gang reference - NOT cool.
Chicago 1-0 Kansas City - Andy Herron shows up for a change with a nasty bicycle kick goal!
Houston 1-1 Columbus - Why does Columbus where black shirts and yellow shorts? It looks idiotic.
Colorado 3-2 New England - Niko Hernandez with two awesome goals, one on a smashed header and the other a powerful right footer, leads Colo over New England who got goals again from Clint Dempsey (a skipping tip shot) and Taylor Twellman (what else but a diving header). The second Colorado goal was controversially scored on a breakaway by Kyle Beckerman 1:18 into added-time at the end of the first half after the 4th official had indicated that there would be NO stoppage time.
Salt Lake 0-0 Chivas - Ugh, and I don't care if Chivas do look considerably better this year compared to last, this is still an unwatchable contest. The Salt Lake Tribune newspaper headline about the game says it all: Same Old Story - No goals, no win. I guess there is good news though in that both teams have stopped giving up bags full of goals.
Los Angeles 1-0 New York - Look out League, Landy Cakes scores again and the LA defense, who couldn't stop anyone a month ago, now record their third straight clean sheet. Welcome back to MLS Frank Yallop. This team has won two straight, and finally one at home, for the first time all year.
~ ~ ~ ~
Not too surprisingly Coach Fabio Capello has ditched disaster bound Juventus of Turino for Real Madrid of Spain.
~ ~ ~ ~
And in other Serie A news, the word coming from Italy yesterday was that prosecutors are seeking to banish Juve to the third division, Serie C, and strip them of the last two league titles. Furthermore, three other teams are being pushed for demotion to Serie B, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, all for their roles in match fixing. The prosecutors are also going after 26 individuals from team officials to referees. Stay tuned to this mess.
~ ~ ~ ~
My friend Amy has started a weblog of recollections from her trip to the World Cup. It just might be a little too "insider" for most of you to enjoy, but if you are up for it then read along and enjoy her ride around Europe with a bunch of dopes like me.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Personally, I find the WC Italy envy exhibited by all of my US soccer brethren to be comical. Yes, there are ugly happenings going on in Italian soccer right now, but let's not treat it as if it is the only country where such nasty things have occurred (I'm not saying that anyone has said that explicitly but the tendency towards Italian stereotyping is always just under the surface it seems). The Italian NT has earned their spot in the finals - diving does not earn clean sheets, which the Italians have managed in every game with the exception of an own goal. They are a force - I just hope we can have an entertaining and "incident" free final, no matter who comes out on top.

1:45 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

sorry ken but "entertaining" and "italy" are polar opposites and cannot occur on the same pitch

3:25 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Newer Posts Older Posts