The Land Of Torrential Heat News
The USA Women got revenge on Brazil, and their own former head coach Greg Ryan for that matter, by returning to China one year after their World Cup semifinal meltdown and winning the Olympic Gold medal 1-0 in Extra Time. Fantastic win! See Olympic Soccer Scoreboard section for more.
~and~
Bruce Arena on why he hired Dave Sarachan as his assistant coach in LA: "I realized that if I was going to take on this challenge I'd need to have a second-in-command who, when I get assassinated, could take over right away." From the LA Times. See the full article in the Los Angeles Galaxy section.
~and~
Eddie Johnson did not fly back to London from Guatemala City, because he has been loaned out to Cardiff in Wales. I want to hear Eddie learn some Welsh!
~and~
I know a lot of you want to see Kenny Cooper in the USA shirt. But I make one argument against him in the FC Dallas section below.
Team USA
Guatemala 0-1 USA - USA goal by Carlos Bocanegra.
Post game notes by Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives.
Post game notes and USA players ratings by Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal. (thanks to Anthony for this link)
Players ratings for USA by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Post game analysis & USA player ratings by Robert Wagman of Soccer Times.
Post game analysis & USA player ratings by Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365.
Game highlights via video from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
du Nord 3 Stars Of The Game:
3. DaMarcus Beasley - He only played ? minutes. But everyone of them were pure gold. His ball control and passing was concise. He showed real confidence and superiority to anyone on either team. Plus he is the guy who hammered in that corner kick for Boca to head home!
2. Tim Howard - Several great saves that kept the Chapines for taking a lead on 3 or 4 occasions. So cool and calm too. Several years starting in England can do that for a guy.
1. Carlos Bocanegra - What a goal. How did he get that wide open anyway? And how many times did he bail out Heath Pearce who got burned down the left flank over and over again. The captain and the hero.
My Notes from the match:
***After the USA scored I think they did a pretty great job of killing off the game. Yes there were a couple of stressful moments, but guys like Frankie Hejduk played great defense to hold down the big win.
***Did you know: the USA has not won in Guatemala in 20 years. Suck on that Little Fishy.
***I have also been thinking about three players who deserve a shot for the September 6 & 10 games. They are all guys who at one time were thought to be real contributors to the national team, and played in Europe, but through a string of injuries fell off the pile. They are all back to MLS and to nearly full strength. They have qualities this team needs badly to. Here they are, with their strengths:
-Conor Casey - Size, speed and strength up top. A great ability to score goals, and more talented & consistent than Brian Ching. Plus he is tough from his days in Germany.
-Cory Gibbs - Again with size, speed and strength, this time in central defense. He has the coolness on the ball and the smarts to make great plays out of the back, defusing opposing offenses. Plus who do we have besides Onyewu and Bocanegra that has shown they can really do it at the top level? Jimmy Conrad and Jay DeMerit are you next two choices. Even though he has not really played in 2 years he still had many options on where to play before coming home.
-John Thorrington - feisty midfield play with a nose for goal, and the guts to score the big goal when his team needs him (usually late in the game with the pressure ratcheting up). The only thing that derailed him as a youngster at Man U was injuries.
***A final note: I am not happy to see the USA getting so many stupid Cards. Clint Dempsey took the bait from Pando Ramirez "touching him on the head", retaliated with a shove, which Pando embellished like he had been shot, and got a Yellow Card. Steve Cherundolo tossed away a dead ball acoupla times and got his first Yellow, then didn't get a call in his favor, got stripped and literally gridiron-tackled the guy for his second Yellow. What a massive blunder. Lastly Tim Howard got bumped in the head deliberately by Carlos Ruiz (more baiting) and came up yelling and pointing at Ruiz to earn his own Yellow from the ref. That is 4 completely unnecessary cards for the USA. We hear all the time from the teams "veterans" that these places are difficult to play in, and everything will get thrown at our team, so we have to keep our cool. They also talk about leading the younger players by example in these games. Well, that was definitely no way to lead by example, and down the road against a really good team it will cost us. We got lucky this time. (And let's not even bring up all the stupid mental mistakes our Olympic team made. Hell, they could have knocked that crap off and maybe been in the final tomorrow. Seriously.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Scoreboard
Week 22
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
New England 2-1 DC - NER goals by Taylor Twellman & Jeff Larentowicz. DCU goal by Jaime Moreno.
Attendance: 14,962
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Houston 4-0 Chivas USA - HD goals by Stuart Holden, Kei Kamara(2) & Nate Jaqua.
Attendance: 10,908
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
-Thu Aug 21
Los Angeles 0-1 Chicago - CF goal by John Thorrington.
Attendance: 27,000
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Post game notes by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
-Sat Aug 23
DC v Colorado - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Toronto v New England - 6:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH
Kansas City v Dallas - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Chivas USA v San Jose - 9:30pm central on HDNet
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
-Sun Aug 24
New York v Houston - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLS News
CHICAGO FIRE
Young forward Patrick Nyarko left last nights game in the 22nd minute due to a sprained right knee. No word yet on how bad the damage is.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card with notes on how Fire players did with their national teams this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
COLORADO RAPIDS
Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 has a few words with new defender Cory Gibbs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FC DALLAS
Just so people realize - Kenny Cooper has 13 goals in league play this season on 85 shots. That is a goal for every 6.54 shot he takes. Landon Donovan has 14 from 47 (every 3.36). Edson Buddle 12 from 52 (every 4.33). Luciano Emilio 11 from 51 (every 4.64). Jaime Moreno 9 from 31 (every 3.44). Brian Ching 9 from 43 (every 4.78). On the other hand, Chad Barret, who no one would ask to see on the USA national team, is 6 from 41 (every 6.85), a very comparable rate as Cooper. Does this shed a little light on why Bob Bradley is not going crazy over Cooper for USA. So if you feel the need to scream for someone who has possibly earned a chance via on-field merit, then please make it Buddle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Greg Smith at Soccer365 tells us why Cooper staying at FCD and not transferring to a club in Europe this summer is a great thing for the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The team has relapsed Brazilian striker Ricardinho back to his club Atletico Paranaense. He was in Dallas on loan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
Last night Bruce Arena saw what he has to work with. Take away Donovan and Beckham and you have almost nothing. Chris Klein actually looked good compared to all those other bums. Good luck to my name sake.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Press Enterprise looks at the beginning of the Arena era.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Grahame Jones of the LA Times on Arena's first days in charge as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Word from LA is that newly acquired midfielder Eddie Lewis is going to see a doctor to make sure he is OK after that nasty clash of heads down in Guatemala on Wednesday night. He got 5 stitches for his effort.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
GENERAL
I found it quite insulting when during Wednesday nights USA game EPSN had the announcers reading promos about the great Thursday night matchup featuring Blanco v Beckham. Isn't that just flat out fraud? They new their was no chance Beckham would be there - he flew to China for the closing ceremony of the Olympics, and it was very very doubtful Blanco would be there seeing as he was in Mexico City playing the night before for Mexico. Why is it OK for them to run this all but certain lie?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Friendlies
-Sun Aug 24
Veracruz (Mexico 2nd Division) v Chicago Fire
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division Scoreboard
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
Montreal 3-1 Atlanta
Seattle 0-0 Vancouver
-Fri Aug 22
Puerto Rico v Charleston
Minnesota v Carolina
Vancouver v Portland
-Sat Aug 23
Rochester v Atlanta
-Sun Aug 24
Miami v Charleston
Montreal v Atlanta
Seattle v Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division Standings
Standings (games played) (goal difference):
41 Puerto Rico (23)
39 Vancouver (23)
36 Charleston (23)
33 Seattle (25)
32 Atlanta (23)
31 Rochester (24)
28 Montreal (22) (GD +1)
- - - - - - - - -
28 Portland (24) (GD -4)
27 Minnesota (23)
24 Miami (23) (GD -3)
24 Carolina (23) (GD -11)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Americans In Europe
Rangers website reports that Maurice Edu got his work permit. Hooray Beer! Boo Creepy Footdoctor.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
TRANSFER RUMORS
Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 reports that more than one European team is coming after TFC right fullback Marvell Wynne.
-Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan is on the radar screen too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
RECENT MATCHES
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - was on the bench but did not play in his teams 0-0 how draw today against Energie Cottbus.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
CONCACAF Champions League News
The Preliminary round begins next Tuesday, August 26! Are you ready?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Olympic Soccer News
FIFA's Olympic News Site
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Olympic Soccer Scoreboard
Women's Final Match & Score:
-Thu Aug 21
Brazil 0-1 USA - USA goal by Carli Lloyd.
Match report from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Game & post game photos from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
= = = = = =
Men's Final Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 23
Nigeria v Argentina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Big Euro Club Matches This Week
Spanish Super Cup
(1st leg score included)
-Sun Aug 24 - 2nd leg
Real Madrid v Valencia (2-3)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dutch Super Cup
-Sat Aug 23
Feyenoord v PSV
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Italian Super Cup
-Sun Aug 24
Inter v Roma
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-Sat Aug 23
Fulham v Arsenal - one of the seemingly endless string of London derbies
Stuttgart v Bayer Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich
Werder Bremen v Schalke
Spartak Moscow v Dinamo Moscow - #4 hosts #2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Portuguese Liga and Turkish Super Lig both kick off this weekend.
~and~
Bruce Arena on why he hired Dave Sarachan as his assistant coach in LA: "I realized that if I was going to take on this challenge I'd need to have a second-in-command who, when I get assassinated, could take over right away." From the LA Times. See the full article in the Los Angeles Galaxy section.
~and~
Eddie Johnson did not fly back to London from Guatemala City, because he has been loaned out to Cardiff in Wales. I want to hear Eddie learn some Welsh!
~and~
I know a lot of you want to see Kenny Cooper in the USA shirt. But I make one argument against him in the FC Dallas section below.
Team USA
Guatemala 0-1 USA - USA goal by Carlos Bocanegra.
Post game notes by Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives.
Post game notes and USA players ratings by Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal. (thanks to Anthony for this link)
Players ratings for USA by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Post game analysis & USA player ratings by Robert Wagman of Soccer Times.
Post game analysis & USA player ratings by Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365.
Game highlights via video from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
du Nord 3 Stars Of The Game:
3. DaMarcus Beasley - He only played ? minutes. But everyone of them were pure gold. His ball control and passing was concise. He showed real confidence and superiority to anyone on either team. Plus he is the guy who hammered in that corner kick for Boca to head home!
2. Tim Howard - Several great saves that kept the Chapines for taking a lead on 3 or 4 occasions. So cool and calm too. Several years starting in England can do that for a guy.
1. Carlos Bocanegra - What a goal. How did he get that wide open anyway? And how many times did he bail out Heath Pearce who got burned down the left flank over and over again. The captain and the hero.
My Notes from the match:
***After the USA scored I think they did a pretty great job of killing off the game. Yes there were a couple of stressful moments, but guys like Frankie Hejduk played great defense to hold down the big win.
***Did you know: the USA has not won in Guatemala in 20 years. Suck on that Little Fishy.
***I have also been thinking about three players who deserve a shot for the September 6 & 10 games. They are all guys who at one time were thought to be real contributors to the national team, and played in Europe, but through a string of injuries fell off the pile. They are all back to MLS and to nearly full strength. They have qualities this team needs badly to. Here they are, with their strengths:
-Conor Casey - Size, speed and strength up top. A great ability to score goals, and more talented & consistent than Brian Ching. Plus he is tough from his days in Germany.
-Cory Gibbs - Again with size, speed and strength, this time in central defense. He has the coolness on the ball and the smarts to make great plays out of the back, defusing opposing offenses. Plus who do we have besides Onyewu and Bocanegra that has shown they can really do it at the top level? Jimmy Conrad and Jay DeMerit are you next two choices. Even though he has not really played in 2 years he still had many options on where to play before coming home.
-John Thorrington - feisty midfield play with a nose for goal, and the guts to score the big goal when his team needs him (usually late in the game with the pressure ratcheting up). The only thing that derailed him as a youngster at Man U was injuries.
***A final note: I am not happy to see the USA getting so many stupid Cards. Clint Dempsey took the bait from Pando Ramirez "touching him on the head", retaliated with a shove, which Pando embellished like he had been shot, and got a Yellow Card. Steve Cherundolo tossed away a dead ball acoupla times and got his first Yellow, then didn't get a call in his favor, got stripped and literally gridiron-tackled the guy for his second Yellow. What a massive blunder. Lastly Tim Howard got bumped in the head deliberately by Carlos Ruiz (more baiting) and came up yelling and pointing at Ruiz to earn his own Yellow from the ref. That is 4 completely unnecessary cards for the USA. We hear all the time from the teams "veterans" that these places are difficult to play in, and everything will get thrown at our team, so we have to keep our cool. They also talk about leading the younger players by example in these games. Well, that was definitely no way to lead by example, and down the road against a really good team it will cost us. We got lucky this time. (And let's not even bring up all the stupid mental mistakes our Olympic team made. Hell, they could have knocked that crap off and maybe been in the final tomorrow. Seriously.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Scoreboard
Week 22
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
New England 2-1 DC - NER goals by Taylor Twellman & Jeff Larentowicz. DCU goal by Jaime Moreno.
Attendance: 14,962
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Houston 4-0 Chivas USA - HD goals by Stuart Holden, Kei Kamara(2) & Nate Jaqua.
Attendance: 10,908
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
-Thu Aug 21
Los Angeles 0-1 Chicago - CF goal by John Thorrington.
Attendance: 27,000
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Post game notes by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
-Sat Aug 23
DC v Colorado - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Toronto v New England - 6:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH
Kansas City v Dallas - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Chivas USA v San Jose - 9:30pm central on HDNet
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
-Sun Aug 24
New York v Houston - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLS News
CHICAGO FIRE
Young forward Patrick Nyarko left last nights game in the 22nd minute due to a sprained right knee. No word yet on how bad the damage is.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card with notes on how Fire players did with their national teams this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
COLORADO RAPIDS
Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 has a few words with new defender Cory Gibbs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FC DALLAS
Just so people realize - Kenny Cooper has 13 goals in league play this season on 85 shots. That is a goal for every 6.54 shot he takes. Landon Donovan has 14 from 47 (every 3.36). Edson Buddle 12 from 52 (every 4.33). Luciano Emilio 11 from 51 (every 4.64). Jaime Moreno 9 from 31 (every 3.44). Brian Ching 9 from 43 (every 4.78). On the other hand, Chad Barret, who no one would ask to see on the USA national team, is 6 from 41 (every 6.85), a very comparable rate as Cooper. Does this shed a little light on why Bob Bradley is not going crazy over Cooper for USA. So if you feel the need to scream for someone who has possibly earned a chance via on-field merit, then please make it Buddle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Greg Smith at Soccer365 tells us why Cooper staying at FCD and not transferring to a club in Europe this summer is a great thing for the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The team has relapsed Brazilian striker Ricardinho back to his club Atletico Paranaense. He was in Dallas on loan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
Last night Bruce Arena saw what he has to work with. Take away Donovan and Beckham and you have almost nothing. Chris Klein actually looked good compared to all those other bums. Good luck to my name sake.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Press Enterprise looks at the beginning of the Arena era.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Grahame Jones of the LA Times on Arena's first days in charge as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Word from LA is that newly acquired midfielder Eddie Lewis is going to see a doctor to make sure he is OK after that nasty clash of heads down in Guatemala on Wednesday night. He got 5 stitches for his effort.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
GENERAL
I found it quite insulting when during Wednesday nights USA game EPSN had the announcers reading promos about the great Thursday night matchup featuring Blanco v Beckham. Isn't that just flat out fraud? They new their was no chance Beckham would be there - he flew to China for the closing ceremony of the Olympics, and it was very very doubtful Blanco would be there seeing as he was in Mexico City playing the night before for Mexico. Why is it OK for them to run this all but certain lie?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Friendlies
-Sun Aug 24
Veracruz (Mexico 2nd Division) v Chicago Fire
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division Scoreboard
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
Montreal 3-1 Atlanta
Seattle 0-0 Vancouver
-Fri Aug 22
Puerto Rico v Charleston
Minnesota v Carolina
Vancouver v Portland
-Sat Aug 23
Rochester v Atlanta
-Sun Aug 24
Miami v Charleston
Montreal v Atlanta
Seattle v Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division Standings
Standings (games played) (goal difference):
41 Puerto Rico (23)
39 Vancouver (23)
36 Charleston (23)
33 Seattle (25)
32 Atlanta (23)
31 Rochester (24)
28 Montreal (22) (GD +1)
- - - - - - - - -
28 Portland (24) (GD -4)
27 Minnesota (23)
24 Miami (23) (GD -3)
24 Carolina (23) (GD -11)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Americans In Europe
Rangers website reports that Maurice Edu got his work permit. Hooray Beer! Boo Creepy Footdoctor.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
TRANSFER RUMORS
Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 reports that more than one European team is coming after TFC right fullback Marvell Wynne.
-Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan is on the radar screen too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
RECENT MATCHES
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - was on the bench but did not play in his teams 0-0 how draw today against Energie Cottbus.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
CONCACAF Champions League News
The Preliminary round begins next Tuesday, August 26! Are you ready?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Olympic Soccer News
FIFA's Olympic News Site
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Olympic Soccer Scoreboard
Women's Final Match & Score:
-Thu Aug 21
Brazil 0-1 USA - USA goal by Carli Lloyd.
Match report from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Game & post game photos from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
= = = = = =
Men's Final Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 23
Nigeria v Argentina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Big Euro Club Matches This Week
Spanish Super Cup
(1st leg score included)
-Sun Aug 24 - 2nd leg
Real Madrid v Valencia (2-3)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dutch Super Cup
-Sat Aug 23
Feyenoord v PSV
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Italian Super Cup
-Sun Aug 24
Inter v Roma
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-Sat Aug 23
Fulham v Arsenal - one of the seemingly endless string of London derbies
Stuttgart v Bayer Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich
Werder Bremen v Schalke
Spartak Moscow v Dinamo Moscow - #4 hosts #2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Portuguese Liga and Turkish Super Lig both kick off this weekend.
posted by brucio at 16:28
15 Comments:
Why not Emilio for USA?
Wow. I generally agree with your sentiments, but you have two today that I cannot resist commenting on.
Conor Casey is consistent? What do you mean by that? He has 0 goals in 8 appearances for the US, only 7 goals in 27 games for Colorado.
Ching has 8 goals in 27 games for the United States, and 52 goals in 109 games in the MLS. Both strike rates are MUCH better than Conor Casey. Conor Casey shouldn't be on the radar for being called up. Buddle, Cooper, Donovan, Ching, Johnson, and Davies should all be ahead of him.
And also, Kenny Coopers production per game is more important than goal per shot (which is a meaningless statistic). A forward who can get shots is more valuable than one who makes a higher percentage but cannot create opportunities. The problem with the United States team is not that we shoot too much.
And Emilio for USA would be AWESOME. Can we naturalize him already?
The Kenny Cooper stat is interesting, but there are so many other factors to consider. Is there a stat that shows how many of those shots he created himself and another stat to show how many sitters Chad Barret has missed?
at least cooper is taking shots. he has a nose for goal and like ethan said its goals per game that matter over goals per shots. the us has been tentative at times to attack. our players seem afraid to go forward and shot. hopefully a new generation of players like adu, altidore, holden, klejian, etc will give the MNT some bite. in general i believe that usmnt call ups should be bassed on performance and form and right now copper there is no forward in us player pool more in form than cooper with the possible exception of buddle.
Mike,
Even if the shot was created by someone else, Cooper is there to receive the pass to get the shot. If he is creating, or receiving, he is still fulfilling the striker's role. A huge part of being a successful striker is positioning, and Cooper is great at that. He is in the right place at the right time. That leads to goals.
I can kind of agree on shots per goal being an unimportant stat, but I would also point out that this team has been plagued with pathetic finishing since...well, since always. Obviously, that stat doesn't tell the whole story, but taking advantage of limited opportunities is an important characteristic for a striker.
But I stand by the fact that he deserves a shot. It's not like any of the forwards on the team have come anywhere close to locking down their spot.
all great comments
thanks for them
i really appreciate it
my conor casey, cory gibbs and john thorrington thing was more about 3 guys who at one time were seen as can't miss stars that got derailed by injury. their current slight resurgence is why i am interested in them, not so much that i think they deserve a shot on the usa immediately, but i really think that if they can get on a roll the have more potential then most others.
Why did the announcers talk about Blanco vs Beckham? Because they were told to. Promos are written by people who have no idea who those two are and the poor guys in front of the camera are to told to chat it up by the back row.
Blame the ESPN brass for that one, but it sounds like they're trying for viewers any way they can get them.
McCrum said: "but it sounds like they're trying for viewers any way they can get them."
If a guy on the radio told me a store was having a sale on delicious "Makes You Fat & Happy Hams" tomorrow, and I showed up and all they had was "Makes You Sloppy & Ugly Turkeys" I would be pissed off and never go back.
It matters very little who told me, the announcer, the station or the store.
So no, I am not gonna cut the announcers any slack. They are all in the driver seat together.
Cooper is all the offense FCD has had. Buddle gets a bunch of sitters because defenders quake over LD and Becks. Bradley isn't doing himself any favors not even calling Cooper into the camps.
The problem I see with Cooper is he shoots so many long range shots. That certainly alters his strike rate per shot, but the real problem that has for the USA is that the team needs to cherish possession (even when we're in Guatemala) and shooting hopeful shots cedes possession in the most important third of the field where the US obviously creates too few chances to squander if our leading scorers are defenders.
Dude,
You need a copy editor or a spelling test: "They new their was no chance Beckham would be there..."
Yeah, they're in the car together, but the guy in the back tells the driver where to go. Having worked in TV, I can assure you that what comes out of the anchor's mouth is not necessarily what they think or believe.
Don't blame the meat puppets, that's all I'm saying. They probably weren't happy about it either, but they've gotta pay the rent one way or another.
Anonymous said... Dude, You need a copy editor or a spelling test: "They new their was no chance Beckham would be there..."
sorry to have failed you again dad
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