D.C. United and the Washington Freedom warmed up for their back-to-back games Saturday in RFK Stadium with back-to-back practices Friday in RFK, giving those of us seeking economy in our journalism a chance to talk with a few players from both teams in one session.
A few stories to watch:
United injuries and turnover: Clyde Simms is back. New defender Juan Manuel Pena could go the full 90, says coach Curt Onalfo. Forward Danny Allsopp passed a Friday fitness test. And if the paperwork goes through, United could bring former league MVP Luciano Emilio off the bench.
Weather: Unfortunately, these players will be returning into a cauldron. The game is at 4 p.m., and the forecast simply says “very hot.”
“I’m excited about everything except for that,” Simms said as he dripped sweat after Friday’s practice. “A lot of hydration today and tomorrow, and I’ll be all right.”
Onalfo wants his players to keep possession. “It’s easier to run in heat if you have the ball.”
Quick transition: One nice thing about the heat is that the players won’t need much time to warm up. That works for the Freedom and Athletica, who have agreed to warm up quickly and try to get their game started 15 minutes after the United-Red Bulls game ends.
“Last year (with the Freedom playing first), I thought we played too early for the sake of getting the field cleared out for the MLS game,” Freedom coach Jim Gabarra said. “I felt it should be tight. We don’t want to make people wait around.”
Big WPS matchup: The St. Louis Athletica roster is imposing. Hope Solo’s in goal. Shannon Boxx is in midfield.
“This is one of the tougher matchups we’ll see in WPS,” Gabarra said.
Both teams have speedy forwards – Washington’s Lisa De Vanna and St. Louis’ Eniola Aluko. Not that De Vanna can simply outrun the St. Louis defense.
“Tina Ellertson’s pretty much as fast as Lisa, and she’s strong,” Wambach said.
“If we can beat St. Louis, who a lot of experts are saying is one of the best teams in the league, I think that gives us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season,” defender Cat Whitehill said.
The big soccer news for U.S. fans and anyone who appreciates the underdog: Fulham reached the Europa League final, rallying from 1-0 down to win 2-1 Thursday against Hamburg. That’s not exactly Butler reaching the NCAA hoops final — Fulham plays in the Premier League, and Hamburg would’ve been the team playing at home in the final. It’s more like Northwestern, in a major conference but not a major player, reaching the NCAA hoops final. The U.S. interest is, of course, Clint Dempsey, who was on the field for the big comeback.
The weekend ahead includes another eight-game Saturday in MLS (all times ET) …
EUROPEAN SOCCER
Full listings at Soccer America. Games Saturday unless specified.
England (2 games left; Chelsea lead Man U by 1)
Fourth place/Champions League berth: Tottenham Hotspur (64 pts., +26 goal diff) lead Aston Villa (64, +16), Manchester City (63, +27) and Liverpool (62, +28).
Manchester City-Aston Villa, 10 a.m., FSC: Well, that’s convenient, given the standings.
Tottenham Hotspur-Bolton, 10 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus
Liverpool-Chelsea, 8:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus
Sunderland-Manchester United, 11 a.m., FSC
Italy (3 games left; Inter lead Roma by 2)
Parma-Roma, noon, Fox Soccer Plus
Lazio-Inter, 2:45 p.m. Sun., FSC
Spain (4 games left; Barca lead Real Madrid by 1)
Villarreal-Barcelona, 4 p.m., GolTV
Real Madrid-Osasuna, 1 p.m. Sun.
Germany (2 games left; Bayern and Schalke tied)
Hannover-Borussia Moenchengladbach, 9:30 a.m.: Hannover (Steve Cherundolo) is 17th, one behind automatic safety (15th) and one behind a playoff spot (16th). Gladbach (Michael Bradley) will finish 11th, 12th or 13th.
Bayern Munich-Bochum, 9:30 a.m., GolTV
Schalke-Werder Bremen, 9:30 a.m.
MLS (points in parentheses)
D.C. United (0) -New York (12), 4 p.m., TeleFutura: Worst vs. first in the East.
New England (6)-Dallas (3), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
Chicago (7)-Chivas USA (6), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
Houston (7)-Kansas City (7), 8:30 p.m., FSC
Salt Lake (4)-Toronto (6), 9 p.m., DK/MLSS: If Real don’t win this one, THEN it’s time to worry.
San Jose (6)-Colorado (10), 10 p.m., DK/MLSS
Los Angeles (13)-Philadelphia (3), 10:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
Seattle (8)-Columbus (7), 10:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
WPS
Sky Blue (6)-Gold Pride (6), 6 p.m., FSC/iPhone/Webcast: Better known as Bay Area-New Jersey and the battle for first place. Carli Lloyd is on 30-day injured reserve with a broken ankle.
Washington (3)-St. Louis (5), 6 p.m.
Philadelphia (5)-Atlanta (1), 6 p.m.
Boston (5)-Chicago (1), 6 p.m.
MEXICAN SOCCER
Quarterfinals, first leg
#8 Pachuca-#1 Monterrey, 6 p.m. Sat., Univision: Pachuca (Jose Francisco Torres) won the CONCACAF title this week.
#7 Morelia-#2 Chivas, 8 p.m. Sat.
#5 Santos-#4 Pumas, 5 p.m. Sun., TeleFutura
#6 Club America-#3 Toluca, 10 p.m. Sun., Univision
OLYMPIC/COLLEGE SPORTS
Cycling, Tour de Romandie
Gymnastics, Pacific Rim Championships, Melbourne, Australia.
He was a young American phenom, joining a pro team in high school. He was compared to the best players of his generation. After signing in Portugal, things started to go wrong.
Freddy Adu? Nope. Jovan Kirovski, subject of a compelling profile by the San Diego Union-Tribune‘s Mark Ziegler.
Kirovski came of age in the days before the breathless hype machine we know today. He left California for Manchester United’s youth academy at age 16. By the time he was 19, everyone wanted him to be on United’s first team, where he was expected to be an impact player. Everyone except the work-permit overlords in England, who must have been especially grumpy the day Kirovski’s permit application crossed their desks.
Sports Illustrated noticed his plight, and he was the subject of rumor and wishful thinking among the community of soccer fans taking root on the relatively new World Wide Web. But in those pre-Fox Soccer Channel, pre-Champions League multicast days, few fans could see him play.
Kirovski did indeed play in the Champions League — on a championship team, no less. He made two appearances on Europe’s grandest stage as Germany’s Borussia Dortmund claimed the 1996-97 title.
The next few years: Some mildly productive stints at various clubs through a series of transfers and loans. More U.S. national team appearances but no World Cup games.
If anyone really knew why Kirovski didn’t become the USA’s Wayne Rooney, he or she would be wealthy. Every club in the world would love to know the answers.
So what’s different about Freddy Adu, whose last few detours are well-chronicled in another SI piece, a recent Grant Wahl story? The biggest difference is the attention Adu received in an era of media proliferation and globalization. European clubs noticed him around age 12. Then he, unlike Kirovski, excelled in every international youth tournament, even when he was two or more years younger than the rest of the players.
Not that excelling in a U-17 or U-20 tournament is a perfect indicator of eventual success. Check Kirovski’s peers from the U-17 level, and you’ll find only one person — John O’Brien — who had any sort of impact on the national team. It’s not just the USA — scan the other rosters, and you’ll see only a handful of recognizable names.
That reality hasn’t stopped the American soccer community from loading up expectations higher and higher with each crop of youngsters. The 1999 U-17 team that was unlucky to finish no higher than fourth provided something akin to a Golden Generation. Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu, Bobby Convey and Kyle Beckerman have gone on to productive careers, though most of that group inspires constant debate over whether they’re living up to their “potential.” Others from that team had short MLS careers.
Going to “Europe” has proved to be no sure-fire solution. Kirovski never had the expected breakthrough. Claudio Reyna did, though his career also refutes the notion that college soccer ruins players.
That missing link between 16-year-old success and international glory is almost as elusive as Step 2 of the Underpants Gnomes’ scheme. Those who say otherwise are probably selling something that isn’t worth buying.
But the good news for players is that there are many paths to relative success. Ziegler’s story on Kirovski is a terrific read, and the Galaxy player seems to be at peace with himself, enjoying the late stages of a wild ride. Plenty of reasons to congratulate him for getting to that point.
After a week in which Tito Ortiz traded accusations with longtime girlfriend Jenna Jameson, with whom he has started a family, it’s a relief to see an episode that focuses on the fighting.
We don’t see much in the house besides some idle speculation of which losing fighter should get a wild-card slot to return to action. Clayton McKinney is out of action with a shoulder injury. Rich Attonito won but can’t continue because of a broken hand. But with three first-round fights to go, we’re still a long way from getting an answer on this.
Tito has the right to pick the matchups, and he sends out Kris McCray against Josh Bryant. McCray cracks up Bryant at the staredown, and other fighters says Bryant doesn’t really act like he wants to fight. Not sure why else someone would spend six weeks cooped up in a house with these guys.
D.C. United and the Washington Freedom play a doubleheader on Saturday, and it’ll be interesting to see how many United fans stick around for the women’s game. The typical MLS-women’s doubleheader has been ladies first. This one’s reversed. I’ve posted about it at The Huffington Post, tracing what has happened since a Freedom-United doubleheader would draw more than 20,000 by halftime of the first game on the bill.
The MLS game could have added interest thanks to a dramatic development today — D.C. United re-signed former league MVP Luciano Emilio. He might be cleared to play Saturday, says the Post‘s Steven Goff. The injury-riddled team has started 0-4.
Seattle fans have had a frustrating season so far, victimized by a couple of late goals and a strange scheduling quirk.
One of those late goals came from a controversial call Thursday at Dallas. The only person I’ve seen defending Terry Vaughn’s call is MLSSoccer’s Simon Borg, dissecting the video here:
So we hear that Seattle fans may make some sort of protest. Or not. Judging by what we’re seeing at BigSoccer, cooler heads have prevailed.
And that’s good, for several reasons:
1. Refs are human. No league operates without complaint. I’m still bitter about a few calls in last week’s Inter-Barca game, frankly.
2. This call was a tough one. Borg says Seattle’s Leo Gonzalez stepped on Jason Yeisley’s foot. Borg is surely outvoted (maybe we’ll take a poll here just to see), but it’s not an unreasonable point of view. And that’s after viewing several replays — Vaughn gets one look in real time.
3. Vaughn wasn’t the one who embellished (at best) or flat-out dived. That would be Yeisley.
So why get all worked up about someone who made a mistake — or not, according to Borg — in one of the most difficult, thankless jobs on Earth?
Penn Relays: Usain Bolt draws record attendance and clinches the 4×100 relay with a blazing final leg. USA fares well in the rest of the relays. (AP)
Drake Relays: Christian Cantwell shot putted real far, Damu Cherry upset Lolo Jones and tied the world lead in the 100m hurdles, Wallace Spearman set a world lead in the 200, Boaz Lalang upset training partner Bernard Lagat in the mile, and Chaunte Lowe posted the world lead in the high jump. (IAAF)
Dakar Grand Prix: The volcano kept the early-season meet from bringing in top talent. Top U.S. performances were Jillian Camarena-Williams’ shot put win and a 1-2 for Funmi Jimoh and Brianna Glenn in the long jump. (IAAF)
London Marathon: Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede (2:05:19) and Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova (2:21:59) were the winners, along with a tethered royal, Natalie Imbruglia and a man dressed as a banana. (BBC)
CHESS
Decisive games already in the World Championship — Game 1 to Vesselin Topalov, Game 2 to Vishy Anand.
MMA
Jose Aldo kicked Urijah Faber for five rounds to retain his WEC featherweight title, Ben Henderson made quick work of Donald Cerrone in a WEC lightweight title rematch and Manny Gamburyan shocked Mike Brown with a one-punch, first-round KO.
SOCCER
MLS is already covered.
England
Top: Chelsea kept a one-point lead over Manchester United and padded its goal difference with a 7-0 drubbing of Stoke.
4th Champions spot: Aston Villa won the derby over Birmingham 1-0 to tie Tottenham and move a point ahead of Manchester City, two ahead of Liverpool.
Relegation: West Ham (Jonathan Spector) beat Wigan to pull six points clear of Hull (Jozy Altidore). Burnley and Portsmouth are out.
Americans abroad: Jozy Altidore apologized by Twitter after a retaliatory head butt drew a red card and ended his season.
Injuries: Manchester City have appealed for an emergency goalkeeper after Shay Given’s injury. We’re guessing Villa won’t let them borrow Brad Guzan. (Soccernet)
Germany
Top: Borussia Moenchengladbach (Michael Bradley) tied Bayern Munich, opening the door for Schalke to tie for the lead with a win over Hertha Berlin with two weeks left.
Americans: Hannover (Steve Cherundolo) lost 0-3 to Bayer Leverkusen but remained just one point behind automatic safety and one behind a playoff spot. Ricardo Clark made his injury-delayed Eintracht Frankfurt debut.
Spain
Barcelona and Real Madrid each won, leaving Barca one point ahead. Barca still has Champions League play but need not leave the country any more, with the semifinal’s second leg at home and the final in Madrid.
Italy
Shocking loss for Roma at home to Sampdoria. Inter Milan now leads by two. AC Milan lost to Palermo and is out of it.
Scotland
Rangers clinched the title with Maurice Edu starting, DaMarcus Beasley on the bench. (Soccer By Ives roundup)_
Cups
Aris (Freddy Adu, Eddie Johnson) lost the Cup final 1-0 to Panathinaikos. Adu played the last few minutes.
Dutch Cup final: Ajax 2, Feyenoord 0
WPS
FC Gold Pride 2, Atlanta 1: Carrie Dew with the 89th-minute winner off Kiki Bosio’s flip throw. Atlanta’s Tobin Heath left on crutches.
Philadelphia 3, Washington 1: Both starting keepers were away with the Canadian national team. Former Freedom midfielder Lori Lindsey had two assists.
Chicago 0, Sky Blue 1: Pattern — Natasha Kai scores for the Jersey team; defense holds it.
St. Louis 1, Boston 1: Puddles on the field made it interesting.
Mexico (regular season over; playoff pairings follow)
American Herculez Gomez (Puebla) won a share of the scoring title.
#1 Monterrey vs. #8 Pachuca (Jose Francisco Torres)
#2 Chivas vs. #7 Morelia
#3 Toluca vs. #6 Club America
#4 Pumas vs. #5 Santos Laguna
CYCLING
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Alexandre Vinokourov won and then endured grilling over the blood doping offense for which he has served a suspension. He and Alexander Kolobnev pulled away from the field with 15k left for a two-man sprint. Chris Horner was in the second group, 1:07 back, for sixth place. (Reuters)
Athens Twilight Criterium: Karl Menzies and Theresa Cliff-Ryan win in the rain. (Velo News)
Little 500: Special for Breaking Away fans — The Cutters won their fourth straight. (Velo News)
BOXING
Mikkel Kessler took Carl Froch’s WBC super middleweight title with a unanimous decision. Both fighters are 1-1 in the Super Six super middleweight tournament.
Tomasz Adamek took a close majority decision over Cristobal Arreola.
OLYMPIC/COLLEGE SPORTS
Beach volleyball, FIVB World Tour, Brazil: Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers are the first U.S. team to win an FIVB event in Brazil in 14 years. (USA Volleyball)
Wrestling, U.S. Open: Wisconsin sophomore Andrew Howe shines; Olympic medalist/MMA newcomer Sara McMann loses a close one. (USA TODAY; full results at TheMat.com)
TENNIS
Fed Cup semifinals: Stunner! Bethanie Mattek-Sands leads the Williams-less USA past Russia. Defending champion Italy awaits in the final. (AP)
ATP Rome: All hail 6-9 American John Isner, the pride of Greensboro and the University of Georgia, who won on his 25th birthday. (AP)
ATP Barcelona: Fernando Verdasco over Robin Soderling in the final.
– D.C. United, mired in a horrible losing streak, got the week off. Seattle got two rough road games in four days, and Sigi Schmid’s roster rotation scheme didn’t really pay off, even if they deserved a win in Dallas. Endeavoring to find out why the schedule-makers did that.
My player of the week pick: Toronto's Dwayne De Rosario. Smile, man!
– Toronto got terrific performances from O’Brian White and Dwayne De Rosario, but the Reds are still playing an ugly “physical” style.
– The highlights this week are terrific, particularly for NE-COL, CHI-HOU, CHV-SJ.
– Also recommended: MLSSoccer.com’s “Kick Off” feature, highlighting some game coverage from here and there.
– The “Please don’t forget your Wake Forest education” award goes to Columbus keeper William Hesmer for this comment: “They’re walking around as a champion, saying they’re a champion,” Hesmer says of Real Salt Lake, the MLS champion. His beef, of course, is that Columbus was sooooo much better than Real in the regular season, finishing a whole nine points ahead before Jason Kreis’ club won all those playoff games. Better for Hesmer: He saved the Crew early with a fantastic recovery after being beaten and made a few good saves later.
– On-field lowlight of the week: Kei Kamara may have a hard time living this one down — with the ball bouncing along the goal line, the Wizards striker slid to knock it in. He whiffed with his feet. He got it with his arm. Ref saw it. No goal. Yikes. The mitigating factor: The weather was iffy.
– And the bad weather affected crowds all over. Even Toronto had trouble filling seats before kickoff.
The roundup with a new feature: Each team’s lineup, highlighting changes from the last game.
Dallas 2, Seattle 2 (highlights)
– The Thursday ESPN2 game, decided on a dive.
– FCD: (4-1-4-1): Dario Sala; Zach Loyd RB, George John CB, Ugo Ihemelu CB, Jair Benitez LB; Daniel Hernandez DM; Atiba Harris RM, David Ferreira CM, Dax McCarty CM, Heath Pearce LM; Jeff Cunningham F
– Dallas changes: I had Pearce at the back and Benitez in midfield last week; ESPN listed them the other way around this time. But the same 11 players started.
– SEA: (4-4-2): Kasey Keller; James Riley RB, Tyrone Marshall CB, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado CB, Leonardo Gonzalez LB; Osvaldo Alonso DM, David Estrada RM, Brad Evans CM, Steve Zakuani LM; Fredy Montero F, Roger Levesque F
– Seattle changes: Evans for Peter Vagenas, Levesque for Pat Noonan, Estrada for Freddie Ljungberg. The latter was resting an injury with two games in four days.
New York 2, Philadelphia 1 (highlights)
– NY(4-4-2): Bouna Coundoul; Jeremy Hall RB, Mike Petke CB, Tim Ream CB, Roy Miller LB; Dane Richards RM, Seth Stammler CM, Joel Lindpere CM, Mac Kandji LM; Juan Pablo Angel F, Salou Ibrahim F
– Red Bull changes: Danish midfielder Brian Nielsen made his debut after a single practice.
– PHI (4-4-2): Chris Seitz; Cristian Arrieta, Michael Orozco, Jordan Harvey, Danny Califf; Stefani Miglioranzi, Andrew Jacobson, Roger Torres, Fred; Alejandro Moreno, Sebastien Le Toux
– Philly changes: Danny Califf was out thanks to last week’s red card.
– Challenge to NY fans: Never let us see the Red Bull logo in the seats. Seriously.
– Paul Gardner asks why Peter Nowak keeps taking out Roger Torres, whose incisive passes give the Union the attacking spark they need. Good question.
Columbus 1, Salt Lake 0 (highlights)
– CLB (4-4-1-1): Will Hesmer; Frankie Hejduk RB, Andy Iro CB, Eric Brunner CB, Gino Padula LB; Brian Carroll DM, Eddie Gaven RM, Robbie Rogers LM, Adam Moffat AM; Guillermo Barros Schelotto WF, Steven Lenhart F
– Crew changes: Padula for Danny O’Rourke, Brunner for Chad Marshall (hamstring).
– RSL (4-4-2): Nick Rimando; Robbie Russell RB, Jamison Olave CB, Nat Borchers CB, Tony Beltran LB; Kyle Beckerman DM, Will Johnson RM, Andy Williams CM, Collen Warner LM; Alvaro Saborio F, Fabian Espindola F
– Real changes: Warner gets first MLS start for Nelson Gonzalez
– Schelotto’s penalty kick was the Crew’s only shot on goal. RSL not lucky early this season. I’m not the least bit convinced the late equalizer was offside, either — when the ball was played, a Crew defender had gone back deep in the box.
New England 1, Colorado 2 (highlights)
– NE (4-4-2): Preston Burpo; Kevin Alston RB, Cory Gibbs CB, Darrius Barnes CB, Seth Sinovic LB; Pat Phelan DM, Joseph Niouky DM, Sainey Nyassi RM, Marko Perovic LM’ Kheli Dube F, Zach Schilawski F
– Revs changes: Formation goes to 4-4-2, so Dube comes in for midfielder Chris Tierney.
– COL (4-4-2): Matt Pickens; Kosuke Kimura RB, Marvell Wynne CB, Drew Moor CB, Danny Earls LB; Mehdi Ballouchy RM, Pablo Mastroeni CM, Jeff Larentowicz CM, Wells Thompson LM; Omar Cummings F, Conor Casey F
– Rapids changes: Ballouchy and Thompson on the wings instead of Jamie Smith and Colin Clark. Thompson was traded from NE in the offseason.
– Steve Nicol apparently wants to change the way refs look at the advantage principle.
– Spectacular highlights in this one. All three goals from outside the box, and watch for a clever chip Cummings tries when he’s triple-teamed at the top of the box.
Chicago 2, Houston 0 (highlights)
– CHI (4-2-3-1): Andrew Dykstra; Tim Ward RB, C.J. Brown CB, Wilman Conde CB, Krzysztof Krol LB; Peter Lowry DM, Baggio Husidic DM, Patrick Nyarko RM, Marco Pappa AM, Justin Mapp LM; Collins John F
– Fire changes: Chicago is starting to like the one-striker formation, though it means choosing between John and McBride. John got the call last time; McBride this time. Also Tim Ward for Dasan Robinson. (Note that both “defensive” midfielders scored the goals.)
– HOU(4-4-2): Pat Onstad; Andrew Hainault RB; Bobby Boswell CB, Eddie Robinson CB, Mike Chabala LB; Corey Ashe RM, Lovel Palmer CM, Geoff Cameron CM, Brad Davis LM; Brian Mullan F, Dominic Oduro F
– Dynamo changes: None.
– Fun to watch what the wind does with Onstad’s hair.
– LOVE the shot from Tim Ward to set up Baggio Husidic’s opening goal.
– Great game from Andrew Dykstra, denying Brad Davis a couple of assists.
– Dumb “physical” stuff near the end with red cards for Krol and Houston sub Danny Cruz.
– Fire unis going green. It’s not easy.
Kansas City 0, Los Angeles 0 (highlights)
– KC (4-3-3): Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington RB, Pablo Escobar CB, Matt Besler CB, Roger Espinoza LB, Jack Jewsbury DM, Davy Arnaud DM, Stephane Auvray CM; Josh Wolff RM, Ryan Smith LF, Kei Kamara CF
– Wizards changes: Besler replaced Jimmy Conrad, who rested a calf strain. The broadcast called it a 4-3-3 rather than last week’s 4-5-1, but that really depends on how far forward Wolff and Smith are playing. The three-man central midfield also seems rather fluid.
– LA (4-4-2): Donovan Ricketts; A.J. DeLaGarza RB, Gregg Berhalter CB, Omar Gonzalez CB, Todd Dunivant LB; Charlie Birchall DM, Michael Stephens RM, Juninho AM, Mike Magee LM; Landon Donovan F, Edson Buddle F
– Galaxy changes: Sean Franklin was out with an injured ankle, so DeLaGarza moved from center to right and Berhalter played for the first time this season.
– Most of the game was a goalkeeping duel between Ricketts and Nielsen at Kansas City’s cozy Community American Ballpark.
Chivas USA 3, San Jose 2 (highlights)
– CHV (4-4-2): Zach Thornton; Mariano Trujillo RB, Dario Delgado CB, Michael Umana CB, Jonathan Bornstein LB; Michael Lahoud RM, Blair Gavin CM, Ben Zemanski CM, Jesus Padilla LM; Sacha Kljestan F, Justin Braun F
– Chivas changes: With Lahoud in, Padilla scoots to right, Gavin goes central and Jorge Flores sits. Then Kljestan goes to forward, which is curious, and he and Braun put Maicon Santos and Chukwudi Chijindu on the bench.
– SJ (4-4-2): Joe Cannon; Steve Beitashour RB, Ike Opara CB, Jason Hernandez CB, Ramiro Corrales LB; Joey Gjertsen RM, Brandon McDonald CM, Ramon Sanchez CM, Bobby Convey LM; Ryan Johnson F, Chris Wondolowski F
– Quakes changes: Sanchez for Andre Luiz, who had swelling in his left knee.
Toronto 2, Seattle 0 (highlights)
– TFC: Stefan Frei; Maksim Usanov RB, Raivis Hscanovics CB, Adrian Cann CB, Nana Attakora LB; Dwayne De Rosario RM, Julian de Guzman CM, Martin Saric CM, Nick LaBrocca LM; O’Brian White F, Chad Barrett F
– Reds changes: Hscanovics in center, pushing Attakora to left, with Ty Harden out. De Ro is listed at the unusual spot of right mid, opening a forward slot for White and pushing Sam Cronin to the bench.
– SEA: (4-4-2): Kasey Keller; James Riley RB, Patrick Ianni CB, Tyrone Marshall CB, Tyson Wahl LB; Osvaldo Alonso DM, Sanna Nyassi RM, Peter Vagenas CM, Nathan Sturgis LM; Freddie Ljungberg F, Brad Evans F
– Sounders changes: Sigi Schmid rotated his lineup through the two games in four days, with Ianni for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Wahl for Leo Gonzalez, Nyassi for David Estrada, Vagenas for Brad Evans, Sturgis for Steve Zakuani, and Ljungberg up front for Fredy Montero. Also, Vagenas is in midfield for Evans, who plays up front for Roger Levesque. Keller was banged up Thursday and had to be replaced, but he returned for this one.
– Another stadium with a visible logo in the stands, though this was technically a sellout. Lots of weird weather this week.
– We don’t want to encourage Preki to persist with this “physical” play (Ljungberg should’ve asked to borrow some Maple Leafs gear at halftime, and Gareth Wheeler provides the latest in a string of excellent analyses of TFC’s “style”), but attacking players White and De Ro created very well. De Ro gets my vote for Player of the Week ahead of LA’s Donovan Ricketts.
For posterity, here’s D.C. United’s most recent lineup (4-4-2): Troy Perkins; Carey Talley RB, Devon McTavish CB, Julius James CB, Rodney Wallace LB; Kurt Morsink DM, Santino Quaranta RM, Jaime Moreno AM, Andy Najar LM; Chris Pontius F, Danny Allsopp F
They didn’t, of course — no one who saw the WEC Amp Energy featherweight title bout last night would have any doubt about the winner of the fight. The guy who walked out without a scratch (Jose Aldo) rightfully kept the belt. The guy who was carried back to his corner and was doubled over in pain from being used as a kickboxing bag (Urijah Faber) lost a lopsided decision.
But if a couple of judging trends had continued, Faber could’ve taken an absurd victory despite Aldo’s domination in everyone’s eyes and in the FightMetric stats. Those trends are:
1. Reticence to give 10-8 rounds unless someone is gushing blood. Round 4 was all Aldo. He knocked Faber down, worked for submission attempts (not credited at FightMetric) and pummeled him. Round 3 wasn’t much better for Faber. But one judge scored the fight 50-45, either giving a very rare 10-10 round somewhere or scoring all five rounds 10-9. (The other cards were 49-45, most likely one 10-9 for Faber, three 10-9s for Aldo and one 10-8.)
2. Lack of interest in leg kicks. Judge Cecil Peoples justified the decision in favor of Lyoto Machida over Shogun Rua in part by shrugging off Rua’s leg kicks, saying they don’t finish a fight. The typical response: Maybe a leg kick isn’t as potent as a power shot to the head, but they add up. Faber would surely agree. But if you have little interest in leg kicks, you probably wouldn’t give a 10-8 to Aldo in any round, and you might even give Round 2 to Faber.
3. Giving the “busier” fighter the edge in a close round. A couple of people I follow on Twitter, including the UFC feed with guest Twitster/popular fighter Kurt Pellegrino, gave Round 1 to Faber. The FightMetric stats also tilt toward Faber for that round. I gave it to Aldo because I thought his shots were more effective, something FightMetric isn’t designed to measure.
I gave Round 5 to Faber because Aldo was clearly on cruise control and hardly threw a thing. Faber was pressing the action as best he could with two badly battered legs among his injuries.
So if you give Aldo 10-9 scores in Rounds 3 and 4 because Faber’s face was still intact, if you shrug off the leg kicks and give Faber Round 2, and if you give Rounds 1 and 5 to Faber … voila! Faber wins 48-47!
Obviously, that shouldn’t have happened. And it didn’t. The judges made the right call. But judging is something that has to be continually monitored so that a different group of judges watching roughly the same fight doesn’t get it horribly wrong.
Like the world heavyweight boxing championship, the world chess championship has fallen on hard times since the ’70s and ’80s. The succession of colorful, controversial figures died out in a muddle of disputed titles and curious decisions.
From a U.S. perspective, the peak was the 1972 match in which Bobby Fischer won the title from Boris Spassky. The Soviet Union wouldn’t be without the title long — the erratic genius Fischer made a couple of unreasonable demands for his title defense and forfeited the crown to Anatoly Karpov in 1975.
Yet even without an American involved, Karpov’s 1978 title defense in Viktor Korchnoi was well-covered in the USA — see Sports Illustrated‘s report from the match’s opening and note Korchnoi’s “Ali-like entourage.” With the rabble-rousing defector Korchnoi facing a Soviet champion after disposing of several Soviet challengers, the match was steeped in Cold War animosity, perhaps even moreso than the Fischer-Spassky match. A Korchnoi comeback made the match almost as interesting on the board as it was off. Sports Illustrated recapped the final games, hinting that the key decision may have been the organizers’ agreement to kick out two Korchnoi aides — American members of an Indian “meditative sect” who were out on bail pending appeal of a stabbing convictiong — and the front-row seating of a Soviet “parapsychologist” who helped Karpov by staring intently at the challenger.
Duresport.com 