Category: soccer

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Friday Myriad: Get your track shoes and chess pieces

Posted on by Beau Dure

Don’t let the volcano or blown calls get you down. All times ET, which seems appropriate given the birth of new I-95 rivalries in MLS and WPS this weekend.

TRACK AND FIELD

Penn Relays, featuring the “USA vs. The World” events, will have a same-day delay broadcast, 8 p.m. ET Sat., ESPN2

The Drake Relays also will have their big names competing Saturday, though they’ve already seen a meet record with U.S. champion Diana Pickler in the heptathlon.

Also the first official IAAF event of the season, the Dakar Grand Prix on Saturday.

Two marathons Sunday: London and Madrid. London will be broadcast on Universal Sports.

CHESS

The World Championship match between champion Vishy Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov starts Saturday morning. Grandmaster Ian Rogers, writing for the USCF’s Chess Life Online, provides a helpful and witty guide to following the event.

MMA

Some other writer wrote a preview of WEC’s first pay-per-view card at 10 p.m. ET Saturday. Spike will have two prelims at 9 p.m. The main event has two of the most exciting fighters in the world — featherweight champion Jose Aldo vs. former champion Urijah Faber. There’s also a lightweight title fight rematch between Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone, plus a compelling featherweight matchup with former champion Mike Brown facing Manny Gamburyan.

EUROPEAN SOCCER

Now would be a good time to mention the World’s Greatest Football Fan contest, complete with video from one “Cobi J.” Good thing to fill out while you’re agonizing over your favorite team in the stretch run this weekend.

The key German and French games aren’t televised this week.

England (3 games left; Chelsea lead Man U by 1)

For fourth place: Tottenham (64) and Man City (62) have game in hand over Aston Villa (61).

Relegation race: Bolton (35), Wigan (35), Wolves (34) near safety. West Ham (31) on bubble. Current relegation zone is Hull (28), Burnley (27) and Portmouth (farewell).

  • Tottenham-Manchester United, 7:30 a.m. Sat., ESPN2: For the second straight week, Manchester United carries its title hopes against a team fighting for the final Champions League berth.
  • West Ham-Wigan, 10 a.m. Sat., FSC: Vital for West Ham (Jonathan Spector).
  • Hull-Sunderland, 10 a.m. Sat., Fox Soccer Plus: Hull (Jozy Altidore) are in worse shape.
  • Arsenal-Manchester City, 12:30 p.m. Sat., FSC: The Gunners are pretty well stuck in third after collapsing last week; Man City still wants that Champions League berth.
  • Everton-Fulham, 9:55 a.m. Sun.: Everton (Tim Howard) still in the mix for a European spot; Fulham (Clint Dempsey) might want to cool the jets in the Premier League and focus on that second Europa League semifinal leg.
  • Chelsea-Stoke, 11 a.m. Sun., FSC: Possible lead change?

Spain (5 games left; Barcelona lead Real Madrid by 1)

  • Barcelona-Xerez, noon Sat., GolTV
  • Real Zaragoza-Real Madrid, 2 p.m. Sat., ESPN3

Italy (4 games left; Roma lead Inter by 1 and AC Milan by 7)

  • Inter Milan-Atalanta, noon Sat., Fox Soccer Plus
  • Palermo-AC Milan, 2:30 p.m. Sat., FSC
  • Roma-Sampdoria, 2:30 p.m. Sun., FSC

Greece

  • Cup final: Aris-Panathinaikos, 1:30 p.m. Sat., untelevised: Trophy for Eddie and Freddy?

More global listings at Soccer America.

MLS

New FC Dallas technical director Barry Gorman has already paid dividends for the Hooray Beers. He coached Jason Yeisley at Penn State, and Yeisley made the difference last night with a textbook … dive. (See the currently non-embeddable video.) Jeff Cunningham made his second PK of the night and Dallas got a draw with the unlucky Seattle Sounders.

The weekend (home teams first; all games Saturday except the last):

  • New York (3-1-0) – Philadelphia (1-2-0), 4 p.m., TeleFutura
  • New England (2-2-0) – Colorado (2-1-1), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Better matchup than you might have thought a month ago.
  • Columbus (1-0-1) – Salt Lake (2-1-0), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Past two MLS champs meet as RSL continues brutal early schedule.
  • Kansas City (2-1-0) – Los Angeles (4-0-0), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Good test for Galaxy’s streak.
  • Chicago (1-2-1) – Houston (2-1-1), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
  • Chivas USA (1-3-0) – San Jose (2-1-0), 10:30 p.m., FSC
  • Toronto (1-3-0) – Seattle (2-1-2), 2 p.m. Sun., DK/MLSS: Temperamental TFC vs. some angry Sounders. Yikes.

D.C. United is the idle team this week. Not exactly sure why.

WPS

  • FC Gold Pride (1-1-0) – Atlanta (0-1-1), 10 p.m. Sat.: Fun fact – Atlanta keeper Allison Whitworth leads the league with 19 saves. Second place is Hope Solo with 12. Expansion defenses are fun!
  • Philadelphia (0-0-2) – Washington (1-1-0), 6 p.m. Sun.: Abby Wambach was WPS player of the week with a goal and two assists for the Freedom.
  • Chicago (0-1-1) – Sky Blue (1-1-0), 6 p.m. Sun.: Facing each other for the second time already. First game was 1-0 Sky Blue in their Jersey home.
  • St. Louis (1-0-1) – Boston (1-0-1), 6 p.m. Sun., FSC, Webcast, iPhone: Looks like the only way to make this more readily available would be to beam it directly into your head. Coincidentally, these teams are tied for first in the early going.

CYCLING

  • Athens Twilight Criterium, Saturday: Not a major event, but it draws a few good riders and will bring back pleasant memories for all us former Athens residents.
  • Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Sunday: Classic ride through Belgium and one of the last big rides before the Giro d’Italia. Among the riders: Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Christian Vande Velde, Chris Horner, Andreas Kloden, Yaroslav Popovych. Earlier this week at La Fleche Wallonne, Evans beat Joaquin Rodriguez and Contador in the final sprint, with Horner 7th. On Versus May 1.

BOXING

Super Six super middleweight tournament continues: Carl Bloch vs. Mikkel Kessler, 9 p.m. ET Sat., Showtime

Heavyweights Cristobal Arreola vs. Tomasz Adamek, main event on 11:15 p.m. ET Sat. HBO card

OLYMPIC/COLLEGE SPORTS

Four ongoing events this weekend

  • Equestrian, Rolex Three-Day Event, Lexington, Ky., Universal Sports
  • Canoe-Kayak, U.S. flatwater national team trials, Chula Vista, Calif.
  • Wrestling, U.S. Championships, Cleveland, TheMat.com
  • Women’s college gymnastics, NCAA championships, Gainesville, Fla., NCAA/CBS College Sports

TENNIS

  • Fed Cup semifinals, USA vs. Russia, 2/4 p.m. Sat., 2/4/6 p.m. Sun., Tennis Channel
  • ATP Barcelona: semifinals 7:30/10 a.m. Sat., final 10 a.m. Sun., Tennis Channel: David Ferrer, Robin Soderling among quarterfinalists.

ELSEWHERE

  • Several bowlers from the PBA Tour, whose season is over, are competing in the Japan Cup.
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soccer

FC Dallas and the college conundrum

Posted on by Beau Dure

FC DallasWhen the news came through that FC Dallas had hired former Penn State head coach Barry Gorman as their new technical director, the reaction wasn’t hard to predict.

FCD owner Hunt Sports Group has lost a few fans. Among the issues: FCD’s head coach is Schellas Hyndman, the longtime Southern Methodist coach whose former players in college happen to include Clark Hunt.

So when you tell a few Dallas fans that the team is hiring a friend of Hyndman’s who has been in the college game for a few decades, that’s akin to announcing a Beatles reunion with Yoko Ono taking John Lennon’s spot.

From the comments at Buzz Carrick’s excellent 3rd Degree blog:

  • “Sounds like Barry just received a nice retirement bonus from the Hunts.”
  • “I wish the Hunts would go play family reunion somewhere else.”

The buddy system, though, shouldn’t be such a problem. Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid have always had “their guys” around. Real Salt Lake has an MLS Cup under the leadership of Dukies Jason Kreis and Garth Lagerwey.

But can today’s college game prepare a front-office executive to dig up and evaluate talent for an MLS team? BigSoccer blogger Bill Archer thinks not:

I don’t care what sport you’re talking about or what league, the people who are best equipped to identify and develop players who will succeed in that league are guys who have been there themselves, who’ve spent a lot of time playing and/or coaching there and have direct, intimate, personal knowledge of how you do and don’t succeed there. This guy brings none of that.

Indeed, not many people are making the jump from college to MLS in the head coaching or front office ranks these days. In the early days, Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid were plucked from the college ranks because that was one of the highest levels of soccer running in the USA before MLS launched. It helped that Arena and Schmid had college dynasties at Virginia and UCLA. As Archer points out, he has seen Sigi Schmid, and Gorman is no Sigi Schmid.

But there’s one reason why the wailing over Gorman’s hiring may be premature: The college game, like it or not, is still quite important in MLS.

Consider the New England Revolution, where Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has been in charge for nearly a decade. He’s not building the team through some questionable lower-tier signings from his friends in England. The roster has been replenished year after year through smart SuperDraft selections and the occasional scouting of African teams.

Gorman should have a good sense of who’s coming through the college ranks. That’ll put him one step up on many pedigreed coaches and personnel guys who came to MLS and failed.

Will that be enough to make him a valuable addition to the Dallas front office? Will Dallas outperform everyone in future drafts? Time will tell.

But it’s a gamble, to say the least. Dallas fans are casting skeptical eyes on the team these days, and the current regime will have little margin for error among the Hoops, er, Red Stripes faithful. (Really? You guys prefer to be named after a beer than a geometric shape? OK, then.)

Dallas has two more immediate concerns tonight. First, getting fans to make the trip to Pizza Hut Park on a school night. Second, dealing with a strong Seattle team and trying to avoid going winless in April. 8 p.m. ET, ESPN2 — game notes here.

Correction: First version of this post incorrectly referred to FCD’s new TD as “Danny” Gorman. Obviously, I had him confused with Danny Szetela.

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soccer

The marketing of Landon Donovan

Posted on by Beau Dure

If you stopped by the soccer page at Yahoo! yesterday, you saw this video link: “Landon Donovan gets mad at a reporter.”

Naturally, I clicked — Donovan isn’t the type to blow up at anyone. He’s heard it all before. At worst, you’ll get a mildly sarcastic answer, not hostility.

The video paints a different picture:

If it seems unbelievable, well, it is. Donovan has plenty of experience answering inane questions. And it’s hard to imagine a reporter asking about Gatorade unless it was a precondition of the interview. (Many reporters decline those preconditions.) In any case, there’s no way a question on Gatorade would send someone over the edge.

So it’s clever, though not as clever as this ad for a Mexican lottery:

Hard to imagine, say, Cuauhtemoc Blanco landing a similar ad deal in the USA.

If you’re looking for the more thoughtful side of Donovan, try this LATimes interview in which he talks a bit about attitudes toward the game in different cultures.

In the meantime, we’ll wonder what it’ll take to get soccer players back in shampoo commercials (skip to the 6:48 mark):

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cycling, mma, soccer

Monday Myriad: MMA apology time

Posted on by Beau Dure

Quick reminder: Boston Marathon this morning on Universal Sports.

So what happened this weekend?

SOCCER (Americas)

– MLS: The Galaxy look great. The bottom teams look terrible. Full roundup already up.

– WPS: Six and a half years ago, Abby Wambach scored both goals in the last WUSA final as the Washington Freedom defeated the Atlanta Beat. On Sunday, Wambach had a goal and two assists as the Freedom won their first WPS meeting with the Beat 3-1. Trivia, true to the best of my recollection (let me know if I forgot someone): The only two players from the Beat’s 2003 final lineup to play in WPS, Briana Scurry and Homare Sawa, are on the Freedom’s roster. Sawa scored for the Freedom.

It was another 3-1 decision in the Bay Area, where FC Gold Pride unleashed Christine Sinclair (two goals) and Marta (one) on the defending champion Sky Blue.

1-1 ties elsewhere: Boston-Philadelphia, Chicago-St. Louis. The great news was that St. Louis’ Lori Chalupny was in action after some concussion concerns, and she scored Athletica’s early goal. Chicago rookie Casey Nogueira, who looked amazing in the W-League a couple of years ago, had the equalizer.

USL/NASL: The early Division 2 pace-setters are the Austin Aztex, who spoiled St. Louis’ home debut with a 2-1 win. Only three goals in the other four games over the weekend, with road wins for Tampa Bay (at Baltimore) and Minnesota (at Carolina), a home win for Portland (vs. Rochester) and a 0-0 tie for Vancouver at Miami.

Charleston took the early lead in USL-2 with a 3-2 win over Charlotte. Former D.C. United developmental player/JoJo video star Mike Zaher scored for the Battery.

Brazil: Botafogo clinched the Rio title. (AP)

Mexico: American Herculez Gomez was red-carded after two goals and will wait through the regular-season finale to see if he can share the league’s scoring title. (AP)

SOCCER (Europe)

England: Arsenal fell from legit Premier League contenders to head-scratching also-rans in 10 minutes in their fourth-to-last game, conceding three goals to Wigan to fall six points behind Chelsea, which left the door open with a loss to Tottenham. The other decisive game: Manchester United got a late goal (again) to beat Manchester City in a classic derby, keeping United within a point of Chelsea and dropped City behind Tottenham in the race for the fourth Champions League spot.

Spain: Real Madrid wins, Barcelona ties — Barca’s lead is down to one.

Germany: Schalke stays within two points of Bayern Munich as both teams win, but Bayern pretty well settles the goal-difference tiebreaker by blasting Hannover 7-0. Steve Cherundolo’s side is in the relegation zone.

Italy: Milan’s loss to Sampdoria likely leaves a two-team race between Roma and Inter. Roma and Lazio “fans” had a knife fight. Shocker.

Americans in action: Goal.com’s roundup has an unlikely lead — Eric Lichaj scored a vital winner for Leyton Orient. (Goal.com)

MMA

The results were surprising for Strikeforce’s CBS show Saturday night. Inexperienced “King Mo” Lawal upset light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi, who re-upped with Strikeforce a couple of days earlier. Jake Shields outwrestled former Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson, and Gilbert Melendez easily handled top Japanese lightweight Shinya Aoki.

The bad news for Strikeforce: All three title fights went the distance and didn’t have a lot of crowd-pleasing action. (MMA Fighting Stances)

Then came the comedy: Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who won earlier in the night, jumped into the cage and demanded a rematch with Shields. Miller, known for entertaining entrances and his hosting duties on MTV’s Bully Beatdown, got a beatdown of his own from Shields’ camp, including the fiesty Diaz brothers. Mayhem’s immediate reaction on Twitter: “Whoops.” He has since issued a more formal apology. Not expecting one from the Diaz brothers.

TENNIS

Think Rafael Nadal is ready for the French Open? He won the Monte Carlo final over Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-1. (Yahoo!: Busted Racquet blog)

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki suffered an ankle injury and retired from her semifinal match at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Daniele Hantuchova upset Jelena Jankovic in the quarters but lost in the semis to Samantha Stosur, who went on to win the final over Vera Zvonareva.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Misty May-Treanor, who reveals in an upcoming book that she and her family struggled with alcoholism, teamed for the first time with Nicole Branagh and swept through the field at the AVP Fort Lauderdale Open. The final was rainy and windy, enough so that the men’s final that was to follow the women was canceled. (Miami Herald)

CYCLING

Alberto Contador seems to be in good shape for the Grand Tours, winning the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. (Velo News)

With Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen not in the field, Belgian Philippe Gilbert won the Amstel Gold Race (Velo News)

BOXING

Not often that a Ring champion loses. Sergio Martinez landed the upset this weekend over Kelly Pavlik. (USA TODAY)

THIS WEEK

– Track and field: Penn and Drake Relays start Thursday and Friday.
– Soccer: Champions League and Europa League will go on this week despite the volcano.
–

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soccer

MLS Week 4: Cool is a rule, but bad is bad

Posted on by Beau Dure

Did MLS suddenly adopt the Scottish system of splitting the top half of the table from the bottom? That would explain why the bottom four teams in the MLS East all faced off this week in a macabre mini-tournament of sorts. Meanwhile, Los Angeles and Salt Lake played a terrific rematch of last fall’s MLS Cup final.

One of the bottom four matchups, Thursday’s Toronto-Philadelphia game, was already covered. On to the weekend (lineups are estimated from Match Tracker and from what was visible on the highlights; if you see someone who wound up playing elsewhere on the field, please pass it along):

Los Angeles 2, Salt Lake 1

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– LA (4-4-2): Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin RB (Bryan Jordan 44), A.J. DeLaGarza CB, Omar Gonzalez CB, Todd Dunivant LB; Charlie Birchall DM, Michael Stephens RM, Juninho CM (Alan Gordon 81), Mike Magee LM (Alex Cazumba 69); Landon Donovan F, Edson Buddle F
– RSL (4-4-2): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran RB, Jamison Olave CB, Nat Borchers CB, Robbie Russell LB; Kyle Beckerman DM, Will Johnson RM, Andy Williams CM, Nelson Gonzalez LM (Collen Warner 64); Alvaro Saborio F (Pablo Campos 81), Fabian Espindola F (Robbie Findley 59)
– The Galaxy loses their shutout streak on a fluky goal, with Kyle Beckerman’s shot taking a wild skip off the Home Depot Center non-FieldTurf.
– Edson Buddle has scored all seven of the Galaxy’s goals this year. Freaky. Landon Donovan has four assists.
– RSL’s 1-2-1 record is deceiving; the defending champs have had only one home game and a pair of difficult away games, and they haven’t been outclassed at all. Robbie Findley’s shot off the post would’ve been a tough one for the Galaxy to overcome had it been a few inches to the left.

Seattle 1, Kansas City 0 (highlights)
– Seattle (4-4-2): Kasey Keller; James Riley RB, Tyrone Marshall CB, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado CB, Leonardo Gonzalez LB; Osvaldo Alonso DM,  Freddie Ljungberg RM (Patrick Ianni 90), Peter Vagenas CM, Steve Zakuani LM (Michael Fucito 85); Fredy Montero F, Pat Noonan (Brad Evans 70).
– KC (4-5-1, two defensive mids): Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington RB, Pablo Escobar CB, Jimmy Conrad CB (Matt Besler 32), Roger Espinoza LB, Jack Jewsbury DM, Stephane Auvray DM, Josh Wolff RM (Teal Bunbury 82), Davy Arnaud CM, Ryan Smith LM, Kei Kamara F (Chance Myers 90).
– Bad miss for Pat Noonan in the 10th minute as Seattle pressed early.
– Both defenses lapsed in stoppage time. Jimmy Nielsen, who had a strong save earlier, couldn’t make the last save. Kasey Keller did, bailing out Michael Fucito, who Sigi Schmid said was still in a state of euphoria from scoring.
– Not shown in the highlights but mentioned in the recap: Zakuani made contact with referee Jair Marrufo but only saw yellow.
– Jimmy Conrad left in the first half with a calf injury. Think that might have affected the outcome?

Houston 3, Chivas USA 0 (highlights)
– Did you see the Lovel Palmer goal?

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– CUSA (4-4-2): Zach Thornton; Mariano Trujillo RB, Dario Delgado CB, Michael Umana CB, Jonathan Bornstein LB; Jesus Padilla RM, Sacha Kljestan CM, Jorge Flores CM (Justin Braun 46), Blair Gavin LM; Maicon Santos F (Ben Zemanski 46), Chukwudi Chijindu F (Gerson Mayen 78)
– Houston (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 (Francisco Navas Cobo 93), Brad Davis LM (Adrian Serioux 86); Brian Mullan F (Danny Cruz 83), Dominic Oduro F
– Not sure why Oduro felt the need to do the “hot boot” celebration after his goal. He could’ve tapped that in with his knee, his backside or just about any other part of his body.

San Jose 2, New England 0 (highlights)
– NE (4-5-1 or 4-2-2-1-1): Preston Burpo; Kevin Alston RB, Cory Gibbs CB, Darrius Barnes CB, Seth Sinovic LB (Zak “No, not Wade” Boggs 82); Pat Phelan DM, Joseph Niouky DM, Sainey Nyassi RM (Kheli Dube 67), Chris Tierney LM; Marko Perovic AM, Zach Schilawski F (Kenny Mansally 85)
– SJ (4-4-2): Joe Cannon; Steve Beitashour RB, Ike Opara CB, Jason Hernandez CB, Ramiro Corrales LB; Joey Gjertsen RM, Brandon McDonald CM, Andre Luiz CM, Bobby Convey LM; Ryan Johnson F (Ramon Sanchez 92), Chris Wondolowski F
– Darrius Barnes, ever-present as a rookie last year, returned from injury. But the Revs were still without Shalrie Joseph.
– San Jose standouts: Terrific work by Ryan Johnson on the first goal, then a late series of saves from Joe Cannon.

New York 2, Dallas 1 (highlights)
– NY (4-4-2): Bouna Coundoul; Jeremy Hall RB, Mike Petke CB, Tim Ream CB, Roy Miller LB; Dane Richards RM (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 81), Seth Stammler CM (Carl Robinson 58), Joel Lindpere CM, Mac Kandji LM; Juan Pablo Angel F, Salou Ibrahim F (Danleigh Borman 71)
– Dal (4-1-4-1): Dario Sala; Zach Loyd RB, George John CB, Ugo Ihemelu CB, Heath Pearce LB (Eric Avila 69); Daniel Hernandez DM; Atiba Harris RM, David Ferreira CM, Dax McCarty CM (Eric Alexander 81), Jair Benitez LM; Jeff Cunningham F
– OK, New York — where’s the crowd? You don’t have Giants Stadium and its cavernous atmosphere, controversial security and lack of mass transit to blame any more.
– MLSSoccer’s anonymous recapper did not enjoy the game. And yet the highlights are 9 minutes long. Especially cruel in the editing — a Mike Petke blunder is immediately followed by a scene in which the electronic dasher boards read “Follow Mike Petke on Twitter.”
– Comeback player of the week is Bouna Coundoul, who shook off a blunder last week to snap right back into his terrific early-season form. (HT: Bill Archer)

D.C. United 0, Chicago 2 (highlights)
– Chicago (4-2-3-1): Andrew Dykstra; Dasan Robinson 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
– D.C. (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
– Already went in-depth on the clinching goal and got some comments from Santino Quaranta (not the ones you’ve seen elsewhere).

And from Sunday …

Colorado 3, Toronto 1 (recap/goal highlights)
– Colo: Matt Pickens; Kosuke Kimura RB, Marvell Wynne CB, Drew Moor CB, Danny Earls LB (Scott Palguta 83); Jamie Smith RM (Wells Thompson 59), Pablo Mastroeni CM, Jeff Larentowicz CM, Colin Clark LM (Quincy Amarikwa 68); Omar Cummings F, Conor Casey F
– TFC: Stefan Frei; Maksim Usanov RB, Nana Attakora CB, Adrian Cann CB, Ty Harden LB; Sam Cronin RM, Julian de Guzman CM, Martin Saric CM (Dan Gargan 80), Nick LaBrocca LM (Jacob Peterson 60); Dwayne De Rosario F, Chad Barrett F (O’Brian White 66)
– Three PKs in this one. The first was, well, wrong. Adrian Cann, who played briefly for Colorado before a long trip through the USL and Scandinavia before TFC signed him a few days ago, was judged to have … handled the ball? Failed to slide safely into second base? Conor Casey then went for the smart-ass chip over the sprawling keeper, and he got a little lucky with the timing. The other calls and shots were much better.
– The non-PK was a Colorado free kick in which Jeff Larentowicz drilled the ball through a hole in the wall vacated by the sideways-jumping Julian de Guzman.
– Match Tracker isn’t showing a single TFC shot from inside the 18-yard box. Stats show six saves for Frei, zero for Pickens. The broadcast crew chose a highlight of Pickens tipping a cross away as the “Save of the Game.”

So if we look at the bottom eight teams in the league, we can give half of those teams a break. Salt Lake is playing pretty well against good teams. Columbus has only played two games. Chicago just has one bad loss at home. Dallas has played a couple of thrillers.

That leaves the following teams making a collective argument — with the usual “Yes, it’s only Week 4” disclaimer — that MLS isn’t really a league of parity:

– Philadelphia: Not easy to build an expansion team, though you have to wonder when they’ll lose the “physical” side of the game and just play.

– Chivas USA: A couple of injuries have made it tougher to replace the lost veteran leadership of Jesse Marsch et al.

– D.C. United: Three years of poor player acquisitions will take a toll on the roster. To be fair, the injury bug hasn’t helped — Bryan Namoff and Clyde Simms alone would make this team more solid, though it’s hard to see where the goals will come from.

– Toronto: Maybe they should get some players who weren’t cast aside by Skonto Riga.

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soccer

On D.C. United: “We’re not 1996, man”

Posted on by Beau Dure

Early in a 2-0 loss to Chicago on Saturday, Andy Najar — known to no one outside D.C. United’s staff a few weeks ago and now starting in MLS at age 17 — chased a ball down on his own endline and centered it across the face of his own goal.

That’s how things are going for the once-mighty team these days. Three years of atrocious personnel decisions and a recent rash of injuries have left a team that looks incapable of winning.

Santino Quaranta, now an elder statesman of sorts at age 25, pointed to the injuries — Clyde Simms, Bryan Namoff, Marc Burch, Juan Manuel Pena. But he wasn’t pleased with a game in which the only real test for young Chicago goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra was his own blazing free kick.

“If that’s our best chance of the game, that’s pretty sad.”

One thing looks better for United: Their clothes. After the game, every player was changing into a nice suit, though Carey Talley stretched the definition of “nice” with some bright green pants. Simms, who hopes to be back on the field for United’s next game April 28 against Dallas, said he thinks the idea originated with goalkeeper Troy Perkins.

Yet Perkins also has trouble looking sharp on the field. In the first 10 minutes Saturday, he had to scramble to avoid being chipped by Collins John, then flapped at a corner kick. At the end of the half, he raced out of his box to try to prevent a breakaway and couldn’t come up with the ball. And he could’ve done better on the second Chicago goal.

United are 0-4. They started 0-4 in 1996, though the last loss was in the since-discarded postgame shootout, and went on to win the first MLS title.

“Yeah, we’re not 1996, man,” Quaranta said. “We don’t have those kind of players here.”

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soccer

Anatomy of a goal: Fire’s Dykstra to McBride

Posted on by Beau Dure

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The dagger for D.C. United started with former Woodbridge, Va., resident Andrew Dykstra, the young goalkeeper for the Chicago Fire.

Dykstra, who had 80-100 people coming to watch him, said he was looking for Brian McBride with his long distributions late in the game. He wasn’t able to get the ball to him in the corner a little earlier. Then he saw McBride drift into the box and figured he would aim there.

“I trust the 36-year-old veteran,” Dykstra said, undercounting by one year.

The 37-year-old veteran knew what to do next. He couldn’t see United keeper Troy Perkins, but he could hear him.

“The goalie was talking, so I knew where he was,” McBride said. “I was trying to put it on goal. I didn’t pick out the corner, but I knew where the goalie was, so I was just trying not to put it right at him.”

So now you know, MLS keepers: When a long ball is going to McBride, keep your mouth shut.

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mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis

Friday Myriad: What’s going on this week(end)

Posted on by Beau Dure

It’s a relatively slow time for the sports world outside the NBA and NHL, where the Capitals appear to have started breaking my heart. But you won’t be without viewing options this weekend. Read on for all of those (all times ET) and a look at the midweek news:

MLS

Comedy of errors last night in Toronto. Philadelphia keeper Chris Seitz let a Dwayne De Rosario free kick slip through his hands into the goal, and he committed the foul that let De Ro win it from the spot. Danny Califf, the “veteran leadership” for Philadelphia, made a poor backpass and decided to make up for it by slamming his forearm into Julian de Guzman’s face, an obvious red card by any criterion you use. Toronto was lucky to finish the game with 11 men after some gruesome tackles, particularly from Raivis Hscanovics. And Philly blundered by taking off Roger Torres, whose sublime pass set up the game’s best goal, to go for a more defensive shape.

Strong offense = best defense. When will coaches realize this?

Califf took responsibility. Toronto coach Preki snapped back at the media by asking if they would prefer a team of ballerinas. (Toronto Sun)

Grass looks nice, though. And click to #11 in this gallery for the best soccer fan photo so far this year.

This weekend (home teams first; all games Saturday except the last):

  • Seattle (1-1-1) – Kansas City (2-0-0), 3 p.m., DK/MLSS: Pick of the week
  • Houston (1-1-1) – Chivas USA (1-2-0), 4 p.m., TeleFutura: Still a nasty rivalry?
  • D.C. United (0-3-0) – Chicago (0-2-1), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Which team disappoints you more?
  • New York (2-1-0) – Dallas (0-0-2), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: No, Thierry Henry isn’t playing
  • San Jose (1-1-0) – New England (2-1-0), 10 p.m., DK/MLSS: Any Kraft Soccer demons remaining for Earthquakes fans?
  • Los Angeles (3-0-0) – Salt Lake (1-1-1), 10:30 p.m., FSC: MLS Cup rematch
  • Colorado (1-1-1) – Toronto (1-2-0), 5 p.m. Sun, DK/MLSS: TFC plays twice this week; Columbus idle

WPS

Week 2 games Saturday and Sunday. Am I the only person not playing WPS fantasy soccer?

  • Chicago – St. Louis, 8 p.m. Sat
  • FC Gold Pride – Sky Blue, 10 p.m. Sat (or, if you prefer, Bay Area – New Jersey)
  • Boston – Philadelphia, 6 p.m. Sun, FSC
  • Washington – Atlanta, 7 p.m. Sun — 2003 WUSA final rematch at last!

EUROPEAN SOCCER

Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett are selling Liverpool, and it’s safe to say they won’t be missed by the fan base. Commentator Jim White accuses them of having as much interest in the club as a real estate investor would in a house he’s flipping. (Eurosport)

England

  • Manchester City – Manchester United, 7:45 a.m. Sat, ESPN2: Both teams have plenty at stake in the derby.
  • Blackburn – Everton, 10 a.m. Sat, FSC: Tim Howard and company are on the road, trying to keep faint European hopes alive.
  • Tottenham – Chelsea, 12:30 a.m. Sat, FSC: Tottenham is one point behind Man City for the fourth Champions League berth. Chelsea has a four-point lead for first. Another great derby.

Spain (Barcelona lead Real Madrid by 3)

  • Espanyol – Barcelona, 2 p.m. Sat, GolTV
  • Valencia – Real Madrid, 3 p.m. Sun, ESPN Deportes

Germany (Bayern Munich lead Schalke by 2; both teams face Americans on Saturday)

  • Borussia Moenchengladbach – Schalke, 9:25 a.m. Sat, ESPN Deportes
  • Bayern Munich – Hannover, 4 p.m. Sat (delay), GolTV

Italy (Roma lead Inter by 1, Milan by 4)

  • Inter Milan – Juventus, 2:30 p.m. Fri, FSC
  • Sampdoria – AC Milan, 9 a.m. Sun, FSC
  • Lazio – Roma, 2:30 p.m. Sun, FSC

More global listings at Soccer America.

MMA

Bellator’s second show of the season had a bit of controversy last night with a premature stoppage giving wrestling phenom Ben Askren a welterweight quarterfinal win. But as my colleague Sergio Non points out, you have to answer when the ref asks if you’re OK. I’d have more of an opinion myself if any local networks would pick up the FSN broadcasts. (MMA Fighting Stances)

The big show this weekend, no credit card needed, is Strikeforce on CBS (9 p.m.), which will have three title fights and a “Mayhem” Miller entrance:

  • Middleweights: Former two-division Pride champion Dan Henderson, who postured his way out of the UFC by getting a big head after his unsportsmanlike win over Michael Bisping, takes on current champion Jake Shields, who might be heading the other direction.
  • Light heavyweights: Former wrestler “King Mo” Lawal takes a big jump up in opposition in his budding MMA career, challenging champion Gegard Mousasi.
  • Lightweights: The hard-core fans are drooling over the matchup of Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez and Dream (Japan) champ Shinya Aoki.

BOXING

Why do people freak out when the UFC might go up against a big boxing card, and yet no one seems concerned about this Strikeforce-boxing scheduling conflict? We’re not just talking alphabet-soup champions here — Kelly Pavlik has the actual, legit middleweight title. (OK, so his challenger isn’t in The Ring’s top 10.)

On HBO, 10 p.m. Saturday:

  • The Ring/WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Martinez
  • IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (#1, The Ring) vs. Edison Miranda

OLYMPIC SPORTS

The big one’s coming up Monday: Boston Marathon, 9:30 a.m.

  • Diving World Series, 5 p.m. Fri/4 p.m. Sat., Universal Sports online
  • Beach volleyball, AVP Fort Lauderdale women’s final, 5:30 p.m. Sun. (delay), ESPN2

TENNIS

Men’s field seems a lot stronger than the women’s field this week.

ATP Monte Carlo: Rafael Nadal vs. David Ferrer in one semi; top seed Novak Djokovic vs. winner of Fernando Verdasco-Albert Montanes in the other.

  • Semifinals, 7:30/10 a.m. Sat, Tennis Channel
  • Final, 8:15 a.m. Sun, Tennis Channel

WTA Family Circle Cup, Charleston, S.C.: top seeds in quarterfinals are #1 Caroline Wozniacki (vs. #6 Nadia Petrova) and #2 Jelena Jankovic (vs. #8 Daniela Hantuchova)

  • Quarterfinal, 1 p.m. Fri, ESPN2
  • Semifinal, 1 p.m. Sat, ESPN2
  • Final, 1 p.m. Sun, ESPN2

More TV listings (baseball, NHL, NBA, motor sports, golf, rodeo, college baseball, high school basketball)  at USA TODAY.

If I missed anything, please let me know.

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soccer

Throwing open the U.S. Open Cup

Posted on by Beau Dure

It’s U.S. Open Cup season again, which means it’s also open season for Open Cup reform ideas and lamentations over its lack of popularity.

Like England’s FA Cup, the U.S. Open Cup has a proud history that predates the formation of a viable national league. The biggest difference is that the USA’s viable national league — the old American Soccer League — was only viable for a little more than a decade, so the Open Cup had another long period of giving the only national trophy at stake.

But the Open Cup has had a rocky run through the last 40 years. It suffered an outrageous insult when the NASL (the original, not the new one) ignored it. The pros came back in 1995, with APSL and USISL teams battling for league pride as much as anything else. MLS teams entered the Cup in the league’s first year, with D.C. United winning the “double” of League and Cup in 1996.

So it’s still around, but it’s really a tournament for hard-core fans only. Games at MLS sites usually draw a couple thousand.  The lovingly maintained quasi-official site USOpenCup.com was compelled to change its name to thecup.us for complex reasons.

And so we hear ideas each year — spend more money on marketing, move games in the schedule, etc. Most of these run afoul of a couple of logistical realities:

1. Teams in the PDL and other amateur leagues are often reliant on college talent, and they play a compressed league schedule while those players are available. That leaves little time to play around with scheduling Cup games. (1a. Those who are not in college have jobs.)

2. Many teams are not the primary tenant in their stadiums, again creating difficulties in scheduling. Weekend dates are often unavailable.

3. Where would all this marketing and operational money come from?

Still, the Cup is ripe for tweaking. You may not know this, but MLS teams played qualifiers this week. Real Salt Lake advanced on penalties after a back-and-forth 3-3 draw at San Jose. Wells Thompson scored twice as Colorado beat Kansas City 2-1.

Combined attendance: 3,944.

And who could blame the no-shows? These are play-in games to reach more play-in games to reach the actual tournament. The romance of the Cup is in minnows vs. giants. Not MLS reserves vs. MLS reserves to face more MLS reserves. And don’t claim you’d actually start all your starters in these games if you were the coach. You wouldn’t. Or you wouldn’t have the job.

The best time to play these games might be during the World Cup and other international tournaments. You’ll have MLS teams missing a couple of big-name players who can still field competitive teams. Why not have them play Open Cup games rather than league games? It’ll be something different to go along with a major televised event like the World Cup.

Or, if you somehow believe the NCAA can change, play it in the spring … with college teams facing the pros.

Realistically, the first option is more likely. Get rid of these MLS play-in games. Let the amateurs and lower divisions take their shots at the big boys. Otherwise, it’s just a long, dull MLS event.

Clarification: Technically, these MLS games are not part of the Open Cup itself. These games are set up by the league to determine its entries into the Cup. Maybe a small distinction, but worth making.

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soccer

What’s better about the Dynamo’s new stadium?

Posted on by Beau Dure

A Twitter debate du jour: What’s so great about the Houston Dynamo finally getting a deal for a new stadium if they’re just going to share it with a college football team?

Answers here via spokesman’s e-mail from Oliver Luck, Dynamo president/GM:

  • we control the scheduling, not UH. [Univ. of Houston, which hosts the Dynamo today at Robertson Stadium]
  • we control the maintenance, not UH.
  • we control the entire fan experience (including hygiene, concessions, etc…), not UH.
  • yes, we’ll have football lines but we will schedule as best we can around them and we can minimize the football markings, which won’t include logos, lettering, end zone painting, etc…
  • we will generate revenue from TSU football games, unlike the situation at UH.  We will also host high school football playoffs in the stadium, as many MLS venues do.
  • most importantly, we maintain the revenue that we generate as opposed to sharing it with UH.
  • of course, it will be a new building, not one built in the 1940’s.

So yes, revenue will be an important part, and that can help the team on the field. Designated Players aren’t cheap. Neither is scouting.

In terms of aesthetics, it’s impossible to judge until we see for ourselves. Seattle’s FieldTurf draws criticism, but despite sharing the field with the NFL’s Seahawks, the Qwest Field pitch generally looks better than, say, the Home Depot Center’s grass. Maybe sharing with the X Games is worse than sharing with a football team?

Also worth noting — the team is getting new practice facilities and can move away from the fields at the University of Houston, which deteriorated to a point that Dominic Kinnear and crew picked up and started practicing at Rice. Read about that situation and see an artist’s rendering of the new stadium here: Houston Chronicle.

It’s true that the term “soccer-specific stadium” shouldn’t really apply any more. More and more MLS teams have their own facilities, but they rent them out for football games, concerts, etc.

From a fan perspective, the best thing about a stadium is the peace of mind that your local team has set down roots. Ask D.C. United fans currently checking traffic between their D.C.-area homes and Baltimore.

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