Meadowlark Cardillo here. Buckle up.
Let's start with one of the worst calls you'll ever, EVER witness. Scotland got absolutely hosed, HOSED! against Italy at Hamden Park. If you haven't seen the decision that set up the Azzurri's 90+ minute win, watch:
In the words of Joe Benigno, "Are you kiddin' me brah?"
Or, as Sean Connery might say, "Am I supposed to be impreshed?" (Ah, "League of Extraordinary Gentleman" so bad.)
Naturally, Scotland still had a lot of work and luck that needed to go there way to qualify, but still. Garbage. William Wallace is spinning over in his disemboweled grave.
The other big story for English speakers (and chavs) is Israel stunning Russia at the death to give England a lifeline. (Notice in the video that fart-in-the-mouth look on Roman Ambramovich.)
Guess I've changed my stance on England missing Euro.
We need those pasty-faced blokes in Austria/Switzerland. Nothing is quite like watching the tears when the Lions go out on penalties in the quarterfinals to Romania after Rooney has forced them to play with 10 after yet another mindless red card.
Still, it's a safe guess, that anyone that reads this site could field a better lineup against Croatia than Steve McClaren will inevitably trot out.
Then again, who am I foolin'? We'll prolly get a Beckham redux, with a freekick punching the Three Lions ticket to the Alps.
Mandela Challenge Cup
Astute readers will note that my preview of USA v. South Africa was glaringly absent the usual stereotype jokes (all in good fun, assuredly). Well, stuff like that is a minge touchy. You know, with apartheid and all. So that limited my jokes to stuff about the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, the Boer War, De Cler etc. Unless you're real Dutch history buff, those would fall flatter than an Olsen Twin.
That said, not a ton to talk about from the USMNT's rather dull 1-0 win over South Africa. This one took the concept of a 'friendly' to another level. Bo-ring.
Well, the crowd was good. What will all the fraternal love between the African fans and their singing and drumming.
Some thoughts:
* The first half lineup could conceivably be the team that steps on the field in two-ish years in South Africa due to the overall youth.
* Since the game was so dull, other than some first half moments from Freddy Adu, nobody stood out.
* Did Jozy even get a touch in the offensive half?
* Benny Feilhaber is pretty ineffective on the right side.
* Clint Dempsey again drifted out of a game, what is his best position?
* Oguchi Onyewu...no comment. Ditto for Jon Spector.
* Steve Cherundolo certainly has a lot of gas left in the tank.
* Like the shine on Maurice Edu, but in CONCACAF -- especially the first two rounds of qualifying -- are two defensive minded midfielders that necessary?
MLS Cupping Around
Two storyline here: woe to the Revs OR the Dynamo are the best the MLS has seen?
The easy one is to lament the Revolution coming up short again, but let's give credit to the Dynamo. Even with the move from San Jose and the 1836 fiasco, they've rolled. They might not light the world on fire, but they are good.
This might not be the best or more apt comparison, but bear with me. In some ways they are reminiscent of Sevilla in Spain, well...at least under Juande took the Cockerel's money.
The Dynamo are a consistent unit with a lot of good players that are collectively great. It would be wonderful if somehow they can lift the CONCACAF Champions Cup in February and represent MLS in the Club World Cup.
Quick fire thoughts:
* Mea culpa. Twellman is not going down as the MLS' best. DeRo is. The Canuck is the man plain and simple. Argument over. Perhaps the best Canadian import since Rush or Elisha Cuthbert. (What were you expecting, a glamor shot of John Candy?)
(Won't pile it up, but all of Twellman's clownin' and hammin' it for the cameras came back to bite him, huh?)
* DC once again proved the best place for the beautiful game in America. Even without United in the game, RFK appeared rocking on television. Huge credit to the large contigent of Orange-clad Dynamo fans that gave the game a ton of atmosphere with flags (Zimbabwe!) and lucha libre masks. Best prop, however, belonged to the guy with the Buffalo Bills towel with "0-4" written on it. Brilliant!
* Special DAP to the United fans with their petitions -- on camera -- appealing to keep the team in Washington proper and not some suburb. For all it's warts, though, RJK is probably the closest thing to a soccer cathedral that the United States currently has. (I gotta take a trip down their in 2008...)
* Thank goodness for a day of nice weather, hence the excellent atmosphere (though ESPN went a little crowd-crazy).
* Finals at all levels of soccer usually suck worse than Nickleback, but Sunday's game was decent enough, right?
* Wells Thompson...member of Bill Simmons' 'Reggie Cleveland All-Stars'?
* Considering the lack of true outside right midfielders, could greybeard (who was rocking the beard) Steve Ralston work his way back into the mix? He's still one of the best crossers of the ball in America.
* Good to see Robert Kraft actually attended the game. Maybe some of the Rev karma can rub off on Brady and Belichek...please?
* Eric Wynalda...Maroon 5...somehow it all makes sense.
* Long standing question: What is it about MLS 'events' that warrants a halftime performance from some crappy Alt-rock band? Sad. At least ABC had the foresight to cut away about a minute into the shit-show. A diametric opposite from the classy beginning with Placido Domingo.
* Just wondering how many people out there in television land were flipping around the channels and stumbled across the MLS Cup Final on ABC at noon and said, "Hmmm...what's this? Soccer? I think I shall watch?"
Overall, for all the cheap shots absorbed, the league has never been close to the heights its reaching. Consider me very optimistic about the future. Crazy, right?
Let's start with one of the worst calls you'll ever, EVER witness. Scotland got absolutely hosed, HOSED! against Italy at Hamden Park. If you haven't seen the decision that set up the Azzurri's 90+ minute win, watch:
In the words of Joe Benigno, "Are you kiddin' me brah?"
Or, as Sean Connery might say, "Am I supposed to be impreshed?" (Ah, "League of Extraordinary Gentleman" so bad.)
Naturally, Scotland still had a lot of work and luck that needed to go there way to qualify, but still. Garbage. William Wallace is spinning over in his disemboweled grave.
The other big story for English speakers (and chavs) is Israel stunning Russia at the death to give England a lifeline. (Notice in the video that fart-in-the-mouth look on Roman Ambramovich.)
Guess I've changed my stance on England missing Euro.
We need those pasty-faced blokes in Austria/Switzerland. Nothing is quite like watching the tears when the Lions go out on penalties in the quarterfinals to Romania after Rooney has forced them to play with 10 after yet another mindless red card.
Still, it's a safe guess, that anyone that reads this site could field a better lineup against Croatia than Steve McClaren will inevitably trot out.
Then again, who am I foolin'? We'll prolly get a Beckham redux, with a freekick punching the Three Lions ticket to the Alps.
Mandela Challenge Cup
Astute readers will note that my preview of USA v. South Africa was glaringly absent the usual stereotype jokes (all in good fun, assuredly). Well, stuff like that is a minge touchy. You know, with apartheid and all. So that limited my jokes to stuff about the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, the Boer War, De Cler etc. Unless you're real Dutch history buff, those would fall flatter than an Olsen Twin.
That said, not a ton to talk about from the USMNT's rather dull 1-0 win over South Africa. This one took the concept of a 'friendly' to another level. Bo-ring.
Well, the crowd was good. What will all the fraternal love between the African fans and their singing and drumming.
Some thoughts:
* The first half lineup could conceivably be the team that steps on the field in two-ish years in South Africa due to the overall youth.
* Since the game was so dull, other than some first half moments from Freddy Adu, nobody stood out.
* Did Jozy even get a touch in the offensive half?
* Benny Feilhaber is pretty ineffective on the right side.
* Clint Dempsey again drifted out of a game, what is his best position?
* Oguchi Onyewu...no comment. Ditto for Jon Spector.
* Steve Cherundolo certainly has a lot of gas left in the tank.
* Like the shine on Maurice Edu, but in CONCACAF -- especially the first two rounds of qualifying -- are two defensive minded midfielders that necessary?
MLS Cupping Around
Two storyline here: woe to the Revs OR the Dynamo are the best the MLS has seen?
The easy one is to lament the Revolution coming up short again, but let's give credit to the Dynamo. Even with the move from San Jose and the 1836 fiasco, they've rolled. They might not light the world on fire, but they are good.
This might not be the best or more apt comparison, but bear with me. In some ways they are reminiscent of Sevilla in Spain, well...at least under Juande took the Cockerel's money.
The Dynamo are a consistent unit with a lot of good players that are collectively great. It would be wonderful if somehow they can lift the CONCACAF Champions Cup in February and represent MLS in the Club World Cup.
Quick fire thoughts:
* Mea culpa. Twellman is not going down as the MLS' best. DeRo is. The Canuck is the man plain and simple. Argument over. Perhaps the best Canadian import since Rush or Elisha Cuthbert. (What were you expecting, a glamor shot of John Candy?)
(Won't pile it up, but all of Twellman's clownin' and hammin' it for the cameras came back to bite him, huh?)
* DC once again proved the best place for the beautiful game in America. Even without United in the game, RFK appeared rocking on television. Huge credit to the large contigent of Orange-clad Dynamo fans that gave the game a ton of atmosphere with flags (Zimbabwe!) and lucha libre masks. Best prop, however, belonged to the guy with the Buffalo Bills towel with "0-4" written on it. Brilliant!
* Special DAP to the United fans with their petitions -- on camera -- appealing to keep the team in Washington proper and not some suburb. For all it's warts, though, RJK is probably the closest thing to a soccer cathedral that the United States currently has. (I gotta take a trip down their in 2008...)
* Thank goodness for a day of nice weather, hence the excellent atmosphere (though ESPN went a little crowd-crazy).
* Finals at all levels of soccer usually suck worse than Nickleback, but Sunday's game was decent enough, right?
* Wells Thompson...member of Bill Simmons' 'Reggie Cleveland All-Stars'?
* Considering the lack of true outside right midfielders, could greybeard (who was rocking the beard) Steve Ralston work his way back into the mix? He's still one of the best crossers of the ball in America.
* Good to see Robert Kraft actually attended the game. Maybe some of the Rev karma can rub off on Brady and Belichek...please?
* Eric Wynalda...Maroon 5...somehow it all makes sense.
* Long standing question: What is it about MLS 'events' that warrants a halftime performance from some crappy Alt-rock band? Sad. At least ABC had the foresight to cut away about a minute into the shit-show. A diametric opposite from the classy beginning with Placido Domingo.
* Just wondering how many people out there in television land were flipping around the channels and stumbled across the MLS Cup Final on ABC at noon and said, "Hmmm...what's this? Soccer? I think I shall watch?"
Overall, for all the cheap shots absorbed, the league has never been close to the heights its reaching. Consider me very optimistic about the future. Crazy, right?
Re: People watchig the MLS Cup.
Was flying out of Tucson during the game. I got to my terminal and saw a sportsy bar that had every TV tuned to NFL games. Not a surpise, but I figured I wouldn't get to see any of the match.
Went to my gate and there found another bar that had 4 TVs. Two of them had the MLS Cup on and there were 4 people sitting there watching it pretty intently.
That was pleasantly surpsing because A) it was an NFL Sunday 2) Tucson didn't strike me as much of a soccer town C) I got a little schadenfruede watching Twellman lose again.
I would love for MLS to continue it's growth and to someday have a team in every major city in America. But at the same time I want to keep soccer all to myself and not share it with the masses. It's kinda cool to feel like a member of a secret society of soccer fans. Maybe someday we'll all have that "I told you so" moment when the rest of the country realizes what they were missing. It's good to be on the ground floor.