Sports Grumblings

Sorry Charlie

2010-05-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

Charlie Davies' recovery process from the horrific car accident in October of 2009 fell short of his goal of making the World Cup roster when Bob Bradley left him off of the initial 30 man roster on Tuesday. While many fans are angry at Bob Bradley for leaving him off the roster, it was beyond his control. Sochaux, Davies club team in France, didn't clear him to participate in the camp. If he had received medical clearance from the medical staff at Sochaux, there is a good chance Davies would have been on the initial 30 man roster competing for a spot in the final 23. If the news was most disappointing to Davies, the second most disappointed person would have to be Bob Bradley. Obviously if Davies is 100% or even 85-90% of his form before the accident, he is an obvious selection over forwards Connor Casey and Robbie Findlay. While the feel good, "Disney sports movie ending" is what everyone wants to see, Bradley has to consider what is best for his team.

Anyone familiar with the incident has seen the pictures from the crash, and Davies is lucky to be alive. With the injuries he sustained, an 8 month recovery is damn near impossible. It would have been nothing short of a miracle for Davies to return to form in time for the World Cup. The fact that he will be able to return to professional level soccer is impressive enough. Sure, we were all rooting him on like the main character in a Disney sports film, but reality sets in and the fairy tale ending just isn't going to happen. It's not the end of the world for Charlie Davies. He is only 23, and if he can return to form he has a brilliant career ahead of him. Come 2014, he would be 27 and essentially in the prime of his career if all goes right and certainly a spot on the 2014 World Cup Roster is likely. It's tough news for Charlie, but if he uses this as motivation to work towards 2014, and he continues the effort he made throughout this comeback try, Lord help goalkeepers and defenders in Ligue 1 or wherever his career takes him.

To Strike or Not to Strike?

2010-03-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

So with a MLS strike looking more and more evident, I figured I would get on here and post my thoughts on the matter. First of all I would like to say that I am on the players side on the issue, but I think a risk/reward of a strike has far too much risk and not a whole lot of reward. I agree, a fair amount of players in the MLS get paid like shit, and the owners have too much control of the league. With that being said, a strike would not be the answer for many reasons.

First of all it would certainly lose the momentum that the league has been gaining over the last few years with successful expansion. Season Ticket sales in all markets would certainly go down. Markets such as Seattle and Toronto who have joined the league over the last few seasons, and where tickets to home matches have been hard to find because of the demand. If the loyal supporters of the clubs feel betrayed, they may think of other ways to spend their hard earned money.

What would hurt the league the most would be the loss of many of the casual soccer fans. The same fans who the league has worked so hard to gain attention from over the past 5 years or so, would most certainly be turned away from the sport. The fans that aren't able to afford full season tickets, but attend 3 or 4 games out of the year. The families looking for entertainment on a Saturday night. In tough economic times, it won't take much for the casual soccer fans to spend their money elsewhere. When work stoppages happened in Major League Baseball and the NHL, those leagues were hurt. Fortunately for them, the fan base was large enough that they could make due with the loss of some of their fans in hopes of eventually bringing them back. Major League Soccer is not on the level of the four major sports, nor are they close.

Shall we look at what happened to the WUSA, ceasing operations after only three seasons because of severe financial difficulties. Now the league has reformed as the WPS with different financial strategies, but after only one season, a team has already folded.

It wasn't that long ago that the MLS was in the same situation, maybe not as severe, but having 2 of its teams cease operations in 2001 certainly shows the league was in trouble. The league has done well with slow but steady growth since then with the addition of six franchises since then (including Philadelphia this year). A strike would certainly halt that progress and have a negative effect on not only the league, but soccer in America as a whole. Personally I don't think the players will strike and an agreement will be reached. I think both the owners and players know what this would do to the league as a whole, or at least I hope they realize this.

What are your thoughts on the situation? Feel free to post comments below.

Philadelphia Union Preseason Report

2010-03-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

Less than two weeks away from their first ever MLS game in franchise history, the Philadelphia Union have been in training camp for a little over a month now. Peter Nowak started the first official training camp for his expansion side in North Carolina in early February. The two week long first leg of the camp included scrimmages against High Point University, UNC-Wilmington, and Wake Forest University, all of which were closed to the public.

The Union did take part in an exhibition match against The University of North Carolina in Greensboro on February 13th. The first half of the match saw forward Sebastian Le Toux record a hat trick and put the expansion side up 3-0 at the half. Shea Salinas opened the scoring in the second half with a goal in the 54th minute. The goal of the night came from 17 year old Jack McInerney, who had an impressive strike from just over the midfield line, catching the North Carolina keeper off guard. McInerney's goal in the 89th minute of the match capped off an impressive 5-0 victory for the expansion side.

The second leg of Nowak's preseason camp took the expansion side south of the border to Guadalajara, Mexico. While the first leg of the camp was mainly focused on physical conditioning, the second leg was more tactical and also saw the club face professional competition for the first time. Scrimmages against Mexican Second Division side Universidad de Guadalajara, and Mexican First Division powerhouse Chivas De Guadalajara gave the expansion side their first taste of what was to come during the upcoming season. Nowak chose Guadalajara not only for the opportunity to face quality professional clubs, but to challenge his players at tough altitude conditions as well.

Nowak and his club are currently in Tampa, Florida for the third and final leg of the preseason camp. The third leg of the camp will focus on putting the final touches on both the tactical and fitness sides before the start of the season. The Union will also face their first test against MLS competition on March 14, when they meet FC Dallas in their final exhibition match before first kick in Seattle on March 25th (assuming there is no work stoppage by either the players or the owners).

There have been some surprises during the camp thus far. Jack McInerney, 7th overall pick in the 2010 Superdraft, has impressed many including Peter Nowak during camp. McInerney, who is only 17, not only scored a brilliant goal in the match against North Carolina, but also managed to score in the scrimmage against Chivas De Guadalajara as well. There were questions as to whether he would start the season being loaned out to the Union's USL affiliate Harrisburg City Islanders due to his young age, but his performance has definitely earned him a shot with the big club.

Trialist and former Temple University star J.T. Noone has also turned some heads during camp. Noone has performed well thus far, scoring a goal in the Chivas De Guadalajara scrimmage and also tallying two assists through 5 preseason matches/scrimmages. He remains one of only two trialists still with the club, the other being Roger Torres who was recently signed to the club on loan. Noone has definitely made his case to be offered a spot on the roster.

Friendly Lessons?

2010-01-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

So a day after the United States 3-1 loss to Honduras, I've come up with a few lessons that can be learned from this game. The first one being this team can not afford any more injuries, because I didn't see anyone out there (with the exception of maybe Jonathan Bornstein) who I would feel comfortable stepping up in South Africa. I know that this wasn't the team that will be on the field in 5 months time, and Thank God it wasn't.

With that being said there was some importance to this friendly for some players. With the injuries of Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu still leaving their status up in the air, there were some possible spots on the bench up for grabs for some of these players. Jeff Cunningham, leading scorer this past season in the MLS, was one of those players who could have possibly secured a spot on the bench if Davies can't go. I thought Cunningham's performance last night was not good whatsoever. Although he may have only had 4-5 touches, what I saw was a player wasn't aggressive at all and was very hesitant. At times he looked lost out there. He could have done more if they were able to get him more touches, but when push comes to shove, I think he will be staying in Dallas come June.

We also saw the last International appearance from Jimmy Conrad. The early yellow card was unfortunate, but as a veteran Conrad has to understand how to play with a yellow. While the second yellow was questionable, there's no excuse for Conrad to even put himself in that position already holding a yellow, especially off the ball. Jimmy will have to settle watching the World Cup from Kansas City, and posting humorous comments via his Twitter page which we've all come to love.

Another player who had an absolutely horrible game was Marvell Wynne. At times it didn't feel like a soccer match at all, just a montage of Honduran players getting past Wynne with ease down the sidelines.

As we look forward to the next match against El Salvador, I would hope to see more of Alejandro Bedoya. I felt he played well after coming on in the second half. Had some nice services in the box that just weren't able to be finished. This was the opportunity for the "B Squad" to show their stuff against a World Cup participant in Honduras, who had about half of their lineup that will be there in June. I don't know how much we can learn from El Salvador in about a months time. With that said, I understand that this was a "B squad" that was just thrown together with a couple weeks of training and that is why I'm not worried about the loss so much. I'll just be holding my breath no one comes back from Europe in a cast, sling, or whatever. Just send them back home covered in bubble wrap just to be safe.

Philadelphia Union focused on Youth

2010-01-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

It should come as no surprise that current Philadelphia Union manager, and former United States men's national team assistant Piotr Nowak, is building the newest MLS franchise with a concentration on youth. Nowak , who previously managed the United States U-23 team and the United States in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has selected a wide variety of players through both the MLS expansion draft and 2010 SuperDraft. Six of the Union's ten selections in the Expansion Draft were under the age of 25. In addition Nowak and his staff made a number of moves leading up to the SuperDraft, eventually giving the club three of the top seven selections in the first round. The Union also acquired Goalkeeper Chris Seitz from Real Salt Lake, who was apart of the United States team coached by Nowak in the Olympics. Currently 12 of the Union's 17 rostered players are under the age of 25, certainly making them one of the youngest teams in the league.

The Union have also began a partnership with local USL Premier Development League team Reading United to have them serve as their exclusive minor league affiliate. The club has emphasized the importance of being able to develop home grown talent through youth programs, preparing them to advance to the Union and Major League Soccer. Youth Developmental systems have been a vital part to the successful European leagues, but are still in the begining stages for Major League Soccer. Currently the league relies heavily on the SuperDraft and the development players who have gone through the college ranks.

While a team can not rely on youth alone to have success, Nowak and the Union have certainly placed an emphasis on building the franchise from the ground up. With the acquisitions of Veterans Danny Califf, Alejandro Moreno, and Stefani Miglioranzi, the Union hope to find the right combination of both youth and experience to have both immidiate and long term success in the league.

Swagbucks

2009-12-03T22:14:00.001-08:00

Swidget 1.0great free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

No Shame in the Silver

2009-06-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

So for about 60 minutes this afternoon, what many said was to be impossible looked as if it were going to come true. The United States Men's National Team were up 2-0 against powerhouse Brazil and on their way to beating another top ranked team and winning their first FIFA tournament. But the dream shattered when Brazil scored 3 goals in the second half against an obvious fatigued US team. Many soccer fans in the US thought the sports writers and talking heads on ESPN may have to eat their words for once, but alas their egos are safe for now. Most likely any Monday morning coverage in the newspapers will talk about how the United States "choked" under the pressure and showed that their still not as good as the powerhouses of Brazil, Spain, and Italy. The talking heads shows on ESPN will talk about how people got carried away with this soccer thing, and the US let everyone down again. Its a shame that they can't see past the result and see how great this Confederations Cup tournament was for American Soccer.

Starting off with two less than stellar performances, this team rallied to beat a very overlooked Egypt team who has won the last two African Cup of Nations tournaments. Sure they aren't Italy, Brazil, Spain or France, but they are a good team who also took Brazil to the edge in the first round of the tournament. And with everything working out in their favor, the US advanced in what was called the "group of death". But it's no surprise for the United States to be drawn into a group at FIFA tournaments with other high ranked teams. The past two World Cups, the United States has been grouped into the toughest groups.

After advancing they drew #1 ranked Spain in the semi-finals, which seemed like an impossible to advance. But as the Adidas marketing slogan says "Impossible is nothing". The United States outplayed the best team in the world, and advanced to their first FIFA tournament final. They also turned heads and grabbed attention from casual sports fans and patriotic Americans alike. Coverage on Sportscenter and local nightly news programs, talking head programs actually devoting more than 30 seconds to Soccer, and water cooler conversations at offices across the country finally gave some attention to the sport that most people usually don't even know the rules to. But of course you still had your arrogant sports talk personalities like Jim Rome and Colin Cowheard who still bashed the sport and said it was a fluke.

Well on Sunday the United States proved it was no fluke. Sure they didn't win the game, and gave up a 2 goal lead at halftime, but they played with 4 time World Cup Champion Brazil and took them to the brink. Casual sports fans actually tuned in and watched an entire soccer match. Of course most of them still didn't understand the concept of stoppage time, but hey at least their watching. But my gut feeling as a supporter of this sport and a die hard fan of the National Team says that the American media will use this game against the men's team. The Jim Rome's and Colin Cowheard's of the world will say "I told you so" and stick their tongue out at soccer supporters across the nation. But little do they know that "in defeat can come victory". The United States played defeated the best in the world, and took what most likely will be the new #1 ranked team in the world to the brink, proving at least to me that this team can play with the best and will improve. But don't tell that to the media.

American Soccer does everything but get respect

2009-06-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

So it's been a few days now since the United States National Team defeated number one ranked Spain, and most of the American Media is still bashing the thought of Soccer in America. Most notably Jim Rome who recently said "no more than 4 or 5 people even knew the United States was playing Spain". Obviously bitter that ESPN has invested more into soccer in the past year and ratings for the sport on the network dwarf the ratings of his show "Rome is Burning", Rome continues to make comments to saying that Soccer still ranks somewhere between the World's Strongest Man competition and Professional Poker. It should be noted that both of those programs also get better ratings that Rome's show on the network. This coming from a man who's still thinks he's a tough guy because he called Jim Everett, "Chris" numerous times before he attacked him. Yes Jim, you got your ass kicked by Jim Everett on television, and you still have a show 10 years later. As a matter of fact Chris Everett should have kicked your ass as well. Perhaps Rome is angry because These FIFA Confederations Cup games, and UEFA Champions League games are being shown on ESPN2 during Rome's normal time slot and are recieving much better ratings, which doesn't have to be alot. God forbid ESPN actually show a sporting event on their sports network rather than you running your mouth for 30 minutes while everyone wonders how much Just for Men you use per week, and why you break one syllable words into two just for emphasis.

Other talking head programs on the network like Pardon the Interuption and Around the Horn have also bashed soccer in the 2 minutes that they talk about the sport every six months or so. Do they hate the sport, or do they hate that the sport is being shown more and making their arguments look arrogant?

I'm not saying that anyone has to like Soccer or give it a chance, but 95% of the sports writers and television personalites have bashed soccer for decades. Perhaps they want to talk about it, but their decades worth of bashing have backed them into a corner, and their egos are too big enough for them to change their opinion. Personally I think Soccer is the only thing worth watching on the network (besides old episodes of American Gladiators on ESPN Classic in the middle of the night). SportsCenter used to be a show where you could actually get highlights from sports, from sportscasters. Now it's become a place where failed stand up comedians can read teleprompters and attempt to come up with puns and catch phrases to go along with showing Lebron James dunk 10 times, and spend 30 minutes talking about Brett Favre. When SportsCenter isn't on we have the option of watching 10 hours of Poker or a WNBA game. Its about time ESPN invested more money into putting sports back on their network.