Delayed Open Cup Commentary
by tedski
Memo to all the obnoxious Chivas fans I have ever met: the guys that spanked your boys last week not only couldn’t beat Guadalajara’s “inferior” American sister club, but got pulled apart by an undermanned third tier team. Man, out performed by Crystal Palace Baltimore? Your guys must suck.
Anyway, the real reason for this post: the Charleston Battery defeated MLS Cup holders Houston Dynamo in penalty kicks. The decider was when Franco Caraccio’s shot was saved by Charleston’s ‘keeper. That ‘keeper: former Tucson Amigo Dusty Huddock.
Gotta keep that flag flying.
On Boston Sports, 6/13/08
by Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam: So what does it say that the guy in our starting lineup who grew up in LA was wearing green last night?
Tedski: It says he doesn’t blow a lead.
Red Card of the Year
by tedski
In the bit of Saturday’s Colorado Rapids-Houston Dynamo game that I caught, I saw that Christian Gómez got a red card. Unremarkable I suppose, ‘cept he wasn’t even playing. That’s right. He got a red card while sitting on the bench.
True talent, really.
Fair’s Fair
by Hoover Dam
Said I’d post my picks when Tedski posted his, so:
Chicago Fire: This is about the last team for whom I’ve got anything kind to say after last night’s game, but: Chris Rolfe. He’s Nicol’s kind of player; it’d be easy to see him as a Rev, though you’d have to imagine the trade price there would be too high.
CD Chivas USA: This one’s harder, given the rules on no USMNT regulars, because my favorite guys on Chivas are also Bob Bradley’s favorites–Guzan, Bornstein, Kljestan. I could cheat and say I totally liked those guys before they got a senior US look, but I won’t; instead, I’ll note that Maykel Gallindo is always fun to watch.
Columbus Crew: Alejandro Moreno, particularly in this season to date.
Colorado Rapids: Do I put Burciaga here even though it’s not as a Rapid I know him best? Nah, this team’s an easy call: Bouna Coundoul. That man is like treasure, and I hope he sticks around Denver for years to come.
FC Dallas: Juan Toja’s almost too easy to pick here; he was just so damn fun to watch last season, plus Tedski already picked him. So I’ll go with Dax McCarty, who’s been steadily maturing into a very solid player, and who provides us endless hours of Pete and Pete jokes.
DC United: Bryan Namoff, one of those guys who quietly gets the job done.
Houston Dynamo: Used to be a running fan joke called the Steve Ralston Line, the measurement of guys who were so consistently good for their MLS teams, but just couldn’t crack the MNT regular lineup, for whatever reason. This, of course, was before Ralston did land a regular slot for the nats, but anyway, that line might as well be renamed for Brian Mullan–dipped a toe or two in the US pool, but consistently works his ass off for the Dynamo.
KC Wizards: Jack Jewsbury, no question. Would have been Nick Garcia except for that whole “got traded” thing.
Los Angeles Galaxy: Same problem here that Tedski had–just about everyone is either off-limits for this exercise or strictly a comedy option. Everyone, that is, except Chris Klein, who’s been able to stand next to Beckham just as well as Donovan has.
Red Bull New York: John Wolyniec. Every time he’s available, he’s always got it out for the Revs, and he genuinely seems to fight for a team that’s never known stability.
Real Salt Lake: Nathan Sturgis; even with the line above about Klein, I don’t think LA have even begun to realize what they lost on that trade. I get the same feeling from him that I do McCarty–these guys will be the Ralstons/Mastros/Conrads/Olsens of the new generation.
San Jose: Gotta go with a seemingly obvious sentimental favorite on this one and pick Joe Cannon, who’s never failed to entertain me.
Toronto FC: Todd Dunivant, who didn’t get enough credit at either LA or NY.
The Hoover Challenge
by tedski
Texas Poligamist Compound? Point of pride for me: those guys were all thrown out of my state.
Okay, I am supposed to pick one player from each team that I like. Hoover Dam had some rules, which, of course I will violate once or twice.
Chicago Fire: I am supposed to pick a player I actually like from a team that includes Calen Carr and Cuauhtémoc Blanco? The Chicago players I like have moved on, Francis Okaroh, Luboš Kubik, Jerzy Podbrozny, Jim Curtin and Evan Whitfield. I even once had a grudging respect for Zach Thornton. Hmm. After yesterday, and this will tick Hoover Dam off, I’d have to say Jon Busch. The man always seems to show up.
CD Chivas USA: It was so much easier to hate this team when it started, but they have an interesting collection of players these days. Even so, my answer is easy: Brad Guzan. The first season he was supposed to be the back-up but ended up starting. I remember how much crap he took from Chivas fans who blamed him for everything. The real trouble was that he was standing behind a sieve rather than a backline, and frankly, his being American born didn’t fit in with their vision of “Guadalajara Junior.” Luckily, the coaches recognized what a talent the man actually is.
Colorado Rapids: So, if I pick a Nat but I don’t pick him because a Nat, is that okay? I choose Pablo Mastroeni because he is the only guy in the league I have played against. When he played for the Tucson Amigos, my metro league team scrimaged them.
Columbus Crew: I could say Wil Hesmer, but I’ve already picked too many ‘keepers. I’m actually growing to like this team, and I’m glad that they finally a building a record that reflects how much work they put into their game. I’ll take Eddie Gaven only because it is fun to guess how long it’s been since he’s shaved.
DC United: This is harder to do than Chicago. Over the last twelve seasons, I never liked any of these guys. If my twin brother became their new d-mid, I’d hate him too. I’d have to hate myself because he looks just like me. Hm. I’d have to say Fred. I don’t know why. I guess his nom de guerre makes me giggle.
FC Dallas: Gosh, so hard now that neither Denilson nor Carlos Ruiz are playing for them. My pick is Nigel Tufnel, I mean Juan Toja.
Houston Dynamo: This team is lousy with Nats, so it is hard to make a pick and follow the rules. Actually, my two faves on the team are both Canadian. I go with Dwayne DeRosario. I like players that are enthusiastic and seem to, gosh, actually be having a good time out there.
Kansas City Wizards: Geez, I can’t pick a Nat? That means that Hoover Dam can’t pick Jimmy Conrad either. Hmm, Nelson Pizzaro is on my all name team only because the US should start him next time we play Peru. But, I’ll go with Scott Sealy.
Los Angeles Galaxy: I have trouble with this one, not because of visceral hate like I have for DC, Chicago and Red Bulls, but more because I really don’t see anyone standing out. Yeah, there are the two obvious ones (that I have been enjoined from picking, and wouldn’t pick anyhow). This is probably a big part of the reason that LA is playing so mediocre as of late (the evidence: LA’s website this morning brags that they were able to squeeze out a tie against Real Salt Lake. Real Salt Lake!). I probably should pick Alan Gordon, who has come into his own and is a fellow Arizonan. He was the guy that got subbed out for David Beckham when he premiered for the team, which makes him either the Wally Pipp or Jim Delsing of the league. I don’t know which. Actually, I probably should go for Greg Vanney, who has always impressed me and is also a fellow Arizonan.
New York Red Bulls: Geez. The guy I like on this team is actually mentioned by Hoover Dam as precisely the guy I am not supposed to mention. I’ll go with Dane Richards, who is pretty fun to watch.
Real Salt Lake: Did I ever mention to y’all that there was a rumor of a secret plan to move this team to Tucson when Dave Checketts was frustrated with the stadium situation? It would have been good to have the team somewhere where the word “real” actually gets pronounced “ray-al” once in a while. Anyway, my pick: Kyle Beckerman. He’s a good player, and as an added bonus there is the background drama about his trade from Colorado.
San Jose Earthquakes: There are actually quite a bit to pick from. These were all bubble players who I wanted to do well when they played for their old teams. I like Preston Burpo because he seems like a badass, but I doubt the guy will ever get a start. Yeah, I’ll pick him.
Toronto FC: Amado Guevara. Just kidding. I’ll go with Marvell Wynne. I think he’s made the lists of players who haven’t lived up to their advanced billing, but he hasn’t been on a decent team yet.
I Watched at Least Half of Every Game this Weekend
by Hoover Dam
Therefore, I feel compelled to share with you observations on each game.
DC vs Columbus: Heydude is playing like he’s ten years younger. Columbus in general look stronger, but I wonder the same thing about them as I do the Rapids: That’s fine for now, but what comes after? Is the strength there enough to last through October? DC, meanwhile, seem to be repeating last year’s early season performance of “forgetting season begins before June.” Whether that’s an improvement over forgetting the season begins before September, who can say.
TFC vs RSL: A very tightly played game from two teams trying desperately not to suck this year. Robert and Ricketts already seem miles better than anyone Toronto got last year.
RBNY vs New England: Altidore’s goal was the kind of fantastic shot you really wish he hadn’t just landed in your team’s net. Fortunately for New England, everyone else in NY continues to be “oh, that guy.” Kept it close there, though, and with a GK who isn’t Reis the Revs might not have been so fortunate to draw. Jeff Larentowicz can keep taking free kicks like that for as long as he wants.
Colorado vs. San Jose: James Riley for the “Why Can’t We Get Guys Like That” award. Not his best night out–that was last weekend in Foxboro–but I still think Coundoul is like treasure for the Rapids, and I hope he’s around for a long time.
LA vs. Houston: Only saw the second half of this one, which wasn’t long enough to get used to the commentators excitedly discussing the contributions of new Galaxy acquisition Joey Franchino. That will take some time. It was, however, long enough to see Landy at his meanest. I feel bad for my buddies in Houston.
Chicago vs. KC: That’s some mighty fine bus parking and time wasting on KC’s part right there. And who could forget Chad Barrett’s moving tribute to Beasley’s 07 Gold Cup miss?
Chivas vs. FC Dallas: How soon can we see a Coop-Jozy pairing up front for the USMNT? The halftime interview with Bornstein omitted the following seasonally appropriate question: “On all other nights, Chivas games are somewhat entertaining. Why, on this night, are you playing like ass?”
Yee-Haw, It’s A Round-Up
by tedski
Okay…I only caught the two games on Fox yesterday. Excuse me for trying to get some semblance of a life.
Here is why I have some reason to hope for the Revs…three goals from three people none of whom were named “Twellman.” Those of us that follow the team know that the last third of the season it seemed that only Twellman would score. Well, now we are getting scoring from players who spent last season mostly on the bench. It’s the depth that we were hoping for.
Question: Why do Houston’s jerseys only have the one star? I mean given who they got them against, I shouldn’t be so picky…
LA v Colorado…geez. What the heck was that? Yes, everyone is complaining about the “questionable” call that gave Colorado a PK that caused LA to fall apart. Given what I saw early in the game, it really didn’t take much for LA to fall apart. I missed the foul that led to the PK (I was away from the teevee), but I did see the last ten minutes of the game, and yep, those guys were fully capable of pulling some nonsense.
My question: why did Donovan get away without a card after that “solidarity” move at the end?
True Tales From the MLS Cup! (Part 4 – Wherin I lose yet another scarf and watch my team lose yet another final)
by Hoover Dam
My retinue rolled outta the hotel shortly after 7 and turned up at the RFK parking lot just before 8. Unsurprisingly, we were among the first there, with a line of Rev-flagged cars forming outside the gates. Arguing with parking attendants about when we’re allowed in–why, they made it just like home! Soon enough, the gates opened, and people started to stream in.
Went in early to set up banners, got everything in place, saw an absolutely beautiful field, failed to convince Evan to give Julie Foudy his scarf. This was also the first time I’ve taken all the usual stadium banners to a final and had them be in front of actual Rev fans. Past two years, it’s been a bunch of Rev banners in front of a bunch of neutral fans, since the number of us willing to travel to Dallas just fits in one section of Pizza Hut Park.
As more and more people showed up for the tailgate, the question became less “who’s here” and more “who isn’t here,”–we had people coming in from Seattle, from Portland, I think there was a guy from Arizona, we had some other teams’ fans bandwagoning us for the day (mostly Dallas and a couple Colorado), it was absolutely insane. Everyone grilling, eating a nutritious breakfast of Pop-Tarts and Sam Adams, singing and yelling, getting psyched for the game.
(Read on …)
True Tales From the MLS Cup (Part 4 – Wherin I learn the definition of Dan Loney’s neologism “Tooligans”)
by tedski
Okay…I’ve hemmed, hawed, dawdled, procrastinated and otherwise delayed. But here it is, a full two weeks after the game…an actual account of…well…THE GAME.
First off, I was still operating on MST (God’s own time zone), so I woke my tired body up at around 8:30 and stared at the ceiling for a while. This meant I didn’t actually stir until after nine. I wandered into the living room where Brittany and Catherine were. With a quick shower and all, we wouldn’t leave the house until nearly ten. We’d surely miss the tailgate and our only opporitunity for food at the expense of Monty Rodrigues and company.
I had brought extra Rev jerseys for Brittany and Catherine. Brittany wore the Red colared 1998 jersey; she said it looked more “Butch.” Heck, I don’t see it, but whatever. We had cvonvinced Catherine to wear my old 1996 jersey, but she was apparently turned off by the ring around the colar. Instead, she wore the blue practice jersey that Brad Feldman gave me the day before. I wore the 1997 game worn Leonardo Squadrone jersey. Yep, Squadrone.
We arrived and found a parking space a bit after eleven. I brought my melodica. Hey, works for Roller Derby.
(Read on …)
We’re not going to get into the Bruins for now
by Hoover Dam
Who will take MLS Cup 2007: The one champion in a city of losers, or the one loser in a city of champions?
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