Apparently, the guy at right is the 18th most satisfied entity on the Internets. I know this because that image came up on a google image search under "satisfied people." Congrats, Marc. I hope things are still totally super.

Wanna know one place where things aren't so super? MLSLIVE.tv. I had planned, after a day spent fulfilling every conceivable duty to my nuclear family, to catch LA v. Real Salt Lake as, y'know, a reward (hey...don't laugh; that game would have been punishment ten weeks ago; now, not so much). I came through on this particular day; sadly, the same can't be said for MLSLIVE.tv. So, a half-observed rundown of the, um, current week follows from here (e.g. I'm working from the highlights alone); let's just all hope it's not half-assed. I mean I posted the guy's image on here and, being so satisfied, I'm pretty sure how Marc don't roll half-assed.

One quick observation before...click here to read more...

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Fabian Espindola scored a goal that was called back for offside, ran fifty yards and broke his ankle on a goal celebration.

Now would be a grand time for the other thirteen teams to make RSL an offer for a useful, if STUPID, player. He'll be back in time for the playoffs, after all.

I'm not advocating that MLS become the No Fun League, but the best kind of goal celebration is where you go back to the center circle and wait for the other team to kick off. The kind of celebration that says "I've scored before...and I'll score again." Act like you've been there. Yes, I realize this is what Chris Berman thinks touchdown celebrations should be like. Doesn't mean he's wrong.

Anyway, thanks, Fabian. Sure cheered me up after watching my SuperClub fall to last place.

What's the difference between parenthood and watching New England in an important game? Well, yesterday my daughter cried, fell asleep, and crapped her pants. So there's basically no difference....click here to read more...

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Yeah, OK, so I made the headline up. A guy can dream, can't he?

Of course, based on the whining and gnashing of teeth emanating from The Great White North all week, it would seem to be the logical step.

Boy, talk about a bunch of ingrates: we graciously consent to letting them have a team in the United States of America'st Division 1 Soccer League and they show their gratitude by constantly bitching about how lousy it is.

And after spending all week making up excuses about why they were going to lose to Chivas, they did indeed lose to Chivas, thus giving Whining John something to talk about other than the actual facts.

Fortunately, yours truly is here to fill in the blanks:

1) Toronto was missing 9 regulars, 8 of them to international duty.

Chivas was also missing 9 regulars, 2 to international duty, five to injury and 2 to suspension.

So both teams were missing 9 regulars. What's the difference, aside from Canada's persecution complex?

2) Toronto, fielding what...click here to read more...

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That title is for Barra Blanca, who, in my last post on World Cup Qualifying, weighed in with the comment that "possession is jack." I disagree...albeit more generally than categorically...allow me to explain (briefly...I'm all about brevity these days).

In short, possession is the difference between your stomach coiled in knots from watching U.S. players fob the ball in the general direction of one of their teammates only to see a Guatemalan cut it off. It's the difference between seeing wave after wave of Guatemalan attacks, each more menacing than the last, pouring toward a U.S. goal defending one of the more unlikely wins in our history.

Compare that to tonight's almost pleasant excursion to Cuba where the U.S. men held the ball for extended, even peaceful, spells of possession. A couple lapses...click here to read more...

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Okay, where were we.

One observation that several folks have made, and I feel the same way, is that it feels like we've been here for a week or two. It's almost incomprehensible that I got off of a plane less than 48 hours ago.

I'm actually typing this entry in my non-internet ready room, and I can't quite remember where I left off, so if I skip something or repeat something, we'll just have to deal with it.

(image not available)

The fun and cute image that would normally be in the space above isn't there. I haven't had time to hit Google Images or upload a set to BigSoccer. I promise matching diary sets after I get back. Either tomorrow night from Miami, Monday night from home, or likely Tuesday night from home after I catch up on sleep.

Wade and I got a mid-morning start, then didn't get out of the Executive Lounge (where the free internet is) until around 1pm. Not because of the internet, but because we found ourselves in a fascinating, off the record, three hour conversation...click here to read more...

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It's no secret that many American soccer fans have some reservations about USSF President Sunil Gulati.

Among other things, his aloof, imperial style, sometimes bordering on arrogance, just rubs people the wrong way. And frankly, his management of the hiring and firing of the various national team coaches, his most visibly public function, has been less than stellar.

From selecting Greg Ryan over Pia Sundhage four years ago to the three ring circus of groveling and humiliation that he went through with California Klinnsy before the last-minute, desperation "trial-basis" hiring of Bob Bradley, the guy has done little to evoke a sense of confidence.


Not so, however, at his primary job (USSF President being only a hobby) as an Economics professor at Columbia.

The denizens of Morningside Heights ARE LINING UP LIKE 13 YEAR OLD GIRLS vying for Jonas Brothers...click here to read more...

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TNFtermath: Dallas has traded Abe Thompson for allocation money to the Wizards. It's as if Kansas City hasn't given up on the season, but Dallas and Colorado have. This is no time to be giving away warm bodies.

NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY CUP
Guest previewer Ivan:

[quote]This weekend, Toronto FC will be without 9 players from a possible 28 man roster due to international duty, and others are missing for injury and other reasons. Toronto FC explored whether it would be possible to reschedule because of the competitive impact on their team. We fully understand that sentiment. But if we were to reschedule this game, which has been on the calendar all season, it would cause an avalanche of questions from other clubs. As just one example, shouldn’t the League also have considered rescheduling a recent match when Toronto’s opponent this weekend, Chivas USA, had 11 senior roster players injured? One can quickly see that is a slippery slope....click here to read more...

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I realize I contradict Shaka Hislop at my peril, but I still think there are more similarities between Ruud Gullit and John Carver than there are differences. (Apart from the two bank accounts, where I imagine Coach Carver wishes there were tens of millions of fewer differences.)

The major similarity?

April: "Well, this is a weird league, but hell, I've forgotten more about football than these picklemilkers could learn in twelve lifetimes, so I'll be fine."
May: "Yeah, see? How hard can it be."
August: "glerp"

Gullit had Take This Job and Shove It money, and Carver doesn't*, and Carver takes a good deal more pride in his coaching, but Gullit drove his team straight into a cliff, and Carver has TFC's playoff hopes flatlining.

It's actually very tempting to sympathize with Carver missing a bunch of players for callups, except (a) the game's been on the schedule for more than a couple of minutes, (b) his players by and large aren't rookies on their national teams, (c)...click here to read more...

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Well, the day we've all been looking forward to has finally arrived.

Today, the entire football world is traveling to Trinidad & Tobago to pay homage to Austin Jack Warner.

Tonight in Sepp Blatter Hall, the largest room in the Joao Havelange Center of Excellence, Sepp Blatter, Joao Havelange and everyone else from Michael Platini to Pele to - well, to anybody who's anybody - will break bread together at the T & T Football Federation Centennial Dinner.

Of course English FA chairman Lord David Trieman will be there, serving penance for his "insulting" Warner by not attending the England-T&T match this Spring.

Anybody want to lay odds on where Sunil Gulati will be eating tonight?

(Presumably not in attendance will be the head of the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland FA's which Warner has been trying for 20 years to have abolished, thus making more room for Grenada, Antigua and St. Kitts, apparently)

The main topic of the evening's speeches will of course be what a great human being,...click here to read more...

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So we got to the airport in Miami at 6am this morning. We met our "contact" who supplied us with our tickets and tourist visas.

Which of course, we paid $50/each for. For those of you coming in late, our $70/ea. Journalist visas had not arrived at the time we were leaving.

I'm not sure that we really should have been issued "tourist" visas. Wade and I are two gringos with no family on the island. But it's a means to an end.



We went through the gate and both got the dreaded red bins through security. Which, in Miami, means you get the pat down and thorough bag check.

The AmericanEagle (!) turboprop hop to Havana was short and uneventful.

Oddly, our "gate checked" bags were not returned plane side.

We made it through immigration with our tourist visas. Our bags took a very long time to appear, but we met the tourist company and took and absolutely fascinating 20km trip to the Hotel.

Cuba is like some sort...click here to read more...

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Well, except every Western Conference game is crucial at this point, and in a just world the East would have seven playoff spots and the West one. So this game shouldn't matter, but, lamentably, does.

On the bright side - these teams despise each other. They've met in the playoffs so many times (although they almost certainly won't this year), had too many close games, and had the Dallas goalkeeper cheap-shot too many Rapids defenders. So Hunter Freeman, Jovan Kirovski and Kyle Beckerman are gone? I doubt that will matter to the fans at Pizza the Hutt. Especially when they can give Cory Gibbs a hero's welcome in his return to Frisco. Did he ever play in Frisco? I can't be bothered to check. Maybe it was in the Cotton Bowl or Dragon Stadium or whatever.

The Rapids are making a valiant attempt to save their season - new coach, new rules, Christian Gomez coming off the bench, Herculez Gomez sent packing. There's no reason to give up hope, though, if you believe the MLSnet preview:

[quote]The...click here to read more...

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If you're looking for a silver lining to the public thrashing Joe Public laid on the New England revolution - you're looking in the wrong place.

Shaka Hislop passes along some depressing information/salt-in-the-wound in HIS GUARDIAN COLUMN today.

Amidst his overall trashing of MLS, he points out that Joe Public, a team even younger than the Revs (and MLS), currently stands sixth in the T&T professional league, has a losing record in said league and carries a wage bill of around US$200,000, which is less than one-tenth of the MLS per-team salary cap.

And since that amount covers a 20 player roster, that means that the average JPFC player salary is - well, you do the math.


It should be noted though that Hislop had a somewhat less lucid column a week ago, wherein he COMPARED THE CAREERS AND FATES...click here to read more...

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Full crowd again and get ready to see interesting results this week as World Cup qualifiers will have teams dipping into their reserves...

Goal.com (Kyle McCarthy)
Fox Soccer (Keith Costigan)
ESPN.com
Blue Blooded Journo
AYL Soccer
Fullback Files
MLS Elo Ratings (Ryan Anderson)
[url="http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2008/09/labor-day-barbecue-rankings-sept-1.html"][color=#810081]Sideline...click here to read more...

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Things were a little thrown off with Labor Day weekend, but here are some notable standouts over the past weekend that you might otherwise not have heard of...

FRANCESCO VALIANI (MF - Bologna)


Bologna shocked AC Milan with a 2-1 win all thanks to this bald fellow's 79th minute strike. The 27 year old Italian midfielder has worked his way up the totem pole to Serie A from his hometown club Pistoiese in Serie C to Serie B with Rimini, a rise one can attribute to his work ethic and undeniable aggression on the field. In the January transfer window of this past season Valiani was transferred to a Serie A promotion candidate in Bologna. His presence in the midfield led the promotion push and Bologna finished 2nd in Serie B as the Rossoblu revisited Serie A once again. To sum him up, here's a snippet from the pre-AC Milan press conference on 8/29/08...

[i]"The game in Milan will...click here to read more...

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Frank Marcos, Tim Holt and the rest of the USL hierarchy can certainly be forgiven for walking around looking a little smug these days.

Meanwhile, over at MLS HQ, they can be forgiven if DC United's US Open Cup win last night elicited something closer to a gigantic sigh of relief rather than a champagne-popping victory celebration.

(And admit it: you were rooting for the Battery; nothing against The District, but how heartless do you have to be not to pull for the little guy?)

All-in-all it's been a great year for whatever MLS-USL1 "rivalry" there may be.

Not only did Charleston make the USOC Finals (after an All USL1 semifinal match) but unlike their supposedly "higher level" brethren, the two USL1 teams involved in the CONCACAF Champions League are still playing while the two MLS teams that have participated thus far have been dumped on their asses.

Joe Public's blowout of the Revolution was an eye-opener, but the really startling result was the Montreal Impact bouncing Real Estelí...click here to read more...

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