Caught in Possession

First of all...consider the following as a musical accompaniment to this post.



A sweaty, mustachioed, medium-waved JB (or GFOS, if you prefer) near his career's peak seems like an appropriate soundtrack to the soccer thoughts that have been percolating for me lately...

The Big Payback
Marcelo Gallardo is gone, gone, gone.

This makes financial sense for DC United. It certainly works for Gallardo's heart. And River Plate, having concluded a miserable Apertura only to lose to eternal rivals Boca Juniors in Argentina's summer tournament, might have nothing to lose.

But it makes me sad. MLS needs more Gallardos. When he was healthy in midsummer, he was a joy for any thoughtful soccer fan to watch. One of my college teammates -- he's as good-natured and easygoing a soccer snob as you could ever imagine -- moved to DC last year and while he has clearly enjoyed the overall gameday experience at United games, Gallardo's brief flashes of genius were far and away the highlight of the '08 season for him.

Thus, I cringe at El Muñeco's spectacular overall underachievement in DC, just the same way I lament world-class talents like Roberto Donadoni (MetroStars '96-97) and, ummm...David Beckham not really displaying their true class in MLS.

Who's to say Gallardo wouldn't have figured things out in '09, just like Guillermo Barros Schelotto worked through his share of ups and downs in his debut season with Columbus before vaulting his squad into an MLS Cup title in year two? We'll never know. It would seem that there's no cure for homesickness -- besides home, that is.

Cold Sweat
Pro athletes have to put in countless thousands of hours of draining fitness work, nearly year-round, for the entire length of their careers. (This is one area where average humans just can't relate to them. Priests, monks and nuns of various stripes probably can, though.) It's usually a lot more fun to go through that draining drudgery with your teammates around you -- even if it's taking place in DC, in the dead of winter. It matters -- ESPECIALLY under those sorts of crappy circumstances, as a matter of fact.

Santino Quaranta alluded to this at RFK today, and I quoted him on it in my MLSnet story on Gallardo. Here's the full transcribe of his response (it's more revealing on second glance):

We haven’t even talked about it. It’s been such a – we haven’t even brought it up. Tommy hasn’t brought it up. That’s between them. I know last year it was a problem all year for us, and you never knew what was going to happen next and it was really like a soap opera, man. I know he’s a great guy, I like him on a personal level, but when you’re not here – this brings a team together, the week that we just had, you go through the blood, the sweat and the tears. To have guys not here – Ivan [Guerrero] is with his national team, but when a guy [Gallardo] is electing not to be in – and that’s his own choice – but we just stick together in there [gesturing towards the locker room]. That’s the best I can come up with.

I Can't Stand Myself
The system by which United States soccer grows, cultivates and identifies talent has been working, sort of. But then again...not really -- especially if you judge it on its present capacity to address what I believe are the North American game's most glaring deficiencies: creativity, attacking technique and overall savvy/resiliency (the cliché-tastic "soccer IQ"). I am finishing up a piece for one of next week's PSWs on the USL's Super-Y League, one valiant attempt to address this situation. Stay tuned.

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
Ah, technology. Verily, the interwebs offers us a beautiful bounty of well-written, funny-as-h*ll soccer coverage from across the world, yes? Soccernet's transfer blog and The Guardian UK's Fiver have become my latest destinations of top choice.