Wednesday, May 14, 2008
How the little boy that cried explains what's wrong with American soccer
For my full story on Fulham's great escape, and why this little boy was so upset - see this article on Potomac Soccer Wire
As news of Fulham’s win on the final day came over the air, it devastated Reading fans who’s team had just won convincingly 4-0. Several TV sports news program showed the hear breaking images of a boy no more than five years old crying and thrashing about uncontrollably in his father’s arms, both wearing Reading jerseys. The news had obviously just set in that Fulham had won and their team had crashed to the 2nd tier of soccer in England after just two short seasons in the Promised Land. For much of the lifetime of that boy, Reading had been in the Premier League. To him, it was his world.
As heart wrenching as it is, the image of that little boy crying really speaks to the emotional power that is inherent to the structure of soccer leagues in most of the rest of the world. From despair, as though there has been a death in the family, to unbounded joy and cheering like you’ve just been reborn and won the lottery on the same day, the emotions felt by fans epitomizes the cliché of “life and death” in sports.
It must seem like a cruel, cruel world to that little boy, but the rest of us can take away the greatness of what Fulham had just achieved, even if you’re not a Fulham fan. I personally can’t imagine caring quite that much about my favorite team winning or losing a Super Bowl, because “at least we were there, and we won our division championship anyway”. Chelsea fans of a similar age could not possibly feel their world had ended, when on the same day they learned their team would finish 2nd in the league behind this year’s EPL Champion Manchester United.
Only the reality that is relegation creates this much caring deep within fans. And although American sports marketers continue to say that “playoffs are the American way”, I firmly believe MLS will never be one of the best leagues in the world, let alone truly challenge for the hearts of serious NBA, MLB, or NFL fans until it too offers such a structure. In it’s current state, every team – no matter how bad – is safe, with the only drama outside of an MLS Cup final being whether or not a team will get a lower pick of some unproven college prospects in that winter’s “draft”.
It all reminds me of an anonymous quote I’ve seen as a signature line of many online soccer fans’ profiles, on t-shirts, and used all the time in loose conversation amongst regular fans - “Some say soccer is a matter of life and death. But I assure you, it’s way more important than that.” Indeed. And until that is the MLS marketing tag line, backed up with action, our soccer will always be 2nd class.Labels: Fulham, MLS, Reading FC
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
More quotes from Abby and the gang
Thought everyong might enjoy the full quotes collected for my article on the US women's team after their 6-0 steam rolling of Canada Saturday night at RFK.
From Head Coach Pia Sundhage
On the recent performance of Natasha Kai:
I have to say she's done an absolutely fantastic job. I wasn't happy when I saw her the first time. She was not focused. She was unfit, and I don't think she acted professionally. So I gave her feedback – is the look you want people to remind you. And she started to show up in practice and do in a good way and little by little. To me it was very important to give her feedback when she did something good. And she started to play some minutes and more and more and then the starting 11. She did a great job. My job is to give her support and give her feedback, and make her accountable for what she has to do. She didn't act professional in general, and that was bad.
Has she had the opportunity to review the youth development system in the US since arriving?
No. I've been here since December. So, I'm focused on the Olympics. I know there are many things going on. And if I survive the Olympics, I should be part of women's development. Right now, honestly I don't have time. I need to spend time with the game and with the players.
Does she think there should be a single national league for girls just like the USSF created for boys?
Well, I don't know. Because I don't have the bigger picture. But I do think it's important to ask the bigger question of what should there be on the women's side. Because if you look around the world right now. You look at Germany. I know what's happening in Germany – they have a program. – a developmental program. In Sweden they have an elite program, and I know what's happening in Norway. So we need in the US to find our way. And start to look at the situation and ask is this a good environment for a little girl or is a good environment for a 19 year old girls who is just very talented she can play in this team. I don't know the answer of course, but we have to ask the question and right now there's something going on so, but I'm not a part of that right now.
Have you noticed a big difference between how this team is playing now compared to under Ryan last year in the World Cup?
Yes. The reason I am here is the word “change”. I have European style and one word is “keep possession” and find right moment to penetrate to find that timing, and it's a change. But I can't do too much of a change that I confuse them, but I can't do too little either because no one would notice, so I try to do something between, and this game I think we are half way there we are doing a great job. Sometimes we play direct to Abby, and sometimes we keep possession and slow down the game a little bit.
How is to win like this without Abby scoring goals?
Yes, but still she scores, and that's a strength. Of course, she played 90 minutes and she a part of the attack of course, and if you ask Even Pellerud [the Canadian Coach], he will talk about Abby – what problems she creates. She didn't score goals, however we have other players stepping up and scoring goals, and that's a strength.
Abby Wambach
How does it feel to be back at RFK?
It's great. It feels like I'm back home. The fans are great. There were a lot of fans here and the crowd was rocking and when you score six goals, there's a lot to cheer about so it's a great game.
Did you feel you were back home all week, or just when you arrived here tonight?
Yeah, all week. It's crazy how driving all around DC I knew exactly where I was going. I haven't been back here in a couple years. It's special being here and I have a special place in my heart for the city of DC.
Despite your offer to let other players choose first, is Washington your first choice if you have a choice for a WPS team?
It makes sense, but I don't exactly know how the cookies are going to crumble. But I'm going to do the best that I can once the league starts to hopefully make it a success.
Is it exciting to see a lot of other players scoring goals?
You have no idea how relieving it is because it makes my job easier. We're scoring a lot of goals. It's making our attack and our playing more dangerous to other teams and it's a whole heck of a lot harder for us to be the tactically broken down.
Angela Hucles
On only player from this area – what is it like to be back here.
It's great. You can hear the fans that are excited to have us here. My parents, cousins, uncles, [are here] I always love coming back to this area.
What club did you play for growing up?
Beach FC – they're still going strong!
On living in Boston and wanting to play for Boston WPS team – will it happen for sure?
I don't know for sure. Hopefully in the next couple of months we'll figure out which players are being allocated and which are being drafted. I'm looking forward to finding out where I'm going to be.
On scoring the winning goal last week against Australia in the final minute.
It was great. Everything just lined up perfectly. A great ball in from Abby perfectly flicked on. I was very fortunate to get that finish.Labels: Abby Wambach, Angela Hucles, Pia Sundhage, U.S. Women, WPS
Monday, April 14, 2008
Remembering a forgettable night in Salt Lake
I took the time to put some thoughts down over on a BigSoccer discussion thread, and thought I might share it here to.
The subject - D.C. United's horrible loss to the horrible Real Salt Lake on a horrible field.
Although the thread topic was "fire the coach", my contribution was more reflective of the meaninglessness of the MLS regular season, and offered the idea that coach Tom Soehn actually made a smart decision in not really going for the win - but rather wanting to see if the bench could win.
Here is/was my take (BTW, my BigSoccer handle is "chummer"):
I really felt while watching [the DC/RSL match Saturday] that [Coach] Soehn had literally punted this game on purpose. Not that they didn't want to win, but that they really didn't care if they won or not. This game was NEVER going to mean anything. It was depressing, disappointing, and even a little inspiring at the same time for me:
Depressing because we really looked bad - not a single player had a "good" game, and it just wasn't soccer. Any game with visible "throwball" lines is depressing for me, even the ManU v Arsenal match would be depressing played on turf with football lines. Pushing to build SSS is the best thing MLS ever did, and will go down in history as the BIGGEST reason the league survived the "early years" when historians look back in 40 years when we're bigger than Hockey and Baseball.
Disappointing because with all talk about our adding "depth", this game made it look like we were no better off than a crappy team like RSL that has a brand new front office and barely a candle to hold against our foreign recruiting relationships. Have we really invested all this effort only to have to rely on $17K/year reserve players?
A little Inspiring because I actually get a warm fuzzy thinking that Soehn basically stood up on the mountain top - literally - and screamed to the league
"I'm not going to waste my time trying to win every MLS regular season game because it's a meaningless endeavor that only keeps us from our primary goals. Teams that only have MLS Cup to play must take seriously what I cannot, because D.C. United has other major concerns. All we have to do in the MLS regular season is get results at RFK and then peak at playoff time."
The inspiration continues as I imagine him continuing with "The season is all about winning a couple of tournaments for us. We put our all into CCC and clearly could have advanced, while beating the so called "best" team in Mexico. We will now focus on SuperLiga and the Champions League, and winning at RFK so we can also then focus this Fall on the tournament that is MLS Cup playoffs. EVERYTHING ELSE between now and those tournaments is little more than training for us. As long as we win 9 games we'll be in the MLS Cup playoffs, so take your away games on a concrete field with throwball lines and shove it MLS."
If this thought process is even close to what TS was/is privately thinking, then we shouldn't fire him, we should enshrine him for knowing how to focus on what's really important. And who can blame the players for not thinking the same thing. You never like to see a professional "take a night off", but we did, and it was a good lesson, but it is in the past now and should be completely forgotten, as most of the regular season in the early months truly is forgettable.Labels: d.c. united, Real Salt Lake, Tom Soehn, Turf Fields
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A re-Sounding victory for fans everywhere
You may or may not have been following the naming saga going on up in Seattle over their newly approved MLS franchise. The team will join the league this time next year after several years with a dominating USL-1 team named "Seattle Sounders". Well, with that team "put on hold" because it's owners were part of the group starting the MLS team, the fan base and brand for "Seattle Sounders" just happened to be ripe for use by the MLS startups desperate to get busy with their marketing efforts.
The team owners simply did not want to use the "Sounders" name, which I'm assuming was because they wanted to separate themselves from ever being confused as a 2nd-tier pro club in the USA. Big mistake guys!
Offering very uninspiring choices "Seattle FC", "Seattle Alliance", and "Seattle Republic", the 14,500 fans that voted mounted a write-in effort that would make Ralph Nadar so proud of his Green constituents in the upper northwest. So, "Seattle Sounders FC" it is. We'll see you in April 2009 boys, just don't take any of our D.C. United players in the expansion draft, and we might buy you a drink when you come to RFK for your first reSOUNDING defeat.Labels: d.c. united, MLS, Seattle Sounders FC
Friday, April 4, 2008
Has United bitten the hand that feeds them?
When I'm coaching, and need a way to pick a player or a team that gets first dibs on something for a drill, etc.. instead of telling someone to "pick a number between 1 and 10", I usually ask a question about a recent pro or college game on TV, and the first player to answer correctly "wins".
On Wednesday night, I asked a group of U13 girls if anyone could tell me the score from the D.C. United game from the night before. They had no idea, but I got an instantaneous chorus of good guesses, with one girl obviously guessing the correct 2-0 without any real clue.
So, I DQ'd everyone on the grounds of poor support of the black and red, and gave them a follow up question. The results disturbing, and it really made me think about the risk of such a high player turn over undoing all the work United has done "branding" themselves to thousands of kids they literally depend on attending each game.
My question was "name five current D.C. United players". The answers were not guesses, but they were disturbing, and should make Dan Giffin and Scott Miller pretty nervous -
Player - "Freddy Adu!"
Coach - "ahhh, nope."
Player - "umm, umm, umm, ohhh Gomez - Christian Gomez, ha hah!"
Coach - "NOPE"
Player - "WHAT?"
Coach - "They traded him"
Player, "WHY!!!, He's awesome. That was stupid."
Coach - "Sorry, don't take it out on me"
Player - "oo oo, Gros, that Josh guy with the cast"
Coach - "nope, he retired"
Player - "darnnit!"
Player - "I know, Eleco"
Coach - "nope, common guys you've got know someone."
Player - "I loved Eleco! What's going on?"
Player - "Why'd they get rid of Gomez? That was really dumb"
Coach - "sorry, but they got someone better instead"
Player "nu ahh, Gomez was the best, that's dumb"
Player - "Oh yeah... Perkins baby!!"
Coach, "nope, he went to Europe"
Player - "ahhhh!"
You get the point right? These girls rattled off more names of players than most youth players could, thanks no doubt to all the games I've taken them to over the years and my regular use of United Trivia in practices.
The fact that all the D.C. United players they had come to know were not gone, created an immediate backlash. DCU had finally taken root with youth players, only to turn them off by selling/trading/losing all the players they've worked so hard to "brand" all this time. All of us "adults" perfectly understand trying to bring in new players that are "supposed" to improve the team, but it sure must drive the marketing staff crazy! And if the team doesn't perform, there surely will be a lot of "see, I told you so" around the office staff water cooler at RFK.
I'll close with this, then ask your thoughts:
The player that LOVES Gomez so much asked - "What team did he go play for?"
Coach - "Denver"
Player - "When they play Denver, that's who I'm rooting for - GO DENVER!"
Coach - "ouch. I might have to cut you now"Labels: d.c. united
Networks should follow Title IX
Can you believe the US Women's Olympic Qualifying games won't be shown on TV? Unfortunately I do believe, and it's a real shame!
The BEST women's team in the world opens Olympic Qualifying tonight at 7:30 against Jamaica in Juarez, Mexico. They are the defending Olympic gold medalists, and tonight is the first step toward their title defense. Don't we deserve the opportunity to see our team earn their way to China in these qualifying games? Last month we all got to see the Men qualify. What do we have to do to get equal coverage for women's soccer here? How about a little Title IX enforcement for networks?
US Soccer's Match Tracker will have to do. Enjoy reading about the game in 2-minute increments :-(Labels: Olympics, U.S. Women
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Ronaldo's BEST performance?
Love or hate Manchester United, you have to applaud the performance of Cristiano Ronaldo this weekend. He scored possibly his best goal ever, then went on to assist on three others in the EPL leader's dismantling of a decent Aston Villa team. The Portuguese winger is widely believed to be a shoe-in for FIFA Player of the Year, and this latest performance is also being heralded as possibly his best ever. Good enough indeed to allow discussions in English pubs and press alike that he may nearing "George Best" greatness.
BTW, honorable mention to Wayne Rooney. Watch closely at the beginning of this highlight reel for the perfection with which he strikes his full volley. Have you ever seen a ball do that?
Enjoy:
As news of Fulham’s win on the final day came over the air, it devastated Reading fans who’s team had just won convincingly 4-0. Several TV sports news program showed the hear breaking images of a boy no more than five years old crying and thrashing about uncontrollably in his father’s arms, both wearing Reading jerseys. The news had obviously just set in that Fulham had won and their team had crashed to the 2nd tier of soccer in England after just two short seasons in the Promised Land. For much of the lifetime of that boy, Reading had been in the Premier League. To him, it was his world.
As heart wrenching as it is, the image of that little boy crying really speaks to the emotional power that is inherent to the structure of soccer leagues in most of the rest of the world. From despair, as though there has been a death in the family, to unbounded joy and cheering like you’ve just been reborn and won the lottery on the same day, the emotions felt by fans epitomizes the cliché of “life and death” in sports.
It must seem like a cruel, cruel world to that little boy, but the rest of us can take away the greatness of what Fulham had just achieved, even if you’re not a Fulham fan. I personally can’t imagine caring quite that much about my favorite team winning or losing a Super Bowl, because “at least we were there, and we won our division championship anyway”. Chelsea fans of a similar age could not possibly feel their world had ended, when on the same day they learned their team would finish 2nd in the league behind this year’s EPL Champion Manchester United.
Only the reality that is relegation creates this much caring deep within fans. And although American sports marketers continue to say that “playoffs are the American way”, I firmly believe MLS will never be one of the best leagues in the world, let alone truly challenge for the hearts of serious NBA, MLB, or NFL fans until it too offers such a structure. In it’s current state, every team – no matter how bad – is safe, with the only drama outside of an MLS Cup final being whether or not a team will get a lower pick of some unproven college prospects in that winter’s “draft”.
It all reminds me of an anonymous quote I’ve seen as a signature line of many online soccer fans’ profiles, on t-shirts, and used all the time in loose conversation amongst regular fans - “Some say soccer is a matter of life and death. But I assure you, it’s way more important than that.” Indeed. And until that is the MLS marketing tag line, backed up with action, our soccer will always be 2nd class.
Labels: Fulham, MLS, Reading FC
Thought everyong might enjoy the full quotes collected for my article on the US women's team after their 6-0 steam rolling of Canada Saturday night at RFK.
From Head Coach Pia Sundhage
On the recent performance of Natasha Kai:
I have to say she's done an absolutely fantastic job. I wasn't happy when I saw her the first time. She was not focused. She was unfit, and I don't think she acted professionally. So I gave her feedback – is the look you want people to remind you. And she started to show up in practice and do in a good way and little by little. To me it was very important to give her feedback when she did something good. And she started to play some minutes and more and more and then the starting 11. She did a great job. My job is to give her support and give her feedback, and make her accountable for what she has to do. She didn't act professional in general, and that was bad.
Has she had the opportunity to review the youth development system in the US since arriving?
No. I've been here since December. So, I'm focused on the Olympics. I know there are many things going on. And if I survive the Olympics, I should be part of women's development. Right now, honestly I don't have time. I need to spend time with the game and with the players.
Does she think there should be a single national league for girls just like the USSF created for boys?
Well, I don't know. Because I don't have the bigger picture. But I do think it's important to ask the bigger question of what should there be on the women's side. Because if you look around the world right now. You look at Germany. I know what's happening in Germany – they have a program. – a developmental program. In Sweden they have an elite program, and I know what's happening in Norway. So we need in the US to find our way. And start to look at the situation and ask is this a good environment for a little girl or is a good environment for a 19 year old girls who is just very talented she can play in this team. I don't know the answer of course, but we have to ask the question and right now there's something going on so, but I'm not a part of that right now.
Have you noticed a big difference between how this team is playing now compared to under Ryan last year in the World Cup?
Yes. The reason I am here is the word “change”. I have European style and one word is “keep possession” and find right moment to penetrate to find that timing, and it's a change. But I can't do too much of a change that I confuse them, but I can't do too little either because no one would notice, so I try to do something between, and this game I think we are half way there we are doing a great job. Sometimes we play direct to Abby, and sometimes we keep possession and slow down the game a little bit.
How is to win like this without Abby scoring goals?
Yes, but still she scores, and that's a strength. Of course, she played 90 minutes and she a part of the attack of course, and if you ask Even Pellerud [the Canadian Coach], he will talk about Abby – what problems she creates. She didn't score goals, however we have other players stepping up and scoring goals, and that's a strength.
Abby Wambach
How does it feel to be back at RFK?
It's great. It feels like I'm back home. The fans are great. There were a lot of fans here and the crowd was rocking and when you score six goals, there's a lot to cheer about so it's a great game.
Did you feel you were back home all week, or just when you arrived here tonight?
Yeah, all week. It's crazy how driving all around DC I knew exactly where I was going. I haven't been back here in a couple years. It's special being here and I have a special place in my heart for the city of DC.
Despite your offer to let other players choose first, is Washington your first choice if you have a choice for a WPS team?
It makes sense, but I don't exactly know how the cookies are going to crumble. But I'm going to do the best that I can once the league starts to hopefully make it a success.
Is it exciting to see a lot of other players scoring goals?
You have no idea how relieving it is because it makes my job easier. We're scoring a lot of goals. It's making our attack and our playing more dangerous to other teams and it's a whole heck of a lot harder for us to be the tactically broken down.
Angela Hucles
On only player from this area – what is it like to be back here.
It's great. You can hear the fans that are excited to have us here. My parents, cousins, uncles, [are here] I always love coming back to this area.
What club did you play for growing up?
Beach FC – they're still going strong!
On living in Boston and wanting to play for Boston WPS team – will it happen for sure?
I don't know for sure. Hopefully in the next couple of months we'll figure out which players are being allocated and which are being drafted. I'm looking forward to finding out where I'm going to be.
On scoring the winning goal last week against Australia in the final minute.
It was great. Everything just lined up perfectly. A great ball in from Abby perfectly flicked on. I was very fortunate to get that finish.
From Head Coach Pia Sundhage
On the recent performance of Natasha Kai:
I have to say she's done an absolutely fantastic job. I wasn't happy when I saw her the first time. She was not focused. She was unfit, and I don't think she acted professionally. So I gave her feedback – is the look you want people to remind you. And she started to show up in practice and do in a good way and little by little. To me it was very important to give her feedback when she did something good. And she started to play some minutes and more and more and then the starting 11. She did a great job. My job is to give her support and give her feedback, and make her accountable for what she has to do. She didn't act professional in general, and that was bad.
Has she had the opportunity to review the youth development system in the US since arriving?
No. I've been here since December. So, I'm focused on the Olympics. I know there are many things going on. And if I survive the Olympics, I should be part of women's development. Right now, honestly I don't have time. I need to spend time with the game and with the players.
Does she think there should be a single national league for girls just like the USSF created for boys?
Well, I don't know. Because I don't have the bigger picture. But I do think it's important to ask the bigger question of what should there be on the women's side. Because if you look around the world right now. You look at Germany. I know what's happening in Germany – they have a program. – a developmental program. In Sweden they have an elite program, and I know what's happening in Norway. So we need in the US to find our way. And start to look at the situation and ask is this a good environment for a little girl or is a good environment for a 19 year old girls who is just very talented she can play in this team. I don't know the answer of course, but we have to ask the question and right now there's something going on so, but I'm not a part of that right now.
Have you noticed a big difference between how this team is playing now compared to under Ryan last year in the World Cup?
Yes. The reason I am here is the word “change”. I have European style and one word is “keep possession” and find right moment to penetrate to find that timing, and it's a change. But I can't do too much of a change that I confuse them, but I can't do too little either because no one would notice, so I try to do something between, and this game I think we are half way there we are doing a great job. Sometimes we play direct to Abby, and sometimes we keep possession and slow down the game a little bit.
How is to win like this without Abby scoring goals?
Yes, but still she scores, and that's a strength. Of course, she played 90 minutes and she a part of the attack of course, and if you ask Even Pellerud [the Canadian Coach], he will talk about Abby – what problems she creates. She didn't score goals, however we have other players stepping up and scoring goals, and that's a strength.
Abby Wambach
How does it feel to be back at RFK?
It's great. It feels like I'm back home. The fans are great. There were a lot of fans here and the crowd was rocking and when you score six goals, there's a lot to cheer about so it's a great game.
Did you feel you were back home all week, or just when you arrived here tonight?
Yeah, all week. It's crazy how driving all around DC I knew exactly where I was going. I haven't been back here in a couple years. It's special being here and I have a special place in my heart for the city of DC.
Despite your offer to let other players choose first, is Washington your first choice if you have a choice for a WPS team?
It makes sense, but I don't exactly know how the cookies are going to crumble. But I'm going to do the best that I can once the league starts to hopefully make it a success.
Is it exciting to see a lot of other players scoring goals?
You have no idea how relieving it is because it makes my job easier. We're scoring a lot of goals. It's making our attack and our playing more dangerous to other teams and it's a whole heck of a lot harder for us to be the tactically broken down.
Angela Hucles
On only player from this area – what is it like to be back here.
It's great. You can hear the fans that are excited to have us here. My parents, cousins, uncles, [are here] I always love coming back to this area.
What club did you play for growing up?
Beach FC – they're still going strong!
On living in Boston and wanting to play for Boston WPS team – will it happen for sure?
I don't know for sure. Hopefully in the next couple of months we'll figure out which players are being allocated and which are being drafted. I'm looking forward to finding out where I'm going to be.
On scoring the winning goal last week against Australia in the final minute.
It was great. Everything just lined up perfectly. A great ball in from Abby perfectly flicked on. I was very fortunate to get that finish.
Labels: Abby Wambach, Angela Hucles, Pia Sundhage, U.S. Women, WPS
Monday, April 14, 2008
Remembering a forgettable night in Salt Lake
I took the time to put some thoughts down over on a BigSoccer discussion thread, and thought I might share it here to.
The subject - D.C. United's horrible loss to the horrible Real Salt Lake on a horrible field.
Although the thread topic was "fire the coach", my contribution was more reflective of the meaninglessness of the MLS regular season, and offered the idea that coach Tom Soehn actually made a smart decision in not really going for the win - but rather wanting to see if the bench could win.
Here is/was my take (BTW, my BigSoccer handle is "chummer"):
I really felt while watching [the DC/RSL match Saturday] that [Coach] Soehn had literally punted this game on purpose. Not that they didn't want to win, but that they really didn't care if they won or not. This game was NEVER going to mean anything. It was depressing, disappointing, and even a little inspiring at the same time for me:
Depressing because we really looked bad - not a single player had a "good" game, and it just wasn't soccer. Any game with visible "throwball" lines is depressing for me, even the ManU v Arsenal match would be depressing played on turf with football lines. Pushing to build SSS is the best thing MLS ever did, and will go down in history as the BIGGEST reason the league survived the "early years" when historians look back in 40 years when we're bigger than Hockey and Baseball.
Disappointing because with all talk about our adding "depth", this game made it look like we were no better off than a crappy team like RSL that has a brand new front office and barely a candle to hold against our foreign recruiting relationships. Have we really invested all this effort only to have to rely on $17K/year reserve players?
A little Inspiring because I actually get a warm fuzzy thinking that Soehn basically stood up on the mountain top - literally - and screamed to the league
"I'm not going to waste my time trying to win every MLS regular season game because it's a meaningless endeavor that only keeps us from our primary goals. Teams that only have MLS Cup to play must take seriously what I cannot, because D.C. United has other major concerns. All we have to do in the MLS regular season is get results at RFK and then peak at playoff time."
The inspiration continues as I imagine him continuing with "The season is all about winning a couple of tournaments for us. We put our all into CCC and clearly could have advanced, while beating the so called "best" team in Mexico. We will now focus on SuperLiga and the Champions League, and winning at RFK so we can also then focus this Fall on the tournament that is MLS Cup playoffs. EVERYTHING ELSE between now and those tournaments is little more than training for us. As long as we win 9 games we'll be in the MLS Cup playoffs, so take your away games on a concrete field with throwball lines and shove it MLS."
If this thought process is even close to what TS was/is privately thinking, then we shouldn't fire him, we should enshrine him for knowing how to focus on what's really important. And who can blame the players for not thinking the same thing. You never like to see a professional "take a night off", but we did, and it was a good lesson, but it is in the past now and should be completely forgotten, as most of the regular season in the early months truly is forgettable.Labels: d.c. united, Real Salt Lake, Tom Soehn, Turf Fields
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A re-Sounding victory for fans everywhere
You may or may not have been following the naming saga going on up in Seattle over their newly approved MLS franchise. The team will join the league this time next year after several years with a dominating USL-1 team named "Seattle Sounders". Well, with that team "put on hold" because it's owners were part of the group starting the MLS team, the fan base and brand for "Seattle Sounders" just happened to be ripe for use by the MLS startups desperate to get busy with their marketing efforts.
The team owners simply did not want to use the "Sounders" name, which I'm assuming was because they wanted to separate themselves from ever being confused as a 2nd-tier pro club in the USA. Big mistake guys!
Offering very uninspiring choices "Seattle FC", "Seattle Alliance", and "Seattle Republic", the 14,500 fans that voted mounted a write-in effort that would make Ralph Nadar so proud of his Green constituents in the upper northwest. So, "Seattle Sounders FC" it is. We'll see you in April 2009 boys, just don't take any of our D.C. United players in the expansion draft, and we might buy you a drink when you come to RFK for your first reSOUNDING defeat.Labels: d.c. united, MLS, Seattle Sounders FC
Friday, April 4, 2008
Has United bitten the hand that feeds them?
When I'm coaching, and need a way to pick a player or a team that gets first dibs on something for a drill, etc.. instead of telling someone to "pick a number between 1 and 10", I usually ask a question about a recent pro or college game on TV, and the first player to answer correctly "wins".
On Wednesday night, I asked a group of U13 girls if anyone could tell me the score from the D.C. United game from the night before. They had no idea, but I got an instantaneous chorus of good guesses, with one girl obviously guessing the correct 2-0 without any real clue.
So, I DQ'd everyone on the grounds of poor support of the black and red, and gave them a follow up question. The results disturbing, and it really made me think about the risk of such a high player turn over undoing all the work United has done "branding" themselves to thousands of kids they literally depend on attending each game.
My question was "name five current D.C. United players". The answers were not guesses, but they were disturbing, and should make Dan Giffin and Scott Miller pretty nervous -
Player - "Freddy Adu!"
Coach - "ahhh, nope."
Player - "umm, umm, umm, ohhh Gomez - Christian Gomez, ha hah!"
Coach - "NOPE"
Player - "WHAT?"
Coach - "They traded him"
Player, "WHY!!!, He's awesome. That was stupid."
Coach - "Sorry, don't take it out on me"
Player - "oo oo, Gros, that Josh guy with the cast"
Coach - "nope, he retired"
Player - "darnnit!"
Player - "I know, Eleco"
Coach - "nope, common guys you've got know someone."
Player - "I loved Eleco! What's going on?"
Player - "Why'd they get rid of Gomez? That was really dumb"
Coach - "sorry, but they got someone better instead"
Player "nu ahh, Gomez was the best, that's dumb"
Player - "Oh yeah... Perkins baby!!"
Coach, "nope, he went to Europe"
Player - "ahhhh!"
You get the point right? These girls rattled off more names of players than most youth players could, thanks no doubt to all the games I've taken them to over the years and my regular use of United Trivia in practices.
The fact that all the D.C. United players they had come to know were not gone, created an immediate backlash. DCU had finally taken root with youth players, only to turn them off by selling/trading/losing all the players they've worked so hard to "brand" all this time. All of us "adults" perfectly understand trying to bring in new players that are "supposed" to improve the team, but it sure must drive the marketing staff crazy! And if the team doesn't perform, there surely will be a lot of "see, I told you so" around the office staff water cooler at RFK.
I'll close with this, then ask your thoughts:
The player that LOVES Gomez so much asked - "What team did he go play for?"
Coach - "Denver"
Player - "When they play Denver, that's who I'm rooting for - GO DENVER!"
Coach - "ouch. I might have to cut you now"Labels: d.c. united
Networks should follow Title IX
Can you believe the US Women's Olympic Qualifying games won't be shown on TV? Unfortunately I do believe, and it's a real shame!
The BEST women's team in the world opens Olympic Qualifying tonight at 7:30 against Jamaica in Juarez, Mexico. They are the defending Olympic gold medalists, and tonight is the first step toward their title defense. Don't we deserve the opportunity to see our team earn their way to China in these qualifying games? Last month we all got to see the Men qualify. What do we have to do to get equal coverage for women's soccer here? How about a little Title IX enforcement for networks?
US Soccer's Match Tracker will have to do. Enjoy reading about the game in 2-minute increments :-(Labels: Olympics, U.S. Women
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Ronaldo's BEST performance?
Love or hate Manchester United, you have to applaud the performance of Cristiano Ronaldo this weekend. He scored possibly his best goal ever, then went on to assist on three others in the EPL leader's dismantling of a decent Aston Villa team. The Portuguese winger is widely believed to be a shoe-in for FIFA Player of the Year, and this latest performance is also being heralded as possibly his best ever. Good enough indeed to allow discussions in English pubs and press alike that he may nearing "George Best" greatness.
BTW, honorable mention to Wayne Rooney. Watch closely at the beginning of this highlight reel for the perfection with which he strikes his full volley. Have you ever seen a ball do that?
Enjoy:
The subject - D.C. United's horrible loss to the horrible Real Salt Lake on a horrible field.
Although the thread topic was "fire the coach", my contribution was more reflective of the meaninglessness of the MLS regular season, and offered the idea that coach Tom Soehn actually made a smart decision in not really going for the win - but rather wanting to see if the bench could win.
Here is/was my take (BTW, my BigSoccer handle is "chummer"):
I really felt while watching [the DC/RSL match Saturday] that [Coach] Soehn had literally punted this game on purpose. Not that they didn't want to win, but that they really didn't care if they won or not. This game was NEVER going to mean anything. It was depressing, disappointing, and even a little inspiring at the same time for me:
Depressing because we really looked bad - not a single player had a "good" game, and it just wasn't soccer. Any game with visible "throwball" lines is depressing for me, even the ManU v Arsenal match would be depressing played on turf with football lines. Pushing to build SSS is the best thing MLS ever did, and will go down in history as the BIGGEST reason the league survived the "early years" when historians look back in 40 years when we're bigger than Hockey and Baseball.
Disappointing because with all talk about our adding "depth", this game made it look like we were no better off than a crappy team like RSL that has a brand new front office and barely a candle to hold against our foreign recruiting relationships. Have we really invested all this effort only to have to rely on $17K/year reserve players?
A little Inspiring because I actually get a warm fuzzy thinking that Soehn basically stood up on the mountain top - literally - and screamed to the league
"I'm not going to waste my time trying to win every MLS regular season game because it's a meaningless endeavor that only keeps us from our primary goals. Teams that only have MLS Cup to play must take seriously what I cannot, because D.C. United has other major concerns. All we have to do in the MLS regular season is get results at RFK and then peak at playoff time."
The inspiration continues as I imagine him continuing with "The season is all about winning a couple of tournaments for us. We put our all into CCC and clearly could have advanced, while beating the so called "best" team in Mexico. We will now focus on SuperLiga and the Champions League, and winning at RFK so we can also then focus this Fall on the tournament that is MLS Cup playoffs. EVERYTHING ELSE between now and those tournaments is little more than training for us. As long as we win 9 games we'll be in the MLS Cup playoffs, so take your away games on a concrete field with throwball lines and shove it MLS."
If this thought process is even close to what TS was/is privately thinking, then we shouldn't fire him, we should enshrine him for knowing how to focus on what's really important. And who can blame the players for not thinking the same thing. You never like to see a professional "take a night off", but we did, and it was a good lesson, but it is in the past now and should be completely forgotten, as most of the regular season in the early months truly is forgettable.
Labels: d.c. united, Real Salt Lake, Tom Soehn, Turf Fields
You may or may not have been following the naming saga going on up in Seattle over their newly approved MLS franchise. The team will join the league this time next year after several years with a dominating USL-1 team named "Seattle Sounders". Well, with that team "put on hold" because it's owners were part of the group starting the MLS team, the fan base and brand for "Seattle Sounders" just happened to be ripe for use by the MLS startups desperate to get busy with their marketing efforts.
The team owners simply did not want to use the "Sounders" name, which I'm assuming was because they wanted to separate themselves from ever being confused as a 2nd-tier pro club in the USA. Big mistake guys!
Offering very uninspiring choices "Seattle FC", "Seattle Alliance", and "Seattle Republic", the 14,500 fans that voted mounted a write-in effort that would make Ralph Nadar so proud of his Green constituents in the upper northwest. So, "Seattle Sounders FC" it is. We'll see you in April 2009 boys, just don't take any of our D.C. United players in the expansion draft, and we might buy you a drink when you come to RFK for your first reSOUNDING defeat.
The team owners simply did not want to use the "Sounders" name, which I'm assuming was because they wanted to separate themselves from ever being confused as a 2nd-tier pro club in the USA. Big mistake guys!
Offering very uninspiring choices "Seattle FC", "Seattle Alliance", and "Seattle Republic", the 14,500 fans that voted mounted a write-in effort that would make Ralph Nadar so proud of his Green constituents in the upper northwest. So, "Seattle Sounders FC" it is. We'll see you in April 2009 boys, just don't take any of our D.C. United players in the expansion draft, and we might buy you a drink when you come to RFK for your first reSOUNDING defeat.
Labels: d.c. united, MLS, Seattle Sounders FC
Friday, April 4, 2008
Has United bitten the hand that feeds them?
When I'm coaching, and need a way to pick a player or a team that gets first dibs on something for a drill, etc.. instead of telling someone to "pick a number between 1 and 10", I usually ask a question about a recent pro or college game on TV, and the first player to answer correctly "wins".
On Wednesday night, I asked a group of U13 girls if anyone could tell me the score from the D.C. United game from the night before. They had no idea, but I got an instantaneous chorus of good guesses, with one girl obviously guessing the correct 2-0 without any real clue.
So, I DQ'd everyone on the grounds of poor support of the black and red, and gave them a follow up question. The results disturbing, and it really made me think about the risk of such a high player turn over undoing all the work United has done "branding" themselves to thousands of kids they literally depend on attending each game.
My question was "name five current D.C. United players". The answers were not guesses, but they were disturbing, and should make Dan Giffin and Scott Miller pretty nervous -
Player - "Freddy Adu!"
Coach - "ahhh, nope."
Player - "umm, umm, umm, ohhh Gomez - Christian Gomez, ha hah!"
Coach - "NOPE"
Player - "WHAT?"
Coach - "They traded him"
Player, "WHY!!!, He's awesome. That was stupid."
Coach - "Sorry, don't take it out on me"
Player - "oo oo, Gros, that Josh guy with the cast"
Coach - "nope, he retired"
Player - "darnnit!"
Player - "I know, Eleco"
Coach - "nope, common guys you've got know someone."
Player - "I loved Eleco! What's going on?"
Player - "Why'd they get rid of Gomez? That was really dumb"
Coach - "sorry, but they got someone better instead"
Player "nu ahh, Gomez was the best, that's dumb"
Player - "Oh yeah... Perkins baby!!"
Coach, "nope, he went to Europe"
Player - "ahhhh!"
You get the point right? These girls rattled off more names of players than most youth players could, thanks no doubt to all the games I've taken them to over the years and my regular use of United Trivia in practices.
The fact that all the D.C. United players they had come to know were not gone, created an immediate backlash. DCU had finally taken root with youth players, only to turn them off by selling/trading/losing all the players they've worked so hard to "brand" all this time. All of us "adults" perfectly understand trying to bring in new players that are "supposed" to improve the team, but it sure must drive the marketing staff crazy! And if the team doesn't perform, there surely will be a lot of "see, I told you so" around the office staff water cooler at RFK.
I'll close with this, then ask your thoughts:
The player that LOVES Gomez so much asked - "What team did he go play for?"
Coach - "Denver"
Player - "When they play Denver, that's who I'm rooting for - GO DENVER!"
Coach - "ouch. I might have to cut you now"Labels: d.c. united
Networks should follow Title IX
Can you believe the US Women's Olympic Qualifying games won't be shown on TV? Unfortunately I do believe, and it's a real shame!
The BEST women's team in the world opens Olympic Qualifying tonight at 7:30 against Jamaica in Juarez, Mexico. They are the defending Olympic gold medalists, and tonight is the first step toward their title defense. Don't we deserve the opportunity to see our team earn their way to China in these qualifying games? Last month we all got to see the Men qualify. What do we have to do to get equal coverage for women's soccer here? How about a little Title IX enforcement for networks?
US Soccer's Match Tracker will have to do. Enjoy reading about the game in 2-minute increments :-(Labels: Olympics, U.S. Women
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Ronaldo's BEST performance?
Love or hate Manchester United, you have to applaud the performance of Cristiano Ronaldo this weekend. He scored possibly his best goal ever, then went on to assist on three others in the EPL leader's dismantling of a decent Aston Villa team. The Portuguese winger is widely believed to be a shoe-in for FIFA Player of the Year, and this latest performance is also being heralded as possibly his best ever. Good enough indeed to allow discussions in English pubs and press alike that he may nearing "George Best" greatness.
BTW, honorable mention to Wayne Rooney. Watch closely at the beginning of this highlight reel for the perfection with which he strikes his full volley. Have you ever seen a ball do that?
Enjoy:
On Wednesday night, I asked a group of U13 girls if anyone could tell me the score from the D.C. United game from the night before. They had no idea, but I got an instantaneous chorus of good guesses, with one girl obviously guessing the correct 2-0 without any real clue.
So, I DQ'd everyone on the grounds of poor support of the black and red, and gave them a follow up question. The results disturbing, and it really made me think about the risk of such a high player turn over undoing all the work United has done "branding" themselves to thousands of kids they literally depend on attending each game.
My question was "name five current D.C. United players". The answers were not guesses, but they were disturbing, and should make Dan Giffin and Scott Miller pretty nervous -
Player - "Freddy Adu!"
Coach - "ahhh, nope."
Player - "umm, umm, umm, ohhh Gomez - Christian Gomez, ha hah!"
Coach - "NOPE"
Player - "WHAT?"
Coach - "They traded him"
Player, "WHY!!!, He's awesome. That was stupid."
Coach - "Sorry, don't take it out on me"
Player - "oo oo, Gros, that Josh guy with the cast"
Coach - "nope, he retired"
Player - "darnnit!"
Player - "I know, Eleco"
Coach - "nope, common guys you've got know someone."
Player - "I loved Eleco! What's going on?"
Player - "Why'd they get rid of Gomez? That was really dumb"
Coach - "sorry, but they got someone better instead"
Player "nu ahh, Gomez was the best, that's dumb"
Player - "Oh yeah... Perkins baby!!"
Coach, "nope, he went to Europe"
Player - "ahhhh!"
You get the point right? These girls rattled off more names of players than most youth players could, thanks no doubt to all the games I've taken them to over the years and my regular use of United Trivia in practices.
The fact that all the D.C. United players they had come to know were not gone, created an immediate backlash. DCU had finally taken root with youth players, only to turn them off by selling/trading/losing all the players they've worked so hard to "brand" all this time. All of us "adults" perfectly understand trying to bring in new players that are "supposed" to improve the team, but it sure must drive the marketing staff crazy! And if the team doesn't perform, there surely will be a lot of "see, I told you so" around the office staff water cooler at RFK.
I'll close with this, then ask your thoughts:
The player that LOVES Gomez so much asked - "What team did he go play for?"
Coach - "Denver"
Player - "When they play Denver, that's who I'm rooting for - GO DENVER!"
Coach - "ouch. I might have to cut you now"
Labels: d.c. united
Can you believe the US Women's Olympic Qualifying games won't be shown on TV? Unfortunately I do believe, and it's a real shame!
The BEST women's team in the world opens Olympic Qualifying tonight at 7:30 against Jamaica in Juarez, Mexico. They are the defending Olympic gold medalists, and tonight is the first step toward their title defense. Don't we deserve the opportunity to see our team earn their way to China in these qualifying games? Last month we all got to see the Men qualify. What do we have to do to get equal coverage for women's soccer here? How about a little Title IX enforcement for networks?
US Soccer's Match Tracker will have to do. Enjoy reading about the game in 2-minute increments :-(
The BEST women's team in the world opens Olympic Qualifying tonight at 7:30 against Jamaica in Juarez, Mexico. They are the defending Olympic gold medalists, and tonight is the first step toward their title defense. Don't we deserve the opportunity to see our team earn their way to China in these qualifying games? Last month we all got to see the Men qualify. What do we have to do to get equal coverage for women's soccer here? How about a little Title IX enforcement for networks?
US Soccer's Match Tracker will have to do. Enjoy reading about the game in 2-minute increments :-(
Labels: Olympics, U.S. Women
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Ronaldo's BEST performance?
Love or hate Manchester United, you have to applaud the performance of Cristiano Ronaldo this weekend. He scored possibly his best goal ever, then went on to assist on three others in the EPL leader's dismantling of a decent Aston Villa team. The Portuguese winger is widely believed to be a shoe-in for FIFA Player of the Year, and this latest performance is also being heralded as possibly his best ever. Good enough indeed to allow discussions in English pubs and press alike that he may nearing "George Best" greatness.
BTW, honorable mention to Wayne Rooney. Watch closely at the beginning of this highlight reel for the perfection with which he strikes his full volley. Have you ever seen a ball do that?
Enjoy:
BTW, honorable mention to Wayne Rooney. Watch closely at the beginning of this highlight reel for the perfection with which he strikes his full volley. Have you ever seen a ball do that?
Enjoy:
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