The MLS will never be the biggest and best soccer league in the world ala EPL, La Liga and Serie A. Trying to create a league to rival such established leagues is only a pipedream. But being a "feeder" league to such them is not a goal we can can't accomplish. There is no shame in inspiring to be like the dutch league or country, who give great players to the better leagues, Kuyt to Liverpool, Van Persie to Arsenal, etc, while still be a competive in their own right.
Bringing big name players such as Beckham, Davids (FC Dallas rumors), etc. would only be a positive move in making The MLS a better training ground for our lads to get experience playing with real professional players. Players like Dempsey are the future of MLS. Progessing his talent as far as he can in MLS, then moving on to somewhere better. Players like, Reyna, McBride, Friedel, Convey, Hahnemann, Howard, Beasley, Spector, Bocanegra, DeMerit, Gibbs are who the American public should be proud of, Americans holding their own in the EPL.
Playing with or against Quality players like Becks, can only help our US Men's National Team. It gives them the oppurtunity to play highly competetive games week in and week out.
Beckham will start the tread of other aging (in soccer playing years) international star players to come over. The MLS will give them a place to get plenty of playing time, in league that is starved for publicity and attendance. The US is not a bad place to come out, make a couple bucks and few more fans, before retiring from football completely.
I say bring on the soccer celebrities to the MLS elephant grave yard, I will be the first to buy the kits!! Beckham Galaxy, or Ronaldo Chicago Fire, Zidane Red Bull, Fowler Crew, Hyypia Dynamo. And I am planning several road trips to LA see Becks in person!
Days after the unbelieveable 3 nil loss to Everton, I am finally able to write about it.
I am so glad I forgot to wake up at 4:30am to watch it LIVE (I love Sentanta). I caught it on my DVR (so hard not to say TiVo anymore, I miss it.)
Pepe is still the man, Rafa's golden boy, but I say the pressure is on. Jerzy is still on the bench ready to pounce. As we saw in the Champions League game against PSV, Rafa is not adversed to sitting players. Pepe is not focused, I blame it on his wedding during the summer, but that's just my green eyed monster showing, also probably the reason he wasn't the main man during the WC. BTW, Can anyone explain why he's not Spains #1 keeper? Everton aside he's got tons of clean sheets, the liverpool record of them.
Some (Nick Geber) are accepting that Rafa was benching Stevie, Xabi Alonso, Crouchy and Luis Garcia in anticipation of the Chelsea game this weekend. I am not that confident in Rafa to believe that one. I think he is still trying out combinations of players together, he hasn't had enough time to incorporate Kuyt into our line up.
Momo in the center alone during the PSV game wasn't enough to be a mastermind in the midfield, also when Alonso came in it only helped because he had fresh legs. WE NEED STEVIE IN THE MIDFIELD. I hate seeing him on the right. I think we are wasting his god given talent. My thought is we are trying to keep him in the England side by playing him there and allowing waste of a kit Lamps and the incredible Owen Hargreaves also in the line up. My solution bench loser Lamps! but thats England, we need to worry about Liverpool right now. Alternate Alonso and Momo with Stevie G in the Midfield. That's were he's the most needed right now at Liverpool. We need the man who creates plays and make magic in the midfield. Stevie to me hasn't been electric on the pitch yet. We need his dynamic personality on the pitch to get Liverpool through the season.
Also we CANNOT keep dropping these points if we've got our eye on the Prem. The loss to Everton, coupled with our draw of PSV, leaves us feeling pretty low coming in to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea is coming of####reat win against Werder Bremen and against Chalton (well dur), so I'm not too optimistic about even drawing those Chelsea skum. Maybe if this game was a bit down the line, say in December, we would have our act together to make a go of it. Liverpool is just not match fit. They better start getting their act together, it's gonna be close one at the top of the fixtures again this year.
Hey Guys, I'm planing my first trip to Anfield next year. I want to make sure I can attend a match. Any tips on getting my hands on a couple tickets. I'm a total TV/Internet football fan, so I've never been to an EPL match or any pro soccer game for that matter. I am so nervous it's freaky, to love something so much, and finally get to see it in person for the first time. I want to schedule my trip to see a match at Anfield and maybe catch one at Old Trafford or St. James' Park . Any tips would be great. Does anyone know anything about uslfc? What are they about?
You know, I can appreciate/understand not showing some games. But COME ON. This is a big one. Everton and Liverpool. I am depressed. I hate frickin' living in the USA.
THIS WAS MY E-MAIL TO FSC: WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?
Can someone please help me understand your coverage of the Euro 2008 Qualifying. You are broadcasting LIVE Romania vs. Bulgaria, but you showing England VS. Andorra Tape Delayed, by several days. Is that so you can get more people to watch? I can understand wanting to have more viewers for a particular program but all it means to true fans, is that we have to resist the temptation to check the internet and avoid all news casts to be able to watch the game at pretend it is LIVE. I also understand that they are only playing Andorra, so it's not like they are playing a fierce rival, but it is still England. And that is who I want to see. I have already come to terms with that logic with FSC not broadcasting Liverpool FC unless they are playing a good opponent. While I understand the logic of playing the more competitive games, it is still #### because I want to see England LIVE. Anyway, that is my opinon and thanks for taking the time to read my rant. Also, when are you going to broadcast England Vs. Macadonia, in October? :P
This is a comment that I wrote in response to an article that Odin had posted on his blog. I thought that it was so well written (If I don't say so myself) that i reposted it on by own blog. Please feel free to comment. Bring it on.
begin:
I do feel I must comment on the articles views of the Italian football league. I am aware of the Italian football culture of playing at home in their own league, but that in no way make their league better than anyone else’s. The EPL is by far the best football league in the world, to the detriment of the English National team. It only takes a minute to look at the "Super Teams" of Chelsea, Man. Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool to see that the best of the best play their football in England. Spain and Germany both (IMHO) have better leagues than Italy. Yes, AC Milan had a very good "Super Team" in the past (with Sheva, Dida, Cafu, Crespo (on loan) it is proven in their champions league final vs. Liverpool and their previous CL wins. But again they were a "super team" not relying on Italian players alone. Yes, I think that is unique for a country to have this culture of only playing in their home country, and I do think it does help when it comes to National Team Titles, Euro/WC etc. But as far as everyday league matches or club teams on a whole, no country can outmatch England.
Okay so they fixed it since 2002 when Oliver Kahn was given the golden ball before the last match, to now when they will decide then announce after the match on Monday. But how about the young player of the tournament?
Podolskli is great, top notch, but did he really win it, or did Cristiano Ronaldo lose it.
Please, please can everyone out there take their heads out of their behinds and listen to me for a sec. Was it the Rooney incident or was it all the diving? If it was for the England match , you all should be ashamed. He was calling for the foul! or even calling for the red card. It shouldn't be named illegal. Everyone has done it, Gerrard, Rooney, Becks etc.. I've seen them do it in the EPL. They were not teamates, it was not a Man. United game, It's the frickin' World Cup. He deserves a slap for the wink to the Portugal bench after the send off but again, that's not illegal, it was just him being a smuk. Also by the mock head butt at the begining of the match, I really don't think they were friends before the incident, even though the Portuguese player who was watching thought it was funny, Rooney did not.
All that aside, the boy has skillz. He has flare and ran at every defender he faced. Okay, so he had no goals or assists and his finishing needs work. I'm thinking he's at 90%, he just needs a little more knowledge dropped on him (like a good kick in the a**) to be a complete player.
Um, okay I'll relent. Podolski is light years more mature a player than my boy.
Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo is the world next Beckham, hot as hell, the sexiest man of the world, but hey, Becks has made a career of it, right?
BTW, I swear I'm not a 16 year old teenybopper that listens to 'NSYNC.
I'm 23. :)
Also if FIFA or Gillette raised they age to 23. Lahm or Ribery would have won it for sure! Also what was Messi doing in the running, he played like 10 minutes all tournament.
There isn't enough I can say about England loss to Portugal on Saturday. I've talked about it with everyone of my friends and family who called to give their condolences. Between Ronney's hotheaded bad decison, becks exit, Lampard not showing up, Sven's continued 4-5-1 line-up, and our weak bench, I've had enough of the could of should of's.
John Terry's tears post match will haunt me forever, or at least untill Euro 2008.
Emotionally I was a wreak for this one. Of 'course theres no doubt that England is my team. but I can trufully say that I've and a place in my heart for Portugal since the last WC in 2002. I even featured Figo and Beto in my Sims neighborhood along with Oliver Kahn, Becks, Dietmer Hamman.
There's not one person out there who can deny Christiano Ronaldo was the man of the match for that game. He totally killed us, that super hottie. I don't know how he's going to come back to Man. United to play along with Rooney after this. I think he played on the right and Becks of course has bad D and only stopped him a couple of times and Neville was trying to attack and Christiano would alway counter. Simao was killer after he came on and how cool was it for him to get the captains band.
All in all, for England to have any saving grace Portugal must win the whole GD thing, so atleast we can say "well, we got beat my the champs, so, yeah".
Portugal will have their hands full with France, but if France plays like they did in their win over Brazil, Portugal is soo out of here. France dominated the entire match, leaving everyone (except me, 'cuz I never like them anyway) to say "Brazil who?" On the attack from minute une, there was no stopping them. Zidane is the gipher, and Cisse it's all for you buddy. I gave France not chance in the early rounds after their so so perforances (I didn't see them but I heard about them), and thought they'd again make an early exit, but WOW. I usually don't care much for Henry (he's an arsenal man, you know), and with all those offsides calls, I didn't think he'd ever put one in the back of the net that would be called fair. If it weren't for the magic master himself Zidane, I'd be over. I don't know what that man is on, but I want some. Everyone else is Fantasic as well, (don't feel like looking up all the spellings, except Makelele I know that that spelling).
I still hope Germany will kick the Azzurri in the pants (hey odin) and It'll be France and Germany in the Final, and France giving Zidane a happy retirement gift. But I way my favorite teams are going, I shouldn't root for anyone and just wish for a good game instead.
Oh and Becks stepped down as Captain. Maybe they'll pass the band to Gerrard, Terry is another good choice. All I know is that whenever Gerrard steps on to a Liverpool Pitch or even Carragher (who subs for Gerrard as Captain at Liverpool), they light up that field and they take charge of that pitch. I haven't seen Becks do that In a long time. So a change of guard is a good thing.
I'm a little disappointed in Ecaudor, I expected them to kick the #### out of England, and still have England ink out a win.
Anyway happy about the result. We've got Portugal up next. Boy will that be a mountian to climb over. Christiano Ronaldo and Figo up against my Gerrard and Becks. AHHH, attack of the hotties. (I know, I know I'm such a girl!)
This will be a tough game, England will have to do something spectacular to win. Um, how about taking out that waste of a kit, Lampard. How many Shots and Shots on Goal has he got with a result. It's called finishing####. Gerrard has way less and already has 2 goals this tourney.
I'd like to see Lennon and Becks on that Right side again, they can totally work at it together. You've got Joe Cole on the left, Gerrard in the middle pushing foward, keep Hardgraves middle back, Rooney up front (duh, he'd have a cow if you left him out), Terry, Rio, Ashely Cole, and Neville if fit or Carra on the right. Robinson in Goal (he's a little shaky but way better than David James, and Carson is still untested). That's 11 right? I know that would be a steady 11. Sven are you listening.
That's our best 11 without Michael Owen. Carrick did alright today, but he didn't do enough to make me keep him as a starter. Crouchy is still pidgon holed as a air only man, it's going to be hard to put him up there as a lone striker, and a rooney and crouch action is still untested. Both our strikers up there is a gamble, but we've got an ace in the pocket right? Walcott is supposed to be good right?
Speaking of which. Why is our bench so untested, when Portugal, Spain, Argentina and others are SO DEEP. Seriously deep, they can rest all the starters and play the whole bench and win! Is the EPL too full of foreign talent, or did Sven just pick a too young of a squad? He left out many usual suspects, Dyer, Wright-Phillips and others.
Carrick , Downing, Walcott, Lennon, Jenas, Carson are all untested in International level (Some in EPL for that matter). Wayne Bridge is alright I guess, and David James in goal scares the #### out of me, I swear he's as unpredicable as..i don't know what. I just don't trust him, as I would a Dida, Dudek, Reina, Keller, Friedel or Kahn.
Where is all the English talent? I guess our starting 11 or 12 is it. This is the last chance for some of them, or maybe not, if England can't produce The "Next Ronaldo" or next "Maradona", we'll just have to keep, Becks and Terry out there untill they are old and grey like Zidane. Or maybe we do have the next superstar, walcott and lennon, we just don't trust them to get it done, yet.
I SWEAR, I THINK I'M A JINX! I wore my Liverpool Michael Owen Kit during Tuesday's game and look what happened. I've never worn it before, it was always up on my wall. I swear if they would have lost as well, i would have burned it in eulogy. Out for up to 5 months, Newcastle will never get to see him on the pitch. I'm sad, I cried.
Boy, poor EPL teams, losing players to injury in the world cup. First Cisse and now MO.
This totally sucks for England, who only brought 4 strikers as it is to the WC. Joe Cole has proven his worth and so has Steven Gerrard, so either of them would be good to play behind a lone striker, if it comes to that. Although I would hate to break up Ashley and Joe on that left side, who play so well off of each other. Wayne and Crouchy played well up front together, though I fret over Waynes healing.
Becks needs to step up his game, Lampard (Chelsea scum) needs to focus, and they all need to WAKE UP. Put a little more umph into everthing you do. Only John Terry and Joe Cole can honestly say they've given all of their selves to every play they make. Also Cara and Gerrard can claim they've done well with what chances they've been given. I'm also impressed with Ashley Cole, who knows he's on the chopping block should he falter.
Wayne Rooney WANTS to give all he's got, I feel for him so bad. I'd hate to be Sven having to hold him back. Dude, Wayne, Listen to me. YOU NEED TO TAKE IT EASY. You do not want to ruin your whole career to play a game England can win without you. We'll need you for the later rounds (because of course we are going to win it all). You've got plenty more World Cups in your future,
Aaron Lennon, he is the man, like a breath of fresh air coming on the pitch as a sub. I can't wait to see more of you either here in the WC or in the EPL later this year.
All in All England is getting better each game, and is going ALL THE WAY. So it be written, so it be done.
It's totally unfair to say anything negative regardy Bobby Convey. I praise both him and Lewis for their struggle to make something happen. The Czechs out classed and outplayed the "media darlings" american side. There's no denying the americans lack of european expirence. Hop on a plane and play these european powerhouses. Heck find a first division or second divison squad and have a go. There is more to "soccer" than Mexico. Whom by the way proved their skill in their first game vs. Iran. I hate to say I told you so, but I saw the 1st friendly on the road to germany tour, and I was not impressed and today they lived up to atleast my expectations. I haven't seen the Itay vs. Ghana game yet, so I don't know what we are in for yet, but if they american side continue to play as they did today, they will follow Donovans route and head out of Germany and back home sooner rather than later.
I hear so much about MLS, MLS. Americans are getting there hopes up way to much. Has anyone even seen an EPL match? How 'bout Serie A ? The German league (not gonna even try the spelling) or League une? It's a totally diferent game. Our MLS is the equivilent of The Eglish Division One. So much empehisis is on the home grown players, they can stand up to anyone, etc. To me it's a load of ####. All of the Yanks abroad (plug, plug) are getting way more knowlege layed on them. To be the best, you have to play with the best. The EPL is where it's at. So knocking Convey, Reyna, McBride, Lewis, Keller for not playing in the MLS currently is ####. Praising the MLS "stars" and ignoring the rest is just as bad.
