While I will admit I have not really cared much for the women’s world cup.  I have turned it on in the morning, and watched as much as I could.  While I might not follow the women’s team nearly as much as the men’s team, I do root for them and hope we win each game we play.  And winning games can be much more difficult when the coach steals the spotlight like he did the last two days with his questionable decision.

For those of you who don’t follow women’s soccer and I know there are many of you, here is what happened.  Two days ago Greg Ryan, who is the women’s national team coached announced that he would be starting Brianna Scurry in goal over Hope Solo.  Hope Solo had started every game since June, including all three group games, and their quarterfinal against England in Europe.  Hope Solo had two goals scored on her in the North Korean game, but since that game had a shutout streak of almost 300 minutes.  Of the first two goals scored on her, she did allow one to slip through her fingers, however it was wet that day, and that did play a part.

Greg Ryan said he was starting Scurry because of the way she played against Brazil in June, and probably also because of her play in the 2004 Olympics against Brazil.

Brianna Scurry is by no means an amateur, and would be a starter on most national teams, but the timing of the decision is very debatable, and I would rank it as one of the worst coaching decisions I have ever seen, and if it wasn’t for Greg Ryan’s unbeaten streak of 51 games is his saving grace.  But there are other examples of coaches who had good records who got fired, because they could take their team to the next level.  Grady Little got fired from the Boston Red Sox, because he kept Pedro Martinez in the game against the Yankees in game 7 of the ALCS.  In which the Yankees won in large part because of a tired Pedro on the mound.   Marty Schottenheimer last year was fired by the Chargers, despite having a record of 14-2 in the regular season, but was out coached in the playoffs.  And last Tony Dungy was let go by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because they didn’t think he could get them to the next level, and he eventually went on to win last years super bowl with the Colts.

While I don’t think putting Brianna Scurry lost the game for the US national team, the red card, and Brazil just outplaying USA were the main reasons.  I feel the decision distracted enough to give any edge the US might have had, and tipped in Brazil’s favor, and time will tell if Greg Ryan will learn from that mistake.

This is a quickie soccer fantasy update, because I have been slacking the last couple of weeks, but without further ado here it is.

Man City defenders-  Manchester city gave up 3 goals to Fulham, which was totally unexpected.  Those 3 goals scored, are more than Man City has let in all season.  Man City also hasn't conceded a goal at home, so look for them to have a big game against Newcastle, along with Schmeichel in net.  Plus no Michael Owen facing them.

Charles N'Zogbia- Kinda goes against my pick of Man City Defense, but this is more of a long term pick, maybe the week after.  Currently has 3 goals and 2 assists, and is playing great.

Anelka vs Derby Defense- Anelka is in fine form, and look for him to have a field day against the team that has allowed the most goals (20)

Adebayor- He has looked awesome this season, and not just on easy goals, I think every goal I have seen him score, other than the PK have all been of the highest calibre.  I had Van Persie, but with his current form, and Van Persie's current lack of minutes I would go with the Adebayor.  He is also relatively cheap at this point.

Kanu - I had him last year, and the forward gave me some great points in the first half of hte season.  I expect more of the same, if you pick him up, be wary of his performance after December.  He is also facing a weak Reading side at home, and Portsmouth are a very good home team.

Dead weight

Ronaldo has failed to recreate the form that saw him single handidly win my fantasy season last year.  I wouldn't say drop him just yet if you have him, because he could catch fire at any time.  But if he continues the way he is you might as well put that money to better use on a forward, or midfielder.

Gerrard - When he becomes healthy again I would pick him up, but at this point I think it will take a couple of weeks, if you have him keep him.  If you want him hold out a little longer if you can.

Arteta - Was my darkhorse last year.  No one really knew who he was, but he in my opinion single handidly brought Everton up to a UEFA Cup spot.  He is also struggling with injury at the moment.

Some good like for like replacements

Gerrard, Ronaldo pick up Fabregas (When did he learn how to shoot?), or possibly Elano, who has yet to score, but has produced a lot of assists so far.

Arteta- Elano, or Petrov of Man City.  Petrov has looked good all season, his only downside I have seen so far is that his crossing needs work, and he forgot his shooting boots in spain, maybe that will all change after the Fulham game.

         Last Thursday I happened to be home at night for the first time in awhile and noticed the ESPN primetime Thursday game was on.  It was between Dallas and Chicago, and I was excited to see Blanco and Denilson in action.  However it became very apparent to me early on that ESPN would do everything in its power to annoy me enough that I would not want to watch the game any longer.  This isn’t the first time either, between the women’s world cup(which I have caught glimpses of as I get ready for work), and the friendly between LA Galaxy and Chelsea FC(Beckham’s first game) ESPN has taken every opportunity to try and put their own stamp on the coverage of the game, and it drives me insane. Before I go off ranting about what they did wrong, let me tell you what I feel is the right way to broadcast a soccer game.  Tune in any weekend on Fox soccer channel and watch any premier league game.  Typically there are two commentators, but sometimes only one.  During the game they do something so incredible, so amazing, I am blown away every time I watch.  What is it, you ask?  Well they tell me what is happening in the game in nothing else!!  I don’t hear about this person’s contribution to charity, or this person’s criminal record, or how this person made it from the slums, against all odds, no they just tell me basically who has the ball, and small tidbits about what is going on in the game.  Sometimes the announcers don’t even talk, which is quite amazing if you compare it to any of the major sports in the US, where the commentator feels they must fill us in on every conceivable thing that is going on with each and every one of the players on the field, football being the worst. 

Now too what is wrong with how ESPN broadcasts a game?  I already touched on the fact that the commentators talk too much, but let’s go even further, sideline reporters, and halftime talks.  I get so angry when I hear these in basketball and football that I wanted to cry when I first saw ESPN due this in Beckham’s first game.  Let me give a good example of useless material a sideline reporter donates to the game.  Recently I was watching the Patriots vs. Chargers game, when it was halftime.  At the half the Chargers were down by a score of 24-0, when the reporter gave us this little bit of insight into the game, she said “I talked to one of the Chargers players, and they said they had them right where they wanted them.”  How does that even make sense, since when does  a teams game plan start with ok guys we want to lull them into a false sense of security, so we are going to give them a really big league for the half, let them totally dominate us in every facet of the game, and then somehow make a miraculous comeback.  It never happens, and because of sideline reporters and their useless information, I had to think about this for much longer than I should have.  

The reason I bring up sideline reporting is because in the LA Galaxy vs. Chelsea FC game, they had them all over the field, the one that sticks out most vividly in my mind was when they talked to Jennifer Love Hewitt.  It was quite evident that she absolutely knew nothing about the sport, and could offer nothing of substance about what was happening in the game, which is fine, I could care less if she knows nothing she has huge boobs, but for the love of god don’t talk to her during the game.  

This helps me segway into my next problem with ESPN, cutting away from the game, or minimizing the window for other information.  I understand why they do this, but I wish they would stop.  ESPN is used to producing American games which as we all know have many small breaks, which are filled with advertising, and when there is too much advertising, they give us lots of stats and other useless info to help pass the time.  So ESPN has decided to do this with soccer, but they are missing one small thing, soccer doesn’t stop.  Some good examples of this are when they cut away to talk to Jennifer Love Hewitt, or even better was the Dallas vs. Chicago game, when they decided to have a little fluff piece in the middle of the game about Denilson learning English, in which they actually showed him in a classroom learning.  Don’t get me wrong that is great Denilson is learning the language, but for the love of god don’t cut away in the middle of the game to show me that ####!  On top of that ESPN really enjoys minimizing the screen so they can show other stats, like the teams Denilson played for, or the Becks Cam.   

The Becks cam was during the LA Chelsea game where they had one camera showing the game, and another showing just David Beckham himself.  It was so disorienting, and pointless.  I will give you a great reason why they should never do this again, in soccer camp years ago, to prove a point about not dribbling too much, my coach asked me how long I thought a player like Maradona touched the ball for the entire game.  He told me on average Maradona had the ball for only two minutes a game.  Consider that for a second, arguably the world’s greatest player, who was known for dribbling by many defenders only had the ball for just over two percent of the entire game.  Now picture a camera on a player like Beckham who is known for his long passes, and probably holds a ball for no more than 20 seconds an entire game, it means you are just watching a guy run around doing what looks like nothing.  

My last complaint is about the announcing in general, but this is mainly carry over from the World Cup.  I touched on most of this in the beginning, but I didn’t mention ESPN’s dumbing down of the game.  By this I mean how after every foul, every shot, every pass, Marcelo Balboa and Shep Messing broke it down like I had never seen a soccer game before.  Now I think I understand why this was done, ESPN probably thought a lot of the viewers were watching the game for the first time, and they wanted those people to understand what is going on, but you know what?  It is soccer, it really isn’t that hard a sport to comprehend, if they don’t get it, they can look it up on the internet.  Dumbing down the game is not only annoying, I felt it was quite insulting to the millions of other people who actually understood what was going on.  I also never noticed this done in any of the other major sports, they assume you understand what is going on, and the game is that more watch able because of that.  

That’s my two cents; let me know what you think.

Well quite a weekend of football where to begin.  The games I watched this weekend were the Bayern vs Hanover game, Sevilla vs Getafe, Everton vs Blackburn and finally the Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur.

I was most disappointed with the fact that I couldn't catch the Real Atletico Derby, as well as Henry's debut with Barca.  Unfortunately it looks like I won't be able to watch too many of those games anytime in the near future due to issues with TV rights for the two clubs.  But I was able to find a bright spot by catching the Bayern Munich game, and I have to say I was very impressed.  Bayern Munich is a team full of young talent, and savy veterans, and appears from first glance to be the best team in Europe.  I was amazed at how well they past the ball, and the third goal scored by Altintop.  He recieved it not far from half and just breezed by the defenders with relative ease, cooly placing it past the Hanover keeper.  I realize it is too early to tell, but Bayern Munich could probably pull of a treble this season, and it is a shame we won't get a chance to see them in the champs league.

 Sevilla vs Getafe was full of goals, but Getafe was unfortunate to lose their first player to red card, the second red was fully deserved.  There was a scary moment when Puerta of Seville collapsed for no reason, you can read more about it here.   The goals Sevilla scored were well taken, but it was very obvious they were missing Dani Alves, who was not playing because he was sulking because he couldn't move to London.

 Everton vs Blackburn was a snoozefest.  Simba of Blackburn was an interesting player who played his heart out in the middle of Blackburn's defense, and was a menace everytime Blackburn had a free kick.  Interesting news about Everton, Yakubu was denied a work permit because he retired from the nigerian national team.  That is a huge blow for Everton, because it is quite apparent they lack any size in the frontline.

 Manchester United vs Tottenham was an ok game, it was apparent that missed Ronaldo and Rooney's presence(who wouldn't).  But Tottenham gave Nani too much time, and he made them pay with a superb 30 yard strike.

 I planned on doing some fantasy picks, but I think I will just wait till I get bored at work this week.

So I have put off writing my blog for a long time because, didn't really feel like I had enough time, or energy, and that may still be true, but I will at least try and get 1 post a week up, maybe Sunday night after the week of action. 

I will talk about any soccer anyone wants to bring up, but will most likely focus on US national team, EPL, La Liga, and a little MLS as I try to get inolved in our domestic league, and help support it.

I also might do a fantasy soccer article so I can help out all my friends who seem to need some help competing with me. (Atleti looking at you)

Edit

So to give my blog a little substance and hopefully get a conversation going, lets talk about two recent transfers that I think are awesome.

Yakubu to Everton

To me this is an awesome signing for Everton.  Only Theiry Henry has been more prolific in the same time span since about 2002 I believe in the EPL.  This helps add depth to Everton's frontline, gives them to excellent forwards who I feel will compliment each other.  This depth will no doubt help them compete in the UEFA Cup, and FA cup as well as the EPL.  I think this gives them a great option to maybe win the FA Cup, but I don't see them winning the UEFA Cup, mainly due to Bayern's presence, along with some very strong Spanish sides.

The other signing that got me very excited was Denilson joing FC Dallas.  I am actually more excited for this signing than I am for Beckham.  Denilson has had an interesting career, he showed great promise in the 98 World Cup, and was bought by Real Betis by a then record 37 million.  He never quite lived up to his price tag, and eventually found his way at Bordeaux.  He did ok at Bordeaux, but they weren't able to pay his hefty wage, so he moved on to Saudi Arabia.

In Denilson FC Dallas gets a play capable of some dazzling one on one moves, which is something the MLS sorely lacks, along with some Brazilian flair.  He has somewhat of a reputation as a ball hog, but I really don't think that is a bad thing right now for the MLS.

I am very excited for September 15th, when FC Dallas heads to New England.  What a week that will be the 12th I get to watch Brasil vs Mexico, a few days later see how Denilson is in the US!