As usual it was a good weekend for some, not so good for others.  Here's my take in the Monday Mash-Up:

Arsenal's title challenge is over - let me just start by getting that cleared up.  It's not that they lost to Stoke that is worrisome but HOW they lost to Stoke that is so worrisome.  And Robin van Persie - while your shove on Thomas Sorenson was hilarious and all, it perhaps provided the best evidence of all that Arsenal are no where NEAR ready to be champions.

Liverpool's loss to Tottenham does nothing to deter their title challenge though.  The Reds had enough chances to bury a host of different teams and it just wasn't their day.  With Torres coming back - they should be right there at the close.

Jozy Altidore came on in the 90th and scored his first European goal for Villarreal.  As someone who's met and chatted with Jozy a few times, I can't help but be happy for him.  He's a good guy and deserves the success he has worked so hard for.  They won 4-1 too.

Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl had a nice article Monday on something that will surprise no one - David Beckham has an 'out' clause in his LA Galaxy contract.  Wahl says Becks can ditch the Galaxy after the '09 season if he likes - a point MLS and Beck's reps have refused comment on.  I bet after the season he just endured he wishes the clause was moved up a year.

Speaking of MLS - with Toronto's season officially over, the hunt for a designated player should be top of the agenda of one Mo Johnston.  The question is who?  I keep hearing Dwayne DeRosario's name come up - and Houston might be willing to let him go.  But would he be worth what TFC would have to shell out?  I need your thoughts on this one because I'm not so sure.  One thing though - DeRo has shown he can still score goals....It's just the rate at which he scores that could be a BIG question - especially in Toronto - where it seems players have to LEAVE in order to get back to scoring goals (see Jeff Cunningham, Ronnie O'Brien).

And finally - Samuel Eto'o has again been the target of racist chanting at a league game in Spain.  When is FIFA going to make an example out of someone - seriously?  In this day and age for people to STILL be allowed (en masse) to engage in racist behaviour at a football match is appalling.  It also shows that perhaps we haven't come as far as we think.  As much as it will never happen this way - I'd LOVE to see FIFA impose a points deduction AND a stadium ban (10 games minimum) for incidents of racist behaviour.  Oh and in this same game - Leo Messi was caught spitting at Duda.  For that I'd be all for Messi being banned from all competitions for 15-games.  It's not racist but it is perhaps the most disgusting act one player can do to another - and should be punished as such.

Thoughts on all the above would be appreciated.

Is it finally time to admit the 'Beckham Experiment' is a failure?  That's the question that seems to be making the rounds these days - and the answers are mixed.  Those close to MLS will say no (of course) but those of us on the outside looking in will say - yes, it is time.

When Beckham came over in July of 2007, there was great fanfare, great expectations and lots of hope for football in America.  A year and a bit later - the fanfare surrounding Beckham is all that remains.  Sure, he can still draw fans to games wherever he goes - but the football has been dreadful.  Fans say 'ya, I saw David Beckham play' but rarely do they get to say they saw Beckham win - or even play at his best for that matter.

Even his marketing value is in decline.

No wonder he contacted AC Milan about a loan move.

After spending most of the year toiling away with the traffic cones that are the LA Galaxy - his loan move to Milan must be like an early Christmas present.  There were some questions early in the week about the deal actually going through due to some haggling over who would pay the $820K in salary.  I contested to those in my circle that I wouldn't be surprised if Beckham waived his wages and told Milan to just give him a flat and let him play.

And when the deal was finalized Thursday within hours of Beckham's lawyers arriving in Milan, I'm willing to bet that's what happened.  How else could it get done so quickly?  Even Adriano Galliani said he didn't expect a deal to be hammered out by the end of this week - and when financial details of the move were kept 'confidential'.....

Do you blame him though?  I think even Beckham - with his declining quality - has even been shocked at just how bad the Galaxy are.  And the fact they have floundered (despite MLS' best attempts to 'adjust' the league and get them into the post season) certainly hasn't helped matters.  It's been a disaster and football in America - instead of growing in stature - is the subject of jokes yet again.

I'll give kudos to MLS for the effort - but anyone who listens to any form of football podcast or feed from the UK knows what I'm talking about.  North American football - and MLS - are routinely compared to 'pub sides' over there.

What do you think?  Has the 'Beckham Experiment' done all it can?  Should David even come back?  What can MLS do to fix it?

As some of you may have seen on Wednesday night - we unveiled a 'new look' FSR.  It's something that has been in the works for a while now and after a stressful few months getting things together, we were able to launch (for the most part) glitch free at our usual time.

As a viewer you're going to see a much improved look, crisper colors and (hopefully) more quality content.  We have moved into a new facility and also into the digital age.  We now do EVERYTHING on computer.  All our games, stories, hilite packs - everything - is going onto a server and we are cutting them right on our desktops.  That's versus going into an edit suite, cutting them, writing them, etc.  For those familiar with broadcast protocol - you'll understand what a HUGE leap this is in terms of time-saving.....Which will allow us to focus on adding more things and spending more time 'bone-ing up' on things.

However - as we move forward and get comfy with the new set-up, there will be some 'YouTube' moments to be sure.  Hopfeully less rather than more.  We're using a whole new production team two provinces away so we need to get used to one another.  During this time, we appreciate your patience and understanding.  Have a chuckle because we certainly will be....It's just the way TV goes sometimes and we all understand that.

Please feel free to leave feedback on the new look right here.  We're ALWAYS anxious to hear what our viewers think when we make a change like this!  But most of all - pat yourselves on the back.  YOU are the ones we're doing this all for.  It's an effort born out of YOUR feedback in regards to what we can do better and how we can improve.  And our look is one thing we get constant comments about.  It'll never be perfect - there will always be something we can do better - and that's the way it should be.

It is our hope that this 'new' look is just another reason to watch. 

You already know the quality inside the book - we've just jazzed up the cover a bit!!

Enjoy - and thanks for watching (as always!).

(p.s. On top of the new look, we've also added a new reporter (and eventual anchor) to the staff.  SHE will make her debut shortly so keep an eye out for that as well.)

 

So much for Toronto FC's BMO Field having a 'state of the art' artificial soccer pitch.

A Canadian paper is reporting late Tuesday that Mo Johnston is going to try and use some of the fee they got for MF Maurice Edu to get the turf ripped out and a natural grass surface put in. Now I'm not sure if Mo has realised this yet but BMO is a year-round facility - that's how they managed to get government funding to build it. If they put grass in, come winter time it ain't gonna be a year round facility anymore - even if it is in Toronto where they barely get any snow (they put a bubble over the field in winter time so the turf can still be used).

TFC is proposing to build a practice field nearby - but it HAS to be on the land sold for the stadium. If you've been to BMO Field, you know there is NO land nearby for a practice field - unless they're talking about taking over one of the parking lots - and parking is already a nightmare down there. It'll be an interesting development for sure - and who knows where the CFL's Toronto Argonauts fit into this. The football team still thinks they should be able to play at BMO despite the fact it is a SSS. I won't even get started on how stupid that idea is (and TFC/MLS isn't in favor of it - it's a City matter). It's degrading enough for the game to STILL see MLS matches being played on lined football fields.

Back to the grass thing though - this strikes me as just another example of how backwards thinking non-soccer people can be. When footie people heard there was going to be artificial grass in there, the groans were audible from all over. BUT - lets put the fake stuff in there, get the team going and try to find a way to sneak it in later. This after David Beckham refused to play there and players complained about how bad it was - heck, they even lost a transfer deal because of it and NOW Darren Huckerby is doing in San Jose what he SHOULD have been doing in Toronto.

The good news for TFC fans? You only had to sell your best young player to get a grass field.

The club also announced they released Laurent Robert Tuesday. From the three line release: The 33-year old midfielder joined the club April 2, 2008 signing as a free agent. He started in 16 of 17 games logging 1,364 minutes scoring one goal and adding three assists.

Mo Johnston says he's eyeing a player out of contract and a player within MLS to help fill the void left by Robert and Edu's departures. One of those players is said to be LA FW Carlos Ruiz. Soccer By Ives is reporting TFC made the deal for Ruiz this afternoon and that's why Robert was sent out. It's been rumored for weeks that TFC were interested in the Guatemalan - and now he's headed north.

Toronto get a proven goal-scorer - which they need - but I'm not sure Ruiz is the answer.  Not to mention, how will he fit in with Amado Guevara?

The move makes room in LA for the Galaxy to sign Eddie Lewis.

Thoughts?

From Wikipedia:
Jumping the shark is a colloquialism used to denote that point in a TV show or movie series' history where the plot veers off into ridiculous story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, undergoing too many changes to retain the original appeal of the series.
Shows that have "jumped the shark" are typically deemed to have passed their peak as after this point critical fans can point to a noticeable decline in the show's overall quality.

Can you see how easy it is to relate this term to the LA Galaxy these days?

Not having won a game in two months, the Galaxy moved quickly Monday and hired Bruce Arena as head coach and GM. The move comes a week after the departure of coach Ruud Gullit and the firing Alexei Lalas.

When it first came out that the Galaxy were eyeing the former USMNT coach for the position, many of the conversations I heard (and was involved in) revolved around whether Arena has the personality to get the player's attention in LA and turn things around. He's a New York guy with a New York way about him and that may not rub some of the Galaxy stars the right away.....Ya Becks, I'm lookin' at you. Just look at what happened between Arena and Claudio Reyna with Red Bulls. It took less than six months for Arena and Reyna to admit things were not good between the two of them and by the end, neither was talking to the other.

And Reyna was all for the hiring of Arena!
So what happened?

And then there's Arena's his history in MLS. Yes, he won back-to-back titles with DC United in 1996-1997 - and yes, he took the USMNT to two World Cups guiding them to the Quarterfinals in 2002 - but what have you done for me lately?

His title wins were going on 12-years ago - MLS is a different (dare I say better) league now. He didn't do anything with Red Bulls and as Juan Carlos Osorio will tell you, he didn't leave much in terms of quality when he departed. That team had CLEARLY stopped playing for him long before he stopped coaching them.

The USMNT crashed out of the 2006 World Cup - expectations were certainly higher.
So what happened?

My two cents - I can't see Arena getting it done in LA - and I really don't like the hiring for the Galaxy organization. They moved too quickly and hired someone who could do more harm than good. This LA team has got more talent than what he had in NY - but Arena won't be able to deliver an MLS Cup. I'll be surprised if he gets them into the post-season.

I liked hearing names like Peter Nowak & Dave Sarachen attached to this job - they both have a recent history of success and have shown they can build a franchise in the modern game.

Given the situation - why didn't the Galaxy just stick with Cobi Jones for the rest of the season and take their time to hire the right candidate? Jones might have been able to foster a battling team spirit - the kind when you're a man down and have to dig deep....Ok, I can answer that question on my own - because MLS NEEDS to have Beckham win an MLS Cup ASAP.

Arena is a task-master who I predict will hurt this team more than he'll help it.

I hope I'm wrong - for the sake of the Galaxy and MLS.

Your thoughts on the Arena hire?