Silly French

S.I. reports HERE that France is threatening to cancel French National Team Soccer matches if fans of opposing teams boo or whistle during the French National Anthem.

Of course this is an idiotic idea, based on politics and race. Seems that France has a huge population of folks from its former colony in Tunisia. There are repeated ethnic/racial clashes in France and the people of Tunisian origin are often targeted. Those folks still have some nationalistic pride for their former homeland and on occasion they misbehave by making derisive noise during the anthem. Are they rude and inappropriate? Of course.

But French Soccer Hero Michael Platini is advocating for reason. He calls the threats to cancel "absurd" and points out that many of the folks who whistle and boo probably root for the French side when it is playing other European teams. Platini is correct on all counts. Politics does not belong in soccer or any other sport, and calls to cancel the games is unworkable (can you imagine sending home 80,000 people who travelled from all over to attend --not to mention the TV backlash and demind for rights fees refunds and damages) and is the worst sort of Pandering.

An All-Star Game Worth Watching

Some facts are well-established. Like, All-Star games suck. The NFL Pro Bowl is a half-speed farce. Major League Baseball tried to put some life in its all-star game by awarding the winning league home field advantage in the World Series. It didn't work. Perhaps the worst all-star game of all is the NBA's version of a super-star scrimmage. The NBA version feature absolutely no attempt by players to play hard. The games suck.

But Major League Soccer has stumbled onto a system that works. The games are exciting, well-played, and perhaps most important, it is clear that the players are going all out. Tonight's MLS All-Star game (at shiny new Sold-Out BMO Field in Toronto) was a perfect example. MLS prevailed 3-2 over West Ham United of the English Premiere League in a close, exciting game full of excellent play, great shots, and hotly contested possession. For five years now, MLS has pitted its All-stars against top professional teams from the world's top leagues. For 5 years MLS has won those games, and for the most part the games have been quite good. Regardless, they are worth watching --which automatically makes them better games than the all-star shows put on by NFL, MLB, and NBA. The NHL occasionally tweaks its all-star format, and its North America v. Europe version of its all-star game improves the product. But this "us vs. them" set up used by MLS is clearly superior. The players really care about the result. League pride is on the line.

Such a set-up obviously will not work for baseball or the NFL. But the NBA should consider an NBA all-=star team v. a world team or the olympic champs or something similar. As a kid I remember watching with interest when the super bowl champs (Pittsburgh in 1979) took on a college all-star team. Now that was fun. Too bad the NFL would never try something that interesting now.

Regardless, skip the current all-star formats and make sure you tune in for next year's MLS All-star game. You won't be disappointed.

Super Superliga

You probably have missed some great soccer as "Superliga 2008" is well underway. Superliga pits the top four MLS teams against the top four Mexican League teams in a "league" much like the Champions League in Europe. To my surprise, the soccer has been excellent. These matches are well-attended (in comparison to MLS matches) and hard-fought. It is clear that the Mexican League teams care as much about winning as the MLS teams do. This makes for some brutal play and tough contests. What is more impressive is how well the MLS teams are doing. Most soccer fans assume the Mexican League is superior to the USA's Major League Soccer. Top to bottom, I suppose they are right. But Superliga proves that the top MLS teams are on par with the best of Mexico.

Last night was a perfect example. Two excellent 1-0 games that featured hard tackles, tons of effort, and fast play. In both cases the MLS team won. Chivas USA beat Santos 1-0 on a nice header by Razov. Earlier the New England Revolution went to 2-0 in league play on a 1-0 victory over Pachuca. Read the game stories HERE. The only downside is that the games are a little hard to find --as they are only on Spanish-language TV. Telefutura is showing the games here and the channel is available on cable and the dish.

This kind of well-attended, well-played soccer bodes well for soccer in America and reflects the huge growth in the skill level played by MLS.

Pro Soccer Comes To Phoenix

The Phoenix Metro Region ("Valley of the Sun") is very large --about 7 million people. Yet we have no pro soccer franchise. Part of that is the glut of pro teams around Phoenix, and another part is the crazy hot summers we have here. Basically MLS soccer would require some sort of dome or retractable roof --which is expensive and disfavored by MLS.

The good news is that Steve Nash is interested in getting involved in MLS. The trick is convincing him to bring the team to Phoenix. No doubt he is more interested in NYC or Canada, but he owes us, right?

Regardless, Phoenicians have two big soccer events to look forward to this month.

First, our local semi-pro team, the Arizona Sahuaros have qualified for the U.S. Open Cup. The Cup is the oldest American soccer tournament and is open to all pro and club teams. The fun is when one of the "AAA" teams beat MLS teams --which usually happens once a year or so. The Sahuaros play the USL's ("AAA" soccer) Seattle Sounders on June 10 at Grand Canyon University. Read the write-up HERE. This is a great opportunity for the Sahuaros to represent Phoenix soccer and to attract investors. Moreover, it will be a fun event. Read more on the Sahuaros intersting history HERE. Go Sahuaros!

An even bigger event was just announced as well. On June 25th, Chivas dG of the Mexican League will take on the New York Red Bulls of MLS at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. Read the article HERE.





This is a huge opportunity for "Phoenix Rising" and others who want an MLS team for Phoenix, to demonstrate our passion and interest in high-level soccer. Phoenix Rising is organizing a supporters group for the game HERE. I doubt that Chivas will send their top side, but it is still Chivas, even though it is an exhibition game. It should be a blast.

MISL: Strike TWO!

The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) announced it is folding effective May 31, 2008.
News Blurb:

Major Indoor Soccer League shuts down

WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) -- The Major Indoor Soccer League has shut down after seven seasons, and is considering restructuring.

The league, which had been in operation since the 2001-02 season and had nine teams in the 2007-08 season, ceased operation last weekend. That came a few days after commissioner Steve Ryan resigned.

Former league chairman John Hantz, owner of the Detroit Ignition, said Monday that the league is considering restructuring that would allow longterm growth and expansion.

In addition to Detroit, the league had teams this season in Baltimore, Chicago, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., Orlando, Fla., Stockton, Calif., and Monterrey, Mexico.

Here's the MISL's semi-believable promise to return "meaner and leaner" or something like that:

WESTPORT, Conn. (Monday, June 2, 2008) - The Management Committee of the Major Indoor Soccer League today announced the MISL ceased operations effective May 31, 2008. The MISL Management Committee has begun formal transition planning and restructuring as they consider moves, which they believe will help lower costs and attract additional owner/operators. A decision on the future structure of the League will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.

"We are considering structural changes that will bring us greater efficiencies, while also allowing long term growth and expansion of the League," said John Hantz, former Chairman of the MISL, and Owner/Operator of the Detroit Ignition.

This day marks the end of one era and the start of a new era for the sport of Professional Indoor Soccer.

This is actually the second time the MISL has folded. The original semi-successful MISL folded back in 1992. I remember attending games in the 1980s with huge crowds. There was no MLS back then, so indoor soccer was the only game in town. Plus indoor soccer is fun to play and fun to watch. A shame it couldn't keep the popularity going.

In a crazy-hot city like Phoenix, indoor soccer is probably our best bet for pro soccer --becuase its played indoors. God bless the Phoenix Inferno and Phoenix Pride for trying to make a go of indoor soccer back in the day. The only way Phoenix is getting MLS is if some big-bucks owner decides to build a soccer-specific stadium. Hey Steve Nash! Bring MLS to Phoenix.

Anyway, some sort of pro indoor soccer will be around next year. Long time team Philadelpha Kixx promise to be back.
Good luck re-forming MISL. But don't come back as the semi-pro outfit that was your most recent incarnation.

Time to Move

BBC News reports here that more violence against foreigners has hit South Africa today. With over 40 foreingers killed, things are out of hand.
The LA Times comments today:

If the troubles in South Africa keep escalating and the attacks on foreigners keep spreading, the 2010 World Cup is doomed and might as well be moved elsewhere right now.

These rumors have been around for some time. Moving the Cup is a good idea. I'd love an excuse to see South Africa, but it would be incredibly expensive and if it isn't "guaranteed safe", as a father of three, I can't afford to go. Better for SA to host in 2018 or 2022 --when things are more stable. Simply put, the World Cup is too important to risk a failed venture. To be fair, South Africa pulled off the much smaller 1995 Rugby World Cup with little violence or problems.

So if the Cup is moved, it will probably be to the USA or Germany. Both of which are fine with me. The 2006 World Cup in Germany was darn-near perfect and as far as I'm concerned, Germany can host every cup. As for USA, that would be a blast and it would be much cheaper for me to attend in my own back yard.

Its time for FIFA to make a statement about South Africa and either explain how the problems are being addressed (instead of generalities and platitudes) or prepare to move the 2010 tournament.

The Boy Who Would Be King

Landon Donovan has been, undoubtedly, one of the bright lights of the American soccer scene over the last decade. His play in the 2002 World Cup gave American fans a tantalizing glimpse at a truly creative player wearing an American strip. Alas, came 2006, with the US in a challenging group, Donovan was a shrinking violet against the bigger, more physical Czech Republic yet redeemed himself in a truly courageous performance against Italy.

Even more vexing is the perception that Donovan is a callow boy. His failure at Bayern Leverkusen in addition to his intermittent flashes of brilliance in international play accentuates this perception. This article does not exactly disabuse skeptics of this notion. In the article Donovan says:

“Sometimes in this league, we play a midweek game in front of 6,000 and you
think: this stinks. Now with David, these have become real soccer games all the
time. Other teams are reaping rewards, too. Now we get to play in real games and
take it all seriously because of the spotlight.” (Emphasis mine)

Note to Galaxy fans who paid their money to watch a midweek game in which poor Landon was bummed out: You threw your hard earned bones down on a game that wasn’t real.

Also:

“The main thing on a week-to-week, day-to-day basis, it’s what I’ve been doing
to prepare myself to be successful in training and the next game,” he said. “I
didn’t always do it in the past. We’d play on Saturday, then it was kind of
ho-hum to get through the week. Now it’s become ... this is my job and it’s what
I do, and I feel it would be like letting myself down if I’m not taking things
more seriously.”

At age 26, Landon Donovan finally figured out what it took to be a professional.

2010 is around the corner - time to man up and prove your brilliance, pal.

Ray Hudson, world's greatest color commentator

While John Harkes may be America's worst soccer announcer, transplanted Brit Ray Hudson may be the best. The fun starts at about 30 seconds into this video. Preview: he is not a fan of Tom Cruise.

"Nashing" our teeth for soccer...

The LA Times reports the following:

By Grahame L. Jones, Los Angeles Times staff writer
February 20, 2008
Steve Nash could walk into any Major League Soccer
club today and make the starting lineup within a few weeks, but the
soccer-loving NBA star's passion lies across the sea, like so many others.
He might play basketball for the Phoenix Suns, but Nash's soccer heart is
with Tottenham Hotspur, the English Premier League club better known simply as
Spurs. Talking to England's Guardian newspaper, Nash predicted that he one day
would have a role toplay with the 126-year-old London club.
It won't be
about trying to make money, Nash said, separating himself from American
investors who have taken over several of England's leading teams.
"Unlike
them, I've been a passionate supporter all my life," Nash said. "My parents are
from North London and so it's not like I'm some Yank who wants to make a profit
out of football. I don't care about making money. I just want to see Spurs
succeed. If I can help, that's great."
Nash, a Canadian who recently
invested in the Women's Professional Soccer league that launches in the U.S.
next year, is a close friend of Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and director of
soccer Damien Comolli. "They know how much the club means to me," Nash said.
"But at this point it's more a friendship than a business partnership."

COME ON STEVE! We need MLS Soccer in Phoenix. You make your money here and you live here half the year (we know your heart is in Canada and NYC, but throw your desert fans a bone), so BRING SOCCER HERE! It would take a tiny portion of your vast wealth to bring a MLS team here and put up a stadium (say at the Fairgrounds --wouldn't that be cool!).


via videosift.com

Red Card to ESPN

Latest News on ESPN and Soccer:

Wynalda dumped from telecasts
Posted: Friday February 01, 2008 07:46AM ET
ESPN announced a new broadcast lineup Thursday for its Major League Soccer and U.S. national team telecasts -- and it doesn't include Eric Wynalda. Wynalda did himself no favors last season after derogatory comments he made to a soccer blog about a fellow ESPN personality who's also a notorious soccer critic. ESPN suspended the former U.S. national team forward for the MLS season opener.

Basically, Wynalda said (while drinking a few beers with a soccer blog guy) "Jim Rome Can Suck My Dick!" He was suspended by ESPN because the comments were published. He later went on Rome's radio show to apologize. That should have been the end of it, but basically ESPN fired him and replaced him with John Harkes (the same John Harkes who allegedly "slept" with Wynalda's wife just before the 1998 World Cup in France. Ouch!

Wynalda is the best thing for ESPN soccer --he is actually critical and makes insightful comments. Yes he tends to pop off, but that's why we love him. As for Jim Rome (who makes a thing of hating soccer), Wynalda simply said what every soccer fan was thinking.

Bring back Wynalda ESPN! Where do I sign the (futile) petition?



UPDATE: ESPN Sucks.
Wynalda loses network job
Posted: Wednesday February 06, 2008 07:42AM ET
Just weeks after ESPN made the decision to remove Eric Wynalda from its broadcast team for MLS and U.S. national team games, the network has completely severed ties with the controversial analyst. Sources have told SBI that ESPN and Wynalda have parted ways after weeks of negotiations to find a new role for Wynalda. The original plan was to have Wynalda work on Champions League broadcasts but the network and Wynalda could not agree on his role. It is believed that ESPN bought out the remaining year on Wynalda's contract.

2018? USA!!!!

Soccer America (and others) are reporting here that US Soccer is deciding whether to bid on the right to host the 2018 World Cup of soccer. WTF? Hell yes they better bid! Under the old rotation system, North America was up to host in 2018 anyway. FIFA just scrapped it under pressure (and influence) of Europe. What a crock! Right now the US plans to bid but it wants to wait and see if it has a chance. This is a change of heart from a year ago --when the USA federation voted unanimously to bid on 2018. Summary here and here. Back then ol' Sepp Blatter was saying it was hard not to give it to USA. The Sepster is strangely quiet now (post the vote to scrap the rotation system).

I understand if USA has to step in for the 2010 World Cup (South Africa) or the 2014 World Cup (Brazil), but otherwise USA should get the cup. We should bid on principle alone. Sadly, experts, like this guy on espn are saying USA's bid is a longshot.

Red Card Ain't Enough

Check out this foul by Binya of Benfica in Champions League Play against Brown of Celtic last night. Outragious. UEFA is investigating as reported by ESPN here. This one is a no brainer. Check out the video below. The slow-mo replay is at the 49 second mark --and clearly requires a long suspension. The question is whether Binya had orders to do the foul.

uh... Viva USA 2007!

Amongst all the hype about South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014, some soccer news got lost.

It seems there is an officially sanctioned FIFA world tournament that starts next week!
And, yes, USA is in. Of course I'm speaking about something called the "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2007."

I don't know who is on our team or what are chances are, but I do remember watching some beach soccer on ESPN years ago and the USA did pretty well --even against Brazil. We had a fat goalie (David Vanole) as our leader and played tough. (RIP David)

Go USA! No one here will be able to watch, but go you boys! Here's the USA team info: here. Do it for the Vanole!

Viva Brazil 2014

No big surprise here. SI reports that Brazil has been awarded the 2014 World Cup. Given FIFA's "rotation system" and the fact that the only country in South America prepared to host the World Cup Tournament is Brazil, Brazil was a shoo-in.

The problem is the same as it was in 1986 for Columbia (Mexico had to step in when Columbia Couldn't pull it off) --will Brazil be able to get it's economy and infrastructure in place in time to host this mega-event? Actually, the problem is worse this time. The event is MUCH larger than it was 20 years ago, and will only be bigger come 2014. Brazil meanwhile is a mess.
SI's Tim Vickery says here that Brazil will probably not pull it off.

USA is poised to sweep in and take on the host duties if it can (and Brazil cannot) --an outcome FIFA would like to avoid. But don't get too hopeful Americans, no less than The Economist magazine says that Brazil's economy is on the upswing here. If they can get organized then it may be time for us to start learning Portugese and saving our cash for a trip to South America.

American fans have been counting on getting the World Cup in 2018 --because the previously-mentioned FIFA rotation system lands on North America in 2018 and USA would be the obvious front-runner based on our "big event" experience and the unmitigated success of the 1994 World Cup in USA. But not so fast my friend. FIFA has just announced the rotation system is dead starting in 2018! (click here). This is a clear blow to USA Soccer and leaves things wide open for 2018. SI notes Australia is serious about getting it. Click here to read. So perhaps our best shot is to "steal" a world cup from Brazil for 2014 or South Africa for 2010. This move may also reflect FIFA's unspoken belief that 2010 will be taken from South Africa due to organization problems -and given to the USA. Time will tell.

10/31 Update: Here's the trouble --England is bidding for 2018 and will likely get the support of the very powerful Europe Federation.