Gotta love the inside access that FC Dallas is providing this year. Heath Pearce is turning into quite the inside reporter.

How has Eddie Johnson has changed our lives? New WVH writer John Parker takes a look.

By John Parker

Brian Mcbride was a good player. So was Joe-Max Moore. Eric Wynalda held the American scoring record for nearly a decade.

Alright, I don’t know where to start with this, and my free writing is a little sub par here. But there is a point, and it’s not that subtle. The US has produced some adequate players up top, but the position has been the country’s Achilles heel…and an anomaly. This is a nation that hosts the most astonishing athletes in the world, and yet cycle after cycle we see gadflies, overachievers and “hard workers” leading the line. Meanwhile, the Damani Ralph’s of the world were entering the MLS and snatching golden boots.

Before the 2006 cycle, this is what we not only experienced, but expected. We waited on the coming Hispanic infusion that would introduce craft to the position; the demographics of America were rapidly changing, and the future of American soccer supposedly with it. We would see a new breed of player, one who preferred to play on the ball, to strike it from distance and to create for his teammates. Brian Mcbride was great, but we could improve.

But then something curious happened. Eddie Johnson, an American striker with sub par ability on the ball won the golden boot with the U-20’s, and then again with the MLS. It was astonishing…because he was an astonishing athlete. Playing off the hips of the defender, Eddie looked to impose his will with his speed. He didn’t finish off of crosses or set pieces but rather through balls. He was introduced to the National Team and quickly reeled off seven goals. The message boards lit up. People bought the jersey they were sure to wear for a decade…after all, who offered what Eddie did up top? Those seven goals may have been somewhat of a fluke, but they may also have been proof of something greater than just Eddie. The American style, with its counter-attacks and its high pressure defending (which leads to interceptions up the pitch) could take advantage of a forward who routinely got behind the defense. The Twellman’s of the world slowed down our attack when, if anything, we needed to be speeding up.

Don’t beat yourself up for falling for the hype to early. I did…and your favorite blogger probably did too. After all, it’s not like we could complain that Eddie’s ball skills didn’t compare with the rest of the pool. We’d later realize how much better Mcbride’s first touch was, or how much better Moore was off the ball…but the point is for a youth player it was tough to criticize him in comparison (remember, he was battling Taylor Twellman for a spot). Continue Reading…

Is Blanco the best DP MLS has seen so far? (Getty Images)

I’ve had this thought for a little while, on the surface the Designated Player rule is good as it brings quality players into Major League Soccer that do help in more areas than just on the field itself. We know the cons against it like teams spending so much money on one player but I started looking at all the past and present DPs and started wondering if this rule really is worth it.

Now first of all I’m not going to advocate for or against this rule today. I just merely want to point out who’s done well with it and who’s not. We’ve seen this rule in place for a couple seasons now and so far only a few clubs have ventured out with this rule. Now it seems like most clubs are going away from the rule, currently only five clubs have a DP (Toronto, New York, LA, Seattle and Houston).

Also, so far five clubs (or six if you count Philly too) have yet to use their DP slot. RSL won MLS Cup 2009 without one so maybe they aren’t worth the money.

So let’s take a deeper look into each DP. What worked about it and what didn’t work on and off the field. We’ll go from worst to best in this instance. I’d also like to note that two fo the DPs on this list have only played a little under a half season with their clubs so grading and discussing them at length seemed unfair at this time. If you are wondering about who I am talking about here those two are Houston’s Luis Angel Landin and Toronto’s Julian De Guzman. (For the record I like De Guzman but don’t care of Landin…but saying that I am very curious about their upcoming seasons.) Continue Reading…

Piotr Nowak leads the troops. (Photo via Philadelphia Union)

By: Geoff Reid

I must admit, when Philadelphia officially got announced as the next expansion club added to the MLS brass for the 2010 season in March of 2008, I was very skeptical.  Of course at the time, I was still based in Massachusetts as an undergrad and my local side then essentially was the New England Revolution.  For a long time in the back of my mind I was always thinking it was a mistake that the league picked Philadelphia over St. Louis.  Now nearly two years later, my opinion is a complete 180 degrees from what it originally had been.

Since the last update in November, much more has developed: the expansion draft, MLS Superdraft, additional player signings, full fixture announcement for the whole season, date for when the stadium will officially open, additions to coaching staff, the hiring of JP Dellacamera as play by play commentator and local TV contract on 6abc to televise games that aren’t nationally televised, amongst a whole other bunch of information.

The media coverage has been particularly interesting.  It’s not been front page of the sports editions by any means, nor was the Union expecting that to happen. However, signs have been encouraging.  Tom Veit, President of the club told the local newspaper Philadelphia Inquirer that season ticket sales will still cap at 12,000 and that currently the number is closing on 10,000.  Veit pointed out that Toronto FC had as many season ticket holders at this point when they were approaching their 1st season in league play and used the TFC model as an example to prove why he believes all Union home matches will sell out the 18,500 seat stadium when completed. Continue Reading…

From time to time as you all know we like to post interviews done by former MLSer Jared Montz. If you haven’t gotten into his podcast yet I highly recommend you do so now.

Today he has added a new podcast…or videocast…or whatever they are called with Chicago Fire forward Calen Carr.

Enjoy.

I try sometimes to stay away from personal matters but today just isn’t one of those days. See today is a special day for me and this site because it is the three year anniversary!

I’ll cut to the chase and not bother you with loads of memories and wishes though. I would though like to thank you all who come here everyday, every week, once a month, once a year or how ever often you visit my little space on the internet. I know I have ruffled a few feathers and probably upset a few of you over time. I’d like to think that I am growing as a writer and a person here.

I’d also like to give a thanks to Geoff Reid and Brian Stevens, two people who have helped me out in different ways over the last year. Geoff with his interesting views on things and Brian with his amazing photography of the Kansas City Wizards.

I hope that moving forward this site continues to grow. Don’t worry I’m not going to bother you with my site stats, I believe in showing off how much or little you do is a little annoying. If you want to see them or know them just ask me or find a site that can look them up for you.

As for what the new year here at WVH will bring, I am hoping to grow the site with more writers (and photographers) if anyone is interested. Don’t worry I won’t force deadlines or anything like that. I would just like to add some people who enjoy writing about the beautiful game for the fun of it like I do. Hopefully this new year brings a lot of good from it.

Again, thanks for coming.

Cheers,

- Drew

DC United fans are hoping for a return to playoffs in 2010. (Getty Images)

I wasn’t entirely sure I’d get to this offseason look at DC United today but extra time this afternoon came out of no where. So far these last couple weeks we’ve looked at a handfull of teams including Philadelphia, Chicago, Chivas, Colorado and Columbus.

Today is all about the Black-and-Red who have seen a pretty big change this winter. From Curt Onalfo taking over for Tom Soehn to seeing Ben Olsen retiring to not offering Christian Gomez or Luciano Emilio a new contract, this is a whole new United.

Let’s see exactly what they’ve done and what they need to work on before the season starts. Continue Reading…