Happy Friday to you all, hope your work week has gone well here as it is almost Happy Hour on the east coast. I figure we may as well get some news out of the way before we start downing some drinks for the start of the weekend. Also, don’t forget to buy yo momma a gift for Sunday! No product placement here but a simple reminder from your neighborhood Hooligan that Mother’s Day is Sunday!
I will start out in the Windy City. It looks as though things are as rosy as we though between the Chicago Fire and defender Wilham Conde. Last night during MLS PrimeTime Thursday, ESPN2 reporter Pedro Gomez (I love that he is doing soccer these days, so much better than Alan Hopkins) talked about how Conde is still unhappy in Chicago.
Apparently he still isn’t happy with the Fire and after seeing how he didn’t even dress last night, things are probably going back to the way they were before the season. Right now the Fire are playing some of the best soccer that MLS has seen in some time in terms of defense and Conde hasn’t been apart of it. He’s one of the highest paid players on the Fire roster and so far he hasn’t played a full game this season.
Gomez stated that the Fire are still trying to patch things up with him in an effort to keep him in the Windy City. Also he said there was no way that the Fire would even consider trading him to an eastern conference club.
So a trade to New York still remains out of the question.
So what should the Fire do with him? Keep him on the bench until he comes to his senses? Or trade him away to a western conference club that could use his defense and that has some space to do something with him? You have to figure one of the western club has to take a serious look at him (hello LA!!) even with his personal distractions.
Or maybe they wait until the summer transfer window and try to ship him off elsewhere.
A lighter weekend for Major League Soccer here in week seven. Only five games unlike the normal six that we’ve been accustom to so far this season. Both KC and Toronto have the weekend off to regroup or whatever they both need to do in a week off.
The usual game format for the weekend stands with the majority of games on Saturday and one on Sunday. I still wish that when the league puts a game on a Spanish outlet like TeleFutra, that they would at least provide a Direct Kick or something of that game for us non-Spanish speaking folk. Not that I don’t mind those lovely Spanish announcers, I would just love to be able to watch the game without all the yelling.
Anyways, let’s get down to business here.
Colorado Rapids - at - Houston Dynamo: We all know by now that the Houston Dynamo are winless in the first six games of the season. But what I still think people keep forgetting is that they’ve only lost two games this year. Both on the road at New England and Columbus. The main problem as we all know by now is still the scoring issues. Read the rest of this entry »
I guess maybe all along we were completely wrong about DC United. So far this season they haven’t looked at all like the Supporter’s Shield winners of the last two years and I think now more than ever we can stop throwing out the age old excuse of the CONCACAF Champions Cup hangover as to why this club is doing so poorly.
Let’s face it, Chicago looked like the better side last night and in the end they walked away with the three points after another stellar effort. Not to mention the fact that they OWN DC in RFK Stadium like no one else in this league. The 2-0 win looked easy for the most part.
It wasn’t anything special either. The first half, Chicago created chances and in the later stages of the half they were rewarded with a Justin Mapp goal. By the way, that was Mapp’s first goal since 2006. As for DC in that first half, they failed to create any real chances against Chicago. It wasn’t a defensive stranglehold on DC by the Fire defense, it was merely a United team that didn’t look at all comfortable on the pitch with one another.
There it is, this club still hasn’t come together this season as a team.
A great video posted a couple days back from FC Dallas’s team blog. I didn’t catch it until today when I saw a bit of it on ESPN’s video page. Anyways, back when ESPN2 had the FC Dallas/New England game, the blog crew with FCD took the chance to get a behind the scenes look at what it takes to put together a broadcast and believe me it takes a whole lot of work.
I’ve sat through the behind the scenes with college football before with ESPN, so soccer isn’t too different. Still, worth a look. Enjoy!
You know the more I look into this whole expansion to Montreal, the more I get behind it. Sure, I think it should still be a few more years away but after seeing the final product of the new Saputo Stadium today, I’m thinking an expansion bid for the city could come sooner than that.
As you will see below, for a USL side this is a quality stadium. Hell, even for a few MLS teams this would be a quality stadium. Its a cozy 13,000 seat stadium with plenty of room for expansion. Obviously that will have to happen for them to get an expansion bid into MLS.
From looking at the photos, this looks like a blue version of BMO Field in Toronto. I’d like to see exactly how they will add another four to eight thousand seats for when they could join MLS in a years though. It looks like one endzone would easily have to get worked on and maybe add seats in the corners to round out the stadium a bit. Either way I like this little stadium and I bet it will be one of the better venues in the US and Canada for soccer. Read the rest of this entry »
A while back DC United striker Luciano Emilio asked his club for a pay raise due to his performance in the 2007 season. He scored 20 goals and was the league’s Golden Boot winner. DC said they would talk about it but nothing ever came out from it.
Today, that story changes a bit. Steve Goff is reporting that Emilio is finally getting that pay raise that he wanted. He is now the club’s second designated player, a slot that they traded for when they dealt Christian Gomez to the Colorado Rapids a couple months back.
“Here’s the deal: Emilio and United have signed an amendment to his original contract, essentially a bonus (how much, I don’t know) that brings his earnings past the DP threshhold of $400,000-plus. He had been guaranteed $313,000 this year. His original contract remains intact, but at some point this year, one of three things must occur: United must sign him to a new deal, trade him or sell him abroad. Fair to say, his scoring output the next few months will determine his fate.”
Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me. I thought the club would be looking elsewhere to use that DP spot and not promote from within like this. However, it is noted that Emilio hasn’t played nearly as well this season as the previous one. A lot of that stems from the contract that he wanted bumped up in the offseason. Apparently he was still a bit down from not getting that and his play on the field suffered as well.
The new contract is now bigger based on what he did last year, which as Goff put it, should help motivate him for this year. We see this from time to time with players, they do well one year and then ask for a bigger contract. The club and the league balk at the idea and they both continue to go on but the player typically is still upset from the lack of a better contract. His play takes a hit in the next season until he gets his way.
Look no further than to Houston’s Dwayne De Rosario. Last year DeRo wanted a fat contract to start the year because of the season he had in 2006. He probably should have gotten a better deal before the season but that isn’t how Houston works sometimes I suppose. Anyways, it took most of the season to finally get DeRo a better deal and once that happened his play picked up in a big way, and he then helped lead his club to a second straight MLS Cup.
Will the same happen to Emilio? If you are a DC fan you sure hope so. This season hasn’t been anything to brag about from a United’s standpoint. Emilio hasn’t lived up to his billing from a season ago and really hasn’t even looked like the same player from a year ago. Maybe the fatter contract will help out but who knows if that will happen right away. With a big game tonight at home against the Fire, DC sure could use some of that Emilio magic from a year ago.
Also, one more thing, the club cannot sign any more DP-type players this year but can (and probably will) still sign players that aren’t DP-worthy.
Another primetime clash in the eastern conference tonight. The big boys of Chicago against the boys who should be big of DC. Both clubs are in opposite ends of the spectrum here going into week number seven of the 2008 campaign.
The one thing that may be going for the homeside is the fact that they have a new sponsor in VW. But seriously, we have the league’s best defense (Chicago) against who should be one of the better offenses in the league (DC). But let’s not forget, Chicago’s got a pretty decent attack and DC’s defense hasn’t been anything worth bragging about yet this season.
One thing we know too, Chicago isn’t afraid of DC these days. Last fall they eliminated the Supporter’s Shield winners in the first round of the playoffs. I’m sure Fire fans remember those two games that made DC look like the lower seed and not the top seed.
Something has to give for DC though here this season. The attack looks worse than it should be and the defense isn’t living up to the expectations. Maybe its a bit of the talent brought in wasn’t as good as we though and keeper Zach Wells is still playing like a backup and not a starter. Let’s also look at the offense too for United, Luciano Emilio isn’t playing like a Golden Boot winner right now. Maybe its due to no Ben Olsen in the midfield. Or maybe its due to him being more of a one-hit wonder rather than a superstar in this league. Read the rest of this entry »
Yeah, I guess a month or so back when we talked about Seattle’s expansion club already signing some of it’s USL players to MLS contracts for next year was a little premature.
Well sorta at least.
Not that we didn’t have the right information or anything on it but it appears that the club is finally coming out and saying they have signed Sebastian Le Toux to a MLS contract.
This may not be anything new to people in Seattle. Though I did find it interesting to see that a few people had already sent me this link today.
No word yet on if Le Toux had indeed signed a four-year deal with the expansion club or if that talk was just talk to start out with.
Same thing goes for the talk of Le Toux and a couple other Sounders being on loan this season to the USL Sounders. Yeah, that was something floating out there that a couple players had been signed by the league only to be loaned back out to the USL version of the Emerald City club.
Either way its more official now I suppose than it was a month and a half ago.
And for info on Le Toux, you can revert to the previous post about this subject or check out his wiki page.
We all know that it is no secret, the Houston Dynamo are having some serious scoring problems this season. A big reason is due to the loss of both Joesph Ngwenya and Nate Jaqua in the offseason. Now it appears that the Men in Orange want one of those two back this summer.
According to Bernando Fallas, the Houston Dynamo are prepared to go all out an convince the striker to return to Major League Soccer from the Austrian Bundesliga where he hasn’t exactly had the best of times.
“There’s been relatively limited contact (with Ngwenya),” Dynamo president Oliver Luck said Monday. “There’s been a little bit of e-mail traffic back and forth, but there is no indication that he is interested in coming back. But if he does express interest, that’s certainly something we would consider seriously.
“If the season is over (in Austria), we need to be on the phone with him.”
The roadblock may still be convincing him to return though. But after four months in Austria, Ngwenya probably wants to get back on the field and play consistently. During those four months, he wore Karnten uniform in just one game. With the season coming to a close last week, Karnten finished next-to-last in the standings.
Ngwenya would easily get the playing time that he deserves and the Dynamo would be able to pay him more than he got last year with the club.
It’s all just a matter of how badly the guy wants to play here. There’s no real word on if he will remain in Austria or try his luck elsewhere this summer in Europe.
We know the reasons for Houston wanting him back but I think if I were him I would give it another go in MLS for the rest of the year and then try to go back to Europe in the winter. For a player, playing time is everything.
I guess this week was the start of more rumors for players possibly on the move to Major League Soccer. One came in the inbox today from the BBC about a possible move for ex-Columbus Crew forward Brian McBride. Its purely gossip at this point but the BBC thinks he may turn down a one-year deal with Fulham to return to the place where he got started at in Columbus.
First off, I highly doubt he will end up in Columbus whenever he does return to the US to finish out his career. Its kind of lazy reporting on the part of the whoever in England because from what I’ve seen and heard McBride wants to finish out his days in Chicago (he lives in a town outside of Chicago).
The 35-year-old striker will more than likely return to MLS even if he does take the one-year deal from Fulham for next season. I’ve always thought McBride would return to the States for one or two years to finish out his soccer days.
As for Columbus being the destination. It could happen, as the Crew do have the money to make a deal happen for McBride. Yes, he would probably be a DP price tag for the team but the thing is I highly doubt he would end up there unless the Crew made a good deal for it to happen.
Secondly, Toronto will more than likely have the allocation claim on McBride in the event the he does return to MLS. I’m sure someone will be making a deal with the Reds for McBride if he does come as Toronto probably won’t be looking to use a DP on a guy like McBride. Plus, I think they can pass on the claim and let the next club in line (probably RSL or Columbus) take the claim.
And, again, from what he’s said before he wants to play in Chicago. The Fire have the pieces to trade away to whoever has any sort of claim on him. The Fire could easily swing out a couple defenders and/or one of their young strikers to Toronto or Columbus here (or anyone else for that matter). I think it would be a move that anyone could have to take a serious look at.
I think we may still be a year or so away from actually seeing McBride back in MLS though. But if his club does some how get relegated this season the door could open up for him a bit more than it would have if Fulham were to not get the bump down.
Its all food for thought. All three clubs could use his experience but I honestly think he will end up in Chicago after some sort of trade or allocation deal. But again, it probably won’t be for another year.
Currently MLS Playoff Table:
2008 Standings As of 5/9/08 -Top Eight In-
16 Chicago (E1)
15 Columbus(E2)
10 New England (E3)
10 KC
10 Toronto
9 Dallas (W1)
9 Colorado (W2)
8 LA (W3) -Bottom Six Out-
8 New York
6 DC
5 Real Salt Lake
5 Chivas
4 San Jose
4 Houston Top four qualify for CONCACAF Champions League, SuperLiga 09, top 6 automatically qualify for the 2009 US Open Cup; *top three from each conference qualifies for playoffs, next two regardless of conference qualify for playoffs
X- clinched playoff birth
WVH's Watch Lists
Golden Boot Leader
Landon Donovan 8
Kenny Cooper 4
Alejandro Moreno 4
Sasha Kljestan 3
David Beckham 3
Coaching Hot Seat:
1. Fernando Clavijo - Colorado
2. Preki - Chivas USA
3. Dominic Kinnear - Houston
2008 USMNT Schedule
USA 2-0 Sweden - USA goals by Eddie Robinson (15) & Landon Donovan (PK-48) USA 2-2 Mexico - USA goals by Oguchi Onyewu (30) & Jozy Altidore (40). Mex goals both Jonny Magallon (35 & 47) Poland 0-3 USA - USA goals by Carlos Bocanegra (12), Oguchi Onyewu (35) & Eddie Lewis (73) May 28 Wed v England - in London, England at Wembley Stadium - 2pm central on ESPN Classic & Univision Jun 4 Wed v Spain - in Santander, Spain at Estadio El Sardinero - 3pm central - all other details tbd Jun 8 Sun v Argentina - in East Rutherford NJ at Giants Stadium - all other details tdb Jun 15 Sun v winner of Dominica v Barbados - at the Home Depot Center in Carson CA - 4pm central time on ESPN2 & Univision
**Unknown Date 2nd leg v winner of Dominica v Barbados - all other details tbd
**Aug 20 Wed at Guatemala (presumed opponent) - all other details tbd
**Sep 6 Sat at Cuba (presumed opponent) - all other details tbd
**Sep 10 Wed v Trinidad & Tobago (presumed opponent) - all other details tbd
**Oct 11 Sat v Cuba (presumed opponent) - all other details tbd
**Oct 15 Wed at Trinidad & Tobago (presumed opponent) - all other details tbd
**Nov 19 Wed v Guatemala (presumed opponent) - all other details tbd
**World Cup Qualifiers
Happy Friday to you all, hope your work week has gone well here as it is almost Happy Hour on the east coast. I figure we may as well get some news out of the way before we start downing some drinks for the start of the weekend. Also, don’t forget to buy yo momma a gift for Sunday! No product placement here but a simple reminder from your neighborhood Hooligan that Mother’s Day is Sunday!
A lighter weekend for Major League Soccer here in week seven. Only five games unlike the normal six that we’ve been accustom to so far this season. Both KC and Toronto have the weekend off to regroup or whatever they both need to do in a week off.
I guess maybe all along we were completely wrong about DC United. So far this season they haven’t looked at all like the Supporter’s Shield winners of the last two years and I think now more than ever we can stop throwing out the age old excuse of the CONCACAF Champions Cup hangover as to why this club is doing so poorly.
A while back DC United striker Luciano Emilio asked his club for a pay raise due to his performance in the 2007 season. He scored 20 goals and was the league’s Golden Boot winner. DC said they would talk about it but nothing ever came out from it.
Another primetime clash in the eastern conference tonight. The big boys of Chicago against the boys who should be big of DC. Both clubs are in opposite ends of the spectrum here going into week number seven of the 2008 campaign.
Yeah, I guess a 
We all know that it is no secret, the Houston Dynamo are having some serious scoring problems this season. A big reason is due to the loss of both Joesph Ngwenya and Nate Jaqua in the offseason. Now it appears that the Men in Orange want one of those two back this summer.
I guess this week was the start of more rumors for players possibly on the move to Major League Soccer. One came in the inbox today from 
