I do love a good Eric Wynalda story. Appeartly he is unhappy with how things are going with the US national team like everyone else.

I have no idea where this image came from. Ginge over at Ginge Talks The Footy found it off another site and where they found it I do not know. My guess it is a Facebook thing. Either way its funny nonetheless.

Hello Tuesday to ya. Many of you going back to work after the long weekend. The Hooligan didn’t rest however as Monday was a fairly busy day for me here (and I did have to go into the office and work).

A few things to get into this morning.

Chivas USA keeper Brad Guzan, hot off a stellar performance against my beloved Sweden has left California and is in Scottland right now on a trail with Celtic. All signs are now pointing to a bid for his services from the Scottish champions and Champions League participants.

Celtic has kept an eye on Guzan even after re-signing Polish veteran goalkeeper Artur Boruc. At this point, Guzan’s trial is more of a formality as the Glasgow club and MLS settle on a transfer fee. Guzan must still apply for a work permit since he doesn’t qualify through normal means, but sources tell me they don’t believe the work permit issue will keep Guzan from joining Celtic. Continue Reading…

A couple weeks before the new year and it’s time for the WVHooligan “Way Too Early 2008 Season Predictions.” Some things will be included into next year’s actual season predictions in March and some things are just random thoughts that I think could happen over the course of the 2008 year.

Of course some things are purely wants and desires that I would like to see happen and some are factual based predictions for next season. Its a fun thing, not meant to be too serious but I do reserve the right to brag and boast if I get things right in these predictions for next year. What can I say, I get ragged on when I get things wrong and never hear a pep when I get things right. So bragging will ensue if I am correct on any of these things.

Feel free to post your early predictions as well. Continue Reading…

I guess you could say I am starting the week off in a very hypothetical mood. Most of what you are about to read is purely wants and desires that I would like to see happen. I know some things will never change in the MLS and I am alright to a degree about that. Some things here will change, mainly because down the road the league will have to do things to accommodate certain parts of their game.

I urge you all to post your thoughts with this as well. Again, these are just things I would like the league to improve on. Some are realistic and some are just purely thoughts coming out of my head this morning.

Its kind of a long post but let me know what you all think. Continue Reading…

I spent most of the day going back and forth on posting this but I just felt like doing it the more time passed on. Anyways, for those who watched the DC-Chicago game last night may have (or have not) caught a little remark from the one and only Eric Wynalda.

During the game, ESPN2 cameras panned to the Chicago Fire supporter’s group Section 8 with about 15 minutes left in the match, fans in the section set off flares that gave off a red, fire-like glare, which is what flares do. Wynalda responded to this image by saying, “Looks like California,” a flippant reference to the wildfires currently plaguing Southern California. The awkward silence that followed after the comment leads me to believe Wynalda realized the mistake he just made.

I have to say, even if Wynalda does make a home in California (which I believe he still does, he does have ties in San Diego), that kind of comment is one of those moments that you need to not open up your mouth and say what first comes to mind. We know Wynalda all too well to do these types of things. Of course we remember the beginning of the season that started with Wynalda telling ESPN’s Jim Rome to…well I am sure you remember.

Most people thought the comments towards Rome were comical and it didn’t cause a lot of outcry as Wynalda got a one game suspension from ESPN. Last night’s comments on the other hand were a little bit worse given the situation in California.

At times I love listening to Wynalda in a telecast, mostly because he drowns out the annoyance of Rob Stone or Dave O’Brien. But when he has these foot-in-mouth comments, I begin to wonder if he is really the type of analyst that soccer needs leading the way to get more people interested in soccer. I’m not calling for his job or anything, because he will get a job anywhere in soccer in this country doing commentary if he wants to. I just think that too many comments like this will catch up to him before long.

There have been strong rumors for a while now that Wynalda was already on the way out after this season, with recently retired Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones and Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas (if he is fired or ‘resigns’) among the candidates to replace him. There are just three more MLS games for Wynalda to do (DC-Chicago Game two, the Eastern Conference Final and MLS Cup on ABC) so you wonder if ESPN will sit Wynalda the rest of the way and fill the spots with Tommy Smythe or Julie Foudy. I bet ESPN will try to just hide this story and hope it doesn’t get picked up anywhere.

So what should come of Wynalda? Keep him or let him go elsewhere. Now I do think Cobi Jones would be a solid replacement and I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing him on the telly right now (Cobi is very outspoken and would be good for this role).

After being completely wrong about last night’s game I am beginning to believe tonight’s game for Houston against Chivas USA may be a bit of a trap game for the Dynamo like the Crew were for the Wizards last night in Columbus.

I believed it a bit earlier in the week but I am looking more into it now that the club they face on Sunday dropped a game against a club they should have easily handled. Will the same fate happen to the Dynamo tonight against a hot Chivas club? It is possible.

Houston will still be without some of their main guns but that shouldn’t matter a whole lot since they have been winning without the likes of Dewayne De Rosario and Brian Ching. Chivas will miss a couple players but it won’t make that much of a difference because they are on a nice roll of their own.

Some how the Dynamo have been unstoppable against the western clubs this season, going 4-0-1 in that span. One of those games saw Houston blank Chivas in a fairly even game 1-0 back on April 14.

A lot has changed for both clubs since that last meeting. Chivas saw Amado Guevara part ways and a young Cuban striker take form in Maykel Galindo, who leads the club in goals. Houston has seen a couple moves that have paid off for them as well by bring in Joseph Ngwenya from the Columbus Crew.

What will come of tonight’s game in Houston? I do expect another fairly even contest, possibly even another 1-0 game. I think Chivas is on a nice roll and looks to be in good form to continue their way up the western standings. I think Galindo’s speed will be a tough thing to overcome for Houston as they may be looking to Sunday’s showdown in Kansas City with the Wizards.

Houston is one of the lone clubs (Dallas being the other) to win back-to-back games in where they played a Thursday-Sunday double. I don’t see the Dynamo pulling off two straight against the likes of Chivas and Kansas City though. Not yet at least, though I wouldn’t be shocked at all if they make an ass out of me in the process and blow away the Goats tonight.

WVH Prediction: Chivas 1, Houston 0

Well, I wasn’t expect to post before the TFC-RBNY  game tonight but I just felt like it. I just sat through another edition of MLSnet’s Extratime. While I like Shep Messing and Greg Lalas, I really find this six minute program to be a total waste.

However, I don’t know if it is more of a waste then the short-lived Red-Card/Yellow-Card segment that ESPN was giving Eric Wynalda.

I think the biggest reason why I see both of these segments or programs as a waste it because of the length each are given. Wynalda’s is a given that it was too short and it was mostly a 40 second segment to let Eric bitch and complain about someone he didn’t like or give a “game ball” to someone he thought was doing well. In all honesty it was a decent thought segment that really needed more to it to really get people interested.

As for the Extratime program on the league’s website, I think it has potential to do well. Like I said I like Lalas and Messing and they work alright together. In all honesty, the program is poorly edited and poorly produced. The content is usually alright but everything else is a little junior varsity to me. I say that in mean it just doesn’t seem like it should be something the league wants to show people to represent itself with.

I think adding more content to it would vastly do wonders for it. More segments on it and possibly a real host with Shep and Greg giving their insights. I think that would improve its over all content and value.

So I pose this to you all. Is this program a waste? Something the league’s site should just write off and not continue to do? Or is it something that is alright the way it is? Or does it need some tweaking to improve it and be the full product that it should be?