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…

I first read this report earlier this morning and thought the idea was a good one. Goal.com is reporting that former US Men’s National team star Eric Wynalda is in discussions with the Chicago Fire about their head coach opening.

Fire technical director Frank Klopas flew down to the LA area recently to meet with Wynalda. Klopas has interviewed several candidates in the search for Denis Hamlett’s replacement. Two successive appearances in the Western Conference final wasn’t enough to save Hamlett’s job, as locker room disturbances and a lack of titles brought an end to his two year stint as the Fire head coach.

Now some don’t like Wynalda, some hate him and I’m sure there are few out there that do love him. I really have no issue with him and the things he’s said over the years on ESPN and now on FSC.

He may not have the coaching experience but in a way I kind of think this is the shot in the arm the Fire need here. They’ve been good for the last few years but haven’t gone to that next level. With a guy like Wynalda leading the way it could work out. In a way I’d kind of like to see this happen.

So the news came down today that the TOA league would be dubbed the new North American Soccer League. Yes the return of the NASL is possibly more about the name than the actual league here. The TOA group went for name recognition right away with this choice.

The league has nine clubs now that Tampa and Baltimore have jumped ship and they could look to add a tenth with the possibility of Rochester leaving the USL after 2010.

Currently there are only 5 teams remaining from last year�s USL-1 season.� Austin, Cleveland, Portland, Puerto Rico and Rochester, with the expansion team of� New York bringing the league to 6. Some may say what about Charleston? Well, they are headed to the USL-2 in the form of a self-relegation. Some folks are saying Cleveland could easily do the same.

Let’s not forget that after this next season for the USL they will stand to lose Portland. That bring their lovely total down to just four for the 2011 season unless they get some expansion sites up in a hurry before then.

The USL does looked doomed here but will this NASL really work? Vancouver and Montreal are headed MLS’s way in the near future but this little league could be fine if the chips keep falling for the USL. But the thing that worries people like me is how in the world will they get all their crap together before the start of the season next year? At the very least they could have a website up now that they have a name but since http://www.nasl.com is already taken they could be in trouble on that front.

Things do look good for the TOA, or now rather the NASL, which is still a stupid name in my mind to go with.

Continue Reading…

Garber sees growth in MLS. (Getty Images)

I’ve spent a good portion of the day collecting my thoughts on a couple subjects and then it happen to be the same day that MLS commish Don Garber had his State of the League address. Yeah, let’s just say some of his comments just made my head go nuts (and your’s too judging by some emails).

For a full rundown of comments made by Garber head over to the Soccer Insider blog for lots of good quotes. Anytime The Don speaks we seem to listen and then discuss at length.

One big item that got a lot of people going loco today was the comment made about a single table format. Basically Garber bluntly told people to it’s not gonna happen next year so shut up. While I think the idea of single table is the right step for the league down the road I totally agree with not doing it next year.

The only thing I do disagree is not going to a single table format for the playoffs. What I mean by that is the league should restructure the current format to include the top eight clubs no matter the conference and get rid of the eastern and western conferences for playoff purposes. Keep the conferences for schedules and what not but let’s get rid of them for the playoffs. Basically I am tired like some of you of seeing a team from New York win the western conference and a team from Salt Lake win the eastern conference. What is this Major League Baseball 1992?

Garber also had a nice mention of future expansion to Montreal. That’s news we already knew right? Continue Reading…

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.

There really is no idea here about what General Manager Michael Hitchcock will do with the open coaching position with FC Dallas. By now most agree that he fired Steve Morrow a couple weeks back due to the teams terrible performance in front of a sold-out crowd.

When Hitchcock was hired by the Hunts (FCD owners) he promised a number of sellouts in the first couple years of Pizza Hut Park. Since that time, the club has only seen a couple regular season games with the stadium nearly full. Those were Beckham games or MLS Cups. Not the number he had originally told the Hunts he would bring in.

So Hitchcock basically is out to save his job (he is in the final year of his contract) and thus Steve Morrow was left out of the mix because he probably had to tell the Hunts he couldn’t sell tickets when the coaching doesn’t translate in to success on the field. He threw out the excuse that the team was headed in the wrong direction, which most disagree with since it is such a young club.

A youth movement isn’t a wrong direction, its just a slower way forward.

But the firing of Morrow is yesterday’s news and the candidate search is on-going. The shortlist of names has apparently been cut down to three names according to Diego Aparicio of Al Dia in Dallas.

The big talk in Aparicio’s post was about the possibilities of former Mexican National team coach Hugo Sanchez as the next FC Dallas coach. Some like the idea, while others question if it is the right fit.

No word on those three names but Buzz Carrick is wondering if Eric Wynalda is one of those candidates.

So the mouth that is Eric Wynalda was in town today.� We don�t know whether he was interviewing for the coaching job today or not, but he did meet with a local club later in the day and confirmed he at least spoke to FCD.� We�ll continue to try and confirm if he is candidate for the job.

Most of the people who commented on the news basically said the same thing, “hell no.”

With names like Wynalda and Sanchez floating out there in the media it is apparent that Hitchcock is trying to find a big name to not only fill some seats at Pizza Hut Park but to ultimately save his butt. With the last two home games in Dallas getting gates in the 8,000 after the LA Galaxy sellout, Hitchcock will have to act fast if he hopes to start seeing the normal numbers in the 14,000 range and better yet those sellout figures that he was promising.

Honestly, the shortlist is probably Sanchez (if all possible), Oscar Pareja, and the owner favorite SMU coach Schellas Hyndman.

But then again, with a guy running the show in Dallas like Hitchcock its really hard to tell at this point what will happen. If he wants to sell out the stadium for each game, he has to bring in a big name to coach a bunch of young guys. I just doubt he will be able to land a guy like Sanchez though. This is a job that really has little security with him in place as GM. Plus the possible hiring of a Technical Director still looms.