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In 2010, the Colorado Rapids found their stride down the stretch of the regular season.  They continued that momentum into the precarious do-or-die environment of the playoffs, eventually overcoming FC Dallas in the final moments of extra time to win what might have been the best MLS Cup Final yet to be played, certainly eclipsing the similar run of Real Salt Lake, who stunned the Los Angeles Galaxy the year before, and making up for the lack of a marquee club in the showpiece match during a World Cup Year.  Much of the credit was given to English coach Gary Smith’s emphasis on a strong, physical presence straight up the middle of the pitch.

This season, despite adding one or two players, most notably former Hull City standout and Irish international Caleb Folan, the Rapids finished in virtually the same position as the previous campaign and were eliminated early in the playoffs.  Smith was sacked after the defeat, proving that, despite the long term philosophy collectively espoused by the league, there are still some impatient ownership groups,.  Never mind that only twice in the league’s now sixteen year existence has a club successfully defended its MLS crown — DC United in the sophomore campaign and Houston Dynamo in 2007 — the Rapids backroom staff felt the need for a change.  Even more puzzling is that the team is owned by Stan Kroenke, the same man who now presides patiently over Arsenal’s six-year trophy drought in the Premier League and Europe.  Perhaps the man who married into the Wal-Mart fortune feels that is enough staid conservatism for one man and has fallen into the same trap as London rival Roman Abramovich, preferring attractive football to a solid team capable of producing a steady run of trophies.

Meanwhile, the Houston Dynamo, holders of four MLS titles (two won during their early years in San Jose) were rewarded for sticking with coach Dominic Kinnear.  The architect of the most recent back-to-back champions endured a stretch of mediocrity — and the accompanying criticisms — which can be attributed in great part to midfielder Stuart Holden’s exodus to Bolton Wanderers and the chronic injury problems of striker Brian Ching.  Dynamo did not return to their dominant ways in 2011; rather they assumed Salt Lake and Colorado’s role as the late charger, rising up the table through August and September to finish runners-up to Eastern Conference champion Sporting KC.

Let’s ignore the question of why both Houston and Kansas City, both on the wrong side of the Mississippi and associated with the American Old West, are placed in the Eastern Conference.  What’s important is that, as with RSL and the Rapids before them, Houston’s rich vein of form has extended deep into the post-season tournament.

If the Texans are to win a fifth title, however, they will have to produce an extraordinary performance to claim it.  Not only must they face the consecutive Supporters Shield winning Los Angeles Galaxy, led by USMNT talisman Landon Donovan, former England and possible Great Britain Olympic captain David Beckham, late season acquisition Robbie Keane, and MLS Defender of the Year Omar Gonzalez, but they must do it in the unfriendly confines of the Home Depot Center, the Galaxy’s home ground, where the side are unbeaten in this campaign.  Further, it’s likely that they’ll have to do so without the services of their own playmaker, Brad Davis, who left their semi-final victory over Sporting KC in the early going, with a torn quad muscle.

While Houston is surely disappointed at the loss, they will take confidence from the fact that they went on to victory despite Davis’ absence.  There are also chinks in the Galaxy armour, which Kinnear will look to exploit.

Donovan is nursing a leg injury himself; not nearly so serious, as he’s played all three playoff matches and scored from the spot twice, but sufficiently troubling for the star to excuse himself from international duty in France on the weekend.

As well as the twelve-goal man’s physical limitations, there are questions about the limited familiarity between newcomer Robbie Keane and the other two attacking stars.  Galaxy fans, who endured Beckham’s European vacation in a vain quest for one last World Cup adventure, must be grinding their teeth at the thought of Keane ditching the team ahead of the MLS Cup, to join the Ireland side as it looks to qualify for Euro 2012.  Galaxy coach Bruce Arena has likely already spoken with Ireland boss Giovanni Trappatoni about only using Keane as an emergency substitute in Tuesday’s second leg, after the Irish romped to a nearly insurmountable 4-0 lead over Estonia in the opening match.  Keane’s spirit will definitely be buoyed by qualification, but an unnecessary knock might throw a wrench into LA’s plans.

In any event, all the pressure is on the Angelenos and their biggest star.  In the fifth and final year of his contract, Beckham has finally put together a full, productive season in keeping with his own lofty standards.  He appeared in twenty-six matches, registered fifteen assists (second only to Davis’ sixteen) and kept his famous temper under relative control, collecting ten yellow cards but no sendings off.  Even better, his stellar play quieted the hecklers and preempted any further handbags with supporters.

Historically, however, the big game has rarely been Beckham’s friend.  Two red cards for England and an ineffective performance against Real Salt Lake (due to injury) in the 2009 MLS Cup are all he has to show for one-off affairs.  Although the league cannot afford $5 million per year on a thirty-six year old who has lost a step and was never the swiftest in the first place, MLS commissioner Don Garber has stated that, regardless of next week’s result, Beckham has delivered for the league both on and off the field, and they would love to have him back.  If he wants to stay, Golden Balls will only help his position if he can orchestrate a third championship for the Galaxy.  However, with their own midfield wizard sidelined, don’t be surprised if the Dynamo pay special attention to the face of the league, in an attempt to stir his prodigious temper.

Why not?  It’s worked before.

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Unlike the Scandinavian leagues, which all take place in relatively small countries, each with a proportionate populace, Russian and North American top flight football both have the potential to reach an immense fan base.  Of course, Russia does not have so prevalent a sporting culture as the US and Canada, and thus found it easier to accommodate FIFA’s wish to transfer to a winter schedule. That concession may have made the difference between the Russian Federation being awarded the 2018 World Cup, whereas the US, who declined the same request, lost their bid for 2022 to Qatar.

Yet, the harsh winter wasn’t the true obstacle to Major League Soccer aligning itself with UEFA, chronologically speaking.  The bigger problem was the overwhelming competition the league would have faced for a share of the average fan’s sporting dollar.  With the National Football League, NCAA football and basketball, the National Basketball Association (when it is not on strike) and the National Hockey League all beginning their regular seasons in September and October and contesting their playoffs in January (professional and college football), March (college hoops) and May and June (the NBA and NHL), MLS would essentially be a midget wrestler entering a battle royal against a handful of heavyweights.  Like as not, they would be thrown out of the ring before the most passionate American soccer fan could say David Beckham or Thierry Henry.

A summer schedule not only offers mild weather and the opportunity to develop a more appealing national style, it leaves them with just one major competitor for the fans’ attention:  Major League Baseball.  Despite the B in MLB also representing Big (as in Big Leagues), while the S in the less-established MLS still has the taint of Small about it, soccer has made significant inroads in the American sporting market, perhaps making the cost of snubbing Sepp Blatter worth it in the long run.

This season, however, baseball has thrown down the gauntlet, putting on one of the most memorable playoffs in the sports long history, capped off by a seven game World Series which featured what is being labeled the greatest baseball game ever played.  As the 2011 MLS regular season wound down with the playoff participants and Supporters Shield winner decided early and only the seeding to be determined, October baseball was reminding its dwindling audience just how compelling its game could be.

The mighty New York Yankees were ousted in the American League Divisional Series by the Detroit Tigers, who then fell to the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers.  In the National League, the heavily favoured Philadelphia Phillies, with its deep pitching staff, was upset by wild card entrants, the St Louis Cardinals, with the Cards Chris Carpenter winning a classic 1-0 pitcher’s duel between two Cy Young winning aces, over Philly’s Roy Halladay, in the fifth and deciding game.  St Louis then powered their way through the Milwaukee Brewers, who had pipped them to the National League Central Division championship by six games.

The World Series was a back and forth affair, with Texas winning Game One in St Louis, only for the Cardinals’ slugging first baseman Albert Pujols, generally considered the game’s greatest active player, hitting three home runs in to level the Series in Game Two.  The feat had only been accomplished three times previously in WS history; twice by Babe Ruth and once by Mr October Reggie Jackson, making Prince Albert the first non-Yankee to do it.  The Rangers then won two of three at their ground in Arlington, Texas, leaving the Cardinals no option but to win both of the remaining games at Busch Stadium in St Louis.

With Texas pitching around Pujols after his Game Two performance, it was left to the players behind him in the lineup, the switch-hitting outfielder Lance Berkman and third baseman David Freese to get the job done.  That they did, in spectacular fashion.  Down to their last strike in the bottom of the ninth of Game Six, Freese hit a triple which tied the contest at seven and sent it into extra innings.  Texas jumped out in front again with two runs in the top of the tenth, but, once again down to their last strike, Berkman came through with a single to level terms at nine.  Then, in the eleventh, Freese hit a walk-off home run to send the Series to a do-or-die seventh game.  Only won team had ever come back from being one strike away from defeat to win the World Series.  St Louis now had the opportunity to do it after being in that situation twice.

Game Seven began with Texas getting two runs off Chris Carpenter, pitching on just three day’s rest.  Yet, Freese was still in form, doubling home two runs in the Cardinals’ half of the inning.  Allen Craig would then homer in the third and St Louis would take advantage of a tired Texas bullpen in the fifth, scoring twice more without getting a base hit (three walks and two hit batsmen) as they went on to a 6-2 victory and a wild celebration of their eleventh World Series crown.  Freese was deservedly named Series MVP, as he had contributed not just in the final two games, but throughout the Series and the playoffs as a whole.

Thus led by a player who had missed almost half the season due to injury, winning it all despite entering the tournament with the worst regular season record of any of the eight clubs involved, having been ten and a half games out of the wild card race with just over a month remaining and down to their last strike twice in Game Six, not to mention playing a Series that was derided by most for its lack of big name clubs (NY and Philly had both been knocked out in the first round), St Louis’ run was remarkably similar to the last two MLS Cup playoffs, wherein Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids continued late regular season runs on into the playoffs to claim the league championship.

However, MLS is just in its sixteenth year.  Without the weight of history behind it, those two championships don’t seem as significant as the Cardinals’ incredible October.  Worse for MLS, the marquee match-ups which might have ridden the coattails of the World Series into November, RSL v Seattle Sounders and (especially) New York Red Bull v the Los Angeles Galaxy are being played out this week in the quarter-finals.  Having Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Robbie Keane face off against Thierry Henry, Luke Rodgers and Juan Agudelo this early in the playoffs is a disappointment for the league, even if it does mean a two-legged tie rather than the one-off Cup Final.

Still, team play, not individual star-power has been the strength of MLS in recent seasons.  Of the top four 2011 MLS goal scorers, only Henry is still playing.  Red bull cast-off Dwayne de Rosario, who caught on with DC United and San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski, each with sixteen goals, were unable to carry their clubs into the playoffs, while the Columbus Crew’s Andrés Mendoza wasn’t able to get his side on the board in a 1-0 wild card loss to defending champion Colorado on Thursday.

That doesn’t bode well for the runaway and repeat Supporters Shield winning Galaxy.  Landon Donovan is their lone standout striker, sixth overall with a dozen tallies.  Robbie Keane has strike twice in just four appearances but whether the chemistry is there between him, Donovan and Beckham in so short a time, is a major question for a squad which, lately, has failed to translate its regular season success to the pressure-filled crucible of the playoffs.

Four of their seven rivals for the championship, including NY boast either a tandem or trio who have notched over twenty goals combined.  The immediate threat, naturally, is the Red Bull.  Henry’s fifteen goals are complemented by Luke Rodgers’ nine and Joel Lindpere’s eight.  Should they get past the New Yorkers, LA may have to deal with Sporting Kansas City’s triumvirate of Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury and Omar Bravo (all with 9 goals), Seattle’s South American duo of Fredy Montero (12) and Alvaro Fernandez (9), and/or Real Salt Lake’s lethal Latino pair, Alvaro Saborio (11) and Fab Espindola (10).

Philadelphia, with lone striker Sebastian LeToux (11 goals), presents a problem at the other end of the pitch.  They are joint second behind the Galaxy in goals conceded; their success in their sophomore MLS campaign obviously tied to their obstinacy.  However, the club alongside them, defensively speaking, is the one that most are pegging to spoil the Angeleno’s party once again.  Real Salt Lake have recovered from their extended malaise, suffered after falling to defeat at home with the CONCACAF Champions League all but in the bag.

On the other hand, if you want to go by the recent trend in MLS, and this year in MLB, the team in the midst of an improbable late run is three-time MLS champion (once as the original MLS San Jose Earthquakes) Houston Dynamo.  After spending most of the first half of the campaign near the bottom of the table, Dominic Kinnear’s side exploded in August, surging all the way to second place in the Eastern Conference.  With no player having scored more than five goals, their most dangerous attacker, Brian Ching, having been hampered by injuries and sporting the worst goal difference of the remaining sides, except for Colorado, the orange-clad Texans seem to fit the bill as the perfect dark-horse candidate.

However, even if one of the most compelling story-lines in MLS plays out; be it NY or LA going the distance, with David Beckham or Thierry Henry finally validating the Designated Player Rule, or Houston overcoming long odds and a complete lack of star-power to join baseball’s Cardinals as unlikely champions, one gets the feeling that, after enjoying the benefits of a World Cup Year, this season, US soccer will have to raise its hands to the World Series and say “fair play.”

The greatest, most enduring socialist movement in the United States continued to wreak havoc on the establishment, this month.  In the land of Capitalism, Free Enterprise and the Tea Party, where every man is created equal but must fend for himself from that point forward, sports leagues have long sought to work together, to progress as a collective and to achieve parity between franchises, so that the competitive glory can be shared by all.

Of course, profit is still the driving factor in American athletics, which is why the National Basketball Association season is likely to be postponed, after management and labour called off a final weekend meeting before the scheduled start of the season because owners are insisting on a fifty-fifty revenue split with players, who have counter-offered to accept a cut in their share, down to fifty-three percent from the expired collective bargaining agreement’s fifty-seven.

In baseball, however, parity reared its ugly head, as the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, who won the American and National Leagues with ninety-seven and one hundred and two wins respectively, from one hundred and sixty-two games, each lost their opening round best-of-five playoff series during the week, thereby depriving fans and advertisers, in one fell swoop, of a much-anticipated World Series between the biggest hitting side (NY) and the club with the best pitching staff in the major leagues (Philly), based upon a sample of contests which equates to three percent of each club’s season.

In Major League Soccer, the almost-certain Supporters Shield Winner, LA Galaxy, must be watching events unfold in baseball nervously, as they may face the same fate when their season concludes in a fortnight.  The scenario is a familiar one to Bruce Arena’s team, as they won the regular season last year only to be ousted in the second round of the play-offs.  This year, the Galaxy have two matches remaining, at home to Home Depot Center co-tenants and former striker Juan Pablo Angel’s new side, Chivas USA, and away to the resurgent Houston Dynamo.  One victory will secure their second consecutive campaign as regular season champion.

The Galaxy’s dominance can largely be attributed to one man and, this year, that man is not Landon Donovan.  The USMNT and one-time Everton standout is near the top of the scoring list, with twelve goals, but the teams forty-six tallies have been more evenly distributed (there’s that socialist attitude forcing its way in, again) than it was last year, when Donovan and Edson Buddle blazed a trail for the club.  Instead, the man to whom Donovan first ceded, then reclaimed, his club captaincy, and who has been largely reviled by American fans for his perceived lack of commitment to the MLS cause and, when he has made himself available, limited and inconsistent performances, David Beckham, has had his best US campaign since coming to Hollywood.

The Englishman, in the final year of his mega-contract, has topped the league with eleven assists and added four more in other competitions.  As well, he has continued to exhibit the dichotymous nature of the British, extremely polite and courteous outside the lines but fiery and contentious in battle.  His ten cautions are the most shown to any MLS player in 2011.  That competitive spark may be just what the glamourous Galaxy need to fight their way through the upcoming series of ties and one-off contests culminating in the coveted MLS Cup.

The only side which can catch the Angelenos is their Pacific Northwest rival, Seattle.  The Sounders are seven points behind and cannot afford to drop any more, if they want to steal the top spot.  Their first test, however, comes against league sophomores and Eastern Conference challengers Philadelphia Union, albeit at home in Century Legion Field.  That is followed by matches against San Jose Earthquakes, struggling near the bottom of the table but featuring one of the league’s top snipers, Chris Wondolowski, and Chivas.

As well, both sides must squeeze in matches in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage.  Sounders are topping Group D, needing just a point from their one remaining home match against second place side, Monterrey.  The Mexican club is the defending CCL champion but have been struggling recently.  The Galaxy are in a three-way tie atop Group A but face bottom feeders Motagua, who have yet to record a point, in Honduras.  If LA wins that match to move into the quarter-finals, Beckham, who has been rumoured for a return to the Premier League, may find the motivation to re-enlist, at a discount, with the Galaxy.  The thirty-six year old could become the most prominent — if not the first — player to win Champions League titles on either side of the Atlantic.  But he can accomplish that only if he stays, as the knockout stages of the CCL do not come around until early 2012.

Although MLS plays a balanced schedule and now seeds teams largely according to their record, rather than geographically, the league still bows to American convention.  Thus, there is also a race in the Eastern Conference, where newly re-christened Sporting KC are clinging to a one-point lead in that half of the table.  After a very sluggish start, compounded by an extended road trip while the club’s new ground, LiveStrong Stadium, was completed, the mid-westerners have rocketed to the top of the standings.  The triumvirate of Mexican veteran Omar Bravo (9), Kei Kamara (9) and Teal Bunbury (8) have combined for more than half of the club’s forty-seven goals, a total which is only bettered by Seattle’s fifty-one.

Philadelphia, which roared out of the gate, before stumbling in the summer, acquired Freddy Adu from Turkish club Çaykur Rizespor and rediscovered their stride to pressure KC.  Adu, the MLS’ former child prodigy at fourteen, has wandered through obscure European leagues suffering the derision of the greater populace of footy fans.  He has learned his trade, however, and returned as a very rare commodity:  a gifted, seasoned veteran who is still only twenty-three years of age.

The retooled Columbus Crew, who shed their lineup of all its aging veterans over the summer, gelled quickly and also sit a point back of KC.  Jeff Cunningham, who returned to the club, from FC Dallas, to play a supporting role and surpass Jaime Moreno as the all-time MLS scorer, is now the club’s lone graybeard.  Instead of Guillermo Barros-Schelotto and Frankie Hejduk marshaling the club, it is Andres Mendoza, Emilio Renteria and Eddie Gaven.  Having the best goalkeeper overlooked by the USMNT, in Will Hesmer, doesn’t hurt Robert Warzycha’s side, either.

English fans are familiar with Luke Rodgers tempestuous career in the Football League, lowlighted by an arrest for assault on another player.  They must be wondering, then, if it is truly the same player, who is making the difference in the New York Red Bull season.  Rodgers combined well with league scoring leader Thierry Henry in the early portion of the Red Bull campaign, inspiring so much confidence from management that self-centered Canadian star Dwayne de Rosario was dealt to DC United even though Rodgers was out for an extended period due to injury.

While the Brit was out of commission, the club struggled with mediocrity, jointly leading the league with sixteen draws (half their matches to date).  The inability to dominate was so pervasive that Red Bull sat on the playoff bubble, facing the very real prospect of ending their season early, when expectations demanded that they be the club to provide the ultimate championship match against the Galaxy.  Rodgers has returned, however, and after a couple of appearances to get his legs under him, has regained his early season form.

The Red Bull have won their last two matches, sit two points out of first place in the East and comfortably — albeit not safely — in the play-off picture.  Their surge was highlighted on Tuesday by a comprehensive win over Landon Donovan, David Beckham and the Galaxy, in which Rodgers and Thierry Henry provided the goals.  It wasn’t the MLS Cup but it was a taste what fans across America have hoped for from their marquee franchises.  And, DNA aside, the answer is no, Luke Rodgers is not the same player who crashed through the Football League like an enraged bull in a china shop — he’s much better now.

The Houston Dynamo have also found late form to force their way into the Eastern race and the play-off frame.  Dominic Kinnear’s side had been mediocre in the first twenty games of the season but they have begun to piece together solid runs of results and are showing signs of returning to their status as one of MLS’ dominant teams.  The Dynamo attack has been a patchwork quilt, covering the chronically injured Brian Ching, who nonetheless is one of three players leading the club with five goals, while a quartet of others have compiled four apiece.

In all, ten of the league’s eighteen clubs make the playoffs, in pursuit of the MLS Cup.  Of those I’ve yet to touch on, there are three clubs who have to be considered true contenders.  Last year’s runner-up FC Dallas and champion Colorado Rapids are not surging in the manner that they did in 2010 but both are strong clubs.  Hellas Schyndman’s young Texans have done well, despite seeing the heart of their starting eleven plundered in the expansion draft, and Gary Smith’s Rapids, in the Mile High city of Denver, will be licking their chops at the prospect of playing their direct style in the cold winds of November, to defend their title.

It’s difficult, though, to decide just how good or bad Real Salt Lake actually is.  The 2009 champions have lost their last four matches but remain one of only three clubs, LA and Seattle being the others, with fifty points.  Typically, in American sport, it’s not a good sign when clubs ‘back into’ the playoffs, but RSL are a solid club in all areas and have a strong-willed coach in Jason Kreis.  If any club is foolish enough to take Salt Lake for granted in the second season, they are very likely to regret it.

Unlike last year, when the Supporters Shield went down to the wire between three clubs, and the playoffs were a tight affair, 2011 sees the essentials virtually decided.  The Galaxy are almost a lock to continue as the league’s winningest side, and their unbeaten record at home puts them in good stead for the do-or-die environment of the post-season.

The other nine combatants seem a formality, with only Portland and DC United having anything close to feasible chances of crashing the party.

The expansion Timbers are three points and six goals behind Houston and enjoy a game in hand.  The problem is that their 9-4-3 home record is far better than their 2-9-4 traveling mark and two of their matches, v DC and Real Salt Lake, are on the road.

United are five points off the pace but have two matches in hand on Houston and New York.  Three of their four remaining games, against bottom side Vancouver, Chicago and Portland, are eminently winnable, but their final fixture against top Eastern side KC will be a challenge if they still hold a chance of making the playoffs when it arrives.  With Dwayne de Rosario, whose opinion of himself is second to none, and Charlie Davies, humbled by his recovery from a horrific car crash which took the life of a friend, combining to lead the capital club’s attack, theirs would certainly be an interesting addition to the post-season mix, but there is a lot to be done for it to happen.

We’ll just have to wait a fortnight to discover the outcome.

Wall Street investment firm Merrill Lynch can breathe easier these days.  They are no longer the most underperforming, least trusted bovine in the Big Apple market.  That dubious distinction falls to MLS club New York Red Bull.

Entering this weekend’s play, the New Yorkers have played twenty-six matches of their thirty-four game league schedule.  They have only lost six games over that span, tying them with sophomore sensation Philadelphia Union for third on the league list, behind LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders.  As well, they are second to Sounders overall in goals scored.  So, what’s the problem?  Well, they’ve also only won six games on the year, meaning that they’ve drawn the majority of their matches and dropping an incredible amount of points in the process.

So many points, in fact, that they currently sit tenth in the table, with exactly that many teams qualifying for the post season.  Their position is so tenuous that they would only progress on the basis of goal differential over expansion side Portland Timbers.  Adding to their worries, the two worst clubs from 2010, DC United and Chivas USA are experiencing a renaissance, which sees them only a point off the pace.

Having signed on with Chivas USA after being discarded by both NY and LA in the space of six months, Juan Pablo Angel would love nothing better than to overtake the squad he used to captain and possibly book a first round encounter with the other club who dumped him, Galaxy.  The Colombian stated his intent by scoring in his first match for Chivas, a 2-2 draw with champion Colorado Rapids.   The Goats have cooled off since that match.  As three of those contests took place over eight days, the thirty-five year old was rested in the middle encounter and, although he was unable to find the mark in the loss to Real Salt Lake, he was a threat, getting off four shots, one of them forcing a save from Nick Rimando.

Then, on Wednesday, he was given the night off again, rather than risk his balky knees on the tricky synthetic turf at Portland’s Jen-Weld Field.  Chivas paid for that decision with a 1-0 loss.

Portland, who are level on points with Red Bull, are actually the least worrisome of the club’s three playoff rivals.  Their minus-eight goal difference reveals their quality, but the newcomers to MLS are a wholly different club in front of their tremendous home support.  They have won eight matches at Jeld-Wen Field, as many as any club in the league and two more than the Red Bull have managed over the entire campaign.

Original league champion DC United hit rock bottom last year, but under former player and rookie coach Ben Olsen are doing very well in 2011.  Charlie Davies, the erstwhile US international sensation who suffered a tragic car accident two years ago, leads the club in goals, with eight, but has not found the target since 25 June.  Others, including Chris Pontius, Josh Wolff,  and another Red Bull cast off, Dwayne De Rosario, have picked up the slack, though, making United a very real threat to Red Bull’s playoff expectations.

Red Bull have the quality to hold off the challengers and make the playoffs, perhaps even win, but I’m afraid that the club’s personality is all wrong to succeed in New York.

What do I mean?  Well, are you familiar with John Kander and Fred Ebb?  If so, then you are likely well versed in the American theatre.  Otherwise, you might not know that they penned the music and lyrics to such well-known productions as Chicago, Cabaret and Kiss of the Spider Woman.  Their most famous number, however, is surely the title song from New York, New York.  With its immortal line, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…”  it captures the essence of the city and could only have been immortalised by someone of the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra’s, stature and personality.  Had a more pedestrian singer recorded it, the tune, as catchy as it is, would have likely faded into the same anonymity, outside theatrical circles, as its composers, rather than becoming the unofficial anthem of the world’s best known city.

Simply put, New Yorkers are known to be brash, arrogant, confident and, most importantly, unapologetic.  For all that, citizenship is not exclusive.  You don’t have to be born there to be a New Yorker; you just have to be able to handle the pressure; to be willing to take the town by the throat and shake vigourously.  New Yorkers appreciate that type of power.  Sinatra, born in New Jersey, was a New Yorker, as was John Lennon, originally a Liverpudlian.  Donald Trump is a New Yorker, David Letterman has made it his home… Debbie Harry, the Ramones, Pete Hamill, Dick Young, Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, Richard Nixon, Bill and Hillary Clinton… the list is varied and endless, but, whether native to the city or naturalised, they have all possessed the strength of will and courage to do things ‘their way’.

The city’s two greatest sporting champions, baseball’s Yankees and soccer’s Cosmos, have certainly had no reservations about following their own path.  Naturally, the Bronx Bombers, with their twenty-seven World Series titles, have a long history of uninhibited characters, from Babe Ruth on through Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez and, above them all, their late owner, George Steinbrenner.  There were definitely cooler heads, such as Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Ralph Houk, Don Mattingly, Paul O’Neill, Joe Torre and Derek Jeter, placed not to prevail, but rather to provide balance.  The club, as with most new York sides, has always been at its most successful when its wild side is given free rein.

The football Giants, with their very conservative ownership were too often doormats.  They rose to prominence in the ’80s, though, under the tutelage of the appropriately named Big Tuna, Bill Parcells and the unfettered fury and savagery of linebacker Lawrence Taylor.  When Taylor retired and Parcells moved on, the club slipped back into mediocrity until the 2007 season. Then, the combination of Peyton Manning’s younger brother Eli and brash, arrogant, confident and unapologetic wide receiver Plaxico Burress led them to an unexpected championship.

Unfortunately, with a Super Bowl ring on his finger and the world at his beck and call, Burress promptly shot himself in the thigh, accidentally, and served three years on weapons charges.  While he was inside, the Giants returned to obscurity.  Now that he’s out, he has signed with the club’s stadium co-tenants, the Jets, who feature their own brash, arrogant, confident and unapologetic coach, Rex Ryan.  Unsurprisingly, the Jets have been talked about as a Super bowl contender for the past two seasons.

Baseball’s Mets have been the exception to the New York rule, lovable losers who twice won the World Series with largely anonymous squads.  Yet, New York, like Madrid and Barcelona, in its fashion, is a place where teams are not only expected to win but also exhibit a specific nature.  When they don’t, they tend to fail.

Therein lies the rub for Red Bull.  In a city where, if you have it, you’re expected to flaunt it, this side is too quiet, unassuming and bland.  They have been the antithesis of the former soccer Kings of New York, the Cosmos.  Yes, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia were New Yorkers for a time, as well.  They had the city in love with soccer, playing before crowds of 60,000 regularly.  Now, Eric Cantona — brash, arrogant, confident, and definitely unapologetic — has arrived to revive the name and, more importantly, tradition of the Cosmos.

The Red Bull have a bona fide superstar in Thierry Henry, who straddles the line of accessibility and superstardom charmingly, by commuting from his £10 million Manhattan penthouse to the stadium on public transit.  The problem is that New York expects its sporting heroes to be of Olympian, rather than neighbourly, temperament.  Knowing that very well, Cantona intends for the Cosmos to make the whole city take notice of the game again, not just a small, if dedicated, core of footy fans.  With the forthright Frenchman at the helm, the still embrionic Cosmos already seem more suited than the humble, conservative Red Bull to providing a capable rival to LA Galaxy.

In Los Angeles, the league’s other major market, the Galaxy have refined the combination of brashness, arrogance, confidence and being unapologetic to an art.

The previously reserved Landon Donovan, who gladly handed over the captain’s armband when David Beckham first arrived in LA, took umbrage, as did the fans, with the Englishman’s seeming lack of commitment to the club.  Upon returning from a successful Confederations Cup, two years ago, Donovan went public with his criticism of the superstar, demanding Golden Balls show more commitment to the club.  The short story is that the two worked out their differences, Donovan reassumed the captaincy and the Galaxy have been the team to beat in MLS for the last two years.

Having not quite managed to actually win the championship, the club has gone the Chelsea/Man City route, acquiring more star power, such as veteran US international Frankie Hejduk, from Columbus Crew, and Angel from Red Bull.  When Angel didn’t mesh with the club’s persona, though, he was quickly dumped in favour of Spurs star Robbie Keane, with the deal flouting both the Designated Player Rule and the league’s transfer deadline, not to mention drawing an ethnic line in the sand between Southern California’s two main groups of footy fans, Anglo and Latino.  That is a minor concern for the club, however.  The Galaxy, exhibiting a typically New York attitude, are intent on winning the MLS Cup and will do whatever is required to get the job done.

NYRB?  That appears to be another story.

When De Rosario proved too contentious he was let go.

US international and burgeoning talent Juan Agudelo, whose form is mercurial, has lost his place next to Henry to winger Dane Richards, whom coach Hans Backe described as more “stable.”  The question worth asking is might not Angel, deemed too old, slow and expensive last season, despite producing fourteen goals, have proven a solid mentor for Agudelo, and an alternative when the youngster struggled?

When athletic crowd favourite Bouna Coundoul struggled behind what has been a very poor defence, the club used their third Designated Player slot, meant to bring in big name talent, on goalkeeper Frank Rost.

Who?

Exactly.

When the Red Bull need to be getting in people’s faces, their coach is attempting to pull them back into a protective shell.  When the league would love for them to be lighting up the sky with star power, their coach prefers to rely on his supporting cast.  That approach may work in Columbus, Dortmund or Stoke-on-Trent, but it doesn’t fly in New York.

The just concluded two-week international break would have been the opportune moment to make an attitude adjustment at the club.  However, the staid management of the Red Bull soft drink concern, based in the more sedate climes of Austria, was never likely to bring in a more animated leader, preferring a steady course, apparently even if it is downhill, to lighting a fuse under what should be a very explosive side.

So it is, that until the club’s ownership understands what it means to be a New Yorker and what it takes to succeed in the City that Never Sleeps, Red Bull will continue to be cowed by MLS opposition.

For those of you who enjoy sitting on the sofa thumbing through scrap books, here’s a guide through the vignette accompanying Jersey Has Nothing To Do With It; Red Bull Are Just Not A New York Team.  Obviously, soccer makes only a few brief cameos in the city’s rich sporting history, but, if you’re unfamiliar with that tradition, this video guide should give you a sense of what the Red Bull and the Cosmos v2. must live up — and down — to.

If you want to watch the video here, click on the Vodpod button in the right sidebar.  Enjoy!

Introduction

Thanks are due Daniel A. Norman, of Brooklyn, for this evening shot of Lady Liberty, which helped set the tone of brash, arrogant, confident and unapologetic, by reminding us that the City That Never Sleeps nevertheless has a dark side.

The symbol of the disgraced investment company, Merrill Lynch, one of the many firms which accepted a federal bailout from Washington and then paid out bonuses to its executives.  You’d have to perform very poorly to have a worse record than the Wall Street giants but Red Bull are managing.

John Kander and Frank Ebb, the songwriters who gave Roxy her voice in Chicago, Liza Minelli the opportunity to step out from her mother, Judy Garland’s, shadow, and the greatest city in the world an unforgettable anthem.

Frank Sinatra, the Chairman of the Board; the man whose rendering made it so.

Babe Ruth

There is a reason the term Ruthian proportions took hold in the American vernacular.  The Babe, who came from an orphanage in Baltimore to take the Big Apple by storm, did it all.  Before being bought from the Red Sox, so that the Boston club’s owner, Impresario Harry Frazee could finance a Broadway production, Ruth was on his way to becoming perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time.

However, no manager could resist not having his bat in the line-up every day, so we ended up substituting slugger for pitcher in his epitaph.  He truly was the Sultan of Swat, garish crown or no, hitting sixty home runs at a time when no one else was reaching double digits.

Then he would hit the town late into the night, hobnobbing with such stars as Gary Cooper, who portrayed his more introverted teammate Lou Gehrig in Pride Of The Yankees, and then get up the next morning to do it all over again.

In the end, his spirit outlasted his body and he was traded to Boston’s National League team, the Braves, to finish out his career.

Joe DiMaggio

Whereas the Bambino was all about power, Joe DiMaggio combined speed and grace to carry the Yankees though the late ’30s and ’40s.  Ruth’s single season home run record has been broken by four players now, but the Yankee Clipper’s fifty-six game hitting streak has yet to be seriously challenged, after seventy years.

Growing up in a poor San Francisco neighbourhood, DiMaggio quickly learned the value of a dollar and never forgot it, despite become very wealthy as the heir apparent to Ruth as the Yankee talisman.  His elegance on the field extended into his public life, always dressing in fine clothes, eating at the best establishments and keeping the company of such other noted New Yorkers as Frank Sinatra.  Yet, he was an intensely private person.

The love of his life turned out to be Hollywood goddess Marilyn Monroe.  The two enjoyed an intense romance, an intense, but brief, marriage and an intense divorce.  Yet, when Monroe committed suicide, DiMaggio championed her memory against sensationalist papers and other detractors.  He never married again.

Mickey Mantle

Mickey Mantle, a farm boy from Oklahoma, combined Joe D’s good looks and speed with Ruth’s power.  Mantle suffered from a fear that he would die young, as his father and grandfather had both passed away in the prime of their lives.

Thus, the Mick lived hard, played hard and partied harder, throughout his career, refusing to be stopped by balky knees.  Unlike his forbearers, Mantle lived a long life, belting out well over 500 home runs in his career and leading a gang of Yankee revelers which included Whitey Ford and future club manager Billy Martin.  Among Yankee fans, he was so adored that they turned against teammate Roger Maris when he outlasted Mantle in their 1961 race to be the first to break Ruth’s home run mark.

Long before his death in 1995, he was immortalised by famous American portraitist Leroy Neiman.

The New York Giants

The Giants haven’t been the consistent winners that the Yankees have over the decades, or the Cosmos were in their brief flash of existence.  Typically a conservative side, both in ownership and play, they have only risen to the top when a big name has donned the red and blue.

In 1956, that was Frank Gifford.  A halfback with movie star looks, he rivaled Mantle as the darling of Manhattan.  He would go on to marry entertainer and morning show presenter Kathy Lee Gifford, nee Epstein, and enjoy a long career on ABC’s Monday night Football, where he had plenty of wars with the verbose Howard Cosell.

The pretty boy was supported on the ’56 championship team by blood and guts players like NFL hall of Famer Sam Huff.  Two of the coaching assistants on that team were Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry, who would go on to transform the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, respectively, into multiple Super Bowl winning NFL icons.

In 1961, another Hall of Famer, quarterback YA Tittle would join the team.  The forerunner of rifle armed quarterbacks, such as John Elway, Dan Marino, Joe Montana and Brett Favre, Tittle was the first to throw more than thirty touchdown passes in consecutive seasons.  He played most of his career with the 49ers, as Montana would, but, like Marino, never won a title.

Joe Namath

Born in a Pennsylvania mining town and playing college ball for the great Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama, Joe Namath left his rural existence behind for good when he quarterbacked the upstart New York Jets to a stunning 16-7 upset of the NFL’s Baltimore Colt.  Better yet, he brashly predicted the result, when the young AFL was still viewed as patently inferior to the senior league.

Unlike Mickey Mantle, who was able to play despite his battered knees, Namath’s career was cut short after too many cuts from the surgeon’s knife.  Still, he translated his celebrity into a successful career as a pitchman and, much less so, as an actor and commentator, with a short stint on Monday Night Football.

Unfortunately, twenty years later, he would return to MNF, to give an infamous interview with petite sideline reporter Suzi Kolb, during which he attempted a drunken advance in front of a live audience.  Thankfully, like many of the passes he threw late in his career, Kolb let this one sail over her head.

The New York Knicks

Despite basketball long being known as the City Game, New York’s heyday at the top of the pro ranks lasted a mere four years, from 1970-73.  In that time they played three finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, winning in the first and last but losing in 1972 and crashing out in the 1971 semi-final round.

The style was provided by the smooth ball-handling and shooting skills of back-court tandem Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier — famous off the court for his extensive and flamboyant wardrobe — and Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe.  The grit came from center Willis Reed, fully five inches shorter than the Lakers 7′ 2″ superstar Wilt Chamberlain.  Reed’s performance in the 1970 series, when he came out for the clinching game of the series wearing a cast on his left leg, to support a torn thigh muscle that time and hyperbole would transform into a broken leg, is the stuff of legend.  As he had through most of the series, he outplayed the more gifted Chamberlain and the Knicks won their first NBA title.

Also in that Knicks dynasty was future Lakers and Bulls coach Phil Jackson, while on the Lakers’ bench sat future LA, Knicks and Miami coach Pat Riley.  The three finals contested by the two cities are the inspiration for MLS’ as yet unrealised dream of a Red Bull Galaxy MLS Cup.

Howard Cosell

There has never been and will likely never be another sportscaster — or as he put it, sports journalist — like Howard Cosell.  If you reference the word ‘pontificate’, Cosell’s picture won’t be next to it, but it should.  A living breathing vocabulary, he realised that sport was just that, never allowing the game to become bigger than itself — or him.

He also understood the performers, championing Muhammad Ali when the boxer was stripped of his title for refusing to enlist and go to Vietnam.  The voice of boxing in the ’60s and ’70s, he refused to be associated with the sport any longer, publicly speaking out it against it, when it began to ignore the safety and welfare of its participants, sinking into a mire of corruption with the rise of Don King.

Instead, teaming his liberal urban voice with country bumpkin Don Meredith and conservative ex-Giant Frank Gifford, he made ABC’s Monday Night Football an institution in American television.  Among other celebrities invited into the booth was former Beatle John Lennon.  Unfortunately, fate would later leave Cosell with the sad duty of reporting the breaking news of Lennon’s death to a stunned audience.

Cosell also hosted a variety program on ABC, titled Saturday Night live, which, although of a different format than the NBC version, featured the original Prime Time Players who would go on to such success on the other network.

The First Steinbrenner Dynasty

George Steinbrenner came from staid middle American Cleveland, Ohio, but when he purchased the Yankees, he and the club soon outstripped all the brash, arrogant, unapologetically confident new York teams which had preceded them.  Known as the Bronx Zoo, a name later used as the title of a book chronicling the club’s soap opera existence, the team was filled with highly paid superstars, with the shipping magnate happy to write the cheques and then abuse his players if they didn’t pull their weight.  Led by Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, and the tragically short-lived Thurman Munson, Steinbrenner’s players fought with each other, whichever manager had been installed that month by the impatient owner and with The Boss himself.

The manager who most often found himself at the center of disputes was former Mickey Mantle sidekick and Yankee second-baseman Billy Martin, hired and fired five times by Boss George.  His public feuds with both Steinbrenner and Jackson were numerous, but the club still managed to win two World Series under his leadership in the late ’70s, aided especially by one swing of the bat from another mediocre infielder, Bucky Dent.  The light hitting shortstop’s unexpected home run over the Green Monster in Boston’s Fenway Park in a sudden-death playoff game for the American League East Division title propelled the Bronx Bombers into the Series and condemned the Red Sox to three more decades of the Curse of the Bambino; their futility finally ending when John W Henry purchased the club.

The Cosmos

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts CEO Steve Ross was eager to acquire lucrative Atlantic Records, which had acts ranging from Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald to Led Zeppelin in its catalogue.  Ahmet Ertegun was reluctant to sell.  Legend has it that after being turned down numerous times, Ross asked the producer what he wanted and Ertegun replied, “I want to own a football club.”

Ross promised to find a suitable club and the deal was struck.  Two or three years later, that club turned out to be the woebegone Cosmos, a semi-professional side playing on an island in a stadium under a bridge.  Led by 6′ 2″ Bermudian striker Randy Horton, who looked rather trollish in his immense afro and beard,  the Cosmos were a decent side local side but nothing compared to the one which would soon take the world by storm.

Never one to let an asset underperform, Ross realised the potential of the untapped soccer market in the US and decided to take advantage of the opportunity.  Recruiting the one player with whom American sports fans were familiar, Pele, the record executive got the ball rolling.  Soon, players like Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto followed.  There were places for American players, too, most notably Bronx born goalkeeper Shep Messing.

The city was captivated by the new team, with its glamorous stars, who played a unique game by day and partied at Studio 54, rubbing elbows with the stars, by night.

However, American television producers didn’t understand soccer’s natural flow or how to present and market it.  That failure, combined with exorbitant wages and a failed bid to land the 1982 World Cup left the league bankrupt. Players like George Best, Johan Cruyff and Beckenbauer went home.  Homegrown players began seeking real jobs.  The ambitious but naïve Chinaglia took over the Cosmos, who lasted one more season as an indoor side, before folding.

It would be a decade before the game gained a foothold in America again.

New Jersey Generals

Another short-lived high spending summer football venture was the USFL, designed to compete with the well established gridiron NFL.  The upstart league afforded real estate mogul Donald Trump another avenue to show off and fritter away his first fortune.  His initial splurge was on two-time Heisman Trophy winning half back Herschel Walker, and when that proved insufficient to make the Generals the top team in the league, he signed diminutive but popular quarterback Doug Flutie.

Yet, try as he might, the Generals and the rest of the USFL failed to convince the American public that they needed gridiron football twelve months of the year.

NY Giants Redux

As the Generals retreated, the slumbering football Giants awoke.  Coached by the bellicose Bill Parcells, affectionately nicknamed the Big Tuna, the Giants developed a fearsome defence, driven by their ferocious outside linebacker, Lawrence Taylor.  Combining size and speed as none had before him, Taylor would chase opposing quarterbacks across the field, giving them no time to find open receivers.  On the other side of the ball, Phil Simms quietly led a an offence that could run over defences or air it out, passing the ball downfield with abandon.

The club would claim the first of its three Super Bowls under Parcells, who would then leave to begin — but not finish projects — with the Jets, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.  Simms would go on to become a broadcaster for the CBS network, while LT’s life spun out of control, as he was arrested at various times on drug, domestic abuse and sexual charges.

NY Islanders

The beginning of the ’80s would see a new dynasty rise in the Big Apple, or more accurately out on Long Island.  Woefully inept as an expansion club in 1972, the Islanders would patiently accumulate a nucleus of good young players.  As the end of the decade neared, coach Al Arbour’s side began to be a force in the league, regularly beating city rivals, the Rangers and upsetting a strong Toronto Maple Leafs squad in the playoffs.

Then, in 1980, they put it all together, knocking off the favoured Philadelphia Flyers in six games, with Bobby Nystrom netting the Stanley Cup winning goal.  Featuring a strong physical style, with players like Nystrom, captain Denis Potvin and Clark Gillies, augmented by the creativity of center Bryan Trottier and the deadly shooting of fifty-goal man Mike Bossy, the Nassau Coliseum soon had four Stanley Cup banners hanging from the rafters, while the jealous Rangers, in Madison Square Garden still had a long wait before their own championship drought would end.

The suburban uprising was finally put down by the star-studded Edmonton Oilers, featuring two future Rangers, Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky.

NY Rangers

For the decade after the Islanders dynasty ended, the city struggled to find a new champion.  The Isles faded back into oblivion, the Rangers continued their decades long run of mediocrity, as did the Knicks, the Mets and, with George Steinbrenner banned from baseball for financial irregularities, the Yankees.

It would be hockey, again, which pulled New York out of its sporting depression, when the Rangers decided it was high time the club won another Stanley Cup.  The Blueshirts signed an array of stars, led by former Oilers captain Mark Messier and goalscorers Tony Amonte and Stephane Matteau.  American Mike Richter assumed the goaltending duties from John Vanbiesbrouck and uncompromising head coach Iron Mike Keenan was put in charge.

The Rangers knocked off the Islanders in the first round, the Washington Capitals in the second, but then fell behind three games to two against the New Jersey Devils.  Messier, like Joe Namath before him, then guaranteed that the Rangers would win, and, after the series had been tied, scored a hat trick in the deciding game to send the club into the finals, where they also needed seven games to defeat the high-scoring Vancouver Canucks.

Messier became the first captain to lift the Stanley Cup for two teams and would be joined in the coming seasons by former Edmonton teammate Wayne Gretzky.  No dynasty was in the offing, however, as the Devils would win the Cup the next year, and remain the best team in the metropolitan area from that point forward.

The 1994 World Cup

The summer of ’94 continued to be a lively one for New Yorkers with the World Cup in town.  Although the final was played in the Rose Bowl in California, one of the most memorable matches of the tournament took place at Giants Stadium.   Hristo Stoichkov and Bulgaria, making an improbable run, upset then champion Germany, featuring such stars as Rudi Voller, Juergen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthaus.

The tournament whetted the appetite of Big Apple footy fans who had been in limbo since the demise of the Cosmos, but they would have to wait another two years before MLS took the stage.

NY/NJ Metro Stars

After New York fans had waited over a decade for a new soccer team to call their own, and been teased by the first American World Cup, MLS managed to screw up the perfect situation.  The league made the New York/New Jersey Metro Stars their flagship franchise, except that the boat couldn’t get out of the harbour.

In an attempt to appeal to the broadest fan base possible, the club struck a compromise in the debate over whether to designate the franchise as either New York or New Jersey.  Unfortunately, residents on both sides of the Hudson have so little regard for their opposites that such an arrangement only served to annoy everyone.  As well, the Metro Stars moniker was largely seen as an attempt to cash in on the Cosmos’ brand, which was not available to the side.  As little respect as New Yorkers have for Jersey, they have even less for those who lack originality.

Thus, when Lothar Matthaus proved not to be the second coming of Franz Beckenbauer and left the city, seemingly quicker than he had arrived, the club was left with the more mercurial talents from the US World Cup roster, goalscorers Tab Ramos and Clint Mathis and goalkeeper Tony Meola, while the more substantive talents of Alexi Lalas, Claudio Reina and John Harkes  went to Serie A, the Bundesliga and inaugural MLS champion DC United respectively.

Young defender Mike Petke was the lone American star to stand out with the side for an extended period, which in its new incarnation is still struggling to live up to the pressures of representing New York.

The Second Steinbrenner Dynasty

After being banned from baseball for financial irregularities and generally getting on everyone’s nerves, Steinbrenner returned, determined to transform his spoiled superstar line-up back into a championship team. Hiring perfect foils to his impulsive self, Brian Cashman and Joe Torre, as general manager (technical director) and manager, respectively, the club came together around young shortstop Derek Jeter, centerfielder and Grammy nominated Latin jazz guitarist Bernie Williams, left-handed pitcher Andy Pettitte and closer Mariano Rivera, to win four World Series in five years at the end of the millenium.

An MLS Rebirth

The hapless Metro Stars were eventually sold to Austrian energy drink giant Red Bull, and assumed the company name.  Regardless, they were still the ones getting bowled over and playing before an empty house, despite the best efforts of prolific striker Juan Pablo Angel and Alexi Lalas, wooed away from LA Galaxy to be Sporting Director.

Redux Redux

While the newly christened Red Bull continued to sink to new depths, the G-Men rose briefly to the top of the NFL again.   Bill Parcells disciple Tom Coughlin, appreciated for his hard line but reviled for his lack of personality, was in charge.  The offence was entrusted to the young arm of Eli (Peyton’s little brother) Manning.  With running back Tiki Barber keeping defences honest and the Giant’s own D-unit bringing back memories of the Parcells era, the Giants upset the dynastic New England Patriots, led by another Parcells assistant, Bill Belichick, to win Super Bowl XLII.

Unfortunately, Manning’s favourite target, Plaxico Burress then shot himself while handling an unregistered handgun and served three years in prison. Without him and the retired Barber, the Giants returned to their conservative ennui, leaving the gridiron headlines to such controversial figures as Randy Moss and Michael Vick, and the titles to Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Green Bay.

Burress was released this year and has signed with the other NY gridiron side, the Jets, and their famously outspoken coach Rex Ryan.

The Third (And Last) Steinbrenner Dynasty

With the Giants joining the Red Bull in the misfiring line, New York’s sporting tradition was placed back in the capable hands of the Yankees. Having handed the reins of the club to son Hank, the Bronx Bombers’ twenty-seventh World Series would be the last that Boss George would witness before his passing. Now managed by former catcher Joe Girardi and featuring the powerful bat of the 250 Million Dollar Man — and reformed steroid user — Alex Rodriguez, the club was led to their twenty-seventh championship by Captain Jeter and closer Mo Rivera.

Half Measures

The Red Bull had hoped that 2010 would be the year that they put their losing past behind them.  Moving out of the cavernous Giants Stadium, which they tried to forget hadn’t been big enough to house the Cosmos, and into their own 27,000 seat soccer specific stadium, Red Bull Arena, the club decided to give Juan Pablo Angel some top shelf support and Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez were brought over from Europe’s most successful club, Barcelona.

Yet, even with the emergence of seventeen year old Juan Agudelo, the Red Bull proved pretenders.  Ahead, after winning the away leg of their playoff quarterfinal with cash strapped San Jose Earthquakes, the club collapsed at home and bowed out of the playoffs.

This season, matters have only worsened.  As the playoffs approach, the side is no longer near the top of the table, but rather on the bubble for a post-season berth.  The conservative tactics of coach Hans Backe and sporting director Erik Soler have sucked what little confidence their aging superstars and burgeoning youngsters enjoyed.

From The Grave To The Cradle

As the Red Bull hesitate to become the New York franchise that MLS so desperately wants to complement the Galaxy, their opportunity to be a top side may pass on to a familiar face.  The Cosmos have been revived by English businessman Paul Kemsley, formerly chairman of Tottenham Hotspur.  The Board of Directors include former Liverpool CEO Rick Parry and Terry Byrne, friend and business partner to David Beckham.

While Beckham does have a clause in his MLS contract granting him right of first refusal on the league’s twentieth franchise, little has been said regarding whether he will take an active part in the Cosmos, when he retires.   The club is currently negotiating with MLS on stadium requirements and the entry fee of $70 million, raised especially for them, from the $40 million paid by 2012 league debutants Montreal Impact.

In the meanwhile, Kemsley and Co. continue to develop young players at the Cosmos academies and have hired former players Pele and Giorgio Chinaglia as Honourary President and International Ambassador respectively, and former Manchester United star and well qualified applicant for New Yorker status, Eric Cantona, as Director of Sport.

Presumably, Cantona will focus on signing foreign talent while assistant Cobi Jones, a former US international, focuses on homegrown talent.  With everything very much in the planning stages, its difficult to imagine what shape the club will take, but with Cantona on board, signs are encouraging that the new version of the Cosmos will at least be similar in style to the old, even if the new squad must cope with the MLS salary cap.

For English fans, who might have thought that New York was a relatively open market for a footy club, this small — no really, it is — sampling of the rich Big Apple sporting history should give you pause to think again.  For those of you more familiar with the city, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve left so much out.

Basketball fans are probably limbering up their fingers to comment on the absence of Dr J and the ABA New York Nets or Pat Riley’s Knicks of the ’90s who came close but couldn’t overcome the talents of, first, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, then Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets.

Baseball fans are probably upset that the Mets, who won two World Series, or the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants weren’t mentioned.  Yankee fans are likely wondering about players such as Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Don Mattingly and managers such as Miller Huggins and Casey Stengel.

To make matters worse, I completely ignored the city’s rich boxing history, which offered such personalities as Jake LaMotta, Sugar Ray Robinson and Rocky Marciano.

My first defence is that the song is only three and a half minutes long and fitting well over a hundred pictures into that time-frame was sufficiently difficult, given that I wanted to tell as many stories as possible, rather than just create a list.   Beyond that, I tried to stick with the more extroverted and/or elitist personalities among the many champions in the city, and with team sports.

Admittedly, Dr J fit that category, but he is more famous as a Philadelphian, and the Nets proved to be rather poor without him.  The Mets had their isolated moments but theirs was a collective effort largely bereft of the personalities which typically dominate New York champions.

The Islanders were similar to the Mets in that regard but four consecutive Stanley Cup championships is the type of imperious performance that can hardly be ignored.

So apologies to any and all, deserved or otherwise, who I’ve skipped over in my very subjective history.

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America, thy name is dichotomy.  I’m sure you’ve heard all the rhetoric and the statistics.  The country which claims to value freedom above all else imprisons a higher percentage of its populace than any other, democratic or otherwise.  Moreover, in a nation which claims to be a champion of civil rights, diversity and equality, the vast majority of those inmates are of minority origin.  So, it should be no surprise, then, that, in a society where political thought is centered on the rights of the individual, with liberals insisting that everyone should have equal opportunity to succeed in every aspect of life and conservatives believing that those same individuals should not look to anyone but themselves when they fail, where socialism is very much a dirty word despite the ubiquity of Social Security and Medicare, it’s here where you’ll find the most comprehensive marriage of socialism and top flight football on the planet.

It’s true that American sports leagues, despite the nation’s Darwinist belief in survival of the economically fittest, do not have promotion or relegation.  Many perennial losers, most notably baseball’s Chicago Cubs and — before a fellow named John Henry came along — Boston Red Sox, have enjoyed a strong following who actually take a stubborn pride in their side’s seemingly endless futility, given that there is always next year.  And while owners in those sports have banded together to enter into lucrative and exclusive broadcasting and marketing endorsements, and to oppose players who have organised into unions, none of them have ever been interested in taking on the debt of failing partners.   Major League Soccer, however, has gone the distance with their experiment in corporate socialism.

The league is literally a single entity.  Owners of new clubs focus their resources and energies on their team, but they, in fact, have bought a percentage of the league.  The original owners, foremost among them Lamar Hunt, Robert Kraft and Phillip Anschutz invested in clubs across the league, with Hunt and Anschutz owning controlling interests in multiple franchises.  That might seem like a conflict of interest when it comes to competition on the pitch — and the league does police that — but the counterweight is that every investor is proportionately responsible for debt or profit league wide.  In the truest sense of socialism, everyone is in it together, for better or worse.

Of the three ‘founding fathers’, Kraft has focused mainly on his once mighty but now struggling New England Revolution and Anschutz reduced his stake in clubs other than the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo to a minority share.  For Anschutz, the league has always been a means to an end; a vehicle for his entertainment and arena development concerns — he is the force behind the O2 and MEN Arenas and backs Tottenham’s opposition to West Ham’s take-over of the London Olympic Stadium.   Hunt, on the other hand, reveled in being a pioneer.

The Texan was in on the ground floor (as founder of the Dallas Texans-cum-Kansas City Chiefs) of the American Football League, which rivaled the NFL before merging with it in the early Sixties.  He then founded the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, who would establish a dynasty in the Nineties, led by a reasonably good player named Michael Jordan.  After getting the Bulls up and running, Hunt became heavily involved in the original North American Soccer League, made famous by Pele and the New York Cosmos, who are now undergoing a rebirth with Eric Cantona at the helm.  When MLS started up, Hunt was there to found the Kansas City Wizards (newly rechristened as Sporting KC) and the Columbus Crew, and then rescue the flagging Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas).  Somewhere in the middle of that, he established World Team Tennis, as well.  It’s probably safe to say that Lamar Hunt is the greatest sporting patron in American history.

In 1999, seven years before he passed, the USSF recognised Lamar Hunt’s contributions to American soccer by renaming the US Open Cup — begun in 1914, it’s the country’s oldest footy competition — in his name.  Last year, his Columbus Crew were the runners-up in the Lamar Hunt Cup, losing 1-2 in the final to Seattle Sounders FC at their opponent’s home ground, Qwest Field, renamed (this happens often in the US) CenturyLink Field this year.

Hunt’s vast legacy has been passed down to his children, with son Clark in charge of the Hunt Group, which maintains majority shares in the NFL Kansas City Chiefs and MLS sides Columbus Crew and FC Dallas (Lamar Hunt sold his interest in the then Kansas City Wizards in 2006).

Pundits, including myself, have been critical of Hunt the younger’s reluctance to make more use of the Designated Player Rule to bring some star quality to the two clubs.  With FC Dallas losing out in last season’s MLS Cup, to Colorado Rapids, their roster was subsequently exposed in the expansion draft conducted for new sides Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps.  The club lost key members Heath Pearce, Dax McCarty and Atiba Harris.  Similarly, the Crew, after a failed playoff and cup run, divested themselves of a handful of aging stars, most notably club icon Guillermo Barros Schelotto and US star right back Frankie Hejduk, while doing very little of note in the free agent market to replace them.

Hunt hasn’t improved his popularity by claiming that Columbus needs a new facility.  Crew Stadium was the original ‘soccer specific stadium’ on which MLS’ policy of growth is now anchored.  With several clubs still looking to build their own facilities, rather than be paying tenants at an NFL or Major League Baseball ground, thus deprived of critical revenue streams, Hunt wants the league to get behind lobbying efforts to finance a new park with more luxury boxes. This, despite the club’s current home being less than twenty years old.

But while the young scion of Lamar displays more interest in the bottom line than in one of the traditions that his father helped build, it has to be admitted that he has proved very knowledgable on the subject of keeping a club (or two) on the winning track.  At the writing, FC Dallas is second in the Western Conference (and overall) to the Galaxy.  Never mind that league MVP David Ferreira was injured early in the season, adding to the side’s depth issues; the club has rallied around the finishing talents of Brek Shea and Marvin Chavez, the creativity of Andrew Jacobson and the defensive prowess of George John and Ugo Imehelu.  More impressive, though, is that Columbus, who many thought were due to fall off the mountain in 2011, have climbed back to the top of the East, sitting sixth overall.

At the core of the success for both sides are coaches Schellas Hyndman (FCD) and Robert Warzycha (Columbus).  Hired through the Hunts’ connections to Southern Methodist University, where he coached for twenty-three years, Hyndman has proven that his already strong reputation for working with young players translates to the professional ranks but Warzycha was largely known for inheriting a veteran-laden team from Sigi Schmid, now at Seattle, and staying the course.

This season, rebuilding on the fly, with goals coming from the likes of strikers Andres Mendoza (7) and Emilio Renteria (4) and midfielder Eddie Gaven (another 4), and strong play on the wing from Robbie Rogers (catching the eye of new US boss Jürgen Klinsmann), Warzycha has proved he is a force in his own right.

While he must acknowledge that he is benefitting from the struggles of overspending but underachieving NY Red Bull, and Philadelphia Union’s recent loss of momentum, the Pole has the Crew in prime position with the final third of the season now before them.  It won’t be easy,  with the Union recruiting a new old face, in Freddy Adu, to rejuvenate the flagging attack and Red Bull’s experienced veterans, Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez, almost certain to ratchet up their game with the playoffs approaching — although the New Yorkers will be hurt by the extended loss of Luke Rodgers.  However, with one of the league’s best keepers, in Will Hesmer, and its fourth stingiest defence, leading, rather than chasing, is exactly where the Crew want to be.

And this is where Clark Hunt deserves plaudits.  He understands that football is a game where team takes the fore.  Talent can steal matches but form is fleeting.  Therefore, if the individual isn’t fully committed to the whole, as may be the case in New York, all that money is wasted.

That is not to say that the occasional bow to individuality, as a reward for both years of service and accomplishment, is out of the question for Hunt.  The lone star on the Crew is thirty-four year old Jeff Cunningham, whose one goal in four starts and eleven substitute appearances tied him with Jaime Moreno as the all-time MLS goal scorer.  The Jamaican born US International began his career with Columbus, was with Dallas before returning, and has been given the role of third option in attack, often coming on with just a few minutes remaining.   As you can tell from Cunningham’s limited playing time, sentiment and loyalty have their place but not at the expense of the team.  He will be given opportunities to break the record, but only when it can help the club.  Even the old man has a role to play.

Meanwhile, Hunt’s fellow founder, Robert Kraft, in focusing on an individual club, has not enjoyed quite the level of success he has had with the NFL’s Patriots. Whereas his grid iron side has won three of the five Super Bowls it has played during his reign, the Revolution have been defeated in all four MLS Cups they have contested (from 2002-07) and are now mired near the bottom of the league standings.

Phillip Anschutz has focused most of his resources to returning the mega-market Galaxy to the top of the league, thus maximising his profit potential — but simultaneously allowing his less lucrative, formerly dominant Dynamo to slide down the table. For all that, the impresario’s new juggernaut has repeatedly failed to beat less talented, more cohesive sides in the playoffs.

Clark Hunt, while seeking every capitalist advantage away from the pitch, has honoured his father’s legacy by practicing the purest brand of socialism of MLS’ three charter investors, spreading the wealth equally between his two remaining MLS sides.  Since assuming control of his father’s empire, the son’s methods have been rewarded with two MLS Cup appearances – and one championship – in three years.

Looking at the table it may seem that 2011 is Anschutz’ year; LA is running away with the Supporters Shield, six points ahead of FCD at the moment and reveling in a recent six-point triumph over their closest rivals.  Yet, Dallas has a game in hand on the leaders and,if he is finally to bring another championship to the City of Angels, the Galaxy owner may have to go through both of Clark Hunt’s side to do it.

That’s the advantage of socialism; there is not only safety, but power, in numbers.

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August 10th, 2011 could prove to be one of the most pivotal days in United States Men’s Soccer history. Up there with November 19, 1989, when Paul Caligiuri put the United States into its first World Cup since 1950. This coming Wednesday is the USMNT’s first match under new head coach Jürgen Klinsmann and it is against hated rival Mexico. It seems a bit dramatic to say that a friendly could be such a catalyst, but a lot will be read into the match, whether things go well or poorly.

The American men, although they underachieved in South Africa, hit a peak in that competition and have been slowly sinking since. The team has more talent than ever, but Bob Bradley seemed unable to bridge the gap between the old and new. His tactics were exposed too often and his chosen eleven were largely unable to start games well, looking unmotivated, slow and all too susceptible to an early goal.

The problems don’t begin or end, with Bradley, however.  The youth sides are all without coaches and have disappointed in recent competitions. Klinsmann’s time in charge of the German team is known mostly for the changes he made throughout the set-up.  He shook up a system that had grown stagnant and the results were fantastic.  The foundation he laid has seen die Mannschaft reach the semi-finals of each of the subsequent World Cups.  Since settling in California, after a failed attempt to modernise traditionalist Bayern Munich, Klinsmann has often criticised the ‘backwardness’ of the USSF system, mostly as a pundit for ESPN.

Those criticisms and his demand for the power to legislate change to the program are tipped as the primary reasons that he was not hired when Sunil Gulati openly courted him twice in the past.  The USSF president has apparently realized, at long last, that change is necessary and has agreed to Klinsmann’s terms.  Now, as manager, he’ll have similar powers to a US President, in that he’ll be able to appoint new coaches at every level of the program, like Supreme Court justices, and be sure that all are attuned to his agenda.

Before he makes those choices, however, there is the small matter of explaining to Mexico that dominance of the region is not going to be ceded as easily as they may have thought after June’s Gold Cup victory.

Last week, albeit in slightly more colorful terms, Martin Palazzotto noted that Klinsmann can take three paths in preparing for his first match in red, white and blue.  He can:

1. Call up Euro based players.
2. Call up MLS players
3. Call up the best players, no matter location.

Martin’s assessment that the third option is best is absolutely correct. Klinsmann’s hiring is a statement that the USSF is not content with its recent results or place in the international pecking order.  It is best that Klinsmann bring his best players into camp immediately, so that they all become familiar with his methods as quickly as possible.

If he does summon his best players and sell them on his program from word one, beating Mexico will still be a tall order, even without Javier Hernandez in their lineup while recovering from concussion.  However, I think that Klinsmann and the existing American squad are up to it

Yet, here is where the result has the potential to be such a crucial crossroads in the side’s development.  Despite the US squad’s performance in the Gold Cup and the commensurate result, there are many fans who believe that foreign influence is the last thing that the American team needs.   They are very skeptical of Klinsmann’s hiring.  The oft-repeated stories of his stint, incognito, with Ocean County Blue Star and of his failed attempt to introduce American training methods at Bayern have not engendered the good will some might have hoped.

Should he win, the doubters may back off somewhat and allow him the opportunity to effect change.  That will especially hold true if the squad enters the match with a wholly transformed attitude, taking the field in Philadelphia and playing with excitement and attitude from the outset.  Such an effort will only magnify the differences between Klinsmann and Bradley.

Of course, at the end of the day, the game is still just a friendly. If the US loses, Klinsmann will not be discredited by Gulati or fired. He will still be allowed to implement his program.  However, the criticism will almost certainly increase and, as a result, his leash might be shorter.  Further, a low approval rating may encourage some fractures within the squad, which would be unhealthy at a point when there is a very discernible difference in the styles of the old and new generations.

Yet, regardless of this one result or of his overall record, it is very difficult to imagine the USMNT not improving under Klinsmann’s direction.  The more proudly nationalist elements of Sam’s Army may have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new regime, but, fingers crossed, they may come easier if Klinsmann can get off to a rollicking start.

The Game

Prediction:  The United States will win. In style.

Significant Changes

First, a trademark of Klinsmann’s time in charge of Germany was the pre-match pep talk. As alluded to previously, the USMNT does not lack in talent, but has often looked unmotivated.

Under Bradley, pre-match talks were technical, practical, dry and emotionless.  Once the side, still drowsy from the lifeless lecture had fallen behind, Bradley, would finally bring out the hairdryer.   Klinsmann’s approach is diametrically opposite.  Full of flair, experience and confidence, he should fill the room in a way that Bradley never did.

I expect that Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and co. will react amazingly well when encouraged to go out and enjoy themselves.  Klinsmann was an unpredictable and creative player, and a damn good one at that. He may not have much time to teach the players anything before this game, but just the act of giving them the freedom to express themselves should work wonders.

Don’t misunderstand me.  The match will be close and hard-fought.  The US won’t dominate but will take on the infectious personality of their new coach and exhibit some style, marrying it with their inherent refusal to lose.

Second, Landon Donovan will be named captain.

Carlos Bocanegra is aging and the odds of him playing a prominent role in the next World Cup are slim. Klinsmann knows this and he knows Donovan, too, having brought him to Bayern Munich during his brief stint at the club. Klinsmann’s familiarity with Donovan and the latter’s status as the face of the USMNT mean that Landon will be given the armband and it will be his to lose.  Bocanegra, being the selfless leader he is, will likely understand, have been expecting such a development to occur eventually, and happily pass the torch.

Third, you will see the best display, to date, from the young crop of exciting talent that the US has.

One of the few positives taken away from the Gold Cup was the play of that group.  Eric Lichaj and Freddy Adu were revelations. Sacha Klestjan re-established himself. Stuart Holden didn’t play due to injury but his performance in the Premier League spoke for itself.  With a new man in charge, they will be eager to open doors for themselves with powerful performances.

But, remember, it’s only a friendly.

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On Thursday, the United States once again proved how little it knows (or cares) about the rest of the world.  In the nation’s capital for a friendly rematch with Champions League foes Manchester United, FC Barcelona decided to do a little sightseeing.  Their tour bus, replete with an FC Barcelona sign emblazoned above the front windshield, spied a large empty swath of grass across the street from the White House.  We call it the National Mall, but Pep Guardiola saw an empty pitch and dragged everyone off the coach for a bit of a kick about.

The blissfully ignorant Park Police were having none of it, however, and quickly herded these strange foreigners, in their dark blue and bright yellow FCB shirts, with the funny badge on the chest, back onto their bus before they could harm the President.  Admittedly, Lionel Messi wasn’t there, nor Xavi or Carles Puyol but David Villa and Gerard Pique, not to mention several other first-teamers and one of the most well known coaches in the game, were.   Yet, the Park Police were adamant that no group of more than ten could gather on the lawn.

European Champions?  What’s that?  Superstar athletes?  Don’t try and fool us.  Almost all of these guys are under six feet tall and none of them weigh two hundred pounds.  There’s no that way they could be football players.  Nice try.  Now move along before we call the Border Patrol!

Pep looked decidedly pissed as he reboarded the tour bus.

It was shades of Gran Torino.

On Saturday, Guardiola had even more to anger him, as United gained a measure of revenge for their Wembley defeat two months ago.  They jumped out front on a Nani goal and, after Thiago equalised for the Blaugrana, put the game to bed when Tom Cleverley lived up to his name, reading a squared pass and intercepting.  Quickly heading in the opposite direction, he fed a waiting Michael Owen, the controversially selected and unused CL final substitute, who calmly sent the ball over the onrushing Victor Valdes’ left shoulder, from a nice touch off the outside of his right foot.

It was hardly an important match, yet it will leave United and Sir Alex Ferguson feeling good about themselves and their B-list midfield.  The ESPN announcers, American John Harkes and Englishman Adrian Healey, spent much of the match talking about USMNT coach Bob Bradley’s sacking and the subsequent hiring of Jürgen Klinsmann.  I’ve already had my say on that, but I couldn’t help but notice an interesting parallel between this match and Klinsmann’s upcoming bow on 10 August, which Thursday in the Park With Pep only brings more into focus.

Klinsmann’s opening match, like Saturday’s affair, will be an early revisit to a recent title tilt.  Having blown a two goal lead to lose the Gold Cup crown to Mexico at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, in Bradley’s last match in charge, the Americans will get a chance at revenge in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, one week from Wednesday evening, in Klinsmann’s first.

Of course, it’s a friendly and it’s unlikely that Javier Hernandez will play for Mexico, as he is recovering from a mild concussion suffered in training with United.  Nor is it clear just yet, which of three routes Klinsmann will take regarding his own squad selection:

1. He could upset European managers by recalling his UEFA-based stars, who are in various stages of pre-season training or, in the case of those playing for Scandinavian clubs, in the early doors of their campaign.
2. He could anger already testy MLS coaches, by summoning his US-based players, who have already lost too many man hours to the Gold Cup and have probably seen enough of energy-sapping but financially lucrative promotional friendlies in the middle of their regular season.
3. He could call up a full-strength squad and piss everyone off.

Now, because I’ve been baying at the moon for a year, hoping that the USSF would finally do what they should have done in 2006, and hire Klinsmann to push the US out of its cultural nest of ignorance and let the team learn to fly the friendly FIFA skies, I’m backing my man to choose door number three.

That’s right, piss them all off, especially the MLS coaches.  Why?  Because playing for your country is supposed to be the ultimate experience in football; it should be the player’s top priority; it should be his dream.  MLS clubs and their fans just don’t get that and, thanks to the poor relations with Sepp Blatter and FIFA, top European clubs, who admittedly pay the players’ wages, are developing the same attitude.

I can understand the backlash in Europe.  The World Cup, despite its expansion into new cultures and continents, is as much about the almighty dollar, if not more so, than any competition.  On top of that, they’ve been squeezing in more and more international dates, while rejecting financial responsibility when they return players to their clubs in damaged condition.  That’s an entirely different rant, however.

The point is, true football supporters the world over – including in the good ole USA – want to see the best players face off, country v country, for bragging rights.  They want their nation to win the World Cup.  If Klinsmann is to transform the US from a determined, athletic side with huge potential (but lacking footballing DNA) into the real deal, there can be no pussyfooting around.  He needs to state his intentions and mark his territory immediately.

Klinsmann needs to call the players on the carpet, explain the changes that will be made and what will be expected under him and it will be best to address everyone at once, to make it clear that all the power lays with him.  He needs to let MLS and UEFA coaches know that the USMNT will take priority, just as the Three Lions, die Mannschaft, the Azzurri, the Selecao, the Albiceleste and La Furia Roja all do.  If the US is to realise the potential of its population base and economic resources to become a world power, Klinsmann shouldn’t be concerned about stepping on toes; he needs to make others worry about stepping on his.

In the long run, a strong US program will only generate fan interest, which, if MLS plays ball, will only trickle down to them.

By the way, if you’re still wondering how Barcelona’s eviction from the National Mall brings all that more into focus, it’s simple.  If America were already a nation with a footballing consciousness, the Catalans would have been recognised on their little outing and would have been treated like the role models and champions they are.  If that had happened, there would be no need for the USSF to hire a foreign coach with International credentials, would there?   They’d have already developed their own.

(Regarding that, I’m not quite sure what England’s excuse is.)

Whenever a new season begins, anywhere in the world, the knee-jerk reaction is to see who gets off to a flying start.  Yet time after time, the rabbit fails to finish at the front of the pack.

A prime example from 2010-11 would be Chelsea.  The Blues roared out of the gate with a pair of 6-0 victories, creating a major commotion in the über-competitive Premier League.  When they had scored twenty-five and conceded just two, through their opening five Prem tilts and first Champions League group match, the British press were already conceding the title.

Then Newcastle came to Stamford Bridge and ended their run, going toe-to-toe with the defending league champions.  Shola Ameobi delivered the extra-time knockout punch in a 4-3 Carling Cup thriller.  Shortly thereafter, assistant manager Ray Wilkins, having affronted one of Roman Abramovich’s backroom hangers-on, was summarily dismissed.  With him went the Blues’ mojo.  They slumped through the middle portion of the season, struggling for points and goals, losing twice to Liverpool, both with and without £50 million January signing Fernando Torres, and the steadier, more placid Manchester United won their nineteenth title, riding the service of Wayne Rooney and the goals of Dimitar Berbatov and a certain young Mexican everyone loves to call Chicharito.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, former Chelsea boss Avram Grant and his new wounded animal, West Ham, were outscored 2-12 in their first four league matches and never climbed out of the hole.  So, while a strong start may not necessarily lead to a championship, it goes a long way to keeping a club up.

In Mexico, with the split season, getting off on the right foot is doubly important.  After all, the campaign is only half as long.  That does work both ways, naturally, giving the rabbit a much better chance of keeping the wolves at bay.  Still, the round robin portion of the Apertura will be followed by an eight-team play-off, which decides the champion.  So, finishing first isn’t overly important.  For the team arriving in the Primera Division from Liga Ascenzo, however, early points may be the difference between an immediate return trip to oblivion and survival.

One Primera Division team is relegated each year.  The victim is decided by who accumulates the lowest points per game average over the previous four tournaments (this year that is the 2010 and ’11 Aperturas and 2011 and ’12 Clausuras.  The side newly promoted, however, only has two tournaments to make its mark.

For Tijuana FC, that means the 2011 Apertura, just started, and the 2012 Clausura, upcoming.  While the other seventeen clubs all have a ppg. average between 1.8571, for top side Monterrey, and 1.0143 and 1.0714 respectively for the Xolos’ nearest targets, Tecos and Querétaro, the new boys start out at 0.0000.

That’s a lot of ground to make up in a short stretch.  The sooner you get started, then, the better.  Unfortunately for the Aztec Dogs, their three opening matches were all scheduled against top sides.

The season began at home against 2011 Clausura runners-up Monarcas de Morelia.  The visitors got off the mark before the quarter-hour, courtesy of Luis Sandoval.  Monarcas were patient as the Xolos hunted them all over the pitch.  Finally finding a release, they quickly switched the ball to the opposite side, then deep into the Tijuana half and finally back across the pitch again, for Sandoval to let loose a volley from the edge of the eighteen that curled into the far corner.

Just before the break, the Aztec Dogs equalised through my new favourite name in all of football.  Granted a free kick from forty-five metres, Tijuana played it short and then took aim from twenty-five metres.  Normally reliable Monarcas keeper Federico Vilar could only knock down the blast, rather than redirect it, and Joe Corona was there to clean up the mess.  That’s one cerveza on the American’s Primera Division tab.  Pass the lime!

The Xolos looked on their way to a valuable opening day point, holding off the dangerous Morelia attack.  In the eighty-fourth minute, though, a poorly controlled ball led to a break for the visitors and defender Joshua Abrego, too late in covering, leg whipped Joao Rojas in the box.  The official immediately and correctly indicated a penalty and, after Rojas was stretchered off clutching his left knee, erstwhile Mexican International Miguel Sabah delivered victory from the spot.

Thus, instead of instantly lifting themselves almost level with the lower end of the relegation table, Tijuana remained on zero, with a trip to table-toppers Monterrey their next hurdle.

The Aztec dogs for which the club is named may now only be a thing of legend, living on only in the form of the shivering little hairless Chihuahuas which yap and nip from the safety of La Señora’s purse, but these Xolos don’t back down.  Twenty-five minutes into the match, Colombian Dayro Moreno put Tijuana ahead.  In the box but walled off by five Monterrey defenders, Moreno moved back and to his left, then lifted a perfectly weighted chip over the desperate leap of goaltender Jonathan Orozco.

Less than five minutes later, it was cerveza time again.  Pinned against the touchline on the left edge of the box, Raul Enriquez had his first cross rebuffed but gathered in the rebound, spun and delivered a text-book second effort for the unmarked Corona to nod across the line.

On forty minutes, the tide turned and Tijuana learnt the hard way that defence is part of the game, as well.  In a similar situation to Corona’s strike, Sergio Santana was left alone on the doorstep and stuck out his right foot to stab the Rayados back into the match.  Xolos backstop Cirilo Saucedo had absolutely no chance on the play.

Five minutes after the break, the Xolos conceded a penalty, which Luis Perez converted and the sides were on level terms.  More importantly, however, old Mo’ was definitely on Monterrey’s side.  With twenty minutes remaining, they finally put the game away, thanks to another defensive lapse.  As Humberto Suazo and Cesar Delgado fought for possession on one side of the box against a handful of defenders, Walter Ayovi stood unnoticed on the opposite side.  Suazo finally sent the ball his way and Ayovi made good with a left footed half-volley from fifteen yards, sliding it under Saucedo, who was caught ranging in the other direction.  With the Xolos still trying to absorb what had just happened, Monterrey broke down the pitch en masse and Delgado finished off the break, driving a low shot past Saucedo.

In the opening weeks, Tijuana had entered the final half hour of their two matches with four points in the offing.  In both cases, when the whistle blew full time, they came away empty-handed.  This is a club that is less than a decade old and has risen quickly through the ranks to enter the top flight.  Their ownership makes its fortune in the gambling industry, politics and, allegedly, has dealings with drug and arms cartels.  They live hard and fast and, as needs must in such an environment, learn quickly.  While they haven’t finished off their first opportunities, they have been confident and fearless.  If any fresh young club has what it takes to survive, Tijuana is it.

Next on the menu is a home date against Santos Laguna, who like Monterrey and Monarcas are sitting at the top of the table, on six points.  It’s a battle of Corona v Corona, with Santos actually the club of the famous brewery.

Having dropped their first two matches, a draw may break the ice, but it will still only leave the club on a 0.33 average.  The sooner they start winning, the sooner they’ll take the pressure off themselves.  Conversely, the longer they struggle, the harder it will be to catch up.

The road doesn’t get much easier after Santos, either, with Puebla, Cruz Azul and Chivas, on four, four and six points respectively, upcoming in three of the Xolos’ next four matches.  If the Aztec Dogs are going to run with the pack in Mexico’s top flight, they need to pick up the pace now.

If you ever need to have the wind taken out of your sails, just be a footy fan living in America.  Sooner or later, one of your online friends from the UK will put you in the doldrums.

After managing to get the work week out of the way a bit early on this Friday and then spend an hour working on – Shameless Plug Alert – the upcoming issue of Man And Ball, I snuck a peek at the UK generated ESPN Soccernet homepage.   Obviously, if you want international footy news, it’s next to useless to bookmark the US version.

Naturally, though, the opposite is also true.  So, after reading the feature story and perusing the headlines for the few items which were not slow news day stories, I almost missed the tiny box which announced that Jürgen Klinsmann had been hired as the new US coach.  Given that I’ve been harping on the necessity of this move for over a year, beginning with this piece, summing up the problems the Americans had at the World Cup, and continuing here and, most recently, after the US defeat in the Gold Cup final, here, I surprised myself with my first thought upon reading the lead:  why had they fired Bradley?

Naturally, USSF president Sunil Gulati is too much a gentlemen and/or wary of potential litigation for wrongful dismissal to state those reasons officially, which happily leaves it to pundits like yours truly to speculate.

The knee-jerk reason would be the way the US lost the Gold Cup (that happened just last month, for those of you who still think a boot is something that goes on the back of a car).  Having jumped out to a 2-0 lead, the Americans were hammered by a rampant Mexican side which leveled before the break and then ran away with the title, after scoring two more in the second half.

If that was, in fact, the final straw, it was an ironic one.  The Americans, under Bradley, had a reputation for starting slowly and then turning it on late.  To lose a match in the opposite fashion, could, in that context, actually be considered a sign of progress.

More likely, however, was the fact that the Mexican side, young, fast and fluid, exposed Bradley’s tactical ineptitude and showed every sign of leaving a Bradley-led US in the dust over the next four years.

Led by Man United starlet Javier Hernandez, El Tri ran roughshod through the group stage while the US struggled.  After barely managing to finish second in their own group, the US found their stride, surprisingly by sitting main goal threat Landon Donovan.  The LA Galaxy forward thrives on the break and, without him in the lineup, the Americans played a possession game, controlling the ball and patiently building up.  It was still a very new look for the Americans but hardly polished, yet he adjustment worked well against Jamaica and Panama, two sides whose talent doesn’t compare to the US.

Mexico’s talent does compare to the Yanks, however, and favourably.  Trying to beat your betters at their own game in a major tournament final is probably not the best of schemes.  Yet, that is what Bradley attempted, albeit with Donovan in the line-up.  Never mind that the Americans have had years of success on home soil against Mexico, by soaking up the pressure and hitting off the break.  That has always been the problem with Bradley.  Rather than displaying confidence in his own side’s strengths he attempts to play to his opponent’s weakness.

Could it be that Gulati finally realised that Bradley, while he may excel at man-management, is terrible when it comes to analysing his opponents?   If he did, now was almost as good a time to make a coaching change as twelve months ago would have been.

The USMNT is not getting any younger.  Its two prime weapons, Donovan and Fulham star Clint Dempsey, will be thirty-two and thirty-one, respectively, when the next World Cup rolls around.  The captain and defensive anchor, Carlos Bocanegra will be thirty-five.  Fellow defender Jay DeMerit, who has already moved from Championship side Watford to expansion MLS franchise Vancouver Whitecaps, which can only be charitably described as a lateral move, will be thirty-four.  He was not in the Gold Cup squad, due to injury.  Oguchi Onweyu, who was once the beast of the backline, was available for the tournament but, still not fully recovered from a devastating knee injury, was a pale imitation of his former self.  He, too, will be thirty-two in 2014.  Perhaps worst of all, hotly pursued dual citizen and midfielder Jermaine Jones, also a victim of chronic injury, hasn’t carved out a permanent place in the midfield and is the same age as Donovan and Gooch, without the caps to match.

On the other hand, there is a solid young core, including the now former coach’s son, Michael Bradley, Rangers midfielder Maurice Edu, NY Red Bull sensation Juan Agudelo, Sacha Kljestan, Eric Lichaj, Alejandro Bedoya and Jonathan Spector, who finally made inroads with West Ham last season.  They are all twenty-five or younger.

You could even include in that group the once hyped and now forgotten Freddy Adu, who, at twenty-two, is beginning to add maturity to his once promising talent.  Yes, you read that right.  Adu was declared a flop before he finished high school and, five years later, he is looked at in the same light, by American journalists, as Patrick Vieira or the original Ronaldo in terms of resurrecting his career.  As well, there is still hope for twenty-one year old journeyman Jozy Altidor, who has played progressively decreasing amounts of first team football with Red Bull, Villareal, Hull City and Bursaspor over the past five seasons and has landed at Dutch side AZ Alkmaar for the upcoming campaign.

After the Gold Cup debacle, it appears that Gulati sat in a darkened room for a month and arrived at the realisation that Bradley was unlikely to do better with this new group than with the old.  Finally emerging, suit rumpled, face haggard and eyes sensitive to light, he began frantically thumbing through his Rolodex for Klinsmann’s number.

And this is where having British friends can be damaging to one’s happiness.  When I explained to Jude Ellery that further work on Man And Ball (did it again!) would have to be temporarily suspended while I wrote down my thoughts on this momentous event, he replied, and I quote:

“Must be on the back of the eight games he played for The OC…   Is it me or did managers used to have to work their way up to big time positions, by, I dunno, winning things at lesser clubs/nations? Crazy thought, I know. He’ll probably win the next World Cup now I’ve said that.”

That, in itself wasn’t emotionally depressing, although it was embarrassing that he knew about Klinsmann’s 2003 Orange County Blue Star masquerade, wherein the German went by the name of Jay Goppinger and scored five goals in his octet of matches, when I didn’t.  The only excuse that I can offer for being ignorant is that I was working in Cornwall at the time and it didn’t register on my radar.  Weak, I know.

Anyway, I then fired back that he had missed the somewhat more impactful section of Klinsmann’s career, in which the USSF twice flirted with hiring the converted California dude, only to settle on Bradley both times, the second go-round being helpful in renewing the American’s contract when he bluffed at Aston Villa’s interest in him subsequent to Martin O’Neill’s exit.  That brought this downer:

“Whether he was good or not, I just don’t see how Klinsmann’s record justifies giving him the position. He did OK with Germany, sure, but didn’t win anything with its biggest club, Bayern. I’d have picked someone with more experience, and someone with more knowledge of American football (soccer!). Do you not have any good coaches over there?”

All right, Klinsmann did lay the foundation for Jorgi Löw’s success and he did struggle at Bayern, but so have any number of established bosses, Louis van Gaal just being the most recent.  Much of the friction in Klinsmann’s case was that he attempted to install American training regimens at the Rekordmeister. Such revolutionary ideas didn’t go over well at a club famously rooted in tradition.

What was painful, though, was having to admit that, no, we really don’t have a line of American coaches, stretching out the door and around the block, eager and ready to fill the void.  There is Jason Kreis, perhaps best described as the American Klinsmann, having led Real Salt Lake to an MLS championship after taking over coaching duties with the club immediately upon hanging up his boots.  Yet, he doesn’t have the breadth of experience at the domestic level, let alone internationally, to be considered at this point in his managerial career.

The only American name I would put forward, other than former US boss and current LA Galaxy headman Bruce Arena, would be FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman.  The sixty-year old is a naturalised citizen, born to a Franco-Russian mother and Portuguese father in Macau.  He grew up in Ohio but still inherited some European sensibilities, including a love for footy, from his parents.  After twenty-three largely successful seasons coaching Southern Methodist University, he took over at FCD.  He has transformed a young club with a high turnover into a serious contender for the MLS crown.  His ability to work wonders with young players would admittedly be ideal for the US squad at this point in their development.

There is no evidence that while Sunil Gulati was locked in his office, lights out for a month, that he didn’t pick up a phone and inquire into Hyndman’s availability.  Of course, there isn’t any that he did, either.  Still, it’s safe to say that Hyndman doesn’t possess the international credentials of Klinsmann.  His hiring, less than a year after the federation extended Bradley’s tenure by another four years,  would be seen as dubious at best and, at worst, fraught with risk.

There is a widespread opinion in the US, to which I subscribe, that the country has done as much as it can on its own.  Bradley’s first four years, painful as they were exploited everything an American coach had to offer.  US footballers now reap the benefits of the foremost training methods that sports science has to offer, their best can run up and down the pitch with anyone for ninety minutes and, while not having an identifiable style, have forged an identity as a doggedly relentless side.   Yet, as a nationalist republic, the country lacks the international footballing culture that might push them to the next level.  Jürgen Klinsmann’s philosophy and experience transcend that gap and he is, in my mind, the perfect man to carry the USMNT forward to Brazil.

It’s just a pity that he’s lost a year’s lead time to prepare.

The MLS table is so uneven that there aren’t enough matchbooks in the world to level it.  Of the league’s eighteen clubs, one, Real Salt Lake, has played only eighteen matches, two have played twenty and three each have played nineteen, twenty-two and twenty-three.  The remaining six have played twenty-one.  In a league which avoids the harsh American winter by playing a summer schedule, why would there be such disparity?

In the case of Real Salt Lake, who answered the call when MLS Commissioner Don Garber challenged the league to take continental play seriously, it is because the league postponed several of their matches to aid their run in the CONCACAF Champions League.  Ultimately, the help wasn’t enough, as RSL lost the final to Monterrey of Mexico but it is at least heartening to see a league executive from any competition do more than talk.

Otherwise, however, the whole mess comes down to money.  Sporting KC did open the season with an elongated double-digit road trip arranged so that they might make full use of their new LiveStrong Stadium this season.  Whilst that might have taken some creative thinking on the league’s part and knocked the fixture list slightly awry, Sporting, has interpreted full use to mean scheduling lucrative midseason friendlies against high-profile European clubs.  Not that they’re the only ones.

In KC’s defence, they at least won their match against Juventus.  Most of the visitors, including Real Madrid, Man City and, of course, Man United, have been shredding the American sides.  United’s 7-0 victory over Seattle Sounders could have been mistaken for a low scoring NFL game rather than a footy rout.  They did calm down somewhat against New England Revolution and again versus Chicago Fire, actually conceding first before Wayne Rooney led an assault which quickly smothered the uprising.

Now, I’m not suggesting that the league should abandon the summer friendlies, despite the havoc they play with the schedule.  Not only are they lucrative, it’s a yearly opportunity to convert a portion of the multitudinous US fans who spend most of their time following foreign leagues.  Obviously I’m right in the middle of that herd but there’s a reason that there are so many of us.  Whilst MLS is improving, it is still light years away from being a top league.  The overwhelming dominance of European clubs basically out for a lark, playing their stars for just half a match as they work their way back to match fitness, proves that.

In fact, it has to be tempting for touring clubs to think that they’re actually much better than they are.  If Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t the man who has been averaging a major trophy annually for a quarter-century, I might think he had fallen under that spell himself.  After the victory over the Fire, the Scot announced that United had finished shopping for the season and any midfielder who might step into Paul Scholes imposing boots would have to come from within the current squad.

It’s fair to say that you won’t find anyone on this tour capable of replacing the ginger-haired field general.  Ryan Giggs is on his last legs and some supporters’ last nerve, Anderson hasn’t shown the maturity, Michael Carrick’s skill is not nearly so subtle and Park Ji-Sung’s even less, although the Korean’s work rate is unrivaled.   Darren Fletcher, still in the UK, recovering from his mystery illness, is the closest player on the books in both quality and character to Scholes but he has been away for so long that it is speculation whether he will even return.  Perhaps Fergie knows something we don’t?

Some journalist or other along the way even suggested that Wayne Rooney might drop back into the middle.  Ferguson had a chuckle at the idea, noting that Scholes had a patience and vision that brought the game to him, whereas Rooney simply doesn’t have the nature to stand still and allow space to open for him.

Some United fans are panic-stricken, then, that their manager is suddenly pulling a Wenger, refusing to spend big money for a premium star, such as Inter’s Wesley Sneijder.  Others will surely trod out the tired opinion that the Glazer’s debt is holding him back, ignoring the fact that he’s already spent around £60 million on Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David de Gea.  Yet, the defeat in the Champions League final has some believing that there is a large hole in the center of the pitch at Old Trafford.

The loss to Barcelona revealed what was already well-known:  United’s midfield is not as good as the Catalan’s.  No one’s is.  In fact, there won’t be another group as fluid Xavi, Iniesta et al for quite some time.  Such understanding between players takes years to develop and therein lies the problem.  Spending £35 million or more on Sneijder will bring the club a talented player but he will still need time to gel with the squad.  A United midfield including the Dutchman will be an improvement but will remain outclassed by the Barça crew.

Remember, too, that as valuable as he was, Scholes did not cost United a penny.  Like Xavi and Iniesta, he came up through the club.  No, Fergie is not pulling a Wenger; he simply knows that no player on the market can replace Scholes, so why spend?  A significant part of the Englishman’s value was that he was a club man and that simply can’t be bought.  To try or to shape your squad just to win one match that may never come off, when there is the Premier League, League and FA Cups and the rest of Europe, beyond Barcelona, to consider, would be the height of foolishness.

In the meantime, the steamroller that Manchester United have rode across the US, will be tested against an MLS side including Landon Donovan, Thierry Henry and David Beckham.  Afterwards, Fergie will introduce his new squad to the enemy in a ‘non-title bout’ against Barça, in Washington.

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What do Scots and Mexicans have in common?  Well, calling haggis a spicy sausage, like chorizo, is a stretch, so it isn’t diet.  Nor is anyone likely to confuse Javier Hernandez with Darren Fletcher, so complexion is also a big no.  On the other hand, both like to take a long break in the middle of a difficult task, Mexicans because the midday sun is boiling hot and Scots because it tends to snow a hell of a lot around the holidays.  What I was getting at, however, is that whilst one nation is a mixture of scorched desert and humid rainforest and the other windblown coastlines and cold, misty highlands, both are kicking off their 2011-12 football seasons this weekend.

You can catch Scott Johnston’s preview of the SPL here, if you like to dip your nachos into neeps and tatties.  Meanwhile here’s a look at what to expect in the Apertura portion of the split Mexican season.

New Business

First off, it’s become apparent that, just like the rest of us, the FMF was becoming rather confused by the combination of a balanced schedule and three groups of six clubs.  Thus, they’ve decided to go with a single table from which the top eight sides will advance to the playoffs.

In May, the league governors announced that the playoff would henceforth comprise two groups of four playing a double round robin to decide the two finalists.  In June, however, they slapped themselves on the head and realised that they were simplifying the regular season whilst simultaneously complicating the playoffs.  So, now they’ve returned to the traditional format of two-legged ties deciding each and every playoff round.

As always, the Apertura will consist of a single round robin, with every club playing seventeen matches, one each against the other clubs.  Half the sides will play eight home games, the others nine.  In the new year, the Clausura will turn the tables with the disadvantaged sides now playing the extra home game in a corresponding round robin, followed by another eight team playoff.   The three best placed Apertura teams not engaged in the current CONCACAF Champions League qualify for the upcoming Copa Libertadores.  Along with their counterparts in the Clausura, the two finalists in the playoff qualify for the next CCL.

Top Sides

Monterrey finished 2010-11 as the best overall side in the Apertura and Clausura round robins combined.  They won the former and added the CONCACAF Champions League to their haul, winning it outright in Utah against the 2009 MLS champions, Real Salt Lake, after a draw at home that had left the visiting Americans with an away goal in their pocket.  Twenty-four year old Neri Cardozo pulls the strings in the Rayados midfield and has two dangerous targets to supply in Aldo de Nigris and Chilean Humberto Suazo.   At twenty-eight and thirty respectively, the strike pair have the perfect blend of fitness, skill and experience to again make Monterrey a prime factor in the Mexican top flight.

Cruz Azul were the second best club over the competitive year in Mexico, although they came away from the three tournaments they played empty handed.  That sums up Los Cementeros beautifully:  a strong consistent side which can’t seem to get through a critical match, having lost four of their last five contested finals.  The side is captained by defensive midfielder and Mexican International Gerrardo Torrado, aka El Borrego (the Sheep).  The name is born of his curly locks and belies his terrier’s nature on the pitch.  The danger man up front is veteran Argentine Cristian Giminez but young Jonathan Orozco has developed a penchant for popping in game-winning goals in the CCL.

Another very consistent side, which made it to the 2011 Clausura final, but also has nothing to show for the year, is Morelia side Monarcas.  The club enjoys a potent attack, with the combined talents of Ecuadorian Joao Rojas, a speedy winger, erstwhile Mexican International Miguel Sabah and talisman Rafael Marquez Lugo.   The problem is that the defence can be leakier than a submarine with screen doors, although veteran Felipe Ayala has been borrowed from Jaguares with an eye to plugging up the back line.  Any help will be welcomed by keeper Federico Vilar, who is not nearly as outdated as his shaggy mane and aquiline nose make him appear.

UNAM Pumas are also a high-octane side, one that had sufficient gas in the tank to speed past Monarcas in the Clausura final in May.  In this side, the goals come from everywhere, although the most amazing contributor has to be thirty-eight year old midfielder turned striker, Francisco Palencia, the Primera Division version of Ryan Giggs (on the pitch, I mean).  Pumas are more balanced than Monarcas and, despite Palencia’s presence, younger.  They can protect their goal when need be, with a strong netminder of their own in the form of Alejandro Palacios.  After a meager half decade, the Mexico City club are showing signs of returning to the dominant style they exhibited under the tutelage of the legendary Hugo Sánchez.

Club America are the Golden Boys of Mexican football.  Owned by well-heeled media giants Televisa, the club is filled with talent but lacks the dedication and/or chemistry to translate the raw materials into a finished product.  That’s an ominous profile to possess when Mexican number one keeper Memo Ochoa has just flown the coop for newly promoted Ligue 1 side AJ Ajaccio.  Yet, they’ll have to cope, with Colombian striker Cristian Benitez expected to pick up the pace at the opposite end.  He should have it easier at home than he did in the 2-0 loss to Man City in San Francisco, a week ago.

UANL Tigres are a bit of an anomaly in the open Mexican game.  Tigres take care of their own end first.  Their discipline carried them to the top spot in the Clausura round robin but they forgot themselves in the opening round of the playoff and were ousted by Chivas.  Hector Mancilla is the prime source for goals but if Brazilian coach Riccardo Ferretti doesn’t provide him a bit more support, Tigres will remain close but not quite there.

Former Mexican number one Oswaldo Sánchez stands between the sticks for cerveza kings Santos Laguna.  Unfortunately, the club owned by the Corona brewery can’t get the worms out of the woodwork.  The club has its own goalscorer named Christian (Suarez, of Colombia), seemingly a trend in Mexico, but they just aren’t deep enough to do more than consistently make the final eight.

The Goats are back.  Chivas went into a funk after their spectacular loss in the 2010 Copa Libertadores final, further exacerbated by the sale of Javier Hernandez, which has turned out to be bad business, as Chicharito is and was obviously worth far more than the £7 million pounds the Guadalajara club received for the second generation International.  Odd to think that he cost £400,000 less than Bebe, isn’t it?  At any rate, the side butted its way past Tigres and into the Clausura semifinal.  Another rich club, but more substantive than ostentatious Super Clasico rival America, expect Hector Reynoso and co. to be a factor in the coming season.

Also expect six or seven of these eight to be in the playoffs come November.

Best of the Rest

Toluca and Pachuca are two clubs with a lot of silverware in the cabinet but which have been allowing their collections to gather dust.  Pachuca, only a few years gone from being a dynastic side, don’t seem like a factor in the immediate future but their proud tradition isn’t wholly forgotten.  Toluca have fared better over the past two seasons but haven’t been able to raise their game under the increased pressure of the playoffs.  It’s difficult to tell whether they are in descent, like Pachuca, or if theirs is just a temporary malaise.

Cancun side Atlante and Guadalajarans Atlas have been in ascendance over the past two competitions.  There is not a lot of star power in either side but turnover both at the player and management level in Mexico is so prevalent that it doesn’t take much to push a team in either direction.  These are definitely two of the sides which could make a cameo in the knock out rounds of the Apertura.

Cash poor but resilient San Luis are another club which fit into that category.  Somehow, despite being a small club in a small town, they are consistently a thorn in the side of the giants. Captained by midfielder Jaime Correa, alternately called the Scorpion and the Motor, his personality is transmuted to the entire squad.  As well, Peruvian Wilmer Aguirre and Ecuadorian Michael Arroyo form an excellent attacking tandem.  In further keeping with their persona, the goalkeeper is the diminutive Oscar Perez, the surprise 5′ 7″ starter for his country in South Africa.

Living on the Edge

It might be unfair to name Puebla in this group, as they keep coming away with surprise results here and there, frequently enough to survive.  Jaguares are a similar conundrum.  They qualified for the just completed Copa Libertadores, then promptly went into the tank.  Neither side is anywhere close to reliable, however, and thus they fall into the list of clubs who need to keep one eye on the trap door to the optimistically named Liga Ascendo.

More predictably bad are (I don’t) Queretaro and Estudiantes Tecos.  Either of these sides, at the bottom of the league point average calculated over the previous four tournaments (two each of Apertura and Clausura), face the very real threat of the drop.  With thirty-four matches remaining to decide their fate, Queretaro enjoy a slim four one-hundredths of a point edge over Tecos.  As well, the duo have the added advantage of the newly promoted Liga Ascenzo club starting out with a zero average.

The New Boys

Club Tijuana are a club not even ten years old, from a region whose success is more tied to America than the rest of Mexico; thus, they’ve not enjoyed much footballing success.  Yet, the Xolos (a hairless Mexican dog which, as a mascot, has earned the club the English moniker Aztec Dogs) have progressed quickly up the ladder since their inception and, due to their off the pitch issues, promise to be the most interesting, if not enduring, side in the Primera Division for some time.

Owned by a recently jailed gubernatorial candidate, Jorge Hank Rhon, who runs a large gambling concern and allegedly dabbles in the drug and arms trades, Tijuana are nonetheless a talented side.  If the players can keep their mind on the task at hand, ignoring the circus around them, Queretaro and Tecos may have some concern about their safety.

In fact, were I them, I’d begin worrying now.  If Rhon, caught with almost 90 illegal firearms after a raid on his home, in a country where the possession of most guns is limited to the military and violations, in light of the current drug war, are severely punished, has the influence to have the whole mess thrown out of court due to an illegal search, one would expect keeping a football side in the top flight is not a difficult prospect for him.

In any event, stay tuned, the 2011 Mexican Apertura promises to be an entertaining one!

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On Saturday night, the reigning MLS champion Colorado Rapids went up to Seattle for a cup of joe and a match against the league’s second best side overall.  Both the visitors and the host Sounders apparently had seconds and thirds, judging from the manic pace of the match, which saw Seattle run out 4-3 winners.

It’s been that type of season in Denver.  Even when things start to get going, they go wrong.  I wrote the following on Friday, in the MLS section of the Weekend Catch, regarding the Rapids’ struggles.

“Goals would seem to be the explanation, as in not scoring many. In their early season run, a honeymoon after their championship victory, Caleb Folan, Jamie Smith, Jeff Larentowicz and Omar Cummings were all on target. The only player who couldn’t connect was talisman Conor Casey. The bullet headed striker has finally caught fire, with six goals in his last seven games, but the others have all cooled off.

Coach Gary Smith, late of Wycombe Wanderers, has to be wondering how to keep Casey hot while ending the cold streaks of the rest.”

Unfortunately, Smith is still wondering, because, while the caffeine jolted both sides into a seven-goal thriller, Casey limped off the pitch after just thirty-seven minutes, with a strained left calf.  It bears mentioning that the pitch at recently renamed Century Legion Field for this game, was new (and slippery) sod, rather than the typical artificial surface, and installed at the request of touring Manchester United, who will be playing an exhibition game there on Wednesday evening.  Consequently, players on both sides, as well as the referee, found it difficult to stay on their feet in this match

Not five minutes after coming on for Casey, one of the aforementioned supporting cast, Jeff Larentowicz, ironically gave the traveling side a 2-1 advantage.

Unfortunately, Pacific Northwest homeboy Roger Levesque would level just after the break for the Sounders.  Then, after a dry half hour plus, Fredy Montero would score a diving header with just under ten minutes remaining and, a minute later, feed Mauro Rosales to give the Sounders a two-goal cushion.   The Rapids haven’t enjoyed the same results as last season but their dogged determination was still evident when Caleb Folan, yes, the one from Hull City, pulled one back in the eighty-ninth minute.

That the Irishman’s effort was too little, too late, offered further proof that the Rapids are not the second coming of Real Salt Lake.  Both sides won their championships, in 2009 and 2010, after strong late season runs that continued into the playoffs.  However, RSL followed up their ’09 title with a dominant season bettered only by the eventual Supporters Shield winning LA Galaxy.  Right now, Colorado is an inconsistent mid-table side.

On the other hand, the team which the Rapids defeated in a chilling (due to the frigid November temperatures at Toronto’s BMO Field) and thrilling (completely down to the all out effort of both sides) 2010 MLS Cup are showing signs that they will be a power to be reckoned with for some time in Major League Soccer.

FC Dallas are not as immovable as they were in 2010, when they held down the third spot in the table for twenty-eight of the season’s thirty games, but they are in virtually the same position.  In last year’s final two matches they doubled their loss total for the campaign, dropping decisions to the top two sides, LA and Real Salt Lake.  However, they followed that up with victories over both those sides in the playoffs, before coming up short against the Rapids.

This year, they are back in the number three position again, albeit with five defeats already on their record.  That they have lost more games isn’t too surprising, as it is a competitive league and their total last year was only matched by RSL, with the table topping Galaxy taking the collar seven times.

Their success is all the more impressive considering that FCD were, and still are, one of the league’s youngest teams.  In the off-season, the club didn’t look like they would be able to continue running with the elite clubs, victims as they were of the expansion draft conducted for the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers.  The club lost three key players:  speedy winger Atiba Harris to Vancouver, veteran defender Heath Pearce to Chivas USA and talented midfielder Dax McCarty to DC United (where he was subsequently traded to NY Red Bull for Dwayne De Rosario).  Then, six weeks into the season, their captain and league MVP David Ferreira seriously fractured his ankle and was lost for the season.

So, how does a side lose 40% of its outfield ten and maintain its place near the top?

Well, to start, it’s a young club with a great deal of pace and a penchant for free-flowing football.  Further, they’re led by an experienced coach who has long specialised in working with young players.  Third, they have an abundance of confidence.  Finally, they’re disciplined defensively.

You might argue that the last quality separates them from Arsenal but the fact is that the Gunners are one of the Premier League’s top defending sides in open play.  It is set pieces which do them in.  FC Dallas does have an advantage over the Londoners in that department, as the side has several players with the requisite height to contest balls in the air.  Yet, their kit better resembles QPR, with whom they share the moniker ‘Hoops’.  Strange that a Texas side, with their Old West heritage, doesn’t mirror Arsenal’s attachment to firearms.

Still, like the Gunners, Dallas has a silver-haired, cerebral coach, in Schellas Hyndman.  Hyndman was born in Macau, to a mother of French (!) and Russian origins and a Portuguese father.  He grew up in Ohio and later moved to Texas, where he became the head soccer coach at  Southern Methodist University.  In twenty-four seasons at the University, his record was 368-96-38.  In 2008, he was hired as the FCD coach, bringing his contacts and knowledge of one of MLS major talent sources, the American college system, giving him the same sort of edge that Wenger enjoys with his connections to French football.

Used to turning over his entire roster every four years, Hyndman already had talent in place to compensate for the losses of Harris, Pearce, McCarty and Ferreira.  Stepping up was veteran Honduran, Marvin Chavez, and youngsters Eric Alexander, Zach Lloyd and Brek Shea, the last taking on the scoring mantle, with seven on the season.  In the back, both George John and Ugo Ihemelu have taken on larger roles.  As well, twenty-three year old Brazilian, Jackson, seems to have stepped perfectly into Atiba Harris’ shoes, as a fleet-footed, opportunistic winger. The result has been a fresh exciting squad that continues to win but remain a step behind other top clubs, such as LA, Real Salt Lake and New York.

The comparison between Arsenal and the Hoops ends there, however, as does the similarity between their coaches.  Whereas Wenger tends to stick his Gallic nose into what might not be his business, causing him more trouble than it’s worth, Hyndman, holds his not quite so prominent proboscis above the fray and employs a far more reserved management style.  Also, where a profitable Arsenal chooses not to spend, FC Dallas have little choice in the matter, with limited revenues and a salary cap to keep them in line.

The lack of funding affects FCD’s depth.  While they have handled their involuntary summer pruning with aplomb, there is cause for concern.  Can Brek Shea, slightly built at 6′ 4″ and 180 lbs and only twenty-one, carry the goal scoring load for the entire season?  Even Ferreira, who hit ten in 2010, had the support of joint all-time MLS scorer Jeff Cunningham, with twelve.  To date, only Jackson has looked like forming a partnership with Shea, hitting for three goals, but if that doesn’t come about or the club fails to move for another attacker, they may fade towards the end.

That, sadly, would be very reminiscent of the Gunners.

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Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Larry Walker, Neil Young, Barenaked Ladies, Rush, The Tragically Hip, Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Michael J. Fox and Doug Flutie.  The list goes on and they all have something in common.  Okay, not Doug Flutie.  He isn’t Canadian.  But he should be.  Like all the rest, he was spectacularly dominant and often flamboyant in his field of choice but low-key and grounded away from it.   In fact, I’ll trade to keep him on this list.  The US can have Dwayne de Rosario.

De Ro grew up in Scarborough, a pleasant Toronto suburb sixty miles away from my grittier, lunch pail origins in Hamilton, Ontario.  I moved away to go to college and never went back, spending my adult life in England, briefly, and South Florida.  De Rosario moved away to play football in Germany, briefly, and the United States before coming home to Toronto FC for the entirety of the 2009 and 2010 MLS seasons, as well as two games this year.  I miss Canada every day but an aversion to shoveling snow will keep me in warmer climes.  At nearly a half million per year, De Ro makes enough money to hire a fleet of snowplows whenever the white stuff threatens his comfy digs in Oakville, Ontario.

Unfortunately, Dwayne would have everyone believe that he’s underpaid.  To be fair, his eighty MLS goals have him level with Brian McBride, another Canadian should-have-been.  Three more strikes will move him into the top ten on the all-time list and Edson Buddle, at number seven with ninety, seems within the thirty-three year old’s reach.  So, it’s entirely possible that he has been shortchanged over the years and who am I to begrudge him his fair market value?

What offends my Canadian sensibilities is his lack of discretion in chasing after his elusive fortune.  The same goes for his reaction to scoring a goal.  When other Canadians bulge the twine – and since there aren’t too many well-known Canadian strikers, I’ll revert to hockey, here –  they raise their arms above their heads and turn to embrace their teammates.  If it’s a really important goal, they may get a running start and slide across the ice, inviting their linemates to pile on top of them.  What they do not do is turn their backs and flee the rest of the team to go into a spasmodic fit that must make Paula Abdul and Jennifer Lopez cringe.

Such theatrics are the province of spoiled American athletes.  Terrell Owens loves to head for mid-field after a touchdown to perform a soft shoe shuffle on the opponent’s logo.  Joe Horn prefers to pull a cell phone out of his pants to call the president.  Chad Johnson legally changed his name to the Spanish translation of his jersey number.  That’s alright, because such practices mirror the current, over-the-top American pop culture.

Canadians, on the other hand, are happy to acknowledge those who have helped them along the way as well as opponents who have battled hard enough to raise their game.  We have a word for it.  It’s called respect.

It’s very difficult to find a Canuck as consistently arrogant as De Rosario.  Hockey fans may nominate agitator Sean Avery, who in the past has gotten under the skin of teammates as often as he has opponents, but Avery has matured into a team player with interests outside the game.  He is very active in the fashion industry, owns a restaurant in New York, where he is a fixture with the NHL’s Rangers, and has become an advocate for gay and lesbian rights.

You have to go all the way back to the Seventies to find a famous Canadian who consistently behaved badly in public, and that was separatist Parti Québécois leader Rene Levesque.  The one-time Quebec Premier was as obnoxious and arrogant as they come but, even so, you have to give him a pass because he, at least, didn’t want to be Canadian.

De Rosario can’t claim that excuse; he is front and center as the star of the Canadian National Team.  Yet, he has made it known to each of his last three clubs that he has come there not to win championships but to be paid in seven figures.

When Toronto waffled on such a large commitment to a thirty-two-year-old forward with questionable levels of commitment, he snuck off to Scotland without permission to audition for Celtic.  The Old Firm side was impressed and even ready to sign him until they found out that the trial had not been agreed to by his contracted club.  That informed Celtic as to the type of personality they had on their hands and they hastily washed them.

Having learnt no humility from that experience, De Rosario kept making public demands of TFC until its new management decided they’d rather be propping up the league table than deal with him any longer.  When he was sent to the Red Bulls, two games into the season, he immediately put himself on a par with Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez.

Ummm, no.  His two goals and four assists in thirteen matches suggest otherwise.  As well, his lack of defending in the center of the pitch exposed the Red Bulls at the back, transforming them not into an attacking juggernaut but a soft bellied bundle of mediocrity.  It is that lack of dedication away from the ball that has cost De Ro his much desired payday.

Consider that there are twenty outfield players on the pitch during a given match.  If the game were democratic, each could expect to possess the ball five percent of the time, or four and a half minutes.  In a league struggling to gain a foothold in the sporting market and realise a profit, it’s easy to understand that clubs expect their mega-stars to contribute during the other eighty-five plus minutes to earn the big bucks.

Because De Rosario refuses to get involved without the ball,  Red Bull swapped him for a burgeoning young two-way player, Dax McCarty, saving $300,000 in salary in the process.  McCarty, with five USMNT caps to his name, shows every promise of developing into one of the league’s best players.  Whilst he does, the extra salary cap space may permit the New Yorkers to go to Europe and sign a third Designated Player in the summer window.

Should that happen, De Rosario will  be green with envy rather than benjamins in DC, where American Charlie Davies is first in line for a big pay raise.  His eight goals in fourteen matches, almost half of them as a substitute, easily eclipse De Ro’s paltry 2011 haul.  As well, Davies’ low key manner – okay, okay, not all Americans are prima donnas – and determination in recovering from a devastating car accident make for a compelling story, increasing his celebrity value to the club without the headaches brought on by De Rosario’s incessant demands.

So, like a typical Yank, De Rosario keeps rubbing people the wrong way and wondering why he is not treated with the respect he deserves.  Perhaps one day he’ll realise that, in fact, he is.

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As the Gold Cup defeat (or victory, depending on where your loyalties lie) continues to sink in, let’s take a step back and realize what this USA team is.  Despite a breakthrough performance at the 2009 Confederations Cup and an exciting, if short-lived World Cup, the USMNT is currently a team in flux, faced with a serious identity crisis and little to no signature style.

Mexico, on the other hand, is young, fluid and confident – a poor man’s version of the Spanish team that won Euro 2008. The tournament was a continual struggle for the United States but, in between breezing through the group stage and finishing in style against the US, El Tri also found the competition a difficult proposition.

This tournament was a very telling three weeks for the United States, as it begins to look towards its qualifying campaign for Brazil 2014. Overall, the tournament was a rough one but it did clarify two important issues for Coach Bob Bradley.

The first major point was that the side enjoys a wealth of talent but has problems in bringing it all together in a smooth, easily identifiable style. The second is that despite their problems, they are making progress.

As expected, they did make it to the final and as predicted, they were both outclassed and outplayed by Mexico.  However, the USA’s path to that point did not follow the standard script. Opening against Canada, the Americans came away 2-0 winners but looked ineffective and confused in the process. It was more of the same in their second match but Panama took advantage and won 2-1. The USA barely responded in eking out an uninspiring 1-0 win over mighty (see minnows) Guadeloupe to finish second in the group and move on to the quarterfinals.

By this point, Bradley’s tactics were being called into question (again) and many people were calling for him to be fired (again). During his tenure, the United States has seemed completely incapable of starting a game strongly and has spent too much time in formations which clog its own half of the field, leaving very few options going forward. Ball possession has also been a massive weakness and set pieces are the only area at which the side has truly excelled.  Yet, that has been enough to make them a difficult proposition for any opponent.  Just ask Brazil and Spain about their Confederations Cup experience.

In the quarterfinals, the US came up against a Jamaican team that was playing surprisingly well – having won its group without conceding a single goal. Bradley finally relented and changed his tactics, fielding a formation that freed up Michael Bradley and Sacha Klejstan. The tactics paid off and the US was able to shut down the Reggae Boyz, contain their speed, and spend most of the game in the Jamaican half. Essentially, it was the type of game that many fans would like to see their side playing on a regular basis. It should be the rule, rather than the exception.

In the semi-final against Panama, the US finally dominated possession but ironically struggled to turn it into meaningful chances.  That may be partially attributed to Landon Donovan not being on the field, through his coach’s decision, for the first forty-five minutes of the game. The captain came on in the second half, made a difference and the US rode out 1-0 winners, setting up the much-anticipated final against Mexico.

The match was absolutely enthralling. The Americans jumped out to a wholly atypical two-goal lead, through Michael Bradley (8′) and Landon Donovan (22′) but then capitulated rather than finishing in their usual strong fashion.

Mexico took over, displaying all of their skill, speed and confidence, coming back to level before the half and going on to a 4-2 victory. Despite the fact that El Tri was clearly the better team over 90 minutes, it is very interesting to wonder what if Jozy Altidore and Steve Cherundolo hadn’t gotten injured?  Altidore had finally gotten into form in this tournament, scoring two goals and looking more threatening than he had in a long time, while Cherundolo’s play at fullback had been influential at both ends of the pitch.

Still, the important question is what next?

The current team may lack the heart and character of recent US teams but it’s talent level far surpasses any American squad that has been assembled to this point. Even four years ago, it would have been unthinkable that the US would not start a player who was a significant contributor at Rangers as Maurice Edu is, yet that is currently the case.

Edu’s frustration can be put down to the young talent coming through and pushing veterans for places in the starting eleven.  Still, that depth indicates that the future is bright for this US team, despite the loss to Mexico.  So long as Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey can stay healthy and effective (they will both be thirty-two in 2014 – old but not necessarily too old to be effective) the United States will have enough leadership to allow the youngsters to thrive.  In fact, at this point, Bob Bradley needs to sort out only one issue.

Defence

Bradley’s only true dilemma is what the future holds at center back.

For the last 4 games of this tournament, the center backs were Carlos Bocanegra and Clarence Goodson. Bocanegra played well in the Gold Cup but is thirty-two. it’s possible that, as a center half, he may still be available in 2014 but that isn’t a promise on which Bradley should pin much hope.

As well, Goodson, despite his towering presence, simply isn’t good enough to be a solid long term solution. One place in the pairing will almost certainly be filled by Tim Ream, the promising young defender for the New York Red Bulls, who is spending his early days in MLS under the tutelage of Rafa Marquez. Even though he had a bad game in the group stage and then didn’t see the field for the rest of tournament, he is an almost certainty to inherit one of the spots.

The other position is completely up for grabs. Oguchi Onyewu’s lack of playing time during the Gold Cup indicates that, unless he can rediscover his form at Dutch runners-up FC Twente, his time has likely passed.  Jay Demerit, Onyewu’s partner in South Africa last year, has been injured too frequently in the interim. Always solid but never spectacular, it seems that his body is betraying him and, with the next meaningful match a year away, he may no longer fit into Bradley’s plans either.

Two possible candidates to step in are Omar Gonzalez and Gale Agbossoumonde.  A worst case scenario sees defensive midfielder Maurice Edu, who has been pushed out the center of the pitch by the aforementioned youth uprising, being plugged into spot.  It is something that it was experimented with last year.

The rest of the defense seems a bit clearer. Eric Lichaj cemented his place out wide during the tournament and Steve Cherundolo was fantastic on the other side. However, Cherundolo is also thirty-two and this was most likely his swan song. Luckily, his replacement has already been found. It’s Timmy Chandler – the twenty-one-year-old defender playing in Germany who impressed in a few friendlies earlier this year. Chandler was left off of the Gold Cup roster for fatigue and injury issues – something that should be done more often. Still, as long as Lichaj and Chandler continue developing, it is difficult to predict anyone taking over their spots.

The next best options are Jonathan Spector, Heath Pearce and Jonathan Bornstein. All three have a respectable number of caps under their belts but seem, at best, to be fringe players.

Midfield

For what seems like forever, the United States has had a glut of midfielders (something that Liverpool’s American owners seem to be attempting to replicate this summer). The most telling example of this was the Gold Cup Final, which Bradley began with a half-dozen midfielders on the pitch.

For most of the past two years the USA has lacked a viable option as a second striker and has reverted to playing five midfielders. Two of those starting positions were always going to go to Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. Michael Bradley had a pretty firm grasp on the third. Unfortunately that left two positions to be filled by a group of seemingly timid and inconsistent players, who, luckily for their coach, featured a wide array of talents which he could plug and play into the line-up, dependent upon the opponent.

To his credit, Bradley experimented with plenty of young players:  Mikkel Diskerud, Stuart Holden, Eric Alexander, Sam Cronin, Dax McCarty, Brek Shea, Eddie Gaven, Maurice Edu, Sacha Klestjan, Alejandro Bedoya, Freddy Adu, and Jose Torres.   The entire group is at most, twenty-five years old.   Some players worked, some didn’t and some we still aren’t sure about.

Of the players who have done well, a few have improved greatly over the past year.  The most promising is Stuart Holden, who blossomed this past season with Bolton. The Scottish born midfielder was named the Wanderer’s Player of the Year, keeping the team in the hunt for a European place until a late season injury.   Unfortunately, he tore his ACL and required six months of rest and recovery, rendering him unavailable for the Gold Cup.  Yet, if he can overcome the injury bug (he also is famous as one of Nigel de Jong’s victims), Holden is the heir apparent to Landon Donovan.

Next up was Jermaine Jones.  Loaned from Schalke to Blackburn Rovers during the January transfer window, he played well – something that shouldn’t be a surprise for a player who was called into the German camp on a few occasions. The naturalized US citizen received his first cap this year and struggled to fit in during his first appearances.  Finally, though, he started to mesh well with the team during the Gold Cup.

His awkward two-players-doing-the-same-thing relationship with Michael Bradley is still a work in progress, but a similar, if more physical, pairing of Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel saw the Netherlands into the World Cup Final.  Jones advanced age, he’s twenty-nine, probably means that two holding midfielders is only a transitional tactic for the USMNT on the way to Brazil.

This season, Sasha Klestjan had a rebirth of sorts after being transferred to Anderlecht, where he received a steady amount of playing time.  His distribution and field vision were essential to the victory over Jamaica and earned him a second start in the Panama rematch. He wasn’t quite as effective in that game but seems to be developing well and, until Holden returns, is a passable second for Donovan, when the captain needs a rest.

Last but not least, there is Freddy Adu, the much heralded messiah of US soccer when he broke in with DC United at the tender age of fourteen. That is an age ago, now.  More recently he has been maligned as a failure and has been – toiling in the desert of the Turkish Second League.

Many questioned Bradley’s decision to call Adu into camp over Alejandro Bedoya† but when Adu was inserted into the game against Panama he provided the spark that the United States needed. His play led up to the goal that won the game and Bradley, sufficiently impressed, handed Adu a start in the final. It paid off and Adu’s play was one of the few bright spots for the US against Mexico. After seven years, it appears Freddy Adu may have finally arrived.  It’s shocking to remember that he’s just twenty-two!

†Bedoya was eventually called in to camp after Benny Feilhaber was injured and also played well in the tournament.

Forward

Forward has been a position of trouble and unfulfilled promise for the United States since approximately 1776. There have been solid soldiers (Brian McBride), flashy personalities (Clint Mathis) and people who simply weren’t good enough (I won’t even bother with examples). Of late, the side has been frustrated by the slow and inconsistent development of Jozy Altdore and then the sudden promise of and horrific injury to Charlie Davies.

The United States hasn’t had a forward score a goal in World Cup play since McBride scored against Mexico in the Round of Sixteen in 2002 – over nine years ago.  Altidore has been a staple in the lineup for years and, without another American forward even remotely challenging him, the US front lines have been a barren place. It is no secret that Jozy is most effective as a holding forward, best partnered by a number nine, quick and adept at poaching.

Davies showed that he was that player at the 2009 Confederations Cup.  His tragic car accident crushed the hopes of American fans, as the team prepared for South Africa.  It has been a long road back, with Davies now showing some promise of regaining his lightning form with DC United.  The journey is far from complete, however, and uncertain to ever be.  Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez replaced Davies in South Africa.  Buddle was barely used despite his scintillating form for the LA Galaxy prior to the tournament but Gomez played we in spot duty.

There is a promising new face, however, in Juan Agudelo.  The NY Red Bulls prodigy was originally called up last November for a friendly in South Africa and scored the game winning goal.  This before the then seventeen-year-old had even scored a goal for his club.  Agudelo has tremendous upside – scoring two magnificent goals for the Red Bulls in the young MLS season and always looking dangerous.

He sense for goal is reminiscent of Thierry Henry, his mentor in the Big Apple. However, Agudelo is young and has much to do to truly establish himself.  By the end of the tournament, teams realized that he could be thrown off by very physical play. Every young player has a weakness, though.  If he continues his development, the second striker’s spot is his to lose.

Right behind Agudelo, waiting for an opportunity, is Teal Bunbury of Sporting Kansas City. Bunbury thrilled fans in the second half of the 2010 MLS campaign and impressed in a call-up for the national team. Unfortunately, his form has fallen off a bit this season and he was not selected for the Gold Cup. Still, he is another youthful player and all the signs are there that he could mature into a special player.

Goal

If there is a position that the US hasn’t had to worry about since 1776, it’s been goalkeeper.  As always, the side is well set for the foreseeable future between the sticks.  If Tim Howard, who has developed into a world-class talent at Everton, should be unexpectedly unavailable through injury, then Brad Guzan is more than capable of donning the number one jersey.  David Yelldell is also developing into an enticing prospect for the Americans and there are any number of other young keepers ready to step in to the limelight, should absolute disaster strike.

Based on this Gold Cup, here are the people I believe that have, for the moment, earned more call-ups and appearances, and who I believe we have seen the last of in major competition for the United States. I won’t bother with the obvious inclusions (Donovan, Dempsey, etc.)

Brazil 2014

Obviously there will be unpredictable changes and developments over the next 3 years, but with the upsurge of young talent that America has right now, I believe that it is possible to make an educated guess at the US squad’s composition for that tournament.

So, bookmark this page for the next three years and we’ll see how finely tuned my crystal ball is.

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Two years ago, a squad of second-choice American players marched through the groups stages, quarter and semi-finals of the Gold Cup to meet Mexico in the finals.  The best the US had to offer were either back with their MLS clubs or preparing for the onset of the 2009-10 European season, after having beaten Spain and given a first-half fright to Brazil before succumbing in the final of the Confederations Cup.

The 5-0 victory by Mexico in the Gold Cup final wasn’t such a shocking score, then.  Miguel Sabah won the tournament’s Golden Boot with four goals and Giovanni dos Santos was awarded the Golden Ball.

One week ago, Mexico picked up where they left off, with a 5-0 hammering of El Salvador in their opening Group A match.  Sabah wasn’t named to the squad and although dos Santos is in new coach Jose Manuel de la Torre’s starting eleven, the player of the tournament has been Manchester United’s Javier Hernandez.  Chicharito struck the final three goals of the game and continued on from there in El Tri’s final two group matches.

In the second game, against the hapless Cubans, the Little Pea added a brace which was equalled by dos Santos.  Aldo di Nigris, of Mexican Apertura champions Monterrey, rounded out the score sheet in a third consecutive 5-0 Gold Cup victory for the holders.

The final group contest was expected to be a test for the champions.  Costa Rica are, by and large, considered the third best side in the region, behind the Mexico and the US.  Their coach, Ricardo la Volpe has won the World Cup with Argentina, the Gold Cup with Mexico and one championship in three finals, not to mention a handful of semi-final appearances in ten stints with eight Mexican clubs.  So, not only are the Ticos a capable squad, their coach has as comprehensive a knowledge of their opponents as one could ask.

As well, this was the match expected to expose the Mexican’s lack of depth, due to five players, including number one goalkeeper Memo Ochoa, being suspended after traces of clenbuterol were found in their systems.  Mexican officials believe the drug was present in meat which the players consumed just prior to the testing.   Clenbuterol is used to make meat leaner and has been a problem for Mexican athletes in the past.  Thus, if further analysis of the samples reveals the faint trace of the drug which would support such claims of accidental ingestion, CONCACAF will likely allow the country to draft replacements for the missing players and forego any further discipline.  In the interim, however, the eighteen players still eligible would have to soldier on against what was expected to be a difficult opponent.

That’s not quite how matters turned out, though.  While Costa Rica were focused on containing Hernandez and dos Santos, the rest of the side ran wild.  NY Red Bull Designated Player Rafa Marquez struck first just after the quarter-hour and, by halftime, El Tri had four on the board.  The left side midfielder, Andres Guardado, from recently relegated Spanish side Deportivo de la Coruna, notched a brace and the man on the opposite flank, Pablo Barrera, who plays for another recently relegated club, West Ham, closed out accounts for the day.  Marco Urena, of Russia’s Kuban Krasnodar, put one back in the second half, but Mexico, on auto-pilot by then, effectively shut down the rest of the match.

So, having secured all nine points and outscored opponents 14-1 with a shorthanded squad, Mexico comfortably advanced to the quarterfinals as heavy favourites, on form, to defend their title.  Group B is completely settled, with Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz also sweeping their bracket.  Honduras and Guatemala will also advance from that group and Costa Rica, despite their humiliation, from Group A.

Neither Mexico or Jamaica are certain of their quarter-final opponents as yet, although Costa Rica is slated to face Honduras in their first knockout game.  The reason for the lack of clarity is the USA’s stunning Match Day 2 loss to Panama.  The 2-1 defeat came after another typically sluggish start from the Americans.  This time, though, towering defender Clarence Goodson’s header made up for his earlier own goal.  Flicked on to the Brøndby IF center half by Michael Bradley from Landon Donovan’s free kick, it was the only response the Americans could muster.

Despite the talent in the squad, this trend has gone on throughout Bob Bradley’s managerial tenure and, for once, has come back to bite them.  Their malaise in the opening forty-five minutes has made their previous Gold Cups more adventurous than necessary, although, until the defeat to Panama, they had never suffered defeat in the group stages of the Gold Cup.  The same problem plagued them in World Cup qualifying and hampered their progress in the World Cup.  In fact, the final two matches in the Confederations Cup, when they jumped out to leads against both Spain and Brazil were thought to have heralded an end to the troubling tendency.  Instead, the isolated success has turned out to be a false dawn.

As I’ve written elsewhere,  I believe this is down to the manager.  To my mind, Bradley has taken the current squad as far as he can and a more internationally experienced man, the twice spurned Jürgen Klinsmann, for instance, might have been able to raise their level of play had the American’s contract not been renewed.  Instead, the US continues to trot out a poorly chosen starting eleven or formation for a given match, looking very uncertain early in matches and developing a not-as-good-as-it-sounds reputation for making adjustments and coming from behind.  In this match, they were finally unable to recover against an inferior opponent.  With Bradley at the helm, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Their final match should be, except for the doubt brought on by their previous performance, a formality against Guadeloupe.  As unacceptable as such a result would be, the US could even lose this game and still back into the soft quarter-finals, filled by eight of the twelve teams in the competition.

Hopefully, however, for the sake of another intriguing final between themselves and the rampant Mexicans, still the two true powers of the region, the USMNT will dispatch the minnows from the tiny Caribbean island and insure at least a second place finish within the group.  Victory would keep them on the opposite side of the bracket from Mexico, pairing them with either El Salvador, Guatemala or Jamaica, dependent upon the result of the Canada/Panama contest which precedes theirs on Wednesday evening at the newly opened Livestrong Park in Kansas City.

If they can manage not to foul up the quarter-final, the semi would pit the Americans against the Reggae Boyz’ speed or offer them an immediate chance at redemption against the Panamanians.

Make no mistake, however.  Reaching the final is imperative to the US program.  The Gold Cup is merely a distraction for the majority of Stateside fans.  The national team is, despite its talent, a traveling sideshow that only becomes relevant once every four years.  If the country is ever to win the World Cup, they will have to tap into the mainstream of American consciousness.  The easiest way to do this is to become a more dominant side.  With MLS’ continued disinterest in International football, beyond the slate of lucrative friendlies with European giants, which test the reserves of US sides in the midst of a grueling summer schedule, the Americans must not only face the high-flying Mexicans but put on a spectacular show to make inroads with their own fan base.

And I thought that Pumas ended the Mexican season with a bang!  It was nothing, however, compared to the goings on over the weekend.

El Tri came north for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, capping a spectacular double-header at the recently opened, 80,000+ seat Cowboys Stadium, with its massive video screen, in Dallas, Texas.

Costa Rica began the festivities, teaching Cuba that baseball isn’t quite the same thing as football.  A brace from Marcos Urena, and single strikes from Real Salt Lake’s Alvaro Saborio, Heiner Mora and, subbing for Urena, Joel Campbell saw off the boys from Havana 5-0.

Urena got off the mark early, hitting his first six minutes from the start.  Cuba then held on until just before the half, when Saborio doubled the lead.  Urena added his second just before the whistle.  Immediately after the restart Mora officially made it a rout and on seventy minutes, Campbell completed it.

As joyous Costa Rican fans and desultory Cubans filed from the glittering new arena, the question became what could Mexico and El Salvador do to follow Costa Rica’s fireworks?

In the first half, the answer was not much of anything.

El Salvador put up a strong resistance for almost an hour, keeping the game scoreless, but when Pumas defender Efrain Juarez finally broke the deadlock on fifty-five minutes, heading in his own rebound while falling to the turf, the floodgates opened.

Monterrey star Jesus de Nigris struck two minutes later.  Taking a pass at the top of the box, he played the ball into the area with the outside of his foot, then, as three defenders watched, charged after it and drove the ball past a helpless Miguel Montes.

From that point, it became the Javier Hernandez show.

Chicharito’s first goal made it three in four minutes for Mexico.  El Salvador’s defence, reminiscent of Rocky Balboa chasing chickens, allowed Mexico to play a ball out of the corner, where a perfectly placed one touch delivery into the box found Chicharito, surrounded but unhindered by blue shirts.  He leapt to meet the ball and drove a bouncing downward header into the goal.

In the sixty-sixth minute, the Little Pea outraced the defenders to a looping long ball and half-volleyed past Montes into the far side-netting.  His third came from the spot in stoppage time.

The blow-out should leave the Gold Cup holders brimming with confidence, while their main rivals, the US, face Canada (!) at Ford Field in Detroit, humbled by their 0-4 loss to Spain on Saturday.

Also on the weekend, in a bit of irony, Mexican Federales made a bold move to try to keep all the shooting on the other side of the border.  In the wee hours of Saturday morning, they invaded the compound of Jorge Hank Rhon, former mayor of Tijuana, Baja California gubernatorial hopeful and outspoken opponent of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, confiscating forty rifles, forty-eight handguns, over 9,000 bullets, seventy ammo clips and a gas grenade.

Hank’s compound houses his mansion, a zoo, a school, a casino, a race track and the training facility for the Aztec Dogs, his football club, which was just promoted to the Primera Division.  During the raid, allegedly conducted by hooded and masked officials without a search warrant, Hank has claimed he was made to stand facing a wall, unable to observe the actions of the searchers, who also disarmed and detained his security force.  The flamboyant politician was then flown to Mexico City, where he is being questioned on suspicions of involvement in Mexico’s rampant drug trade.

In Mexico, large calibre weapons are only permitted to be possessed by the military and all other firearms must be licensed.  Violations of this policy can be punishable by up to fifteen years in prison for each offense.  Police officials say that they were confiscating military property but Hank’s attorney insists that every weapon on the property has a corresponding permit.

... Will Sonny have to put aside childish things?

Since Papi was caught packing...

Some of Hank’s political supporters believe that the arrest is politically motivated, with general elections just around the corner.  However, the president of Hank’s own party, the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) has publicly discounted the notion.

“I don’t think it is part of a witch hunt.”

The FMF was aware of the seedy side of Hank’s business empire well before the club won its way to the top flight.  Unfortunately, with flagship side América tied to casino interests through parent company Televista, the league had no leverage to censure the Xolos or force his removal from the board.  As it is, the club is run by his twenty-four-year-old son, Jorge Alberto Hank.

If Papi isn’t able to extricate himself from this predicament, it will be a true test of the young man, to keep the club up while also taking a hand in the rest of the family business.  That is, assuming the Federales don’t target him next.

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In the past few weeks I’ve been feeling guilty for neglecting MLS as I try to keep up with the run-down of the Premier League, Champions League and the rest of UEFA, not to mention the culmination of the Mexican Clausura and all the controversy surrounding the FIFA presidential election.  I’ve been keeping up as much as possible, reading Jason Davis’ Match Fit USA and  Steve ‘I Don’t Think They’re Related‘ Davis’ Daily Soccer Fix, checking the box scores and taking in the odd highlight, now and then.

I’d take care of other WFC business, clearing the deck for the next day, only to come online after a good night’s sleep and find that Jose Mourinho was mocking UNICEF, Chuck ‘Check Out My Vintage Mercedes & All The Exclusive Resorts I Get To Stay In‘ Blazer was accusing Jack Warner of skimming off the top during the World Cup bidding process or Roman Abramovich was firing another manager – why would you raise your eyebrow at that Carlo? – yes, yes, reflex action, sorry.

All due apologies to Don Garber, who runs a tight ship, but that’s exactly the problem.  MLS is patterned too much after its big brothers, the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.  There is seldom anything interesting taking place off the pitch and, when there is, it is quickly spun back into, quiet, uncontroversial – aka boring – control.  Do you honestly believe that Landon Donovan would have the confidence to announce he was having a hair transplant, à la Wayne Rooney, or that his handlers would even permit him to do it?  American sports take themselves far too seriously and believe it or not, that attitude is holding back US Soccer.

It's in-depth stories like these which make international football interesting!

I’m not saying that a little rumour, scandal or corruption would be good for the game.  Even if some tawdry gossip – insert Ryan Giggs tweet here – would attract the interest of the many American soccer fans who zealously track European, Mexican and South American leagues, while scoffing at the fare on offer here at home, when I say that MLS’ sense of self-importance is hurting them, I’m referring to their lack of respect for the international game.

For instance, on Friday, I was putting together the latest edition of WFC’s Weekend Catch, which features the best fixtures on the Saturday and Sunday slates, and, naturally, I wanted to say something about the USA v Spain match.  After Googling, Binging, Yahooing, Asking.com and Alta Vista-ing – yes they’re still around – I couldn’t find anything written in English regarding the match.  There were any number of links willing to scalp me tickets or sell me live streaming but no one cared to offer an opinion as to what might happen when two countries, who last met in the 2009 Confederations Cup, wherein Spain had their hats handed to them, finally crossed paths again.

How might facing the World Cup holders affect the USMNT going into the Gold Cup?  Would Bob Bradley make use of his star players?  Would Vicente del Bosque?   Would the Spanish players be out for revenge?  After winning the World Cup, would they even care?

The answers to the first question remains to be seen but no, no, yes and yes, respectively, were the answers to the rest.  Neither side featured its top players.  Landon Donovan and Xavi Hernandez weren’t even on the bench.  Pepe Reina, not Iker Casillas, was in goal and Real Madrid players, rather than Barcelonans, dominated the starting XI.  For the US, Clint Dempsey had intended to participate but instead was holed up in a Detroit hotel room, remote in one hand, waste basket in the other, fighting off a nasty virus.   If he wasn’t sick already, the 4-0 walkover by La Furia would have made him ill.  Yet, other than Dempsey, no one in America seemed to give a damn.

So, since MLS and the USSF still can’t see any reason to become participating members in the international community, my guilt over neglecting them is happily gone.  Let MLS schedule matches during the World Cup, Gold Cup and Copa America.  Let their best teams limp through long portions of the season without key players.  Let Don Garber wonder why the best American players will still prefer to go overseas, even if salaries rise.  Let Sunil Gulati scratch his head when the US fails to win its 2026 or 2030 World Cup bid.

America is a fantastic place to live.  When its people put their mind and hearts into any task, they can work wonders.  In the past two decades, US Soccer has made plenty of noise with regard to becoming an international powerhouse.  National resources, in terms of wealth and population, offer them a greater opportunity to do so than any other unestablished footballing country.  Yet, it will never happen until they commit to their goal completely.

Football is the world’s game and as long as the USSF and MLS refuse to join the rest of the planet, America will remain a third world footy nation. If MLS fans don’t change their US against the world mentality, they’ll remain a minority following a niche sport which is competing not only against traditional American games but against the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, the Champions League, the Campeonato Brasileiro, the Primera Divisions of Mexico and Argentina and the Copa Libertadores.

Do the math, people.  MLS is too outnumbered to fight a war on two fronts.  If you want your game to go global, you have to embrace the world, not fight it.  If you want to wave the flag and shout, “America, Love it or Leave it!” then go back to the NFL.  If the US is going to be a true footy nation, it’s all or nothing.  That’s what I mean by one hundred percent commitment.

Half-assed insularity just isn’t going to get it done.

Mexico joined most of Europe in closing up shop for the summer, on Sunday, with an engaging Clausura final between UNAM Pumas and Monarcas Morelia at the Olimpico Universitario in Mexico City.  Monarcas put up more of a fight than expected against a very strong Pumas side but, in the end, assumed their customary role as bridesmaids in Mexican championship football.

Knowing that the visitors have been a dangerous traveling side, Pumas stated their intent early in the match, forcing Monarcas onto their back foot.  On thirteen minutes, Francisco Palencia caught the Monarcas back line too far up the pitch, sending a long ball down the middle from the center line.  Dante Lopez darted after it, onside, causing Monarcas keeper Federico Villar to charge out and tumble the striker.

With this being a Mexican final, it could only be the immortal Andres Cantor going into raptures as referee Marco Rodriguez pointed to the spot.

“Penalty! Penalty!!  PENALTYYYYYYY!!!!  Marcos Rodriguez a marca offenda a maxima!  Amarillo por Villar!!”

The famous Hispanic commentator’s boundless excitement only magnified as Palencia stepped up and dispatched the penalty to put Pumas on the board first and ahead 2-1 on aggregate.

Monarcas, however, were determined not to go gently into that good night.  The visitors struck back, earning a penalty of their own, ten minutes later.

Cortes saved Mexico's best goal of 2010-11 for last.

In a more condensed version of the play at the opposite end, Jaime Lozano chipped a ball over the heads of the Pumas defenders from just outside the box.  Miguel Sabah beat Pumas netminder Alejandro Palacios to the ball and went down under somewhat less contact than at the other end.  His angle to the ball was away from goal, too, and had he not drawn contact, would likely have been unable to get off a quality shot.

Still, Senor Rodriguez was inclined to level the playing field with some Old Testament justice.  A penalty for a penalty, a yellow carded keeper for a yellow carded keeper and, when Lozano converted from the spot, a goal for a goal and 2-2 on aggregate.

With both sides having an away goal, the match would have been extended into extra time and possibly penalties, had matters remained unchanged.

Javier Cortes was having none of that, though.  With less than a quarter-hour remaining, Cortes created a goal that would do any championship, including the World Cup, proud.

Accepting the ball on the right touch line, level with the eighteen, Cortes dummied three defenders in quick succession, playing croquet with the second and third, then raced to the near post and took his shot before a lunging fourth defender could get his foot in the way.  The chipped effort, sent across his body, went over the right shoulder of Villar and into the far side netting, too quickly for a fifth defender to support the beaten goaltender.

Golaso was certainly the correct term for this Clausura winner.

For Pumas, it is their second Clausura crown in three years and will give them a pleasant summer’s worth of glory in which to bask.  Monarcas, meanwhile, cannot seem to shake the label of second best.

Their top goal scorer, Rafael Marquez Lugo was held quiet in this match, while Pumas, as always had more than one threat on the pitch.  Their leading scorer, Juan Carlos Cacho, who scored six goals in the first six matches, before being injured, has only had one since returning, appearing mostly as a substitute.

Such depth bodes well for UNAM to challenge for more titles in 2011-12, against the likes of Monterrey, Cruz Azul and what is becoming a very solid Tigres squad.  At the other end of the table, Necaxa will be bowing out of the Primera Division and heading down to the Liga Ascendo, to be replaced by Tijuana.

The Aztec Dogs, are almost as new to Mexican football as they are to its top flight.  They earned promotion after winning the Segunda division Apertura title, finishing runners-up to Irapuato in the Clausura Final and winning the rematch to decide promotion, 2-1 on aggregate.  Life in the Primera Division may prove more interesting with Tijuana around.

Founded in 2006, the side has climbed quickly through the ranks, guided by a father and son tandem who are neither shy of the spotlight nor of spending to improve their club.  Jorge Hank Rhon is president of Grupo Caliente, a gaming concern whose main asset is the Agua Caliente Racetrack.  His son, twenty-four year old Jorge Alberto Hank, is the president of the Aztec Dogs, making him the youngest chief executive in Primera Division history.

Thus far, the league has seen no conflict of interest with a club wholly owned by a betting firm, as Grupo Caliente does not take bets on the Mexican top flight.  As flagship side Club America, owned by media conglomerate Televisa, also has ties to a casino, the league must step carefully in setting any new precedent.

Still, it will be interesting to see if Agua Caliente’s owners can manage to stay out of hot water with the FMF.  We’ll have to wait until fall to find out, however.

The Olimpico Universitario will be rocking Mexico City on Sunday afternoon.  One of Mexico’s most storied clubs, Pumas have won six Primera Division titles and four international competitions.  The club, whose tradition, open style of play and dedication to its youth academy, which has produced the likes of Jorge Campos and the immortal Hugo Sánchez, parallels Barcelona in many ways.  If they can win their second Clausura crown in three years, against Monarcas, finishing at the top of the Primera Division, albeit of Mexico rather than Spain, will be yet another similarity.

Monarcas may not have quite the winning tradition of their opponents, with just an Invierno (old Winter season), Segunda Division and SuperLiga crown, to their name.  Yet , having finished as bridesmaids on five other occasions in major competitions, the Michoacan side are hardly lightweights.

Monarcas Morelia 1 – 1 UNAM Pumas

Thursday 19 May, 2011

El Stadio Morelos

The opening leg on Thursday, saw the two sides battle to a one-goal draw, giving Pumas a slight edge, on the strength of their away goal, in Sunday’s winner take all encounter.  The fallout from their epic brawl against Cruz Azul last weekend, which saw two Monarcas players banned, did not noticeably affect the home side.

After a scoreless opening forty-five on the road, Pumas began to exert themselves after the intermission.  Monarcas remained stalwart defensively, however, and it wouldn’t be until well after the hour when the break-through finally came.  Pumas moved the ball out of their own end with two long but accurate passes down the left flank.  Dante Lopez then tried to break down to defenders to the left of the box.  His efforts soon saw him stripped of the ball but he kept his head, pressuring the defenders into giving the ball right back.

From there, the ball was moved quickly across the top of the eighteen for Francisco Palencia to line up, just outside the arc.  His cannon shot, beating a fully stretched Federico Villar and curled into the upper ninety.  Monarcas can fault themselves for giving Palencia the time and space to line up the shot.

As I said, however, the Morelians are not lightweights.  They quickly regrouped and, while Pumas were still rejoicing over their lead, found an equaliser.

Monarcas worked hard to win back a throw-in deep in the Pumas end.  Rafael Marquez Lugo laid off a perfectly weighed lateral pass into the center of the box, catching the Pumas back line napping, and Joao Rojas came streaking in from the opposite side to drill a shot past a helpless Alejandro Palacios.

Monarcas exerted pressure, searching for the go-ahead goal to put them in a strong position for Sunday.  They came close when Lugo flicked a header off the bar but the second leg will begin with the two clubs all square.

Second Leg Prediction:  Pumas are strong at home and one would expect their potent attack to put the title away in front of the home support.  A second look at the Clausura league table reveals that Monarcas are a far more dangerous club away from the Morelos, however.  Pumas will have their work cut out and, if they cannot get on top of their opponents early, this one may head to extra time and penalties.  I’m going to go with history, though and believe that Puma’s pedigree will hold them in good stead, with a couple of early strikes.  Monarcas will fight back but they won’t have enough to stop UNAM from claiming another championship.

Score:  Pumas 2-1 Monarcas —  Pumas 3-2 on aggregate.

UNAM Pumas 2 (3 aggr. 1) 0 Chivas de Guadalajara

Sunday 15 May, 2011

Estadio Olimpico Universitario

In Thursday’s matchups, being a goalkeeper wasn’t exactly a point of pride.  On Sunday, it was, with one glaring exception, an entirely different story.  Pumas netminder Alejandro Palacios, who had committed an absolute howler in the first match was at his sharpest in this contest holding off the early Chivas dominance until his teammates settled in to take charge of the match.

After weathering the storm, the home side found themselves with a free kick from twenty-five metres.   With, spread from right to left, Martin Bravo, Juan Cacho and Javier Cortez all taking a running start at the set piece, it was Cortez who finished the deed, sharply bending a ball around and over the wall, sending it just inside the near post.  Chivas tender Luis Michel was diving desperately to reach the ball but never had a chance.

If Cortez’ go ahead strike was a master set-piece, then the match killer, which came with a quarter-hour remaining was the very definition of counter-attack.

Dario Veron came charging from his own end, weaving through the middle of the Goats’ squad, before feeding the ball to Dante Lopez, camped out on the left flank, just over the center line.  Lopez held the ball up long enough for Veron to overlap and then released him into the box with a perfect through ball.

Knocked off his feet in the box by a late sliding tackle, Veron did not even look to the referee to see if a penalty would be awarded.  Instead he leapt right back to his feet and sent the ball to the top of the box before a second defender could close on him.  Lopez zeroed in on it from his outside position and slotted a perfect shot past an exposed Michel.

Any chance which Chivas might have had to fight back disappeared in the eighty-fourth minute, when Mario Saucedo was sent off with a straight red card.  A very entertaining Pumas side thus eliminated one of its three main rivals and gave themselves the opportunity for their second Clausura title in three tries.

Monarcas Morelia 3 (3 aggr. 2) 0 Cruz Azul

Sunday 15 May, 2011

@ El Morelos

Unfortunately for Pumas fans, they will not be able to put paid to one of their other two mortal enemies as Monarcas has beaten them to it.

Cruz Azul have been perhaps the most consistent side in Mexican football for the last decade, yet other clubs, like Monterrey, Chivas and Pachuca have garnered all the attention because the Cementeros can’t close the deal.  They have lost four of their last five finals appearances and now, both of their semi-final appearances this year.  In the end, the frustrations would boil over into an ugly display of anger and mayhem.

Cruz Azul came into the match with what should have been a comfortable 2-0 lead in the tie but, before ten minutes had elapsed, Rafael Marquez Lugo had struck for a brace and the sides were level.  Had matters remained unchanged through regulation, overtime and penalties would have decided the matter, as neither side would have registered an away goal.  That seemed to be what the immediate future held until Jaime Lozano opened Pandora’s Box in the eighty-eighth minute.

Lugo’s first tally, a header inside the six, directly from a free kick, begged the question why Cementeros keeper  Jesus Corona did not come off his line.  His conduct at the opposite end of the match would suggest that this was just the beginning of a frustrating day at the office.  Two minutes later, Corona did come charging out, when Lugo chased down a long ball.  Unfortunately, the frustration would only grow, as the Monarcas player was first to arrive and cheekily chipped over the onrushing goaltender.

Despite the stunning turn of events, Cruz Azul got their feet under them and held their own until Lozano completed the fight back.  A quick breakout found Lugo driving up the middle of the pitch with options on the right and left.  He chose the left and Lozano took two steps with the ball, then coolly slid a ball under Corona into the far corner.

As the sides were preparing to resume play, a Monarcas fan made his way onto the pitch and tried to shake hands with an obviously chagrined El Borrego (Azul captain Gerardo Torrado).  The Cementero midfielder did his best to ignore the misguided fan standing directly in front of him but teammate Christian Giminez was incensed and came flying at the spectator, studs up.

Matters descended from there, although Monarcas keeper Federico Villar managed to convince his counterpart Corona to release the fan from a bear hug grip and then escorted the instigator from the pitch, offering him several choice words and a couple of shoves for good measure.  Sadly, while one intruder was being removed, a second re-ignited the mêlée and, suddenly, fists were flying, with players and coaches all involved.  A Monarcas assistant threw a roundhouse punch toward Torrado and was herded off the pitch, where he had words with Jesus Corona.  The keeper, apparently deciding enough was enough, auditioned for a place with the Goats of Chivas by delivering a full force head butt which staggered the bigger man.

Amazingly, Corona then returned to the pitch, had a short conversation with one of the linesman, with the two apparently coming to a consensus about something, and finished out the match.  One would suspect that his summer vacation will be significantly extended by the FMF when they see the footage from the donnybrook.  It has already been announced that he has lost his place in the national squad ahead of this summer’s Gold Cup competition in the US.

Although the officials apparently missed Corona’s transgression, Cruz Azul’s Christian Giminez and Isaac Romo, along with Monarcas’ Miguel Saba were booked and sent off for their part in the proceedings.

It’s likely leftover instinct from my hockey youth, but I still get a charge out of a bench clearing brawl.  In fact, it’s even more entertaining – and challenging to sort out – when it’s presented in a foreign language and you can’t understand a word the announcer is screaming.  The only thing I haven’t managed to piece together is why Monarcas coach Tomas Boy was wearing a trench coat and carrying a bottle of water, in what must have been 30ºC weather.  I mean, lose the poncho and you can ditch the agua, too, Tomas.  In a free-for-all like that, it could be fatal to permit anything to restrict your movement.

The Clausura Final is set for  Thursday evening at the Morelos and Sunday afternoon at Pumas’ Olimpico Universitario.  Both sides play free flowing, attack minded football but Pumas seem to have a few more weapons at their disposal.  As well, there is no telling whether Monarcas will be missing another player or two when the final verdict comes down.

Prediction:  Regardless of disciplinary measures against their opponents, I like Pumas to close out a strong campaign with a victory, although Monarcas may take the first leg.  Score:  2-1 Monarcas on Thursday but 4-3 to Pumas on aggregate.

]]> http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/17/south-of-the-border-pumas-herd-goats-while-cruz-azul-monarcas-stampede/feed/ 0 Monarcas Cruz Azul Liguilla resulteditor UNAM Pumas Chivas de Guadelajara.001 monarcas_morelia cruz azul http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/14/south-of-the-border-cruz-azul-stake-their-claim/ http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/14/south-of-the-border-cruz-azul-stake-their-claim/#comments Sat, 14 May 2011 22:11:31 +0000 Martin Palazzotto http://worldfootballcolumns.com/?p=17217 Continue reading »]]> Sunday will see the second legs of the Clausura Liguilla semi-finals played out and Cruz Azul have one fit in the final while UNAM Pumas hold the advantage of an away goal over Chivas de Guadalajara.  Monarcas Morelia, meanwhile, have much mucho trabajo left to do.

Chivas de Guadalajara 1-1 UNAM Pumas

Thursday 12 May, 2011

@ Estadio OmniLife 

The first half of this encounter was chippy, much to Chivas’ liking.  The more defensive-minded goats were happy to try to knock the high scoring cats off their game.  Yet, their strategy was hampered significantly when Hector Reynoso, who scored a big goal in Pumas come from behind victory in the quarter-finals, was sent off on the half-hour.  Pumas’ David Cabrera evened things up at the half, however, when he picked up his second booking.  With both sides having made their points, the remaining twenty men got down to the business of football in the second stanza.

Six minutes after the restart, Pumas earned a throw in on the right side, level with the eighteen yard box.  Dante Lopez chased the toss to the touch line, crossing it in mid-air straight to Efrain Velarde, waiting to head it in at the far post.  An away goal was the worst thing imaginable for Chivas, as they will be hard put to keep a clean sheet in the return leg at the Olimpico Universitario.

Yet, just as Pumas had gifted Chivas a sending off at the end of the first half, their keeper, Alejandro Palacios, committed the howler of howlers with just two minutes on the clock.  A desperate Goats side were working the ball back and forth, forty metres from goal, their hopes fading, when Omar Arellano just took off up the pitch, cutting to the right and unleashing a looping shot from twenty-five metres.  Palacios came out went to his knees and watched stunned, as it bounced away from his waiting arms and into goal.

Even with the away goal, Pumas will have to be deadly sure in the return leg.  It’s breaks like that which can turn a tie on its head, allowing the lesser team to claim victory, as Chivas demonstrated in the last round against Tigres.

Prediction:  I picked Pumas to take this one at home after a high scoring draw on the road.  It turned out to be a lower tally than I expected but I’m sticking with Pumas to get it done at home emphatically, after their gaffes in this match.  Score:  Pumas 3-1 Chivas, 4-2 on aggregate.

♦   ◊   ♦

Cruz Azul 2-0 Monarcas Morelia

Thursday 12 May, 2011

@ Estadio Azul

Goaltending gaffes continued in this match, as Monarcas’ hirsute netminder Federico Villar  must have allowed his hair to block his vision on Christian Giminez’ curling cross from thirty-five metres plus.  The ball, hurtling almost straight at him, bounced off his hands and into goal.  If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, Villar then scuffed the punt he attempted in his frustration.

As El Cementeros piled on the pressure, Monarcas’ Joao Rojas bowled over Julio Dominguez as he tried to latch onto a chip into the box.  The visitors were fortunate to avoid a penalty when the referee allowed the play to continue, apparently judging that both were chasing a ball which neither could have reached.  Villar was tested at every opportunity after his fumble, with right winger Javier Aquino bobbing and weaving along the side line and providing some telling service to his mates.

In first half stoppage time, Cruz Azul killed off the match.  Working from right to left to spread the Monarcas defence, Adrian Cortes finally looped the ball against the grain to the right side of the box.  Christian Giminez headed it down onto the spot, where Emmanuel Villa moved forward with one touch and roofed the bouncing ball over a flailing Villar with the outside of his right foot.

Being two goals down before their home leg will be a problem.  Their record in defence of the Morelos has not been the best in the Clausura and, needing at least two goals, opening up against the well-rounded Cementeros will invite danger on the counter attack.

Prediction:  Monarcas will get on the board but Cruz Azul look intent on ending their spell of falling short in the big matches.  Score:  Monarcas 1-2 Cruz Azul, 1-4 on aggregate.

]]> http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/14/south-of-the-border-cruz-azul-stake-their-claim/feed/ 0 Velarde, Efrain Pumas resulteditor Chivas de Guadelajara.001 UNAM Pumas cruz azul monarcas_morelia http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/12/south-of-the-border-pumas-claw-their-way-back-tigres-hooked-on-goats-horns/ http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/12/south-of-the-border-pumas-claw-their-way-back-tigres-hooked-on-goats-horns/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 18:30:21 +0000 Martin Palazzotto http://worldfootballcolumns.com/?p=17094 Continue reading »]]> Thursday night sees the first legs of the Mexican Clausura semi-finals taking place.  Already, one of the favourites has been ousted, the other has fought back from near death and a more minor upset also was in the offing.  Here’s how the Liguilla quarter finals shook out.

UANL Tigres 1 (2 agg. 4) 1 Chivas de Guadalajara

Saturday 7 May, 2011

@ Estadio Universitario

Chivas have come out of their post-Libertadores funk in a big way!  After stunning top cats Tigres in the opening leg at Estadio Omnilife in Guadalajara, the Goats proved too stubborn on the road, pinning down Tigres with a 1-1 draw.

Tigres put the pressure on from the outset but Chivas held firm, with keeper Luis Michel making several strong saves.  A powerful Hector Mancilla header from a right side cross was driven low and too close to Michel, but the netminder did well to hold on and not allow a rebound to spill out.  Then, on a cross from the left, Mancilla let loose a twisting half volley which was bouncing towards the post, only for a lunging Michel to palm it wide.  When the keeper finally was beaten, on a Juninho set-piece, the dipping shot caromed off the bar.

The half ended scoreless but Tigres continued the barrage upon the restart.  Michel tipped another effort over the bar and saw one curl just wide of the far post before the Goats finally mustered an effective counter.  With Chivas number ten, Alberto Medina, streaking in from the left, Juninho was forced into a late lunging tackle which drew a straight red card with forty minutes remaining.

Yet, even a man down, Tigres kept herding the Goats back into their own end.  Finally, just after the hour, Mancillas tucked a header just inside the post to cap off a Tigres break.  With the inswinging cross behind him, it was a difficult ball for the Tigres talisman to hit with force but he found enough to finally elude Michel.

On the board at last, the top seed in the tournament would advance if they could find another.  Unfortunately, as they became more bold in their desperation, Chivas began to exploit the empty space in the back.  Marco Fabian dribbled into the box on the left and cut sharply into the middle, causing Jesus Molina to inadvertently cross his path.  Fabian, who had just passed the ball, made the most of the contact and the official pointed to the spot.

Cirilo Saucedo did his best to match Michel, diving to his right to parry the spot kick and then scrambling to his feet and forcing the rebound to ricochet off the post.  Unfortunately, his teammates were slow in coming to his aid and Hector Reynosa was allowed to charge in and head the loose ball home.

Suddenly, with twelve minutes to go and short a man, Tigres were faced with the ultimately impossible task of scoring twice more to force extra time.  The match ended on a sour note, with Fabian struck by a plastic cup as he was standing over a corner kick, again going down very easily.  Tigres players at least showed some class by coming over and remonstrating with their own fans.

Were it not for the yeoman work of Luis Michel between the sticks, Chivas, outshot on the evening, 14-5, would have likely found the tables well and truly turned.  As it is, their luck will be tested, having drawn the other top seed, Pumas, in the semi-final.

Atlante 0 (1 agg. 2) 0 Cruz Azul

Saturday 7 May, 2011

@ El Stadio Andres Quintana Roo

Having won the opening leg 2-1, Cruz Azul came to sunny Cancun, charged with protecting their lead, especially wary that they had given up a dangerous away goal to the Group 2 winners, Atlante.  The island side needed only to score a single goal and keep a clean sheet to move forward in the Liguilla.  The visitors had to look vulnerable, as well, since, much like Chivas, their frustration at a lack of success in big matches was beginnng to show in the more commonplace ones.  On this day, though, El Cementeros came out and played the perfect away game, shutting down the Atlante attack to play out a scoreless draw and claim a spot in the semi-final round against Group 3 rivals Monarcas Morelia.

Atlante’s best chance for goal came in the first ten minutes, when a cheeky little chip down the right side set up a hard, low cross into the box.  Alex Diego found himself unmarked in the middle with Azul keeper Jesus Corona hopelessly out of position.  Adrian Cortes was there to cover, however, blocking the shot, stumbling and then clearing the rebound off the line.  The islanders would get a few more chances, none so clear-cut, though and, as the match progressed, Cruz Azul began to exert more control, enjoying several half chances in the second half.

Monarcas Morelia 3 (5 agg. 3) 2 Club America

Sunday 8 May, 2011

@ El Stadio Morelos

Going into the second leg away, having lost at home doesn’t leave a club many options but to attack.  America, continuing their inconsistent run in the Clausura, managed to get in front early in a must-win match but couldn’t keep a rampant Monarcas off the board.

America, the capital club, travel well and their support went absolutely ballistic when Diego Reyes flicked in a header from a set piece on three minutes, to level the match.  Unfortunately, the Millionaros were typically complacent after equalising, despite needing at least two goals in any victory, to advance.  One would have expected better, especially given that Monarcas keeper Federico Villar’s nervous play was every bit as hairy as the rest of him.

On the half-hour, the home side finally struck back with a vicious counter.  Joao Rojas streaked in from the right and thundered a ball past Memo Ochoa, which struck the far post.  Luckily for Rojas, it rebounded back directly into his path and he was able to nod a second effort into the gaping goal.

Even at this point, America could have forced extra time with a second strike but it would be Morelia who took over the match in the second half.  Rafael Marquez Lugo converted a penalty just after the break and Rojas netted again on the hour, beating the offside trap perfectly to burn Memo Ochoa once more.

Vicente Vuoso would peg one back four minutes later, working across the top of the box and serving up a delicious back heel for Daniel Marquez Palacios.  The latter’s shot was blocked but Vuoso had turned back and drilled home the carom, leaving twenty-six minutes for the Millionaros to cash in twice more.  Monarcas were not open for business, though, and will move on to a stern test against a strong Cruz Azul squad.

UNAM Pumas 2 (3 agg. 3) 0 Monterrey

Sunday 8 May, 2011

@ El Stadio Olimpico Universitario

Like Tigres, Atlante and America, Pumas were up against it in the second leg.  Theirs was probably the most difficult mountain to climb, as well, down 3-1 to a Monterrey side fresh from a CONCACAF Champions League triumph and looking for an historic treble.

Pumas, however, had a legacy to protect.  Under the legendary Hugo Sánchez, they are the only club to have won back-to-back titles in the Primera Division, either in the original Invierno/Verano format or the current Apertura/Clausura.  That 2003 club also journeyed to Madrid, where they defeated the Galacticos 3-1 in a testimonial for their coach, who scored 164 goals in 207 appearances as a player for Los Blancos.  In the face of defeat, pride can be a great motivator.

Monterrey goaltender Jonathan Orozco was kept busy early as Pumas came out in full fury.  An ill-advised lateral pass set up a shot from just outside the box which Orozco parried for a corner.  Then, Efrain Velarde put everything behind a header from fifteen yards which Orozco could not force over the bar.  Just five minutes in, Pumas were within a goal of El Rayados.

Monterrey are not holding two titles at the moment by accident, though, and Pumas would have to work long and hard for the second strike.  With a quarter-hour still on the clock, Luis Fuentes managed to get his head to an outswinging corner, tucking it just under the bar to equalise on aggregate.  The away goals rule was in Pumas’ favour, however, meaning that Monterrey now desperately needed a goal to keep their treble hopes alive.

The closest el Rayados came to regaining the advantage was an eighty-eighth minute chip from thirty-five metres, which backpedaling Pumas keeper Alejandro Palacios, unlike his opposite number Orozco, did manage to lift over the goal.  Pumas overcame their first leg scare, then, and go on to face Chivas in the semis.

Semi-Final First Legs (Both on Thursday)

Chivas v Pumas – Pumas found their stride in the second leg of the quarters and will be well warned of what the Goats can do on their home turf.  Unlike Tigres, though, Pumas have plenty of attacking weapons and will not be intimidated should Chivas strike early.

Prediction – I think that Chivas’ luck will run out in this tie, although they will push Pumas in the first leg.  Score — Chivas 2-2 Pumas

Cruz Azul v Monarcas  –  This match-up is similar to the other in that Cruz Azul are strong defensively while Monarcas attack freely.  However, Cruz Azul are more consistent than Chivas and Monarcas are but a pale imitation of Pumas.  Expect the home side to protect the Estadio Azul fortress with zeal.  Monarcas will be frustrated to hear the blast of the famous Cruz Azul train whistle when they can’t find a way on board themselves.  Score — Cruz Azul 2-0 Monarcas

]]> http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/12/south-of-the-border-pumas-claw-their-way-back-tigres-hooked-on-goats-horns/feed/ 0 Chivas v Tigres, Liguilla 2011.001 resulteditor Tigres Chivas de Guadelajara.001 Atlante cruz azul ClubAmerica monarcas_morelia monterrey UNAM Pumas Chivas de Guadelajara.001 UNAM Pumas cruz azul monarcas_morelia http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/07/ny-red-bulls-backe-left-red-faced-by-derosario-gaffe/ http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/07/ny-red-bulls-backe-left-red-faced-by-derosario-gaffe/#comments Sat, 07 May 2011 22:49:32 +0000 Martin Palazzotto http://worldfootballcolumns.com/?p=17054 Continue reading »]]> New York Red Bull coach Hans Backe, still a little unused to the concept of doing things the American way, was caught by surprise ahead of the Saturday night clash with LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Not too long ago, he was quoted as saying that his new scoring star, Canadian international Dwayne De Rosario, wasn’t going to be representing his country at the Gold Cup, CONCACAF’s equivalent to the Euros.

“I think he has turned that down. I would be very surprised if he went for the national team. You never know, but I’m fairly sure we will have him.”

What Backe was referring to was a dilemma that European fans only experience in a marginal sense:  star players being called to international duty while the clubs continue to play out their fixture lists.  Chelsea supporters would likely sympathise more than most, as they miss a key portion of their starting eleven every time the African Cup of Nations rolls around.

In Major League Soccer, however, the issue is front and center on a regular basis.  As the league plays through the summer and does not observe international breaks when its season does overlap with the rest of the world, top clubs are forever finding themselves shorthanded, often just when they need their best players the most.  Landon Donovan was missing for the Galaxy early this season, leading the USMNT to an exciting draw with Leo Messi’s Argentina in New York while his mates were getting pummeled by MLS powerhouse Real Salt Lake on the other coast.

Backe’s problem was that he had already learned this lesson last season and had directed his backroom staff not to sign any more players who would not be available during international cycles.  So, when De Rosario came on board, the Swede naturally thought he had done what many other stars often do and taken an early hiatus from representing his country.  Being the type who checks on such things, Backe knew that De Ro had only played in three of Canada’s last fourteen matches.  Those numbers would have probably led him to believe everything was fine.

But, of course, it wasn’t.

Stephen Hart, the Canadian coach, was stunned by Backe’s statement and quickly picked up the phone to call his star, who just as quickly refuted his new boss’ assumption.  Suddenly, just ahead of a key match in the fixture list, the coach found himself taking the heat for an anonymous staffer in the midst of a media firestorm.

“I was probably wrong. I said earlier this year, when we had a talk in the club, that we would never, ever sign a player who was involved with [his] national team because looking at the Gold Cup… we would be minus five, six starters. So I thought that was sorted out before De Rosario signed but it wasn’t.”

The NY coach found himself Backe-tracking from his earlier assumptions.

Mistakes that you have already taken steps to prevent are the type for which coaches have the least tolerance, so it won’t be surprising if there is a sudden turnover in the Red Bull scouting department quite soon.  Meanwhile, the Gold Cup kicks off in less than a month, running from 5-25 June inclusive.

With international teams likely wanting a little time to get their squads in sync, Backe can now count on being without De Rosario and his fellow Canadian, reserve keeper Greg Sutton.  As well, Costa Rican Roy Miller, Jamaican Dane Richards, Mexico’s Rafa Marquez and Americans Tim Ream, Juan Agudelo and Chris Albright are all almost certain to be unavailable.

Barring injury, that leaves Backe with Henry, English surprise Luke Rodgers and number one keeper Bouna Coundoul to lead the second team through a fixture list which includes, from the 21st of May through the 26th of June, trips to Houston, Vancouver, Portland, Seattle and Chicago and home games against Colorado Columbus and New England.  To be without the majority of your starting eleven for a quarter of the season, with the majority of those matches on the road, doesn’t bode well for a club that is expected to finally step up and challenge for the Supporter’s Shield and MLS Cup this year.

On the other hand, the front office is probably delighted that five of the matches are on enemy ground, as it will minimise the losses in gate revenue.  In a market where you’re competing with the New York Yankees for a summer audience and playing what is considered a foreign sport, it’s hard to keep the fan’s interest when your best players are off playing in a tournament that isn’t even being covered on regular television.

That, of course, is the bigger problem.  US Soccer and MLS are still unwilling to embrace the world model for football.  If they want the game to catch on in America, diluting the league and ignoring what the stars are doing for six weeks is hardly the way to go about it.  In last summer’s World Cup, the league finally stopped play, at least during the group stages and round of 16.  In the interests of developing the sport and attracting more fans, they should do the same for the Gold Cup and televise it more prominently.

Obviously, the television revenues for the Gold Cup will not come close to the World Cup but MLS has been proven that slow development and taking some early losses pays off in the long run.  Coupling Gold Cup coverage with their MLS Direct Kick package would help to keep fans in touch with their favourite players during the six-week hiatus.  To me, it seems a natural extension of their existing philosophy.

]]> http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/07/ny-red-bulls-backe-left-red-faced-by-derosario-gaffe/feed/ 0 de-ro-in-RBNY resulteditor Red Bull ball Backe, Hans red bull http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/07/south-of-the-border-the-mexican-primera-division-enters-the-octagon/ http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/07/south-of-the-border-the-mexican-primera-division-enters-the-octagon/#comments Sat, 07 May 2011 19:21:35 +0000 Martin Palazzotto http://worldfootballcolumns.com/?p=16950 Continue reading »]]> Chuck Norris may have hung up his nun-chucks to peddle his Total Gym exercise machine on late night television and MMA may have its own version of the eight-sided fight ring but in Mexico the Octagon known as la Liguilla plays out twice a year to decide the Apertura and Clausura champions.  The top eight sides at the end of each tournament face off in a series of two-legged ties, right through the final, until one team is hoisting the trophy as Apertura or Clausura champion.

The FMF doesn’t waste time getting the playoffs underway, either.  When the Clausura concluded last weekend, teams had no time to rest before preparing for the first legs of their quarter-final ties.  And, as top seeds UANL Tigres and UNAM Pumas found out, their record over the seventeen match qualifying tournament guarantees them nothing.

In the final round, Tigres snuffed out the aspirations of Guadelajara side Atlas, with a resounding 3-0 victory, while Pumas preferred to back into the Octagon, allowing América a 2-0 victory which enabled the Azteca tenants to sneak into the playoffs at the last moment.

As the whole group table is immediately scrapped at the end of the seventeen round balanced schedule, with the eight surviving clubs ranked according to their overall record, the change meant that the two leaders drew clubs that it seems they may have preferred to avoid.

Here’s how the first leg match-ups shook out and what each side looks forward to in the return encounters over the weekend.

Chivas de Guadelajara 3-1 UANL Tigres

Wednesday 4 May, 2011

@ Estadio OmniLife

Tigres had to be confident coming into the playoffs.  Not only did their victory over Atlas give them the first seed, they were easily the league’s best defensive unit, conceding just nine goals in the seventeen match tournament.  Chivas, unfortunately, didn’t get the memo.  The Goats, who have been nibbling dejectedly at the fringe of the league since their Copa Libertadores Final defeat to Brazil’s Internacional in the fall, ripped through Tigres, especially in the second half, to leave the league leaders with a lot to do in just ninety minutes to salvage their title prospects.

Omar Areliano opened the scoring at the stroke of forty minutes for the home side.  After the Tigres left back overplayed a ball on the flank, Chivas pounced and a subsequent long cross found Areliano waiting on the back post.  Three minutes into the second half, Jesus Molina headed in a flicked on corner to level the match but the Goats weren’t done.  Just under ten minutes later, Luis Michel headed in from a corner himself and then Marco Fabian killed off the match from the spot, on sixty-five minutes.

The return match takes place at the Universitario on Saturday evening.  The one bright spot for Tigres is that the away goal rule applies, meaning that they need only manage a 2-0 victory in regulation to progress to the next round.  A 3-1 triumph will also see them through as the team with the best league record in a perfectly deadlocked match advances.  In either case, Tigres must be better both defensively and in attack if they are to move forward.

Cruz Azul 2-1 Atlante

Wednesday 4 May, 2011

@ Estadio Azul

Cruz Azul, like Chivas, were another club coming to grips with some depressing big match defeats.  They had lost the last five Cup finals they had played and were still smarting from their semi-final ouster from the CONCACAF Champions League, at the hands of Monterrey.  Yet, they too came into their opening Liguilla match on a mission.

It was Atlante who opened the scoring, however, through Giancarlos Maldonado after only seven minutes.  Arturo Muñóz cut across the top of the eighteen and curled in a perfect short cross for Maldonado to half volley past Jesus Corona.

Cruz Azul were down a goal at home and in need of a reply.  Cue Christian Giminez.  Just past the quarter-hour, los Cementeros’ number ten raced down the right on a break and, ignoring a partner making a run on the left, cut to the middle and released a left-footed laser from the top of the arc, which bent perfectly around a diving defender, past the lunging keeper and into the upper 90.  Then, as the second half was just beginning, he was on hand in the box when an Atlante defender completely whiffed on an easy clearance.  The ball rolled to Giminez and he wasted no time in slotting it home.

If you needed any confirmation that diving is not running rampant throughout the game, then the penalty granted Cruz Azul on sixty-seven minutes should satisfy.  Rogelio Martinez surged into the box on the right.  Atlante’s Muñóz, who had set up their goal, was late in coming across and inexplicably hurtled himself through the air towards Martinez.  His leap was too short but as he landed, he reached in to slap Martinez on the belly, causing the charging full back to lose all motor control and tumble to the ground in a flailing heap.  The referee bought the act and sent off  Muñóz with his second booking.

Although, the Islanders will be without a key player in the Cancun leg, they will be happy that Giminez hit his spot kick too close to keeper Moises Muñóz Rodriguez, denying himself a hat trick and keeping the Group 2 winners still in the hunt.

Giminez’ poor effort may come back to haunt Cruz Azul as a 1-0 victory at home will be sufficient for Atlante to go through to the semi-finals.

Club América 1-2 Monarcas Morelia

Thursday 5 May, 2011

¡Cinco de Mayo!

@ Estadio Azteca

Once upon a time, the fabled Azteca was a fortress where opposing clubs and countries went to lose.  The magic still hold for the Mexican national side but Club América have been incredibly lax in defending their home turf.  Over the Apertura and Clausura, the Millionaros have a combined record of seven wins, five draws and five defeats for twenty-six of a possible fifty-one points.  It’s a better mark than some but definitely not the dominance expected from Mexico’s biggest club.  Thus, their 1-2 loss to third ranked side Monarcas was typically disappointing rather than a shock.

Manuel Perez and Rafael Marquez Lugo had the visitors well ahead with goals on the quarter and hour marks. First,  Joao Rojas made a nice run down the left, neatly pulling the ball back just before he reached the touch line and sending a cross into the six, which Perez headed in after beating his marker and keeper Memo Ochoa to the near post.  Then, Lugo unleashed a low shot from 25 metres which Ochoa, diving to his left was only able to get his fingertips on, not nearly enough to stop its goalward momentum.

As much quality as the two Monarcas efforts had, América may take some heart from Daniel Marquez’ header on seventy minutes, which halved the deficit.  The forward was unmarked directly in front of goal on the six-yard line but who, in all of Mexico, not having seen Rory DeLap launch a throw-in, would have expected Juan Valenzuela to have been capable of connecting with him from the touch line?  That the capital side have such moments in them makes the indifferent moments in between all the more frustrating.

Having lost at home, however, means that América must craft a two goal victory away.  As luck would have it, though, Monarcas have been just as inconsistent at the Morelos as their opponents have been at the Azteca.  A 3-2-3 record is made all the worse by the fact that they are in the minus category there on goal difference.  This tie, then, is still there for América to take.

Monterrey 3-1 UNAM Pumas

Thursday 5 May, 2011

¡Cinco de Mayo!

@ Estadio Tecnologico

A word of advice to Pumas, should they find themselves in a similar future situation.  Finish strong.  Do not back into the playoffs in order to rest some key players when a loss might drop you into the second seed and pit you against a side that is intent on capturing an historic treble!  Monterrey are just that and after winning the Apertura and then negotiating a clogged fixture list to win the CONCACAF Champions League and still qualify for the Clausura Liguilla, they are in position to sweep all three trophies on offer south of the border.

That the attack minded Pumas were their latest obstacle was inconsequential to el Rayados.  The visitors found themselves down two goals in the first twenty minutes and, before they could think about responding after regrouping during the intermission the ever-present Humberto Suazo killed off the match.

A nine-pass movement which saw the ball cleared up the right, switched to the left flank, then incisively cut into the middle of the pitch, where Suazo penetrated the box before executing an exquisite back heel for Osvaldo Martinez to run onto and bury in the far side netting, opened the scoring.  The second goal came when Suazo set up at the top left corner of the box again, laying back a pass for Walter Ayovi to cannon into the same far netting from even further out.

Suazo repaid in kind for his excellent service, two minutes into the restart, when Sergio Perez Moya charged down the right wing, drove towards the box and centered for the waiting Suazo to finish.

Pumas did give themselves a lifeline when Martin Bravo outmuscled a defender in the box and drove a precious away goal behind Jonathan Orozco.

As with Tigres, who lost by the same score, the load is now lightened in the home leg.  Still, it will be a much more difficult task for the less defensively disciplined Pumas to upend a side that has proven in 2010-11 that they can finish what they begin.

]]> http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/07/south-of-the-border-the-mexican-primera-division-enters-the-octagon/feed/ 0 suazo, giminez resulteditor Mexican Clausura final round Primera Division Mexico Logo 2011 Clausura seeds Chivas de Guadelajara.001 Tigres cruz azul Atlante ClubAmerica monarcas_morelia monterrey UNAM Pumas http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/02/david-beckhams-weekend-a-beautiful-day-for-a-wedding-followed-by-texas-sized-english-weather-for-footy/ http://worldfootballcolumns.com/2011/05/02/david-beckhams-weekend-a-beautiful-day-for-a-wedding-followed-by-texas-sized-english-weather-for-footy/#comments Mon, 02 May 2011 19:49:14 +0000 Martin Palazzotto http://worldfootballcolumns.com/?p=16854 Continue reading »]]> The Los Angeles Galaxy are a team stocked with thoroughbreds.  The Supporter’s Shield holders upgraded in the off-season and, after signing former Red Bull captain Juan Pablo Angel to complete the attacking triumvirate with Landon Donovan and David Beckham, are the only MLS team with three Designated Players.  Angel and Donovan, due to international duties and injury have only featured in half of the club’s matches but a healthy Beckham has appeared in all but one.

Golden Balls has come under heavy criticism for his extended stay at Tottenham in the pre-season, when he could have been training with the Galaxy.  His rationale was that he was already at peak fitness and attending the first weeks of camp would only slow him down, as he waited for his LA teammates to catch up.  As well, Galaxy owner Philip Anschutz was using his star in a public relations campaign, vainly as it turned out, to secure the London Olympic Stadium after the games in partnership with Spurs.

Of course, rational explanations tend to fall on deaf ears when supporters have seen little of their $250 million investment, either because he is injured or is lobbying to play elsewhere to chase a place on Fabio Capello’s England bench.  The ill feelings have led the league, ever eager to appease and widen its fan base, to announce that it will only consider Beckham’s ‘soccer ability’ if and when they negotiate a new contract with the star.  In that context, Becks has turned in a respectable three assists in eight appearances.  That number isn’t bad for any player but even better when you consider that coach Bruce Arena’s line-up has been so unsettled by injuries that Beckham has been playing with different players in virtually every game.

Yet, Beckham was under fire again this week for making a side trip to Westminster Abbey for the Royal Wedding on Saturday morning, with the Galaxy scheduled to kick off Sunday afternoon at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas against FC Dallas.  Strange then, that a quick Google search of news items regarding the match doesn’t reveal any praise for his commitment to the club.  As it happened, Beckham attended the ceremony in London, posed for photographers and was then on a flight to Dallas, arriving well ahead of his teammates.

Beckham’s enthusiasm for a kick about was outdone by referee Alex Prus, however.  The man in black allowed the game to go ahead despite more than an hour’s delay due to the threat of severe lightning in the area.

The match played out in a heavy downpour, which eventually caused the game to be temporarily halted in the eighty-third minute.  The match eventually finished but, as with LA’s home tie, a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Real Salt Lake, held on the same night as Landon Donovan and the US fought a memorable one goal draw with Lionel Messi and Argentina in New York, the blinding rain held a lesson for Bruce Arena.  His thoroughbreds are definitely not mudders.

Fabian Castillo had put FCD ahead moments into the second half but Landon Donovan quickly replied with his third, in just five MLS appearances, to level proceedings.  With finesse an impossibility under the harsh conditions, the captain was content to sit on the far post and poach a Juninho cross.  Unfortunately, the second interruption played into the home side’s hands.  On home ground, they were able to regroup faster than the visitors and Brek Shea’s shanked volley wrong-footed Donovan Ricketts and brought the Galaxy’s five game unbeaten streak to an end.

The result will also please RSL, who, seemingly still in mourning after their CONCACAF Champions League defeat to Monterrey, dropped a one-nil decision to expansion side Portland Timbers.  The loss spoilt Salt Lake’s perfect four game record but with La’s corresponding demise, remain three points behind the leaders with a whopping four games in hand.

Bruce Arena, won’t care, though.  Two old sayings will stick in his mind.  First and foremost, he’ll take the points and second, after leaving the drenched Texas prairie, he’ll have a much sunnier disposition if the rainy games stay mainly on the Plains.

On Friday last, Pumas journeyed to Aguascalientes and put in a workmanlike performance to defeat already relegated Necaxa, 1-0.  With Francesco Palencia accepting a booking on fifty minutes, Pumas’ leading scorer, Juan Cacho came off the bench on the hour and was on hand to head home in the eighty-fifth minute for the game’s only goal.   It was tough luck for Necaxa, who have played very tight defensively throughout the campaign but have no scoring punch to back it up.  Yet even a victory in each of their final matches wouldn’t have lifted their points per game average high enough to escape the drop.

Tigres’ seemingly shock 3-0 win away at Monarcas on Sunday locked down the second spot.  The scoreline, which seemed to oppose the tournament long trend of Tigres gutting out wins while Pumas lit up opponents, was largely cosmetic, however. Lucas Lobos put UANL up before the quarter-hour but the score remained unchanged until the visitors scored twice more when Morelia opened up in the final five minutes, seeking an equaliser.

On Saturday, there were several key results.  Monterrey, with the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Final on their minds, managed only a draw against a suddenly frisky Puebla side.  The point, combined with wins by Atlas and San Luis, leaves them with a tenuous grasp of the final at large playoff spot, with five teams nipping at their heels.  In order to guarantee a place in the final eight, they must journey to Guadalajara on Saturday, hopefully buoyed by their CCL triumph in Salt Lake, and come away victorious over Chivas.

Chasing Monterrey are their nearest competitors in Group 1, Santos Laguna, and every team in Group 2 other than Leaders Atlante and bottom side Pachuca.

Two of those clubs met on Saturday as San Luis visited Santos in a match where one man-made all the difference.  Peruvian Wilmer Aguirre’s hat trick buried the home side and kept tiny San Luis’ slim playoff hopes alive.  In order to move on, they must first take care of a stumbling but still dangerous Cruz Azul on Saturday.  The Cementeros have only a win and a draw in five domestic matches since being knocked out of the Champions League and need points themselves to hang onto their at large place.  If San Luis can come out on top, however, they will need a great deal of help from other matches to squeeze their way into the playoff.

Also on Saturday, Atlas and Toluca must earn results against group leaders.  Toluca take on Atlante and Atlas face Tigres.  Atlas may have an easier time, as Tigres are locked into second place and may rest some of their regulars.  Atlante, on the other hand, are not even guaranteed a place in the final eight, as yet, and will be a tough test for Toluca.  Toluca and Atlas do have some momentum, though.  Los Diablos Rojo survived a 4-4 shootout last weekend with Tecos and Atlas dusted off lowly Jaguares, 2-0.

Meanwhile, América’s one goal draw against Atlante, last week, has put them in a bind.  They must finish up against Pumas with three points virtually a must.

Still, with the Premier League down to two clubs with their fingers crossed that Manchester United slip and Barcelona, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund having wrapped up their leagues, it’s an interesting alternative to have a dozen clubs still in the hunt for the Clausura with one round to go in the tournament.

Monterrey entered the match needing a victory or at least a 2 goal regulation draw to have any hope  of lifting the trophy.  With Alvaro di Nigris and Jesus Zavala ruled out due to suspension, Luis Perez to injury, winless in seven games and having played a grueling eight matches in twenty-four days, victory was not a simple task.  As well, there was the chilly 50°F temperature at 4800′ above sea level to contend with, despite having had no time to acclimate to the thin air.

Conversely, Real Salt Lake had played only the first leg of the Final in the past fortnight, as Major League Soccer was intent on finally breaking back into the competition, which they hadn’t won since the Galaxy hoisted the old Champions’ Cup in 2000.  Used to the cold, the altitude and with their fans behind them, RSL were well rested and undoubtedly had the upper hand.  The only impediment to their success was the absence of captain and midfield terrier Kyle Beckerman.

Salt Lake began the match on the attack, hoping an early goal, with the Rayados already behind the eight ball due to two away goals, would force their opponents to take some offensive risks.  Fabian Espindola turned in the box early but scuffed his shot directly to Jonathan Orozco.  Then he tore in from the left when defender Hiram Mier mishandled, driving a shot past Orozco but narrowly wide of the far post. A while later, the Argentine was afforded a third chance, outpacing the defenders to a long clearance.  Rayado defenders were screaming for offsides but the linesman’s flag stayed down.  With only a charging Orozco to beat, Espindola inexplicably stumbled and then, as he fell, knocked a desperate shot wide.

Third time pays for all, they say, and Monterrey, who had been soaking up the pressure, finally began to make their case in the final ten minutes of the half.  It would be Suazo, the Chilean who finally delivered the bill.  First, however, he found himself just outside the box, feinted right and then turned inside, unleashing a left-footed shot which dipped a hair too late to find the top corner.

Then, again from the top of the eighteen, Suazo returned a give and go from Sergio Santana as stoppage time began, sending his teammate in towards the right post.  The RSL defence, in the form of Jamison Olave and Chris Wingert reacted by making a crucial defensive error.  Both backs followed Santana’s run and took their eye off Suazo, allowing him to come running in from behind to accept a lateral pass from Santana, taking Salt Lake keeper nick Rimando out of the play.  One touch put the ball into a yard of space, allowing Suazo to bury it into the net.

Suddenly, it was Real Salt Lake who needed to press.  Throughout the second half, Salt Lake attacked in waves.  In the final twenty minutes, they were relentless.  In their two best opportunities, Alvaro Saborio headed a corner directly at Orozco and Javy Morales toed a loose ball off the bar, after a mad scramble in the six.  Finally, on ninety-four minutes, Saborio headed a long cross into the turf in front of Orozco.  The bounce almost fooled him but he recovered to tip the looping ball away from goal.  Seconds later, the final whistle blew and Monterrey were champions.

Monterrey cannot celebrate their victory for too long, however, as they still must secure their place in the Mexican Clausura final eight, this weekend.  To guarantee progression, they must fashion another difficult road victory, this time against the club immediately above them in Group 1 of the table, Chivas de Guadelajara.  A draw or loss will not necessarily eliminate them but it leaves their fate and a possible treble in the hands of others.

For Real Salt Lake, the defeat will be a difficult one to take, not only as it has cost them the championship but because it was their first home loss in thirty-four matches.  They will be starting over, then, on more than one front.  In MLS, their idle spell has allowed the Los Angeles Galaxy to overtake them for first place in the West.  Yet, as they return to the grind, three points won’t seem too much to make up with four games in hand and a perfect record to date.

MLS commissioner Don Garber pulled out the stops to bring the Champions league back to the US and his efforts helped RSL reach the threshold.  Unfortunately, the match hinged upon opportunities taken.  Monterrey had two real chances and took one.  Salt lake had a handful and did not.  That, unfortunately for the Americans, is the difference between champions and contenders.

With so little time remaining before the Octagon begins, clubs are reacting just as you might expect.  Some of those desperate sides still with a chance to make the playoffs are finally showing some urgency in their play and one or two who thought they were fairly well off have become a tad complacent.  Naturally, there are also the top sides who refuse to let up on the gas, showing that their eyes are truly on the prize.

At the top of Groups 1 and 3 respectively, Tigres and Pumas again took care of their business.

Damián Alvarez scored late as Tigres ground out a 1-0 away win against woeful Jaguares.  The cats from Chiapas have fallen far and fast.  After qualifying for the Copa Libertadores by finishing 6th in the Apertura tournament, Jaguares have been awful both domestically and in the South American championship.  They now sit on ten losses in fifteen league games, with easily the worst point total and goal difference of the eighteen clubs involved.   Next season, they will be starting over rather than building upon their success.

Tigres don’t look likely to make the same mistakes.  After finishing just out of the hunt in the Apertura, the San Nicolas based club have improved drastically on defence, to the point that they have the league’s second best record and are the only squad yet to concede ten goals.  Not running up the score on lesser opponents is of no concern to Ricardo Ferretti’s group; clean sheets are their priority.

The only side which has outdone them, Pumas, have also cut their goals allowed virtually in half, yet have also discovered a way to simultaneously raise their offensive output.  The club has adopted a variation of the tick-a-tack, short passing possession game that has stood Barcelona in such good stead.  While not as polished as the Catalan version, their goal difference easily outstrips the nearest competitors, as evidenced by their 3-0 manhandling of Querétaro.  Unlike Barça, however, Pumas also spread around the scoring load.  Francisco Palencia’s brace in this victory made him the eighth player on the club, in just fifteen games, to have at least two goals.

Still, should the two feline clubs make it through to the final, the matchup will be reminiscent of El Clasico, minus the tradition and stuff of legend, of course.

The Group 2 leader, Atlante, were one of the clubs which took their position too much for granted on the weekend.  It’s easy to do that when you call a paradise like Cancun home but, as a result, another stingy club who pulled off a string of upsets in the early doors before invitably fading, Necaxa, fought them to a one goal draw.  The result allowed a talented, wasteful and thus suddenly desperate América to close ranks with the islanders.

The residents of the fabled Azteca made their second trip to Guadelajara in a week.  After failing to muster themselves for a renewal of the actual Mexican Clasico against Chivas, wherein they were beaten 3-0, and feeling the pressure from the other four clubs in the group, all now within striking distance of their playoff spot, the Millionaires rolled up their sleeves and worked in the trenches to produce a 3-1 victory over Tecos at Estadio Jalisco.  It took Oswaldo Pantoja’s late first half goal to really wake América up.  It’s not often you see an indirect free kick taken from inside the box!  After the break, Diego Reyes Rosales, he of the three names and numbers (134 on his shirt, I kid you not), leveled and Angel Reyna Martinez (still three names but a more modest 18 on his back) put matters to rest with a double.

It was a good thing, too, as the quartet behind América were all facing off against one another and the capital club would be truly foolish to rely on two draws to come out of the mêlée.  As fate would have it a pair of 2-1 away victories, Toluca at San Luis and Atlas at Pachuca, mean that Group 2 now has four clubs within a result of one another, with two matches apiece remaining and just as many spots assured in the playoff.  Monterrey’s draw with Monarcas opens the door for a possible at large birth for whoever finishes third in the group, if they can manage to better Group 1 side Santos Laguna.

The concern amongst Millionaire fans, though, is that their side has left it too long.  This weekend’s match is against leaders Atlante and if they do not win that, it is difficult to see them fashioning anything out of their final game, away to the Barcelona-esque Pumas.  Meanwhile, everything is there for Atlante, despite mucking it up against Necaxa, with the game against América followed by another group clash against Toluca.  The group leaders will have no one to blame but themselves should they fall out of the running in the final fortnight.

Atlas also have a difficult final contest, against Tigres, which makes the playing field fairly level during the run-in.  Still the pressure will be on the front-runners, as their pursuers have comparatively easy affairs this week, Atlas against Jaguares and Toluca with Tecos.  Whatever happens, you can be assured that Group 2 won’t be decided until the final whistle two Sundays from now.

Over in Group 1, the other outsider, Santos, closed on struggling Monterrey by upending second-placed Chivas, 0-1, at the Estadio OmniLife.  Felipe Baloy’s goal in stoppage time dashed any hope the Goats had of knocking Tigres out of the top spot and made all the difference, four points to two, in the gap between the victorious Corona brewery side and the otherwise occupied Monterrey.

El Rayados are the one club, out of all the contenders, whose plight can be put down to simple hard luck.  While their early doors were largely against the lower half of the overall table, the final seven games on their fixture list have combined to form a deadly gauntlet which they must run in order to have any hope of adding the Clausura to their current Apertura title.

Not that holding both trophies would be an easy feat under any circumstances, mind.  Since the Apertura/Clausura came into being in 2002 only Pumas, in 2004, has won back-to-back titles.  Even from 1996-2001, when the tournaments were known as Invierno and Verano (winter and summer), no one managed to remain champion for an entire season.

In case you’re wondering, the change was made to appease that very popular fellow, Sepp Blatter, and his cronies at FIFA.  The winter and summer tournaments occurred in that order, with the extended break over the festive season, conflicting with the UEFA transfer windows.  With the well-heeled European clubs wishing to make it as easy as possible to move Central and South American talent to their clubs, the Clausura (closing) replaced the Invierno and the Apertura (opening) replaced the Verano.  The longer break was then moved to the summer months and Mexican football was turned on its fiscal head to better serve the Old World.

Hugo Sanchez scored 99 goals for Pumas, 25 in the old NASL, another 200+ for Atletico and Real Madrid and 427 in all but may have had his best year in 2004, as Pumas manager, winning the Apertura, Clausura and traveling to Madrid to beat Real 3-1 in a friendly. If you are a Madridista legend, they are happy to present you a well-polished and massive trophy.

In any case, Monterrey’s run-in has consisted of draws against Monarcas, Santos and Toluca, with a win over America tempered by a loss to Cruz Azul.  Just six points from five matches has made their grip on an at large play-off seed tenuous.  Still to come are what was a seemingly easy match against Puebla and a tournament finale against Chivas.

The match against Puebla has been complicated by two factors, however.  First, La Franja punched above their weight, stunning Cruz Azul, 2-0, in their last match.  Second, they are in a tight spot in the CONCACAF Champions League, having drawn the home leg, 2-2, with MLS side Real Salt Lake.  They must now travel to 4800′ above sea level in Sandy, Utah for the second leg, just four days after the Puebla game.  Proper acclimatisation usually requires being at altitude for a week.  The medical issues, as well as needing to overcome two away goals means that El Rayados cannot sit back in that match.  Yet, with pressure on them in the league, they cannot afford to rest anyone on the weekend against a middling team full of confidence.

If Monterrey can climb the mountain of adversity which has risen in front of them, they then face three two-legged ties which they must win to join Pumas’ as the only short-tournament back-to-back champions in the history of the Primera División.  As the saying goes, nothing is ever easy.

I’ll see you next week to set up the final week of the Clausura tournament.

The first dilemma is whether to rest any of their key players in the Mexican Clausura on the weekend.  In the domestic competition, their at large position for the playoffs is under serious threat from any number of teams after a grueling five-game run against América, Toluca, Santos Laguna, Cruz Azul and Monarcas has seen them come away with just 6 points from a win and three draws.

Usually, the match against Puebla, on Saturday, would be looked at as an opportunity to give some tired players a day off but the visitors are feeling their oats after knocking off Cruz Azul 2-0 last week.  Beyond the spoilers, there is the final round of the tournament, which translates into another difficult trip to Guadelajara to face Chivas.

So, with Real Salt Lake having scored a vital second away goal at the death, to secure a draw in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Final, Rayados manager Victor Vucetich must decide between risking his side’s chance at a second consecutive domestic crown or letting down an entire nation, which has become used, over the last five years, to winning the continental championship.

The second conundrum is, if the first leg took place at the Tecnólogico in Monterrey, as it did, just what in the name of Peyton Manning were faded grid-iron lines doing on the pitch?  I knew the NFL players were locked out but are they starting up a wildcat league south of the border or something?  I mean, this was the first leg of the North and Central American and Caribbean championship.  Seeing those markings interrupting the perfect green of the Tecnólogico’s pastoral turf transformed what should have been the Rolls Royce of the region’s club competition into a rusted out, dust-covered pickup truck on which someone had fingered the phrase ‘wash me’.

Javier Morales, who would give RSL an all important second away goal, fights for possession with Ricardo Osorio of Monterrey

Graffiti on the grass included, everything seems to be favouring Real Salt Lake in this tie.  With the away goal rule in effect (unless the second leg is knotted at two after ninety minutes), Monterrey will have to open up in the hopes of gaining the advantage.  Not only will that leave the Rayados exposed at the back but at Sandy, Utah’s high elevation, fully three thousand feet higher than that to which the Monterrey players are accustomed, will likely leave them gasping for breath in the latter stages of the match.  Add to that Monterrey’s domestic exertions and MLS commissioner Don Garber’s helping hand, postponing yet another game for Salt Lake this weekend, so that they’ll be fully recovered, it would seem that RSL have merely to hold off a first half surge from the visitors and wait for opportunities to present themselves on the counter.

That is why Javier Morales strike from the top right of the box, in traffic, to level the match in the eighty-ninth minute was so crucial.

In the early going of the first leg, Monterrey was exerting pressure and, in fact, largely controlled the ball throughout the match.  During those first moments, however, Salt Lake keeper Nick Rimando was very sharp, covering up an Aldo di Nigris worm burner bound for the near corner and then leaping to tip a Humberto Suazo cannon over the bar.  On eighteen minutes, though, the RSL defence couldn’t corral a loose ball during a Monterrey incursion from the right flank.  The ball ricocheted across the box and di Nigris swooped in to drive it home.  His yellow card for briefly raising his shirt was, refreshingly, the only discipline that El Salvadoran referee Joel Aguilar felt the need to impose until well into the match.

As it would turn out, the Rayados boss, Vucetich, was a bit arrogant in his judgment of the state of affairs at that particular moment.  He would immediately make two substitutions, Jesus Zavala for di Nigris and Osvaldo Martinez for Ernesto Perez.  While that may have had much to do with the manager wanting his attacking players as fit as possible for their Saturday match, the two defensive midfielders who came in were not up to the task of containing a determined and unbowed Real Salt Lake for seventy minutes.

Suazo, having sent a dejected Nick Rimando, on his knees in the background, in the wrong direction, holds off Nat Borchers as he fishes the ball out of the goal to carry it back for the restart. This, despite having just put El Rayados ahead.

In fact, it took less than a quarter-hour from the exchanges for RSL to strike back.  Central defender Nat Borchers joined the attack and was on hand to head in a perfect cross from, and this is important, *Canadian* winger Will Johnson.

The match then continued with opportunities for both sides but remained level until Suazo converted a penalty from a Jamison Olave hand ball just after the hour.  RSL sought inroads for the remainder of the game but were unable to break through until the last.

As the Americans pressed, tempers heated and Alvaro Saborio’s aggressive lunge for a fifty-fifty ball in the box resulted in a collision with Monterrey keeper Jonathan Orozco.  The contact drew the ire of Zavala, who grabbed the Costa Rican by the throat for a moment before catching himself and letting go.  Saborio took a brief instant to get into character before collapsing in the Monterrey goal.  An exasperated Referee Aguilar reached into his pocket and produced a yellow card for each of the unruly players.

Finally, with Monterrey desperately defending as the clock wound down, Morales, the Argentine attacking mid, came up with the ball just above the box and to the right of goal.  He quickly turned, darting between two defenders.  Before a third could close on him, he unleashed a low shot past a diving Orozco, into the far side netting, sending the MLSers into raptures.

The only good piece of news for Monterrey was that RSL captain and midfield general Kyle Beckerman will miss the second leg after picking up a caution in the second half.  Beckerman is the heart of the squad, its centre pitch terrier and the focal point of their build-up.  This is a very deep, experienced club, however, and coach Jason Kreis will have them prepared despite the loss.

The 2009 MLS champions are a perfect 4-0-0 on the young season and will, as mentioned not have to play this weekend.  MLS boss Garber is backing up his demands that Major League Soccer stop worrying so much about their profit margin and begin taking international club competition seriously by stepping in and exercising his executive powers at a very critical moment.  Monterrey are surely envious but, as they are at the other end of their season, such assistance from the FMF is virtually impossible.

The return leg is scheduled for, if you’re in London, a bright and early zero three hundred on Thursday morning.  And don’t snort at me like that.  The Football Gods gave you TiVo so that you wouldn’t miss matches like this.

Enjoy!

Of course, El Niño is only twenty-seven.  One would hope that his current malaise is a temporary condition and that he has several productive years remaining in his career.  It’s entirely possible that the long view will bear out the Chelsea billionaire’s investment.  It’s just that the January transfer window is usually reserved for more short-term planning.

In MLS, there are two schools of opinion regarding big fish like Becks and Henry.

The Galaxy and Red Bull Boards of Directors are not as concerned with the on-pitch production of their stars as they are with their marketing appeal.  It’s a sensible outlook when you take into account that the Frenchman is thirty-three and Golden Balls will be thirty-six in less than three weeks .  The pair may have lost a step on the pitch but their smiles are still dazzling the cameras in the studio.

There can be no argument that either has failed to do their part to raise both the national and global profile of the league.  While Mr. and Mrs. Spice’s friendship with Tom and Katie Cruise filled the gossip rags, along with young Romeo’s desire to follow in his mother’s fashionista footsteps, rather than joining da on the pitch, Henry endeared himself to New Yorkers by commuting back and forth to matches on the subway and PATH trains.  Lest he become too ordinary, he did fork out around ten million US for a midtown Manhattan penthouse, however.  One has to keep up appearances.

Becks and Henry have applied star power above and beyond the call of duty but haven't been as dazzling come match day.

For the pure footy fans in both cities, however, keeping up appearances has been the main complaint when it comes to their high-profile players.  Beckham’s club-hopping between AC Milan and the Galaxy and then his extended training period with Tottenham have alienated him from the LA faithful.  It’s not an irreparable problem.  A strong season culminating in an MLS Cup triumph would surely set things right but the Galaxy home match against Real Salt Lake on 25 March was not a good omen.  With captain Landon Donovan occupied on the other coast, in a spirited 1-1 draw between his USMNT and Lionel Messi’s Argentina, Beckham deputised.  Whether Donovan’s absence, injuries to key defenders such as Omar Gonzalez or Beckham’s lack of familiarity with an overhauled squad were to blame, RSL buried the Galaxy 4-1 in the midst of a driving rain.

Even with Donovan back in the fold, Bruce Arena’s star-powered squad has fizzled.  Presented with the opportunity to put the rest of the league behind the eight ball from the start, LA has just two wins and three draws in their first six matches, for nine points.  Conversely, Salt Lake have won all four of their games to date, giving them a three-point lead over the Galaxy and champion Colorado Rapids, with games in hand on both.

New York are in even worse straits. Through four contests, they lay sixth, with a win and two draws and four points behind surprising sophomores Philadelphia Union.  The Union defeated the Red Bulls on the weekend, 1-0, thanks to a strike from substitute Roger Torres.  Henry, meanwhile, has played three matches and has yet to record a goal or assist.

His dry spell might not draw such ire had his foolishness in last season’s run-in not severely dented the Red Bulls’ play-off hopes.  After failing to convert a scoring opportunity, Henry ran up, intending to kick the dead ball into goal to ease his frustration.  Unfortunately, an unwary Kevin Hartmann, the FC Dallas keeper, had just placed his foot behind Henry’s target and when contact was made both players suffered ligament damage to their knees.  Soon after, the Red Bulls were knocked out of the playoffs by San Jose.

Worse for New York, their other five million dollar man from Barcelona, Rafa Marquez, has been equally ineffective. None of the trio of mega stars, not Henry, Beckham or Marquz, can be said to have contributed positively to their individual clubs and their collective lack of productivity has many fans and pundits criticising the league’s Designated Player Rule, which allows clubs to circumvent the salary cap to sign up to three marquee players.

Like most things in life, however, the DPR works when it is applied in the proper portion.  Beckham’s enormous two-hundred-fifty million dollar contract and Henry’s five and a half million in yearly salary make it very difficult for the duo to fit in with their more pedestrian teammates.  On the other hand, RSL has a Designated Player, as do eleven of the league’s eighteen clubs.  The difference is that the rest of the league isn’t breaking the bank to sign talented players.

Seattle learned their lesson last year when Freddie Ljungberg took his time reporting for camp and the subsequent dissent poisoned the Sounders dressing room until the team traded him to Chicago in mid-season.  This spring, when Blaise Nkufo didn’t share Sigi Schmid’s vision, he was cut loose immediately.  Most other clubs took the hint, too.  Now, the preferred DP is one whose talent is significantly – but not excessively – greater than the rest of the team, enabling him to fit in better, raise the level of play within the squad and, should he prove not to be up to the task, less painful to write off.

On the pitch, it's been DPs such as Sporting KC's Omar Bravo and the Sounders' Freddi Montero who have delivered the goods.

Yet, Beckham and Henry have had a positive effect on the league-wide football side of the equation.  Their mere presence has challenged the rest of the clubs, which have responded by raising their game to a new level.

The question remains, though, what will the league do when their two biggest star depart?  Will MLS ask the Red Bulls and Galaxy to invest in new stars, to keep the casual fans interested and perhaps raise the bar further, and how will those two clubs and their die-hard fans feel about that?  Surely they want to win as badly as anyone and it’s becoming obvious to all that outspending the competition does not win championships in MLS.

If anything, it seems to prevent it.

The marquee match-ups came on Sunday, when the top two sides, UNAM Pumas and UANL Tigres, faced off and Chivas de Guadelajara took on Group 2 leaders Club América in what is perhaps Mexico’s biggest derby.

Pumas proved to be the top cats in the league with a 2-0 victory.  However, it wasn’t as clear a triumph as the scoreline makes it out.  The game was a fiercely fought and goalless draw until the dying moments at UNAM’s Olimpico Universatorio.  In the eighty-eighth minute defender Israel Castro broke the deadlock for the home side and his strike was followed up by Juan Cacho’s PK in stoppage time, when Pumas capitalised on a suddenly desperate Tigres club forced to abandon all thoughts of defending.  For forty-eight hours, the result established Pumas as the Clausura’s dominant club.

However, their main rival in Group 3, Monarcas Morelia, went on a wild-west spree, outgunning a despondent Cruz Azul, 3-2, in the normally difficult Stadio Azul on Saturday.  On Tuesday, they went on the offensive again, this time firing their way to a 2-1 home victory over struggling Jaguares.  Elías Hernándes turned in a brace in the first game and Rafael Marquéz Lugo had a goal in each contest.  The six points combined pulled them to within a point of Pumas and the leaders were only able to respond with a scoreless draw on Wednesday night against Guadelajara club Atlas.

Meanwhile, Cruz Azul recovered from their funk and after crashing out of the CONCACAF Champions League to Apertura champions Monterrey and losing to Monarcas at home, took some measure of revenge by crushing El Rayados 3-0.  As satisfying as their vengeance was, it also kept them within reach of Monarcas for the group’s second automatic play-off berth and pushed them ahead of Monterrey for the at large seventh seed.  Monterrey are not in any trouble on the bubble, however, enjoying a seven point advantage over three Group 2 sides, Toluca, San Luis Potosi and Atlas, as well as Group 1 rivals Santos Laguna.

The Group 2 chasers are more focused on another route into the post-season, though.  Former group leaders, América, now only two points ahead of them in second, have been extremely inconsistent over the Clausura campaign.  Their 3-0 loss to Chivas de Guadelajara on Sunday, in the Mexican Clasico is a perfect example.  Erick Torres gave the Goats the lead just before the half-hour and Marco Fabian de la Mora put the match away with a double between the seventieth and eightieth minutes.  Yet, América have both the quality and money to be much more competitive than they’ve been, especially in a huge derby such as this.  They journey to Tecos this coming Sunday for the last weekend fixture.  They will know, then, what they must do to maintain their play-off place.  Whether they can execute is another matter.