Archive | Soccer! RSS feed for this section

Major League Soccer is a Huge Hit and Now We Can All Chill Out

7 Mar

Rejoice, US soccer fans: all the long years of struggle for legitimacy, press, cultural capital, sponsor dollars and TV rights are over. MLS has arrived for its 18th season, throngs of adoring fans have filled glittering stadiums, national viewing audiences are surging on all screens, and social media is dominated by MLS-themed debate, smack-talk and hilarious, gif-based memes. Plus–calling all graybeard punksters–MLS has Black Flag! Here, see:

 

As the video demonstrates, soccer is totally punk rock AND has totally arrived here in the US. We the beleaguered fanbase can all go on vacation.

Okay that’s a bit of hyperbole. But it’s not THAT big of a stretch for a certain type of fan. A fan like, I dunno, me, for an intimate example. A fan who’s followed and supported the league as a labor of love for…[MATH TIME, PLEASE HOLD]…just a little less than half his life. And by labor of love let me please emphasize LABOR.

I have willingly situated myself in cavernous stadiums with a few other hearty souls, crazy-eyed-shut-ins, persons present only because some order of community service compelled them to be, and the faintly echoing voices of NASL ghosts. I have watched one thousand million local broadcasts, helmed by functionally-soccer-illiterate color men and analysts, of game after game in (and this part pains me most of all) STANDARD DEFINITION via the league’s Direct Kick games package. I have seen bad soccer played, have watched longball after longball sail harmlessly into the defensive third, or the stands, or the void where half chances go, or wherever. I have paid, in blood, sweat, tears, flesh, bone, US dollars and, yes, occasional stultifying boredom, to be a fan of this league and this sport in this country.

It was all worth it, every bit. It’s all working out just fine.

Case in point: One of the first big TV telecasts of the 2013 MLS season. The New York Red Bulls versus the Portland Timbers. Some background for those not yet paying borderline unhealthy attention to MLS:

The New York Red Bulls play in a beautiful, new-ish stadium in desolate, industrial, hard-to-find, harder-to-escape-from Harrison, New Jersey. For all their life as a franchise, they have been loaded with overpriced talent and haven’t achieved squat. They perennially make the playoffs, only to crash out due to some boneheaded move by a fading international star whose salary is more than most other teams’ entire payrolls. For this reason, they are the league’s only true Villain Team. Also, their current Big Star, Thierry Henry, along with being one of the greatest attacking talents in the history of the game, is an Actual Villain, a Machiavellian maestro of back room dealing whose on-field tantrums are only equaled by his off-field conniving. Watch this interview, where he acts like an arrogant dick (kinda his trademark) while denying that he regularly pouted for long stretches of play, raged at teammates and gesticulated wildly like a petulant toddler during just about every game last season:

 

And here he is denying he pulls the strings at the club–but sort of letting us all know he does, in fact, pull the strings at the club, I mean, c’mon:

 

I was a fan of the Red Bulls franchise for many years, but have sworn them off in the Henry era. I think he disrespects the game with the way he plays, has an undue boardroom influence, and contributes to a general malaise–which is of course the *ahem, French, ahem* word for “kinda shitty feeling you can’t put your finger on”–around the club.

So, that’s them.

Portland, on the other hand, are one of the most lovable teams in the league. They enjoy massive local support in a terrific stadium, from fans that are like (or perhaps just ARE!) a Portlandia casting call. And they did this:

 

So that’s them.

In case it’s unclear:

Evil, Long-Suffering-Fan-Abusing Overdog = Red Bulls.

Plucky, Fan-Adoring-and-Adored-By-Fans Underdog = Portland.

Their game last weekend was an absolutely scintillating 3-3 draw (yes, haterz, draws can be a lot of fun, especially if you’re a neutral), which featured a massive second half fightback from Portland, sparked by one of the league’s budding young stars, Darlington Nagbe. These highlights are more than worth your time:

 

Nagbe is but a baby child, in his third year in the league, but he shows the kind of potential MLS and US soccer fans get all bath-salts-whackadoodle-excited about. He was profiled on the excellent NBC Sports documentary series, MLS 36–you can check out the full episode below. It’s got a lot of what I love about the stories in this league–a kid from an immigrant background (he was born in Liberia but moved to the US in 2001 and is on a path to US citizenship) who’s trying to make it in the game for himself and his family. All 22 minutes are worth a watch but there’s an especially poignant moment at 20:45 that I think says a lot about the pressures and struggles all athletes face that fans don’t often see:

 

I just got a little misty watching it again, I’m extremely-manly-enough to admit.

So, with rising stars like Nagbe in its ranks, full stadiums and improving TV prospects, has the league arrived? Is soccer SAFE from total collapse in this country, finally? I don’t know, maybe. I’d even wager a “probably” at this point. What I know for certain is that MLS is a league that can produce games like Portland vs. Red Bulls between any two teams in the league (okay maybe excluding Chivas USA*), anytime any two teams in the league meet. MLS ain’t the best league in the world, but it’s OUR league, and it gets better every year. Trust me, I’ve been paying very close attention. If you’re a fan of soccer or even just a little soccer curious, check out a game on TV this weekend:

Chicago vs. New England, 7:30 PM 3/9 on NBC Sports Network

Red Bulls vs. San Jose, 10 PM 3/10 on ESPN2

*Chivas USA began in MLS as an outgrowth of the Mexican League powerhouse club Chivas de Guadalajara. This season, they have embarked on a “re-Hispanification project”, sort of, which has been embodied by trading just about every non-Hispanic player on the roster in exchange for players with Central or South American roots. This move is, one assumes, meant to create a team that will be more appealing to the mother-club’s prospective Hispanic fanbase here in the US. It is, however, a distinctly un-American way to build a team–offensive at least, illegal at worst. And it looks as bad on the field and in the stands as off–while other clubs enjoy surging attendance, Chivas draws the smallest crowds in the league, and they were thumped 3-0 by Columbus at home last weekend. The league has talked about drastic measures if things don’t improve soon for the team, which shares a stadium with the Galaxy, but none of that club’s fervent support or history of success. As somebody who loves the game in part because of the worldwide diversity of talent, personalities and cultures it assembles on the field and in the supporter’s sections, I feel like any attempt at homogeneity is blasphemy. Hopefully Chivas USA will change course and build a team of the best players, regardless of their national or ethnic origin.

 

 

Raise a Glass to Robbie Rogers

15 Feb

This is Robbie Rogers.88900801

Robbie Rogers is 25 years old.

He’s a helluva soccer player. He won an MLS Cup with Columbus, was a member of the US soccer team at the Beijing Olympics, and has played 18 times for the US Men’s National Soccer Team.

Today, on his blog and on Twitter, Robbie Rogers eloquently and emotionally revealed that he’s gay, and that he’s stepping away from soccer: http://www.therobbierogers.com/

The reaction from current and former teammates and the soccer community has been extensive and extremely supportive–the consistent cry has been, “PLEASE DON’T GO!”

From me, too. I would love nothing more than for Robbie Rogers to return to soccer and play in MLS, the first openly gay professional athlete active in any major sport in the US. I’d love for him to enjoy a breakout season and make the 2014 World Cup squad. For him, and for the statement it would make about the league, the sport, its fans, and this country’s readiness to confront the civil rights issue of our time.

Maybe he’ll return and do just that some day. Or maybe he’s decided his time in soccer is over, and that he’s ready for new challenges and new joys in his life.

Whatever he chooses to do, this brave young man will have millions cheering for his success and happiness.

UPDATE: The league’s site now has a compendium of supportive Tweets for Rogers, from a host of current and former players. The LEAGUE’S SITE. Makes me proud to be an MLS fan. If reading these Tweets doesn’t make your Friday, I don’t know what will. Maybe beer? But definitely combine the two for the best results: http://bit.ly/VlmiuL

Tags:

Relax Everybody, I Will Convince Landon Donovan to Keep Playing Soccer

13 Feb

There is a disturbance in the American Soccer Fan Industrial Complex.

Landon Donovan, the greatest player in the history of the US Men’s National Soccer Team, has decided to take a little time off from the game. He’s been a pro since he was a teenager. He’s burned out. He got divorced a couple years back, from Bianca Kajlich, an actress from the television machine.

Before all that, though, he was, for over a decade, the best hope of the US program. Here are some of my favorite all time Donovan Moments:

1. This is from a friendly against Mexico from 2007. Totally meaningless game, but a typical Donovan goal, created almost entirely by his explosive speed:

 

2. This is from the US vs Algeria World Cup 2010 first round match–Donovan scores with about 30 seconds to play. Without this goal, the US is out of the tournament in the first round. I was at this game, along with my wife and my brother. It was the greatest sports moment of my life, unlikely to be surpassed:

 

This was my reaction:

35199_409294611618_6226420_n

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a cool video of the crowd reactions to that goal from all over the US of A:

 

So, Donovan has decided to take a hiatus from the game. He hasn’t provided a timetable, though his club coach with the LA Galaxy, former US Men’s coach Bruce Arena, has stated that he expects Donovan will be back at some point during the MLS season.

That’s all well and good–the Galaxy need him. But there are far more pressing matters at hand–namely, the US’s current involvement in the final round of World Cup Qualifying for the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

This is where things get tricky without Donovan. The US is in a rebuilding phase, and frankly has been since the 2006 World Cup in Germany, when some of it’s most reliable stars–Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride, Eddie Pope–played in their last World Cup. Donovan has been the one true constant for the squad since then, along with Tim Howard in goal.  Clint Dempsey scores pretty regularly, but he doesn’t provide the dynamism, speed-threat or rate of goals and assists that Donovan does.

There’s a school of thought that says Donovan will rejoin the US sooner rather than later–that his return to the Galaxy will coincide with his return to the US team. Most US fans were ready to envision a team without Donovan–to let him sit on a beach somewhere and contemplate the waves and the what ifs.

That is, until what happened last week in Tegucigalpa.

See, last week, the US went down to the capital city of Honduras–the most dangerous city on the planet, according to the US State Department, if you’re keeping score–and lost 2-1 to a scrappy, young, very talented Honduras side, in the first game of a 10 game final round of qualifying. This doesn’t doom the US by any means–they’ve got nine more matches to secure the points needed to advance. But it was an ugly start to the round, with the US looking lethargic and disjointed. Donovan’s speed, creativity and composure were sorely missed. Here’s a great Kick TV piece on the match:

 

There are many takeaways from that video:

–It’s very, very difficult to win on the road in Central America

–Honduran politicians know much, much more about their national soccer team than US politicians

–The US traveling support is still a bunch of weirdos, God love ’em

But the biggest truth is this: The US team isn’t ready to succeed when it counts without Landon Donovan on the field.

We can only hope he’ll return, a conquering hero for the most crucial hour…

Tags: , ,

David Beckham is Leaving MLS. But Will He Leave Me All His Money, Talent & Handsomeness?

21 Nov

David Beckham is leaving Major League Soccer, and it begs the question: Was Becks good for the game here?

At the risk of you not reading another word of this post, in a word, yes. In two words, yes, very.

David Beckham is a very rich, handsome and talented man.

When I say that he’s rich, I mean that, objectively, the man has whole heaping piles of money. More money than I can mathematically imagine. When I try to imagine how much money, I get dangerously light headed.

When I say that he’s handsome, I mean that his facial symmetry, rapscallion’s grin, fantastic hair and lithe, athletic, tattooed frame cause feelings of intense desire in other humans across the spectrum of inclinations.

This is how Beckham looks at people. Especially people with cameras. Don’t you agree with my wife that he’s extremely handsome?

When I say that he’s talented, I mean he can play a bit of football. I have no idea what his talents are outside the game–maybe he’s a scrap booking dynamo, or plays a mean mouth harp? But on the pitch, the man is an artist with the ball. A decent athlete, a very hard worker, but hands down one of the best passers (especially as relates to defense-killing long balls) and free kick specialists ever to play the beautiful game.

He was signed by the Galaxy in 2007, a full year before America began its long slog towards becoming the America of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. A simpler, pre-apocalyptic time, in other words.

He started his career injured. With a shaved head. He limped around the field, looking like a recently furloughed prisoner. But as his bum ankle healed, his hair–and his game–evolved in tandem. Goals, assists, adulation and rakish locks poured forth. Thousands turned out to see him play. The league’s profile rose, and the sports press–and, crucially, other international stars–began to talk about MLS as more than a retirement league.

During Beckham’s tenure, the league expanded to add the Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders and Montreal Impact. The New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, Colorado Rapids, Sporting Kansas City and Houston Dynamo moved into soccer specific stadiums. Attendance surpassed the NHL and the NBA. Before the current season, the league signed a TV deal with NBC, the first major network deal in its history.

The Soccer Don, or the Soccer Don’s Evil Doppelganger?

Many of these improvements are due to smart, conservative management by league brass, particularly the only man who gets a pass from me for wearing a goatee after 40: Don “The Soccer Don” Garber. And some of the progress is based on the league’s young, ethnically diverse demo–it looks a lot like the New America, and advertisers get that.

But it’s no coincidence that MLS’s rise follows Beckham’s timeline exactly. At a time when the league needed it desperately, he gave it a global presence, a much broader demographic reach and butts in seats.

And he could still ball:

Beckham is 37 now (btw, that’s a year younger than me–just for comparison’s sake, he gets paid around $5 million per year to play whereas I pay around $135 for a 10 game season at the local inflatable soccerplex–but whatever, I feel no shame). He’ll play his last game for the LA Galaxy when they face the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup on December 1st at 4:30 PM ET on ESPN.

Rumors are swirling about where he’s headed next–he’s telling everybody who’ll listen that he’s got more soccer in him, and there are plenty of teams who’ll sign him for the headlines, jersey revenue and gate receipts alone.

It might be a stretch to say this about a 37-year-old midfielder, but whoever signs him should feel lucky.

I was skeptical when he first signed, but as a fan of the league and the sport, I gotta tip my hat to the guy. He left it all on the field in MLS–and he left the league, and the US as a soccer nation, much better for it.

I guess we’ll have to wait a couple weeks to see if he leaves me all those precious items in the post title.

Major League Shocker!

19 Nov

Okay so technically nothing too shocking happened in the Major League Soccer conference championship games yesterday. I’ve just always wanted to use that headline.

Following yesterday’s results, the Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy will meet in MLS Cup 2012, on December 1, at 4:30 ET on ESPN.

Seattle 2, LA 1: LA advances, 4-2 on aggregate

LA thumped Seattle 3-0 in the first leg of the Western Conference finals, then survived a valiant comeback effort by their Emerald City foes at sopping, frigid, sold out Century Link Field yesterday. Seattle could and probably should have at least sent this one to extra time, but they were robbed of an early Eddie Johnson strike via a blown offsides call, and then suffered a harsh penalty call when Adam Johanssen was whistled for a handball in the box after inadvertently blocking a Robbie Keane cross from the endline with his dangling left hand:

Was it or wasn’t it?

I’ve seen this penalty given and not given an equal number of times–but I feel like as  ref, regardless of the rulebook, you have to err on the side of the defender, the home team, and the game’s high stakes here. It’s one of those grey area moments where refereeing needs as much art as science. Johanssen makes no attempt to handle the ball, Keane’s cross is likely headed nowhere, Seattle are on the verge of an historic comeback in front of the league’s best fan base–but alas, the penalty’s given, Keane slots it home, LA go up 4-2 on aggregate and hold on to advance:

Watch the highlights here.

Houston 1, DC 1: Houston advances, 4-2 on aggregate

Houston laid a controversial 3-1 beatdown on DC in the first leg, then silenced the crowd at decrepit, colossal RFK yesterday by grinding out a 1-1 tie. This one was honestly no contest–with better finishing, Houston could have walked away 5 or 6-1 winners on aggregate. DC were unlucky to lose the two keys to their offense–perennial MLS post-season legend Dwayne DeRosario and perennial Jurgen Klinsmann snub Chris Pontius–to injury. DeRo appeared for a 30 minute cameo, but it wasn’t enough as Houston rode an early, against-the-run-of-play Boniek Garcia strike and beast-mode defending by Bobby Boswell (who’s a dirty player in my opinion, but undeniably a hunter-killer for Houston) to sad-face the RFK crowd:

Watch the highlights here.

Final thoughts on these two:

1. “Home Field Advantage” Deserves the Ironic Quotation Marks I Just Put Around It

The league has maintained that allowing the lower-seeded team to host the first leg provides a home field advantage to the higher seed, who can, prospectively, clean up any deficit in the second leg at home. In all instances, this proved untrue in 2012:

I don’t think there’s a better way to reward the higher seed, unless maybe the league let them CHOOSE whether they wanted to host the first or second leg. But that seems far too democratic a move for a professional sports league, even one as warm and fuzzy as MLS*.

2. The Workin’ Man is a Sucker

Or, as it applies to MLS, the regular season is for suckers. LA and Houston barely squeaked into the playoffs on 54 and 53 points, respectively, won their play-in games, then toppled the two teams with the most points in the league: San Jose (66) and Kansas City (63). Had they not fallen at the first hurdle, either of those teams would have hosted MLS Cup based on their point totals.

Instead, LA will host MLS Cup at the Home Depot Center, while KC plays golf and San Jose, presumably, hangs out at Chris Wondolowski’s house and watches “Goonies” again.

It’s a cruel old game.

But seriously–how ’bout them Goonies?

 

MLS Cup prediction: 2-1 LA (if Donovan’s healthy) on goals from Donovan and Keane. If Donovan can’t go, Houston wins 1-0 after Mac Kandji listens to Posh Spice’s solo album in the center circle while balancing the ball on his forehead, dribbles the LA roster twice, stops to ask Dom Kinnear for directions to the goal, then backheel nutmegs Josh Saunders for the tally.

*The MLS Don’t Cross The Line campaign is warm, fuzzy, and very cool. Can you imagine another pro sports league emphasizing its total intolerance for discriminatory language right now, via a high profile campaign like this AND hefty fines and suspensions within the league? As this recent Grantland piece points out, this is all about MLS’s demo, which is very young and very “New America”. I think that’s awesome for the league, for the sport and for AMERICA:

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Greatest Goal Ever Scored By A Total Jerk, And Possibly All Non-Jerks Also

15 Nov

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is widely regarded as one of the great villains of international and club soccer. Greedy, petulant, abrasive…he even sports an evil ponytail/facial hair combo. And he once got in a fistfight with US defender Oguchi Onyewu in practice, so he’s on my To Punch list. (But with a “Don’t Ever Really Punch” asterisk, because he’s a black belt in Tae Kwan Do).

All that said, yesterday he scored one of the best goals ever.

Tags: , ,