New NIke Ad

Saw this posted on Steven Goff's Washington Post blog. It's the new Nike ad. Enjoy.

TYH'S MLS Goal of the Week

WINNER: Welcome back, Guevara.


RUNNER-UP: A Sacha special

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Week 5)

GOALKEEPER

M. Reis (NE)

DEFENDERS

M. Wynne (TFC), F. Hejduk (CLB), A. Igwe (NE)

MIDFIELDERS

A. Guevara (TFC), K. Smith (NE), J. Thorrington (CHI), M. Gallardo (DC)

FORWARDS

J. Moreno (DC), L. Donovan (LA), J. Altidore (NY)

What is wrong with Brad Guzan?

So, it wasn't too long ago that Brad Guzan was considered the USMNT's second choice behind Tim Howard. Just a few months ago he was at the center of transfer speculation after having been named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2007 and participating in the 2007 Gold Cup victory. Linked to EPL heavy weights like Arsenal and Liverpool, Guzan seemed headed for sacred cow status on the national team like the Kellers and Friedels before him. Now, after three straight weeks of underwhelming the crowds in MLS, he's probably wondering if his phone is broken.

That albatross around Guzan's neck? It's a 2.60 GAA and a 1-3-1 record for Chivas USA. The one-time stalwart of the sticks has allowed 13 goals in five matches. This stat is even more startling when you consider that he only allowed just 25 goals in the entire 2007 season (a 0.93 GAA).

Here's exhibit A from this weekend's 5-2 derby debacle against LA.


So, I ask again: What's up with Brad Guzan? Is it lingering disappointment over the failed European transfer? If it is, I think it's safe to call it clinical depression. And someone who loves Guzan should get him to a shrink, or it won't be just goals slipping past him. It will be his future with the U.S. national team.

No Becks for Iran, says Galaxy

The Iranian Football Federation claims the Los Angeles Galaxy requested a friendly with the current Enemy#1's national team to be played in America this June. But the Galaxy deny that a request was ever made.

As reported in the Fars News Agency, described on their web site as "Iran's leading independent news agency," IFF international relations official Hassan Ghaffari told fans, "A friendly encounter against L.A. Galaxy is scheduled to take place in June 2008, once the IFF receives an official invitation from the US [Soccer] Federation."

Well, don't bother checking your mail for the invite, Hassan. It's not coming.

An unnamed Galaxy official said, "The Galaxy has no plans to play Iran anytime in the near future. It is very rare for the Galaxy to play any national team. The Galaxy likes to play top-tier friendly matches against other clubs and let the US national team play the friendlies against other national teams."

So much for Beckham bringing world peace.

TFC wants to get their hands on Dickov

Manchester City striker Paul Dickov may be headed to Toronto, following his loan spell at Blackpool.

According to The Herald in Plymouth (UK), Dickov has been linked with Major League Soccer club Toronto as well as Perth Glory in Australia.

The 35-year-old Dickov has been a key player for Blackpool in their quest to try to stay in the Championship after their promotion last May, scoring six goals in 10 games, four as a substitute. His stint with Blackpool follows a rather unsuccessful showing with Crystal Palace. Dickov will be out of contract at Manchester City this summer.

Can you imagine a couple of Dics at BMO? Dichio and Dickov. Here's Paul Dickov's MySpace page.

Canucks sign Côte d'Ivoire defender

Toronto FC have finally acquired Ivory Coast defender Oliver Tebily, according to reports in the Canadian press. TFC have had their sights on the 32-year-old for some time, but MLS rules along with work permit issues have held up the move.

Tebily, who played will fill the spot vacated by Andrew Boyens, is a versatile defender who has played every backline position and could even play defensive midfield if called upon. He most recently played with Birmingham City but was not a regular starter on the first team.

General Manager Mo Johnston told The Star that Tebily could mentor TFC's young defenders like Julius James and Pat Phelan. But if TFC fans are hoping Tebily can anchor their defense, he may just end up sinking the ship.

Tebily's blunder versus Leeds

Tebily OG Vs Birmingham - The best home videos are here

Spaniard Mendieta MLS bound?

Middlebrough midfielder Gaizka Mendieta is headed to Major League Soccer, according to an article in Thursday's UK rag, The Sun.

The Sun writes,

Mendieta, once valued at £30million, was restricted by injury to just 76 games in five years. He is now set to join a Major League Soccer club in the States.

The 34-year-old Spanish national teamer has suffered an injury-riddled three seasons with MIddlesbrough and had fallen out of favor with coach Gareth Southgate. There were rumors that he was on his way to the Los Angeles Galaxy last December, but he later said that he would stay and fight for a first team spot. Southgate, however, squashed his hopes for a first team, spot, saying he had "no chance."

Mendieta has denied reports of his retirement from pro football and expressed back in December his desire to play out the rest of his contract at Middlesbrough.

He has played 38 games and scored 10 goals for the Spanish national football team, and represented Spain at the 1996 Olympic Games, the 2000 European Championship, and the 2002 World Cup.

A slightly gay tribute video by youtuber Exacerbuto

Garber threatens to move Dynamo again

According to an article in Tuesday's Houston Chronicle, Houston city officials are balking at providing additional funding for the Houston Dynamo's new stadium. And that could spell yet another move for the MLS Cup defending champs.

The Dynamo, who relocated from San Jose in 2005 due to stadium-financing issues, are seeking funding to offset costs of a proposed $100 million stadium to be built downtown. The Houston-area government officials set aside six city blocks for the stadium but are refusing to chip in for the stadium to make the operations profitable for the Dynamo owner-operators.

Houston won consecutive MLS Cups, playing at Robertson Stadium on the University of Houston, and seeks a permanent home inside city limits. But talks have stalled and the self-imposed deadline for negotiations (April 1) has passed. Now, in a letter to Houston Mayor Bill White, Garber has threatened to relocate once again.

According to the article Garber said, "While another relocation would be equally traumatic, we both must consider our options to ensure that the team has a path to economic success."

But White and other city officials might call Garber's bluff rather than risk political damage by diverting city funds to a sports stadium project during such tough economic times.

Doe! We need a striker

Struggling to score goals in the early going, DC picked up New York Red BUlls cast-off Francis Doe this week, hoping that the bargain-basement striker can provide a spark to their ailing offense.

The 22-year-old has represented his native LIberia in 2006 World Cup qualifying and in the African Nations Cup. In eight appearances with the Red Bulls, he managed two goals.

In reality, Doe only provides some depth to a squad that already features last year's Golden Boot winner Luciano Emilio and Argentinean star Marcelo Gallardo, but the two talents have been unable to find a rhythm early.

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Week 4)

GOALKEEPER

M. Reis (NE)

DEFENDERS

D. McCarty (FCD), M. Wynne (TOR), N. Garcia (SJ)

MIDFIELDERS

R. O'Brien (SJ), D. Beckham (LA), C. Lopez (KC), A. Alvarez (FCD)

FORWARDS

A. Moreno (CLB), K. Cooper (FCD), L. Donovan (LA)

DON-Oh No You Didn't!-VAN

Great goal, but afterwards LD talks some trash to Ianni. What is he saying?! LD has converted like 4 of 50 chances in the last two games. Nice job, but keep your mouth shut till you stop consistently screwing the pooch.

Altidor-ible!

Jozy's goal from the 1-1 draw with the New England Revs. Greg Lalas calls the dribble to the goal "lucky." He's a douche. Enjoy.

USA draws tough Olympic Group

The U.S. men's Olympic team will face the Netherlands, NIgeria and Japan in a competitive Group B in the Beijing Olympic Games this summer.

Like the World Cup, the top two teams in each group -- there are four groups -- will advance into the next round. While the Netherlands and NIgeria are solid teams at the senior level, neither team qualified for the 2004 Athens Games. Of course, the U.S. also failed to qualify after needing to win in Mexico City to secure a berth. Japan finished last in their group in 2004, but because it is essentially an under-23 tournament, four years is a long time and teams that were once good could be terrible, while teams that were laughably bad good be amazing -- except, of course, the Argentineans who always seem to field strong youth sides.

Cote D'Ivoire, Argentina, Australia, and Serbia will compete in Group A. Host-country China, New Zealand, Brazil, and Belgium were selected for Group C, while Korea, Cameroon, Honduras, and Italy will clash in Group D.

Here's coach Peter Nowak on the draw from ussoccer.com:

“It’s a difficult group definitely, but that’s what we expect in a tournament that includes the top 16 teams in the world. They are very quality teams we will face and we have to be up to the challenge. This is a great challenge for us and we can gain a lot of experience from these kinds of games and this kind of tournament. The goal is still to go from the group stage to the second round.”

Robinson fined, suspended for forearm shiver

Houston's Eddie Robinson will sit out the next three matches and will pay a fine of $1,000 for the forearm shiver he put on Tyson Wahl's face.

Everton after Bradley

The Daily Mirror is reporting that Everton boss David Moyes has his sights set on American midfielder Michael Bradley.

According to the report, Everton is competing with Blackburn for the 20-year-old defensive midfielder and hoping their starting goalkeeper, American Tim Howard, can sway Bradley in the Everton’s direction.

Heerenveen, Bradley’s current club, is asking a reported £4.5million for Bradley.

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Week 3)

GOALKEEPER

B. Coundoul (COL)

DEFENDERS

J. Burciaga (COL), A. Serioux (DAL), C. Myers (KC)

MIDFIELDERS

S. Kljestan (CHV), G.B. Schelotto (CLB), A. Alvarez (DAL), K. Beckerman (RSL)

FORWARDS

K. Cooper (DAL), K. Mansally (NE), R. Rogers (CLB)

Top Five Worst MLS Stadiums for 2008

Calling all architects, these teams need soccer-specific stadiums, NOW!

5) RFK Stadium (DC United)
It's tough to put RFK Stadium on this list because they boast some of the most knowledgeable soccer fans in the league -- but that's in the stands. The atmosphere here (and at No.4) doesn't begin to make up for the poor performance of the field and the antiquity of the facilities.
Attendance: 66,237*

4) Giants Stadium (NY Red Bulls)
Both Giants' and RFK are similarly poor places to play, but New Jersey's jewel beats out the rundown RFK because it features the bane of soccer player's existence FIeldTurf. While it is certainly better than artificial turf (which was essentially concrete painted green), it is a substance designed for American football, not soccer, and the speed at which the ball travels allows semi-talented goalpoachers like John Wolyniec to have something resembling a career. Plus there are football grid lines, yuck!
Attendance: 17,619*

3) Rice-Eccles Stadium (Real Salt Lake)
Playing on a college field isn't always bad, but playing on a FieldTurf football field is. The ground up tires that make up FieldTurf pitches make for an ugly game. Football grid lines here, too, but at least it allows the poor announcers to more accurately estimate how many yards out the free kicks are.
Attendance: 18,037

2) Buck Shaw Stadium (San Jose Earthquakes)
Didn't the Don say that one of the requirements for expansion would be a soccer-specific stadium (or plans to build one at least). The MLS is back in San Jose and although they avoided the god-awful Spartan Stadium, they are now in the equally forsaken Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University.
Attendance: 11,500.

1) CommunityAmerica Ballpark (Kansas City Wizards)
Is it fair to criticize a club's home field when they are only playing there temporarily while there spanking new stadium gets built? Yes, it is. There are high school fields that would be more suitable for soccer than this minor league baseball park. It is so narrow that they don't need goal posts; they just use the corner flags.
Attendance: 10,385* (only 6,537 fixed seats)

*record attendance

DC's road woes continue

Last year I wrote a post basically questioning whether Tom Soehn was the man to lead DC United back to the promise land. They had lost four in a row to start the season and despite a talented line-up didn't seem to be gelling. Following this bad start, however, they reeled off an impressive record of 7-3-3 before the All-Star break and ended up winning the league championship, the Supporter's Shield. But they petered out in the playoffs once again and were unable to advance past even the Harrisburg City Islanders (USL.3) in the US Open Cup.

Well, it's a new season but the same slow start seems to be plaguing DC United. Again, they have a talented line-up and once again, decisions by Soehn seem to defy reason. Consider last night's 4-0 road loss to Real Salt Lake (yes, the Real Stupid Names). Here are the post-match comments made by the Washington Post's DC United blogger-extraordinaire Steve Goff:

*Why start a young, back-up goalkeeper in his first MLS match on the road on that field? Remember what happened last year with Jay Nolly? I'm not comparing Jose Carvallo to Nolly and, other than the second goal, Carvallo had no chance to stop RSL. But the situation was almost the same and the result even worse.

*While I understand the club has played a lot of matches in a short amount of time, I don't see how the 1.9 million-dollar man, Marcelo Gallardo, did not play a minute. If Jaime Moreno can endure the pounding on the turf, so can Gallardo. Very strange.

*The three-man backline works ... when Gonzalo Martinez is back there covering a lot of ground. Domenic Mediate is a nice utility player, but not in this formation. That said, Gonzalo Peralta had a howler.

*Rod Dyachenko played so poorly in a starting role on RSL's cement last year, he was pulled just before halftime. No one gets benched that early unless they are injured; he got pulled. So tonight he got another start in the rock quarry and did not show much.

With the exception of the comment about Gonzalo Peralta's poor performance, Goff's criticism seems to be directed at Soehn's coaching decisions and not the general play of United. Having watched the match myself, DC often dominated possession for long stretches but seemed unable to connect on that final touch. There was a lack of chemistry on attack and in defense that could be explained by the ever-shifting lineup, due to the team's commitment to the CCC and the glut of games they have had to play in the past couple of weeks. But to allow four goals against the perennial pushovers RSL should be a wake up call to the players, the coaching staff and the fans of United.

I was wrong about Soehn last season. He was able to right the ship and lead them to the top of the league. But he needs to find whatever magic he used last season soon or my prediction of his early exit will have been only a year too early.

CCC: DC, Dynamo dumped

Both MLS clubs participating in the CONCACAF Champions Cup have been bounced from the competition. Despite beating Mexican club Pachuca 2-1 in the home leg, DC United was defeated 3-2 on aggregate thanks to a sub-par away performance. Houston fared even worse against Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica, losing 3-0 in the away match and failing to score a goal in either leg.

While many pundits will point to the timing of these matches to explain away poor performance by the MLS squads (it is after all only the second week of the season), the poor away performances by both clubs does little to dispel the criticism that the American game (whether that be club or country) suffers homesickness whenever they are away from comfy confines. Not to mention that this is exactly the same stage that both clubs were bounced from the tournament last year.

Meanwhile, CONCACAF is planning on canceling the tournament in favor of a regional, Champions League-like competition. Any change is probably welcome by the MLS sides who have managed to win the tournament only twice in the eleven years that MLS has participated (1999 - DC United, 2000 - Los Angeles).

Seattle Sound the Same

To quote Jane's Addiction: nothing shocking. Fans voted to name the new MLS franchise in Seattle after the USL.1 club. According to the press release, over 14,500 fans voted and half of them submitted write-in votes -- "49% of which included a derivative of the name Sounders." But what is derivative of the name Sounders? Sound? Noise? A long surgical probe FC? Maybe HotForWords could explain. Along with their uninteresting, uninventive name, they unveiled their colors and crest (oh, green and blue in Seattle...how original).

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Week 2)

GOALKEEPER

W. Hesmer (CLB)

DEFENDERS

J. Conrad (KC),  G. Peralta (DC),  B, Soumare (CHI)

MIDFIELDERS

S. Kljestan (CHV), M. Gallardo (DC), D. Beckham (LA), D. van den Bergh (NY)

FORWARDS

L. Donovan (LA), T. Frankowski (NE),  Kenny Cooper (DAL)

MLS Goals of the Week (week 2)

Beckham nutmegs Joe Cannon


Jimmy off the noggin'


Was he offside? Doesn't matter. Pretty passing


Quite a consolation goal by Edu


Nice goal, but Max Bretos is still a douche

'FutboLucha' night at DSG Park

Donovan left out of MLS Millionaires Club

Washington Post soccer blogger/journalist Steve Goff recently posted the MLS player salary sheet, and the most surprising thing wasn't that that there were five players whose base salary was over one million dollars. The surprising thing was that Landon Donovan wasn't one of them, while Claudio Reyna still was.

Current Captain America Donovan's base salary is listed at $900,000, over $4.5 million less than his teammate David Beckham, but more shocking is the fact that the former Captain America Claudio Reyna makes $300,000 more per year in guaranteed salary. Putting aside for the moment that Donovan is the current captain of the USMNT, while Reyna is retired (Donovan is Bucky to Reyna's Steve Rogers), it is hard to understand why Reyna continues to be part of the Millionaires Club in MLS.

Given Reyna's age (35 in July) and his pedestrian performance in MLS last season, one would imagine that the MLS brass would sit him down prior to this season and attempt to re-negotiate his salary. Reyna appeared in 21 of 30 matches last season, helping the Red Bulls in a late season push into the MLS Cup playoffs, but even Reyna himself would acknowledge that he's lost a step, that he's not the player he was.

But my point is not really that they are paying Reyna too much. If his agent was able to finagle a nice contract when he entered the league in 2007, so be it. Good for him. He's certainly not over the hill and if he can stay healthy, the Red Bulls will be more successful with him than without him. But if you're LD, the new Cap America, you have to be a bit peeved that you aren't getting paid slightly more -- that MLS appears to be valuing the past a bit more than the present. After all, all five players in the Millionaires Club are over the age of 30. The youngest player on the list is MLS "rookie" Marcello Gallardo, midfielder for DC United, who just turned 32 in January.

For many American fans, Donovan, 26, is the face of MLS or at the very least the American face. He is certainly the most well known player on the U.S. national team and although there are LD haters out there (see Steve Davis' column on this phenomenon), no one can deny that he is one of the most talented American players since ... well, since Claudio Reyna.

Of course, LD is at a bit of negotiating disadvantage when compared to other the other young Americans in MLS. He can't threaten Europe. He wants to play here. He hated Germany and one doesn't get the sense in interviews that he is looking longingly across the pond.

Sure, $900,000 is a lot of money to regular folk, but doesn't the new Captain America deserve to be the first under-30 member of the Millionaires Club in MLS?

CCC: Dynamo, not so

The Houston Dynamo played Costa Rican side Deportivo Saprissa to a scoreless draw last night at Robertson Stadium in their home leg of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal.

The failure to convert scoring chances doesn't bode well for the defending MLS Cup champions either for the second leg in Costa Rica next Wednesday or for their hopes to win a second regional club cup.

Deportivo Saprissa -- Keilor Navas, Gabriel Badilla (Bryan Jimenez 75), Jervis Drummond, Victor Cordero, Try Bennett, Andres Nunez, Armando Alonso (Michael Barrantes 81), Celso Borges, Jose Luis Lopez, Jairo Arrieta (Cezar Elizondo 63), Ronald Gomez.

Houston Dynamo -- Pat Onstad, Bobby Boswell, Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett, Patrick Ianni, Richard Mulrooney (Geoff Cameron 75), Ricardo Clark, Dwayne De Rosario, Corey Ashe, Brian Ching, Franco Caraccio (Chris Wondolowski 80).

Larent Robert to join Toronto

According to reports out of Toronto, French winger Laurent Robert is close to a deal with MLS and will join Toronto FC within the week. One blog, The Footy Blog, reported that he took physical with the club yesterday and called the move "a done deal."

Robert, a 32-year-old left winger, has seen little success on the field since the early part of the 2000s at PSG and Newcastle. His most recent stints came with Spanish La Liga side Levante and English club Derby County. He made just four appearances for Derby. He has been on an extended trial with TFC this offseason.

Despite a decent professional resume, Robert isn't really a significant improvement for the Reds who really need more help up top rather than out wide. He's a slight improvement over Todd Dunivant, but Robert won't be a game changer. No one seemed to want this guy in Europe, and he has a reputation as an inconsistent player.

CCC: United, they fall

Despite a well-played first half, DC United's defense finally caved before the home team Pachuca (Mexico) 2-0 in last night's CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal first leg.

After consecutive scoreless matches, DC United have to be wondering how long it will take before their new orchestrator Marcelo Gallardo will gel with his South American compatriots Emilio and Franco Niell. But fans can take heart in the fact that DC, who won the Supporter's Shield (aka the real league championship) last season, after going 0-for-April. In fact, it wasn't until May 6 that United won their first match (a 2-1 home win over Chivas USA) and then MLS's most decorated club went on a tear losing just six matches over the next six months.

Plus, not many pundits expect MLS clubs to steal points south of the border; it's just not realistic given the home advantages (flying bags of urine and batteries, 3am wake-up calls by fans camped outside of the visitor's hotel room, Montezuma's revenge, etc.)

DC will host Pachuca at RFK on April 9 in the second leg, needing to make up the two goal difference. Tonight, MLS Cup champions Houston host Costa Rican club Deportivo Saprissa at 9pmCT in the other semifinal of CCC.

Ruiz, Double-T out 4-6 months

New England (and sometimes USA) striker Taylor Twellman will be out four-to-six months with torn cartilage in his right knee. Revolution doctors said Tuesday that the 2005 MLS MVP will undergo arthroscopic surgery on the injury, which was sustained in training last week, tomorrow. Steve Ralston is also sidelined with a dislocated shoulder that he sustained in his side's 3-0 win over Houston on Saturday.

Second-time Galaxy guy Carlos Ruiz will also be out four-to-six after also suffering a right knee meniscus tear in Saturday's humiliating 4-0 loss to Colorado.

It will be a difficult adjustment for the Revolution, but perhaps not as difficult as one would have imagined prior to Saturday's match that might have been a preview of two of Twellman's replacements had he gone to Europe this summer -- Adam Cristman and Sainey Nyassi. As for the Galaxy, Alexi Lalas better work the phones to get some scoring help because Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon and rookie Ely Allen won't get the job done in Ruiz's absence. Of course, after this recent interview, I'm not sure who would answer the phone.

Alexi Lalas: Every coach and every team wants a proven striker that they can rely on. We're no different. Carlos is here to score goals. What he did in the past is only used to hedge our bets. Carlos is a more mature player and person since we last saw him in L.A. He needs to lead on and off the field and I believe he will.

Ouch.

Here are the highlights of the Revolution's 3-0 dismantling of the defending MLS Cup champions.