MLS Cup: Dynamo, Revs -- and Wiz?

New England's Taylor Twellman managed the only goal his side would need in their Conference series with the NY Red Bulls, as the Revs advanced 1-0 on aggregate following their 1-0 home win in Game 2. New York was unable to over come injuries to Claudio Reyna, who left the match with yet another injury (looks like Captain America's super-soldier serum wore off a few years ago) and perhaps more importantly, to Juan Pablo Angel who left in the 64th minute due to injury. Before NY was able to get Angel's substitute into the game, New England raced down the field and Steve Ralston found Twellman who beat Jon Conway for the match's (and series') only goal.

A Dynamo deluge drowned FC Dallas in Game 2 of the Western Conference semi-finals, as Houston won the battle of Texas 4-2 on aggregate with a brace by Brian Ching. Dallas took a 1-0 lead into Game 2 in Houston and scored another 14 minutes in off the boot of Carlos Ruiz. As was expected following the incident in the clubs' last meeting between Ricardo Clark and Ruiz, the tempers flared several times, resulting in 40 fouls, 11 yellow cards and two ejections (both on Dallas); the match was extended due to stoppages into the 120th minute. Following the straight red to Arturo Alvarez, the Dynamo opened an orange can of whoop ass and scored four unanswered in front of the home crowd. Along with Chings' 72nd and 97th minute goals were sandwiched by Stuart Holden's 67th minute strike and Brad Davis' extra time goal.

But the most stunning victory of the night fell to Kansas City who having limped into the playoffs, nearly being bounced on the last weekend of the regular season, will advance to play Houston following their scoreless draw in Game 2, which allowed their 1-0 home win on Game 1 to hold up. Man-of-the-match honors should clearly fall to Kevin Hartman who managed to turn away six shots on goal and to keep his defense organized under extreme pressure.

The Cup semi-finals will feature Chicago versus New England on November 8 and Houston versus Kansas City on November 10.

SCORES
New York 0-1 New England
NE -- Taylor Twellman 1 (Steve Ralston 1, Shalrie Joseph 1) 64

FC Dallas 1-4 Houston
DAL -- Carlos Ruiz 1 (Kenny Cooper 1, Bobby Rhine 1) 14
HOU -- Stuart Holden 1 (Brian Ching 1, Ryan Cochrane 1) 67
HOU -- Brian Ching 1 (Joseph Ngwenya 1, Dwayne De Rosario 1) 72
HOU -- Brian Ching 2 (Joseph Ngwenya 2) 97
HOU -- Brad Davis 1 (unassisted) 100

Kansas City 0-0 Chivas USA

Stott, drop and roll

So, there were several things that I could have written about after watching Red Bull New York edge Los Angeles 5-4 last night at Giants Stadium. I could discuss David Beckham's impact on the Galaxy or Carlos Pavon's revival or Jozy Altidore's brilliance or the dreadful state of the Field Turf or the fact that the defenses of both sides played like crap (the Galaxy's poor D due to injuries and New York's due to Bruce Arena), but it wasn't the flurry of goals or even the historic attendance that caught my eye. It was the absolutely lousy refereeing by Kevin Stott.

Now saying an MLS referee is lousy is like calling a midget tiny, but even with the bar set so low in MLS, Stott's performance was dreadful. If you ask almost any player about the officials, they will almost always say that they just want the match to be called consistently. The referee needs to decide ahead of time, the type of foul that warrants a caution and then stick to it. They need to hold both teams to a consistent standard and allow the players to decide the game.

But the often unspoken assumption is that the referee will also make the calls necessary to protect the players from injury by punishing recklessness, and he will make the calls to prevent a team from gaining an unfair advantage. In short, the referee must impose his authority on the match by maintaining the integrity of the rules.

There were several moments in last night's match when Stott failed at his duty. It began in the fourth minute, when Stott failed to demonstrate his authority by sending off Ty Harden, who, as the last man, pulled Altidore down and prevented a 1-v-1 opportunity. Los Angeles should have been a man down for 86 minutes. But it wasn't only New York who was the victim, a two-footed challenge by Dave van den Bergh on Beckham, had the Englishman screaming at van den Bergh for his recklessnees, but there was no yellow card shown for the dangerous challenge. Later Clint Mathis slid in on Beckham as well, with no chance at the ball; no yellow that time as well. In fact there were several dangerous tackles that went unpunished beyond a foul and sometimes even the foul wasn't called. Is this consistency or incompetence?

In all, Stott pulled the card from his pocket only three times during a match that warranted a flash of color many more times, given the recklessness abandon of both teams. Los Angeles lost yet another defender to injury (Ante Jazic in the 17th minute) and there were many players who finished the match limping (Mathis, Altidore, Beckham, etc.). Both sides were fortunate that more players were not injured.

Perhaps the incredible atmosphere of Giants Stadium, that clearly inpsired the players relentlessness, was infectious enough to distract Mr. Stott from his duties as game gatekeeper. A 12-year veteran, Stott, who was chosen to officiate in last year's World Cup, has a reputation of one of the better American referees, which made his poor performance even more shocking.

In a match with so much drama, so much passion, it becomes even more imperative that the referee holds fast to protect the players from their own adrenaline, their own zealous play. And Mr. Stott did not.

Bones, Copas and Consonants

D.C. United to play in the Copa Sudamericana (AP)
(UPDATED)The South American Cup will once again be dominated by North American clubs. DC proved that despite their recent ugly play, they weren’t the ugly stepsister by receiving an invitation to the ball, Copa Sudamericana. DC’s selection was due to their third-place finish (due to goal diff) in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. In the drawing, fate awarded them a CCC re-match, as DC United will face the team that eliminated them from the final, Chivas Guadalajara, on September 11 and October 4. Defending Copa Sudamerican champs Pachuca CF, CF America were the other CONCACAF club invites and will play each other.


Site cleanup delays Red Bulls Stadium opening (AP)
Jimmy Hoffa found at Red Bull stadium site in Harrison. Officials are calling it industrial waste, but c’mon, we know that New Jersey is where they dump the bodies. Said one fictional official, “Maybe we can give the first 100 fans to Red Bull Stadium a free pinky rings (fingers included).”

Hahnemann targets July return (Yanks Abroad)
He’s more machine than man now. After getting his hand cracked like crab leg at a Red Lobster, Hahneman is hoping to be healed in time to join Reading for their trip to S. Korea. According to YA, Reading Press Officer Andy West said, “[Hahnemann] broke three bones in his hand and one of his bones was in five pieces” and then had “two plates and 16 screws inserted into his hand.” Is Darth Vader also his father?

Adin Brown continued his stingy ways (Yanks Abroad)
Adin Brown posted his third consecutive shutout for Aalesund against Sykkylven in the Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer. This feat is made all the more impressive by the number of consonants that Brown must also deflect in Norway.

Raining on our parade (Yanks Abroad)
Can I be serious for a moment? Sean O’Conor and the other YA writers do a terrific job keeping the U.S. soccer fans abreast of the action of our beloved ex-pats across the pond. Take a look at this post-season wrap up. It’s terrific stuff. Spot on analysis. Nice work!

TYH

Who will have the biggest impact on MLS?

Red Bulls Welcome Angel with Open Arms
Aston Villa star Juan Pablo Angel joins Spice Boy and Sir Hops-a-lot (Blanco) as MLS's third marquee signing this season, so who will have the greatest impact on the league this season.

There's no touching Becks if our criteria for impact includes off-field endorsements or any other economic criteria (ticket sales, merchandise, etc.), although Blanco and Angel will bring in the fans in certain markets. However, regarding the on-the-pitch impact, Angel is head and shoulders above (pun intended) the other two. First of all, his early arrival, relative to Becks and Blanco, means Angel will have more pitch time. The club plans to bring him in as soon as he secures a work visa, which will take a matter of weeks, as opposed the months that LA and Chicago will wait for their stars.

Second, Angel's style of play will suit both MLS and his coach much better and much quicker than either Beckham or Blanco. Both Beckham and Blanco will probably be used in attacking midfielder roles and will have to rely on their teammates a lot more than the opportunistic goal-scorer Angel. Blanco, for example, will likely play a kind of Stoitchkovian role for Chicago, coming in late in games in either central midfield or in a withdrawn forward spot and will need to work well with their teammates to produce offense. Beckham will certainly be more successful in creating off set pieces solo, while Blanco's frustration with his Chicago teammates will build (as it did with Stoitchkov) until he becomes a disruptive force in the locker room. I don't anticipate Blanco and Chris Rolfe to become some sort of dynamic duo, after all. Plus, the 34-year-old oft-injured Mexican can’t hop like he used to.

Beckham, on the other hand, could be a bit more successful in his new Galaxy, but the adjustment will take some time, time that they won't have since he will be coming at the midway point of the season. Additionally, although Beckham will certainly score goals off set pieces, I do not anticipate an explosion of multi-goal games, as MLS defenses are vastly underrated in the professional world and will certainly stymie any one-dimensional attack that a solo-Beckham might try to put together. Plus, Beckham's off-the-field celebritizing will have its effect on team chemistry. There was already some grousing about his salary. Speaking of solo-Beckham attacks, what happens when he releases that rap album? (Note to Becks: please, Beckham, release a rap album. You would make TYH's day, please! Can you imagine it would sound like Avril Lavigne covering Chuck D, awesome!)

For NY Energy Drink fans, they might think that Angel was sent from above. His goal-poaching, tall frame and skill with his back to goal fits perfectly with Arena's style and will blend nicely with Captain America's delivery. And I can't believe I'm saying this...but the once bloated cowboy Clint might actually be making a comeback that will assist in their offensive firepower. Of course, all this bodes well for NY, but not for the TYH because it just means more Messing-anic idiocy from Shepp (see last post) who will no doubt gloat like a school girl over their success.

Of course, all three could break their ankles, making this entire debate moot.

He's Messing up MLS

Shepp Messing’s comment during the NY-RSL match on April 7 that Freddy Adu should be called “Freddy Who” until he “does something” was not only retarded, it was possibly the dumbest thing the former 3rd-rate goalkeeper and Pele jock strap holder has ever, ever said. And that is saying a lot. Messing represents the very worst of the MLS broadcasting effort, which is essentially to hire former players (i.e. Balboa, Wynalda, etc.) and then put them with hockey play-by-play guys.

Adu was signed to be a professional before he could drive and told constantly that he was the messiah of U.S. soccer. He, no doubt, got more money (and more tail) than a 14-year-old would know what to do with, and then he was thrust into the spotlight, as the poster boy for a fledgling league that needed a boost after Florida contraction, lost money and minimal press. And Adu brought that attention in a big way. They talked about him on PTI, Sportscenter, The Today Show, even on terrestrial sports (read: baseball) talk radio. He “did something” before he even played a game. He might have even saved American pro soccer before he laced up. Messing should be on his knees thanking Freddy Adu for providing him with a job.

Lest we forget, he could have fled to England or Spain and finished secondary school in a soccer-specific country, instead of hoping for some soccer-specific stadiums to play in. He chose America, chose patriotism and was rewarded with a spot on the DC bench. Oh, former DC United coach Peter Nowak played him -- mainly late in games and out of position -- and expected the small-framed finesse player to play like a big, ugly bulldozer (read: Peter Nowak, Chicago Fire ’98). I suspect Nowak was a bit jealous of the youngster, and so when Adu finally acted his age and complained, Nowak gladly played the part of the bitter teacher who takes his own failures out on his brightest students.

And bright Adu is. A spark that could light the engine of Real Salt Lake this season. Adu is still the most skillful dribbler of any American I have ever seen play in my 15+ years of watching American soccer, and he’s only 17 years old. And now he’s in a much better situation. Former U.S. youth national team coach John Ellinger gets him and understands where he should play, and mark my words, Adu will flourish this year.

As for that stupid comment from the NY Energy Drinks cheerleader…all I can say is, Shepp who?

P.S. Check out the moustache in the pic. Does he have to alert his neighbors every time he moves?