A Day For Watching

March 30, 2008 

The weekend was a study in contrast for my soccer viewing. First things first, Glasgow Rangers won their showdown match with Celtic 1-0, and are 6 points ahead in the Scottish Premier League with a game in hand over their bitter rivals. If you didn’t know, I’m a fanatic for Gers. The goal via a Kevin Thomson combination with Jean-Claude Darcheville was enough to see them through a typically spirited tie and will have the Blue side of Glasgow glowing through the week. All the way to Thursday when Rangers host Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup quarterfinal. A Scots Cup quarterfinal replay with Partick Thistle also looms as Gers continue to chase trophies in 3 competitions after having won the CIS Insurance (League) Cup earlier this season. It’s been a great turnaround for Walter Smith’s boys.

But that was the cherry on top as far as my viewing goes. The game was played Saturday morning but I steadfastly avoided any web site that would tell me the result, and watched it on Tivo late Sunday night.

After a busy week at work helping get the new Top Drawer Soccer ready for launch (I hope you like it – thanks to all who have already written to say so), I took Saturday as a personal restoration day and spent a lot of time watching soccer. I saw most of Bayern Munich’s 1-1 draw with Nuremburg, then all of Man United’s whipping of Aston Villa. After that game it’s hard to argue with Sir Alex Ferguson when he says Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world. He was exceptional vs. the Villains Saturday, as was 2-goal scorer Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.

United will need to stay in top form as they play a Champions League quarterfinal Tuesday against Roma, a day before Premiership sides Arsenal and Liverpool face each other for the first of 3 matches in a week between the 2 English giants (2 Champions League and one Premiership).

After the Man U match I caught most of Real Betis’ stunning comeback against Barcelona, as they won 3-2. Combined with Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Sevilla on Sunday, the result leaves Barcelona 7 points behind Real in the table, with Villareal 2^nd, 6 points behind with 8 matches remaining.

I also watched Major League Soccer’s opening day and I have to confess I have some concerns.

Before I start let me reiterate or for new readers, state that I am not an MLS basher. I want very much for our domestic league to succeed as that will afford more chances for aspiring American players to get a professional opportunity.

The league, however, seems to be looking more at bringing somewhat anonymous players from overseas to fill its playing rosters. With 14 teams now in the league, and 28 players per team, you have nearly 400 playing spots. If you pare down to 20 the number of slots likely to see meaningful playing time on each over the season, that means the increased number of foreign players make up more than 50 percent of the spots. The league has changed the rules governing the number of foreign players and this works against the young American player particularly.

Understand I’m not against foreign players carte blanche. When a talent like Claudio Lopez of Argentina can dress for Kansas City, it’s a good thing, just as we saw last year with Beckham, Blanco, Angel and Schelotto. Players like this raise the caliber of the league, but at the same time league executives need to be concerned with getting young American players a chance to develop into pros, and when MLS starts signing large numbers of nondescript international players, this is not happening in large enough numbers.

There were a few bright spots in the category over the weekend, including Blake Wagner seeing significant minutes for FC Dallas and John DiRaimondo starting for Colorado.

I’m not a Eurosnob but a quick comparative check from the Spanish, German and English matches, reminds that we are not there yet. The technical ability, tactical sophistication, match atmosphere and officiating were all well short of what I watched from overseas. The amount of heavy fouling and off-the-ball nonsense that was allowed by MLS referees (particularly in the FC Dallas-Chivas game Sunday) was just not right.

I should give a thumbs up for the Toronto FC traveling faithful for filling up the south end of Crew Stadium Saturday. They are a resilient bunch for sure. The Crew faithful on the other end were in full voice as well. That probably goes as the best atmosphere for MLS matches on the weekend. I don’t even want to jump on the temporary venue in Kansas City, but if it is really what it looks like on TV, it’s a bandbox. Part of the perception might be improved if they remove all these cameramen standing in the foreground from wherever the match camera is shooting. My soccer skeptic 14-year old walked in as this match was on and he just laughed. Perceptions, perceptions.

But nothing takes the shine off a wonderful day of viewing Saturday and of course Rangers winning over Celtic on Sunday.

Oh – and getting the web site back up is pretty nice too.

Good Marks for the Nats

March 27, 2008

Wednesday’s U.S. Men’s National Team match against Poland brought its share of positives for fans of the Yanks, but it’s clear that Bob Bradley’s squad is still a work in progress despite the good result.

First of all, this stretch of 3 matches at World Cup qualifiers in Poland, England and Spain is a good bit of scheduling for the program. There’s a steady dose of CONCACAF matches already under the team’s belt, and of course they’ll be getting a buffet of it again starting this summer when World Cup Qualifying begins.

Those matches tend to take on a very similar vein, with teams bunkering in against a bigger and faster U.S. team, and pulling out all the tricks to steal a result. While these are the circumstances each U.S. team must overcome, it is also true that it doesn’t do much to prepare for playing the rest of the world. So getting these games when you can is a good thing.

As to the performance, the U.S. was thoroughly competent tonight. This match seemed a bit rougher than usual and I’m not sure exactly why. The Polish team seemed to hate Clint Dempsey from the opening kickoff, and the Fulham forward was due for some rough treatment most of the night, but he wasn’t the only one.

I don’t know exactly how strong the Polish team was, but their coach Leo Beenhhakker will not be pleased with their set piece defending. While the services from Landon Donovan for goals by Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Onyewu were good enough, and the finishes by the center backs, especially on Onyewu’s goal, were quality, the Poles will have to think they could have prevented both scores. The same goes for the free kick strike by Eddie Lewis, which didn’t seem to be struck with the kind of authority you would see beat a goalkeeper like Artur Borac, but there he was picking the ball out of the net.

Actually, it’s interesting to see Lewis in the team at all. You might not have considered him likely for the next World Cup roster, but it is obvious that Bradley feels he has a part to play at this point, and his goal won’t harm that concept at all.

The strongest contributors in this game were central midfielder Michael Bradley, Dempsey and fullbacks Steve Cherundolo and Heath Pearce. Bradley looks to have continued progressing while at Dutch club Heerenveen. He controlled the midfield for a lot of the game, winning balls and keeping things moving from the center of the park. I thought he was exceptional. In fact, he didn’t leave much at all for fellow midfielder Ricardo Clark to do, and it makes me thing Bradley the coach could employ Bradley the son as a single holding mid, with 3 attackers in front of him to support 2 strikers.

Cherundolo seems to age quite gracefully and got very involved in the attack along with defending well. Pearce is definitely making a case for himself as our starting left back, despite his lack of playing time with German club Hansa Rostock.

As I said, Dempsey was a designated receiver of abuse and he seemed a little worse for the wear by the end, but he did draw a lot of attention and looked fairly dynamic in attack, especially in the 1st half. Donovan was also effective, although I think Landon is best looked at as someone with a role to play, rather than the hub around which the rest of the team revolves. He’s more of a cavalry type than the main line of infantry.

As to other performances, Brian Ching was pretty active up front and can draw his share of abuse as well. Eddie Johnson was a physical presence up front but was pretty woeful with the ball at his feet. You wouldn’t want 2 strikers playing as target men, and right now Ching seems more likely to score with his feet than Eddie. But if being a spaceeater is going to be Eddie’s role, I’m not sure we might not have better people for that assignment (or to be a running striker if Bring plays the other role). Josh Wolff looked pretty decent as well, although I’m not sure how much of a role Bradley has in mind for the 1860 Munich striker.

Central defenders Onyewu and Bocanegra were both pretty steady, with Onyewu looking quite improved from his ill-fated stint with Newcastle United a while back. Jay Demerit showed his rugged side in some challenges during the 2nd half, and Jonathan “Travelogue” Spector also put in a steady shift off the bench.

One other question my daughters and I were debating, not having HD tv – were the jerseys  dark blue, very dark gray or light black? If one of the latter 2, why are wearing black or gray? Did the shorts on most of the guys seem a bit tight? Like maybe everyone had downed a plate of kielbasa right before the match?

All in all, it wasn’t flowing soccer, but the kind of performance you could become accustomed to in larger and longer doses. Here’s hoping.

Back in the Saddle

March 24, 2008

A bit more than 3 months ago I was truly unsure what the fate of Top Drawer Soccer would be, but thanks to United State Football Club we have a very attractive new lease on life. What you're seeing today is just the tip of the iceberg. Along with the feature stories, event coverage, editorials, news updates and even this silly little blog, we're going to add a much-expanded players to watch section, team ratings and a multimedia section that is so promising I can't even comprehend it (if you know me, you know I'm not too technial).
 
So here's to new beginnings and doing our best to bring you all the important information from the soccer world, plus highlighting the up and coming talents all over the country.
 
A few things I ask:
 
a. Be patient. There are a lot of technological additions coming and we're striving to make them as pristine as possible, but there will likely be a few glitches here and there. Give us a chance to get everything squared away, and remember it's all good.
 
b. Contribute.  The elite youth soccer world is a massive network. Communication within it can be a complicated thing, but the fact is, I'm trying to highlight information about good players and teams. There are ways on this site that you can reach out to me and let know what you have going on in your area. I'm trying to do as much as I can proactively, but clearly there is a role for you in letting me know about players and teams, especially in terms of keeping me current (things change quickly in this area).
 
c. Be Nice. Same rule as I've always had. I don't respond to haranguing, abuse, ridicule, whatever you call it. I know there is an undercurrent in elite youth soccer that says this is how you get somewhere, but it's not how you get somewhere with me. I want to know about problems, mistakes, etc., but we don't charge nearly enough to be designated receivers of abuse. You'll just have to take my word for it that I want it to the best it can be - and remember point b above - you have a chance to fill in the blanks, so take that approach and not the "shoot first and ask questions later" path.
 
So remember these things and we will all be great. I'm looking forward to getting this started once more and helping provide the best and most information about elite youth soccer in the U.S.

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