This is from an article about Real Salt Lake attendance and American fans adopting MLS.
L.A.’s Landon Donovan, Chicago’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco and defensive shot-blocker Jon Busch are among the best soccer players in the world.
I guess if I were standing in a room with some of the best soccer players in the world, you could say I was “among the best”.
I don’t want to put down Jon Busch or any other player in the MLS, they’ve proven themselves to be great athletes just to get a chance with an MLS team. Maybe it is a stretch to call Busch among the best soccer players in the world. He was just recently waived by Columbus and Toronto, two non-playoff teams.
Maybe just being a professional soccer player puts your among the best in the world. Professionals do make up a tiny percentage of every person that plays, so why not call them all among the best in the world?
Is Jon Busch among the best goalkeepers in Major League Soccer? To qualify for “among the best” for this situation you have to be in the top 1/3rd of all goalkeepers.
DC United will be playing in their fancy new VW jerseys tonight for the first time on ESPN2. Sounds good but things aren’t right in DC, and they are playing the Fire, the same team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Chicago is hot right now. The Fire are currently tied for 2nd place overall in the league.
The DC United bloggers are arguing about the potential reasons to fire or not to fire current head coach Tom Soehn. I think D from the DCenters is next in line to take over the head position at DC United if/when Soehn goes.
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Chicago Fire (4-1-1) 13pts - 2nd
DC United (2-4-0) 6pts - 10th
6:30 PM CST - ESPN2
My MFLS predictions are a pretty good indicator of exactly the opposite of what is going to happen. If this streak keeps up DC United fans should be happy with the result of the game tonight. Sorry Fire fans. I guess didn’t take into account the extra pressure of playing with the VW on the front of their shirts tonight. Well being 2-4 and in 10th place overall is probably the source of any pressure if there is any on this game this early in the season.
Seattle Sounders FC have signed their first ever player, a French forward named Sebastien Le Toux. Then they loaned him out right away to the USL Seattle Sounders, which was also Le Toux’s old team. So Le Toux has been playing for the USL Seattle Sounders, but just signed with MLS Sounders FC and was immediately loaned back to USL Seattle Sounders.
Somewhere between 6 and 10 of the current Seattle Sounders squad could continue with their soccer career in Seattle when Sounders FC begin play, but no more will be officially signed until the current USL season is over.
Was this one done now just for the publicity of it? That would be my guess at least. It does make for a good headline.
Ben Olsen may be done for the season, done for good. Olsen has a bad ankle situation right now. I think he must have broke it when he was chasing his kid outside of Dick’s Sporting Goods the day his son put on that Beckham jersey. See below:
Well anyway, rumors are going around that former Manchester City striker Darren Huckerby could be coming to to fill the Ben Olsen role. Huckerby has made a move from Manchester City to Norwich City but now has been told that he won’t be a part of Norwich in the future. His contract is up in June and there has been a lot of speculation about Huckerby coming to play in LA, Toronto, and DC. Now it seems DC is the only team that has shown interest in him, maybe due to the loss of Olsen.
I’d be pretty happy if Huckerby joined my team. What do you think - would you like Huckerby on your team?
We’ve all probably heard about the huge differences in Major League Soccer salaries from the top to the bottom. The league minimum salary is a tiny $33,000/year - and there are plenty of players that make this salary. For the amount of money that David Beckham is making you could fill a full league of players at this rate.
So if first team players can (and some do) make as low at $33,000/year, what does that leave for reserves? Well apparently in LA it leaves practically nothing - and Gullit isn’t too happy about it. Gullit has told English reporters that sometimes Galaxy staff are calling friends on a Friday to see if they can play in a reserve game on Sunday.
One week the Galaxy reserves had to play a match with only 10 players, and the next week they took a ticket salesman from their front office to get more bodies on the reserve team. Maybe I can grab a spot on the team one week.
It must be a shock coming from some of the biggest clubs in Europe to a situation like that.
The Los Angeles Galaxy are going to North Dakota to play a high school team in a post season friendly. They hope to attract at least 1200 people and probably sell 20 Beckham jerseys at the game. They will play the school that took 3rd place at this past year’s state soccer tournament. The state has a grand total of 12 schools that have soccer teams!
Why would the galaxy want to go play a North Dakota high school soccer team? Who knows.
So what is it? Are the Galaxy going to start scheduling games during the playoffs? Are they going to North Dakota to play the 3rd best (out of 12) high school soccer teams in the state? My guess - neither. We really need some better Galaxy rumors…
Real Salt Lake had another impressive victory at home last night in their US Open Cup play-in game vs expansion San Jose EarthQuakes. Kyle Beckerman notched the first two goals of the game. After that Yura Movsisyan and Andy Williams each got a goal of their own to complete a 4-0 demolition of the EarthQuakes.
This sends Real Salt Lake to Columbus for their next Open Cup qualifying game. The winner of that game then plays at Chicago Fire in a winner qualifies, loser out game.
Some MLS teams are about to start playing some qualifying games for the 2008 US Open Cup. The teams are organized based on their final standings in the league at the end of last year. This is how it breaks down:
Already In:
DC United
Chivas USA
Houston Dynamo
New England Revolution
FC Dallas
New York Red Bulls
The other teams have to win their way in - some teams have to win more than others (the winner of the bolded games qualify for the US Open Cup):
1. San Jose EarthQuakes vs. Real Salt Lake
2. (Winner #1) vs Columbus Crew
3. (Winner #2) vs Chicago Fire
4. Colorado Rapids vs LA Galaxy
5. (Winner #4) vs Kansas City Wizards
So the Wizards and Fire only have one game to win to get in. Colorado, LA, and the Crew have to win 2. San Jose and Real Salt Lake need 3 consecutive victories to qualify.
That first game between San Jose and Salt Lake is taking place tonight - but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it is going to be televised anywhere.
Would have you said I was crazy if I told you 6 weeks ago that today the Columbus Crew would be on top of MLS and that Houston Dynamo would be on the bottom?
I imagine if you say no - you are either lying or a Columbus Crew fan who happens to hate Houston. How many of you are there out there. I suppose it isn’t crazy to think that a lot of any fans hate the Dynamo - they are 2 time defending champions. I don’t think the Crew and Dynamo is necessarily a big rivalry, is it?
Well anyway, how long will it be before Houston is above the Crew? Maybe the Crew stay higher than the Dynamo all year? What do you think?
The defending champions Houston Dynamo are the only remaining team without a win on their record. Tonight at 6:30 PM (CST) The Dynamo take on a hot Columbus Crew team who has 9 points from 4 games.
The Dynamo may still be without Pat Onstad in goal. Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear would not say if Onstad would be back in goal tonight - he has been practicing all week. The Dynamo will be without Eddie Robinson who is serving a 3 match suspension for actions taken in the Kansas City Wizards game.
Can the defending champions finally get a victory tonight, or will the Columbus Crew continue their hot streak and take all the points from Houston?
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