MLS players going to Olympics

posted by kidpurple July 22, 2008

Peter Nowak named his sqaud for the Beijing Olympics. The team includes several current and former MLS players. Real Salt Lake, Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo are all losing 2 players to Nowak’s Olympic roster while the Columbus Crew, Chivas USA and the New England Revolution will be missing a single player to Nowak during the Olympics.

The Olympic competition is largely a U23 game – with the addition of 3 overage players. A surprise (to me at least) was the addition of Brian McBride rather than Landon Donovan. LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit warned that taking Donovan to the Olympics would be a bad idea due to the World Cup Qualifiers that will be going on in the upcoming months.

Here is the full squad:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkurst (New England Revolution), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvel Wynne (Toronto FC)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villareal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (None), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Posted in Brian Ching, Chris Seitz, Marvel Wynne, Maurice Edu, Michael Parkhurst, Nathan Sturgis, Patrick Ianni, Sacha Kljestan, Stuart Holden, US Soccer | Comments (3)

Pan-Pacafic Championship sure feels like last year

posted by kidpurple February 21, 2008

The Pan-Pacific Championship first round (semi-finals) got underway last night and as you know our beloved Galaxy and Dynamo took the field in Hawaii. The Galaxy started out strong, giving up only one goal in the first five minutes. That was all it took for the Gamba Boy to move on to the first ever final of the Pan-Pacific Championship.

The Houston Dynamo are defending MLS champions and know how to win. They had Brian Ching playing in front of his home crowd. They actually earned their way into the tournament. They didn’t disappoint anyone, well expect for those people who only want to see goals scored in the 2nd half of a game. The Dynamo took a 3-0 lead into halftime and that is how the game ended. Ching didn’t get any but he hopes his goals are being saved for the final.

Saturday we will see the LA Galaxy play Sydney FC for 3rd place. Last November the two teams met in a friendly in Australia. The home team topped the Galaxy by a score of 5-3. Hopefully Saturday will see a different result. After that game the Dynamo will play Gamba Osaka for the first ever championship of the Pan-Pacific Championship. Lets go Dynamo – I hope Ching gets a hat trick in that one and the Dynamo add another trophy to the case!

 LA Galaxy 0 – 1 Gamba Osaka

Houston Dynamo 3 – 0 Sydney FC 

Why does it feel like last year?  Cause the Dynamo win and the Galaxy lose.

Posted in Brian Ching, Gamba Osaka, Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy, Pan-Pacific Championship 2008, Sydney FC | Comments (0)

Predictions typos

posted by kidpurple November 8, 2007

The sun was in my eyes before the game tonite when I predicted the Fire to win. It was really windy and my fingers were slipping all over the keyboard. That was an accident that I said I predicted the Fire to win.

How about that goal scored by TT, was that the goal of the year?

So Blanco – his main job was to tell the ref what was going on, and he was pretty busy with that one. When he wasn’t explaining things to the ref he was playing some awfully nice balls into the penalty area. It is just too bad that those were going towards Paulo Wanchope. I’m pretty sure if you got Blanco and Brian Ching together that no defense in MLS would stop them. If I was in charge of the Fire I’d do whatever I could to get Ching. Houston has a lot of stars, they could let one of them go.

Now the Revolution are in another MLS Cup. The defending Champions Houston Dynamo will probably show up to play a re-match of last years MLS Cup, but they have to get by the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday first. It is too early for me to give my prediction for the other semi-final. I’ll probably wait until the last minute and pick the Wizards just because I’ll be cheering for them, be totally wrong and embarrassed. Oh well…

I really did think the Fire were gonna win.

Posted in 2007 Playoffs, Blanco, Brian Ching, Chicago Fire, Kansas City Wizards, New England Revolution, Paulo Wanchope | Comments (0)

Cobi Jones And Eddie Pope Complete All Star Roster

posted by kidpurple July 10, 2007

The first XI was decided last week, and now the All Star roster is complete.

MLS All Star coach Steve Nicol added 5 players of his choosing, and then Don Garber added his two commissioner’s picks. Nicol choose Brian Ching, Landon Donovan, Ronnie O’Brien, Kevin Hartman and Pable Mastroeni. Don Garber choose Jones and Pope, both long time MLS stars who are retiring after this season.

Maybe they aren’t quite all stars this season, but Cobi Jones and Eddie Pope have served Major League Soccer for a long time and deserve a spot on this team.

The MLS All Stars will be facing Celtic at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on July 19th.  The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 8:00 PM CST.

Posted in Brian Ching, Cobi Jones, Eddie Pope, Kevin Hartman, Landon Donovan, MLS All Stars, Pablo Mastroeni, Ronnie O'Brien, Steve Nicol | Comments (0)

Gold Cup Roster Announced

posted by kidpurple May 24, 2007

Eight Major League Soccer sides will have representatives on the team that will represent the US in this summer’s Gold Cup.  Bob Bradley announced the roster today featuring 12 MLS players and 11 from outside MLS.  The Gold Cup is the number one priority for Bob Bradley this summer, so this should be his top team.   The US won the Gold Cup in 2005.  All of the players listed as forwards come from Major League Soccer.

MLS Members:

  • Steve Ralston
  • Taylor Twellman
  • Michael Parkhurst
  • Brian Ching
  • Ricardo Clark
  • Brad Guzan
  • Jonathan Bornstein
  • Landon Donovan
  • Pablo Mastroeni
  • Frankie Hejduk
  • Justin Mapp
  • Eddie Johnson

Non-MLS Member:

  • Tim Howard
  • Kasey Keller
  • Carlos Bocanegra
  • Jay DeMerit
  • Oguchi Onyewu
  • Frank Simek
  • Jonathan Spector
  • DaMarcus Beasley
  • Michael Bradley
  • Clint Dempsey
  • Benny Feilhaber
Posted in Benny Feilhaber, Brad Guzan, Brian Ching, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, Eddie Johnson, Frank Simek, Frankie Hejduk, Gold Cup, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstein, Jonathan Spector, Justin Mapp, Kasey Keller, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Michael Parkhurst, Oguchi Onyewu, Pablo Mastroeni, Ricardo Clark, Steve Ralston, Taylor Twellman, Tim Howard | Comments (1)