Soccer Insider posted some quotes by DC United President, Kevin Payne. Mr. Payne was commenting on the lack of attractive soccer in MLS.  It kind of sounds like he is whining a little bit and making excuses as to why his team didn’t make the playoffs.  But if you can read between the catty-ness of his comments Payne makes “some” good points.

Here are some excerpts of particular interest:

“We don’t want to play like Colorado or New England, which most of the season sat with eight or nine guys behind the ball. How many people go to watch Colorado or New England play?”

“We can’t play like we’re a team desperately trying to remain in 14th place in the Premiership.”

“There are a lot of games in our league that I can’t watch. The problem in our league isn’t who is or isn’t in the playoffs; it’s that not enough people want to watch our league yet, and we have to convince them that our league is worth watching. I don’t think [playing conservatively] is the way to do it.”

I can tell Payne is a little frustrated that RSL, New England, and Colorado all finished better than DC United in the standings this year.  Are his criticisms warranted? I think so.

First, I think it is important for everyone to recognize that the soccer in MLS is ugly.  Teams like DC United and Seattle might play “more attractive” style of soccer but it still isn’t pretty to watch.  So Mr. Payne you can get off that high horse about how stylish your team is. I also want to mention that playing attractive soccer and losing all the time isn’t that great either . . . I should know I’m Colombian.

Second, I wish the only problem the Rapids have is the fact that they play ugly soccer.  Personally, I’m behind Smith and what he is doing with the  club.  Smith said from the beginning that he wanted to solidify the defensive structure of the team. Losing dynamic players like Colin Clark and Jaime Smith really hurts the offense.  Would things be different if the Rapids played more attractive?  Maybe a little, but the challenges for the Rapids are also geographic, economic, and cultural.

Third, New England struggled tremendously this season due to injuries, but Steve Nicol figured out a game plan to get his team into the playoffs.  It was ugly but were they really capable of anything more? I don’t think so.  In the face of such adversity Nicol was still able to get the best out of his team and that is something that the fans will appreciate.

Finally, I can appreciate the desire to play attractive soccer.  The question is how are we going to get to that level?  What needs to be done so every team can play an attractive brand of soccer?   It isn’t as easy as just dedicating yourself to an attractive style.  Style without substance (results) will only please the fans for so long.  What it takes to transform soccer in this country is huge and will likely require another series of posts.  So I just want to make a quick observation that might hint at the real problem with the style of soccer in the US.

Our U17 national team is currently playing in the U17 World Cup.  They lost 2-1 to Spain and squeaked out a 1-0 victory against Malawi.  This highly regarded bunch of young Americans isn’t exactly living up to expectations.  So what is the problem . . . the expectations.  The US isn’t winning or winning convincingly.  They are doing something fantastic though, they thoroughly out possessed, out shot, and out hustled Spain.  They made some mistakes and ended up losing . . . big deal . . . THEY OUT POSSESSED SPAIN!!!!!  Then the team goes on to neutralize the speed and talent of Malawi with . . . wait for it . . . good passing!!!  Our expectations are all backwards.

Anyways, long story short, the problem with playing attractive soccer in the US is you fuckers.  The fans. Not all of you but if you aren’t sure who I’m talking about it’s probably you.  The American fan doesn’t understand enough about soccer to know if it is attractive or not, what they do understand is results.

So Mr. Payne, I’m with you on the need for attractive soccer but I can’t blame these clubs for going after results first.

Share your thoughts.

Here are some great Articles in the world of soccer to keep you going through this Snowy October week.

- Is a Reserve team beneficial? The Tottenham Hotspurs have decided to drop their 2nd team. HERE’S WHY!

-The Colorado Rapids missed the playoffs on the last day of the season for the 2nd year in a row. Read about it HERE. What players should the Rapids keep and which should go? HERE is a thread about some Rapids fans opinions.

-The most expensive team in the history of soccer is beaten in a cup game by a lowly 3rd division side. HERE’S the details.

-The MLS Playoffs start Thursday Night! The season has been going for 6 months and will be decided over the next 13 games. HERE’S a guide to the MLS Playoffs.

SNOW SOCCER!!!!!!!

Ok, maybe there wasn’t this much snow. And Ok, this isn’t us, but hey, it did snow and there was some wild weather conditions this weekend. We played two games and the results couldn’t have been more different.

PREMIER had the day off. The game was postponed due to the weather conditions.

UNITED won 8-0 Against Mile High Arsenal. After going up 3-0 at halftime, the lads laid it on in the 2nd half for there biggest win of the season. Goals by Drew Anneburg (3), Greg Gidden (2), Jose Chavez, Matt Martinez, and atleast one more person. Great game for the boys to build their cohesion and confidence heading into the last game of the season.

SELECT lost 0-8 against the Kontractors. Tough, tough game for our guys. Had several no shows and played some decent soccer until our only true defender got a red card. And then, the goals came down like rain. I should know, I was the goalie that let all of those goals in. Hats off to the young and talented Kontractors players.  Moving along, this great group of guys gets a chance for redemption this next weekend when they go up against the FC Denver United team in the last game of the season. Should be fun.

PREMIER GROUP MVP OF THE WEEK = Drew Anneburg. You get a hat-trick and you are the MVP for the week, its as simple as that. Drew got his hat-trick by about the 60th minute with his sharp play up top. Drew has been an exceptionally solid player for the team all season and had his best game on Sunday (at forward nonetheless).

The FC Denver Green game got snowed out.

The FC Denver Masters have finished the fall season and are looking to start up some indoor.

Cheers!

The MLS season is just about over and there have been some stellar performances by a number of players.  Some started the season on a tear, Fredy Montero, others finished the year strong, Jeff Cunningham, while still some have been steady performers all year long, Chad Marshall.

Here are my picks for the MLS Best XI:

Ricketts (LA)

Hurtado (Seattle)    Marshall (Columbus)  Cameron (Houston)

Joseph (New England)

DeRosario (Toronto)     Schelotto (Columbus)    Donovan (LA)

Cunningham (Dallas)     Casey (Colorado)     Cummings (Colorado)

Second XI:

Thornton (Chivas)

Conrad (Kansas)   Gonzalez (LA)  Conde (Chicago)

Alonso (Seattle)

Davis (Houston)        Holden (Houston)     Van den Bergh (Dallas)

Ljunberg (Seattle)

Montero (Seattle)  Ferriera (Dallas)

Honorable Mention: Keller, Onstad, Bornstein, Ralston, Dube, Blanco, Ryan Johnson, Beckerman, Wolff, Lopez, Rolfe, McBride, Rogers, Quaranta, Kljestan

Rookie Best XI:

Frei (Toronto)

Alston (NE)  Barnes (NE)  Gonzalez (LA)   Besler (Kansas)

Wallace (DC)          Cronin (Toronto)      Hall (New York)

Pontius (DC)        Amarikwa (San Jose)       Zakuani (Seattle)

Honorable Mention: De LaGarza, Zimmerman, White, Lahoud, George John.

Who made your best XI team?  Who do you think were the top performers this season?

Week #6 has come and gone and it was an interesting weekend. From the Premier team winning a huge game against Guadalajara to the United team barely losing a heart-breaking back-and-forth game to the Kontractors. Here’s what happened:

Premier Team: won 4-1 against Chivas Guadalajara. Huge game to get the team back on track. The guys looked like a team that was comfortable on the ball and had a good chemistry between players. We killed Chivas down the wings all day. Tree had a monster game. Kyle got a hat-trick in a total of 25 minutes played. Cisco had a great game at keeper. Congrats to the guys for the important win. Team is 2-3 for the season. Goals scored by Kyle Firebaugh (3) and Michael “Tree” Ogletree.

United Team: lost 4-5 against the Kontractors. WHAT A GAME!!! We went down 0-3 at the half, came back and fought every minute to tie the game at 3-3, scored a go-ahead goal with 2 minutes left to go up 4-3! We were in store for our biggest win of the season; at least until their best player scored twice within two minutes to beat us 5-4. How heartbreaking! But what a game. Our guys showed tons of character by bouncing back from a 0-3 halftime deficit to even make it a game. Team is 2-3 for the season. Goals scored by Nick Feltz (3) and ? (TBD).

Select Team: tied Colorado Storm 0-0. Good fight from the lads, but we couldn’t create the scoring opportunities to win the game. Another game where we felt confident that we were the better side but couldn’t get the result to prove it. Nonetheless, our boys are getting better and enjoying themselves every week. Team is 0-4-2 on the season.

Premier Group MVP of the Week = Kyle Firebaugh! This was a tough one, with Tree having a dominant game with a goal and an assist and Nick Feltz also having a hat-trick for United, but its gotta go to the boss! He only played limited minutes but was always in the right position to bring the Premier team their biggest victory of the season.

FC Denver Green won against Colorado Sporting Select. They are now in pole position to win promotion to the first division. Good Luck to Green.

FC Denver Masters Lost a tough playoff game against the Allied Brewers.

Danny Karbassiyoon is the one of the few yanks to ever to ever play for Arsenal.  Danny’s time in London is a clear example that anything is possible if you work hard.  The young striker joined Arsenal in 2003 and played mainly for the reserve side.  He found a home at left back before leaving the club for Burnley.  Danny had to hang up his boots at a young age due to injury but is still involved in soccer off the pitch.  The Roanoke, Virginia native is now Arsenal’s North American scout.

There have been several young Americans linked to Arsenal in recent months including U17 midfielders Luis Gil and Charles Renken.  Currently, Vietnamese-American Lee Nguyen is training with Arsenal.

The Original Winger has a great interview with Danny, where he talks about his time with Arsenal: “Conversations in Soccer”

Here is part 2 of the same interview: “Conversations in Soccer part 2″

Arsenal’s official website has an interview with Danny where he explains his role as a scout for Arsenal: “Catching up with Danny”

Enjoy!

Here are a couple things involving US soccer that you might have missed.

Donovan Wins Honda Award

Landon Donovan won his 6^th Honda Player of the Year Award and earned the Honda Player of the Decade.  Donovan has scored 5 goals and added 10 assists in 15 games this year.  He figured in 12 of the US’s 19 goals in the final round of qualifying for the World Cup.  He was also a key player in the US’s victory over Spain in the summer on the US’s run to the finals of the Confederations Cup.  Donovan has also been a target of many European clubs, most notably Livorno and PSG.

In 120 games, Donovan has become the national teams all time leading goal scorer with 42 goals and all time assist leader with 42 assists.

In my opinion, Donovan is the best American field player of all time.  On the field he has produced far beyond any player in the US’s history and off the field his commitment to MLS and US soccer has pushed American soccer to a higher status.

Donovan’s year hasn’t been all sunshine and accolades. He endured an unsuccessful stint with Bayern Munich at the beginning of the year.  In the spring he was heavily criticized for his comments on Galaxy teammate David Beckham in Grant Wahl’s book “The Beckham Experiment.”  At some point in 2009 his marriage with Bianca Kajlich dissolved.

FIFA Approves Jermaine Jones Switch

German American and Schalke midfielder, Jermaine Jones, has finally received clearance by FIFA to represent the US.  Jones is currently rehabbing from a surgery to fix a broken shin.  The tenacious and skillful defensive midfielder has been tipped to step into a starting role with the national team.

US U17 Roster for the World Cup Released

U17 coach Wilmer Cabrera has released the roster for the upcoming tournament.  This group is very talented and attack minded.  I know some of you might be turned off to our youth national team setup after our U20’s were out classed in Egypt a month ago.  Our U17 group is far more talented and more highly regarded.  They have a unique attacking and creative style that hasn’t been seen from a US team since Fredy Adu played for the setup.

The team has a few noticeable absences in the likes of Charles Renken, Joseph Gyau, and Sebastian Lletget.  It isn’t clear if they chose not to join the U17’s or if Cabrera omitted them.  All three players are with foreign youth academies.  Gyau and Renken are with German club Hoffenheim while Lletget is with the highly regarded West Ham system.

Full Roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Keith Cardona (NY Red Bulls; Glen Rock, N.J.), Earl Edwards (La Jolla Nomads; San Diego, Calif.), Spencer Richey (Crossfire Premier; Seattle, Wash.)

DEFENDERS: Zachary Herold (West Pines United FC, Port St. Lucie, Fla.), Perry Kitchen (Chicago Magic; Indianapolis, Ind.), Boyd Okwuonu (Celtic Green; Edmond, Okla.), Tyler Polak (CSA Legacy; Lincoln, Neb.), Jared Watts (North Meck Storm; Statesville, N.C.), Eriq Zavaleta (FC Pride; Westfield, Ind.)

MIDFIELDERS: Marlon Duran (Latino Americana; Ducanville, Texas), Luis Gil (Pateadores; Garden Grove, Calif.), Carlos Martinez (Wilmington Jr.; San Pedro, Calif), William Packwood (Birmingham City, Concord, Mass.), Nick Palodichuk (Washington Premier; Battleground, Wash.), Alex Shinsky (Super Nova FC; York, Pa.)

FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (NY Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Victor Chavez (Real So Cal; Fontana, Calif), Andrew Craven (First Coast Kickers; St. Simons Island, Ga.), Stefan Jerome (West Pines United FC; Davie, Fla.), Jack McInerney (Cobb SC; Alpharetta, Ga.), Dominick Sarle (BW Gottschee; Huntington, N.Y.)

The U17’s kickoff group play on October 26th against Spain.

The Rapids didn’t do themselves any favors this weekend by losing to an in-form FC Dallas team.  Luckily the Rapids still have a shot if they can get a victory this weekend against Real Salt Lake.  Beating RSL is very possible but I am starting to question whether or not the Rapids are really a playoff team.  With Colin Clark, Jaime Smith, and Jacob Peterson healthy I’d have no question but right now the Rapids look lost and without ideas.

No team can stay hot or inform all season.  Houston and Columbus had a terrible start to the season but are now clearly the better teams in the league.  Chivas and Seattle were red hot to start the season but crashed badly in midseason and have only recently started to regain form.  Teams like Dallas and San Jose decided to wait until August to start playing. The Rapids have been mostly consistent with only a few peaks and valleys here and there.

The best way to think about it is this. A team earns a playoff spot by a season worth of performances, 8 months to put together 40+ points.  The Rapids are kind of looking like the NY Red Bulls of last season.  NY put together a killer summer before they dipped drastically in form in the last third of the season and barely squeaked into the playoffs. NY went on to play in the MLS Cup, so there is hope.

The Rapids playoff picture after this weekend’s games

The Rapids lock up a playoff spot with a win. If they tie or lose, here are the scenarios:

First Real Salt Lake will jump the Rapids if they win by 3 or more goals. If RSL only wins by 2 the Rapids stay higher on the table based on a better away record.

If the Rapids lose and all other teams with 39 points tie (DC, NE, Dallas, and Toronto), the Rapids will be placed higher than DC United, Dallas, New England, and Toronto based on goal differential.  If the Rapids tie and the teams with 39 points tie, the Rapids go to the playoffs.

If the Rapids lose or tie and 2 of the teams with 39 points win, the Rapids are out.

Here are the key matches for this coming week, none of the teams in the teams trying to lock up a playoff spot play each other except the Rapids and RSL.  So there are still 7 teams in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Thursday:

Chivas at Chicago, 8pm EST ESPN 2

Saturday:

Toronto at NY, 7:30pm EST

DC United at KC, 8:30pm EST

New England at Columbus, 9pm EST

Colorado at Salt Lake, 9pm EST FSC, FSE

FC Dallas at Seattle, 10:30pm EST

Sunday:

New England v. Columbus, 5pm EST ESPN 2

Funny video. Maradona basically tells the media to “suck it!”  They treated him like shit and now his team is in he World Cup and the media can fucking suck his dick.   The great thing about Maradona is that he never rides the fence.  Kind of like  the time he called the Pope a mother fucker on national television . . . damn Diego tell us what you really think.

This is where the MLS Season gets exciting. This season has seen plenty of excitement with the addition of new Seattle Sounders team and a general growth in league competitiveness. But this point of the season is where the urgency is felt as the playoffs are not far away. The next month is the proving ground that will separate the solid MLS teams from the Championship teams. Could a decent team get on a good run, like last years NY Red Bulls, or will Houston or Columbus, the dominant teams over the past two years, continue their winning ways?

Here’s how the MLS playoff standings look with two games left:

club	gp	w	l	t	pts
Columbus	28	13	5	10	49
Los Angeles	28	11	6	11	44
Houston	28	12	8	8	44
Chicago	28	10	7	11	41
Chivas USA	27	13	9	5	44
Seattle	28	10	7	11	41
Colorado	28	10	8	10	40
NewEngland	28	10	10	8	38
RealSaltLake	28	10	11	7	37
D.C. United	28	8	8	12	36
Toronto FC	28	9	10	9	36
FC Dallas	28	10	12	6	36

As you can see, the Rapids are currently one of the top eight teams with two weeks to go. FC Dallas is still in the picture and desperately needs to win this game to keep their hopes alive. MLSnet.com does a good game preview HERE.

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