It seems appropriate to begin with the end of the tournament’s Cinderella story - and, while on that subject, to celebrate the end of the awful clichés attending FC Roma’s run in the 2006 U.S. Open Cup. I mean, check out these headlines:
“Cinderella Sleeps: Galaxy Tops Roma”
“Roma FC Is Again a Pumpkin”
There’s more in the articles. Check the links and you’ll see MLS's LA Galaxy shut out Roma 2-0, but the most telling, and painful, detail comes with the reports on that second goal (from first report):
“[LA Galaxy/Portland Timbers forward Alan] Gordon had his revenge moments later. [Roma FC Goalkeeper Nestor] Merlo mishandled a pass back allowing Gordon to steal the ball right off of his foot, and he dribbled the ball into the net uncontested to double the advantage for the hosts.”
It reads a little worse in the “Pumpkin” report:
"’He pretty much tripped on it,’ Gordon said of Merlo.‘”
Merlo, it’s worth noting, was a stand-in at ‘keep. It sounds like he did well enough overall, but...well, what a mistake to make...y’know, with the whole country reading about it and all.
Last night’s second match played to expectations with DC United topping the Columbus Crew in overtime. Columbus’ local paper reported unfavorably on the Crew’s offensive puissance in the match, but that’s only more of the same from the Hardest-Working Team in America.
The Open Cup continues tonight with eight more games. A series of Google searches on each match-up provided some background - just enough in some cases. And, because I love being wrong, I’ll contrive picks out of that sparse background. As always, the home team appears first.
Rochester Raging Rhinos v. New England Revolution
(LINK, LINK, LINK)
My faith in New England has officially ebbed. Rochester wins - in overtime.
Charleston Battery v. FC Dallas
(LINK, LINK)
My faith in FC Dallas has officially crested; they’re playing too confidently to lose to a second-division team, even away from home. Dallas wins.
Wilmington Hammerheads v. Red Bull New York
(LINK, LINK)
Can’t say why, but Red Bull going 3-1-1 over the past five games somehow spells hubris to me. Plus, Wilmington sounds a bit desperate (see second link). Wilmington wins...ugly.
Houston Dynamo v. Carolina Dynamo
(LINK, LINK, LINK)
A look at the links reveals that the Carolina Dynamo ran away with the Professional Development League’s regular season; it took a “fluky goal” (link #2) in the playoffs to derail a perfect season. Just days after stating plainly that Houston would prove too tall a test for Red Bull New York (they didn’t), I’m going to say it again: the Houston edition of the Dynamo wins. For some reason, though, I really want Carolina to win it.
Chicago Fire v. Kansas City Wizards
(LINK, LINK)
The second link tells one tale: “Kansas City has only one win in Chicago in eight MLS seasons.” As that awful geek Stan Lee has one of his creations say, ‘nuff said. But there's something telling me that Kansas City will make this the second win in eight seasons.
Real Salt Lake v. Colorado Rapids
(LINK, LINK)
The toughest call of the bunch. My first choice for Real Salt Lake’s season would feature them losing the rest of their games in MLS (see earlier musings regarding variations on perfection), while walking away with the U.S. Open Cup. That would make me very happy and give lots of nice people something to enjoy. Despite climatic similarities that conceivably could make Colorado feel more at home, Real Salt Lake wins.
We’ll see how all that pans out tomorrow. In other news...
- The roster is set for the MLS All-Stars, who will take on FC Chelsea this Saturday. I’m actually quite pleased to see that Ricardo Clark made the roster; I’m high enough on that kid to figure the more exposure the better; it's time to go overseas, son. Speaking of the All-Star game, Jeff Bradley chipped in a rare-for-’06 contribution to MLS’s site in which he recalled “special moments” from past All-Star games. The several points of interest include past, silly formats (see 1997, 1999, 2000), some silly, half-forgotten names and players (see Takawara, Digital), and the once-controversial sports bra incident.
- A guy named Ken Pendleton, who works down the way at Oregon State University, generally writes a decent column. Today’s effort looks at recent, under-reported goings-on within FIFA, specifically Sepp “Slack” Blatter’s cunning plan to reduce all Euro leagues to 18-team tables as part of the effort to cut down on the number of games played. Pendleton has some other suggestions:
“Perhaps Blatter should start by eliminating some of FIFA's own unnecessary competitions, such as the Confederations Cup and the FIFA Club World Championship, and advocate the streamlining of domestic cup competitions. The English should be compelled to abandon the League Cup, where top clubs usually field reserve sides, and Italy should eliminate two-legged ties in the Copa Italia, which minimizes the possibility of small clubs toppling giants. While we're at it, we could get rid of the Intertoto Cup, which forces teams to begin training far too early, the European Super Cup and the Charity Shield, or any competition in which clubs or countries are not willing to give 100 percent to win.”
Amen, brother.
No comments:
Post a Comment