wolf stansson

Top 10 Yanks Abroad done by Castrol Index: http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/03/world-cup-soccer-lifestyle-sport-americans-europe-fifa-premier_slide_11.html

Everyone who thinks coaching doesn't matter, especially on a team with a young gem and no discernable go-to offensive player, is an idiot. Lucky for Vinny, Ben Gordon carried some of the 4th quarter load last season and Derrick turned into a respectable number one star on a playoff team this season. Without those developments, he would have been exposed as a total clown (as opposed to what happened, him being exposed only to people who understand NBA basketball). If you watched Scott Skiles designing set plays and saw his defense for those seasons with the Bulls and then watched Vinny and came to the conclusion that Vinny isn't a joke, you're bad at watching basketball and should probably stop. Time to hit the old dusty trail as an NBA observer. Coaching matters. It matters less when you have a superstar, but it certainly matters.

With LeBron having four years left on his five year deal. That's not a problem. Besides, LeBron, Rose, Noah and whoever's left after the sign and trade would be enough to win a title with Vinny still coaching. Cal would win a title with that core. Probably multiple.

Poor Johnny Specs. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FmWfayiHQ98/S92bH595xqI/AAAAAAAABkc/mPMVARz5YRc/s1600/98797336.jpg

Buddle with two goals and helper. Screw it. Just call him up. Some absolutely crazy rumors around about Herculez Gomez and potential European suitors. Can't wait for the transfer window to open to see where he goes.

Which is absurd and probably a PR ploy to make Phil not look like a front running bad guy if he leaves considering a) how profitable the Lakers are and b) how much money they have contracted to mediocre players. If you're already all-in with this nucleus, you might as well pay the coach what he wants to try to salvage value by winning. Why shouldn't he have left? There was noting on the returning roster for him and the organization shouldn't have the most expensive coach in the league if they aren't going to construct a roster worth the money you're paying him to coach. Clearly the unraveling of the Bulls dynasty was mishandled, but there isn't really a playbook for how to rebound from losing the greatest player and collection of players in NBA history. Reinsdorf and Krause knew they'd have to erase the blackboard and build from scratch. Krause had the confidence that he knew how to do it. In his mind he constructed a dynasty, why shouldn't he think he could rebuild? Obviously he was wrong, but I don't begrudge him his confidence and Reinsdorf's confidence in him. I don't know if that makes sense. Vodka and all that.

The only flaw I see in this theory is that Phil would have to break up with Jeannie Buss (if they haven't already). Cause I don't see him working for the Bulls, or his g/f working for the Lakers. Too much conflict of interests. The only way I see Jax jumping ship from La-La land is if he sees a major decline very soon in the Lakers. Jeannie Buss already spoke to the press about Phil leaving and that it wouldn't affect their relationship. Jerry Buss too. It sounds like a ploy to get Jerry to open the big wallet for Phil, but it's not impossible that he'd leave. Btw, it's not just Bernstein. Marc Stein spoke about it with Bill Simmons on the BS Report.

Yes. Also, winning a title when your two best players are under 6'5 and you have no post scoring other than your <6'5 players driving is something that I don't recall ever happening. If LeBron or Bosh doesn't happen, and it's not going to, sign someone to a non-max slot (Boozer if you can get him under max) and wait for Carmelo and the lockout.

http://www.soccer365.com/us_news/story_30410145600.php Dowie kills Jozy's training work ethic: Players on our squad not named Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra and Michael Bradley tend to be tactically [expletive] due to the sometimes astounding lack of understanding of the game in MLS. Speed, strength, hustle and enthusiasm MLS has. Organized tactics in the build up? Nope. Hopefully Jozy can learn unlike Adu, Johnson etc.

He's a homer, but there's something about Alexei that I like. Not sure what the yellow card accumulation rule in the europa league is.

Fulham are through. Kind of interesting to knock off a favorite and then go play the final in that team's house.

The better team advanced. Should be a very organized, tactical final.

Gooch is back in training with Milan. Yeah as of last week full training. He's probably just as likely to get a game as Charlie before camp though. Not going to happen. That's what I was implying. http://www.footballshirtculture.com/images/USA-10-12-home-nike-shirt-leaked-2.jpg Have to see it in action to judge.

Gooch is back in training with Milan. Yeah as of last week full training. He's probably just as likely to get a game as Charlie before camp though.

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2010/04/torres-on-wrong-end-of-worst-tackle-ever.html Good lord. That is ridiculously bad. Jose Francisco Torres is the victim of one of the most blatant reds I've ever seen.

Yura Movsisyan has scored 5 in 9 for Randers.

Jesus, I just saw the Jozy thing. I hit my head harder than that getting in my car today. What a bitch.

Mess with the bull you get the horns. Btw, the prem sucked, but the Bundesliga was good. Rico Clark went the full 90 (no idea how well he played) and Bradley was very stout against Bayern today. He was very deep, just in front of the back line and was brilliant positionally and gave very little to the Bayern attack. Got the better of Schweinsteiger, stuffed Ribery a few times in one vs one and more than held his own vs Robben. His strength and touch started the counter attack that led to Gladbach's goal. Played a quick 1-2 while holding his man off with one arm and played a quick volley forward that led to the cross which led to the goal. Could have possibly done a better job on backing up the center back who got absolutely burned by Klose on Bayern's goal but ultimately it wasn't his mark. Had he left his man a second earlier, he may have been able to step in front of the delivery to Klose but it was hardly his failure. Good game and great result for Gladbach.

Setback. http://www.estrepublicain.fr/fr/sport/sport-franc-comtois/info/3029305-SPORTS-FRANCHE-COMTE-L1-Bien-finir-a-Bonal Sochaux's pres nixes a CD9 return for the Ligue 1 season.

http://www.fanchants.com/football-songs/chelsea-chants/jose-mourinho/

I'd take Ching and Gomez over Buddle and Adu. If Charlie can't go, take Buddle. I don't value the tactical flexibility Adu brings like you because a) I don't think he'll actually be capable of pulling anything genius off due to rust, lack of confidence and/or just being poor, b) he doesn't deserve to go and his ego doesn't need the validation, c) Bradley has never shown the ability to get the most out of Freddy and d) Gomez and Ching's value on set pieces is far, far more likely to be what gets us scoring against a potential bunker than Adu's creativity. Buddle is a red card liability, he's on a rich vein of finishing form right now, but we have a huge sample size over his lengthy MLS career to look at and see he is a poor finisher whereas with Gomez we can at least point to injury and being played in the midfield as the reason he never lived up to his goal scoring potential. Also, Gomez and Ching don't lose possession or blow chances like Buddle. Even with his brace Saturday, I counted 6 times in the first half where he made a bad decision or bad link up pass that resulted in a turnover or GK. With the Galaxy, he is the guy. He is the only center forward and with Landon playing wide, the only person in position to score who can actually do it. It allows him to be selfish and beat up bad defenders like Nat Borchers. With the MNT, he needs to be a complimentary forward to Jozy, Charlie or Deuce. I have no reason to believe he's capable of that tactically or physically. He's a truly [expletive] passer. Can't hold the ball up and link with other forwards.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ro-worldcupwindow041410 Martin Rogers quick column about Herculez. I know Club America is very interested, but I'd be curious to see what European teams are calling. I've watched clips of all his goals. I'll say this. It's clear some of his goals are a byproduct of lazy Mexican marking and Herculez being a much more direct player than the Mexican league is used to. A really direct player like Didier Drogba would score about a billion goals a year playing against Primera defenders. All that is true, but I've also seen some very composed, strong finishing and some serious aerial prowess. Again, Mexican league defending ain't the most physical or quick and we've seen first hand how much of a shock the pace transition can be when Jose Francisco Torres gets a run out and looks overwhelmed at first. However, Gomez is an MLS product. He's used to physicality and direct flow of play. Getting a little taste of actual tactical build up instead of the chaos that is MLS offensive schemes and counter attacks appears to have suited him well. He's been excellent at exploiting space and he's made some fantastic runs off the ball (in the limited samples I've seen). At this point, I'm taking him over any of the current MNT strikers in MLS and Adu. I think he could work well off Jozy and with set pieces being absolutely critical and one of our greatest strengths, an added aerial threat could be very helpful. This could be the right call and it could also very easily just be me going with the unknown hype over known mediocrity.

Herculez Gomez finished two more before the half. He now has 10 for the season which ties him for the lead with Chicharito Hernandez of Chivas/United.

Buddle scores 2 more for 7 goals in 4 games. He still has yet to do anything in his long MLS career that makes me look at him and say he's got Intl quality. He's hot, but he's still just an ok MLS striker. More importantly, the Galaxy have an awesome back 4. They could be the best team in the league despite having only 2 attackers that are even average. Granted one happens to be by far the best in the league, but it's still impressive.

About the Seitz thing. I know he's a young guy. I also know that Tim Howard is relatively young and Brad Guzan is still very young for a keeper. Because of that, I'm not too concerned, but I think it bears mentioning that this is the thinnest our keeper pool has been since I've followed the team (2002 - present). You used to have Friedel, Keller, Meola and Howard. Now you have Howard and Hahnemann as the only keepers getting minutes in top flight football. Obviously Meola never went to Europe, but he tore up MLS. We have a ton of meh guys in MLS, but no clear-cut top dog. Hahnemann is getting up there (only a year younger than Friedel) and Guzan has more than twice the caps with the MNT than he does. Problem is, Guzan never plays. Friedel is retired from the NT and obviously way up there in age. Seitz was supposed to be the next guy. At 23, he's played only 13 pro games and won't even factor in a World Cup until 4 years at the absolute earliest (huge long shot) and probably 8 years from now. By then maybe one of the other young guys like Luis Robles, Dom Cervi will have latched on to a starting job somewhere and will offer competition to be Guzan's #2. We don't really have any reason to be concerned, but I am. The security blanket of having Keller, Friedel, Meola and a little later, Howard was significant.