USSoccer

Did I miss something? Did some idiots at the game boo him after his HR?

-The EPL is the last place I wanted Bradley, and if he's there, definetly not for Rovers. I'm really disappointed. -Sucks for Hugo, but again, the USMNT was better off with him there. Here's hoping they don't get someone competent.

Barring an injury to Soccer Jesus, Man U is winning the EPL at least 5 points clear. And I'd put money on Everton being the 4th CL team. Evertons chances of getting 4th took a huge hit today losing 1-0 to Liverpool. They are now 5 points behind them for 4th Yeah, I posted that before I knew of Cahill's injury. I think they might be one difference maker short, as yesterday showed. Liverpool still have games away at Chelsea and Arsenal, right? BTW, Timmah Howard made a terrible effort on Torres' goal.

The USL Sounders are just about the perfect fanbase for Seattle FC or whatever it's called. They draw really well, and if Henry really is going there, they'll be pleased. Portland's USL team rivals it in fan base and would be a perfect MLS city, I just don't see them getting an expansion team. FIFA regulates 20 teams per league so here is my plan: Add a team to Portland, move Salt Lake to St. Louis (RSL's owner also owns the St. Louis Blues), add a second New York team, Montreal gets a team and get a team in Phoenix. I realize it's a billion degrees here in the summer and that no ownership groups wants to build a dome, but I guarantee a team here would draw like crazy. CRAZY I say. NY, NY, DC, NE, Philly, Chi, StL, KC, Phx, LA, CHV, SJ, Portland, Seattle, Montreal, Colorado, Columbus, Toronto, Miami (downtown this time guys) and Atlanta (great USL town). Do this very slowly. Like the next 10 or so years. Start marketing better to the Hispanic and White Hipster communities, make money and get raise raise raise that salary cap when feasible. Portland's USL team has that crazy logger guy who hangs from the rafters of the stadium during the games, right? That would be an awesome MLS city, and I agree 100% with St Louis as an MLS expansion city. It's actually insane that Phily got theirs first.

The USL Sounders are just about the perfect fanbase for Seattle FC or whatever it's called. They draw really well, and if Henry really is going there, they'll be pleased.

-Paul Caliguri is an awful color guy. I think he said something about the "Spirit of their camradierie". -FSC is run by interns. How do you miss a goal off a restart? Too many replays. -Toronto FC fans deserve better. Any team in MLS that travels that well would deserve better. -They should contract Columbus, and move Crew Stadium to New England piece by piece so that Revs don't have to play on field turf.

Oohh, Pompey. I hadn't thought of that. That would be a great, great fit. He's dreamy. And I think a few CL titles along with the EPL goals record that he's going to set this year should get him in that team photo. I don't know that Portugal is going to have a good enough team for him to carry. We'll see, though. He's already gotten them to a WC Semi. Of all the realistic options, Pompey or Reading would seem to be the best. Reading is the homeless person's Arsenal.

Yeah, I'm staying out of this one too from here on out.

Why do we have to pretend the Sun doesn't revolve around the Earth? Seriously, though, if it exists, it's statistically insignifigant. IMB is right. How someone performs during 690 AB's is more telling that 10 AB's scattered over 6 months.

I think we're seeing one of the greatest players ever, without exaggeration.

I hope Clint makes a move, but being beinched for a bottom feeder doesn't bode well for him. He needs a good summer with the 'Nats to help with that. Reading would actually be good for him. Or Portsmouth. GoGoGo MLS!

It's hilarious to watch EJ look terrible for Fulham. I have no earthly idea why anyone, ever would want him on the field over Dempsey. Derby completely pantsed them and should have won. Johnson himself hesitated on a run, turning what should have been an easy goal from abot 8 yards out into a slip/fall/dive, and then turned the ball over so badly that only the ineptness of a team with 16 goals in 32 games prevented an easy break. He sucks. He managed to suck harder in 15 minutes than should be possible. Ditto for Roy Hodgson. He sucks at life, and their relegation is on him. Yeah, Sanchez bought a bunch of Northern Ireland scrubs in, but he can't manage his roster worth a crap. You don't leave a player like Dempsey on the bench and THEN take out your only other creative player in Bullard, just so you can put on a guy like EJ who is truly, truly crap. I could do better, right now, than he could. That's not e-nonsense. That's fact. EJ has the soccer instincts of a pile of towels. He has no idea how to play the game, where to go on the field, how to time a run, where to go into space. I'm suprised he can run upright. And for a guy who's fast, he even runs tentatively. He's freaking awful. I'm pissed because FFC has Clint and Boca not playing, and they're going to end up in the English MLS next season, which hurts the USMNT.

I would take Jozy over Johnson, leave Ching in, replace Rico Clark with Maurice Edu. That'd be our A 11, imo. Depending on the matchup you could put Clint or Adu up front with Jozy for a different look. Beasley coming back by this summer really makes the midfield log jam even crazier. In order to incorporate all of our best 11, I think Bradley is going to have to get creative with the formation. -----------------Howard----------------- ---Dolo---Gooch---Boca---Pearce--- --Donovan-----Bradley-----Beasley-- --------Deuce-------------Adu---------- ------------------Jozy--------------------- You'd have Donovan and Deuce making overlapping runs, taking turns getting forward on the right, Beasley and Adu doing the same thing on the left and Bradley charging up the middle Michael Ballack style. Being able to bring guys like Maurice Adu, Benny Feilhaber, Jay DeMerit, Michael Parkhurst, Brian Ching and Brad Guzan off the bench is by far the deepest US team I've seen since I started following the MNT back in '02. I worry that Bradley is not tactically good enough to know what to do when Beasley gets healthy and Jozy and Freddy and Edu are around. We either need to make sure we have a good technical director, or hope BB is better than I think he is.

I don't want to spoil the fun of what was an absolute ass kicking (Poland, even if they were disinterested, should be embarrassed losing 3-0 at home and getting dominated) but I have a few thoughts... -Eddie Johnson isn't a soccer player. He lacks the instincts of a soccer player. He lacks the touch and intelligence of a soccer player. He single-handedly cost the US 3 goals. That kind of crap can't keep happening. He holds the ball way too damn long and it costs us chances all the time. I know he has athletic ability, but he can't play soccer worth a damn. -I know Ives ragged on Clint being invisible, but I thought tonight he played fairly well...when he saw the ball. His defensive workrate was good, and his ability to play a one touch game was evident. I thought it was a better performance than we've seen in a while from him, despite it not being obvious. I was, however, not happy with the bitching he did when he didn't get good passes to him. Stop it. When Landon and Clint got involved on the wings (Landon especially), we were good. -'Dolo was really, really good. He's world class. Heath Pearce also was good, which makes me wonder why BB was so reticent to use him in previous matches. He played the left back spot really well. He didn't get beat, mostly cleared properly, and his positioning was almost always good. -Boca and Gooch played well together. That needs to continue. -Aside from the breakaway, Landon was good. -Michael Bradley, like Dempsey, I thought had his best USMNT runout in a while. He was very quietly solid. Didn't make stupid decisions, held down the center, and played simple, intelligent football all match long. Rico Clark was good, as well, but MB was very good. All in all, this was probably our "A" starting 11 except for Jozy in place of Ching. It showed. We were better than Poland in almost every phase of the game, and I'll take 3-0 in Europe against (albeit a weak) Euro 08 finalist any day. One last thought: the USMNT's abilit to make the "last" pass sucks. I counted at least 5 chances the US had to send someone clear through with even a halfway decnt ball, but couldn't muster even that. Donovan had a chance to send Clint clear but put it behind him late. Clark missed Donovan on good runs like 4 times. That can't keep happening.

His ceiling is replacement level. I doubt he reaches that. He'd be a fine backup IF. He's a liability getting 700 PA's.

I'm calling 2-1 US today.

Hopefully the dude on EBay who sold me my last USMNT kit for $25 has those soon. Me likey.

Reed Johnson would be a waste of time.

Barring an injury to Soccer Jesus, Man U is winning the EPL at least 5 points clear. And I'd put money on Everton being the 4th CL team.

Opening week for MLS and long absences for U-23's means a vet-heavy squad. I hope we smoke Poland. Id tyrhe game on FSC?

Pierre sucks. I hope he ends up a 5th OF.

He'll be the envy of every other sham closer... or, if you prefer: at least we know our closer is a sham closer

Yep Kind of an obscure player to sig.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/sports/ncaabasketball/23duke.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin Greg Paulus is a bad basketball player. That reserve is right to mock him.

So where does Dempsey go next season. Hopefully he gets transfered to a club in the Premiership. Man City and Portsmouth could use a 2nd striker. The only speculation I saw anywhere was a transfer to QPR if they get promoted, but honestly, I'd say he might end up at a Reading or something like that. As much as I like Clint, his skillset isn't properly suited for the Prem, and there are only a few teams that would know how to best use him, and most of those teams probably wouldn't want him.