Weekend Rewind: Canaries, Fusion & More
Indulge me.
This weekend City suffered its worst home defeat of all time, occurring on the opening weekend of play in inaccurately-named League One, the lowest level of English football Norwich have seen in 50 years.
As my mother said:"Colchester? I didn't know they had a team." Thanks, mum.
It's no consolation to know there have been worse moments in club history - barely (this is from 1972):
Fortunately, the Ventura County Fusion - a team I had never seen live until Saturday - provided a partial antidote with a heart-stopping 2-1 triumph over the Chicago Fire in the PDL final with the winner coming two minutes into second half stoppage time. The gutsy Fusion were down to 10 men at the time after a (very) harsh first half straight red and also had two coaches sent off.
What they were playing for
It was a memorable night on a cool evening with a waning amber moon and cars carving through the darkness just over the high school fence on Highway 126. After the game, the Ventura County Fair provided literal fireworks.
Also:
* Chivas USA lost their fifth straight. It was a nightmare MLS debut by Chivas USA goalkeeper Lance Parker that began after just 25 seconds; Chivas USA were down by two within four minutes.
*A cracker from Landon Donovan paved the way to the Galaxy's fifth win in six games.
Highlights:
* The Sol won. Next: WPS title game 1 p.m. Aug. 22 Home Depot Center, opponent TBD.
*Finally, with a goal and an assist, Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers led the Columbus Crew past the inept Earthquakes:
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Is Calypso the Norwich City fight song? Poor birds. There is nothing more banal than recorded music of English soccer teams. Almost as useless as the brand of soccer being played throughout the island save for Arsenal of course (sorry my mistake, that's a French team).
Re gaLAxy, it's almost time to gloat. Donovan is our Galactico.
Re Fusion, they can probably take care of your Canaries as well. Great win for them. Were there more than a couple of hundred people in attendance?
Re Sol and WPS, I made a mistake of watching a bit of their game and boy am I sorry I did. What a worthless bunch of crap that league is. It's bush league at it's worse. Can't understand why anyone would pay to watch that thing. No control, no finesse, no thought, no idea, no clue. Marta should become a track star instead. I am trying to be objective here in case you wondered.
Re Goats USA, I do feel sorry for them. Just a bit. Move them to San Diego.
Nick replies: Thankfully, no. The Norwich song is the world's oldest football song "On the Ball, City". The banal song in the post was actually a "B" side to "The Canaries" (which was recorded by the squad when Norwich were first promoted to what was the then old First Division in the early 1970s.
And the Fusion had 3,000 or so there.
When are the powers that be in American Soccer going to realize that their cockamamie playoff schemes are a real turnoff to true Soccer fans. Give the Sol their Due for Winning the Table, then have a cup for the top teams...This current format is very amateur...