This is cute:
Find out more about the book here.
Galaxy’s Landon Donovan finds one fan hard to impress
1
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Friday MLS Playoff Kicks & more
Mmmm – buttery leather: FC Dallas Coach Schellas Hyndman talks with Brek Shea before the game at Real Salt Lake last weekend (AP Photo).
*FC Dallas scolded the local media this week for ignoring the team ahead of Sunday’s Western Conference Championship game in Carson against the Galaxy (6 p.m. ESPN2). I couldn’t find a mention of the open letter anywhere in the Dallas media.
And as if to drive home the point, here’s an excellent piece about Hyndman’s rebuilding of FC Dallas – on the Sports Illustrated website.
*Eastern Conference finalists (just to show how banal the MLS playoff system is) the San Jose Earthquakes have a similar problem in the Bay Area so perhaps comparing themselves with the Giants couldn’t hurt (could it?). San Jose faces that other Eastern Conference powerhouse Colorado at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on Fox Soccer Channel.
*The U.S. Women’s National Team has decided reinforcements may be necessary to qualify for Germany:
CHICAGO (AP) — Midfielders Lindsay Tarpley, Leslie Osborne and Tina DiMartino have been added to the U.S. roster for the Women’s World Cup qualifying playoff against Italy.
Backup goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, who trained with the team during regional qualifying in
Mexico, also has been added to the 24-woman roster, the U.S. Soccer Federation said
Friday.Eighteen players can dress for each game in the playoff, which will determine the final berth in the 16-team tournament next year in Germany.
The U.S. leaves Sunday for the first leg, which will be Nov. 20 in Padova, Italy. The return leg in the total-goals series is Nov. 27 at Bridgeview, Ill.
The Americans were forced into the playoff when they were upset 2-1 by Mexico in the
semifinals. The U.S. then beat Costa Rica in the third-place game and advanced to the playoff against Italy, which finished fifth in European qualifying.Tarpley is recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament and trained with the team in
Mexico. She has 120 international appearances.Osborne, part of the 2007 World Cup roster, has not been with the team since July 2009.
DiMartino had four goals this season for Philadelphia in WPS.
Goalkeeper Hope Solo is sidelined by a right shoulder injury that requires surgery. She’s expected to return in time for the World Cup on June 26 in Germany.
The roster:
Goalkeepers: Nicole Barnhart (Gold Pride), Ashlyn Harris (Washington), Jill Loyden (Chicago)
Defenders: Rachel Buehler (Gold Pride), Stephanie Cox (Boston), Ali Krieger (Frankfurt, Germany), Amy LePeilbet (Boston), Heather Mitts (Philadelphia), Christie Rampone (Sky Blue), Becky Sauerbrunn (Washington)
Midfielders: Yael Averbuch (Sky Blue), Shannon Boxx (Gold Pride), Tina DiMartino (Philadelphia), Kristine Lilly (Boston), Lori Lindsey (Philadelphia), Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue), Heather O’Reilly (Sky Blue), Leslie Osborne (Boston), Megan Rapinoe (Chicago), Lindsay Tarpley (Boston)
Forwards: Lauren Cheney (Boston), Alex Morgan (California), Amy Rodriguez (Philadelphia), Abby Wambach (Washington)
*The UCLA women needed penalty kicks to overcome BYU Thursday at Drake Stadium to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after the two teams failed to score in a double overtime game. UCLA (12-7-2) will meet UCF Saturday.
What I’ll be watching this weekend:
*Manchester-United-Aston Villa 4:30 a.m. Saturday ESPN2
*Reading-Norwich City 2 p.m. 11 a.m. Saturday Fox Soccer Plus (But then as a City fan I’m completely biased). Also: repeat at 9 p.m. Saturday.
*Inter Milan-AC Milan 11:30 a.m. Sunday Fox Soccer Channel
Click the Live TV link at top right for all the televised games this weekend
The collected wisdom of U.S. Coach Bob Bradley
And invariably the (insert modifier here) opportunities presented in his roster announcements ahead of upcoming U.S. Men’s National Team games are journalistic gems to be savored. Ahem.
Let’s play “spot the Bob Bradley banality.”
Here’s what Bradley said in announcing the roster today for the upcoming friendly in South Africa:
“This game is a good opportunity to look at some different players and assess their place in the pool as we continue to build for the next cycle.”
Here’s what Bradley observed Aug. 4 when the roster for the Brazil friendly in New York later that month was announced:
“This game is a great opportunity to showcase many players from the World Cup team who earned the respect and appreciation of fans across the country.”
Here are Bradley’s piercing insights into his roster selection announced Sept. 30 for the recent friendlies against Poland and Colombia:
“This is a fantastic opportunity to gather many of our players based in Europe and continue to build on the foundation we established during the last four years. We believe we have a strong nucleus of talented players, many of whom we are going to challenge to assume greater leadership roles during the next four-year cycle. We certainly have ideas on how we want to move forward, and these games will be the start of that process.”
Captain Bloody Obvious was back in a Feb. 25 press release revelaing the roster for the March 3 game against the Netherlands:
“This is a great opportunity for us to bring many of our European-based players together as we continue to finalize our plans for the World Cup roster. This is the final match before we bring the team together for the World Cup, so to have a match against one of the top teams in the world like the Netherlands is a big benefit and a good challenge for our group.”
Let us savor the opportunities presented by Bradley in a Feb. 4 press release announcing the roster for the game against El Salvador later that month: “These are important opportunities for these players as we continue to formulate our plans for the roster for the World Cup. This camp and the game against El Salvador provide a chance for the coaching staff to get one more long look at this group. ”
Here’s what bubbly Bob said back in November 2009 in announcing the roster for the Slovakia game:
“These matches present a terrific opportunity to continue building on the nucleus of our team, and at the same time evaluate more of the player pool against very good opponents. We are very pleased with what we have accomplished in a long and challenging year, and we move forward with the goal of getting ourselves ready to be a competitive team in the World Cup.”
And finally (are you still awake?) here’s what boring Bob imparted ahead of the two final CONCACAF World Cup qualifying games electrifying and inspiring fans with his opportunistic turn of phrase in an Oct. 1, 2009 press release:
“These are hugely important games for us as we have the opportunity to clinch a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Each of these games presents an opportunity to advance, and we face two very different and difficult challenges against Honduras and Costa Rica. We have been preparing this group for the last three years to be ready for these situations, and we are confident in our ability to get the results we need to achieve our goal of qualifying for South Africa.”
I could go on, but zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Thursday Kicks: USMNT roster announced & more
Teen seen: Looks like MLS fans weren’t the only ones impressed with the performance of Red Bulls youngster Juan Agudelo, called up by U.S. Coach Bob Bradley for next week’s game in South Africa (AP Photo).
*Former Chivas USA players Brad Guzan and Jonathan Bornstein (who technically remains a Goats player until year’s end when he will then join Tigres) and Rolling Hills Estates’ Robbie Rogers lead an 18-player U.S. squad to South Africa Wednesday for a friendly (11 a.m. ESPN2).
Among the more intriguing players selected: New York’s 17-year-old striker Juan Agudelo, who impressed in the playoffs for the Red Bulls, his teammate Tim Ream, an MLS Rookie of the Year nominee, and midfielder Mikkel Diskerud, who plays in Norway and like Agudelo and Ream is getting his first national team summons.
U.S. Coach Bob Bradley practiced his undistinguished fill in the blank style of quotes in press releases:
“This game is a good opportunity to look at some different players and assess their place in the pool as we continue to build for the next cycle,” said Bradley. “With our immediate focus on the Gold Cup next summer, this game in many ways is just as much the start of 2011 as it is the end of a great year.”
So that’s why you called in Robbie Findley and Jonathan Spector yet again, then Bob?
Complete roster:
goalkeepers – Dominic Cervi (Celtic), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa)
defenders – Gale Agbossoumonde (Estoril Praia), Nat Borchers (Real Salt Lake), Jonathan Bornstein (Tigres), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
midfielders – Alejandro Bedoya (rebro), Brian Carroll (Columbus Crew), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
forwards – Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Teal Bunbury (Kansas City Wizards), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)
*FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman, who will lead the club Sunday in the Western Conference final against the Galaxy at Home Depot Center, was voted the 2010 MLS Coach of the Year, the league announced today.
Dallas boasted a 19-game unbeaten streak in MLS play at one point this season en route to the club’s first playoff appearance since 2007.
*MLS has announced the timing and procedure for the combine set for Jan. 8-11 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., two days before the SuperDraft in Baltimore.
The list of participating players will be announced in December.
From the MLS press release:
“The 2011 MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas will include four rounds and 72 overall selections. Vancouver Whitecaps FC will have the first overall selection in the 2011 SuperDraft while the Portland Timbers will select second. The next eight selections are from teams that did not qualify for the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs beginning with the team with fewest 2010 regular season points (3 points per win, one point per tie). The remaining eight positions are ranked by fewest regular season points among the teams that were eliminated in the same round of the MLS Cup playoffs.”
Finally, your transfer rumor of the day (stop me if you’ve heard this one before). Yawn.
Landon Donovan’s year in review
Landon Donovan: Man on the run (AP Photo).
Associated Press Sports Writer Ronald Blum filed this story on Landon Donovan after today’s media teleconference ahead of Sunday’s Western Conference final against Dallas at Home Depot Center:
NEW YORK (AP) — Landon Donovan needed to push himself to stay motivated when he returned to the Galaxy after the World Cup.
The 28-year-old midfielder, coming off a loan earlier this year to Everton, was the best
American player at the tournament in South Africa, where he scored against Slovenia and
Algeria.Because of Major League Soccer’s schedule that runs from March to November, he returned to league play with virtually no break.
“Physically you have to get your body to a place where you’re able to withstand the rest of the year. I had to be smart about it,” he said Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s Western
Conference final. “That part of it was touch and go.”For Donovan, the mental part was more challenging.
“In the past, it would have been difficult for me because you go from playing in front of
40,000, 50,000, 60,000, and in games that are literally the most meaningful games in your
career, and you come back to the middle of the season that you’ve been a part of for eight or nine years,” he said. “There can be a tendency to have a letdown. But for me, playing soccer is deeper than that now. It doesn’t mean every week that I’m perfect and I bring the perfect effort every time. But I try to be completely committed every time I step on
the field now.”Donovan scored two goals in 13 matches during a 10-week loan to Everton, helping the Toffees beat Chelsea and Manchester United, and draw against Arsenal. Everton manager David Moyes appears open to having Donovan return.
“I’ll have to think about all that in the offseason,” Donovan said.
Donovan had seven goals and a league-leading 16 assists with the Galaxy this year, playing in 24 of 30 regular-season games. With English midfielder David Beckham gaining
fitness in his return from a torn Achilles’ tendon, the Galaxy are the favorite to win their first league title since 2005.Because of the MLS playoffs, Donovan will miss the United States’ exhibition at South Africa next Wednesday, the final game of the year for the Americans.
For now. Donovan’s focus is on MLS.
“Every team we’ve played probably over the last 20 games in this league has given us
everything they have,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “That’s been both good and bad. It’s bad because if we’re not ready to play, we don’t get the kind of result we want.But the good part is we’re finally focused and understand the kind of effort and approach to have each and every game.”
It’s been a long year for Donovan, with many high-profile games. Perhaps too many, but that’s behind him now.
“Honestly, it was a challenge for me because the easy way would have been to say, you know what, I’ve had a great year, I went to Everton, things went pretty well there, I had a good World Cup, who cares about the rest of the year?” he said. “That was a challenge that I wanted to take on and make sure that I kept driving this team forward and got us
back to the playoffs and got us into the position we’re in Sunday.”
Galaxy-Dallas teleconference call highlights
FC Dallas Coach Schellas Hyndman and captain Daniel Hernandez and Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena and captain Landon Donovan were represented on the calls today ahead of Sunday’s Western Conference title game at Home Depot Center.
Here are a few of the more interesting perspectives.
*I asked Arena how top scorer Edson Buddle was after he was subbed in Sunday’s game against Seattle with what looked like a potential injury:
“He just got kicked on that one foul with (Patrick) Ianni, but he’s fine, he trained today, and he’s ready to go.”
*Both Arena and Donovan said the honor of hosting Sunday’s Western Conference final is insufficient reward for slogging through 30 games and winning the regular season title.
Neither offered suggestions for specific improvements in the MLS playoff format, however:
“We need to do a better job of educating our ownership,” Arena said, adding that franchise owners need to lobby the league for a change. “A lot of us at this point believe there should be a greater reward for being regular season champions.”
Here’s Hyndman on the value of goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, statistically the best goalkeeper in MLS this season, to his team after he was let go by the Wizards:
“Whatever happened in Kansas happened in Kansas and we’ve never talked about it,” he said, observing that Hartman was brought in as the No. 2 goalkeeper behind Dario Sala.”
“He embraced it. He prepared. He’s at his best right now. … He’s a wonderful shot stopper. I don’t think people recognize how much he really adds to this team — his communication skills and his organizational skills — he just makes FC Dallas better. Now that he’s back (from injury) the team is playing with so much more confidence.”
Here’s Hyndman on whether the Galaxy have a psychological advantage over Dallas after beating them in the last game of the regular season at Home Depot center (and earlier in the year, in Dallas, too):
“In that game we didn’t play Kevin Hartman, in that game we didn’t play Daniel Hernandez and in that game we didn’t play Ugo Ihemelu until late in the game when there was an injury. We were really thinking about our next game (in the playoffs against Real Salt Lake) and I didn’t want to risk any of our players.”
And here’s Hernandez on the same subject:
“Everybody is aware they beat us twice this year, but as players it doesn’ t bother us at all. As a team, we’ve done a great job of concentrating on our next opponent each week …. We’ve just done a really good job of focusing on the next game.”
Tuesday Kicks: December Club America exhibition in Carson scheduled & more
*Well, they had to find some way to generate a little cash over the holidays now that InterLiga has gone the way of the dodo, I guess.
It’s being called “a new tradition of playing a holiday friendly at Home Depot Center prior to the start of the Mexican club soccer season” for Club America. Which is a way better title (but a bit less honest) than calling it a “new winter tradition of extracting as much cash from the local soccer public for a meaningless game as we can.”
Tickets starting at $20 go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Nov. 18 for the game against the Guatemalan national team set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 29. Former Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz is expected to play for the Central American nation.
It’s the 11th time Club America has played in Carson in just seven years. It’s Guatemala’s sixth match at the HDC. Wow, that’s more games than Chivas USA showed up for this year at the same stadium.
*And here’s something else to look forward to: the inaugural MLS Re-Entry Draft.
*The Galaxy’s Juninho and Donovan Ricketts are up for MLS Goal of the Year and Save of the Year, respectively.
*Meanwhile, eat this up: Food Network show “Private Chefs of Beverly Hills” will prepare an “international themed menu” (and hopefully they’ll get to eat it, too) for Galaxy Assistant Coach Cobi Jones and players Donovan Ricketts, Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzlez, Dema Kovalenko, Tristan Bowen, Edson Buddle and Mike Magee on tonight’s episode, which airs at 9 o’clock.
Tuesday’s column: Galaxy staying focused on their road to redemption
You’d think a team coached by a soccer mind of the caliber of Bruce Arena and starring such exceptional talents as David Beckham and Landon Donovan would have nothing to prove, to themselves or anyone else.
You’d be wrong.
Read more in today’s column here.
Monday Kicks: USWNT stays alive in WCQ & more
U.S. 3 Costa Rica 0
The easy part:
Now comes the tricky part: beating Italy.
The 2010 NCAA Tournament bracket was released this afternoon.
Local highlights include:
*Long Beach State’s reward for beating Santa Clara Friday in the opening round? Meeting the winner of No. 1 Stanford-Sacramento State Sunday.
*UCLA plays BYU Friday.
*USC meet Illinois (13-4-1) Friday for a shot at the second round Sunday against either No. 4 seeded Notre Dame (15-2-2) or New Mexico (12-2-5).
*Notable: Loyola Marymount’s Rafael Baca of Lawndale was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week after scoring two goals for the third time in his college career in a 2-1 win over Portland last weekend; Pepperdine sophomore forward Callie Payetta of Huntington Beach was similarly named West Coast Conference’s Player of the Week after scoring two goals in a 3-2 win over Santa Clara last weekend.
Updated
Locals selected by Coach Thomas Rongen for two U.S. Under-20 exhibition games at a Georgia tournament against Colombia on Nov. 26 and Mexico on Nov. 28 include:
defender Bryan De La Fuente (Chivas USA; Bell), midfielders Moises Orozco (Tigres; Oxnard) and Cesar Zamora (Chivas USA; Sylmar) and forward Tristan Bowen (Galaxy; Van Nuys)
Long Beach State wins Big West & more
*But first, a programming note – ESPN will belatedly televise a U.S. CONCACAF World Cup qualifying game today after the shock loss by the U.S. Women’s National Team to Mexico that has made qualifying for Germany in next year’s World Cup much more complicated.
The 3 p.m. third-place game against Cost Rica the U.S. must win to qualify for a playoff against Italy will be shown on ESPN2. The U.S. beat Costa Rica 4-0 earlier in the tournament.
Striking gold: Senior defender Bo Rael celebrates her gamewinner Sunday against the Anteaters (Photo by Staff Photographer Jeff Gritchen).
*Long Beach State’s first-ever conference title came with a 1-0 win Sunday over favorites UC Irvine.
“This is the biggest win in program history,” LBSU coach Mauricio Ingrassia said.
Long Beach State (14-5-2) learns its NCAA Tournament opponent at 1:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
*Other teams awaiting the outcome of the NCAA Tournament draw today include:
*UCLA, which saw junior Sydney Leroux score twice and win a free kick that led to the third goal as the Bruins (12-7-1) beat Arizona State 3-0 in their regular season finale. Leroux has a team-leading dozen goals on the year.
*USC (12-5-3), which drubbed Arizon State 5-0 Sunday to finish third in the Pac-10.
*The Cal State Dominguez Hills men lost the CCAA title.
*The Loyola Marymount men (11-5-2, 7-2-1 WCC) reclaimed a share of top spot in the West Coast Conference standings, overcoming a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 victory at Gonzaga Sunday in Spokane. LMU pulled level with goals 48 seconds apart and won the game in the 76th minute. The victory gives LMU 22 points, level with Santa Clara with two games remaining.
*The UCLA men (13-4-1, 7-2-0 in the Pac-10) defeated Oregon State 3-0 Sunday to remain in the hunt for the Pac-10 title, just one point behind first-place California.
From the UCLA press release:
The Golden Bears could clinch the conference title with a win over Stanford on Thursday, but a California tie or loss would put UCLA in position to win the conference with a win at San Diego State on Saturday.