Wednesday Kicks: Ochoa's signing with MLS confirmed & more
*As regular readers of this blog learned here exclusively on Tuesday, Riverside Poly High product Sammy Ochoa has signed with MLS and Chivas USA is in pole position to sign him.
*Galaxy midfielder Chris Birchall has been called up to the Trinidad & Tobago National Team for its upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Barbados and Bermuda. The Galaxy, already without Irish international Robbie Keane for the Labor Day contest against Sporting Kansas City, won't have Birchall for that game either.
He has 36 caps for his national team. Here's more from the Galaxy press release:
Trinidad and Tobago will open their 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign on Friday, Sept. 2 when they host Bermuda at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. They will be back in action again four days later on Tuesday, Sept. 6 when they take on Barbados in Bridgetown. These are the first of six games that the Soca Warriors will play in Group B of the Second Round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying with future games against Barbados and Bermuda to be played in October as well as two games against Guyana in November.
*Los Angeles-based Fox Soccer Channel, already in in negotiations with Glasgow Rangers to televise the club's games in the U.S now the club employs three Americans, has snatched up the broadcast rights to the Europa League:
NYON, Switzerland (AP) -- UEFA says Fox Sports has purchased the U.S. broadcast rights for the Europa League in the 2012-15 seasons, replacing DirecTV.UEFA did not disclose what Fox paid for the three-year deal. Fox recently lost the rights to MLS to NBC.
UEFA says Fox Soccer Channel will broadcast at least two matches live each week that games are scheduled. Fox Soccer Plus will show live matches up the quarterfinals stage.
Fox Sports recently acquired rights to show UEFA's marquee club competition, the Champions League, in a three-season deal through 2015.
*Finally, are you bored with all the ties in MLS this season? You are not alone.
Personally, I like the idea of awarding teams zero points for scoring zero goals in 0-0 draws as a partial solution.
What say you?
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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.
the idea of awarding zero points for a 0-0 draw is nothing new, but I'd approve it.
It doesn't mess with the game itself (still 90 mins, 2 halves, goals = same size and all that), but it simply forces teams to be more active and take a bit more risk.
However it doesn't prevent teams from "parking the bus", playing with one upfront or just hoping for the lucky punch and all.
The last change (3 points for a win) were introduced around 1994 (at least USA 94 World Cup was the 1st to award 3 pts for a win).
You can't legislate morality and you can't legislate wins. No gimmicky rule change to affect performance will be accepted by fans in this country trying hard to join the global soccer community - remember that Nick?
This league is still evolving and will not find it's rhythm for a while yet. Patience is needed while the teams try to figure out the formula for success on and off the field amidst the organized chaos that MLS still is. Fans are sophisticated enough to protest against their own teams if they don't take the competitions seriously as we saw in NE and NY earlier this year but no one is asking for rule changes and none is required.
We legislate morality all time (a violent tackle with intent to injure gets a red card), and we can legislate increased incentives for goals. I like the idea of no goals = no points for anybody. Go for it.
You can legislate all you want but you won't change behavior. Any forced incentive will fundementally alter the nature of the game as we know it. Awarding points for goals, counting corner kicks or the 35 yard offside lines and all the other non-sensical ideas kicked about for decades in this country make for hybrid soccer. It's a travesty of justice to not award a hard fought for point of a 0-0 tie in the 100 plus degree of Texas summer as compared to a sloppy 2-2 draw on the rain soaked rugs of the pacific northwest.
Maybe we should have a panel of 3 judges at each game to award style points to the team that tried to play the more attractive game. I'll go for that. Or maybe the fans can text in their favorite team. Sounds familiar?