All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

kick-off is slated for 7:30.

 

Cool, half an hour pregame.

 

Love the idea of a pregame.

I guess David Beckham was making his Galaxy debut tonight.

Oh, he wasn't?

THEN WHY CAN'T THEY STOP FUCKING TALKING ABOUT A GUY WHO WON'T BE HERE UNTIL JULY?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Especially when Cobi Jones, longtime MLS and Galaxy stalwart, alltime US leader in international appearances, is doing his retirement tour this year. Take a moment to honor a dude who has done so much for US soccer (yes, more than the lauded Reyna, who has spent half his career injured, and all of it NOT being a marquee name in the US).

But everything is "Beckham,, beckham, beckham." This will bite them in the ass as the nearly league-wide non-use of the Beckham Rule continues. They are putting WAY too many eggs in the Beckham basket. And they're handing the critics fuel, so they can wonder loudly why he can't dominate when he does get here.

Which is in July. So maybe they can actually just talk about MLS and the actual game until then? Or they can continue this, with the "soccer's time has COME!!!" and "you're a fan, you just don't know it yet!!!!!!!!!!" ad campaigns. Stop trying to cram the game down people's throats, ESPN.

Please.

 

There is wa-haaaaaayyyy too much diving in MLS. And I wouldn't even begin to suggest the players aren't to blame. But tonight's ref for Hoops-Beckhams is a perfect example of why it really happens so much. This guy has no control of the game, and he seems to be trying to compensate for that by blowing the whistle on positional moves. Just called a foul on Ruiz, one of the only players in red and white who can be considered a supreme talent, for a move that EVERY SINGLE MIDFIELDER MAKES on a regular basis, stepping in front of an oncoming marker and using his body to open a lane for the ball to go through. Absolutely HORRENDOUS.

 

RBNY facing miserable weather on Sunday for the home opener. The forecast says that there will be rain and there may be 60 mph winds. This will be the third straight home opener with awful weather.

 

Yeah, I'm not too keen on that. However, last year's opener was a blast despite the bad weather. Two years ago, not so much.

 

Pastor, Webster, other RBNY faithful,

I hope you guys are having a grand ol' time out there in the rain. I was out there interviewing fans for an hour, but now I'm in the press box with work to do!

Gotta love Clint Mathis' bright orange shoes!

 

That was a sweet goal by N.Y. The goalie didn't even move.

 

I wimped out -- I was outside for a few minutes in the morning and it was awful. Our grand plans for a big opening day tailgate were cancelled a few days ago and I'm getting to old to sit outside in the freezing rain for two hours. Cletus looked good.

 

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Jair Marrufo was in a bad mood today.

 

It's nice to see the English annoucers who did the Blackburn-Chelsea FA Cup semifinal on FSC channeling the ESPN drones who beat us over the head, shoulders, knees and toes with Yankees-Red Sox.

I mean, if they rooted any harder for Chelsea, they'd of morphed into those Fan Zone guys who do the games midweek.

Chelsea is 30 minutes away from their dream match with Manchester United at New Wembley... Can Chelsea hold on and claim their date with Manchester United... And on and on and on.

Too bad nobody wearing Blackburn red bothered to mark Michael Ballack in the 109th minute. Not only would I have relished listening to these announcers worm their way out of the verbal corner they painted themselves in if Blackburn won (and they controlled the entire second half and a chunk of ET), I was enjoying watching Abramovich look like he swallowed a bad olive and couldn't plotz it out.

 

Anyone ever watch Fox Football Fone-In on Fox Soccer Channel? It's a real low-tech show, but it's not bad -- refreshing to watch two informed guys talk EPL, CL and more.