All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

Don't know if anyone saw this, but ...

This sucks. I'm not a Chelski fan (other than enjoying watching them -- particularly Petr Cech -- play), but this is awful.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/02/nhelicopter302.xml

A personal touch to a similar story. Four years ago, a good sportswriter buddy of mine (and fellow Red Sox fan) had an invite to fly up to Oakland for the Red Sox-A's playoff. He said he'd get back to the person who invited him (a PR person he worked with), but got busy, flaked and never did.

On the way back, his friend's plane crashes in a field in Chino, about 50 minutes east of LA.

My buddy wrote a great column on it, one of the best things he's ever written (and he's written three books).

 

That was ugly for my Red Devils today. Vidic wasn't ready and Hienze is toast. Props to AC Milan and Kaka -- they deserved it.

 

That's incredibly sad.

 

And here I thought they only got in the tournament because they won their appeal of their ban for match fixing . . . . .

 

That was Heinze's fault. He had a clear chance to send that one upfield, and he chickened out when a defender was closing and basically left it to Brown -- inside the box! -- and said, "Here, it's your problem."
Heinze was terrible in both legs.
Terrible.

 

If you are in Philly (which I have no idea other than your support of the Iggles), I would suggest The Dark Horse Pub. All reports say it is excellent.

 

I think that Heinze is a tough, smart defender. But he simply doesn't have the wheels to play at the highest level. More than anything else, the injuries to Evra and G. Neville were the biggest killer to United -- they had no speed on the defensive flanks.

 

Heinze may not have made the best move, but Brown could have simply launched the ball downfield. Instead, he decided to fall over and spoon the ball down the middle of the pitch, leading directly to the goal.

 

It was a wet pitch. He slipped. What was Heinze's excuse for putting the onus on Brown to clear it?

 

Well get the right studs in your boots then. Don't take a touch and get clever, clear the ball.

 

Not scrolling backwards to check and see if this has already been posted ...

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660217315,00.html

Real Salt Lake dumps coach Ellinger and promotes player Jason Kreis as new head coach.

 

Not a major shock, he was on a short leash to start the season anyway. Losing the rivalry game to Colorado on Monday wasn't going to help matters.

Ellinger stays on as technical director, for whatever that's worth.

My questions would be: What does this mean for Adu? He was brought in because of the relationship he and Ellinger shared on the U-17 squad. And is Kreis the first true player/manager in MLS?