The Soccer Thread (Version 7.0)

The offsides call was borderline, but wrong. The no call on the penalty was egregious.

 

I, for one, feel nothing but sorrow and sympathy for Manchester City. When will good fortune ever smile upon that club?

 

I haven't seen the play yet since the game was on FSC+, but Newcastle doesn't like the Latics much right now.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/premier-league-managers-mcmanaman-sort-boy-210327264.html

 

Greek national team bans AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis for life after giving Nazi (fascist) salute after scoring a goal Saturday. Katidis' biggest crime, though, are the horrible tattoos.

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1378481/greece-nationals-ban-giorgos-katidis-for-life-after-nazi-salute?cc=5901

 

I'm wondering -- does his manager think that he's not that sort of player?

 

It was nasty. Definitely a straight red-caliber tackle.

 

Roster for the Costa Rica and Mexico games:

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION (World Cup qualifying Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa - 5/3 SO), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire – 0/0), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake – 0/0)

DEFENDERS (6): Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake – 0/0), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City – 0/0), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City – 6/0), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy – 1/0), Clarence Goodson (Brondby – 5/0), Justin Morrow (San Jose Earthquakes – 0/0)

MIDFIELDERS (9): DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla – 26/6), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake – 2/0), Michael Bradley (Roma – 20/5), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana – 1/0), Maurice Edu (Bursaspor – 10/0), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04 – 6/0), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht – 13/0), Brek Shea (Stoke City – 2/0), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City – 4/0)

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar – 18/6), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna – 2/0), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur – 27/11), Herculez Gomez (Santos – 6/2), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC – 12/10)

 

Oh Arena, how your caustic ways delight me.

ESPN The Magazine ‏@ESPNMag

Bruce Arena on people who watch EPL but not @MLS: "They're pretty stupid. MLS is like any league: There are good games and bad games."

Bradley should be captain now. Nice defenders. Good luck, Guzan.

 

Hard to quibble too much with that roster. Parkhurst might have been a nice addition, if only to have someone with double-digit caps on the back line, and you could make a case for including Torres in the midfield. Front line looks nice, at least.

 

I got a sinking feeling when I saw that roster this morning.

 

Gotta put everything into the home game. They'll lose 3-0 at Azteca.

 

Good grief, 17 caps among the goalkeepers and defenders. Can Altidore, Johnson or Dempsey come up with a hat trick Friday?

I like Matt Besler, but I don't think he's quite ready for the pressures the next two games bring. But I anticipate that, should the USMNT make the World Cup, that Besler could be starting by then.