The Soccer Thread (Version 7.0)

The report I read said some markets will get the station immediately and all markets will have it over the next month. Check 598 when you get home.

 

Time Warner added beIN some time around the first of the year. Also get FSC and FSC+ in HD. I'm wondering about the fate of the latter two channels once NBC Sports takes over the PL contract.

 

Deuce is on the stretch run of his career, and I've never seen him as a leader type. Bradley is a red ass, not afraid to get in dudes' faces, and can be captain for the next two cycles.

 

I think it is pretty clear that FSC is done once they lose the EPL. It will be converted to an ESPN2 status for Fox Sports 1.

 

Michael Owen is retiring after this season. My favorite player of all time, ever since his 1998 World Cup goal against Argentina as a 17-year-old.

Injuries will dim his legacy, and kept him from accomplishing all he could have, but he was a great, great player when healthy. I hope he gets some chances with Stoke. He can score, and that's one thing Stoke has a real problem doing.

http://www.michaelowen.com/

 

Someone doesn't like the new coach.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2013-03-19/jurgen-klinsmann-us-mens-soccer-coach-national-team-usa-american-world-cup-2013

 

Fox will likely purchase games off of NBC similarly to how ESPN purchases games off of FOX.

 

The current climate is ripe for this kind of story. The inevitable 1-2 (or very possibly, 0-2-1) start to the Hex will increase the bleatings.

Must admit to some amusement, since Klinsmann was widely seen as a panacea for our national program.

Jeff Carlisle with mostly throwaway cheese about how U.S. can get back on track:

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/soccerusa/id/1829?cc=5901

 

Or a whole lotta someones. Maybe the most surprising thing about the story is that it's completely unsurprising. Pretty much every complaint was flagged up years ago, from the lack of tactics and over-reliance on fitness to his unwillingness to accept blame.

 

Assuming there is a lot of unhappy players in the national team pool (and I believe there are), if the USMNT falters the next two games, will US Soccer fire Klinsmann?

 

Can't imagine them doing that, especially with no obvious quality successor in the pipeline. The Hex is long.

But if Klinsmann's tenure were to fail so spectacularly, I would enjoy a hearty laugh at the expense of those who felt he would be some kind of magical panacea for the national team's various issues.

 

The United States' soccer problems run much, much deeper than with the national team. I appreciate someone recognizing that and wanting to do something about it, but I don't see any sort of solution on the horizon.