The Soccer Thread (Version 8)

It's a hard job to have for two cycles and if you are as arrogant as Klinsi, you need to be right about your tactics and get your team ready to play.

I didn't mind him leaving Landon out (although I think he never should have brought him to camp). He whiffed by making Dempsey captain instead of Bradley and we never settled on a backline.

 

Bottom line, Arena should be able to squeeze 16 points out of the next eight qualifiers. The talent is certainly there to do that. Some of MLS' best might actually get a chance, too.

 

I wonder what his take will be on the German contingent.

 

I think @Webster had it right - Klinsmann was fine enough for one cycle, but the rah-rah shit got old and he had to rely on his tactical acumen, which is nearly nil (Jögi Löw was always the brains of the operation in 2006). I think a lot of people got tired of having their intelligence insulted (MLS being first of these). Arena should be good enough for now, though since the Cup is in Europe, we'll probably suck anyway.

 

Montreal embarrassing MLS as the first leg of the Eastern Conference final at the Big O is delayed because the penalty areas were too narrow.

 

Another great moment in the history of that vaunted building.

 

Tip of the cap to Steven Gerrard, who is apparently hanging up the boots with an eye for coaching.

I'm not a Liverpool fan, but that man had an RPG attached to his right leg. This goal is one of my favorites of all time, and was No. 1 on NEITHER of the compilations I saw on YouTube.

Also, props for being the subject of one of the better terrace songs AND maybe the best terrace mockery song I have ever heard.

 

Batshit ending to Swansea-Palace. Swans score 3 to go up 3-1 with around 20 to go, then Palace scores 3 in a row to go up 4-3 near the end. And then Swansea gets 2 goals in injury time to win the game and Bob Bradley's first win.

 

Plane carrying Brazilian football team crashes short of the runway in Colombia. There appear to be fatalities but also survivors. Plane Carrying Soccer Team From Brazil Crashes in Colombia

 

The Sexual Abuse Scandal in English Soccer Is Like Penn State on a Larger Scale

I feel weird complaining about any other aspects of it, but as a journalist, I was really bothered by the way this story was written. There's a growing pedophilia scandal in the game and you spend the first third of your story discussing a man who's not connected?

 

I think that someone ran a Google search, came up with the chants and then thought that he had a hook to the story. He was wrong.