Ghosts of Joe Slovo

Folks, here's the link to my latest effort over at Soccer By Ives. (That's pronounced "Eye-ves" - it's Peruvian.)

The Galaxy lost at home to last year's worst team. Enough said.

Except I said this, to start things off:

Ugh.

Last week I said, "[A]ny team that can string together any sequence of passes in the midfield and has even half a striker will be big trouble."

I rest my case.

The fan trivia question at halftime (correct answer gets you a gift certificate for $25 in auto parts!) was, "When Cobi Jones scored the Galaxy's first ever goal exactly 12 years ago, what other current Galaxy player was also on the field?" The answer? Greg Vanney. Here's my trivia question for this past Sunday's game. "Which Galaxy player was beaten on every one of Toronto's goals?" You get one chance.

There were some bright spots on Sunday. The Landon Donovan – David Beckham connection is just coming into its own. If they both stay healthy and can deal with the disruption of international duty, they are going to give opposing defenses fits. Ely Allen was loads better this game than he was last week. Sean Franklin gave me no reason to wish for Abel Xavier or Troy Roberts to come off the bench.

Kick ass and put it in the net.

Faithful readers!

I am pleased to report that my first posting on Soccer By Ives, one of the biggest Major League Soccer-focuses blogs out there, has posted my first weekly article.

Here's how it starts.

I watched the thoroughly enjoyable, if not always compelling, LA-SJ game with one thought just lurking below all the action: "It's a really good thing San Jose plays like an expansion team." I loved watching the team play, especially after that mess in Colorado. But any team that can string together any sequence of passes in the midfield and has even half a striker will be big trouble.

On the one hand Thursday night's game showed a glimmer of what a Beckham – Donovan partnership can deliver; it was no accident that all the scoring came with them involved. On the other hand, if Alan Gordon is the other option up top with Carlos Ruiz injured, I'm getting flashbacks to 2007. Without the benefits of a misspent youth.

20 comments so far (and only 4 from me!).

Kick ass and put it in the net.

So, as my loyal readers know, I am something of a futbol junkie, with the perverse twist of being a futbol junkie for the domestic US-Canadian top flight league, Major League Soccer.

I've subjected both of you to many posts on this subject, but you can now rest easy on that score.

The owner of one of the biggest futbol blogs in the Unites States, Ives Galarcep, put out a call recently on Soccer By Ives, for 14 weekly correspondents to follow each of the MLS teams during the season, writing from a fan's perspective. I, who's obesession runs into such esoterica as actually playing the damn official MLS Fantasy soccer game, put in an application and a writing sample. And what do you know? Ives, who must have been suffering from a mild stroke or passing dementia, picked me to blog about the LA Galaxy.

So, starting next Tuesday you could be able to go to the site and see my 250-500 word musings on the beautiful game.

Kick ass and put it in the net!

While I was away...

I've been sporadic lately as work has picked up and I've done other things with my time, like catch the end of the MLS season and try to keep current with the New Yorker (damn you good writing and the time it takes to get through you!).

So I'm going to take a page from cherylmaddalena's recent entries and just do a list of new and notes.

I'm Prince of the Geeks
You all will be indifferent to discover that I finished 135th out of about 35,000 in the official Major League Soccer Fantasy Soccer game. This gets me a prize. (I also finished 9th in my own division of about 270 people.) In the past 5 years I've been doing this I've gotten quite a stash of MLS junk: an All-Star poster, an extra-large MLS t-shirt that just says "MLS" on the front, a mini-soccer ball, a copy of FIFA '06 for my PC, and this year I'll be getting.... another mini-ball! Clearly I do this for the swag.

Spoken Word is Back in My Life
Found this thing in the neighborhood adjacent to mine to the northeast (Atwater Village) called Chi Chi's Word Parlor, which is a spoken word salon type-deal. They put 8 people on stage, two of whom to an improve writing exercise, and they read short 3-5 minutes stories on a theme picked out a month in advance. Anyone can submit and then a committee decides who gets on stage. They do it in a community theater that seats about 50. After the show they have wine, cheese, and dessert for everyone. Fun! Very low-key, very friendly, with quality writing. Reminds me a lot of the Berkeley Slam, except, you know, not a slam, it only lasts an hour and everyone is white hipsters. Which is about as close to a tribe as I'm going to get so I've started volunteering with them. I'm going to try to talk them into lengthening the show and doing a Slam once, just to see who the slam format can be married to what they are already doing.

My Cat Rules
My cat has taken to joining Tyche and I for dinner by sitting in one of the unoccupied seats and either surveying her domain with her head poking up just over the tabletop of engaging in an aggressive session of licking. I've decided that the cat day can be divided into the following activities: begging for food, racing around like crazy playing with stray cough drop wrappers, licking, staring out the window, sleeping, more licking, more sleeping, licking until its time to sleep, and begging for food. Yet each day seems so new and fresh to her. Clearly I need more cat perspective in my life.

Exercise Rules
So I've been riding my bike to work for over a year now, averaging probably 3 days a week if you add it all up. I've noticed something about bodies and exercise, something I found earthshattering, but not in the comet-smacks-the-earth-and-kills-all-the-dinosaurs kind of way, more in the earthworm and mole kind of way. Your body gets attuned to the activity. Case in point. I just took a two week lay-off from the bike because of soccer games to attend, late nights to work, travel to DC, and the fact that my bike dropped a crank, which makes it hard to pedal. So two days back in the saddle and I have much more energy and I need about 2 hours less sleep per night. Which is about where I was before I took my siesta. Which is fabulous, I have to say, and a bit surprising. I sure wasn't expecting the nearly instantaneous reset to where I had been.

Side note: As of last Friday morning I've now lost 20 pounds since the summer of 2005. The secret is: eat less and exercise more. Not quite. Eat right and exercise more. No white flour products, no starches (potatoes and white rice), fewer desserts, no processed food, no refined sugarm no soda, no juice. Lots of whole grains, foods rich in antioxidants, fruits, and vegetables.

On balance. Yes I eat dessert, but maybe twice a month. Yes I eat flour tortillas, but maybe 1-2 times a week. But the pasta is whole wheat, the rice is brown, the bread is multi-grain and so is the homemade granola, which is sweetened with honey. And I ride my bike 10 miles a day 3-5 times a week. And it took two years. And I'll probably gain 5 pounds between now and New Years.

Bay Area for Thanksgiving
Tyche and I are officially going to be in the Bay for the Thanksgiving weekend staying with bexrousse and hopefully seeing as many of you as we possibly can in that time. We are on a mission. Except for Tyche who will be in a library for the daylight hours. We have lots of feelers out, but nothing concrete yet, except the list of people we want to see. Maybe if we are lucky we'll get in town earlier enoug to catch the Berkeley slam on Wednesday night. Here's hopin'.

Kick ass and take names

I've been thinking a lot about stuff lately, he said, displaying a keen sense for the vauge and ambiguous. Here's the guide: politics, futbol, and con artists.

First, politics: Here's you superstat of the moment. If, in the 2006 election cycle, non-whites had been registered and voted at the same rates as whites, there would have been 7.5 million more voters in the electorate. The context for this is that people think bringing in 2 million or so new voters in an election cycle (above who you would expect to enter under the current rates of entry and exit) is a Really Big Deal. Bringing in 7.5 million would be mind-blowing.

Why does this matter? These voters generally favor one party over another. You can guess which. This is why the whole freak-out by the Department of Justice in 04 and 06, (illegally) using the machinery of the US Govt. to suppress voters from just these demographics, push for voter ID laws, and generally attack groups like ACORN as engaging in "voter fraud" is so important. The whole Attorneygate deal hinged on people not being zealous enough in attacking so-called fraud. Turns out there was no fraud. Turns out it was an effort to keep certain people from voting. And those numbers, while large, are nowhere near 7.5 million. More like 500K-1 Million, spread strategically over the country.

So what would happen if you DID bring in 7.5 million of these voters. I can tell you the GOP has no interest in finding out.


Next, futbol: The LA Galaxy are on a 4-game win streak after having their worst season ever to date. Ugly wins, achieved thorugh grit, will, and teamwork. Not so very much fun to watch, except that, as a fan, knowing they have to win 7 in a row to make the playoffs, every minute has tension and excitement. I'll miss the season when its over.


After that, con artists: How many of you have been conned? And how many times? I was thinking about this earlier in the week, when a guy in a not-so-new-but-not-so-old Mercedes motioned me over from the crosswalk at 37th and Flower and gave me a sob story about being from the Valley (Encino) and forgetting his wallet and needing cash to fill the tank to get to the next place on his itinerary. Maybe. Maybe not.

This situation is a dilemma that in my case relies more on my own self-image than the actual circumstances in front of my eyes. Does the guy need gas? I can't verify it. Is he just messing with me to get cash to do something he thinks he can't get cash for if he's honest? (AKA "Is this guy a crack fiend preying on my charity to get high and support the terrorist economy?") Maybe. Do I care? Not really. I want to live in a world where someone in need can walk up to someone else and say, "Yo, I need cash to fix an immediate need." and the other person will say, "Here's something to help you out." I want to be that guy. But I'm not interested in separating out the "worthy" from the "unworthy".

So I've decided to categorize each of these encounters not as a charity transaction, but an an entertainment event. I generally ask myself, "What is this story worth?" Based entirely on subjective and ever-changing criteria, of course. How well rehearsed is the story? How smooth is the delivery? How much does the dude smell? How much pathos is involved? Are their kids? What kind of tragedy is being invoked? Is there self-deprication invovled? What is the level of obsequiosness? How much am I being assumed to be a clueless white man devoid of the street smarts given to your average 8th grade survivor of middle school?

Based on my own interpretation of the answers to these questions and the level of the "ask", I generally come up with a dollar figure that satisfies us both. And I don't have to worry about where or how the money will be spent or whether or not I'm being taken by a con artist or a street hustler. It was an equal tranaction. I got a show and the dude got some cash. End of story.

This also got me thinking about all the times I really did get conned out of what I would consider to be "real" money, most of which also played on my own self-image. But I was less experienced and more naive, so I got hooked and reeled in nice and easy like. But those are stories for another posting.

Kick ass and take names.

I get riled up about sports reporting about once every millenia or so.

So as far as this thousand years is concerned I'm done.

Yesterday LA Times Sports section columnist TJ Simers had a Page 2 commentary that took on David Beckham, the Los Angeles Galaxy, and their parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG). While I'm not necessarily a defender of mega corporations (okay I'm NEVER a defender of mega corporations) this piece did get my goat.

Mostly because Simers usually writes on the NFL, NBA, and MLB and has never, to my knowledge, written a word about soccer in the US. Not. One. Word. So when he does take it on, he starts with Beckham and his injuries. Okay, fair game, but then instead of talking about how the internal dynamics of the team is affected or how idiotic the management of the season has been or the schedule or the personalities or ANYTHING that might be even a little bit relevant to ANYONE who does know and care about soccer (which is what he does when he covers other sports), he prattles on about how he'd have advice about how to wear underwear. (Read the article, its' too tiring to explain here.)

So I wrote him a little letter. Here it is.

Mr. Simers,

Here's what I don't understand. People who don't understand soccer writing about soccer. Although in your defense you didn't actually talk about soccer so much as you talked about celebrity, which is, I suppose, the point of a columnist such as yourself writing here in LA LA Land.

I can't say I religiously read your columns because mostly I don't care about Kobe Bryant's hissy fits about his GM and owner's commitment to winning or about how frustrating the Dodgers' recent play is. But the difference between what you write there and what you write when your editor holds a gun to your head and says "Write about Beckham, dammit!" is that those previous columns actually took on those teams places within the sport and those teams chances during their season. They were what you might call "analysis".

But your soccer "coverage" (and believe me I'm using the term about as loosely as I can and still be writing in English) is about (1) How you can't talk to Beckham and (2) if you did talk to him you'd ask about his underwear. Oh. My. God. It is unbelievable how blessed we are to have someone who can really get to the, umm, root, of the problem, as it were, with the Galaxy this season. Honestly I don't know how my own understanding and analysis of this MLS season would have been complete without your ground-breaking, insightful, and completely respectful column. You sir, are a genuine Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim.

Far be it from me to ride to the defense of AEG since they let Alexi Lalas destroy not one, not two, but three MLS teams, but I'm not sure someone who has faced the insanity of the press in the UK and Spain is really going to have all that much trouble with a sports columnist for the LA Times who doesn't even know what position he plays.

Notwithstanding all your outstanding analysis and prognostication on the LA Galaxy and MLS, of course. I mean, that nugget on the connection between Beckham, Simon Fuller, and Ryan Seacrest was pure gold, not just for piecing together the insidious web of connections, but for noting that big time stars in have agents who help promote and shepherd their careers. Breathtaking investigative journalism. And from a columnist! I can see there is a reason why you are on Page 2!

Please, Mr. Simers. I'm actually begging you here. Stop writing about soccer. You don't know the game, you don't know the league, you don't know the Galaxy. Giving us twaddle about Beckham's underwear is what I expect from, say, The Sun or TMZ.com. Go to Chavez Canyon and make it impossible for me to park in my own neighborhood. It'll keep you out of trouble and you'll actually write about something you care about and have some decent insight into.

But seriously, please stop writing about soccer. Just stop.



Regards,

Nathan

Kick balls and put them in the net.

I went to this massive marketing event last night at the Home Depot Center, expecting substanceless hype, misplaced pomp, and a horrible horrible result on the field. To my surprise and, I think, everyone else's an actual futbol game broke out.

The LA Galaxy were playing Pachuca in their opening game of the Superliga, a North American mini-version of the Champions League. There is a group stage and then knockouts for 8 teams total in two groups of 4. Aaaaaanywaaaay - for those of you delightfully sequestered from the global media machine, especially the sports sub-genre, the Galaxy are the sub-par MLS team that just scored the most famous futboler in the world.

Pachuca, on the other hand, are the most successful team in North America over the last decade. They have won the Mexican League, the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and the Copa Sudamerica, some of them multiple times, all since 1999. In other words, they are a dynasty. The Galaxy are ... Golden Balls, Landycakes and a bunch of guys getting their asses kicked.

Well, except not so much. Certainly not last night. Last night, as I said, an actual futbol game broke out. Don't get me wrong, Pachuca was superior for the majority of the game, but the Galaxy understood where they were overmatched and slowly figured out how to contain and counterattack. They played with heart, they played with grit, and even for a few second here and there they played with flair. Mostly, though, heart and grit.

And, unlike lots of MLS games this season, they got a little lucky as well. Put it all together and you had a Galaxy victory. That's right, a win! Crazy! 2-1. Since I was hoping just for them not to look like complete ass-draggers like they did recently against UNAL Tigres and the minor league Richmond Kickers, I was not only surprised, but a bit ecstatic!

Whoo hoo! Go Galaxy.

Now, do that when league play resumes in August.

Kick balls and put them in the net.

It's kinda like this.

The whole World does This Thing. And pretty much everywhere This Thing is pretty much The Thing. Except Here. Here This Thing is just A Thing. But you are in charge of doing This Thing Here, where it is only A Thing.

You've been doing This Thing for about a dozen years and in that time This Thing has gone from Almost Totally Crap to Not Completely Crap to Half Crap/Half Decent to Mostly Decent with Occassional Crap to Decent with Momentary Flashes of Crap. Maybe even to Good with Periods of Bad But Not Crap.

In other words constant improvement with occasional forays into Laugable, Frustrating, Inexplicable, and Ill-Considered Tinkering. In the process, your work on This Thing has helped Here develop its ability to do This Thing, using the creme de la creme of the Here prdoucts of This Thing, in such a way that Here doesn't completely embarrass itself when it does This Thing with everyone else.

In the dozen years of doing this thing, most of the World, knowing Here just sees it as A Thing, has either ignored you or actively slagged you. But over the last two years the quality of This Thing has improved enough that People In The Know, have started to pay more attention to what's going on with your version of This Thing. And then just before the beginning of this year, the biggest, most famous Person In The Know, decided they wanted to be a part of This Thing Here.

All of a sudden the World decides that This Thing Here has to be paid attention to, which is mostly bad because the World is mostly made up of people who would rather slag than analyze (kind of like the people who pay attention Here who mostly don't understand and therefore slag because it is easier than conjuring up the brain power to understand). But the result is actually good.

Because remember you are now Good with Periods of Bad But Not Crap, which is an accomplishment for anywhere in a dozen years, especially in a place where This Thing is just A Thing. The best part is that for people who have been fans of your work on This Thing, now feel like they are increasingly connected to The World and, even better, feel like they are getting, in ways they really didn't imagine would happen after only a dozen years, respect.

And when the most important Person In The Know officially became a part of This Thing Here, it felt magical.

All of which is to say that I was there, live, at the first appearance of David Backham as a member of a Major League Soccer team (the Los Angeles Galaxy).

Normally, I'm not that taken with celebrity. What counts for me is what you do. But sometimes the fact of someone's celebrity can help shape the meaning of an event. Take meeting The President. Back when Clinton got caught lying about where his dipstick had been, there was debate about whether or not he should give the Commenement Address at my brother's college graduation. One side was all about barring morally unfit people from addressing the Future of America. The other was like this: It's the freakin' President of the US, come to speak at our great, but underpublicized College. Of course he should give the address. If you don't like it, do some protest or something. I was on this second side. It's the freakin' President!

So let me say how I felt when David Beckham jogged onto the field for the first time:

IT'S DAVID FREAKIN' BECKHAM!

And it's not that he's the best player and it's not that he did anything amazing on Saturday night. It's that (1) he's playing Here of all places and (2) the atmosphere in the stadium was electric. It made me feel like I was part of something AND that I wasn't wasting my time being a fan of This Thing (called, Here in the United States, Major League Soccer) because the most famous futboler of all time has decided to make the next stage of his career Here. Right  here Here, actually. Los Angeles. And he did it for the first time in front of me and 27,000 of my closest friends. Friends like TomKat and the Governator.

It felt strange. Unusual. Unfamiliar.

And then I realized what it was.

A small, nourshing helping of Respect.

It feels good.


Kick ass and Do Your Thing.

Dear Hugo,

Yes, I can definately see now the value of all your suggestions and advice over the past year, espeically after Sunday's result.

Take care and have fun in Venezuela!

Your pal,

Ricardo LaVolpe

WORK, VOTER FRAUD, VOTER SUPPRESSION AND THE GOP'S ACORN JONES
Man, work has been kicking my ass while I'm there, but luckily I've been able to escape bringing it home for a while.

My group, the Strategic Writing and Research Department (SWORD) has been doing a lot of support work for ACORN and Project Vote's Elections Adminstration program, chiefly around the information coming out about the firing of the 8 US Attorneys. Turns out that at least two were fired for not pursuing "voter fraud" vigorously enough. In other words, they didn't bring indictments against groups engaged in massive ballot stuffing and voter registration drive irregularities.

You know why? Because it doesn't it exist, that's why. Interestingly enough, though, the Department of Justice had their eyes out for both Project Vote and ACORN and even Karl Rove was pushing the NM Attorney to root out "fraud" at the insistence of the local GOP leadership that wanted the US Attorney there to investigate .... wait for it ... ACORN!

See, in 2004, ACORN submitted over 35,000 voter registration applications in New Mexico, well above the margin of victory in the state. Some of those applications were forged by people trying to defraud the organization and get paid for work they didn't do, so all of a sudden the GOP is all "oh my god they are trying to subvert the system and they must be stopped!", which is really an attempt to intimidate voters from ACORN's constituency of low-income folks and folks of color. But they claim "voter fraud".

Well, back in March, Project Vote released a study by Professor Lorraine Minnite from Barnard who concluded that there simply isn't any organized voter fraud occuring in the US and that the bulk of cases of people voting illegally comes from absentee ballots (which are more likely to be cast by older, whiter, wealthier people - people who are more likely to be Republicans). The number of people who have been convicted in the past 5 years for some kind of voting irregularity? 86. The number of votes cast since 2002 in Federal elections? Over 250 million. So there were 86 cases out of a possible 250 million. Which, I guess if you are the GOP, is a clear indication of rampant voter fraud.

Or maybe you are just using that hysteria to pass a series of laws that suppress the turnout from constituencies that you don't want to show up at the polls. Like, say, voter ID requirements, which the Eagleton Center for Politics at Rutgers has just shown depresses turnout among African-Americans by 6% and Asian-Americans by 9%. But we need to protect the system's integrity! From what? So fucking transparent.

Anyway, we've been helping PV and ACORN to make this case for the past 2 months through a series of press releasese, op-eds, and blog posting on the major liberal blogs.

WEIRD PHONE SURVEYS
Two days ago as I was winding down work, I took a call from a phone suveyer and decided to go with it, not knowing it was going to be a 20 minute call! It was all about sports. Professional sports leagues. What was my favorite (MLS), which did I think was the "most professional", whose athletes did I "most respect"? Who were the most overpaid (MLB)? (As much as possible I tried to pick Major League Soccer, but it just wasn't one of my choices. And neither was Major League Lacrosse or the W-League (womens' soccer) or even the Arena Football League - if I was them I'd be pissed.)

Anyway, at a couple of points the questions got really funny: "What percent of your head hair would you say is gray?" Umm, what? (I said 10%.) And then they started asking me about hair care products and which I was most likely to use. They also asked my how much alcohol I drink in a typical week and what my favorite beer is. Favorite beer? I LOVE beer. I'm supposed to choose? But I did. I picked Newcastle because you just can't go wrong with Newcastle. It is never the wrong choice.

They also asked my how much sports I watch on TV per week, but not which sports they are. They did NOT ask me how much sports I watch on the internet, which is where I actually do most of my sports watching since you have to have cable to watch soccer in America.

I couldn't beleive how long this damn survey took and I was particularly amused by their decision to try to find out which league's players are the most respected (or not). At a certain point I just don't give a shit about millionaire athletes and their petty battles and I don't know how to differentiate between the "respect" I have for a millionaire baskeball player vs a millionaire baseball player. Now, the young kids on the Development Contracts with Major League Soccer, who make $12,000-$18,000 a year and live 5 people to a house, like they do over at DC United, all so they can pursue their dream of making it in Major League Soccer - a league no one in this country actually cares about - THOSE kids have my respect. Hell, even a journeyman D-League player in Bakersfield or Grand Rapids or someplace like that gets some respect from me. But A-Rod? Or Barry Zito? Umm, no.

THE BECKHAM EFFECT
One last thing about sports. I recently acquired season tickets to the LA Galaxy, which plays in the league no one cares about (see above) on the theory that if I have a chance to see one of the best players in the world and the best-know player in the world, and soccer is my favorite sport, and I have the means to make it happen, then I should go ahead and do it. Even though I think the other LA team, Chivas USA, is a lot more fun to watch and has better fans.

Now the thing is about MLS - you have to really like this league and this game to follow it and you have to go way out of your way to do it. You can't just turn on ABC and see the Game of the Week. YOu must dig and scramble and dig some more and then you have to deal with other soccer fans who won't give MLS the time of day because they like only "the best" soccer - so they watch English or Spanish or German futbol exclusively. I call them Eurosnobs. Anyway, that gives you an idea of the typical MLS fan.

Until now, I guess. And you can thank David Beckham for this. World-class talent and celebrity brought to a minor league league. As if Shaquille O'Neal decided to finish his career in Italy or something. Anyway, you get a lot of new MLS fans buying season tickets and attending games, but not having a lot of knowledge.

So the guy next to me at the Galaxy season opener is one of these guys (oh lucky me for an entire season). His favorite team in Chelski (Chelsea in the EPL - owned by a Russian billionaire and the winner of the past two league championships, but sitting second this year) and his soccer intelligence is pretty good. He understands what's going on on the field.

But. But he leans over to me at one point and asks me how many substitutions they have in an MLS game. Umm. That's like asking how many strikes you get in baseball. It's the same everywhere the game is played professionally or in a FIFA-sanctioned league. It's 3. It's one of the 17 rules of the game.

Then later he expresses admiration for this tall powerful forward for FC Dallas who scores a goal against the Gals. "Is he a rookie?"

Umm, no. It's Kenny Cooper and he's been in the league for 2 years and before that he was in the Manchester United youth program AND HE JUST MADE HIS INTERNATIONAL DEBUT FOR THE US MENS NATIONAL TEAM 3 MONTHS AGO, SCORING A GOAL, EVEN! What kind of US soccer fan who knows enough about soccer to follow Chelsea DOESN'T KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT HIS OWN NATIONAL TEAM?

Aaargh! Fuck you David Beckham for surrounding me with imbeciles while I watch live professional soccer, one of my very favorite things to do.

That is all.

Kick balls and learn about the damn sport in your own country, already!

Supposedly the futbol game played between the men's national teams of the United States and Mexico last night was a "friendly" - no ramifications for any tournament or standings in any competition. But if you know anything about futbol in the US or Mexico you know there is no such thing as a friendly between these two CONCACAF powers. They are hard-fought games full of the legal equivalent of eye-gouging and finger-breaking and usually end with no show of sportsmanship or amity.

Now I could go into a long treatise about the genesis of this, bringing in the Mexican War (the Mexican museum dedicated to this chapter of history is called the Museum of Imperialism), the US' sorry futboling history, and the recent more or less complete domination of Mexico by the US (Mexico is 2-8-1 in the last 11 games and have been held scorless on American soil for the entire century so far), but suffice to say that if you are a US fan, as I am, then last night's game at the University of Phoenix in Glendale, AZ in front of about 70K fans, of whom probably 75% were fans of El Tri, was as fulfilling and fiery as a hearty bowl of Texas chilia and as sweet and rich as fresh sliced mango.

Both teams had new head coaches, the US' Bob Bradley battling furiously to remove the "interim" from his title and Mexican hero Hugo Sanchez facing his team's biggest rival in his first game as head coach. So, in addition to everything I wrote above, this game had added importance for everyone on the field. And deliciouly, the US beat a vastly more experienced Mexican side 2-0 in a game of frustration and missed chances, at least for the team in green. After a fairly even 0-0 first half, Mexico inserted 3 players at the half who really exposed the weaknesses in Bradley's makeshift back 4. For almost 20 minutes the Mexicans attacked at will and only desperate defending and world-class goaltending kept Mexico off the scoresheet.

In fact, thoughout the game Mexico looked dangerous in the attack and I was a nervous wreck about the US' wingback play. Chris Albright and Johnathan Bornstein are almost nobodies pick for starting righ and left back and Albright espeically looked shaky and outclssed. Bornstein, though, pleasantly surprised me. While he was exposed on a couple of dangerous chances, overall his positioning, toughness, and hustle were solid and his overlaps provided added punch to the US' offense. With experience he will contend for the position.

Conrad and Bocanegra combined well in the middle of the back line and Ricardo Clark and Mastroeni did a great job of shutting down the middle and connecting with the attack. Well. Clark did a better job of connecting that Pablo, but that's never been Pablo's strength. Wing play was decent, though Bobby Convey was pretty much all over the field, putting in a tremendous workrate and adding dash and flair. But he did miss a one-on-one chance with the keeper when he found himself in front of goal. His far-post shot went lower than he wanted it to, which was probably a result of coming off of injury and coming off the bench at Reading.

I was hugely happy to see Landon Donovan have a great game, something he really hasn't had in months (Italy excepted). He set up the first goal, a 52nd minute set-piece from a corner kick that went right to Jimmy Conrad sitting about 8 yards out on the far post who smacked it right off his head into the upper corner, beating Oswaldo Sanchez (one of my favorite keepers in any league).

Then, of course, his breakaway run that split the defense, and ended in a low shot into an open net after he juked Sanchez about 15 yards from goal. Vintage Donovan. Throughout the game he was more aggressive, running at defenders, creating chances, and making smart passes. His play helped Chirs Rolfe have a very decent game as a very inexperienced forward. I was very happy with his performance as he will only get better and he caused problems in the final thrid of the field. He has to adjust to the speed of the game, though, and realize that you can't expect to dribble past 4 defenders at the international level.

Who sucked? Albright didn't impress, though his experience helped deflect Mexico for the first half. He was badly exposed in the second half, though. Dempsey didn't impress, but I suspect he's a bit rusty. He did some agressive stuff and he wasn't a liability, but I expected more. Convey was much more active and involved. Eddie Johnson once again disappered once inserted as a second-half sub, though he did have a couple of good runs and almost-opportunties. Better than Denmark, but he'd better light up MLS for Kansas City in April and May in order to make the Gold Cup squad. No more coasting and freebies for this kid. He needs to produce.

Overall it was a fun game of attacking soccer that got better as it went on. Of course, winning helped me enjoy it, but the second half was expecially exciting. El Tri once again showed their surliness and unsporting conduct as they refused to shake hands after the match and had a few on-field incidents off the ball that were explosions of frustration. Especially as one defender tried to take down Johnson just after Donovan scored. Unfortuneate, but not unexpected. One thing about Mexico. Get them frustrated, even a little bit, and they self-destruct. Which is fine by me.

Kick balls and put them in the net.



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A notes and thoughts from all over...

• I'm getting married in 7 weeks! Now the craziness ratchets up a notch.
• I went to the LA Galaxy's open house today at the Home Depot Center, which is really a very lovely soccer stadium. I checked out my seat, which was about as lame as I thought, but one cool thing they let you do is switch seats with seats still unsold. So I moved to almost the center line, still on the second deck. Which is fine with me because from up top you can really see the runs develop and all the play off the ball.
• Met a couple ticket holders around. One just wanted to name drop and talk at me. The other was actually interested in the state of the game and the team and is in my section. Oh my god! A section buddy!
• On the way in I noticed a bunch of players warming up on one of the practice fields that surround the HDC. Too old to be youth players, but I couldn't imagine an adult league playing there, especially since it really only looked like enough for a couple teams, not an entire morning of league games. On the way out the teams were playing and didn't some of the players actually look familiar. Familiar as in Jimmy Conrad, Chris Albright, Sasha Kljestian, Taylor Twellman, Josh Gros, etc. It was the USMNT taking on some verion of the UCLA men's team.
• Saw about 20 minutes of the match. Donovan looked average with flashes of brilliance. Passing was horrible despite the hours and hours they were getting from the overmatched college kids. Bornstein continues to be exciting to watch, but he can get burned. Overall it was fun to see the players so close-up and for free. Twellman looked good, but was having trouble getting service (sloppy passing). And Josh Gros looked like he could run forever, but his touch kept letting him down. Sasha looked good on the right wing, but you have to think that that spot is Dempsey's for the taking.
• It rained today in LA for the first time in almost a month. Apparently we're about 75% behind normal rainfall for the year at this point. Favorite part: the sprinklers coming on at 5 PM in the middle of it all. I love the LA mindset.
• Working on a day off is for the birds. I did about 4 hours of work and still have another 3-4 to get done. Just have to get up ass-early tomorrow. At least I did the cleaning today so all I have to do tomorrow is the shopping.
• And finish my project.
• And outline the wedding ceremony.
• So maybe I should go.

Kick ass and take names.

So. I am a soccer junkie. Most people do not know this about me unless you read this journal, because while I am a junkie, I am high-functioning and manage to spend little on my habit. Well, until this year. Here's teh backstory.

In 2006 I moved to Los Angeles, which has the fortune of having two Major League Soccer franchises the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA. I moved from the Bay, which until 2006 had the San Jose Earthquakes. The 'Quakes and the Galaxy hate each other and the Galaxy and the Goats hate each other, as should any two teams who play in the same state and have any pride at all.

In 2005 I was a major Quakes fan, although mostly I was a major soccer fan and just loved to see good games. This makes me a major Galaxy hater. In 2006, finding myself in LA and with the Quakes now playing in Houston (where they ended up winning the championship) I was without a home team. Given the nature of Galaxy-hatred (which was made so blessedly wonderful by the fact that they really sucked last year - think the Cowboys going 1-15 - in other words, pure joy) and the fact that it turns out Chivas USA put together a team that played elegant attacking soccer that was exciting to watch, I started becoming a Chivas fan.

But then several things happened. First, the architect of Chivas' style and one of the best coaches in the country left to coach the US men's team. Then one of their best midfielders left as did an effective striker. But then they got one of the best midfielders in the league. But then...

Well then the Galaxy signed David Beckham the most famous footballer in the world, even if he's really only a very very very talented role player. Well dang it all to heck! I am a soccer junkie. One of the best known players signs with what has been a decent but evolving league nowhere near the quality of the best leagues in the world. With the team in the town in which I live. But not the team I kinda like. No. With the team I've always hated. So I have the chance to see Beckham play in half the team's games in 2007 (due to the way the MLS season works versus other leagues in the world), but to do it I have to become a Galaxy season ticket holder.

Oh I know what some of you are thinking: just get the tickets and root against the team while watching Beckham play. But, look, I know how this fan thing works. You get inside the stadium, everyone else is rooting for the home team, you start imbibing their values and then BAM! you're the victim of the Stockholm Syndrome, rooting for the Galaxy despite your best intentions, despite your own personal values and integrity!

But then, I thought to myself, I live in the US and I love soccer. I am reviled by sportswriters and the butt of routine jokes from everyone from Conan O'Brien to Harry Scherrer. I have a domestic league that can maybe be compared with the 2nd tier leagues around the country. David Beckham comes to my hometown team. I owe it to myself to take this opportunity to see some world-class soccer being played where I live.

So I did it. I got season tickets to the Galaxy. I got eye-socket-fucked on the price, but, well David Beckham! And now Captain America is comeing to Red Bull New York so I get to the see the best American player ever live at least once. This could be fairly awesome, especially for an American soccer fan and an MLS fan, which means someone with rountinely low expectations, but high high high hopes and dreams.

Kick ass and take names.

Okay. So. The US didn't make it out of the group stage this year and so this year has been termed "disappointing". Bruce Arena losses his job, but US Soccer doesn't yet have a replacement. Landon Donovan, roundly criticized for not showing up accepts some responsiblity, stays inside a lot, and shows up for his LA Galaxy games where he single-handedly makes the team about 1000 times better.

US soccer is dead.

Or is it?

My thoughts:

First, I want to address the fact that the US' showing was disappointing. IMHO, our 2002 showing was surprising and the result of a lot of factors coming together including great play by our guys, but also an entire pool underestimating us and some freak occurances by the South Koreans, which negated an absolute stinker of a match against Poland. We also played out of our heads because we didn't know any better and because we had something to prove. All of which is to say, 2002 was amazing, but also not representative of our actual talent.

Taking that into account, let's look at 2006. I think it is safe to say a couple of things. First, the USA's group really was The Group of Death, given that on the final day of match play every single team was still alive AND it also included the eventual Cup Champion, Italy. Second, had the US played the teams in this order: Ghana, Italy, Czech, they would have qualified for the knockout rounds no question. Czech was an old team totally worn down by the 3rd game. Ghana was new and young and got better as they played. Italy was Italy. Given this I would say the US actually did okay, in terms of our eventual positioning.

What WAS disappointing was that the US couldn't find the back of the net. Only scoring once is a real problem, especially when we could find the back of the net in 2002. More and more 2002 looks like an anamoly, a place we need to aspire to get back to, rather than a stepping stone to greatness. I don't blame Arena for this totally. He's more a selector than a coach. Ultimately the problem is that the United States doesn't produce the midfielders and forwards who can play at the international level.

I know. Clint Dempsey, a completely American product, scored the goal for the US, fed by DaMarcus Beasley, who learned his trade here as well before departing for Holland 3 years ago. But let's look at MLS, the American domestic league. Leading scorers and assist men? 5 of the best XI scorers are foreign and 6 of the best XI assistors are foreign, including the top 2 (and hell, you could call Freddy Adu (#3) foreign as well since he spent a good chunk of his life in Ghana).

My point here is that in a league that limits foreign players to 4 per team, about 50% of the top players involved in goal scoring weren't produced by the United States' system.

In other words, we can't score. And it's not because we don't have fowards. We have forwards. It's because we don't have the kinds of midfielders who can distribute the ball, create chances, and dictate the pace of the game. We had Claudio Reyna and John O'Brien, the only player close to his talent level in our pool, is chronically injured. That's it. We've got nothing.

My suggestions:

--Get our best players over to Europe BEFORE they get to MLS. We need people in the damn Everton youth system, for example. Look at Kenny Cooper, who spent a few years toiling with the Manchester United reserves and is have a break-out year with FC Dallas 96. And people like Clint Dempsey currently in MLS need to get the hell out. Yes, I'm looking at you Landon.

--Create our own youth system. Not the youth select system that is heavily weighted to affluent familes (though it is a quality system), but a youth system that is tied to MLS clubs and feeds these clubs' reserve teams. Something modeled very much on the system used so well in Europe and South America.

--Figure out a way to get more quality friendly matches for the USA to play. CONCACAF is now our oyster (sorry Mexico) and the quality isn't getting better there. We need to prioritize the Copa America as well as the Gold Cup. Tied to this is the developing allaince between MLS and the Primera Division in Mexico to run tournaments and friendlies like the currently in-progress inaugural Rio Grande Plate between Tigres and FC Dallas. This will raise the play in MLS, which can only benefit the US National Team.

--Hire Jurgen Klinsmann to be the next coach of the US MNT. I know he said a week ago he wasn't interested. Ask again. And again. And again. Until he says yes. Because he's the best available fit for us right now and I think he could take the USA to the next level. Could take us. Will he? Are you kidding? If I knew that would I be soccer blogging on a Friday afternoon?

That's all for now.

Kick ass and put it in the net.

So. Last week was a stellar 2-4, bringing me to 7-12 for the year. I feel a lot like Real Salt Lake.

Last week's results have made this week a bit more interesting to predict, what with the RSL No Name Defense stepping up against the Suckagy at home, Red Bull still looking for some magic and finally dealing with Guevara, and the intensity of the Dynamo-Dallas game. On to this week's predictions.


Houston Dynamo home to Chicago Fire
A week ago I would have been writing about the impending Dynamo blow-out, but Houston is really missing Ching up top and the potential loss of DeRosario leave the burden on Davis and Mullan. And while both players are really top-notch, without anyone to draw the defenses, they are going to be challenged to get the ball to Moreno and Cerritos. Losing Serioux doesn't help at all, but the Houston defense is rock-solid even without him. Chicago faces more dire trouble as Jim Curtain is out with a broken foot, leaving a young and slow defense to pick up the slack. Game 7 of the Chicago road trip is almost certainly bringing with it a struggle to maintain focus, so I expect that given the combination of Fire road fatigue and Houston stinginess, this will not be their breakout game.

Dynamo 1, Fire 0 (And I hope I'm wrong because I've got Rolfe on one of my fantasy teams.)


Fortified Chemical Sludge home to Chivas USA
Guevara's gone, which should be a plus for the team and help build some unit cohesion. It also gives Djorkaeff more room to maneuver as an attacking midfielder where his passing will be at its most dangerous. Look for Buddle and Peguero to be paired up top, which substantially improves the attacking nature of this team. Chivas has looked dangerous again after two byes in three weeks disrupted their rhythm, but still don't have the final pass down, while their defense continues to show it's fun mixture of youth and sloth. I'm not sure NY is ready to put it all together yet, while I think Chivas will only get better. I'm calling for tie number 6.

Sludge 1, Goats 1


Columbus Crew home to DC United
Well, the Crew keep getting better, schooling two teams that were, on paper anyway, better than they were. But the Suckagy have been the definition of ass this year, while somehow the goal always shrinks when the Rapids go on the road. So DC provides a real test for Sigi's young squad. DC, even with its storied MLS history, has rarely been this stocked with offense. Further, it is blessed with a consistent and hard working defense and an up-and-coming keeper. Eskandarian is looking like his late 2004 self and you still have Gomez, Adu, Moreno, and Gros. Columbus keeps adding pieces and the team looks better every time it takes the field, but I don't think they are there yet.

United 2, Crew 1


FC Dallas home to New England
Oh man I wish my computer didn't crash when I try to full-screen my MLSLive.TV feed because this is sure to be a barn-burner. It's not that the opposing defenses are bad. They aren't. Not at all. It's just that the attacks for both side are pretty brutal. The Hoops have the most goals in MLS with 15, while the Revs have scored 7 in the last two games. I think this is going to be a lot like the first meeting between Dallas and Houston: wide-open and high-scoring. FDC is about as full-strength as you can get, with Mulrooney rounding into shape and Ruiz is starting to look especially dangerous. On the other side, Twellman is making a statement, Ralston is back, Noonan is almost healthy, and Dorman is taking his game to the next level. This is the game that should be on ESPN2. I'm giving it to the Hoops because they are playing at home.

FC Dallas 3, Revs 2


Real Salt Lake home to Kansas City Wizards
See, before last week I would have said, the Wizards by 2. But RSL shut out the Suckagy at home with 4 guys no one ever heard of (granted the Sucks basically have no offense at the moment), and the Wizards are struggling to turn the ignition on their still-potent offense. If KC can turn it over, then all the anonymity in the world won't help RSL. On the other hand, forcing the Wizards to become frustrated will open the door for RSL to score on the counter, possibly off a Jeff Cunningham shot coming off the bench. I'm taking a chance on the worst club in MLS history and seeing them tie at home.

RSL 1, Wizards 1


LA Suckagy home to Colorado Rapids
Normally, I would be chastened by last week's still-inexplicable choice of the rapids to score on the road, even at Columbus. But this is the Suckagy we're talking about here. I'm thinking that the Rapids get at least one in the back of the net, while LA struggles again. I don't think they'll get shut-out, especially with Joe Cannon out or at least performing hurt, but I'm going to go with the high-altitude team playing at sea level because I hate LA that much.

Rapids 2, LA 1

Thoughts?

Run the give and go and put it in the net.

Last week I went 2-3 thanks to the Fire continuing to suprise me and the Rapids finding an offense against the league's best team. I gotta stop betting against the Fire. This makes me 5-8 for the year.

This week's predictions.

Dynamo vs The Hoops
The Dynamo have perhaps the most, well, dynamic midfield in the league (though United gives a run for the money), but they are losing their top (and the league's) top scorer in Brian Ching. I've never been impressed with the rest of the strike corps. Cerritos is beyond his prime and Moreno has yet to break through. Dallas' Ruiz is finding his touch and they are playing exciting attacking football, but they still have some questions to answer in midfield. They impressed against a lackluster Galaxy side on Wednesday playing a whole half a man down. I don't think it will be another shootout and I'm giving the home team the edge because although this is only the second game between the two ever, it already feels like a derby.

FCD 2, Dynamo 1


Revolution v Chivas
Chivas is totally underrated this year, but the Revs just found their engine. Ralston's back and I expect Noonan to be back as well. And Twellman's still pissed. The Goats need to play to get their rhythm back and and the Revs just got theirs back. The battle will be in the mid-field, though, and the teams are surprisingly balanced there. But they are at the Razor and I think Chivas, depsite Bradley's intimate knowledge of his opponent, will end up on the losing side.

Revs 3, Chivas 1


Red Bulls vs Fire
Oy. The Fire soldier on during their record-breaking road trip and must be starting to feel a little battered and nomadic. NYRB are in total choas and needed a break to stop the bleeding. I keep thinking that the Fire can't do it on the road, but they keep surprising me. I really think their striek partners are for real and I'm excited about that. Can they overcome the difficulites of the road? Well, their playing NYRB where the motto must be "Thank God for Real Salt Lake". Too bad. I love Youri Djourkaeff. But I like Chris Rolfe and Mario Ivan Guerrero better.

Fire 1, Enhanced Chemical Sludge 0


Crew vs Rapids
Umm, who expected these two teams to be exciting? Not me. They aren't elegant, that's for sure, but they've gotten scrappy and hard-working down to an artform. The Crew impresses with their youth and potential. The Rapids impress by virtue of scoring. Is Nicolas Hernandez for real? It could be a completely ugly game, but it should have suspense. I don't expect the Crew to lose 3-0 like they did on opening day. I also don't expect the Rapids to do well away from Invesco.

Crew 1, Rapids 1


United vs Wizards
The Wizards have gotten 8 goals from 8 different players but they just lost two offensive stalwarts and their defensive leader. United has been on a goal-soring rampage, but tripped hard in Denver. But they are at RFK, where DC is always tough (unless they are playing the Fire in the playoffs). Scott Sealy has something to prove after being left off the T&T World Cup roster and there is now more responsiblity placed on the midfield - Vicorine and Jewsbury espeicially- but they could open things up. DC's looking great excpet for whatever happend in the Rockies. Their midfield has been smoking and getting Adu, Gomez, Gros, Eskandarian, and Moreno on the field all at once is a handful for opposing defenses. I think the Wizards will struggle to score and ultimately DC will wear them down.

United 2, Wizards 0


Galaxy vs. Real Salt Lake
If I were a Galaxy season ticket holder I'd pay someone else to sit in my seat for this one. LA is mediocre this year with Donovan and awful without him. Gomez is out for 2-4 weeks and he's overrated anyway. Glen IS with T&T. They only saving grace for them is that they play RSL on Saturday. If the Galaxy is awful, then RSL is putrescence personified. If they lose it will be an entire calender year without a victory, a new record for futility. Oh, and Eddie Pope and Douglas Sequiera are both on World Cup duty. If Cobi Jones and the rest of the LA midfield can't eat the RSL defense for breakfast, then, well, I'd be happy because I really hate the Galaxy. But it will also signal a long long long summer for the Green and Gold.

Galaxy 2, RSL 0

Thoughts?

Last week I went 3-3. I fugred out after I posted that I've really got a 1-in-3 chance of being right. Oh. Since I'm not a soccer genius I'm expecting that my record for this year is going to be dismal. So I'll take a first-time-ever score of 3-3.

Here's my predictions for Week 6.

Revs home to Galaxy
Gack. Two underachieving teams this season (thought given the Galaxy's form for the bulk of last, maybe this is a reversion to the mean), but it is being played at the razor with at least 3 Revs players who are probalby a bit miffed at being left off the WC roster. And outside of Salt Lake City, the Galaxy are horrible on the road.

Revs 2, Galaxy 0

Wizards home to Chicago
Chicago surprised me last week and found their scoring touch against a normally stingy New England defense. But the Wizards, even though they have yet to field the same defensive unit two weeks in a row, have been clicking and shutting down offenses. They are also getting scoring production from all over the place with 8 goals from 8 different players. This is a Bob Gansler team? The Fire's young guns up top are getting into the groove (Rolfe has 3 goals so far this year) and their defensive unit is fairly cohesive with Logan Pause quietly stepping up and winning a starting role after 3+ years on the squad. Still I don't think the Wizards are going to let the Fire walk out with a point.

KC 2, Chicago 1

Dynamo home to Dallas
This is either going to be a score-fest or a snoozer. Dallas is finally fully healed and the Dynamo beat the Wizards in KC. Whoever wins the midfield will win the game. I'm thinking Davis-Rosario-Mullan-Ching have a slight edge over Valakari-O'Brien-Wilson-Ruiz, but I'm fully prepared to eat those words. I'm going to go with a scorefest, rather then a repeat of last year's 0-0 ties.

Houston 3, Dallas 2

Real Salt Lake home to Columbus Crew
Ow, my eyes are bleeding. MLS' version of a USL match takes place this week in Salt Lake and I don't know what to think. RSL is scoring more than they did last year, but their defense is still leaking like a New Orleans cemetary. The Crew, on the other hand, made up of a crop of young players can put on a show or stink up the joint. I'm going to take the weasel's way out and predict a tie.

RSL 1, Crew 1

Colorado home to DC United
The Mile High Club is settling in nicely for another run of mediocrity, while DC is probably the best team in the league right now. Colorado is still difficult to score on, especially at home, but DC's been looking scary good. I'm looking to see Eskandarian, Adu, Gomez, and Gros all on the field at the same time and I don't see Mathis, Ben Dayan and Kirovski having much answer.

DC 2, Rapids 0.

Tomorrow Bruce Arena picks his 23 for the US MNT for the World Cup.

First, here are my 23.

GK (3) - Keller, Hahnamen, Howard

D (8) - Pope, Onyewu, Gibbs, Cherundolo, Eddie Lewis, Albright, Bocanegra, Conrad

M (8) - Donovan, Dempsey, Reyna, O'Brien, Convey, Beasley, Mastroeni, Ralston

F (4) - McBride, Twellman, Johnson, Casey

Next here are the 23 I think The Bruce will take:

GK (3) - Keller, Hahnamen, Howard

D (8) - Pope, Onyewu, Gibbs, Cherundolo, Eddie Lewis, Berhalter, Bocanegra, Hejduk

M (8) - Donovan, Dempsey, Reyna, O'Brien, Convey, Beasley, Mastroeni, Olsen

F (4) - McBride, Twellman, Johnson, Wolff

Run the give and go and put it in the net.

Only 6 weeks to go! June 9th, 2006!

Run the give and go and put it in the net.

Okay, so here are my Week 5 Predictions. Feel free to comment. Comments that tell me I'm out of my mind are especially welcome. Oh wait, no one on my Flist cares. Too bad, suckers!

LA Galaxy at Real Salt Lake
Pity the poor fans in Salt Lake. The only reason to go to RSL games is to see the other teams' stars. While they may have gained stability in the midfield and a new attacking presence, their defense just isn't up to snuff.

Over on Planet LA, things have been rough. 4 points from 3 home matches. But they have Landon Donovan and a rock-solid defense. Their midfield woes won't matter at Rice-Eccles. Look for Hartman to pick-up the clean sheet and for Donovan to run wild.

Galaxy 2, RSL 0

FC Dallas at DC United
Both teams have shown how to get it done so far this season, featuring explosive yet often gritty offense and something rare in MLS: precision passes into the forwards. DC looks very very confident right now and is getting production from players all over the field. Defense has more or less been steady and the midfield is only just beginning to live up to its potential.

Dallas is living on craftiness and grit, with Kenny Cooper proving to be a revelation so far this year and Ruiz finding a passing touch that would make Carlos Valderrama proud. The backfield has had some trouble (Clarence Goodson is reportedly taking target practice with a case of Coors Light), but boasts enviable depth. However, their midfield isn't as fluid yet as DC's and I looke to see their offence falter in the final 3rd of the field.

United 3, DC Dallas 1

KC Wizards at Columbus Crew
Is the youth movement at the Crew for real? Yes. Is it ready for the Wizards? No. Despite their thievery in LA last week, they won't be able to compete with the Wizards' attack. Eddie Johnson is dying to score some goals before next Tuesday and so is Josh Wolff. Throw in people like Jack Jewsbury, Davy Arnaud, the occasional set piece with Victorine and Sealy off the bench and it could get bloody. The Crew just isn't ready yet to compete, despite the real flashes being shown by its young stars (Martino, where have you been?) and the steadying influence of a not-quite-fit Rozenthal.

Wizards 2, Crew 0

Houston Dynamo at Colorado Rapids
The Rapids are always tough at home. Always. But they are still looking for all the pieces up top and play a brutally uninspiring brand of footie that is practically unwatchable. They do get Mathis and Ben Dayan back, to support the work of Kirovski, but I still don't see them cracking what was the best defense in MLS last year. Dynamo's offense is clearly humming, though if DeRo has an off night they struggle. Ching is desperate to send a message to The Bruce and he'll be hungry all night long.

Dynamo 2, Rapids 0

New York Red Bull at Chivas USA
So Amado Guevara is being quoted saying he's going to play like his old MVP self again. Unfortunately, NYRB is going up against Chivas USA, not RSL, so I don't look for him to make an instant turn around from whatever it was that he was doing last week while Eskandarian was spitting on his carpet. And that's bad news for Red Bull because without some cohesion in the middle they will never get the ball to Magee or Djourkaeff (hey, look! Two NYRB's who actually want to play some soccer).

Chivas, on the other hand, is looking fairly confident after their first 3 games, though they still have injury worries. O'Brien will probably play at least 45 minutes if not more, though reports say that he tweaked something in his calf this week and Razov is ready for bear. In fact, Bradley also has something to prove againt his former team, so this could be brutal. But Chivas' back isn't settled, dealing with the most injuries and a crucial international absence with Suarez in the Mexico camp. Still, I think Llamosa steps in and does enough to keep Reb Bull winless.

Chivas 3, RBNY 1

Chicago Fire at New England Revolution
Blame it on 8 away games in a row. Blame it on a new attack. Blame it on the weather. But whatever it is, the Fire aren't getting it done. And they won't again. Their offense is producing very few chances and their mids aren't controlling the game. New England, also fighting off numerous injuries, isn't going to let a home game drip away to the likes of the Fire. Twellman and Noonan both have something to prove and Dempsey is looking to maintain form. It could be ugly and it could be low-scoring, but it will be a win for the Revs.

New England 1, Chicago 0

Kick ass and run the give and go.