Hello Europa League

Liverpool bows out of the Champions League and drops to the Europa League. Well it's better than nothing (I guess).

Chelski

Carlo Ancelotti and his boys seem to be totally in charge of the Prem right now. ManU, City, and Liverpool are blowing games right and left. Arsenal seems to be the one team that's on fire right now and may pose a threat. You never know how it will go but there may be 7 teams that could make a run at the end. You can never count out ManU. City, Villa, Spurs, and Liverpool could make some noise but I'd have to say that the only teams I see threatening Chelsea are ManU and Arsenal. One has to wonder what's going on at Liverpool and whether Rafa will survive the season. It's hard being a Reds fan. Circle Sunday Nov. 29th on your calendar, Chelsea at Arsenal.

Hard done by a beach ball?

Yep a beach ball. Darren Bent of Sunderland shoots and the ball deflects off of a beach ball and goes in. Technically the play should have been stopped and a drop ball called but you can clearly see the Liverpool crest on the ball so I can't really complain if a Red's fan tossed it out there. No Torres or Gerrard today so Liverpool were really shorthanded and couldn't find the net. There's some bad karma going on here. 1-0 Sunderland, doesn't look like this is the Red's year. We'll there's always the Champions League.

When is tie as good as a win?

The ninety-fifth minute blog celebrates the 95th minute goal by Jonathan Bornstein and the US team to tie Costa Rica 2-2 and win the CONCACAF championship. Mexico loses to Trinidad. What a night. Edge of the seat stuff for US soccer fans. South Africa here we come!!!

The big screen

I have only seen bits and pieces posted on youtube and other sites.. but my prediction is this will be the greatest footie film off all time- The Damned United. In a nutshell, the movie is about one of the great managers of English football, Brian Clough (played by the fantastic character actor Micheal Sheen), short lived stint with one of my favorite (and one of the greatest) sides of all time, LEEDS...

also not to be missed, Looking for Eric.

Good year for the game on all fronts.

Homer alert!

Oh Yeah! GO PATRIOTS!

GMU 2
#4 Maryland 0

Mason's 4th clean sheet in a row. Maryland had just beaten #2 North Carolina. Mason lost a man to a red card at the 30 minute mark, ahead 1-0, and shut down the UMd attack with 10 men. They scored their 2nd goal at the beginning of the 2nd half. Maryland's attack was nonexistent in the 2nd half. There's nothing better than beating the twerps. At least the Maryland soccer team had the guts to come to Fairfax, that's more than I can say about their lame ass basketball team, too scared to travel, afraid to find out that they may not even be the 3rd best team in the DC area. Sad. Mason is favored to win the CAA title this year. They got off to a good start by beating VCU 1-0. We will see how the season plays out. Go Mason! Green and Gold forever!

CONCACAF

Simple, just beat Costa Rica at RFK and you're in. Too bad RFK is an away game. I'll be there. Go El Salvador! Top 3 are in, 4th place goes into a playoff v 5th place from CONMEBOL which right now is Argentina.

	P	W	D	L	Pts	GS	GA	GD
United States	8	5	1	2	16	14	9	5
Mexico	8	5	0	3	15	12	9	3
Honduras	8	4	1	3	13	14	8	6
Costa Rica	8	4	0	4	12	9	13	-4
El Salvador	8	2	2	4	8	8	10	-2
Trinidad & Tobago	8	1	2	5	5	8	16	-8
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Mexico	v	El Salvador
Honduras	v	United States
Costa Rica	v	Trinidad & Tobago
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
El Salvador	v	Honduras
United States	v	Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago	v	Mexico

Fernando!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When in doubt give the ball to El Nino! Torres scores twice against West Ham and leads Liverpool to a big away win. No draws so far this year which cost the Lads last season. With Gerrard, Kuyt, and Benayoun heading the attach Liverpool looks in good shape. Now if they could only defend a set piece!

Totally off topic, sorry

Peter, Paul & ....

Mary Travers died today at age 72. Maybe she left on a jet plane. Don't think she'll be back again. Man I am old. Puff is crying.

Let's talk Burnley

Okay let's not but maybe these low end or new to the Prem sides need to refocus on the mission at hand, staying up in the Prem. Finishing 17th or better is the goal, not beating any of the big 4. Look at Hull last season, great start, had to sell off players in the January transfer window (at least Chelsea won't be getting any) and then struggling to stay up. Keep what you've got and maybe add a guy who can help, not a star but a gutsy, give it up for the team, kind of player. Hull has Jozy Altidore, a big strong kid, and they need to put him on the field. They're not lighting anything on fire as it is so what do they have to lose? Yes Burnley beat ManU and Everton but they got squashed by Chelsea and Liverpool. They need to win the games against the bottom half of the table, anything else is gravy. Fulham is struggling although they are playing well in the Europa Cup. Maybe Europe wasn't such a great thing for Fulham, their squad seems to be stretched pretty thin. Doing well in the Europa doesn't matter if you get relegated. I kind of wish Altidore had gone to Fulham, I think he'd help and it would keep up the tradition of Yanks doing well there. Fulhamerica!

Wolves, Burnley, Birmingham, Hull will only survive if they concentrate on beating the bottom half of the table and holding their own against the rest. Just as long as they all beat City!

Throw the book at Adebayor

ESPN/Getty

What could have possessed Emmanuel Adebayor to step on Robin Van Percy's face? I saw it live and had to avert my eyes. Then I saw the replay and realized that he did it on purpose. WTF? Later, Adebayor scored a goal and ran the entire length of the pitch to taunt the Arsenal supporters. That nearly led to a good old-fashioned melee, the type for which British football fans are well-known. The type in which people get badly hurt. Again: WTF? What do you do with behavior like that? Either incident, by itself, would normally fetch a 4 or 5 game suspension. I think that take together Adebayor deserves a harsher penalty. It better be a big money fine and at least 6 weeks suspension. What a jerk. It's hard for me to believe that I ever supported him when he was at Arsenal.

Boy does it suck to be you!

Georgia's Kakha Kaladze (of AC Milan no less) scored 2, count them 2, own goals to lead Italy to a 2-0 road win over Georgia in Lokomotivi Stadium this weekend in Europe's Group 8 qualifying. Can it get any worse than that? In South America he'd be a dead man. I feel for the guy, really I do, but 2 own goals? I'm guessing he's riding the pines at AC Milan.

USA - El Salvador

I like the starting line up, mostly. Back line is a bit of a worry.

Howard in goal
Spector & Bornstein outside, Marshall and Bocanegra inside with DeMerit (injured) and Gooch (cards) both out. I miss Frankie Hejduk.
Feilhaber, Bradley, Donavon, Dempsey in mid
Altidore and Davies up front. Ching just hasn't looked as good lately.

We'll see how it turns out. A drag that ESPN put the game on Classic instead of ESPN2 or the main channel, Classic's not in HD (at least on Verizon).

What have we (DC United) learned today?

1. Don't get into a war of words with an opponent when your team sucks (from Jack).
2. Don't play a 3 man back line - EVER!
3. When you lose your keeper to a red card (what the hell was that about?) you take out the useless forward who's done nothing all game and not your playmaker and set piece specialist!
4. When you (the last defender) are nowhere near the back line and there's an attacker breathing down your neck,
KICK THE BALL OUT OF BOUNDS!
5. Emilio has to go.
6. The coach has to go.
7. Josh Wicks may be the best Keeper in MLS.
8. At least United won't have to worry about playing in anything but MLS next season. Maybe then they can right the ship because right now it's sinking.

Congratulations Seattle on winning the US Cup.

Champions League (the real one)

The pairings are set.

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich
Group D: Chelsea, FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dinamo Kiev, FC Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea
Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Leige

Chelsea's group looks pretty tough. Liverpool, Arsenal, and ManU lucked out. Barca and Inter, AC Milan and Real, now there's some games!

Be Champions!

DC - United?

They look anything but. Not only aren't they on the same page, I don't think they are reading the same book. Defender David Habarugira and Keeper Josh Wicks need to be introduced because a horrendous play cost United on Toluca's first goal. Defender body your man away from the ball so the keeper can grab it, don't run him into the keeper's path! Really, it didn't seem like United was interested in winning this match with the team they fielded. Gomez, Quaranta, Emilio, Fred, Olsen, Namoff, Jakovic, and Wallace on the bench. United came to life when Quaranta came in and fed Pontius for a beautiful header for goal but they just fell apart after than. It's sad to see the most storied team in MLS reduced to a team with no creativity, no flair, no chemistry, and a real lack of fundamentals. They are making mistakes that our U14 boys wouldn't make. Mr. Chang, sir, it's time to do something.

7,000 liters of FREE beer

The Bundesliga may not be all that popular with the footie "in-crowds" of the world. And Bayern is stinking worse than dutch cheese. So tough times for a supporters like me. But my brave Munich boys are doing their best to keep my favor by giving away 7,000 liters of beer at the upcoming FC Bayern Wolfsburg game. Yep, 7,000 liters!!! I think that might trumps United's $2 Buds....

Now we're talking

Gimme two!

Shocker #2

Lescott to Man City. Gee I didn't see that coming! What's their roster at now, 52? Guess I shouldn't have punted him from my fantasy footy team.

photo from Barkley's Premier League

Shocker: DC United draws with LA Galaxy, 0-0

Okay, so another draw for United or Galaxy wasn't exactly shocking (it was the 11th of the season for both teams), however it was encouraging because (now this is shocking) United's defense didn't suck! And the club remains undefeated at home. And the midfield played exceptionally well. It was great to see so much creative passing by the United squad. The big problems were up front. Emilio was the lone striker, and it seemed as though he was called off-side constantly - at least 6 times by my count. The first time, in which Emilio's run resulted in a goal, he was most definitely on-side and the goal should have counted. Later in the game, Emilio was shoved over inside the box. Quite obviously a penalty, but no call. As Ben Olsen said later, "that's all stuff that evens out over the year, but we sure could've used it today."

Chicago away next Saturday. A critical game for United's playoff hopes.

Yeah we needed a Greek guy!

Liverpool signs Sotirios Kyrgiakos from AEK Athens to bolster their crippled center defense. "We really didn't have anyone who's name we couldn't pronounce" said Rafa. Agger has had back surgery, Carragher is still seeing stars from the Assou-Ekotto hit, Skrtel's jaw is still sufferring from a lack of vowels, and newcomer Ayala is playing like a, well, newcomer. Rafa needed to do something. Maybe he'll really tie the room together. We'll see on Monday. Paging Sami Hyppia.

Adverts

Some great adverts on the sidelines this weekend. Got any faves? How about

Sounds delicious, sort of.

or

Gotta love that.

or

Now we're talk.., huh, they make bread? Never mind.

Hard to be a Yank

Fella, you have a problem.

Gotta love this!

WTF!!!!!

Almost every team in MLS has their own stadium. Philadelphia will join the league next year and will play here. DC United still plays at RFK Stadium. It's old, it's too big, and it's falling apart. DC United is the flagship franchise in MLS, it's most decorated team, and it plays in a dump. RFK's most positive feature is that it's on the metro line (unlike FedEx Field which is impossible to get to). It's time that United got a real home, and that home needs to be in DC. A Northern VA location makes it hard for Marylanders to get to the games and a PG or Montgomery County location makes it hard for NoVa fans to get there. DC is the logical choice and Poplar Point is the logical location. Nothing is going on there, it's on the metro and everyone can get there. A nice 25,000-30,000 seat stadium would be most excellent. Seams kind of pathetic that Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Salt Lake, and Toronto have soccer only stadiums and DC United is still playing in the projects. United needs a home now!

And So It Begins...

Yeah it's the tag line of an incredibly irritating and unintelligible Adidas ad but it pretty much sums it up. The Prem begins Saturday, bummer that the very first match, Chelsea v Hull isn't televised here in the States. Maybe Jozy will start for Hull. It's tough being a Yank. We will get to see the amazingly expensive (2nd only to Real Madrid) Man City side go up against Rovers. Gotta say I hope Blackburn pastes them. Everton v Arsenal should be an entertaining game with big goal scoring potential. I'll have to wait until Sunday for Tottenham v Liverpool (GO REDS!). Birmingham returns to the Prem and they get to start at Old Trafford, good luck with that. Wolves joins the Prem and gets West Ham at home but we won't see it. We will get to see Burnley's debut v Stoke on FSC.

One of the reasons the friendlies between English, Spanish, and Italian clubs draw so well here is that, unlike the other major sports, the best teams in the world aren't here in the US. You can get every American throwball game (if you have DirecTV) and there are opportunities to get all baseball, basketball, hockey, and MLS games. We need a EPL package where every game is available. I'd pay for it and I know others that would as well (sorry all of you La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A fans, you're on your own). American footy fans are starved for top level soccer. That's why 71,000 showed up in Baltimore, Baltimore for gods sake!, to watch Chelsea play AC Milan in a friendly. We want to see the best and the best isn't here, it's over there!

"The dog ate my homework"

I guess any excuse is on the table for letting Juarez stroll past you...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/grant_wahl/08/13/donovan.flu.ap/index.html

Ten things we learned from the US-Mexico clash

ESPN's Ives Galarcep got these ten things pretty much right. The US team put in a pretty poor performance in Mexico. The defensive blunders were self-evident. But where the &#@* was the midfield play?

Yellow card?

For strangling? What's a red card offense? Disembowlment?

photo: espn

US Open Cup

VS

On September 2 DC United will play the Seattle Sounders in the US Open Cup Final at RFK Stadium in Washington DC. The Seattle fans are unhappy about this. They feel that they should have the home field because they are out drawing United this year. One year in the league and already your prancing around about how great you are? How about winning something first!
Besides, United are the US Open Cup holders.

DC United's trophy collection:
1996 MLS Cup Champions
1996 U.S. Open Cup Champions
1997 MLS Supporters' Shield Winners
1997 MLS Cup Champions
1998 CONCACAF Champions Cup
1998 InterAmerican Cup Champions
1999 MLS Supporters' Shield Winners
1999 MLS Cup Champions
2004 MLS Cup Champions
2006 MLS Supporters' Shield Winners
2007 MLS Supporters' Shield Winners
2008 U.S. Open Cup Champions

DC United, We Win Trophies!

Call us when you have one.

Real Madrid 3 - D.C. United 0

Well, D.C. United played a pretty good 55 minutes. Unfortunately, the game is 90.

The Community Shield

Tomorrow Manchester United (League Champion) and Chelsea (FA Cup Winner) will play for the Community Shield. I don't like either of these teams. My favorite teams are Liverpool and whoever is playing ManU or Chelsea. It's an understatement to say I've got no dog in this race, still, I wouldn't miss this match for anything. Another season begins. Let's get this party started!

Kaka comes to Washington

Overheard asking: "Where is this high school D.C. United?"

The new season is upon us

Let's face it. You're ready.