The Return!

The Good news! I finished with physics, and am now into my easier have of summer school. Which means I can talk about soccer again.

The Bad news! Well for starters, Italy won the world cup. More on that later. And i've got less than 3 weeks before Maryland Football starts, which is going to once again cut into posting. Luckily, working for Maryland Football is awesome. Ok, forget the rest, lets talk about the world cup.

One of the best reasons to get into the World Cup is that it offers you a chance to witness history in the making. What happens every 4 years is talked about for 40 years afterwards. This World Cup was no different. Here are what I believe were the 'historical events' of Germany 2006.

US Soccer Failure: The worst part of the USA's abysmal performance in Germany was that they squandered what has up until now been the best chance to put soccer on the map in America. No one was watching in 2002 when we achieved success, so that result only helped build the hype for 2006. For once, everyone i know, soccer fan or no, was really into this world cup and the USA's chances. Yes, the general public here always gets into the world cup, but for once they thought we were a force to be reckoned with. They were led to believe this by cocky marketing ("We're ranked 5th in the world, and still get no respect") and inflated friendly results. Apparently the team and coaching staff was also fooled by this.

What I'm not trying to say is that if the US had done well here that soccer could rival America's big 3 sports. However, I think it would have been a huge step forward, and it would have ensured that soccer was here and it was here to stay.

But that didn't happen. The US players all sucked, Bruce Arena did a horrible job preparing and managing the team during the World Cup, and now we're back to square 1. Sadly, this is the cycle of US Soccer. Because the sport is so fragile in the States, if a team does well at one world cup they are given so much leniancy that they become complacent. Then the next world cup this complacent team does poorly (big surprise), and there is a major overhaul of the team which brings success in the next world cup. World Cup 90 was a huge failure (but an expected one). Nevertheless, the team was revamped and did well in 1994. A combination of aging players and terrible coaching (Steve Sampson will always be worst coach ever in my mind) led to the apocalypse that was France 98. Then all the old men are thrown out and a successful MLS coach and promising young talent are introduced. With a bit of luck, the US shines in 2002. Then Bruce and Donovan can sit on their laurels and not improve a damn in the next four years. And now that we failed again, Bruce is out. The big question is not who will coach us next, but where is the young talent we need to survive?

Let me also throw in my 2 cents about the vacent coaching position. Yes, we all want Klinsmann. Being a huge Germany, Bayern, and Tottenham fan (who Jurgen has all played for), I love this guy to death. Nothing would make me happier than him coaching his semi-adopted country to glory. However, its not going to happen. Klinsmann is a German at heart, and even considering that he turned down the chance to really win his country some silverware at Euro 2008. If someone as passionate about Germany as him turns down his native land, I have serious doubts about him picking up the USA. The backlash in Germany would be tremendous.

I also don't think that a current MLS coach should take the job. Lets see, every team in MLS sucks right now except for DC United (whoo!), who is playing international quality football. While I think Nowak would do well with US Soccer, I want him to win a few (read: many) more trophies with DC.

So who should be the next coach of US Soccer? No Fox Soccer, not Mourinho. What are you people smoking over there? Intead of dreaming up names that are quite literally impossible, lets focus on WHAT, not who. Klinsmann and Nowak are both former players with little or no coaching experiance. However, they have both achieved amazing results as coaches. I believe that because they lacked coaching experiance they were able to shake up a dying system, breath new life into it that only a former player could do.

Hmmm... Former player... willing to shake things up.... Call me crazy, but I think Eric Wynalda is the man for the job. This is where most of you who know soccer will stop reading, but hear me out! His commentary during the World Cup on the US was harsh, scathing, and 100% correct. He nailed everything, so I'm sure he knows exactly whats wrong, which gives him a headstart in trying to fix the problem. As a forward (like Klinsmann), I think he can instill passion and American attitude back into this team. He's got a do or die attitude, which was completely missing from the team that played in Germany.

If not Wynalda, then I say go with Harkes. Another former player, Harkes has youth development experiance, which the US is in desperate need of. I would dearly miss his commentary on Comcast SportsNet, but having a US Soccer team I can be proud of is far better than hearing "handbags at 20 paces" (but just barely).

Apparently there is rolling rails at Cornerstone for the next hour, so my roommate and I are hurrying off to enjoy some downtown CP night life. Much more on the World Cup tomorrow!

I'm not quite dead

Wow, haven't updated in a while. Finals hit, then it was back home for a few days and then melting away in College Park. So I've had some excuses, ranging from damn good to pathetic. And now worst of all, my summer is over. June 5th marks the beginning of summer school.

HOWEVER, despite my sudden development of a lot of crap to do, the World Cup is coming up and I plan on watching every game possible. So expect some good rants on that.

And how bout that DC United? nice.

Wish I could say more, but sadly I have to try to succeed in life. 3 hours a day in the bottom of the Physics building *tear*.

Stay tuned for World Cup reports and more if I can get the freaking time!! Stay strong Soccer America.

Poison! Arsene! High Altitude!

Its hard to say I didn't see at least some of this coming.

Weekend Wrap: Bayern Munich ties Kaiserslautern 1-1, more importantly Hamburg lose 4-2 in Berlin. DC United falls 2-1 away in Colorado. Tottenham lose 2-1 to West Ham and Arsenal win 4-2 at home, taking 4th place and the last champions league spot with them.

TERP WATCH!! A new feature here at Maryland United. Maryland soccer won't be back in full force until the fall semester, so the best thing we've got is Terps tearing up MLS! You knew it was going to come eventually, but Jason Garey (All time leading scorer for Maryland) scored his first professional goal this weekend to lead Columbus to a 1-0 victory of Real Salt Lake. Yeaaah booy congrats to Jason! His goal was pure Garey. Give him the ball in the box and he'll take no time in putting it in the back of the net. Calm, collected, a great finish. I've seen him do this at Maryland, and he's gonna be doing it a lot more you can count on that.

Unlike most soccer players I talk about here, I've had the priveledge of having met Jason Garey and actually talked with him. This guy was the far and above star on the national championship University of Maryland soccer team, but despite that he is the nicest and most humble guy I've ever known, athlete or no. 100% total class. When a guy like this succeeds at the highest level, I think it makes it all the sweeter. So Congrats again to Jason, and we'll be rooting for you all the way buddy! Keep those goals coming (just not against DC)!

Bayern Munich: Lets start off with the positive. Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga with a tie and a Hamburg loss. Not a loss, actually. I watched the game on FSC after i got back from my 5k. It was a beating, and an amazing game if you had the chance to catch it. Hamburg were never the same after they lost Rapheal Van Der Vaart to injury? suspension? i dont remember. All that matters is that they lost, which allowed Bayern to collect the historical Double Double. So why isn't this nearly as satisfying as it should be?
1. No bier!! After the 'successful' tie, there was a distinct lack of beer being spilled on everyone. Beer is what winning the Bundesliga is all about!!!! (Clearly its not about doing well in Europe the next season). All they had was a bucket of water they poured on Magath at the end. Reminds me of those Aquafina commercials where everyone in the beer hall is drinking water out of steins. You guys ARE german, right?
2. Winning on a tie is lame. You want to put your stamp on the finale, remind people of why you've been the best team in the league all season. Relying on Hamburg getting destroyed is not something to be proud of.
3. Lack of progress. Yeah we won the Double again, but our form was a lot worse this year than last. Last year we also advanced further in the Champions League. And honestly, what good is ruling over Germany with Blood and Iron if you are a European disgrace? Despite having a stronger domestic record in the last 2 years than almost any other team in Europe, we are almost never favorites at any stage of the Champions League. This is far and away our biggest problem. General Manager Uli Hoeness, when asked about Bayern's expectations for Europe next season, replied "to survive the group stage". Well, the past 2 seasons we've put the pressure on ourselves to make it to the final, so I'm up for any change in the status quo. Liverpool and Arsenal made it to the final without expecting to, so lets give it a shot.
4. Bye Bye Ballack. Herr Ballack's time at Bayern is over. While he's been a fantastic player at Bayern in his time here, people have been critical of his lack of ability to take control of the game. They also say he underperformed in the big games. I challange you to tell me who DID perform in the big games, because no one on our team did. He's gotten way too much flak and was often underappreciated by management. Lets see how life is without him next (I guarantee you we wont be winning the Triple Double).
5. Big name successor? Not likely. Because no one wants to play for us because of our terrible European form, we have to rely on someone inside the club to take up Ballack's spot. Santa Cruz? mmmm no. Dos Santos? wtf this kid has zero first team experiance, and we're talking about him being the next big playmaker for Bayern Munich? Maybe in 10 years. The situation is grim.

Well i HAD written a big thing about the DC and Spurs games, but there was a terrible blog accident and now its gone. So check out any other DC United or Spurs blog, they probably said all the same things, albeit with less explitives.

Finals are here at the University of Maryland, and that means I won't be updating for a while. Probably not until middle of next week. However I do have some fun things planned for when I can return to sanity. Season reviews and wrap ups for Spurs and Bayern, stuff like that. Keep it real ya'll, because the next week is going to be living hell for me.

Championship Weekend

So far we've had Rivalry weekend and Maryland Day weekend. Both have been highly successful, and very enjoyable.

Which brings us to Championship Weekend!!

Whats on Tap: Ohh the bier will be flowing this weekend. Bayern need only a point away at Kaiserslautern to clinch the Bundesliga title, Spurs need a win away at West Ham to assure themselves of 4th place, DC travels to Mile High to ride the Rapids and I've got a 5k run at 8am on Saturday morning.

Bayern vs. Kaiserslautern: This could be Deja Vu weekend for the Bayern boys. Last year Bayern were able to clinch their 19th Bundesliga title away to Kaiserslautern, although with a slightly bigger buffer. While for most of the crew this is a "been here done that" scenario, this is Phillip Lahm's first chance at domestic hardware. We're going to be seeing a lot of Germany's best defender in the future, and it will be exciting to see him get what should be the first of many accolades. If we needed the full win I might be a little worried, because the Red Devils have seen a modest run of good form lately, but I am supremely confident we'll get at least a tie and be pouring Weissbier all over each other in no time.

DC United vs. Colorado Rapids: There are a few teams in MLS who I expect DC to beat every year. Until Chivas and Salt Lake entered the fray (who fall into this category), this list was limited to Colorado and Columbus. When i see that dreary black and blue kit, I immediatly think win. Saturday's matchup is no different. KC plays slumping Chicago this weekend, so we could really use the win away to keep pace with the Wizards going into our showdown next week. Granted, we have yet to wear our cursed white kits this season (wore black away to NY), so we'll see. However, if we DO get the win in white, than truely nothing will stand in our way!

Spurs vs. West Ham: I would like to take a short interlude to point out how ugly West Ham's jerseys are. I mean seriously. West Ham and Aston Villa should be relegated from the Premiership on fashion reasons alone. Anyways, back to business. Out of the 3 games this weekend, this is the one that worries me the most. Spurs are in the middle of a 'mini injury crisis', what with Keane, Carrick and Stalteri all probably out with knocks. Not only that, but we're playing away, and West Ham are looking for a strong performance leading up to their FA Cup showdown with Liverpool. You just know they want to spoil the party. Spurs have also been known to choke last season. Granted, it has normally happened way before the last game, but having followed Tottenham for more than a few seasons now I know its never too late to 'pull a Spurs'. And with so much riding on the last game of the season, the pressure will be greater than ever. CMOOON YOUUU SPUUUURSS!!!!!

With any luck, the Double Double in Germany and Champions League for Spurs will all be wrapped up. I've had some good luck the past couple of weekends, so hopefully I'm not due for some bad luck until next weekend.

It will be ours. Oh yes, it will be ours.

Bayern Munich moved on step closer to the legendary Double Double today! Actually it cant be legendary because its never been done before. But it will be soon!

Bayern 3
Stuttgart 1

We started a little sloppy (as usual), and they scored pretty quick off a poorly defended corner. But not to worry. Roque Santa Cruz, filling in for the suspended Ballack, equalized after Lucio showed everyone that Brazilians can play offense even on defense. Fantastic ball control from both of them, and a nice goal. In the 44th minute the lead would be ours thanks to, who else, but Pizzarro! A nice set of moves on the side from in form Owen Hargreaves, who produced a perfect cross to Pizza. If that wasn't enough, in the first minute of the second half my BOY, my DOGG, Bastian Schweinsteiger puts the game out of reach at 3-1 with a fantastic one time shot with his left foot. Later in the game he also had a bomb from 30+ yards out that was only stopped by the crossbar. Yeaaah booooy!

And so Bayern lead the Bundesliga by 5 points with 2 games remaining. According to Lothar Mattheus we've already won the league, but Lothar is cursed and crazy, so I can only hope we win inspite of his 'blessing'. One more win and we clinch it, or if Hamburg screws up at all.

Its good to be the King.

World Cup Roster reaction

I'm gonna get straight to the point here. Ben Olsen got the call up he deserved, and Bruce dropped the ball and then some with Twellman.

Lets get something else straight. I don't like Josh Wolff. I never have. Good for him, he can score goals for KC. But has he EVER shown ANYTHING at the national level? 100% no. And has he really established himself on the upper echelon of MLS players? No. As Jamie Trecker over at FoxSoccer put it, "Wolff cleary has all the skills, but too often fails to finish the play at the top level of the game". Yeah, and its for this reason that he should NOT be on a plane to Germany. In my opinion Wolff has been given too much respect by Bruce because he's been around longer than most. Yeah he's been around, but like Hedjuk, sucks. I may be harsh, but when it comes to United States soccer I want the best of the best. And Wolff is simply not.

Twellman on the other hand was everything the US needs in a forward off the bench. Unlike Wolff who seemed to realize that his time hanging around the teamhouse would get him the plane ticket, Twellman had to earn a spot on this team and in record time. When first called up to the national team, it took the frequent MLS leading goal scorer a while to get on the scoresheet. But once he did, he scored MORE goals for the Nats this year than anyone else!!! I believe it was 4. If you saw any US National game this year you noticed Twellman for all the right reasons. He had the heart and desire, and clearly proved he can make it happen at the next level.

That brings us to Brian Ching. Bruce basically said that its Ching's form in MLS that has earned him the call up. Ok, lets get some head to head stats for a sec:

Twellman: 2005 Honda MVP. 2003 (15), 2005 (17) Golden Boot winner. 2005 All star game MVP. 2002, 2003, 2005 MLS All Star. 2002, 2005 Best XI

Ching: 2004 "Comeback" Player of the Year. 2004 Golden Boot winner (12). 2004 Best XI

Good job Bruce. Looks like you really picked the guy with more cred in MLS. Since Trecker said it best, I'm gonna let him end this tirade: "Sadly, Taylor Twellman, who has unquestionably been more effective in MLS, failed the same test that Ching passed; were I Twellman, I'd be wondering just what this test was."

Oh yeah, and Taylor Twellman attended the finest university in the world, the University of Maryland. RECOGNIZE

Maryland Day weekend wrap up

The brief hits: Chelsea beats Man U 3-0, the Red and White scrimmage is a waste of time, DC United ties 1-1 with Dallas, Bayern clinch the German Cup, Spurs defeat Bolton 1-0, and the Baltimore Blast win the MISL championship.

A lot more was going on this weekend than I had originally anticipated, but you won't see me complaining! Lets get to it.

Woke up at 7:30am to watch Chelski play Man U. If you had doubts about Chelsea being the worst thing to ever happen to England, saturday morning put all those doubts to rest. Not only did they destroy Manchester 3-0, but Chelsea broke Wayne Rooney's foot and now he's expected to miss the first two games of the World Cup. Kudos Chelsea, kudos. Rooney was inspirational at Euro 2004, and Gerrard was quick to point out that "success without Rooney is impossible". And what's with Mourinho throwing a hissy fit after the game? He throws his medal into the crowd and bemoans that he's coaching at the worst club ever?? Crying because he'll never get coach of the year because Chelsea has so much money they can buy any player. Well DUH chief. Coach of the year goes to someone who doesn't have the cheat codes. Also, sign #4824 that Jose Mourinho is pure evil: After Chelsea went up 1-0 on a fantastic corner play in the 6th or so minute, the entire bench erupts... except for Mourinho. Who literally didn't blink an eye. It was creepy stuff.

Luckily I had Maryland Day to cheer me up after the Evil Empire wrapped up another title. Nothing really soccer related happen there, it was just awesome. Except for the Red and White football scrimmage, which planted the seeds of doubt into my mind about next season. CMON guys we need to go to a bowl!!!

Bayern Munich defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 on a second half Pizarro header to claim their 13th German Cup. I've seen the highlights, and we weren't exactly convincing, evident as much in the scoreline. Kahn was required to make an amazing reflex save late in the second half to save the game for Bayern though. Yes ladies and gentlemen, he's still got it. Now we just have to pick up form in the league and clinch a first time EVER double double! Also of note was Der Kaiser slamming Ballack for a poor performance. According to Franz, Ballack is already in west london and is just saving his strength for when he makes the complete switch to the dark side. I tend to take Der Kaiser's word as gospel, and Ballack has been slumping as of late. As long as Ballack puts his world cup duties ahead of future club duties, I don't really care. Lets get our double double, dump Darth Ballack and get someone new in here. I loved Ballack as a player and leader, but I have NO TIME for Chelski lovers!!!! EVIL

Next up was the DC United game vs. Dallas. I sat in section 226 with Uberparent and some college possee, although according to the stadium map inside RFK section 226 doesn't exist. Luckily we found it ok, opposite the great divide from La Norte. Now I've been to a lot of DC United home games, but this game was particularly awesome. The placed seemed packed (18,889), which created a great atmosphere. Every game DC United has been playing progressively more attractive football, and this game was no different. We created chance after chance, dominating possession and the entire game. The Ben Olsen goal was incredible, especially since Bruce was in attendence (100% National Team material). Dallas equalizing was quite unfortunate, and it seemed a mirror image of the Olsen strike. Nothing much Troy, who played outstanding as usual, could do. Not really the D's fault either, just a great strike. Now the Dallas celebration was something else. Honestly, wtf were they thinking? Lets go taunt Barra Brava by bouncing around and mocking them?? How many fans do you guys have jumping up and down in Pizza the Hut Park, huh jackass (O'brien)?? Did they plan this celebration before the game? "Hey guys, lets go make fun of how DC has the best fans in the country". If we can still pack the house at RFK, just wait until we're selling out at the new stadium. The other thing I hate about Dallas is Ruiz, but luckily he didn't come on until the dying minutes of the game. Still had enough time to piss everyone off with a cheap foul though. Mmm I hate that guy. At the end of the day, it was an incredibly enjoyable experiance, and DC United is really playing some good football. However, "Unlucky" has never been a better term to use to describe a result. Esky has lacking the killing blow, and Gomez's senSATIONAL free kick was only stopped by save of the month. If DC can keep playing like this, we'll find the luck and find ourselves back on top of the league.

I didn't dish out the money for the Spurs v. Bolton match, but I'm happy with the result!! I predicted Keane to score and the game to end 2-1. Well at least I got the margin right. And even better than Keane was Lennon getting on the scoresheet. I've been saying it since I first saw him play, this kid is special. He's amazing on the ball and he's a hard worker, and he just put Spurs over the last significant hurdle. All we have to do is beat West Brom in the season finale, and the Champions League is ours!! Nevermind the .01% chance that Arsenal win the Champions League, we all know better than that.

When I awoke today to eat breakfast at 1pm, I noticed that there was an MISL game on tv. Lo and behold it was the championship match, between the Baltimore Blast (Go Maryland!) and the St. Louis Steamers. Nevermind which city I kept thinking the Steamers were from. I've never been to a Blast game, but I did attend my fair share of Washington Warthog games back in the day. Despite never having attended a game, I've been to First Mariner Arena for various reasons, and have noticed the numerous championship banners hanging from the rafters. In the form we know today, the Blast have won the MISL title in back to back season (2002-2003 and 2003-2004). Oh yeah, and their coach made the front page of cnn.com when he strangled a ref and was banned for 2 years this season. Hey, thats Bmore for ya. Anyway, apparently the Blast won the first game of the home and home series 4-2. They ended up losing this game 4-1 in front of a respectable crowd in St. Louis, which plunged the game into a golden goal 3rd game. Apparently there is no aggregate scoring, they just consider it a series tied at one a piece. Overtime was a thrilling and high paced affair, and the Blast came away victorious with a fantastic strike with 7:33 left on the clock in the first period of OT. So congrats to the Baltimore Blast for bringing another title home to Maryland!

Overall Maryland Day weekend was a resounding success.