HexagonalBlog

Well played, Esky

Following in the finest tradition of Joe Horn and Terrell Owens, Alecko Eskandarian decided to celebrate his first goal against the NY Red Bulls in a most creative fashion.  For a second I thought he was running back to the center of the field to cup his hands around his ears, a la Juán Román Riquelme.  But instead, he grabbed a can of Red Bull and took a swig.  Spitting it out was a nice touch.

Of course, you can only do that kind of celebration once, and the League will likely take a dim view of one of their principal sponsors being shown up, but oh man was it funny.

(And from what I've read about Mateschitz, as far as Red Bull is concerned there's no such thing as bad publicity.)

América, Champions of North America

América 2-1 Toluca (aet)

As expected, América won their fifth CONCACAF Champions' Cup, but it wasn't as clinical as they would have liked.  It took an overtime period, a controversial tying goal, and a winner in the closing minutes to take the cup, but the end result is that América will go be the first Mexican representative at FIFA's Club World Championship since 2000.  Congratulations to the Aguilas!

A further thought: now that Cuauhtemoc Blanco is out of the World Cup picture, the CWC could be a personal World Cup for him. 

Scratch Guus off the list

Now that Guus Hiddink has officially signed for the Russian national team, it's safe to say now that US Soccer won't be considering him as a successor to Arena.  This assumes that (1) Hiddink stays for at least two years, (2) Arena leaves after 2006, and (3) USSF was actually considering him in the first place.

Trinidad's list

Here it is.

No real suprises, as far as I can tell.   Beenhakker only has to cut one player to reduce the final number to 23, so I'm guessing that it will be a striker who misses the final cut.

A few words on Dave O'Brien

I like him.

Like some of my readers, I watched the first MLS match between FC Dallas and Chicago Fire on ABC, and I was surprised to hear a familiar voice.  I had heard of Dave O'Brien before, but primarily as a baseball announcer.  During the first years of the Florida Marlins, O'Brien shared part of the play-by-play team with Joe Angel (a legend in his own right), and I was very impressed by his commentary.  I was very pleased when ESPN picked him up for their baseball coverage, and I have been impressed by his coverage of basketball games as well.  But I had not heard him call a soccer match before, nor had I heard him express an interest in doing so.

I don't know what others thought of his performance, but I thought that he performed very well.  He did not talk too much over the play, he kept up with what was happening on the field, and - most importantly - he did not feel the need to educate his audience on the intricacies of the sport.  I would like to see the same from more soccer commentators in the USA.  It would mean that the sports media is finally acknowledging that the US soccer audience is more sophisticated than previously imagined.

I'd send him a thank-you note by email, but I don't have his address.  And the announcers do read their email -- I received a very nice reply from Derek Rae after sending him a note complimenting him on his commentary during the '96 Gold Cup.

Advantage América

The less said about the first leg of the Champions' Cup final the better.   Having the match on TV served as background noise while I worked from home, and it never really grabbed my attention for extended periods of time.  América got the result they wanted, so advantage Lapuente and his men going into the return leg at Azteca.

Mexico's World Cup roster

Ricardo LaVolpe culminated "The Process" with his 26-man list for the World Cup, to be pared down to 23 by the 15 May deadline.  The big news is that Cuauhtemoc Blanco is not on the list, ostensibly because of a poor working relationship with LaVolpe.  Yes I know, it's absolutely shocking that an Argentine coach would leave out a talented player for off-field reasons, but this is big news.

I'll have more to say later.  A lot more, in fact.

MLS, Decade 2

In less than an hour, the 11th season of Major League Soccer will begin.  The start of the league season is always exciting, as a sign of renewal and also as a way to see how the teams measure up when they play "for real".  This year is especially exciting because it seems that for the first time very few people are asking whether MLS has a future.  With an additional owner in the league, and stadia under construction in Bridgeview, Harrison and Commerce City, as well as those under consideration by RSL, DC United, Houston and Rowan University, the future of the league appears to be secure (although the sooner the initial debt is paid off the better).

There have been a lot of changes on the field as well, whether players in different locales, new coaches (or old coaches in new environments), or team names (some requiring multiple iterations).  What is so interesting about this league, and what makes it different from leagues in the rest of the world, is how small the difference is from top to bottom (RSL and Chivas USA breaking that rule last year).  Supremacy in the West looks to be a three-horse race between Los Angeles Galaxy, FC Dallas, and Houston Dynamo (or Dynamo Houston).  However, the Eastern conference could be super-competitive.  The two teams locked out of the playoffs have made significant changes to their lineups, and the other four have legitimate shots of finishing in the top two.

There are a lot of questions to be considered....Will Twellman maintain his goal-scoring form in the League?  How will Freddy play now that he has the starting position that he's wanted since he became professional?  Will the change of scenery help Eddie Johnson's growth as a striker?  Can Kinnear do the same thing in Houston that he did in San Jose?  Was Sampson's MLS Cup a fluke?  Can Bradley turn around Chivas USA?  And how will the clubs be impacted by the World Cup finals? 

We'll find the answers to these and other questions in the coming weeks and months.  Right now, let's welcome the return of the USA's top-flight soccer league!  I don't live in a big city, but the local airport does have direct flights to Houston and Dallas, as well as one-stop flights to Washington, Columbus, and Chicago, so I hope to squeeze in some MLS matches in between my summer travel time.

An All-Mexican CONCACAF Final

Another story that flew under my radar....

The FIFA World Club Championship will have a Mexican club among the final six after the return legs of the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup this week.  Toluca will meet América over two matches to decide the club champions of the region.  Both clubs showed how to play a two-leg series by grabbing decisive home victories and holding the advantage on the road (a tougher feat for Toluca against Saprissa).

Toluca 2-0 2-3 Saprissa
América 2-1 0-0 Alajuelense

I said at the beginning of the tournament that the Cup was América's to lose.  I still believe that, but Américo Gallego has experience coaching in high-pressure situations in Argentina and Mexico so I have to imagine that he will have Toluca ready.  Then again, so has Manuel Lapuente!

CONCACAF referees for the World Cup

The referees list for the World Cup was announced a couple of days ago.  I was in Atlanta on one of my business trips but I did notice that there were no Americans on the final list.  When I returned and found the official list on FIFA's website, and CONCACAF's representatives were the following:

Benito Archundia (Mexico)
Carlos Batres (Guatemala)
Peter Prendergast (Jamaica)

As you can imagine, I was quite shocked to see Prendergast's name among the final list.  Those who have read previous posts of mine would know that I do not think he is a good referee for CONCACAF, much less at the Olympic or World Cup levels.

In the end, I wish them well and hope that there aren't any major screw-ups.