HexagonalBlog

WPS suspends operations, which is a nice way to say that they've folded

When a politician suspends his or her campaign, it effectively means the end of the campaign.  Even if it is restarted, all of the momentum generated has been lost and almost impossible to recover.  Sports league operations are no different, and especially soccer leagues in the USA.  So the news today that Women's Professional Soccer has suspended operations for the 2012 season is very bad.

Frowns and smiles in both halves of Monterrey

Both sides of the Clásico Regiomontano experienced different emotions during the weekend.

CONCACAF club champions Monterrey were knocked out of the FIFA Club World Cup by Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol, 4-3 on penalties after the match finished 1-1 at the end of 120 minutes.  Reysol took the lead through their star midfielder Leander Domingues, but the Rayados equalized through Humberto Suazo five minutes later.  Monterrey had control of the match early on, and missed several opportunities for goal (two of them by Suazo), but Kashiwa pulled their way back into the contest through their team speed and organization.  After Suazo's goal, both teams played back-and-forth but with little precision in the final third of the pitch.  Penalties beckoned, and Kashiwa won the shootout despite shooting second, which doesn't always happen. Kashiwa will play Santos in one semifinal; Monterrey will play African champions Esperance on Wednesday.

Later in the day, UANL Tigres ended a 29-year wait for a Mexican league championship by defeating Santos 3-1 to win the finals series 4-1 on aggregate.  The match started in sensational fashion when referee Marco Rodríguez called a penalty in the 12th minute (correctly) and sent off Santos 'keeper Oswaldo Sánchez (incorrectly).  It could have been a devastating result for Santos, who had to take off Darwin Quintero and bring on replacement goalkeeper Miguel Becerra, but Becerra saved Lucas Lobos' penalty.  More incredibly, Santos took the lead and evened the aggregate series on Oribe Peralta's strike in the goal area.  The second half saw Tigres take control of the match and settle the championship tie with goals from Danilinho and Mexican U-20 striker Alan Pulido.  Felipe Baloy of Santos and Israel Jiménez of Tigres were sent off for an altercation in the 70th minute. 

Tigres will play CONCACAF Champions League football next season, and will also enter the first stage of the 2012 Copa Libertadores against a Chilean representative in January.  (Cruz Azul and Guadalajara have berths to the group stage of the Libertadores.)  It's a chance for them to continue Mexican club football's strong performances in South America and make a lot more money than they ever would in CONCACAF.

América in crisis

Club América had a disastrous first half of the Mexican season, finishing second-from-last in the Apertura tournament.  It represents a total collapse for a side that finished consistently in Mexico's top six over the last two seasons. (However, América have not won a domestic title since the 2005 Clausura and have not advanced beyond the quarterfinals in three of the last four short tournaments.)

There is a sports adage that a team can't replace all of its players but it can replace its coach.  América did replace its coach -- Carlos Reinoso resigned and was replaced by Alfredo Tena -- but to little effect.  So the club is now taking the remarkable step of placing its entire squad on the transfer list.  When you think about the names on the América squad, such as Argentines Matías Vuoso and Daniel Montenegro, Ecuadorian Christián Benítez, Uruguayan winger Vicente Sánchez and Colombian defender Aquivaldo Mosquera, it is a very expensive bath by the Mexican giants.  América plan on turning to its youth academy system for half of its squad in the second half of the season, which effectively concedes a playoff appearance for at least one or two tournaments.

The turnover has also extended to the boardroom of América as club president Michel Bauer announced his resignation last night.  The Eagles will experience some more turbulent winds in the days to come.

Santos-Morelia abandoned due to gunfire

Scary scenes in Torreón last night as the Primera match between Santos and Morelia was abandoned due to a gunfight between drug cartels and Mexican police.  It happened around the 40 minute mark of a match that was 0-0 when the sounds of gunfire could be heard.  Players, referees, and technical staff ran for the tunnels while spectators crawled into the spaces in front of the seats.  What had happened was that a criminal group traveling in a three car caravan failed to stop at a police checkpoint near the stadium and the occupants engaged the police in a confrontation that left a soldier injured.  One of the abandoned cars contained a cache of small arms.

You can find photos and videos of the incident at Medio Tiempo and at Argentina's sports daily Olé.

Drug cartel violence has become a lamentable feature of Mexican life in the last five years, but I have never heard of such violence interrupting a Mexican football league match, and according to the reporter at Medio Tiempo it has never happened before. 

Klinsmann's first selections

A look at Jürgen Klinsmann's selection list for the USA friendly match vs Mexico reveals a high level of turnover from the squad that faced Mexico in the Gold Cup final.  Some of the changes were forced by injury (Zach Loyd), others by the start of the European domestic season (Clint Dempsey) or by players' unsettled situations at their clubs (Michael Bradley).   Nevertheless, it looks like Klinsmann is attempting to groom the next generation of the national team at every generic position.

The inclusion of DC United's Bill Hamid is a case in point.  Hahnemann is too old to be thought of as a replacement for Tim Howard, and Nick Rimando is a quality keeper but approximately the same age as Howard. I'm interested in seeing how Hamid makes the transition from MLS to international play, and hopefully he will get to play half of the match tomorrow night. 

The most intriguing selections are on the defensive line which has seen the highest level of turnover.  Bornstein, Lichaj, Onyewu, and Spector have been placed on the sidelines and Loyd, Orozco, Pearce and Castillo brought in. Klinsmann will be the latest coach who will try to find a regular starter at left back and it appears that he will look to Pearce and Castillo to fill that role. 

The midfield sees the return of Kyle Beckerman and Ricardo Clark from varying degrees of exile from the national team.  Beckerman has been arguably the best American midfielder in Major League Soccer over the past two seasons but found it difficult to get a call during the Bradley era.  It will be very interesting to see how he is used in the midfield and how he performs. 

The forward line has also experienced some turnover, not just with call-ups but also players shifting position.  Adu remains in the squad but listed as a forward, as are Beasley and Donovan.  Klinsmann has also decided to give another look to Buddle, who had a moderately successful first season at Ingolstadt.  One surprising omission was Chris Wondolowski, who is having another good year for the SJ Earthquakes, but perhaps Klinsmann will select him for one of the two friendlies in September.

Another selection list that has drawn interest has been Klinsmann's coaching staff for this game.  The selection of Martín Vázquez was not at all a surprise since he has worked with Klinsmann at Bayern Munich.  Mark Verstegen (Athletes' Performance) worked with Klinsmann when he was the German national team coach and is well-known for his individualized training programs for pro and amateur athletes.  (His facility in the Phoenix area is really fantastic.)  Tomorrow's match also sees the return of Thomas Dooley and Tab Ramos to the USA sidelines and the incorporation of Claudio Reyna as a liaison between the senior team and the junior national teams.

With the exception of Hamid the player pool hasn't expanded all that much, although there are players called up who have not been selected for the national team in quite some time.  The real changes to the national team, at least in the short term, will be in its interaction with the junior national teams.

Klinsmann's hire goes much deeper than the national team post

I've held off on making comment about the dismissal of Bob Bradley and the selection of Jürgen Klinsmann to the head of the US national team until today's introduction to the media in New York City.  I wanted to hear from Gulati, but more so from Klinsmann, about the reasons for this change and the overarching vision for the US national programs in the coming years.

Bradley out

US men's national team coach Bob Bradley has been relieved of his position by the US Soccer Federation.

A replacement has not been named at this time, but the Federation says that it will have a "further announcement" tomorrow, whatever that might mean.

The US do have a big friendly match against Mexico in two weeks' time, but the selection of the national team coach should not -- must not -- be dictated by that event.

I'll have more to write later.

Mexico wins the U-17 World Cup

Before a packed crowd at Estadio Azteca, Mexico's U-17 footballers fulfilled the wishes of an entire nation and won the World Cup for their age group, 2-0 over Uruguay. Uruguay played a tight defensive match, faithful to the style of the senior charrúas, but the Mexican juniors found their legs and took full advantage of a set-piece to open the scoring.  The second half was more fight than football as Uruguay attempted to find a way back into the game and Mexico sought to score the clincher.  Deep into stoppage time Casillas' goal set off massive celebrations in the stadium and around the country.

A deserved second world title for Mexico's U-17s, who became the first hosts to win the U-17 title.  In the process they won all seven of their matches in the tournament and swept the best player awards. Júlio Gómez of Pachuca won the Golden Ball, Jorge Espericueta of Tigres won the Silver Ball, and Carlos Fierro of Guadalajara won the Bronze.  There is some reflected glory for the USA as Mexican goalkeeper Richard Sánchez plays in the FC Dallas youth system.

At around this time two years ago there were some uncomfortable questions being asked about the performance of Mexican national teams over all age levels, and the U-17s had just failed to qualify for the World Cup.  Two years later, the young talent from 2005 and 2007 has emerged to become key contributors to their clubs and to the national team, and the current U-17 generation is the second Mexican cohort to be able to call itself world champion.  The gauntlet has now been thrown to the USA, but the last two to three generations of youth national teams have not given much confidence that they are rising to the Mexican challenge.

Is it time for Bob Bradley to go?

Bob Bradley was never anyone's first choice for the US men's national team, but nevertheless I have been a defender of him since he was installed in his post.  I felt that the national team had made some positive improvements under his leadership during the 2010 qualifying cycle, while at the same time being aware of his limitations.  I try not to be one who overreacts to individual match results (I'm aware that I'm not always successful at this), and I do not believe that abrupt changes to the manager creates an improvement in a team in the medium- to long-term. 

Funky chicken spoils Mexico's Gold Cup run

Five players on Mexico's national team were suspended from the Gold Cup, and from international football, because of positive results from a doping test conducted on 21 May.  The implicated players are Francisco Rodríguez, Antonio "Sinha" Naelson, Edgar Dueñas, Cristián Bermúdez, and Guillermo Ochoa.  The banned substance that appeared in the tests is clenbuterol, which is a substance used to increase speed and muscle mass in animals.  FMF officials think that the substance may have been ingested from a meal where tainted beef or chicken was served.

From reading the press reports and statements from the Mexican officials, it appears that the players were "doped" through no fault of their own.  They were at the team compound where they consumed the ill-fated meal, but why were their tests positive and not the rest of their teammates?  It is very possible that the doping could be judged an accident and the players cleared of all charges, but in the short-term this result will not only affect Mexico's Gold Cup chances, but also the ongoing transfer deals of that group of five, in particular Guillermo Ochoa. 

Now, the suspension didn't affect Mexico in the slightest tonight as they routed Cuba 5-0.  But if the doping controversy has not been resolved by the time Mexico progress to the Gold Cup semifinals, the lack of depth in the Mexican squad could cripple them.