HexagonalBlog

It's official -- the Galaxy have no spine

David Beckham's decision to attend the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton last month was controversial, but at least defensible.  He was an invitee of the Royal Family, which is a huge honor, and Beckham is among other things a deeply loyal citizen to his country.  Personally, I felt he should have declined so as not to put the Galaxy in a difficult situation, but I can understand his desire to attend the wedding.

If taking time off from the Galaxy to attend the Royal Wedding is one thing, time off (and missing a league match!) to attend a testimonial match of a former teammate is something totally different.  Of course Beckham would want to attend a match of a close friend and teammate, but where were the Galaxy to remind him of his responsibilities to his team?  Is the front office that much afraid to say "No" to him?  Would the Galaxy even have to think about telling any other player "No" in a similar situation? 

Steven Cohen at World Football Daily, hardly a more severe critic of David Beckham, believes that this latest event shows Beckham to be the fraud that he believes he is, but I think it's much worse than that.  The Galaxy have shown themselves to be so utterly spineless that they will sacrifice their credibility just to placate one player.  It's little wonder that David Beckham have such an apparent lack of respect for such an organization.

Welcome to the Fortress

An appetizer for tonight...

 

No, this is not a "Lake Placid moment"

I have a lot of admiration for RSL GM Garth Lagerwey and the way in which he and Jason Kreis have transformed Real Salt Lake from a dysfunctional side to one on the cusp of a place in the FIFA Club World Cup.  So it pains me to disagree very strongly with his statement that the match on Wednesday night could be US soccer's "Lake Placid moment".

I recognize that Lagerwey is using a metaphor that the general public in the USA recognizes (above a certain age of course), and that he is using it to symbolize an American soccer team finally breaking through and winning an international competition.  I also recognize that it's easy to take metaphors a little too literally.  But the "Lake Placid moment" in hockey melted away, and the US hockey team never reached the heights of 1980 again (1992 was an exception, but they were never going to beat the former Soviet Union team) until they incorporated professionals in the Olympic team.  You could make a case that the Lake Placid comparison is apt because a MLS team won a CONCACAF title in 2000 and future league representatives never came close to matching that achievement, while the US hockey team won gold in 1960 and didn't come close until 1980 when they really broke into the public consciousness.  But I am not sure that that's the point Lagerwey is making. 

I believe that Lagerwey is tapping into the notion of a US men's hockey team, composed of college kids who barely played together and were given no hope for success, taking on the powerhouses of world hockey and achieving an unexpected and memorable victory.  I agree with Mexican clubs being a powerhouse in the region, but I disagree completely with RSL being such rank outsiders.  This Real Salt Lake team is NOT a rank outsider in this year's competition.  Perhaps they were at the very beginning, but they demonstrated in the group stage that they deserve to be considered as a favorite for the title, and they validated that consideration in the knockout stages.  Real Salt Lake may not have the talent, man for man, of Monterrey, but they are a team that has been kept together for a long period, has made judicious roster selections under the tightest payroll restrictions in world soccer, and has developed a style of play that is truly suited for continental success.  I never saw RSL as a heavy underdog against Monterrey at the outset of the finals -- at worst they were 3:2 underdogs which meant that they had roughly a 40% chance of success -- and they demonstrated why in the first leg.  If the Columbus Crew were in this position, or Toronto FC, or even the Los Angeles Galaxy, I would perhaps agree with that metaphor being apt.  No disrespect intended to any of those teams, but they did not have the combination of talent and tactical nous to be successful in the CCL.  Real Salt Lake do deserve to be at this stage and they are every bit the match of Monterrey.  If you don't believe me on this count, go read the articles coming out of the Mexican press

I know that there is a psychological battle between the two teams that serves as a backdrop to the match on Wednesday.  I just cannot accept the premise of Real Salt Lake being such rank outsiders.  RSL fans should not accept it, either.

MLS clears the schedule for RSL

Real Salt Lake received some help from Major League Soccer in its preparations for the Champions League final next week when the league postponed its match against the Philadelphia Union that bisects both legs of the final series.  The decision is in line with what MLS said they would do for their Champions League representatives when they set up that CCL subcommittee last year.  It's a terrific gesture of solidarity on the part of the league, but when the news came out I doubted that it would give RSL more of an advantage in the final tie.

Events from Mexico are starting to change my mind, however.  Monterrey will play two matches before and during the final series -- home matches against Morelia and Puebla, respectively.  Morelia are in the Clausura playoffs, while Puebla are all but out.  Monterrey, on the other hand, occupy one of the two wildcard places, have not won in their last three matches, and would like to guarantee their place in the playoffs with a win on Saturday.  Víctor Vucetich has a deep squad, but he will be faced with a dilemma of who among his first XI to play for the entire 90 minutes, who to place on his bench, and who to rest for next Wednesday.  Humberto Suazo has been cleared to play, but it's not clear whether he will play tomorrow.    Granted, Monterrey won't have to leave town until after their match against Puebla next weekend, but a number of their first-choice players will be tired by the time the second leg of the final comes around.  This will be true especially if Monterrey haven't wrapped up a playoff spot by then.

My obligatory Ochocinco at SKC post

I've been busy over the past week on the other site -- still am, as a matter of fact -- so I haven't had time to blog about Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson's impending tryout with Sporting KC which started today.  I knew that Johnson was a soccer fan -- he played at youth level, is a big follower of the UEFA Champions League, is friends with Thierry Henry and David Beckham among other players -- but I share Ives Galarcep's opinion that the idea that an athlete who hasn't played soccer in close to two decades can walk into a professional soccer club and make it to the first team is ridiculous.  And if he can, doesn't that reflect just a little badly on the club if it's top-flight? 

If the idea is that Johnson wants to stay fit during the NFL lockout and training with SKC helps him do that, then that's fine.  As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see more NFL players do that in the future if the lockout goes on indefinitely.  But the chances of him making the first team are remote, and he knows that.  I would consider this tryout a success if Ochocinco has fun and doesn't get hurt; who knows, more NFL players might obtain a greater appreciation for life as a professional in the other football code. 

Andy Najar given Monday deadline

The Andy Najar saga has been moving along for the better part of a year ever since he emerged as DC United's best youth prospect -- will he decide to play for Honduras, or for the USA?  It has been reported at various times that he would play for the country of his birth, only to have those reports denied days later.  Now comes word from Honduras that the U-20 coach has given Najar an ultimatum: either show up for the U-20 training camp in Mexico by next Monday, or be discarded from the Honduran U-20 national team even if they qualify for the U-20 World Cup this summer. 

Najar has said a couple of times in the past that it's too soon for him to decide, and at 17 he's very perceptive.  With the new Major League Soccer season about to start, DC United can't afford to have him out of the lineup for too long.  And even if he failed to show up for the Honduran U-20s it doesn't mean that he would not be considered by the U-23s or the senior team.  If Najar has a big season with DCU in 2011, the clamor for his selection by the USA or Honduras will reach a fever pitch.

MLS comes to Tucson

While I was in Boston, Major League Soccer came to Tucson with the Desert Cup matches at Hi Corbett Field.  The marquee match was always going to be Sporting KC against New York Red Bulls, but the series also featured matches with the Arizona Sahuaros and FC Tucson, two of the semiprofessional soccer clubs in the state.  It is impressive that the all-MLS match drew 10k to a baseball stadium, and the two teams played a spirited match that entertained the crowd.  But beyond the excitement of an exhibition match, the challenges of forming a successful soccer team in Tucson remain.

Tucson is a notoriously difficult place to sustain a sports franchise, in a region of the country where geographical distances between teams rival those between European countries.  I remember seeing a list of the different sports teams that have come and gone from Tucson over the past 15 years.  It's quite a long list.  The only sports team that has shown sustained success in terms of civic interest and ticket sales has been the University of Arizona basketball team. (Other athletic teams at UA have been just as successful or more successful, but they aren't revenue-producing sports.) 

Tucson is in an odd situation in that is conflicted between being a traditional southwestern outpost town and being a modern city with a vibrant downtown, an attractive civic scene and successful sports teams.  Tucson is not Phoenix and doesn't want to be Phoenix, but there is a dynamism in Phoenix that Tucson lacks, and it is no coincidence that all of the minor-league baseball teams that used to be in Tucson have since moved to the metro Phoenix area.  Lack of properly-sized facilities has always been a significant issue with sports teams in the city, and with soccer in particular.  Arizona Stadium is way too big, and the other stadiums of a more appropriate size have been built for baseball.  There has been talk about converting Rillito Park in the northwest part of the city to a soccer facility, but Rillito Park is a historic quarterhorse racetrack so closing it down is a very touchy subject for many Tucsonans.  The city council has shown themselves over the years to be dysfunctional when it comes to facilitating new facilities and carrying out improvements to existing ones, so an owner who wants a permanent facility would need a lot of money to work around the council.  But if he had that much money, why not go to Chandler, Mesa, or Glendale?

All I'm saying is that Saturday night was great, but developing a successful sports team in Tucson is much more difficult than a one-off exhibition.  I wish FC Tucson well in their new season, wherever they end up playing.  They'll need it.

MLS embraces playoff creep

Major League Soccer formally announced its new playoff structure yesterday.  Ten teams from the 18-team league advance to the postseason phase, the top three in each conference and the next four teams in the league table.  Those four teams play one-match elimination games to determine who advances to the conference semifinal (or quarterfinal) round.  That round is a two-leg aggregate series in which the surviving wildcard with the lowest points plays the Supporters' Shield winner and the other wildcard plays the other conference winner.  The conference final (semifinal) and MLS Cup are single-match affairs as before.

The format has generated a wide range of opinions, some hate it because of the larger number of teams and the format changing twice, others like it because the format is more in line with other American sports leagues.  While I'm pleased that finishing first in the league during the regular season actually means something, the whole idea of conferences is just ridiculous.  Either say that the best two teams in the league will meet in MLS Cup, or make it a matchup between the best of the West versus the best of the East.  You can't have both, at least not most years in this league.  I am most disappointed that after a season in which games were their most meaningful and competitive in league history, that the league decided to dilute the regular season's importance a bit. 

I have read supporters of the expanded playoff say that the proportion of league teams advancing to the playoff is smaller than most of the major North American sports leagues, and besides, when the league expands to 20 teams we'll be back at half the league entering the playoffs.  Well, I think that ratio is too many, and I have no confidence that MLS will not expand the playoff field to 12 teams for identical reasons in the future.

I think everyone will have to get used to more playoff creep from Major League Soccer in future seasons, as the league inflates to 20 teams and beyond.

 

Columbus-Real Salt Lake: Who will be MLS' semifinalist in the Champions League?

The 2011 MLS season doesn't start for another month, but on Tuesday the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake will start their respective seasons with the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series.  It's a season that both teams hope runs until December at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. 

This year is MLS' best chance to play for a Champions League title since the restructuring of CONCACAF's club competition.  MLS will be guaranteed a semifinal berth for the first time since 2008 (under the old Champions Cup format), and league teams have had good campaigns in this season's Champions League, LA Galaxy aside.  Moreover, MLS teams have played better in Mexico this season than in previous seasons, but group stage matches are not the same as a two-leg tie.

It's true that the Crew and RSL are still in preseason mode and settling on their squads, but the Crew have made significant changes to the team that was playing in Champions League and the MLS playoffs in October.  At least ten players have left the team in the MLS offseason, including Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Steven Lenhart, Frankie Hejduk, Duncan Oughton, and Jason Garey.  Schelotto did not play significant minutes in Champions League, but Hejduk and Garey did.  The result is a squad without experienced leadership.  Jeff Cunningham, MLS' second-leading goal scorer, did join the team, but it's not clear how many minutes he will actually play in the series.

Real Salt Lake's squad has remained unchanged.  Only Robbie Findley, who did not have a good 2010 season, has left the team, and the side has added Arturo Alvarez and Cody Arnoux.  RSL is unique among MLS sides in that they play a 4-1-3-2 (which could be interpreted as a diamond 4-4-2), with Beckerman as the linchpin between the defensive line and the rest of the midfield.  When Beckerman is not in the lineup, the team is more likely to switch to something like 4-3-1-2, with Andy Williams played more in a hole position, as they did against Cruz Azul at home.  RSL's impact player in the Champions League group stage was Alvaro Saborío, who scored six goals (three from the penalty spot), tied for second in CCL play.  Saborío had knee surgery in the offseason but he has been cleared to play and it looks like he will play in the first leg.

Bottom line is that Columbus are a team in transition with lots of unsettled questions in terms of on-field leadership and contributions from various spots on the pitch, while Real Salt Lake have a settled squad, a settled formation, and a settled style of play from senior to academy levels.  RSL have to be considered favorites to progress, but the first official match could offer surprises.

2011 MLS Preseason Camp: Portland Timbers and Houston Dynamo

This morning I traveled to Casa Grande to watch the scrimmage between Portland Timbers and Houston Dynamo.  Unfortunately the weather played a big role in the day's events, especially the high winds throughout southern Arizona.  When the winds kick up, the dust from the farmland becomes a big flowing cloud of dirt.  Driving to the training center was extremely hazardous with whiteout conditions (visibility down to less than 10 feet!) and numerous accidents on the highway.  When I arrived to Grande Sports World, the situation from my car looked like this: