Round Up Round Up

In further efforts to kill time before the MLS Final this Sunday, I’ll now be doing a general round up of stuff going on with the league, and with American soccer as a whole. There’s actually been a fair amount of stuff going on.

US FRIENDLIES: In the past week, the US met with France and Slovenia, coming out of the two matches with a win and a loss. The game against France was really pretty crappy, and showed our two main flaws. We can’t finish, and our defense has holes. France dominated our defensive third, and we depended far too much on Tim Howard. Granted, his ridiculously good performances make it easy to fall into that trap, and his game against France was no exception, but we’ve been getting burned pretty constantly. I don’t think that’s the kind of thing you can blame on Jurgen, so much as on the fact that we have a lot of young guys on our D.

On a lighter note, France’s jerseys looked stupid, and we won 3-2 against Slovenia. I’ve been waiting since last June for this one. Edson Buddle and Clint Dempsey proved their worth (as if Dempsy had to), and, though our D still leaked, I’ll take the win. Maybe the D can just blame it on the fog.

I still have a ton of faith in Jurgen (yes, we are on a first name basis here). Even when we won under Bradley, I never had the same feeling that we’re playing good ball. We now pass circles around other teams. We play ball that can be shown on the international stage, and respected. Once we start racking up wins, which we will, assuredly, when we really gel into the new tactical approach, people will start seeing that. I say, believe in Jurgen.

BRADLEY LOSES EGYPT OPENER: Okay, I know this one isn’t really important, but I guess I just don’t know how I feel about Bob Bradley. I can’t really explain why, but I just don’t like him. Sure, he got us a bit of success in his World Cups, but I feel like he was always a disappointment. I won’t dwell on this, but I guess I’m just not sure whether to hate Bob or not. Thoughts?

GARBER GIVES HIS STATE OF THE LEAGUE: The main points to take away from this are a)that Garber is pretty do-or-die about putting a second team in New York b) that Garber would support DC moving to Baltimore if necessary c)that literally everything (merchandise, attendance, TV ratings), and d) that Garber’s goal is to have MLS be the top league in the world by 2022.

I’ll go point by point:
a) I’ve written about this one before, and I support having two teams in New York. Though, MLSTALK makes a good point in suggesting that the league should focus on rebuilding DC and New England before expanding. Food for thought.

b) I don’t really know about this. I think that United would be a huge success if they got a stadium, and that if they can’t get one drastic action should be taken. I just don’t know about Baltimore. Sure, I may be completely wrong, but do we know if Baltimore has is feasible in terms of existing soccer support?

c) I love this. And the best part is that Montreal will only help this progress, given their huge support for the sport. I’m really excited for the Impact, and for 2012’s stats. People said we could never surpass Basketball, so now who’s to say we can’t beat out baseball in terms of attendance? With patience, anything’s possible.

d) Hey, dream big, and you’ll land among the stars. Or, you’ll overextend yourself like the NASL and go out of business. But I don’t see that happening under the ever-cautious Garber, and I honestly believe that one day, be it 2022 or 2050, MLS will the be top league in the world.

So that’s all for now. I’ll probably do a preview for the Final, which really should be a solid game. Let’s just hope it’s anywhere near as good as LA and RSL’s Western Conference Final match.

What do you think?

Category: MLS