I Hope This Isn't An Omen For WBA

Once Woy arrived on the scene last season, just about everything worked out perfectly for Albion.  The initial phases of the transfer window were also widely acclaimed as a success with some solid (and inexpensive) moves to solidify the back line while not losing last season's star Peter Odemwingie to a bigger club.  So with all this good mojo heading into the season, WBA shows up in lovely San Jose, California and are promptly greeted by this...

Indian Player Debuts in Major League Soccer

Sunil Chhetri makes debut for Wizards in loss to Rapids - Soccer - SI.com

I know we have at least some following in India and who I'm sure will be interested to know (if they don't already) that one of their own, Sunil Chhetri, has made his professional debut in Major League Soccer on Tuesday.

I had a chance to watch some domestic league matches in India when I was there last summer and it is definitely a few steps down from MLS but with the growing popularity of the world game, India's huge population, and the widespread proliferation soccer/football as a participation sport among kids in India you have to think that this will be the first of many.  I'd guess that India will mirror the progress of US players as they emerged on the world scene in the 80s.

This will be an interesting story to follow over the coming years.

Meanwhile, back in Major League Soccer

While the Premier League fantasy season is heading towards its dénouement, domestically, Major League Soccer fantasy is just hitting it's groove. I had a TERRIBLE week overseas, but a top-15 week in MLS did ease the pain a little bit. Cold comfort, but comfort none-the-less.

The bright spot in my line-up over the last two weeks has been Chicago Fire midfielder Marco Pappa. I remember him coming in late last season and playing well. But this year he's taken it to a new level. Two goals and two assists over his last three matches have helped Chicago cope without Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who is coming back from a pre-season injury. It will be interesting to see how both players combine when Blanco is starting and likely hogging all the limelight and kicks.

Otherwise, my team got goals from Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Brian McBride and Dwayne DeRosario. Robbie Findley and Chris Pontius chipped in with assists, and Omar "OG" Gonzalez and Pat Onstad kept clean sheets.

MLS fantasy is a crazy, unsatisfying game. But I had to comment on it really as tonic for my overseas woes.

MLS First Kick

Oh. My. God.

Congratulations to Seattle on their resounding (Sounders. Resounding. Get it?) win over NYRB tonight. But before anyone in the Pacific Northwest gets carried away the NYRB looked... HORRIBLE. They looked like the expansion team. They looked like a pub team. The looked like shit!

Somehow the were crowded out in central midfield where they were playing three - in Rojas (who should have been further upfield), Pietrovalla and Ubiparipovic who were equally abject. For all the pre-season talk of the Red Bulls being built around speed, they played short, careful passes through the midfield. Or tried to. I don't think Richards and JPA had a half dozen touches between them as I don't think there was a ball played forward more than 10 yards until the 54th minute. And I can't begin to count how many passes they misplayed. Too often there were two Red Bulls attacking a ball in midfield, from opposite sides and just getting in each other's way... leaving the ball for Seattle.

Seattle's third goal was typical as the defense dwelt on the ball too long and were too sloppy with their touches, allowing Montero to nip in an finish nicely.

So again, kudos to Seattle for a great performance. Montero looks the real deal. Jaqua was a handful. And in Le Toux, Zakauni, Nyassi and Evans they have plenty of creativity even without Freddie Ljundberg, who will be back soon enough.

As for NYRB it looks back to the drawing board again.

Ouch!

Chivas USA defender Lawson Vaughn is expected to be sidelined for up to six weeks after undergoing surgery over the weekend for a fractured nose.

Vaughn, in his third season with Chivas USA, was injured in the 9th minute of Saturday’s game against the Dynamo in Houston that ended in a scoreless tie. He jumped to try a header and was kicked in the face by Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, who was attempting a bicycle kick.

The surgery performed Sunday was to surgically repair Vaughn’s nose, which was broken in several places, as well as a laceration on his right cheek that required 32 stitches.

Robert leaves Rams for Toronto

Laurent Robert's brief stint at Derby has been brought to a close with the winger moving to Toronto FC.

The former Newcastle and Portsmouth player's Pride Park contract was cancelled by mutual consent, allowing him to join the MLS side as a free agent.

From one fantasy league and into another!

Galaxy F Ruiz undergoes knee surgery

Los Angeles Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz underwent surgery on his right knee on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old Ruiz, who suffered the injury in Los Angeles’ season-opening 4-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, also suffered a sprained MCL to the knee.

A native of Guatemala, Ruiz had an arthroscopic procedure Tuesday
morning to repair a slight tear of the meniscus and is expected to miss
4-6 weeks.

Cassandras

Session Start: Fri Jun 22 07:34:51 2007
[07:35] Jeremy Spitzberg:: one of these week, one of us will hit on the right player(s)
[07:35] Jeremy Spitzberg:: barrett worked out nicely for you
[07:35] Jeremy Spitzberg:: but big brad!
[07:35] Neal Thurman: yeah, I sent you a text last night bemoaning the fact that this was the first week HOU had a good match-up where I didn't go with him - very disappointed
[07:36] Jeremy Spitzberg:: my phone acting up
[07:36] Jeremy Spitzberg:: lost the response
[07:36] Jeremy Spitzberg:: basically it was "b/c we're idiots"
[07:36] Neal Thurman: no worries - figured you had dropped from programming fatigue
[07:36] Neal Thurman: maybe HOU should trade Ching to LA (they're picking up everyone else and Lando loves him)
[07:37] Neal Thurman: clearly they've been better w/out him than with
[07:42] Jeremy Spitzberg:: i bet houston would take jaqua + somebody for ching
[07:44] Neal Thurman: probably - question is whether LA could afford Ching

Well, we were half right.

July 3, 2007 -- CARSON, CALIFORNIA (TICKER) -- The Los Angeles Galaxy completed yet another trade on Tuesday, sending former All-Star forward Nate Jaqua to Houston for midfielder Kelly Gray and a second-round pick in 2008.

Pope to step aside at season's end

SALT LAKE CITY -- Often celebrated as the best defender the United States has ever produced, Eddie Pope announced Thursday that he will retire from Major League Soccer at the end of the 2007 season.

I"m not sure what to say. I have to admit to being a little sad, and I'm not sure I can quite capture my emotions fully in this post. Maybe an update to follow. But the Pontiff is retiring. Definitely the end of an era.

Pope was the shy kid out of North Carolina who wore #23 in honor of fellow alum Michael Jordan. He was the rookie of the year and stand-out defender on a team full of more experienced and well-known players. Of course, he scored the header in stoppage time that won DC the first of their now four MLS Cup championships. And he famously, or at least for me memorably, turned down interest from Europe to stay close to home.

So many memories of my young adulthood are tied up with DC United and it's hard to avoid the sense that an era in my life is passing too. I'm no longer in DC, and no longer a young adult. Pope is with Real Salt Lake (and to paraphrase the Sports Guy, he never played for NY. Can we all agree that that just never happened?). But I get nostalgic when Neal text messages me from RFK as he did this weekend. And this news is a bit of a bolt out of the clear blue sky -- even though I'll always associate the Pontiff with the pouring rain in which he won his first two DCU championships, the second of which I was lucky enough to attend.

Okay, I'm officially babbling. Back to work, but not without one final chant of "Ooh ah! Eddie Pope! I said Ooh ah, Eddie Pope!"

Monday Morning MLS Manager

Consecutive hat-tricks. And against the two (other) best teams in the league. And conference rivals to boot. Wow.

This is the Eddie Johnson who everyone in the US wants to see. The player who scored goals in his first eight, was it?, internationals. Fast, strong, tall. This is the player that was interesting English teams two years ago. And now, with the Gold Cup and Copa America looming as showpieces, will EJ be back with Kansas City come the fall?

Elsewhere, New England continue to be erratic, losing a second straight home game. This time, being blanked by lowly Real Salt Lake. Clint Mathis continues his all or nothing season. This week was nothing as he was red carded (again!) in the first half of the Kansas City match. Chicago and Houston break out of their slumps to score goals and win games.

What a messed up league this is. Playing fantasy is a nightmare. No good information available. Extreme parity. And Dan with EJ on his team. Nothing good. Nothing good.

Salas trains with Fire, meets media

Chilean international Marcelo Salas trained with the Chicago Fire Thursday during a practice session at the Toyota Park practice facility in Bridgeview, Ill. The left-footed striker joined the team for a midweek training session followed by a question and answer opportunity with media members.

That's a tease! MLS is bringing in a lot of big names at the wrong end of their careers - Beckham, Xavier, Blanco.  But Salas is an old favorite of mine, if not the blogs, since his 98 World Cup partnership with the more flamboyant Zamorano. And lord knows, the Fire - who scored 3 goals total in the month of May - need some offensive help. But as much as I would love to see Salas playing, he's been injured so many times over the years and hasn't played regularly since at least 2004, that I wouldn't expect the move to materialize, much less help the Fire.



Maybe it's a PR stunt for both sides. The Fire get linked to a (formerly) world-class player, which helps their reputation. And Salas reminds clubs back in Chile that he's available and is attracting interest.

Hamstring injury sidelines Albright

This one's for Mike "Gonna Be Albright":

The Los Angeles Galaxy were hit with a hammer blow when they got the news that veteran right back Chris Albright will miss an extended period of time after suffering a serious hamstring injury.

The injury was severe enough to require surgery on Thursday, and as a result there is no timetable set for the U.S. international's return.



Against Chivas USA last Sunday, Albright landed awkwardly after heading away a cross in the opening 15 minutes of the game. He went to the ground immediately, and the Galaxy training staff was quickly calling for a substitution. Albright said he knew it was going to be bad news immediately.

I guess LA will have to hold on until June 15 when Abel Xavier is free to join up with them. Until then look for a rotating cast of Veris, Roberts, or hell, maybe even Cobi Jones pressed into service.

Wouldn't that be some swan song for the Cobi, who will have to give up his title of "craziest hairdo on the team" to Xavier before retiring for good at the end of this season.

Send me an Angel

Juan Pablo Angel continues to settle into Major League Soccer very nicely. After his goal and assist last weekend won him "Player of the Week" honors, he adds two goals and another assist in NY's win over Chicago tonight.

I haven't seen the match - and to be fair it seems that Chicago had chances - but the Fire need Rolfe back quickly. Against Real Salt Lake would be nice. Especially because I put him in my MLS fantasy lineup hoping he'd make that game, even if, as expected, he'd miss the NYRB match.

Credit where credit is due time -- the MLS fantasy game allows you to designate a captain each week who will earn double points. Yahoo! did this in their World Cup game last summer. It adds a really interesting wrinkle to your decision making and to your rootings. For example, last week Neal and I both had Kenny Cooper in our fantasy sides for Dallas' two games. But Neal made him captain and I didn't. So when Cooper scored the penalty against Chicago I wished he hadn't - even though he was ON MY TEAM! It's a very odd feeling.

I'm happy to report that the tables were turned tonight as JPA was my captain and Neal got a little taste of his own medicine. At least until the weekend when Cooper lines up as captain of Neal's team again. But then I get to root against him whole-heartedly.

Toronto FC acquires F Cunningham from Real Salt Lake

Expansion club Toronto FC may have cured its scoring woes.

One of the lowest-scoring clubs in Major League Soccer, Toronto landed some offensive help Tuesday, acquiring forward Jeff Cunningham from Real Salt Lake for forward Alecko Eskandarian and a 2008 first-round draft pick.

Cunningham, 30, is a 10-year veteran and has 93 goals and 57 assists in 246 career games - 162 starts. The 5-7 speedster enjoyed his best season last year, scoring a league-leading 16 goals - a career best.

Some transfer news on the domestic (well, North American) front. Toronto get a bit pacier with Cunningham. They had two of a kind with both Alecko and Edson Buddle on the squad, and though they would probably have liked to have moved Buddle, Alecko has the greater trade value. That despite his injury history, though possibly upgraded because of his history with Freddy Adu, his former DCUnited teamate.

Could also be two players who were unhappy with their current situations looking for (another) fresh start.