Battle of Algiers, less blood equal amount of tears

So I’m writing this at 10:30 at night shortly after I watched the game. I had to wait until I got home from work to watch the game, I ignored texts and calls from families and friends, I prefaced all conversations to fellow soccer fans with “I haven’t watched the game, don’t tell me anything about it.” So after a shit day at work I settled down with a beer, dinner and my small MacBook screen to watch the game. Aside from the early scary shot off the crossbar by Algeria the US played heroically attacking, taking shots and just generally playing their hearts out. My heart started to break around the 85th minute thinking that, here the US is playing the best they’ve played all World Cup and they may end up going home with two goals dubiously recalled. Then a ridiculous throw by Howard, a pass, a deflected shot from Dempsey and the goal from Landon (I’m retiring the use of the name Landycakes for now, he’s earned it.) As the clock ticked down the final seconds I realized I had seen the best game of any sport I have ever seen. Better than Cal Ripkin beating Lou Gehrig’s record, better than the countless times the Sacramento Kings beat the Los Angeles Lakers and better than watching the Cal Bears stomp Stanford at the Big Game. It was the beautiful game.

Preview for USA /Algeria

USA V England

So before the England game what were you're real expectations, hopes and dreams for the U.S.? If you're telling the truth, I think you expected a loss, hoped for a tie and dreamt of a win. Me, I was expecting a draw, hoping for a win and having nightmares about a pasting like the one the Czech Republic laid on us in our opening group match in 2006. And then the game started and 5 minutes in, the nightmare seemed to be happening in real life. A complete breakdown of the U.S. defense in the middle of the field, some quick passing from the Brits and Gerrard is in on Howard alone for the easy goal. Fortunately (well fortunately assuming you are U.S. fan) the U.S. settled down after that and kept the solid chances to a minimum the rest of the game. Meanwhile the U.S. generated some chances with Altidore flashing an open header wide. Then Dempsey hit his hopeful shot that the goalkeeper bungled into the net and the U.S. was tied going into the half. Things were much the same in the second half with Altidore unlucky not to put the U.S. up 2-1. The U.S. played a tough gritty game, but I don't think they played as well as they can.



USA V Slovenia

This game was definitely a game of two halves with the US having defensive breakdowns and miscommunications in the back leading to fast counterattacks and goals being scored by the Slovenians in the first half to the US taking control of the midfield and furiously attacking in the second half with Landon Donovan playing the best game I have seen from him in a while. And if we're going to be honest here the US came back from a 2-0 deficit at the half to score three goals in the second (yes 3 Mr. Coulibaly). As the English fans at the bar where I was watching say, "we were robbed."


USA V Algeria

To start off I would like us not to go down by a goal or two first which seems to be our curious strategy this World Cup. Aside from the world cup games themselves the US were down a goal first in six of their ten world cup qualifying matches. Perhaps it is to lull the opponent into a false sense of security thereby making it easier to score goals or perhaps it is a conspiracy with ESPN to make soccer seem more exciting to new fans thereby attracting more viewers. Second I think Maurice Edu proved in the last game (and during qualifiers) that he is the better option in the midfield, Torres just got knocked around by the Slovenians and Clark was a bit slow against the English. Thirdly Findley being unavailable for this game because of yellow cards is a plus since it will force Bradley to play the exciting goal scoring Gomez or Buddle. So let's go USA and advance to the Round of 16!

Five Things I learned from Day 1 of the 2010 World Cup

1. France really really should have fired Domenech after Euro Cup 2008.

2. South Africa is leading the cup for best goal celebrations.

3. According to I believe Martin Tyler, Cuauhtemoc Blanco is not only one of the oldest field players this tournament but also he looks to be the heaviest. I love it!

4. Even the British announcers flub offsides calls.

5. Uruguay has a good chance of getting out of group.

So Group A predictions at the end of their first day of play I go for South Africa and Uruguay to get out of group. France implodes and Mexico continues to flub scoring opportunities which they will inevitably blame on the ball.

4 hours to Kick-Off

If you're not pumped yet for the US-England match there is really not much I can do for you. But here are five us soccer commercials to help get you fired up.

1. The Tony Danza Productions fan made effort
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxBlpzVSOCQ

2. US Soccer's inspiring clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrCZIFNdW6Y

3. Gatorade's Commercial with nice use of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDgEosqZGCM&feature=related

4. One of the many US Soccer commercials using "Over There"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCqZsFM7Sg8

5. Nike's awesome jab at the US right wing commentators who have a peculiar animosity towards soccer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfRflwe1WXA&feature=related

Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie ---3-1,3-1,3-1

Was the back line a little shaky at times, yes. Did Hahnemann miss a plethora of dangerous crosses, yes. But let's not miss the forest through the trees, the US Men's National Team soundly defeated a strong Australian team who had been on a winning streak .

In the lead up to the World Cup I had been more concerned with the front line and how we were going to be able to score goals which are necessary to winning, but now with the addition of lower profile players like Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez to proven goal scorers like Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey scoring goals no longer seems like a concern for the Men's National Team. Indeed the play of Buddle against Australia not only alleviates the concerns over Altidore’s fitness after the minor ankle sprain. It may create an actual dilemma in Coach Bob’s mind as to who to start: Altidore or Buddle. And if Findley finishes his two golden opportunities or if Dempsey’s goal isn’t called back on a questionable offsides call, the score could easily have been 5 or 6 to 1 against a team that has a reputation for a strong defense. On the other hand it is becoming increasingly clear that once crowded back line that seems to be the weakest point of the team. In the first half only poor finishing on the Aussie’s part (particularly Kennedy) kept them from tying or going ahead. It was not the right and left back positions that were the issue this time, but the center backs. It did not appear that Goodson and DeMerit were on the same page. Clark had a better game then against Turkey, but there were still disturbing gaps in the middle of the park and the usual set of giveaways on bad passes. Bradley was not much better in the passing department. In the second half, the Onyewu/DeMerit pairing was much sturdier and the Aussies had far fewer solid chances. The commentators liked to pick on Onyewu as a the weak point but his play in the last two appearances (Turkey and Australia) has been very tidy.

While on the subject on the commentators, John Harkes, and Martin Tyler absolutely underwhelmed. US Soccer blogosphere has cheered their appointment with "at least they know soccer" but to me this is damning with faint praise. Harkes has consistently shown a lack of soccer awareness by touting the play of US players like Klejstan, and Ching while ragging on Dempsey and Bradley. You only need to look at the US starting lineup to see how prescient his commentary is. And while Martin Tyler may be British he was golf announcer boring. Although this will not be the case I would much prefer to hear Derek Rae and Adrian Healy announce the US matches, heck hire Greg Lalas and Jay Heaps who have done an excellent job covering MLS and are far more intelligent and entertaining than John Harkes.

Just for a moment, let’s talk about Herculez Gomez and Robbie Findley. With the few minutes Gomez has had, he has scored two goals and shown the ability to take his shots when they are there. This may seem obvious, but far too many times we have seen US midfielders and forwards pass up an open shot, try to make a perfect pass and give the ball away. The goal Gomez scored against Australia may have looked simple, but it wasn’t. He had to reach slightly behind him and yet still got enough power on the ball to drive it past Schwarzer before he could get down on the ground to stop it. Findley has shown far more class in his last two games then in any previous U.S. appearances or any of the MLS games of his I have seen. Perhaps he is poised for a breakout. I think there is a very good chance we see him starting alongside Buddle or Altidore against England.

Final thoughts- I think the back line needs to get it together to be able to face the speed and power of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Aaron Lennon but it will be a strong US team that will face England on Saturday and a tougher match than England is probably expecting. So watch out England, the Yanks are coming!

Thoughts on the Last Stateside Friendlies

After watching conversative Bob Bradley during qualifiers, we are now seeing Riverboat Gambler Bob. Robbie Findley? I defy anyone to say they predicted that. And no Brian Ching? Again I defy anyone to say they predicted that. Herculez Gomez? Edson Buddle? Two months ago they were off the radar. And yet they are in South Africa and Conner Casey isn't. Many predicted Klejstan would be on the squad ahead of Torres. Nope. Even Edu and Beasley could be considered surprises. After Beasley's disasterous outing in the Confederations Cup, most wrote off his national career. So again - what has turned Conservative Bob into Riverboat Gambler Bob? I have a theory and aren't you surprised? In qualifying the pressure is on. There is no room for error as not qualifying is not only unthinkable, but also career limiting. And make no mistake - Bob Bradley is an ambitious man. So why change course so drastically now? Well, Bradley is a student of the game of soccer. He was an assistant in 2006. And I am sure he watched all the games in 2002. What was the difference between those two squads and why were the results so different? A number of key players in the 2002 squad came out of nowhere. Wolfe, Beasley and Mastroeni for instance. O'Brien only 13 caps. In the 2006 squad most of the starters were all known entities with lots of experience with the exception of Dempsey and Onyewu. So who scores the only goal in 2006 for the U.S.? Dempsey. What would Bradley take from that? Maybe he gets the idea that the fellows with lots of caps have already shown all that they have. There won't be any surprises. That's good and bad. If your known entities are very very good - well you can count on they continuing to provide the kind of skill and inventiveness you have seen from them before. It they are just good, well you get what get. However, with the newbies, maybe just maybe you get a bit of inventiveness and guile that leads to something great. A Josh Wolfe run along the goal line with a great cutback pass to get the U.S. off on to a great start against Portugal. And the newbies might be too young or too green to understand the pressure they are supposed to feel. Sometimes pressure makes diamonds and sometimes it makes puddles of goo. So thats why I think Bob has turned into Riverboat Gambler Bob. To make it out of the first round and exceed whatever expectation Sunil Gulati has for him, he needs that inventiveness, that unawareness of the pressure that could lead to those moments of brilliance that lead to goals. And goals are what they need. So in light of that what are we too make of the performances against the Czech Republic.

Here is what I saw. Herculez Gomez is unafraid. Yes the goal he scored against the Czech Republic was set up nicely, but he scored it. How many times have we seen Ching back one off the crossbar or post in the same situation. Buddle throws his body around and sets up the first goal by going up against Petr Cech and beating him to the ball. He ends up with a bloody lip and a ticket to South Africa. Beasley proved he still deserves a place on the national team through an all out gritty performance against the Czechs. When he is playing well he torments the defense with his speed and draws fouls. Holden continues to press a case for a starting role. Pearce played his way out of the squad with a horrorshow performance. Onyewu looked rusty. Cherundolo was effective at times but was slow to close down a couple of crosses. Bornstein would have played his way off the squad were there any alternative at all at left back.

And against Turkey? Well, I don't think Spector starts. He pretty much ceded the starting job to Cherundolo. Not for the goal - he didn't distinguish himself and he didn't contribute anything on offense. The rest of the defense in the first half was meh.Turkey had way too many shots and only poor finishing prevented the score from being 3 or 4 to 0 in the first half. Not that the rest of the team distinguished themselves. The Bradley/Clark pairing was not effective and Donovan and Feilhaber just didn't play up to their respective billings. The second half was a completely different story. Findley and Torres opened up the offense, Findley with his speed and Torres with his passing. Onyewu came in for Goodson and the paring with Demerit brought back fond memories of the Confederations Cup. The U.S. outplayed the Turkish team and scored 2 goals and should have had 2 or 3 more. So what do we take from that? I think what we have known all along, that the US Men's team has a chance to shine in South Africa if they show up and play like they can or they could fade into mediocrity in the group round by playing without the daring and confidence they will need to succeed.

Watching the Revs from a Skybox

As a season ticket holder you get a few perks. A special line to go through, discounts at the merchandise store from time to time and this year we got the opportunity to watch the game from a skybox. When first presented with this opportunity I was fairly iffy on it, I like being amongst fans who are cheering and yelling at the refs (like myself) and didn’t know what it would be like up in a skybox. On the plus side the offer came with free food and non-alcoholic beverages. So after dithering for a few days, my wife and I decided what the heck. We had never seen a game from a skybox before, so why not.

Iit was like watching the game in someone else’s living room that you didn’t know that well. You couldn’t always tell who had the ball (well except for Larentowicz and Wells Thompson and it wasn’t easy to pick out what was happening when a lot of bodies were around the ball. In addition, we had the Comcast Revs broadcast on several T.V. and there was an 8 or 9 second lag, so you would see something on the field and then here it described in the background several seconds later.

During halftime Matt Reis came up to visit and he was very cordial to everyone – especially the kids that were there. If getting autographs appealed to me that would have been a great perk. All in all, I much prefer watching from my seats in section 106.

As for the game itself, I was already worried about facing a midfield combo of Mastroeni and Larentowicz and when the starting lineup was announced with no Sharlie Joseph, I had a sinking feeling. As the game played out it became clear that our midfield couldn’t handle theirs. Still, we had some chances early on but a chance that went begging led to a Rapids Goal. Dube missed yet another gift wrapped scoring opportunity and the Raped hit on a counterattack with Ballouchy hitting a bouncer past Burpo that I think he should have done better with. Shortly after that Nyassi won a free kick and Perovic hit a marvelous free kick into the upper right hand corner that the Rapids goalie could do nothing with.

Dube had another golden opportunity towards the end of the half but hit a harmless header to the goalie. The Revs again had chances in the second half but could put nothing away. Colorado got a goal off a great holdup play by Casey who managed to bring down a ball with Gibbs or Barnes draped all over him (I couldn’t tell from the skybox) and laid off a perfect pass to Mastroeni that he blasted into the net. After that it was all over but the shouting.

So what’s next for the Rev’s? One thing is clear – without Joseph, the combination of Niouky and Phelan is not the answer. Me – I favor putting Perovic in Joseph’s role and playing either Tierney or Mansally on the left side. We will see what Nicol comes up with in tonight’s game.

Shaky against the Quakes

courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net

Clearly I jumped the gun on the end of the Rev's potential scoring woes and on the emergence of Schilawski. No goals for the Rev's and a fairly invisible game from Schilawski. Joseph once again proved his value to the Rev's by not being on the pitch. Without Joseph the Revs lost the midfield battle and therefore the game. One might quibble with the first goal (and I do - Chris Tierney was flattened in the play that San Jose got the ball and although I have not since a good enough replay to tell for sure, it appeared the goal scorer was offside), but one cannot quibble with the notion that San Jose controlled the midfield and that Bobby Convey ran rampant through the Rev's defense.

The pairing of Perovic and Schilawski did not seem to work well. Perhaps it is the fact that Perovic has simply not played enough with his new teammates. And since the midfield was losing the battle there was not a lot of linkup between the defense and the forwards. Without Joseph, Niouky was not as effective and was back to spraying passes as he did in the first game of the season. Phelan was his usual self. Bite in the midfield, but an inability to make that springing pass.

The second goal came off a corner kick by Convey on which Ike Opara threw Barnes to the ground to get into position to get the clinching goal. Opara had another open header in the first half which he hit over the goal and the San Jose attack generated significantly more chances then the Rev's attack did.

The defense showed troubling gaps against San Jose and the Rev's were lucky not to be down a couple of goals at halftime which was primarily thanks to Burpo who came up several good stops to keep the Rev’s close. Either San Jose is better then last year or the Rev's defense isn't as good as I though they were. It was interesting to read some commentary about how good Cannon was in this game and no mention of Burpo who made the more difficult stops. Cannon made stops on shots right at him and was saved by a San Jose player (Convey?) being at the right place on a header by Barnes.

So what will happen in tonight's game? Well Joseph will be back and that can do nothing but improve chances. On the other side of the ball will be our old friend Laurentowicz. It will be interesting to see how things go on the first 50-50 ball between them. I am a bit worried about this game. Colorado is a better team then they were last year and if Schilawski and Perovic are still not on the same page, I don't know if the Rev's will generate scoring chances. And hopefully I haven't jinxed Schilawski with my over effusive praise in my last post.

Home Opener

courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net

Well, in my preview post for the home opener with TFC game I predicted Kenny Mansally would start and Joseph would not. Well fortunately for the Revs, Steve Nicol did not listen to me. When the Revs marched onto the field, who is the first one out? Joseph. And who is nowhere to be seen? Mansally. The game almost started with a Revolution bang when Joseph managed to get his head on a Nyassi cross and direct it towards the goal from an awkward angle. Dube in an attempt to knock it in while sprawling on the ground managed to knock it over the goal. I am still not sure (after watching the Comcast rebroadcast of the game on Sunday) that the ball wouldn’t have gone in on its own without any assistance from Dube for a quick one goal lead. Later in the half Nyassi scuffed a shot when he was alone in front of the goal with a fairly wide open goal in front of him and the goalie out of position. And then TFC gets a goal out of nothing when a partial clearance goes out wide and Garcia (Garcia!?) sends in a cross that De Rosario manages to head just inside the post. It was a great header and as always whenever De Rosario has the ball, it causes me unease. Toronto had the lead going into the half and with a Preki coached team I looked forward to a foul fest in the second half.

Well I hadn’t counted on the rise of Schilawski and the shambolic TFC defense. Two minutes into the second half, Nyassi and Dube played a beautiful bit on one touch soccer which led to a cross that Schilawski almost couldn’t help but knock into the goal. It woke the crowd and seemed to inspire the Revs. Shortly after that Schilawski stripped Garcia walked in on goal and calmly slotted the ball back the TFC goalkeeper on the near post. This was a poachers goal and finished in a way that –dare I say it – reminded me of Twellman (imagine the sound of knocking on wood). Then shortly after that Joseph sends a beautiful through ball down the right to Dube who hits a perfect cross that Schilawski sends into goal with a tricky side footed volley. As Schilawski walks to the flag he points at Dube with a wry grin. I liked that. He even had a chance for a fourth goal after another beautiful splitting past, but the ball seemed to get stuck on the turf and Schilawski couldn’t find the purchase to go around to the goalie or slot it past him. But that was not the end of the scoring. Nyassi pounced on an errant back pass from a TFC defender (not Garcia this time) and rocketed a shot that Frei got a hand on to no avail. Perovic came on for Dube and almost scored in his debut. He was taller then I expected for some reason but showed quality in his brief sting. Although advertised as a midfielder it seems as if Nicol wants to try him at forward. The rest of the game was uneventful and the Revs finished off the 4-1 win with little resistance from TFC.

So what do we take from this game other then the fact that the Toronto defense may well be the worst in the MLS?

Well the midfield tandem of Joseph and Niouky has the potential to be the best midfield pair in the MLS. Niouky was very tidy in the game and not only did the dirty work expected of a defensive mid, but made a lot of nice little passes to get out of trouble and start attacks. In the first two games it was almost as if he was trying too hard to impress. He was spraying passes to no one in particular and had some bad giveaways in the middle of the field on the wrong side of the halfway line. In this game while he had a couple of errant passes, none were on the wrong side of the halfway line.

The Revs defense had a chance to be really good. Gibbs continues to impress as does the rookie Sinovic. When Barnes is healthy Nicol will have a nice dilemma. He has 5 quality backs with four spots.

The Forward position may not be as threadbare as I was worried it would be.
So what do I think in lieu of the first 3 games? Well I hesitate to draw too much from games against two clubs that are clearly struggling but I think that Dube and Schilawski have the potential to better a better forward tandem then anything we saw from the Revs last year. I have seen far more fluidity in the attack this year and the Revs may have the personnel to play the kind of possession and attack oriented soccer that they played with while going to the MLS cup 3 out of 4 years. For the past two years they have played a gritty almost ugly kind of soccer that got results but didn’t generate the attacking fluidity we had come to associate with the Revs.

So on to San Jose who went into Chicago and beat the Fire at home after starting with two fairly dreadful games. Let’s hope the Revs draw confidence from this win and continue to play with steel in back and center midfield and attacking fluidity on the wings and up front.

One last note – with the win against TFC, Steve Nicol reached the 100 win mark – only the 3rd coach in MLS to reach that milestone. He has made the playoffs every year he has coached the Revs. In some ways, I think he did his best job last year when he got a battered Revs team that simply didn’t have the same level of talent on the field as the other team on many nights into the playoffs. LA and Real Salt Lake (and their respective coaches) deservedly got most of the press last year, but Nicol quietly did a better job – or so says I.

Home Opener Preview

photo courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net

Tonight is the home opener for the Revs playing against TFC. Given that TFC is now coached by Preki, I suspect that TFC will be as dirty a team as Chivas was last year - which means the potential for injuries. Given that, I expect Nicols to start Phelan and Niouky in the center midfield as they will certainly match the predicted physical play of Toronto. The only change I expect for the starting lineup is Mansally in place of Schilawski.

I hope the weather is nicer then last year's opener which as I recall was brutally cold. Earlier this week, we had some unseasonably warm days, and I was hopeful that would continue for tonight’s game. But alas the weather made one of its usual New England right turns and it was quite chilly this morning. As I type this, it is sunny, but I know it will be cold and windy tonight - just like we New Englanders like it!

So here's hoping for early goals, a large fan turnout and a complete pasting of TFC by our Revs.

Last Week's Game in Brief

photo courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net

So one again a day late (well several) and a dollar short (well blogs are free so maybe not). At any rate, several things stood out in last Saturday's game for me. The first was the fantastic debut of Jay Heaps as the color man for the Revs. At one point during the game he spoke of how as an defender when the attacker gets close your blood begins to boil. At another point, after the ref (Baldomero Toledo) gave a warning to Alston for grousing about a call not made, Heaps sympathized with his former teammate. So even though I miss Greg Lalas (the smarter Lalas), I do like Heaps.

Interesting to note that the Revs started the same lineup as the first game. I don't remember if that happened once last year.

Overall the defense looks good. Gibbs continues to impress and once Sharlie gets back on the field, the midfield will be strong as well. But Nicols will have to make some tough lineup choices pretty quickly. Where does Barnes fit in? You can't displace Gibbs, he is playing way too well. Osei is also playing well as is the rookie Sinovic and of course Alston. Then you add in the arrival of Perovic (assuming he is as good as advertised) and you have a pretty congested center midfield with some interesting possibilities. You can photo courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net

go defensive (as the Revs did in the first two games with Niouky and Phelan), you can go attacking (Joseph and Perovic) or some combination. On the wings, it looks like Tierny has earned a consistent starting position on the left and based on his performance in the first two games is probably the best choice.

Lastly what a great (and surprising) display from Kenny Mansally. In 21 minutes he scores two goals, the second of which was a great individual effort that left two D.C. defenders looking for their shorts and the goalkeeper standing flat footed in admiration. So who starts up top against TFC in the home opener? My guess is Dube and Mansally. Even though Nicols tried to fashion Mansally into a back to the goal attacker for the past two years, it is clear that is not his forte. If he and Dube can form the partnership they weren't able to two years ago, the Revs could finally start to generate some goal scoring opportunities to go with their defensive strength. If so, then my fear that the Revs don't make the playoffs this year quickly goes away.

Make Your Voice Heard!

No I'm not talking about the US Census though you should fill that out as well. I'm talking about the US Soccer 2010 Fan Survey where you get asked all important questions about what you think about there membership and my favorite question where you indicate if the reason you watch US Soccer matches on the television rather than attend is because of the commentary you get to hear on the television broadcasts. At the very least you're entered in a drawing for US Soccer Gear.

http://www.ussoccer.com/Social/2010-Survey.aspx

Blake's Random Rants and Musings

Blake here again with rants and thoughts about MLS.

Having seen Joel Lindpere of the Red Bulls now hit two great strikes for goals (one the exhibition match against Santos and the second in the Red Bulls opener at their new arena), I think he is going to be a great player for the Red Bulls - who look miles better then last year unfortunately.

Why or why did ESPN hire Max Bretos? Seeing him doing the halftime studio show for the opener for ESPN was jarring to say the least. At least Heaps has retired so I won't here him describe Heaps as from New Hampshire instead of Longmeadow, Mass where he went to high school. But that probably does mean if I happen to drop by CBS scene after a game he will be there with his bouncer entourage. Really ESPN? Max Bretos? You couldn't find anyone else? What did Rob Stone do to be confined to the role of sideline reporter? And keeping John Harkes? Paring Harks and Bretos is the soccer equivalent of Dumb and Dumber. At least at Fox, Bretos fit in with the other MLS announcing mediocrities.

What is it about Philly teams? Is there some requirement that they be thugs and bullies? It seems that the Philadelphia Union have taken the Broadstreet Bullies example to heart based on their performance against Seattle in the MLS season opener. They may be a dirtier team then Chivas under Preki. I don't remember Nowak's D.C. United teams being that thuggy, but then again they had better players. I guess if the other team is more talented, the best approach is to foul, foul and foul again. On a plus side, the ref issued early yellows and even doled out a Red in the first half. If we see more of that from the refs this season, perhaps that kind of play will diminish.

And finally a stadium rant.

O.K. the Red Bulls now have a great soccer stadium. Hey Kraft’s - where is the vaunted rivalry between New York and Boston. The Red Bulls now have one of the best soccer stadiums in the MLS. Aren't you challenged? Are you willing to stand by and let that go? Build a soccer specific stadium. Put it close to a T stop and see your attendance grow. Or continue to hold game in cavernous Patriots stadium with the football lines come pre-season and the Patriots cocoa mugs come football season. But if you don't, please don't tell us fans how important the Revs are to you.

Rev's Season Opener

photo courtesy of www.revolutionsoccer.net

Blake here,

So here was the Revs starting lineup for the first game of the season against the LA Galaxy:

Phelan, Alston, Shilawski, Dube, Nyassi, Niouky, Tierney, Sinovic, Gibbs, Osei, Burpo

Just out of curiosity, I went back and dug up the starting lineup for the opening game last year against San Jose:

Reis, Tierney, Heaps, Barnes, Alston, Thompson, Joseph, Larentowicz, Nyassi, Mansally,Dube

So if you're counting that's 4 players (Tierney, Alston, Nyassi, Dube) who started in both season openers. That's a fairly significant change. Now in fairness when Barnes, Joseph and Reis are healthy they will be starting and Osei was a consistent started by the end of the year. Still, I hope this doesn't turn out to presage a trend that emerged last year when I don't believe the Revs started the same lineup in two consecutive games the whole year. And with two new starters in the back line, you might worry that set pieces could present a problem. Sure enough in the fifth minute, Buddle scored on a header off a free kick that Nyassi gave away needlessly. I couldn't tell who lost Buddle on the free kick but in the halftime highlights, it looked like maybe Sinovic let Buddle get to the inside. There were a couple of other scary moments on free kicks in the first half as well.

In the second half, the Revs looked better and Shilawski and Tierney both delivered great passes that Dube converted into... nothing. Damn, I miss Twellman. At a minimum he puts away one of those chances if not both. As for the rest of the team, Phelan did nothing to suggest that he is an adequate replacement in midfield. He sprayed passes mostly to LA and other then that wasn't much of a presence. Niouky, a new player from Senegal at times looked good, but had several bad giveaways on the wrong side of the halfway line. Nyassi still seems to wait too long to make the pass. His speed gives defenders fits but until he learns to make the pass before he has dribbled into a situation where he loses the ball, he is still more promise that actual danger.I was impressed with Gibbs. The last few times I have seen him play for Colorado, he seemed a shadow of the player who at one time was an automatic selection for the U.S. National Team. If he has recovered from all the knee injuries and can play at that level again, I may not hate the Kraft’s quite so much for trading Larentowicz .

On a side note, has anyone noticed that the Kraft’s have traded or released a couple of players who trialed with European clubs - think Noonan and now Larentowicz. If Twellman hadn't been such a huge name, I wonder if they would have traded or released him after he tried to join Preston.

So what did we learn from the opener? Not much. Without Sharlie Joseph, the Revs are a different team (well duh!). They will have trouble scoring (that is different from last year how?). The Revs play better in the second half of games (a Nicol trademark). Fox soccer announcers make my teeth hurt (no change there either). It will be interesting to see how they fare against D.C. at D.C., historically a bad place to travel for the Revs and perhaps more so after the 4-0 shellacking they took at the hands of K.C.

Back to Blogging - The National Team Plays Holland

Blake here. So I know I am late to the blogging party after the Holland game and no doubt everything that could be said has been said. And yes it seems like this blog has been on sabbatical for quite some time. In my defense, I have none.

So Holland and the U.S. The standout player in the first half was Stuart Holden until the vicious tackle by De Jong. On the replay of the De Jong tackle, it is pretty clear it was intentional. No one has remarked on this, but the ball is already out of reach when De Jong begins his slide. Then he clearly kicks Holder aiming for the ankle. FIFA won't do anything of course because De Jong plays for Holland and Holden plays for the U.S., but that should have resulted not just in a red card, but in a several game suspension.

In the second half it was DeMarcus Beasley, really!I think we have seen the resurrection of DeMarcus Beasley's corpse. Presumed dead after the disastrous Confederations Cup in Africa last summer, he was the best player on the pitch in the second half for the U.S. tormenting the Dutch back line. Bedoya was also a revelation, he created chances with great runs and opened up space. I would like to see more of him.

And where was Landon? The darling of the Everton supporters was invisible in this game. I can’t think of a single play he made that had any impact on the game. Landon rarely shows up to play against "better teams", to put it another way if he's not the prettiest girl at the ball he doesn't dance.

Now for who stood out for the wrong reason, how many catastrophic mistakes does Bornstein get? The tug on the jersey in the box was the kind of mistake that loses games. And it's not like Bornstein has done anything near enough to earn the benefit of the doubt for that kind of mistake. What happens if he makes a mistake like that in June? He may be faster then Pearce, but Pearce provides much better service and seems to be much smarter positionally. This is one of Bradley's blind spots much like Arena's with Agoos in 2002 and Reyna in 2006.

So what did we learn? Well, we learned that the U.S. can go toe to toe with the Dutch. Yes the Dutch won 2-1 but one of those goals was a penalty and the other a deflected shot (Bornstein again). In the second half the U.S. was taking the game to the Dutch and I am sure that was a pretty nervous team in the final 10 minutes. The U.S. still has trouble building through the middle and we still don’t have a replacement for Charlie Davies. Robbie Findlay is not ready and Eddie Johnson still can’t play at the speed he needs or take advantage of chances that come his way. Johnson has the skills I think, but lacks the necessary arrogance to impose his will. A telling side note – in a game earlier (much earlier) in the Premier League, he come on late in the second half for Fulham. He makes a great play to steal the ball and has a clear shot on goal, but rolls in just wide. What happens if he makes that shot? Does his confidence explode? He would be the hero of the game and no doubt get more playing time with Fulham. But the chance and the opportunity goes begging. That I think is the story of Eddie Johnson.