Manchester United hits a pivotal stretch of both their EPL season and Champions League aspirations. On Sunday you will want to put yourself in front of the television as Fox Soccer Channel will cover the monster clash between United and Chelsea at 10 am central from Old Trafford.
With a win United can gain a six point advantage in the EPL and play the role of leader of the pack which has avoided them in recent years.
Strength in midfield is what Chelsea will rely on with Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, and Claude Makelele expected to start for Jose Mourinho.
Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo will be expected to lead United who come off a disappointing loss with Celtic in the Champions League.
That loss means that United will need a draw against Benfica in their final Champions League game on December 6 to advance….Soccer Hour with Glenn Davis airs this Tuesday at 8pm on 790 AM radio, podcast is available at www.houstonchronicle.com
Check out the recent shows visitors Mo Johnston of FC Toronto and Alex Parra of Deportes America discussing the Hugo Sanchez appointment as Mexican National team coach.

The Dynamo are headed to the White House to be honored by President Bush for winning the MLS Cup. The date has not been confirmed but the trip is a reality according to team President Oliver Luck……One of the great fringe benefits of the Dynamo winning the MLS Cup is their entry into the Concacaf Champions Cup which means international soccer with the Dynamo against Concacaf competition at Robertson Stadium in February. These matches will pit your hometown heroes against the likes of top Mexican squads and teams from Central America.
Credibility will be at stake.
The winner of the Mexican league Torneo Apertura which begins tonite will join Pachuca from the Mexican league as representatives. These international matches will be magical nights at Robertson. The Champion of the tournament will go to the FIFA World Club Championships to test their mettle against teams like Barcelona or Chelsea, it is time to think big. The runner-up gets included in the Copa SudaAmerica which ranks behind the Copa Libertadores kind equivalent to the UEFA Cup in Europe.

Many fans have been confused to the Adrian Serioux situation being traded away from Houston.
Serioux wanted a return to Canada a Toronto according to head coach Dominic Kinnear who did not protect him.
Fact is that Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston was probably using Serioux as trade bait all along and when FC Dallas midfielder Ronnie O’Brien became available Serioux was dealt. Serioux has said all along that he doesn’t want to play in Dallas so one wonders why FC Dallas signed off on the deal. The other question is who agreed to the deal?
GM Michael Hitchcock or interim coach Steve Morrow? Why would you seal the deal on Serioux not knowing he didn’t want to play in Dallas. My only thought here is if you wanted to use him as trade bait and you wanted Ronnie O’Brien out of Dallas . OBrien carried the stigma of not a great locker room guy in Dallas.
Alot could happen with Serioux, MLS players have retired early not to play in a specific market, who knows he could end up right back here in Houston? Your guess is as good as mine.

Just because the MLS season is over doesn’t mean your coverage of the world game and the Dynamo is. Join me Tuesday night at 8pm to 9pm on 790 am radio for the best in soccer talk.
From north of the border in Canada Mo Johnston the head coach of Toronto FC will join me as we discuss FC Toronto, the Adrian Serioux trade and much more with Mo including his days at Celtic and Rangers in Scotland.
Timely for Mo to be on the program as Celtic and Manchester United will play a much anticipated Champions League game Tuesday that we will review.
Also we review the year that was 11 months amazing with your MLS Cup Champions the Houston Dynamo.
We continue on the much talked about theme of MLS Cup and youth soccer….was opportunity missed and are the times changing?
I will talk about the upcoming benefit game in December for Cancer Awareness.
I put this out to you the soccer fan. Now is not the time to put the ball away until the next MLS season, now is the time to push for more coverage of soccer in all forms of the media. It’s time to keep the momentum going for your sport so don’t be afraid to call in to my show at 713-212-5790 on any subject. Dynamo, international, youth, womens soccer it is all open. By the way, womens soccer fans. Where are you ?
Game on!

Glenn

A celebration of the life of Glenn ‘Mooch’ Myernick former US Mens National team assistant coach will take place in his hometown of Trenton, New Jersey this Saturday. Many will travel from all over the country to honor one special man.

Former Real Madrid star Hungarian Ferenc Puskas has passed away at 79 after battling pnuemonia. Having seen tapes of Puskas this was an amazing player. Consider some of his accomplishments:
*9 years at Real Madrid
*3 European Cups (now Champions League)
*4 goals in the European Cup final in a 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960
* 2 goals against England for Hungary in a 6-3 victory in 1953 at Wembley.
Hungary was the first team ever to defeat England at Wembley.
What was most amazing to me is that Puskas scored 83 GOALS IN 84 MATCHES FOR HUNGARY!
Puskas was considered at treasure at Real Madrid.

He carried on a much publicized feud with former Mexican head coach Ricardo LaVolpe but Hugo Sanchez finally will get his chance being named the Mexican National team coach this week.
The former Real Madrid star and most famous player in Mexican soccer history will now have the pressure of guiding the ‘tricolore’.
Sanchez had an amazing career at the club level most notably in Spain where ‘Hugol’ won 5 titles at Real Madrid and was 5 times the top scorer in Spain.
His international career for Mexico was not as successful and expectations are high.
Sanchez was a major distraction for LaVolpe during his time with the Mexican national team even prompting midfielder Pavel Pardo to tell me once during an interview that it was a major distraction for the players.
There is a risk hiring a coach with an ego as big as Hugo’s.

He is not even in the top three paid players for the Houston Dynamo yet for MLS the time is now.
Dwayne DeRosario who makes a reported $140,000 a year has generated interest from both England and Germany. His future in MLS is unknown but one thing is clear, this man deserves a raise and a hefty one at that.
Consider a few things. DeRosario puts people in seats.
With his unpredictable nature, explosive speed, and knack for the theatre of the imagination DeRo is an MLS treasure.
Of course FC Toronto has been lobbying for him to return to Canada but it also is a dream for DeRosario to play overseas again.
If he remains in MLS one would think his salary would at least have to be tripled.
What is his value to the league.
Compare him to Eddie Johnson of the Kansas City Wizards who is currently on trial with Reading in England. Johnson strolled around the league last season as if it were a joke collecting a reported guaranteed salary of $875,000 .
Who would you have rather had on your team? You get the point.
With MLS players like Johnson and Freddy Adu (training at Manchester United)_, Shalrie Joseoph and Clint Dempsey potentials to make the Euro-jump the league is at a critical point which makes negotiations with DeRosario even more important.
Out of the board of governors meeting last weekend in Frisco, TX came the ‘Beckham Rule’ which allows clubs to sign a high profile player at any dollar amount they want with $400,000 counting against the salary cap. Anything over that amount will be paid by individual owners in MLS. Both Adu and Johnson need and are ready to prove themselves out in Europe. As for DeRosario it is time for MLS to pay it forward if they want to have ‘DeRo’ remain in MLS………

Oh and expect Adrian Serioux to be taken by Mo Johnston and FC Toronto in tomorrow’s expansion draft.

It’s back to reality in a quick way for the Dynamo and head coach Dominic Kinnear.
Prior to yesterday’s wonderful celebration for the Dynamo at city hall Kinnear had to submit his list of protected and unprotected players for this Friday’s expansion draft for FC Toronto.
Able to protect only 11 here are noteworthy players not protected by the Dynamo.
1.) Craig Waibel-veteran defender should have been comeback player of the year
2.) Kelly Gray-defender could not crack lineup after Waibel effort all year long but struck a huge penalty kick in the MLS Cup Final.
3.) Stuart Holden- local product, hit for penalty in the final also.
4.) Adrian Serioux- Canadien citizen, starter in MLS Cup Fina the question is does Mo Johnston want him?
5.) Kevin Goldthwaite- early season starter at left back for the Dynamo.

Noteworthy players around the league not protected include larger salary players like Jason Kreis (Real Salt Lake), Clint Mathis (Colorado), Jovan Kirovski (Colorado), Andy Williams (Real Salt Lake) and Tony Meola (New York). In Meola’s case it has been made clear by Bruce Arena that he clearly is not the number 1 in the Big Apple.
Houston area players not protected include Chris Gbandi (FC Dallas) who was voted Dallas defender of the year, Alex Smith (FC Dallas) who did not play a minute this year, defender Rusty Pierce (Columbus), Nelson Akwari (Real Salt Lake) and Josh Gardner of the LA Galaxy who apparently has had interest from the NE Revolution and DC United.
FC Toronto will make ten selections and may not choose more than one player from any team.
In FC Toronto you may have the first co-coaching tandem to a degree in MLS history with head man Mo Johnston hiring as his assistant his former head coach in KC Bob Gansler.
The Dynamo also will most likely be back to work early in July as they prepare for the Concacaf Champions Cup and ever important international competition that will begin in February. The Dynamo and DC United will participate in the tournament, Dynamo as MLS Cup winners and DC for the best regular season record.
So much for an extended celebration.