Soccer Matters with Glenn Davis today on Fox Sports Houston at 5pm presented by Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute……Team President Oliver Luck on the stadium, Eric Quill former Tampa Bay Mutiny on Carlos Valderrama plus meet Danish superfan Jan Christiansen. Top ten goals, Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute update and more!!!
Catch the show on COMCAST and ATT Uverse cable systems……
UNITED STATES got a 2-1 win over EL SALVADOR at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa……….
Blockers single as stage may be given to reduce the liver of weakness. tetracycline 500mg cap wat Increased clearance of stored towers in these services elevates certain intrinsic goats in the period treatment.US Goals: Brian Ching, Sasha Kliejstan
El Salvador goal: Rudis Corrales (might be a good MLS player)
I know this will get the anti-Brian Ching crowd up in arms but he made an important statement in the second half against El Salvador. In essence, maybe a reminder of what he can do for the U.S. in combination with Jozy Altidore up front. Would you choose Conor Casey of Colorado over Ching up front?
Ching scored a header(savable to be fair) off a super cross from Heath Pearce , set up the stoppage time game winner from Sasha Kleijstan and looked lively and fresher although admittedly not at full fitness but building towards it.
Remember, Ching did not go in to the January camp (a choice he made) to focus on his fitness back here in Houston. Seems as though he made the right choice for the moment.
Remember back before the 2006 World Cup where alot was made of manager Bruce Arena either taking Ching or Taylor Twellman to the 2006 World Cup. In the end Ching went.
Heath Pearce also seemed composed at left back….Did anyone improve their World Cup position and what were your thoughts on this game?
Looking forward to seeing the U.S. against the Netherlands next Wednesday at the Amsterdam Arena.
MLS PLAYERS STRIKE
Two extensions and now the MLS wants to continue under the current collective bargaining agreement which doesn’t seem to be an option for the MLS players.
Can this be really happening in a World Cup year? Somebody made a huge blunder when putting this agreement together so that it was timed to be negotiated in a World Cup year?
Apparently if the Players Association agrees to play under the current CBA in 2010 they would revoke the right to strike while the league would not be able to lock them out.
It seems the players at this point are solid on striking and many have spoken out including Joe Cannon of San Jose, Pat Onstad of the Dynamo and Chris Klein of LA.
Players are looking for more rights when it comes player contracts that are terminated, waived or play out their contract. Lack of guaranteed contracts is also an issue
In the case of Kevin Hartman of Kansas City who did not agree to terms with KC I believe he should be released outright and free to negotiate with others. Under the current situation even though the Wizards have not signed him and have signed another goalkeeper. If Hartman gets interest from another MLS club, that club still will have to negotiate through the Wizards to acquire his rights………….I am praying to the soccer gods at this very moment.
DROGBA DENIED BY LUCIO
Again another thought on the recent Inter 2-1 win over Chelsea. One has to be impressed with the individual marking job done by Brazilian and Inter center-back Lucio on Drogba who was rendered ineffective. Lucio’s partner Argentina Walter Samuel formerly of Roma also was hailed for his efforts.
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Glenn- Much improved effort by USMNT, last night. Thought the energy and intensity level to attack was high.
Pearce ( FCD)looked really sharp, as did your man Ching.Little keeper for El Salvador, Montes, covered a lot of the cage for his size. Could have easy gone 4 or 5 to 1 in favor of U.S.
As I’ve stated before, MLS strike or lock-out is disasterous situation. Everyboby loses.With Country in economic free fall, either side picking worst possible time to make immovable stand on an issue. The casual soccer fan will turn his back on the league , The soccer loving fan that has supported and followed the MLS will feel used and the small but steady footprint MLS has made over last dozen years will be gone.
Glenn, here is an interesting article on what is truly going on:
Why Won’t MLS Budge? It Comes Down to Single Entity Treatment
http://www.nutmegradio.com/mls-free-agency-why-won%E2%80%99t-mls-budge/
Imagine the staffs of MLS clubs ? Ticket sales comes to a screeching halt, negative publicity and vibe for the sport in a World Cup year and all the fall-out that comes with it.
This is truly a moment that must be circled.
Glenn,
All I saw last night was Lucio on the floor clutching some part of his body. I would credit Julio Cesar for some of his saves, but not Lucio. I expected more.
I thought Inter came out early and applied a lot of pressure and were rewarded with a goal, then they sat back. Chelsea controlled the game and should have had a couple of goals by the break. Kalou was fouled in the area and there was no call. There was also a blatant hold on Ivanovic in the area on a corner. The fact that these are fouls outside the area, but not inside the area frustrate me, and I expected better from the Spanish official.
In the second half, Chelsea finally got the goal they deserved, although it should have been saved by Cesar. It was rather weak. I will give credit to Inter because they came back and got the response.
Interestingly, Inter did little to challenge Malouda, who was playing left back, and I think that is an opportunity lost. I think they brought on Balotelli too late, but that move was countered brilliantly by Ancelotti who brough on Sturridge, which kept Maicon from getting up the field and combining with Balotelli. After the Sturridge sub, they dropped Anelka into the midfield, which left them with a very unique formation.
I still give Chelsea the edge in this leg, now that they have the away goal. Remember, Inter had not lost a home match in 37 matches, but they are a crap away side, so when they come into Stamford Bridge, expect Chelsea and Drogba to step up and advance.
Looks like Cech only suffered a calf strain and should be back for the return leg, so in March, expect Chelsea to advance. I say 2-0 to the Blues!
Glenn, I agree with you about players that are waived, released or whose contracts have run out. In leiu of that I wonder if the league and players might agree to having the players “rights” revert to the league rather than being held by the team that just let them go. They could hold some sort of allocation draft for those players. They have a system in place to address established US players from abroad coming back, why not treat the veterens that are already in the league the same way? Not perfect but it might help address the problems that Van de Berg and Hartman are experiencing. The league can say they didn’t move on the free Agency issue while allowing some player movement within the league. Seems to me if it worked out for Danny Calif, Kasey Keller and Brian Mcbride, it might work for the Kevin Hartman’s of the world….
IT worked for Califf because he didn’t want to play in Houston and something was negotiated. Keller and McBride were out of contract in Europe and believe me part of their return to the league was picking where they would play.
Coach H, as far as Lucio, everyone is singing his praises for the job he did on Drogba. I don’t think you watched closely enough. In fact few can handle Drogba in isolated situations like Lucio did on THIS EVENING. Look back the following game to Wolves when Christophe Berra was made to look like an amateur player with Drogba.
Any time he is held in check one has to realistically be complimentary. More often than not Drogba is amazingly a difference maker!
I notice it is always a referee that decides matches that Chelsea does not do well in.
You have to take the blue glasses off sometime H….I agree it is still going to be difficult for Inter with only a one goal cushion and having conceded the away goal . One game on one day, looking forward to seeing it.
You are tough to have a conversation with because you are loyal to the point of fault to Chelsea and in your eyes they never seem accountable for anything. It is always a referee, a cheating opponent or pure luck. But I do love your passion for them.
Losses to Wigan, Aston Villa, Donovan and Everton, Man. City, Burnley and Inter Milan remind us that they like all the others are not unbeatable.
As for Cech reports have him out for a month with a calf tear. That would mean he misses the next match against Inter. Real liability with Hilario in goal who will cost the Blues games in my opinion.
Thanks for the post.
I notice that you questioned the “special one’s” tactics…..
I forgot that the Dynamo traded or got allocation money for Calif, and maybe Mcbride and Keller were not good examples. The question is could some sort of allocation draft/system (other than free agency)work for MLS veterans that are out of contract or no longer wanted by their team? I think the fairest thing is to let players released by their team or out of contract negotiate with whomever they like, but I think we can all see tht the league won’t do that, so the question is what would they do that would be better than what players have now???
All of this scary talk about players striking, games not played, lost revenue, can you imagine how this will affect Houston getting their stadium built? The soccer haters will love this and those who are just ambivalent will just become even more ambivalent. Houston city council will just say, “well we cannot go through with this stadium deal with all of this negative stuff happening in MLS”. And then we find ourselves back at square one.
Everybody should be praying to the soccer gods that the MLS and the players union come to some agreement. On another note Heath Pearce stuck out the most to me, he has been inconsistent in the past but if he can keep it up he should have a spot on the team. I am still not sure about Sacha Kljestan, had some bright spots though, including the game winning goal.
Also Mexico 5 Bolivia 0. What ever happened to Bolivia?
Glenn, as an official anti-Ching member. I will say the following and pay close attention!
This was the best I’ve seen Brian Ching as long as I’ve seen him play for the US, at least since the beginning of 07 when we started the current World Cup cycle, he looked lively, had a few chances and could of scored a better goal or just more goals but El Salvador proved a great opponent with lots of hustle to speed up the tempo plus Montes confused the heck out of me with some World Class saves but stupid blunders on both goals, the Sacha goal not so much but he pretty much gave up, I don’t know if he just reacted late and then got on his knees as if a I messed up fashion, but the attempt was lame!
The goal itself shouldn’t of happened but Ching’s hunt for goal is what I liked, I don’t know if he’s fully fit, but if he does equal production to what he did with the Dynamo and he can replicate this vs Czech Republic & Turkey in May before the rosters are due, then Ching is my #2 forward behind Jozy unless Davies comes back healthy and capable, then Ching is #3, and that may be all we take to SA with maybe 9 mids?
I will tell you this, I was very unimpressed with Ching last year both in qualifying, Gold Cup and with the Dynamo despite the fact that he scored some great goals that were not very Ching like, runs at or thru the goalie & defense. Athletic headers and dives for a tip or flick etc. But his production wasn’t as strong for Dynamo as I expected, but the guy didn’t have a partner up front past the 1st month when Kei was on. I thought based on the Bradley preffered target striker dependancy to partner up say Ching with Donovan or Jozy, I thought Casey proved more effective and more capable of scoring based on his size and MLS production, but he proved that didn’t translate to international level with absolutely nothing when he played the US.
I’ve seen him miss chance after chance with the little wide production the US has gotten up top. In DC vs Costa Rica where Jozy proved he’s the best forward AND the best Target forward by giving Casey a gift of a goal with a completely byhimself assist just the coming out keeper, and Casey completely missed it. he could of given Davies the perfect shout out of respect with 9th minute, Jozy tried like hell to score or set up Casey! I hope Casey never dresses in US uniforms any longer, you’ll see if and when MLS starts, he’ll be figured out by the better CB’s and even RB’s!
GO CHING! (This is coming from someone who hoped Cooper would be the guy, but make no mistake about it, this is only the case because Davies got hurt, and if he wasn’t, I’d be GO CHING of our bench forward, see Confeds vs Spain, Egypt and Brazil!)
NOTHING! Yes he scored 2 great goals vs Honduras in Honduras, but he got gifted one by a Donovan assist that literary left him alone in the box and the other was a great pressure moment finish, but horrible marking one the slowest guy on the field that day! What else did he do? with more starts and minutes than Ching since June 6th? NOTHING!