Compelling Soccer

This kickoff comes as a sorry replacement for the Match Day recap, which had to be cancelled due to work related commitments. Or you know, me having a job on a weekday afternoon.

-A busy day yesterday kept be from watching Liverpool's 2-0 loss at Fiorentina (a coincidence that I couldn't follow a loss, I swear). It's too bad in a way, critiquing a team when it loses can be even more educating than a when a team wins. On the other hand, I figure I might have pulled my hair out if I had to watch the squandered chances.

I've mentioned before how much MLS tends to annoy me with it's the strange attempt to appear soccer-ish in name but not in principle. There was a strange dichotomy set up, especially at the beginning, when you had this allusion to traditional sounding soccer names like DC United, while setting up rules to differentiate it from international soccer like it's old way of doing penalty kicks and the fourth substitution. In fairness to MLS, while that naming convention has continued (Real Salt Lake, FC Dallas, Seattle Sounders FC) they've gone much more towards the traditional format in terms of rules. However one thing that is missing is the thing that would make a soccer league in this country truly unique; relegation.

As I begin this Tuesday kickoff, I'm left wondering if the US Under 20 team must always play on the same day as Liverpool...

-I caught the second game for the Trinidad Under 20s yesterday and the effort was loads better. Perhaps the raucous crowd in the first game, they were playing hosts Egypt, affected the players. Or maybe it was just nerves of a different sort as many haven't been in a competition this large before. Either way, things were better in this one, even if the results ended up being the same points wise as they fell 2-1 to Italy.

These thoughts come courtesy of a man whose wallet is 88 dollars lighter thanks to Arizona's ineptitude...

-I didn't follow much of the US-Germany under 20 opener but the scoreline told me all I needed to know. Three unanswered goals later, things couldn't have started more poorly for the US squad. To make matters worse, this supposedly wasn't even the best and brightest the German youth had to offer.

Win Rating: 8- Expected Massacre

This one was what Liverpool was supposed to do. There were some tense moments after Hull City drew level as Liverpool's suspect defending again let them down. But Pepe Reina was there when necessary and it was only a matter of time before the brilliant Liverpool attack went back to work. And by "Brilliant Liverpool attack" I actually mean Fernando Torres. Three Torres goals later and Liverpool had more than enough to pick up three points.

Thoughts on the Starting Lineups:

Liverpool: One change from last weeks' starting XI against West Ham. Alberto Riera's back in for Javier Mascherano. I wondered if Mascherano had officially been suspended, but he's on the bench. I've been less than impressed with Riera thus far so we'll see how he handles today.

Hull City: Much to my disappointment, no Jozy Altidore in the starting lineup. Don't know much about Jan Vennegoor but he's 6'2. If he has speed, then he could pose trouble. If he's just size, then hopefully Jaime Carragher can handle him.

Liverpool v. Hull City

Liverpool 12 points, 3rd in the Premiership
Hull City 4 points, 19th in the Premiership

Stakes: Liverpool is rolling; since dropping two of the first three, Liverpool has won three straight Premiership games and five straight overall. Hull City comes in having dropped two straight home games. It's early, but Hull City could use road points to get themselves out of the relegation zone. Hull's at the bottom of the table, tied with 4 teams for the 16-19 spots. Hull's lousy goal differential (-8) drops them down to 19th. Liverpool needs to beat up teams like this to get truly back into the Premiership title battle. Hull needs to steal points from teams like this to make up for losses at home to teams like Birmingham City.

Thoughts on the Opposing Side: My interest in Hull City is entirely based around the development of one Josimer Altidore. American fans love to rank on manager Phil Brown, but he's been true to his word in giving Altidore time and Jozy seems to be acclimating to the English game well. He could have a very interesting match up against a suddenly struggling Jamie Carragher, who struggled with the speed of Zevon Hines and the size of Charlton Cole in last week's game against West Ham United. Altidore possesses both size and speed, though it is raw. He could cause lots of problems for the Liverpool back line.

Questions I Have: As mentioned, how does the Liverpool center backs, namely Carragher but to a lesser degree Martin Skrtel, handle Altidore? The answer to that could well decide whether this game is an easy win like Burnley or a nail biter like West Ham.

I'll also be trying to watch two games at once; the US Under 20 World Cup team is playing. My focus will be on the Liverpool game since it interests me more, but I'll see how much of both I can absorb.

Will I Be Watching: Barring my cable going out, I plan on it.

Expectations: Hull City's down in the relegation zone. Even if they're better than that, they should not be able to walk into Anfield and pick up a point, let alone three. Liverpool showed Burnley what playing a top draw side on the road entails a few weeks back. One would think Hull gets a similar lesson today.

Youth Served

-I checked out the opening game of the Under 20 World Cup yesterday, for no other reason than to see the future Soca Warriors go at it against Egypt's under 20 team. In theory your under 20 team doing well and making it this far, there are less teams in the Under 20 Cup than the actual World Cup, should be indicative of a bright future. It's not a moment too soon for Trinidad, who has gotten very old, very quickly and haven't found suitable replacements for the likes of Dwight Yorke, Stern John and Russell Latapy, or the quickly declining Dennis Lawrence.

Some thoughts to kick off your Thursday morning, which isn't as good as Friday morning, but much better than Wednesday or Tuesday morning.

-It was a mixed day for Americans playing overseas yesterday. The highlight would probably have to go to Kenny Cooper, netting a goal for TSV 1860 Munich. The goal put Munich up 2-0 though they'd piss away the lead in three minutes and eventually go on to win in penalties. The goal was Cooper's third in seven starts with the team.

Cooper has become the anti Brian Ching; a polarizing figure whom non Ching fans want to get Ching's spot on the US national team. Their argument is Cooper is young, talented and scores whenever he plays. Seriously, he scored seven goals in 15 games in MLS, 18 in 30 last year and 2 goals in five gold cup appearances (one start). His clip is impressive and he seems to have carried that over to the second level of the Bundesliga, which is still a higher level than MLS. Ching's supporters say Cooper doesn't play like a player with his 6'3 size should and that he tends to be selfish, never feeding to teammates.

The good: The final outcome: 1-0 Liverpool. David Ngog's winner puts them through to round four.

The bad: Everything else.

Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. This side was filled with B teamers; only Jaime Carragher and Javier Mascherano started for the Reds. And hey, they won with that side plus about fifteen minutes of contributions from Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard. That's a victory in itself.

Last week, news broke about the Premiership instituting a home grown player quota on it's squads starting next year. What does that mean? In short, every team in the Premiership is required to name a 25 man roster at the end of each transfer period (August and then in January) in which no less than eight players are "home grown".

Naturally, I had questions about it. A mandate on "home grown" players? I tried to imagine what it would be like to see such a rule implemented in baseball, hockey or basketball here. What if MLB decided that 15 home grown players were necessary per team. What would that do? It seemed strange at least and a bit xenophobic at worst.

I'm still experimenting with the features here at Compelling Soccer; IE things I'll want to do on a weekly basis. This week, I figure I'll try out the good old weekend in review, or the roundup of the games I checked out this weekend. This one features nothing on West Ham v. Liverpool because I wrote enough about that on Saturday.

The games I watched this weekend:

West Ham v. Liverpool (Prem)
Seattle Sounders v. Chivas USA (MLS)
Houston Dynamo v. Real Salt Lake (MLS)
*Manchester United v. Manchester City (Prem)
Valencia v. Sporting Gijon (La Liga)

*- denotes best game I watched

These are times when I don't mind being wrong.

I said I expected a draw for Liverpool in their showdown with West Ham at Upton Park in London. But the Reds, namely Fernando Torres, did one better, pulling out a 3-2 win. So much for his talk about poor form, huh?

I'm here so why not do a live blog. I plan to do these for US MT games to let's test it out.

Liverpool is running out 10 of the starting 11 they used against Debrecen mid week. The only change us Javier Maschereno in for Alberto Riera. Considering Riera's poor play in that game, this isn't a huge surprise for the Reds.

For my mention of Jonathan Spector playing for West Ham, he is not in the starting XI at Upton Park today.

West Ham v. Liverpool

Points:

West Ham: 4 Pts, 13th out of 20

Liverpool: 9 Pts, 5th out of 20

Stakes: A sluggish start means different things when you are in different places to start a season. Liverpool is considered down right now, being in the 5th spot in the league some expected them to challenge for this year. West Ham's placement doesn't look terrible, 13th, but in reality they sit just a point above the relegation zone. Granted it's early to think about that, but giving up points at home is a surefire way to find yourself in the Championship next year.

Thoughts on the Opposing Side: West Ham leaves me indifferent. I know they've been up and down in recent years. If I were rooting for strictly Americans, I'd have to pull for them as they usually start USMT defender Jonathan Spector on the back line. Looking over their Soccernet page, I see a few names I'm familiar with; Matthew Upson, Kieron Dyer, Luis Boa Morte. (Sorry an aside, having taken french and knowing what "morte" means, when I translate that name in my head it reads as Louis Dead Snake. That is all) So West Ham doesn't bother me. That said, they would be a nice place to get points.

Update: I just remembered the clip to the right of Steven Gerrard's goal in the FA Cup final came against West Ham.

Will I Be Watching: I'll be out during the morning but plan to back in time. The late start (12:30) helps a lot.

Questions I have: Three games in a week is a lot, even for men in peak physical condition. How does Liverpool not come out sluggish after having to work harder than expected against Debrecen on Wednesday? When you have players like Fernando Torres admitting poor form already, it makes you nervous during a tough stretch like this.

Expectations: A win would be nice, but a draw seems reasonable. Road points are never easy to come by and Liverpool is playing their third game in seven days.

Game Thoughts Will Come Later.

It's Friday and I didn't feel like my rant on Marathon's inability to comprehend competent play warranted enough in the weekend lead up. So, here's what's kicking around on my brain today.

Continuing my journey through the CONCACAF Champions league last night, I checked out the Mexican side Toluca face off against Marathon. Pre game anticipating was me wondering where Marathon was exactly. Greece would be a normal guess, but since Greece isn't part of CONCACAF, they could safely be removed. Turns out they're from Honduras. It also turns out it didn't matter, because stink smells the same no matter where you're from, Central America or a swamp. What do I mean? After seven Toluca goals, I don't know what else to say except my opinion of DC United just fell through the floor.

The first thing I learned is that player evaluations are a lot harder when you don't know a lot of guys in the game and you don't speak the language of the broadcast you are watching it in.

So as promised, I checked out another MLS team in action on Wednesday night. This time it was the Houston Dynamo in action in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage game against the Mexican side Pachuca south of the border. I was hoping to see play better than I did from DC United Tuesday night and for the most part, they delivered. Unfortunately for them, Pachuca was much better than San Juan Jabloteh.

Liverpool v. Debrecen

Champions League Group Stages Game 1

Stakes: The Reds see a team I've never heard of at Anfield to kick off Group E. Lyon and Fiorentina, two squads I most definitely have heard of await. Needless to say, three points is essential and expected.

Thoughts on the opposing side: Debrecen's team page on Soccernet has links to just seven player names. That can't bode well for their talent level. After a little bit of research I've learned they are a Hungarian side and apparently the second team in the last 14 years from Hungary to qualify for the Group stages. Congrats to them. Nonetheless, these are the match ups where you got your cheap wins in club mode for FIFA.

Will I be watching? Workday, so I'll try to pick up some updates and maybe grab a feed. But watching with intent is going to be impossible.

Questions I have: Will Liverpool bring out their typical starting XI? It's the Champions League after all, but this side shouldn't pose problems. Meanwhile the Carling Cup is next week and could provide a better spot to give the big guys a rest.

Expectations: Anything less than a win will be surprising. Anything less than a convincing win would be disappointing. I may not be an expert, but I know this: a top tier English side should smack down an Hungarian side 10 out of 10 times at home. Another thing I have learned, even in my periods of waning interest, Rafa's squads always perform well in Europe.

Lineup: Turns out Rafa is using the same starting XI as Saturday against Burnley.

Game Thoughts and More After the Break:

So I'm laying my cards on the table: Major League Soccer has never been my thing. As hinted at in my intro on Saturday, I've never been able to get past the fact that it wasn't the best, or the second best, or third best talent out there. At times, I might have been able to talk myself into it being the equivalent of the lower leagues in Europe, like Sweden, Denmark or Austria. But the fact remained that you are likely to find better play in English League One. And that's has been too large an obstacle to overcome, especially when I'd see a relatively slow, dull long ball style of soccer.

I'm not alone. Snobbery towards MLS is fast becoming the soccer tradition in this country. With a better product available now quite easily, it's quite simple to say "MLS sucks, so why bother with it when you can check out the Premiership?" And you know what? There's merit to the argument. If someone said they didn't want to watch minor league baseball because they found it vastly inferior to the majors, would we begrudge them? No more so than the people who stopped watching the XFL after two weeks because the game was more hype than substance.

On the other hand, MiLB has never sold itself as an authentic MLB experience. It's always tried to say it is something different with it's own unique charms. Unique charms aren't for everyone of course, but a niche can be profitable if embraced and handled correctly. MLS has in the past seemed reluctant to do than in the mainstream, going more for the XFL strategy outwardly of trying to bill itself as something more. It seems to try to pass itself off as the cool kid at the party when it just ends up looking like a poser. Not only do you have the occasional fan/league employee spouting off how it's on par with Europe, the league has long been populated with ideas to try to make it sound traditional "soccery". FC Dallas? FC stands for Football Club. You can call it Liverpool FC because in Liverpool, they call it football. Nobody in America calls it that. Who are you trying to impress by naming a team FC? If it were SC Dallas, then yeah, you'd be naming it Soccer Club Dallas, but it'd make more sense. Or DC United? What has been United? There only has been one club in DC. Or Real Salt Lake? Apposed to the non existent Athletico Salt Lake?

As pathetic as it is, I'd rather a team named New York Red Bull. Is tacky a company names a team after itself? Sure, though I suppose Robert Johnson and the Charlotte BOBcats would argue otherwise. However, the team is what it is naming wise. It comes off as stupid when you try to tap into a culture that isn't yours just to make it seem more official. You are a soccer team in America; if you embraced that, you might have more luck carving out an identity.

Ironically, they pretend with names, but skip out on the nuts and bolts. The season takes place off from the FIFA calendar, making transfers tougher. And of course, there's no promotion relegation, with the argument that the fan bases could not handle it. It's funny in a way, the concept of "success due to merit" is such an American ideal that the relegation system makes so much sense for us. Why should the bottom teams continue to get paid? Let someone more deserving come up. How can one of the most capitalistic societies in the world not have a relegation system anywhere? Alas, at least with the near future, it's not to be.

But as someone who has willfully participated in said snobbery, dismissing it outright for such injustices and faux pas probably isn't the right way to approach matters. Just as there's a place and purpose for minor league baseball, MLS exists for a reason. It isn't the highest quality, but soccer is still great to watch when it's played right. Getting over the names on the unis, the knowledge of the level of play; strip all of it away and do you have an entertaining product?

Yesterday, I laid out my thought process in choosing a team. But while my situation maybe informative, it's not nearly as nice as a guide, clearly laying out your options.

Today, I'm happy to provide a nice handy breakdown with the pros and cons of any choice you make when selecting your team. There's no such thing as a perfect choice after all. But with this you can make the selection which works best for you.


Joining The Big Dogs: Picking the team that's winning.

Rationale: Everyone loves a winner.

Irrationale: Who would resent me? The more the merrier!

Fan Reaction: "Oh great another one. Bet he can't name four players off this team."

Integrity: None. Have you no shame sir? You earned nothing, nothing!

Jersey Purchase: Essential. Name player is also required. Positive points if you choose an obscure jersey for odd reasons.

Best Outcome: The team keeps winning for years to come. They stay on top so long that you stick around long enough people stop caring that you joined up 10 years ago because they won. This especially helps if you've taken the 10 years to learn four players off the team. Really though, you're just setting it up for your kids. They can claim they were fans for life and how their mom/dad always cared about the team. Plus, their innocence will prevent them from questioning your integrity for at least 10 years.

Worst Outcome: Team falls off and you bolt with them. Your remaining credibility is shot and all your affiliations will be questioned from here on out. I mean every one. Your friends will secretly joke you're only with your girlfriend until someone "better" comes around. Of course it's insecurity because they know you'll ditch them if given the opportunity to hang out with someone cooler. Think I'm going overboard? Remember when Lebron loved Bassy Telfair? Now he's all about Steph Curry. If I was you Steph, I'd start looking for someone a little more reliable.

Likely Outcome: Unless you're an idiot front runner who literally just took the last team that won, you'll probably get the medium. Top teams like Man U, Arsenal or stateside, the Yankees, tend to be stay on top for a while. Invariably, there will be lean years though. How you react will determine your worth as a human being.

When you're a kid picking teams is easy. Being young, dumb and impressionable, you go for who your parents like. Or if your parents aren't into sports, you pick who your friends do. Or failing that, because kids always like happy endings, you pick the winning team. You know, like LeBron James does. And then in theory, you stick with those teams forever. You know, like LeBron James did with the Yankees and Cowboys when he was growing up in the early 90's in Ohio and the Yankees were terrible.

But what happens when you are old enough to make conscious decisions with your teams? What if you actually entered the sports world as a true free agent, the ability to sign up for fandom with any team in a particular sport? What exactly do you do then? Careful how you answer, because much like an athlete when his contract is up, your decision will say more about you than you might care for it to.

For example, say you decide you want to go with the recent champion. Then it's clear who you are, front runner. You picked them because they won. Your connection is hollow, your ties shallow, much like you are as you're already likely to run off with the next pretty thing that comes your way. The die hards are on to you. You'll never get respect at games and you'll always be the unwelcome outsider; a mercenary if you will, to pad the numbers of the owners of the team who will gladly take your money for jerseys you'll stop wearing when the team drops to third.

Or perhaps do you try to buy low and join up with a lower tier team? Here you'll be much more accepted and your motives unlikely to be questioned. Your sanity maybe, but your integrity will remain pure. Enjoy that good feeling; odds are it will be the last thing you get out of that deal for a while. Your team is probably not winning any championships anytime soon and heartbreak will follow, if you are lucky. If you're unlucky, you picked the LA Clippers and are stuck rooting for unrealistic things like the best player in the league suddenly deciding to make the same mistake you did. You'll suffer or burn out. Neither is preferable.

First posts are for hellos. I tend to get long winded, so for those who prefer, there's a short version at the end.

I'm no expert. I like to consider myself well informed on a lot of things in sports, but I would fully admit to knowing less about soccer than I do about say, baseball. That said, I'm no novice. I played as a kid through junior high school and have watched plenty of games over the course of my life. I've written about it in blog form before, but on an individual basis rather than as the general subject matter for the blog itself. Like many Americans I watch the World Cup intently, though I also have a working knowledge of the club scene in Europe. In other words, I can name most of the teams currently up in the Premiership, I know all about relegation and can name players other than Beckham, Ronaldo, Rooney and Donovan.

Yeah, I can name the guy to the right. Points to you if you can too.

I've seen enough to be able to make decent player judgments. For example, when Alexei Lalas says Landon Donovan is a top 20 player in the world, I can laugh heartily, knowing he's talking out his ass. It also won't stop me from making my share of commentary, because how entertaining could this be if I didn't think I knew more than some people. *coughBobBradleycough*

In any case, this is a journey as I see how far my soccer fandom can grow now that it has proper outlets. I also hope that perhaps I can infect those around me with the bug a bit, because seeing soccer take off in the US has always been a dream of mine. It's closer now than it's ever been, though as many astute people have pointed out, not in the form people would have expected back in the 70's and 80's or even the early 90's. Back then, it was always about creating a league here that people would fall in love with. That would get kids into it. That's how soccer would take off. Instead, the shrinking of the world we live in has changed matters. It's brought the global game to the US and is part of the reason for my enhanced interest.

I've always liked the game. But the means for me following it were more time consuming than my interest would allow at the time. Soccer simply was not readily available in mainstream America for a long time; or at least soccer I considered watching. There were two forms of soccer that one could get easily four or so years ago; MLS and Mexican League soccer. The Mexican league games could be and were entertaining, but often were on Sunday afternoons when NFL games were on. Plus they are in Spanish which, despite what people might think when they look at me, I do not speak.

MLS is it's own separate issue. The quality just hasn't been good enough on the times I've watched to make it commitment worthy. The speed of the game, the finesse, the things that make it fun to watch are less apparent in MLS. It's a lot of long ball, lobs into the box and generally is boring. You didn't see runs like you did in the World Cup or European leagues or even the Mexican leagues. And of course, there was always a general sense that what you were watching was third or fourth tier action. If it was fast pace and fun, that wouldn't matter so much. But when it's slow plodding and methodical, you lose interest. Whenever I'd catch glimpses of other leagues, whether it was England, Italy, Mexico or hell, Argentina, what always amazed me was the speed of the games compared to MLS. In the case with Mexico and Argentina, the fundamentals might be less, but it was more entertaining to watch.

But the times they are changing. Top flight soccer is now becoming more and more available. ESPN is showing a premiership game every Saturday morning and La Liga every Sunday. And for those who are persistent, there are also ways to watch games on the internet. Plus, now that I'm no longer a college student who wakes up at 1 PM every weekend, or an unemployed young adult whose body clock functions like a college student's, it doesn't take an extra effort to wake up in time to watch European games anymore.

I've now watched soccer every weekend since the start of the Premiership season and I've seen part of every Liverpool game this year. Five years ago, that wasn't possible, at least for me, without having to wake up at 9 AM and walking to a soccer bar. Considering I barely was capable of waking up in time for New York Jets games which started at 1 PM and I could watch from my dorm room bed, it was simply not happening.

With the best club soccer available now for consumption and the international game at it's peak with World Cup qualifying winding down, there simply is no time better for me to embrace my interest.



And for those of you who only wanted the short version, here it is:

-I've watched soccer since I was 11

-I have a love/hate relationship with US Soccer, personified by Clint Dempsey

-The Soca Warriors have a special place in my heart

-Steven Gerrard's goal against West Ham in the 2006 FA Cup final makes me feel tingly inside

-Landon Donovan is overrated in America, underrated to non Americans

-MLS isn't my thing, as in, I'd consider watching the Danish league over it.

Note: the short version actually contained nothing from the actual introduction. But they are things I'll be discussing here in the near future.

Welcome again to compelling soccer, where the pitch is always open and there's plenty of room on the bandwagon. Hop aboard.