Compelling Soccer

It was the best of times.... It was the blurst of times...

-Remember all that hype when German midfielder Jermaine Jones switched FIFA allegiances to the US? He was going to right in a be the best midfielder on the squad right?


Unfortunately, this may be a case of counting chickens before they've hatched. Soccer By Ives is reporting Jones was forced to undergo another surgery on his shin, this time to remove the plate they had put in. He'll be out at least another six weeks. One has to wonder what's wrong here and why the shin isn't healing correctly. It's probably not career threatening but Jones may have a long road ahead in terms of recovery. Once he does, there will be plenty of competition in the US midfield.

-I'm still undecided as to what to do about the US/Honduras match. There isn't much around the Charlotte area, though there is one Spanish language place that is showing it. I'd prefer to be able to watch in the comfort of my own home, but if there's no internet feed; that could be an issue. Internet feeds may also be hard to come by as the game is close circuited in the states. I'd hate to miss out and have to follow online.

-After some posturing, it appears George Gillett will be selling his half of Liverpool to a Saudi prince, which seems to be the rage these days. Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud will now either have to buy out Tom Hicks, or try to do better at working with him than Gillett did. The latter shouldn't be difficult, though like the Germans owning a nuclear power plant, Hicks may just be looking for a way out at this point after realizing it's more trouble than its worth. We'll see if this does anything to the job security for Rafa.

I also wonder what would happen if a Saudi prince bought a team in the US. If people are making a big stink over a Russian billionaire buying the New Jersey Nets, I can just imagine the outpouring of support a majority stake by an Arab prince would receive here. It will happen one day, quite possibly in the NBA. It will be interesting to watch when it does occur.

-Well that's like a kick to the groin.

Actually.... that's exactly what it is.

Hopefully Torres' injury isn't serious. Even more hopefully, Spain sits him for Saturday's tie. If Liverpool were to lose him for an extended period of time, the loss to Chelsea will seem like small potatoes in comparison.

-This is a special courtesy for the people who are reading because they know me, rather than because they like soccer. It's a formation guide, giving you a short visual and written breakdown of the formations used today. Teams can change formations, but usually they'll stick to a general one. For example Liverpool and the US national team tend to use a 4-4-2. Of course even in those formations there are variations; the US team plays with two holding midfielders (midfielders who act in defense more than offense) where as Liverpool plays with one attacking midfielder and one holding mid. Anyway, I have a US formations post coming, so this will help you understand where I'm coming from. It might also show you I have no idea what I'm talking about. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

(Mom, if you can't figure out where the link is, it's the highlighted "special courtesy")