My Thoughts on Sounders V Colorado

What's up Sounders Junkies,

Time for a little ranting about this weekend in Colorado where hopefully we can pull the three points.

No Ljunberg, Evans, or Scott means we are shuffling a little bit. Not that losing Scott bothers me, he is a huge liability right now. I think he can be a good player but right now Alonso totally covered him to the extreme when Sturgis was hurt.

Montero is going out wide for this game according to some blogs and rumors I have been hearing. If that is true, then Le Toux and Jaqua are going back up front and that means maybe a little more speed and knock down type stuff we saw earlier. It worked against LA so maybe it will work against the Rapids.

We get Sturgis and Riley back which is bringing our back 4 together again. I think we may see Vagenas start tomorrow, Sigi trusts him, he is veteran, and he needs games.

Colorado has played pretty well recently 3-2-3 is a decent record and they are at home. I think Conor Casey is a Euro disappointment but he can probably contribute to the Rapids.

To be clear I fully expect the Sounders to go out and prove the second half against Dallas was a one time thing. They need to go out and play a complete game and convert on the final touch.

They should have been at least 3-0 up at half time, but they didn't and drew the match against the worst team in MLS.

Expansion teams go through rough patches but this team has a lot of talent in the forward half and they shouldn't be having a ton of trouble creating chances. It is all about finishing with this team.

I think the dry patch will end and they can get a couple goals tomorrow.

A point doesn't hurt us at this point, Chivas is rolling and all we want as Sounder fans is to stay in the Playoff places and get healthy. Then by September/October we are playing really well and getting in the playoffs where anything can happen.

I would rather have the dry spell now keep getting draws then start winning again going into the Summer and Fall.

That's all for now.

Peace!!

Musings Mid Week

It was a dissapointing draw against FC Dallas for me, the consumate Sounder/Football fan, it was extermely disheartening to see all the chances go to waist like they did on Saturday.

United got its title out of the way now they will focus on the Champions League Final and already news that John O'Shea will start from the go. That is not a suprise considering the fact that Neville is hurt and so is Wes Brown.

Germany's title will go down to the last day with Wolfsburg and the Klinsmen-less Bayern Munich. This league has been the most exciting in terms of goal scoring this season. I find it highly entertaining even though the quality of the leage is not up to say the EPL. Their was something like 60 goals scored on the weekend in the Bundesliga, that is impressive and creates a great style of game play for the fans in Germany and around the world.

Barca and Inter sealed their respective league titles so kudos to them. Barca also won the Copa Del Rey in style 4-1 so they will be going for trebile of their own next week.

Onto MLS, a lot of the same I think. The response to the horrible officiating has been disgraceful from MLS. Don Garber is proving to be a "money man" and not a soccer executive. It is not just the Sounders games but these referees are making games into refereeing specticals because they miss the obvious calls and then when they feel it is getting out of hand they call everything and disrupt the flow of the game.

My answer for the problem is to have full time employeed officails, so then they can properly prepare for games and certain teams styles. I also think that maybe keeping a crew of three together might be a good idea. Lets get some continuitiy between the three on field officials.

If the fourth official is different so be it, but at least those three are the same and understand each others tendencies.

All for now.

Previews for the Weekend

Greetings,

It is Friday and I decided it was a good idea to get my MLS predictions out as long as my picks for the big Arsenal Manchester United game coming up tomorrow as well as Newcastle's game against Fulham.

First lets start with United all they need is a draw and they win another title and tie Liverpool for titles...finally. Who doesn't think United wont be celebrating a title tomorrow? I know I think they will, the only thing that sucks about this match is I have to get up at 4 AM to watch it. United 3 Arsenal 1.


Newcastle V Fulham: what can I say, the Maggies came to life against a weak Middlesbourgh side. A draw and Hull loss helps them but Newcastle wants three. Fulham is aiming for the Europa League. Dempsey and company have turned it around and Roy Hodgson should be manager of the year.

I think this ends up a score draw 1-1 or Fulham win 2-1.

Now MLS

Sounders v FC Dallas: no atmosphere= trap game for me. Also no Sturgis or Riley. I don't like Zach Scott but I think Ianni will surprise when he plays. I expect Hurtado to take Cooper out of the game. Other then him they have a couple decent players but from what I saw last week they don't have the speed to hang with the Sounders.

2-1 Sounders.

Toronto FC v Fire: I hate both these teams and there fans, I respect McBride that is why the Fire get the nod here. Wow, another draw last week what a surprise. Fol2005 on YouTube wont like me but he and the Section 8 scum and fuck offs who don't know dick about soccer atmosphere.

With that said Toronto is playing bad 3-2 Fire.

New England v Colorado: I pick New England here because I don't trust Colorado to sustain anything with Conor Casey. He is to streaky for me.

1-0 New England

Houston Dynamo v New York Red Bull: I think Houston is going to start to warm up and get on a little run here. They won the Texas Derby and it keeps going with Ching, Kamara, and Stuart Holden.

3-1 Houston

Kansas City v Real Salt Lake: if Real gets scoring opportunities this game is theres. Claudo Lopez is all this team has up front...sorry Josh Wolff fans.

2-1 Real

Chivas v DC United: Leaders of both conferences square off. Chivas is playing really well, Preki can flat out coach. But, for some reason I like DC in this game. I will go with Fred, Emilo and Co.

3-1 Screaming Eagles.


Well have fun watching whatever games you are watching this weekend. European leagues are finishing up so that is really exciting. Go Sounders!

Man U v Wigan Review, More Musings

What a great game for my United. Maybe Fergie will realize that now Tevez is worth the money. He was brought on and United fought back from 1-0 down and won 2-1. Now a draw against the Gooners means that for a third consecutive year the title trophy stays in Manchester with the Red side of town.

Anderson was in effective and Berbatov had a tough time with the defense of Wigan to start but once Ronaldo was moved to the middle and Tevez (see right) was brought on it all changed.

Great, great win for the team, Fergie will be please, now they have a quick turnaround for an afternoon start against Arsenal. But what I got from this game against Wigan will have more to do with what the team does during the summer then anything else.

Now I know more then ever that Valencia, Ribery, and Tevez need to be at United next season. Sorry Ronaldo you can go to Madrid and be a fantastic player but no team the stature of United should turn down close to 80 million. No player is worth that much but if Madrid will buy him for that as a team United can buy three world class players for one!

Who wouldn't do that? I mean come on, I would do that in a heart beat. I am a huge backer of Ronaldo but even now his antics wear on me. At least guys like Ribery and Valencia are honest, hard working, talented players that are world quality.

More to come later, I will preview the Sounders and FC Dallas and give predictions for both the EPL and the MLS.

Also I will give a few views on Germany, Louis Van Gaal went to Munich and snubbed Sunderland. I like the move for Van Gaal but he better produce or he will turn out like Klinsman to be honest.

What will happen to Klinsman???? Possibilities with USA???? More later this week!

MLS All Star Voting

MLS All Star game voting is starting, lets vote in all our fucking Sounder players. Guys like Keller, Marshall, Hurtado, Ljundberg, Montero, and Zakuani deserve to be recognized!!!!!

Go to MLSNET.com and Vote.....NOW!

Man United v Wigan Set for Wednesday

This will be an interesting game for United. There are rumors all over the Internet that after Ronaldo's antics on Sunday that he and Fergie had a huge bust up afterward. I have even read a rumor that Fergie has agreed to sell Ronaldo to Mardrid for 72 Million pounds!!!!! If that happens then United can do what the fans want and resign Tevez for 26 Million and take the rest and go get Frank Ribery(seen on right) who right now could turn into just as good a player without being a bitch of a teammate.

Interestingly enough, the opponents for United Wednesday have a player linked with United and that is Luis Antonio Valencia(seen below). He has the speed and the creativity to be a right sided threat for United and maybe he would be a fit if they sell Ronaldo loose Tevez and sign Ribery.

Make Ribery into a role like Ronaldo where it is all interchangeable. It will be interesting to see, I really like Valencia, he is an interesting prospect brought to Wigan for next to nothing. Much like Wilson Palacios who was sold for 14 million when he cost like 2 million to get from South America.

Now Wigan has some attacking options like Rodellega, Valencia, Zaki, Mido, Cattermole is solid, and N'Zogbia from Newcastle has had a resurgence at Wigan.

I rate Steve Bruce and think he would be a fantastic manager for a Fergie less United side.

So tomorrow will be fun a United win seals another title for the Red Devils (I hope this happens). It will tie them with the Scouser Scum for titles.

All Appeals for Champions League Final Rejected

Well this didn't suprise me though as a United fan (been one since the mid 90's) I just think its a disgrace. The idea of Darren Fletcher not being able to participate is a sad. He has been crucial this season and I for one am worried with him out who is going to keep the Barca mid field in check? I like Carrick but he can't do it alone. Scholes is old and on his day can do it but not on a consistent basis. I think watching Anderson against Arsenal will ease a lot of peoples fears and turning him into a box to box midfielder has been a stroke of genius by United. When he arrived from Sporting Lisbon he was an all out attacking middle man. Not anymore and I like the way he plays, he has set up crucial goals down the stretch.

Abidal and Alves I can't say so much for them, they deserved what they are getting. Guardiola had the nice tough of saying if United back our appeals we will back their appeal as well. That is bogus he wants his two players back who are crucial for the United player who can be replaced.

So now that it is done I am wondering what else will happen before the final. We will see.