The Wonderbread Express Rides

Fabulous night in Seattle last  night for the last regular season game for Sounders FC in their inaugural season, with a come-from-behind 2-goal resurgence to nab the 2-1 victory over red hot FC Where's Waldo?

The comeback was fueled by the scoring prowess of slow white guys Nate "SloJack" Jacqua and Brad "Porkchop" Evans.True to form, SloJack worked his ass off, but looked fairly impotent all game, drawing the inevitable derogatory comments from Section 119...and then he scored, of course. Evans also got a fair bit of stick from our group, mainly for impersonating The Invisible Man in the midfield...and then he scored the winner.

So, this post is for you men of The Wonderbread Express. Slow white guys (Including myself here, too), we salute you!

In its entirety, the game was quite fantastic. Sounders started off with energy and purpose; they looked like a team that realized it hadn't won for its home fans since early July. A couple of offsides violations nullified good runs and a nice goal from Evans. But completely counter to run of play, FC WW? midfilelder Atiba Harris was allowed to run the ball to the edge of the 18 and take a low, driving shot that neatly beat Keller to the far post. The air went completely out of the balloon at this point. The fans were shell-shocked. The players stunned.

The sounders players carried that torpor into the second half. It wasn't until the 60th minute that the team began to show signs of life. After Porkchop threw a Dallas defender to the ground and drew a yellow card, the team looked like it had regained some sense of determination. Freddie Ljungberg played prominent in both goals, driving the ball deep to the endline before sending through a cross that Montero just missed and Jacqua, as the lucky, wide open recipient, couldn't fail on, and the score wad equalized in the 64th minute.

Ljungberg's work effort got another cross through, in the 84th minute, that Evans, making a nifty nearpost diagonal run, flicked over the keeper's hands for the winner.

Bring on the playoffs!

Sounders Play For Silverware Tonight

It's on in DC, baby. Keeping my fingers crossed that the Sounders of early season form show up.

The Eduardo Saga winds on with UEFA deciding that of all the countless divers in CL games over the past decade, the diminutive Croatian is the Johnny Dillinger of "simulation." Bullpucky. Someone in UEFA is sleeping with Celtic management. Joe Guarr points out the sheer hypocrisy of it spot on. You can't single Eddie out. If UEFA wanted to do something against diving they have to be consistent. Anybody want to bet that Eddie's 2-match ban will be the sum and total of their "campaign" against diving? Yeah.

Arsenal's response sums it up:

Arsenal says it is "deeply frustrated by the perfunctory and apparently
arbitrary process that UEFA has followed in this instance."

Speaking of frustrating, Abu Diaby Doo is keen to get past his "silly mistake." Silly Mistake?! If that helps you move forward and actually play consistent, winning football, then it's a silly mistake, my friend...

...but in my book it's one of the dumbest moves I've seen in football. Ever. Well, other than a similar play in a U16 girls game last year, but those are girls, not professional footballers. Anyhow, my point is that Abu needs to set a high bar for himself in getting past the silly mistake. Dude needs to not only remind people of Patrick Vieira, he needs to become Patrick Vieira (ca. 2004), terrorize opposing players with his defense, nail pinpoint passes upfield to ignite the attack and, oh yes, SCORE!

When he does these things consistently, I will remove the Abu Diaby Doo label from him.

Start The Fire, We Found Ourselves A Diver!

There you have it, from no less a football authority than Le Profeseur, Eduardo is a witch and the football purists (and whinging Celtic supporters) are engaging in a witch hunt! Run, Eduardo, Run!

Anyways, bring on the big pile of ManUre! Go Gunners!

Sore Losers?

Celtic want to see Eduard punished for his PK-winning dive, which transformed the Hoops' eventual Champions League aggregate loss a 5-1 affair rather than a much tighter 4-1 loss. It's nice to see the Scottish team so righteous on this point. I'm sure they'll be the first to turn in any divers past and present on their own squad, right? Or, maybe this is just sour grapes?

I'm not for the dive. I think it's an ugly part of the game that takes away from the quality of football. However, it would be wrong to approach this on a case--by-base basis, depending on when teams complain loudly about a particular player.

Instead, the EPL (and the SFL, for that matter: watch out Bhoys!) should implement a consistent system for detecting and punishing players committing egregioius diving. I would like to see video review of all matches, and offending players (and there'd have to be some criteria established for what constitutes a serious diving infraction) given a 1 or 2-game suspension. Something like that would be liable to reduce diving to a minimal level.

But pick on our boy Eduardo just 'cuz the Celtic are hurting over being thoroughly outclassed by Arsenal over 180 minutes of football? That'd be wrong.

Huskies Start Their Season With the Win

My daughter and I went to Husky Soccer Stadium to watch the ladies begin their 2009-2010 season with a 2-1 win over Seattle U. We were a few minutes late to the game and Seattle had already scored. The Dawgs were sleepwalking through the first half so I can only imagine how they were scored on. They picked up the tempo towards the halftime and outshot SU 11-4 with a few very close calls.

The 2nd half was not really a contest. The Dawgs superior athleticism and skill easily brought the equalizer and they never took their foot off the pedal as they scored the game winner with about 30 minutes left, I think. Could've scored more, as well. Good start to the season!

Arsenal Win At Parkhead

It may have looked lucky, the way Arsenal scored two goals in a 2-0 Champions League match against Celtic, but the outcome was deserved by an Arsenal side that played smart and patient football and created dangerous attacks.

The Bhoys worked hard throughout the game, and created a few chances of their own, but were largely outclassed by Profeseur Wenger's Acedemie de footbal. The first goal, a free kick that bounced off defender William Gallass' back as he tried to duck out of the way, was certainly lucky. The second, although an own goal off Captain Gary Caldwell, was the result of another dangerous Arsenal attack and a dangerous cross from Abu Diaby.

Vermaelen continues to impress. Having a smart, tough central back in the game makes me happier about Arsenal than at any time in recent memory. Both Song and big Nick look like different players (and I mean that in a good way). I've started calling Nick the anti-Jacqua (you Sounders fans know what I mean).

Two away goals put the Gunners in the drivers seat in this pair of matches. All they have to do is hold on at Emirates and they're back into the Group Stage. The Gaffer warns against complacency. Go Gunners!

Two Wins in One Day! Me Like.

Arsenal Rings in the New Season With a Bang (and 6 goals!)
Well, Arsenal's first effort of the new season has me stunned. The Gunners poofed around for 20 minutes or so, then unleashed an onslaught of offense that was helped in no small measure by absolutely incompetent and unconscious defending from Everton.

Denilson got the Gunners going with a killer curving shot that left Tim Howard with nothing to do but leap after it, for appearances sake. Even better the shot came from some tidy, patient short passing from RVN to Cesc and then the young Brazilian.

American Timmy Howard was given lots of practice to look hapless, thanks to defenders who just decided that defedning on set pieces was sooo beneath them. Newcomer Thomas Vermaelen notched the 2nd goal of the game and the first in his Arsenal career, with a deadly accurate inswinging free kick. To be charitable, Tim Howard would've had trouble on his hands, even if Vermaelen had been marked. But he wasn't.

...of course, it was difficult for Joleon Lescott to defend well, what
with City boss Mark Hughes chasing him all over the pitch like a
lovelorn stalker.

The new defender was impressive on both sides. I have to say that I was delighted at his performance and am actually thinking positively about our central pairing of V and Gallass. Granted, Jo ain't DeeDee Dogbreath but Vermaelen had him chained and shackled and read the game extremely well.

Gallass bagged the third goal, on another unmarked set piece. And then young Fabregas snared a brace before Eduardo, a late substitute got his first EPL goal (the easiest of goals, at that) in over a season. Nice to see the lad score and am hoping for lots from the rehabbed striker. He looked sharp and hungry in the spare minutes he had on the pitch.

Not much you can say in a runaway game like this. Everything was going our way. This wasn't a scrap and battle with Chelsea, or Liverpool, so I'll take it for what it is: a very nice way to open what will be a long and challenging season. However, I can't for the life of me remember who that tall, shaggy fellow was that used to ply the front line for us...

My surprise of the game? Young Nick "Look, my shorts are staying on" Bendtner. With the injuires to the squad, Le Profeseur, put the lanky Dane on the right outside mid. He hustled on both sides of the ball. He was a monster for the Everton defenders to handle. He held posession when needed. He passed and linked up with his teammates and for all I could tell, looked like a man who might begin looking like more than 6 foot 5 inches of potential. Good game, Nick!

Sounders Actually Score!
335 minutes of scoreless Sounders soccer?! Has it really been that long? Wow. Well, a David Beckham WTF moment, and a red card, put the Rave Green in the drivers seat and set up a Steve Zakuani score, on as pretty a set-up play as you'll see. Fredy Montero played a smash and grab ball to the roof of the net in the 2nd and that was all that was needed for the Sounders to leave LA with a 2-0 victory and leapfrog the Galaxy into 2nd place.

Now, I'm going to rain on the parade. The Sounders didn't look all that good throughout the game, even with the man advantage. In my mind, they didn't work very aggressively, showed too much content with a 1-goal lead, were sloppy with their passing, and a host of other sins.

They're going to have to get a lot better, if they want to survive the last months of the season and all the road games that they've got. Still, coming out of LA with a win and 2nd place is a good day!

Two final thoughts:

1) LA was the hottest team in the MLS? Wow, they looked bad. If this is one of the MLS' best, we've got deep problems.

2) The MLS refs are nuts. Yes, Beckham's red card was deserved. That could've been a leg breaker. But the 2nd yellow on Marshall was a silly ref biting on what wasn't even a good dive by Landon Donovan. Look at the replay. That dive makes some of Montero's play-acting look positively Shakespearean. And while Eddie Lewis did strike at James Riley's head, it was the weakest of punches ever thrown. Give him a yellow card and a week's free lessons at the nearest self-defense course.

Sports Drinks Or Not Sports Drinks

Are Sports drinks appropriate for kids? If they're serious athletes, the answer is yes...but only during competition.

“When kids do intense exercise in the heat for numerous hours, I
would encourage the use of sports drinks,” says Douglas Casa, an
associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut and
the lead researcher for most of the sports camp studies. “They will
likely drink more of a flavor they like as compared to water, and will
benefit from the carbs and electrolytes.”


But that ‘yes’ has clear and definable limits. “Sports drinks are
only appropriate in the context of sports, and I mean serious sports,”
emphasizes Nancy Clark, a registered dietician and sports nutritionist
in Boston

No one suggests that, outside of fields or courts, sports drinks are
wise. “These are not health foods,” Clark says. “They’re fancy sugar
water. You see kids having them with their pizza at lunch. That’s not a
good idea.” Sports drinks have been linked with obesity and tooth
decay. They’re also expensive