Peter Nowak will miss tomorrow’s Union match against LA to play in the charity event “Match of Stars” in Poland. John Hackworth will lead the team in Nowak’s absence. Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz said Nowak’s presence at the event will provide valuable exposure for the Union brand.
Carlos Ruiz reportedly said that the LA Galaxy are “in trouble” and underperforming this season. Then he looked at his salary and the Union’s offensive statistics and said, “Nope. No irony here.”
MLS Cup will be in LA this year. I would not be surprised if MLS forces one of the finalists to trade for and play David Beckham too.
Luke Rodgers of New York says Landon Donovan talks to referees too much during games. Donovan got all confrontational passive aggressive on Twitter by writing, “I’m confused, who is Luke Rodgers?” He then threw his teary eyes and wounded soul into Don Garber’s waiting arms as Garber cooed, “Nobody, Landy, nobody. Now let’s go out to the pool and practice your soccer skills on the diving board.”
The big news in the soccer world today comes from Lord Triesman of the English FA. He has recited conversations where CONCACAF rep and FIFA Vice President Jack Warner asked for a school to be built in Trinidad and Tobago as part of a deal to secure his vote for the 2018 World Cup. Warner, of course, said the idea was ridiculous and that the scent of corruption that has followed him around for decades (decades!) is merely his cologne, which is made from liquified hundred dollar bills and tears.
Full list of Triesman’s allegations here. It’s gross.
A British MP also claims to have evidence that two members of FIFA’s executive committee were bribed to vote for Qatar.
Here is an interesting piece from France: National team coach Laurent Blanc apparently did not break and race discrimination laws in discussing putting caps on the number of black and Arab players in France’s youth academies. The French Football Federation representative said that there is nothing to suggest that Blanc (who in a meeting said that a proposed quota plan would help bring through players with “our culture, our history”) was backing discriminatory practices. She then said the meeting Blanc attended was clumsy and uncalled for. So he attended a meeting that should not have taken place and agreed with the plan laid out at the meeting. Which called for quotas. But since he was caught before the plan was put in place, it’s all good. I’m glad this woman does not hunt bank robbers. She would bust in on them and see a bank blueprint on the table and go, “Ah ha! Well now that I’ve seen you with the blueprint, I trust you won’t attack that bank or any other. Off you go! Nice try!”
ESPN looks at potential head coaches for the USMNT U-21 squad.
The Shin Guardian brings back Bradley’s Clipboard for peek at the US team’s plans for the Gold Cup.
Freddy Adu and Edson Buddle were on target this weekend in a good showing for US players plying their trade in European second divisions.
Actions speak louder than words, Little Fish. If you were lighting up the scoreboard, making opposing ‘keepers look like fools, and leading the league in goals scored, THEN you can run your mouth. Until then, STFU and put the damn ball in the back of the net. Other than the Mother Nature factor, I don’t get why a newer stadium (i.e. PPL Park, Livestrong Sporting Park, et al) doesn’t showcase the MLS Cup. I call booshizz.
Who chose 2ooch as the team face/voice anyway? Too many TV-promos show him instead of Mondragon or Le Toux.
Also, I wish Taylor Twellman would talk to some fans before labeling him as a “fan favorite” and telling the TV audience that Philly fans like it when he dives as long as he dives for Philly. We don’t like it Taylor.
the hell has le toux done this season?
I agree. I’m annoyed at Le Toux too, but I thought his production last year warranted promo spots more than Ruiz’s 2 goals.
in my heart i’m pulling for calif and valdes spots.
and i’ll hop on the mondragon train when he actually makes a save
He hasn’t made any saves? Interesting observation.
it’s called hyperbole and is a useful rhetorical device.
he’s made fewer saves than every regular keeper in the mls.
Like that’s a bad thing. Maybe it’s a reflection on the defensive improvements between last season and this. I’d gladly take his GAA over number of saves any day … Faryd’s 0.43, second to only Rimando and his 0.40.
no one is saying it(low shots) or he is bad. my point being he’s been tested about once this season. his sliding challenge against san jose is about it. credit the defense and when mondragon is finally tested then heap the praise on him. until then it’s williams, harvey and especially calif and valdes who deserve the credit.
Oh, so you acknowledge that he has, in fact, made a save this season? 😉
ruiz has had an average season so far. better than some, worse than others. i think any of our forwards would do better if the ball made it from the middle third into the final third. the ruiz hatred has more to do with his pre-philly rep than anything he’s done or not done here. shit he’s the only player on the entire team to have scored in open play other than calif.
I was relatively in Ruiz’s corner for a while, but I just can’t continue now (although I’ll never have the Ruiz-hate that others do). I think Adam was right in his last article, Ruiz only tends to play in the opposing box, which contributes to the lack of linkage between the center and top.
i hear that. he’s always been a poacher though. i guess i don’t see ruiz being any different than what he was in the past and that if nowak bothered to bring him in and start him he should have the team play in a way that they can link up with his style. he certainly hasn’t been a savior by himself or anything. that said we can all agree that our offense sucks. i’d really like to see a lot more from our offensive mids though.
my bad. torres has one too.
It’s a miss opportunity the join the soccer all-star maybe he is a fever or personal problem. Nice post!
How come no mention of the latest mls power ranking? We now find ourselves in 6th in week 8 power rankings. They note that a change should be on the horizon for the U. Maybe Ruiz on the bench for LA?!?! I can dream! Really not a fan of Nowak’s absence. Feel like his priority should be the U. Curious if Nowak or Hackworth will pick the lineup for the DOOP LA game?
@Los117 – That’s a great question. Even if Hack had the freedom to choose would he feel comfortable dropping Ruiz? The only member of the offense who gets to play exactly the same position every time out?
I really don’t think Hack got the sack to make any changes…to me he seems like the yessir Coach Nowak type. Ultimately it seems like the whole organization is hesitant to question Nowak. I wonder who thought that the offense needed Ruiz in the off season? I expect Ruiz to start and produce nothing. All he did was add fuel to the fire, running his mouth…