Daily news roundups

US WC qualie group, new MLS playoffs, owls never forget

The US will be joined in their third round CONCACAF qualifying group by Guatemala, Jamaica and Antigua & Barbuda. Oh thank goodness. I was worried I’d never see Carlos Ruiz again! The round-robin system means the US plays home-and-homes with each team between June 1 and October 16 2012. 

The MLS Board of Governors are ready to address playoff shortcomings again. This likely means there will be a 4th new playoff system in 5 years in 2012. “Candidly, I think it’s a little bit of a mess and it needs to be addressed, and I’m hopeful that there’s a lot more player input,” Galaxy captain Landon Donovan said. “If you play 34 games and finish with 67 points, I think there should be a little more advantage than playing home and away to go to the next round.” Someone explain to me again why away goals don’t matter in MLS?

The Daily Mail has an exclusive bit of gossip: The LA Galaxy want Frank Lampard to replace David Beckham. Don’t worry, there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim. Just pictures of David Beckham lookin’ sexy and Frank Lampard looking like Alfalfa from Little Rascals. In fact, the best take-away from this article is a reminder: “At the end of his contract Beckham could even buy an MLS club for a knockdown price of $10million (about £6.25m), terms secured when he joined the Galaxy in 2007.”

The Shin Guardian’s reviews of the Klinsmann era used to suggest everything was like network TV and would be worked out in the end. Then things became more like HBO and Klinsmann was just concentrating on extensive set design and trying to determine the perfect set of players with which to unleash an oddly simple and repetitive narrative. Now we’ve moved into AMC territory and even the bright moments are tinged with some underlying depression or fear. Which brings me to my point: What the hell, AMC. Chill out!

ZonalMarking takes the Turkey/Croatia Euro qualifier and explains how a 4-4-2 can beat a 4-3-3.

Luis Suarez scored four goals against Chile. Messi? Ronaldo? Suarez is the best player in the world right now. He does it all with much less talent around him.

An owl landed on the crossbar at halftime of the Colombia/Venezuela match this weekend. It proceeded to eat a rat. Don’t mess with owls. 

7 Comments

  1. I have to disagree about Luis Suarez. Robin van Persie has to be the best player in the world right now. He is in incredible form and leads the EPL with 11 goals in 9 matches. And he does most of it by himself since his team isn’t considered one of the best in Europe anymore.

    • Fair point.

    • Ditto. Even if I avoid Adam’s overt boosterism and don’t say RvP is the best on current form (which he may very well be–29 goals in 28 league games in 2011), you’d have to work really hard to convince me Suarez is even in the same conversation as Messi and CRonaldo.

      • At least RVP and Suarez perform for club and country! Messi disappears and CR9 throws tantrums (and his captain’s armband).

        It’s not Suarez’s fault he has to put up with Charlie Adam instead of Mikael Arteta or Xavi.

      • i’m sorry but you guys are out of your mine. messi and ronaldo are on a whole different planet. look at their champions league numbers! and as for the country argument, it isn’t messis fault that he has been woefully mismanaged. argentina has transitioned in and out of coaches constantly, with none truly comprehending his style. while RVP and suarez are good players, they aren’t anywhere near messi or ronaldo.

      • mind*

  2. Kensington Josh says:

    Messi!!! Making youtube good again.

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