Any REAL football fans here? (Page 52)

Looks like the Guardian is running a routine article on what's going on in the MLS.  Nice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/mar/26/colin-clark-houston-dynamo-gay-slur?INTCMP=SRCH

That's some really good stuff, thanks again for posting. It's cool to see that kind of coverage in the Guardian.

I hadn't even heard about Colin Clark's homophobic slur against the ballboy in the Seattle/Houston game that was caught by the mic. Will be interesting if anything comes of that.

And we are out.  Out of the Olympics for only the second time since '76.  Series of mistakes late in the game lead to the loss, not the least of which Sean Johnson mishandled a not so strong shot that ultimately went in.  Horribly sad.  I watched every minute of the second half and thought we were through till the last 5-10 minutes when we couldn't/wouldn't keep possession.  I knew it was only a matter of time. 

Sad.

Just sad.

To lump on top of it all, not only are they missing out on an experience of playing in the Olympics, they will be missing out on experience of playing at a higher level under pressure.  This is more than just qualifying for the Olympics, this is about missing much needed play time for these guys and continuing to develop them and test them at higher and higher levels.

This is just one, in a long line, of Under failures in the past year.

And let me be clear, I KNOW it will take a while to put in place Klinnsy's plan and I will be giving him quite a bit of leeway to implement.  But it doesn't make this hurt any less. 

The Olympic soccer tournament has traditionally been for developing players..U23 and a couple of older senior players if I recall correctly. That said, I dont think this will have long term damaging effects on US development. What it DOES show, is that the talent at that age does not have the quality yet - a home loss to Canada and El Salvador shows the lack of strength/depth in the senior player ranks from ages 20-25 or so....they should not have had to struggle in these games

European nations put little emphasis on the Olympics - teams are mainly fringe pros and amateur players..London may be different only because there may be a GB team in it for the first time...

The South American and African nations hold the tournament in higher regard and generally send better teams

True.

Although, there were quite a few Senior players that qualify for U23 that either couldn't be there or their club didn't release. 

I still stand by my statement that this was a missed opportunity for these other players to actually get more playing time and experience.  And IF they had made it, it is possible that the Senior players might have been allowed to play in it and therefore, again, gain experience, even if it is against slightly lower quality teams, but in a higher pressure situation.

Just another stumble in the progress.

crowny2 - 2012-03-29 12:51 PM 'Pool to play Roma at Fenway, July 25th.  Already put my email in for updates on getting tix.  Gonna be in RI that week anyway.  Might just have to figure out a way to stay a day extra and head to B-town with the wifey. 

Wow, that's cool. Yep, gotta go see your boys if you can make it happen

And the Sounders get Chelsea again this year. That was a great experience last time, might have to see if I can make the road trip and catch them again.

Good article. 

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/story/galarcep-on-american-soccer-klinsmann-fear-salgado-woe-shea-struggle-040512

Now, this, is a piece of art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3L9lz7Zz9QI

As a side note, maybe it is because I'm a Spanish speaker but this goal with out the narrator screaming his lungs out "goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!" like there's no tomorrow, leaves me feeling "incomplete".

Happy to hear you got tickets....

Did you see this announcement? You can now get the "jersey shore" view of your favourite team..

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/premierleague/story/English-Premier-League-Liverpool-Never-Walk-Alone-FOX-Soccer-documentary-042612

...however, they will need subtitles....

Yeah, I saw it.  Excited and worried all at the same time that they are giving a "Nothing is off limits" style access, but it is what it is.

They will probably have subtitles for those with the thicker accents.  You know, Gerrard, Carrager, etc. 

It just got interesting.

ManCity beat ManUre to jump back on top of the table. 

And now Messi is being called a racist.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1067217/royston-drenthe:-barcelona-star-lionel-messi-called-me-'negro'?cc=5901

Interesting end to the season.  Final thoughts?

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/league-table.html

I'll start.

Glad ManUre didn't win.  nice to see another team on top for once.

Everton finished on top of 'Pool for the first time in god knows how many years.

Aston Villa miraculously avoided relegation only because of the horrible play of the teams below them.  Talk about lucky.

Sad to see Bolton go down.  Would like to have seen them stay up for Muamba, but it was not meant to be.

Chelsea now HAVE to win the CL on Saturday or they are completely out of Europe next year all together.

As always, looking forward to next season and hope it will be better for my boys in red than it was this year.  Only time will tell.

Not a City fan by any stretch but leapt of the couch and cheered when they made it 3-2 even my daughter was cheering! - its good to see Old Red nose get his hopes up and then dashed and that smug look wiped off his face.

EPL has to be careful not to fall into the ranks for La Liga though....19 point gap between 1st/2nd and the rest is too big...you dont want a two team league like Spain...hopefully others improve and dont just give lip service to going for the title but actually try to bring in the quality and depth in a squad to make it a reality - yes that means you Wenger, Chelsea, Spurs and maybe 'pool

EPL was average at best this year but anyone who says soccer is boring should have sat down and watched this drama unfold goal by goal, minute by minute - top or bottom..it was amazing.

Note on Barton - hope he never plays again..unfortunately Sparky doesnt have the balls to fire him..maybe the owners will- he is a disgraceful human being

Agreed. 

apparently editing a prior post just creates a new one..? Technology has me confused.

*sigh*.  I was so disappointed after the boys in claret and blue didn't even manage a point out of that last game (coming that close to being relegated, I would have expected them to pull out all the stops).. Of course, I saw today that they fired their manager, so there is always hope for next year..

I've got a question about Clint Dempsey.

Tons of rumors flying about now that the season is over.  Of course he wants to test his mettle at a higher level and wants to join a team playing in the Champions League.  He is being linked with Liverpool (which he would have to wait a while to get to CL), Arsenal and Chelsea.  And I've been hoping around in different articles and blogs and forums and the like and there are so many people that claim he isn't good enough.  But when pushed for the answer, they say that he is either too old or that he just doesn't have the skills. 

• Even though he is 4th in goal scoring in the EPL this year (behind Van Persie, Rooney and Aguero)
• Even though he was voted 4th in Player of the year voting (behind Van Persie, Rooney and Scholes)
• Even though he is the first American to score 50 goals, and one of only 7 active midfielders to do so (in order, Lampard, Giggs, Scholes, Gerrard, Cahill, Murphy and Duff), which is pretty lofty territory. 

I just don't get it.  I have heard, on some pod casts, that it might be an Anti-American bias and that if he were from any other country, he would be the next big thing.

So, what are your opinions?  Will he stay or will he go?  Is he good enough to move up into the next level of teams?  And if so, who do you think will take him?

Its an interesting situation - watching him I dont see an impact player - but for Fulham he is huge. It may be because of his role there, the opportunity or style...it would be interesting to see who those 50 goals were scored against - how many against the top 4 teams and in what type of game...

Personally I dont think he would succeed at the highest level - but according to his team mates he is the hardest working player on the team and the results he produces may prove me wrong in the long run...if it were me - lets say Arsenal - I would be interested but only at a reasonable price - say $6M or so....and in this case - does he play ahead of RVP? Or gevinho or Walcott?

There has to be a need and a good fit or it will fail

My favorite American player of all time McBride was a great goal scorer and found his niche - Dempsey needs to find that happy medium too

Ask and you shall recieve.  However, I would state that it is highly possible that the shake out below, from a percentage perspective, would be the same for the other 6 midfielders listed above.  What, tangibly, do you think limits him from playing at a higher level?