WNT loss means changes

The Women's National Soccer Team is the closest thing that the United States has to dominance in soccer. After multiple world cups, Olympic gold medals and a number one ranking, Nike even created a campaign around "The Greatest Team You've Never Heard Of".

Things fell apart in the semi-finals against Brazil. The defeat was embarrassing for a team that's played 50 games without a loss. Coach Ryan made a change at the last minute, replacing Hope Solo, the goalie that's been part of that streak with Briana Scury, the goalie from a World Cup and Olympic victory.

There's very little argument that this not only affected the team chemistry but also put a player that wasn't the best into, arguably, the most important position in the game. Frankly, Ryan will be luck to keep his job.

What's even more disturbing is Hope Solo's reaction:



This is inexcusable for a player to react like this at this level. Calling out another player should take place in the locker room or on the field, not on ESPN. It sends the wrong message to your teammates and to the public.

Look for Hope Solo to be replaced before the 2008 Olympic games.

Cold Comfort for Chelsea: Cowboys finally returning to prowess 15 years after Jerry fired Jimmy

The shock of Jose Maurinho's sudden departure from coaching Chelsea has made it all the way to Dallas, Texas. The story is familiar to folks here in DFW. New, brassy club owner makes a big entrance into town, hires unproven yet intriguing coach in his first NFL job. Coach Johnson turned out to be a revelation for the franchise, winning two Super Bowls in a row and revitalizing what had become a stagnant, old NFL relic.

After a close but bickering relationship as Owner/Coach, Jones fires Johnson after his second straight Super Bowl victory. Legend has it that Jerry Jones was good and drunk when he fired Johnson. And that Jones didn't like Johnson getting all of the credit for turning the Cowboys around.

What loyal Chelsea supporters have to look forward to is the leadership of an owner with plenty of money to spend, reckless for want of control (just shy of coaching the team himself!) and impatiently looking for the easy way to greatness. If Jerry Jones is any example, it will take years for Abramovich to mature into a proper owner for Chelsea: one that funds the signing of top-level talent chosen by a coach who's entirely in control of on-the-field decisions.

The bad news for Maurinho: Jimmy Johnson never made another coaching splash in his career at Miami. He's a great color guy on Fox's NFL coverage though.

Match Day: Greece vs. Germany

To Arms! To Arms!

It is up to us. There have been blurbs. Postings in the finest of print. Whispered mentions of this event. Something like, “fc dallas new england revolution us open final .” Did you get that?! If you are one of the 7 people who read this blog, then maybe you did. However, most folks did not get the message. So, what’s all my clamoring about?

The U.S. Open Cup Championship
FC Dallas vs. NE Revolution
Wednesday October 3, 2007 @ 7PM
Pizza Hut Park – Frisco, Texas
Tickets start @ $8

Make plans to attend this match. And, tell your families, friends, neighbors, colleagues, congregation, clients, tae kwon do sparring partners, pilates instructors, bridge partners, toll booth operators, librarians, the guy who ran you off of the freeway, the teenager you ordered a 99 cent Wendy’s double stack at 2:05AM last night, the dog walker who did not pick up the poop in your yard – again, the mailman, your waitresses and waiters, yourself, the Latino nation, and anyone else you feel is up for a championship match. How often do we get to witness our home team play in a championship in our home town?

The other reason to get the word out is because FC Dallas will not get off its lazy ass and promote this match. They are more concerned about selling out Sprint PCS Night and giving out baseball hats at a soccer match. I am sure I will get an e-mail promoting this match 48 hours before it is played. But, does that really do justice for a championship match? FC Dallas qualified on September 4, 2007, and there has been one article in the Dallas Morning News. Count ‘em, ONE ARTICLE! Hello, PR department! You all ever heard press releases? Inundate every news source. Get creative! Make up some juicy tidbits that will have the stadium a buzz at kick off. Then, let game speak for itself.

The FC Dallas Marketing Department reminds me of high school cheerleaders. As the home team is on the 1-yard line ready to score a touchdown, the cheerleaders start yelling, “De-fense (clap-clap-clap) De-fense (clap-clap-clap)!” They are giving a great, clueless effort. Wake up! Hit the payment! Open doors! Have these people ever seen Glengarry Glen Ross? This is one opportunity that is slipping through their fingers. I can hear them now . . . .

Lester - Dude, the Burn (laughs, then a long uncomfortable pause), uh, I mean, FCD plays in the championship in less than two weeks! Shouldn’t we advertise for this game?
Bob – Corporate is pushing Redneck Night. You know they want 5,000 Bobby Rhine bobble heads and 10,000 t-shirts with Dax McCarty saying “Ain’t Skeerid”. Besides the League is trying to secretly replace the US Open Cup, remember?
Lester - Oh yeah, the Bowl (laughs through nose)!
Bob – That’s right, junior. Beckham Bowl I – where every team will play the LA Galaxy in a series of 10-minute mini-games in one glorious night. There will be a parade and fireworks at the end. Beckham takes his jersey off. A closing concert with Rascal Flatts and Gloria Trevi, you know the drill. Then, after a day a rest, the team that performed the worst against LA will be in the final of Beckham Bowl. The League has guaranteed that Beckham will score a hat trick in each half.
Lester – (speaking to himself – ‘I’m so high. Who’s Betsham? I hate Bob.’) Yes, true greatness. I’m hungry.

Clearly, this match requires a grass roots effort since the League or FCD are not promoting it. If I have miss represented FC Dallas in any way, please let me know. If they are marketing this game, please let me know and all the other aforementioned folks. I am going and I think everyone else should too. Any chance we can have more than 5,000 people show up for this game? Don't be surprised to see a bunch of red seats during FOX's broadcast.

Toronto FC to share BMO Field with Argonauts?

Flipping through the soccer feeds and I stumbled upon a thorny thread on BigSoccer.com. The word out of Toronto is that the CFL's Toronto Argonauts are looking into a possible move from Rogers Centre (aka The Sky Dome) to Canada's National Soccer Specific Stadium (SSS), BMO Field. This story starts at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Colts have the smallest stadium in the NFL. Owner Jim Ursay is threatening to dump Indy for Toronto if he doesn't get a brand new state-of-the-art football stadium.

So what happens in Indy may or may not launch the first foreign NFL team.

What does this have to do with the MLS? Well, this would paint BMO Field with those cruddy yardage markings. Nothing spoils a soccer match like yardage markers. It was painful to watch the Revs beat us the other night up in Gillette Stadium: mostly because the field was almost unrecognizable. You couldn't tell when the ball was out-of-bounds or not. It was a butt-ugly spectacle.

The MLS has to stick to its guns on soccer-specific stadiums. BMO Field, despite Toronto FC's tough 1st season, is a success story in the world of SSS: sellout games, great atmosphere, beautiful views. It would be unforgivable if the league allowed it to go mixed-use on a permanent basis.

Last minute draw vs. Fire

Phew! How 'bout "El Pescadito"! That was a really close game. The Fire had a 6-man defense going for most of the 2nd half with the lead at 1-0. We had some nice chances. But their defense kept us back until injury time when Carlos Ruiz slipped the ball past Fire GK Matt Pickens in the 93rd minute. Nicely done, Carlos!

Ruiz saves draw for FC Dallas
FC Dallas draws 1-1 with Fire on last-second goal
Posted: Friday September 21, 2007 12:30AM; Updated: Friday September 21, 2007 12:30AM

FRISCO, Texas (AP) -- Carlos Ruiz scored in the final seconds to help FC Dallas tie the Chicago Fire 1-1 on Thursday night.

Ruiz dribbled past two Fire defenders and chipped in a shot from about five yards away into an open Chicago net in the 93rd minute for his seventh goal of the season. Clarence Goodson assisted on the score.

Chicago's Chris Rolfe scored an unassisted goal in the 56th minute to give the Fire a 1-0 lead. Rolfe fired a right-footed volley into the right corner of the net from about 25 yards away for his first goal since May 12 and his fifth of the season.

The Fire (8-10-7) have not won a game in Dallas since July 4, 1999, a streak of 10 games.

Chicago goalie Matt Pickens had made two spectacular saves in the final 20 minutes of the game to prevent FC Dallas (12-9-4) from tying the game.

In the 88th minute Pickens made a diving save to his left side to deflect a shot by Ruiz and in the 78th minute he made a leaping save to punch away Goodson's header from the top of the goalies box.

Pickens finished the game with six saves, FC Dallas goalie Dario Sala finished the game with four saves.

Rolfe almost scored on a shot from the top of the arc in the 29th minute which grazed the fingertips of Sala and hit the top of the crossbar.

Rolfe's shot was one of only two shots for the Fire. In the first half, FC Dallas outshot Chicago 17-8.

The game was also the first time that Chicago forward and Mexican national team star Cuauhtemoc Blanco has played a game in Dallas since joining the MLS earlier this season.

Numerous fans in the announced crowd of 15,059 were sporting a yellow Club America jersey, Blanco's former team in the Mexican league. Blanco's only shot of the game came in the 72nd minute when his attempt from 12 yards out sailed high over the crossbar.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



Find this article at:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/soccer/09/21/bc.soc.mls
.fire.fcdalla.ap/index.html?eref=si_soccer

The Brimstone Cup 2007

OK, so I had no idea that there was such thing as The Brimstone Cup. I was watching the Fox Soccer Channel's "Fox Football Fone-In" this week. Nick & Steven's guest was none other than FC Dallas Coach Steve Morrow. So they're asking him about the season so far. "Great year, besotted with some tough injuries, but we've done really well all considering." And they're asking him about the playoff picture. "Would've loved to have sewn things up in Boston. But we had a tough night."

Then he mentions something about the "Bridgestone Cup" and the Chicago Fire game. And I'm thinking to myself, is Bridgestone Tires headquartered in Chicago? (Nope, they're a Japanese conglomerate) Why are we playing for a "Bridgestone Cup"?

Well, it turns out we've been playing the Brimstone Cup for 6 years now. And every time we play the Chicago Fire, it's on the line. The Cup is on the line tomorrow night in Frisco, TX on national TV ESPN2 at 7pm. Tune in. Boo Blanco. And GO FC Dallas! GO HOOPS!