Topic: EW64's daily news (Read 18849 times)

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #210 on:** November 20, 2011, 02:25:26 AM »

FIFA has realy come down hard on these officials for accepting the $40,000 bribes from Ben Haman. Heck yeah, I will take $40,000 if I only have to pay 300 francs in a fine. I'll do it all day.

Oh, and notice that these corrupt officials - who blame America for Chuck Blazer reporting on them - will be allowed to resume their posts. Their tiny countries have the same vote - 1- that the USA has in CONCACAFF and FIFA. It'll be another couple of decades before the USA can even think of bidding for a WC.
Our only hope is for instability in the Persian Gulf to cause the Qatari Fiasco to be moved at late notice. The USA is really the only country that could accomodate a WC at a moments notice - as was demonstrated when the WWC was moved from China at the last moment due to the SARS scare.

>>>Patrick John (Dominica) was banned for two years and fined 3,000 Swiss francs; Vincent Cassell (Montserrat) was banned for 60 days and fined 300 Swiss francs; Raymond Guishard (Anguilla) was banned for 45 days and fined 300 Swiss francs; Noel Adonis (Guyana) was banned for 30 days and fined 300 Swiss francs; Tandica Hughes (Montserrat) was banned for 15 days; Everton Gonsalves (Antigua and Barbuda) was banned for seven days and fined 300 Swiss francs; Derrick Gordon (Antigua and Barbuda) received a reprimand and a fine of 300 Swiss francs.

A FIFA statement added:"The cases of Oliver Camps (Trinidad and Tobago), Lionel Haven (Bahamas, CFU) and Patrick Mathurin (St Lucia) were closed since they are no longer football officials. Should they return to football official positions, their cases would be examined again by the ethics committee.

"Philippe White (Dominica) and Damien Hughes (Anguilla) were considered not to have committed any violation.''
<<<

In other news, Mad Mario Bolatelli of Italy and Man City fame started play for Italy this week - wearing the wrong jersey. Not all his fault, Puma had just introduced a new shirt for Italy and he was used to the old one. Oh well, in Washington state, he would be a player recruited to play for Crossfire, and the coach who lost him might regret it during waking hours, but he would sleep a whole lot better!

The hype is starting over the upcoming (Dec 11?) El Classico. For TP and other soccer neophytes, that is the Real Madrid - Barcelona match up. (All the other Classcios and SuperClassicos are imitations). Both teams won today, and Real Madrid leads Barcelona by 3 points int eh standings, they are 1-2 like normal. Widely regarded (to the chagrin of Man U and Bayern) as the two best teams on the planet, this match looks to be a real barnburner. It may come down to the referee, as ever since JoMo took over at Real Madrid, Real has played very ugly and diry against the more talented Catalan team.
Speaking of Real Madrid, we now know why JoMo bought Hamit Altintop this summer. His "worst dive of the year" during the Turkey-Croatia match made U-tube - several times.

Once the international transfer window opens, the Sounders are expected to officially announce the signing of the Austrian GK.

In Engerland, both Manchester sides won today, and Man City is starting to look convincing.
Other Big Names - Bayern, Chelsea, Liverpool and such - play tomorrow.
For those of you who have not seen Bayern Munich play this year, take the time to do so. They are really playing extremely well. They are serious CL contenders.

In International news, national news, state news - the usual.
Syria has slaughtered more of its own citizens. North Korea is starving under their socialist utopia. China is building a space weapons system originally concieved in the USA as "Thor's hammer" or "Operation Thor". A cyperattack from Russia hit at least one American utility company, damaging a pump that was a major part of a municipal water system. (This is being described as a "test run"). The Occuply Wall Street protesters - called by some "The FLEA Party" are wearing out their welcome and the patience of those who they have inflicted their presense upon. The Governor is coming clean in Washington state about the actual size of the budget deficit and the cuts that will have to be made. She is trying to orchrastrate a mass outcry for higher taxes. (I am telling my customers that every single tax and permit increase and cost to meet new regulations will be passed onto them).

And Yote and Yote Jr. are dancing, as the snow has hit in some areas of the state. We got about an inch at the ole' EW place today. Across town, there was none! (Which is why I hooked up the snowplow at work yesterday, to ward off the snow demons that Yote dances to. And It Worked! No Snow at my business!!!)
It is forecast to be a cold and wet winter.

tripleplay · « **Reply #211 on:** November 20, 2011, 10:36:19 AM »

Real rivalries aren't TV shows - they're LOCAL. Fla-Flu.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #212 on:** November 20, 2011, 02:07:45 PM »

Quote from: tripleplay on November 20, 2011, 10:36:19 AM

Real rivalries aren't TV shows - they're LOCAL. Fla-Flu.

I love it when TP shows his ignorance.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #213 on:** November 21, 2011, 05:20:54 PM »

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EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #214 on:** November 29, 2011, 11:41:10 PM »

In today's Carling Cup clash in England, Man City started with 2 English players (1 actually a Canuck, eh?) and Arsenil started with 1. Both teams subbed off one of their Englishmen, leaving a sole English Player on the pitch at the end of this match.

One team is known for buying the best players they can, and the other is noted for trying to play stylish, sophisticated soccer.

What does this mean, if anything, for English soccer?

In Spain, the slow deflation of Barcelona (according to the pundits) continued this weekend with their 1-0 loss to Getafe. This leaves them 6 points back of the league leaders, Real Madrid, who are playing some very good soccer right now. Sure, Getafe played very defensively and tried the quick counter attacks. So what? Does one expect opponents to simply bare their throats to Barca (like Arsenil did when Messi scored 4 goals against them)? You have to give Getafe credit, they played very organized and they were not cheap, dirty thugs like Real Madrid is wont to be when they face their Catalan Nemisis.

In Germany, mighty Bayern were brought to Earth this weekend.

In Italy today, Juventus and Napoli tied 3-3. Italy might be the most exciting league in Europe this year. It is no longer one Milan team vs the other.

In Politics and International news -
The Iranians stormed the British embassey in Tehran. Buring and looting, but no hostage taking (this time). Folks might remember that before the American Embassey hostages were taken by the Iranians back in 1978, an Iranian mob had previously broken into the US Embassey there.

In Europe, the Debt crisis among many of the Euro members has given rise to several alternative plans to save, modify, or abandon the currency. Just a year ago, Russia, France, and China were calling for a basket of currencies -starring the Euro - to replace the dollar as the international benchmark.
One of the interesting plans is being championed by strong factions in Germany and France, which calls for tighter controls by the European Union over members economies and gives the bearoucrats in Brussels the power to take over member's national economies and governmental budgets and run them. This plan is not popular in Britain, and one German minister has been qouted as saying that Britain has to abandon the pound, go into the Euro, and accept second class status, that England has no choice. That did not go over well.

In the middle east, Iran has threatened to launch 150,000 (yep, 150,000) at Israel if Israel strikes at the Iranian nuclear facilities. In the meantime, Iran had an another embarressing explosion at or near their facility for producing Uranium Hexaflouride. That is a highly danger, very toxic and rather corrosive gas that is used in the uranium enrichment process. Little knowledge has become public about the explosion, since Iran has been busy denying it ever happened after first admiting that it had.
Syria continues to shoot down it's pro-democracy protesters.
Elsewhere, elections and pre-election polls show the Islamists are the strongest parties throughout the region. Certain Western Media organizations have started calling the Muslim Brotherhood a "moderate Islamist Party". Two more female reporters have been sexually assualted in Egypt.

In Pakistan, things continue to unravel. The inherit conflicts between trying to be a modern society and an Islamist one, playing power games with a barely literate and often illiterate populance, are readily illustrated. China continues to make political inroads there, too.

In Africa, no news has been forthcoming about the hundreds of troops (mainly Special Forces types) that President Obama has dispatched into the Central Africa Ongoing Conflict.

In Washington state, targetted cuts by the Governor in state services are being leaked to drum up support for tax increases. One of the latest proposals is to increase the number of businesses that pay business and occupation taxes and to increase other business taxes and fees. There may be a counter movement by the Rental Owners Association of Washington. The idea is cicrulating to pass on all tax increases (perhaps plus ten percent for admin, etc.) directly to all tenants. In addition to any other rent increases being planned for the year. (Normally, rents increase by about 5% per year). And to tell every tenant why this is happening.
It is worth noting that fewer and fewer landlords are participating in the various public housing/subsidy schemes like secion 8 already. So tenants who are priced out of their own rental homes/apartments do not have that avenue to fall back on.
Washington is already in the bottom 20% of all states in the USA to do business in due to government taxes, fees and regulations. And the politicians who are facing elections in 2012 remember the anti-incumbant/anti-tax wave of the last election. The Governor, of course, is not running for re-election.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #215 on:** December 04, 2011, 01:16:15 AM »

OK coaches, can anyone decipher this? It is obviously using a poor quality computer translation program. But still...........
Is Pep calling Cuenca queer or is he calling him ugly? And from there, is he saying that Cuenca has an anal fixation or that he scares the crap out of opponents?
Anyone want to translate the translation?

>>>>Pep Guardiola also wanted to commend Isaac markedly Cuenca: "It is better to others. It is so intelligent that it is not involved does good to others. And not all the players understand. Dribble-band more than any other and know that by not participating ago involving more than others. He is a player that we have and so is still with us. " And finally: "Physically not much to like girls, but in its place what makes you shit. His work makes perfect, but perfect. A very good level. " And finally: "We can not give up. I will not allow my players let go, the one who does not play. " <<< From SPORT (Barcelona Newspaper)

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #216 on:** December 10, 2011, 06:36:42 PM »

EL CLASSICO -
First of all, Real Madrid did not play badly. Yes, a tougher referee would have sent off a couple of Read Mudrid players, but Real Mudrid did not sink to the low level of thuggery and beastiality that they normally do when losing to Barcelona. (Perhaps they were just too tired to do so this game?).

I thought that Real Madrid outplayed Barcelona for the first 1/4 of the match. And in the other 3/4s, if their finishing had been better, they could have won.
They really limited the number of shots that Barcelona had, and they did a good job of covering almost all the breakdowns that allowed the Barca players to get close to the goal. It may be telling that I believe that Puyol was the man of the match for Barcelona.

On the Barca side, Valdes had two enormous mistakes playing the ball out of the area with his feet, and was not under pressure on either of them. Barca gave up 3 dangerous freekicks right outside their penalty area, and luckily Ronaldo slammed two of tehm into the wall. Abidal made too mistakes at fullback today, as well.

The barcelona midfield was not as controlling and dominating as one normallye xpects. Real Madrid did a good job for most of the game with a high pressure, intense defensive effort across the pitch. Barcelona kept trying to slid passes not just between Real Madrid defenders, but through them.

All that being said, and recognizing Real Madrid has bought perhaps the most talent of any club in the world, there can be no doubt whatsoever that Barcelona was the better side and the victory was deserved.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #217 on:** December 18, 2011, 07:59:06 PM »

Club World Cup -
Santos, the darling team from Brasil with starlet Neymar on it, the one that Pele, Romario and Ronaldo thought would hoist the CWC Cup, faced off against Barcelona.
It was boys against Men, as Barcelona effortlessly dominated the South Americans. Even without David Villa (Spain's #1 forward) and others out with injury, Barcelona so schooled Santos that a Brasilian friend of mine, a long time HS coach, declared that Brasilian coaching was so far out of touch with the modern game that Brasil needed to import some coaches from Europe. The 0-4 scoreline was actually flattering to Brasil.

In Spain, Real Madrid used up their game in hand to garner all 3 points and to move back on top of league standings.

In Engerland, Man City beat Arsenal 1-0 to stay 2 points above Man United, with Tottenham in 3rd place. The usual suspects won.

In Italy, Juve is on top right now, but it is a close, competitive fight for honors there.

Berhalter, the former USMNT defender that played in Germany and in the MLS, was named to coach a second division team in Norway.

In international news, Kim Jong Il, the crazy little dictator of North Korea has reportedly died. One of his sons, most likely his youngest, is expected to succeed him. That will be the third generation of communist dictators in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea. The young Kim is rumored to be a light weight play boy. He would probably sell the country to South Korea for a few billion dollars and international amnesty.

More cities are arresting Occupy Whatever protesters, making them into Occupy Jailhouse protesters.

There is snow in the mountains, which no doubt pleaes Yote immensely.

Silver, Gold and the dollar are all expected to push higher, while stocks are expected to drop because of fears of instability in the Asian region due to Kim's death.

In the USA, economic data is contradictory, but all commenters seem to think that Housing is going to continue to fall, that a bottom is still to come.

yote19 · « **Reply #218 on:** December 19, 2011, 12:04:46 PM »

Yes EW -- Yote is happy, but a little more than a dusting will do just fine. If we get any significant snowfall, the avalanche danger will be extremely high. Lots of hard snow currently in the mountains. The North Korea situation will be interesting to watch. If this was a non-Communist state with social media, you might see an uprising by their depressed society. But the way this country has been run into the ground, I am sure there huge military will keep their strong thumb on the pulse of the country.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #219 on:** December 19, 2011, 10:20:43 PM »

Champs League Draw:
First games to be played on Feb 14-15, 21-22

Lyon

v

APOEL Nicosia EW picks Lyon

Napoli

v

Chelsea EW picks Napoli, just because DS#2 is a Chelsea fan

AC Milan

v

Arsenal Milan

FC Basel

v

Bayern Munich Cinderella , it is time to go home. Bayern walks through.

Bayer Leverkusen

v

Barcelona Against anyone else, I would consider Leverkusen a challenge. Not for Barca.

CSKA Moscow

v

Real Madrid Real Madrid gets the highest number of goals scored of any team in the CL as they demolish Moskva.

Zenit St Peterburg

v

Benfica Benfica on away goals. This one is going to be tight.

Marseille

v

Inter Milan This will be close, but Inter moves on.

anyudes · « **Reply #220 on:** December 20, 2011, 12:17:06 AM »

Ill bite EW

Lyon v APOEL Nicosia Lyon
Napoli v Chelsea Chelsea are my choice for high scorer in the round
AC Milan v Arsenal Arsenal
FC Basel v Bayern Munich Bayern
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona Barca
CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid Madrid
Zenit St Peterburg v Benfica St. Pete is my upset
Marseille v Inter Milan Milan

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #221 on:** January 05, 2012, 01:14:48 AM »

And back for the New Year, it's EW's not so daily news -

In England, Man United's implosion continues as they lost again, this time to Newcastle by a score of 3-0. And they were outplayed by the Nutters (Get it? Newcastle Brown Ale? = Nutters! What? you do not like it, you think the attempted nickname stinks? It's a Fail? Oh well......)
Rooney was rumored to have been dropped from the previous game (also a loss) after a drunken night out to celebrate the holidays and showing up "unfit to pracice" the next day. His escapade cost him a reported 200,000 pounds fine.
Man City dropped one game to give United life, but then won their next, versus Liverpool. This about writes off Liverpool as any sort of title contender, they are 14 points back with a game in hand.
Chelsea have also been stinking up the place, but then Arsenil lost as well. Not great times for the great clubs, eh?

Of course the big news was Tim Howard (wearing a camo GK jersey) scoring a goal during run of play from inside his own penalty area. The ball bounced once, the wind helped it over the head of the opposing keeper, and in the back of the net it went. You can find it on YouTube.

In Spain, it is all Copa del Rey action. Real Madrid at home had to come back from 2 down to win 3-2 in the first leg against Malaga. Barcelona dispatched Ossuna 4-0, and it was not that close. If Real Mudrid and Barca both win their ties, they will face each other in the first El Classico of 2012. Mourinho is already preparing his excuses, and looking to sign a few cage fighters during the transfer period.

Italy is proving to be an interesting league this year, with Juve and AC Milan tied at the top, with Udinesse and Lazio and hot on their heels. It will take a great run to see Inter even chalenge for the title.

The Carlos Tevez soap opera continues with Inter, AC Milan and Corinthians (Brasil) all apparently interested in him. Do not be surprised if PSG stick their oar in, as well.

In the CONCACAF CL, the LA Galaxy face Toronto, and Seattle faces Santos Lagunas of Mexico. Hopefully Seattle will have it's new keeper and new defense in order for this tie, as Seattle will be playing 2 CL and one MLS game in a space of 8 days. Seattle, if it wins, faces the LA/Toronto winner, and then the winner of that match up advances to the finals.

Speaking of LA, David Beckham has announced that he will be returning to the Galaxy. Reported salary will be $6.5 million a year. But he still wants to be part of Team GB at the Olympics this summer....

ANd more speaking of LA, Landon "The Great" Donovan has returned on loan to Everton for a couple of months.
And speaking of loans, it looks like Tierry "Handball" Henry will be going back to his one true love, Arsenil, on loan.

For local pro news, go over to SounderFan's GoalWA.net.

In youth soccer news, the WSYSA - with its continuous, official rebranding iteslf as Washington Youth Soccer, to give the appearance that it is the only game in town -has sent out the list of bylaw changes it's leadership wants to install. Since there is a seperate thread to discuss (which will not be allowed by the WYS in the future) these proposed changes, it is sufficient to state that the changes consolidates all power in the hands of the current leadership, basically forever. And it states that all the local associations derive their "authority' only from the WSYSA and the WSYSA can kill them off and take all their assets, if it so determines to do so. "Top Down" has risen to an entirely new level. And dissent is not to be allowed.

In international news -
More massacres of the populance in Syria by Assad Jr.
The Muslim Brotherhood is poised to take control of Egypt's government when the generals hand over the reins, and among the first things they plan to do is to scrap the Peace Treaty with Israel.
Iran is rattling its sabers at the US and the Gulf Cooperation Council. And the entire West. Still, Europe is agreeing to more sanctions on Iran for its drive to build its own nuclear weapons.
Iran captured an US intelligence gathering drone, reportedly by hijacking its remote control commo link. If iran can do that, imagine the fun the Chinese will have with our drones, our GPS satellites, our domestic communications systems, the internet, our powergrid, and so on. Oh wait, the Chinese have already been found to have hacked into and sabotaged some of our water and power supply systems.........

There were widespread protests in Russia over Putin's return to the Presidency based on the widespread vote fraud. Not that he ever relinquished power, of course.

Fears over the European Union breaking up over the debt issue and the scrapping of the Euro have settled down.

A milestone that no one noticed - The USA has now passed the 100% Debt to GDP ratio. Our $15 trillion plus national debt is now more than the annual producition of goods and services of the US economy.

Relations between the USA and Pakistan, the route that 90% of the supplies to the US forces and our allies in Afghanistan go through, remain tense. At least, there has been no more downgrades in the last week.

Flying Crowbars - Some people are wondering who exactly has them operational, and who is developing them. The suspects are China and the US Air Force. A flying crowbar (aka "Rods from God" and "Thor's Hammer") are solid metal (iron, titanium, or possibly depleted uranium) with a control package (guidance computer and controlling fins) that are based in space. Once given a target and a go order, they enter the atmosphere and proceed to hit the designated target at atmospheric speeds. They can target deeply buried bunkers, individual tanks, or aircraft carriers. Or pretty much anything else, but it is thought that aircraft that are flying are too mobile and nimble to be successfully hit by them as yet.

Politics - It's an election year! Be prepared for a gazillion ads until the next president is elected. The Obama campaign is already touting a billion dollar warchest.

The latest rumor flying around some circles in South America is that the US Government is giving cancer to the left leaning national leaders down there. Hugo Chavez, who continues to suffer from cancer despite the miracles of Cuban Medicine, has publicly spoken of this.

One unremarked upon aspect of the US withdrawal from Iraq is that now the US does not control the Iraqi airspace. So if Israel flies over it to hit Iranian nuclear installations, it is not with the obvious aquiesence of the USA.

Bathos · « **Reply #222 on:** January 05, 2012, 11:34:16 AM »

Word on the street is that the Sounders (and TFC and LA) will not play MLS game week 1, but have that off for CCL. Supposed SSFC opener is 3/17.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #223 on:** January 05, 2012, 03:01:16 PM »

I thought that these were the season opener games, and at least one of the two were going to be nationally televised.
That would make a reschedule more difficult, although still sensible.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #224 on:** January 06, 2012, 01:33:25 PM »

Just a bit of an update -
Omar Gonzalez, the impressive young central defender from the Galaxy (and UCLA product) joined Nurnberg on loan yesterday. In his first practice, he collided with Timothy Chandler and reportedly tore his left ACL. Out for months.
Bruce Arena must be livid........

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #225 on:** January 16, 2012, 12:33:26 AM »

And back to the not so daily news.......

Omar Gonzalez is out for 7-9 months. This is good news for the Sounders, as LA is our main nemises, but bad for him and for US soccer.

I'm getting mixed reports about how Gooch, whom Omar is the natural successor for (Big strong central defender) is doing in Portugal. One game is he a stud, the next he is dropped from the line up.

Landon Donovan is getting man of the match reviews for his loan to Everton.

In Spain, Barcelona has dropped more points and is trailing an impressive Real Madrid side in La Liga by 5 points with only one match between the two left to play in the second half of the season. Barca is displaying frailties, and the small squad that their coach, Pep, the World Manager of the Year, likes, is under great strain because of injuries.
Still, as time goes on, opinion is firming up that Real Madrid and Barca are the two best teams in the world.

Leo Messi of Barca won his 3rd straight Ballon d'Or, the World Player of the Year award.

In England, there are three teams in contention for the league title. Man U, Man City, and Tottenham. And Tottenham just screwed the pooch by losing dropping two points in a tie when they were expected to win.

In Italy, the great derby there gave new life to Inter as they beat AC Milan to stay within 6 points of the league leaders. Udinesse falls further back.

Tevez - It seems that no one is wanting to pony up 35 million pounds for the gifted forward with the terrible attitude.

Neymar - Widely touted as the next big thing, his Brasilian club had to pony up a new contract with a 15 million Euro per year wage scale to keep him for another year. This has caused the club to cancel their women's program and their men's futsal program.

Sounders - The Sounders took a defender in their first round pick of the MLS draft. This reflects their offloading of so many defenders in the off season and signing two experienced Scandanavian defenders as well. The draftee will have a year or two to pick up his game before becoming a starter - or getting shipped off to Portland.......

WYS - Rumors that the Washington Youth Soccer organization is going to require all parents, players and coaches to have microchips imbedded in them to notify the state office in Tukwila when they are blogging about youth soccer are false. If you do not believe me, just ask them. This rumor was put out there totally unfounded. Quite simply, such technology does not exist as yet. When it does, though, please let the state office know right away........

Politics - John Huntsman is quiting the Presidential campaign and endorsing Mitt Romney. No real surprise there. If Romney is elected President, expect his name to surface as a prospective Secretary of State.

Tebow - Most gridiron football fans believed that Tim Tebow was a near classic college quarterback who played for one of the strongest - and most hated - college programs in the country. And they also understood that he was not an NFL type quarterback. yet Tebow-mania and Tebow-hatred has run amok across the nation. The Denver (Tebow)- New England (Tom Brady, boytoy of Giselle) match up was the supposedly the highest rate NFL non-superbowl playoff game in 18 years.
Personally, I do not think that Tebow has the skills to be a real NFL quarterback. However, he did lead a poor team into the playoffs and defeat a limping Steelers squad. What gets my goat is all the animus directed at him for being a public, devout Christian. I am not a fan of his, but I do dislike all the vitriol that is directed at him because of his public beliefs. (And that being said, I am far more comfortable with prayer being done privately than publicly).

Speaking fo the NFL - The 49ers have almost made a believer out of me. Almost.

Economic News - Take a look at the stock market charts from 1928-1933 and compare them to the last four years (and counting).

Intel News - Iran has claimed that it has documentary proof that the USA is behind the latest assinination of one of their nuclear scientists.
Points -
1) It was Israel who did it, not the USA
2) The USA has actual laws that prevent the CIA from doing this.
3) The CIA lacks the actual ability to undertake such an operation.
4) Only a total moron would ever put anything in writing outside of central headquarters that implicated any organization or person in such a thing. It is simply not just BAD, but TERRIBLE tradecraft.
5) Isreal has for years been running a false flag operation in Baluchistan to recruit operatives, making them believe that they are working for the USA against Iran.
6) Iran is known to have become a national government that engages in widespread counterfeiting over the last two decades. Some people attribute the main reason that the USA changed bills in the last few years to the billions of counterfeit dollars that the Iranian government has printed up.
7) If the USA had actually conducted the operation, I would be happier in my assessment of what the CIA is actually capable of doing. Alas, they cannot, and I still view them as "handicapped".

Lastly - For all coaches out there. Watching the scandel at Penn State, and what has happened to Joe Paterno is very educational. "Papa Joe" was the very example of what a good, qualtiy, ethical coach in high level college football should be. Yet he terribly mishandled the situation that was brought to him, and in part it was due to his trusting his superiors to handle everything properly.
Eventually, all coaches who around for a long time at any level of coaching will have a legal/moral/ethical conundrum come their way. If you are paritcularly unfortunate, it will happen more than once. For what it is worth, the only thing that I have seen or experienced that allows me to sleep well at night is to put the best interests of the kids first.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #226 on:** February 15, 2012, 03:20:41 AM »

Perhaps I should rename this EW64's monthly news???

Anyway,
Soccer news - As we all know, the Womens professional league folded up over issues with an owner - MagicJack - and because they were not finnancially sustainable. The players are signing with other teams. The Sounders Women have gotten Sydney LeRoux, a Canadian-American striker, and Washington's own Hope Solo.
Speaking of Women's soccer, Alex Morgan, the budding star forward of the USA women's national team, is appearring in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition wearing body paint. This is a first for a USA WMNT player, although WAGS (wives adn girlfriends) including Clint Dempsey's wife, have done so in the past. And Hope Solo famously appearred sans clothing in the ESPN "Body Issue". The one leaked/advanced publicity pic of Morgan is very fetching. But this begs the question - are such things appropriate for serving members of the Women's National Team? After all, they are the paid role models for all the girls playing youth soccer in the USA. And this sort of thing is not confined to the USA. Several members of the German U-20 WMNT posed partially clad in the German version of playboy. As a red blooded man who has a 16 year old daughter playing soccer, I am personally very unsure about this sort of thing. One thing that I do know is that Sepp Blather, the head of FIFA, is all in favor of it.

Europe -
The English Premier league is a 3 horse race after our own Landon Donovan helped Everton defeat Chelsea. Man City has a two point lead over Man United, with Tottenham surprisingly breathing down their necks. Chelsea is tied with Arsenal in 4th, and Newcastle and Liverpool are vieing with them for the all important fourth place. Fourth place guarantees a Champions League place, and being in the group stages of the CL means another 20 million euros to the club coffers.
In England, Man City is allowing Carlos Tevez (He of the British dentistry) back into the club. Why is not exactly stated, but it boils down to money. Man City can get away with not paying his $300,000 a week salary while he is petulantly golfing in Argentina, but not if he is showing up. And if they do not allow him to practice with the club, then he can have his contract invalidated and become a free agent. And Man City will lose out on getting at least 20 million euros in transfer fees.
Of course, Man City already has Mad Mario Bolatelli, the teenage Italtian gremlin on their roster. Having another headcase like Tevez (whose smile is actually more likely a product of Cuban dentistry than British, but Brits will understand the reference) may well undermine City's hopes of an EPL crown.

Sir Alex at Man United, he who is so desperate for a center mid that he coaxed Scholes out of retirement, has stated that Man United is not far from being on the level of Barcelona. I guess that age creeps up on all our mental faculties when we are least expecting it.

Still in England, Tottenham Hotspur have been a surprise this year, still in contention for the league title although 7 points behind Man City. And they have American Brad Friedel in goal, who has done very well for them at the advanced age of 40. Their coach, Harry "I can't spell well enough to be a tax cheat" Redknap is the odds on favorite to replace Fabio "The Don" Capello as the England manager. Hotspur fans are distraught at the thought, showing that they are nto that patriotic.
Old 'Arry has done a good job this year with his team - to the chagrin of more fancied managers at Chelsea and Arsenal.

England - Don Fabio has resigned from managing the England national team. Why? It was not because of the underwhelming performance of England down in South Africa, it was because the national association for England saw fit to strip his choice of captain - John Terry of Chelsea - of his captaincy. Those who follow English football will remember Terry gained infamy for sleeping with a teammate's girlfriend (yes, Terry is married). Know, Terry is accused of making racist comments to an opponent in a game and is going to stand trail in court for this AFTER the Euros this summer. The magistrate in England was very accomodating in putting this off until after the European Championships. But England has had another high profile racism in soccer case this season, and the powers that be are making a statement. Unfortunately, they stepped over the coach's perogative to name his own captain(s) and Terry the Tosser has not been found guilty of anything as yet. (except for being a miserable human being).
So Capello, who was already on his way out in August anyway, resigned. Perhaps he did not have a great deal of confidence in how England was going to perform this summer?

And just to rub salt in the wounds, it turns out that the caretaker manager for England, the former assistant, Pearce, was involved in a dust up with Paul Ince, the great English midfielder, back in the 1990s when both were on the England national team. And Pearce is accused of saying some things at that time that would get him stripped of the England captaincy (as if he would have ever been considered! HA HA) in the current climate. So there is that going on as well, almost 20 yeas down the road.....

In Germany, Borsussia Dortmund has a 2 point lead over bayern Munich, with Monchengladbach a point behind in third and Schalke two points behind them. It is still a real race.

In Spain, Real Madrid has pulled out to a ten point lead over Barcelona. The rest are too far back to matter. That race is over, Real Madrid has dethroned Barcelona after a 3 year run Barca run.

In France, no one outside of snail eating country cares about it.

In Italy, there is an exciting race. But Inter Milan is no longer part of it after they lost yeat again. AC Milan is on top, 2 points ahead of Juve. But Juventus have 2 games in hand, so they are in very good shape. Lazio is five points back and Udinese is six back.

In the Champions League, Barcalona beat Bayer Leverkuizen today 3-1. The score is representative of the game.
Lyon beat Aeoppel of Cyprus 1-0, in France. The weak beating the weakest. Cyprus has a legit shot at winning at home, perhaps advancing.
The Germans have no shot at advancing against Barca, with the away goals rule, they need a 3-0 or better scoreline to advance. Not going to happen.

Rumors continue to spread that JoMo will leave Real Madrid at the summer and return to England.

Washington State - It's too depressing to talk about here............

More later- will add to this posting -

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #227 on:** February 16, 2012, 02:55:07 AM »

The continuation ---

Arsenal collapsed today against Seria A leaders AC Milan, going down 4-0. One Milan player lamented that it should have been more. Wenger has publicly given up of advancing via the second leg. This is the CL.

Landon Donovan, the LA Galaxy star on loan to Everton, was named the Everton Player of the month as he now returns to the USA.

The US men's national team has added a game against Scotland as it's last warm up before starting qualifying for the next WC.

Seaking fo the next WC, preparations in Brasil are behind schedule in all areas.

The Sounders won a pre-season scrimmage against the Chicago Fire, which denotes exactly nothing.

In Portland, the English coach from FC Portland who was recently arrested for having sex with underage girls who are or were players under his tutelage remains fired. However, in Washington, a youth soccer coach who was arrested for using the services of underage prostitutes remains unofficially banned from coaching. Much to the chagrin of his wife (who maintains his innocensce) and the parents on his little kids team who believe that he should be innocent until proven guilty.

Bck to England, it has been reported that JoMo, currently at Real Madrid, has continued to be contact with both the owner of Chelsea and many of the players that he once coached there. This has been undermining the new coach there, AVB. And AVB is struggling to keep his team in contention for a champions league place for next year, already out of contention for the British Premier League title being 11 points back and fading fast.....

Still in Britain, Scotish giants Rangers have entered into a form of bankruptcy. This carries an automatic deduction of 10 points in the Scottish "Premier" League, which pretty much gives the title to their arch rivals Celtic.

The Seattle Sounders are quietly denying that their new "3rd Strip" was inspired by the movie "The Bird Cage" and are denying that they have given permission for a certain all male revue with an all male audience to use it in their South Beach show........

Back to England, there are rumors that Everton is trying to secure the permanent transfer of Donovan to England.

Back in America, the new Sports Illustrated Issue came out with USA starlet Alex Morgan cavorting around in body paint. This is not the space to discuss how awesome she looked, but it is worth stating that a certain U-16 female soccer player thought that her doing this was "gross". The U-16 did not do more than glance at the pictures before upbraiding her father for even having the SI swimsuit edition.........

In youth soccer - nah, let's not even go there. The debate about why Bernie James is organizing his U-10 mods the way he has is for another forum. Has he seen the light at long last or is it just a marketing ploy? Is it for real? Another time, another thread.

Hope Solo's signing with the Sounders women means that there will be some helacious parties in Seattle. And I am not referring to the fans.

In World soccer - Underdog Zambia won the African Cup of Nations in Penalty Kicks over the favorites Ivory Coast.

In India, there is a new league starting, featuring old superstars of European soccer being paid a million bucks each for an 8 week season. It will be interesting to see. Perhaps the Red Bulls can sell "El Thug" Marquez onto that league. Oh, wait, he was never even a mediocre star in Europe....

Anyone with a Thomas Dooley sighting please report it.

Freddie Lundburg has now left the Japanese club S-Pulse. It was a "difference in objectives". Slow Freddie's agent claimed that English Premier League teams tried to sign him in January. Slow Freddie is aparently weighing his options at this time. (Become Madonna's next boy toy?)

International News -
Syrian Dictator Assad is still slaughtering his own people, with support from Russia, Iran and China.

President Obama is floating the idea of reducing the US strategic nuclear stockpile below the level that Russia and China possess, dramatically.

Iran is continueing to increase its enrichment of uranium, and defying international calls to allow the International Atomic Energency Agency to have access to all its nuclear facilies.

The Egyptian Army is blaming the USA for the chaos that erupted in Egypt last year, and the fall fo Statist Hosni Mubarak. The Islamists, lead by the Islamic Brotherhood, are taking over the civillian Egyptian brotherhood. A couple score of Western pro-democracy activists in Egypt are now under judicial indictment and arrest orders. Who ever saw this coming from the "Arab Spring"

Well, just about everyone who knew anything about the region.

US Army units have been given preliminary deployment orders to go to Somalia and to Yemen for combat duties. This has not been officially announced as yet, and will mean that US forces are officially or unofficially involved in combat operations in Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Uganda, Yemen, Pakistan (ssh!), Afghanistan, and Iraq. Of course, US special forces are also involved in operations in other Asian and African countries, but those are more "Black" operations.

Some refugees fleeing the Castro Brothers' Cuba have made it to Gitmo. But they have been so badly treated there by the USA, that some of them are going on hunger strike to protest their treatment. But no matter how badly the US Government is treating them, they do not want to return to the Socialist Paradise of Cuba.

The President of Argentina is publicly decrying the British troop rotation in the Falkland Islands, stating that the Brits are "militarizing" the islands. For those of us who have memories or learned to read, we will know that back in the early 1980s the Argies invaded the Falkland islands with more than 10,000 troops and refused to leave until the Brits sent a military force 8.000 miles and evicted them forcibly. Of course, the Argentinian President is a political ally of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and has the same distorted view of reality.

In Europe, the Greek people are rioting over enforced austerity measures as their national debt has spiralled out of control. The leaders of the European "hard currency countries" (those countries who have not deficit spent themselves into bankruptcy) are going ever firmer on the terms to bail out Greece yet again. Which is infuriating the Greek people and politicians, who do not like being treated like a rotten, spoilt red-headed step child. Yet the Greek leaders are blaming their deficits on the lack of deficit spenging by Northern European countries. And no, there is no explanation on how that makes any sort of sense, but it does appeal to the Greek people becuase someone is saying that it is not their fault......LOL

Speaking of out of control spending and deficits, take a look at Obama's latest budget proposal. $3.8 TRILLION in spending, $2.4 Trillion in revenues, a %1.4 trillion deficit to add to the $15 trillion debt we already have. Even out Chinese bakers are crying foul over that.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #228 on:** February 17, 2012, 12:13:17 AM »

As the soccer ball turns...........

Jack "I'm not a crook" Warner, late the President/chairman/leader of CONCACAFF, has now been named by TIFF as being responsible for "disappearing" $750,000 in donations from FIFA and the Korean FA for Earthquake Relief in Haiti. He blames the accusations on "white people".

After ArseNIL's crushing defeat to AC Milan (who are quietly having a rather good season), more criticism has been levelled at Arsene "Beautiful Game but never a winner" Wenger and many of the ArseNIL players. This may indeed be the last year at Arse for the Frenchman. Who will instantly be at the head of most serious club's recruiting lists, such is his reputation.

Reports continue to come out of Chelsea of experienced, influential players being at odds with their coach, The Junior JoMo. This is fueling speculation that JoMo himself may return over the summer.
JoMo has really already all but wrapped up the La Liga crown, dethroning Barcelona after 3 humiliating years for Real Madrid. While Real are knocked out of the Copa Del Rey, JoMo won it last year. If Real are able to win the CL this year - and they are one of the favorites - then JoMo could very well declare "mission accomplished" and move on to greener pastures - Man City, Chelsea, perhaps even Arsenil or Man U.

ManU's lack of a stable midfield continues to manifest itself wtih reports that they might try to get Scholes to continue on past this season. Next thing you know, United will be digging the bones of Sir Stanley Matthews and having them kit up and take the field..........

In the Europa league, Man City, Valencia and Man U all won while Ajax lost. These are names that one would normally associate with the Champions League, not the second tier Europa League. Pretenders Porto and Udinese also lost.

In Scotland, the storied Rangers football club has entered administration - Cockney code for bankruptcy - and they are facing a tax bill that might end up to be over $100 million from actions taken in a previous ownership/administration (not the bankruptcy sort, the regular type of administration). Rangers were immediately deducted 10 points, assuring Celtic of the league title that they were running away with anyway. Expect to see alot of expensive Rangers players sold or outright released.

In the British Premier League, Mick McCarthy was fired as the manager of Wolverhampton, despite being their most successful manager in decades. The leading replacement candidates do not fill anyone with confidence. Wolves for the drop!

Also in Europe, the press, the fans, and the coach of Bayer Leverkuisen were all very upset about the actions of two of their stawlwart players over their actions in the recent Barca-BL match. Apparently the two players were vieing to swap shirts with opponent Lionel Messi. Messi ended up swapping shirts with one at half time, and the other after full time. Those who watched the game on TV could see that after the crushing home defeat that really eliminated their team, the two BL players were smiling and laughing with one another over each having gotten the prizen jersey.
Their coach has now ordered that both jerseys been auctioned off for charity, and vowed disciplinary action against the two of some sort. ( A solid tongue lashing.)
I bow to no one in being a great lover of all things FC Barcelona, but even I found the glee shown by the just defeated Bayer Leverkuizen players to be unseemly.

Speaking of unseemly, Man City is lodging a complaint against the home fans of FC Porto for racially abusing Mad Mario Bollatelli. Did not see it, so not sure if he were infact racially abused. The Portugese national team has a long history of including blacks from their colonies and former colonies. The greatest Portugese player of all time was Eusubio, who hailed from Angola if memory serves. Certainly there are a large number of African players in the Portugese league. For this to all of a sudden to be an issue is surprising. Back in the day, the Portugese team that I played against had some blacks on it, did not seem to be any problems on that team.
Perhaps the fans were mocking Bad Boy Balotelli's hair cut, his perchant for shooting trainees, his proclivity for causing mayhem and madness, and his odd bit of household arson? And he took it wrongly?

Afte the latest handshake row in England - Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand, Rio then refused to shake Suarez's hand - the fashion has spread north of the border, where a Scottish PL manager refused to shake the hand of his opponent over a couple of media interviews.

In Washington state, a little bird whispered to me that El Presidente is starting to lose the support of some of those who he thought were his nearest and dearest.......

In the MLS, old Peter Vagenas has now ended up with Chivas USA. Chivas was so poor these last few years that Vagenas might actually get dusted off and play some minutes.
Also in the MLS, Brian Ching, the Zag alumnus, is back in Houston. Shorn of much of his pre-expansion draft salary, though.

Oneblindmouse · « **Reply #229 on:** March 08, 2012, 01:54:25 PM »

What no commentary on the defeat of the Italians by the USA???

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #230 on:** March 08, 2012, 04:21:04 PM »

I know, I have been remiss. Overworked on all fronts, (whine, sniffle, excuses). I will try to get caught up this weekend.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #231 on:** March 17, 2012, 02:15:04 AM »

And now for the not-so-daily news...........

The USA beat Italy in a men's soccer exhibition. In Italy. If it had been in Bismark, North Dakota, then one could simply dismiss this as a fluke of a friendly. Since it was in Italy, the Italians did not expect to do other than win. It was a very good achievement by Jurgen Klinsman's Team America. Of particular note is that Michael Bradley, out from under his father's shadow, is doing very well.
Of course Jermaine Jones is doing well at Schalke and for the nats as well, right now. (When he can get onto the pitch, an eight game suspension really limit's one'e playing time!).
Altidore is back to scoring in Holland, and Dempsey continues to score in the Premiership.

Women's soccer - The Sounders are the hottest team in the league - even before they play their first match!
The USA WNT losing AGAIN to Japan is raising some eyebrows.

Concacaf Champions League - Both Seattle and LA are embarressed in their second legs. In both cases, great questions are being asked about their defenses.

Europe -
Chelsea staged a remarkable comeback to advance in the Champions League, Leo the Messi-ah set a CL record for most goals in a single game, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid crushed their opposition.

And the draw happened today.
On one side it is:
Real Madrid vs Apoeli Cyprus and Bayern Munich v Olympic Marseilles with the winners playing each other.
On the other side:
Barcelona v AC Milan and Benfica v Chelsea.
So it is will be Real Madrid or Bayern vs Barcelona or AC Milan in Munich for the final.

Interesting to note - Chelsea is the last British team involved in either the Champions League or the Europa league. Why?

Because both Man City and Man United were outplayed and outclassed and defeated over the course of the two legs by Iberian teams. (More on why this is significant later).

In the Euorpa League, Atletic Bilbao beat Man U twice, by scores of 3-2 and 2-1. And the scorelines really flattered MAN U.
The Red Devils were played off the pitch. Pundits compared it to the drubbing they recieved at the hands of Barcleona.

Sporting Lisbon barely held off Man City in the end, with the clubs splitting the matches. But Sporting outplayed Man City for 3 of the 4 halves.

Schalke (Jones' team) and Valencia and AS Alkmaar (Altidore's team) all showed well in advancing.

Now, back to a previous point.
Man U is in first place in the EPL. They are out of the CL in group play and out of the Europa League after being outplayed consistently by a team barely in the top half of Spain's La Liga.
Man City is in second place in the EPL. Ditto, except that theylost to the holders and the top squad from Portugal. But this billionaires toy of a team is aiming for Premiership title and CL glory.
Tottenham is third place in the EPL and they were dumped out early.
Arsenal is in 4th in the EPL and they were dumped out in the first knock out stage of the CL.
Chelsea is in 5th in the EPL and barely - in the proverbial extra time - were able to squeak past a young Napoli team in the CL. Amazingly, they have to be favorites to advance against a Benfica team that has not been firing on all cylinders this year. So that they can be crushed by the Barca- AC Milan winner.
All the British teams are done from the Europa League, the second tier of continental club ball across the pond.
The British heavy weights underwhelmed and left early. The EPL is the richest soccer league on Earth.
Also, take a look at the English national team. The only people who think that it is a first tier contender for Euro 2012 glory have had a couple pints too many. How many of the English national team players could play for a first class club like Bayern, Real Madrid or Barcelona. Rooney and who else?
The reason that this is important is because for decades there has been a perception that the English league is the best and that British soccer is the highest (outside Brasil). But if you look at the facts, the Spanish are leading the pack, and if you extend the grouping to Iberia, they are doing phenomnally well. The two heavy favorites in the CL are the two best teams in the world, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Three of the four favorites in the Europa League are the 3 Spanish sides (the other being Schalke).
Why? A different philosophy and a different system of developing players. The public centerpiece of this the Barcelona development system and school, La Maisa. But such an approach takes both time and commitment. More on that in other writings.

In youth soccer alot of attention is going to be paid to the recently announced Ranier Soccer Alliance. A group of smaller clubs, left out in the cold, banding together in rejection of the current RCL system. Many eyes are watching to see how this expirament works, and in which direction they head.

High School soccer for boys has started up again, and there will be alot of testosterone, speed, physical challenges, yelling and screaming, excitement all over the place. On the girls side, they will be playing quality soccer.

Back to Europe - Storried Scottish club Rangers, one of the two big clubs in Hibernia, part of the "old firm", has declared bancruptcy, there are questions about where 25 million pounds in advance ticket sales went to, there is two ongoing lawsuits with the government tax people, and the owner/to be former owner has been declared persona non grata by the Scottish FA. Oh, and Rangers have been deducted 10 points so far for going into administration. This was one of the 2 most successful clubs in Scotland, and played in Europe every year.

In global news -
Putin has been installed as President of Russia yet again, and is jailing protesters who have been pointing out "irregularities" in the vote. India has downgraded it's economic growth from 9% to a projected 7% this year. China has continued to restrict the export of more than 20 "rare earths" that are essential in high tech manufacturing. President Obama, stung by the production shut down of the Leaf electric car by Government Motors due to less than 10% of the expected sales despite a massive government subsidy, is standing by his blocking of the Keystone Pipeline which would have brought high quality Canadian Crude oil into the US Market.
In Washington State, the state government is quietly trying to expand certain government programs and hire more people to staff them. Thus, any budget restrictions will appear to be magnified over what they actually are from previous years.

The Federal Government is starting to back away from a new regulation that requires all pools that serve the public - apartments, hotels, communities, RV Parks, whatever -to have either a wheel chair ramp or chair lift installed by the end of the month. There is not enough wheel chair lifts in the entire nation to meet the requirement, by the way. The rules also apply to "spas", so that 4 person hot tub in the No-Tell Motel has to have one as well. Facing a legion of lawyers anxious to sue, a great number of pool operators have said that they would have to close their pools rather than comply.
The Obama administration has granted a 60 day stay on it's rule to give pool operators more time to understand the rule and comply.

I wonder how losing 50% of all the pools in the country will affect people's health?

Personal Note - I recently took a short trip to Camas on business. I had never actually stopped in the down town area before, just hit the periphery for soccer over the years. I had a nice stay at the old style Camas Hotel - and it did not cost an arm a leg. The downtown seemed like a nice place with very friendly people. I even hit a couple of the art galleries there, as well as what seems to be the local biker bar across from the papermill. Good places.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #232 on:** March 22, 2012, 12:22:08 PM »

And here is what's up -

Nike has released - or it has been leaked - pictures of it's "Team Great Britain" soccer uniform for the Olympics. Shall we just say that it seems like a novel uniform design and move on? After seeing this, perhaps Beckham will lose all desire to play for or coach Team GB this summer.

Still on the subject of the Olympics, qualifying is about to get underway for the USA. And the US qualifying efforts are not being helped by the top U-23s playing in Europe not being released by their clubs to play for Team USA. Since FIFA does not recognize the Olympics, there is no requirement for clubs to release players. Still, with the Olympics in the summer, perhaps we can get players like Jozy Altidore to be able to play then. But it is not certain, remember that Barcalona had a real issue with Messi over this last time around.

The head of the Brasilian FA has resigned from his positions there, on the WC 2014 Organizing Committee, and his FIFA posts. He has been under criticism for money and TV rights, and for the iffy state of preparations for the WC in 2 years.

Messi is the Messi-ah. Leo scored a hat trick to become, at age 24, the all time leading scorer in Barcelona club history. This youngster has won 3 consequative Balon d'Or awards, and he is playing what may well be his best season yet. Cristiano Ronaldo is just an after thought at this point.

Staying with Barcelona, they have managed to make up 4 points on Real Madrid in the last week, as Real has developed the habit of allowing late equalisers in matches. And in their last match, a 1-1 draw, they had an assistant coach sent off, JoMo himself sent off, Ozil sent off, and Sergio Ramos set a club record for the most red cards ever by a Real Madrid player. And while Real Madrid still has to travel to Barcelona this spring for a league game, they remain 6 points ahead of Barca in the standings. Barca would have to beat them, run the table and have Real lose another match for Barca to overtake them. It would be a Historic collapse. Rather unlikely to happen, particularly with the extensive list of Barcelona injuries and the depth at Real Madrid.

In England, Man City has closed the game with Man U to a single point. Tottenham and Chelsea continue to struggle. Chelsea's loss to Man City make it that much harder for them to qualify for the CL next year. And without the CL qualification, it will be much harder to attract a quality coach and the new players that Chelsea need. Arsenil have climbed to 3rd place, a point ahead of Tottenham who are five points ahead of Chelsea. Tottenham have been going through a "difficult period" and Redknapp is getting very frustrated. But perhaps not as frustrated as King Kenny down at Liverpool, where the Scotsman's exasperation is boundless and becoming outspoken. Liverpool is so far back, they need a telescope to see the CL places.......

The Great Chelsea Manager search continues, with Bundesliga leaders Dortmund being the latest club to have their manager, Klopp, turn down the position via the newspapers. Just a week or two ago, it was German national team coach Loew who was turning down the Chelsea position. But at Stamford Bridge, in the end, it will be all roads leading back to Jose Mourinho.

In the MLS, the season is underway, and the only thing that is apparent right now is that Chivas is still a woeful team.

In Washington state, rumors are circulating that the WYS headquarters is already dealing with a record number of situations regarding players playing on teams that they are not properly registered for. This includes players transfered to state cup squads who are still, erroniously, also playing for non-RCL squads in other competitions within WSYSA. And Todd has been calling some people trying to protect his RCL clubs from their "inadvertant mistakes". Hint - when a WSYSA paid employee tries to get people to engage in a cover up, it is not a good thing.

Outside of Organized soccer - for now - is the increasing popularity of diaper soccer in the state. Just heard of a local gym putting together a program for 18 month old kids..... Err, are they made to run laps when they do not follow instructions?

In World News - Things suck all over.
In National News - Loudest among the people calling for an end to the endless Republican Presidential Nomination Process are those who want to get started on the 2016 election nomination process.
In Washington State News - The next crisis that will occur for the long term state budget requiring a state income tax is the state's unfunded pension liabilities. Certain groups (left wingers) have been advocating for a long, long time to have a state income tax. The crisis du jour is always used as the new rationale. And next up is public employee pensions........
The economy - Housing prices have not hit bottom yet, most banks will fail the new "cataclismic" stress tests (which will mean more government involvement), and gas prices may hit $6 a barrel this summer, even without a war with Iran. Any US or Israeli military action on Iran's nuclear facilities is expected to push oil up to $200 a barrel.

On that cheerful note, let's all great ready for a weekend of soccer!

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #233 on:** April 06, 2012, 12:22:00 AM »

And now in the not so daily news -

The US Olympic Soccer team was eliminated before getting to the Olympics. After the elimination, but having no connection, Sepp "So Crooked He Cannot Walk A Straight Line" Blatter, the head of FIFA, declaed that clubs had to release players for the Olympic teams at the Olympics. (Not Before). The USA lost to Canada and then tied El Salvador in the qualification tournament, eliminating us. Jurgen Klinnsman just reiterated his support for the U-23/Olympic team coach, so Caleb Porter will not be fired.

In Europe, all eyes have been on the European Cup competitions. Except for in England where, Bad Boy Boletelli has continued to attract attention. First he got into an arguement with a team mate over who would take a free kick in a crucial game. Then came a (false) story that he had gotten into not just one but two fights with teammate Yaya Toure, a proven champion. Then came today's auto accident where he used his $300,000 Bentley sportscoupe to hit another car, accidently. (Haven driven in England myself, I am prepared to give him all the doubt in the world about this one!) And then today was published an interview with Mancini, his coach at ManCity. Mancini is clearly at wits end over Mad Mario, stating that if he were his teammate he would have hit him himself AND that he does not speak to Mad Mario every day, for if he did he (Mancini) would need to see a shrink.
Imagine having both Mad Mario and Terrible Tevez on your team and trying to coach the squad......My sympathies lie entirely with Mancini.
In the meantime Man U has widened their lead at the top of the British Premier League to 5 points......

Back to what is making the news in Europe - Cup play. In the Champions League, everything ended up on script as Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern advanced. The fourth team to reach the semis was Chelsea, seemingly revitalized under interim coach Di Matteo after the sacking of wonderkid AVB. But they played a rather weak Benfica team, and had a scare at the end at that. Chelsea has regained some success in the past few weaks by going back to the old system and to the old veterans.
Chelsea is not likely to qualify for the Champions League next year, and the only people who think that Chelsea stand a chance in the semis against Barca are the Chelsea players in public statements. The first game is home to Chelsea, before they travel to the Nou Camp.
Bayern have sputtered at times this year, but they are clearly the 3rd best team in the competition playing aginst the second best, Real Madrid, in the semis. Both sides cruised through their last matches. Both are studded with world class star players. Both have alot to play for. This two game series should be the best of the Champions League. If it comes down to penalty kicks, then I will pick the Germans. Never, Never bet against the Germans in Penalty Kicks.

The Italians and the Barca haters are crying about the second Barca goal, about the second PK given. While I personally would have stopped play before the corner kick and given Nesta a yellow (he had previously been warned), the ref followed the first foul dictum in awarding the PK. And there is absolutely no question that Nesta was fouling Bisquik in the box on the corner. This should be very, very worrisome to the thugs and hacks of Real Madrid, as the referees are apparently stating that you cannot foul your way into contention against Barca.

In the second tier Europa Cup, all four semi-finalists are from Iberia. One Portugese side and 3 Spanish sides, as predicted (Pat myself on the back). At this point, there are no real favorites, but if I had to bet, it would likely be on Valencia. Barely. This thing is wide open right now, any of the four can win it.

In the MLS, the Sounders have not explained their shock loss to San Jose away. Next up for them is DC United. Overall, the MLS is working its way into being a respectable league.

In France, super-rich club PSG is finding success takes more than an unlimited checkbook. But that means nothing to Russian club Anzi, which while in 6th place in the Russian league is targetting future European glory with a $460 million player purchasing budget for the summer. And no, they are not interested in buying Rangers, although half a dozen groups are.

In Politics, the only people who do not realise that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee are Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

In Europe, the next debt crisis is rearing it's head in Spain. After that it will be either Italy or Portugal.

In Latin America, Venezuelan Fidel Wannabe Victor Chavez is undergoing more cancer treatment. Meanwhile, his government continues to nationalize private property and attack the remaining free press.

In the middle east, the hard core Islamists are consolidating power after the "Arab Spring". A rocket fired from Egyptian territory impacted inside Israel yesterday. Iran continues to spur on its nuclear efforts. Iran, along with China and Russia, are continueing to back the Butcher of Damascus, Assad Jr, in his efforts to kill off (literally) the dissenters and rebels inside of Syria. Iranian military forces have reportedly been flown in and are assisting in the "pacification" efforts.

Speaking of Russia, President Obama was caught on a live mike promising President/Prime Minister Medyedev of Russia that he would deal with Russia on their demands on the US ballistic missile defense systems after the November election, when he had more political wiggle room. Sounds like another sell out like what President Obama did to Eastern Europe after he first took office.

In Washington State, despite the plaintive cries from Olympia of budget deficits, more permanent state employees continue to be hired. It is easy to figure out why...

In Youth soccer, there has yet to be a public proclamation about whom El Presidente has hand selected to replace the judicial body he fired recently. No doubt his minions will appointed soon, and all will owe their fealty to El Presidente for Life.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #234 on:** April 11, 2012, 02:24:08 AM »

OK here we go again - EW's not so daily news........

Firstly, we go to the center of the new soccer universe. Anzhi, in the Russian Soccer League. They have leaked that they will spend between 300 and 400 million euros this summer in buying talent. That's more than half a billion dollars. They might bid on both Ronaldo and Messi, according to some reports. No wonder that one of the most respected coaches in the world, Guus Hiddink, accepted the $ to coach there.

In the rest of the World, let's start with the Champions league. We have Barcelona faing Chelsea, and Real Madrid vs Bayern. A 1v4 and 2v3 match up. Don't forget that Bayern Munich's stadium will hosting the final. (All flights from Madrid and Barcelona to Munich are reportedly already booked solid that week). Bayern obviously has the biggest emotional investment to get into the final.
El Classico between Barca and Real Madrid has been moved to Saturday to give the teams more time to prep for their CL clashes mid week. More on that later.

To England, where Man City has fallen 8 points behind Man U, after their latest debacle. And yes, Mad Mario was a star in that fiasco, where they lost to Arsenel. He missed getting a deserved sending off for his cleating of Alex Song. Instead, while wandering around the field in a disinterested and distracted manner, he managed to pick up a couple of yellows and get sent off. His future with Man City is in doubt, as is his place with Italy in the Euros.
Oh, and the player that scored for Arsenil was Liverpool's cast off midfielder, Arteta. And Liverpool, despite winning today 3-2, look like they may not finish high enough up the table to qualify for the Europa League, let alone the Champions League. And Kuyt, their hero of last year, may be shown the door this summer. King Kenny has not really righted the ship over there.
Back to Man City. After blowing their five point lead in the British Premier League, they now look destined to finish second. And if they do not pick up their play, Mancini may be for the axe. The owners did not pay a reported 400 million euros for players to finish second in England........
Speaking of teams underachieving, Tottenham was the rage of the fall. Since New Years, their title challenge has fallen off. They are now tied for fourth, with Arsenil (Great comeback by Wenger and Co) solidly in third place. Any further fallings would start to jeopardize Manager 'Arry Redknapp's annointation as new England Manager at the end of the season.... Chelsea still has a shot at overcoming Tottenham and Newcastle to secure the 4th place and a shot at the CL next year. But Chelsea also has two upcoming matches with Barcelona, which will take the wind out of their sails.

At the bottom of the Brit Premier League, only Wolves are certainly going down. Above them there are 3 teams at 28 points and one at 29.

In France, Who Cares?

Italy has seen leaders AC Milan dethroned by Juventus. The Old Lady leads Burlesconi's Boys by a single point right now. AC Milan looks like it may not qualify for the Europa League next year, let alone the Champions League.....
Lasio is leading Udinesse and Napoli in the search for the final CL guaranteed spot.

In Spain, the Spanish teams are 2 of the final 4 in the CL and 3 of the final 4 in the Europa League. The competition for the title of La Liga is down to 1 point, but Real Madrid has a game in hand. And there is still El Classico to play, at Barcelona where JoMo has a terrrible record. I do not think that he has ever won a match there. Still, Real Madrid is in the drivers seat and control their own destiny regardless of the result at Camp Nou.
Speaking of Barcelona, Pele has once again opened his mouth and stuck his foot in it. This is the guy who predicted that Colombia could win the 1994 WC (did not make it out of group play) and predicted Santos to beat Barcelona in the Club World Cup. For those who believe that soccer only exists in their corner of King County, Barcelona won 4-0, and it was not that close. Pele is a stand up guy, one of the most honorable professional athletes around, but his power of analysis and prognostication have been proven to be laughable, year after year. Now he is saying that Messi is not only not the best ever but that he is not as good as Neymar. Remember, that Pele never played for a European club, and is prickly about the accusation that Brasilian club soccer never measures up to the European Standard.
Speaking of Neymar, reports continue to circulate that Barcelona has paid Santos a down payment of 14 million euros for his eventual transfer, which may be after the 2014 WC. Which the Brasilian National team coach has promised to win.

Speaking of national team players, Clint Dempsey (of the USA) has been a top scorer in the Brit Premier League this season, (#3? on the charts?) and has a year left on his contract. Speculation is rife on where he will go, particularly since he has outscored the top two or three Tottenham owned forwards combined. Adebayor is owned by Man City, and while he is on loan to Tottenham, he will be sold somewhere this summer. And he has not scored as many as Clint has this year. Clint has announced that his dream is to play CL soccer, and Fulham is not gonna do it. Look for him to transfer this summer. Where is an open question. Barca, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern, Man U, and Man City do not seem to need his services. PSG was interested last summer, but now may be aiming higher with their petrodollars. Chelsea may not get into the CL, but they would likely not be interested anyway. Despite their roster needing a complete overhaul.

In the MLS, the Sounders have failed to score in their last two matches as Estrada has cooled off and the injury to Rosales gains an ever greater impact. The good news is that Zahkuani played in a reserve match. The bad news is that rumors that he may never recover to his old abilities continue to surface.
In more good news, the LA Galaxy are stinking up the joint this year. Critical to them was the loss of Omar Gonzalez in central defense due to an injury (ACL tear?) when on national team duty. And their supporting cast is rapidly aging. (see Chelsea).
THierry Henry is showing why he was brought to New York, and scoring lots of goals.

In Youth soccer - the current event that many are turning their eyes towards is the rapproachment in Spokane. On one side, you have Sean Busey, the Mr. Clean of DoCs, whose reputationa and abilities were forefront in getting the other Spokane City clubs to agree to the abortive merger with his RCL club. On the other hand, you have the Head of the Faridnia Family Enterprises, a chain of soccer clubs of various demonations that has spread out from the Valley into the city. One hopes that Sean has brought a very long spoon to this meating.
(for those who believe that youth soccer in the state is only in their small corner of King County, the old saying is "when you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.......")
It will be extremely interesting to see what comes from this meeting, as any agreement seems to be anti-thetical to both parties raison d'etat.

Politics and International News -
Syria, which has as many as 10,000 Iranian Special security forces in country to help put down the popular uprising, has fired across international boundaries and killed and injured people in both Turkey and Lebanon.
In North -Central Africa, forces armed with munitions looted from Khaddafy's Libyan stockpiles are setting up an Islamist state in the Sahara.
In Washington DC, the Pentagon is talking to Congress about braoder authorization to employ special forces in fights against guerrilas, terrorists and narco-traffickers in Africa and South America.
In Europe, once again their debt crisises are roiling world stock and bond markets. Now it is Spain and Italy that are in the forefront, while concerns about Greece, recipient of two bailouts, are continueing to grow afresh. This caused the US Dow Jones Index to lose more than 200 points today. This was the fifth consequative day of losses in the markets.
In Asia, North Korea is preparing not just an ICBM test launch, but also another nuclear bomb test.

In Domestic politics, Rick Santorum, the #2 republican contestant in the nomination process has withdrawn from the race. Mitt Romney will win the Republican contest, and now attention is turning to whom he will select as his VP nominee. Since the Romney-Obama contest will turn on a dozen key states, expect him to pick someone who can put Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Indiana, or ? into the Republican camp.
Texas and Ohio will either go Republican or the race is lost anyway. California and New York and Illinois are firmly in the Democratic camp. The outside the box thinking is to choose someone that will energize the conservatives and the Tea Party, all of whom are luke warm about Romney. Palin, Nicki Whatshername of South Carolina, Rubio of Florida, and Huckabee have all been mentioned in this contest. Rubio has disclaimed any interest in the CP slot. Christie of New Jersey is a possibility, but he would be an intelligent version of Joe Biden (outspoken, great soundbites for journos to make fun of.)
Condaliza Rice, now at Stanford, has the respect of many intelligent Americans but she does not want to run for elective office, she not a conservative or tea party (two different but often overlapping things) stalwart, and she is more a policy wonk than a politico. (But she would be my first choice!)

Right now, it looks like the upcoming Obama-Romney race will be very close. A few key swing states will tell the tale. Remember, Al Gore (never charged with rape in Portland) lost to Bush because he could not carry his hope state of Tennessee (5 electoral votes). Even Dukasis carried his home state. So did Mondale. So did Goldwater. Of course, one has to wonder where exactly Romney's home state is? Michigan? Taxachussets where he was Governor? Utah, home of the LDS? One would doubt that he could carry the People's Republic of Taxachussets.

On the Democratic side, it is interesting to see the Clinton's pulling away from Obama. Hillary will not be at the Democratic convention, much to the relief of Joe Biden.

eastofthe206 · « **Reply #235 on:** April 11, 2012, 03:26:32 AM »

Politics: dare I talk about it? Raised Republican and, dare say, still Republican in my heart. The Republican household I was raised in was fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and decidedly tinged with what I found out years later was that dread disease Libertarianism! The funniest damn thing is my Dad (92 years young and going strong) would put up his dukes and ask you to step outside if you called him a Libertarian yet (tee hee) he is!! When...when, oh when...are the Republicans going to give us a Presidential candidate we (the majority, not the minority) want to vote for? ...and in advance please forgive me for ending a sentence with a preposition...

metz123 · « **Reply #236 on:** April 11, 2012, 03:29:54 PM »

ahh...a goldwater republican. Unfortunately they've disappeared from the GOP. Now the GOP stands for fiscally destructive, socially conservative, big business is always right, I got mine, you need to get yours on your own.....

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #237 on:** April 11, 2012, 03:44:07 PM »

And it is all over in Germany. With Dortmund beating Bayern Munich today, 1-0, Defending Champs Dortmund have a six point lead with 4 games left to play.

While in England, Man U wants to keep the interest in the BPL going, so they LOST TO WIGAN. Man City won, cutting the lead to 5 points with 5 games left...

Firedog · « **Reply #238 on:** April 11, 2012, 10:19:06 PM »

Pretty sure Arteta came to Arsenal from Everton.

EWSoccer64 · « **Reply #239 on:** April 12, 2012, 02:06:31 AM »

Quote from: Firedog on April 11, 2012, 10:19:06 PM

Pretty sure Arteta came to Arsenal from Everton.

And you would be right. Was it Mierles? who went to Arsenal from Liverpool?

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