Dave's random mumblings…

I missed Saturdays win over Chicago, but it sounded like a fun game with Montero scoring the winner in injury time.

This was a huge game for both sides, and not because of Freddie’s return, but because of the points on the table and the two sides battling out for the final playoff places.

This is the combined MLS table, if the season were to finish today Seattle would be in as 4^th seed in the west and would get a first round game against the fading LA Galaxy. Recent form shows LA are not nearly as fearsome as they were in July when they took Seattle apart at the HDC.

However this only shows part of the story and can be safely ignored for now as there are a lot of teams with games in hand (GIH) over Seattle. If these teams win out (impossible I know as they play each other, but it’s worst case we are looking at here) the picture for the Sounders is a little less cut and dried.

Today Seattle has 32 points and Chicago has 24 points, at first glance a healthy lead for Seattle. However Chicago have played three games less than Seattle. This means 9 points to Chicago if they win those games.

That would move Chicago to 33 points, one ahead of Seattle and drop Seattle to 9^th in the second combined table that assumes teams win those games in hand (GIH). This pushes Seattle out of the play-offs by one point.

To give the short version of events, the game in Chicago on September 26^th has become a very important game. Win there and Seattle controls their own destiny into the post season. Loose and the road to the play offs requires the Sounder Nation to concern ourselves with other peoples results.

The momentum is building and with 10 points out of the last 12 available in the league this looks a lot like the team we expected to see at the beginning of the year.

First there was Sundays great performance at San Jose, and it really was a great performance from Seattle. Unquestionably the better side throughout the game, the first 20 minutes were some of the best end-to-end team football they’ve played this year. The effort shown in the second half when San Jose threw caution to the wind in the effort to get a point at home was very solid.

I think the biggest difference between today and a couple of months ago is the workrate and effort from the entire team. Having Osvaldo Alonso back made a huge difference to Seattle’s second effort, he played a very physical game and really controlled the midfield.

The passing was crisp, possession was controlled, and when the ball was lost a lot of effort was put into getting it back. In the past it’s not been quite as hard fought in the middle of the field.

Montero looks so good right now, the more I see him play the more I’m convinced hes going to be a very, very good player. He’s maturing and with players like Sanna Nyassi and Fernandez feeding him he’s got a chance to keep the scoring streak going.

Tonight was the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round game. Seattle led 1-0 from the first leg in El Salvador was all they needed to go through to the group stage. The pitch looked marginal and the rain never let up for the entire game, but once again we saw a solid team performance that got the result they needed.

This turned out to be a very entertaining game, both teams played decent football. Metaplan went ahead before half time with a well-taken goal that gave Keller no chance.

From then on Seattle clearly had a majority of the possession and were playing well enough that they were going to score sooner or later. There were a couple of close off side calls, one of which had Levesque through on goal, but Seattle looked comfortable and patient looking for the opening.

The chance fell to substitute Alvaro Fernandez. He scored his first goal in a Seattle shirt with about 15 minutes left to play. With away goals counting double Metapan needed to score twice to go through. It was not happening tonight, Seattle looked to competent to allow that to happen again this year.

So another six games this year, including with games in Mexico, Honduras and Panama over the next three months. That sounds like a fun way to spend a few days vacation this fall.

Sounders are now 7 games undefeated in all competitions (league, Open cup and Champions League), the team have moved into play off contention and seem to be hitting form at the right time.

Sunday is Houston at Quest, a team we are building a very nice rivalry and the first meeting since Seattle were bumped out of the play offs by Houston last year. Another win and three points would go a long way to securing that play off place. Going to be a fun night under the lights.

Ljungberg has moved to Chicago, with what’s happened over the last few weeks it is clearly a move that makes sense for Seattle. I don’t know if what went wrong will ever fully come out, rumours are there was a significant rift within the club. Schmidt, Hanauer and most vocally team captain Keller all questioning Freddie Ljungbergs commitment to the team. I’m sure over the next month or two we’ll learn more and more about what actually happened.

Freddie before the DCU game in June

Ljungberg was the second player signed by the team, Sebastian Le Toux was the first, and this signing did a lot for the franchise. It gave the entire organization an instant level of credibility months before the first ball was kicked and that they were willing to spend the money to attract top level talent. In short it made the football world take a little notice of this new club in the MLS.

In return Ljungberg has been a great ambassador for the league and club. He’s been very generous to the fans and has been clear that overall he’s enjoyed his time both at the club and living in the Pacific Northwest.

On the flip side he has occasionally held himself to a slightly different standard than the rest of the side with occasional weekends off and reporting late to training camp with no consequences because of a “misunderstanding”. To be fair to Freddie, the management has allowed it to happen.

Being late to the pre-season camp in Seattle earlier this year does seem to have particularly upset some of his teammates, most vocal was Casey Keller. But it started an undercurrent of discontent that may have led to his leaving the club with only a couple of months left on his contract. Additionally he’s had a somewhat public falling out with Sigi Schmidt over his discipline and attitude towards referees during games.

There is no question the Freddie has been on the receiving end of some vicious tackles, it seems to be a tactic that a number of teams employ against the more skillful players. It’s one of the things the MLS needs to take care of if they want to see the game played the way it can be.

Once he was dropped from games and was training alone it was just a matter of where he would go, rather than if he would go. His agent said a number of English and Italian clubs were interested in signing Ljungberg. The fact he ended up at Chicago rather than an ambitious European club looking for leadership shows that the interest never went much beyond a quick phone call to his agent.

From section 130 watching Freddie on the ball over the last 18 months was a treat. Clearly he was one of the most creative players in the league. The league never really suited his style fully, but when ever he was on the ball there was a chance that something interesting was going to happen. He did occasionally let his frustration that his team mates were not always at his level show, but generally he played his role as a leader well on the pitch.

I’m looking forward to welcoming Freddie back to Seattle on August 28^th when the Fire comes to RBP.

Thanks Freddie.

The move of Ljungberg to Chicago coincides with the arrival of Uruguayan international Alvaro Fernandez from Nacional.

This is the sort of player the league needs to attract. Signing big names like Beckham, Blanco, Henry and Ljungberg make a big splash in the sports pages and get people looking in the leagues direction. However it does not do much for the credibility of the league as a whole. Football in America and MLS (rightly or wrongly) has a reputation as a bit of a retirement home for big names.

Some of this is the legacy of the NASL where huge names like Pele, Beckenbauer, Alberto, Cruff, Moore and so on came to the league for a last big pay cheque before easing into retirement. This gave the league huge interest around the world and in some markets put bums on seats, but did nothing to add credibility that the NASL was a good or stable league.

If you have any interest in what led to the excesses of the NASL it’s worth looking for “Once in a Lifetime: The Incredible Story of the New York Cosmos” written by Gavin Newsham. It goes into this in some detail and is a good read. In short the lunatics were running the asylum, and in the case of the NY Cosmos running it with other people’s money with little accountability.

Back to Seattle’s new signing Alvaro Fernandez and why I think this could be more important the New York signing Thierry Henry.

Today Fernandez is not going to sell as many Seattle shirts as Henry will in New York, but I hope that’s not how the league defines success.

He’s clearly a very skillful player. He was part of a Uruguay side that played some attractive football and made the semifinals of the World Cup. He is only 24 and has shown the ability to be successful at the top level, his signing has a massive upside, is only going to develop and get better over the next couple of years.

To be realistic the MLS is not a league that talented players around the world aspire too. The complex contract structure, single entity ownership, salary cap and relative popularity in a packed sports market place ensure that the MLS is never going to be“destination league” for the world’s best players.

However there are still a couple of roles it could take going forward, namely either a place to send promising players for a few seasons and see what they have, or a retirement home for big names. Given the choice I’d far rather the MLS be seen as a top level development league and finishing school for players like Montero (who is a potential superstar) and Fernandez.

Seattle had what was best called a functional performance in the 2-1 win over Western conference side Colorado. This continued the run of good results over the last couple of weeks and is threatening to turn into an actual run up the table. Seven points from the last 9 on offer, and a semi-final place in the Open cup and there are reasons for this emerging confidence from what’s been a poor year up to now.

New signing Blaise Nkufo warming up

Seattle played a solid game on Sunday against Colorado. The defence was faced with a very physical attack led by Conner Casey, Pat Iaani and Jeff Parke responded in kind and with the exception of the goal did a good job at the back.

The Colorado was well taken; Casey sent Parke the wrong way and finished with a shot that gave Keller no chance. During the second half Seattle soaked up a lot of pressure and a couple of great saves from Keller preserved the win for Seattle. This was another step in the correct direction, Seattle has been in this position before, defending a late lead, and given the game away in the last few minutes of the game.

Another big night under the lights

It’s difficult to say Seattle is a better team with out Ljungberg in the line up, especially on the form he showed last season, but they seem somehow to be a more complete team.

There are a few positive signs and the team seems to be heading into the correct direction.

Sounders 2, Rapids 1

Wednesday night and it’s time for the first CONCACAF Champions League game. The sounders have been pushing the Wednesday night game with the slogan “There are times for friendlies, this is not one of them”. Most football fans know of the European Champions League, the best clubs in Europe battle it out for glory (a considerable pot of money) and a place in the World Club Championship.

This is north and Central America’s version, the winner goes to the World Club Championship for a go at the ultimate club title.

Seattle plays it’s first leg against Metapan, the El Salvadorian champions, the winner of this tie goes into the group stage for another 6 games against Central American sides.

It will be a chance to have a look at a different style of football, in places like El Salvador the passion for the game runs deep, but the money to develop and compete is scarce.

Metapan are no easy win, especially as Seattle has to travel to El Salvador next week for the second leg of the tie. They have won the local league four times in the last 7 years, have a number of players with international experience in the squad and have played on this stage before.

Last year they made it to the group stages of the champion’s league and posted a win over Houston during the competition. I don’t think this is a team the Sounders can take lightly. The big player is midfielder Paolo Suarez. The name may be familiar as he’s the elder brother of Luis Suarez, who stopped a certain goal with his hand during the Uruguay – Ghana game at the World Cup Finals.

Ultimately I think Seattle should be able to use their speed, fitness (Metapan are about to start their season) and tactical discipline to move into the knock out stages where some big games await. This is when the real fun should begin.

I’m leaving the rotting corpse of the England team where it lay and turning my attention to the US team and what happened there.

The World Cup is over and the US football scene is falling back to its usual level of coverage that’s designed for the anoraks and not the casual “is it a World Cup year?” fan.

The US were somewhat outplayed in the final 16 by a rather good Ghana team that a lot of people seemed to be looking past towards a quarterfinal game with Uruguay.

The team was unconvincing in the group stage (as were England), take away the routine ball that Rob Green fumbled in the opening game and the group would have looked very different. If England had won that game 1-0 the US would have been drawing lots against Slovenia for the right to advance to the second stage rather than winning the group.

Bob Bradley the US manager has a lot of detractors. He has been in charge for three-and-a-half years, coached the team in 66 games and called up a total of 92 different players during that time. He has made some inexplicable personnel decisions.

• Sticking with Jose Altidore no matter how bad he’s playing.
• Freddy Adu never even made Bradley’s preliminary 30-man squad for South Africa. Adu is young, but could be the best outfield player to come out of the US youth system.
• Picking Ricardo Clark, a player who’s does not have the speed or touch to play at international level. He was chosen to start the first Group Stage game against England and made the mistake that led to England’s goal. Inexplicably he was chosen again for the Ghana game and made the error there that led to Ghana’s first goal.
• Starting clearly out of form RSL player Robbie Findley over Herculez Gomez and the red hot Edson Buddle.

To be fair Bradley has had some success. Most notably winning the Gold Cup in 2007, beating Spain and reaching the final of the Confederations Cup last year. There were a couple of rough patches, but in the end he ensured a fairly straightforward qualification for the World Cup, and finished atop Group C at the tournament.

I’ve said before that qualification for the World Cup should be all-but automatic for this team. Three teams are guaranteed to come out of CONCACAF; they should be Mexico, the US and whoever else is hot (Honduras this cycle) so I don’t see that as much of an achievement.

The Win over Spain and leading Brazil 2-0 at half time at the Confederations cup was impressive, but the success here seems to have been put to one side and not built on.

Bradley inherited a very disciplined side from Bruce Arena, not the most creative team in the world, but very functional and played to their strengths. Unusually for an international side the US team play a lot of games together, far more than the European and South American sides. However during those games he picked 92 different players, no chance at consistency or taking advantage of all those games to build that well drilled club mentality that has been so obvious over the last month in sides like Spain, Germany and Holland.

Under Bradley that discipline has been lost and the team has no real identity or style. They have been questionable at the back and gave up a lot of goals against mediocre opposition during the qualifying campaign. His best player is unquestionably Donovan, who gets misused in a far more defensive role that takes away a lot of his influence on the game that makes him so important to LA and was seen during his loan spell with Everton.

We are at the start of another four year World Cup cycle, a coach needs two years to understand the personnel and get them playing his way, and another two years to actually qualify. The question that the USSF needs to ask, is Bob Bradley the right person to lead this team through this cycle?

If not then who. Jurgen Klinsmann’s name keeps coming up. For the last 6 years he’s been a large part of building the Lowe’s young and talented German squad.  A team that plays very tidy, attractive, attacking football, with loads of confidence.

Klinsmann lives in LA and has an understanding of US football. He was the federation’s first choice but said no when the USSF would not give him the level of control he wanted over the entire national team set up. He has proven with his role with the German squad that he knows how to build a team at this level and probably has a better understanding than anyone else about what needs to be done to raise the bar for the US Team between now and Brazil 2014.

I fear the USSF would rather stay with what they know and either stay with Bradley or one of the other insider coaches they know. Going with someone like Klinsmann and giving up control to him would be a philosophical change fore the USSF, but it may be what they need to make it to the next level and possibly repeat the results of 2002.

Big day for live sport yesterday. It started with the first real, all day long Alpine stage on the Tour De France. There is something just awe inspiring about cyclists doing 20KPH along steep alpine roads, and I mean inspiring in a “WTF, are you serious” kinda way.

The end of the live coverage of Le Tour dovetailed nicely into the start of the live coverage of the British GP. A very interesting race that Mark Weber led from lights to flag, the first corner saw the two Red Bull cars going at each and giving no quarter. Vettel came off the worst, but clearly not all is happy between the two Red Bull drivers (and both are under contract for next year at the same team).

Weber won, Ferrari had a disaster, Vettel drove from the back of the field to finish 7th and Rosberg beat Schumacher once again. Hamilton finished second and is still the championship leader, 12 points ahead of his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, had a great drive to finish fourth after driving through the field after qualifying a disappointing 14th.

As the champagne spraying slowed down the pre-game for the World Cup Final was just starting up. A lot has been written elsewhere about this game, the best team won. Not sure if Holland’s coach, Bert van Marwijk, took inspiration from the way Inter Milan beat Barcelona in the Champions League final, but the Dutch went out to throw Spain off their game and get something. They came close, going forward the Holland looked good at times. Ultimately Spain was too good, the goal superbly taken, a tough chance made to look easy.

One story that’s got more press than it probably should have done was Paul the physic octopus. He continued his perfect record at picking the results of World Cup games involving Germany, and after Germany was eliminated, the final.

After Paul predicted an Argentine loss in the quarterfinals, Paul got death threats and recipes for braised octopus sent to him. German fans repeated this over reaction after he called the semi-final, correctly once again.

At this point I went into work for a couple of hours to finish a couple of things for meetings today. Nothing interesting, but to round off the day of sport was Seattle hosting Dallas at Quest Field. Seattle needs to the points, is yet to beat a team in their conference (home or away) this year. Dallas is one of the teams that are fighting for a play off place and need the points as much as Seattle does.

There were a number of changes, both forced and unforced. Ljungberg was out with an ankle problem (hopefully real, not a “transfer window is almost here” ankle problem), Noonan, Marshall and Vagenas were dropped. Seamon, Sturgis, replaced them and Jaqua got his first start of the year after his return from injury.

These changes along with the inclusion of Montano provided a very different look, and they played with a lot of energy and for the first half played some of the best football I’ve seen all year from Seattle. They played far better as a team that last weeks big loss to LA (a very good team by the way).

Seattle went in at half time 1-0 up, good possession and some nice passing meant the lead was well deserved. Riley connected with Seamon, who swung in a cross into the box for Montero to head past Hartman. It was a well-worked and finished goal. Seattle looked comfortable coming in at half time.

Things changed shortly after the restart when Montaro was sent off, there was a hard tackle by Dallas’ Shea, and the two players had a big coming together. The ref said Montaro threw an elbow and he was sent off for retaliation. I was in the bathroom and caught the replay on the TV’s and did not see a sending off offence on the replay.

The call seemed very harsh, especially after watching the Dutch play earlier. Had there been a MLS referee in charge of the World Cup final there would have been 7 or 8 players left on the pitch.

Seattle 1 - 1 Dallas

Seattle played down a player for close to 35 minutes, the team defended well, defended in depth and worked very had to keep the lead. It took a very well taken goal in the 87th minute to equalize.

Another result they probably should have had, the defending was good enough that I had some confidence they were going to hold onto the lead despite being down a man. Keller made a couple of good saves and it took a very good header to beat him.

There are a lot of positives to take from the game, the improvement over the LA game was clear. The younger players did themselves no harm and hopefully gave Sigi something to think about for the game at DC United on Thursday.

The final is tomorrow morning Pacific time, neither Spain or Holland have ever won the tournament. Holland has been close as defeated finalists twice under Cruyff. A lot of new ground has been broken over the last four weeks, most notably the success of the first tournament in Africa, it seems fitting that it will end with a new name will be added to the cup.

Two weeks ago I was questioning the football played by the Europeans and what was wrong when compared to the South American sides. To be clear, Italy, France and England brought little to the party. Spain is the reigning European champions, I was wrong to lump them in with the underperforming and ill disciplined.

Holland are unbeaten in South Africa, taking into account warm up and qualifying it’s now 25 games since they lost, there was plenty of evidence that they were going to be tough to beat.

Over all we have no cause for complaint, the 2010 World Cup in Africa has been eventful. Coming out of the group stages Argentina and Brazil both played good football. Brazil especially had a little flair and performed in the way you expect Brazil to perform in the World Cup – impressively. Holland made short work of Brazil in the quarterfinal, 1:0 down at half time; the Dutch dominated the second half in a very controlled, but physically forceful way.

If the Dutch play the same way against Spain, they should win. This is not total football and this team will not be mistaken for the team of the 70’s but they can still play. They know how to come from behind and knowing they have defeated Brazil and Germany to get here can only add the confidence coming into the game,

Unlike Holland, Spain have lost in this tournament 1-0 to Switzerland in their opening game, it was he only game that the opposition scored first and Spain were never able to get back into it.

Spain have had a little of a struggle to finish their chances, only 7 goals so far in the tournament. All the wins during the knock out stage have been 1-0. The poor form of Fernando Torres has not made Spain’s scoring problem easier. Having said that Spain have only conceded two goals, and are very good at hanging onto slim leads, the defensive discipline has been good, especially during the semi-final against Germany when they shut down the German midfield very effectively.

Holland has scored freely, 12 goals in 6 games (against 5 conceded). However it does not matter how disciplined you are when you have layers like van Bronckhorst who opened the scoring against Uruguay with the goal of the tournament.

It has the makings of a fitting final for what has been a very good tournament. In the knock out stages Spain has not been seriously troubled, you get the feeling they are playing within themselves, that there is another level to their play that’s not been required yet. If Holland can play to their best, if Robbins, van Bronckhorst, van Persie and co play to their ability Spain may have to raise their level to win this thing. A World Cup final deserves that.

My feeling, Spain at their best should be too much for Holland, but Spain have not been at their best yet, but it’s also not been required. It’s the potential to be a very fitting final to a good tournament.

Typically when England go out the papers will fill the back pages with phrases like “brave”, “a team of heroes” or something along those lines. There are exceptions, in 2002 after Beckhams sending off against Argentina the Sun ran the headline “10 Heroes and one stupid little boy”.

The disappointment of an early exit is made a little easier knowing that the team performed to their best, left it all out on the field (and all the other sporting clichés) yet were beaten by a better side on the day.

To be beaten while playing their best a team can walk off the field holding their heads high.

Much like going out on penalties, it’s disappointing but you come away knowing the team put in the effort and lost to a superior side. There is some honour to the defeat.

This year there is no such honour for England. The 2010 World Cup was a disaster filled with underperformance and disappointment that started with the friendly against Egypt in March and just never got going. Not once have I come away from watching one of those games and thought the team played at anything close to the sum of its parts.

The one exception I’m able to give was the “backs against the wall” performance against Slovenia was solid and functional, but you’d hardly call it inspiring stuff.

Germany plays like a club side, Joachim Low has ensured they are well a drilled squad filled with players that understand what’s expected of them. England are a contrast and play like most international sides; a collection of talented players but are missing the fluidity that club sides have, and that only comes with a core of players working together over time.

I did find there to be something slightly disturbing to see the Germans in their shiny black kit. There is something rather sinister about the look of a well drilled group of Germans wearing black, under the floodlights, backed by thousands waving German flags and singing Deutschland über alles…

Deutschland über alles

But I digress, with only thirty or so days and a couple of friendlies between the squad coming together and the first meaningful game it’s going to be tough for any coach to put together a team that has that level of understanding.

The FA decided to keep Capello on until the European championships in a couple of years; I think that’s the right thing to do. Ignoring the alleged 10-12 million that it will take to buy him out of his recently amended contract, I just don’t see anyone else in a position to take over.

The next England game is only 7 weeks away, a friendly against Hungary before we are into the qualifying tournament for Euro 2012.

I worked late yesterday, I was not having a great day and did not go into the office until after watching Spain beat Paraguay. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, I was working deep into the evening and I wanted to do something fun for July-4.

I had a couple of offers for BBQ’s in Seattle today. Nothing says July in Seattle like a BBQ in the rain. As tempting as that was, I decided I needed sun and found the perfect excuse.

Sounders are playing in LA, it’s going to be sunny and 25 degrees warmer than Seattle. Late last night I made an impulse decision, traded in a wedge of Delta skymiles for an early morning flight, brought a match ticket and will be joining the other Sounders fans BBQing in the Home Depot Centre car park.

Sounders media guy Matt Gaschk

This was my first proper tail gate party and glad I took the chance to have some fun in LA on July 4^th. They never had those before an Aldershot or Coventry City game.

I was surprised to see 7 or 8 other sounders jerseys on the flight this morning, I figured most people would have made a weekend of it and already been there.

Left on time, and as a bonus even got an exit row. Arrived at LAX a little ahead of schedule. I get they are trying to do something with the place and that it was largely built in the 70’s, but can anyone think of a place that looks more like a 70’s dystopian science fiction film set than the bowels of LAX?

It’s full of tiles featureless walls, unnecessary escalators and long blank corridors. Add a few flex ducts and find the torture chamber you know they have hidden somewhere and you are living in Terry Gillians movie Brazil.

The pre-game party was fun, there was about 120 Seattle fans (and one lonely LA supporter, dragged there by his girlfriend) in the car park drinking beer and eating BBQ. It was a lot of fun, this would not be allowed in Seattle in the same way.

ECS Capo leading the chants, he does not get to see much of the game

To the game… A 3-1 Seattle loss, not many positives as Seattle were clearly outplayed. Montero looked frustrated, Ljungberg was ineffective and despite scoring the only Seattle goal Zakuani seemed unable to time his runs and not for the first game this year did not look sharp. There was a decent amount of Seattle possession in and around the LA box, but no one seems to be willing to take the shot.

Lots of little balls between players, but ultimately someone has to stand up and take responsibility to turn the half chance into a goal rather than loose possession. It’s just so frustrating to watch. Especially during the first half the movement from midfield forward looked slow and uninspired. Unfortunately that’s the role usually played by Alonso or occasionally Evans, who are both injured. Pete Vagenas tried today, but his distribution and creativity was not good enough against a quick, pressing midfield like LA.

Landycakes first game back after the World Cup

Sigi has some young players with a little creativity and imagination on the bench; it maybe time to start some of them rather than waiting until 75 minutes into the game.

To be clear LA are a good side, they’ve scored 7 goals against Seattle in two games. The home team played some very simple but effective football, lots of short passing and actually able to hit the runners with the ball. LA plays an attractive passing game and seems very well drilled in what’s expected.

The second LA goal was as good a strike as I’ve seen in this league. 30+ yards out and Brazilian midfielder Juninho struck the ball sweetly, there was nothing Keller could have done about that one.

Away section at Home Depot Center

There were just over 300 seats in the away fans section and they sold out. There were a smattering of rave green jerseys elsewhere in the ground. I was in the 5^th or 6^th row of the Sounders section with the hardcore ECS chanting group. A lot of fun was had, bouncing around, singing and yelling for the entire 90 minutes. My first away game, my throat is shot, however it’s not going to be my last away trip.

Nate Jaqua acknowledges the traveling supporters

Seattle hosts LA on Wednesday at Starfire in the Open Cup quarter final, if Seattle plays like this then the holders will not make it to the semi-finals.

So the headline in todays Daily Mail reads, it’s more than a little inflammatory, but this is a big game between two teams with history, a lot of history.

The actual quote was ‘Stupidly, the English have slipped up by finishing second in their group. A game like this against Germany should be a semi-final, not a last-16 tie.’

I’m not disagreeing with Der Kaiser about this being a big game that would be fitting for a semi-final, but it’s not. If Germany (like England) believe they can go far in this tournament, then the road goes through England.

I hope the game lives up to expectations, the sports pages of the British papers are certainly not disappointing. I’ve said before that I love the red tops, the news parts are often unreadable garbage, but they have some of the finest and most knowledgeable sports writers in the business.

I doubt there are any English supporters that need reminding, but here is a link to the video of that night in Munich that shows just how good England can be (and a little of the history behind this fixture).