Soccer Sunday

In soccer news yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag for me as the two teams that I intend to focus on the most ended up not winning their matches. But, in this case, something I find most interesting is how much a tie and the thoughts about what a tie means has so much to do with the league a team is playing in and their position in that league.

On one end of that scale we have Tottenham Hotspur the English Premiere League (EPL) team that is currently in 5th place in their league and is fighting to get into 3 or 4 position. The biggest impact finishing higher in league will have for them is that they will get more prize money and qualify for the Champions league. Well yesterday they had a match with Wigan Athletic and things did not go as well for them as they would have liked them to. Wigan Athletic is in last place in the league and on paper Tottenham should have wiped the floor with them. They unfortunately did not. The final result was a scoreless draw. On the complete other end of the scale in the MLS we have the Portland Timbers and their match yesterday against the New England Revolution. This match ended in a draw as well a 1-1 finish.



This is where my feelings grow mixed as I am not happy at all that Tottenham was not able to beat Wigan. The fact that they were unable to even score a goal against the weakest team in the EPL is even more bothersome to me. True it is getting toward the end of a long season of soccer and Tottenham has a match in Champions league on Tuesday but that does not excuse them. They should have won this match by a two goal margin at minimum and to do not just really makes no sense to me. It isn't worse then a loss or even as bad as a loss but it is still upsetting to me and to most likely all of their fans.

Now the Timbers match ending in a 1-1 draw actually has me feeling pretty happy about everything. To be honest I would have been happier with a win. But that does not diminish the fact that this result was an important one for the Timbers. The match comes at the end of a long series of road matches. A road trip is not the best way for any team to start the season and for the Timbers to have to start their first three league games on the road well that is not how any team wants to get started and if they had ended up with three losses that would have been even worse.

The Timbers have been progressing nicely so far this season. They seem to be getting better and better with each match and really that is all I can hope for right now. This is there inaugural season in the MLS and I do not think that anyone is really expecting them to do anything spectacular. I think if they are then they are not being honest with themselves about what happens when a team is starting out. All that I have really been wanting is for the team to be competitive and I believe that so far this season they have been just that competitive. It really is beginning to feel to me that they are going to be more then competitive. I am trying to not get to excited about the possibility's for the because if I do then I will surely be disappointed. But things seem to be looking really good.

The fact that they have a 20 yr old rookie playing goal for them and playing well is huge. I really think that Jake Gleeson has the potential to be a superstar in the MLS and probably in the rest of the world. He came to the Timbers out of their U-23 team last season. That team was 23-0 and won the league championship. Let me repeat that. The team he played on last season won 23 games in a row. He was keeper in 14 of those and had eight shutouts. In this season so far for the Timbers he has 1 cup win against Chivas USA in which he recorded a shutout and a draw against New England in which he gave up one goal. He played the second half of the game against Toronto FC and gave up just one goal in that match. To be honest the goal that he gave up is not likely to be repeated as that was a goal of the week candidate and frankly was an amazing strike. Please give it a look.



Gleeson just really seems to have a knack for playing goal and I think as the season progresses he is just going to get better and better. I am really looking forward to more of the same as the season continues and to the season home opener on Thursday April 14. It is going to be epic and I am so ready to kick off the home games. The game is sold out but it is going to be shown on ESPN2 and their will be numerous bars in the area that will be showing it I am sure.

As for myself. I will be there in person with a Timbers shirt on, a scarf around my neck and a green logging hat on. I will be screaming my brains out!!

RCTID!!!

Soccer Sunday I

I dub today Soccer Sunday. I am going to try to use Sundays to post something about the sport I am currently loving and that is American Soccer or English Football. I am right now as I write watching a replay of the US National Men playing against Argentina and it has been a really amazing game. The passing and touch on the ball that Argentina is showing is incredible and as usual Lionel Messi is playing amazingly. But I think that for me the real star of the game and the hero for the United States was Tim Howard. As much as I have complained about him in the past he was amazing in goal in the game. If he had not been on point the US would have lost probably 3 or 4 to 1. As it was the USA escaped with a 1-1 draw. Lets face facts. While it is true that, at times, we were competitive with Argentina we are not as good as they are. Oh sure we played well and there were some stellar moments during the game but overall on a position by position level we just do not match up well with them. They are faster and smarter then we are in terms of both passing and overall strategy.

I have to say though that as much as I enjoyed watching the match and as much as I enjoy watching the US play and I suppose I am a supporter of the team though I am not a card carrying member. I have to say that I am really bothered by Clint Dempsey and his attitude on the pitch. It isn't that he is unable to play or that he isn't talented because he is and he has proven that he can play at the highest levels of Soccer. But the way he acts on the pitch just irritates me. It feels like if he isn't pouting about something he is hacking at another play or just coasting along until he can sneak in a run on goal. He gives the illusion or impression that he does not work all of the time. I realize that I may be wrong but he just makes me crazy at times. (Climbs down off of soapbox)



In local Soccer news the Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion team Portland Timbers lost their second straight match to the Toronto Reds. It was a hard fought match and the Timbers looked really good at times which leads me to have some high hopes for the rest of the season. But, once again as in the first loss of the season a 3-1 defeat by the Colorado Rapid the Timbers showed a real inability to finish. That coupled with a team that seems to be unable to get going in the first 15 minutes in a game does not make for a success. The talent is there and the coaching staff and the front office is doing everything they can to ensure success but in the end it comes down to the players on the pitch and it is up to them to win these games. It up to them to put the ball into the net. That is the ultimate goal in a soccer match and if you do not put the ball into the onion bag you can not win matches. That being said you also must keep the ball out of the net on defense and if you are unable to do that it becomes doubly hard to win games. The first two games of the season so far have shown that while the Timbers seem to have a strong defense there are times where they seem to check out mentally and when that happens they give up goals. I hope this gets fixed and gets fixed soon if it doesn't we are in for a long season and not a very fun one.

Thursday

I just realized something. The NCAA basketball tournament in going on right now. I do not care. I have come to the realization that I do not really care about basketball in any form. I do not care if it is the NBA or College or High School or peewee. I am not sure what changed. I used to like basketball. I grew up in the midst of Blazer madness. I was a huge David Robinson fan as well as Moses Malone and Charles Barkley when I was growing up. But somewhere along the lines in the last decade or so I just have lost total interest in the sport as a whole.

In fact as I have grown older the sports that I follow avidly have changed as well. I have always been a sports fan and when I was a child that meant watching televised ice skating events as well as the weekly professional bowling tournament that would be on every Saturday. But before those there was usually the Major League Baseball game of the week. When I went to Australia I ended up watching a Cricket match and I even found that pretty interesting. But really the only sports I follow any more are the NFL and a little, very little, bit of college football. I like mixed martial arts and I follow the National Hockey League and I like Soccer.

As I am writing this I think it has more to do with the internet and cable television and the availability of these sports to be seen. As a child we had basically four channels and then some local uhf that did not show sports. So there really were limited options. I never ever saw Hockey until my grandmother got cable it did not exist on television as a sport in the pacific northwest. Also really the only time I was able to watch soccer was late at night on the Oregon Public Broadcasting channel and even that was pretty sporadic. But now I can just turn on the computer or the television and pretty much find a clip of anything is being played and there are some crazy sports out there.

I think basketball just is kind of boring for me right now. I know that people will argue that they think soccer is boring and I can accept that argument. I, for numerous reasons, do not find it boring. I am not sure why. But I do know that I can sit down and watch or listen to a soccer match and it holds my interest but anymore when I try to watch basketball it just does not. The same goes for baseball I just have a hard time really getting into it. I do like going to live games but I think that is mainly because I can people watch and scream at the opposing team and the umpires. I love screaming at umpires and refs and opposing players. I think that is one of lives great joys for me.

I have a story about that. Want to hear it? Here it is. I went to a Seattle Mariners baseball game several years ago with my housemates. It has to be over 10 at this point and my be close to 15 years ago and the Mariners were doing pretty good as a team Ken Griffey Jr was there star player and it was pretty exciting to see him play live. It was also possible back then to see a game at the Kingdome and to get seats pretty close to the field without if costing an arm and a leg. So, I am unable to remember who they were playing, we had seats about 5 or 6 rows up from the field and right where the opposing teams bullpen area was. That is where the opposing teams pitcher was was warming up for the game. I do not even remember his name but I begin to yell at him.

Now when I heckle I rarely if at all use profanity. It is not clever and I do not think it is even funny. There is a time and a place for swears and at a public event with people and their kids around is not one of those places.(puts soapbox away) So I proceeded to tell the pitcher that perhaps his family was unhappy with the way he pitched and that my 80 yr old grandmother could do better. I also let him know that I thought Griffey Jr would have no trouble hitting a homerun or two off of him. It also had not occurred to me that he could hear me. I know that was silly of me but I swear I just figured that will all of the noise of the fans and the music and other players that my voice would blend and I was really just yelling for the amusement of my friends anyway.

So I continue to yell and then the pitcher just stops and turns and looks right at me while holding the baseball in his hand. I feel the people sitting on either side of me slide away and one may have muttered "you messed up now". I remember thinking he is going to throw that ball at me. This is really going to hurt. In the end he did not throw the ball. But the glare he gave me still haunts me. I also stopped heckling him and he went on to pitch his best game that season. I am pretty sure I cost the Mariners a win.

All of my rambling aside. While I may not like or enjoy basketball now it is fine with me if you do. So just leave me alone and let me follow the Portland Timbers.

RCTID!!!!

6-7-2010 (Monday)

Well I went to the Timbers game last night. It was a good game up to a point. The team looked good. The passing was strong and they seemed to actually be looking to attack and to force the other team to react to what the Timbers were doing offensively. That was the first half and part of the second half. The Timbers started the game running a 4-4-2 that isn't set in stone because one of the players. Alex Nimo by name is allowed the flexibility to roam pretty much where ever he want's to on the pitch. This works extraordinarily well for the Timbers. The game was still a 0-0 tie after the first half and after a very heavy rain shower during halftime the Timbers came out looking just as strong in the second half. The end result of the action was a Timbers goal by Ryan Pore off of a nice pass by Nimo to Bright Dike who then led Pore into to the open and Pore just basically slid it past the keeper into the corner.

At that point it seemed like the Timbers decided to close up shop and not attack anymore. Then a few minutes later they subbed Dike out and switched to a either 5-4-1 or a 4-5-1. I feel like that was a horrible, horrible mistake by the Timbers. They had the Carolina Railhawks on the ropes and they stopped punishing them. Had the Timbers continued attacking they could have score another 1 or 2 goals easily. But, they didn't they took their foot of of the accelerator and soon after the 90yh minute in stoppage time the Railhawks scored to end the game in a 1-1 draw. It was an absolutely terrible way to end a ball game.

I think it was a game that the Timbers gave away due to a very bad coaches decision. I am concerned about how the team looks so far this season and I really hope they can get it together enough to get into the playoffs. I would love to see them win the title before they move to the MLS next season. But, the way they look right now I am not sure if that is going to happen.

4-19-2010 (Monday)

My friends and I went to the Portland Timbers game this weekend. It was opening game for this season as well as the last opening day for the Timbers in this league. Because next season is their first season in Major League Soccer (MLS). It was a great opening day. My buddy Nick and I have season tickets and they are in the third row right on the 48 yard line. So it was a fun evening overall.

But what I wanted to address in today's post was the fans at the game. The Timbers have a pretty rabid fan base. The game was sold out with a little over 15K people now when the team starts MLS next season the stadium will have been renovated and should be holding closer to 30K I believe. I just hope that we can continue to fill it. I think that Portland as a city and the parts of Oregon that surround it can pull in those kind of numbers. I know there are some non-believers out there and that is fine. But to them I say we will not know until we try. So I think it is a good move on the part of the Timbers ownership as well as the Portland city council to go for this chance.

But the best part of the day for me was seeing my friend's Travis and Andrew and Nick and then playing "Hipster Slug" (Copyrighted) "I own that so none you trolls better steal it. If you do at least send the traffic my way please." So anyway I am sure most of you are familiar with slug bug. Well this is a variant of that. Now I realize that most large city's have a fair share of their own hipsters but I think Portland seems to attract a special sub-set of hipsters.



So I thought lets play that and promptly punched Nick when I saw one. Well that was fun but honestly after a very little bit. Between the punching of Nick and him punching me back and Travis having a good eye for hipsters and lets be honest in certain parts of Portland you can't throw a can of PBR without hitting a hipster and they seem particularly drawn to the Timbers games. Well my arm was getting sore and there never seemed to be an end to them. They just kept coming and coming. They were always there around every corner with their tattoos and their black rimmed glasses and their smoking. It was like a zombie movie except the zombies had been replaced by hipsters.

As the Timbers season progress's I will be giving you more updates about the season and I think I will begin tagging hipsters Marlin Perkins style. I think it will benefit all of us to keep track of their movements around Portland. At the very least it may benefit the numerous coffee roasters in the area.