I'm sick of the dark cloud hanging over soccer right now, from the U.S. Soccer situation to the terrible refereeing in Germany, so for the love of Star Jones getting fired I want to start this week with an enjoyable moment.
Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of taking the Prince of the Palace to his first pro sporting event, the Galaxy-Dynamo match at The Home Depot Center. Hey, four months old seems like the perfect age to me.
When we walked into the stadium, I stopped and let him look down at the field, around at all the lights, and into the stands to take in the sea of Galaxy yellow and the corner section filled with blue.
As I turned to walk towards our seats, it suddenly dawned on me.
Blue.
There were Brian Ching and Alejandro Moreno and all the other familiar faces warming up on the field ... wearing the orange of their new Houston Dynamo.
But there in one corner of The Home Depot Center was a sea of blue. I immediately bee-lined over to the section and sure enough, there were 200 San Jose Earthquakes (rest in peace) supporters cheering away like the news hadn't reached the Bay Area.
Man, most current MLS teams would kill for that kind of traveling support, but how about these supporters coming out who don't even have a team anymore? Outstanding.
Chatting with a few of the zealots about the prospects of getting another team elicited a response I would call cautious optimism. They are very well aware of the challenges, but hope that the Wolff group can find a way to make it work.
While the rest of the night witnessed a scoreless encounter and a painful halftime contest filmed as part of The Apprentice TV show on NBC, I was pretty excited to introduce the Prince to 200 real soccer fans.
THE NEWS: And then there were eight.
TCS SAYS: The World Cup quarterfinals have set up some fantastic matchups, huh? Germany-Argentina and Brazil-France need no introduction, to each other or otherwise. Eng-er-land clearly has dined on a steady diet of four-leaf clovers (is that what Brooklyn's dad was puking up?). Their pathetic performances constantly have led to victories, and now they get matched up against a Portugal side that will miss two of its top players through suspension, while injury problems persist for their skinnier version of Ronaldo. Unreal.
The Italy-Ukraine match could be a cracker. We know for sure we will get to see a lot of Italian guys flopping around like dead fish, and Ukraine fought off a tough Swiss side after getting through the first phase thanks to a weak group. Must be nice.
But unfortunately you can't talk about this World Cup without mentioning the referees, and that is a shame. In addition to the blown calls throughout the matches, their insistence on changing the outcomes of wonderful games is a complete shame.
If you missed the first half of Portugal-Holland, I am sorry, it was the best soccer of the tournament. If you saw the second half of the same match, I am also sorry, because it was a travesty. The chippy play was enabled by the referee's lack of ability to take control of the match, and a wonderful encounter became a farce.
And the misery has continued, for instance the phantom penalty call that knocked out the beloved Australians (yes, I know it was silly to slide, but the crime did not deserve that punishment).
But instead of jumping on the bandwagon of just complaining, I offer a thought. Is it not time to re-examine having two officials running the middle? I am never in favor of changing the game, but perhaps the pace of the game has just gotten to the point that it could be better looked after by two men on the pitch. One large reason is that a lack of fatigue might leave officials a little better positioned mentally to sort out what is happening in front of them and deal with things in a more constructive manner.
This World Cup has been rife with enterprising soccer, memorable showdowns and spectacular goals. It is a shame that if it ended today, it would be the referees that would be remembered most.
THE NEWS: All aboard the coaching carousel.
TCS SAYS: The move of Red Bull New York to replace Mo Johnston was no surprise, as I have been saying since the takeover that Mo's days were numbered. All that has changed since then is that there may be no jobs open for the time being for a coach that would be high on several lists. The Galaxy disposed of their Steve Sampson problem, and Real Salt Lake seems to have steadied the ship for now under John Ellinger, so Mo may have to sit back or look elsewhere for the time being.
Johnston's expected departure now opens the door for the rumors to start flying. And where else will they start than The Bruce? Obviously, chances are good he is made a scapegoat for what happened in Germany, right or wrong. I am on the record as blaming the players more than the coaching staff, but the vultures have been circling a bit and the new U.S. Soccer chief may want to put his own stamp on the program. Or, Arena after eight years just might want to try something else.
Would RBNY be able to entice Arena to come back to MLS with the right package and commitment? It remains to be seen, but it will be fun to see if they try.
So if The Bruce goes, then cue the Juergen Klinsmann rumors. While he came out in the media and rubbished the reports, make no mistake, if Arena goes, Klinsmann is a strong candidate to replace him. Klinsmann can't say anything but that when questioned while his team is on its fine World Cup run, and I do hear rumblings that U.S. Soccer and the fellow Southern California native might be on each other's radar screen.
During the season, The Clean Sheet runs each week on MLSnet. Views and opinions expressed in this column views and opinions are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com. Send any questions and comments to tcsresponses@yahoo.com.
