Especially with me being a Gunner fan, I’m looking forward to this Arsenal/ManU game more than any other so far.  More than the AC Milan/Inter derby, more than Christano Ronaldo’s Madrid bow, more than any Champions League qualifying.  This is where we see what Arsenal is really made of this year.  There’s been a lot of grumbling and murmurs that Wenger has lost it at the Emirates, and won’t buy just because he doesn’t want to spend.  He’s set himself up to be either a genius or a madman…no middle ground.  They’ve had a very impressive start to this campaign in both the league, and in Europe.  This, however, will prove to be the stone over which the players with either prove themselves, or break themselves in the perceptions of everyone not a Gunner.  I can’t wait.

Speaking of Arsenal in Europe, I’m a bit flummoxed by this decision to charge Eduardo with simulation by UEFA.  I’ve seen the replays, and will definilty say that the referee got it wrong.  I don’t believe that was a penalty.  No argument there.  But to come out and openly call Eduardo a cheat is another thing, and that’s exactly what UEFA are doing by deciding to charge him.  I’m no cheat, but I’ve gone to ground without being touched in situations with goalkeepers because I didn’t want to 1) get hurt or 2) hurt the other guy.  And anyone who has seen Eduardo’s collision from two seasons ago where he broke his leg cannot blame him for avoiding contact in a head-to-head situation.

Here’s the replay:

Here’s Wenger’s thoughts on the topic (notice I didn’t need to use any words like “rant” or “furious” to introduce this!):

For anyone still not convinced, here’s Eduardo’s injury from the ‘o7/’08 season:

What do you think?

A lot of talk this past off season has been given over to how money is effecting the game.  Specifically, most of it has been aimed at the high-spending practices of Real Madrid and Manchester City and how they have inflated the prices for players.  While all of this is true, and up to the individual fan to decide if they believe it to be positive or negative, they have changed something that effects the land scape even more in my opinion.  This morning I did my regular check of the footy news of the day and took a count.  A full TEN, more than half, of the headlines on the biggest site I went to were about transfer talks, player speculation, and firings/hirings.  Now, I know this happens often where we get into this stuff.  It’s prevalent during the transfer windows and the off-season (which we’re just coming out of), so this is not a completely unexpected situation.  But it’s got a bit of a different flavor to it this year.  We’re a couple of weeks deep in the Premiere League season right now and all the biggest stories are about who’s coming, going, or staying.  The soap opera has taken it’s turn towards the increasingly campy scripts that happen when the show knows it’s dying.  The money is so big (and that’s just the declared money) that people are just as interested in how much is being spent on each player and who’s spending it as they are in the drama on the pitch.  Just a thought.

Over the past several weeks I have had the opportunity to see several important games in different locations.  For example, I saw the UEFA Cup championship in an Irish pub, I regularly watch games from the couch, and I sat in the seats for a DC United match.

Hands down the in person viewing of football is the best in my opinion.  The crowd energy and enthusiasm is awesome, even if you don’t care for the teams playing.  You can’t help route for the home team, and DC’s fans are rabidly loyal to their team.  If you wear an enemy jersey to a DC United match, you might get pushed around the crowd.  I look forward to seeing Chelsea vs AC Milan, and DC United vs Real Madrid this summer.

Watching the UEFA Cup title match in an Irish bar with friends comes in second in my book.  The energy was great, and the food was cheaper, but it was missing the fan unity.  There were equal fan split in the bar, which made the cheers and jeers more contentious.  Due to the timing of some international games, I will be seeing more games at the bar down the street after work, than running home and missing the first half.

Now home viewing of games are by and large the format that is the cheapest, and most comfortable.  Yet, all the energy and spirit of the game is gone.  I have fallen asleep during more games lately than I’ve finished.  The MLS games that start at 10:00 est. are starting to bug me, but I get why they are on so late.  I have my DVR scheduled to record all of the US Men’s games in South Africa next week, and I’m still hoping to run out to a bar to watch the game.

Well fans, how do you want to watch the beautiful game?

Okay, okay, I get it.  The relationship between David Beckham and the MLS is strained.  His ability to truly be an ambassador and a force behind growing momentum for soccer in this country is quite possibly irrevocably tainted.  It’s sad to see it end up this way for him, but it is what it is.

Beckham’s talents in the MLS are underused and under appreciated because he’s the kind of player who works to make those around him better.  The Galaxy splashed cash on one or two positions, and then stranded those players.  The only thing you need to know to see how David’s abilities work with those around him is to see how effective he and Landon were despite the meager supporting staff.  I don’t blame him for expressing a desire to stay at Milan.  David’s a competitor and hates losing.  I’m sure it grates at him, but I don’t necessarily believe that he wants out of the MLS just because the level is so bad.  I think it comes down to the same thing it’s always come down to for him…England.  He’s enjoying his time in the third major world league he’s been a part of, but more importantly it’s helping his England chances…it’s keeping him in the picture for playing in Africa next year.  If you ask me, club soccer has been what Beckham does between international fixtures pretty much since he left United.  He bled United the way he bleeds England.  Since that divorce, he’s been all about country.  AC Milan has given him new life in England.

I hope the MLS stays strong and doesn’t back down now that they’ve trapped themselves in this corner.  I didn’t agree with the setting of the deadline so soon; I think it was a bit of a ploy that backfired on them and it shows that they don’t know a whole lot about dealing in the international market, but now that they’re here I hope they stand strong.  Will they lose money when David opts out of his contract at the end of the season (which, make no mistake, he will)?  Yes.  Will this probably make international players who are still young enough to truly be impact players shy away from the league for a number of years to come?  Yes.  But hopefully time will bring with it a little more savy-ness in dealing in international waters and sooth some of those wounds, and to back down now will only bring disrespect in the future.  Already AC Milan has basically demonstrated that they have complete disdain for for the MLS and the Galaxy by saying that they think the deadline was just a tactic.  They’re basically ignoring what’s been coming from the MLS because they seem to believe that they’ll get what they want by virtue of being the bigger club.  Don’t back down.

And don’t think for an instant that David Beckham will come back here and give anything less than 100% in a Galaxy uniform. Beckham may have expressed his desire to leave and tarnished his image here a bit, but he’s a competitor and a professional…one of the few truly professional players who have sustained that level under the spotlight.  Don’t forget, he was a want-away midfielder at Madrid who had already signed a contract with the MLS when Capello dumped him not only from the bench, but from the squad for a while.  All he had to do was sit in the stands and collect until his MLS payday.  But he busted his ass to get back into the lineup for the end of the season.  He worked that hard for a team he was leaving and to prove to himself and his critics that he wasn’t done.  He’ll do the same here, and then he’ll opt out at the end of the season, and Milan will reimburse him for his fees to do so.  Bet on it.

Beckham is going to leave the MLS, I really don’t think there’s any way to avoid that, but he’s coming back here first (if the MLS sticks to his guns), and he’ll probably have the best year of his MLS career just to show everyone that his time here wasn’t a waste.

And here I come, crawling back like a puppy with his tail between his legs…

I know it’s been a seriously long time since I last posted.  I can only offer a few pitiful excuses involving moving half-way around the world and taking a new teaching job, but in the end they’re still just excuses.  I’ve missed you all.

Just because I’ve been horribly busy doesn’t mean I’m that far out of the loop though.  I’ve been keeping up as best as I can and there are definitely a few things happening that are worthy of my glorious return to the blog-o-sphere.

First, and in my opinion most exciting, is the return of Andriy Shevchenko to A.C. Milan.  I was not a huge fan of his move to Chelsea in the first place, and mourned his dip in form as the aforementioned London club sucked the soul out of one of the truly skilled and class players of our lifetime.  I don’t know why he made the move in the first place, and I’m not going to go into that kind of speculation, but the Blues were obviously not the place for him.  Was it the club or the English game?  I think it was the club…others might argue otherwise.  I hope that Sheva can return to pre-Chelsea form, and I suspect that if he can the Rossoneri’s other players will follow suit and they will be an extremely dangerous team this campaign.

The other interesting piece of news that I’ve been following the past few days is the LA Galaxy’s swoop on Bruce Arena after having fired Alexi Lalas and Ruud Gullit having left the squad mid-season.  Arena is a coach that I have gone back and forth on over the past 10 years or so as he lead DC United, the USMNT, and the NY Red Bulls.  At times he seems like the strong figure a team, and certain players, have needed to draw the best out of them.  At his worst he has been overly conservative and predictable.  Given the strange composition of the Galaxy squad to start with I think Arena’s tenure will probably get off to a bit of a rocky start until he’s able to get more of the defensive players he wants.  He made, in my opinion, a great move getting rid of Carlos Ruiz for more defensive help.  If Arena can’t get that squad into some form of defensive discipline, maybe it’s time to think about ditching some of the stars and re-building from the ground.

As far as the US/Barbados World Cup qualifier yesterday, I’m not usually one to say “I told you so” but in this case I will anyway.  Giving the Barbadians a thorough display of our soccer superiority when it was obviously uncalled for not only gave us the completely wrong mindset going into yesterday’s game, it also gave them fuel for the fire.  I also called the fact that even an out of position, under funded (skill wise) side of American second-stringers could have taken out Barbados in the first leg.  I think most of the American soccer community will just kind of brush this series under the rug and pretend like it didn’t happen…

PS – I know it’s a complete travesty that we haven’t had anything up about the Euro…unforgivable.  The person who was supposed to keep up with the Euro hasn’t been able to get an account created through WordPress due to a glitch, but we’re working on it.  I will add that yesterday’s Spain/Italy quarterfinal was probably one of the best 0-0 draws I’ve ever seen, and Spain deserved that game the whole way.  I called Spain to win the tourney before it began (really!), and I’m proudly sticking to that prediction now.  Congrats to the Spanish youngsters for shaking off the weight of history that wasn’t even theirs and taking down an Italian side obviously intent on dragging the game out in hopes of stealing it in the end.

PS – Luca Toni proved to me again that he is one of the most overrated and useless forwards in the international game.  The only thing he seems to be good for is being tall and standing there while other Italian players try to bounce the ball off him into the net.

18.3 – A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional must inform the player’s current club in writing before entering into negotiations with him. A professional shall only be free to conclude a contract with another club if his contract with his present club has expired or is due to expire within six months. Any breach of this provision shall be subject to appropriate sanctions.

I think it should be said, first and foremost, that I am not a Cristiano Ronaldo fan. I have my reasons, and say what you will, but I remain unconvinced over a lot of things about this guy. Neither am I a Manchester United fan. Again, I have my reasons. But I’m intrigued, and a bit nauseated, over this business between the two mentioned parties and Real Madrid. According to the wording above, Madrid have done nothing technically wrong, that we know of, and United’s reporting of Madrid can only be out of indignation over Madrid’s media courting of the young winger.

Now, I don’t want to hear about United’s “past” dealings or any of that. I’m not here to look at that, I’m here to talk about the situation at hand.

The situation as I see it is this: Madrid have done nothing wrong according to the rules, but what they have done is rather despicable. To continue to use the media as a conduit to players in this way so that you can test the waters and yet keep your hands clean is as bad as if you had just outright approached the player. I don’t like it. It’s yet another way that larger clubs, who get more media attention, can undermine smaller clubs to get players that they want. Madrid have always been more in the business of buying players than playing football if you ask me (as have United and Chelsea for that matter), and this unsubtle approach is better left out of the game.

Ronaldo has complicated matters, of course, but saying he would like to play for Madrid. It burns my blood to see this rampant disloyalty to clubs who have nurtured young players. Cesc Fabregas has had interest from all over the world, but he’s stuck with Arsene Wenger because he knows that he owes Arsenal something still. There comes a time when players need to move on despite a history with the club, as David Beckham did when he moved to Madrid from Manchester, but this reeks of disloyalty from Ronaldo.

And I had just gained back a little respect for him after not having to watch him spend all season diving on the ground…