Henry to New York?, Gooch Forfeits Salary

I appreciate you bearing with me while I delved into some niche sports in that last post. Back to mainstream American sports for this one, and big news (possibly) coming out of MLS with reports that Thierry Henry has agreed a deal with New York Red Bulls. Shouts to fellow blogsters Bones and "Thunder" Dan for calling my attention to this one. The NY club has not released any offical statement regarding the deal, but it is being widely circulated on many media outlets. The World Cup-winning, European Championship-winning, two-time EPL-winning, 2-time La Liga-winning, and Champions' League-winning (to name just a few) Frenchman has long spoken of his love for the United States, particularly New York City, and his desire to play in the MLS when his days in Europe had finished. Henry has regularly visited the States in the past and one of his best friends is everyone's fourth favorite French NBA player behind Boris Diaw, Mickael Pietrus, and Rodrigue Beaubois. The answer is Tony Parker. The two are known to hang together quite a bit and Titi enjoys attending his games while on vacation. This is a story to keep our eyes on, and I just put the number for Red Bulls season tickets into my phone for quick reference.

Over in Italia, Oguchi Onyewu has agreed a unique deal with AC Milan (the very same AC Milan that has never lost a game when Scotty K was in the stands). The towering U.S. center back, who missed all but one game of this past season with a knee injury, asked Milan to extend his contract by one year, to the end of the 2012-13 season, and told them that he wants to play that last year for no salary. "Onyewu, who has been out for virtually the whole season due to injury, but who at this time is getting ready to face the World Cup adventure in South Africa with his national team, has become a star today with a significant gesture from a personal and professional standpoint. Onyewu has requested and obtained a contract extension from June 30, 2012 until June 30, 2013. With respect to that year, as was his wish, which has been appreciated by the club, Onyewu has asked not to receive any type of wages. This is an exemplary gesture that deserves our sincere congratulations," said the club.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Hambani Kahle, amigos.

Game 1 of Stanley Cup Finals to be Played Between Periods of Pee Wee Hockey Game

The NHL players currently battling out the Conference Finals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs have received an extra bit of incentive to go for glory.

Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the National Hockey League, announced yesterday that Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs would be held between the first and second periods of the regular season clash between the Davisville Hawks and the North City stars in the Pee Wee Division. "These grown men have worked hard all season," remarked a visibly excited Bettman. "They certainly deserve to play in front of a crowd for such a big game, and I'm sure the parents in the stands will be very polite and enthusiastic in their support."

Upon hearing this big news, the coaches and players from all four teams still in the running to showcase their talents at the 650 capacity Alan B. Wood Rink expressed their determination to earn a berth in that game. "Its gonna be really fun. I think it will give us a chance to show the people of the North City area what Stanley Cup hockey is all about," said San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton. When asked his opinion of the upcoming game, hockey dad Steve Anderson said he plans to use the intermission to get a coffee at the concession stand. "Sure, I'd love to see what these NHL players have to offer, but I'll be lucky just to be awake. These 4 AM games on Sunday are ridiculous."

Unfortunately, due to time constraints with the actual game being played and the need for the zamboni to clean the ice after Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Bettman confirmed that the game would be shortened to five minutes. Nonetheless, he urged the players to "just go out there, give it their all, and most importantly have fun." The NHL is still looking for a rink for Game 2. Last but certainly not least, the mornings events will not only appeal to hockey fans as the Pelham Figure Skating Club have confirmed that they will be performing during the second intermission.

Preliminary U.S. Squad Announced, Davies Misses Out

On Tuesday U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley announced a preliminary thirty-man roster for next month's (damn that sounds nice) World Cup. The squad, which will be trimmed down to twenty-three by FIFA's June 1 deadline, is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), José Torres (Pachuca)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla), Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessaloniki)

The MLS has only six representatives in the squad, with the bulk of the players coming from such international powerhouses as Örebro, Aarhus, and Aris Thessaloniki. This is in sharp contrast to the 2002 team that shocked the world by reaching the quarterfinals, which featured 12 MLS players, the squad four years ago that featured 11 MLS players. The fact that Bradley has cut these numbers in half even before the final cuts are made indicates a lack of trust in MLS and the players it produces. Our league may not be a match for the top few leagues in Europe now or perhaps ever, but nor are the Swedish or Danish leagues a match for La Liga and the English Premier League. A show of faith in MLS and exposing its players to the sport's biggest stage is the best way for the league to grow, and Bradley's selections speak loudly of a bias towards foreign-based players. In my mind he can only justify ignoring the MLS with results- round of sixteen at least if not the quarterfinals and beyond. I am not Bradley's biggest fan, and am convinced that after a needlessly shaky qualifying process his job was only saved last summer by an improbable (and somewhat flukish) second-place finish in the Confederations' Cup. Let's hope he has figured out what he's doing.

A quick word on the goalies. Brad Friedel, for my money the best American goalie around even at 38, is not in the pool, having retired from international soccer in 2005. Friedel has been a mainstay in the EPL for over a decade, and impressively holds the record for consecutive EPL games played- 226 (and counting). Even at his age he continues to excel consistently, and I find it frustrating that one of the three goalies in the squad is his backup at Aston Villa (and subsequently never plays in actual games.) The U.S'. strongest position by far is between the sticks, and even on paper we have a clear advantage there over most teams in the world, including England. Tim Howard, luckily, also happens to be one of the best GKs in England and barring injury will be the only goalie seeing action. Come on Timmy, get your shaved head ready for standing on!

Finally, the big news accompanying the squad announcement is that Charlie Davies has been left out. I think the whole country was rooting for him to recover in time from the car accident last year that killed a fellow passenger and left him with both bones in his right leg broken, an elbow fractured, facial injuries, and a lacerated bladder. He made a near-miraculous recovery to return to training with his club Sochaux in March, but failed to appear for the team again this season. Bradley has stated that it was a very hard decision to leave him out but that USMNT staff and Sochaux staff alike felt he wasn't ready for the tournament. I can imagine how hard that is for Charlie to take. I, along with millions of kids all over the world, have always dreamed of the chance to represent your nation in the World Cup and Davies was so close to realizing that dream. Here's hoping Charlie can continue to grow as a player and show the world what he can do in Brazil in 2014.

Fulham lost the Europa League Final in overtime 2-1 to Atletico Madrid. Despite the loss, Clint Dempsey came on in the 55th min, so Scotty K will be running around the streets of Methuen shirtless. Lock up your daughters and wives and sisters and mistresses and female cousins and female second cousins, people near New Hampshire.

Hambani Kahle, amigos.

Bring It On, England

Boy, what a week! Shortly after the World Cup Draw, yours truly was sitting planning my next blog entry when I was kidnapped by aliens. Don't believe me? It happened. I swear it on Cristiano Ronaldo's life. Anyways, I don't want to bore you with tales of my adventures through time and space with Zorglon, Master of the Seventeen Known Universes, just to apologize for missing my last deadline. Upon my return to your reality, I see that there are a mere 42 Standard Earth Days until Mexico and South Africa kick off the first game of the World Cup. Zorglon would have had some serious explaining to do if I had gotten back after the tournament, but for now he'll just have to deal with e-mails from my outraged fans.

So, on to the Draw. The U.S. was drawn into Group C with England (!), Slovenia, and Algeria, who we will play in that order. It may not be the easiest group, but it is by no means the hardest either. I for one could not be much happier with it, if only for the England matchup. The English are widely regarded as one of the best teams in the world, and there is no doubt they will present a tough challenge. However, I want to look past the hype surrounding them, past the marketing machine that has made Rooney, Gerrard, and Lampard household names around the world, and recognize that the U.S. can beat them. The English have the starpower, one of the best leagues in the world (also see Machine, marketing and Foreign, the best players in that league are), and an intimidation factor because of all this. They also have enormous pressure from their own media and fans and a history of underperforming on the big stage. This has been called a 'golden generation' of English players, yet they failed to even qualify for Euro 2008. They have problems in the locker room. John Terry was stripped of his captaincy this year for having an affair with an ex-teammates baby mama. Wayne Bridge, the ex-teammate, has said he will not go to South Africa. Everything the team does is and will be under intense scrutiny. The media circus surrounding the so-called WAGS is enough to disrupt any team trying to focus on making a serious Cup run. Throw in the fact that the world thinks we have no chance and therefore have nothing to lose, and England is going to be feeling the heat when the teams walk out onto the pitch on June 12. I can think of few teams I would rather beat in the World Cup than England and I think most soccer fans in this country would agree. We are winning the Cup series history 1-0, former colonies have in the past made a habit of beating their old rulers, and we won the Revolutionary War. Bring. It. On.

Slovenia and Algeria are less well known, and neither has ever burned down the White House, making bloodthirsty calls for revenge a little out of place. Both teams survived playoffs against favored opponents, Russia and Egypt repectively, showing grit and mental strength to do so. Russia was many people's dark horse candidate to make noise in the tournament after an impressive Euro 2008. Algeria won an extremely tense winner-takes-all match against two-time defending African champ Egypt in Sudan. The Algerian team claimed its bus was attacked before the game and several players were injured. Damn. That team is tough. Neither team will be pushovers for the U.S., but we are capable of getting at least a win and a draw against them if we play to our capability.

Outside Group C, Group G looks tasty, with Brazil, Portugal, Cote d'Ivoire, and North Korea set to face off. Brazil and Spain must be listed as early favorites, with Argentina, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and Portugal bracketed just under them, along with an admittedly struggling France that would be nonetheless unwise to write off. Go figure.

A month and a half 'til the World Cup. The European season is wrapping up, with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan set to contest the Champions' League Final. Fulham and Clint Dempsey, Cinderella 2010, will meet Atletico Madrid in the Europa League Final. Good luck to Dempsey, who by my five second research of my brain would be the first American to win a European cup should Fulham succeed. Scotty K will run naked through the streets of Methuen if that happens. The Premier League is looking down to the wire between Chelsea and Manchester United (please no four-peat), La Liga between Barcelona and Real Madrid, and France and Germany are still up for grabs. Arsenal is building titanium skeletons for its players so Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas can play soccer a lot next year. The Celtics head to Cleveland tomorrow for Game 1 of what should be a good (scary) series. I'll be keeping an eye on all that, and barring any unforeseen cosmic happenings I will be back shortly.

Hambani Kahle, amigos

Baseball is Back!

Baseball is back in Boston! Game 1 of 162 is a W for the Sox.  Despite the predictions of the Red Sox not being able to score a run all year, they beat the defending champs with an impressive offensive performance by putting up 9 runs on the vaunted Yankees. In their first game in Sox uniforms, the new guys on the roster delivered. Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro, and Mike Cameron all showed up big time, by getting hits, scoring runs and making plays in the field. Last night the Red Sox showed offensive and defensive efficiency by getting on the bags and dealing well with balls hit in play. There was some down side to the game as well, Josh Beckett had a rough outing, giving up a few HRs, which has been an issue with him in the past. With all this being said it was an amazing opening day game between the greatest rivals in all of sport.

The MLB Off-Season Vol. 1

It’s the most wonderful time of the year; a time when people from all around come together with one common goal. That goal is to make their baseball team better. Of course I’m talking about the MLB off-season. With the winter meetings coming to a close, we have already seen a good amount of movement throughout the league.

Of course the biggest deal seen this off-season so far is the 3-team 7-player trade between the Yanks, Tigers, and D-backs. The rich get richer by the Yankees acquiring 28-yr old CF Curtis Granderson, who is coming off his first All-Star season (30 HR/71RBI). This makes me sad because I used to like Curtis, and now I cannot. The Tigers get a handful of talent including, RP Phil Coke, RP Daniel Schlereth, prospect OF Austin Jackson, and most notably, skilled righty SP Max Scherzer. By giving up Scherzer and Schlereth, the Diamondbacks receive two young, seemingly solid starters in Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. Both of whom should do pretty well in the unpredictable NL west.

Another deal on the verge of completion (based on physical exams) is one that will send Red Sox 3B Mike Lowell to Texas in exchange for C/1B Max Ramirez. Assuming everything goes as planned and both players pass physicals, the Red Sox would have to eat $9M of the $12M Lowell is due this year. Despite only playing a total of 17 games in his career, this wouldn’t be the first time Ramirez is involved in a trade for a former all-star. He was previously traded for Bob Wickman and then Kenny Lofton two years later. With Lowell leaving town the Red Sox are in pursuit of 30-yr old 3B Adrian Beltre, who has not since lived up to his 2004 season with the Dodgers when he was 2nd in MVP voting. It appears that the only other competition for Beltre is the Seattle Mariners, who had him for the past five seasons. Now if the Sox can’t get Beltre it is a possibility that they would take another look into the option of trading for San Diego’s power hitting 1B Adrian Gonzalez.

Sticking with the Red Sox, (because I like them) they made some good, and funny, acquisitions in the past few days. The first of which is the signing of RP Ramon Ramirez, only reason this is funny is because the Sox already have a RP Ramon Ramirez. According to GM Theo Epstein the new RamRam is going as “The Deuce”, a quality nickname no doubt. I like the Deuce, either that or “Number 2”(in the voice of Dr. Evil) would work as well, so long as people don’t call him poop. The Sox also acquired RHP Boof Bonser. Bonser, who has spent the last four years on the Twins, was up on the shelf for all of last year while recovering from surgery to repair a slightly torn labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder. More importantly, throughout his entire career Boof Bonser has been a perennial star for The Fightin’ Funny Names*. The Sox got Bonser in a trade with Twins for a BLOG player TO BE NAMED LATER.



*The Fightin' Funny Names is a fantasy baseball team I make every year that combines all the players with funny names that I can find. Former Fightin' Funny Names include the likes of Yorvit Torrealba, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Hiram Bocachica.

Welcome to Just Kickin' It!, U.S. World Cup Draw Preview, and Some Bitching About FIFA

Sanibonani, welcome to Just Kickin’ It! I’m Pablo, and I am excited to join Blog To Be Named Later’s award-winning sportswriting team in the capacity of (one) soccer analyst. In the foreseeable future I will be writing mostly about next year’s World Cup, but also club soccer, other sports, and anything else I want to talk about. Today, we’re talking about the World Cup. Are you ready to Kick It?!

At the time of writing, there are only 190 days until the 2010 FIFA World Cup begins in Johannesburg, South Africa. Why yes, I do have a countdown on my phone’s wallpaper so that I see it about fifty times a day, thank you for asking. Also, as the Cup nears, beware of many future headlines about it “kicking off” and “the ball getting rolling.” I was going to try to make a superpun using both but in the end decided against it. Anyhow, the time to begin seriously considering the United States’ chances is now. After two years of qualifying encompassing hundreds of games, thousands of goals, and one Thierry Henry handball, the final field of thirty-two teams competing for glory has been set. The next important stage is the draw, which is held Friday.

Here’s how the draw works: the thirty-two teams are divided into four “Pots”. Each of the eight groups of four in the World Cup will contain one team from each Pot. The Pots are structured in such a way as to ensure that two teams from the same qualifying region cannot be drawn together in the group stage. The U.S., for example, will have to wait until the round of sixteen or later if it wants to beat down on Mexico again, like in 2002. European nations are the exception to this rule, since they have the most representatives in South Africa. No more than two European nations can be drawn into the same group. Without further ado, here are the Pots for the draw:

Pot 1- South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Argentina, England, Italy, Germany

Pot 2- Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A., Mexico, Honduras

Pot 3- Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

Pot 4- France, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Switzerland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia

Pot 1 has the seeded teams, the powerhouses of world football and the hosts South Africa. A recent controversy has been FIFA’s decision to base the seeded teams on October’s FIFA World Rankings, and not the current ones. Many feel this is in order to punish France for their controversial qualification at Ireland’s expense. FIFA have maintained that it was a purely sporting decision, and point out that the rankings would have changed due to November’s playoff matches. Competitive matches carry more weight than friendlies in the ranking system. So France and Portugal, for instance, would have gotten more points for their playoff victories than other countries like England, but only because England played well enough to qualify directly, without need for a playoff.

My gripe with the whole process is that the criteria of using October’s rankings was announced only days ago. It makes sense, but in the context of the whole World Cup, it looks as though FIFA are haphazardly making up rules as they go, which is absolutely not how a tournament of this magnitude should be run. It is reminiscent of the decision to seed the European playoffs, but only after it became evident that FIFA favorites and cash-flow-facilitating countries like France and Portugal could miss out on the fun. You can bet your ass that if FIFA had any way to ensure Cristiano Ronaldo’s pretty face would be plastered all over TV screens next summer, they would take full advantage. Still, FIFA and President Sepp Blatter’s stupidity is not new. After all, Blatter is the man who once suggested that women players dress in skimpier outfits to attract fans and raise the profile of their game. Seriously? You are one of the most powerful men in football, supposed to protect the game, not a fratboy thinking of ways to chillify the world.

FIFA and Blatter’s inadequacies aside, the U.S. has to start planning for June. Looking at the Pots, you have to say that we would love to be drawn with South Africa. As hosts they will undoubtedly get a massive boost from home support and home conditions, but they still look the weakest seeded team by a mile. Drawing South Africa will be a major boost for any of the nonseeded teams, but keep in mind that no African team can.

Pot 3 is tough. Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire, and Cameroon all boast top players who have been competing at the highest level in Europe for years, and Algeria showed excellent mental toughness to qualify after one of the closest, craziest finishes to a qualifying group ever, their bus getting stoned, and a one-match playoff with hated rivals Egypt. Nigeria, one of Africa’s most illustrious teams in terms of history, has good players but has in recent times fallen victim to a severe lack of organization affecting everyone from the coach up through their Football Association President. I pick Nigeria as the weakest African team in Pot 3. Remember that this World Cup is the first ever in Africa, and teams playing in their own continents enjoy a huge historical advantage. That will be a major storyline of this tournament, and I think that playing any African team will be extremely difficult, and I would also not be in the least bit surprised if an African team goes very deep into this tournament. But that’s another blog entry.

Of the three South American nations, Chile and Paraguay had very impressive qualifying campaigns in one of the toughest regions to get through. Uruguay survived a playoff with Costa Rica, and boasts several top players in Europe. Chile may suffer from a lack of experience in major tournaments, despite their excellent finish in qualifying. I would probably prefer to see them than either of the ‘Guays. Again though, there are no pushovers in this Pot, and the U.S. will definitely be seeing one of them.

Moving onto Pot 4, France and Portugal jump out as names to avoid. Denmark, Slovakia, and Slovenia won tough groups to qualify and have very talented players. They should be high on confidence come June. Slovenia upset Russia in a playoff, but it remains to be seen if they can maintain that level of performance. Greece likewise qualified via playoff, but they look one dimensional, and that one dimension is defense. Switzerland topped an easy qualifying group but still look weak. I want one of the latter three.

So, my ideal draw for the U.S. would be South Africa, Chile, and one of Slovenia, Greece, and Switzerland. If we are not in the hosts’ group, as we most likely will not be, Nigeria wouldn’t be too bad instead of Chile. I shudder to think of Brazil, Ghana, and France. Whoever we get, roll on Friday, let’s find out our opponents, and start preparing for them. I’ll be back next week to break down the U.S. group. Extra credit points for finding out what sanibonani means. Hambani kahle, amigos