Basque to the Future

I live within shouting distance of Highbury, the historic home of Arsenal FC, until they moved to a new stadium at Ashburton Grove two years ago.

With the wind in the right direction I used to hear the roars from the old arena wafting through my window. I have also heard Bob Dylan amongst others, as Finsbury Park is a summer concert venue.

But the new Arsenal arena is half a mile further away and out of earshot. It is also out of mind, with the old Highbury street traders vanished, a corporate sponsor name which might not be here in a few years (so I refuse to give it publicity), a silly-looking club crest after they ditched the historic badge and a members-only entry to a 60,000-seat stadium. The public or visitors do not get a look in, even for pre-season friendlies.

Today Arsenal played Juventus at home (0-1) and tomorrow tackle Real Madrid but the tickets disappeared into members' hands long ago, leaving locals like me clutching at straws. 'Let's all go and watch Arsenal one night', a French friend of mine enthusiastically suggested recently. 'We can't, they don't sell tickets to the public', I sadly replied.

Adding insult to injury, Arsenal bullied the local council into approving their planning application by threatening to leave the locality. In the end, the Gunners finagled a deal which absolved them of any contribution to improving the transportation to their new home.

Local train and tube stations are closed when Arsenal play for fear of overcrowding, inconveniencing non-fans immensely. Stuff Arsenal, they don't care about their neighbourhood anymore and their corporate fans are mostly from elsewhere, too.

So instead, today I crossed town to watch Charlton tackle Athletic Bilbao. In the patchwork of world soccer in 2008, with free movement throughout the European Union and globalisation in full effect across the world, this club still recruits players from the seven provinces of the Basque country and from nowhere else.

Coming from the world's most globalized city my reflex is to call this racist, but culturalism is far too complex to revert to lazy dismissals like that. The Basques are the oldest inhabitants of Europe and speak a non-European language, but remain stateless, despite the activities of the continent's most active paramilitaries, ETA.

According to a poll in the 1990s, 76% of their fans approved of Athletic's hiring policy. We had a similar thing in English cricket until a few years ago, with a county (Yorkshire) reknowned for its regional pride insisting only men born within its boundaries could play for it.

Bilbao won the game 1-0 but won no new fans, harassing the referee until he lost his patience and sent one of them off, while pushing, shoving and fouling their hosts in a completely inappropriate approach to a friendly. It almost seemed like petulance is inbred in a Basque-only eleven.

More interesting to me was learning they are the only club apart from Barcelona and Real Madrid to have never been relegated from La Liga, play in Spain's oldest stadium and allegedly borrowed their red and white stripes from commercial links with the docks of Sunderland and Southampton.

That's not as good as the tale of Boca Juniors choosing their colours from whatever ship would sail next into Buenos Aires harbour - a Swedish one as it happened, hence the blue and yellow uniform.

As chance would have it, both Arsenal and Juventus play in copied colours, too, and both with a Robin Hood connection.

Juve borrowed their colours from England's oldest club, Notts County, while Arsenal wear red because two of their players asked their former team Nottingham Forest to send them some shirts in 1886.

Taking the connection further, said shirts were crimson red like Forest's (remember Arsenal's one season in burgundy recently?), because Forest, formed in 1865, had chosen 'Garibaldi Red' in homage to the followers of the great Italian revolutionary.

- Sean O'Conor

"These are the days of our lives"

The Michael Bradley transfer serial continues...

According to German daily Hamburger Abendblatt, HSV exec Dietmar Beiersdorfer will be at the Summer Olympics in China to keep tabs on both the U.S. midfielder and Boca Juniors left back Luciano Monzon.

As the story goes, Hamburg first filed a Bradley enquiry with Heerenveen several months ago (a birdie of mine claims this was in November of last year) and were told then that the asking price was €3.5 million.

As I wrote yesterday, there has been a great deal of somewhat unsubstantiated reportage and fan speculation on how much Mikey would cost his new club. Considering the general time line, the increase in the number of teams interested and Heerenveen's impressive poker guts, my Guess-timate-r 3000 (named after André Benjamin) places the current going rate in the €5-6 million neighborhood.

Many people assume that a player heading into the last year of his contract would come with a discount, and normally they'd be right. However, Bradley is 21 and coming off of the fourth highest scoring season for an Eredivisie midfielder over the last decade (15, Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Denny Landzaat, in case you're wondering). Most importantly, though, he has competition for his services. The market has license and it drives.

Also bear in mind that the Abendblatt article's main point is to say Piotr Trochowski will be handed the attack keys should Rafael van der Vaart leave for Real Madrid (I will post on this very topic tomorrow). In other words, Bradley would not be viewed as a direct #10 replacement like many stateside observers have imagined - nor should he be, that's not his game.

I'll see if I can reach Beiersdorfer (one of the real good guys in European soccer) on Monday, and with any luck, will report back over at Soccer365. I have no idea if this German article is on the nose, but I wouldn't go ordering your own HSV BRADLEY shirt just yet even if it is.

Frankly, I stopped presuming I had the ability to follow this situation six months ago. I'm half ready to believe he'll end up with a team not among the dozen already outed as admirers a la Danny Szetela to Racing Santander.

What I do know for sure is that I could punch a unicorn in the eye right now if it got me two Laugenkäsestange from that bakery across from the Sternschanze station in Hamburg. You know the one, right near the Millerntor.

UPDATE: My Beiersdorfer triangulation efforts failed Monday. We try, try again...

- Greg Seltzer

(Photo: FeanFans.nl)

A few things...

#1 - Cut of the Day is on the fritz and my tech guru is away for a couple of days. Of course, I say "tech guru" as if this was some tricky IT dilemma because apparently the simplest computer task is beyond me.

Or the media player hates Joe Jackson, which I highly doubt.

#2 - I'm going to be a complete numskull and publicly predict today's MLS scores. This won't be a regular thing, mind you, but today just seems like the day for numskullery.

K.C. at United

D.C. has a crocked defense and is struggling at home. Meanwhile, the Wizards are trying their best to fully snap out of a prolonged snooze. It'll get better for both, but not all at once - 2-2 draw.

Chivas USA at Chicago

The Goats are bound to be rusty and are for the moment uncertain in goal. Sure, Ante Razov may well score again, but this has been a big week for the Fire - Chicago 2-1.

The Crew at Houston

The Dynamo are shorthanded at the moment, while Columbus seem to be rebounding nicely from a poor West Ham show. No, I'm not drunk - the visitors edge it out 1-0.

#3 - What are you doing here? It's Saturday. Go play soccer.

- Greg Seltzer

Salute McBride, the Fulhamerican idol

Last time I rang Craven Cottage an American voice answered the phone. Now this is getting ridiculous, I thought.

Fulham has had America in the blood the past few years, it seemed. A Kasey Keller clearance from the first Virginian trees planted in England and the resting place of the log of the Mayflower at Fulham Palace, the Yanks had set down serious soccer roots.

First there was Eddie Lewis & Marcus Hahnemann, then came Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey, Kasey Keller and most recently Eddie Johnson donning the black and white of Fulham FC. The club also made efforts to sign Claudio Reyna, Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit, from what we are told.

I actually once asked their Chief Press Officer a simple question, which floored her: "Why is Chris Coleman signing so many Americans?"

But Fulhamerica is now crumbling away. Bocanegra, Keller and McBride have left the Cottage for the last time and the current coach Roy Hodgson has more of a continental bias, having coached in seven different European countries, as well as the United Arab Emirates, before coming to the rescue of the Championship-bound West Londoners late last season. I wonder how many American voices in the crowd I will hear this season now only two Yanks remain.

Of all the nationalities at the Cottage, only the USA got its flag on official club merchandise and had a special gameday allocated to it by the club. Fulham's commercial team had told me they had intended to make Fulham 'The American club of London', so if the Yanks are really fading into the background at last, let us at least toast a wonderful conceit while it lasted.

The EPL's loss is MLS' gain however when it comes to Mr. McBride, eight years after England first got a sniff of his striking prowess. Preston North End, the first ever English champions and home of the great Tom Finney (one of the England stars humiliated in 1950 by the US in Belo Horizonte), was McBride's first port of call in 2000 under David Moyes, before he returned to play for the Gollum-lookalike at Everton two years later.

Four goals in eight games for the Toffees was followed by 32 in 139 for Fulham over four seasons starting in 2004. McBride was twice Fulham's player of the season, was named club captain in his final one, and was ubiquitously respected as a model professional, but I would rate his greatest achievement as having flown the flag for US Soccer in the game's top league for so long. Apart from during John Harkes' career a decade earlier, no American soccer player's name has sprung so readily to English lips as Brian McBride's.

Having watched him in the flesh many times for Columbus, I felt sure his aerial prowess would see him prosper in England, and it did, but what also struck me seeing him play for Fulham was how expert he was on the deck. Every flick, lay-off and trap McBride performed was pretty much textbook, no mean achievement with the fast feet and heavy cleats of the Premier League defenses snapping at your heels.

McBride was also brave too, let us not forget. Soaring to score he took many a punch, headbutt or joint full on in the face. Remember him scoring as he dislocated his kneecap last season, or his bloodied face at the 2006 World Cup after Italy's Daniele De Rossi had cynically elbowed him.

It seems he has been around forever, so how wonderful to see him agree to play for the Chicago Fire in MLS as well as the US Olympic team this month. Having grown up in Arlington Heights, IL, in the same town as Jonathan Spector, joining the Fire to end his career makes perfect sense for McBride. Crew fans will perhaps remember him most fondly however. As their talisman over eight years, he netted 62 times in 161 appearances.

My favorite McBride memory however, was him diving to put the US 3-0 up against Portugal in Suwon at World Cup 2002. His faked lurch towards the near post threw the Portuguese defender Fernando Couto a delicious dummy, allowing himself clear air to fly in and head Tony Sanneh's cross past a despairing Vitor Baia, a move he and Sanneh had performed '1000 times' while at the Milwaukee Rampage years earlier. I was privileged to be standing directly in line with McBride when he finished off that flowing move, only yards away from his memorable celebration of a then unbelievable scoreline.

When it came to Germany four years later, I made sure it was not forgotten by printing up some pins of the goal with the caption 'Remember Suwon'. Please join me in toasting this consummate pro and American hero as he embarks upon his Indian summer. Set your alarm clocks next Weds/Thu for the US Olympic team's opening clash with Japan. And here's to many more Bake days in MLS.

-Sean O'Conor

Juan Carlos Steaua

The little speculation snowball that could has finally rolled all the way down to the bottom of the hill and is now a full-blown transfer: Juan Carlos Toja is officially set to join Champions League entrants Steaua Bucharest. Yep, that's right... the erstwhile FC Dallas midfielder will now play his ball in the Frutti Fresh League, which has already opened for 2008/09 business (Steaua dropped their opener 1-0 at Vaslui on Wednesday).

And what kind of prospects do the 1986 European Cup champs in the Champions League this year? Anything is possible. I'd say that, as is, they look a fair bit better on paper than the 2005/06 squad that missed out on the UEFA Cup final by the hair on their chinny-chin-73rd minute Chris Riggott goal.

If they can manage to hang to Romania stalwarts Dorin Goian and Mirel Rădoi, each of whom is being courted by Premiership and Serie A clubs, the defensive core of the team should be in great shape. The midfield players that would support Toja (assuming he works in central midfield) are quick and talented. If 20-year old wonderboy Bogdan Stancu can burst onto the scene, the Colombian recruit would have two exciting strikers to combine with - the other being compatriot Dayro Moreno.



Naturally, Pizza Hut Park regulars will be much more concerned with how this affects their team. The departure of Toja probably makes it easier to sign impressive recent trialist Victor Sikora and allows more playing time for exciting rookie Eric Avila. The Hoops issued a stern Kenny Cooper hands off, and even if they sign Sikora, would still retain a free international slot.

New coach Schellas Hyndman seems to have grasped the reins firmly. He dealt away Arturo Alvarez, told off a $4 million Cooper payday without a flinch and did not hesitate to snap up former SMU charge Bruno Garda. I'm not sure if this is all going to boost them over the MLS playoff race fence or not, but I do know one thing...

I love this guy. I love this guy like undercover officer Cody Nicholson loved Clarence Worley.

I'd imagine FC Dallas fans are a bit excited, if not also quite nervous in the aftermath of the last two weeks, to see how the rest of their season will unfold. They have 1) said goodbye to a sparkplug that notched 43 regular season appearances, eight goals, two All-Star nods and one honorary Wig Night & 2) said hello to another rebuild.

Oh, Juan Carlos' hair... I think I'll miss you the most.

- Greg Seltzer

You haven't lived until you've seen my fellow St. Louis boy Bobby Rhine como Toja.

Apparently, Bill Belichek coached China at the 2007 Women's World Cup

With Olympic soccer just around the corner, it's about time to ramp up the international intrigue a few tasty notches. Right on cue, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl arrives with the deliciously laughable (or is it laughably delicious?) story of China spy missions to gain the tactics of WWC opening opponent Denmark before the game last year.


Though the two-way mirror trick might have helped them top the Dane dames 3-2 on an 88th minute winner, the hosts meekly bowed out in the quarters to Norway, who may or may not be vampiresses. I do know they're quite pale.

Either way, by my calculation China owes the St. Louis Rams one 2002 Vince Lombardi Trophy.

- Greg Seltzer

Go ahead... tell me who's the coolest.

Two words: Ajax. Amsterdam.





- Greg Seltzer

UEFA Draws For Americans Abroad

UEFA has pulled the bouncing ping pong balls (or whatever method they use) to set up the final qualifying rounds for the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, with several Americans set to take part.

Let's begin with a look at the Champions League...

Standard Liège backline monster Oguchi Onyewu and the rest of the Belgian champs are going to mightily challenged in a home-and-home series with five-time champs Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Rangers will be forced to get past Danny Califf's former club, Danish holders Aalborg BK, with the injured DaMarcus Beasley... that is, provided they don't blow the second leg against Lithuanian mites Kaunus.

Of the match-ups not featuring a USMNT star, I am most eager to see Atlético Madrid square off against Schalke. Both clubs have been busy beavers in the summer transfer game, and new Atlético man Johnny Heitinga is one of my favorite players for his blood and guts style.

Over in the UEFA Cup, dynamic Aston Villa monster American netminder Brad duo Friedel and Guzan (who received his UK work permit today) will get to see something most of us never will: the stadium of Icelandic entrants Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (or FH to... well pretty much everyone ever).

Califf's new club, FC Midtjylland, will face off against Manchester City, while fresh Rennes blood Carlos Bocanegra will run up against Norway's Stabæk.

Ryan Guy and Irish outfit St. Pat's have been matched up against Swedish side Elfsborg.

Hertha Berlin midfielder Bryan Arguez (who, say German reports, now has or recently had a foot in the doghouse) will hope to see action against Slovenian foe IB Ljubljana.

And by the way, if you're wondering about FC Dallas transfer topics: Kenny Coooper missed out on a duel with Djurgårdens when MLS nixed his move to Rosenborg, while Steaua Bucharest target Juan Carlos Toja still may be in uniform when the Romanian power tackles mighty Turkish side Galatasaray.

The full Champions League and UEFA Cup draws.

- Greg Seltzer


Chivas USA communications coordinator David Lindholm just gave me the heads up on a Grad Guzan tribute video they put together. Enjoy.




Ryan Guy's UEFA Cup qualifying first leg winner vs. JFK Olimps

More happy birthdays!

Due to my internet being out, I was unable to post a bonus double happy birthday to co-conspirator Sean O'Conor and NSC pal Michael Bradley on time. Each celebrated another year on our beautiful rock yesterday, and of course, now share July 31st birthdays with NSC.

The Heerenveen midfielder, currently busy preparing for the Olympics with his U.S. teammates, turned the magic 21. I won't tell you how old Sean is, but I can assure you he is also of legal U.S. drinking age.



Mike's belated birthday present could well come after he returns from China in the form of a multi-million dollar transfer... sadly, Sean will not have quite so much spent on him this year.

Bradley's transfer saga has been very difficult to follow, even for people with good sources whispering. There has been so much unconfirmed information in papers (from no less than six countries, mind you) on teams interested, the asking price, bid amounts, etc. that much of it conflicts. We all simply have no solid clue what to think.

People often ask me where he's going and how much the transfer will be, but despite knowing practically every Heerenveen employee and the sport director of three reported suitors, I really don't have a good answer. Both Bradley and his agent are always tight-lipped on these matters, so I really don't ask them about it anymore.

For those keeping score, Mickey is or was at some time in the last 8-9 months being courted by (deep breath) Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Moenchengladbach and Hamburg in Germany... Blackburn, Everton and Middlesbrough in England... Monaco in France and Celtic in Scotland. And that's just the teams we're certain of; we've also heard his name linked to the likes of Ajax and Newcastle.

The asking price has been reported as anywhere from $6.75 million to upwards of $15 million. The reported bids have ranged from $6.75 million (Leverkusen) up to about $13 million (Monaco). There has also been some talk of Heerenveen holding on to their reigning top Eredivisie scorer.

The truth of the matter is that this is not a simple case of X amount of teams divided by Y player with Z skills and one year left on his contract = this team for that figure. There are a myriad of factors at play, including the eventual shake out for a number of other transfers involving clubs in the Bradley race.

There is also his time spent as a U.S. Olympian, which surely puts a pause on the proceedings. With that comes the idea that his stock could rise or fall depending on his showing at the Games, but that probably won't be a terribly big factor unless he goes nuts and the we win Gold with him as MVP.

The more prevalent effect from his China sojourn is that some suitors will turn focus to other targets in the meantime, such as Everton has done with Sporting Lisbon's João Moutinho and Monaco with Alejandro Alonso of Bordeaux.

So what do I think will happen in the end? Well... if you absolutely insist on a guess-timate, I'll predict that Bradley will eventually join Everton for approximately what Villarreal paid for Jozy Altidore ($10 million and change), if perhaps not a shade more. Moutinho just flat costs too much and the Toffees have several spots to fill if they intend on challenging the Prem big four.

Really though, I just hope Mike is happy with the result of all this hullabaloo. I like him as a player and as a person. He's a tough, confident kid with lots of heart and passion for the game. Of course, he is the son of U.S. coach Bob Bradley, so you know he's also a student of the game. He even has the guts and acumen to conduct interviews in Dutch. Plus, he's probably even more competitive than dear ol' dad (a ka the Artist formerly known as Icy Grimace).

Oh yeah, almost forgot... I predict Sean will sign with Accrington Stanley.

- Greg Seltzer

(Bradley photo courtesy of FeanFans.nl)

Enjoy a Dutch-engineered Michael Bradley video tribute.

Super Mega Awesome Happy Fun Time

No, this isn't a post about some wacky new Japanese game show that featured an appearance by Ade Akinbiyi. It's a post about me finally getting my interwebs back after 15 hours of frustration. For a moment there, I was starting to think that indicted Alaska senator Ted Stevens had smashed all the tubes out of childish anger - his favorite emotion.


Ted Stevens Pleads Not Guilty (AP)

Ted Stevens and his 'Series of tubes'

And naturally, the requisite Daily Show clip...



- Greg Seltzer

Last Orders in England's silly season

Slàinte! (Cheers!)

Forgive me if I sound worse for wear but I am celebrating the launch of ‘No Short Corners’ as well as my own birthday today. I am also toasting the end of the silly season here in the home of football, as EPL clubs start actualizing or tearing up those summer transfer rumors, reveal their hideous new uniforms and prove how rusty they are in pre-season friendlies before the real tests begin on August 16th.

Tottenham Hotspur have hogged what constitute the headlines at the height of the recess, after bagging the silky Croatian playmaker Luca Modric, Mexican maestro Giovanni dos Santos and David Beckham's future England replacement David Bentley, while appearing on the brink of signing one or both of Russia's dynamic duo of Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin, who shone brightly at Euro 2008.

To compensate for this spending spree during the credit crunch, Spurs look certain to sell Bulgarian goal-machine Dimitar Berbatov, and have already offloaded Finnish midfielder Teemu Tainio to Sunderland, erratic England goalie Paul Robinson to Blackburn, and this week to Liverpool, the enigmatic ex-Inter striker Robbie Keane, surely the most curious Irish presence in Serie A since Juventus signed Ronnie O'Brien, now of the San Jose Earthquakes.

Will this be Spurs' year then? I doubt it, not because they are still atoning for flying a Nazi flag over White Hart Lane in 1935 (Germany were playing England there), nor because they have failed to become champions of England for the past 47 years, but because Juande Ramos is in charge. A fine manager the Spaniard certainly is, as Tottenham's League Cup victory over Chelsea earlier this year and his classy summer signings would appear to confirm. But I do wonder about a foreign coach who comes to England and orders his men to "lose control" after winning a big match.

Being Anglo-Irish, I am well aware of the role 'de drink' plays in people's lives, let alone in football, but in recent years alcohol has been on the wane in the game over here, as the trickle of foreign players and coaches became a huge torrent of common sense to ensure that professionalism and heavy drinking do not mix. The days of George Best stumbling in hung-over to training seem long ago, although one Premier League player did admit to me he once arrived in the morning without having gone to bed the night before.

Milling around outside Reading FC's stadium with a window into the players' bar, I can confirm Marcus Hahnemann downs nothing stronger than a mineral water after every game, while the only booze in Watford or Charlton's players' lounge I have seen was in the hands of hangers-on like me. A close friend of mine swears he saw a well-known England captain of the 1980s, who went on to coach two Premier League outfits, throwing up into a toilet bowl in a night club, but other accounts of sozzled soccer stars in England are better documented.

Legendary coach Brian Clough ordered his Nottingham Forest team (including current Aston Villa coach Martin O'Neill) to clear a huge table of drinks the night before a cup final in 1979, Manchester United & Eire legend Paul McGrath admitted to playing (sometimes well) while actually drunk, and Paul Gascoigne wrecked his chances of playing in World Cup 1998 by drinking beer at nine in the morning during England camp, a trick he repeated when MLS cancelled his trial with DC United four years later after he was spotted leaving Washington's Capitol Lounge with a bottle of vodka in each pocket.

So why did not Ramos tell his team to have a nice quiet meal with the wife and kids and get a good night's sleep instead? It almost sounded as if he had heard so much about his adopted nation's ale house heritage he was trying just too hard to fit in and do as the Romans do.

He is not the only one. National Team coach Fabio Capello has just agreed to be escorted by a TV crew as he visits an English hostelry, presumably to further cross-cultural understanding...One wonders what positive conclusions, if any, the former Milan coach will draw from his night in a local. Sure, our pubs remain our most historic builidings after our churches, but despite a ban on smoking, they do not have the savoir-faire of the Parisian terrasse or the intellectual fervor of the Viennese kaffee-haus, Fabio. What passes for conversation in pubs is 99% hot air, or to be more precise, steam being let off.

The only benefit for Capello in visiting a boozer is to hear fans' blunt thoughts about the players they watch week-in, week-out, the sort of real-life resumé a player's agent or Pro-Zone would never put on the table. The more I hear about Capello the more I wonder how much he understands England at all. After appealing for better technique and possession football from his players, he then said before the USA game in May that they needed to show more 'rabbia' - aggression or rage, which would seem to be the opposite style of play, and one which England have flogged for far too long.

So if the players turn to drink under their confused Italian director, can you blame them? While Spain's sangria nights might approach English pub crawls in their levels of hedonism, Italy has no drinking culture to compare. My memories living in Italy is of inebriation being frowned upon in the land of 'la bella figura' and of alcoholism almost deemed to be on a par with child-abuse.

Capello's last-but-one predecessor Sven-Goran Eriksson admitted learning a new word while he lived in London - 'session', after he realized to his surprise that many footballers were going out at night and having more than one beer (!) :

"If you play for England you don't need to drink wine or beer with your meals," said the sober Swede. "We are together to play football, not for anything else."

And I'll drink to that.

-Sean O'Conor

Top 5 MLS Spines

Check any champion from any championship from any year and you are bound to find that an axis of reliable talent worked the middle of the pitch from goal to goal.

It may be easier to spot a hero or a goat on the flanks, where time and space are more widely available, but I say the solidity of a club's title chances are directly tied to the strength of its spine.

Netminder. Central defense. Midfield stopper. Traffic director. Playmaker. Finisher.

Just ask Spain, who rode Casillas/Puyol/Marchena/Xavi/Fabregas/Villa to Euro 2008 glory after decades of frustration.

I've always found spine talk to be a woefully underused facet of soccer analysis. As a piece of sports lingo, it ranks up there with the best from any sport. To me, the term is every bit as meaningful and evocative as "cleanup hitter" or "in the paint".

As we are already to the IN portion of the MLS scorecard, I thought it would a fine time to rate the title contenders by checking their backbones. It's just a shame my top two will almost certainly not meet in the championship final.

Before unveiling the list, I must give a quick and hearty nod to Real Salt Lake (Rimando, Olave, Borchers, Beckerman, Morales, Findley), who were a very close #6 and would be a good bet to instantly jump a spot or two if Mexico target master Jared Borgetti does come aboard... or if they continue winning as is, whichever comes first.

And without further ado...

#5 - Columbus Crew (Hesmer, Marshall, Ekpo, Schelotto, Moreno)

Solid up the middle, the Crew have unearthed perhaps the league find of the season in Nigeria prodigy Emmanuel Ekpo, who brings them a new and exciting two-way gear. And yet, unlike the top four in this list, they would "come down with Scoliosis" if a certain piece went missing for any appreciable length of time. Set-up wizard Guillermo Barros Schelotto not only holds the key to the Crew's engine, he turns them from charming also-rans into a team nobody would want to play in a title one-off.

#4 - D.C. United (Wells, Martinez, Simms, Gallardo, Emilio)

After a slow start, the capital city bunch have straightened their posture. Although Marcelo Gallardo and Ben Olsen have missed out plenty due to injuries, coach Tom Soehn's anger management regimen of five wins, a draw and 18 goals in their last seven league games has cooled off what was turning into a hot situation at RFK. Sure, they stunk up SuperLiga, but that's irrelevant. The reason they are a slippery #4 on this list, despite the veteran pedigree, is an enduring spell of shaky spine play at the back. Of course, that works both ways because, aside from the scorching hot Luciano Emilio, they do have the ability to play better than they have so far this season.

#3 - Houston Dynamo (Onstad, Boswell, Robinson, Clark, De Rosario, Ching)

The champs have been another slight disappointment, but who out there thinks they won't be running with their typical fall sturdiness by the time the playoffs arrive? Anybody? With shrewd pick-up Bobby Boswell rounding back into top form, this team could eventually be tougher to beat than in previous seasons. Don't discount the return of forward Nate Jaqua - teams with one contributing striker don't usually get the job done. Still, I can't see them breaking into the top two - or winning MLS Cup a third straight time, for that matter - until Dwayne De Rosario rediscovers his attack acumen.

#2 - Chicago Fire (Busch, Soumare, Gutierrez, Pause, Blanco, McBride)

It would be so easy to slide the Fire into the top spot with Wednesday's official acquisition of wonder boy Brian McBride... and I nearly did. This group of players is a bit of an oddball ingredient mix, but they compliment each other beautifully. Bakary Soumare keeps them menacingly upright, Diego Gutierrez adds gutsy guile, Logan Pause quietly points the right direction and Cuauhtémoc Blanco freaks everybody out. And now, they have the best striker America has ever produced. Can you smell what Chicago is cooking? I know that's a tall task considering how darn far out of the city Toyota Park is located.

#1 - New England Revolution (Reis, Parkhurst, Joseph, Ralston, X Factor)

I know it's hardly a surprise that I tabbed the table-topping Revs as the Big Dog, but then again, who else would be in first place but the team with the best vertebrae? From keeper Matt Reis on through to MLS assist king Steve Ralston, each of the first four players is at or near the equal of any at their position in the league. As for the strike role, it would have been comfortable to simply insert Taylor Twellman's name at the end and be done with it. However, he's missed most of the season to date and could well be headed to Europe soon. In his absence, New England have managed to get 12 of their 25 goals from second year bull Adam Cristman and the African rookie tandem of Mansally & Dube. With loads of playoff experience, this is clearly the team to beat if a Twellman stays.

- Greg Seltzer

A Bouncing Baby Blog

It's the night before the mad scientist jolts this monster to life and I'm having the damnedest time trying to figure out how to say 'hello'. Not exactly a portent of greatness, I know... but we carry on.

Now, how do I describe what No Short Corners will attempt to provide you on a daily basis? Should I vow to unleash the sharpest of tongues and the cleverest of wits? Should I make a bunch of goofy meta wisecracks? Should I go all intrepid news tamer?

We will get behind the story, taking you into the game, deeper...

No, wait. Stop, stop, stop. That sounds like news porn. Perhaps, I should just keep it simple.

Basically, what Sean and I are going to try to do at NSC is bring your eye to breaking news, look at the lighter (or darker) side of the sport, present stories from a different angle, cast a light on stories on the periphery of the game and, well, sometimes just cast about - all sprinkled with a bit of commentary. Or a wisecrack... we like wisecracks. I will probably also mention food a lot.

We will have some regular themes to revisit whenever the mood suits, such as the hit-and-run Top 5 List, which could rate anything from the free kick artists to stadium food. I will kick off this bit by picking the best five spines in MLS in the post that follows this one.

Mostly though, we will just pop in throughout the day to discuss whatever happens to be on our soccer mind at that particular moment. In addition to enjoying the content freedom and quick draw capability of a blog, we are especially excited that we will be able to interact with readers as you interact with each other in the comments section of each post.

What we really want is for NSC to function like a neighborly community where anyone and everyone gets to participate... you know... kinda like the pick-up game at a family picnic. We want someone to feel welcome and respected as they explain how Cristiano Ronaldo will never be considered a great as long as he sports a rat tail. The more comments we get from you, the better NSC gets for everyone.

To do this, we need your help. No, this will not be a place where everyone has to hold hands and sing, but freedom has responsibilities. Disputes amongst yourselves, clever barbs and criticisms of us are extremely welcome... like birthday cake welcome. Crude language and outright hostilities are not.

Frankly, I couldn't care two toots about profanity as it has never really shocked me. However, we do ask that you refrain from commenting with anything stronger than the odd "ass". Similarly, any whiff of racism, sexism or the like will disappear quicker than Lionel Messi marked by Titus Bramble.

As a matter of fact, let's all agree now on the first NSC family tradition. Let's make a game out of creating new and deceptively PG-13 euphemisms for those times when the discussion and/or tempers veer into risky territory. Let's say someone has made you so mad that you want to literally punch them in the eye... perhaps they had the gall to suggest that the Chicago Fire would be relegated from Ligue 1. Instead of saying 'I'm going to drive over and kick your *&%$@#! ass, you %#$@& little @%@*$!', say 'I'm gonna shave your sheep, you poor man's Ade Akinbiyi!'.

You get the idea. We'd like to keep this hangout open to kids and new fans who are eager to grow their love and understanding of the beautiful game, an aim I'm sure you'd all support. If someone appears to be ill-informed, kindly educate them. I apologize if it seems a belabored point, but it is very important to us to host a friendly party pad. I can promise comments will be deleted if they cross the line of consideration, but I'm sure we don't need to spend all day lecturing intelligent people (you are soccer fans, right?) on what is and isn't cool.

Fact is: soccer is cool... like birthday cake cool. You know it. We know it. And we hope you choose to spread some cool by kicking it around at NSC Park everyday.

Okay, enough with the formalities... let's get busy putting a solid boot to our first corner kick. That NSC birthday cake isn't going to eat itself.

- Greg Seltzer, perpetually hungry soccer lover