Ajax score seven, the Pujols/Carpenter rule has finally resumed At New Busch and my first love, the Blues, are back where they belong: in the playoffs. Something tells me the Canucks are about to get Oshie-d...#1 - Head to MLSNet for all the weekend recaps and highlight reels. I only saw the San Jose-Chicago humdinger and haven't watched any other clips yet, so I'll skip my comments for now... maybe I'll drop those separately tomorrow, assuming I have any.
Sh'up. You know what I mean.
#2 - Sports Illustrated's Luis Bueno got to have a sitdown with Inter boss Jose Mourinho. Sweet.
#3 - Brighton Hove & Albion aren't exactly pleased about the Galaxy trying to tempt away T&T midfielder Chris Birchall.
#4 - NSC pal Andrea Canales sums up the downside to the axing of the MLS Reserve League better than I would. I find it odd that Don Garber speaks of the 'long-term play' of the league, and yet we have a number of moves like this that do not match up.
#5 - A roundup of the weekend violence in Serie A stadiums... except now, the players and coaches are starting to match the brawling headlines made by typically out-of-control Rome derby supporters.
So ummm when does Italy do something about this? I'm starting to agree with Gabriele Marcotti that moving the Champions League final almost seems appropriate. His employers, The Times, are pushing the agenda hard.
#6 - Fans of The Office know the gang got into a little parking lot footie during Thursday's first episode. However, you may have missed a deleted scene with Creed's brand of soccer (viewable only in the U.S., I'm afraid).
- Greg Seltzer
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5 comments:
Perhaps you are unaware as Andrea is (surprised you don't know this, not surprised she is not aware), but there are reserve matches taking place. They just aren't scheduled by the league and aren't limited to MLS teams vs. MLS teams where the rosters have to be filled out by guest players.
Just because Bruce hasn't taken the initiative to schedule any doesn't mean other teams aren't doing it. The Wizards have played at least three against college teams and I have seen others mentioned in blogs and team notes.
The Reserve League may be gone, but reserve matches are not. Some lazy writers just want to make people think that's the case.
I'd assume Andrea knows of those friendlies, as do I. Those are great, but it's not the same. At all.
Wednesday is going to be a big day for me. Cards v Dbacks instead of an afternoon in the office and Blues-Canucks on the tele.
You're right that it's not the same. teams actually pick and choose when it works for them and don't need to draft front-office personnel to play for them.
How poorly a few teams ran their system isn't an indictment of the need for the system. We could pick the worst out of anything and say 'See? It doesn't work'... bu that's not the whole picture.
Just ask Colorado. Or Chivas USA. Or a guy like Chris Wondolowski.
In any event, right or wrong, it surely is not a "long-term play" to cut the second teams.
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