Roscoe's Soccer Report

When people from diverse, even antagonistically ideological backgrounds can put their differences/prejudices/hatreds aside and commit to a common goal amazing things can happen. Congratulations are in order for the Iraqi National Squad for their improbable 1-nil victory over the Saudis to capture the 2007 AFC Asian Cup on July 30th at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Team Captain Younis Khalef’s tally in the 71st held up, and the Iraqis brought a rare moment of celebration to a war-ravaged people. The squad was comprised of players from the various factions that are indiscriminately murdering each other in their native land. Surely, many of these ancient animosities had to be overcome as the team trained like vagabonds leading up to the tournament.

These players come from a place that Westerners couldn’t fathom. They could’ve very easily not have even selected a squad to compete, or the group that was put together could’ve fallen prey to dissension, but they stuck together and pulled off the biggest upset this year in football. This victory is an inspiration not only to the Iraqi people, but for anyone who believes in the power of the human spirit. Yet, it is very sad to think that the team captain cannot return home out of fear for his life.

Many of the players were veterans of “Uday’s Soccer School”, where defeat or underperformance was met with threats of bodily harm (or worse) or being forced to train by kicking a cement ball around the pitch. Perhaps those sophisticated “geniuses” in the West would do well to focus their wrath on the deceased dictator/murderer rather than the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Is it possible for the Iraqis who simply wish to live in peace can look at the way in which their National Team conducted themselves and find the resolve to accept their differences and learn to live together in peace?

Iraqi midfielder Haitham Kazim said: “This could well be the start of a trend with world leaders beginning to think more about restoring peace in Iraq... Our victory has sent a message to the whole world to come together and end the pains of Iraqi people. I don't know who is Shia, Sunni or Kurdish in our team. All we know is that we are Iraqis. We were born so and we will remain so.”

Congratulations, lads.

Superliga 2007 Group Stage:
The inaugural tournament got underway last week at a number of US venues. In the opening Group A matches on July 24th FC Dallas and Chivas fought it out to a 1-1 draw.
Later that night Los Angeles (minus Beckham) were 2-1 victors over Pachuca, with Donovan picking up the winning goal for LA. The following night, D.C. United 1-1 Morelia finished in a 1-1 draw while MLS powerhouse Houston dismantled Club America 1-0.

The second stage of group play kicked off over the weekend. On Saturday, FC Dallas Pachuca played to a 1-1 draw while Los Angeles (again, without Beckham) lost to Chivas 2-1. The Sunday matches were more entertaining and the level of play was considerably rougher. In a driving rain in Washington, D.C. United shut down Club America 1-nil, knocking them out of playoff competition while Morelia scored late to tie Houston at 1. Houston scored directly from the opening kickoff, but the Monarchs hung in there.This was the nastiest match in the tournament to date, with a lot of pushing, shoving and cards being meted out. So far, Superliga has lived up to its hype. There is one final round of Group play with matches on July 31st – August 1st before the lads return to their fixtures before the semis in mid-August. FC Dallas hosted LA Galaxy on Tuesday night in the final stage of Group A play, and the home squad would’ve been better served by not have set foot on the pitch. LA game flying out of the gate, putting four goals past… in the first eighteen minutes! FCD played far better in the second half, as Galaxy’s defense broke down completely and allowed four goals of their own. Landon Donovan scored late and gave the “throat slash” sign to the home crowd (surely endearing himself) and Pavon scored the eventual game winner in the 95th, as the game ended at 6-5 LA. In the evening’s second match in Colorado, CF Pachuca downed Chivas de Guadalajara 1-0, thanks in large part to the outstanding work of Miguel Calero in Pachuca’s goal. Rafael Marquez Lugo’s goal in the 62nd was the difference.

On 1 August, the final two matches of Group B play concluded. Dynamo defeated DC United on Ching’s goal in the 50th, and Club America downed Monarcas Morelia 3-2 in on Federico Insua’s the 85th at Chicago. America blew a two goal lead in the later moments of the second half, and were fortunate to have made it to the semis.

Semifinals are now set:

Aug. 14 Los Angeles vs. D.C. United
Aug. 15 Houston vs. Pachuca

It’s nice to see three MLS clubs having made it to this stage in the $1 million champion’s purse.

MLS/Revolution Weeks 17-18:

On Saturday, Revs traveled out to Salt Lake to meet the woeful Real squad. Since Red Bull New York had already lost to Chivas USA 2-nil two nights earlier, Coach Nicol’s squad had an opportunity to pick up a three-point lead in MLS East. Real Salt Lake has really hit the skids this year, dropping like a rock to the basement of MLS West. Further, they now have to play out the table without the brilliant young American forward Freddy Adu, who signed a deal to play for Benefica in Portugal. The League picked up a tidy $2M in transfer fees, and while MLS and American fans will lose out on the chance to follow his career in the States, it says a great deal about the state of American soccer that home grown players can garner that amount of attention and money to play in Europe. USA is still a generation or two from becoming the destination of choice for footballers worldwide.

Without Adu, it was rather easy pickings for the Revs out west. Pat Noonan put New England up by one when he banged a drop pass into the upper right corner of the RSL goal. With the score level at one, RSL’s Midfielder Williams was sent off for a rather severe tackle of Dorman in the 67th. Real went level on Talley's penalty kick in the 72nd (continuing New England’s distressing trend of allowing late goals). But Jeff Larentowicz banged in a free kick from the right of the box in the 82nd to give New England the victory. The RSL side must’ve been disheartened over Adu’s expected departure, after all the team paid a high enough price to secure his services from DC United for what was a half-season rental.

Meanwhile, the following afternoon a world-class footballer of his own, Mexico’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco (formerly of Club America), made his MLS debut for Chicago Fire in a blowout 3-nil win at FC Toronto. It was unusually warm in Toronto, and Blanco appeared to be worn down the heat, but he assisted on Chicago’s first goal, and helped bring his new team out of a lengthy losing streak.

On August 2nd, Kansas City came to Foxboro to face Revs in the National Game of the Week. For New England, it was a chance to gain a measure of revenge against the Wizards, who blew away the Revs last time (5/26) on Eddie Johnson’s hat-trick.
It was Pat Noonan’s goal in the 55th (on a pass from Twellman) that made the difference. Adam Cristman (who came on in the 85th) put the icing on the cake with a goal in extra-time and the Revs improved to (9-3-6, 33 points), four points ahead of KC in MLS East.

After playing so well against Kansas City on Thursday Night, Revs looked to continue their winning ways in Suanday afternoon’s match at home with DC United. On this day, the Revs stunk, pure and simple, getting humbled 3-nil and losing one of their better players in the process with an injury.

New England came out flat in the first half. Joshua Gros scored DC’s first goal in the 22nd, pouncing on a ball that Reis failed to corral. Luciano Emilio made it 2-0 in the 31st, after hauling in Guy-Roland Kpene’s pass and blowing it past Reis. Shortly before the half closed, Revs defender Michael Parkhurst went down with a hyperextended knee. Emilio picked up his second goal of the match in the 76th, but it was superfluous. Revs were awful on this day. As of today, here are the way things stand in MLS East:

Eastern Conference Standings
Team P W D L Pts
1. New England 19 9 6 4 33
2. Kansas City 19 8 5 6 29
3. D.C. United 17 8 3 6 27
4. New York 18 8 3 7 27
5. Columbus 19 6 8 5 26
6. Chicago 18 5 5 8 20
7. Toronto FC 19 5 5 9 20

In other news, the European 2007-08 season is about set to kick off. This is where the world’s best footballers bring their skills and where the compensation is the highest. While most of the focus in the UK will be on the Premiership, Roscoe’s focus is on Coca-Cola League Two, where his beloved Wrexham Dragons play. Their season opener is a trip to Darlington on Saturday the 11th. All year long, he will provide our faithful readers with weekly updates. In addition, another club that Roscoe favors, Piacenza in Italia Serie B, will be commencing their schedule in the coming weeks.

Roscoe prefers the lower leagues for a variety of reasons, as there is little or none of the drama that surrounds Europe’s most established clubs where players are bought and sold like multimillion dollar commodities. The players Roscoe enjoys watching are those who don’t earn the big bucks and the clubs need to count every pound, euro or dollar to survive. The venues are small, and the community involvement is intense, as was the case with Brooklyn and their beloved Dodgers.

Beckham remains out of the lineup, and his availability for LA (or, for England in the Euro 2008 tournament) remains in question. He failed to travel with the Galaxy to the club’s recent Superliga match in Dallas and was the subject of scorn and ridicule from many signs posted by the crowd. One aptly stated, “Bench It Like Beckham”. Americans are an impatient lot, and this experiment now has the real potential of fizzling out before it began. Rather than bringing him over mid-season while he was recovering from an injury only to sit morosely on the bench, it would’ve been the wiser to have waited until he was match fit and ready to make an impact. He traveled with the squad on a recent trip to Toronto and the camera kept panning on him sitting there in a business suit chewing gum. The longer his face remains in play without seeing him perform, the deeper he will slip into irrelevance.