Sunday, January 20, 2008

MLS All-Stars are Euro Killers

Seems the seasoning that the MNT MLS contingent(hereafter rightfully referred to as mls all-stars) received in the pressurized atmosphere of the Copa Ameica, five out of the eleven starters and six out of the eighteen dressed to play tasted south american mayhem, paid dividends Saturday night as the all-stars played poised and confident against Sweden. O.K., Sweden was missing many important players, among them their beast of a striker, but come on, admit it, watching MLS USA absolutely dominate the first twenty minutes of that match felt really good. Chelsea, Celtic, Fulham and now Sweden--the MLS All-Stars are Euro killers. Bring on Manchester United, Inter Milan, and England! Think of it, a MLS MNT beating the three lions and thus sending the english and their sycophantic anglophiles into a writhing vortex of loathing and pain. The mere hint of such an outcome destroys the slightest possibility of such a match...but wait, now that Beckham is here? On the Dynamo front, all the houston players showed well and as Ricardo Clark should be an automatic call-up every time, let's tackle the MNT call-up prognoses of Brad Davis and Eddie Robinson. Both men strengthened their cause for future consideration, Davis in particular. My Copa America theory falls apart at Davis' feet as he, one without south american experience, showed cool patience and field comfort throughout his playing time. Contrary to reputation, Davis at times applied good defensive pressure and chased Sweden into a loss of possession at least twice by my recall. I thought his touch and passes in the run of play were excellent but the best argument for his inclusion in future matches (mexico!) rests solely on his left foot. Davis is so clearly a set piece trigger man upgrade over Donovan that Bradley must call him up simply for that alone. Now to Eddie. Robinson's man marking was good and combined with his unexpected poached goal, off a superb Davis corner no less, it would appear he has placed himself in the future consideration column. The only thing to give Bradley pause is Robinson's penchant for needless fouls in areas that lead to dangerous free kicks. Last night two of these quintessentially Robinson fouls set up an equal number of near lethal Swedish kicks that only Guzan's magic kept out of the net. Guzan not only saved the ball from our goal but surely Robinson's neck as well. Bradley will give Eddie another shot but can't have been pleased on those occasions. So, Clark is automatic while Davis should get at least a few more opportunities to solidify a spot and Robinson gets one more go around to impress ( and not to foul). A few more thoughts......Brad, kick the ball and pray for the best, Guzan looked very good in goal but did anyone else notice that his distribution tends to be a little scatter shot? Finally, Corrales is an interesting player, I like his instincts and his field ideas are palpably smart and, although his delivery often lets him down, he will undoubtedly be an asset to any MLS team that signs him. An instant MLS best XI.
From this day forward, let Don Garber be told, all future MLS All-Star matches should pit our league against European national teams- England first!

3 comments:

chris said...

Enter key. It helps. Anyway...

England was here a couple of years ago. Beat us 2-1 in Chicago. Keiran freaking Richardson scored, and they had more support than we did.

We're doing good, but not quite there yet.

mister3d said...

thanks, good tip.

spacingisnotmystrongpoint.

I flaked on the england game, I don't remember that at all.

Still, the MLS all-stars, our mickey mouse pub league, beating england would be sweet cruel satisfaction.

Martin Hajovsky said...

After a weekend away in the hinterlands away from computers and only my copy of Fever Pitch to keep me at all connected to the greater footballing world, I am thrilled to find out how well the three Dynamo did against the Swedes. Excellent work boys! Now if these guys can repeat that performance before our very own personal eyeballs against the Mexicans here in two weeks, I will be that much more enthused. Go MLS All-Stars! Beat the world!