I hate HDNet; The TURKS!!!; Welcome home to the Flyin' Hawaiian and other thoughts (music and afield) heading into the weekend

Watching the Turks today rip the spleens out of the Croatians has restored my faith in the anything-can-happen aspect of this wonderful sport. I was watching with my sons and when Semih Senturk fired that equalizer all three of us let out loud LOUD screams of surprise and amazement. Not having a dog in that hunt, we felt terrible for the Croats, amazed at the Turks and, speaking for myself, are those Turks straight out of central casting or what? From the coach on down, those guys are straight out of the "Hey, get me a Turkish looking guy for that part" universe. Awesome. Halfway through the second half, I just blurted out loud, "The Turks are going to win this game. I guarantee it." And when Kidney Boy scored with a minute to go, I doubted, but somehow not fully. These guys are the 2004 Greeks (though I'm sure they'd say the 04 Greeks are the 08 Turks) and the 2007 Asian Cup-winning Iraqis. They will not be denied.

Of course, that guy up at the top of the page is not Turkish, but is Haleah's very own Brian Ching, back in Orange Saturday for Dynamo's game against Commerce City (Read the link, another well-written piece from Jeremy Rakes, who used to work for me. I taught the kid everything he knows!). (Fave quote from Dom Kinnear in Jeremy's story: "Scoring is helpful.") Missing will be Pat Onstad and Dwayne De Rosario, who of course played for the Maple Leafs in their 4-1 victory against St. Vincent and the Grenadines (though how they took on two teams at once is something of a mystery to me!).

That means that Tony Caig will be back in goal for this game. The sentence itself says everything I want to say about the guy. If Colorado takes no shots on goal, we're sitting pretty, but it's when the other team takes aim at the net that Caig's deficiencies start to become evident. I resisted the urge to go negative on the guy earlier in the season, but after watching his "performance" against New England with my own two eyeballs, I have to say he has some work to do to get back in my good graces. Maybe we can get Rustu here after the Euros are over. Dreaming, I is.

Of course, seeing as how I won't be heading to a bar tomorrow night (date with my longtime leading lady takes precedence), there'll be no way I can DVR the game as it's once again on HDNet, the network I have come to hate. Games on HDNet = games I don't see. Bastids! I don't even hold it against Comcast for not carrying them. Now that's saying something, hating HDNet more than Comcast. Are the highlights even going to be on MLSNet? Right now, it looks like no. HDNet must die.

Stepping out of the footy for a second: Three pieces of music that Tiger should listen to while rehabbing his knee or at
the very least I expect to wind up on several people's year-end best of list:

The Odd Couple by Gnarls Barkley (Listen to a wonderful interview with the pair from Fresh Air here.)
She & Him Volume One by Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward (Listen to another great interview with Deschanel and Ward from World Cafe here.)
Rain by Joe Jackson (Still one more wonderful interview with Herr Uber -pianist here from World Cafe.)

I just got all three of these CDs last week and they are definitely worth your time. If you're not foot-tapping and totally into Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green's Gnarls Barkley's tunes then you get your Nutmegged registration fees refunded. It's a lot of fun.

I've been a fan of Jackson's since waaay back with Night and Day. Body and Soul I think I completely wore out a needle on back in the day as well. It's some awesome Jumpin' Jive. Rain will have you amazed at the man's continued virtuosity.

And Deschanel and M. WArd have put together a very, very fun disc. Enjoy. Read more!

My favorite things

Forget whiskers on kittens and packages tied up with string, how's this for a list:

Seeing Dynamo's first win with my two boys next to me

Abusing Nick LaBrocca and getting into his head with a nice "LaBrocca is LaBroken" chant (You should have seen the look on his face.)

Seeing Chingy deke Bouna Coundoul and then slot the ball into an empty goal

Watching De Rosario nail the winner on a penalty right in front of me

YESSSSSSS

(Feel free to add your own in the comments) Read more!

Q&A: Dynamo/Rapids, Shooting the Bull, Jeff Bull

This week's Q&A is with longtime Colorado fan and one of the three-headed blogmonster that runs the fabulous Center Holds It site, Jeff Bull.

Dynamo's season has been a trying one to say the least so far. Sometimes and heretically, it almost feels like it would be better if the Orange were in full-blown suckage mode, losing all of these guys they've been tying, just to have some sense of how the season is really going!

But that's just frustration talking really, because one way of looking at the season is that, after six games, Dynamo have only lost twice. And with each game the defensive effort is improving. The problem is that the offense still seems, ah, a bit caddywompus, which is a precise technical, footie term used only by us soccer bloggers.

Still, nothing a few goals and a helping of good luck (now THAT'S something that's been in short supply recently) can't fix. And that's why I'm predicting a 2-0 win for Dynamo this weekend, which will be only the second one, for reasons detailed in earlier posts on this blog, that I will be witnessing with my own personal eyeballs. Scorers will be Dwayne De Rosario, reprising his role in Dynamo's dismantling of the Rapids in a driving Front Range rainstorm of a year ago, and El Generalissimo Franco Caraccio slotting a garbage piece past Coundoul to seal the deal.

You read it here first. Now, on to Mr. Bull (who has been patiently waiting, in a virtual sort of way, while I bloviated the above). And by the way, Jeff also asked us here at Nutmegged several questions about Dynamo that he will post on Center Holds It sometime today or tomorrow.

NUTMEGGED: Fernando Clavijo has been mentioned so often as a prime candidate for firing in the past few years that it's amazing he still has a job. But with Colorado's, ah, rapid start to the season, Clavijo seems to be the one laughing last. How much of the start is attributable to him and do you see him lasting the season?

To raise a quibble, I can’t credit any Western Conference team with a rapid start - e.g. if Colorado played in the Eastern Conference, they’d be 5th. Relevant to that point is my persistent low opinion of Clavijo’s abilities. To watch this team move the ball forward is to watch improvisation in action, or something that bears a strong resemblance. In simple terms, Clavijo played as a defender and his team looks like it....since 2007 at least. Whatever success the Rapids enjoy is down the players and a helter-skelter rush toward the opposition goal.


NUTMEGGED: Which 2-3 Colorado players (or more) are most responsible for the Rapids' success this season? What have these guys done that's all that different from what we've seen in the past from them?





I won’t say Gomez...I won’t say Gomez...I won’t say Gomez....crap...I have to say Christian Gomez. As he showed against DC, he’s one of those guys that can kill you with an inch for an opening; that gets respected even when the Rapids seem to be bypassing him and playing the flanks. After him, I’d point to just about every young buck the Rapids pulled from the reserve teams of the past couple years: Kosuke Kimura, Stephen Keel, John DiRaimondo, Nick LaBrocca, even Omar Cummings - and the exclusion of Clark is deliberate, not because he doesn’t belong here, but because we all know who he is. All these players give the sense of something being built and they look a solid foundation. This gets back to Clavijo: I don’t rate him much as a coach, but I think highly of his ability to judge talent; he’s just in the wrong side of the business. Get a proper coach and I’d wager those same players would be more than building blocks for a foundation.

NUTMEGGED: Do you see any warning signs in Colorado's games up to now that make you think the quick ascent is a short-lived phenomenon? And if instead you think Colorado is truly in contention to stay this season, then what has to happen to keep there?



The defense hasn’t been a worry since last year; things look pretty solid back there. I just don’t understand how Colorado attacks; I mean, I see it happen and it comes off often enough to put the Rapids on the high side of the goals-for average, but....I dunno. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. In a phrase, the attack looks like a bunch of guys running like hell toward the opposition’s goal or end-line, screaming like hell for the ball and whacking it around under that set-up as well as they are able. In other words, you see fewer proverbial passing triangles than you do hard-kicks upfield. If I’m wrong - and I could be, believe me - Colorado will keep scoring at a decent clip and they make the post-season without a hitch. If I’m right, though, the goals will dry up and the Rapids will settle down to mid-table in the West by alternating wins with losses all season long.

NUTMEGGED: What Dynamo players or tactics do you think are going to give Colorado the most trouble Saturday night? And vice versa, what Colorado tactics or players (other than score 1 goal given Dynamo's recent propensity for whiffing close shots) will serve them well against Dynamo?



Hmm...so I can’t answer score one goal...hmm. Brad Davis missing means Corey Ashe will probably play and think Kimura will contain him well enough. I’d work the Rapids’ left, keep Mullan active and Dynamo players near him in order to really go at that side; Ashe will have a role to play still by crashing the far post or corralling over-hit crosses. And Brian Ching should wake up one day. I guess I’m saying the Dynamo’s usual game - e.g. play width - should hold up allright against the Rapids. I think Dwayne DeRosario will get pinched like a Christmas nut between LaBrocca and whichever of DiRaimondo or Pablo Mastroeni starts. So DeRo should be willing to move side to side and to dump the ball quicker than usual. Just keep the Rapids off-balance and you might yet get your first W. As for the other way, the Rapids have potential speed mismatches on both flanks: Clark (assuming fitness) against Mulrooney/Waibel and the Kimura/Cooke combo could really test Wade Barrett and Ashe on Houston’s left. Tam MacManus will be in the middle looking for crosses and Cummings and, worse, Gomez, will lurk for slop. The silver lining in that: your central defenders should be up to winning most crosses, so a potential shower of those might not matter so much...just make sure they clear ‘em far or Gomez will have a field-day.

NUTMEGGED: Speak about Bouna Coundoul. In the two games I have seen of Colorado's this season, he has come up huge. Has he finally turned the corner and become one of the elite keepers in the league (I'm thinking Onstad/Guzan/Reis territory here) or is he still just below that?



You know who Bouna reminds me of? David James, at least when I saw him a lot playing for Liverpool. Bouna is a GREAT shot-stopper - that’s always been his strength as I saw it - and the more he learns his position, the better he’ll get. But like James, he can wander, he can flub crosses, and he's good for a howler every so often. So, no, I don’t think he’s elite yet, but the Rapids still benefit from having continuity in goal. As for why he’s not “elite,” watch the man give up rebounds on shots. My advice to Houston: follow up on EVERY SHOT. That brings up an addendum to the question of how Houston should attack: shoot from range, but only with players in front of you.

NUTMEGGED: And finally, what is your prediction for the game?









Prediction? Pain. (Thanks for letting me type that; I had an irrational love for Rocky III (“There is no tomorrow!”) when I was a young adult.)

Seriously now...I think the Rapids come at a bad time for a team struggling to score. Call it an ugly 1-0 to the Rapids. The next most likely scenario: Houston blows ‘em out of the water....I’m talking 4-0 or 4-1.




NUTMEGGED: Thanks a ton Jeff. Enjoy the game from your outpost in the Pacific Northwest, and here's hoping your second guess is the right one!
Read more!

Lone skater of the apocalypse

Well, not having seen Dynamo's 0-0 tie with las chivitas last Saturday due to being out of town with the fam, and seeing as how MLSnet.com's deal with the HDNet Beelzebub means no highlights are available, I am left to rely on Mister3d's excellent review of the game (Oh, how I wish I could have seen Mulrooney kick the ball into Galindo's gut. Too bad it wasn't master whiner Preki.), as well as a few other game stories and photos.

When I saw the score I felt like the lone skater in the image above. Still no wins, still OK play, still nothing to see and nowhere to go.

Oh well, at least I have this to look forward to: Dynamo's first win in both 2006 and 2007 came against the Colorado Rapids. Both seasons ended in Cup championships. Guess who's coming to town this Saturday?

(And hey, don't deny me my grasps at the thin, thin shards of whatever hope I can find. Right now, I'll take what I can get.) Read more!