A mixing bowl of storylines

GOAT MEAT

I was going to post this morning on how Dynamo not just beat Chivas June 10 (And who can forget that classic goal at the end of first half injury time from Goalden Holden), they completely ruined the Amerigoats' season. But Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com did it for me (minus the Dynamo ruining them angle). Check out that link here.

McCarthy points out that las chivitas is currently sitting on an eight-game winless streak in all competitions (0-7-1, with the draw coming after Chivas USA had lost its first two SuperLiga games), but what he fails to mention is that Game 1 of that streak was right here at Robertson Stadium. I get no great satisfaction in saying "I Told You So" (well, maybe I do, but it depends to whom I'm saying it), but I pointed out throughout that team's early run that it was completely and totally based on the goal-scoring prowess of Nagamura and Lillingston and the goalkeeping of Zach Thornton. Who in their right mind would think that could last all season?

Now Idiot Lalas (not Greg) was spreading a rumor during the Dynamo/TFC game that perhaps the Atiba Harris to FC Dallas deal is a harbinger of an incoming major signing for las chivitas. They need it because that team is thinner than Beckham's temper.

Here's what McCarthy has about that weirdo deal:

In a rather surprising move last week, Chivas USA sent Atiba Harris (14 games, 13 starts for the Goats on the campaign) to FC Dallas in exchange for Marcelo Saragosa. When asked about the deal, Preki said he liked Saragosa's toughness – not a quality the rugged Harris lacks in any way, shape or form – and noted he saw the Brazilian as a midfielder.

“He can press the ball, he's pretty mobile, he's pretty hard and he's got a good mentality,” Preki said.

While those qualities are typical in a Chivas USA player, those qualities also betray the fact that Saragosa is best deployed a holding midfielder, though he occasionally featured somewhat fitfully at right back for FCD. That particular fact makes the deal particularly puzzling considering Saragosa's arrival adds yet another deep-lying central player to a stable that already includes current starters Nagamura and Jesse Marsch as well as the recently acquired Kevin Harmse.

So why then did Chivas USA feel the need to acquire yet another player to fill a role that already appears suitably covered?

“We'll see what he has,” Preki said as he skipped around the question. “From what I've seen from the outside, I like his qualities. How is he going to help the team out? Well, he will help us.”

That explains that, then.


GO WESTWARD

As far as the HDC's other residents, this is my whole comment on the Becks affair:

This is abso-you-know-what-ing-lutely brilliant. I was wondering at what point Becks would start phoning it in again this season just like last year and here we are with him playing exactly one MLS game (and that on the right coast) and it looks like it is indeed upon us.

So the past two years, the Beckham circus has sunk woeful LAG teams. This year, it looks like for his next trick La Dave will sink a (formerly) rapidly improving LAG squad.

What were those security guys thinking anyways? David and Lieweke said they wanted to promote soccer viewership in the US. Letting that guy "shake hands" with Becks (Too bad we live in the era of "Hike the Appalachian Trail" or that would easily make for my favorite euphemism of 2009 list) would have been the most played MLS clip ever.

My hat is off to the Riot Squad. Though I wonder, the release from Il Bruce yesterday said that LARS had banned the guy for life. Who's lifetime was he talking about? LARS' response: "Who, us?"

Truly awesome.

FAKE TURF = A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

Really, whoever introduced turf to sports should be waiting judgment in The Hague.

(What's that you say, it started here in my beloved Astrodome?

Oh.)

Never-THE-less, that was almost 50 years ago. Did you catch Dom Kinnear on Glenn Davis' program last night putting the blame for Richard Mulrooney's knee problem squarely on Seattle's artificial turf. Now, this isn;t anything about Seattle's turf in particular, but turf in general is an abomination and it must go.

If and when Dynamo Park gets built, we as fans have to make sure our voices are heard on this. No turf.

If you play on grass in the frigid climes of northern Europe (and they do all the time), then we can play on it here. Besides, Houston's growing zone is so lush that anything grows here.

DOWN THE SOUND

Y'know, I wasn't going to post much on the US Open Cup Game tonight, but then I read this piece from the Seattle Times and the comments. Personally, I hope we destroy those guys now.