A Set-Piece Goal! Sweet! Columbus Crew Beat the New England Revolutions 3-1, 8/13/11

I love this picture!

Julius James Heads-In The Crew's 2nd Goal (Getty Images)

In a thoroughly dominating performance, The Columbus Crew beat the New England Revolution 3-1 last night, adding an additional two points to their Major League Soccer Eastern Conference lead. (Both the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls had draws in their matches yesterday.)

The win sets-up a big-time match this coming Saturday, as the current Eastern Conference second place team, the Philadelphia Union and newly signed Freddy Adu come to town.

What was the best part of last night's match?

So many choices:

It was Buck-a-Brat night. I had two.

Magic Hat #9 on tap in the Upper 90 Club.

One of the biggest crowds of the year showed up.

I saw great support for the Hudson Street Hooligans at their tailgate before the match.With the City of Columbus shutting their club down, they need financial support to keep their club open.  I donated and bought a backpack. Click on the picture to the right if you want to learn how you can help them out too.

The Crew fighting back after going down 1-0 at the end of the first half.

Julius James scoring the Crew's second goal off of a Josh Gardner corner kick. The first corner kick goal of the year for the Crew.

I'll pick the corner kick!

The Crew continue to play very well. It's very impressive to see the new players step-up, with the Crew suffering some key injuries as of late (Eddie Gaven most recently). When you can dominate an MLS opponent with the likes of Tommy Heinemann, Josh Gardner, Justin Meram, Bernardo Anor and Dilly Duka it shows that the Crew coaching and scouting staffs really did their homework when they acquired these players.

Robbie Rogers, coming off scoring the goal that earned the US Men's National Team a draw against Mexico on Wednesday night continues to play very well. Chad Marshall should now be considered the favorite for the MLS defender of the year. And Emmanuel Ekpo had an outstanding game, distributing the ball with vision while making the New England Revolution midfield look silly as they attempted to tackle him.

I can't remember having the same feeling of anticipation and excitement that I have for this Saturday's (8/20/11 at 7:30pm) match against the Philadelphia Union. Come out and join me at Crew Stadium to cheer the Crew on to victory!

One of the Best Soccer Matches I Have Ever Watched! US Women's National Team Advances to the FIFA Women's World Cup Semi-Finals! 7/10/11

Last year as the US Men's National Team was competing in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa I didn't miss a minute of their matches. I scheduled vacation days for their weekday matches. I had several people to my house for the England match. I scouted out a BW3 in Washington D.C. during our family vacation to watch the USMNT ultimately losing to Ghana in the round of 16.

Admittedly I was only marginally interested in this year's FIFA Women's World Cup. I noted the scores during group play, and was disappointed when the US Women lost to Sweden in group play.

But today I was going to sit down and watch the quarterfinal match between the US and Brazil live.

As it turns out it was one of the best soccer matches I have ever seen! From the Brazil own goal in the 2nd minute, to the foul and subsequent red card on the US's Rachel Buehler, to the penalty kick apparently saved by US goalkeeper Hope Solo but then allowed to be retaken and ultimately made due to a phantom encroachment call. Followed by a Brazil go-ahead goal in overtime to a Hail-Mary cross and goal by the US to tie the match. I'm exhausted just typing this out!

Ultimately the US Women prevailed in penalty kicks. The Abby Wambach extra-time equalizer off of a great cross from Megan Rapinoe will go down as one of the greatest goals in US Soccer History. My heart was beating as hard after this goal as when Landon Donovan scored against Algeria in last year's Men's World Cup!

Note to the Brazilian Women's team-faking injuries to delay the match wasn't a very good tactic. The extra time added gave the US the window they needed to tie the match!

I am very impressed with the heart the USWNT showed in this match. With only 10 players on the pitch, for most of the second half and overtime they continued to fight, with a resiliency that was amazing to watch.

I'm going to have to figure out a way to watch the US Women compete in the semi-finals live on Wednesday. But I'm not sure that match, or any other match I will watch will top today!

Columbus Crew Upset by The Richmond Kickers 2-1 in US Open Cup Round of 16, 6/28/11

1,845 of my closest friends and I watched the Columbus Crew get upset by the USL Pro League Richmond Kickers 2-1. The loss eliminated The Crew, who lost in the finals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup last year to the Seattle Sounders, from the 2011 tourney tonight.

I thought it would be interesting to attend tonight's match. My daughter Mallory came with me. I anticipated seeing several Crew players who have not seen first team action this year, and rumors were that Robbie Rogers, returning from National Team duty, would play, as would Danny O'Rourke, in his first competitive match following knee surgery.

You can read the recap of the match on thecrew.com:

http://www.thecrew.com/news/2011/06/recap-crew-vs-kickers-usoc

Pretty uninspired performance. Danny O'Rourke got a straight red in the 67th minute when the game was 1-1. The ten-man Crew still were able to attack, but the defense (no regular starter played in defense tonight) looked unorganized when Richmond knocked in the winning goal in the 85th minute.

I was a little surprised with the lack of effort put in by Jeff Cunningham who played 90 minutes at striker. He seemed to disappear for several minutes at a time in tonight's match.

Robbie Rogers looked good in his return, creating several scoring chances for The Crew with some good one-on-one effort.

But The Crew lost. Should have figured it wouldn't be a good night when Mallory and I noticed that only half of the Crew Stadium lights came on as the sun set. I thought the match was going to have to be finished in the dark. Late in the match all of the lights did finally come on, but The Crew still couldn't find the back of the net.

The LA Galaxy Still On Top! Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 12, 6/7/11

The LA Galaxy Maintain the Top Spot for the 3rd Week in a ROW!

I write this as I'm watching the US Men's National Team play their CONCACAF Gold Cup opener versus Canada. (2-0 USMNT in the 74th minute).

The top three in my rankings (LA Galaxy, FC Dallas and Philadelphia Union) stay the same as last week, while the Galaxy maintain the top spot for the third week in a row. The CONCACAF Gold Cup started to have an impact this week on many Major League Soccer teams. It will be interesting to see what the impact will be over duration of the tournament.

Biggest jumps up this week? San Jose and Real Salt Lake each moved up three spots.

Biggest drop? The Portland Timbers dropped four spots.

My Week 12 Major League Soccer Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (8-2-6) 30 points

2)   FC Dallas, Western Conference (7-3-4) 25 points

3)   Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (6-3-3) 21 points

4)   San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (4-4-4) 16 points UP

5)   Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (5-4-6) 21 points DOWN

6)   D.C. United, Eastern Conference (4-4-4) 16 points

7)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (6-2-2) 20 points UP

8)   Chivas USA, Western Conference (4-4-5) 17 points UP

9)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (5-5-2) 17 points DOWN

10)  Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (4-3-7) 19 points DOWN

11)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (4-2-7) 19 points UP

12)  Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (3-3-6) 15 points DOWN

13)  Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (3-5-6) 15 points

14)  New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (3-6-4) 13 points UP

15)  Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-4-7) 10 points UP

16)  Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (2-5-7) 13 points DOWN

17)  Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-6-7) 10 points

18)  Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-6-3) 6 points

Columbus Crew Steal a Point at Red Bull Arena! 6/4/11

Rich Balchan Celebrates His Goal!

I usually only post my Crew game recaps if I actually attend the match, but I was pretty excited about last night's draw with the New York Red Bulls.

Briefly:

The Red Bulls fielded a relatively weak line-up against The Crew, with several of their starters out on National Team duties. The Crew were missing Robbie Rodgers who was called in to the US Men's National Team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and yesterday's friendly versus Spain.

Side note: Robbie started against Spain last night and played the first half. Spain drubbed the US Men's team 4-0.

The Crew/Red Bulls match was a back and forth affair, with The Crew giving up a goal in the 9th minute to Mehdi Ballouchy. The Red Bulls had the better of the first half possession, but The Crew recovered in the second half and created several scoring opportunities for themselves in the second half. Andres Mendoza, who I thought had righted himself with his two goals last week against Chivas USA, right-footed a cross from his right wide of the goal and 8 minutes later headed a open-netter wide left. Back to his old form.

Justin Meram entered the match for The Crew in the 74th minute, and in extra-time received the ball on the left, crossed the ball on the ground into the box, which fellow rookie and Big Ten alumnus Rick Balchan finished to earn the draw.

Demoralizing for the Red Bulls, but just maybe the type of result that The Crew can build on.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Juan Agudelo's Week of a Lifetime!

I want to be Juan Agudelo. Last Saturday he scored his first professional goal for his MLS club, the New York Red Bull. Tonight he came on as a substitute for the US Men's National Team in the second half and scored a goal to help the National Team earn a 1-1 draw with Argentina.

Argentina fielded a very strong side, led by Lionel Messi. This is a very good result for the US Men's National Team.

Juan Agudelo is only 18 years old.

Juan Agudelo and Oguchi Onyewu, USMNT (getty images, www.mlssoccer.com)

Random Soccer Thoughts-MLS, CONCACAF Champions League, ESPN Broadcast

Major League Soccer (MLS) kicked off it's 16th season last night with the Los Angeles Galaxy beating the Seattle Sounders at Qwest Field 1-0. I'm thrilled that the season finally started!

The environment at Qwest, the Sounders home field, was fantastic. I'm sure the Galaxy are very happy getting 3 points out of the match. The MLS should be pleased with the opening match broadcast on ESPN, except for the fact that Real Salt Lake was playing the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League semi-finals at the very same time on Fox Soccer Channel.

MLS executives have said many times that success in the CONCACAF Champions League is very important for MLS clubs. Real Salt lake is the first MLS club to reach the semi-finals in the current format of the league. They ended up winning at home against the Costa Rican club Saprissa, taking a 2-0 lead into the second league which will be played at Saprissa's home field on April 5th. I just don't understand why they would have scheduled the MLS season opening match on the same night as an historic match for Real Salt Lake.

Speaking of scheduling snafus...March 26th is a FIFA International fixture date. Several National teams around the World will be playing friendlies, including the US Men's National Team. Another problem. The MLS continues to schedule regular season games on International fixture dates. On March 26th, the Columbus Crew play the New York Red Bull at home and the Red Bull will be missing 6 potential starters due to various International call-ups. Obviously this is good for the Crew, playing a weakened Red Bull team, but as a season ticket holder of the Crew, I would rather see them play the Red Bull at full strength.

Another thought:

-Taylor Twellman has joined Alexi Lalas and Max Bretos as an analyst on the ESPN MLS broadcasts for the 2011 season. Alexi Lalas is over the top in his opinions, but fairly entertaining. Taylor Twellman has improved since I saw him last year on ESPN broadcasts. But both were extremely critical of David Beckham last night regarding his training regimen and for not joining the the Los Angeles Galaxy until late in the preseason. I actually agreed with some of their points, but I think both made it a bigger deal than it actually is. I'm actually rooting for David Beckham to have a great year for the Galaxy!

ESPN Broadcast Analysts Max Bretos, Alexi Lalas and Taylor Twellman

US Soccer Development Academy Begins To Pay Dividends!

Juan Agudelo and Gale Abossoumonde were the first players to get capped with the US Men's National Team who played in the US Soccer Development Academy Program. Juan Agudelo scored the winning goal in a 1-0 defeat of South Africa. Looks like the program is starting to pay dividends!


http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2010/11/Mens-National-Team-Takes-1-0-Win-in-South-Africa-to-Round-out-2010.aspx

A Strange Week

Sitting in my living room watching the pre-game analysis of the Confederations Cup Final between the US and Brazil National teams and began to think about what a strange week this has been. First we hear of the passing of Ed McMahon. I was a big fan of Johnny Carson, and of course Ed McMahon was a major part of the Tonight Show. Don't know if Ed ever said AAAYOW, but it was a good urban myth anyway.

I love pop culture. I'm 46 years old, so when I heard on Thursday that Farrah Fawcett had died, I couldn't help but think of the poster that I'm guessing that every teenager/college student had hanging in their rooms. I know I did, and Charlie's Angels was must-see tv!

Then, of course the big shocker Thursday afternoon was the death of Michael Jackson. 50 years-old, a pop-music icon. This morning I went to I-Tunes to put some Michael Jackson playlists on my I-Touch and saw that with the exception of the Black-Eyed-Peas new single and album the top ten downloaded singles and albums were Michael Jackson's. I was a fan-and was trying to figure out my favorite songs-Ben, Black or White, Billy Jean, Thriller, Pretty Young Thing. My most vivid memory of a Michael Jackson song was when my wife and I went to Las Vegas with some friends in December of 1988 (she was 5 months pregnant with our daughter) and hearing "The Way You Make Me Feel" over and over again. Michael Jackson became a very troubled individual later in life and his weirdness will be over-analyzed by the media in the coming days, but there is no denying he was one of the greatest and most influential artists of his time.

And then today I found out that Billy Mays has died. Certainly not on the same scale as Ed, Farrah and Michael, but still a surprise!

One quick note: I had an opportunity to travel to a seminar on United Way Community Impact held in Madison, Wisconsin this past week. It was hosted by the Dane County, Wisconsin United Way. I travelled with volunteers and staff from the Butler County, Ohio United Way.

The United Way in Madison, Wisconsin is doing some of the best Community Impact work in the entire country! They have been able to rally the community and it's resources to make a real difference, with results they can track and measure (graduation rates, school preparation, decreasing homelessness, access to health care etc.) They do it through faithful implementation of their process, and it's working. We plan to do the same for Butler County. Check it out http://www.unitedwaydanecounty.org

FYI-CLINT DEMPSEY JUST SCORED FOR THE US AGAINST BRAZIL! 3:45pm EST

Signing off USA USA USA.......Jiresell