Looking Back & Looking Ahead

Well, the 4^th of July match at the Home Depot Center was quite an event.  There were fireworks before and after the match.  They opened up the lawn on the North end of the stadium – there wasn’t a seat available in the house.  Everyone on hand was also treated to a good soccer match, although most went home unhappy because the home team did not win.

The first half was a rough one for us.  New England pressured well and we struggled to deal with it.  The Revs had more of the play in the first half and definitely took the better of the chances.  We gave up two set piece goals and went into the locker room behind two.

Landon came on for the second half (he’d been sick all week) and changed the game, creating problems for New England.  David scored the equalizer in the 66^th minute on a bit of a broken play and we had a number of other chances to knot the match up after that.  Credit to the Revs, they made a few changes (bringing in a holding midfielder and switching to 4 in the back) and they were able to withstand our late pressure.  So now we’ve taken two losses in a row and we’re looking to get things back on track and start picking up some more points.

I’d like to give a quick shout out to all of our fans.  You were fantastic throughout the match.  And that’s not just the Riot Squad, Angel City Brigade, and the Galaxians – everyone in the stadium was pulling hard for a Galaxy win and created a fantastic atmosphere.  Credit to you all and keep it up!

This Thursday night is the Honda Superclassico and it’s sure to be a good match.  These games are always pressure-packed and edgy.  We’re both tied atop the Western Conference table with 21 points so something’s got to give.  We really need the three points and would like to separate ourselves a bit from the rest of the West.  Make sure to tune into ESPN2 at 11:00 pm (Eastern time) and 8:00 pm for those out West to watch all the drama unfold.

This Week

This week was short in terms of training but definitely not short in terms of workload.  Since we play on Thursday night we’ve condensed things a bit, but worked on all areas: defending and defensive shape, possession, finishing, and tactics.  We are definitely ready for the Superclassico.

The highlight of my week was definitely our team trip to Fogo de Chao in Beverly Hills.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Fogo, it is a Brazilian steakhouse.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Brazilian steakhouses, they’re amazing because there are tons of different kinds of meat and they bring everything to your table on skewers!  The servers keep brining meat to your table until you tell them to stop.  It’s a guaranteed protein overdose. 

The people at Fogo brought around top sirloin, bottom sirloin, beef ribs, lamb chops and leg of lamb, chicken wings and chicken wrapped in bacon, pork sausage, filet minion, and picanha – the house specialty and a Brazilian staple.  My favorite was the lamb chops with a little mint jelly but I devoured everything like a garbage disposal and kept asking for them to bring more out.  Everything was succulent, cooked to perfection, and I was like some sort of carnivorous vulture.

After I finished eating all of the entree meats, I felt that I needed some other sort of nutritional value.  Since I had absolutely no balance in the meal, so I ordered fresh fruit for dessert.  Chris Klein, who had been silently monitoring my eating throughout the night from the other table, poked fun at me saying “you’re the guy who goes to McDonalds, eats two Big Macs and fries, and then orders a diet Coke.”  I guess he’s right.

My Brazilian roommate Alvaro was a bit sick and he was unable to go to the meal and eat his favorite picanha – he talks about it all the time and we’ve yet to find a place near where we live where we can buy picanha.  Of all people to miss the meal, it had to be him.  When I came home, though, I made sure to rub it in his face that I ate enough picanha for the both of us.  He was not amused.  Aside from Alvaro, everyone else on the team attended and it was great to spend some time together and share a good meal, good stories, and a good laugh.  I said it last week with the Batman outing, but it’s important that we continue to bond on and off the field and become a close group.  These types of events supplement our hard work on the training field will definitely pay off later on.

Around the World

I’ve been thinking about some of the European transfers lately and the price tags put on players.  Immediately coming to mind is Christiano Ronaldo’s €100 million transfer speculation, Andrei Arshavin at £24 million, and Dimitar Berbatov who may be bought from Tottenham for around £31 million.  I’ve been reading and following these types of transfer stories for years but never really thought about how much money is actually being thrown around between these clubs.  These dollar amounts are used so casually by the media that they almost become unreal figures – Monopoly money if you will.

As I thought, I remember reading something from Forbes’ website about the world’s most valuable soccer clubs that’s definitely worth taking a look at: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/34/biz_soccer08_Soccer-Team-Valuations_Rank.html.  Some of the figures here are staggering and really interesting.

Think about paying €50 million (about $78 million) for the services of one player!  That’s far more than the operating budgets of most clubs around the world and only the richest clubs can make these types of transactions.  There is so much money out there in the soccer world that it’s almost unthinkable.  Of course these are only the high profile transfers, as most deals cost less than €10 million – which is still so much money. 

Also keep in mind that these are just transfer fees and don’t include the fact that the clubs then have to pay the player’s salary as well which, for the highest level players, can be €25 thousand per week or more!

For one reason or another, this makes me think about the parody in MLS and the lack thereof in most other leagues in the world.  Each league around the world has its little fish and big fish but MLS is different.

MLS is structured so that the league is more equal and competitive from top to bottom, equipped with a salary cap and no real transfer market.  Let’s look at the current MLS table for an example.  Take away the first and last place teams and you have all other teams within 9 points of each other – that’s only three wins.  There are three teams with 20 points, four teams with 21 points, and one team with 22 points.  Our league table is so tight and it’s always one or two points that separate a playoff team from a non-playoff team.

It’s also fair to say that on any given day, any MLS team can beat any other.  This is not the case when, say Numancia plays Barcelona or when Spezia plays AC Milan.  The MLS-type parody was important when the league first started because it created a competitive league where all games would be two sided and every city could build a market because there was opportunity for a winning team.  Of course some MLS teams like LA Galaxy, DC United, and San Jose Earthquakes/Houston Dynamo have been traditionally more successful and some clubs have better attendance figures but our league is far more even than all other leagues in the world.

In short, international leagues are set: tops teams compete for international competition spots, middle teams jockey for position, and the bottom teams struggle for relegation.  Top teams spend more money to buy players and separate themselves from the small clubs who cannot afford marquee players.  MLS is more of a free-for-all where GMs have to find their perfect combination to maximize results and try to become a big fish.

Sort of some random thoughts there but hopefully something interesting to read…

Q & A

1.  I was wondering, do you ever play soccer during your down time? Or by that time in the day are you sick of seeing a soccer ball? Keep up the great work!

- Cristian W

Cristian W – After training I’m typically pretty drained but sometimes on off days we’ll play soccer-volleyball at our apartment complex.  The rules are the same as soccer-tennis but we play in the sand on the volleyball court.  It’s a fun way to get some sun, get the legs moving a bit, and work on the touch on a day off. 

2.  Hey Julian, do you follow any specific soccer podcasts, TV shows or use any specific soccer news websites regularly? Do you or any of the guys read any of the soccer forums? aka bigsoccer.com, etc…? 

- Steve F

I’m a big student of the game and I try to watch as many games as I can.  I usually watch a game a day on my internet Sopcast connection because we don’t get FSC or GolTV where I live.

I also like to keep up to date with what’s going on in the world of soccer.  I don’t do podcasts but I have a cycle of soccer websites that I read daily including American Soccer Reader (of course), ESPNsoccernet, Goal.com, Soccer By Ives, Sideline Views by Andrea Canales, The Offside Rules, The Original Winger, and a number of others.  Each one adds something different to the US soccer media and all are important in spreading the world of soccer in our country.  I stick to credible “news blogs” and don’t read BigSoccer and sites like that.  Of course, American Soccer Reader is the best of all, so make sure to read it daily!

3.  Hiya! big LA Galaxy fan here, I was wondering, if you could pick one game to make your first start this season, what game would it be and why?

- John K, Santa Barbara

John K from Santa Barbara – Great question.  I’d have to say that it would be amazing for my first game to be against Chivas.  The last time I was on the bench when we won 5-2 and the atmosphere was electrifying.  Saying that, I know that would be a bit ambitious as Superclassico matches tend to be some of the fastest, roughest, and most pressure packed matches that we have.  It’s such a big game for both sides and I’d love to be a part of that on the field.

4.  Julian, what did you do on 4th of July? Anything special/exciting?

- Crystal N

I didn’t really do anything special for the 4^th.  My girlfriend was here so it was nice to be able to spend it with her!

5.  Since you come from such a different town, has anything in Los Angeles or Southern California freaked you out? Have you had any sort of weird experiences or encounters with people in California?

- Luscious

Luscious – I spend a lot of time on YouTube watching whatever miscellaneous videos I can find and whatever videos my buddies recommend to me.  It’s a good way to pass time after training.  One of my teammates at Wake Forest found this video at some point last year and it instantly became one of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0mpUKnh9yo.  Please watch this short clip before reading on.

When I got here in February I was shocked to learn that Fox 11 is my local news broadcast and that this kid is real!  Huntington is about 10 minutes south of where I live now.  So to answer your question: YES.  I’ve met a number of people like this out here so I guess that sort of freaked me out a bit…

Well that wraps it up for this installment.  I hope that you enjoyed it!  Make sure to keep your questions coming to Julian@americansoccerreader.com.  Take care until next week and you’ll hear from me then!

-jules