America's Football 07.11.08: Superclasico Lives Up To The Name, MLS All-stars, and More

Posted by Sean Garmer on 07.11.2008

I'm back after a EURO and summer class hiatus to give you the lowdown on what's been happening on the American side of the round ball. The Galaxy took on hated rival Chivas USA, SuperLiga begins on Saturday, and all the MLS standings, Open Cup, and news you could ever want. All inside.

Hello everyone, sorry I've been gone for a month I had a summer journalism class to attend and we had plenty of work to do in there. However, I'm back, and it is great to see MLS get to be center stage for a bit. MLS continues to roll on into Week 16 of the season. We have two new conference leaders in the East and West since I last wrote. I'll get to that as well as MLS All-Star team, US Open Cup, Superliga starting soon, and news from around the world. Don't forget Chivas USA vs. LA Galaxy in the "Super Clasico" too. That's all in this edition of America's Football.










A Thrilling Draw


The two west coast rivals came into this game tied a top of the Western Conference. They gave it all out on the pitch and gave fans a fantastic game. Chivas scored first with a wonder goal from Ante Razov, his 2nd in his last two games, credit needs to be given to Sascha Kljestan for his fine work on the assist as well. He gave the perfect pass and Razov just curled it into the goal. Chivas held the Galaxy off well the rest of the first half, but it wasn't without several chances put forth by David Beckham. He kept the Galaxy active on the attack in the center of midfield, with his crosses and volleys into the box and passes from midfield. It may not look normal to many that he be doing the playmaker role but when he touched the ball he made things happen. Beckham showed tonight he still has some pace, but there was one play that Beckham had where he was alone with a ball floated to him in midfield and he ran towards goal, only to see Paolo Nagamura catch-up to him without any trouble. It's not a bad decision to play him there so he can control the game. The Galaxy also faced another problem Ante Jazic went off with a serious looking injury where he had to be carted off the field and replaced. Jazic is a key for them in that makeshift backline and now with him sidelined the Galaxy faced worse defensive woes. For the Chivas side Jesse Marsch and Francisco Mendoza were big players. Borenstein also looked good along with Shavar Thomas. Mendoza was integral along with Kljestan in that midfield making passes and runs into the box. There were several times were it took a last ditch defensive foul to stop Mendoza from darting into the box. Mendoza also saved a header off the line on a Beckham free-kick. Chivas even had a goal scored by Mendoza that was rightfully disallowed because the ball had crossed the byline before Kljestan completed the low cross.

Both teams went for it, but the Galaxy proved it wasn't just one sided with Edson Buddle Pete Vagenas and David Beckham combining for a goal in the 72nd minute. Too bad Landon Donavan decided not to impose himself on the game. As it seemed Chivas kept him in check and did not allow him to make those dangerous runs and passes that make him so vital to the Galaxy attack. The Galaxy did receive good news in the form of a Carlos Ruiz sighting. He came on in the 58th minute and brought Beckham back into the game (where he played on the right for the rest of the half) Ruiz played deeper in the midfield and showed some glimpses of goodness making the right passes finding Beckham and Donavan. Maybe there is a role for him. He also prompted a great save from Brad Guzan in the closing minutes of the game. Guzan saved Chivas many times in this one and provided safe hands on many crosses. It's probably a deserved result for both teams. It was a physical, hard fought, and exciting affair from the two and it showed why this is the premier rivalry in MLS. At least Chivas can take much pride in that this is far from the 5-2 beating they took from Donavan and the Galaxy in their previous game. Both teams remain in the exact same spots thanks to the result, making things even tighter for the week's to come as Chivas don't play a league game again until August 2nd. Then they play the Galaxy again on August 14th. LA look forward to seeing the lowly Redbulls on July `19th.







MLS All-Star First XI Announced



GK: Matt Reis
RB: Frankie Hejduk
CB: Michael Parkhurst
LB: Jimmy Conrad
MF: David Beckham
MF: Cuauhtehmoc Blanco
MF: Shalrie Joesph
MF: Sacha Kljestan
MF: Robbie Rogers
ST: Landon Donavan
ST: Kenny Cooper


I actually have to applaud everyone for their voting as I think they got mostly everyone right. You can not dispute Reis or Parkhurst being there. I think Hejduk deserves to be there because he always a threat on the right and has had a resurgence with how well that team has played this year. Granted KC have six shutouts but they are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and they couldn't seem to score either, until Thursday night. Conrad is here because he's the oldest member of that defense, everyone else is young, and based on reputation. I would have placed Gonzalo Segares here as he's a threat on the attack and he plays for a better Chicago squad. I understand that he does play on the left and he doesn't like to sit back, but you are only playing West Ham here. Regardless Conrad has scored a team leading four goals with his head on set pieces this year and it is not a bad choice at all. I totally agree Conrad deserves his spot and congrats to him being able to represent the cellar dwellers.

That midfield is stacked you can't wrong with the selections there. Blanco, Beckham, and Shalrie Joesph cannot be replaced here. It comes down to Robbie Rogers and Kljestan. Rogers is the youngest of the selected at 21, he does have five goals, plays on the left, and is dangerous almost every time he touches the ball on that side. He's been very influential in that resurgence Columbus has gone through this year. Kljestan also has five goals, has dealt with his team being injured most of the season, and is important in that midfield. However, I'm going to make a case for Steve Ralston. He has six goals and four assists this season and he has been their leader with Twellman out. Sure, Adam Cristman, Nyassi, Mansally, and Joseph have all helped out. I would say though, that Ralston with his age to do what he's done deserves to be there too. Kljestan and Rogers deserve their spots too, I just felt that Ralston should be there instead of Rogers. I have a feeling that the media knew that Beckham, Blanco, and Joseph would be included, so they didn't want to put another Revolution player in the line-up when they already have three, especially considering that Steve Nicol is the manager.

No way, Landon Donavan can be taken off this team, and I like that the players and coaches voted in my boy Kenny Cooper. I know that he only has eight goals but all of those goals were pretty and he worked for them. Edson Buddle had two hat-tricks and if he doesn't have Landon or Beckham in that team he doesn't get those goals. Whereas Cooper scored these despite the team not playing well, and Emilio was good for one month and it was a little too late. If Emilio had scored some of his goals in May and played well during that month it might be a tad different. Cooper has played well in every game and he totally deserves to be there. Regardless, most of these players I've mentioned will be in the reserves so we shouldn't cry too much about it.







Toronto Make it a two team race


On Wednesday night Toronto had their final match against Vancouver in their three team qualifier for the Champions League in a fantastic game. The match ended 2-2 with goals from Ricketts and Edu for Toronto. Due to goal difference a draw or win against Vancouver would have yielded the same deal for Toronto. Now, the MLS Canadians host Montreal at home in the final game, where they have to win to get their shot at competing in the Champions League. That final game takes place on July 22nd. Toronto disposed of Montreal 1-0 in Montreal. They are hoping they can do that at home where they've only lost once all season. Let's hope for MLS's sake that Toronto can do it.



LA Galaxy make a smart signing





LA Galaxy have a new signing and it's a defender. 29-year-old Argentine defender, Eduardo Dominguez is hoping to make an impact in that putrid Galaxy backline. Dominguez spent most of his career playing in Argentina and one year in Colombia. He made 15 appearances, scoring two goals in that time in Colombia. He will be able to join the team once he gets his p1 visa and a transfer clearance after the July 15 window opens. This should help the Galaxy with their defensive woes but it also takes time for defenders to gel with new teammates, but maybe in the end it will help solidify that line. This is the first smart signing from the Lalas camp, as we know how Ruiz has turned out so far. Dominguez was seen watching the Chivas vs. LA match from the press box Thursday night.


Redbulls add some Latino flavor




Monday it was announced that the NY Redbulls signed two South American midfielders. On the left side of the photo is Venezuelan, Jorge Rojas. Osorio has reportedly been after him for years even when he was the manager at Milionarios.

Rojas is the 2nd most capped Venezuelan national team player with 82 caps. He is versatile midfielder that can play either side of midfield, and left back as well. I would look for him to be slotted in the left side of midfield moving Van Der Bergh up front with Angel and allowing Richards to assume his normal position on the right side, with Reyna just behind the two forwards. Rojas, 31, is an experienced player who's played for various clubs in Venezuela and Colombia. Rojas just left UA Maracaibo who were in Copa Libertadores this season.

On the right of the photo is Argentine Juan Peitravallo, a 26-year-old defensive midfielder. He's spent time in Greece and on loan to clubs in Spain's Liga B. I could see him playing just in front of the back line, completing Osorio's 3-5-2 formation I just described before. He's still somewhat young, and it is good for MLS to get players like this. Osorio is expecting a lot out of him.

Not pictured is 22-year-old Diego Jimenez, a young Mexican defender. He recently played for Tecos UAG in Mexico. Osorio is hoping they can use him to help an injury plagued backline. Due to his marriage to an American woman he does not count as a foreign roster spot, which is wonderful for Osorio as he could suit up all three at the same time.

So it seems that other than finding a striker, NY has met all their needs and I would think that they will push forward. With these new signings and if they can get healthy they can add another dangerous team to that packed Eastern Conference, which makes the road to the playoffs that much tougher. The MLS summer transfer window doesn't open until July 15th, so Rojas or Pietravallo cannot play until then.



Kansas City signs an old star



Josh Wolff has returned to Kansas City after spending the last two years in Germany. Wolff scored only two goals in 34 games at 1860 Munich, it didn't seem like a good deal for him, especially after his poor outings with the US national side. However, now he has a chance to redeem himself and prove he deserves to be in that squad for the qualifiers. The important thing is that he can help KC find their scoring touch. As I mentioned before the forward trio of Sealy, Lopez, and Trujillo have nine goals in total, that's not good enough if they want to contend. Maybe this will get them out of the shadow of Eddie Johnson and get them back to looking like the very promising team that started the campaign. Wolff spent four seasons at KC before from 2003-2006 scoring 27 goals in 80 games. Let's hope for KC he can surpass that mark with his new four-year contract with the club.


MLS Standings through two games of Week 16


Western Conference

Los Angeles Galaxy= 22
Chivas USA= 22
Real Salt Lake= 20
Houston Dynamo = 20
Colorado Rapids= 19
FC Dallas= 18
San Jose Earthquakes= 12


The Galaxy are your leaders but not by much over Chivas. LA are 0-2-2 in their last four, they faced the East's top three and Chivas in that span scoring at least one goal (and three against Columbus) in those games. Though the competition may have been tough it shows exactly where the Galaxy are when it comes to the league. The ineptitude defensively is costing them much needed points in a Conference where a win can move you from 6th to 3rd. The Galaxy have scored as many goals as they've let in, Dominguez will help some but they need to get some chemistry back there to go anywhere in the playoffs. There's a long season left, but at the half way point things don't look good in the long run for the Galaxy. Whereas their rivals Chivas are improving with every game, yes, they got outplayed at times against San Jose. They didn't let a goal in against them, and Ante Razov scored on a free-kick stunner to win the game late. Chivas hasn't lost in a month and in that time their health and play has returned to something like last season's levels. Razov is back scoring, Borenstein is back defending, and the midfield is ruling the park once again. They have a chance to show the continent how much they've grown with SuperLiga coming up this weekend. They face Pachuca on Sunday.


Since defeating Dallas back on June 1st, Colorado went winless for the rest of the month. Fernando Clavijo came under a lot of scrutiny because the team performed badly last season. He gets Christian Gomez in the offseason and they perform well. They were unlucky to lose against the Galaxy after demolishing them in the opening game of the season. After that, they were able to score only one goal against Toronto had a clunker against Houston in a game that ended 0-0, and then were outplayed by Columbus 2-1 (without Gomez) last week. This week they whacked the woeful Redbulls 4-0. Good lord, the Redbulls are awful right now, I bet Osorio probably wishes he would have stayed with the Fire at this point. He's been unlucky to lose Jozy, Angel has been hurt most of the season, and Echeverry has shown he still has a long way to go. Not to mention Dane Richards was out for a while. Colorado took advantage of that and showed them how to score and did that well. Colorado now have a chance to prove if that was a valid win or a fluke against San Jose. The Earthquakes played well against Chivas and probably deserved a point; it should be an interesting watch.


Houston and RSL both played to a 0-0 draw last week. Houston's scoring woes continue and they really have no excuse as most of their first team is there. They are missing Mulrooney and their rock at the back Eddie Robinson, but they just don't seem able to score. At times they looked unlucky against RSL but half the game was a battle in the midfield and I think DeRo not being the one behind the forwards hurts them. If I was Kinnear I'd go resign Nate Jacqua since he doesn't have a team right now. RSL are sitting pretty in the West. They are doing better than many expected and look to keep playing well. They face those attack crazy Columbus Crew on Saturday, while Houston are preparing for Atlante in SuperLiga.


Dallas comes off their third tie with their Texas rivals and stake claim to "El Capitan" this season. Dallas are still looking for their first MLS league win under the Schellas Hyndman era. They couldn't do it on July 4th against KC and it took a last second goal from Abe Thompson to get the point for them too. They really should have done better, but KC's defense is always solid. I do like that this kid Eric Avila is showing himself to be a good player, while others like Toja and Alvarez still haven't shown last season's form. I would expect Mr. Hyndman to start tinkering with the team soon. FC Dallas has the week off due to MLS's weird scheduling.


San Jose isn't doing too badly with a 1-2-2 record in their last five. However, since defeating Columbus in Week 11, San Jose hasn't scored a goal. Having Chivas as an opponent this week didn't help matters either. However, the West is the weaker conference and all it takes is a win this week against Colorado for them to remain close to the pack.



Eastern Conference

New England Revolution= 33
Columbus Crew= 27
D.C. United= 22
Chicago Fire= 21
Toronto FC= 21
New York Redbulls= 20
Kansas City Wizards= 20


New England continue to roll along as Adam Cristman shows that Taylor Twellman not being in the line-up is no problem, as he scored the two goals needed to get past LA. It really makes one wonder why they didn't let Twellman go to Preston North End in the winter. Oh yeah, I forgot the MLS owns him. I hope that once this league gets to 16 or 17 teams, MLS starts to put plans in place to loosen the reigns a bit. New England has hit a wonderful patch of form that has seen them not lose a match since May 3, that's two months. The Revs take on Santos Laguna in SuperLiga on Sunday.


After running into a bad stretch, Columbus have gone unbeaten in their last four matches. Capped off by a nice 2-1 win against Colorado, and a great game against Chicago that finished in a 2-2 tie, the surprising thing is that the goals seem to be coming from numerous places. With backup forwards Steven Lenhart and Brad Evans scoring two weeks ago against the Galaxy. Then last week in their win over Colorado it was Emmanuel Epko that scored the winner. Both Epko and Lenhart scored in the game against Chicago. Columbus seems to be the team to give the Revs a run, and with many of their players in good form, it could be a fight to the finish in October/November.


DC United made a grand resurgence in June behind the play of one man. The MLS MVP, Luciano Emilio has scored 7 goals in June which is crazy. Emilio proved last year that when he gets on these scoring runs it is tough to stop him. He's done it again this season and that is why he was honored with MLS Player of the month for June. They finally seem to be clicking as they torched the Galaxy 4-1, and haven't lost since May 21st against Toronto. In fact, since that loss, they haven't gone a game without scoring at least two goals. Sadly, Ben Olsen had another surgery and will be out possibly another two months. DC don't have a game this week as they prepare for their first SuperLiga match-up this weekend against Chivas Guadalajara.


Toronto have surprised us all with how all these signings have worked out. They plod along in that fifth place slot tied with Chicago and ahead of NY. They still haven't lost a game at BMO in MLS play all season and with that crowd behind them, they could end the season that way. Toronto didn't have a game on Saturday, but they do this week and it is against the Fire. That should be terrific, as Chicago showed their attacking flair against Columbus, but fell asleep twice on defense and it only nabbed them a point away from home.


Chicago has taken a large dip in form recently losing their last four games before the tie with Columbus, and only scoring three goals in that time too. That is torrid folks considering that the game before that streak they blasted NY 5-1. They ran into a hot DC United squad (Chad Barrett scored a goal in that one,) lost to Dallas on Father's Day in a game where they missed chances. Then they lost 2-0 to Chivas who has been improving, and then faced San Jose, who decided to park the bus. They looked great in the game against Columbus, but the Crew owned them in the second half and lost two points due to defensive lapses. Every team goes through a slump; you could say the Fire where due to burn out. Chicago will look to turn things around this week against a tough Toronto squad who are coming off a bye week.


The Redbulls are now tied with KC in the standings, not having Angel fit for much of this season has hurt them, not only is he the scorer but he also is a playmaker and not having Jozy next to him anymore is going to take some adjustment. Osorio is trying to make things happen with new signings. Who knows, if these players can mesh and keep themselves around the other teams they could wind up in the playoffs. They looked good in the 2nd half as Angel scored a goal off a nice cross from the substitute Dane Richards. Dave van den Bergh almost had a shot to tie it up in the waning minutes, but Kevin Hartman made a great save. I'd like to see the team at full strength with Richards starting on the right side.


Speaking of KC who drew with Dallas last Friday. Curt Onalfo was right in that the game against NY was a must win for them, and they showed it. Conrad scored another set piece goal for KC early on, and Davy Arnaud added another one in the 47th minute to make it 2-0. KC had the possession and controlled the game in the first half. They looked better than they have lately and that's a good sign. Nine goals in total from the front three is not good though, if it wasn't for their defense they might have a lower point total. They probably deserve to be ahead of the Redbulls as they should have gotten three points against Dallas, but then you could say they didn't deserve three points against RSL a couple weeks ago. That's how football goes sometimes though. There's still half the season left for them to mesh and make a run, but it is going to take a lot of work to get there.





Tuesday the fourth round of the US Open Cup was disputed. That's of course the 2nd round that MLS teams can be involved in. Here are the results.


New England defeated USL-2 side Crystal Palace Baltimore 5-3 on PK's.

DC United defeated Chicago Fire 2-1 in Extra Time.

USL-1 side Charleston Battery lit up FC Dallas 3-1.

USL-1 side, Seattle Sounders ride their luck again by defeating the Kansas City Wizards 6-5 on PK's.


New England probably have the deepest team in the league. They started some heavy hitters on this night such as Twellman, Khano Smith, Mansally, and Igwe. It was mainly a B team and they took it to PK's. However, New England won this competition last season, were playing a USL-2 side, and are still in three competitions, leading the league I might add. As most of the team prepares itself for SuperLiga on Sunday, they were lucky to see themselves move on to the Semi-Finals.


DC did not play last week so they had to field almost a full-strength side, while Chicago matched the effort and the game went to extra time. Namoff scored in the 99th minute to give DC the lead. In the 2nd half of the extra period things got very interesting. Substitute Blanco, after being pushed down, decided to punch Clyde Simms in the stomach, Marc Burch retaliated, and they were both sent off. I would suspect that Blanco will see some kind of fine from the league as that is not good. Blanco really hasn't had an incident like this since he's joined the league. Since this did occur against another MLS team I'm sure DC will file something to the league. Since it didn't happen in a league match MLS probably won't suspend him but there will be some punishment. In the end, DC ends up advancing to face their Eastern Conference rivals.


Dallas starts the full squad and the defense looks awful. Not to mention it seems Toja and Alvarez are lost right now. Abe Thompson, Eric Avila, and Kenny Cooper are the highlights for Dallas. Dulio Davino got exposed again and Blake Wagner at left back didn't work either. Charleston outplayed Dallas plain and simple. Not much to say for the sake of them, there was a rain delay, they really tried in the 2nd half, but in the end they couldn't convert chances and defend. Congrats to Charleston for advancing they deserve it.


KC again decides to wait until the 2nd half to bring in a resemblance of starters, but played even less starters than in their last encounter and they pay for it. KC played for the penalties, they got that and lost. I understand that they had a vital game against the Redbulls on Thursday. However, Curt Onalfo knows that the squad aren't in any other competitions. Why not play some starters from the beginning, and when you put on starters, why two defenders? Conrad and Sealy would have brought some gumption into the attack. The youngsters performed well for KC don't get me wrong, but they seemed content to not really go for it either. Using Sealy from the beginning they could have tried to score a goal and then take him off at half-time. This is also against the USL-1 champions from last year they aren't a team to take lightly. Obviously it showed that Onalfo was more concerned with the league, and well he should be, but I don't see why you piss away a chance at some silverware. I'm just glad Seattle advanced because it would be unfair if KC won on penalties.


The Semi-Finals look like this then.


New England vs. DC

Seattle Sounders vs. Charleston Battery


Well it is nice to see that our version of the FA Cup gets to have a final similar to its big brother. A USL side will be in the final regardless, except that New England and DC are no Portsmouth. New England has been to the MLS Cup final three straight times, while DC won the league (in the traditional manner) last season, both teams are in great form. Either way the final should be an interesting watch.






The 2008 SuperLiga starts this weekend. Myself and Ramon Aranda have Media accreditation for this, so between the both of us we will try to bring you some exclusive stuff for the tourney. I'm not promising anything about game coverage as far as this column goes though, because I always seem unable to keep with my promise on that. I only get to see my girlfriend twice a week on Saturday's and Monday's (I go down there on Saturday, and she comes up to my apartment on Mondays) and she lives an hour away. By the time, she gets off of work I end up being with her for about five hours and I get home around midnight Saturday nights. So I have to start by even getting myself to stay up long enough to watch one game that night. Then hopefully get up early enough to watch the other one before church. After church I go straight to work and get back at 10. Mondays I try to spend time with her and not worry about other things.

I will try to have timely columns updating the weekend action, and hopefully one in between dealing with the midweek stuff. Ramon and I will probably tag-team doing score updates as we did for EURO 2008, just in case I can't. As I also write for my University's newspaper.

Last year's tournament was very fun to watch with games going to penalties and one unbelievable game between FC Dallas and the Galaxy. Hopefully, this year's SuperLiga can match-up to the success of last year's. The ratings were big in Mexico and for Telefutura. This will be broadcast in Engish on MLSnet.com by webstream. I would assume that if this is a success this year MLS will try to get a English TV channel for 2009. There have been talks about expanding this to 12 teams in the future, we'll have to wait and see how that goes. Obviously, a lot of that will rely on how well this SuperLiga does, and the CONCACAF Champions League as well. Enough of that, let's get on to the predictions.


Group A

Houston Dynamo (MLS Champs)
DC United (MLS Supporter's Shield Winners)
Atlante (2007 Apertura Champs)
Chivas Guadalajara

Prediction: 1. DC United, 2. Chivas Guadalajara


I can't pick Houston because they are having serious scoring woes. Now with possible rumors of Dwayne DeRosario heading to Europe (if MLS let him leave) that has to be another huge distraction for them. They are also missing their best defender Eddie Robinson. Let me also add that DC hasn't lost in quite some time and if there is an MLS side to get through here its DC. I'd love to pick Atlante especially because they have two players I love to watch. One being "the Hobbit" Christian Bermudez who is a midfielder that is 5'4 but plays with such attacking flair and danger you have to be careful of him. Also there's a Venezuelan forward called Giancarlos Maldonado that has scored 22 goals in 26 appearances, which is ridiculous. However, Chivas almost made it through last year and with their veteran experience, I can't count them out this year. They led the league in the Clausura 2008 where Atlante finished 15th, and they have a slew of players that have load of international experience as well. They will miss Omar Bravo dearly, but Santana, Medina, Morales and company should take up the slack there.


Group B

Santos Laguna (2008 Clausura Champs)
New England Revolution (2007 US Open Cup Winners)
Chivas USA
Pachuca (2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup Winners)

Prediction: 1. New England Revolution 2. Santos Laguna


This is the group of death for sure. As any of these teams could make it out of here. I'm picking New England because they haven't lost since May and they have a loaded squad. Not to mention the two Mexican squads are in pre-season and that gives New England a major advantage. Though the Mexican teams seemed to get better after their first game in last season's tourney. I'm going with Santos because they won the 2008 Clausura and they have players that can score. Vuoso, Benitez, and a very nice midfield that includes Paco Torres and Fernando Arce, along the best Goal Keeper in Mexico in Oswaldo Sanchez too. Pachuca has some new faces mixed in with the old faithful and though they won last year's SuperLiga and the last Champions Cup, I just feel that Santos has the better team as they showed in the Clausura. Pachuca over the years has proven to be a "Cup Team" and could show that again, that's why this is the group of death after all. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Chivas got through ahead of Santos. Like I said before, these Mexican teams are still in pre-season, while the MLS clubs are in full swing. Chivas is improving with every game and are also getting healthier with every game as well. They have a nice team, with very good players including Razov, Flores, Sascha, Mendoza, Borenstein and Guzan. They still have that makeshift backline and that could do them in Either way this should be the group that brings it the most, I just hope I don't get made to look like an idiot here.



UEFA EURO's getting a change


UEFA President Michel Platini stated not long after the completion of EURO 2008 that they would have a controversial vote. Platini stated that UEFA officials will vote for a change to the EURO's to become a 24 team tournament starting with the 2016 edition.

I asked this question to Tim O' Sullivan and Ramon Aranda in last week's Football/Soccer Fact or Fiction and they gave us two different ideas on the subject.

The thing about this is that Tim is right in that making it 24 teams out of 53 will make qualifying irrelevant. Sure, it guarantees that no big team will be left out and we will see all the grand nations playing each other. However, that was one of the great things about this EURO's. Not that England wasn't in it, because the ratings in the US would have been higher if they were, and my fellow Soccer columnists would see their team in the competition. It was because of the way England didn't qualify. It came down to the final game and Croatia beat them to keep them out. Scotland suffered a heartbreaker in the final game too. Ireland and Ukraine didn't make it either. Unless the draws become really difficult and we have three or four big teams in each group we are going to see the same teams over and over every four years. The only thing that will change is that we will see different smaller teams get in and then watch them get squashed when the tournament begins.

As an outsider, the only reason to like this is that it adds another week and a half to the EURO's and gives us more games to watch. I think what Turkey did in EURO 2008 opened everyone's eyes to nations outside of the big ones in Europe. Austria and Switzerland were decent and better than expected playing at home. It does give bigger possibilities for upsets to look at football on a grander scale, which is a great aspect of the EURO's and the World Cup. There are pros and cons to this; I do kinda want to see the thing expand because I love watching football. I just don't want the quality to go down. However, I feel that this EURO's showed these smaller countries are starting to get better and maybe if this could be what they need to introduce themselves to the big boys in Europe. I don't see what the problem would be using EURO 2016 as the guinea pig. If it works, keep it, if it doesn't then don't. They could easily say that EURO 2020 would go back to the regular format if it takes out the quality.



Before I go, I thought I should tell you to read Breaking the Offside Trap written by a fellow footy columinst Matt Snelling This week he talks about how the transfer season will affect the 2008/2009 season.


Well that is all for this week, take a break from the silly season in Europe and enjoy the plethora of games between SuperLiga and MLS this weekend, it's American footy madness. I'll be back soon with more America's Football.