General Soccer Thread

[thrill]

Blind seattle hatred and inferiority complex aside, admit that ref was/is a joke.

Sounders pbp man Ross Fletcher basically called that the ref was going to be trouble early in the broadcast because of his haircut. It was hilarious. He basically said he had the haircut of a pedant. Turned out to be very, very accurate.

Apparently Deuce could be suspended up to 3 months following the letter of the law. That includes MLS, Open Cup and National Team.

Also, thay ref has issued 19 cards, 4 reds in only three center assignements. That's absurd.


Props to Portland for keeping their heads though. They just let Seattle self destruct.

The Timbers are probably going to get one of these Wondo/Landon/Deuce types at some point. It's hard enough having Will 'Weasel' Johnson on the team--that's really going to be a struggle for me.

Lol, yeah, it's going to be really hard for you when Portland gets one of those "types." One of those perennial All-MLS attackers that can make them contend for trophies every year.

At least you jettisoned that hack Kah.



Seriously though, what's up with Caleb Porter? Does he suck?

[MrSaigon]

Yeah, I think as soon as I can accept the diminutive size of my own penis, I'll be able to appreciate the way Clint Dempsey treats people like garbage.

[MrSaigon]

The league adjusted to Porter, and he's never really gotten around it. He's only been able to do anything when his best players are on the pitch. He might suck. At least for this league where rosters are thin unless Garber decides yours doesn't have to be--and really, even then.

[Tambourine Man]

Womens world cup...anyone?
Happened across this US Nigeria game. Seems like sb a mismatch. Entertaining game.

I've watched a couple of their games (Sweden/Nigeria). That's two more women's soccer games than I've watched Cardinals games this year. It's actually much better than I expected...And Wambach is awesome. Alex Morgan at 100% and that's at least a 3-0 match last night.

[MrSaigon]

Blind seattle hatred and inferiority complex aside, admit that ref was/is a joke.

Sounders pbp man Ross Fletcher basically called that the ref was going to be trouble early in the broadcast because of his haircut. It was hilarious. He basically said he had the haircut of a pedant. Turned out to be very, very accurate.

I didn't see Evans first yellow, and the feed was crappy. But he didn't protest even a little when he got a second yellow (something Ross Fletcher--who, like our guy, effing sucks, btw, MLS has a serious announcer problem*--pointed out himself) for what looked like kicking a guy in the nuts. Azira's red was for the leg-rake, not the elbow: https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CHrkp88WcAAJM_C.mp4. Could have been yellow, I guess, but only worth a Sounders-level explosion because it was against Her Majesty The Rapper's team.

But as you've pointed out, you can't trust anything that I see in this game, inasmuch as I am blinded by Timbers fandom--which is best illustrated by the way in which I can be disgusted by Clint Dempsey's long track record of being a real ahole.

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven

[thrill]

But as you've pointed out, you can't trust anything that I see in this game, inasmuch as I am blinded by Timbers fandom--which is best illustrated by the way in which I can be disgusted by Clint Dempsey's long track record of being a real ahole.

We both think he's a real ahole. Where we differ is that I find it endearing.

In regards to his suspension, someone on twitter reminded me that Cuahtemoc Blanco headbutted the third ref in a USOC game and was banned from the tourney for three years and fined $7500 a few years ago. I doubt Clint is suspended for the Gold Cup unless they pull an NFL and punish him for PR reasons after their handling of Hope Solo came under criticism.

Ross Fletcher is terrible. He's emblematic of the American soccer announcer problem: hire an english accent, any english accent, whether or not they're good at their job.

[MrSaigon]

I actually posted this above in edit before I saw your reply:

*The Sounders used to have Arlo White, who was excellent. And the Timbers used to have John Strong, who is also excellent. I swear Ross Fletcher's resume is probably just one word: "British."

[MrSaigon]

When I hear Ross Fletcher, or some of the other British guys in this league that are horrible it really pisses me off that they didn't try to let some local talent have a shot. The SKC guy was hired from the BBC--where I believe he didn't even have any regular on air role--at the age of 24.

John Strong was actually in the USL Timbers Army.

[thrill]

John Strong is the best American pbp guy. Hopefully we develop more like him organically through MLS fandoms.

I enjoy Arlo White and Ian Darke. They're the best of the english talent, but even some of the "legendary" EPL announcers that do US games like Jon Champion earlier this month just don't work for me when they call US or MLS matches. They don't know enough about the players because it's not their beat they often pander to the American viewer by being overly effusive when they play well as if it's a surprise like Jon Champion's slob job on the US friendly vs the Netherlands or they awkwardly over-explain everything because they think it must be the first time Americans have seen a soccer match.

[thrill]

Clint Dempsey granted a three game suspension/vacation.
http://www.sounderatheart.com/2015/6/19 ... hree-games