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A Blog That Chuck Hasn't Found...Until Now

Bill Fetty over at A-League.com, part of the MatchNight network, recently has started a blog all about the league and has gotten off to a good start. He's crunching some interesting numbers, talking about Utah and Minnesota Thunder GK Joe Warren and introducing himself. Best of luck, Bill... Can't believe Chuck hasn't spotted it ... until now.

Massive Women's Update

We must start by acknowledging the Rochester Ravens and the end of their 45-match winless streak going back to July 23, 2000 (0-44-1--the tie in the streak came last season). Nina Scalzo turned in a W-League player of the week performance with her goal and two assists in the Ravens' 3-2 OT win against South Jersey. Rochester received kudos from Ottawa even after a 5-0 loss to open the season.

Rochester has, by the way, a W-League franchise (Ravens) and one in the WPSL (Reign).

Despite the loss of the WUSA, the Boston Globe notes that women's soccer is alive and kicking. The article takes a focus on the upstart WPSL, which after being more-or-less a west coast league has expanded its women's horizon to the east coast.

The Ottawa Fury want to justify their automatic place in the W-League final four (as host, they're guaranteed one of the four slots) after finishing 11-2-1 in 2003 and making it to the semifinals last season in Hampton Roads. There are new opportunities for women players in West Michigan. Marionette Pichon recently signed with the New Jersey Wildcats. Her first game will be June 5. Mercy Akide scored twice in a 4-0 win over Bradenton, extending their winning streak to 16. They'll get a tough home test this weekend against Charlotte.

The Washington Freedom aren't going quietly if the WUSA is never to play again. They've lined up an aggressive slate of friendlies against various opponents. Having earlier taken on college opponents, they are now playing a combination of W-League, WPSL and international opponents this summer. However, it appears that they've got a collection of high-school age players in the mix with a few veterans, as this post from StarCityFan on Big Soccer notes about their win last night against the W-League's Northern Virginia Majestics:

Freedom win, 4-0, with goals from Meredith Beard and Jacqui Little, among others. Additional familiar faces consisted of Nicci Wright, Emmy Barr, Lindsey Stoecker, and Carrie Moore, who served as team captain (yay!). I was told that most of the other players were from a development team of 16-year-olds. It showed - the Freedom didn't dominate except for about the last thirty minutes of the first half and were almost totally incapable of maintaining possession for much of the second. The defense and Nicci Wright had to work hard in the second half to maintain the shutout.

A former Freedom and San Jose player, Michelle French, is biding her time by coaching youth teams in the Seattle area, and playing for the Sounders women.

The women's national team gets back in action Sunday in Louisville, Kentucky against Japan as they tuneup for the Olympics in Athens. Coach April Heinrichs has named her 18-player roster for the match. Heinrichs has brought back Joy Faucett and Shannon MacMillian for the match. Japan will be without their notable star, Homare Sawa (knee injury), but they have given the US fits in recent matches (0-0 in 2003 and 2-2 in 2000). US roster:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Kristin Luckenbill, Briana Scurry; DEFENDERS (6): Brandi Chastain, Joy Fawcett, Kate Markgraf, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Cat Reddick; MIDFIELDERS (5): Shannon Boxx, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Lindsay Tarpley, Aly Wagner; FORWARDS (5): Mia Hamm, Shannon MacMillan, Cindy Parlow, Abby Wambach, Christie Welsh.

By the way, there's got to be some kind of irony in Nomar making an appearance in Louisville just days before Mia takes the field for the US WNT. Says Mia's hubby:

"This is a great stadium, and these are great fans," he said. "This was my first time in Louisville, so I thought I'd sign some autographs. When my wife comes in, I'm sure she'll sign some, too."

Garciaparra's wife, Mia Hamm, will be in town this weekend with the U.S. women's soccer team, which will play an exhibition game Sunday at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

Heather Mitts proved an inspiration recently for some Louisville high school girls.

The Olympics can't come soon enough for Mitts, 25. This has been "a lifetime dream.'' Even the security concerns in Athens don't dampen her enthusiasm.

"I know there has been a lot of talk about it," she said. "But for the most part, we're very confident. If they feel like it's fine for us to go over there and play, then by all means (we'll go). Our No. 1 concern is winning the gold."

In the meantime, there are high hopes for women's soccer in Israel. Three of their players have US collegiate experience and the team is ranked 69th in the world out of 115. Not bad for a team that's only been around since 1997. However, not all is rosy for them:

If the national team is on the up, the state of women's league soccer in Israel only seems to slide deeper and deeper into chaos. This season the league began in January after a delay of three months and even then it was stopped after the first round without a champion being declared because the players went on strike in protest at the sorry state of the league.

The success of the women's team comes without any institutional backing and Itzik Zeltzer, the team's assistant coach looks set to be axed because of cutbacks. Zeltzer doesn't receive a salary and all he gets from the Israel Football Association is reimbursement for expenses. Shimon Maimon, chair of State Cup holders Maccabi Holon says the chances of his team playing in the UEFA Women's Cup are slim. "It will cost us NIS 300,000 out of a budget of NIS 500,000 and we only get government support of NIS 25,000."

In September, South Africa will be the host for the women's version of the African Cup of Nations.

The Des Moines Phenomenon

I just posted this in the Blog Matchnight comments regarding my own previous post about attendance figures. This is specifically tied to Des Moines' PDL attendance figures and whether they have enough support for an A-League team:

How's this?

Menace averages from '01-'04 seasons:

2001: 2,703
2002: 4,401
2003: 3,971
2004: 3,695 (includes exhibition vs. Wizards).

The other encouraging thing about their attendance figures is that they don't seem to have a drop for back to back games. They've had 2 sets of back-to-back home matches this season:

5/15: 3,756
5/16: 4,065

5/29: 3,496
5/30: 3,440

They've generally been consistent that way in past seasons as well. Their attendance record is 6,312 in '02.

FYI: the 2002 season they went undefeated in the regular season. By the way, they'll get a Freddy Adu spike soon too, as he's flying to Des Moines after the DC United/Fire match and giving away autographed Freddy jerseys at a Menace match that night, and they had a contest for someone to fly to the Fire match and back on a private plane w/Freddy.

I had the opportunity to attend my first Menace match last week, albeit an exhibition against the Kansas City Wizards, which drew over 3,700 on a Tuesday night. In the process, I met owner Kyle Krause and director of operations Nate Van Steenvoort, among others, and from my own viewpoint, they run an A-League team already, and in that market, they're treated that way. TV crews and the Des Moines Register cover the home matches. The crowd seemed knowledgable and full of energy, and with the Menace's consistent performance on the field the last few seasons, the fans have good reason to perk up the attendance numbers as well. They, like many clubs, have giveaways and halftime contests, and Menace gear is readily available as well. Plus, they pass out a 20-page program with a color cover. Yes it's full of ads, but also has plenty of useful soccer information.

The match itself wasn't the highest quality (how often do exhibitions measure up anyway?), but neither team scored until Matt Taylor's goal in the 81st minute to give KC a 1-0 win. The Menace had played 2 matches the previous weekend, and KC one of their own, plus they had a training session and a 3 hour bus ride to Des Moines.

My visit to Des Moines was on the invitation of a couple of friends of mine I made during the 2002 World Cup in Korea, one of whom was the AR for the match--Doug Jotzke. I watched much of the match with his parents, and also had the opportunity to meet Terry Vaughn, who happens to be from Iowa as well.

All-in-all, a first class job by the Menace top to bottom. If ever a PDL city could jump straight to the A-League, they could. Plenty of A-League teams need to find out what's happening in Des Moines, bottle it up and bring it back with them.

Weekend Attendance

Attendance updated to include Monday's numbers . . .

Attendance figures this weekend for A-League matches (listed high to low):
Fri. Toronto @ Montreal: 6,831
Sat. Atlanta @ Charleston: 5,022
Sat. Milwaukee @ Portland: 4,067
Sat. Rochester @ Puerto Rico: 3,190
Thu. Rochester @ Puerto Rico: 3,000
Sat. Virginia Beach @ Richmond: 2,440
Sun. Minnesota @ Edmonton: 1,913
Fri. Milwaukee @ Seattle: 1,875
Sat. Montreal @ Toronto: 1,826
Mon. Richmond @ Virginia Beach: 1,365
Fri. Edmonton @ Calgary: 1,012

Other notable attendance figures in the lower divisions:
Sat. St. Louis @ Des Moines (PDL): 3,440
Sat. N. Virginia @ Long Island (PSL): 2,629
Sun. W. Michigan @ Pittsburgh (PSL): 1,157
Sun. Reading @ Harrisburg City (PSL): 1,032

Notable women's attendance figures:
Sun. Arizona @ Edmonton (W-League): 1,512
May 22 Maryland @ Steel City (WPSL): 1,250
Sat. Sudbury @ Montreal (W-League): 1,170

MLS Attendance:
Sat. DC United @ NE: 19,314
Sat. Dallas @ LA: 18,460
Sat. San Jose @ Columbus: 14,555
Sat. Colorado @ Chicago: 9,688
Sun. KC Wizards @ MetroStars: 9,101

Saturday A-League Review

Montreal and Portland remain undefeated . . . Swinehart loans Richmond a win and James River Cup . . . Atlanta continues upswing with win over Charleston . . . Rochester gets second 1 goal win in Puerto Rico . . .

Montreal defeated Toronto on back-to-back nights, taking Friday's match at home 4-1 and then last night won 2-0 away, staying undefeated at 5-0-1. Freddy Commodore scored both goals for the Impact last night--his fourth and fifth on the season--in what was described by Rob Lynch as a less-than-inspired match by Toronto, turning in a worse performance, he says, than the one they had in the three-goal loss the night before, even with early sustained pressure. Two Lynx players describe the team as "struggling." Can't argue with that one.

"We had a strong start and Fred (Commodore) scored two great goals," said Montreal coach Nick DeSantis after last night's win. "There was a little bit of fatigue in the second half, but we never really let them get any good scoring chances.

"We used all of our subs, so everyone truly contributed, all the players can come out of this game with a sense of accomplishment."

Portland also stayed undefeated at 5-0-0, coming from a two-goal deficit at home against Milwaukee Wave United to win 3-2 in OT behind a hat-trick by Alan Gordon.

Dustin Swinehart, on loan from the Pro Soccer League's Charlotte Eagles, scored Richmond's lone goal in the 97th minute for a 1-0 OT win against Virginia Beach, taking the James River Cup once more. Swinehart will play Monday night for Richmond at Virginia Beach, and may make odd appearances throughout the season for the Kickers. Should the Kickers make the A-League playoffs, he'll be made available then as well.

Rochester won again in Puerto Rico, this time 2-1 after winning Thursday 1-0, despite the Islanders playing perhaps their best match of the season. Corey Woofolk, ex-Pittsburgh player, scored the lone goal of the first match after Islanders' defenders paused for what they may have thought was a whistle. It wasn't. Woofolk scored the decisive goal in last night's win as well. Soren Johnson made his first A-League start in goal for the Rhinos.

Charleston continue to languish in the middle of the A-League standings, while Atlanta have begun a bit of a surge after winning 4-2 away. From the Post & Courier:

Missing central defender Mark Watson, who was called up by Canada to face Wales in an international friendly, didn't help much either.

In Watson's absence, Charleston's Ezra Hendrickson and Michael Green struggled in the middle of the Battery defense, failing to rein in the speedy and skilled Silverbacks front line.

Charleston surrendered three of the four Atlanta (3-3-1, 10 points) goals with little more than a cursory stab at the ball, as Silverbacks attackers ran through the mistake-prone Battery defense like the incoming tide.

Former DC United defender Ivan McKinley made his first start of the season, and noted mental lapses by the Battery in the loss. Alex-Pineda Chacon scored for the Silverbacks in the win. Wolde Harris scored his first for the Battery in the loss.

"It was a bit of an embarrassing debacle," said Battery head coach Chris Ramsey. "The players know in their hearts, individually who made mistakes and who didn't. . . . It's my fault in the end," he said. "They make the mistakes, but I pick the team."

Minnesota plays in Edmonton this evening, while Richmond travels to Virginia Beach tomorrow for a Memorial Day match.

More match reports from the weekend's action (Thurs.-Mon.)
Milwaukee @ Seattle (Fri): Seattle Pitch, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Bremerton Sun

The OTS MLS Top 11

Perhaps in a previous post you saw us make reference to our new poll, the MLS Top 11. But there's only 10 teams right now, you say? Well, what we do is take the best A-League team at the moment and slot them into the #11 slot. While normally this poll will be posted on Wednesday, it makes its debut today due to my mini-vacation, which kept posting light for a week. The poll is an average of our two senior writers--myself and Mark Bushman. This week, actually, it turns out we have a consensus on our picks, and we usually don't agree on too much! We're back at full-tilt once more, so leave your comments about our poll, and anything else, right here.

OTS MLS Top 11
1. LA Galaxy (4-2-3)
2. San Jose Earthquakes (3-2-3)
3. MetroStars (2-1-4)
4. Chicago Fire (2-2-4)
5. Columbus Crew (2-3-2)
6. KC Wizards (3-2-2)
7. Colorado Rapids (2-1-4)
8. Dallas Burn (2-3-2)
9. DC United (2-4-3)
10. NE Revolution (1-3-3)
11. Portland Timbers (4-0-0)

Allie Gets An Interesting Welcome In Montreal

While it sounds like Montreal has a rabid fan base for soccer (unlike baseball, at least), at least one fan made a fool of himself by insisting--nose to nose--that A-League.com match reporter Allison Andrews take a hike. She hasn't yet told the full story from the match, a 4-1 win by Montreal over Toronto, but read her travelogue for more on that, and her 2nd consecutive east coast tour.

In a battle of winless Canadian teams, Edmonton (0-1-3) and Calgary (0-5-2) stayed that way in a 1-1 draw. The Aviators gave up a 2nd half stoppage-time goal to snatch a tie from the jaws of victory. Calgary's Nick Zuniga--an Edmonton native, by the way--was looking forward to the budding rivalry. Zuniga is more or less a role player off the bench now, and Mustangs coach Thomas Niendorf says he's got work to do to get better:

Niendorf knows what the 5-ft. 10-in. forward brings to the team but would like Zuniga to be more consistent with his transitional play and defensive responsibilities.

"The bottom line with Nick is we all recognize his talent but he needs to make a more consistent jump into the professional level of the A-League," said Niendorf. "We still see too many times just the flashes of his potential. He has to become more consistent with the responsibility of the assignments he has to look after on the field.

In the only other action last night, Seattle defeated Milwaukee Wave United 2-1 with a 2nd half stoppage time goal by Welton. But the bigger news out of Seattle is that they're one of four finalists for an MLS franchise. Seattle Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer was at MLS offices in New York meeting with commissioner Don Garber on Thursday. Hanauer is described by the Seattle Times as that city's "point man" for a top-flight team.

"We're no closer to having a franchise," Hanauer said after the meeting with Garber. "We're trying to figure out under what structure something might be able to work." The MLS hopes to expand by an additional two teams in 2006; Borg said Seattle automatically would be put on the 2006 expansion list if the city is not awarded a franchise this year.

The article pokes holes in Salt Lake City's bid, and notes that the Field Turf surface at Seahawks Stadium wouldn't be an issue.

While the current A-League Sounders team would cease to exist, the Sounders' name, logo and colors would more than likely continue with the new team, since there is 30 years of Sounders history in the city. But Hanauer said there may be some benefits to starting over with a new brand because he would want to make a big first impression on the city if it gets an MLS team.

The Chivas USA franchise set for play in 2005 will play in either Los Angeles or Chicago. Either city would have a stadium share with the existing MLS franchise in the respective cities.

The Portland Timbers, ranked #11 in the OnTheSidelines MLS Top 11, are taking experience and talent to the top of the A-League.

Clyde Simms has gone from a tryout camp just hoping for a shot with the Richmond Kickers, to a starting role with the team as they prepare for their James River Cup match tonight at home against Virginia Beach.

Richie Williams, who will sit out tonight's match against the Mariners, had a rare thing happen to him with a straight red card for dissent in their most recent match, a 1-0 OT loss to Atlanta.

Beau Dure has a good rundown of the US lower divisions.

An Absence

I start my week on the road to visit relatives and someone named Moreno scores a hat-trick at RFK Stadium. Thinking, great, days of lore, and with Freddy Adu scoring a Cold Pizza highlight goal, had to be a DC United win in convincing style, particularly without the Little Fish playing.

Alas, I learn it was Alejandro Moreno of the LA Galaxy who scored his hat trick, with a top play on ESPN and two other goals all within an 8 minute span. Actually, they scored four times in nine minutes to close out the first half and cruised from there. Amazing. I get to see a drab, boring Wizards/United match as my last before my midwest jaunt, and I left behind six goals, a hat-trick and a highlight-goal from Super Teen Star Freddy.

And with Nick Rimando's play, will that be enough for Doug Warren to return to the starting lineup, or does United begin to think about moving one of the two to find someone more reliable? And (again), United showed their typical play that leads to nothing for the first 30 minutes before the four goal outbreak by the Galaxy.

I missed it all while driving past farms in Illinois. I realize how spoiled I am living on the east coast, and in particular in Virginia, where there's never a shortage of a game going on somewhere most days of the week. However, watching my cousin's daughter graduate is a special moment for me, and for a week or so, soccer is on the backburner. But don't worry, I'll be back next week with a vengeance, blogging and posting new OnTheSidelines content. I'm sure Ian Plenderleith, Mark Bushman and Craig Stouffer will have a lot to say about the United/Galaxy, and more on how they do in Colorado. Also check out the rest of the OnTheSidelines content in case you missed something.

While I'm away, check out Dr. Chuck's Blog Matchnight. He's doing a great job blogging the soccer world. I'll return next week to highlight the close of the European season for the American contingent, highlight the minor league world and give an overview of the US Open Cup draw, among other things.

Frankie Hejduk Did Not Dive

After hearing from fans, DC United players, Peter Nowak and now Tony's Take on the PK-inducing foul, let me reiterate that Brandon Prideaux did commit the foul on the Columbus Crew's Frankie Hejduk, and it did warrant a PK call. It didn't go down (wishfully) like this:

Brandon had his hand on the jersey of Frankie Hejduk in the box as the ball rolled toward the end line. Hejduk realized that he couldn't catch up with the ball so he belly flopped onto the turf and looked hopefully at the official Terry Vaughn. There was an unusually long pause as Hejduk was on the ground, and then the referee blew his whistle and dramatically pointed to the penalty spot. More than 18,000 fans at RFK Stadium were in shock. Shocked at the mysterious delay, shocked at the call and shocked that, after totally dominating ball possession and chances on goal, D.C. United was going home with an infuriating tie. Vaughn missed the call undoubtedly. The play was much closer to being a yellow card for diving than a penalty. It was a critical call that cost D.C. United two points in the standings. The result was an unfair one to put it mildly, but the referee is not the only one to blame.

Here's the definitive proof available for download (Updated Real Player required). Thanks to Mark Bushman's TV show (shown locally in the Fredericksburg, VA-area) This Week In Soccer, and their cameraman Luis Pacheco, we have a different camera angle of the foul that shows the following:

1. Prideaux was beaten on the play. 2. Prideaux had both hands on Frankie Hejduk and was grabbing him. 3. At the point Hejduk fell down, Prideaux had stepped on Hejduk's foot. 4. Hejduk did not "dive."

The foul that led to the PK is the second highlight on the clip--the first being Dema Kovalenko's goal and celebration. We also show Ross Paule's PK. Just as a note to the video also, there's a 9 second test pattern that leads it off.

On the Prideaux/Hejduk play, we show it in real time, and in slo-mo so you can see it one more time. Download speeds will definitely vary on that but your chances are better on a cable/broadband/DSL connection than dialup. It took me about 10-15 seconds to download the clip.

You can also hear Prideaux talk about the play, and hear takes from Earnie Stewart, Ben Olsen, Ryan Nelsen and Bryan Namoff about the play and the match, which, as you're well aware, ended in a 1-1 draw.