should be an interesting game. I hear RVP has pulled out of the dutch camp, uh oh. PMK, MLS is right around the corner! Yeeehhawww!
If LA don't lose anyone, they should be favorites again but not sure though, think it might be another darkhorse or a team that has been progressing well like Philly making it all the way. Problem is, MLS chops up the teams so much to add variation that it is hard to predict, a good thing for fans probably, bad thing for players! Maybe a DC ressurgence is on the cards?
When the MLS falls into line with the rest of world football and allows clubs to buy and sell who they want regardless of nationality the game will improve in America. But i'll keep an eye out for DC and see if your right.
They have a good man manager in Ben Olsen ( who was also a pretty good player for the US), and if they can get Charlie Davies to fire again, they could be trouble. I think DeRosrio is still there but not sure as since Houston he has been through multiple teams. There has been talks with MLS falling with the rest of the world but the problem really isn't the rest of the world ( Prem, Serie A games shown in the morning mostly here, la liga early afternoon). It is battling with NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB. In the summer or right now they are only battling with the tail end of the NBA season, the whole summer it is just baseball and MLS, and then the beginning of the NFL and NBA at the end. Sucks but it is what it is, ESPN already has trouble trying to show our own ****ing league
I'm not a huge fan of Parker, he's good but not good enough. He's not a great DM he not great AM and he's not got the engine to box to box.
Just posted this on the captaincy thread: People may have already seen this but hey ho... Last nights starting eleven had 223 caps between them, Steven Gerrard provided 40% of them, Scott Parker just 5%. The average caps per player would be just over 20 each, Scott Parker was picking up his twelfth last night. Whoever the new manager turns out to be, he will want to stamp his authority on the side and squad. Normal practice suggests this is done by appointing their captain. What if the next manager has already been agreed but due to existing circumstances it is best to keep it quiet until nearer the Euro's? What if this said manager wants Gerrard (as the obvious candidate) to be his captain? Maybe Parker was picked as an alternative? Or maybe Pearce genuinely thought Parker would be the best option? If it is the latter then he needs removing from the England set up asap IMO Long term captain should be one of James Milner, Micah Richards or Wayne Rooney. All three have experience of either captaining a top side or playing in a successful team. All three will be around for a few tournaments to come and, IMO, will be three of our key players too.
Agree about Richards, But Rooney? Seriously? He can't even handle his own pettiness and agression on the pitch and will be suspended for the first two games of the cup anyway. Milner isn't anything special either, very overrated player in general and with everyone fit wouldn't make England's starting 11
England Captain is bollocks anyway, just give the armband to Joe Hart as he is the only dead cert in the team. As for the other 10 players on the pitch, I'm sure there will be at least one who is/has been captain of their club at some point. So they should take responsibility to lead on the pitch wether they are captain or not. To hear about it all of the time just gets boring.
I'd give it to Hart. Rooney's not a good role model at all, he has no control over his own temper so wouldn't be a good influence. Unless, of course, they thought that giving him responsibility would make him a little more mature. After all, it worked so well making KPR a mod.
Hart is a gentleman, always smiling and comes across as a genuine nice guy. When I tuned in last night he was offering to carry some equipment and a stretcher off for the paramedic. Most players would just leave them to it.
[video=youtube;WU7vRV-gPyk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WU7vRV-gPyk#![/video]
I was brought up using Fahrenheit, tbh. We only use Celsius in Britain nowadays because it was forced on us by those nasty Europeans. P.S. I apologize unreservedly for my Europeanist comment.