"And all the world is football-shaped" -- Andy Partridge

THE INSWINGER

It seems that everyone who writes about soccer is obligated to give their column some sort of clever little soccer term as a title. I think there's a law or something. At the very least, I wouldn't want to anger the gods of soccer tradtion before they even see what I have to say, so I give you some weekly, perhaps some bi-weekly, thoughts on the Chicago Fire, MLS, and points beyond.

March 14, 2010

Hopefully he wasn't planning to bring her to an away match in Europe

Channeling The Offside Rules a bit with this one. The Huffington Post reports that Cristiano Ronaldo really likes some topless model. And he'll have a little more time to pursue her after last week.

March 05, 2010

Premiership Picks By The Numbers

As some of you know, I've been playing in a predictions pool for the English Premier League this year. After a couple of tough weeks, I've decided to see if I could turn my subjective decision factors into an algorithm that would just spit out my picks for me. I was using a little bit of math already, but the other bits of information I was using seemed consistent enough that I could build it all into an actual equation.

So, anyway, I won't reveal the formula itself, but here's what it gave me for this round's matches:

Arsenal 4-0 Burnley
West Ham 3-1 Bolton
Wolves 0-2 Man Utd
Everton 3-0 Hull City
Wigan 0-2 Liverpool
Pompey 1-1 Birmingham
Sunderland 2-1 Bolton

We'll see after Tuesday how this all worked out. If I go 7-for-7, I'm taking it to Vegas.

March 03, 2010

Going Dutch

Quick thoughts on what we learned from the loss in Amsterdam:

  • It's really easy to blame Jonathan Bornstein for the stupid penalty in the first half, but if you watch the play develop, you'll notice Landon Donovan flat-out refusing to play defense. This forces Bornstein to push forward, which makes him vulnerable to the give-and-go from the Netherlands, which then leads to his bad decision. Donovan was somewhere else entirely for most of this match.
  • I think Jose Torres is out of the picture for the World Cup. He had some flashes, particularly that nice shot in the first half, but was way too inconsistent for this level of competition. Beckerman is probably a better choice is there's still a spot left, and Edu showed in the second half that he's a lock. Great play from Mo.
  • The DaMarcus Beasley resurgence is for real. While I'm not at all happy to see Stuart Holden leave due to injury -- he looked good through thirty minutes -- I really liked what we saw from Beasley, particularly when he flipped over to the left side to start the second half.
  • Speaking of that switch, some combination of Beasley to the left, Edu replacing Torres, and Bedoya taking over the right side and pushing Donovan up top woke up the American attack in a major way. At this point, I think Donovan or Dempsey has to pair with Altidore.
  • Jozy had two absolutely world-class moves in this match -- the backheel on the endline in the first half and the splitting move that freed him up for a shot in the dying moments of the game. That may not seem like a lot, but it was against the Dutch and he's only 20 years old.
  • Bornstein was clearly having a rough night, so it might be premature to bury the kid based on this performance. On the other hand, neither outside back looked very good, at least until Heath Pearce entered the match. Pearce is looking like a serious contender at left back, which will make things interesting if Onyewu fully recovers in time for South Africa.
  • It will make things interesting because Bocanegra and DeMerit played really well together, and along with Michael Bradley, formed a pretty solid spine for the U.S. defense. If Onyewu comes back, do you go with Bocanegra on the left, or Pearce? My money is still on Bocanegra, but I want DeMerit on the field.
  • Gotta love the Chicago Fire connection with Beasley hitting Carlos for the goal.

RECENTLY

03/02/2010: Ives Is Making My Head Hurt
02/26/2010: About That El Salvador Match
02/22/2010: Missed Opportunity
02/09/2010: Rhymes With...
02/09/2010: Saying The Right Thing, Soccer Edition
02/07/2010: The Myth of "Defensive-Oriented Soccer"
02/04/2010: Easily Impressed
01/22/2010: I Really Hope This Isn't The Future Of Journalism
01/21/2010: Two Points Make A Line
01/19/2010: That Sound You Hear Is Daniel Woolard Cursing in Polish

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