HexagonalBlog

News from Spain

Some news from Spain relevant to CONCACAF in general and MLS in particular:

• Welcome to La Liga, Giovani.  In the final match of the season against Getafe, Giovani dos Santos scored his first goals in the top flight in the best possible way -- a hat-trick.  His second and third goals were beautiful.  Barca won 5-3, and with Guardiola taking over from Rijkaard the next question is, "Does Giovani stay?"  If he goes, that could be an even bigger mistake than letting Ronaldinho go.  Giovani did have ankle surgery today and will wear a cast for four weeks.
• After navigating yet another Liga side into the Champions League, Javier Aguirre decides to fulfill the option on his contract with Atlético Madrid.  And now Mexico's federation will have to look elsewhere to fill that national team position.  Aguirre said that his future at the club was never in danger, which I doubt many people believe but begs a question: why was his job ever in danger?  El Mundo Deportivo has more. 
• And might Thierry Henry be in Seattle on MLS First Kick 2009?  MARCA is reporting (and quoting an Independent of London story) that the Sounders have offered close to US$5 million per year for Henry's services.  (The Independent is saying that the offer is for £5.2 million a year, and that's quite different.)  It would be tremendous for MLS -- Henry might be the second most recognizable soccer player in the USA next to Beckham -- but it probably won't happen right now.  Henry is on the downswing of his career but he has at least one more year in Europe, and Diario AS quotes him as saying that he'll stay in Barcelona. 

Perfect Edson Buddle

Congratulations to Edson Buddle for netting a perfect hat trick (left foot, right foot, header) in the LA Galaxy-FC Dallas match today.  Anyone know the last time a perfect hat trick was achieved in MLS?

Warner escapes China earthquake

I was not aware that Jack Warner was in Chengdu on the day of that massive earthquake a few days ago.  I'm happy to find out that he escaped harm.  Prayers for those who did not.

The road to the Champions League defined

Slowly, CONCACAF's new Champions League is starting to take shape.  Today the confederation announced the qualification criteria for the competition.  Here's a summary:

USA:

• [USA 1] MLS Cup winner
• [USA 2] Supporters' Shield winner
• [USA 3] MLS Cup runner-up
• [USA 4] US Open Cup winner OR Next highest in MLS regular-season table

Canada:

• [CAN 1] Winner of Canada Cup of Soccer

Mexico:

• [MEX 1] Torneo Apertura winner
• [MEX 2] Torneo Clausura winner
• [MEX 3] Torneo Apertura runner-up
• [MEX 4] Torneo Clausura runner-up

Belize:

• [BLZ 1] BPFL/RFG Insurance Cup winner

Costa Rica:

• [CRC 1] Winner of Invierno/Verano playoff, or winner of both tournaments (if applicable)
• [CRC 2] Runner-up of Invierno/Verano playoff, or runner-up of Torneo Verano (if applicable)

El Salvador:

• [SLV 1] Winner of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or winner of both tournaments (if applicable)
• [SLV 2] Runner-up of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or runner-up of Torneo Clausura (if applicable)

Guatemala:

• [GUA 1] Winner of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or winner of both tournaments (if applicable)
• [GUA 2] Runner-up of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or runner-up of Torneo Clausura (if applicable)

Honduras:

• [HON 1] Winner of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or winner of both tournaments (if applicable)
• [HON 2] Runner-up of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or runner-up of Torneo Clausura (if applicable)

Panama:

• [PAN 1] Winner of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or winner of both tournaments (if applicable)
• [PAN 2] Runner-up of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or runner-up of Torneo Apertura (if applicable)

Nicaragua:

• [NCA 1] Winner of Apertura/Clausura playoff, or winner of both tournaments (if applicable)

Caribbean:

• [CFU 1] CFU Club Tournament champion
• [CFU 2] CFU Club Tournament runner-up
• [CFU 3] CFU Club Tournament 3rd place

Group Stage slots: USA1, USA2, MEX1, MEX2, CRC1, GUA1, HON1, SLV1
Qualifying Round slots: USA3, USA4, MEX3, MEX4, CRC2, GUA2, HON2, SLV2, PAN1, PAN2, CAN1, NCA1, BLZ1, CFU1, CFU2, CFU3

So the official qualifying criteria for the Champions League didn't exactly match the Wikipedia entry for the tournament.  (It's corrected now.)  Perhaps some educated conjectures were made to arrive at the 24 teams.  The qualifying slots do make sense for the most part.  Nevertheless, there are a couple of anomalies.

It's interesting that the US Open Cup winner gets to enter the Champions League.  Is that still true if a second-division club wins the trophy?  (It's already happened once before, and the lower-division clubs are always more motivated.)  Nonetheless, the Cup has greater motivation to everyone in US soccer now.   I'm also surprised that CFU1 wasn't an automatic entry into the group stage.  Considering that this is a Warner administration that has supposedly done so much to raise the profile of Caribbean soccer, the lack of a direct entry into a big payday has to be a shock to many in the Caribbean.  Then again, maybe they know that a Caribbean side in the group stage is almost certain to finish bottom, so it might be best to go through a playoff first.

So now we have some official confirmation on who gets to participate in the Champions League.  Lots of other information needs to be passed along soon, so let's have more of it very soon, please!

Back to the Bay

Last weekend I was back in the Bay Area to meet with some friends from my alma mater, and I decided to go see the San Jose Earthquakes play the Columbus Crew on Saturday night.  The last time I saw the Quakes play the mood was a mixture of glumness and uncertainty, because of the team's elimination from the playoffs and the almost certain departure of the organization.  This time the mood was much happier.  I saw a lot of Quakes fans wearing hats saying "Back in 2008".  And the fan groups were as festive as I had remembered (the Ultras group make more of a visual show).

I had not been to Buck Shaw Stadium before, but I had known that it was used mostly for soccer by Santa Clara and baseball before that.  The Quakes have done a very good job of renovating and expanding the stadium, and the result is well worth the money they spent.  In my opinion, Buck Shaw is the best of the interim stadiums in MLS -- it's the best size for the fan base, the sightlines are good, the surrounding scenery is beautiful, and best of all, there are no gridiron lines.  I don't feel the same way about the Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, but with Wolff's ownership of the A's and the Quakes playing there for big matches makes sense.

As for the game, the Quakes play like an expansion team.  It seemed that they had given up on playing the ball through midfield and decided to pump long balls from the goalkeeper or the back line to the strikers.  It would have been nice if the strikers were able to create a scoring opportunity, but that task seemed to be beyond them.  In the end, a set piece was the only way that San Jose was going to score.  Toronto FC last season showed how difficult it is for a new side without effective scorers, and San Jose is finding this out as well.

The Crew started slowly but took over the game once they were able to successfully link their midfield to their forward line.  Guillermo Barros Schelotto was drifting from one side of the field to another and made life difficult for the Quakes back line.  His corner kicks were also a threat with Ezra Hendrickson hitting the crossbar on one occasion (he was also a handful for the defense with his deep overlapping runs).  But the goals that Columbus scored occurred in the run of play.  Two well-weighted diagonal passes from Ekpo and Moreno found Robbie Rogers alone against Joe Cannon, and he finished clinically both times.  Schelotto sent through Brad Evans a couple of minutes later, and he finished high into the net.  San Jose got a goal back to make stoppage time interesting, but in the end the Crew had obtained a very good road win. 

I left Buck Shaw very impressed by the Crew's play.  If they can stay consistent (easier said than done in MLS), they have an excellent chance of being title contenders.  Robbie Rogers is a young striking talent the USA needs, and Guillermo Barros Schelotto is a player who can lead the side and demand consistent play.  I haven't seen Schelotto play in person since I went to a Boca Juniors game seven years ago, and I was able to get a smile out of him after the game when I chanted "Guille!  Guille!" as he was leaving the field.

Sorry I wasn't able to see my Quakes friends in the Casbah or Club Quake, but I had fun nonetheless.

Since someone at CONCACAF is reading this site...

...I thought they'd like to know that I like the look of their new website.  It's one that's worthy of a continental confederation.

Now, where's that Champions League website?  And if it's a new competition, why was the Caribbean qualification result found on the old Champions' Cup page?

Fulham stays up

Congratulations to Fulham for staying up in the Premier League.  To win four of their final five games, including three consecutive away wins, in the face of certain relegation is an impressive escape act.  And it would not have been good for American soccer's image to have a club with five American players demoted from the top flight. 

In the end, however, two of the three relegated clubs have Americans playing on them: Reading (Hahnemann and Convey) and Derby (Feilhaber and Lewis).

Just putting it out there

ESPN Deportes is reporting that the Mexican football federation has talked to Sven-Goran Eriksson about the vacancy in the national team position.  An excerpt of a radio interview with the secretary general of the FMF was played, and he didn't deny it, but said that they were looking were looking at several coaches, including Javier Aguirre.

So is this for real, or manufactured by the media?  I guess we'll find out soon.  What's clear is that Chucho Ramírez won't be the permanent coach, which is too bad.

Caribbean play-in for Champions League, Leg 1

The play-in series to decide the third Caribbean representative to the CONCACAF Champions League started yesterday as the Puerto Rico Islanders defeated San Juan Jabloteh 1-0 in Bayamón.  Patrice Noel scored the only goal.  Jabloteh host the Islanders in the return leg on 25 May, and the winner of the series will advance to the Champions League qualifying round.

Slowly but inexorably, the Champions League is moving forward...

And now I'm off

Well it's time for me to head off to the Bay Area for a function at my alma mater.  It just so happens that the San José Earthquakes are playing at home to Columbus on Saturday, so I'll try to get a ticket to see the reborn Quakes.  I have no idea what I'll be wearing, but I should be easy to spot.

When I come back on Sunday I do want to address some of the comments about my Champions League post -- I've had very little time this week due to work.