Champions League Draw

For those of you who haven't seen the Champions League draw for the knockout stages, here it is. There are definitely going to be some must see games from the looks of it. Liverpool v. Inter and Arsenal v. AC Milan are the two that I am most interested in. All of these should be exciting and it will be interesting to see what comes of these fixtures. I really need to get a TiVo to make sure I see all of these matchups.

Celtic v Barcelona

Lyon v Man U

Schalke v Porto

Liverpool v Inter Milan

Roma v Real Madrid

Arsenal v AC Milan

Olimpiakos v Chelsea

Fenerbache v Sevilla

Video Spotlight: Amazing Futsal Clips

Check out this Nike commercial with some pretty awesome futsal highlights. Some of the moves these guys do are really fun to watch. My favorite is definitely the sequence at the end of the video. If you search YouTube for "freestyle soccer," you can find a lot of cool clips. Enjoy.

Major Indoor Soccer League...A Step in the Right Direction?

Speaking of futsal and indoor soccer; I recently read an article attempting to connect the apparent lack of a current English phenom skill player (such as Ronaldinho or Cristiano Ronaldo) to the unpopularity of futsal in England. While the correlation may seem a tad far fetched, it touches on some pretty interesting concepts.

Many of the best players in the world start their footballing lives playing in the street--they learn control, acquire quick vision and develop comfort for the ball at their feet in tight situations. It's no surprise that playing in less than ideal conditions fosters a creativity that you cannot coach into players. Futsal or indoor soccer fosters this same creativity through its fast paced and cramped style of play. Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Italy all have highly popular professional futsal leagues, as well as extensive developmental youth leagues. Their emphasis on futsal as a developmental tool may have more to do with the prevalence of skilled soccer players from these countries than previously thought.

Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) as well as youth and developmental futsal programs could prove extremely useful in the long run for American soccer--especially if they mocked the successful programs in South American and in Europe. They could help groom young players that are more inclined to the a quick, aggressive style of play. Here in the United States, like England, futsal is not extremely popular, but for the first time in soccer history the United States has a chance to succeed in something that England has not. We must not marginalize futsal. The longer we place an importance on futsal, the quicker we will see the creativity that it fosters percolate into our own leagues and national teams.

No, MISL is not going to be creating the next American Ronaldo overnight, but its a start. In order for American soccer to continue to grow and develop, we need to take advantage of all aspects of the sport. In the long run who knows, maybe one day a world class American soccer player will be crediting his success to his time on the futsal court. Only time will tell.

Until then Happy Holidays from Soccer On The Brain.

MLS Rule Changes for '08

Yesterday MLS announced some changes that have been made for the upcoming season. Among them, potentially the most influential is that the number of foreign players permitted on each roster has increased.

Some teams with a fat bank roll started spending and bringing in higher paid, big name talent last year with the Designated Player rule. I believe most of these players were in fact foreigners (was Reyna one of the DP's?). This means that we could see a league with more marquee players such as those that arrived in '07 like David Beckham, Juan Pablo Angel and Cuauhtemoc Blanco as well as some lower profile but still higher skilled players than MLS fans have been used to. The talent level is sure to rise with this new tweak to the rule.

In 2007, MLS teams were allowed to have a total of 7 foreign players, categorized by senior and junior status. In 2008, they will be allowed to have up to 8 foreign players on their rosters with no junior/senior restrictions. This combined with the fact that one club can trade for other teams' foreign player slots will be sure to spice things up around the league. This may become very interesting as teams begin to weigh their want/needs for the upcoming season. Needless to say, being a GM or decision maker for a club's roster has just gotten more exciting and complex.

While some might look down on these changes to MLS' roster policy, I personally think it is a great move. It is going to bring a higher level of talent to the league, which the U.S. obviously can't provided on its own at the moment. Especially with the addition of Toronto last year, San Jose in 2008, Seattle in 2009 and possibly more teams to come, the MLS is going to need new sources of talent. These foreign players will serve as a great source to keep the level of play improving at the same rate that the league is growing, in terms of size and popularity. And if some are saying that the MLS might end up having a comparable ratio of foreign to domestic players like the EPL has, then I say bring it on. In my eyes, having similarities with the most exciting and popular league in the world is a positive thing.

Video Spotlight: 2007 Best U.S. MNT Goal

Here is a nice collection of the best goals from the U.S. Men's National Team from 2007. I have to say that Feilhaber's goal from the Gold Cup is by far the best. Although, Freddy has some tasty strikes as well.

Virginia Tech Advances to NCAA College Cup Semi Finals

Virginia Tech defeated a highly favored University of Connecticut team on Saturday
and advanced to the Semi-Finals of the NCAA College Cup tournament. Junior Patrick Nyarko netted the match's sole goal, securing a trip to Cary, North Carolina where the Hokies will meet Wake Forest. Nyarko's performance in this game as well as over the past few years has solidified my opinion that he has a promising future ahead of him in the MLS.

Virginia Tech had their hands full with UConn's forward O'Brien White who is considered to be a top-5 pick in this year's MLS Draft. White had several chances to pull the Huskies even in the second half, but Virginia Tech's defense held strong.

Patrick Nyarko has continued to prove himself as one of Virginia Tech's most lethal attacking threats. With 31 goals in 56 games, he is currently 3rd in overall goals for Virginia Tech. Nyarko must continue to develop and grow as a player in his last year of eligibility. If he does continue to progress, I feel that he has the talent to succeed in the MLS as he has proven to be one of the most exciting players to watch in the ACC. Lets see if he can help the Hokies secure a first ever spot in the NCAA College Cup Finals.

Managerial Merry-Go-Round

It seems that Sir Alex Ferguson hit the nail right on the head when he described the coaching situation in the EPL akin to a merry go round. That is an almost perfect way to describe the current managerial environment in the most popular league in the world. This season, six managers have already been fired or left their respective positions. 6 of 20 or 30 percent of the league’s teams have had to transition to a different coaching system in the middle of the season. It seems ludicrous that there have been so many changes, but to be honest, I can definitely see a few more happening before the end of the season (just take a look at the bottom half of the table).

In the pressure cooker that is the Premiership, the revolving coaching situation has become the norm and there is one thing to blame; the almighty dollar. Or pound. Or euro, whichever currency you would like. The fact is that money has taken over soccer and almost every sport for that matter. Every team needs to win to stay in the premiership where there is a higher chance for financial gain. They need to win to put people in the stands and to sell merchandise. And if they continue to win, they can play in a larger number of competitions like the UEFA Cup and the Champions League, creating more revenue for the club.

The media also has an effect on coaching situations, whose actions are fueled by the desire for monetary gain as well. The media speculate on every aspect of the game and put soccer under an immense amount of scrutiny. This fuels rumors, creates problems and puts pressure on teams throughout the sport. This also helps sell newspapers and keep television ratings high, increasing their advertising revenue. While these media problems can be seen at any point during the season, my least favorite time of the year to follow soccer in the media is the summer. Keeping up on soccer news in the off season is like reading a gossip magazine. The media is the fuel that keeps the fire (controversy and rumors) ablaze.

It seems that for most big soccer clubs the truth is that pleasing shareholders, selling newspapers or jerseys with players’ names on them is much more important than taking pride in the game itself. It is a business and coaches, players and a degree of pureness in the game have all become casualties in the quest for financial success. In a soccer world where the quick fix is chosen more times than not, maybe clubs should deviate from the adopted norm and look at their situation in the big picture rather than acting impulsively and with a short term view in regards to their coaches. While in some cases manager changes are needed, each manager should be given a realistic amount of time to react to their team’s situation and make the appropriate adjustments. Please, chairmen, show some patience.

UEFA Cup Action

Mikel Arteta lead UEFA CUP Group A winners Everton to a victory over former Russian League Champion Zenit St. Petersburg. The sole goal by Tim Cahill secured a spot for the English side in the knockout round.



Disappointingly, the game's outcome was highly influenced by an unfortunate decision which lead to the sending off of Zenit Defender Nicolas Lombaerts midway through the second half. Lombaerts had expertly deflected an Everton strike away from goal with his chest and face, but cries from the Everton Bench (as well as those from Goodison Park) for a hand ball prevailed and the referee reached for his red card, and pointed to the center spot. On the ensuing penalty, Arteta struck the ball over the top, although little justice was served, and Zenit was forced to play with 10 for the remainder of the fixture. In the ensuing minutes Zenit was lucky to watch a shot by Everton midfielder Lee Carsley deflect off the post. And in the final seconds of the half Everton failed to find the back of the net once again, this time a frantic dive by Zenit's keeper saved a sure goal from an Arteta directed set piece.

The second half remained back and forth, with Zenit relying on counter attacks as Everton was directed by the Spaniard Arteta. Everton proved to be too much for Zenit's 10 men and were undone by the in the final minutes of the half as Tim Cahill capitalized on Zenit's inability to clear the the ball from their own box.

With a spot guaranteed in the UEFA Cup Knockout Stage, Everton can now focus on the Premier League, which will come to the relief of both the players and manager as Everton has important games against Fulham and West Ham in the coming week. I am looking forward to the Everton Fulham match. Lets see if Clint Dempsy can continue to prove that he is a striker that should be feared in the Premier League as he goes up against Everton and Tim Howard.