The Famous Dynamo — Defending the Honor of Kiev

The MLS has a mixed, at best, history of team names.  (San Jose Clash?  Really?)  One that’s good, I think, is the Houston Dynamo.  Granted, it was after taking a mulligan (remember Houston 1836?) but it’s got some connection to the energy industry in the region and has some international flair.  Plus, I like the orange.  Reminds me of the Dutch.

In my travels, I managed to see a but of the most famous Dynamo team in the five billion person party, Dynamo Kiev.  These days, they’re one of the two powers of the Ukrainian league, presently waging their usual battle to the wire with Shaktar Donetsk for the championship.  (One point back with a game to go.) 

Want to hear more about Dynamo, their mad genius of a coach, and the legendary “death match?”  Read on after the jump!

The Monday Update — High and Low

Slavia do toho, indeed!  On the verge of winning the Czech league!  Just got to beat thirteenth place Jablonic next weekend. 

Alas, poor Parma.  On the verge of relegation from Serie A.  Time to sack the coach!  Heck, I managed to finish 14th with my virtual Parma in Championship Manager.  I’m sure I’ll do better next season — I signed Jozy Altidore.  Still, they’ve fallen from when I saw them.

Watching Italy Fail

Euro 2008 is around the corner.  (Woo-hoo!  Can’t wait!)  As we assess who might be ready to win the tourney, it’s worth remembering that things can change fast in the world of top-level international soccer, where national teams are all-star collections that don’t play together nearly as regularly as club side. 

As World Cup champions, Italy are an obvious Euro 2008 favorite.  But two years can be a long time in international soccer.  In fact, I was at the Euro 2004 game where Italy was eliminated — at the group stage!  It’s a thin line between triumph and tragedy in these tourneys.  What’s it like to watch Italy fail?  In the rain?  With Bulgarians?  Read on after the jump.

“Critically Acclaimed” DC United 2006-2007?

ESPN’s Sports Guy today gives an obituary for the run-and-gun Phoenix Suns.

I made my friend Chris Connelly appear on this week’s “B.S. Report” to discuss “critically acclaimed sports teams,” following up on a discussion we had right after Game 2 of the Suns-Spurs series, when things were looking bleak for Phoenix and the end of Mike D’Antoni’s reign seemed imminent.

“Well, that’s OK that they didn’t win the title,” Connelly cheerfully said at the time. “At least they were critically acclaimed!”

From there, Connelly unleashed his theory of “critically acclaimed” sports teams (check the podcast for the full details) and how these Suns teams would be cheerfully remembered some day like we remember Coryell’s Chargers and the Fab Five. In other words, it didn’t really matter that they never won a championship, just like it didn’t matter that “Pulp Fiction” didn’t win an Oscar, “The Wire” never won an Emmy and “Arrested Development” bombed in the ratings. We would always remember them fondly and feel like they were more successful than they actually were.

You know, I think I’ve seen that movie.  In fact, I watched it at RFK over the last two seasons.  They didn’t win a championship but they were a lot of fun to watch.  DC United had a sheen of class and sophistication, at least by MLS standards.  They passed the ball around, they had lots of possession.  They sometimes gave off a sense that they’d rather make the extra pass to score a brilliant goal than shoot in the first place.  (I suppose that was one difference from the Suns, who were supposed to look for a shot in “seven seconds or less.”)  We felt good watching them play.  We felt good when experts approved of their play.

Simmons suggests that in the long run people will remember the Suns fondly.  I hope that’s true for DC United, 2006-2007.  I’m less sure of it — for one, the two-time champion Dynamo were an appealing team as well, perhaps more than the other Texas champions, the San Antonio Spurs.  The other is DCU has a stronger profile in MLS than the Suns in the NBA — we’re more disliked for our past successes and, sometimes, our attitude/confidence/arrogance. 

Earlier this week, Manchester United eliminated Barcelona from the Champions League and word in the press continues to be that the team will come in for an overhaul.  ‘Bye Ronaldinho, maybe Henry, maybe Marquez etc.  They’ve also been a team that’s been “critically acclaimed” for style and creativity.  (In fact, watching them pass the ball around and around and around against Man U I was reminded of some of the more frustrating times with DCU in recent years — take a shot, will you!)  But they have higher expectations.  They think they should win La Liga and the Champions League.  So being “critically acclaimed” is more frustrating, like DCU has been for us. 

And that will be a factor in how they are remembered.  Their fans will be more disappointed and neutrals will be less willing to sympathize. 

Sigh.  I just hope this classic Simmons pop culture reference isn’t entirely applicable to DC United, because I fear that the Gomez for Gallardo move may risk looking like bringing Shaq to Phoenix, the last phase of the old team, not the first phase of the new one:

Meanwhile, the Suns were like the John Belushi of basketball teams — thrilling, creative, inventive and loved by all, but ultimately, they couldn’t sustain what they were doing for more than a couple of years, and by the time it came to a screeching halt, we were already wishing that things could return to the way they were three years before. Like Belushi, the Suns were critically acclaimed. Like Belushi (drugs), the Suns had an Achilles’ heel (Robert Sarver). Like Belushi, the Suns tried to change their style near the end and it didn’t work out. Like Belushi, we will remember the Suns fondly, and every time we see one of their old classic moments popping up on TV, we’ll probably watch.

Professor Zidane vs. More Cowbell

I see Aaron over at Fighting Talker thinks the Swiss 2004 side may have been one of the worst to play in a modern European championship.  I disagree — I actually saw them play a decent game against France.  Average, perhaps, but they didn’t belong among the truly atrocious.  (As I wrote about before, I also saw the 2004 Latvian team and, well, they had a lot of heart.) 

I was lucky enough to spend 10 days in Portugal for Euro 2004.  Alas, I won’t be getting to Germany and Switzerland for this year’s tourney.  (Then again, even if I could get the time off, I don’t think the feeble dollar would allow it.  Sigh.)

I was also lucky enough to get to see the legendary Zinedine Zidane play for France against Switzerland in Portugal’s college town, Coimbra.  What was that like?  Read on after the jump!

Falling for the Westfalen

This weekend I was disappointed to see that Bayern Munich won the German Cup, with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund.  The Dortmunders have had a rough few years, due largely to financial problems, and could have used a cup win to cheer up their massive fanbase. 

Dortmund is in the industrial Ruhr region, a center of…brewing (mmm), among other industries.  I’d never heard of the place before I started paying attention to the Bundesliga and certainly wouldn’t have spent a day there if it weren’t for soccer.  But I’m glad I did and I’d like to get back to the Westfalen for another game one of these days — it’s one of the biggest and most enjoyable stadiums in European soccer.  I was there during better days for Borussia Dortmund, as you will see if you read on after the jump, and also got to see two Czech stars who would later torment the US at the 2006 World Cup.

A half-time gas

This is exactly like something that would happen to Harchester United…

Brazilian champions Sao Paulo were forced to flee their dressing-room at halftime after it filled with an unidentified spray during their match away to Palmeiras on Sunday.

They were playing the second leg of the semi-finals of their regional tournament against rivals Palmeiras.   Perhaps it’s not a surprise that Palmeiras won the game 2-0 for a 3-2 victory on aggregate.  Or that this happened:

Flamboyant Chilean Jorge Valdivia finished off a breakaway for the second in the 84th minute and appeared to provoke Sao Paulo’s defenders as he celebrated.

Almost immediately, the lights went out and there was a scuffle in midfield as Sao Paulo players remonstrated with Valdivia.

Yeah, that could happen to Harchester.  As well as this follow-up:

Sao Paulo coach Muricy Ramalho has rubbished suggestions that his own club was behind an incident on Sunday, when their changing room filled with a mysterious spray at halftime in a derby match at Palmeiras.

Well, all I can say is that I wouldn’t want to be on the Palmeiras team that next visits Sao Paulo…

Gerrard and the gangsters

Another edition of “Life Imitates Dream Team” …

This time the star is the otherwise fairly straight-shooting Steven Gerrard of Liverpool.  Liverpool, you see, is a town filled with rough elements, and when they do you a favor then, as we all know from the movies, you owe them.

When the name of the character witness was read out to the sleepy jury at Lincoln Crown Court this week, even the doziest of their number sprang to rapt attention.

Steven George Gerrard MBE - captain of Liverpool Football Club, occasional captain of England and role model to millions of impressionable youngsters - wished it to be known that he had “the utmost respect” for the man who stood in the dock.

Never mind that the defendant, John Kinsella, was a known gangster charged with tying up a security guard during a £41,000 robbery.

Wonder why Gerrard aborted that move to Chelsea a few years back?  The answer may be here:

With a big wage increase in the offing, he even text-messaged then Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho to say he was looking forward to working with him.

Days later, all that changed. Gerrard told a stunned press conference that he had changed his mind and would be staying in Liverpool.

Officially he was happy - but his ashen face and monosyllabic speech told a different story.

The truth, insiders say, is that on the eve of his transfer, Steven had a visit from his father.

Paul Gerrard, who had previously been supportive of his move to the capital, had a stark message for him: you can’t go.

“If you were to leave this city and this football club,” he said, “our lives would become intolerable.”

Steven, sources say, buckled under the pressure.

The precise reasons why this remarkable U-turn came about remain shrouded in mystery.

However, it is known that, at the time, a number of leading gangland figures in Liverpool were determined that their football club’s prize asset should not be lost to the city - at any cost.

Just the kind of story you so often see here in the US with our NBA stars — even the clean ones can find it hard to escape the tougher elements from the ‘hood.

A bullet in the post

Awhile back, I noted that Cliftonville of Northern Ireland was off to an especially good start this season.  They’ve faded a bit recently, down to third in the most recent table, eight points back of Linfield with a game in hand.  Still, it’s a very good season for the Reds…which can bring the wrong kind of attention in a city like Belfast.

A bullet sent through the post to [Cliftonville manager Eddie] Patterson was intercepted at the sorting office in the run-up to last Saturday’s Irish Cup semi-final – which Cliftonville lost 2-1 to Linfield FC – threatening efforts to reduce tension at the game, played on neutral ground at the Oval in Belfast.

The authorities are trying to do their best to tamp down this misguided fandom.  Linville’s manager offered the right kind of reaction:

I trust the police will apprehend the idiot who has done this. Words like condemnation are an understatement.

Yes, apprehend the idiot, please. 

Great Expectations

So DC United’s season is off to a bumpy start.  A couple of shutout losses on the road in league play already, with the 4-0 loss to Real Salt Lake one of the worst games I’ve seen the team play in years, and eliminated from regional play by Pachuca.  The grumbling/worrying/complaining has begun.  Perhaps the off-season changes aren’t helping.  Perhaps it’s time for a new coach.  Etc.  That’s what fans do.

This comes down to expectations.  We United fans have high expectations, at least in MLS terms.  We’ve had a winning team for four years now, with the best regular season record in MLS the last two years.  It might be different if we were rooting for Real Salt Lake or Toronto where just getting to the play-offs would constitute a good year.

Other teams I root for have even higher expectations.  Look at Celtic.  Two consecutive league titles and back-to-back trips to the round of 16 in the Champions League.  Pretty good.  Oh, but they’re in second this season in Scotland and, perhaps more importantly, keep losing to Rangers.  Heck, they’re having trouble even getting a goal on their eternal rivals.  (I hope that changes today.)  Cue talk about coach Strachan moving on.  It’s like what happens to an Ohio State or Michigan football coach who can’t get a victory in that rivalry.

There’s Arsenal, now clearly bound for third in the EPL and knocked out of the Champions League by Liverpool.  Cue complaints about the failure of Wenger to bolster his young squad.  At the beginning of the year, most didn’t expect the young team could contend for the league title but a nice early run had the Gunners in first place for months.  They even managed to play with some style, like notable recent championship teams coached by Wenger.  This should be seen as a successful rebuilding year and now would be the time to talk about missing pieces to add — a world-class center defender, perhaps? — but now it doesn’t feel as successful.  Hopes were raised.  Expectations grew over the course of the year.  And, as students of revolution will tell you, it’s always when expectations are rising that rebellions are born, not when everyone is ground down and dispirited.  Still, no one thinks Wenger is going anywhere.

Finally, mighty Barcelona, stumbling to second (or third?) in La Liga but still in the Champions League.  Superstars on the wane, with talk that Ronaldinho, Deco, maybe even Henry to leave after the season.  Not to mention coach Frank Rikjaard.  One would think a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League would count for something.  But the expectations for Barca are so very high — win the league, contend for the Champions League, and do so with massive style.   It’s tough to meet them for very long.  Time to bring in a new manager, the old one’s running out of steam.

So, back to DC United.  My expectations are high — I want the team to win and I want to contend for the MLS Cup, plus continue to qualify for regional tourneys.  If MLS set up its competitions as they do in Europe, we’d actually be coming off of two league championships in a row — but both would have seen flops in European competition (as the counterpart to our play-offs).  We’d be looking at our team like fans of Inter Milan and Real Madrid do, with some frustration and disappointment. 

Ah, but of course, we don’t set up our competitions that way.  With the MLS regular season counting for so much less than a European season, we’re going to be happier if the team performs as Liverpool and AC Milan have in recent years — “good enough” in league without necessarily threatening to win it and then excelling in Champions League runs.  (Of course, I really want a “double” like Manchester United is going for this year — league and Champions League — but my expectations would be met with an AC Milan/Liverpool type of performance.)  I also want to keep playing in regional tourneys.  One of these days we’ll beat a team in Mexico and, in the meantime, maybe we’ll learn something and keep building our name with Latino fans in the US who have all too often looked down on MLS. 

Expectations matter.  The last two regular seasons have led to rising expectations — we seemed clearly best in the league, making the play-off crashes all the more frustrating.  Just as, I imagine, an Inter fan is getting ticked off by a team that cruises to the Serie A title yet can’t make a real run at the Champions League.  I’m trying to lower my expectations back to what really matters to me. 

Which is, in a roundabout way, why I’m not particularly upset yet.  If it takes Soehn and the DC United folks another month to get Gallardo and the rest of our attackers in synch, so be it.  If it takes another month of formation tinkering, so be it.  (Please don’t play three at the back again, though, unless they’re three regular defensive starters.)  If it takes a month to get Emilio putting balls in the net regularly, so be it.  Maybe it’s time to figure out if Quaranta is there to spell/learn from Moreno or sub for Olsen at right wing or a mixture of the two.  And so on. 

Because as we’ve learned the last two years, it’s not the first few months that determine whether our expectations are met — it’s the last few weeks of the season.