Considering the warnings the meteorological high priests were spreading, the "big storm" turned out to be a couple inches of snow. Disappointing, like much of this weekend. Why disappointing? Glad you asked . . .
Camp Curse Continues!
Last week, I talked about the disturbing number of players being injured at the US training camp that's trying to prepare for the annual Scandanavian Scrub Cup out in LA. Now it seems that Chad Marshall is heading home as well.
Which begs a couple of questions: (1) will Bob have any central defenders left (Henrik Larsson cackles with Swedish glee!) and (2) if he needs a replacement, will he look any farther afield than he did before calling in Jason Hernandez (WTF, Bob?). Former Fire-Goat-Metrobulls, get ready for the call! Jeff Parke, Jim Curtin, Chris Leitch--get ready to take your bows!
As best as I can tell, considering the scratches and replacements, your starting center back pairing is looking increasingly like Califf-Ihemelu. Let's give it up for progress! Ugh.
A Better #2?
And in other center back news, the first Gonzalo has boarded the slow boat for Sudamerica. Slow? Peralta? Don't see those two words together much, now do you? Pardon my sarcasm, but if you'll recall, Peralta was supposed to bring honor to the much-feted #2 jersey that your humble fullback was prone to wearing in his more active playing days. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a more worthy successor, shall we?
Battle For #2?
In other #2 news, Manchester United met Chelsea in the most highly anticipated match of the weekend, as the two jockeyed for position behind the stumbling leaders of the Premier League, Liverpool. Now, I only saw highlights, but they looked decidedly tilted in Man U's favor, with Chelsea's few chances falling to Drogba, who promptly whiffed or misfired on all of them. That sound about right?
With two games in hand, the Red Devils now find themselves just a point behind Chelsea and five behind Liverpool without really seeming to be breaking a sweat yet. Ugh. This is starting to look creepily familiar.
"Just Shave It Off Already" News
I saw highlights of another, less hotly-anticipated, match as well, but one that involved an American at least. Landon Donovan got a chance to partner both Toni and Klose in Bayern Munich's 3-2 friendly defeat of Al Jazeera, who are presumably not fielding a team of Arabic news correspondents since they managed to net a couple of goals.
The response to Donovan's outing is upbeat, though I saw only an assist and couple of tame shots. Highlights can be cruel that way, can't they? What do you think? Is Donovan ready to break into the Euro-limelight, or was this just a "friendly" moment? Sort of like Mr. Freddy Adu, whose excellent friendly outing against Juventus was rewarded with . . . not even being on the sub's bench this weekend?
So that's about all I've got for now. What else caught your eye this weekend? Wondering about the rumors of how bad Omar Gonzalez looked at the MLS Combine? Waiting for the other Gonzalo to drop? Trying to figure out who Bob's going to call in to the Camp of the Cursed?
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