Deuce's Bum Shoulder
Dempsey's sprained shoulder will keep him out of the Honduras match and possibly Costa Rica as well (must be the burden of carrying Fulham and the US, huh? /sarcasm). Cue the hysteria! Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth! Cue the conspiracy theories!
Except in Fullback World Headquarters, where I say...good!
Clearly, Dempsey is one of the most talented players in the pool. But that ignores the string of insipid "performances" that he's been turning in for the national team of late, including some terrifically inept Confederations Cup half-ass jobs that somehow netted him tournament honors (I'm still in the dark about that one).
If I want to see somebody loaf about the joint with a permanent scowl etched on his face, I'll ring up Conor Casey. Here's hoping somebody steps into the vacant spot (StuHo?) and makes a case against Dempsey's entitlement, cause maybe Deuce needs a bit of a kick in the derrière to get the hunger back.
Can You Dig It?
Apparently, Tyrone Marshall is a gopher. Who knew?
What do I think of these shenanigans? Talent alone doesn't make one a professional athlete, and a fiercely competitive nature certainly helps. Competitors are going to do what they can to get points, particularly when they're as valuable as they are in MLS at the moment. Hell, I was never close to being a pro, but I've done my fair share of rules-bending when I thought I could get away with it (as the ankles of many a left winger will attest!). Do you think running a pick on a corner routine is legal? Have you ever seen a lazy ball drifting into a cluttered box without one shirt firmly in an opponent's hand? Does that excuse cheating? Nope. But I dig the novelty of Marshall's attempt.
(Ouch, that one hurt even me.)
The Digital Divide
Looks like MLS is finally going to come out from behind MLB's skirts and pony up to do its own web-work. I've got two questions:
- Will I still get the 800k MLSNet.com match streams for $20 a year (even if it's not spectacularly reliable)?
- Will my browser choke less when loading MLSNet.com?
Seems Clint plays better up top for both Fulham and USMNT. With Duff pushing for a regular starting role on the left side at Fulham and Holden playing well in his appearances on the right flank for USMNT, Clint better get motivated fast to either blossom as a forward or get serious as midfielder. Maybe part of the problem is that coaches won't let him specialize, but I also sense that he is much more focused on playing up top than having to go box to box.
ReplyDeleteAgreed on all counts, though I've really only seen highlights for Fulham, where he tends to be shown in an attacking context so I don't know what his defensive effort has been like. That said, didn't his getting dispossessed in midfield lead to an opposition goal this past weekend? Or was that two weekends ago? Whatever the case, it's becoming an all-to-frequent feature of Dempsey's midfield play for the US...
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