Chris Birchall to MLS?

According to this article from the BBC,Trinadad and Tobago midfielder Chris Birchall could be coming to MLS.
He's a quality midfielder,and would be an excellent addition to any MLS team.I really hope that some MLS team goes out and gets him,he's not some superstar but a consistent,quality performer that every team needs.MLS teams would be stupid not to pursue him.

Book Review: The Ball is Round:A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt

(A Short Review)

This book is absolutely phenomenal!

"The Ball is Round" covers damn near everything in the history of soccer,and covers it well.From the ball games of ancient times to the "foot-ball" in the 1800's to the present day,it is comprehensive,well-written,and easy to read,a must when the book is about 900 pages.It sounds a bit intimidating, 900+ pages of nothing but soccer, but it is an easy read and you will be hardly be able to put it down.Goldblatt goes into great detail about how soccer developed and became the dominant sport of almost every region of the world. "The Ball is Round" is an incredible book and a must-read for soccer fans everywhere.

Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day everybody!!
Sorry nothing today because its quite late and I've been busy trying out/using/watching the stuff I got for Christmas,and I completely forgot about my blog till now,and its approximately 11:14 so I'm going to bed,posts tomorrow for sure,I promise.

Oh,and Aston Villa-Arsenal was a fantastic game,I love Boxing Day soccer,its quintessentialy English.(I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong.)

Everybody

Hey all,I just want to let you know that I won't start posting in earnest till after Christmas,most likely the 26th.I'll see ya'll then.

Merry Christmas!

Crosses Into the Box 2.0

When I first started this blog,I didn't really do it properly.I had bad writing,horribly inconsistent posts,and boring/already covered material.I wasn't really sure what I was doing,I just wanted to rant and rave about the game I love,have a place to voice my opinion and participate in supporting US soccer and the US soccer community in a small way.Now I've decided to start this blog again,with a renewed commitment to it.I promise to have at least two posts every 3 days,better quality posts,and better links.

Now,before I get started posting,let me tell you a bit about myself.
I'm Peter,a 17 year old kid living in Aurora,Illinois, about 45 minutes from Chicago.I'm a junior in high school,and play for my schools varsity team as a forward/fullback/winger/attacking mid/defensive mid/and centerback.I love music,especially punk rock and hip-hop,with a little bit of electro thrown in,and I play bass guitar.My favorite bands are The Clash,The Beatles,The Roots,and The Rolling Stones.I speak decent spanish,and half a semester of high-school french.

So,know that you know a bit about myself,let the fun begin.
(tomorrow actually.the 22nd)

mucho dinero

Right I haven't posted in a while and I will get a new post in very soon, I'm just waiting for the transfer window to close,I will probably write a big post about MLS sides in the transfer market.,but I couldn't pass up the story from fifa.com on Gavin Glinton and the Turks and Caicos Islands National Team.Very cool.

Also reaction from Bolton v Fulham
from CCN

thanksgiving coma awakening

How much you wanna bet Ruud Gullit is gonna trade away all his draft picks for players because he has no idea what to do with a draft(s)?
Still, I like the move for Mathis.

England chokes and it doesn't surprise me a bit.The players just don't seem to want it,and I feel Roy Keane is right when he says the players have serious ego issues.It seems like Beckham is the only that wants it because international games are the biggest thing he will play in from now on.

Also Fulham concedes late again.Motherfuckingcockshitdammit.HOW?WHY?Do we have bad karma or something and now its coming back to bite us in the ass?Why?????

Also also,I'm now an Udinese supporter.I've been smitten by Antiono Di Natale.And I think i just spelled his name wrong.

Right,school sucks so I might not post for a while(again).I despise all forms of mathematics.

Once again, I haven't posted forever.Sorry.Anyway I have a lot of catching up to do.I'll work backwards.( I think.)

• Jose Mourinho getting fired-At first I laughed my head off at this in delight,but then I realized I was going to miss him.While at times I found him annoying as hell, he was a tactical genius,and he would have guided the club to a ton of trophies if Roman Abrahimovic .
• The Chelsea "exodus"-I really hope this happens,as I could see a few of these guys playing in the MLS in the very near future.Namely Andriy Shevchenko,who in my opinion is the most likely,Dider Drogba,who will probably play a few more years in Europe before coming over here,if at all,and Claude Makelele,who just signed a new contract,but is still a possibilty.
• USA-Brasil-I somehow got tickets to this game and I'm glad I did.It was a good game and a good performance by the US.However their was some very shady refereeing and we should have had a penalty whe Josh Wolff was pulled down.This game should have been a draw or Brasil shoudl have one by only 1 goal.Also I was really pissed off by the large number of people wearing Brazil jerseys,especially the ones that AREN'T Brazilian.C'mon, you live in the country,speak the language, support your own freaking team.
• Anyway,there is a lot more happening in the soccer world,but I've run out of time.Adios.

Ramblings

• I was watching Around the Horn on ESPN today, and I must say I'm really warming to Woody Paige as he defended soccer against the other crackhead idiots on there,most notably Jay Mariotti and Co.He even showed a couple of LA/Beckham posters and held up his Chelsea jersey with his name on it,which was cool.(The customized jersey,not the Chelsea bit)
• This also brings up a another issue.I'm betting the average sports fan(and sportswriters,for that matter),doesn't really understand some of the finer points of soccer,all the Cups they participate in,National Team duties,transfers,and all the other things like that.I don't think so,so hopefully some of of the more soccer-savvy fans and reporters and whatnot can help explain that Joe Schmo.Lets hope so.
• Steve McLaren,while I think he terribly screwed up the England job,says the MLS is top-half Championship,lower-half Premier League.Spot on.

The English Guy

Game Notes on La La-DC

• LA needs a target man,Pavon has to play off somebody.
• I think its wrong not to play Cobi Jones, he would work well with Becks because he makes good runs and gets open,imagine him and Landon making all those runs and Becks just sitting back them feeding them both.
• Avel Xavier and Joe Cannon need some help in defense,they can only do so much.Late in the game Emilio was wreaking havoc behind the defense and I thought DC would score for sure.
• David Beckham is a pretty tough guy,did you see all that ice and tape he had on his ankle/shin?I could barely move with that on.

Wow, I've been gone for awhile.
I'll start on July 22,when I went to see the Fire take on Celtic.
So, let me say a few things.
Who needs Beckham when we have Blanco!
He has great vision,passes well,has some flair,and scores too.He does everything.Too bad we couldn't get him earlier.I was also impressed with our latest Brazilian, Bruno Menezes.He ran all day, playing good defense and offense.A great signing.

In other MLS notes, it was great decision by Freddy Adu to go to Benfica.It is the perfect club for him and I expect him to do well there.
Beckham is still hurt, but has been classy throughout this whole deal, and I expect the Galaxy to make a late run when Beckham is healthy, but just barely miss the playoffs.Look out for the Galaxy to be a force next year,when the get everything together.

Friday the 13th

Last night was a bad,bad, day to be a Fire fan.We just got destroyed.I think we are too conservative on the attack and defense.We hesitated too much when we should have just shot the ball.Blanco's not going to hesitate, hopefully he will inspire the rest of the team to actually shoot the freakin ball.

I liked that new Brazilian defender, but of course I forgot his name.I also feel bad for Pickens,he has had no help at all this season.

Pretty much the only good things last night were that one Brazilian defender,the commentary was decent,Nygwena(sp?) ridiculous goal,and the fact that Toyota Park was packed(20,000 or so) and the fans showed their support.

Much has been said about David Beckham and his whole scenario, but I just have one thing to say.
The MLS never needed saving, just publicity.

Somewhat running diary of US-Argentina

9th minute-Holy Freakin Crap, Eddie Johnson just scored on a penalty.We are beating Argentina.No way.

10th-Damnit, Argentina just scored.Hernan Crespo. i don't really know what happened, chalk it up to hesitation and inexperience.

16-Maradona is in the stands.I love how he always goes out to the games and supports Argentina.

To put it simply,Riquelme scares me Badly.

Argentina is looking dangerous tonight, and its making very,very nervous.God help us.

I love the way the Spanish announcers pronounce Jonathon Bornstein.Booooorrnsteiin.Hilarious.

Boooooornsteiiin has kept Messi somewhat in check tonight,meaning he hasnt scored on us.Yet.

I'm also keeping an eye on the NBA draft, it seems my Bulls have drafted Joakim Noah.No surprise there.He'll do good.

42-Jesus, was that a shot by Veron.Nice job by Keller to tip it over the bar.It scared the crap out of me.

Okay, Halftime.
Well, we aren't dead yet
I will probably have to end the commentary right now.Sorry.

Don't cry for me Argentina!!
(sorry, but how could i not use that line).

Adios
peter

I like the new MLS website.ShinyyyyIt's snazzy and a bit more easy to use.
Just wanted to spread the good word, thats all.

CHAMPIONS!!!

Well done boys,well done.
I'll have game notes later in the evening.

King Henry

Wow.Reports say that Thierry Henry has left Arsenal to join Barcelona for about $32 million.It seems that nothing absolutely solid has happened yet, but all of the websites and newspapers are reporting all the same thing.I honestly don't know what to think.He's the face of the franchise in Arsenal and one of the best players in the world.I'm still a bit shocked and haven't really got my thoughts in order, but if this goes through,then thats one hell of a coup for Barca.

EXTRA,EXTRA-I just want to add some things that I've picked up.It seems that Spanish media is reporting that they are 100% sure Henry is going to Barca even though Henry's agent isn't saying anything.Therefore I now consider Henry a Barcelona player.

Also, interesting note here.Sports Illustrated has this as one of the most important stories, and it is the most popular story on the whole site.ESPN, on the other hand, has the story somewhere like 5th or 6th, and doesnt really give you much information.SI does.

ESPN's Title-Reports: Soccer superstar Henry leaving Arsenal

SI-Barça lands Arsenal star Henry in $32M transfer

This is a small detail, but it seems that ESPN doesn't really like/care about soccer(which I don't think it does)and SI pays more attention to it(which it does.)Intersting.no?

Right, I forgot to add this to the post below.I've been cruising the comments and message boards and the internet in general and it seems that most of the people seem to want Novak, with Chris Coleman running second.Here below is my list of my personal choices.And, yes, the list is short, but I really can't think of many and Sarachan was only fired earlier in the day.I want Chris Coleman, plain and simple.I think Cookie would be the more likely target and I would love to see him as our coach.I believe he said he is interested in coaching overseas?if he is wouldn't the MLS be perfect?I sure think so.If Coleman isn't interested, the Fire should gamble on a big coach from Europe.Here are the people that the Fire should go after.I'm not saying any of those are realistic, or that any of these make sense,but at least get your name out there and let it be known that you are in the market for a coach.This list doesnt include Chris Coleman.

1. Gerard Houllier, if he isn't still at Lyon.( I can't remember)
2. Stuart Pearce-Depends on England U-21 and if he stays,but otherwise, see #3
   
3. Glenn Roeder-He's English, he's not terrible, and he's available.
4. Sven Goran-Ericksson( I didn't spell that right)He would certainly make it interesting and bring publicity.
5. I'ma shamed to say this, starting to run out of names
6. Ivan Hasek-he's Czech, and Chicago has a large eastern-European population,He's had experiance at a reasonbly large and sucessful club, St Etienne, of France.I don't know if he speaks english though.

1. Alright I've exhausted my football intellignce and memory, so if you have any ideas, so if you have an opinion, just comment or e-mail.(cravencottager@gmail.com)
2. Once again, my personal choice would be Chris Coleman.
   

Dave Sarachan is gone.I don't really know how I feel about this.I suppose thats the way I've always felt about him.To me, he was just a coach, not a person.To me at least, he never showed emotion, or passion or anything.Very boring.The Fire need a coach who's a bit crazy, like the I-forgot-my-Ritalin-this-morning quote-machine.In short, we need Jose Mourinho type, except not as big of a.........wanker, I suppose is the word I should use here.Think Ozzy Guillen-ish.You know what I mean.Someone who can bring some passion, and ,um,fire, to the Fire.
Personally, I think we need to hire a European, just to add some variety and the intangibles they bring from coaching in Europe.. Preferably Dutch or Spanish.I wonder if Johan Cruyff is interested...............Yeah, in my dreams.
Does anybody know anything about the interim guy,anything at all??
Also, I apologize for not posting in a while,as I 've been busy going to band practice( I play bass guitar)and just enjoying the first weeks of summer.
Adios