Cheap Shots, Fatwas and TnT.

Well, it has been a long time since I have been able to turn my attention to this blog. But I have few moments now and a few things on my mind.

First, I have to say that I was thrilled that the MLS playoff race came down to the very last game. There is so often so little excitement involved in the hunt for the playoff spots. The Western Conference duly obliged this year by involving both expansion teams. A half decent U-11 recreational league team would have finished above Chivas and RSL. But the Eastern Conference came down to the wire. I want to thank the Kansas City Wizards for just enough Saturday night to put the pressure on the Metros but to still leave the door open. And I want to thank Chivas for making the final game exciting down to the last minute. Most of all, I want to thank the Metros for pulling out the win and grabbing the last playoff spot, because my beloved Revolution have a lot less trouble with you than they do with the Wizards.

---

Watching the highlights from the DC-Columbus match, I was reminded of the column that Paul Gardner wrote for the Sept 26 issue of Soccer America (yes I'm going to pick on him again, it's just so much fun). In this column His Fustiness criticizes the aggressive play of MLS goalkeepers. While I have to agree that overly reckless goalkeeper play should be punished, has Mr. Gardner considered that maybe the goalkeepers in this league have adopted an aggressive approach to the game to combat the aggressive play of MLS outfield players? As an example, I would supply Jamal Sutton's assault on Nick Rimando. The announcers for the DC-Columbus match may have taken the interpretation that Mr. Sutton was simply unable to stop his forward momentum. But is he really so uncoordinated that couldn't at least change directions? He is a professional athlete. He had ten yards. Please. If outfield players are going to approach goalkeepers in such a manner, I think it is perfectly reasonable that goalkeepers adopt a shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude. Really, everyone ought to be a little more circumspect when collsions seem immanent, but I will defend to the death the right of any goalkeeper to level any overly aggressive striker.

---

I was thrilled that Taylor Twellman snagged the Golden Boot. And not just because I am a Revolution fan. Could you imagine a world in which we had to live with Jaime Moreno as the Golden Boot winner? I have plenty of respect for Jaime's skills as a footballer, but how can you give the goalscoring title to someone who scored more than half of his goals from the penalty spot? That's just silly. What kind of message does that send? Just practice knocking them in from 12 yards out and you too can be revered as a great striker. Twellman didn't have a single penalty kick goal amongst his tallies. He worked for all of them, often working for the full ninety minutes to get a strike. He scored good goals, great goals, scrappy goals. He showed he that he really is the most dangerous player in the league.

Speaking of Twellman, I don't think I have ever been happier to see someone score a goal as I was when he finally broke his international duck against Panama. Sure it was a bit of a gimme. But that is really no criticism. He was in the right place at the right time and he took full advantage of the opportunity. Of course, like his critics, I would like to see Twellman score a more conventional goal. But up to now, he really has been desperately unlucky. Aside from the shots he's had cleared off the line, he had a perfectly good goal ruled out against T&T. I hope this was the first of many for him, especially since the US is pretty thin at striker if Johnson can't shake his injury problems.

---

Apparently there is a fatwa against soccer. First printed in the Saudi paper Al Watan, translated by Mr. Geoff D. Porter and reprinted in the editorial section of the Sunday New York Times was a condemnation of the "evil" Western game and a prescription for repairing it to suit budding jihadists everywhere. You really have to read this for yourself. But there were a few highlights in my mind. I found point 7 rather amusing (Geoff D. Porter, NYT 10/16/05):

Do not set the time of play at 45 minutes, which is the official time of the Jews, Christians and all the heretical and atheist countries. This is the time used by teams that have strayed from the righteous path. You are obliged to distinguish yourself from the heretics and the corrupted and must not resemble them in anything.

Actually, I thought this was the time used by beer-bellied pub teams, teams too stupid to find their way back to the pitch from the locker room after half-time, and AC Milan in Champions League finals.

I thought Sepp Blatter might like to read point 13:

You should spit in the face of whoever puts the ball between the posts or uprights and then runs in order to get his friends to follow him and hug him like players in America or France do, and you should punish and reprimand him, for what is the relationship between celebrating, hugging and kissing and the sports that you are practicing?

This would be a much better deterent to excessive celebration than a mere yellow card (speaking of which, yellow cards are apparently also offensive). These are just snippets, but all in all this is a fascinating read.

---

It's another European matchweek, so I will have all of my predictions coming up. I'm 9-7 so far. Not too shabby, I guess, but I think I can do better. We shall see.