MLS Alphabet – Week 5

Yugo weekend in MLS, Sigi and his bench, Krol like Zidane, Christmas in April for FCD, Salazar still throwing those cards, Casablanca goal,  Dwayne De Rosario and much more in MLS Alphabet -Week 5.

A – Alonso, Osvaldo  Sounders FC defender.  We know that Toronto FC fans are very nice people. Dwayne De Rosario is great too, but that does not mean that you have to give them ball just like that.

B – Steven Beitashour – He is actually the only Earthquakes player born in San Jose, which happened a little over 23 years ago. Congratulations for the first MLS goal scored for his home team.

C – CD Chivas USA are back, Martin Vasquez knew that Frank Yallop teams typically don’t do very well on those large fields. Vasquez got his team ready and sure took full advantage of it.

D – Dwayne De Rosario – our player of the week and soccer King of Toronto.

His last year salary is $425,750 and I know for many that looks like a dream, but he is by far one of the most UNDERpaid player in MLS. No kidding, please just compare his production to some other designated players. DeRo scored his first goal by himself and produced the second against Seattle. I loved Dwayne from day one in MLS, when he came to San Jose in 2001. He almost left MLS to play in Europe.  Some time ago, De Rosario had offer from English Premier League Blackburn but he turned down, because he has family with 3 kids and social benefits such as health insurance are very important to him. Family man playing for his hometown does not get any better than that. I am not sure what TFC would do without DeRo.

E – Economy – my MLS economist of the week title goes to JPA from Red Bulls for his point of view. “It’s not that expensive to come and watch us playing, so hopefully more people will come” – said Juan Pablo Angel, who just last year made in MLS $1,798,000. Yeah, for Juan it is not that expensive.

F – Fredy Montero – after scoring beautiful goal in Dallas, his coach Sigi Schmid decided that in Toronto he will not need any nice goals to win, so he benched him. Montero and bench that does not sound good, at least for Seattle fans.

G – de Guzman, Julian – Toronto FC midfielder finally played his the best and most complete game in a TFC uniform. Big question is how long we will have to wait for his next good game?

H –Husidic, Baggio – Fire central midfielder was on the field only because of injury of regulars Logan Pause and John Thorrington. He didn’t waste the opportunity.  After rebound of Pat Onstad he was in the right place in the right time and scored his first MLS goal. Husidic may count on some warm words from FSC announcer Chris Sullivan, who is a close friend with Roberto Baggio. Husidic is not Roberto, but at least his name is Baggio.

I- Ibrahim, Salou – Red Bulls forward for his first goal in MLS. His goal not a big shock, cause he has quite a successful career in Europe where he moved a lot between clubs. Before he joined NYRB he played in Belgium, Germany and Denmark. He was born in Ghana, but in 2005 he became a Belgian citizen. In 2006 he decided that he want to play for Ghana national team, but ….he had problem obtaining visa to this country. By the end of May he will be 31, is US and MLS his final destination?

J – Justin Braun, he somehow always finds a way to score against San Jose. Rapids playing Earthquakes next Saturday so they’ll want to trade for Braun immediately. “No, definitely staying here,” he said. “I haven’t come up with an explanation. I’ve just been fortunate to score some goals against them (Quakes). I’m looking forward to carrying that and scoring against some other teams as the season goes along.” That would help keep your job Justin, because you will have only one more game against Quakes this season.

K- Kamara, Kei – Wizards forward. Kei, what was that? I mentioned in my previous MLS Alphabet, that he is the league’s the most unpredictable player. His misplay with Galaxy not only cost Wizards 2 points, but also can set some YouTube record for one the funniest soccer videos. “It’s one of those nights.” said Kamara. To his excuse, grass was wet out there.

L- Peter Lowry, good goal by 24 yr Fire reserve midfielder,

 who played outstanding game against always-difficult opponent from Houston. Thanks to Lowry, competition in Fire midfield will make this team even stronger.

M- Mehdi Ballouchy – Rapids third central midfielder for his goal a la Casablanca. He made difference and scored nice first goal, which helped Colorado manage the game. 27 yr old as teenager played for club Raja Casablanca in his native country Morocco, where he also played for youth national teams.

N –Nyassi, Sainey – Revolution midfielder– He’s going to be badly injured soon if the referees don’t take care of him. Game after game, he’s getting kicked, pushed, shoved, you name it, and nothing’s going on.  – said his coach Steve Nicol on officiating. Injuries and refs already delaying Steve’s Nicol team rebuilding process. Based on this week number of cards, delegating referee Salazar to officiate some Revs games, can make coach Nicol sleep a little better.

O – Orozco, Michael – only he knows how that happen, but sure enough because of his handball, NYRB got a PK and won the match. Union lost another game by defensive errors, and this formation needs some good games asap. Coach Peter Nowak likes good performances and he is always with the team, but he really would love to get some points out of them.

P – Marko Perovic – Revolution midfielder / forward.

Great goal from free kick was not enough for those Rapids, but was definitely very promising for rest of the season for the Revs and their fans. 26 yr old Perovic played for 8 years for the Red Star Belgrade, which is always top team in his country, Serbia. Average player will never survive there for that long, so looks like we will see a lot more to come from Perovic. Dobrodoshli u MLS.

Q- Question to FC Dallas. Can’t you get at least a point with the Sounders at home? You did not earn this point, see letter V for who did. Some fans when asked about FCD team, are already saying FC Dallas, they shouldn’t have tied at home with Seattle.

R-  Ryan Smith Wizards midfielder  is Arsenal youth-system product and he was ready for Buddle and Galaxy. Ryan Smith said “Buddle was anonymous, we pretty much kept him (under wraps), and Landon had one (good) chance. Other than that, we were the best team.” Ryan said true and btw Wizards played without injured US national team defender Jimmy Conrad.

S – Sacha Kljestan, great goal from the distance. I wonder if Bob Bradley had the game turned on?

T – The best weekend of the season for United players and fans. Players got some rest and fans finally did not have to watch them.

U – for underestimating the Toronto FC team, Sigi Schmid. The Sounders coach thought that TFC was weak, that his spare guys will walk over Toronto for 90 minutes and get an easy win. He left on the bench Montero, Zakuani and Hurtado, and as a forward sent only Ljungberg.  “It was strange, I never experienced that in my career before.” Ljungberg said. Freddie, you should talked to Sigi, he was still in shock on Sunday after this Thursday’s last minute penalty called against him.

V – Vaughn, Terry – referee who in the very friendly state of Texas, decided to give them a Christmas gift in April.  Sure Schellas Hyndman this time didn’t have problem with penalty called in last minute, now he knows the feeling on the other side.

W- for Wondolowski, Chris – Earthquakes forward. Second start and he scored second goal, this time from the penalty spot, so this is his second time in MLS Alphabet. Coach Frank Yallop does not change winning squad, but his Quakes lost.

X – how many cards Ricardo Salazar showed in Chicago? Answer 11, yes eleven.

That includes 2 red. He got so used to pulling those yellow and red cards from his pocket, that (by some reports) even after the game he was still showing them on the parking lot and at the hotel. His wife is hoping that ref Ricardo will stop pulling those cards when he gets home.

Y- for Yugoslavia although this country since 2003 does not exist anymore, and I guess that’s the only reason why we don’t celebrate some kind of Yugo week in MLS. Two players directly imported from the former Yugoslavia scored this weekend, one from Bosnia (Baggio Husidic) and one from Serbia (Marko Perovic). Belgrade native Toronto FC coach Preki also won on Sunday. Not enough Yugo?  Sacha Kljestan scored for Chivas and his father Slavko at some point played for Zeljeznicar Sarajevo (currently Bosnia and Herzegovina). They all clicked at the same weekend, what a Yugo coincidence.

Z- Zidane, Zinadine –Jozy Altidore was also mentioned in Chicago, when Fire defender Krzysztof Król used his head, and not necessarily for thinking. He did not notice any difference between Luis Angel Landín face and soccer ball, so he head-butted the Mexican international. Very similar to Zidane vs Materazzi style. Not a good one for Krzysztof Król, who by his hard work earned spot in Fire roster, but because of red card he will be out for next game vs Chivas. Fire fans sure hope that he also learned some other skills from Zidane.

MY SPECIAL LETTER “A” goes to

Arreola, Cristobal – soccer fans might wonder who is he? Do not even look MLS rosters, he is not a soccer player, he is a great heavyweight boxer, who on Saturday lost his 12 rounds fight with Polish boxing star Tomasz Adamek.

Yes Arreola lost, but this is about class and behavior after being defeated. Arreola showed the world that after fighting and beating each other like crazy for 12 rounds, losing by ref’s decision he still show lots of class to his opponent and his fans. Not only waiving to them in thank you gesture from the ring, but he actually went to the hotel and party with those Polish fans, they all have photos with him. Win is always good, nice and sweet, but knowing how to behave after losing, we can learn from Arreola. Thank you classy Cristobal for remaining all of us, that overall, it is still just a sport…..see you next week.

Chris Reiko

ChrisReiko@hotmail.com

MLS Alphabet – Week 4      MLS Aphabet – Week 3         MLS Alphabet – Week 2           MLS Alphabet – Week 1

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