Green Demon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNZPWBZarmE&feature=player_embedded

For anyone that didn't see this last night it was pretty cool to see for the team first game in the MLS. Great atmosphere last night and they are looking like a good addition to the MLS at least supporter group wise.

It looks like Landon Donavon is headed to Everton for a couple month loan to stay in form for the World Cup during the MLS off season. It will be interesting to see how he performs because his couple trips to Germany didn't turn out to well but he has been really playing well this year for both club and country. If he does continue to play well I wouldn't be surprised to see get a deal somewhere after the World Cup.

It'll be interesting to see what the Galaxy look like next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see Donavon make a move to Europe and who really knows what Beckham is going to do he'll be on loan again. For the MLS in general I wouldn't be surprised to see a big name or two take some DP money from the teams that still have their slot open after the World Cup finishes up.

I agree the US will be looking to carry the title of being the top team in CONCACAF, empty title or not, and they would most likely have to win against CR to stay ahead of Mexico. I also think that Honduras would represent our confederation better because they have have had a pretty good WCQ cycle this time around. In some what related WCQ news, Charlie Davies the American striker who recently has been looking pretty good was involved in a car crash in which one of the passengers of the car he was in died. From what I heard he is currently in surgery and it is still up in the air on how bad he was injured, although it has been mentioned his injuries are not life threatening. Scary stuff either way and it is pretty disappointing after doing well in the Confederations Cup and becoming basically a first choice striker for us.

Even putting my Cleveland bias aside I really dont see New York having any reasonable chance at getting Lebron, the Nets I think would have a far better chance at getting him. They have young talent to surround him with and they still have cap space so they would seem like a logical choice out of some of the teams that are mentioned as possible suitors for Lebron. I still say that he stays in Cleveland because #1 they right now are the team that is closest to getting a championship out of the potential teams, they can offer him the most money, and I really think that Dan Gilbert, our owner, has time and again shown a willingness to spend money to make the team better and they have brought in players that fit in with Lebron. With that being said I was pretty happy to see that Cavs pick up Leon Powe because although the is a chance that he may not even play this season he has the possibility of coming back and adding some depth to the PF position which was a need for us. It will also allow us to test JJ Hickson at the beginning of the year in the back up PF role to see what the Cavs have in him, he defiantly has good potential but there is no telling if he reaches it or not.

US loses 2-1 in Mexico which overall is not really a surprise since we have never won there but it disappointing since we scored first early and then just bunkered down and allowed Mexico to dictate play. I know I was hoping that we could win especially after how we have looked for most of the summer with our A team, but winning at home like we should the rest of the way and at least tie on the road or even a loss depending on how the other teams do, we are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the WC. A side note that just came out a couple of hours ago is that Landon Donavon contracted Swine Flu over the weekend and played the full 90 with it. Swine flu is not the worldwide epidemic that everyone feared but it still is the flu and can explain why other then the assist he had he wasn't very involved overall in the game.

Well the good news is it is going to be a loan deal for Altidore, at least for now I haven't heard about any buy clauses so far. I am just glad that he will hopefully be getting some playing time before the WC next year, just sitting on the bench which is what he would have likely have been doing at Villarreal would not have done him any good.

Looks like young US international Jozy Altidore is headed over to the EPL on loan for the season, nothing has been confirmed yet but from the reports that I have seen the most likely destination for him right now is Hull. His current team Villarreal pretty much confirmed that he was going out on loan and it would be confirmed in the next day or two, so it will be interesting to see if the reports are true about Hull or if he ends up at another team.

The sad thing is that it was 0-0 at half so those 5 goals were all in the second half. Not going to lie it almost seemed like the US just gave up at some point because the defense was almost non existent. Dissapointing considering that we have never won in Azteca were we are playing Mexico on Aug 12th and it would have been nice going in with all the momentum, although like I said before basically no one from this US team will even be playing come August.

Granted the US team had maybe one or two guys(Ching, Holden) that will even be on the roster for the upcoming WCQ against Mexico and Mexico had 4 or 5 probable starters that was just a disgrace. The defense got completely shredded in the second half and that was what did the US in, well that and probably having no real threat moving forward didn't help.

Yeah it seems like Holden has gone from uncapped to now in the discussion for the 23 for South Africa. He'll have to get tested in some WCQ since most of the teams that were at the Gold Cup were either B sides or minnows. That being said he assisted both goals last night and I particularly was impressed with his corner and along with what he has done lately he has the versatility to play any of the midfield positions well.

Panama was pretty classy too The funny thing about the game between the US and Panama was that I thought that the majority of the calls were going Panama's way and the penalty that was given to the US was pretty clear, I mean Cooper basically got karate kicked in the stomach. Then Panama pulled a Chelsea and was running after the ref and I guess one of the Panamanian players took a swing at one of the security personnel who would have kicked the crap out of him if they hadn't been pulled apart. That being said I could see Honduras beating us in the next game just for the shear fact that they brought a stronger club to the tournament, I mean the only "starter" that is playing is Brian Ching. It has been good to get a look at some of the newer guys though like Stuart Holden who I think has played himself onto the roster for the next couple of WCQ if not more. If he were to make the actually WC roster he would probably be nothing more then a quality sub but he has looked good for the future.

Oguchi Onyewu to AC Milan apparently. You was out on a free after his contract with Standard liege in Belgium expired and he was being linked to a number of teams but really I never saw any mention of Milan until he signed today. He looked good last year helping Standard Liege win the belgian league and then look very good in the Confederations Cup against some very good competition. It will be intresting to see how he fits with AC Milan but it is nice to have an American at a very good club even without Kaka.

DeGuzman To TFC? Wasn't sure where else to post this since there really isn't a MLS thread but in looks like TFC is going to be paying big money to bring in de Guzman for the rest of the season. Not confirmed that he is moving but it sounds like there is a pretty good chance that it may happen.