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.

Charlie Villanueva didnt get offered a qualifying offer so he is now a restricted FA. The early talk that I have heard is that he could possibly be heading to Cleveland for about the MLE which I would totally be alright with. He was a 16pt/7reb PF last year and even though he may not hit that amount of points next year if he were to come to Cleveland being about the 3rd/4th option on offense, he has the abiltiy to hit the outside shot pretty decently so that would fit into a need for the Cavs. If that were to go down I would be pretty happy with a line up of: PG:Mo/D. Gibson/Kinsey SG: Delonte/Gibson/Green SF:LeBron/Green PF: CV/Varejao/Hickson C:Shaq/Z/Darnell Jackson They would have to fill out the roster with a couple of vet minimum guys but I would be satisfied with that. It will be intresting to see what happens when free agency starts on Wednesday.

Since I didnt want to start a new thread about this but it could be some more pretty good news for the USA, it looks like Edgar Castillo is looking to take advantage of the recent rule chance by FIFA and if given the opportunity by the USA he would like to make the switch from Mexico since he hasn't appeared in any cap tying matches. It remains to be seen if the US will call him up for sure but with them really lacking any depth at LB this would likely be able to help out.

It was a great run and it is great for us to have made it as far as we did but we just broke down at the end. I didn't particularly like Bradley's subs to tell you the truth, I didn't particularly like Bornstien for Feilhaber I just feel like creatively and going forward Bornstien doesn't give us much I would rather have seen Torres or even Adu. I really don't understand Bradley's fascination with Conor Casey either he really didn't show me anything in the whole tournament, it will be good when Ching is back and healthy. That being said some of our guys pretty much got themselves a place on the team for next year with those guys being Demeritt, Spector and Davies. I also think that unless something happens Beasley is pretty much done, it is just shocking to me how much he has fell off in form in just a couple years. I also hope that Donovan moves to somewhere in Europe this winter when his contract is up he is and showed this tournament that he is just to good for the MLS. It was frustrating to lose like we did today but as has been mentioned it will be good for this team moving forward and getting ready for next year.

Pretty sure that hell is freezing over right now

YEEEESSSSSSS!!!!! USA 1-0

For what it worth The likely deal that I have heard between PHX-CLE is B. Wallace and Pavlovic for Shaq the reasoning being that they could dump wallace who would probably retire and Sasha is only guaranteed like a million or two on his contract so they could dump him as well to get under the luxury tax and provide their owner with some financial relief. No idea if what I have heard is true or not.

Yeah they are definatly sending a weaker team to the Gold Cup although it still should be a team that should win, here is the preliminary roster obviously this needs to be cut down but I am sure that we will see some of the guys that havent played much like Guzan, Adu, and Torres on the final roster. GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan, Marcus Hahnemann, Luis Robles, Troy Perkins DEFENDERS: Jonathan Bornstein, Dan Califf, Steve Cherundolo, Jay Demerit, Clarence Goodson, Eric Lichaj, Chad Marhsall, Michael Orozco, Heath Pearce, Michael Parkhurst, Marvell Wynne. MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu, Davy Arnaud, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Eddie Gaven, Stuart Holden, Pablo Mastroeni, Robbie Rogers, John Thorrington, Jose Francisco Torres, FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Kenny Cooper, Charlie Davies, Jeremiah White

Yeah the US would have to play basically a perfect game to have any chance against Spain, "friendly" tournament or not and other then today where they still made some mistakes there is just very little chance of that happening. I gotta say that Onyewu has been looking pretty strong in this tournament and it will be interesting to see where he ends up now that he is out of contract.

For as bad as the US played up until that point it was awesome to see them come through and play a good attacking game. Could have easily been 4-0 if they had called the handball on the goal line from Altidore's shot but ill take it. I only hope that Bob Bradley gives Adu or Torres a chance for us because the CM not named Bradley haven't shown a ton so far in the CC. It just made it extra sweet that we were actual able to play with 11 guys on the field the whole game and also to take Italy's spot in the semis because I just despise the Italians for obvious reasons.

KC has a new stadium on the way tentatively scheduled to be done in 2011, I think the main reason that they moved into the place they are in now is so that they wouldn't have to pay the probably large amount of rent they did when the rented Arrowhead from the Chiefs.