Disqus - Latest Comments for j6pini

Re: Blargh

j6pini — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:02:46 -0000

Baseball was invented in England.

Re: USMNT 30-Man Roster & Show Schedule

j6pini — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:03:02 -0000

Pending injuries or some miraculous change in players' abilities during camp, I'd cut Pearce, Marshall, Beasley, Rogers, Kljestan, Johnson, and Findley. I know Davies hasn't been medically cleared to play (according to Bob), but I would have called him up anyway in place of a player who has no chance of making the 23, of which there are a few among these 7.

Re: Match Fit USA Predictions League Week Seven

j6pini — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:16:03 -0000

DC United 2
KC Wizards 1

NE Revolution 3
Chivas USA 0

Houston 2
FC Dallas 1

Rapids 3
Galaxy 1

Re: Match Fit USA Predictions League Week 6

j6pini — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:35:50 -0000

DC United 1
NYRB 1

Revolution 2
FC Dallas 0

Dynamo 2
Wizards 0

Fire 3
Chivas USA 1

RSL 3
Toronto 1

San Jose 0
Colorado 2

LA Galaxy 2
Union 3

Seattle 2
Columbus 1

Re: Announcing the Match Fit USA Prediction League

j6pini — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:05:32 -0000

Houston 1
RSL 3

LA Galaxy 3
Chivas USA 0

Colorado 1
Chicago 1

DC United 3
New England 1

NYRB 2
Seattle 1

Re: Friendly Angst: US Schedules Turkey

j6pini — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:27:14 -0000

Everything I know about Turkey's team is from what I saw in Euro 2008. If that's an accurate hint of what to expect two years later then it will be a very good game. I would, however, like to see another game or two with the full USMNT available before June. Seriously, we haven't seen the ACTUAL MNT in a long time (since the Costa Rica qualifier?), and games like the Honduras one in January and the El Salvador one this month don't do that much when it's 100% fringe players.

Re: AmSoc Exclusive Interview

j6pini — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:00:24 -0000

What an interview.

Re: Holden Follows Coyle, But Will He Stay?

j6pini — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:32:12 -0000

I hope and think he'll sign with Bolton. He better. It's too good of a deal for Coyle. No transfer fee. A guy who can play central midfield orchestrator such as Bolton don't have right now. A guy who can also play winger, like he does for USMNT. A great set piece taker, corner taker. He's only 24, and will be until August. And just knowing how good he is overall. I don't see Coyle passing up on him. I think his versatility and just sheer talent will get him enough playing time to convince him to sign.

Re: The American Soccer Business Plan: Part I

j6pini — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:30:31 -0000

I enjoyed it too. But I do think you give baseball and football too much credit, which this "bingo" guy mentioned (bingo: I enjoyed your thing too). I don't think baseball and football will be as popular in 50 years as they are now...I'd take soccer to be more popular than both, with even odds. Once people start to watch soccer, they'll never be able to go back to sports that have commercials...........and soccer is just better anyway.

Re: USMNT January Camp Roster

j6pini — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:06:21 -0000

Too many new/bad players, not enough actual USMNT players. These newbs aren't even going to get time "with the national team", really, cause none of the actual national team players are there. (Sure: it may not be Bradley's fault, as a lot of clubs don't want to let them go for international duty. But it's still disappointing to see.) The only thing I'm really excited about is seeing Marcus Tracy there because it means Bradley is taking him seriously.

Oh, it also lets commentators of MLS games in 2010 say "US international so-and-so" more often than before. So that's cool.

Re: Everton Considering Donovan Loan Move

j6pini — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:44:23 -0000

Agree about the playing time. But personally I think the Everton style, and English style, fits Donovan perfectly. Just a personal opinion. One of Donovan's strengths is his 90-minute fitness, and that sort of work is really appreciated in England.

Re: MLS Western Conference Final: Only for the Hardcore

j6pini — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:41:41 -0000

Well I'll be up at 1:30-- I just won't be watching tv.

Re: MLS Western Conference Final: Only for the Hardcore

j6pini — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:57:21 -0000

Most annoying start time ever. I'm a college student. 21+yrs old. On the east coast. Probably won't watch this one.

Re: Bradley Calls in Squad for Friendlies

j6pini — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:52:20 -0000

I can't say I LIKE this roster, but like you say, there are a ton of players with club commitments who I was really hoping to see.

Also, maybe I'm in the minority here, but I don't think Sacha Kljestan has done anything to earn a spot back in the team. Even when watching the last 2 or 3 Chivas games, the commentators go on about how great he's been, and how his confidence is back. But I don't think he's been particularly good in those games. I mean, he's OKAY, and it's not a tragedy that he's in the team considering the players in front of him who can't be there...but I don't want Bradley to count on him in the future when Torres, Holden, and Jones are available.

Re: Playoffs?!?!

j6pini — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:03:43 -0000

I like the idea of crowning the regular season #1 as the league champion. But for the rest, I'd prefer to use regular season position for all tournament qualification.

I see this sort of route only coming if and when free agency is implemented. As long as it's single-entity, the league's message will be (and is) "controlled parity," which means we'll have playoffs. Only once the league is more capitalistic will the message change from "controlled parity" to "open competition" or something, which will open the league to sacrifice entertainment in favor of accuracy (single table, #1=champion).

Re: Sounders, Dynamo Don't Score Do But Entertain

j6pini — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:26:29 -0000

Great game considering the scoreline. A goal or two would have made it perfect. Even though Seattle may have had one or two more gilded-edged chances than Houston, Houston to me was the better team. They just seemed much more able to maintain possession, and had a much better central midfield (Clark was sub-par, but Holden flat out knows what he's doing...I haven't watched Houston enough to appreciate what Holden does when he's not scoring goals). I can't wait to see the 2nd leg.

Re: Deep Cuts: Stand Up Straight

j6pini — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:35:04 -0000

That article was actually veryyyy very well written. I actually really like it. But if the author is serious, then yeah I agree he's xenophobic. But the key phrase is "before it overwhelms our home-grown, and much more interesting and enjoyable, sports attractions." In other words, the reason he's so up in arms about soccer, as I've said in the past and as you mention here, Jason, is that soccer is a threat. The author thinks it's a giant wrecking ball coming to destroy the sports he's grown up with. So articles like this show that it's gaining traction.

Re: MLS, Doing (Some) Things Right

j6pini — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:00:49 -0000

Just saw the article on Soccernet. Sounds pretty decent from what information was there. What we really need in MLS is one thing: JOSE MOURINHO!! Or a Josh McDaniels-Mourinho morph that would win everything and at the same time garner media attention.

Re: Pearce Signs With FC Dallas

j6pini — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:19:00 -0000

I remember really liking Pearce in a MNT game a long time ago, like a year or two. I hope he gets back into top form and contends for the WC roster.

The thing is though, the US has so many fringe players, including young guys that haven't gotten much time for the national team. We aren't nearly as sure of who we'll bring to South Africa as a lot of other teams are. (Call me crazy-- I want to see Hejduk get another start in a friendly or two once the US have qualified. And look at all the midfielders we have: Bradley, Clark, Dempsey, Donovan, Feilhaber, Edu, Torres, Holden, Beckerman, Kljestan, and others who have prospects of making the team.) So as much as I'd like to have Pearce contend for a WC spot, I also hope we get a clearer idea of who we ought to take in the coming months.

Re: The Return of FIRE BOB!

j6pini — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:21:56 -0000

I don't think the quality of the games is NEARLY as important as the points. In fact I'm almost not concerned whatsoever with the sub-par quality these past two games. We've seen that the US CAN play extremeley well as a team in the Confederations Cup, and I think they have a very businesslike attitude in WC Qualifying. As long as I know they're capable of a heroic performance, getting there is what's important.

Also I just plain like Bob Bradley. There have been a few in-game technical moves and substitutions he's made that I didn't like, but overall I think he's been very very good. He's been conservative in tough away games (for CONCACAF standards) but taken risks in home games that people don't give him enough credit for (such as starting Altidore in the hat-trick game when he hadn't played a full 90 in nearly a year, if not a full year, for his club team). He's given a ton of 1st time caps in friendlies and tested the MLS waters more than Arena did. His risks tend to be measured and taken in controlled environments.

Re: USSF Suspends Three Referrees

j6pini — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:34:28 -0000

Good! Michael Kennedy has had some VERY bad performances on ESPN and FSC. Failed fitness tests? That can't be the REAL reason, but anyway I'm glad he's gone.

Re: Open Cup Fever

j6pini — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:07:53 -0000

I agree with Gatties. Neutral site on a weekend. Teams already take weekends off from league games to play Superliga...that's why NE has fallen behind in games played. The Open Cup final is more worthy than a group SuperLiga game. But all in all, 11,000 isn't the end of the world.

Re: European Champions League draw

j6pini — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:17:00 -0000

I think we got a pretty good story in Inter vs. Barcelona after the INCREDIBLY 1-sided deal that went down this summer. I've also heard someone mention the Mouinho-Barca connection because he started out there as a translator for Bobby Robson, although that's probably 2ndary to Eto'o-Zlatan.

Re: Jozy Altidore, America's Soccer Idol

j6pini — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:54:36 -0000

He scored today in the Carling Cup. I didn't actually see the goal but it was from 30 yards out. 1st start for Jozy and 1st goal for Hull. It bodes well for a starting spot this weekend.

Re: Just give him a minute

j6pini — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:52:38 -0000

This proves one thing: despite the arguments of the Old Guard of literature scholars, Harry Potter has become so entrenched in popular culture that it has shown up in at least one soccer chant (not to mention at least two soccer podcasts), and everybody understands the reference without having to think about it. POW!