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from May 10, 2008
MAY 10, 2008
FROM THE KICK THIS ARCHIVES
SOCCERSAM.COM NEWS DIRECTOR JAMES WEISE

Read the latest news from the Rhinos and all around the soccer world with the latest news postings from Soccersam.com News Director James Weise. You can read James' soccer news and opinion column right here at soccersam.com.

SoccerSam.com News Director
James Weise

James became the Kick This! News Director in March of 2005. A long time listener and caller of the show, he jumped at the chance to audition when he heard there was an opening. He brings to Kick This! the voice of the fan who has always maintained a love for the game and his team.

Growing up, James was a fan of Sheffield Wednesday because they had an American midfielder by the name of John Harkes. When MLS started up, DC United became James’ team to follow because their marquee player just happened to be John Harkes.

As a student at Clarkson University, he enjoyed watching a guy who did a crazy flip throw in, and even got to play in an indoor fraternity league against him. His name.... Mike Kirmse. James is a long time season ticket holder and Kirmse will likely always be his favorite all-time Rhino.

James is also passing on his love for the game. Last spring he coached his three year-old son in his first soccer league. His second son, not even a year at the time, was already kicking a ball on the sidelines waiting for his chance to get in the game...


Is tonight the night?

TOTND&C.com

With the Rhinos in Seattle this evening, the $1million question is whether tonight is the night that the Rhinos score a goal (or more) and get their first win of the season.

On the bright side, they do have the reigning USL 1st Division Team of the Week goalkeeper in Scott Vallow and they should have Ze Roberto, Mauricio Salles, and Atiba Charles available since the team is back in the good ole US of A.

But, since I'm too negative, I'm guessing that we are in for another 1-0 Rhinos loss and there will be a lot of hand wringing (and weather report watching) heading into Saturday's home opener versus Charleston.

News & Notes:

- Vancouver defeated Becks and the Galaxy last night 2-1. I guess that means the Rhinos have a better defense than LA.  

- Steven Goff has a posting about how some Toronto FC supporters plan to show their displeasure with talks that the Argos might call BMO Field home in the future. And here I thought it was about MLS players protesting the bad turf at BMO.......

- Peter Nowak has named his U-23 roster for the upcoming tournament in France. The Red Bulls are glad that Jozy Altidore isn't on the list, I'd bet.

- Speaking of Altidore, it looks like the price to pry him away from MLS could be $10 million+ according to Steven Goff

- If you are wondering where the USMNT willplay some of it's WC qualies, here are some good rumors.

- The Minnesota Thunder are once again on the move. It will be interesting to see how the upgrades go in Blaine.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them. 


Injury bug bites ex-Rhinos

AmboMike Ambersley's 2008 USL 1st Division season is apparently over due to a knee injury. Atlanta's 2007 leading goal scorer, Warren Ukah, is also done for the season with a knee injury he suffered in a collision with Seattle goalkeeper Chris Eylander.

In Montreal, Gabe Gervais is on the shelf for three weeks with a quad injury suffered in the Impact's 1-0 loss at Minnesota.

And while it is early in the season, the Rhinos are already 5 points out of sixth place. A win in Seattle tomorrow night would be really nice right about now.

News & Notes:

- The highlights from Saturday's USWNT 6-0 win over Canada are now up on US Soccer.com. How did Abby miss that header on a cross from Heather Mitts?

- Greg Lalas' latest Outside the Box column for SI.com looks at the Columbus Crew. Why he doesn't give all the credit for Columbus' success to Brian Bliss is beyond me.....

- Steve Davis' latest at MLSNet.com is about the breakout stars of 2008. It's nice to see Robbie Rogers lighting things up in MLS after he played a big role on last year's US U-20 team.

- The new MLS expansion team in Philly has hired a couple of people, so spruce up your resume!

- I didn't think leadership was the issue in LA. I thought the problem was trying to build an entire team when you have three DP-level contracts on one roster........

- Esky hasn't been able to stay healthy with Chivas USA. They need to put together a Benny and Esky rehab show on MLSNet.com!

- Steve Goff has his The Good, The Bad, and The Coyote Ugly for this week up and I love how he finished it.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.


Is it time to hit the panic button?

PBRhinos Soccer.com

D&C.com

USL Soccer.com

Whitecaps FC.com

Another game, another shutout loss for the Rhinos.

With the home opener less than a week away and the new Rhinos management trying to make a good first impression, the results on the field are sp far away from being acceptable that one has to wonder what it will mean for home attendance beyond Saturday's game versus the Charleston Battery.

Head coach Darren Tilley was reportedly very happy with the scoreless draw in Portland and felt like his team had turned the corner. Then after the match in Vancouver, Coach Tilley is saying that no Rhinos player had an honest effort against the Whitecaps.

On Saturday's edition of Kick This!, Coach Tilley said that time together is the only way to forge the chemistry needed to turn the offensive skills and potential that this lineup has into results on the field is to give this team time to come together.

There have been a lot of changes that have been made this offseason that have been received in a largely positive manner. The interesting thing to see is how patient will the fanbase be as Darren Tilley learns on the job as a rookie pro coach and this team comes together after having been put together on a very tight timeline.

The one positive out of Saturday's match is that the new road unis looked awesome!

News & Notes:

- The USWNT destroyed Canada 6-0 on Saturday night. Abby Wambach did not add to her 95 career USWNT goals, but she did have three assists! The match also featured Natasha Kai's first hat trick for the USWNT.

- It's amazing how much stronger the Eastern Conference of the MLS is this season. The top teams in the West have more points than only one Eastern Conference team, DC United.

- Adam Spangler was once again in the crowd as Fulham escaped relegation with a 1-0 road win at Portsmouth. While it isn't as big as Manchester United clinching an outright EPL title with a 2-0 win, it is a pretty good pair of games to be your first in person viewing of the EPL.

- Mike Wise at the Washington Post had a great piece on Ben Olsen and his attempt to come back from ankle surgery. Ben is so good for the game that I truly hopehe can come back and be the player that he once was.

- Are these really tough times for MLS? Things aren't perfect, but I like the direction MLS is going.

- The NY Times has an update on three of the players that recently defected from Cuba. I guess they aren't crashing on Boom Boom's couch just yet....

- SBI.net ponders what Bob Bradley's roster should be like when the USMNT takes on England now that Fabio Capello has announced his roster for the game. Beckham has been selected, so Landon Donovan could hitch a ride to the match.....

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.


Glass Half Full

Half FullD&C.com

Rhinos Soccer.com

USL Soccer.com

Portland Timbers.com

Oregon Live.com

Portland Tribune.com

Usually a scoreless draw isn't a reason to celebrate, but after the Rhinos first two games of the season, the Rhinos were more than happy to leave Portland with their first point of the 2008 season.

Rhinos head coach Darren Tilley tweaked his lineup with Matthew Delicate coming off the bench and Mauricio Salles starting up top with Hamed Diallo.

For the second straight game, Steve Guppy was not on the 18 man roster for the Rhinos. Alfonso Loera and Chase Harrison were on the 18 man roster for the first time this season, although neither came on as subs.

Former Rhinos Chris Bagley and Neil Dombrowski started on the Timbers bench with Bagley coming on as a late sub.

After becoming the first team to get a point in Portland this season, the Rhinos travel to Vancouver to take on the Whitecaps tomorrow evening. Tilley was extremely upbeat after last night's result, so hopefully the team is in the mood for another first for the 2008 season and they will finally get on the scoreboard!

And this may be a first in Rhinos history - They have a point in the standings before they have a goal for.......

News & Notes:

- In last night's MLS game of the Week on ESPN2, the Chicago Fire remained hot and DC United remained cold. And DC's President is not happy about that fact.......

- The AP has a nice article on Abby Wambach closing in on 100 USWNT goals.

- I wonder if Sven Goran Eriksson knows Spanish?

- US Soccer.com has a podcast interview with Fulham and USMNT midfielder Clint Dempsey about Fulham's fight to stay in the EPL.

- One of Rochester's favorite MLS coaches, Jason Kreis, has been suspended for criticizing officials. Jason Kreis whining? No way!

- Steven Goff has a nice article on Chicago Fire head coach Denis Hamlett. You've got to root for a guy that was an assistant coach for over a decade with one team when he finally gets his shot as the head coach.

- I sure hope this isn't how Benny the Beard's soccer career ends.

- Apparently Red Bulls rookie defender Eric Brunner is looking at other options after NY yanked his senior roster contract to sign former TFC defender Andrew Boyens. SBI.net says that Brunner is looking at USL teams. I wonder if Scott Palguta would give him a good reference?

- The first player signed by MLS' Seattle Sounder FC is current Seattle Sounder Sebastien Le Toux.

- Texas Southern University may be stepping in to help the Houston Dynamo get a stadium deal done.

- Martin Rogers has an updated Top 20 Players in MLS list. The first surprise to me was Schellotto coming in 3rd ahead of Blanco at 4.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.


Salt in the wound

SaltUSL Soccer.com

When the USL 1st Division Team of the Week was named this week, I got a chuckle over how many players on the list played against the Rhinos last week.

Six (yes, over half of the TOTW) players were from Charleston or Minnesota. And that includes the USL 1st Division Player of the Week, Thunder goalkeeper Nick Platter who had a clean sheet and an assist versus the Rhinos on Sunday.

Hopefully we won't see Portland and Vancouver players up anddown the USL 1st Division team of the week next week.....

News & Notes:

- Dan Steinberg had a couple of postings on his Washington Post.com blog about the VW-DC United annoucement yesterday. The excited players post wasn't as good as the post that started off with a couple of DC players flashing the VW gang sign.

- Steven Goff has a nice piece up about DC United's new maestro, Marcelo Gallardo.

- US Soccer.com is saying that over 40,000 tickets have been sold for the US-Argentina friendly scheduled to take place on June 8th at Giants Stadium.

- The US U-23 MNT will play in in the Toulon International Tournament in France from May 20 to May 29 and the action will be aired live on Fox Soccer Channel. The Red Bulls arelikely lessthan thrilled as Jozy Altidore may miss a couple of MLS games if he is called in for the tournament by Peter Nowak.

- Even thought they have advanced to the Champions League final versus Chelsea and they will likely wrap up an EPL title on Saturday with a win, all is not financially well with Manchester United . It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.




JAMES WEISE'S NEWS ARCHIVE

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