September 3, 2008
Chivas USA only fell to Panamanian club Tauro FC 3-1 on aggregate. That wasn't nearly as bad as New England getting blasted 4-0 at home by T&T's Joe Public to lose 6-1 on aggregate in their CONCACAF Champions League play-in series.
To make things slightly more embarassing, the Montreal Impact advanced to group play by getting past Real Estelí, the Nicaraguan champion club.
There are some that are wondering what MLS will do after these results. But, my guess is that they'll do nothing unless there is a real financial incentive to take these matches more seriously. Kind of like what has happened with the SuperLiga.
Speaking of embarrasments for MLS......
DC United hosts the Charleston Battery tonight in the US Open Cup Final. The bad news for Charleston is that DC appears to be getting healthier and Tom Soehn could unleash enough firepower that even Dusty Hudock and crew can't get a result.
Hopefully I'll wrestle control of the remote from my wife around 7:30pm tonight........
News & Notes:
- Tiger Fitzpatrick was the lone Rhino on this week's Team of the Week. Red hot Montreal had three players named to the team, including former Rhino Pato Aguilera. Edy Sebrango was another former Rhino that was honored by the USL this week.
- I asked yesterday what team Rey Martinez will be rooting for on Saturday as the US takes on Cuba. Well, Grant Wahl's latest at SI.com has the answer from Chivas USA forward Maykel Galindo. He's rooting for his homeland. Speaking of Grant, he has landed in Cuba.
- WPS has announced that the San Francisco Bay area is in for 2009 and Dallas is in for 2010. I wonder how much the travel costs will be since they have wide geographic footprint? Although, it is slightly better than the USL 1st Division which has some trips going from Vancouver to Puerto Rico.
- Someone tell Tiger Fitzpatrick that his website is down!
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.
