Thoughts on Thoughts

DC United evaluating whether to keep coach Tommy Soehn. Whatever they decide is fine by me. All I want is, with a handful of exceptions, an entire roster of new players.

Tommy saw the writing on the wall and stepped down. I wish him the best, and I think he will land the coaching gig at another MLS team. Now DCU needs some players. And a coach. I am a little busy these days, so DCU should probably pick someone else, thanks.

UVA men ranked #10. Methinks that is a tad high. ACC tourney will likely bring that to light. I hope to get down to Charlottesville for their finale against NC State. UVA probably has one of the the finest college soccer facilities in the nation. Admission price is very low, soccer is good, and atmosphere is great.

I went down to UVA-land and saw them play NC State. UVA is overrated, probably about 8 positions too high. They have some good midfielders, they play nice team defense, but they have no pure strikers. The flanks are not involved enough, ESPECIALLY for what appeared to be a 3-5-2. #23 was dazzling for the first 15 minutes, then disappeared for the rest of the match. I seriously thinking about offering any willing UVA forward or A-mid, or *anybody* $20 to make a diagonal run. I saw only ONE all night.

The #7 shirt for NC State is the real deal. Dazzling dribbling skills, silky touch on the ball, and very clever. The problem is the rest of their team is not that good, and they had trouble getting him the ball. Most puzzlingly, NC State went down 1-0 in the first half, but played like they were *UP* 1-0 until very late into the 2nd half. State's game plan was clearly lacking.

UVA is not going to do anything this year in either the ACCs or the College Cup.

My strategy "How to beat Stanford" has failed a number of Stanford opponents in recent games. I therefore officially have no idea as to how to beat the SU women's soccer team. Except maybe to bunker 11 people behind the ball and try to get them to fire blanks from range. Problem is, give up corners or deep set pieces and all bets are off.

My ideas for beating Stanford certainly are lacking, but Cal's stratagem of talking smack about SU to the press before the game makes me look like a genius. That takes some doing, I assure you.

Many people, even some among their faithful, are writing off this year's UNC women's team. Fuggedaboudit. They will win the ACCs, which they have done *19 out of the last 21 times* the thing has been played. They will be in the Final Four. If two or three things go wrong against them, they win, regardless of opponent.

Cough-cough. They win the ACC. Again. UNC will top one of the NCAA brackets, and they will be in the Final Four, and I would not be surprised to see them in the final game. They could have lost three more games in the regular season than they did, and likely right now I'd be saying the same thing.

The conventional wisdom says "the level of play in MLS is much higher now than in the early years." Oh, really? Then how to explain the almost universal agreement that the 1998 DC United team was, by far, the best MLS team ever assembled? Or riddle me this -- why are 80% of MLS games so poorly, boringly played? Or tell me, grasshoppah, where are the Etcheverrys, Cienfuegos, Novaks, Valderramas, (young) Morenos, Diaz Arces, Lassiters? Now we have Barros Schellotto, Shalrie Joseph, and David Beckham. Great players, but there are too few of them. MLS, on balance, has treaded water or even declined a bit in the overall level of play department since its inception.

The level of play in the playoffs has ranged from average to awful. It is time for that league to get some more quality players.

Chelsea and Barcelona play soccer that is simply dazzling.Lionel Messi is quite possibly the best soccer player the world has ever seen. 'Nuff said.Didier Drogba is probably the best pure striker in the game today, and one of the best ever.

And Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. (Line from the 70's. Sorry.)

Somebody on bigsoccer said so-and-so is a "better target forward" than Kelley O'Hara. Man, stuff like that gets my goat. News Flash: Target forward is just one of many KO roles. She can defend. I can count on one had the number of college forwards who can defend. She can create out of the midfield. She has a silky touch on the ball and can run at defenders with the ball at her feet. She can torch you along the endline. She strikes the ball soundly, with power and accuracy, and doesn't take an hour to settle the ball first. She makes her whole team go. Oh, and she does do that "target forward" thing of running onto long balls out of the back, blowing by her marker, and burying the round thing in the back of the ol' onion bag better than anyone in the college game. If all she had to do was be a "target forward" she could probably do that while eating a ham sandwich and a bag of chips. A word to the wise at any WPS team -- draft this player, put the number 10 shirt on her back and tell her, "This is your team. Do whatever you need to/want to to Make it Go." Then make room in the trophy case.

"Target forward". Give me a break.

Heh-heh-heh. Hats never should have gone out of style. :-)

My analysis of the SU-CAl match coming soon.