A Lesson for the Stanford Women's Soccer Team from the Phildelphia Flyers

I don't follow hockey anymore, but last NHL season I couldn't help but to notice the tremendous turnaround made by our local Washington Capitals team. By late November, it appeared their season was in the tank. Coach Genn Hanlon was let go on Thanksgiving Day of all days.

The Caps brought in Bruce Boudreau as their new coach, who I believe has turned out to be the finest hockey man in the NHL coaching ranks since Scotty Bowman. The Caps went on a tear almost from the get-go of the new coach's tenure. The Capitals improbably won their division on the last day of the regular season, after playing stretches of dazzling hockey.

In the playoffs, the Capitals drew their old nemesis, the Phildelphia Flyers in the first round. The Flyers went to a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series. The Flyers were not as skilled as the Capitals, but what they lacked in skills they made up for in toughness and a willingness to fight for every puck, and to pressure, pressure, pressure when they were on defense, and to hit the stuffing out of anything that moved. The Caps responded with some toughness of their own, but with Alex Ovechkin leading the way, the Caps out-hockeyed the Flyers to roar back to tie the series at 3 games apiece and force game 7.

The Flyers', (or rather Broad Street Bullies') grit proved too much for the Caps, though, and the Caps lost the series 4 games to 3; closing out a still-wondrous season.

A Flyers fan, interviewed by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, said of the Caps, "You guys came in [to this series] a bunch of figure skaters in pads and helmets. We taught you to fight and play hockey like men. You're welcome."

I think of that Flyer fan's assessment when I think about the Stanford women's soccer team. The Cardinal has as much or more soccer talent, skills, crisp passing and savvy movement as any women's soccer club in the country.

But will they fight, scrap, and claw for every loose ball? Will they pressure, pressure, pressure the ball all over the field when on defense? Will they deliver, time and again, the hard, crunching (but within the rules) tackles that will knock equally talented opponents off their game? Will Stanford do the grunt work that will break them out of the pack of excellent soccer teams and onto the podium of the National Champion?

All I can tell you is they have what it takes.

You're welcome.

Thoughts on the Stanford Women's Team

I don't follow women's soccer that much, but a friend of mine follows this team closely so I started to keep track of their doings.

Stanford is a team with loads and loads of talent and athleticism at every position. They are tactically very sophisticated. I really believe top to bottom they have the best strikers in the nation. I was amazed as Stanford made UNC, of all teams, look slow and flat-footed for much of the second half of the recent match between the two sides.

The problem with Stanford historically is they tend to tire as they get well into the meat of their conference schedule, especially when they have to travel. They try with some success to get a second wind going into the conference tourney, but then by the time the NCAAs roll around they are pretty much spent, and they crash out in the early going. That, to me, goes to conditioning, which implicates the coaching. Coupled with some questionable substition patterns, and some mystifying bootball tactics that seem to surface when the going gets tough, and there are thus real question marks in the coaching department.

We'll know if these coaching issues are resolved if the team is stronger once they have gotten through most of their conference schedule.

This team has more than enough talent barring injuries to win their conference, and there is no reason personnel-wise they can't get to the College Cup ("Final Four")and win the thing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. They have the players to get it done. But do they have what it takes behind the training-ground whistle, and in the coaches' area at the games?

DCU Does it Again

Another grand and glorious win for DC United.

Both DCU goals were just exquisite. You will not find better highlight-reel goals in any league anywhere in the world. Check out the video highlights at mlsnet.com.

Our new flank player, Guerrero, is a fine pickup. Thank you, San Jose. The guy was a monster on the flank, both offensively and defensively, all night long. He wins a 50-50 ball. in the air, from a taller player, feeds Jaime, who in turn threads a gorgeous diagonal ball to Emilio for the money and a 1-0 scoreline for the good guys.

Joe Vide, former UVA man returned from exile, played great, I thought. He played with heart, and fought to the end for the shirt. In his *first game* for the Black and Red. Was a bit lucky not to see red on his second half challenge. But hey, that kind of thing is avoidable with some coaching, which he will get under Tommy.

Zach Wells. What can I say, other than I like my crow with salt, pepper, AND ketchup. And, of course, a Diet Coke to wash it down and make the calories go away. I was a harsh critic of Zach wells in the early going of this campaign, but the guy gets better each game. He got his clean sheet, having come up with some game-saving stops.

Speaking of eating crow, I have got to say Tommy did a nice job of coaching. He has the team well-prepared, even in the face of several core starters being out.

Jaime Moreno. What can I say. This guy is the king of calcio-coolness. He has got soccer-mojo and massive futbol gravitas in spades. What he has lost in pace he has more than made up for in craftiness. KC made the mistake of marking him with a single player early in the game. I remember commenting directly to my TV set early in the match, (the TV of course agreed completely with my analysis) that KC was in trouble if they didn't put more defenders on him. Then comes the nice assist to Emilio. Not coincidentally KC double and triple teamed Moreno the rest of the night. No matter, Jaime later scores on a lovely header, and almost had another off a through-ball in the box.

I am a bit suprised by KC's form of the last several weeks. Here is a team that does not have a single bad player in its first 11 (I hate using Roman numerals). They are very fit, and they have good chemistry. They are just not scoring. They were a bit unlucky against us. Onalfo needs to turn things around.

For more on DCU and MLS, you can't miss Steve Goff's blog.

Weekly Howler

Now *this* is a major goalkeeping gaffe!



The poor keeper here just had a mind meltdown, forgot to play the bounce, and over his head it went.

This reminds me of a soccer match I went to around 1975. Kurt Kuykendall was in the net for the Washington Diplomats against, I believe, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. He had a very stiff wind in his face. Kuykendall punted the ball, but mis-hit it, giving the ball a mean backspin and a stunted but almost vertical trajectory. The wind, even stiffer aloft, caught the ball and blew it right over Kuykendall's head and into his own goal.

Turns Out I was Right (part 2)

Well, I am probably close to being right, since nothing has officially happened yet on the Chivas USA front. For those who don't know, I have been saying for some time that Chivas USA, which the last couple years has been such a spectacular flop at the gate (despite playing some good soccer) that they are in danger of being relocated.

Well, MLS insider Not Doug Logan is hearing rumblings from those in the know that there will likely be relocation for CUSA sooner rather than later for that side if they don't develop some fan interest.

Other than a couple recent games Chivas USA when playing at home has been playing in front of maybe 1000 fans and 26,000 empty seats at Home Depot Center. An embarassment to MLS.

Turns out I was right

... about Emilio. The guy is scoring goals at a torrid pace, and is in the hunt for the Golden Boot lead. I am not surprised.

His slump was due primarily to the fact that early in the season he was getting late service with his back to the goal and not uncommonly two or three defenders draped all over him.

NOW, he is getting service while on the move toward and near or in the box. And he has been burying his chances in "the back of the old onion bag" with regularity ever since.

Some of that is due to Emilio's improved movement off the ball, most is due to better play, anticipation, and service by the midfielders.

So, DC United is playing some nice soccer now. But we need to improve our backline, improve our goalkeeping, and get better play from the flanks to get another MLS Cup.

Speaking of goalkeeping, I have been a harsh critic of Zach Wells. But I have to admit he is improving. I watched the LA game (DVR'd the Sunday broadcast) on Monday night and Wells had some nice stops and his positioning was better. The goal was more the fault of Peralta, who whiffed on his clearance, than Wells, who was a bit late off his line but for good reason -- he had to cover the far post first because it appeared the ball would squirt to Buddle's left.

I still like Peralta better than many on Bigsoccer do. He is an improvement over Boswell, and I think he will get even better as he and the team continue to gel.

~ Ron

Don Garber Speakszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

The Don has a new blog on MLSNet.

Right now it reads like decrees sent down engraved in stone from Mount Olympus, in the form of text cut-and-pasted from old speeches.

I like Don Garber. He has done a good job growing the league. And he believes in the Game.

But, why have a high-visibility blog if you are only going to post *if possible* once every two weeks? And why just give us warmed over stuff from Chamber of Commerce speeches?

For now, I'll keep an open mind and keep reading.

But my hope is the Don will talk *to* us, not talk *down to* us.