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Soccer Banter

Off the Ball

4/7/2014

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1.  With a goal that ends after a 36-pass buildup, Roy Keane should be watching the League of Ireland instead of wasting his time watching the Championship in England. 

2.  With all the trouble that United States have had with their back line, it's time that Jurgen Klinsmann gives Tim Ream a hard look and invites him into the May camp. He has 36 league starts for Bolton this season playing at center-back and left-back, and is one of the few US defenders that is generally regarded as a great passer of the ball. The phantom of the opera mask is an added defensive weapon, too. 

3.  Here's hoping that the hat-trick Clint Dempsey scored this past weekend against Portland will change his mood on the field.  His moaning, exasperated looks, and overall antics have grown tiresome. 

4.  Managers on the rise: Rodgers & Martinez. Mangers on the decline: Moyes & Wenger.  Which one of these four will not be coaching at their current club in August?

5.  Manager that should have never been given a job: Tim Sherwood. For all his struggles with tactics, a modern manager must be able to handle supporters and the media. Sherwood is failing with both.  

6.  Vinnie Jones lives.  Will Aron Johannsson be reaching out to Gazza for advice?



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7.  With the NWSL season starting this weekend, my pick to win the league - Seattle Reign.  They have more offensive weapons than a few of the clubs in the league have combined.  Everyone knows Megan Rapinoe and Sydney Leroux, but add in new players to the league - Kim Little, Beverly Gobel, and Nahomi Kawasumi - and #LetItReign might actually trend on twitter this season.

8.  Norwich City, a team I watched in Portland this past summer and thought were destined for relegation, is five points clear of the drop, but still fired Chris Hughton this past weekend. Their final five matches are against Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal. The Canaries will have a major say in not only their own relegation battle, but also the Premier League title and Champions League spots. Hopefully Neil Adams fares better than the last manager given a job this season without any first-team managerial experience.

9.  Michael Bradley has more than proven he is the best player in CONCACAF, but the problem now becomes who else on the United States team would make the best 11 in the region? 

10.  Welcome back to the Premier League, Leicester City. In the decade since they last played a Premier League match, the Foxes have been through 17 managers.  How many will they go through next season? 

11.  Met Tom Sermanni several times and he was always open and easy to talk to. As a person, not sure their could be a nicer national team coach. He was tinkering with different lineups frequently, but he had given a lot more players an opportunity to play for the national team than Pia ever had - isn't that what you do in the years leading up to a World Cup? Do the senior players on the national team have that much power? 

12.  Liverpool vs Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.  The stakes couldn't get any bigger.





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    Brendan Faherty

    Faherty is currently the Assistant Women's Soccer Coach at the University of Washington. He passionately supports four clubs, but is always following the game at many different levels. 



    Off the Ball
    Random observations from the last week of soccer. 



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