• Home
    • Who Are We
    • USMNT Ramblings
    • Where Are They Now >
      • Mike Ammann
      • Chris Armas
      • Brian Bliss Part II
      • Petter Mellor
      • Gary Hamilton
      • John Robinson
    • My Club My Passion
  • Interviews
    • Robbie Mustoe
    • Cyle Larin
    • Daphne Corboz
    • Neil Stafford
    • Eric DaCosta
    • Ian McIntyre
    • Keidane McAlpine
    • David DiIanni
    • Keelin Winters
    • Rachel Daly
    • Arie Ammann
    • Andres Deza
    • EPL 2013 Steve Coxon
    • EPL 2013 Jeremy Melul
    • EPL 2013 Jim McGirr
    • EPL 2013 Elie Monteiro
    • EPL 2013 Lee Billiard
    • EPL 2013 Brian Tompkins
    • Derek Canavaggio
    • Dante Marini
    • Katy Freels
    • Lee Billiard - NWSL
    • Caitlin Foord
    • Sophie Schmidt
    • Jill Loyden
    • Brittany Bock
    • Veronica Perez
    • Kate Deines
    • Brendan Schimmel
    • Gerry Marrone
    • Lee Billiard
  • Extra Time
  • Off The Ball
  • Five For Friday
    • Gary Curneen
    • Dave Clarke
    • Andrew Kean
    • Dan Abrahams
    • Dave Hannigan
Soccer Banter

Off the Ball

9/6/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
1.  Great to have the transfer window behind us, now we can all focus on what truly matters - Liverpool is top of the table!

2.  Is this is how David Moyes responded to Wayne Rooney's transfer request? If so, Sir Alex Fergsuon's hair dryer treatment at halftime wasn't so bad after all. 

3.  Speaking of Liverpool, John Barnes post-playing career as a manager hasn't gone too well, but now he has a new profession to fall back on. I said a hip hop, the hippie the hippie.

4. Question of the Week: In order, predict the top four places in the Premier League this season.  Add your answer in comment section below.

5.  Unfortunately, I have watched Chivas USA play twice, live and in-person, in the last month. 180 minutes of my life I will never get back.  Also a good reminder that the lean years of the New England Revolution (2010-2012) were still better than watching the Goats play. 



Picture
6.  Great to have international soccer back this week in matches that mean something. Would be even better if Glenn Whelan hadn't been named in Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland squad to face Sweden. 

7.  Remember the Snow Clasico? A lot has changed since the buildup for that match. Klinsmann is now seen as the savior, leading the USMNT on a 12-match winning streak while being crowned Gold Cup champions. To keep the streak alive, the United States will have to do something it's never done before - take three points from Costa Rica on the road.  

8.  Winner for supporter of the year goes to David Feeney. We have all gone to extreme measures to try to watch our favorite team, but Mr. Feeney took it one step further - he bought the broadcasting rights for Ireland's match vs Sweden.



Picture
10.  Congratulations to the Portland Thorns on winning the first ever NWSL championship.  After watching their team quite a few times, always felt they had the talent, but were missing some grit to win it all.  They proved quite a few people wrong with both wins in the playoffs coming on the road. 

11.  One of the Thorns heroes during their overtime come from behind win against FC Kansas City in the semifinals was Tiffany Weimer, who scored the tying goal and set-up the winning goal. I've known Tiff for over ten years - when nutmegging players, scoring goals, and making sarcastic comments were the only things that mattered to her. It's great to see her still doing all those things, but even greater to see her sharing her passion for the beautiful game with her own soccer publication, Our Game Magazine. 

12.  College soccer season is in full swing and if you need a team to cheer for, you could do a lot worse than cheering for the University of Massachusetts men's soccer team. Head coach, Sam Koch was hired in 1991 to coach the team for three months as the school had chosen to terminate the program after that fall season. Always the battler, Sam has kept the program going, and in 2007 did the unthinkable: with less than three scholarships, he led his team to the NCAA Final Four. For the past year, Koch has faced an even tougher test off the field - cancer. But just as he fought to save the program 23 years ago, Sam fights this battle with wit and sarcasm still in tact.  This fall, follow the Minutemen and Koch - they both deserve some extra supporters.


13.  It seems like just yesterday I was watching Bobby Rhine score goals in Storrs for UConn. A must read article by Nick Firchau looking at the passing of Bobby Rhine two years later. 

14.  The country that claims to have invented football is starting Rickie Lambert up front in a must-win World Cup Qualifier. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. 

15.  Ok, I'm off to find an establishment in Portland, OR that has GOL TV. Come On You Boys in Green. 


1 Comment
Keith Baldwin
9/6/2013 02:28:36 am

Chelsea, Liverpool, man utd, Arsenal. No I can't believe I am leaving Man City out either or Spurs. Chelsea, Arsenal and their managers have been there before. I think Rogers did a lot of good ground work last year and Liverpool look strong. Man U may wobble but the players have the experience. Man City may just need a year to gel and Spurs are good enough to be there but feel they will be 5th/6th again. Most importantly Crystal Palace will finish 13th. Whoever wins I hope it goes down to the last day of the season

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    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. 



    Archives

    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Soccer Banter: Been Kicking Since March 1, 2011