Introduction

More of an administrator than a player, an Assistant Coach of the Manassas Cannons, Coach of the Manassas Lancers, Assistant Coach and later Coach of the Fairfax Foxes. Training Director, Manassas Area Soccer Association, Board Member, Manassas Area Travel Teams, Northern House Commissioner, Virginia Youth Soccer Association; Vice President, Virginia Youth Soccer Association, Member National Council, United States Youth Soccer Association, Member National Council, United States Soccer Federation.

Two favorite players, Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradonna. Favorite National team not the USMNT: Clockwork Orange.

Here's to you, Bienvenu

Most Sundays in high school I would grab my last bit of homework, head downstairs and watch the soccer review show with my dad (if the Redskins weren't playing). If they were and my mom was watching ice skating upstairs, it was a battle I almost always lost.

Lionel Bienvenu was the host. He was charming, funny, excitable, nerdy, quirky, and clearly loved the sport and his job. The show was well made. It offered a weekly glimpse to some of the best soccer in the world to an audience who didn't have access to it otherwise. Yet imo, Lionel made the show.

As I remember it, the show took on the personality of the host. When he talked about rivalries, I'm sure it was with a good deal of humor and that's probably why I honestly can't say I hate any of the teams I should (Tottenham, Man. U, Chelsea, etc.).

• I don't recall the Spurs v. Arsenal games being described as anything but a fierce London derby. At 16, I thought ok, whatever, cool, maybe it'll be the game they show for 30 min.
• Man U? They had Scholesie and to this day, I heart that small, scrappy, creative midfielder who could get off a shot just as quick and hard as anyone else. And I still find it hard not to respect the club's history and SAF.
• As for Chelsea, I loooved watching highlights from their games because they, more often than not, featured Zola.*

The show made me believe people who only connected English soccer to hooligans were beyond crazy, who described the EPL as boring, crazy, who said there were leagues that even compared to it, crazy. I mean what other league** is set up so the worst teams get nearly as much attention as the best due to the possibility of 3 heading down to some nightmare league without a weekly review show.

So yeah, I love the EPL because of that show and in a lot of ways, it shaped my soccer fandom.

*Chelsea quickly did become my least favorite team once that Russian just bought the most expensive players in the world and destroyed whatever charm the club once had. And of course, the fiasco in London when Mark and I were given absurd advice from Chelsea-ites as to whether they had a game (they didn't), where the stadium was located (no one seemed to agree), and how to get there (depended on where said person thought the stadium was).

**Apparently a lot of Euro leagues are.

An Introduction to People I've Known for 27 years

Back in the day, I played for: Northport Tigers (93-95)/Pirates (95-98)/Seahawks (98-01) - Harborfields HS (99-00)

Favorite Club: Tottenham Hotspur

Favorite National Teams (other than U.S.): the Dutch and Ireland

Favorite Players (no longer playing): Bergkamp (didn't hate Arsenal when I was watching him)

Favorite Current Player: Luka Modric & Aaron Lennon

Favorite Current U.S. Player: Landon Donovan

Favorite U.S. Players (no longer playing): Claudio Reyna.

Favorite soccer commentators? I like many. Martin Tyler, Efan Ekoku, Robbie Earle, Alan Parry, and Jon Champion

Worst U.S. broadcaster: Marcelo Balboa, Eric Wynalda - but none were as bad as Jack Edwards who single-handedly ruined all 2002 youtube highlights of the US-run

Bike or flip throw? a save on a bike

Local soccer pub: Slainte - although I wish their TV setup was better... that said, you can't beat the atmosphere in Baltimore

Favorite Soccer Book: The Miracle of Castel di Sangro

Best soccer matches I've seen on TV: 1998 WC 2nd round (England/Argentina), 2002 WC 1st game (US/Portugal), 2007-08 EPL (Spurs/Chelsea - 4:4)

Best soccer matches I've seen live: 2010 WC Qualifier (US/Costa Rica) at RFK Stadium

Best goals I've seen live on TV or in person (not on replay): Michael Owen in 1998 WC 2nd Round against Argentina, Dennis Bergkamp in 1998 WC Quarterfinal against Argentina, Maxi Rodriguez against Mexico in 2006 WC 2nd Round

Soccer Books

Who knew such a handy list of sweet soccer books existed?

I've read Fever Pitch, Bloody Confused and How Soccer Explains the World. I'd love to work my way through these other books in time. For now, I have immediately added Brilliant Orange, Among the Thugs and Inverted Pyramid to my "to read" list.

What are people's favorite soccer books?

US lineup for 2010 part 1

Here's my idea for the US lineup in 2010. This will be part 1 addressing the back line and midfield. The tougher assignment of replacing Davies will be addressed in part 2.

In goal, no doubt it's Tim Howard. We lucky to have him.

The back line: While I love the fact that our backs are really big/strong/fast and aggressive, their lack of distribution skills really bothers me and I think that's what still separates us from the upper echelon of teams. The last couple of games we played it seemed like our backs were doing nothing but sending the ball long. And its real easy to defend us because other teams never have to worry about us pulling an extra attacker (one of our defenders) in from the weakside.
So I propose: DeMerit and Guch (assuming he is ready) in the middle. Spector as our right back. He seems to be the only defender who can jump into the play down the wing and send a constructive, if not dangerous ball into the box. For the other back (our dreaded hole of left back), I say we put Bradley there. This will not only give us a player who can distribute out of the back, but can fill the weak side. As we try to get the ball to Donovan and Altidore up front on the right side, we can pull the opposing team to the right and slip Bradley in down the left flank.

In the midfield, I see Donovan and Dempsey as our right and left halves. In the middle, I like Felhalber. And backing him up, I say we put Bocanegra as defensive mid. I really like Felhalber's composure on the ball, willingness to take players on, and potential scoring ability. My knock on Felhalber is that his defense is pathetic and he doesn't win any balls in the middle. And he can be too careless with the ball and lose it. Bocanegra can fill in behind him nicely making up for those short comings. He can win the ball in the middle, drive the opposing team's center half crazy (like a Gattuso does in Italy) and will be constructive in his distribution to our skilled players. Also, who better to fill in for Bradley when he moves into attack then Bocanegra.

So to sum up:

Howard

Spector DeMerit Guch Bradley
Donovan Bocanegra Dempsey
Felhalber


Discuss....

J Hunter- Brought in as part of the Mykhaylychenko deal

Back in the day, I played for: Fairfax Foxes 1990 - 1996, then several others (Chantilly Heat, Manassas Roadrunners, Vista Something, Sterling Something) Osbourn High School Eagles 1996 - 2000

Favorite Club: Arsenal

Favorite National Team (other than U.S.): Holland

Favorite Player (no longer playing): Dennis Bergkamp, honorable mentions: Zinedine Zidane (30 seconds of craziness shouldn't tarnish a career of ridiculous soccer prowess), Gianfranco Zola

Favorite Current Player: C. Fabregas, honorable mentions: T. Henry, C. Ronaldo

Favorite Current U.S. Player: Michael Bradley

Favorite U.S. Player (no longer playing): Clint Dempsey. I'm half kidding. But he would easily be my favorite player if he didn't disappear from 1/2 of the games he's in.

Martin Tyler: Great soccer commentator or the greatest soccer commentator? Greatest. Referencing a recent match's attendance as "palindromic" = sublime.

Worst U.S. broadcaster: Marcelo Balboa

Bike or flip throw? Bike

Local soccer pub: Summers

Favorite Soccer Book: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby or it's not really a book, but Michael Davie's soccer diary of the 2002 World Cup was sensational.

Best soccer match you've seen: 1999 UEFA Champions League Final

Saturday Soccer Viewing

Julie and I are going to try a new location for Soccer viewing this Saturday morning. We are going to this place in Fairfax: http://www.theauldshebeenva.com/new/pages.php?pagesid=1

They open at 10:00, but they happen to show matches on TiVo, so we will be able to watch Spurs at that time. Are the VA folks interested in joining us?