New Home of American Football?

The Home Depot Center in Carson, California has played host to many U.S. Men's National Team games. However, the Red Bull Arena will open next year for the Red Bulls to start playing their 2010 Major League Soccer season in. Now, much of California has a rather large Hispanic population that you would assume have a stronger alliance with the Mexican National Team. So why do we play games in the Mexican Extension?!

Every game I've seen played at the HDC have left a bad taste in my mouth. Patched surfaces always puzzle me. Do they put new turf down after every event there? If so who's paying for it? Getting back to point another thing that I'm not thrilled with is that there is so much room between the touchline and stands. As a final point, there is a vast portion of the stadium not covered from the elements.

Where am I gonig with this, to Red Bull Arena in New York. I've heard it described by Zach Woosley (Author of Ginge Talks the Footy Blog) as probably the best soccer-specific-stadium that U.S. will have for several years because many other MLS clubs are just trying to put something up just so they don't have a rent on their current home venues.

Red Bull Arena is just about as big as the HDC but I just like the idea of Red Bull Arena being so much like a European stadium. Let us also recognize a rather obvious fact that any side from Europe or really even South America will not want to travel all the way to Carson to play the U.S. because otherwise it's been a stadium that doesn't really reflect anything good on the MLS.

What I propose is that any time the U.S. host a CONCACAF or UEFA team that the game be played at the Red Bull Arena and any CONMEBOL or AFC/OFC team plays the U.S. at the HDC.

Of course I know that I can't have the world perfect like this but I think you would get a good draw crowdwise at both venues.

A Troubled Club on Life Support

As Luton Town were guaranteed relegation into the Football Conference last year was almost certain before a football was kicked with they're 30 point deduction. Indeed Luton could not come back and finished 24th in League Two, dropping them out of the professional ranks. However, most people forget the other club to make the drop last year, Chester City. While everyone focused on Luton Town it is now Chester City who is getting watched as they are now playing their first season in the Blue Square Premier since they lifted the league's championship trophy just a little more than five years ago.

That was their first league championship of any kind since 1927 when they won the Cheshire County League, and this was also their first official trophy since Welsh Cup victory in 1947.

Unfortunately, once they made the drop, two weeks after their final game of the season they fell into administration with a debt seven million pounds, yes, I said seven million pounds which included 5.5 million pounds owed to their wantaway owner, Stephen Vaughan. Of course going into administration automatically gave the Seals a ten point deduction.

Oddly enough, the new buyer for the club was a group called Chester City FC (2004) Ltd, who strangely was led by the man who just tried to take five and a half million pounds from the club, Stephen Vaughan and his family! Everything should have been great with new owners and the Football Conference issued a statement saying that Chester City could take part in the league. Unfortunately, the FA witheld the the transfer of ownership of the club just one day before their openning game away at Grays Athletic. As the club were unable to play their openning day fixture with Grays, Stephen Vaughan and other club directors met at the Deva Stadium as the fans gather as a show of support by filling the stands at the Deva at the same time as the time set for kick-off of the Grays game.

Many Blues' fans hoped they would have a club to support for their home opener with Gateshead but they were disappointed to find out that the game had been called off as the FA required all clubs in the Football Conference to accept Chester back into league. So once again the FA & Conference met at the Deva to decide the club's future. This brought on another show of support by filling in the seats at the stadium, again, at the same time as kick-off for the Gateshead match.

The following night the meeting between the FA & Football Conference took place. The Deva Stadium though remained locked so instead the fans gather inside the club's bar to rally in support. Things ended working out but Chester City were assesed a after further 15 point deduction, meaning they'd start the season on -25 points in a league where four sides will be relegated at the end of the season. Since it's almost an assured thing that Chester City will be playing in the Blue Square North next season, most Chester fans are just happy to have a club to support.

This is another club that has been smacked by an idiot owner who doesn't give a toilet about the club and only is in it for the money. I can understand that, but it's always really terrible for supporters and fans to find out their owner could care less about them or the club. Mr. Vaughan showed that by going back to the club after asking them to pay five and half millions pounds to him. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

FIFA U-20 World Cup: Stars to Watch

Well we are 7 days away from the kick-off of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt and the full preview coming later this week. This however, is a list I've compiled of 3 stars to watch. So without much more delay let's jump into it.

Well, hopefully this first lad isn't forging some birth certificates like his Nigerian teammates but central midfielder, Lukman Haruna is the first point of our star. The AS Monaco midfielder chose the small principality as his home over places like Madrid and Lisbon. With a contract running until 2012 he may not be moving anywhere for another year or two. With only 4 rather boring but well played appearances for his club he's been putting in good performances for Nigerian youth sides. He captained the African & World Champion Nigerian U-17 teams and was called into the provisional squad for the 2008 African Cup of Nations at 16 years old. Though he was cut it's very impressive that he was even consideration. He did however play a warm-up for the tournament against Sudan. Berti Vogts was quoted as saying that he wanted Haruna ni the squad because he felt he needed the experience. I could see him going to Manchester United to fill the gap that Paul Scholes will leave in a few years.

Someone more people may know comes up next. Matthew Briggs is a defender at Fulham. The reason some may know him more than anyone else that will appear on this list is because he is the youngest player to ever appear an English Premier League match when he was brought on against Fulham at the end of the 2006-07 season. He's got a contract that extends to 2011 but I think he may make move this coming summer. That does depend on how well he plays in this tournament. Having not appeared for the first team since that game not helping his case either but be watching for the young Englishman.

Our final player also broke the record the youngest debutant in the league he plays in, namely, the A-League. I'm talking about Ben Kantarovski of the Newcastle Jets. He broke the debutant record in the season opener for his club this past season. With a contract stretching to January 2012, you wouldn't think he'd be going anywhere but I've heard things along the lines of him going to Bayern Munich this coming summer and possibly even at the end of the January window. I think he'd make something of a super sub for the time being as he plays in the center of the midfield. Who knows? I don't.

Anyway, that looks like that's just about it for the stars to watch join me again for a look at the tournament as a whole.

A Derby 120 Years in the Making

This season's English Premier League schedule consist of what is the oldest derby currently in the top flight of English football. The East Lancashire Derby was first played in the football league on November 3rd, 1888 at Turf Moor. The reverse fixture was played at Ewood Park. Let's think about this for a moment. These two clubs are fierce football rivals in the rugby part of the country. Ewood Park on most weekends is half empty because everyone is down at their local rugby ground. At a capacity of close to 32,000 the average attendance for Rovers' matches last season was just under 25,000. You can bet that the Ewood Park will be filled to the brim for the derby. We wonder why this doesn't apply to Burnley. This is because the stadium fits the city. These people have been waiting years for the Premier League. Every week it's jammed-packed.

Getting down to the deatils here. We've got two of the oldest clubs and founding members of the Football League. Both clubs are back in the top flight but both have had a rough start to their seasons with Blackburn getting just 4 points from their opening 4 fixtures, while Burnley have been getting hammered with games against the top five from last year and getting 6 points from their first 5 games.

I have always had a soft spot for the old clubs who can turn back a look in to their past glory days. These two clubs fit that bill perfectly. I'd hate to be a Lancashire rugby side on derby day because the rugby grounds will be empty because everyone will be at either Ewood Park or Turf Moor.

Personally, I can't wait for this match to see a great atmoshpere in these two grand old grounds.

World Cup Qualifiers (Euro Edition)

We're slowly making it to the end of qualifying for next year's World Cup. Today we've had some ins and outs after the dust settled on the fixtures. So let's take a look.

In Europe we had some suprising results. Group 1 featured Sweden taking a one-nil win in Malta, a one all draw between Albania & Denmark in Tirana, and a one-nil victory for Portugal in Hungary. We're coming down to and now all the Danish need to do to qualify is defeat Sweden, then they will automatically qualify.

Group 2 had Israel dump Luxembourg seven-nil, Latvia & Switzerland drew two-two, and Moldova grabbed a home draw with Greece. The next matchday (Oct. 10th) features a make or break game between Greece & Latvia in Athens. The winner of that match is almost assured a play-off spot atleast.

Group 3 is very much up for grabs. Milan Baros went silly on San Marino, scoring four goals in the Czech Republic's seven-nil victory, but the most suprising result of the night for me, Slovakia two, Northern Ireland nil. This is suprising because the game was in a jam-packed Windsor Park. This severely dents the Northern Irish qualification hopes. This allowed Slovenia to move into second place in the group with their three-nil home win over Poland. Here's the shocker: There is a siuation where both Poland & the Czech Republic may be eliminated on Oct. 10th.

Group 4 is pretty much done and dusted. Germany and Russia basically will be fighting for the automatic spot on that magic date of Oct. 10th. The Winner goes to World Cup 2010, the loser meets the play-offs. Let's take a look at the results anyway, Liechtenstein got a home draw with Finland, one-one. The Germany wallked past that mgihty footballing power Azerbaijan four-nil. My comedic game of the night was the three-one victory for Russia in Wales in front of the great crowd of 11,589 at the Millennium Stadium.

I'm gonig to step away from qualifying to rant a little about Welsh football, why? because it's a joke. The Millennium Stadium was, by my calculations, 15 % filled for a World Cup qualifier! Are you kidding me? This is ridiculous. Wales produces so many good footballers, yet can't get anywhere as a national team. Three names off the top of my head, Giggs, Ramsey, Bellamy. great players, never been to a World Cup, and Giggs will never go now. I think it's worrying for any Welsh person that Craig Bellamy was their only player thirty years or older in the squad. There's no leadership there. Mr. Bellamy is now an after thought at Darth Vader home in Manchester. So who's going to step up when it's needed? Maybe Mark Hughes could strap'em up again. No? Darn.

Now that that's out of my system let's move to Group 5 where Spain have triumphantly made the World Cup. Whoopdie-freaking-do! Who cares? Spain beat Estonia three-nil. Bosnia & Turkey both blew a huge chance at qualification by playing to a one-one draw. While Armenia stunned Belgium two-one. This only leaves Bosnia & Turkey battling for a play-off spot.

Group 6 has been won by England after their five-one victory at Wembley over Croatia, while Belarus & Ukraine played to a nil-nil stalemate. While Kazakhstan & Andorra played a meaningless game but Kazakhstan took three points with a three-one victory.

Group 7: France & Serbia played to a one-one draw as did Austria & Romania. In the group's only other game the Faroe Islands beat Lithuania two-one. Now all France have to do to make the play-offs is take out the Faroe Islands at home.

Group 8 is down to two teams basically after Italy defeated Bulgaria two-nil while Montenegro & Cyprus played to a one-one draw. This sets up Ireland vs. Italy at Croke Park on guess when, Oct. 10th. If Ireland should win They would secure a play-off spot and leave a small ray of hope for the automatic qualification. I expect it to be an absolutely cracking match.

And finally we've come to our final group, number 9. We've finished this group since they have one less team. the Dutch move onto the World Cup while Norway go to the play-offs. My personal belief is that George Burley will get the Euro 2012 qualifers and then get the boot.

Well, look at that we've come to the end of our look starch-infested view of the UEFA qualifying region. Join me next time for a look at South America.

Benitez Already Worried?

Some may have heard that Liverpool boss, Rafael Benitez has publicly "challenged" wingers Ryan Babel & Alberto Riera since they play the same position. We all know Babel has pressure to perform since the World Cup is next year and he's looking for a spot in the Dutch squad. Riera, on the other hand, really isn't very likely to be a part of the Spanish squad. Where I'm going with this is that Babel wants out and Riera isn't playing for much this season. My question is...



Has Rafa done this public challenge to try and put a fire underneath some rears?



Personally, I think he's hoping one of these guys will come up with some great performances. Benitez knows that his squad isn't very deep and that Liverpool can't win with just Fernando Torres & Steven Gerrard. Quite honestly, this seems like he's starting to reach down into his bag of tricks.



Liverpool will struggle but this will be the season the Spaniard makes his money. Looking through the squad, something that comes to mind. Since he's been at Anfield, no Academy player has been promoted to the first team. Who knows, through all this we might get a new rapper to this world. Great, another guy who's learned that humans can talk to a beat.

The Little Known Future #1

Every once and a while I'll take a look a player that most have never heard of but I think that could be something some day. This week we'll have a look at Roger Joe. Who? Yes, Roger Joe of Yatel F.C. in Vanuatu's Premier Division. At 23 he's running very low on time but from what I've read about him he seems like a good player. He's made 7 appearances for Vanuatu in defense, helping them to 2 cleansheets over Samoa & Fiji in the 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament. Also he's also been with a victorious Vanuatu side 4 times in his career.

On the club front his Yatel F.C. have never won the Vanuatu Premier Division since Joe came to the club in 2007. Then again, they've never won the league anyway, why start now.

But the first TLKF is Roger Joe, 23 year old Vanuatuan defender.

Welcome

I'm AJ but I'll go by the Couch Potato and I don't play football or soccer whichever you prefer but I do love to just sit and watch for hours. I'll bring football news and my views from the world's game. I love to hear people talking about football so you'll get to read about my thoughts on football. So from my couch, let the football roll!