Sympathy for the Devon

AWAY IN MEXICO: We'll start with what isn't the must-read of the day. Okay, the news angle today is primarily about tonight's match against Chivas Guadalajara. John Haydon in the Times uses the one sentence paragraph to make the historical significance clear: "In fact, no American club has won in Mexico." And The Bog Man apparently had a long conversation with The Goffather to explain how the away-goals rule works:

American club tournament's quarterfinals; the MLS club would also advance by scoring at least twice in a one-goal loss. A 2-1 defeat would yield overtime and possibly penalty kicks.

Good. That's pretty clear. There is a lot talk about possible fatigue. Given that I'm exhausted just by thinking of staying up that late, I can imagine it has to be worse for people that actually, you know, play the game. Still, as I've written before, Marc Burch has been a hidden catalyst for success and excellence with United, and I think his absence could prove more disruptive in the long run.

DEVON MCTAVISH - HE'S A NICE GUY: Your must read article of the day comes from The Winchester Star's profile of Devon McTavish slash game recap against Toronto slash wider view of MLS Life. This is just a wonderful article to take a bit of time to read, as it takes a lot of space, but uses it to get at a lot of things for an audience that may not be as in the weeds as we are here.

"We have a joke that he’s [McTavish's] like, the perfect guy," Boswell said. "(Teammates) always give me a lot of crap about not introducing him to some of the girls in the city.

"I say that none of them are good enough for him."

Boswell as protective father figure? Huh. Anyways, the story is all the more interesting because you get the sense that Devon is actually a pretty shy guy in some ways, which makes this profile stand out.

AND WHERE WOULD WE GO THEN: Soccer America looks dangerously beyond tonight to ask what happens if DC wins (if I believed in karma, articles like this would count heavily on the negative side of the ledger):

United spokesman Doug Hicks says Arsenal would host the home leg next week and United would host two weeks later, probably Oct. 23 or 24. That would necessitate United playing a midweek Copa Sudamericana game at RFK and traveling for its playoff opener, but the alternative would be a long plane flight to Buenos Aires...

Aresenal de Sarandí eh? Anyone good ever played for that club? Hey, that sixth name in the midfield seems familiar...