DirectKick free for Opening Weekend

A quick cheer from those, like me, that will have to watch the match at home this weekend. DirectKick will be free this weekend.

Major League Soccer has collaborated with all three providers to offer a FREE PREVIEW period for the MLS Direct Kick package on opening day, March 29.

Reminder

This is a reminder to set your TiVos or, god forbid, your VCRs (how quaint) for tomorrow's UEFA Champions League Highlights show.

UEFA Champions League Highlights
ESPN2, 2pm - 3pm.

The Best Show NOT on TV

Bob wrote a post on the best soccer show on TV today which I still haven't seen, but am looking forward to watching. That reminded me of the best soccer show NOT on TV today. It is called, brace yourselves folks "David Beckham's Soccer USA." Before you indignatly exclaim that I have lost my marbles, hear me out. First, this is not the David Beckham's Soccer USA shown on FSC and linked to on basically every MLSnet.com page. That show is a) on TV, and b) horrible. I lost a lot, and I mean a lot, of respect for FSC for airing that travshamocracy of a show instead of the very well done show that you can see on Five.

Please don't start checking the 700 section of your cable channels for Five, it is a British channel that we don't get here in the states. Basically the British version of DBSUSA (an acronym that I just made up) is all that you could want in a soccer highlights show. It is hilariously funny, mostly because of "international TV personality" Tim Lovejoy, and it shows all of the goals from the past week. They have hilarious bits like "How to Speak American Commentator" and slightly irritating bits like the de rigueur interview with Mr. Beckham. It is nice to see how MLS is viewed in England, but it is also a breath of fresh air for somebody on TV to make fun of MLS in a lighthearted manner instead of the "greatest thing since Pele" vs. "already a failure" argument that we get in the states.

The show used to be an hour long, but it was recently cut down to half an hour. Somehow I think that MLS' best highlight show is probably England's worst, but I still love it. By now you are trying to figure out if I recently moved to London, the answer is no. I merely harness the power of the youtubes. Kinsellagem has been posting all of the shows up on youtube for us Americans (and Canadians). I watched one around week 5 and then immediately went back and watched the past shows it was so good. I have embedded the last episode for your viewing pleasure; it really is a great show.

Week 10: Part 1


Week 10: Part 2


Week 10: Part 3

The Best Show on TV

Thank you all for the kind welcome to The DCenters.

Last Saturday afternoon (Sept. 22, if you actually care) I was downtown playing pick-up Ultimate Frisbee. One of the other players there was wearing his Michael Ballack GNT jersey, so we got to talking about soccer, futbol, Man U. (his club of choice) and DC United (mine).

Now as an aside, I consider my DC United jersey to be "the best shirt I own" and frequently refer to it as such. I don't even like to wear it when I go to RFK to see a match because I don't want to get it sweaty or have beer spilled on it or even maybe get hit by a Metrobus while wearing it. (Another point: black jerseys in July are no fun.) But there is NO WAY I would wear a soccer jersey (which aren't cheap) to play UF. But I digress.

I recommended a TV show to the Ballack fan that day that I will recommend to you now as well. It is called the UEFA Champions League Highlights Show. The show next airs on Friday, October 5th at 2pm on ESPN2. Set your TiVo.

If you've seen the show before, you will already know that there is a one hour episode of highlights and analysis for each UEFA Champions League Matchday. The analysts are Derrick Rae, Tommy Smyth and in the Matchday 1 episode a guy named Janusz Michallik who I wasn't familiar with prior, but who's first name is coincidentally my mother's maiden name. So, yay Poland!

from wikipedia:

Janusz Michallik (born April 22, 1966 in Chorzów, Poland) is a retired U.S. soccer defender and current soccer coach and television sports commentator.

Michallik moved to the United States with his father, a former Polish national team player, at the age of 16. His father had previously spent time in the U.S. in 1976 when he played for the Hartford Bicentennials of the North American Soccer League. While Michallik played for the junior Polish national team, he never played for the senior team, making him eligible for the U.S. team once he gained his citizenship.

UCL has 8 groups of four teams each - standard format - but with 16 matches each Matchday, that is a lot of highlights to get through in only an hour. But they pull it off and do it superbly. AND they find time for analysis. For example, in the MD1 episode they talked about Mourinho's departure from Chelsea, Henry's move to Barca and the influence of Fenerbahçe's Brazilians (that match against Inter looked like it was awesome!)

It is also interesting that as the tournament progresses to and through the elimination rounds, the show remains an hour long, so the highlights and analysis get even more and more in-depth (with maybe only one or two more Heineken commercials). By the time the finals come, you are getting an entire hour devoted to one match. Fantastic!

Champions League is of the highest quality, so the highlights are superb. That's obviously the biggest attraction for me. But as a relative newbie to international club futbol, this show immerses me in teams that I have (essentially) never heard of and have virtually no access to. (Yes, that's right; I am an Arlington Comcast basic cable subscriber. I've got ComcastSportsNet for MLS and EPL matches, ESPN2 for MLS and national team matches, and the 3 Spanish language stations for MLS, Mexican League and North, central and South American national team matches) But Fenerbahçe? Shakhtar? CSKA Moskva? I love it.

In the comments, sound off if you love this show too and why.

Thursday Night Soccer Thoughts

For a 1-0 game, Thursday Night Soccer was entertaining enough. ESPN's coverage was decent. The digressions for the most part did not interrupt the run of play, except for the obligatory 30 at 30 update during a corner kick and the interview with Don Garber, which was consequential enough that it warranted being shown either at half time or pregame, not during the run of play. The Eddie Pope tributes were decent, though perhaps a little thin given what he gave to this league. Stone, Wynalda, and Smyth were solid and perhaps overly subdued in the booth, but work well together. I say this knowing that Stone gets over excited anytime a player uses his back heel, he still calls a decent game. Wynalda's halftime segment could benefit from perhaps an additional minute, as it never goes beyond "Messi, handball, I don't like it. Don't do that. Yellow card." But hey, at least he didn't red card NASA for the computers failing on the international space station.

As for the game, I will say this. Mehdi Ballouchy should pay half of Freddy Adu's salary. Quite simply, Mehdi was invisible for most of this game, had a number of poor decisions and touches, but since everyone was quick to get their opinions out on Freddy, no one noticed how awful Ballouchy was for most of the game. RSL's back line isn't much better. I admire Kreis for putting out the line-up he did, and the team played well against Dallas. I mean, that defense is going to allow Rimando to get peppered even with six in the back, so why not try and get some goals since Rimando's reactions might be good enough in any given game to keep you in it. Kreis is probably the first coach who has learned how to implement tactical changes with RSL, as they came out much better in the second half than the first. They truly are snakebitten somehow, and things seem worse than they probably are. Kreis may have been ejected, but official Ricardo Salazar seemed to mentally check out of Rice-Eccles Stadium about ten minutes earlier, so perhaps that was the only way Kreis could find a way to talk to him.

Dallas did not look particularly good missing Cooper and Ruiz. Abe Thompson is a nice enough guy and a Maryland product, but simply brought nothing to the table as the loan striker. Toja is a great defensive midfielder, but as a playmaker seemed average at best. That they got three points at the death seems fortunate for that team. Especially considering that if Esky doesn't find Dario Sala's shin, I think RSL could easily have claimed their first win of the season.

DCU News and Updates

So United decided to go press release crazy just before the Olimpia game on Thursday. I know that my fellow bloggers and I saw all this then, but were just too keen on the game to mention it then. But lots of news happened and I think I will take this slow Sunday to catch up on it.

1) DC United Waive Mediate: This is very unfortunate news, I was hoping that Dom would be recovered enough to contribute this year. He played well last year and would have given DC some depth this year. Basically, Mediate could not be a developmental player this year and United did not think that he was worth a regular spot as he was coming off a brutal injury. Did I mention that I can't stand Ugo Ihemelu. It is probably the right move by Payne & Co but still is a downer. Here is hoping that Dom catches on somewhere. Personally I am hoping for a USL team so I can root for him again.

2) Marco is back with United: Crypitcaly alluded to by D. The official press conference was just before the Olimpia game. Marco will be the Special Consultant to the President (Payne not Bush).

In his new role, the legendary playmaker will serve in a number of capacities, ranging from scouting activities, serving as a liaison to Latin American countries and working as an ambassador for D.C. United domestically and internationally. Etcheverry will also work closely with D.C. United Director of Youth Development John Maessner in providing training and technical support for United's youth teams and academy programs.

This is a great move by United, Etch is somebody who can add legitamacy to United both among the local hispanic population and in South America. He is a graduate of Tahuichi Academy, one of the most famos player development acadamies in the world, so he probably has a few tips on how to build United's youth program. All in all this is great news as United keeps a legend involved and allows him the flexiblity to help where needed.

3) Catch DCU on Comcast SportsNet: For the first time ever you will be able to catch every DC United game on TV. Well if you have HDNet, but that isn't CSN's fault. This is a great deal, its four years, has ancillary programing, and according to Goff, a rights fee. The ancillary programing includes another round of "Brunch with DC United" that brought us some of the classic games last year. This year it will show the best (and worst) games of 2006. Also, this deal introduces a new program entitled D.C. United: Director's Cut, which will be hosted by Ben Olsen. The rights fee is important too, it is either a first or second in MLS (depending on the KC contract signed earlier this season). Great deal for DCU and great to see CSN get involved to this extent.

4) DC finalizes its Pre-Season Plans: This schedule includes the rumored game against Motagua in Florida and a trip to Mexico before the Chivas away leg. Smart planning by United's Front Office. Hopefully it will pay off.

5) Perkins should be ready for Chivas: From Goff's blog, he states that Perkins should be ready by March 15 to take on CD Guadelajara at Estadio RFK. This is great news as I am not exactly confident about Nolly after his time in the Olimpia game. Goff also reports that United are trialing Brazilian forward Welton Silva and Danish/American defender Jamil Fearrington. Jamil posts on BigSoccer. Also mentioned are the rumors we have heard about an undisclosed player that DC is looking at bringing in.