Yeah, I'm a day early, but I needed a sub-title.
MLS Results
- Sporting KC 1 - 0 San Jose
- Seattle 1 - 0 Toronto FC
- Chicago 1 - 1 New England
- Columbus 2 - 0 Houston
- Vancouver 1 - 0 Philadelphia
EPL News:
2011-12 Fixture List released has been released. Click here for a club-by-club list. I may very well be at the City @ Fulham match on Sept. 17th.
Gold Cup News
USA will play Panama on Wednesday in Houston. Mexico will play Honduras as well as part of a double header. The final (most likely USA -Mexico) will be Saturday in Pasadena. Winner of this year's Gold Cup has a berth in the next Confederations Cup 2013 in Brazil.
Jermaine Jones' dive last night was absolutely indefensible (Edit: Better video here via ubes. I may have been a bit hasty in judging Jones. (see comments below)). It was embarrassing and has no place on the pitch. And while were on it, Charlie Davies' dive against RSL over the weekend was just as bad. I don't remember him diving so much before the car accident, but Davies is getting a reputation and it's not a good one.
I really don't understand all of this righteous indignation over Watson's red card foul on Sunday. Never have I seen a team's fans cause so much commotion over a foul that the opponent didn't protest. Watson turned and walked off the field, didn't even say a word to the official. No Jamaicans remotely protested the call.
Jones was running full speed and his heel was clearly clipped by Watson. Clipping a guy's heel is a foul. Doing it when he's the last man through is a red card. Jones made the most of it, but he was going down one way or another.
Comparing what happened to Jones and what happened to Davies is totally crazy. Jones was running full speed and got clipped from behind. Davies didn't get touched, at least from any angle I saw.
Not to mention that it was a terrible challenge by Watson and luck was the only reason he didn't get more of Jones. He came in from behind and didn't get remotely close to challenging for the ball.
I guess I hadn't noticed the clip on his trailing heel. I was more focused on their front legs and the ball. Yes, I see the foul now, thanks for pointing it out. Still, the embellishing is a bit much.
I'm mainly disappointed in the mainstream coverage of this, which has generally painted Jones as an out-and-out cheat when he got clipped from behind at full speed. It's one thing for fans to miss this kind of thing, but plenty of media outlets reported this as a full-out fabrication, which is too bad in a world where there are plenty of real dives for us to complain about. And also just crazy to me in light of Watson's reaction, or non-reaction really. It's also too bad that the ref isn't being given credit for getting this right.
My complaint with Jones is the yellow card he took. That was about the dumbest foul I've seen in a long time and it makes me wonder if he's a head case.
Jack Warner has resigned from FIFA. The optimist in me is glad such a corrupt ass is out of FIFA and hopes this could lead to change, but the realist knows that someone just as slimy will fill the void.