Good morning folks. It’s a rainy and ugly Wednesday morning in Jersey and I’m about to get started on another busy day of blogging and reporting. I know it’s been almost two weeks since questions were submitted for a Q&A session and I have finally found the time to answer them.
More than 70 questions were submitted so it took a while and I will only post half of my responses now. The rest will come later today (Hopefully). As I have stated before, I may not always have the right answers. I can just give you what I know to be true and my own take on things.
So here they are, (Some of) your questions answered:
LANDIS- A few weeks ago you did a piece on the Dempsey v Donovan positional dilemma. Right now Dempsey is our best option at striker, while I’ve always seen Donovan as a center forward tucked in behind the striker. I feel that our dilemma is a lack of options at right midfield. What viable options does Bradley have currently, and who our our prospects to fill the position for 2010?
FRANCIS- What about Rossi’s two goals this weekend?
2) What’s with the Red Bulls jerseys on Saturday? Was it another one of those "special nights" where they had to wear the road jerseys for the cancer raffle?
1) You said Johnson looks smart for not signing with Derby. I get the gist since they are likely to go down. But what league or team in the world, thats in the top division and NOT a relegation threat could you ever see signing him?
2) Who’s your favorite NFL team? (You said you played/loved American football!)
CPTKevin– (1) how bad was the offisides call at the end of the first half vs. NE on Saturday? was it close or was it a blown call?!
(2) when will Carlos M be back in the starting line-up?
CENTREJACK– Could you give us a little insight on one of the biggest problems in the league – officiating.
Specifically I am wondering about post game tape reviews for training purposes or for disciplining the officials or players. A good example was the TFC at RBNY incident when Lombardo punched Freeman in the peaches and there were no suspensions or anything even though it was caught on tape. So my question what is the review procedure for bad calls and what is the review procedure for no calls? Part two – have any refs been censured for bad officiating?
IVES– I would absolutely love to get an inside look into the process the league goes through to analyze situations like that one (and the Rico Clark-Carlos Ruiz incident). It still boggles my mind how Lombardo didn’t even get a fine for that play since it was so obvious.
NUTMEGGER– Red Bull Park update please. Is it going to happen? NM
Whats you with the RBP website its been out dated for a while now. I wounldnt mind for the FO to finish up the training ground for 2008 and then make the construction crew work like RSL’s construction crew and put the stadium up in a year.
Also you were right about Reyna i was so pleased about his play and i was sad that he didnt score that game, if he does keeps it up and plays like this throught out his time with the bulls then he is worth the money, or could it be his newly died hair i didnt see any gray spots on his head at the end of the game.
Thanks ives
MATT L– 1. Will BMO field have synthetic turf next year? They have had injury problems this year and several Canadian nationals (Thomas Radzinski) as well as Aston Villa players (Melberg, among others) commented how they would consider playing in MLS and at Toronto specifically, but hated the turf. When, if ever, will they go grass?
2. Who are the next best bets to go to Europe? A penny for your thoughts on Rico Clark, M. Edu, Altiore, Kljestan, Guzan, E. Johnson?
3. Is Dane Richards the Aaron Lennon of the MLS (great pace but limited end-product)?
4. Where does ESPN get its soccer producers and "camera-guys"? The producers often allow the broadcast to come off of live play for replays, interviews, and other non-sense and the mid-field camera is always too tight, they need to show the field sideline to sideline. Can you lead a petition to send them to "Soccer on TV school"? Are they looking to correct this? Surely they must get complaints.
5. If the MLS goes single table it could reduce the number of league games played by the teams. Could this safe the US Open Cup by giving these games better time/day slots? Is there any chatter about GolTV or FSN buying the US Open Cup TV rights and publicizing games?
6. I think the MLS and US Soccer in general would benefit from being more "technical" and less "physical". One way to do this is to change the way the games are called, rewarding technical play and punishing brutish play. Have you heard any talk about the quality / performance of MLS referees and their influence on the style of the league?
MLS related, who do you see as some of the top prospects coming out of college and into the draft (the ones who presumably want to play here)?
Why did the Red Bulls trade Wynne? Why trade Dunivant; did Bruce Arena really believe in Goldwaithe?
#2: Americans seem to excel in Europe as defenders more often than as strikers. Why does it seem like there’s a dearth of good defenders in the MLS (I’m looking at the red bulls here)?
Will this change quickly now that we’ve got a few more ownership groups or do you see the league consistently reworking its formula until the magic number of teams are in place?
IVES– Well, as you know by now, Keller has taken the No. 1 job and is doing well for Fulham.
LAWRENCE– In the last 2 games, Bradley’s called in a U-20 player (Zizzo, Sietz). Outside of those 2 and Michael B, who do you think is the next to get a call up. McCarty is leading Dallas in assists (7). Adu maybe?
What did you think of Adu’s Q&A article in SI?
IVES- Well, the dearth of right wing options is a reason why I see Donovan playing there. Sal Zizzo, Johann Smith Lee Nguyen are probably the best young prospects coming through the pipeline but they are still at least a year or two away from contributing to the national team at the very least. Could one of them be a viable option by 2010? Definitely. And if that is the case then Donovan would be freed up to play at forward or in an attacking midfield position.