August 11, 2008
Saturday morning it was the US women bouncing back from their horrible opener to defeat Japan 1-0 on a Carli Lloyd goal.
Yesterday it was watching the US Men gain a point against the Netherlands in a back and forth affair. Grant Wahl and SBI.net have their post-game takes on what was ever so close to being a huge three points for the US.
Add in tastes of Brazil destroying New Zealand, Japan getting a goal late in a 2-1 loss to Nigeria that helped the US, and a smattering of the Argentina-Australia game yesterday and I am getting more than my fill of the HD Olympic Soccer Channel.
It's too bad I have to work the next couple of days when the US closes out group play.......
One point weekend for the Rhinos:
The Cliff's Notes on the home and home series with the Puerto Rico Islanders is that the Rhinos didn't show up on Friday in Puerto Rico and got blown out 4-0. On Sunday, they played much better and were unlucky to get one point in a 1-1 draw.
The Rhinos defense had one breakdown on Sunday and the Islanders capitalized. On the other hand, the Islanders were forced to clear 3 or 4 balls off the line and the Rhinos had a couple other shots that went just over the crossbar.
With the team still in sixth place, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens between now and the roster freeze date.
The next roster move appears to be Kenney Bertz re-signing with the team per Devo in today's D&C. The funny thing is that Rhinos owner Rob Clark said on Saturday morning on Kick This! that they had talked to Kenney, offered him a sizable contract, and the answer was that he had retired from soccer.
Hopefully it doesn't take Kenney long to get back into game shape as a backline of Palguta-Bertz-Smith-Ball should be pretty formidable down the stretch.
Plus, Bertz will add another target on corner kicks........
The Kandji saga.....
SBI.net has a story that the Red Bulls want Macoumba Kandji from Atlanta and Osorio was going to the Miami-Atlanta game to scout him, the Blues and Silverbacks play to a scoreless draw, then Atlanta heads to Vancouver without Kandji, and Atlanta's website says it was due to injury.
I wonder if he was really hurt or if they were protecting their potential six figure payday?
News & Notes:
- Maybe it was just the normal athlete saying the "right thing" in the media, but Taylor Twellman says he's not that interested in a transfer abroad. If that is the case, I wonder if the Landon Donovan haters will treat Taylor to the same treatment?
- SBI.net had a couple of nice tidbits on Sautrday - Corey Gibbs is headed to LA and Freddie Ljungberg was seeking $1.7 million to play the remainder of the MLS season.
- Kenny Cooper's dad is pretty clear in this interview - "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!"
- Jimmy Conrad and David Beckham did Q&As recently. I love the fact that Jimmy doesn't have to have the MJ/Tiger Woods type interviews and can just let it rip.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
