May 19, 2009
The Rhinos are filing a complaint about them.
MLS commish Don Garber is blogging about them.
Boston Breakers coach Tony DiCicco is unhappy with them.
And Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio is backpeddling because of comments about them.
From MLS to WPS to the USL, there doesn't seem to be too many people that are thrilled with the quality of the officiating in pro soccer in the US and Canada.
And while there is a lot of time spent talking about player development, you have to wonder if referee development may not be a bigger issue right now.
But given that it isn't a glamourous job and I doubt it pays great, you have to wonder how many people want to get into that line of work.
News & Notes:
- Apparently the Philadelphia Union have their head coach and are waiting to make it official. SBI.net wonders who would make the best expansion head coach. I'd probably lean towards Peter Nowak, Paul Mariner, or Dave Sarachan.
- Colin Clarke rested a bunch of his regulars for the CFU Club Championship final and Puerto Rico fell 2-1 to W Connection from Trinidad.
- Eric Cantona is playing himself in a new movie and talking about maybe being the ManU or England head coach. My guess is that these commercials will be brought back if he were to coach Nike sponsored Manu!
- It looks like the new stadium in Kansas City may not open until 2012.
- After six games at BMO Field, DeRo is already sick of their turf.
- Yanks Abroad talks to Marcus Hahnemann about how his run with Reading came to an end.
- LA is happy with what they've gotten out of Donovan Ricketts so far. They are tied for 5th in goals against which is an improvement from previous years.
- Why am I not buying the reasoning behind why MLS needs Montreal? The one big reason why MLS might need Montreal wasn't mentioned: Getting a nice TV deal from a Canadian network like TSN or Sportsnet. Montreal would likely be a good MLS market. But, I don't believe it would be so much better than say St. Louis as to say that MLS NEEDS to be in Montreal.
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.
