June 21, 2007
If the Rhinos can defeat the PDL's Western Mass Pioneers on Tuesday night, they will advance to the 3rd round of the 2007 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament. There they will face the New England Revolution of MLS and the match will be played at PAETEC Park on Tuesday, July 10th at 7:35pm.
This would be a rematch of the thrilling match in last year's Open Cup that saw New England advance 5-4 on PKs after 120 minutes of scoreless play.
Unfortunately, it would take an amazing recovery for Scott Vallow to have him be ready for that match. Last year they faced off in early August. If that was the timeframe for this match, then Vallow might be back.
But, the early July timeframe doesn't appear to be feasible at this point in time.
US-Canada tonight
- Two things came out in yesterday's USMNT Blog at US Soccer.com: Landon Donovan needs to keep an eye on his boots and 311 may be US Soccer fans!
- The Chicago Tribune has an article on Jay DeMerit along with a blog that talks about the US & Mexico amongst other things .
- Andrea Canales has a good article on the Bob & Michael Bradley "situation".
My prediction: US 1 Canada 0 - Landon Donovan gets the goal and the US defense holds the lead.
Dave Sarachan gets the axe in Chicago
Soccer Insider - Washington Post.com
Chicago Tribune - Armas rips decision
Chicago Tribune - Armas not ready to coach
While it's not a shock that Dave Sarachan was fired, I don't expect the move to yield a whole heck of a lot. The Fire's major issues are above the coach's head. The Fire haven't been the same since Peter Wilt was let go and Guppy took over the club.
It will be interesting to see where Dave moves next. Brian Bliss took a youth coaching job in Kansas City after not getting the permanent job there. Another option is will Dave get a job with US Soccer as he has ties to both Bob Bradley and Peter Nowak.
Fashion faux pas
It is amazing. A few moments after looking at this slideshow on the everchanging US Men's National Team uniforms, I get an email from US Soccer about the new uniforms the US Women's National Team will wear at the World Cup.
I don't know what looks worse at first glance, these new USWNT jerseys or the blue and white pinstripe jerseys the USMNT debuted earlier this year.
I'm with everyone that thinks that US Soccer needs to pick a color scheme and style for each national team and stick with it FOREVER.
And I'd prefer that the main color is red to match Sam's Army. But that's just me.........
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.
