Hammers go down 4-0 again

Poor West Ham, the Hammers haven't won at Anfield since John, Paul, George and Ringo shared the same groupie but I was hoping after the drubbing that Chelsea gave us last weekend we would at least put in a 90 minute effort.

It took an extra-time Jonathon Noble penalty earlier this year for West Ham to beat Liverpool but Fernando Torres has recently been playing like a man possessed and is at the moment arguably the finest striker in the world.

It only took El Nino until the 7th minute for him to clinically finish off the Iron's defense from a fairly speculative pass from Dirk Kuyt

However Anton & Co. managed to rein him in until the 61st min when Torres got his second capping his off hat-trick and resting the case for finest finisher in the Prem in with a dance through the box topped with a sublime goal in the 81st minute.
Gerrard emphasized the ass-kicking with a torrid blast just two minutes later.

It appears that West Ham will continue to roll over and play dead at Anfield but at the feet of El Nino these days it will take a mighty effort for any team to stay above ground.

Mexico vs China at Qwest, April 16th

Now I know I shouldn't make a cheap joke like this will be the showdown in Seattle of the 19th century immigrant scourge vs. the 21st century's one but I would be kidding if I did.

Actually I think this should be a decent match particularly from the stands as both communities should provide a sizable and fervent support for their respective national teams.

See y'all at the Central Saloon before the match for Negra Modelo, potstickers, nacho's and Tsingtao's.

Goldenballs Global Domination Plan Revealed?

Hammers get their collective keister handed to them.

Chelsea came to the Boleyn Ground on Saturday and gave my beloved Hammers a pounding. Now it hurts when Frank Lampard scores against his old team however I am not one of those Hammer's fans who dislikes "Fat Frank" but he does seem to be an arrogant git when he celebrates.

Joe Cole and Michael Ballack's goals were both quality but to give up 3 goals in 5 minutes against the likes of Chelsea is a recipe for disaster.

Well the Titanic docked in the 64th minute when Ashley Cole was gifted a goal by a ragged Hammers defense. Though to be fair, Ashley, has recently been scoring away from home . . . .

A miserable day all round for my boys. So in an effort to cheer up West Ham Fan's here's a great clip of Matthew Upson's winner against Man Yoo earlier this year!

Ugly stain on the beautiful game

This story is a few years old but it's important for all fans of football to acknowledge the continuing problem of racism in the game

Thanks to the theoriginalwinger.com for the story idea

Rude Monday Morning Joke

What's the difference between Newcastle and a bucket of shit?



The bucket

It's harsh I know but Newcastle are stinking right now and are in a real danger of relegation this year which would be a devastating blow to the Toon faithful.

I don't think Kevin Keegan thought it would be this bad or this difficult when he took over and I don't see him keeping his job if they do go down

Arsenal Fan (wally of the week)

Our inaugural wally is the Arsenal Fan. Now many would say that Man Yoo has the most
annoying fans in the Premier league or perhaps even Liverpool or Chelsea but it seems lately that the Gooner's have gone completely off their tree. Now to be fair I should point out I do not support Arsenal but then again I don't care much for French Football.

On the radio and on the web many of the Gunners faithful have called for Martin Taylor to be banned forever from football for his horrendous foul on Eduardo. My feelings on this are clear from a previous post but Arsenal fan seems to suffer from the same Helen Keller/Homer condition as their Manager.

Arsenal have the worst fair play record in the Premier League since Wenger took over 11 years ago but have you ever heard Wenger call out one of his boys for hacking down an opponent?

Yes, Arsenal often play stylish attacking football but it seems Arsenal Fan loses his rag when the opposition attempts to prevent Arsenal from said game plan. It's time to toughen up Arse Fan and realize that your team is no different than most in the premier league when it comes to tough physical play

Philadelphia Freedom

Major League Soccer has decided to award Philadelphia with it's newest franchise. The team will be located in Chester, Pennsylvania a city just south of downtown Philly.

A former major manufacturing center Chester, is now struggling economically and the new stadium is part of a major revitalization effort for the waterfront of Chester.
The public will fund up to $47 million dollars of the new soccer-only stadium.

This is great news for Philly and for the MLS and soccer fans in the US Philly fans are well known for passion and occasional madness they display in supporting their local teams and this level of enthusiasm will be an ideal boost for the new team when
they debut in 2010.

Did FIFA, the FA and UEFA force the EPL plan to R.I.P?

Much of the dust has settled following the explosive announcement of the Premier League's ambitious plan to hold a round of regular season Premier League matches over a January, 2011 weekend in 5 cities across the world.

The list of people and associations against the EPL's global domination plan is endless. First and foremost the English Football supporters were nearly unanimously against the idea. Many are frustrated with the gall and greed of the EPL who they see destroying the bonds between the fan and the club and now that the EPL has milked them dry are moving on to new markets to exploit.

Among those in the Football world who raised their voices in objection; UEFA President, Michael Platini, England Manager, Fabio Capello, and Premier League managers Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp.

Both Australian and Japanese associations aired their concerns over the EPL's plan. Their main objection being concern for the development of their own domestic leagues especially when competing with a weekend of
EPL matches.

However the most serious buckets of cold water came the Premier Leagues
way from the English FA and FIFA. The FA's chief issues were the disruption
to the FA and League cups and European competitions as well as adding more
games to a already crowded fixture congestion.

It looks like FIFA Czar, Sepp Blatter might get the last word following his subtle threat that continued promotion of the idea might cost England chance to host the 2018 world cup . . .

Paging Joe Theisman

This scene is every players nightmare and indeed ends horribly. So horrible in fact that Sky Sports won't show the footage and the EPL has removed all the clips of the incident from Youtube and the other usual culprits.

A compound fracture of the lower leg and dislocation of the ankle are terrible injuries and maybe even career ending but Arsene Wenger's initial reaction for Martin Taylor to be banned was harsh.

Taylor is not a dirty player but he is big 6'4" and 200lbs and though the tackle was late and high it didn't have the intent for example of Roy Keane getting his payback on Alf Inge Haaland. Taylor certainly deserves his 3 match ban and perhaps even should sit for a month or two and pay a hefty fine.

Regardless of what your high school gridiron coach told ya proper football is a physical game and in particular the English game is fast, furious and tough and
players know that every tackle they get stuck in on could be their last.

Paolo Maldini is pure class

Living legend Paulo Maldini celebrated his 1000 professional appearance for AC Milan as a substitute against Parma on February 16th. It has only been 23 years since his debut as a 16 year old against Udinese in the Serie A.

Son of Cesare Maldini who captained Ac Milan to their first European Cup in 1963 all Paolo has accomplished in his career is 5 European Cups, 7 Serie A Titles, a record 126 caps for Italy including captaining his side on 64 occasions and those 1000 appearances for AC Milan. Oh yeah those 23 years at Milan that's a record for a one-club man in football.

Yes even legends have disappointing days losing in the 94 World Cup Final to Brazil and
later to France in the European Championships in 2000 hurt the big fella. However he admits the harshest day was the 2005 European Cup Final when Milan was 3-0 up including a Maldini goal after only 51 seconds at half-time eventually losing on penalty kick's to Liverpool.

Maldini is a model pro and citizen. He has conducted himself on and off the pitch with rarely seen class and character and truly deserves the legend title. Now with his 12 year old son training with the Milan youth team it appears that AC Milan fans have a third-generation of the Maldini family in the back row to look forward to.

POW (Pitch of the week) Queen Anne Bowl

Ohh glorious ohh! Lovely spanking brand new field turf has replaced the old
worn out surface and Queen Anne Bowl is back to being one of the finest places to play soccer in Seattle city limits.

I really enjoy playing here and made my debut all those years ago with my present team at the bowl and managed to earn a game winning penalty kick for my new teammates. That match was some 7 or 8 years ago and unfortunately I have only been back once in league play . . . .



The bowl has plenty going for it, great location for the city, nice big field, lots of parking close, you can bring your dog and there are plenty of places for a post match grog or two. So why don't they install some floodlights already?

A joke about the Old Firm

A very funny joke about the Old Firm in Scotland. A bit of a warning Billy Connolly occasionally lapses into the vernacular so maybe take the Bairns out of the room.
A couple of things, Bovril is a hot meat-broth drink served at Scottish Football Grounds and a jobbie is well . . . er . . a #2.

Goldenballs vs. The Greeks

Don't worry ladies, Becks isn't taking on the local chapter of Pi Kappa Epsilon in a brawl up on Frat Row, it seems that
Beckham and the rest of the mighty Los Angeles Galaxy will take on Greek side, AEK Athens in a match at Qwest Field
on May 26th, 2008.

The relentless Galaxy moneygrubbing/ride Goldenballs till he drops tour is coming to Seattle, according to cool local website seattlegreekamericans.com. There is not much of a story there beyond the date and the teams involved but it looks like
your dream to munch on a Gyro and swill some Ouzo with the Greek squad while avoiding the paparazzi and your girlfriend chasing Posh and Becks through Belltown hotspots could come true.

Keller getting back to his roots?

Lacey High School, University of Portland, Millwall, Leicester City, Rayo Vallecano, Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton, Borussia Moenchengladbach, Fulham, Seattle?




Yes it's true Kasey Keller devotee's, your favorite local boy/US National Team legend has spoken of his desire of returning to the Northwest to round out his professional career. Keller spoke with ussoccerplayer.com and made it very clear that he would
love to play for the new Seattle MLS team however he also says he is ultimately not in control of making this happen.

I have always had much respect for Kasey Keller, he is world class goalkeeper and arguably the most successful US player of all time. Being a rookie Yank Goalkeeper for Millwall down at the Den is a tough a place as any to begin your career. The shutouts against Brazil and Argentina and at the 2006 World Cup holding the eventual world champion Italians to a 1-1 draw against a 9-men US team are proof that he handles pressure as well as any player. He is surprisingly honest and direct in interviews and I believe he would be an ideal foundation from which the new Seattle Major League Soccer franchise could build from.

A case could be made that his age, 39 in November, could be held against him and perhaps the powers that be would prefer to develop a younger player but he would be an ideal teammate and tutor to those younger player's on the squad. You couldn't ask for a better spokesperson for the team. His success playing soccer all over Europe would also be a ideal example to all young players that by working hard and doing the job when the pressure is on can result in achieving great success in the professional game.

Manchester United's Darkest Day

The memory of the Busby Babes and what they might have achieved has been on the minds of many this week. My Mum grew up near Manchester and though she was only seven she remembers well my Grandfather being devastated at the news and the Tragedy headlines splashed all across the newspapers.

Having just recently read Sir Bobby Charlton's autobiography in which he painfully reveals that not surprisingly his life was never the same after the accident. He readily admits suffering from survivors guilt and continually wonders why he lived while the two men who sat next to him did not.

Football has had too many of these accidents, the Italian Il Grande Torino-SuperGa crash in 1949 and the loss of the Zambian National Team in 1993 being two of the most horrific events. Hopefully another tragedy can be avoided but with ever increasing competitions and the stretch of the global game that might just be wishful thinking.

Fabio loves a friendly

The match started out a little rough but eventually England got it right and Fabio Capello's debut was a victorious one.
England's friendly with Switzerland was not the most glamorous of matchups and perhaps nerves and lingering doubts
from the debacle against Croatia ensured that the England initially stumbled around the pitch like a pub team the morning after a hard nights drinking. However Joe Cole, Jermaine Jenas and Wayne Rooney continually attacked the Swiss defense and David James proved to be a calming influence in the back row and just before half Jenas got his just rewards and scored the go ahead goal and his first for England. The Swiss made it interesting with an equalizer in the second but Capello was determined to have the last laugh by bringing on the tallest player in the Premier league, Peter Crouch, and the shortest player Shawn Wright-Phillips, with SWP getting the winner off of a brilliant pass from Steven Gerrard. Capello has said not to expect miracles from him but it was a good start to his tenure and England have something positive with which to work from.

Obama the Hammer

Could the next leader of the free world be singing "Forever Blowing Bubbles" with the faithful in the Bobby Moore Lower?
It has recently been revealed that Barack Obama is a massive West Ham United Fan. Obama's sister married an English fella who loves the Claret and Blue and turned the Senator on to the Hammers.
Predictably Hilary Clinton is Man Yoo supporter as Mister Bill was rumoured to have attended Man Yoo annual Xmas bash/roast.