Houston's Seller's Remorse

If you're a Dynamo fan you have to feel slightly ill about your stable of forwards. Houston's leading scorer is Brad Davis - a midfielder by trade who's bagged just four goals this season. No forward on the roster (including Brian Ching) has scored more than two goals. To make matters worse, two players that were recently wearing the Houston orange are the leading scorers for other teams.

Last year the Dynamo dealt Chris Wondolowski and a draft pick to San Jose for Cam Weaver. Wondo leads the Earthquakes with six goals. Weaver has scored just one in 316 injury-plagued minutes. In 2009 the Dynamo also traded Kei Kamara, getting Abe Thompson and allocation money in return. Thus far Houston has gotten nothing from their end of the deal. Thompson did nothing significant and joined second division Miami FC this season. Including a tally at the end of last season, Kamara has scored seven goals for the Wizards.

Not long ago, it seemed like Houston had the golden touch when it came to forwards. Now it seems that King Midas has left town.

The Ljungberg Trade

As a Fire fan, I was a little surprised that they acquired Freddie Ljungberg for the MLS equivalent of a bag of soccer balls (well, at least now that Supplemental Draft picks no longer exist.) He's certainly talented, and his contract only runs until the end of the year so it's a low-risk maneuver for the Men in Red, but Shawn Francis over at The Offside Rules captures the existential malaise surrounding the deal.

Donovan Joins the Centurions

With two penalty kick goals this weekend, Landon Donovan became just the sixth MLS player to top 100 career goals. As recently as 2008 there were only three players who had reached this plateau - Jaime Moreno, Ante Razov and Jason Kreis.

The next player with a decent chance of reaching 100 goals is Edson Buddle. If he keeps scoring at the rate he has the last two seasons, he should reach 100 goals next year.

An Open Letter to Colin Clarke

I'm sorry for ever doubting you could beat the LA Galaxy in your CONCACAF Champions League series. I realize that you coached the Puerto Rico Islanders to the semifinals of the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League. I know you drew with Saprissa, Columbus and Cruz Azul in the group stage of last year's tournament, coming within five minutes of beating Cruz Azul and giving up Saprissa's equalizer in the 89th minute. It just wasn't enough to convince me this year would be the same.

To be fair the Islanders are at the bottom of the USL Conference within the USSF D2 league, and were just 1-4-4 on the road this season coming into their game with the Galaxy. But your Islanders beat the Galaxy anyway, pasting them 4-1 at the Home Depot Center. Four away goals more or less seals the deal unless a cataclysm of biblical proportions happens in the second leg in Bayamon.

So I apologize. I will never doubt you again. Please come coach the Chicago Fire.

Love, PhantomTollbooth

Efan Ekoku is 'Effin Wrong

If you watched the opening game of the 2010 World Cup here in the United States, you likely heard Efan Ekoku complaining to high heaven about Mexico being cheated out of a goal. Ekoku's contention was Carlos Vela was not offside and should have been credited with a goal, and he whined and whined about it.

The main problem, is that he was wrong. Ekoku clearly doesn't understand how the offside rule works. Quoth FIFA in their laws of the game (which you can get from here):

A player is in an offside position if:
• he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the
second-last opponent

Which Vela was when he received the ball. There's no distinction between the goalkeeper and any other opponent, so it doesn't matter that there was another player on the line.

So these are the announcers ESPN had to import because Americans weren't good enough? Really? Off the top of my head I'm pretty sure the Christopher Sullivan and Marcelo Balboa both understand how the offside rule works. Even though he's batshit insane Ray Hudson probably knows this as well. I know Alexi Lalas does, as he point blank said the refs were right.

Here's a clip of the non-goal:

CONCACAF Champions League - Best Finishes By Country

I realize the competition is only two years old, but here's the best finish by country.

Belize - Prelims: Hankook Verdes (2008/09)
Canada - Quarterfinals: Montreal Impact (2008/09)
Costa Rica - Group Stage: Saprissa (2008/09 and 2009/10)
El Salvador - Group Stage: L.A. Firpo (2008/09), Isidro Metapan (2009/10)
Guatemala - Quarterfinals: Comunicaciones (2009/10)
Honduras - Quarterfinals: Marathon (2008/09 and 2009/10)
Jamaica - Prelims: Harbour View (2008/09)
Mexico - Champions: Cruz Azul (2008/09), Pachuca (2009/10)
Nicaragua - Prelims: Real Esteli (2008/09)
Panama - Quarterfinals: Arabe Unido (2009/10)
Puerto Rico - Semifinals: Puerto Rico Islanders (2008/09)
Trinidad & Tobago - Group Stage: Three Teams
USA - Quarterfinals: Houston Dynamo (2008/09), Columbus Crew (2009/10)

Final 2009 CONCACAF Champions League Results By Country

I'm finally getting around to mopping up some things. Here's the final CCL results by country. I'm sure everyone is surprised to see Mexico at the top of the list for the second year in a row.

                W  L  T  GF  GA  DIF  Win%  PPG
Mexico         25  8  7  79  36   43  62.5  2.05
Honduras        9  9  0  29  39  -10  50.0  1.50
Panama          5  6  1  17  18   -1  41.7  1.33
USA             8  9  7  35  36   -1  33.3  1.29
Guatemala       3  5  1   9  21  -12  33.3  1.11
Costa Rica      2  5  3  11  20   -9  20.0  0.90
Puerto Rico     1  3  4   7  12   -5  12.5  0.88
Trin & Tobago   4 10  2  21  31  -10  25.0  0.88
El Salvador     1  5  2   5  21  -16  12.5  0.63
Canada          0  1  1   0   1   -1   0.0  0.50