Messi seems to break a new record every week. Here is a random fact, Oliver Kahn has the most clean sheets in Bundesliga history with 196 in 557 games. Cameroon's Roger Milla is the oldest person to play in a World Cup at age 42, I can go on and on but to me these are nice little trivia bits to impress soccer aficionados and make your self seem like a real scholar of the game but I'm not really a stat guy. Well I wasn't until I started to play fantasy soccer with a friend of mine and through this pass time I was force to take look at them. The competitor that I am obviously I want to win and knowing stats will definitely give you an edge, knowing who is on form, pass percentage, assist, goals will weigh heavily in your favor. That is just skimming the surface you can look at a players head to head performances against a certain team, their career records and even how they stack against certain players. After saying all of that stats can shed light more importantly arguments. Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey? There is not a stat in the world that could convince be that Donovan is better than Dempsey. I don't want to argue or do I want to throw a ton of stats your way. I just have a healthy appreciation for the Texan's game. I wasn't always a fan of Clint Dempsey I just thought he was another average American playing at a mid table English club. See Brian McBride and Claudio Reyna for more detail there. He was, when I first saw him just another player and this article may not take the greatest structure but this is for lack of a better phrase, a rave session on my part about the American. Landon Donavan still holds America's more significant records like all time leading goal scorer and as the record for most assist on the international stage by any American all that for me is as I said before nice trivia because Donavan has never really in my eyes raised his hands and said "I am the face of US soccer," Simply because he never made a concerned effort to ply his trade in Europe and as any reader of my post know that I think Europe is the gold standard of world soccer. Every stat points to it. So Landon image in my head will always be of a maybe player. Maybe he could have dominated in the leagues, maybe he could have scored the spectacular. With Clint Dempsey there is no maybe there is doing. The work rate, the skill and the class in which he plays has come on these pass few seasons and to take a normal in every sense of the word club like Fulham and give them an air of danger about them is such a task. No disrespect to Mr. Donavan and I have loads of respect for the man but I don't rush to see him play. I don't get excited when he turns out for the LA Galaxy and when he plays for the United States it's more of a feeling of hopefully Donavan puts in a nice game. It's all very luke warm but with Dempsey I break my neck to try to get to the television when Fulham plays and when he has the stars and strips I just know he is about to put in work. There is a nastiness to Clint Dempsey I feel as a kid in class that if you fought with you had to go the nurse afterwards that is all part of his allure to me. He is a tough guy an old school player and I really hope he can push on and America will finally realize they have a real world class player in it's mitts.
If you haven't been hiding in a cave or just don't care you probably know who Jeremy Lin is. If you are on this site you probably do but if your a passerby let me give you the low down on Mr. Lin. He is an Asian American of Taiwanese ilk. He went to Harvard, made it to the NBA floated around the D-League for a little while before he got scooped up by the New York Knicks. Knicks had a few injuries here and there and Lin gets thrown into the deep end. Long story short after his baptism in the NBA the New York Knicks find that they have a real gem on their hands, some one with immense potential and a real world wide star appeal. So, what does this have to do about soccer? Jeremy Lin is a superstar not only in the United States but also in China and his native Taiwan. I dear anyone to name a Chinese soccer player of any pedigree. I would go as far as ask the average Chinaman on the street to name me any of their blossoming soccer players and I think they would be hard press to do so. We all remember Yao Ming the 7 ft Centre that dominated the paint for the Houston Rockets. He was idolized, iconize and all types of prestigious tags were donned on him. Simply because he was good. In contrast Yi Jianlian another Chinese export to basketball isn't a great player but is still loved in China. So all it really takes is for a Chinese star to make it to the biggest stage for the billions in China to fall in love.That is the problem with Chinese soccer there isn't anyone of real class and has that superstar appeal for the Chinese people to venerate. Japan and South Korea has held the FIFA World Cup in the past and for the most part their respective leagues have enough quality in them to give the world of soccer mainly western Europe some very tactful players. These two have superstars that their peoples can cling to. Park Ji Sung of Manchester United is pretty much a demigod in South Korea. Likewise Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata in his day. These superstars that found themselves to the highest level being Europe were able to take their experiences and nurture their national sides, the result being South Koreans and the Japanese enjoy their lofty FIFA rankings and the title of regional favorites. Even North Korea has been producing the odd player that makes it to Europe and are frequents at World Cups but where is China? Where are her players? The fact is they hardly have ever produced a type of player that is attractive enough to ply trade in the wildes of Europe. There was Manchester City's Sun Ji Hai and he did do well but since then China has rarely put out a household name. Sun was one to begin with in fact talent wise he was very average. Soccer heads find it hard to drum up one or two Chinese players and the for those who rarely bat an eye to the sport they would not even know what to say. It seems like a lot of belly aching from my end but there has been some movement and the heads of the Chinese game are doing all their can to get their boys and girls out there. Case and point Brazilian powerhouse Chorintians in an odd move signed Chinese midfield man Chen Zhizhao on a two year loan deal. Some say it's a PR stunt and I myself am a bit perplexed by it but good for the young man who will if he takes in the tactics and soccer know how from the Brazilians will no doubt serve China well. Long Tan is a promising young forward who is in the MLS. Now, if the league doesn't ferry him around like they like to do in American sports style trade offs and allow him to settle and give him some game time he has an outside chance of doing something for his country both sporting wise and maybe as a culture icon. To sum up China's fascination with stars I leave you with this story. Two days into Jeremy Lin's whirlwind NBA dream I asked one of my Chinese friends. Do you know who Jeremy Lin is? He said. "I don't know who he is. Who is he?" I said he is a Taiwanese American who is helping the New York Knicks win a few ball games. His reply was, in the best English he could muster. "I'm sorry I don't watch basketball." A few weeks passed and I saw him again and he tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and there he is a kid who just moved from China 2 years ago and he has on a Jeremy Lin Knicks jersey and he says to me. "I know who Jeremy Lin is now." Maybe China needs all her athletes to reach a cosmic level before her people could start caring and in that case it will take a while for soccer to have it's day in the sun over in the east.
New segment!, really excited I finally had my dream come through. Finally a player out of China that is worth mention. Ladies and gentlemen may I introduce you to Long Tan of Liaoning province. This maybe the shortest post I ever made but I couldn't keep my excitement contained. I am one of those people who often poke fun at China for not yielding at least one decent footballer. Out of their billion they couldn't field 11 men of any great worth, skill or who could even kick the ball straight. It is too soon for me to detract these comments but Long Tan is a start for me and maybe I will jump on the Chinese bandwagon in a little while but for now I'm not ready to. I won't sit here and act like I am a premier on Chinese soccer, I fair somewhat better when it comes to the Korean and Japanese games but in Long Tan I see something very promising and I'm sure China has very useful players and maybe they are better than Long. As for right now in my mind I think Long Tan is the most hopeful candidate that the state has to offer. With all my verve for the guy I have to keep it in perspective. At the moment he is playing in Major League Soccer. For now he isn't a starter and also he hasn't to date have a Chinese cap to his name and to make matters worse their is a fellow called Gao Lin who is the premier frontman for "TheGreat Wall," as they are so affectionately known. There is another youngster named Zhang Chengdong who plies his trade in Portugal at the moment for Beira-Mar so he obviously has some talents that brought him to Europe. The good thing about Long Tan is that he is in North America, it isn't the most lucrative market when you compare it to South America and Europe but it does get the odd glance from the guys in Europe, ask Clint Demspsey and Sacha Kjlestan what those looks from the Old World did for them and they will tell you. Long story short no pun intended. I like Long Tan. Good dribbling skills and has some aerial ability about him and who knows he could be a North American superstar and may one day feature for China.
I am a bit bias. Here I am talking about Euro 2012 when the Copa America earlier this year was held in Argentina and I didn't even had a conversation, didn't even bat an eye to it. I watched it. It was awesome, Venezuela showed that they aren't meant to be flogged by their South American neighbours any more. Messi's play was no where to be seen. Falcao from Colombia is a top marksman. Paraguay were stingy in defense as usual, I have come to expect that from the men from Asuncion. While Forlan and the boys from Uruguay in the end lifted the trophy in Buenos Aires. It was great but for me there is nothing more special than the Euros. The European Championship is the apex of international football. The World Cup is heralded as one of the greatest spectacles that can be seen by the human eye but in terms of quality when you get down to it the fact of the matter is a lot of average teams are in the competition. Unless the World Cup was in my back yard I am not paying any sort of currency Euro or Rand to see Chile play Honduras. I don't mean any disrespect but I support Barbados national team, I don't need to see another primary school game. The Euros offer quality on a consistant basis. Europe is the standard bearer of world football. Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina are worthy contributors to the game but that's just three teams. In Europe there is an abundance of good nations all clustered together. Enough of what I think let's get down to it. The draw for Euro 2012 Poland and Ukraine has been made and as I like to do, I will give in depth analysis... well I think it's in depth at least on the groups. This post is just how the groups are set out, as we get closer to the tourney I will put the journalistic and thinking caps on to try to break it down. So here are the fours groups in seeding order listed "A," to "D," that will thrill us in these two young nations starting June 8th.
Group A Poland Greece Russia Czech Republic
Group B Netherlands Denmark Germany Portugal
Group C Spain Italy Republic of Ireland Croatia
Group D Ukraine Sweden France England
Slavek and Slavko the two mascots for the tournament. I like them they're cool, I think much better than the two guys from the last Euros, they looked like Cabbage Patch dolls but Slavek the Pole (red) and the Slavko (yellow & blue) the Ukrainian look the part and no doubt it will be a good tournament.
Ihave been meaning to do one of these in forever. Well, yes a blog post because it has been awhile but I'm talking about a "Generation X." I wanted to pick a squad of people born in a certain decade but what always stopped me was the fact that they weren't ever enough in my opinion players I thought were absolutely outstanding in one set generation. Sounds crazy when you look at the greats the Di Stefano's and the Garrincha's how good they were in their time frames but to ask me to recall other's in their set generation I am a bit hard pressed and to come up with a squad of twenty five I don't think I could I'm a bank of football knowledge but not a library like Jon Champion. So I will write what I know who I know and that's the way it should be. Men closer to my generation because people can find scores of articles on Gabriel Batistuta but how many are their on Nicolas Otamendi? Well I'm here to talk about the Otamendis. That being said here is my team of stars born in the 90s.
Squad
(Goalkeepers)
David De Gea (ESP), Thibaut Courtois (BEL), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (GER)
(Defenders)
Sebastian Coates (URU), Philip Jones (ENG), Jeffrey Bruma (NED), Mamadou Sakho (FRA), Mathias Jorgensen (DEN), Mateo Musacchio (ARG), Fabio da Silva (BRA)
(Midfielders)
Eden Hazard (BEL), Christian Eriksen (DEN), Jack Wilshere (ENG), Miralem Pjanic (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Mario Gotze (GER), Brek Shea (USA), Yann M'Vila (FRA), Xherdan Shaqiri (SUI)
(Forwards)
Neymar (BRA), Mario Balotelli (ITA), Luuk De Jong (NED), Bojan Krkic (ESP)
Formation
3-5-2
Not a conventional formation but the lack of stellar wide defenders has forced my hand a bit in contrast the glut of midfield options was far to tempting not to have a five man midfield. The forward situation is fairly straight forward I will stick with the two. It may not be the most balance but I like it for some reason.
Starting XI
Goalkeeper- David De Gea (ESP) (Right) Centre Back- Mathias Jorgensen (DEN) Center Back- Sebastian Coates (URU) (Left) Centre Back- Fabio da Silva (BRA) Right Winger- Eden Hazard (BEL) Central Defensive Midfielder- Yann M'Vila (FRA) Central Midfielder- Miralem Pjanic (Bosnia & Herzegovina) Central Attacking Midfielder- Mario Gotze (GER) (captain) Left Winger- Xherdan Shaqiri Striker- Neymar Striker- Luuk De Jong
WHY?
David De Gea- At present with the remarkable goalkeeping talent available to the Spanish, De Gea would find it extremely hard to break into the senior squad and hold down the number one jersey but he is young and has many important games ahead of him to play. Standout performer with the U-21 even capturing a winners medal Euro U-21 championship in Denmark in 2011 so we have a winner already and I got the feeling the trophies will keep coming. De Gea earned himself a move to Manchester United in 2011 after he became integral part of Athletico Madrid's senior side. I'm just going to be honest, he is a very well rounded goalkeeper. Slight in build which could be a problem depends on who you ask, tall, athletic and goal keeps and not just stop shots. Ferguson usually gets it right with goalkeepers. Van de Sar and Schmeichel being the most sturdy here's the hope De Gea doesn't turn into Barthez and Carroll.
Mathias Jorgensen- Have you ever seen something for the first time and you were absolutely sold? That is the exactly how I feel about Jorgensen. Like De Gea over there he was an important part of his nation's U-21 side. Denmark seem to be able crank out a number of good center halves in recent times. Daniel Agger and Simon Kjaer heading up the list. Jorgensen played extremely well at Euro U21 championship in his homeland and on top of that he has been apart of FC Copenhagen's senior squad for the better part of four years. The Danish side is not the most glamour of European teams but they are definitely solid opposition for anybody and Jorgensen at the back make them very resolute. At 6 ft 3 inches he is the prototype for an excellent defender. As the game evolves he is apart of what is known as the ball playing defender. A defender who is comfortable on the ball see Rio Ferdinand for the perfect example. Flat out Mathias is good lets see how gets on as the years roll on.
Sebastian Coates- I haven't been really sold on South American center halves. They are a few I think are really good. Lucio, Luisao and Juan to name a few and you could say the likes Michel Bastos and Diego Alves but fullbacks are a little different. Walter Samuel is a foul machine, so is Mario Yepes and the less I say about Martin Demichelis the better. Note most of the bad defenders are Argentine and the good ones are Brazilian not a coincidence. David Luiz I thought was the one to save day but doesn't look like it but here we a young man I think will be one of the greats. Sebastian Coates is the next defender to marvel at. I almost don't know what to say I would call him a bull because he is so massive at 6 ft 6 inches but I think that does him a disservice he is like a Brontosaurus in terms of size and ability. I am absolutely thrilled with him and I know Liverpool fans will be. Jamie Carragher will undoubtedly retire soon and I can see only Agger and Skrtel fighting to be Coates defensive partner if they are still around. Sebastian is a Copa America winner at age 20 with Uruguay just earlier this year. I will bet all my hard earn money that he will be the best defender of his generation, just watch.
Fabio da Silva- I would imagine sometimes being a twin can be a very hard thing. Your always linked with your sibling and the comparisons I could only imagine would get very annoying. It's like I guess forfeiting your individuality but don't worry Fabio I see you brother. Fabio da Silva is apart of this new crop of United players and to his own admission he had a slow start. Brother Rafael made the first team before him, maybe by luck Gary Neville had come to the twilight of his career and a right back was needed so in stepped Rafael. In contrast Fabio regarded as a left back had the always excellent and virile Patrice Evra to content with and to be honest very few players world wide can make Evra sit on the bench maybe Michel Bastos or Eric Abidal. So Fabio has it tough but he has been given chances and he is lively character not as aggressive as Rafael but his leaping ability for a short man is stellar and his pace is nice across pitch. To me he is a defender that is always near the ball sounds weird but for his position that is a good thing.
Eden Hazard- Hazard probably heads up the list of Belgium's rising stars. Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne and Axel Witsel. Tracked currently by Liverpool and Arsenal the Lille man is certainly a heavily desired target of the European elite. Hazard formed a nice trio with now Arsenal man Gervinho and Moussa Sow which saw the Lille lift the Ligue 1 title in 2011. The young Belgian is a very direct player. He receives the ball, run towards the opposition do some fancy things with his feet pass or score, simple. We all can go home now that is how football is meant to be played. As I said in an earlier one of my post you really can't talk about Eden Hazard you just have to watch him play I'm not a world class wordsmith so I can't paint a god-like golden image in your mind with my words so just watch him play. You will be impressed.
Yann M'Vila- Very classy midfielder Yann M'Vila it seems just waltzed into the French national team. Scouted from extremely early M'Vila has represented France since U16 so the guy been around, you don't play for Les Bleus at any level if you don't have something about you. Yann being a deep lying midfielder does venture very far forward but when he does he does so with purpose. I want to call him Abu Diaby but somehow he is different he is defintiely a passer. I saw the passing percentage of this guy overall and for a guy whose job is to win the ball he does an awful lot of passing. I hate to compare every French black guy who plays in the midfield to Patrick Viera but I can see him in M'Vila. A very strudy customer Rennes really found a really good player.
Miralem Pjanic- Edin Dezko's sidekick and sole provider. Miralem Pjanic out of the world's emerging talents, my favorite. Free kicks, passes, assists, goals, dribbles, feints, headers, tackles, pace, stamina and vision I don't think they have anymore verbs left that contain good grace that Pjanic doesn't already execute. I always have a soft spot in my heart for Eastern European players. They are often labelled as unknown and erratic and it seems that they have to always prove a point more so than they western counterparts. I don't know if Lyon were strapped for cash but I don't know how they could have let Pjanic go. It's like every promising young superstar they dismiss. The Bosnian I think has a bit of a problem. Bosnia isn't a very well rounded team and so much is expected himself and Dzeko they will find it hard to reach markee competitions like the World Cup and the Euros. Club wise I think Roma will aid in his development with Totti not the force he was Pjanic can easily be the cult hero in the city of Romulus and Remus.
Mario Gotze- I didn't think it possible for Germany to produce a high end flair player. Traditionally Germany has had physical specimens, technically gifted players, hard workers, clinical finishers are tough guys. I thought Bastian Schweinsteiger was the most creative force the Germans had, then in stepped Mesut Ozil and changed everything and now they found Mario Gotze from some where. Ozil is quite the player and in my eyes still the Germans chief play maker but if they ever get bored with him or gave him the day off then Gotze is primed for action. The orchestrator of Borussia Dortmund's 2010-11 championship winning season. Not to be a nerd but on FIFA 12 he is currently 18 or 19 and his overall game rating is 88 or something. So clearly I'm not the only fool who believes in the boy. All I can say is that he is a wonderful attacking weapon and the fact he was the hilt of Dortmund's wonderful season suggests that he has some leadership qualities, wonderful player.
Xherdan Shaqiri- Very hard to pronounce in the begin but the more I watched and heard about him his name rolls of my tongue easier than cat. Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland is another fantastic winger that the country has produced. More explosive than his countrymen Tranquillo Barnetta and Valentine Stocker, Shaqiri doesn't stay still very often. With blistering pace and immense brawn despite his size Xherdan easily brushes aside defenders. He has a shot and an eye for the pass as well. My first sighting of the wide man was in Euro U-21 championship 2011 in Denmark. Jorgensen who I heaped praise upon above as you can see got to know Shaqiri all too well. He simply waltzed pass the Danish and every one until Switzerland were stop in the final by David De Gea's Spain. The kid is good though definitely will usher in the new era Swiss football for sure.
Neymar- I don't know if I can be honest how I feel about Neymar there is something about him that passes him off as a faker. Every game I have seen him in personally he didn't do anything but when I look at his videos and compilation it's like a god was in his left shoe guiding the ball where ever Neymar willed it to be. I will give him this he is a showman and in a world now where the governing body, clubs and managers look to suppress the flamboyant and out spoken player Neymar comes and defies all of that. Maybe it's his hair but he is a character and I like that. The thing is Brazil has him classed up as the greatest thing ever but his team mate Ganso though not a striker to me is worth talking about more and the fact that teams like Real Madrid and Chelsea are willing to blow an excess of 40 million Pounds or Euro on this guy obviously there is talent there. We will see how he does I think he is as good as Robinho nothing more but he is the hottest youngster so his selection in my team is justified.
Luuk De Jong- Another one from the Dutch assembly line. Luuk De Jong is a goal scorer. It's not always graceful in fact his goals can be pretty clumsy looking but he does what very few attackers do and that is attack the ball in the air. A very hard worker and just busy when in possession. Look, right now the only premier striker Holland has is Robin Van Persie. I mean Dirk Kuyt tries, Klaas Jan Huntelaar does okay and Ricky van Wolfswinkel is still finding his way I think this is a perfect situation for De Jong if he can keep the goals coming and somehow get some European football.
Substitutes
(GK)Thibaut Courtois- I know I go on about this Belgian "golden generation," a lot but here is another one that I have to speak about. Thibaut Courtois is an excellent goalkeeper. I hate to draw comparisons but he reminds be of Hugo Lloris. Courtois is Chelsea's keeper of the future if they decide to keep him around, they would be foolish to get rid of him.
(GK)Marc-Andre ter Stegen- The German tradition of producing quality goalkeepers continues with young ter Stegen. As a goalkeeper you need to play games constantly and at Borussia Monchegladbach he certainly will do just that. He is a strong hand I know it sounds common place for a keeper but that isn't always the case. He will do well for the future.
(CB/RB)Philip Jones- When Manchester United signed Jones from Blackburn Rovers in 2010 for a fee of around 16 million I laughed. I thought Ferguson was a showing his age. Jones certainly has proved me wrong. I didn't know him but seeing performances just shows that he will be a legend at Old Trafford and not everyone is cut out for that accolade.
(CB)Jeffrey Bruma- He just stops attackers that is what he does. Every time i have seen him play just a wall very hard to get around and he you do has good recovery time. Chelsea seem to have a very good scouting network Courtois, Lukaku and Bruma will make a very good team for the future.
(CB)Mamadou Sakho- Rising star of French football. I predict that he will be one of the first choice center half pairings in the French set up. Here we have again a towering defender with a nice touch on the ball. Times have really changed.
(CB)Mateo Musacchio- The Argentine came through the ranks at Villareal B and now is La Liga's premier defender. I said Sebastian Coates was going to be South America's best defender but Mateo is a very close second. Really nice to watch just needs a little more experience.
(CAM)Christian Eriksen- It was heart wrenching to keep the Dane out of my starting XI. Eriksen is a wonder kid. Slight of build but a hammer of a shot. He simply just picks up the ball and does what he likes with it. Ajax will find it hard to keep him.
(CM)Jack Wilshere- I think is extremely lucky that Arsenal have a youth development ethos. Arsenal has really mould him into a wonderful footballer I wonder if he was at another would he be as good as he is now but that being said you don't earn an England cap in your teens if you aren't good.
(LM)Brek Shea- The only true American superstar. Brek Shea has an appeal and personality that matches his fantastic skills on the bitch. Tall and just simply awesome. Clubs in Europe are watching with keen eyes.
(ST)Mario Balotelli- If only Mario would just know calm he could be an amazing forward. His antics on and off field really will hamper his progress. Great touch and control and aggression in front of goal. Mario is a winner but can he be a champion?
(ST)Bojan Krkic- Barcelona really missed a trick here. Selling Bojan to Roma was wrong and I hope they don't want him back like how they craved Fabregas. Krkic is the fast forward I have ever seen and he has the dribble to get by opponents just needs to score more and he will be world class.
There you go Generation 90 in the books. I bet Arsenal have half these guys on their radar.
As leagues all over western Europe begin to get back in to it so will the bloggers, writers and pundits. As for me I had the Gold Cup, Copa America, Copa Libertadores and Major league Soccer so I have been fine don't worry. Some great action throughout this summer with a fantastic type of player on view. Gold Cup saw Javier Hernandez stamp himself as the premier forward in North American soccer, in the Copa America, Uruguay introduced me to Sebastian Coates and confirmed about I already knew about the golden locked Diego Forlan. In the Copa Libertadores Ganso and Neymar held my interest and States side Brek Shea was the guy to watch. So they have been the odd player I have been keeping an eye on. A guy who has been on my radar not to sound cliche' is a promising young talent from Ligue1 in France. I mean there is a glut of talent in France. Jordan Ayew, Kevin Gameiro, Hugo Lloris and Miralem Pjanic and now add Javier Pastore and you have an exciting young league so they are in good stead. Despite that, one man who has left the conveyer belt that is France is Gervinho. Who ironically is part of the center piece of this whole article. The Ivorian made his switch from Ligue 1, 2010-11 champs Lille Metropole over this summer transfer window to Arsenal with a fee of around 10.5 million pounds agreed between the two parties. Here is where I chime in. Did Arsenal get the wrong Lille man? Now say what you want but Gervinho is a champion. He won the league and cup with "the Mastiffs." He shimmies and shakes and he has what I think quite possibly the best weave on a man I have ever seen. His hair is absolutely ridiculous... but weave aside he is quick and forceful and Arsenal will help him along until he wants out. With Nasri and the Spaniard who shall not be named set to leave and they will I won't to see Gervinho orchestrating the bulk of Arsenal attacks I'm sure he won't but if it comes to that I would ask for my money back if I was a season ticket holder at the Emirates. When I heard the Arsenal were in for a Lille forward this summer I must admit Gerry wasn't the first one I thunk of. In fact I was about to save my hard earn money to go buy an Eden Hazard Arsenal jersey but no they got Gervinho. Eden Hazard is one of the most dynamic prospects in world football. I don't have to say how great he is there is YouTube for that and comparing him to Gervinho is tough because they are not the same player and it would be unfair to the Ivorian. It's like Arsenal are trying to be terrible. I don't know if its a money thing or Wegner needs his spectacles I don't know or maybe Lille aren't willing to part with their diamond. All I'm saying is why make a bid for the number two man at a club when the ace is right there. Wrong man Arsenal should have bet on the Belgian.
I'm telling you this Major League Soccer thing starting to actually get good and being the man that I am, I solely attribute it to players. Don't get me wrong I still have my issues with the league but at the end of the day I know no one really cares about Don Garber (MLS Commissioner) or these other suites and ties, they might add structure but none of them kick the ball around. Think of all the talent the MLS has spawned over the years. Freddy Adu, Landon Donovan and Tim Ream. I want to shy away from the Prekis and Eddie Popes of the game, although they had a hand to play in the crafting of North America's premier soccer league let's not kid ourselves they are a different generation. Now that I have gotten all the serious analytical things out of the way I can get to why I'm here on the interweb (I don't think that was a word). Have you seen Brek Shea play soccer. I will say this now, if he is not the poster boy for American soccer I will burn something. I mean it. Could be the house, could be a blunt or could be the walls of Troy and when I'm done there use Troy's embers to emblazon the walls of Jericho with flame but I'm sure that has already been done. I think this guy is seriously someone the US National team should thrust into the spotlight. Very classy player. He is like a golden Dimitar Berbatov. Super silky but here is the jaw dropper, from what I can see the young man actually has a strong work ethic. Crazy right? Someone from my generation who actually likes to work hard almost unheard of. He clearly is a player that puts in the extra work in training. Even if you don't like Shea as a player his laid back persona is very endearing which kind of contradicts what I just said in the previous stanza but let me make it clear Brek Shea the player and Brek Shea the man are two completely different men. It's like when he plays he is like the Hulk just smashing anything in his path but off the field he is like Hulk's alter ego Dr. Bruce Banner who is ultra chill. Just watch him play he is just fun to watch.
