See Youri Djorkaeff's free kick?
How about Alecko Eskandarian's sick left-footed volley?
Loquito Garcia's spinning, far-side netting lob?
Oh, yeah, Alejandro Moreno scored on a bike.
What an opening weekend for the MLS. And now, as I ride a puddle-jumper from Newark, N.J., to Columbia, S.C., (an hour north of Augusta, Ga.) for a little golf tourney they call the Masters, I just let it fly straight from my cranium to your eyes.
Red Bull bused 800 people from East Rutherford, N.J., to Washington, D.C. for the season opener. What a great job by the league's newest investor. You could see how jacked up the Red Bull players were to see their fans in attendance at RFK, and it really added to the overall atmosphere of the match. The MLS needs a little more passion, and this was good stuff.
Seriously, 800 is roughly the amount of people who showed up for the 2003 U.S. Open Cup final at Giants Stadium. Amazing what an invitation to fun can do, eh? Bottom line, the Anschutz Entertainment Group had too much on its MLS plate to give the then-MetroStars the commensurate amount of advertising and schtick money, what with building the Home Depot Center and trying to keep the San Jose Earthquakes alive.
Anyway, those crazy Austrians who run Red Bull seem to have a lot of ideas up their sleeves, not the least of which seems to be gobs and gobs of free tickets. As a youth soccer dad at the Jersey Shore, I can tell you the e-mails for things like buy one, get 15 free (OK, that's an exaggeration) have not stopped since the day RB took over.
If I may be so bold as to suggest one idea to the Austrian home office, if you're going to follow the lead of Warner Bros. and some of the things it did for the Cosmos back in the day (and it looks like you are), the biggest and smartest thing you can do is to offer to pick up the airfare and hotel rooms for traveling media. Not all outlets will accept, mind you. The New York Times would never even think of it, for example, but, some papers would take the freebie, to save a buck.
The only sticking point for RB would be to understand that, just because you're paying the way for media doesn't mean you can get all mad when they rip a poor performance. Hey, from the looks of things so far, it's in RB's budget. One more RB Note: Those have to be the worst uniforms in MLS history. I suggest not to print up too many, take some time, and come up with something else, OK?
Elsewhere, FC Dallas coach Colin Clarke is a genius. He subs in Kenny Cooper, and he scores the winner. Nuf said. I know it's just a week's worth of action, but I wonder if the West isn't going to be as weak this year. My gut right now says 50 points this year is going to be an achievement.
Of course, for anyone who has followed my MLS writing through the years knows I have zero credibility when it comes to gut feelings and predictions. I still haven't lived down my Tampa-Dallas (with Dallas winning it all) pre-playoff MLS Cup prediction in 2000.
My favorite TV moment of the weekend came when Chivas USA announcer Christian Miles said (and I'm paraphrasing), "If Ante Razov keeps this up, he could be at the top of the MLS scoring chart by season's end." To which, analyst Thomas Rongen replied (again paraphrasing), "Well, unfortunately Chivas doesn't play Real Salt Lake 32 times."
Davy Arnaud can score some beautiful goals, can't he? His chest trap and turn goal to open the scoring for KC Saturday night won't be in the running for Goal of the Week, but for sheer technical beauty, it was fantastic. That guy is a good player. And so is Jack Jewsbury, for that matter. Kansas City isn't missing the playoffs this year, folks. Take that one to the bank. See above statement about Bradley prognostications, please.
As bad as the Red Bulls road kits are, I liked Houston's homes. Thought for a second I saw Dennis Bergkamp trotting onto the field. While we're on Houston, nice home crowd for the opener. Keep turning out for your team, Houston fanaticos, and maybe, just maybe, they'll take, say, 15 rows of seats out and widen that horrendously narrow pitch.
And, if Brian Ching keeps up this pace, he just might end up on top of the MLS scoring charts. (I hope people have paid attention to this point in the blog.)
Clint Dempsey has a knack. When I see a close-range header for the Revs, and I see the ball coming out of a sea of bodies and hitting the net, I just assume it was Dempsey who got on the end of the cross. I hope that dude makes Arena's final roster. Hell, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he's a lock. Take it to the bank.
Troy Perkins takes the early lead for worst goal allowed. And, were I still a frat boy (been two decades since I was) I'd start a drinking game called "Unbelievable" where everyone would be required during Red Bull games to drink every time Shep Messing says the word "unbelievable." Actually, I'm starting to believe Shep believes nothing.
Apparently, I'm dueling Marc Connolly, picking games on www.ussoccerplayers.com. I will crush him, in case anyone is looking for any side action.
I think everyone quietly roots for Clint Mathis to return to some kind of decent form, so it was a bummer to see him get injured so early into the opener. Here's hoping it's not serious.
Mexico naming Claudio Suarez to its World Cup roster reminds me of when Italy called in Roberto Donadoni for Euro 96 after he'd signed to play for the MetroStars. One second people are saying the guy's career is over, the next thing you know he's back on his national team.
Does anyone other than me think Amado Guevara's days with Red Bull New York are numbered? To my eye, that looks like a team that wants to run, fight and kick, and I just don't think Amado's energy level is going to cut it. I'm channeling Guevara for Greg Vanney as the Red Bulls could use a defender who can pass the ball. That deal would also be a salary wash and the Bulls could use all that allocation money they've been socking away on a new center midfielder.
Anyway, I'll try to keep blogging away while at the Masters. Here's hoping that Season Pass thing on my TiVo is working. If MLS Week 2 is anything like Week 1, I don't want to miss anything.
Jeff Bradley
