Avoiding the Drop

On their way down to the pub for a pre-match pint, no doubt.

New England Revolution v. San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday)

Whatever happened to that big time striker the Revs were going to sign as their first Designated Player? Yeah, I’m thinking I should probably just get over it and move on. Having done that, the best thing that the Revs could do at this point would be to show some consistency in their play. Not just from match to match, but within matches! The defense is okay, and will get better as the midfield improves, but the goals, who will score the goals!? As for San Jose, the news of the season from my perspective is that Chris Wondolowski appears to be the real deal. After winning the scoring title last year he is currently tied for third behind the likes of Landon Donovan and Tierry Henry. More impressive to me is that he has accomplished this without the “element of surprise” he had working in his favor last year.

Houston Dynamo v. New York Red Bulls (Saturday)

The Dynamo are quietly working their way up the Eastern Conference table and trail leaders New York by only two points (New York has a match in hand). It seems strange to me that a team from Texas is in the Eastern Conference, but I’d imagine the Dynamo don’t mind, they probably wouldn’t make the playoffs in the Western Conference. New York, despite all of their star power, are linked with a new player every week. Last week it was German international Torsten Frings, this week its aging French international midfielder Robert Pires. Houston are being linked with a move for Hibernian striker Derek Riordan. Let me put this out there Dynamo fans: there’s a reason that, despite being one of the best players in the SPL over the past decade, that Riordan has only five Scotland caps…just don’t.

Neath Athletic F.C. v. Prestatyn F.C. (Saturday)

Why preview this Welsh match? Easy, one of these two clubs- Neath who finished finished 3rd in the league or Prestatyn who finished 5th- is going to play in the Europa League next year. Here’s how it happened: First place Bangor City qualified for the Champions League, second place the New Saints automatically enter in the qualifying stages, and 4th place Llanelli qualified by winning the Welsh Cup, so these two teams will play a winner-take-all match to decided who will be the other club to enter the tournament at the qualification stage. There’s not much chance of either club making it too far in the competition, but in recent years several Welsh clubs (Bangor, Saints, and Llanelli among them) have won their first round ties, so there’s no reason to think that Neath or Prestatyn couldn’t do that as well.

F.C. Dallas v. Real Salt Lake (Sunday)

Don’t be surprised a few weeks from now when you look up to find Real Salt Lake running away from the pack in the Western Conference. Right now they are only four points behind leaders L.A. Galaxy, but they have five matches in hand. Also working in their favor will be the fact that now that they can focus on just league matches the squad should be more well-rested than they were in the first few matches of the year. As for Dallas, the form that led to their appearance in last year’s MLS Cup has not deserted them. They are in second place in the Western Conference and they have two matches in hand over league leaders L.A. Galaxy. Fun Fact: How good have USMNT goalkeepers been when Kevin Hartman, who holds almost every MLS goalkeeping record, has only five international caps?

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. v. Blackburn Rovers F.C. (Sunday)

With the top of the table mostly sorted out one would expect the matches involving the clubs in the bottom three spots in the table to be the most interesting ones taking place this weekend- right? Well, sort of. The biggest match is actually between the two teams just above the relegation zone. Both of these clubs are on 40 points- which means that there are three teams below them that could pass them with a win. In short, a draw could see both teams relegated. A win and the winner is safe. The loser will have to hope not just for results to go their way in other matches, but also for the score lines in those matches to go the right way as well. If I had to put some of my own money on the outcome of this match I’d put it on Wolves. Objectively speaking their recent form has been better than Blackburn’s. Subjectively speaking, they just have the look of a club that is going to survive.

Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Mariehamn v. Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (Sunday)

When we last saw Josh Wicks he was following up an on field bust-up with teammate March Burch in a league match with a stomp on Seattle’s Freddy Montero in a U.S. Open Cup match a week later- I guess that’s one way to get out of MLS. Wicks is now sharing the goalkeeping duties with Gustav Långbacka and the club is in fourth place in Finland’s Veikkausliiga. Don’t worry about Josh being homesick though, there’s another foreign-born American (Wicks was born in Germany and grew up in California) on the Mariehamn roster. Italian-born and Connecticut-raised Giuseppe Funicello is a defender at the club. Fun Fact: One player on HJK’s roster is Finnish legend Jari Litmanen. Litmanen has been playing professionally since 1987, including stops at Liverpool, Barcelona, and Ajax.

Air Force United F.C. v. Chainat F.C. (Sunday)

Just follow along with me: Goalkeeper Devala Gorrick- a Hare Krishna- was born in West Virginia and grew up in Florida. Gorrick began his post high school career at Tyler Junior College in Texas before transferring to Barry University, a Catholic Division II school in Florida. After graduating from college he played for the Central Florida Kraze in the Premier Development League and then for Bayamon F.C. in the Puerto Rican Soccer League (where he had five shutouts in ten matches). Last year he played in one match for Pattaya United in the Thai Premier League. This year he is playing for Air Force United, a mid-table team in the second level of Thai soccer. Oh, and he owns a Florida-based film company, makes documentaries, and has his own Wikipedia page. Any questions?

Orduspor v. Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü (Monday)

Belive it or not, there is still a chance that ol’ Freddie Adu will be playing in Turkey’s Süper Lig next year. Rizespor, Freddie’s club, qualified for the promotion playoffs in Turkey’s Bank Asya 1. Lig where they will face Orduspor- a team they finished ahead of in the regular season by virtue of goal differential. I don’t want to get ahead of the story, but if Freddy’s club is promoted and he plays the majority of the matches next year against the likes of Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, and Beşiktaş one can’t help but think that Bitter Beer Face Bob might have to think about bringing him back into the USMNT picture. Fun Fact: Freddie had 4 goals in 11 league matches (9 of which were starts) this season. That’s about a dozen goals in a full season if you extrapolate it, and that’s not bad at all.