Association Football

Here are some things on the intertubes and some thoughts:

Spurs submit stadium plans for planning approval and it looks sweet. Despite the recession and the lavish spending of the last few years, Spurs have managed their finances well and are now seeking to build a stadium on par with their north London rivals. Spurs have tremendous support and their is a long waiting list for tickets so the increase in capacity by 20,000 should not be a problem whatsoever. This should also help Spurs in their goal of challenging the top four. More on this to come.

Hull City in total disarray – finances in shambles, and Brown reportedly fired but then team denies rumors. Fortunately, this is a loan move for Jozy and hopefully the off the field shenanigans won’t impact him and he will get on the pitch more. I have mixed feelings about Phil Brown. Hull have been very poor for about a year now and he was too negative tactically at times, but despite the recent blow up, he did seem to really believe in Jozy. Lets hope if a new manager were to be appointed he sees Jozy’s potential and we don’t have a Derby county-Feilhaber situation where the manager gets sacked and he ends up riding the pine. That being said if Hull’s financial situation as bad as reported I doubt they have the money to fire Brown and hire someone new.

MLS playoff hype is growing. In what is a great matchup, Seattle takes on Houston Thursday night on ESPN. For a playoff preview see, Greg Seltzer’s here, WVHoolign’s here.

Brad Guzan cements his status as the next great American keeper. One game does not a superstar goalie make, but Guzan sure did gain the spotlight in the UK after saving four penalties (one in relegation and three in the shutout) to see Villa advance. The British press went gaga, calling him Villa’s hero and Martin O’neil was asked, “tell me about the goalkeeper, where did you pick him up from?” Martin O’Neil preceded to glow endlessly about him, saying Guzan was a “marvelous prospect” and confirming that he is Friedel’s replacement. Sunderland manager Steve Bruce, added “Their keeper had one of those nights he will remember for the rest of his career.”

USA vs. Slovakia friendly is confirmed. This is another really good friendly choice. Yes we would always want to play an Italy or a Spain, but Slovakia, as well as Denmark, are exactly the types of teams we not only will face in the World Cup, but are teams we will likely need to beat to advance. Furthermore, when we play a top 10 team, like Spain, we are automatically going to play less aggressively. It is good to have some games against good competition in which we believe we can go toe to toe with the opposition. Should be a good test of where we are.

See in photos how baseless Alex Ferguson’s complaints about officials really are. There clearly is a double standard for Sir Alex. But the referees are now getting more than a little miffed: “It’s so frustrating when a manager as experienced and respected as Sir Alex Ferguson makes a statement about the laws of the game which is completely inaccurate,” said Jeff Winter, a former Premier League referee.

Offseason firings in MLS have begun, Toronto and Dallas both made moves. In Dallas, GM Michael Hitchcock is out. According to WVHooligan, Dallas wanted him gone for a while, but decided to ride out his contract instead of firing him. Toronto fired their coach, Chris Cummins. MatchFit has some ideas on some replacements, Sven anyone?

Bornstein a Honduran hero. He claim to have about 1000 Honduran friends on facebook after scoring to send them to the world cup.

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