Brown returns to Chicago for "Ring of Fire" induction CJ Brown Photo Credit: Getty Images
Former Chicago Fire general manager Peter Wilt and then-coach Bob Bradley already had their eye on San Francisco Bay Seals center back C.J. Brown when they arrived at the 1998 pre-draft combine.
Bradley, a former D.C. United assistant, had seen the tough center back when the Bay Seals made an improbable run to the US Open Cup semifinals the year before, where they lost to D.C. United. After Wilt and Bradley talked to Brown, they were ディズニーコスチューム sure they wanted to make him the first pick in the Supplemental Draft for the expansion team.
“I just remember being very impressed with how 全身タイツ composed he was, and how polite and professional,” Wilt told MLSsoccer.com. “You could see right away he was a good コスプレブーツ/靴 fit for the type of team we wanted to put together.”
Brown will be inducted into the Chicago Fire’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday night, an honor for a definitive franchise player who retired in 2010 with a club-record 372 appearances for the Fire during 13 seasons. Brown, who is now an assistant coach with Real Salt Lake, becomes the seventh member of the Ring of Fire.
Earthquakes' wide play shaping team's identity in 2012
San Jose's Steven Beitashour (left), Khari Stephenson (center), and Chris Wondolowski celebrate Photo Credit: Getty Images
SAN JOSE, Calif. – A decade ago, when the San Jose Earthquakes were at their MLS zenith, club officials rarely fretted when media members discovered some tactical nugget or lineup change from mid-week training sessions. The Quakes knew that even with advance warning, opponents seldom could put together a good enough performance to beat them.
It hasn’t gotten to the point where Frank Yallop, the Quakes’ coach then and now, is signing up for Twitter to send out hints and tips to other clubs coming into Buck Shaw Stadium. But with San Jose topping the table with 11 matches remaining, they’ve forged such a strong identity as a wing-based team that they're are almost issuing a dare to the opposition:
We’re attacking you on the flanks. Feel free to stop us if you can.
WATCH: Wondo puts away Salinas cross
So far, very few teams have been able to do so. San Jose have been shut out only once over their last 21 regular-season matches, and that was a game on three days’ rest in the July heat of Dallas.
The Quakes have 12 multi-goal games in that same span, and lead the league with 45 total goals – although they’ll face an interesting test Saturday, when they host a Seattle side that blanked a patchwork Earthquakes lineup in a US Open Cup quarterfinal on June 26.
The assist totals tell the story of where San Jose is finding their success: Five Quakes have at least five assists this year, and four of those players patrol either sideline – midfielders Marvin Chávez (nine assists) and Shea Salinas (six), All-Star right back Steven Beitashour (six) and captain Ramiro Corrales (five), who has spent time at left back and left midfield.
That quartet has found able and willing targets in the form of Chris Wondolowski, Alan Gordon and Steven Lenhart, a trio that’s combined for 33 goals – more than 12 other MLS sides have scored all year.
“We score a lot of goals off crosses, and you can’t get away from that,” Yallop told MLSsoccer.com this week. “We have players that are built to score from that [situation]. Alan, Lenny and Wondo are very good at attacking the ball when it’s wide. …
“We have an identity now of what we’re trying to do. All the players realize that.”
Only three other teams in MLS thus far have at least three players with five assists. And none of those boast the kind of wing play San Jose have brought to the table; LA are keyed by front-runners Landon Donovan (seven assists) and Robbie Keane (six), while Montreal feature the central midfield pairing of Felipe (eight) and Patrice Bernier (six).
New York might be the closest comparison to the Quakes; with five assists, Roy Miller is the only full-time defender other than Beitashour to reach that total. But Joel Lindpere, who also has five assists, would rather play centrally than on the left flank, which has led to friction with coach Hans Backe.
There’s no such problem for cheap soccer jerseythe Quakes, who brought in Chávez and Salinas this offseason to effect results out wide and has reaped the rewards of those deals.
“I think the players we have set us up for that,” Beitashour told MLSsoccer.com of the Quakes’ wing success. “When you have the type of players like Simon [Dawkins], Rafa [Baca] and Sam [Cronin], guys that keep possession for us, it kind of narrows [the opposition] in and helps us on the wing, so we can take that space.”
The question now is whether another team will force the Quakes to move away from their preferred mode of attack by overloading the wide areas of their defensive third. The dilemma, of course: while that tactic may make San Jose’s crossing more difficult, it runs the risk of creating coverage gaps inside the penalty box for someone such as Wondolowski to exploit.
Whatever the case, don’t expect the Quakes to make the first adjustment. Just like during those MLS Cup runs of 2001 and ’03, they’re plenty pleased with how things are going.
“We won’t go away from [going wide], for sure, because if you do, we’re changing how we’ve played all year,” Yallop said. “We won’t do that. We’ll make sure we get it in good areas wide, and we’ll get good service into the box.”
Geoff Lepper covers the Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sanjosequakes@gmail.com.
La star du Bayern Munich est insistante que son club ne peut pas se attarder sur la perte du meneur de jeu cette saison.
Philipp Lahm insiste Bayern Munch peut pas se permettre de se attarder sur le départ de Toni Kroos si le club & nbsp; est & nbsp;. Pour avancer cette saison
Kroos rejoint & nbsp; le Real Madrid en Juillet & nbsp; peu de temps après avoir remporté la Coupe du Monde avec l’Allemagne, aux côtés de Lahm et plusieurs autres coéquipiers Bayern
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Xabi Alonso a depuis été mis en provenance du Real Madrid. & Nbsp; par l’entraîneur Pep Guardiola et Lahm sont félicités de l’arrivée de l’ancien international espagnol que le Bayern se déplace sur du départ de Kroos
PLUS: Messi prend son envol FIFA ’15 remorque | Football GAR | beaux éventails
& quot; Je ne suis pas triste que Toni parti – ce est le football, & quot; Lahm dit Kicker. & Nbsp; & quot; Les joueurs viennent et les joueurs de Go & nbsp;. Je ai été assez longtemps de ne pas laisser la vente de joueurs me chercher vers le bas, même si Toni est un excellent joueur
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& quot; Avec Javi Martinez, Thiago et Bastian Schweinsteiger à pas & nbsp;. Pendant deux semaines, mais pour un long moment, puis nous avions besoin de lui [Alonso] & quot;
Bayern a battu Stuttgart 2-0 en Bundesliga le samedi et fait face à Manchester City dans la Ligue des Champions de l’UEFA mercredi.
The Ticos could only draw with Panama but the result was enough to assure it will qualify for the continental championship next year.
DALLAS — Though disappointed with the match's outcome, Costa Rica interim manager Paulo Wanchope can breathe a bit easier after Sunday's 2-2 draw with Panama.
The Ticos came from two goals down and needed goalkeeper Patrick Pemberton to save a late penalty kick from Gabriel Gomez, but the result secures the team's spot in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
After beating Belize 2-1, Guatemala is assured of at worst making the fifth-place match, the winner of which will face the Caribbean region's fifth-place side in a playoff for the final spot.
Honduras could've shared that status but dropped a 1-0 result to El Salvador in the final match of the night.
Once a battle for supremacy, the meeting between Guadalajara and America now finds Chivas fighting to stay in the top flight.
Club America and its legion of fans are treating Saturday’s Superclasico as a send-off for a Chivas side flirting with relegation.
Considering it is also Day of the Dead in Mexico, some yellow-clad, fun-poking America fans will surely bring altars depicting the imminent death of their rival, or skeletons dressed in Chivas attire, to the Estadio Azteca.
After all, Day of the Dead isn’t the dour and sad occasion some may assume it to be. It’s usually more of a celebration and there’s a heavy dose of dark humor mixed in there.
The context is that Saturday could, in theory, be the last time Chivas play in the Azteca for quite some time, with the club above only Puebla and Leones Negros in the Liga MX relegation table and one team set to drop to the second division next May.
Of course, there is a long way to go and 63 points still on the table for Chivas to potentially win, but the battle with America wouldn’t be a rivalry without the morbo between fans.
This is Mexico’s most anticipated game; the clash between the flashy, rich star-studded capital city giants peppered with foreigners – America – against the regional grit, graft and all-Mexico power of Chivas de Guadalajara. Both sit at the top of the all-time title table, with 11 each.
The traditional way of looking at this rivalry is a battle of supremacy, for bragging rights between the two Mexican clubs with most fans.
The story this time around is all about how the teams arrive – or stumble in Chivas’ case – at the game.
It’s difficult to think of a time when the two sides were so far apart going into a clasico. Las Aguilas are on 29 points, with Chivas on 11 this Apertura.
Over the last four seasons, America has made every playoff, been in two finals and lifted one league trophy. Chivas, on the other hand, have scraped into just one playoff in that time. The difference in regular season points is 71 over those seasons, although Chivas have played only 81 games, compared to America’s 82.
On top of that, America has won the last three clasicos (without conceding a goal), the last one in ugly fashion for Chivas, who lost 4-0 at home.
The cliché of “anything can happen” in a clasico may be what Chivas and their fans are trying to tell themselves this week, but there is no solid reason to believe Guadalajara has any more chance of getting something on Saturday than Puebla or Leones Negros would have.
Bookmakers online have Chivas at long odds to defeat America, but with the Guadalajara team winning just twice in the league in 13 matches this Apertura, they aren’t tempting.
If there is one glimmer of hope for Chivas, it is that America is already qualified for the playoffs and is not in the race to qualify for the Copa Libertadores. The Mexico City club doesn’t necessary need the points, whereas Chivas are desperate for some type of a lift.
There is no way around the fact that the Estadio Azteca on Saturday is unlikely to be a kind place to be for Chivas, both on the field and in the stands.
