On the soccer front, this is one slow friggin’ week in Columbus Crew news. The only thing going seems to be Eddie Gaven’s “superb ball” or “excellent serve” to Josmer Altidore, which set up the penalty kick in the “Mini-Yanquis” win over Panama. Good to see the kid do something positive. (Now shave. Wait. Don’t. You’re probably sick of getting pulled over by cops for driving underage. But, dude, your beard looks worse than mine.) After that, it’s all rumors of coming players, pissed-off fans, and ‘08 season previews. Oh, there’s also the front office, non-soccer bullshit that MLSnet.com official sites enjoy posting.
Taking them in turn…
- Soccer Insider reported that the Crew are taking an interest in Flavor-of-the-mon…, er, Argentine d/m (that’s defender/midfielder, not dungeon master) Matias Almeyda. My first question is how an Argie ended up in Norway. Less mysterious, after a moment’s thought, anyway, is why the Crew would go after a defender/midfielder given their more desperate need at forward: in a name, Marcos Gonzalez and, in a (conjugated) verb, gone. WVHooligan gives a bit of history on the player, while a (new-to-me) site, Crewture, digs around what could motivate Almeyda to head to Columbus….and, for what it’s worth, he seems simultaneously skeptical and hopeful about the potential move. Put me down as skeptical as well…moving on…
- Maybe Guillermo Barros Schelotto hepped him to life in Columbus. Then again, maybe not…and the locals are pissed. Really pissed. For what it’s worth, fans – e.g. people madly in love with their team – get kind of weird about players. Well, they can’t all be Duncan Oughton, I guess. It’s worth remembering real people wear your club’s jersey and, face it, real people are fickle, weird, and neurotic animals; they can screw up, wind up unhappy on the job, etc., just like anyone else. Another part of it is the automatic – dare I say robotic? – adulation players give, and are expected to give, to the fans. I guess what I’m getting at is, I’d pay less attention to what a player says – which, judging by the repetition of some particular inanities are pure pre-programmed bullshit 80% of the time – than what they do on the field. If Schelotto dreams of Argentina every time he passes the ball, I can live with it; just so long as he passes the ball well and to the guys in yellow (or black).
- It’s preview season and I saw my first one for the Crew: WVHooligan’s. I’ll turn in one of my own before the season starts – I anticipate an exhaustively, even stupidly, thorough affair – but recommend that one (and, thank the maker, that’ll be the only one this year; I’m doing conference previews only). I’ll flag other ones as I see them.
- Finally, the corporate garbage…nah, I’m not going to post it. I can’t see the point unless I’m going to mock it.
Filed under: Columbus Crew, Eddie Gaven, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Major League Soccer, Preview
