World Cup/Soccer Thread (2009/2010/2011)

[Potomac Cannons]

Edison has moved to Alexandria?

Nah.  I cut and pasted that but it's still in "Rose Hill" Fairfax.  Najar dropped out to join DCUs youth academy.

[tomterp]

Nah.  I cut and pasted that but it's still in "Rose Hill" Fairfax.  Najar dropped out to join DCUs youth academy.

 

I lived in Alexandria for 19 years, the real Alexandria, not the Fairfax County mailing address Alexandria.  I also had a girlfriend for a while from Edison, so I knew the area a bit, but I couldn't remember if Rose Hill was in that Fairfax County "Alexandria" area. 

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Henry was probably the best player in the English Premier League 6 years ago.   

the news i saw today was beckham is recruiting ronaldinho to come to LA. interesting. 4 years ago, beckham, ronaldinho, and henry might have been the biggest names in the game and they could be in MLS

[ronnynat]

Manchester City and Inter Milan agree £23 million fee for Mario Balotelli

Nice!

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I hate those rich teams...a pox on both their houses 

[ronnynat]

City got really lucky with the draw. They could have easily lost that one 4-0. Joe Hart saved them today.

[Dave B]

fsc in hd is nice. way to go directv

[JMUalumni]

Drogba just netted a hat-trick, Chelsea stomping West Brom 5-0.

[ronnynat]

Drogba just netted a hat-trick, Chelsea stomping West Brom 5-0.

Dude's a beast. Him and Malouda are two of my favorite players to watch.

Did you see Milner's shot earlier? Man, I hope Ireland accepts that deal so City can get Milner.

[JMUalumni]

Dude's a beast. Him and Malouda are two of my favorite players to watch.

Did you see Milner's shot earlier? Man, I hope Ireland accepts that deal so City can get Milner.

Nah, only got to catch the Chelsea game.  Might give the Barcelona-Sevilla game a watch later though.

Milner would be a very good pickup for City if they can manage to pry him away Villa.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

DC United is in dire, dire straits right now.  The haters might get their wish after this season. 

[Lintyfresh85]

DC United is in dire, dire straits right now.  The haters might get their wish after this season. 

What's their wish? (I don't follow Soccer)

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Apparently that the team will go away.  Not sure why, better ask Sportsfan or Marc Fisher or one of the other people who considers the game of soccer to exist on the same plane as the taliban

What's their wish? (I don't follow Soccer)

[OldChelsea]

Apparently that the team will go away.[...]

...specifically to Baltimore - the Maryland Stadium Authority is doing a feasibility study, to be released in September, on a soccer-specific stadium in the Camden Yards area; while the new SSS is being built United would have a temporary home at the Ravens' stadium.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Some of Mayor Lycra's people were out canvassing my street today...I told them that even though Vincent Grey was about as unappealing a candidate as I can recall ever running for citywide office, I would probably end up voting for him because of the way Fenty blew the Poplar Point soccer stadium.

...specifically to Baltimore - the Maryland Stadium Authority is doing a feasibility study, to be released in September, on a soccer-specific stadium in the Camden Yards area; while the new SSS is being built United would have a temporary home at the Ravens' stadium.

[blue911]

Some of Mayor Lycra's people were out canvassing my street today...I told them that even though Vincent Grey was about as unappealing a candidate as I can recall ever running for citywide office, I would probably end up voting for him because of the way Fenty blew the Poplar Point soccer stadium.

I like telling them that I'll have them arrested for trespassing if they don't get off my property.

[Dave B]

Some of Mayor Lycra's people were out canvassing my street today...I told them that even though Vincent Grey was about as unappealing a candidate as I can recall ever running for citywide office, I would probably end up voting for him because of the way Fenty blew the Poplar Point soccer stadium.

i think there is more chance of fenty building a soccer stadium than gray.  i know fenty was anti nationals stadium, but i think he at least is in favor of development and could be probably move in favor of a stadium with a fresh four years and some political capital. 

how did fenty mess up poplar point? i thought clark construction just backed out, but i dont know the details surrounding it

this is all i could find and remember reading. has anybody reported further? it is what came up when i googled "clark construction poplar point"

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/01/26/daily108.html

then i found this:

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/07/27/daily77.html

just seems like it has been back burnered.  i dont think anybody could have pushed through stadium financing in this economy in the past two years, particularly DC, who just built a baseball stadium for a crap team.  that would have been so easy to rail against politically.

optimistically, i think the silence has just been fenty saying "wait til I'm reelected, then we can do something like this".   the timing might work well (for whoever is elected) to build something huge that shows up just before next election with a hopefully better economy

[HalfSmokes]

...specifically to Baltimore - the Maryland Stadium Authority is doing a feasibility study, to be released in September, on a soccer-specific stadium in the Camden Yards area; while the new SSS is being built United would have a temporary home at the Ravens' stadium.

I thought Baltimore was essentially broke? I really don't blame politicians for not wanting to fund stadiums. I wonder if you had to put tax increases or the bond issuance to a vote how often they would pass

[OldChelsea]

I thought Baltimore was essentially broke?[...]

I guess they were able to scrounge together $100k to give to a Tampa-based consulting firm to do the feasibility study (http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-07-29/sports/bs-sp-soccer-stadium-0729-20100729_1_soccer-only-stadium-world-cup-manchester-city).

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I think that the stadium part of the Poplar Point development plan died long before Clark backed out...originally Chang (and at the time McFarland) were proceeding with a development plan of their own centered on a stadium based on some kind of understanding that there would be a certain amount of public infrastructure investment (roads & sewers and that kind of thing).  However, after late 2007/early 2008, Fenty pretty much stopped taking calls from DCU's owners, and tried to find something that would be more lucrative (hence Clark).  That's how I remember it, anyways.  But as for Grey being any more likely to support future proposals, you are probably right...there is nothing to indicate that a soccer stadium in DC has any traction with either of those guys.  But I'm still pissed at Fenty.  

i think there is more chance of fenty building a soccer stadium than gray.  i know fenty was anti nationals stadium, but i think he at least is in favor of development and could be probably move in favor of a stadium with a fresh four years and some political capital.  

how did fenty mess up poplar point? i thought clark construction just backed out, but i dont know the details surrounding it

this is all i could find and remember reading. has anybody reported further? it is what came up when i googled "clark construction poplar point"

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/01/26/daily108.html

then i found this:

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/07/27/daily77.html

just seems like it has been back burnered.  i dont think anybody could have pushed through stadium financing in this economy in the past two years, particularly DC, who just built a baseball stadium for a crap team.  that would have been so easy to rail against politically.

optimistically, i think the silence has just been fenty saying "wait til I'm reelected, then we can do something like this".   the timing might work well (for whoever is elected) to build something huge that shows up just before next election with a hopefully better economy

[ronnynat]

Milner might be my favorite City signing. Making a difference right away. City 1, Liverpool 0 (on ESPN 2)

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I heard somewhere that Tevez was voted the "second ugliest man in Britain"...no idea who #1 is.

[OldChelsea]

Interesting new STH campaign by DC United: http://www.dcunited.com/get-united?r=DL - 10% off all season ticket purchases on Wednesday 1st September, and 5% off all STH purchases from 2nd September-1st November (both discounts apply to renewals and to new purchases when paid in full). Also, United President/CEO Kevin Payne is holding sessions with current STH at the four remaining home league matches.

What is particularly interesting about this is the timing: the big discount comes on 1st September, the first of the STH sessions is the 4th...and the report on the feasibility of a soccer-specific stadium in Baltimore for United (with the Ravens' stadium as interim home pending construction) is due out sometime in September, in all likelihood after these other two dates. Could this possibly mean that early word from the study, as received by United ownership/management, is favourable to relocation (i.e. not too pricey, and favourable terms generally), and they want to hold onto as much of the incumbent STH base as possible for 2011 before the report hits the press? I don't know how much longer United's lease at RFK has to run, but if it runs out at the end of next season and the Ravens' stadium does indeed become available as the interim home ground, they could be gassing up the Mayflower vans as early as 2012. (I spoke with a ticket rep at RFK a couple of matches ago and he said United will definitely be at RFK for 2011, but from his tone of voice it seemed Baltimore could be a done deal.)

They know, of course, that the Virginia STH base would practically disappear if the club relocated to Baltimore, due to the difficult logistics (some of the DC/Maryland base would be out too, of course), and they probably assume STH renewals would tank if anything suggesting relocation got out over the next couple of months, which is the regular STH renewal period. So they're going for the big one-day-only discount this coming Wednesday - to try to hold onto as much as they can before the bad news comes out?

Will bear watching.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

DCU's only remaining shot at winning silverware this year is the US Open Cup...semifinal vs Columbus @RFK on Wednesday.  The other bracket is Chivas USA and Seattle.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

United has done nothing but pump chum into the Anacostia all season, but there was a decent turnout of WNFFomorphs for tonights debacle against Columbus.  Cross pollination can't hurt.