Sports Then and Now

Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) has announced the calendar for its 2011 WPS Season, the league’s third year of play featuring the top players from around the world. In 2010, over 20 countries were represented by players in WPS.

Well, at least there’s going to be a season. Perhaps that is the point of the announcement, since with the folding of the FC Gold Pride franchise and the continued uncertainty over the viability of Chicago Red Stars (their escrow deadline has been extended to December 15) there have been serious doubts as to whether WPS would even match the three year run of their predecessor, WUSA.

What their announcement of today does not answer is whether or not the Chicago franchise will be included, and because that huge variable is unresolved, they also have not announced an actual match schedule, since the number of teams that are operational will obviously impact the schedule.

All we know for now is that next season, WPS teams will play an 18-game schedule, comprised of nine home games and nine away matches from April through August. This is six games less than the 2010 season and two games less than the inaugural season in 2009. Opening weekend has been set for April 9-10, 2011. Similar to the past two years, preseason will begin no earlier than March 1. The season will end with playoffs culminating with the 2011 WPS Championship presented by Citi , on the weekend of August 27-28.

The league’s Board of Governors voted to retain the existing playoff format used during the first two seasons. Retaining the playoff format will continue to see four teams qualify for the post-season. The last two regular seasons have seen exciting down-to-the-wire finishes with teams securing their playoff berths on the final weekend of the regular season. Read the rest of this entry →

Both the United States and England fell short in bids to host the World Cup.

So there we have it. After 18 months of political lobbying, journalist digging, scandal, corruption and a last minute Royal-infused dash to the line, England’s 2018 World Cup bid ended in dismal failure.

For many people normally following the live match score centre who have seen the bid process develop over the past few weeks the choice of Russia is perhaps no surprise. As pointed out in their bid presentation Eastern Europe has never hosted a World Cup and their country harbours a growing passion and, crucially, the financial support for a football tournament of this magnitude.

As an England fan I can perhaps grudgingly accept that. But I don’t think it is the losing that is the galling thing. It’s the fact we had the best technical and commercial bid yet came last out of all four countries. Then the decision to award Qatar the 2022 WC despite also having the weakest bid says it all – it was seen as ‘high risk’ by the FIFA report! It all leaves a bitter taste in the mouth

It is easy to accuse the English of sour grapes. But to put our failure purely down to perceived ‘arrogance’ and FIFA’s whiter than white vision of spreading the game to new boundaries is naïve. Read the rest of this entry →

Team to be called Western New York Flash, Owner’s Story is Classic Buffalo Tale

If this isn’t a classic Buffalo story, I don’t know what is.

Joe Sahlen, owner of a multi-generational family owned meat packing company and maker of the local favorite Sahlen’s Hot Dogs (the official hot dog of the Buffalo Bills) has made his apparently large amount of money honestly. True, he inherited the company from his father and grandfather before him, but he’s done a good job keeping the business from running into the ground like a lot of subsequent generation executives often do. He’s scrappy, intuitive, flies by the seat of his pants, and does things because he wants to.

When his daughter, Alexandra Sahlen, was having to commute all the way to Rochester to play minor league soccer for the Rochester Rain, Sahlen did what any good soccer Dad would do— he bought his daughter a team and brought it to Buffalo, calling it the Buffalo Flash, making sure the team logo looked a lot like the Sahlen company logo, lest anyone forget the connection.

Alexandra had made a friend in Rochester. A man named Aaran Lines, a former New Zealand international was finishing his pro career in the US minor leagues, playing finally, for Rochester Rhinos. Lines had been a decent player but had never coached at any level. Sahlen must have had a good feeling about Lines, because he hired him as the Flash’s head coach.

The team first took the field in the 2009 season in the developmental “W-League.” Despite having difficulty recruiting the best players due to the inception of a new major league for women, Womens Professional Soccer (WPS), Sahlen was able to assemble a good enough team to make the playoffs in their first year. And apparently Lines was a good enough coach to get them there. They lost in the first round but they made the playoffs. Not bad at all for a first year team with a first year coach. Read the rest of this entry →

If you are one of the five or six people who have actually read any of my other irresponsibly chimeric screeds (hi Mom, Aunt Kate), then you no doubt realize I have a peculiar fondness for the bizarre and the off beat.

I also possess a passion for the sport of soccer, which is a fortuitous thing, as the world of association football is literally overflowing with all manner of chiseling crooks, dangerous thugs, craven lunatics and twisted perverts. This means that the well of weirdness that FIFA keeps in the secret attic of a small church in southern France will never run dry, much to the satisfaction of those like myself who take great pleasure to revel in the arcana of the beautiful game.    This is something that many American fans overlook; the petty dramas of the transfer market, the vicious hatred between rivals fans, the wealth of impossible personalities and the far fetched happenings of international soccer.

Take the case of the Togolese national team. I mean, imagine you are a Togolese international, and you awake one morning, switch on your TV and see a match report from a friendly in Riffa, Bahrain that you are pretty sure never happened–at least not with the Togo team you play for. Read the rest of this entry →

Cardiff boss Dave Jones is one candidate for the Fulham manager position.

After an unsuccessful bid to bring Martin Jol from Ajax to Craven Cottage, Fulham continue to look for a new manager. The latest name being banded about is that of Cardiff boss Dave Jones.

Sven Goran Eriksson and USA coach Bob Bradley are still thought to be in the mix though. Eriksson has made it clear he would welcome a move back to the Premier League. The Swede feels he has unfinished business in England after being acrimoniously sacked by Manchester City two years ago.

Those who bet on premier league managerial appointments believe that Fulham are a tempting prospect for any manager. The London club finished the season mid-table in the league but reached the Europa League Final. Owner Mohammed Al Fayed usually backs his manager’s in the transfer market.

The only issue they face when hiring someone is that Jol was clearly the board’s first choice. With the amount of ego’s football, not many managers want to be thought of as a second choice. If Cardiff manager Jones would be keen to move to Craven Cottage. Those who bet on championship football will know that the Welsh club are riddled with debt and are constantly forced to sell their best players.

Jones has performed relative miracles at Cardiff, turning them from a lower mid-table team into a top Championship side. Last season’s play-off final will have hit him hard however and he may feel the time is right to move.

It remains to be seen who Fulham go for, the club aren’t letting on who is on their shortlist.

Emile Heskey has called it quits as an international player.

So after 62 caps and just seven goals, Emile Heskey has decided to retire from international football (soccer).

The Aston Villa man has never been a fan favourite and many Three Lions supporters suggested his poor goal scoring record meant he did not deserve his place in the side.

However, manager after manager kept faith with him and he went to the last World Cup as one of the side’s most experienced players.

For his part, Heskey has no qualms about his England career but, at the age of 32, he has finally decided to call it a day.

He said: “I have enjoyed every moment of my England career and worn the shirt with pride when selected.”

“I would like to thank every manager I have played under, everyone at the FA and the fans for all their support over the years.”

If he’d taken the decision a couple of years ago, he would have saved his Fabio Capello a tough choice. Heskey is very much a footballers’ footballer and Wayne Rooney loved playing with him.

However, the Villa man was never the complete package and although his work as a target man was often first rate, his finishing let him down. Read the rest of this entry →