Nick DeLeon shines in DC United's win over FC Dallas; Rookie of the Year candidate?

Considering that DC United came into last night's nationally televised match against FC Dallas having scored but one meager goal during their opening 270+ minutes of the season, one could have hardly forecast that DC would explode for four against the favored Texas side. Maicon Santos' long strike of a goal for DC will easily find a lot of play on the highlight reels over the course of this weekend, but, as grandiose as that opening goal was, that was hardly the only highlight for me in watching the game.

Fabrice Muamba: The beauty of a simple picture

@fmuamba/Twitter

I couldn't help but to smile from ear to ear this morning upon seeing that this picture of Fabrice Muamba that had been just recently posted on Muamba's Twitter account only minutes prior. Yes, he still has some way to go in his recovery, and who can even begin to speculate about the future of his playing career, but all of that is so absolutely irrelevant at the moment. What matters is that this man pictured above, he who was technically dead for 78 minutes after falling into cardiac arrest on the pitch at White Hart Lane before medical personnel, thanks to their absolutely tireless work, brought him back to life, will be able to continue his life with his fiancee Shauna and he will be able to watch his young son Josh grow up and maybe even follow in his own footballing footsteps. There's a world out there for them to all continue experiencing together, and every moment will surely be that much more beautiful now.

The old cliche is that a picture is worth a thousand words, but wow, this picture is worth so much more than that. It's the representation of the millions and millions of outpourings of support Muamba has received, and it's the representation of the tears of joy that fans around the world will surely shed upon seeing Muamba's smiling face today. That it means so much is yet another sign of the bond that soccer creates between all of us, and through that bond we are all united in longing to see the day when Fabrice Muamba is well enough to leave that London hospital, hand in hand with his young family.

Catching up: update and show news

Hey everyone,
These last few days have been insanely busy in the Auburn metro area, so aside from doing my on-air work for the show, I've hardly had time to post my thoughts, musings, and ramblings here on the blog. Thankfully, that tide looks to be turning this week. Not a moment too soon, because I'm ready to get back to my usual operations.

Additionally, as some of you might have noticed, the live streaming of the show has been sketchy over the last couple of weeks. I've been told that they're working on that, but even if it's not remedied in time for the next show, there is some good news to be had: replays of the show will resume next week! So even if you're not able to catch the show live, for whatever reason, you can still hear every minute of it soon enough.

Thanks for all of your support,
Ryan

CONCACAF Champions League: LA folds, Seattle implodes, MLS hopes shrivel

With both Seattle and LA sitting in decent enough positions going into the second legs of their respective CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal ties against Santos Laguna and Toronto, the neutral MLS supporter had to like the chances of at least one of them, if not both, moving on to the semifinals of a competition whose trophy, up to this point, has yet to grace the trophy case of any MLS team, though Real Salt Lake was within a goal of bringing it home last year. After defeating Santos Laguna 2-1 in Seattle, there was always hope that Seattle would be able to join FC Dallas in beating a Mexican club in Mexico, and just about everyone would have picked Los Angeles to take control of their matchup with Toronto after coming out of the Rogers Centre with a salvaged 2-2 draw last week. 

Chelsea overturns first leg deficit against Napoli, moves on to Champions League quarterfinals: Renaissance on the cards?

After the capitulation in Napoli a couple of weeks ago that was one of the last nails in the coffin of Andre Villas-Boas' short reign at Chelsea, the presumably safe and smart money would have been put on Napoli seeing the return at Stamford Bridge out as they booked their passage into the deeper stages of Europe's most prestigious club competition. It was all so clear cut for Napoli and their embarrasing wealth of attacking flair, but as things go so often in this game we all can't get enough of, the script was to be thrown out the window as if it had never been written in the first place.

Show update: 3/12/12

As it turns out, I'll be out of the studio today, so join me again on-air next Monday. We'll talk about all of the action from this weekend's FA Cup games, the second round of MLS matches, and all of the main championship races from Europe.

Until then,
Ryan

Quick thoughts: MLS opening weekend

After months of waiting following the last kick of the ball in LA's MLS Cup win over Houston at the Home Depot Center, the wait is over and the national soccer holiday of the beginning of another MLS season is finally upon us once more. On this holiday, the MLS schedule makers have hardly disappointed us, for it can be said that each and every game of this opening weekened has its own share of intrigue and talking points.

Chelsea's managerial carousel carries on...

After what was yet another lifeless and uninspired performance this past weekend, this time against West Brom, it came as absolutely no surprise to anyone when the axe fell on André Villas-Boas' very abbreviated term as Chelsea manager. After all, the results had been slipping for some time now, and such an output just won't do when the owner has such a lust for impeccable performances and the biggest of trophies.

England to wait to appoint new manager

In a report published by Soccernet this week on the heels of England's 3-2 loss to the Netherlands, it has been revealed that England will be waiting until the end of the season in May, a mere few weeks before the start of Euro 2012, to select the new man in charge of bringing England more long awaited silverware. If England are indeed to adhere to this appointment headline that has been laid out, you almost have to wonder if the FA are actually trying to bring such glory to England at all.

United States 1, Italy 0: A turning point for Klinsmann

In what was an international matchday rife with high profile clashes in Europe, none was bigger on this side of the Atlantic than the USA's venture into Genoa to take on an Italy side that had never fallen to the Americans in ten previous meetings dating back to the 1930s. Given the absences of such notable players as Landon Donovan, Jermaine Jones and Oguchi Onyewu, the US could have been forgiven and even commended for coming away from this game with a close loss, but such moral victories weren't exactly what Klinsmann and his men had in mind. Instead, they had every intent of leaving Genoa with a more positive result in hand.