Time Off

It’s been a while since the last Nest Liner, and there’s a backlog of ideas and comments to hit. But first, a big Thank You for all the thoughts, concerns, and support during the hiatus.

Water, Water, Everywhere

The Nest Liner didn’t have any representatives at the Houston ‘match’, but while the downpour was heavy, it didn’t seem as Biblical as MLS Cup 1997, the Chicago game in 2001, or the Columbus game in 2001(?). But the field didn’t drain, causing small fairly decent sized lakes to form on the field. A couple of weeks ago, this post was merely a joke, now it seems like the idea of personal flotation devices at soccer games are a wise move. The folks (OK, Kyle Sheldon) at Behind the badge have some nice ‘live’ updates of the games progress….or lack thereof, and some other fine pictures (must be a team camera, who’d bring a personal one out in that?) of the adventure in the rain. The game will be made up, and tickets will be honored…..same thing with a rained out baseball game, Just no goofy day-night doubleheader issue.

Moving On and Looking Down the Road

So is United rolling? Coming around? Shaking out the cobwebs? Gelling? Other sports cliche here? We find out this Saturday at Chicago. Rumors are that they’re trying to bring home town hero Brian McBride, but they need to give up a Prime Minister’s ransom to Toronto to get first dibs. They’re going to need to fiddle with their roster to tempt one of the craziest wheelers and dealers in MLS, and they’ll need to clear cap space…..does it happen in the next couple of days? Will the potential turmoil throw off the machine that Chicago has become? Or will United just try to strike back against that 2-0 defeat at RFK earlier this year?

But next Saturday is a big day……the Metrostars Red Bulls are coming to town. Not staring up and coming US National Team ‘Superstar’ Jozy Alitdore (yes, it looks like Jozy is out of Jersey, and he’ll be taking the Bobby Convey route out of MLS by not playing while folks work out the actual transfer), but a lot of the same schmucks as last year.

Long time US National Team fans will find this phrase familiar: Claudio Reyna is experiencing back and hamstring issues. He hasn’t trained this week, and is perennially doubtful. World Cup qualifying must be close.

Scoreboard Watching

OK, United currently in last place. But this is MLS and things can change in a hurry. Pull for Chivas USA tonite (that’s not hard to do, they’re playing NY), Dallas Friday, and San Jose and Salt Lake City on Saturday….in addition to United, Houston on Sunday, and DC could be sitting in fifth place by the end of the weekend. OK, fifth place still isn’t all that great, but it’s a whole lot better than last (7th). United will also be with in a couple of games of the conference leaders.  Yeah, United needs some help, but they haven’t lost contact with the leaders.