Gettin Some Respect
With the team on their way to Chicago to defend first place tomorrow night (it really never gets old writing that) we thought we’d touch on a little of the buzz we’re getting from around the league. Check out this week’s episode of Extra Time from MLSnet below and hear what Greg and Shep have to say about RSL, the All-Star teams (more on that in a minute), and more…
That gets us to a topic we haven’t really discussed much here, the All-Star teams. With yesterday’s Olympic Team announcement MLS announced Coach Steve Nicol’s three All-Star replacements as well as 18-man “inactive” All-Star roster for next week’s match. RSL’s only representative on either list was midfielder Kyle Beckerman’s spot on the “inactive” list. No Javi Morales, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, etc. (we really could go on, but we’ll stop there.) From what we’ve heard here, Nicol made his selections based on the team he felt would win the match against West Ham United. What do you think? Do you think the right choices were made?
P.S. All this talk about awards got us thinking… Let’s fire up the Tony Beltran for Rookie of the Year campaign right now! The kid’s been a great addition to our much improved defense and consistent all year long. What do you think of his chances to win the award? Who is his main competition?
18 Jul 2008 01:17 pm RSL HQ 12 comments
RSL will get no respect until our team shoves it down the throat of every other team. Also, Beltran’s own goal will single-handedly keep him from being rook of the year. If he was on a different team, maybe he would win. We know where RSL stands with the league and other teams.
So, the time is now for RSL to kick some Fire butt. Maybe that will help.
Also, does Olave like chicken wings? I swear I had lunch next to him today. Maybe it was some other huge guy with an accent wearing Boca gear. Loooked like him too.
While RSLFO is at it, start up a Kries for Coach of the Year. Want to know why he won’t win? Its RSL.
I was livid yesterday when I found out that the new people added were Juan Toja and Jonathan Bornstein (I have no problem with Ralston since I feel he is deserving) to the all-star team. Its a freaking joke, they may have had decent years last year but what have they done this year? Even on the inactive list, how so many RSL players can be overlooked is mindboggling, even the addition of Beckerman seems a little odd to me, as much as I love him as our captain I think Morales, Borchers, Rimando may be more deserving than him. Im still glad he was chosen though cuz he’s a stud. No way I am watching the all star game this year.
Oh RSL got totally screwed over by both Garber and Nicols on the naming of replacements, as well as their picks.
I did a little blog post on the topic, can anyone explain how the hell Juan Toja gets picked before Javi Morales?
On the topic of All-Star game, and the fact that we’re hosting it next year who should be brought in to play against the MLS All-Stars? My vote would be: Benfica. Why? It has the largest registered following of any soccer team in the world, a strong team with exciting playmakers, would be a lot cheaper than Real Madrid and our ex-RSL man Freddy Adu plays there and would act as a way to link Utah to European soccer. I’m frankly sick of bringing in English teams, they seem so generic. Lets bring in a team with some flavor.
I think it may be good that RSL is getting hosed. Kind of like D Will getting hosed for the NBA all-star game. He played with a chip on his shoulder. Maybe Javi will be the same way and just want to stick it down everyones throats every week, which would be helpful with all the road games we have. Who knows though, thats just a hope.
As far as Beltran for Rookie of the year, I don’t think he’ll get the love. I don’t really know any of the Rookies besides him, but I think he makes some major errors. He set Schelotto up perfectly for that shot that luckily hit the post, then there is the own goal. Maybe those things are more noticed by a fan, especially the shot set up (since it turned out to not hurt RSL).
Sorry but respect needs to be earned. 3+ years of failure will do that.
But more importantly, until RSL has players that make $1 million, are Mexican superstars who suckerpunch or are rated hottest couple in Hollywood, they will probably be counted out too.
shep doesn’t have anything good to say about rsl. he’s a bozo
Well…remember a few years ago when Cunny go the golden boot…..but not named to the all star game? Seems pretty bogus to me.
Hey Nate, great call on Benfica. They are one of the most well respected teams around the world in the one of the least respected leagues. I’d pay a helluva lot more to see Benfica than I would West Ham or Celtic.
Benfica has the largest number of associates (registered paying supporters – around 160,000), not the largest fan base by a long shot. Personally, being a fan of Benfica, I would love to see them come, but realistically, the game itself wouldn’t be any more interesting than West Ham (also a decent team) as most people have no idea who they are and having 160,000 dues paying members is not the same as having millions of fans spread through every country in the world like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man U, Chelsea, Milan, etc.
Barcelona is a real possibility and would bring far more press coverage (something the entire league needs) than almost any other team.
With respect to the All-Star game, almost all the voting happened when RSL was riding the bottom of the table so it’s not really a big surprise RSL players weren’t well featured. They’ve only been at the top of a very close Western table for a few weeks and they’ve played so many more games than everyone else that they really have to rely on other teams loosing to maintain the lead they have. Olave has done some great things but he’s still unknown, Morales could probably be on the list, but look who his competition is for that spot.
My prediction: Beltran won’t make the top 5. I’m surprised it was brought up.