Zathras

Worse than Leonardo on Ramos in 1994? No blood, but fractured his skull... 115601[/snapback] That was accidental though surely. Tino's did no dammage as I think he caught him more with the inside of his upper arm, but it was certainly fun to watch. 115690[/snapback] 100% intentional

Can't be that effective then. 115676[/snapback] He didn't wear it until this year.

Tended to consider people who wore them puffs, but the guy above gets paid more for wearing it than for playing. Also, he's missed a year and a half due to concussions.

Trust me, Ramos had the ball. I've still got the game on tape (and was recently watching it in prep work for another video compilation.) 115624[/snapback] I'll take your word for it mate. I remember the game though. Strangely, even though England didn't qualify (or maybe because they didn't) I really enjoyed USA '94. You lot were unlucky to get Brazil in the last 16. Shite final like. 115626[/snapback] It was our own fault; we didn't come to play against Romania in the last group game b/c we had beaten Colombia and had 4 pts. That loss left us hanging on as a 3rd place team and at the mercy of Brazil. (Instead of Spain or Argentina, mind so it wouldn't have been much easier anyways.) The final was poor, but I felt Brazil were worthy winners. Gutted for Baggio though. In semi-related news, Romario just signed for a 2nd division club in Miami, so I'll get the chance to heckle him personally on June 11 when they're in town.

Trust me, Ramos had the ball. I've still got the game on tape (and was recently watching it in prep work for another video compilation.)

Pretty much ended his career in terms of effectiveness; was never the same player. Fractured his skull. 115591[/snapback] Remember it well. Always liked Leonardo too and I have a certain sympathy with him as he was getting his shirt pulled at the time but fucking hell! You can't expect to get away with that! 115599[/snapback] They both had each other's shrits in their hands, Ramos was trying to dribble around him at the time, so who was pulling who is questionable. I always liked Leonardo too, and even later in his career at PSG I thought he was a good player, but that elbow was worthy of a year ban.

After this World Cup he moved to Berlin where he was a huge flop and where he only got a handful of games. Sanneh had only one season where he was a regular first team player in Jormany and that in his first season with Nuremberg who were awful and just avoided the drop. In his second season he got demoted to the bench. He also played mostly as a midfielder IIRC. Other current American international players from the Bundesliga like Conor Casey aren't setting the world alight either. And that's despite the league being piss poor these days... 115598[/snapback] Sanneh was crap after the cup tbf; although he had quite a bad back injury IIRC (He's from my home town and have met him on many occasions.) He missed a good year with that injury and then came to MLS.... where he's a complete joke and his team's fans literally want him injured so that he can't play.... "American International" is quite a stretch for Conor Casey, mind. Don't overlook Steve Cherundolo, though; he's quite a good right back. (Don't get me started on Cletus' stint in Hannover, though )

Worse than Leonardo on Ramos in 1994? No blood, but fractured his skull...

Pretty much ended his career in terms of effectiveness; was never the same player. Fractured his skull.

Hillbilly-tastic. They should have had dungarees instead of shorts. Yeeee-Haw!! 115380[/snapback] The shorts worn in the cup were actually red, (rather spectacularly these shorts were worn with the other kit where the reds didn't match for the game against Braziil) And the alternative 'candy strip' kit was far worse. Wavy stripes and everything. Still not a patch on some of the early MLS kits, mind. Sadly I actually own that last one....

So now we're talkin' players from the mid-ninties? One thing about Cobi Jones is that he's god 164 caps No skill at all but plenty of pace and durability--he came on basically to be a punching bag against Mexico in Korea. Lalas is still a joke, though. It was amusing to see that hatchet man play. :grin: Wegerle was waaay to 'streaky' of a performer. 5 good games and then 15 crap ones. South African naturalized as opposed to being a real American player though, a hallmark of that era of the team. Donovan is a whiney bitch who only wants to live and die in LA. Hejduk never was any good. Still don't know how he was the one to go to Germany after France 98. Sanneh was spectacular in the World Cup and was a pretty strong defender for Nurenburg from what I recall. (you're right, though, I got the club wrong.)

Judging by the number of substitutions that both clubs used, neither, but I'll bet the MLS players are more motivated.

Pre-season friendlies tbh. I wouldn't read too much into results like a narrow loss to Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid. Do you really think that those teams wouldn't stuff MLS teams in a competitive match? 114548[/snapback] They're hardly competative matches for the MLS sides who all have more important matches to handle as well, but I'd agree with you that they're pre-season for those clubs. OTOH, I don't think that they'd stuff most of the MLS sides most of the time. Plenty of players who were cack in MLS have been quite good in other leagues: Simon Eliot (Fulham) Tony Sanneh (Hamburg) Luis Hernandez (Necaxa) to name but a few. The real problem is the lack of meaningful games. I think it's a problem that'll be solved with more teams and certain other 'format' changes. I'm still not certain that this is going to happen; I think the game in the US is going to follow more of the South American model than the old NASL days when we had Pele, Beckenbauer, Best etc. playing here. That model has been shown to not be viable in the US Market; far better to actually develop our own players and league with the odd player shipping off to England or Germany or somesuch if they want. Yeah, it may seem like a feeder league, but that's the model when so much of the sport is played in Europe, the players in the Americas are simply at a disadvantage regarding travel. Solano is a good example of this. Another aspect is the 'hip-hop culture' phenomenon which glorifies the 'gangta' behavior that is exemplified by a lot of basketball and football players. I think that this factors into the decline of baseball as well as there simply hasn't been that sort of a player in that game for some time. (That and the sheer number of steroid scandals.) I'm not sure how much of an affect it'll have on things, but you can be sure that as long as the best US Soccer can produce is Deuce it's not gonna happen.

Part of the problem for MLS, btw is the sheer number of games. The fixation in the US with the playoff format results in a 32 game regular season that means very little running up to the actualy meaningful playoffs at the end of the year. . . they're slowly working on that though and hopefully it'll get better as the number of clubs increases.

Pencilled on eyebrows and plastic breasts, hope the football is better? 113752[/snapback] I'd rather watch conference football tbh. 114539[/snapback] Eurosnobs like you hold the sport back in this country, tbh. Atmosphere is better in the USL (2nd division.) Level of play in MLS is actually getting pretty good. Took Fulham to task 4-1 and narrow losses to Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid last year in one of the weaker years league-round. Not great, but decent. The mid-table 2nd division teams are regularly good enough to stuff Sunderland, not that it's saying too much. CD CHIVAS USA-- well, the original Chivas club in Guadalajara, Mexico is a very 'patriotic' Mexican club--only employ Mexican players/coaches etc. The Club Deportivo Chivas USA experiment was an attempt to get the Mexican-American population in the Los Angeles area to come to games, but it hasn't really panned out as yet. We'll see if Club America (CD Chivas de Guadelajara's main rival) ever gets a club, though. They're probably the most hated club in the league after only one season

I am Mark Hammil

I presume we're paying them to take him?

Manager? Just name him monarch and be done with it. Who needs democracy? Leave it to the Iraqis.

I still like that one. Bit too much like a ref's shirt but otherwise I thought it was a nice design. (apart from the secondary image of the crest)

Solaris (w/ George Clooney) is possibly the worst movie I have ever seen........ RIP 111397[/snapback] Agreed, I've had more pleasure at the dentist. 111416[/snapback]

The original NES was the best game system ever. FACT. Sega Genesis was damn close though. And of the 'new generation' of consoles, the original playstation is still the best.

The one in the middle looks like a tranny 110482[/snapback] They all do tbh.

Bit of a trip, lyke.

Wimbledon away, 1997 First Newcastle game I attended. Ah, memories...

Yes, my uncle did die in those attacks. I may not respect what you say, but I will go as far as to die for your right to say it--that's defense of free speech. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that I won't ask you (nicely, I believe) to not say it if I (or in certain cases, others) find it offensive.