USA 2-1 Uruguay: Own goal, and then a brawl afterwards. What mo, er, less could you ask for?

Midweek Mayhem Minutes from the Midwest couldn't have come any sooner.

Just when things couldn’t get any worse for the USA, Uruguay take a page of the playbooks of the ultras of Nueva Chicago and Tigres, and starts up a postgame brawl…in Toronto, Canada! Toronto, Canada, peoples! If there was a wrong place to start up a melee between young men (bring out my One Piece pirates, Naruto ninjas, and robot army for reinforcements!), it was here.

Baghdad, Iraq, should have been a place to do it. Send out some streakers were suicide bomb jackets to shut them up. But they never came to Toronto, and I don’t think they ever should, so to keep their youthful, troubled, weeaboo-free sanities intact.

The melee on the pitch tainted a 2-1 USA victory, thanks to the heroics of one Michael Bradley, and you wonder if the Ultimate Fighting leagues of the world were watching intently. Maybe some of these closet hooligans can make money off of this, albeit in a more proper setting.

Spirited group fight, wrong place to do it by far. End of post.

Advice well taken

I listened to a recent edition of Dave’s Soccer Podcast on ESPN 710, and was thrilled to have one of my messages read online to the world. While I was a bit bummed that Mr. Denholm was strongly against the idea of making a great source of PR with it (Logos, advertising, etc., etc.), I realized he’s a humble guy, and doesn’t need too much exposure. After all, this is it’s first year on the air, so it can’t be made too much of a deal yet.

I was very pleased, though, when Mr. Denholm agreed of bring more high profile guests to the show. Well, Dave, it’s really a no-brainer. See, in order to have a good podcast become a great one that will see the download rates rise, you gotta have some famous faces have a chat. You gotta have former MLS player currently playing in Europe and vice versa, as well as in Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and having some head coaches of team touring the U.S. wouldn’t hurt. You can get their thoughts on the state of football here in the States, and what they can learn from what we do. Jose Mourinho (who Chelsea side will be touring later), Abel Xavier (newly acquired Portuguese international from Middleborough) and David Beckham should be made guests. From these interviews you can segue to the recaps, and even have the guests chime in, just to get more water-cooler talks flowing like rivers.

And this will be critical to the success of the podcast, because with quality come some awesome windfall. This has the potential to set the standard when it comes to covering soccer podcast-style in the U.S., and the list of guests that can be on here...potential, potential, potential.

With that said, god bless you Dave Denholm, and good luck. Make a success of it.

Speaking of success…what is going on with Toronto FC!? Last time I checked, Danny Dichio, the son of Italian immigrants from Hammersmith, London, turned down a contract to play for Brighton and Hove Albion, and scored the first goal in Toronto FC history, sending the seat cushion Frisbees onto the FieldTurf pitch. Along with Edson Buddle, Kevin Goldthwaite and Maurice Edu, the TFC stomps Chicago Firer 3-1. And now, after the club management gave the fans a warning, they listened, and watched Andy Welsh via Ronnie O’Brien score the only goal in the midwekk match with Houston Dynamo, winning 1-0 in the pouringrain. This is the defending MLS Cup Champs, and they lost to an expansion team. The parity of play could not be any more apparent. This will not bode well for current bottom –feeders DC United, a team built on success. They visit the now-unfriendly confined of BMO Field Saturday.

Ryan Kobane of the Union, the guy who interviewed me for this week’s edition of the Union (the last of the semester and year), is Red Wings fan. I’m an Anaheim Ducks fan. Maybe I should have had second thoughts. Aw, just thinking about it is making me sick.

Finally, the Dirtbags have a chance to make a case for the conference title, and host a Regional, as they host UC Riverside. I hope they sweep. Just because. It will take a little steam off the final regular season series with Fullerton (thought I hope they sweep them too at Goodwin). Make it a habit of winning when it matters most, Mike Weathers. You have not excuse not to kick the habit.
Also, the Lakewood Lancer baseball and softball teams go on their postseason journeys. I hope Spud’s boys get to Dodger Stadium. I haven’t been to Chavez Ravine since an exhibition against the Angels years ago. I yearn to go back there to watch 5 games for the price of 8 dollars (or is it 9)? But they have to make to the final first. And just for good measure, I hope they face Wilson. You heard it here first.