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April 2005
Habemus blogum footballismus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The white smoke emanating from the ajc.com conclave authorized the creation of a soccer weblog that aims to whet the appetite of the soccer-starved Atlanta fan.
But you don’t have to be from the ATL to participate. At Off the Ball, soccer is never off the wall. Unlike Joey Ratz, there will be no encyclicals of futbol infallibility forthcoming from your correspondent. To alter a chorus from Woody Guthrie, this blog is your blog, from Patagonia to the Balearic Islands. Or something like that.
Where to start? Close to home, of course. The Atlanta Silverbacks play their home opener Saturday against the hated Charleston Battery at the equally hated DeKalb Memorial Stadium. Team officials say they’re still on schedule to complete the seating portion of Silverbacks Park by April 2006, ideally in time for next season’s opener. Haven’t been by there lately to see the construction, but please point out if shovels are needed to help out. This area desperately needs a communal place for soccer. Desperately.
The local A-League — check that, USL First Division — team is a surprising 2-1. As usually, there’s been a lot of roster turnover, and three starters from a year ago — Gary Brooks, Adilson De Lima and John Ball — are in the MISL playoffs. Say what you will about the indoor game (and I’ve said plenty), for these guys it’s a decent enough paycheck.
On the national front, Landon Donovan has a candid interview in the current issue of Soccer America magazine detailing his reasons for returning to MLS. While his explanation is understandable, and he shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden for U.S. players overseas, he does come across as a bit of a baby. Amerikanischen doesn’t get in the lineup, pouts and leaves after three months? It sustains a perception of us that if we don’t get our way, we storm back home, unable to tolerate the various ways of the world. If there’s something else behind his move, Landon isn’t saying.
Finally, my beloved Liverpool survived Stamford Bridge and drew Chelsea 0-0 Wednesday in the European Champions League semifinals on Wednesday. Naturally, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, aka the Evil Genius, instantly said the pressure is on the Reds protecting their home turf at Anfield next Tuesday. The game wasn’t great stuff, but the nerve-wracking tension was unbearable. So will the off-season drama surrounding Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, upon whom Mourinho lustily has his eyes with the June transfer window in mind.
Where to finish? Here, at least for now.
Soccer Hall of Fame to honor three U.S. pioneers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the decade since they helped open American eyes to international soccer, Tab Ramos, John Harkes and Marcelo Balboa have enjoyed elder statesman status. Their successors on the U.S. men’s team have unfailingly paid homage, and their pioneering efforts have been rewarded with television work and other honors.
It’s fitting that all three will be paid the ultimate honor together this summer when they are inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame. Their election, announced this week, signifies the importance of the late 1980s and early ’90s, when soccer was paid scant attention in the United States.
They were college kids in 1990 when the U.S. team played in the World Cup for the first time in 40 years. Although the Americans were overmatched in their three games in Italy, they generated attention leading up to the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
Harkes was the first American to score a goal in England’s F.A. Cup while playing for Sheffield, and he captained the U.S. team until a row with then-U.S. coach Steve Sampson before the 1998 World Cup ended his international career.
At the height of his career, Ramos was regarded as the best player to come out of America. Balboa, a long-haired, bearded defender, is perhaps most famous for his bicycle kick against Colombia in the 1994 World Cup that nearly resulted in a goal. He’s now doing color commentary on U.S. team games for ESPN2, while Harkes has been a studio commentator on Fox Soccer Channel’s MLS highlights show. Ramos and Balboa are three-time World Cup participants, and Harkes was on two of those teams. All three enjoyed modest success in MLS, although injuries limited Ramos’ playing days.
Coming up short this time was 1990 World Cup midfielder Bruce Murray, who played for the Atlanta Ruckus, coached in the Norcross Soccer Association and presently is men’s soccer coach at Harvard. Already inducted is defender Paul Caligiuri, who scored the goal in 1989 that ended the long American World Cup drought.
Their accomplishments may seem like ancient history as U.S. soccer has gained increasing respect, but they helped bring soccer out of the dark ages in America.
New-look S’backs
Another season, another roster overhaul. The Atlanta Silverbacks have only a few holdovers as they prepare for their home opener against Charleston on Saturday (5:30 p.m., DeKalb Memorial Stadium). Four returnees were in the lineup for the Silverbacks last weekend as they opened their season, including veteran midfielder Alex Pineda Chacon and defender Joe Afful. Gone are Leslie Fitzpatrick, now with Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer, and striker Mac Cozier, who is still under contract but is back in his adopted hometown of Charleston.
Spitting mad
Olympique Marseille goalkeeper Fabien Barthez has been suspended for three months for spitting on a referee in a French League 1 match. Barthez, who also is France’s No. 1 keeper, has been hinting at retirement in the wake of the incident… . Roma’s Francesco Totti, who was suspended at the Euro 2004 for spitting on a Danish opponent, has been sidelined with disciplinary issues again, this time in Italy’s Serie A. He will sit five matches for hitting and kicking a foe in a 2-0 loss to Siena last weekend… . Bolton’s El Hadji Diouf is facing punishment for a spitting incident in the English Premier League.
Hostilities renewed
The Celtic-Rangers matchup is always pent up with sectarian as well as soccer emotions, and when the Glasgow teams meet today to renew their Glasgow derby, it will be with the Scottish Premier League title on the line. Celtic leads Rangers by two points, and the kickoff is during the lunchtime hour to reduce the likelihood of inebriated fans adding to the tensions.
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Meet Wendy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wendy Parker, an ajc.com online sports producer, has covered soccer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1995. She reported from the Women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2003 as well as the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and men’s World Cup in 2002 from Korea and Japan. She has chronicled the various near-death experiences of men’s professional soccer in Atlanta, and the rise and fall of women’s pro soccer with the three-year run of the Atlanta Beat and the Women’s United Soccer Association.
Her playing career was all too brief, as she was forced into retirement with falling arches while “competing” in co-ed soccer in another lifetime. In just one season of play in an East Cobb league that shall remain anonymous (because she forgot the name), her moniker was Henrietta Handball. Since then, she resolutely has refused all smarmy requests to participate in media exhibitions, avoiding further ridicule beyond the words that fall under her byline.
But she continues to torture herself by cheering for Liverpool FC. She can occasionally be found absorbing the pain at the Brewhouse Cafe, a tiny slice of nirvana in a town crazed by the feats of the neckless cyborgs of helmetball. When “O Jogo Bonito” finally prevails as the one true football, she wants to be there to blog about it.
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