FIFA Makes Yet Another Mistake

FIFA Rankings Get Worse

Marc Connolly takes a look at the changes FIFA made to their ranking system for national teams. He seems to have a fun time pointing out how FIFA somehow managed to make it worse than it was before the changes. You couldn't find a serious soccer fan that truely felt the old way of ranking was accurate enough. The USA should've never ben ranked 5^th. But the new system is even more odd. Small teams that weren't good enough to qualify for the World Cup are ranked higher than teams that qualified. In some cases teams that advanced out of tough group such as Australia are ranked lower than teams that haven't qualified for a the couple of World Cups! This seems like a classic case of an organization getting it in their head tha tthey need to do something and assuming anything they do would make the situation better. Not only does is the new system less accurate than the one it replaces but in implementing it FIFA looks incompetent. I can't blame Connolly for laying into them for these changes, can you?

Racism In German

Aachen and Borrusia Last Kick reports that clubs Alemannia Aachen and storied Borussia Monchengladbach are in hot water with the German federation after supporters for both clubs traded in racial chants during a recent match. Unfortunately this isn't an isolated incident in Germany nor in Europe. Italy has been struggling for years with it's fans whether it's racist chants or banners. Emmanuel Olisadebe , who was born in Nigeria but is a Polish citizen and plays for Poland's national team, dealt with racism for years while playing in Poland including have fans throwing bananas at him. When will race relations in Europe improve? How can Europe learn from the US in confronting racism in their sports?

Major League Soccer Goalkeeping Crisus?

MLS GKs : All Washed Up? Climbing The Ladder takes a good look at the state of goalkeeping in the MLS today. One of the questions the US is facing is where is our next Kasey Keller? Who is our next Brad Friedel? Tim Howard seems to have started the season off well with Everton. But at best he lives up to the reputation of one of those 2. Worse, the MLS seems to be full of a lot of American goalkeepers that shouldn't be too old for a GK but seem to be losing it. Well, Tony Meola is old. It's probably time for him to hang up the boots. But guys like Scott Garlick COULD have a couple years left in him. But he seemed to be losing it last year with FC Dallas. And this year with Real Salt Lake his frequently been caught either flat footed or beat at the near post. Neither one is a good sign that he's going to be good enough to be a started next year. Where are the new young talented American goalkeepers? Is Brad Guzan over rated? Can Troy Perkins play well when he's not protected by DC United's defense? Will DJ Countess finally make it now that he's found a team in Scandanavia? And whatever happened to Adin Brown?

The Bung

The BBC will be showing their much talked about expose tonight. They've looked into some managers in the game in England to see if they've been taking payments for player transfers. This has a been a problem in the game in years past. One would like to things have progressed beyond it but we'll just have to watch to find out, won't we? Soccernet's preview for the show is here. What do you think? Do you think any premeirship managers will be exposed by the show? Or will this turn out to be a stunt for ratings?

Rapids Fishing For A Goal Scorer

Rapids New Target The Colorado Rapids need a goal scorer badly. Their Argentine Niko does a decent job. But he's often played out of position wide left by Claviijo. Furthermore he's not the big striker that Clavijo yearns to play up top. We can see this with Thiago Martins repeatedly starting during the last half of the season. He works hard, holds the ball up well for the MLS, and pressures the defense well. But he can't score. More accurately, he couldn't hit the broad side of a bard with a laser guided ball. Despite having only 1,074 minutes this year, Martins has 36 shots but only 1 goal. A few weeks ago Clavijo brought the Liberian Melvin Tarley in on loan from the Minnesota Thunder. He hasn't had even a sub appearance on the pitch to date. It's looking like he gave up a 4th round supplimental draft pick to get an extended trial with Tarley. So far Clavijo doesn't seem to like what he sees. It looks like the Rapids are looking to bring 23 year-old Cam Weaver into to the Rapids. He played in a recent reserve game for the Rapids. He's 6' 4" and listed at 190. He clearly has the size to be a dominant target forward. He put up the kind of numbers that make one think he could make the step up from USL -1 to Major League Soccer. This year for Seattle he did this :

Minutes	Goals	Assists	Shots	Fouls
2183	18	3	50	60

It was enough to tie Romario for the league's scoring title. It was a record for a rookie in USL-1. He made the USL-1 all XI for 2006. Luckily for the Rapids Seattle missed the playoffs by a point. Now they get to take a look at the kid. Are there other a-league players that you feel deserve a look from Major League Soccer teams?