Seattle Grinds the Timbers

Sunday night's match Portland Timbers at Seattle Sounders was not a blowout or demonstration of the superiority of one team over the other; it was a grind.  Hard and steady sending the ball through the rough field intent on planting seed. And both teams were hard at it.  Fierce in going at each other's goals.   Watching the match was so edgy that I couldn't sit in my mother's family room, but had to stand.   And my mother,  86 and trying to eat her dinner,  was continually distracted by the battle.  "why did he knock that player down?"  and then the realization that it was expediency and a gritty face-off between two excellent sides. "Oh," she'd say, "he had to stop him."  

The goal that won it was a serious disappointment.   After all,  our boys had managed to send beautiful leading passes through the Sounders' defense and onto the feet of our fleet and nimble forwards but to no avail.  Seattle's keeper read each attack and dammed our effort.  Ryan Johnson tumbling over the keeper in a one on one rush early on.   To give credit to our opponents,  they too put dangerous balls into our area,  befuddling even Ricketts the master keeper,  and leaving the outcome of the attack as loose as a toss of dice from a cup.

In my book, though,  the game was not all about Clint Dempsey, the fancy fella back from England.  The game was not about a letdown of our attack, for we were hounds to the hunt throughout the game and Valeri, Nagbe, Johnson, Wallace, and others were dangerous if not quite precise enough to take home the points.

The game was instead about the absence of Will Johnson and Diego Chara in the midfield.  For the first part of the season Johnson's canny play and Chara's non-stop energy have been disruptions to every team we've met.   Their absence was noticed.   Al Hassan played an excellent game I believe, giving his best to the defensive effort.   And Cap't Jack did as well.  But there was not the synergy in the middle that marked our efforts in the first half of the season.

The only other dissonance for me was the play of Kah on the back line.  He risked the game with histrionic reactions to the referee.  His tackle, drawing a yellow card, was not representative of the Timbers' style of play and added to the 'take no prisoners' tone of the match.   No team has won a championship through 'angry' play to my knowledge.   I hope that he can temper his behavior.  

We will be in the playoffs. I have confidence in that.  But whether we can progress in the playoffs depends on whether we can keep the core team healthy and whether we can maintain our poise.

In honor of Jimmy Conway, support the Alzheimer's walk on Sept 8th.

Dear Friends of Jimmy Conway:

It’s been a while since I was last in contact and I thought it would be a good idea to provide you with a brief update on Jimmy’s situation. After an extended period of seeking appropriate treatment for Jimmy he is, currently, in a local hospital. His disease requires extensive supervision, a constant assessment of his medications and his responses to them. Noeleen and her family are able to visit with Jimmy daily.  

I have taken the opportunity to visit with Jimmy, along with Noeleen, on a couple of occasions and while it is difficult to see Jimmy in his current condition, it is good to know that he is in good hands.

I still attend Timbers games and there’s not a single game passes without someone asking about Jimmy. He did so much for Portland Timbers and the fans love him dearly, as do countless others within this state who have benefitted from his work in the soccer community. We are still receiving notes of support from many of Jimmy’s fans at Fulham and ‘Bohs’ (Bohemians, Dublin) too.  

We will continue to walk as a mark of respect for Jimmy at the annual ‘Walk to End Alzheimer’s’ which, this year, will take place on Sunday, September 8^th at ‘Portland International Raceway’. We have re-formed our team from last year and will be participating as ‘Friends of Jimmy Conway’.

Here is a link to the official website. http://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk/OR-Oregon?fr_id=3635&pg=entry. Using this link you can register for the walk (while there are no registration fees – pre-event registration is recommended) and/or make a small donation to the Alzheimer’s Association. Again, our team is called ‘Friends of Jimmy Conway’. Last year we raised more than $5,000 and I’d like to think we can do similarly this year. If you are able to please consider a small donation to an Association who are intent on serving those who suffer from a wide range of conditions under the ‘dementia’ umbrella and to find a cure for Alzheimer’s.

I will provide a few updates by email but I’ll primarily use our ‘Fans of Jimmy Conway’ Facebook page for more regular updates before and after the event. Here is the link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jimmyconwayjct. Please feel free to add your notes of support for Jimmy and Noeleen.

Our team will consist of family and friends of Jimmy and Noeleen. Unfortunately, Jimmy will not be able to walk with us and Noeleen’s schedule will be dictated by Jimmy’s needs. We anticipate hosting representatives from all of the local soccer organizations Jimmy, and Noeleen, have served over the years and look forward to seeing you there. 

Thanks for your support.

Sincerely, 

Mick Hoban

Friends of Jimmy Conway

503-297-0844 (work)

mick@mickhoban.com 

The Lamar Hunt Cup- 2013

I have always loved the US Open Cup.  The idea of a cup competition which any team can enter,  any team can tumble the giants,  any team can aspire to reach beyond their normal fields of play is the stuff of legends.   Add to that the fact that the Cup is the oldest competition of its kind in the States,  and it says volumes about the place of football---yes, that football--in American sports history.  

So I am unusually charged up to have my hometown crew,  the Portland Timbers RCTID, claw their way back from a 0-1 deficit to Dallas to finish the quarterfinal match 3-2 with a gutsy and relentless battle for the win.   That puts the Timbers in a semifinal match against RSL,   also by chance their closest rival in the League table,  to go forward to the Open Cup championship.

This excites me.   It excites me beyond winning the MLS Championship.  Because the Open Cup Champions are inscribed on a long list of hallowed teams who,  through their love of football,  made the game an American game long before it hit the mainstream.   And carving their names into that list will, in my opinion,  be there long after individuals leagues and teams have been forgotten.   Being on that list would cement Portland's claim to be 'Soccer City USA',  a place where a sport which had no roots became a central part of the community's self-identity.  

The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.   Soccer.  Football.   Legends.

Who the heck is Ali Daie?

I read the news this week that Abby Wambach had passed Mia Hamm as the all time goal scorer in international women's soccer.   My attention was caught though by this statement embedded in the article  "the record for men's international soccer is 109 goals, held by Ali Daie of Iran."    What?   I was dumbfounded.   The leading international men's goal scorer is a guy from Iran?  A guy I've never heard of?  

I was particularly intrigued because Daie is from Iran, a country seen in so many ways as being at odds with the rest of the world.   And yet here was a football hero who was not just a national phenome but was in fact on FIFA's steering committee.

Daie was recruited by no less a footballer than Beckenbauer and played professionally in Germany though it seems his national team appearances were sometimes a conflict with his club commitments.

For comparison, the other top men's scorers are not necessarily the most obvious names. Following Daie is Ferenc Puskas, the brilliant Hungarian striker, who tallied nearly a goal per game for eighty five appearances, sixty some fewer than Daie's.

The tally board is worth looking over.  In part because the most effective strikers aren't necessarily household names.   Pele is merely the fifth on the list- his appearances being fewer than some other strikers.

Far down the column is the USA's homegrown champion,  Landon Donovan with forty nine goals in 144 appearances.

Worth thinking about,  this question of footballers and the satistics we all crave about their performances.