SOCCER: Olympic Flame-Out & Beckham’s Bosses

So much for the United States much-hyped Olympic soccer team. After blowing a chance to beat the Netherlands and secure passage into the quarterfinals last weekend by giving up a last second goal and being forced to settle for a 2-2 tie, the U.S. fell to Nigeria 2-1 in their last group match, thus eliminating them from the competition.

Oh well, it could have been worse. Four years ago, the U.S. Mens’s Team didn’t even qualify for the Olympic tournament. Some will argue that the U.S. was in a tough group…they were. But in any competition with only 16 teams, chances are that most groups are going to be pretty solid. Let’s not start getting all Bruce Arena now and hoping that we gain passage to the second round once the draw has taken place.

It’s not like that anymore. Everybody is good. And the U.S. continues to underperform. Coach Peter Nowak had all professional players at his disposal for the first time ever, and we still can’t make it to the quarterfinals. Michael Orozco’s early game red card obviously didn’t help, but who’s fault is that? You can’t blame Nigeria or the ref…Orozco should have done a better job of keeping his composure. He’s a full-blown pro in Mexico.

The U.S. team was missing Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley. I’ll admit that missing Adu probably hurt, but that was Freddy’s fault too…and Bradley’s second yellow for delay of game was just idiotic. Another tournament, another flame-out. Let’s keep looking to the future like everyone keeps talking about, it’s gotta be out there somewhere.

Changing gears…if you thought that Paris Hilton, Britney and even the Presidential race were enough drama for you, think again. How about the continual implosion of a soccer club that is the Los Angeles Galaxy. I’m sure David Beckham is thoroughly enjoying winning every 9th game or so. The Galaxy finally fired Alexi Lalas and accepted the resignation of half a season coach Ruud Gullit.

AEG’s Tim Leweike is dropping the hammer on the Galaxy and he should be. The team plays in the best stadium in the country and trains in perfect weather year round. What’s there to complain about besides three players (Landon, Ruiz and Beckham) eating up over half your cap space and leaving chump change for the rest of the squad. Don’t think for a minute that isn’t causing some resentment in the locker room.

The damage that Alexi Lalas has done to the club might take a lot longer than the rest of the season to fix. Gullit will go down as yet another foreign coach who came here, made lots of money, didn’t do much and then left.

The Galaxy ARE the laughing stock of Major League Soccer. Tonight, with rookie head coach Cobie Jones pulling the strings, they face stadium-mate Chivas USA on ESPN2. We’ll see if they can win their first game since the millenium or continue along their woeful ways.

It might also be a good time for AEG to put in a call to a former coach to see how happy he is in the midwest. He was the last guy in charge the last time the team was good during the regular season, which was a long, long time ago.

DEBATE: If you were David Beckham, would you want out of the Los Angeles Galaxy right now?

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Last post (s) by Mark Lincir

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