Mark Lincir

If the Los Angeles Galaxy makes the Major League Soccer playoffs this season, I will puke. It doesn’t matter if I’m washing down a $50 piece of lobstertail with a shot of Cristal…I will throw it all up if the most overrated and under-peforming team in the history of Major League Soccer makes it to the not-so-exclusive party that is the MLS playoffs.

Soccer is not a game of who can play the best last two weeks of the season. It’s a game that’s all about gobbling up points. You win a lot and you put big-time distance between you and your chasers. You share points with your opponents quite often and you’ll find yourself in the mix, but still battling. But lose as much as the Galaxy does and you should only find yourself booking tee times the day after the last game of the season, not getting ready for a chance at the title.

The only title that the Galaxy should be getting ready to shoot for is the worst managed club in recent soccer history. Remember folks, this is a team that USED to be good during the regular season. Sigi was the coach, they had a new stadium, Landon was still in San Jose and the Galaxy were WINNING (I know it sounds unbelievable, but it is true…you can look it up)!

How novel a thought is that? To win during the regular season. Well, unfortunately it doesn’t matter, because you get into the playoffs in MLS if you have a face. So now we’re in familiar territory once again. The Galaxy have won a single game in over 90 days and they still have a shot at the playoffs.

Forget Beckham and Landon…I’ve seen enough of them this season. I want to see quality teams who play good soccer more often than not in the playoffs…and that is NOT the Los Angeles Galaxy this season.

Good teams should be rewarded, bad teams should stay home and let the guys who actually came out to play from April thru October continue on their quest. A quest that should be earned, not given.

Hopefully, MLS will change their playoff format more next year to make it even more difficult to get in…so not just anybody can come knocking on the door at the 11th hour and still think they can get into the VIP room.

QUESTION: Who ruined the Los Angeles Galaxy and will they EVER be good again?

Mark Lincir

I hate to admit that I was home on Saturday night to watch the Los Angeles Galaxy “play” against D.C. United, but I’m old and married now and a nice quiet night at home is the stuff dreams are made of nowadays.

Unfortunately I spent most of the evening wondering why teams in Major League Soccer suck so much at defending and why referee Terry Vaughn didn’t get the memo about cleats up tackles being straight red cards.

He did red card D.C. United’s Marc Burch for a needless, yet harmless whack at the back of Beckham’s legs…but that was after Galaxy players Alan Gordon and goalkeeper Josh Wicks made reckless and studs up challenges on D.C. United comeback kid Santino Quaranta without suffering the proper consequences.

But we all know that Beckham gets protection and a guy like Quaranta, who at one time looked to be a very promising talent, doesn’t get anything but a bunch of rash challenges all over his shins for a fraction of what Beckham makes. We also know that Terry Vaughn won’t be refeering in a World Cup anytime soon (Attn Terry: running around all day like a madman doesn’t make you a good ref…but knowing the game does - good luck with the second part).

My problem with MLS right now is that I don’t think it’s entertaining, and the quality is subpar. I think that people who think the level of play in the league is better now than it used to be are high on a combination of crystal meth, Grey Goose and highly-potent stupid pills.

Some of the settings are definitely better, and give the league a ton of credit for the soccer specific stadiums that seem to be sprouting up everywhere. But the quality of play seems to be a mish-mash of styles all trying to play their own way…which doesn’t come across as entertaining at all.

Or maybe I’ve just gotten spoiled by too much good soccer. Just this weekend, from the comfort of my own couch, I was able to watch Man Utd vs Arsenal, Milan vs Lazio, Real vs Racing and Man City vs Portsmouth (those are the FULL games I watched…believe me, I watched pieces and highlights of many others).

Scattered amongst those teams are the greatest names in the game…and then I’m supposed to give a crap that Landon Donovan actually showed up to play and scored a few goals against a Junior Varsity looking D.C. United team?

I don’t think so…

Blame cable, blame DVRs, blame whatever you like…the bottom line is that I can’t watch bad soccer anymore…and I won’t. I don’t need to. That’s something that MLS needs to be careful of. With the evolution of FSC, Goltv and Sentanta…we can all just sit back and let the Robinhos, Rooneys, Rauls and Patos come to us.

The level of expectation has been raised all across the board…and will never be lowered again. And that’s a good thing, for all of us.

QUESTION: Would you rather watch a 5-2 game that features no defending whatsoever (i.e. the Galaxy vs D.C. United the other night)…or a well-defended 2-1 outcome?

Mark Lincir

Years ago when I used to come home from a soccer game or a late night out with the boys with my face slightly re-arranged or moderately mangled, my wife used to say something that to this day I will never forget. “Mark…you may like to fight, the problem is…you might not be very good at it.”

Tonight as I watched the United States National Team take on Trinidad and Tobago from Toyota Park outside of Chicago, I couldn’t help but feel the same way as Michael Bradley floated long ball after long ball right onto the heads of the T&T defenders.

Michael…you might like to send the long ball, the problem is…you’re not very good at it. Now, I must admit, I do have a problem with how much hype and how many minutes that the coach’s son is getting. But in his defense, he is now plying his trade in the Bundesliga and does remind me of the defensive central midfielders of the past.

His biggest problem is that he wants and gets the ball a lot, but against good teams he isn’t quick enough with it at his feet and his vision needs plenty of work. But enough about Bob’s son, he scored a nice flick-on goal to open the scoring and still does a pretty good job of protecting the back four. But I think coach Bob Bradley will have some serious decisions on his hands when the big-time games finally do roll around (South Africa 2010).

You’ve got Freddy Adu, Maurice Edu, Sasha Kljestan, Bradley, Dempsey, Beasley and Landon competing for four or five coveted spots. Landon can’t play up front against quality teams, so he’ll have to battle with everyone else for time in the midfield.

I did like the fact that the U.S. finished a few nice goals against an incredibly inferior team. Dempsey’s crack from the right side in the 18th minute was the class of the evening. It was good to see Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching finish one with his noggin in the 57th minute.

So what do we do with Landon in big games? Bench him! That’s what. Here’s my lineup against a quality team when everyone’s healthy.

Howard in goal…Cherundolo at right back (though I’m not sold at all on him, it beats Frankie Hejduk)…Boca and Onyewu in the middle for now, though I’m not sold on them either…Pearce is becoming the go-to guy at left back, but that’s just because there’s apparently a shortage of left backs in a country of 300 million people.

In the midfield, this is where I get creative…I go with Adu, Edu, Kljestan, Bradley and Dempsey all floating around. Up front, it’s not great, but not as bad as Josh Wolff and Taylor Twellman as I’d go with Brian Ching and Jozy Altidore.

Bob’s got to play this lineup as much as possible…and though I’m usually all over his son, I think he might do as long as he’s comfortable grinding away defensively and being responsible for getting the ball to the feet of Adu and Kljestan…and not lobbing the ball to the heads of the opposition’s defense all day long.

My man of the match was Fulham’s shaker and baker Clint Dempsey. He plays with reckless abandon on offense and plenty of attitude on defense. He’s not your proto-typical US Soccer pretty boy and he makes things happen. Now, if he can only move onto a bigger and better club.

Now I know you’re gonna say that Landon played well and always deserves to be on the field…and I agree with you if it’s against a minnow like T&T…but against the giants, your boy belongs on the bench.

Around the world with qualifiers, I’d like to know what happened to Portugal in their loss against Denmark. Denmark!? Come on! How about England blasting Croatia in Croatia 4-1? Good to see Cappello doing solid things with one of the world’s most talented lineups. Give Finland a hand for holding Germany to a 3-3 draw too. Don’t forget to start planning your excuses for calling into work because next week there are some quality Champions League games on tap.

QUESTION: Countries like Holland and Spain have NEVER won a World Cup…do you think the U.S. has any chance of EVER winning soccer biggest prize?