Because FC Dallas doesn't have a game scheduled for the October 9 and 12 friendly dates, Brek Shea and Heath Pearce are the only MLS players called into camp. Right now the home page of Major League Soccer Soccer has a hilariously unflattering picture of Pearce up, it's well worth –
Hm? At home against Colorado on the 9th? Oh. Well, maybe Bob has money on the Rapids making the playoffs, or something.
[EDIT – As you see in comments, though, apparently the Dallas players are only going to be called in for the game on the 12th. ….which means Shea and Pearce are called in on merit, rather than simple local availability. Otherwise, you'd have thought McInerney and Le Toux would have been considered. Not sure that would have been a bad idea…Shea's a lot younger than Le Toux, but…meh, I'm not the coach…although I would hope Mac gets his shot at SOME point]
Since the Galaxy have clinched a spot, Bradley could have gotten away with calling in Omar Gonzalez, and maybe even that young #10 the Galaxy have. I suppose it would have spoiled a chance for Philadelphia fans to see Landon, though.
Three totally new faces are called in. There's Eric Lichaj, and you know, it's not that easy to break into Aston Villa's lineup. I don't care what those people in Newcastle say.
There's Germany Jones, who, in 2014, will be 32 years old. Jones is included ahead of Ricardo Clark, which I choose to read as a belated apology.
And then there's Shea, who just recently lost $1,000 in a bet on whether it's legal to tackle Chris Albright from behind and bump the linesman afterwards. He'll be fresh for the friendlies, what with having missed the last two Dallas games.
Both Jones and Shea have well-earned reputations as head cases, which tells me we're in for a fun ride this cycle.
Along with Clark, the people who really have to be heartbroken about this are Freddy Adu and Sacha Kljestan. Scott French says Kljestan has a bad ankle as well as bad form, and Freddy…well, who the hell knows at this point. They're both awfully young for the compost heap, and four years is a painfully long time. Maybe they can both get hot a month or two before the World Cup, then get called in and totally misused.
I'm having a little trouble with "Brek Shea, future of American soccer," but on the other hand, Juergen Klinsmann wanted the right to call a lot more MLS players than that for games like this. I realize "integrity of the playoff race" is a laugh line, especially around north Texas tonight, but let's face it. There are more fans to be won and kept by having MLS teams intact for important games than there are for Nats experimental matches.
Anyway, this is more about Holden and Feilhaber and Bedoya than about Shea. I hope.
Meanwhile, closer to home….
Mike Watt didn't actually write these lyrics about the undead New York Cosmos, but you could have fooled me:
Yes, I've noticed Don Garber and the Red Bulls making gooey eyes at this version of the Cosmos, something they never used to.
However, before you get too excited, remember this. Terry Byrne is to David Beckham as Peppe Pinton is to Giorgio Chinaglia. Be careful what you wish for, especially if the wish is "I sure hope history repeats itself!"
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