The Chaaammmmpeeeooons

Pep, Pep, Hooray!!!

Obviously this has to be all about the “Super Bowl” of soccer. A great night in Rome as Barcelona completed their treble with rookie coach Pep Guardiola besting the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

Some thoughts after a few hours and drinks:

- Much of the blame in the media is falling on Sir Alex’s shoulders. It’s a somewhat rightful criticis, but to me not as much tactically -- there were faults there, to be sure -- as much as for not having his players ready to play. To be honest, the team looked as flat as D.C. United looked for much of last season. They clearly were unhinged by that early goal, which was as one friend texted me “the classic definition of against the run of play,” and rarely threatened from the run of play. Aside from not having his boys raring to go, the inclusion of both Ryan Giggs and Anderson in the starting lineup left me scratching my head. I can see one, but not both. The team has done well with a number ten by committee over the past two seasons, but when Ronaldo was nullified there was really nowhere else for the offense to turn. The answer wasn’t to throw on every striker available and SAF couldn’t make changes to regain control of the midfield.

- One question I have is how does that game change if Edwin van der Sar makes the save on Eto’o’s early shot? ManU surely doesn’t fall apart as quickly and maybe finds a way to go in front. On that goal specifically, though, Vidic was abused in a way that a serious candidate for Player of the Year in the EPL should never happen -- no way Eto’o can go to the middle there. And sure it was a tough save for the aging Dutch ‘keeper to make, but I say he has to on that stage that early in the game. Tim Howard makes it, right?

- Xavi was named Man of the Match, at least according to the JumboTron during the celebration, but Carlos Puyol has to get some thought on that level. (Yes, it pains me greatly to agree with Tommy Smyth here.) The captain was not only solid playing out of position at right back, but flew up the flank like you expected Patrice Evra to do opposite him. Or Danny Alves, the guy Puyol replaced. It was interesting to see Guardiola tell Puyol to sit back and keep defensive shape in the waning moments as he wanted to make a run, only to see the Spaniard fly forward seconds later to nearly score -- even if he did get injured seconds later by a diving EvdS.

- Going back to tactics, it was interesting to see United play basically a 4-2-4 in the final minutes and still not generate chances. For me it seemed like there was too much individual play from Ronaldo, but with as invisible as teammates were you can understand the reigning FIFA Player of the Year trying to put the game on his shoulders. Unfortunately the Portuguese talisman has a tendency of not showing up in big games, aaand for the most part didn’t in this one. Can’t say he was necessarily bested by Lionel Messi, but the Argentine has to win the award this year, no?

- Something that won’t get enough press is the job the man in the middle did. Great refereeing on the biggest stage, just as we wanted. You know Michel Platini had to offer plenty of thanks to him after the final whistle to avoid controversy like he dealt with after Barça-Chelsea. Granted, it was a relatively “easy” game, but kudos to you Massimo Busacca.

- One last word, congrats to Thierry Henry. As my boy Kevin pointed out he’s got pretty much everything at this point. He’s won a World Cup and a Euro Championship. He’s won league titles in England and Spain, as well as France. He’s won the FA Cup and Copa del Rey. Was runner up twice for FIFA PotY. I hear he scored a few goals along the way. And, after Wednesday, he’s won Champions League, and against an old foe at that. Now he seems set to come to MLS (probably in a few years) and win nothing else with New York.

Other stuff:

- Bob Bradley named 24 guys to a group that will train in preparation for a pair of Cup qualifiers as well as the Confederations Cup. The biggest surprise might be the inclusion of Benny Feilhaber, though I’d probably go with Sacha Kljestan who hasn’t shown well with Chivas this year (at least Feilhaber can blame injuries for his lack of form). As always there’s a lack of options up front and we can only hope Jozy Altidore’s big toenails hold up so we’re not subjected to more Brian Ching than absolutely necessary. But with Frankie Hejduk injured, again, we could be seeing Marvell Wynne being thrown into the fire quite a bit in the Confed Cup.

Oh, and don’t sleep on these next two qualifiers. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the seemingly invincible Yanks come out of a trip to Costa Rica and hosting Honduras in Chicago with just a single point. Not saying it will happen, but if the odds were right (and available) in Vegas I’d put a few bucks on it.

- According to SoccerByIves, Peter Nowak will be named Philadelphia’s first coach on Friday. Interesting choice and one I didn’t expect, as it seems a step backward for the former D.C. boss who was thought to have European aspirations -- perhaps even the Polish national team? He certainly fits into the blue-collar ethic from Philly teams though, so that works. And you have to think Freddy Adu is cracking a smile heading to camp next week.

- There’s gotta be an MLS coach fired by the All-Star Game, yeah? For me it should be Schellas Hyndman in Dallas. But his contract is too big and too long -- Bushman claims to have that problem all the time -- for the frugal Hunt family to can. Juan Carlos Osorio should also be on the hot seat, but he at least makes it to the Everton game. Bruce Arena still has enough pull to make it through the season and keep rebuilding post-Golden Balls. Robert Warzycha was probably on the hot seat, but a mid-week win in San Jose probably is enough to keep him on for most of the year (again, back to the frugal Hunts).

However, that came at the expense of Frank Yallop whose San Jose side now has just 5 points in 10 games. And there’s no sign of getting better. Unless another Darren Huckerby-type signing can infuse the team in the second half, that’ll make three straight failures for Yallop following gigs with the Canadian national team and the Galaxy.

- Pat Walsh