The Phantom at Estadio Azteca!

The Phantom in Mexico!

Welcome back to the IMOTGP blog, football fans, as international week is over. As you all know, the Phantom has once again journeyed to one of the sport's most venerable venues with a trip to see Mexico's easy 2-0 win over Canada on Tuesday.

Fresh off a 3-0 win last Friday over the same opponents, El Tri took command as Eintracht Frankfurt bust Marco Fabian was hacked down in the area in the first half and Andres Guardado converted the penalty. That set the stage for Tecatito Corona to strike right before halftime, as you can see below.

 

It was a rather routine and drab affair and some supporters voiced their opinion after half-time that El Tri should have made it 'tres' gols. Don't get it twisted folks, they were hardly booed off the field. It's just that the match didn't match the festive atmosphere that saw the Phantom downing his cerveza and chanting for Chicharito like the rest of the supporters. Of course, we at the IMOTGP blog wanted Chicha in there since Champions League-chasing Leverkusen have a match Friday against Wolfsburg.

In fact, he may not play at all according to Leverkusen boss Roger Schmidt, who told his team's website: "Chicharito only arrived back on Thursday morning. We sent him to bed first. He is used to making those long journeys. I’ll talk to him on Thursday evening to see how he feels." 

The bottom line after this round of World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF is that home teams outscored their opponents 17-0 in Tuesday's six games. Don't read into any result from any of those matches to determine the true value of any of these feeble footballing flops. For now, Mexico is the top-ranked team in the region and the Azteca is officially the favourite venue in the region for the IMOTGP blog thanks to the fan who bought the Phantom a cerveza! You can click on this sentence to see more from Tuesday night at Estadio Azteca.

A New Low

MEXICO CITY - The historic 100th post in IMOTGP is the first from outside the United States. And the blog has stumbled back to our hotel after watching a CONCACAF power do what it is supposed to do on the road - cruise past one of the hapless teams in the region.

Of course, the match we watched here was Chicharito Hernandez and company strolling past useless Canada to make it a maximum nine points in its group. There really isn't any excuse to drop too many points in this semifinal stage.

Which brings us to the match we didn't see, the horrifying and historic United States loss to Guatemala. If you are wondering how big a deal that is over here, it's not. The top three stories on SportsCenter were Mexico's win, the Brazil-Uruguay match and the Golden State Warriors winning. The blog had to wait halfway through SC to see the lowlights, though goalkeeper Paolo Motta did make some amazing saves.

There is nothing this blog needs to say that Matthew Doyle already hasn't in his piece. We encourage you to watch the YouTube video in his post to see what kind of coaching our team is getting. If you want more, read what Ives Galarcep had to say.

All we can say at this blog is that we were at a bar full of joyous Mexicans following the US match by phone while commiserating with two kind Australians whose football team also is terrible. Even a drink laced with cachaca couldn't lift the IMOTGP spirits.

The United States should pick up the final nine points in this group. But does it really matter now? It is this blog's position that we are more concerned that John Brooks take the field against Monchengladbach next Sunday. And what kind of practicing allows him to get hurt in Guatemala? How does that happen? It's just one of many questions that need to be asked.

Here in Mexico, there are no questions after a beatdown that can no longer be expected by its 'rival' up north. They have been hailed for producing a master class. At least someone has class in this region.

Adios amigos!

We here at the IMOTGP blog would like to confirm the rumours that yes, we will be on the road during the international break checking in on the United States' border rivals in football, Mexico and Canada. We will be in Cuidad Mexico (under an assumed name, of course, to keep away the football paparazzi).

Because of the uncertainty surrounding Wifi in our unnamed location, the blog may be on hiatus for a few days.  Rest assured, we will be back to fill you in on all the juicy subplots as Mexico and Canada renew one of CONCACAF's most thrilling  non-existent rivalries.

Why the MLS is All 'Mixed' Up - UPDATED

It's true that there is plenty to laugh about with the United States football team with Jurgen Klinsmann in charge. The latest is how he often always calls up Mix Diskerud, who has drawn headlines for being named the most overrated player in MLS.

Fine, we get it. Diskerud sucks and that's a fact.  But the player poll revealed plenty more about the MLS than that obvious point. And what it showed is that if you were ever left scratching your head about why MLS players make the decisions on the field they do, just look at what goes through their brains when they answer simple questions.

First off, let's look at the other names on the list of "overrated" players. Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, Giovani Dos Santos, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey. Does the IMOTGP blog sense a touch of jealousy among the MLS rank and file?

We get it, Pirlo cares more about drinking wine and Deuce is not always loose but those players all have played and succeeded to varying degrees in real football leagues. Even dumber is that the players cited salaries as their reasoning.

"I'm not saying Michael Bradley isn't a good player, but not for what he's getting paid," one player said.

What kind of rationale is that? Bradley didn't hold MLS ransom for the salary.  Plus don't these idiots not realize that football is a team game anyway? This type of jealousy - common in U.S. sports - is not applicable in football.

UPDATE: The dumbest comment goes to this idiot rambling about Pirlo. Keep in mind that Pirlo just started last year in the Champions League final against Barcelona.

"Pirlo. The league needs to get away from guys who are 34 years old and can't move because the league is really athletic and the quality of play isn't as bad as they think it is. You look at Pirlo and it's like, 'You can't move, so why am I going to sit in and let you pass?' I'm just going to hit you and run for a full 90 minutes."

In real leagues, everyone understands the pecking order and underperforming players get sent to the bench. Look at Adnan Januzaj or Memphis Depay if you want to understand what we are talking about. Over at AC Milan, a stud like Keisuke Honda was banished to the bench earlier this season before working his way back into the lineup and helping them turn around their season. Last we checked, these MLS players above are all in the starting XI every week.That's overrated?

Which brings us to Omar Gonzalez's recent comment about playing in LigaMX. Said Gonzalez when asked why the move has brought out the best in him: "To be honest, we have like five center-backs who can play in my spot, so I have to be 'on' every single day and make sure that my game is right, because they could step in and just take my position."

Gonzalez is right and that makes even more of the MLS chatter mindless banter. 75 percent of these idiots think MLS will win the CONCACAF Champions League soon. Why? Last we checked, there is as much evidence to think this will happen as there is that Donald Trump's fictional economic policies would work. 

Even worse is that 50 percent of the MLS players polled believe the champion could finish between 10th and 15th in the Premier League - which means in a group of teams like Everton, Watford, and Swansea. Do these morons even watch football?

Look at this idiot: "Sixth. Guys would play in that league and figure it out. I think guys in this league are a lot better than people give them credit for."

At least one player knows the truth: "Relegated. The best MLS team would get relegated every year in the Premier League. An MLS All-Star team would fight to [survive] in the bottom half."

Here's hoping that the MLS relegates itself out of the headlines with nonsense like this spewing from players who believe they should be paid more. We know they should be heard from less.








 




 

International break update: The race for the Bundesliga Champions League Spots!

As we head into the final international break of the football season, it is worth looking at the Bundesliga standings to see who will win the league.  Now we know what you are saying, well it's a two-horse race between Bayern and Dortmund. Well you would be wrong!

Let's explain. Atletico boss Cholo Simeone always talks about his team's aim is to finish first in its table, which excludes powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid - even though the Atleti won La Liga in 2014. Well the same situation applies in Germany. The other teams aren't competing with Bayern and Dortmund - possibly two of the four or five best teams in the world. So let's see who will win the "Simeone table" in the Bundesliga.

Hertha     48 pts
(Home: H96, Darmstadt, Bayern. Away: Gladbach, Bayer 04, Hoffenheim, Mainz)

Schalke   44 
(Home: Bayer 04, Dortmund, FCA.  Away: Ingolstadt, H96, Hoffenheim, Bayern)

Gladbach 42  
(Home: Hertha, Hoffenheim, B04.    Away: Ingolstadt, H96, Darmstadt, Bayern)

Bayer      42
(Home: Hertha, Wolfsburg, Frankfurt, Ingolstadt. Away: Cologne, Schalke, Gladbach)

Mainz      41
(Home: Hertha, FCA, Cologne, HSV.  Away: Wolfsburg, VfB, Frankfurt)

Obviously Hertha have a pretty tough schedule. But we think 10 points (wins over H96, Darmstadt and Hoffenheim and a draw in one of the 3 other away games) may be enough and 11 with two of those games in draws would certainly be. That puts Berlin on 58 or 59. 

Let's say it's 58. Then Gladbach would have to win five, draw one and lose maybe to Bayern to match that. Leverkusen would have to win five, draw one and lose once to match that.  Schalke would have to win five to pass Hertha or win four plus get two draws to match the capital side - and we assume they get 0 points at the Allianz and who knows how many they get in the Revierderby versus BVB. Leverkusen and Mainz are the only clubs in this list with four home games left but Leverkusen play both Schalke and Gladbach away.

Hertha play Mainz the last day so 05 need to make up four points in the next six matches to have a chance at catching Pal Dardai's men. And Hertha, of course, could win at the Coface Arena if necessary.

Bottom line: If Hertha beat Hannover, Darmstadt and Hoffenheim, the Champions League will be coming to Berlin!

Maybe Adam Belgeri was right ...

The great Cristiano Ronaldo was on target in Sunday's 4-0 win over Europa League powerhouse Sevilla but he also stunned the football world when he did this.

Real Madrid's next game is at FC Barcelona, which already handled Ronaldo with a 4-0 beating in Madrid on Matchday 12. Los Blancos are 10 points behind the best team on the planet.

Here comes the Arsenal!!!

It should come as no surprise that when morale was at its lowest, Arsenal came out firing at Goodison Park and cruised to a 2-0 victory over Everton.

It's obvious the Gunners will not win a trophy for the first time in three seasons after back-to-back FA Cups since Watford knocked them out of that competition. Barcelona then did the same later in the  week with a 3-1 victory for a  5-1 victory on aggregate that was worse than this blog even predicted.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez spent the build-up to the loss talking about how great Wenger is. Obviously Martinez is right since he never beats Wenger and can't even manage the Toffees properly.

Wenger insists he is the right man to lead the Gunners in the future, going so far as to say he  "built the club on his own."


"Look, I have no doubt about my huge motivation," said Wenger.

"I just think I built the club...in the way I did it with hard work, without any external sources.

Wenger goes onto to say; "I think if you compare the club with the moment I arrived and the club where it is today, we have moved forward and without any money from anybody."

We say that Arsene Wenger should get another 20 years as Arsenal boss with another top-four finish in sight! And some lucky fans may see him coach against our beloved MLS!!!

Football Lifer Calum Angus Dishes on his Career

It was sad news indeed for the IMOTGP blog when we learned that footballer Calum Angus has retired.

Who is Calum Angus, you may ask? Well he has some notable connections for the U.S. fan. He's a former college teammate of U.S. star Tim Ream at Saint Louis University.  That's the same school that IMOTGP rabble-rouser Adam Belgeri also went to, though he did not attend at the same time as Angus. Belgeri, like Kobe Bryant, was forced to play an easier sport than football and chose American baseball.

Another quality blog, proven quality, has scored this exclusive interview with Angus. That's right, it's a scoop that ESPN, Fox or the others couldn't grab and shows you the power of the humble blogs like yours truly.

You can read about how the Englishman made the Premier League (sort of) and then played in the United States, Sweden and India in a storybook footballing career.  If that's not enough, here's exclusive video of Angus talking about joining an Indian team.  Enjoy!

An Important News update for our Followers

Hello football fans.  We have made an important change here at the IMOTGP blog and that is to change our address to imotgp.blogspot.com  Please update your bookmarks, mobile devices and web browsers accordingly.

You see, the acronym IMOTGP has become synonymous with the blog so it was rather unwieldy not to have that in our name. Also the top four items under Google for 'IMOTGP' are for this blog so we wanted to be more consistent with what our international brand is.

This change is effective immediately. It won't be easy since links to the old address will be dead. This is particularly relevant to those of you who like to search Google with 'Adam Belgeri' and 'IMOTGP' since those will bring up dead links. It will take some time for the fools running Google to figure out this simple change so be patient.

We feel that consolidating our address with our name will serve to further enhance the IMOTGP brand as we focus on our dual goals of securing our base and planning for growth in what we expect to be an exciting time in the football humor blogging industry. Thank you.

The IMOTGP MLS Season Preview: How to see the game's biggest stars

Can this Man Save MLS?

It's always a major story in any country when their top-flight football league opens play and that's no different here in the United States as another exciting season of MLS football is upon us.

Actually some of you may be wondering, 'Didn't the league already start since I saw the MLS clubs in some night games these last couple weeks?'  Well you would be correct. But don't let those CONCACAF Champions League matches fool you.  And let's face it, the shoestring MLS budget isn't enough to compete with powerful LigaMX sides in a country whose national team is the top-ranked nation in CONCACAF. And if you want more excuses, don't worry since we can come up with more.

But the regular season starts Sunday and this is where MLS really shines and you can see your favorite world superstars. We will tell you where.

First Didier Drogba of the Montreal Impact. You can see him play! That is unless you had plans to do so in four of the first five games. Now his reasoning is sound - he won't play on artificial turf. As anyone who is past his prime knows, turf is ridiculous to play on and this humble blogger has cut it out of his life completely especially since he can no longer dunk unless it's in Europe where they use the metric system for rim height. But also coming out of this is that Drogba may train in Florida away from his team rather than up in Montreal - since it's cold. Never mind that it's cold now in London, where he once played for some club I can't remember the name of.

So do you want to see Didier Drogba?  Go to a training pitch somewhere in Florida.

Then there's superstar Andrea Pirlo of NYCFC who made a successful transition to the league last year. Now wait - you may be thinking didn't this faux NY team finish with one of the league's worst records and get the coach fired? Well yes. But team performance on the pitch is always secondary with MLS import superstars.

You see, Pirlo has been drinking wine at his favorite restaurant and going to art exhibits so it's all good. In fact, he has set himself new goals (pun intended, ha! What a blog!) for the upcoming season.

He’s been reading up on the rules of American football, which he has begun to watch regularly. As his English improves, he has set his sights on another kind of goal: seeing a Broadway show.

So do you want to see Andrea Pirlo?  Go to Broadway.

A few more tips on seeing your favorite stars:

Want to see Sebastian Giovinco?  Maybe try a Raptors game in Toronto?

Want to see Steven Gerrard?  Try to crash a meeting between Hollywood power brokers on Rodeo Drive.

Want to see Frank Lampard? You won't see him on the pitch so try a urinal at Yankee Stadium.

Want to see Jozy Altidore?  Just kidding, we wanted to see if you were still paying attention.

You may see these players on the pitch as well (some of the time) but does it really matter? They are here!  And for those of you who wanted a regular MLS season preview, we have you covered. ...

LA Galaxy, blah blah blah, Portland, blah blah, Caleb Porter, blah blah, J-Mo, blah blah, Darlington Nagbe, blah blah, Benny Feilhaber Jurgen Klinsmann, blah blah, Jordan Morris, blah blah, Kei Kamara, blah blah, FC Dallas, blah blah, Jordan Morris, blah blah, Arsenal, blah blah blah, Olivier Giroud, blah blah blah, Mesut Ozil blah blah blah, Alexis Sanchez, blah blah blah, Jordan Morris, blah blah, Sounders, blah blah, Cascadia, blah blah Sigi Schmid, blah blah, Red Bulls, Supporters Shield, blah blah, J-Mo, blah blah, Drogba, blah, Ashley Cole, blah blah, Jermaine Jones, blah blah, Tim Howard, blah blah, Jordan Morris, blah blah, Jordan Morris, Jordan Morris, Jordan Morris.

Let the games begin!!

A note to anyone attending tomorrow's big game!

The IMOTGP blog wanted to indicate that will be some traffic issues in Dortmund for those of you who follow this blog who will also be attending the match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. A motorcycle trade fair and the Signal Iduna equestrian cup are also taking place in Dortmund this weekend. Don't get caught in traffic with bikes and horses. Fans are strongly recommended to travel by public transport rather than private car, and enjoy your football!

Could Copa Centenario matches be fixed? Yes they can!

The football world is abuzz with excitement over the Copa Centenario event held in the United States, a footballing minnow trying to learn the game. 

One thing U.S. fans do know is how corrupt the sport is and the organizers of the Copa have proved once again why the betting public will be curiously watching the proceedings this summer. That's because the schedule has been released with the kick-off times and it hasn't gone unnoticed that the final group-stage games are NOT being played simultaneously - like they are in most major tournaments.

It's well known that many shenanigans took place when final group stage games are not played at the same time.  Well now the Copa could face some of those same shenanigans thanks to this schedule:

All times Eastern for our blogging public ...

June 11 - Group A

7:00 p.m. — United States vs. Paraguay, at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pa.
9:00 p.m. — Colombia vs. Costa Rica, at NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas

June 12 - Group B

6:30 p.m. — Ecuador vs. Haiti, at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
8:30 p.m. — Brazil vs. Peru, at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.

June 13 - Group C

8:00 p.m. — Mexico vs. Venezuela, at NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
10:00 p.m. — Uruguay vs. Jamaica, at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif.

June 14  - Group D

8:00 p.m. — Chile vs. Panama, at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pa.
10:00 p.m. — Argentina vs. Bolivia, at CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Wash.

So the teams playing in the first game will only know the result they may need. But a team in the second game may be eliminated by the time the match kicks off as opposed to if they were staged simultaneously. There's also the great opportunity to fix these matches - something CONCACAF assured us doesn't happen on U.S. soil.  It adds up to a mess that only calls into question what this second-rate tournament really means anyway.