Talking Henry, Chinaglia, MLS playoffs and more

I don’t play the stock market. From what I understand you need a couple of things to dabble in Wall Street: smarts about money – and money.

Damn. And damn again.  I’m 0-for-2.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t do a little horse-swappin’ on something I know a little more about. Here’s what I’m buying and selling today.

Selling

Thierry Henry’s preparation for MLS. Grant Wahl had a great point on our SI.com soccer podcast the other day regarding Thierry Henry: that these guys’ highly paid representation arms will need to be better about communicating messages to would-be DP clients. And that message is this: get fit and get ready for a league that may be B-list in quality but is A-list in speed and athleticism. It’s not good enough to be technically proficient; you must be up for job physically, and you’d better have a stomach for the fight. Henry arrived amid much hullabaloo. But nicked by injury he made just 11 appearances and struck for just two goals.

So far, his MLS days have been more sizzle than steak. Henry showed up unfit to play, apparently, and now his team is paying the price for it.

Buying

MLS playoffs. Let’s be honest about the MLS playoffs of another day: there were some bad teams that slipped past the velvet ropes and watered down the playoff punch. See, when there were only two or four or six sides that didn’t get into the post-season, some pretty damn mediocre teams were in the field. But that’s not the case this year. Slumping Columbus is the only team that looks a wee bit puny these days.

As I said in an SI.com piece that went up today (the piece is about injuries in this year’s post-season), “Previously, when league rosters were at 10, 12, and 14 teams, etc., landing in the playoffs sometimes meant only that your club wasn’t as bad as some of the other guys.”

This year, every team still alive can feel pretty good – they’ve already accomplished something.

Selling

The New York Cosmos. I was pretty excited about all this, bringing back the fabulous Cosmos brand and making something of it. MLS is keen on adding a second team to the New York market, which sounds like a dandy idea to me.

But this Giorgio Chinaglia matter really is concerning. Check that, it’s downright alarming. If you missed the news, the new owners of the Cosmos brand have taken on the former NASL great as some ambassador or spokesman or some such. While I understand that this is probably just a ceremonial post, I question the judgment of anyone who would want this guy around for anything. First, he doesn’t miss a chance to clobber MLS with one of his mush-mouthed rants. So, attaching Chinaglia to the effort will do nothing to facilitate an MLS entrance. (Well, I think he’s bad-mouthing MLS; Honestly, I can barely understand what the man is saying most of the time – and that’s not a comment on  his foreign accent. The dude just doesn’t make sense sometimes.)

So they want this guy speaking on the club’s behalf? Have they ever seen his work on TV? He’s ill-informed and overly negative at best, plainly obnoxious at worst. And aside from all that, he’s still got some potentially serious legal trouble floating around out there somewhere.

This does not look like a smart move for our new holders of the famous Cosmos brand.

Buying

SB Nation’s growing soccer coverage*:  One year ago, we could have held a meeting of SB Nation soccer bloggers at a Starbucks two-top. It was just me and Dave Clark from Sounder at Heart. Now we have 21 … and lucky No. 21 pushes us into exciting new territory. The network’s newest blog, Barca Blaugranes, will chronicle the Catalan giants FC Barcelona. The other SB Nation blogs are all MLS and EPL (or general soccer like mine.) Now the network is world wise and worldwide. Yea, us!

* = shameless network plug

Selling

My own MLS playoff predictions. But just a little bit. I called Colorado over Columbus in the first-round upset. And sure enough the Rapids were clearly the better team last night. Colorado’s midfield clobbered the Crew’s. Eddie Gaven’s partnership with Brian Carroll in the middle just didn’t have enough bite to deal with the Rapids buzz saw twosome, Pablo Mastroeni and Jeff Larentowicz. Throw in Brian Mullan’s big night and this was the mismatch of the evening at DSG Park. (Mullan did the same thing last year, raising his game to another level for the playoffs while with Houston.) Otherwise, Andy Iro looked nervous in the middle of the Crew defense, which made Omar Cummings look like Thierry Henry circa 2003.

All that said, a 1-0 lead going back to Columbus is pretty skinny. I could see Guillermo Barros Schelotto finding his game and guiding the Crew to a 1-0 or 2-0 win there. Colorado may rue not adding a second goal, at least.

Selling

FCD’s playoff chances. Schellas Hyndman and Co. had its work cut out dealing with Real Salt Lake’s all-around blue-ribbon game. Kevin Hartman and Daniel Hernandez will play, I think, but neither can be expected to be at their very best. And now this Heath Pearce matter. This will be the one that truly tips the balance for good, I think. Pearce’s injury while the team was away in Los Angeles removes skill and experience. And it takes away from the one thing that Dallas does best – apply constant pressure through good possession and ability to attack from all spots. Zach Loyd will probably start at right back (they can say “questionable” all they want, but I’ll bet my favorite house gnome that Pearce will be in street clothes Saturday). Loyd has spunk and he’s been an impressive rookie, but he still needs to be better with the ball to be effective at right back the way Pearce has been.

FC Dallas could still win this thing … but it’s going to take a little luck and a huge effort from some figure around Pizza Hut Park. RSL’s edge in the series is rising.