With two senior roster spots open and a developmental spot presenting itself in the wake of
Barklage's season-ending knee injury, United seems to have wasted no time in assessing the summer
transfer market wares and making their selections. So...
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Or afternoon as it happens. Whatever. Let's address United's draft class one more
time--briefly--before moving on with the more important business of finalizing a roster. I'm going
to break this out in the time-honored Tickle v. Tackle format . . . Tickle One of the big bugaboos
with United last year was an overall lack of depth.
Click to continue reading...
Or afternoon as it happens. Whatever. Let's address United's draft class one more
time--briefly--before moving on with the more important business of finalizing a roster. I'm going
to break this out in the time-honored Tickle v. Tackle format . . . Tickle One of the big bugaboos
with United last year was an overall lack of depth.
Click to continue reading...
Or afternoon as it happens. Whatever. Let's address United's draft class one more
time--briefly--before moving on with the more important business of finalizing a roster. I'm going
to break this out in the time-honored Tickle v. Tackle format . . . Tickle One of the big bugaboos
with United last year was an overall lack of depth.
Click to continue reading...
Hot on the heels of last week's "TvT: MLS Edition", here comes a big clearout of some of
the stories that have been clogging up the inbox as of late. It's not just a standard clearout--I
think this level of clutter calls for the nuclear option . . . BOOM! Social Distortion It's a
social media world, and we are all social media girls (or boys, or something).
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I'll probably do another TvT shortly to catch up on some of the stories I've been meaning to
address. But for now, it's all MLS, all the time, as Garber and Gazidis strike back. MLS
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes Rosters are reduced from 28 to 24, while the senior roster expands from 18 to 20.
Couple that senior roster expansion with some "wiggle room" in summer fixture dates,
vague promises of not
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It's been a while since I've done one of these, so let's have at it . . . Alessandro Del Piero has
been absolutely on fire lately, his goals belying his advanced years (34 on Sunday--Jeebus the
dude's almost as old as moi!). If you didn't get to see the two that he scored against Real Madrid,
in Madrid, last night, dig up the highlights.
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So Alexi and Ruud get the screen-door-hitting-asses treatment in Galaxy-land to a resounding chorus
of "Finally" and "What took you so long?" in the futblogosphere. Cue the
ambiguity . . . Tickle Lalas' Abomination sure has been fun to watch as they tripped and stumbled
their way to somewhere below mediocracy.
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Tickle Cripes! It's this years' FA Cup all over again as the lower division sides muscle their way
into the final stages of the competition. Charleston disposes of FC Dallas in convincing fashion,
the soon-to-be MLS-bound Sounders demonstrate that they can already hang with the lower echelon of
the top flight by downing KC, and lowly USL-2's own Crystal Palace Baltimore almost made it a
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MLS Tickle Exactly how many goals will the United-Galaxy match produce? The two most promiscuous
teams in MLS meet at RFK this weekend in what will hereafter be known as the Bordello Derby.
Prolific offenses against defenses often caught with their shorts around their shinguards--what
could possibly go wrong?
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Mexican Nats
Tickle - Oh, that Oswaldo Sanchez! When he's not being a jingoistic, petty, sore loser with anger issues, he's busy fighting the cops in hotel rooms. Alright, so "resisting" might not be actual fighting. I'm guessing that one of Chicago's finest was dashing past him to grab a hooker or something, and Sanchez made a lunge to try and trip him.
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Let's play with the format as we haven't had a good TvT session in a while, shall we? Adios, Jozy!
Red Bulls and USA striker Jozy Altidore is headed for Spain. Real Madrid? Barcelona?
Nope--Villareal with an immediate loan move to relegation scrappers Recreativo Huelva. So American
players are starting to trickle south from their traditional English, German, and Scandanavian
stomping
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DC United Tickle Finally back in black with a 4-1 victory over RSL. Moreno continues his mastery of
the PK, while our preferred mode of attack seems to be dumped crosses for the far post runner.
Despite the margin of victory, things were not entirely comfortable for the Black-and-Red, with
frailty at set pieces and a few moments of miscommunication demonstrating that all is not yet
completely
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DC United Tickle Yeah . . . ummmm . . . so, like, not too many injuries, huh? Well, baring a
certain hairy ankle that just won't heal. Seriously, not much is going right for the Black-and-Red
at the moment, but I think that it's a little too early to start making folks (Soehn, Peralta,
Emilio, Wells) walk the plank.
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MLS Tickle - Oh, the misery! Oh, the hilarity! Woebegone TFC come stumbling to Los Angeles,
half-lame, their red rags hanging off win-malnourished frames. And the not-so-Galactico defense
spreads its molasses legs wide and begs for more. I can't wait for the heads to start rolling
through the smog!
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Hot Euro Action Tickle - Anfield was rocking as Liverpool and Arsenal tussled in a surprisingly
open encounter, and Bayern Munich's late equalizers in both regular time and stoppage time against
Getafe in Madrid were heart-stopping stuff . . . Tackle - But that was about the extent of the real
excitement.
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DC United Tickle - Not content to allow the blogosphere to destroy one player at a time, Kyle
Sheldon cries havoc and lets slip the blogs of war upon the entire club! Kidding, kidding, of
course. Behind the Badge looks like a great addition to the party. Fair warning
though--behindthebadge.com ≠ behindthebadge.
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DC United & MLS Tickle Goals, goals, goals! United kick off the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Ultimate
Challenge Smackdown with a pair of 2-1 victories over the baby Goats. Good to see the boys starting
to find the net. Particularly encouraging is the involvement of the new players . . . And how 'bout
that dwarf?
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Tickle v Tackle is normally a mid-week column, but . . . Fullback's Mega-Tackle of the Week: Who
the hell was that hyperkinetic fool GolTV had doing the play-by-play for Barcelona-Levante? I just
flicked on the tube while folding some laundry and got steamrollered by this idiot blathering on
about 'Dinho (Ronaldinho, I presume) and how he'd work at GolTV for free because it's so freakin'
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Tickle That other United smashed the Gunners handily in the FA Cup, led by Nani dishing up the
balls for Darren Fletcher to nod home. Beat by the head of Darren freakin' Fletcher? That's gotta
smart for Arsene's Gunner garçons--though Fletcher does have a tendency to stick his big tartan
noggin in when it counts.
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Tickle Michael Bradley can't stop scoring goals in the Eredivisie. Seeing as how I'd recently
finished my campaign to win the Fizzy Soda Pop League for Wednesday in the friendly confines of
FIFA 08 (neutered Wii version), I decided to pop in on Mr. Bradley and his compatriots and give
them a go. After a couple of ineffective matches sporting a 4-4-2 and then a classically Dutch
4-3-3, I
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Welcome to yet another edition of TvT, FBF's weekly gaze across the width and breadth of the
futboling landscape--or at least the parts that are currently piquing my interest. Tickle DC United
is back in camp--finally! After losing some key pieces of the team (Gomez, BobbyBoswell.com/blog,
Perkins, Carroll-the-elder, Gros), missing out on Veron, but then bringing in a whole horde of
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Tickle The Americans in Albion occupied a land somewhere between the Tickle and Tackle zones during
the festive fixture pile-up. It's all blurred together a bit in my memory, but I suppose those with
rose-colored spectacles were encouraged by Spector's steady performances at center back for the
Hammers, Dempsey scoring a beauty for flailing Fulham, and our trio of netminders pulling some big
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Tickle Lots of promising players and play in the NCAA College Cup. The better teams seem to be
playing better in possession than they did in the past, but it's all still a bit rough-and-tumble,
with the touch of players of real quality standing out in sharp contrast to their fellows. At
19-22, these players should be playing consistently in an environment where they are surrounded by
players
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Tickle Bobby Convey looks to have completed his long journey back from injury. Phew, just in time
to step into the vacant left wing spot left open by DaMarcus Beasley's unfortunate long-term
injury. US National Team left wingers - the new Spinal Tap drummers! Ohhhh, and the traditional
left winger number is "11".
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Tickle From 4 senior internationals and 3 youth internationals to 8 foreigners, regardless of age?
MLS is dipping its toe into the big, bad world of globalization. We're a long way from
international teams of mercenaries like Arsenal (aka: the French-speaking Foreign Legion), but the
move should alleviate the talent deficit that is bound to crop up when MLS moves to 16 teams .
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Back in the saddle after my many travels and busting out the TvT a few days late! Purge yourself of
the turkey-sloth and horrified glances at the status of your post-shopping credit accounts, it's
off to the DVR and back into the line of fire . . . Tickle CONCACAF is finally starting to put some
thought into their own version of the Champions' League, and it looks promising.
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Tickle Holy crap, the Owls hang five on the Saints to make it four wins from six and a run of four
unbeaten. Wednesday are now poised to push into the top half of the table. A decent run through the
busy holiday season could see them joining the playoff fray. Ah, the lovely roller coaster that is
Sheffield Wednesday . . . While we're on the Fizzy Soda Pop League, anybody else think that the
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Tickle There's just something about a United team in black. God help me, but I actually enjoyed
watching Manchester United in their all-black away strip as they demolished Villa on Saturday. The
Dirty Devils were playing some some quick, one- and two-touch, barnstorming attacking play . . .
And, my oh my, look who else got the offensive wheels turning!
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What's hot and what's not in the wide world of futbol. At least from this fan's admittedly warped
perspective . . .
(Warning--new format ahead for TvT! Do not stop, do not feed the wildlife, and
please--for the love of all that you may or may not hold sacred--don't stare directly into the
cesspool of soccer-hatred that is ESPN lest the Beckham-Cam rob you of your life, your humanity,
and your everlasting soul!
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