Dads and baseball

Cobi Jones apparently picked soccer over baseball long before Taylor Twellman and Marvell Wynne ever came along to make the same choice, but the similarities in their stories makes me wonder if soccer has lost many other potential stars to America's pastime.

Cobi and Eric

It's pretty amazing that two players who became a couple of the most important cogs in the U.S. national team hailed from the same high school, but that's exactly what happened with Cobi Jones and Eric Wynalda.

When asked to recall those Westlake High days in terms of Eric's influence on him, Cobi's response highlighted what may have been an important factor behind the success of both players.

"I think Eric had an impact because of the fact that he was so well known that coaches that came to see him got to see me as well. That was good for a lot of players out of Westlake High School. It was good to see someone above me doing so well and bringing in all that recognition. He was the big star. Actually, Eric’s dad had more impact on me than probably anyone, because he was the coach and he taught me a lot about the game. I appreciated Mr. Dave Wynalda."

Hard work you don't see

Sometimes when you watch a soccer game, it's easy to forget all the hard work that the players put in to get to where they are. Soccer players work as hard as any other athletes, as far as team sports are concerned and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of running and work they put in.

After Chivas USA had gone through a lively short-sided game, the club went through these nifty drills. Keep in mind, they're tired already.

They were split up into two groups and one started off, ran to some near cones, pivoted, turned, ran back to the start, pivoted, turned, ran to some further cones, pivoted, turned and over and over and over. Once done, the other team started the process all over again.

They went through this drill several times and by the end, the players were gassed. For half the team, it was off to yoga. For others, there was work in the gym to be done.

Croatian craze

Seems we had a visitor from Croatia check out Sideline Views sometime during the night, well, our night.

I have actually seen Croatia play in the World Cup. I was there in person for Croatia-Mexico in the 2002 World Cup, a game won by Mexico 1-0 on a Cuauhtemoc Blanco penalty kick. Boris Zivkovic was sent off after he fouled Blanco inside the area (I remember the play but not the Croatian's name, had to look that up).

Croatia did well to beat Italy the next game but collapsed against Ecuador in the group stage finale. More recently, Croatia narrowly missed out on another second round when they tied Australia 2-2 in Germany last summer.

More locally, a couple of Croatians play locally. Ante Razov (born in L.A. to Croatian parents) and Ante Jazic (born in Canada to Croatian parents) play for Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy, respectively.

Greetings to our Croatian audience.

Blogbytes

A comment ages ago on this blog chastized us for the non-seriousness of this blog, wondering why we didn't provide more expert analysis and critiques of players. My response was that this wasn't, in my opinion, intended to be that sort of serious blog.

It doesn't mean I don't care about Sideline Views or don't take the work I put into it seriously. However, this blog started because Luis and I wanted to have a place where could put all the little trivial details and anecdotes of life as a soccer reporter in LA.

I'm a bit of an information junkie, and I figured, other people would like to get a lot of info on soccer as well, even if it's not as profound as some might prefer. I also hate to waste stuff, and sometimes there's just leftover quotes, jokes, funny pictures and things like that which wouldn't fit anywhere else I write for.

It's also more a reflection of our personalities than anything else, because it's so easy for us to post whatever we feel like, without any influence of a professional article format, length restrictions, or editors.

Tricolor tune-ups

The U.S. and Mexico will have more than just a common opponent in the upcoming week. The two nations have a similarity when it comes to their summer tournaments.

Mexico will play Paraguay and Ecuador while the U.S. will play Ecuador and Guatemala on Sunday and Wednesday, respectively. For both the U.S. and Mexico, it's a chance to get their teams prepared for Gold Cup and Copa America.

However, Mexico-Ecuador and U.S.-Guatemala will be previews of games that will be played in Copa America and Gold Cup, respectively. Neither team, actually none of the four, will probably tip their hand too much so the squad we see in the respective games will not necessarily be the same one that takes the field later this summer against the same side.

Games like this make the encounters even more meaningless. Results matter little, if anything, in friendlies but now results in these match will only give fans reason to expect wins later this summer.

The U.S. played Korea in the 2002 Gold Cup after having been drawn against them for the World Cup later that summer. Korean media made a big deal about the game and how it would reflect later that summer. I remember in one of the post-match press conferences that the Koreans would not stop asking Bruce Arena about the World Cup match six months before it actually happened and before the US-Korea Gold Cup game was played. Bruce Arena kept saying that what happened at the Rose Bowl would mean nothing when the World Cup rolled around and sure enough it didn't, at least in terms of results. The U.S. beat Korea 2-1 in the Gold Cup but managed a 1-1 draw in the World Cup under far different circumstances.
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Nery update

Seems Nery Castillo won't play for Mexico ever. He reportedly told a Greek publication that he prefers to play for Greece over his native Mexico.

For all the trouble and hype this guy caused, he better be worth it for someone.

Humanitarian efforts

Most of us associate FIFA with the World Cup, international events and on-the-field action. But the sport's powerful governing body also has a humanitarian side to it, as well it should. FIFA has the potential to be an influential force well off the pitch and part of those efforts paid off earlier this week.

As part of its 6 Villages for 2006 campaign, FIFA unveiled its first village earlier this week. This one hit close to home for me. It was in Morelia, capital of my parents' home state of Michoacan.

The unveiling ceremony attracted a large crowd of luminaries, including Tri coach Hugo Sanchez. FIFA constructed a place where children who had been living in extreme poverty can now live safely and hopefully will now have a chance at a decent future.

According to this story on FIFA's web site, future villages will be constructed in Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, Vietnam and Ukraine.

Greek Greetings

Greece is the latest nation to join our merry little bunch here.

Greece had probably the biggest upset in soccer history when they won Euro 2004. I was pulling for them to reach the World Cup to prove that their title wasn't a fluke but they got the toughest qualifying group of all and could not survive.

Tongue twister

Wednesday's interview of Laurent Merlin might have been the strangest I have ever been in on. While Chivas was finishing their training session, colleague Troy Santiago - who has been a Galaxy Spanish-language radio presence for a while, Chivas PR guy Keegan Pierce and I chatted about the team. When the subject of Merlin came up, we noted that Merlin speaks no English or Spanish for that matter. Keegan said he spoke French which he told me a while ago which I had of course forgotten.

I nabbed John Cunliffe and after a brief interview I went back over to a gathering crowd. Santiago had nabbed Merlin after all and Keegan was getting ready to translate. Troy asked questions in Spanish, Keegan translated them to French, Merlin answered in French and Keegan translated the answers back in English. It was rather unconventional but it worked.

By the way, Keegan's the guy sporting the NHL playoff beard.

Sacha speaks

Sacha Kljestan could be overlooked in Chivas USA's midfield. He shares the middle of the field with Jesse Marsch, perhaps the team's most influential player. Then there's Francisco Mendoza who is a dangerous and active left-sided player. And of course you've got Amado Guevara, the flashy former MVP. In front, you've got Ante Razov and behind there's Claudio Suarez and Jonathan Bornstein.

But if a team overlooks Sacha, they'll be in trouble because this kid's got skills. Actually, he's not really a kid anymore. He's maturing and developing into a leader. He picked up a lot from his time with the US senior and Under-23 team.

More Cobi

I contemplated not putting this up simply because the quality was not the greatest. Plus the host of the event was right smack in the background. Nothing against him but it just didn't look as good as if I would have shot it from straight ahead.

Still, I figured it's best to post it and let you guys decide whether it's worth a watch or listen at least. I cut it off before he went into the hordes of people he wanted to thank. As it turned out, Andrea did well to put all that up anyway so it worked out.

Looking back at #13

I'm a sucker for the fan tribute videos.

Nery-mind

For quite a while now, Mexico has courted Nery Castillo. Born in San Luis Potosi to Uruguayan parents, Castillo has played for Greek side Olympiakos for several years. He can play for Mexico, Uruguay and Greece but has yet to play for any.

It looked like El Tri would finally land their native son in February when Hugo Sanchez convinced Castillo to board a flight to Arizona and join Mexico for their game against the U.S. in early February. However, a sprained ankle supposedly kept him out of the game, though he played about an hour the very next Sunday for Olympiakos.

Castillo was nonetheless recalled for Mexico's games against Paraguay and Ecuador but as it turns out personal problems have kept him from joining Mexico.

Sanchez should not bother with this guy any more. It's almost like Bruce Arena chasing Giuseppe Rossi and trying to convince him to play for the U.S. At least Arena finally stopped chasing that guy around.

Last of the '94's

Cobi Jones is the last U.S. player who played in the 1994 World Cup who is still active in Major League Soccer as a player.

Highlights Part III

Last clip. I let this one run in an attempt to get a goal but nothing. About 20 seconds after I gave up, of course, someone scored.

Highlights Part II

More stuff from Wednesday's training session.

Highlights Part I

Some of Chivas USA's training session from Wednesday. It was something like 7 on 7. The guys in blue bibs are pretty much the starters, at least in the midfield. You've got Sacha Kljetsan, Jesse Marsch and Panchito Mendoza in the midfield and Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo up front. I think Galindo will get the starting nod over John Cunliffe, Matt Taylor and Laurent Merlin.

H stands for Hollywood

HDC isn't too close to Hollywood but sometimes some of the lights and cameras make their way down the way to our neck of the woods.

Along with some fellow reporters, we were walking slowly on the track at the Track and Field Stadium while Chivas USA's training was going on. We stopped to chat on the track when someone walked up to us and asked us if we would kindly step off it. Apparently we were in their background during the shot.

I don't know what they were shooting. Probably some sort of commercial.

By the way, I'm taking the guy on the left in a race.

Name the dreamer

From Mark Abbott's speech about Cobi Jones:

“In the player draft four years ago, we drafted a young player on the New York team. He was seventeen years old at the time and he got up to give his acceptance speech and he said, ‘All my life, I’ve dreamed of playing in Major League Soccer.’”

Would someone care to identify the player?