Tim Cahill's Soccer Journey - From Australia to New York City

For those of you who don't know, Tim Cahill favorited one of my tweets yesterday (check out my twitter account @TheAutoGent to see it). So, in honor of this incredible man and soccer player, I've added MLS Insider's video feature on him (courtesy NewYorkRedBulls.com).

Without further adieu.

New York Red Bulls v. Houston Dynamo

I was fortunate enough to be able to catch the New York Red Bulls game this weekend. As much as I'm a fan of Thierry Henry, I've never actually watched a full game in which he played. Every time that I would try to sit down for a Red Bulls game, he either wasn't playing or I got distracted by something else that was going on.

So, yesterday, I cleared my schedule and was able to sit down with some snacks and enjoy. Photos are courtesy of the New York Red Bulls Facebook page unless otherwise noted. Visit them here, and be sure to leave a like for them.  

The first thing that I noticed was how quickly Houston's defense would converge on Thierry Henry when he was on the ball. It wasn't uncommon for Houston to assign 4 or so players to what appeared to be an Henry assault squad. While this strategy was somewhat effective as the Frenchman never was able to find the net, it was foolish in that New York has a striking force that's greater than just one man. Their excessive marking of Henry led directly to Espindola's stunner in the 60th minute and space for Johnny Steele in the 88th minute off a beautiful through pass from the skipper himself. The latter goal was an exceptional piece of art and exploitation rolled into one beautiful package. Hearing the stadium erupt was absolutely electric.

Secondly, my good friend once told me that form comes and goes, but class is permanent. Thierry Henry is 35 years old now and there are rumors that he might retire after next season. He doesn't have the pace that he used to, he doesn't have much of an attacking work rate either, but you can still tell--whenever he's on the ball--that he is unmistakably a world class striker and forever will be. He is a legend in his own time, truly. While the opportunities to witness it were few and far between it was breathtaking to watch the way that he controls the ball at his feet. It's almost like he's dancing and the ball is just a happy coincidence of his motion. It was emotional to see.

Fabian Espindola's goal in the 60th minute was gorgeous. there's no way around it. They say that a player on a fast break is something that can leave you speechless, and I think that's how I felt for the five seconds that he was on the ball until I literally sprung up from my seat and started cheering like a hooligan when I saw the net bulge. What an amazing goal--and it was coming too. New York always looked threatening, and I felt that it was just a matter of time until Houston's defense collapsed under the pressure.

Let's talk about Jamison Olave. I was extremely impressed with the Colombian. Not only was he an absolute pillar of strength in the game, but he played with an intelligence that I'm used to seeing in the Barclay's Premier League. There was more than one time in which Brandon Barklage was caught out of position and Olave was able to show exceptional pace to get out wide and stop the outside play from developing. His use of his body to block the much smaller Dynamo striking force of Giles Barnes and Will Bruin had me literally chuckling. It was a bit cheeky and it was pretty evident that it was starting to rile Houston up. I believe that given last week's performance against Philadelphia, the Red Bulls would have folded had they conceded even one goal. As such, my Man of the Match award goes to Mr. Olave as his performance was vital to helping the hungry Red Bulls pull off the win and a clean sheet.

Comments, opinions? Let me know what you think!

Your Dream Football (Soccer) Team

Imagine that you're the manager of a football (soccer) team with an unlimited budget.

What starting 11+ bench would you select?

There are no loyalties to worry about, no issues of chemistry with which to concern yourself. Just pure, unadulterated magic. Start off with your formation and label each player with an appropriate position. I suppose that they can be any current or past player and the assumption would be that they would play for your team at the height of their career.

Here's my team.

Formation: 4-1-2-1-2 (Wide)

Starting 11

GK- Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)

RB- Daniel Carvajal (Bayer Leverkusen-->Real Madrid)
CB- Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)
CB- Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)
LB- Leighton Baines (Everton)

CDM- Marouane Fellaini (Everton)
LM- Neymar (Santos-->Barcelona)
RM- Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
CAM- Adryan (Flamengo)

LS- Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
RS- Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Bench

Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)
Robin van Persie (Manchester United)
Gareth Bale (Tottenham)
Lee Wallace (Rangers)
Axel Witsel (Zenit)
Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund-->Bayern Munich)

What's your team? What do you think of mine? Leave me a comment or tweet me. @TheAutoGent

Fanatic or Aficionado?

Living in New York, you would think that I would be a fanatic supporter of the Yankees, the Jets, the Mets, the Giants, the Knicks and the Rangers.

I'm not.

I played American football for a bit in highschool and college. It was an experience...definitely an interesting experience. There's nothing quite like working out with guys who can squat almost four times your body weight, playing on the defensive line against those same guys and not even being technically gifted. My time playing American football was a mistake of fantastic proportion, but I was humbled more than I think I could ever express in words.

That experience, though, gave me a greater appreciation for the game of American football. Yes, it's about really big guys smacking other really big guys around and asserting their manliness all over a field. But, there's a lot more than that going on. There's a high level of strategy involved and it can be a truthfully beautiful game.

I don't ardently follow any team, though.

I like soccer. I've never played it, but I love watching it and I love how strategic it is--way more so than American football. I don't want to get into an argument here, but I believe soccer players are better athletes than American football players. Their endurance is ridiculous, their understanding of the game is always outstanding and they need to be more well-rounded athletes than American football players. All of this is without even mentioning the rivalries and the bad blood that can go back hundreds of years. I get the tingles just thinking about it.

But I don't have a soccer team that I'm to the moon about.

And I'll tell you why. When you become a gigantic supporter of any team, you lose a part of your average. You lose a significant portion of what keeps you logical and objective. You can stand toe to toe with someone and disagree that a truly great player isn't great simply because he scored a touchdown against your team. People who are professional athletes are pursuing the perfection of an art. The truly great players--the Lionel Messis, the Joe Montanas and the Babe Ruths--have perfected the art of their game.

My dad and I used to watch the New York Football Giants every Sunday together. We would watch other teams too (we both just liked watching American football together), but we loved how the Giants played the game. Even their worst games were great to watch. And, this past year, I was blessed enough to be able to actually go to MetLife stadium to see a game with him.

I can't tell you how many times in my life I've heard him say, "God, what an amazing play," when the other team scored against the Giants. His objectivity in sports is absolutely beautiful and something that I think every aficionado of the athletic art has at the core of his or her joy of their sport.

In that way, my father is someone joined intrinsically to anyone who has ever intentionally missed a penalty kick because the ref's call was bogus, or refused to play because of racist chants, or refused to dive to make a legitimate challenge look like a malicious one. It's not athletic prowess that connects them--my father is not an athlete--it is their love of the beautiful game (whichever game that might be) that brings them together in a passionate swell of devotion.

The athletes, they have perfected the art of the game. My father and I have perfected the art of appreciating the game without bias. Some of us who are overly devoted to a particular team can miss that.

I know that some of you out there are aficionados of the athletic art as a whole. I can't wait to share a pint with you over the sport of your choosing.