Odds and Ends: Your Local and International Footie Roundup

I love Messi as much as any futbol fan, but i relenquish the True Fan title for the moment to this intrepid young lady:

ouch! On the local front, the True Fan crew had a great night last Saturday at SLABTOWN watching our mighty mighty Timbers crush the California (Give Us A) Victory inside of 20 minutes. There wasn't much to report from the second half, but it didn't matter as spirits were high and chanting was full voiced. Thanks to the implosion of the Virgina Beach Mariners, the Timbers' schedule has been overloaded with fixtures against the (Can't Get A) Victory, and this Friday, not only do they get another crack at them, but on Fox Soccer Channel no less. Kickoff is moved inexplicably to 8pm, as it usually is when FSC comes to town, and as a bonus, the first 2,000 fans will be presented with a bobblehead of the legendary Timber Jim. Man, do I want me one of those. Then, Sunday at 6pm, the show starts all over again, and the (Please, Please, Just One) Victory are brought to the felt-on-asphalt slaughterhouse.

My beloved UrbanHonking AC has been on a slump of late, to my dismay. Granted, our last two losses have come to the undefeated title contenders Brooklyn Park Pub and Fut-ccers (and all of us were fairly happy about our performance against the latter despite the loss), but now we find ourselves in lowly eighth place and a difficult four games left to rectify things. This week will be no picnic as we face down arch-rivals Marraige Records/CEID/Oak Street/Eastside Esplanade Lightnings tomorrow (Thursday) at 9:15pm. You can't dismiss any team in Portland Futsal's 3rd Division (case in point, the helium-like rise of Lonely Shepards FC), and the Lightnings bring a tough game and fierce supporters when playing the UrHo boys.

Finally, we've been keeping an eye on Laurie Sanchez' work on transforming Fulham from Team America to Team Northern Ireland (with Chris Coleman picking up the reigns at Real Sociedad, speculation is afoot that Sociedad will pick up the Team USA title from Fulham). Looks as if Clint and Carlos will have plenty of competition for spots. With McBride having won a firm place in the Fulham faithfuls' hearts, I won't be too disappointed if he finds himself playing out the final year of his contract and returns to MLS for a hero's welcome.

But for Dempsey, this year has to be the one where he takes it to a new level. He's won himself some time by scoring that momentous goal against Liverpool, but there's only a small window to prove he deserves a place on team full of new faces, and on a team that looks to be building around a completely different style than his own. Carlos should do well, always dangerous on set pieces, but now that Aaron Hughes has made the move from Villa and more defenders likely to follow, Boca could find himself on the outside looking in very quickly.