Norman Ralph

The Fire have had a tough couple of months, failing to win in May and struggling in June as well. The team played in the Sister Cities Cup,a friendly tournament between Chicago Fire, Red Star Belgrade, Legia Warsaw and Paris St. Germain. Fire lost in the semi-final to PSG and then lost the 3rd place play-off against Legia Warsaw. Belgrade went on to win 7-6 on penalties in the final. The team also failed to win in the MLS during May and suffered a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan in a friendly.

The team broke its bad run by beating New England Revolution 1-0 on the 27th June. Chicago have only lost two of their games this season but have been guilty of drawing too many (six in total now).

Team USA didn’t take any Chicago players to South Africa for the World Cup so hopefully the team will benefit from having a full squad to choose from for the rest of July with some big games coming up, including the start of the SupaLiga.

As part of my summer project to follow Chicago Fire I will be posting periodically about their progress and any notable achievements and such.

The Fire’s season is five games old and after a rocky start (lost two of first three games) we have pulled back to a 2-1-2 (wins – draws – losses) record and seem to be finding the net pretty regularly. Back to back 2-0 wins over D.C. United then Hosuton Dynamo have given us some great momentum for our next few matches – Toronto FC, Kansa City Wizards and FC Dallas.

Brian Mcride is leading from the front, scoring 2 of our 7 goals to date. I always had a lot of time for McBride at Fulham and think that he is probably going to end up top scorer for the Fire this season if he can stay fit and healthy. He really is going to be the key to any success this season.

Following a conversation with Andrew I have decided to make a concerted effort to show some support to an MLS team this season. With Andrew picking New England Revolution and Matt picking the team from Philly, I decided to stick to my curreny US sports city allegiance and pick Chicago Fire.

The team was founded in 1997 and entered the MLS in 1998 with immediate success winning the MLS Cup and US Open Cup double in their first season. The team followed up this success by reaching the MLS Cup final in 2000, losing to DC United, and also winning the US Open Cup that year. This initial success was attributed to a squad with the ideal mix of experience and youth.

Notable players in the club’s history include Hristo Stoitchkov, Paulo Wanchope, Piotr Nowak, DaMarcus Beasley, Jorge Campos, Josh Wolff and Eric Wynalda. The club’s first coach was Bob Bradley.

The current squad is coached by Carlos de los Cobos and captained by former Fulham ace Brian McBride, it also includes players such as former Premier League striker Collins John.

Once again the England football team has thrown away a lead and commanding performance in the space of a few minutes. This week it was against the Russians in Moscow. 1-0 up at half time after a Waybe Rooney screamer I thought we would be ok, our qualification to the next European Championships to be held next year in Austria and Switzerland. I was wrong. A leopard cannot change his spots. They sat back and thought that one goal was enough. It happens every time they score – as if they are so shocked about scoring that they don’t know what to do with it. In the end Russia put two goals past a hapless Paul Robinson in the England goal.

Awful!

The England football team have just completed back to back victoires in the Euro 2008 qualifying stage. They put three goals past a rather hopeless Israel at Wembley then the same team (first time over two years that an England coach has named an unchanged starting XI in consecutive fixtures) have just beaten a good looking Russian side by the same scoreline.

Overall England definitely deserved the six points and played really well considering that many pundits claim that the majority of players in the two ames wouldn’t normally make the England team. Two players stood out for me over the 180 minutes, namely Emile Heskey and Steven Gerrard. Stevie Gerrard is arguably the single most talented footballer in the world. He has, however, never really reached his full potential. This is mainly die to the fact he can play anywhere on the park and rarely plays his best position – that of an attacking central midfielder – and due to the fact that his usual partner in midfield, Frank Lampard, is too similar in style so they tend to cancel each other out. The last two games (whilst playing with a broken toe) we have seen him at his very best. We saw his energy and commitment alongside his leadership and passion for the beautiful game. Emile Heskey, much maligned over recent years, is the perfect foil for Michael Owen who is getting back to his very best for England and Newcastle.

I am really looking forward to the selection for the next qualifier against Estonia and the return leg to Russia in October. it is not foten I get to say this but..

GO ENGLAND!

That time of year again! The new football season is just around the corner and this weekend saw the opening game of the season, the FA Community Shield, between Manchester United and Chelsea. As usual, it was a bit of a disappointment with neither team really getting going. There was the odd bit of brilliance, the odd flash of inspiration, but nothing to really set the game ablaze. Nani was disappointing for Man Utd and Pizarro looks like he might not last the pace at Chelsea though Malouda (signed for £13.5million from French champions, Lyon) looked sharp for the London side, other than that it was a fairly tame affair. Roll on the title chase.

On the face of the game, Manchester probably deserved their penalty win but in all honesty it could have gone either way.

Blackpool 2 – Yeovil 0

That insignificant looking scoreline made yesterday into a great day in the seaside resort of Blackpool’s history. Their football team is playing in the top two flights of English football for the first time in thrity years. Yesterday afternoon’s League One Play-off Final at Wembly was a great game. Blackpool played the best football, they passed and moved and generally played at a Championship level, their footalling home for the next season at least, Kiegan Parker’s second goal being absolutely sublime – curling it round most of the Yeovil defence and goalkeeper from twenty-five yards!

Following the conclusion to the football game, Liz and I hopped on the 95 up to Woodies to meet Chris Clarke and do a mini Otley Run. Playing “no repeats” rules, we made our way through Three Horsehoes and New Inn. Due to the fact there were three of us we decided to give Arcadia a whirl, it is a small Wine and Ale bar just next to Somerfield in Headingley. We were so impressed with it we stayed for two drinks!

The Arc and Sky Rack were absolutely heaving, so after a swift drink in Headingley Taps, the Box and Original Oak we jumped on the bus and headed to Hyde Park Corner. We were planning to keep going on the Run, but having done some negotiating we headed up to Izzy’s to help her celebrate her 22nd birthday.

There was a house full of people when we got there, a mixture of Leeds and Kirkham folk. Inf act it was a remarkable turn out. After a Dutch courage drink, I decided it was time to bury the hatchet with Izzy. I hope I got my message across, the right mixture of apology, sincerity and humility yet maintaining enough dignity for the apology to carry some weight. I cannot be sure of the outcome of what we talked about, I think we decided not to dwell on it there and then as it was the middle of a party. We did, however, get an invite to the after party in town. Unfortunately, the afternoon’s excitement had taken its toll on Liz so I had to take her home.

Apparantly my blog shows a distinct lack of homage to the sport of skydiving. My friend Steve is an amateur skydiver, jumping out of perfectly operable aeroplanes for fun!

I have been reliably informed that skydiving is de rigeur, the mutts nuts etc. The most masculine of all sports, the place to be, the thing to do. Apparantly the rush of adrenaline that accompanies free falling through the sky, under the sole influence of gravity and a giant silk sheet is something that all men (and women) should experience. It is the ultimate narcotic. Exhilerating, exciting, thrilling etc etc. Forget horse racing, sky diving is the sport of Kings!

Steve tells me that in many ways sky diving is better than sex! He has been jumping out of planes for a couple of years now and has many many jumps under his belt. I trust his judgement that it is fun, just can’t quite see me doing it – despite Steve’s best efforts to persuade me! I just cannot understand the mentality that allows someone to jump out of a plane that is capable of landing under its own steam!

Man Utd lost 3-0 to AC Milan in the Chanmpions’ League semi final 2nd leg. They deserved to lose because they played really, really badly. The upshot of this result is that Liverpool will now play AC Milan in the final, a repeat of the 2005 epic encounter where Milan were leading 3-0 with 20mins to play, Liverpool drew level and then went on to win on penalties. One of the most enthralling football games I have ever seen, only eclipsed in recent memory by the 2006 FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham.

I am really looking forward to the Champions’ League Final this year, to be held in Athens, as I think it is going to be a very close game and hopefully Liverpool will once again edge it.

I am by no means a Liverpool fan, although if pushed I would probably say they were one of my favourite teams in general, but they are English and I support England wherever possible.

My blogging has been a little sporadic recently, not just that, but it has also been a little disjointed. I apologise for this but I have good reason. Things have been going on that couldn’t be openly blogged about and I have been a very busy chap indeed with one thing and another.

Firstly, it is official (because Facebook says so) that Liz and I are going out. We have been for a few days now but unfortunately circumstances dictated a certain amount of discretion. people needed telling in the right order. The right people know, so now the world can know.

There is a story to be told about how this happened and came about but it is not to be shared here, memories are still too fresh and people involved do not deserve to be hurt. Today is the beginning of something beautiful.

I took liz home on Sunday and met her parents and brother. We also ended up meeting Ed and heading to the pub. It is quite a nice little pub and you cannot go wrong with 40p games of pool! Had a cup of tea with Liz then headed home. I hate leaving her.

Monday saw me start fulfilling my duties as A-Soc secretary and also meant getting fed by Sarann. Sarann is an excellent cook and made a delicous sausage casserole followed by rice pudding. The pub followed, which wasn’t the best experience all round. A few demons surfaced and they took some sorting out, I ended up crashing at B’s.

Met MC and went to the cricket this morning, watched the Second XI game. I left about 2pm and headed to uni for a faith and cultural assembly meeting – which was postponed without notice (well everyone but me and Chris got notice). We then had an A-Soc committee meeting followed by a general meeting, Was quite a good meeting and we got lots sorted out. Just need to write the minutes up now…..

Liverpool beat Chelsea!