To the Nordecke Hordes: Cheer Suggestion Number One

Sung to the tune of "We Support Columbus."

Beckham can go suck it, go suck it, go suck it
And Posh Spice can go suck it, go suck it, go suck it
The Galaxy can suck it, can suck it, can suck it,
O way-o, way-0, way-o, O way-o, O way-o etc, etc. . .

El Luchador's Line: DAL at RSL

The latest line on this match is as follows:

RealSaltLake -142 FCDallas +335 Tie +240 Over 2.5 (-142) Under 2.5 (even).

We think this is about right. The Luchametric power rankings have DAL at 37.5 and RSL at 78. The other numbers tell us that RSL is very tough at home, and that DAL doesn't win on the road. Neither does DAL score (especially on the road), and they give up a lot of SHT generally as well as goals on the road in particular. Both are near the bottom of the actual standings, but RSL has a positive GD and DAL has a negative GD. Both teams will be without their respective best scorers as both Cooper (DAL) and Beckerman (RSL) are up with the US Men's National Team at the Gold Cup. Dallas will have their starting goalkeeper back from injury, which should help. However, El Luchador strongly thinks that the elevation of Rio Tinto Stadium (4,450 ft) is impacting teams as they come into play RSL. Dallas players will be going from 450ft above sea level to over a mile above sea level.

El Luchador says: take RSL to win. A $142 bet will earn you $100. That's a 70% return on your investment. Do the math.

As always, check your sources for the most up-to-date lines available.

USA v Mexico Feb 11 Crew Stadium

The rumors were wrong. US Soccer has done the right thing. As much as El Luchador disdains nationalism and xenophobia, he will be at Crew Stadium Feb. 11 to cheer the US National Team to their third consecutive home victory over Mexico. Our brothers and sisters south of the border are deserving of our respect, but this is business. South Africa calls. USA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phnj1wDcGE8

McCullers Concedes Loss of Schmid

What El Luchador predicted two weeks ago has now come to pass. Sigi Schmid is leaving. Crew president Mark McCullers issued this statement Tuesday:

“Sigi Schmid has formally declined our last contract offer and will not be returning as head coach of the Columbus Crew. Sigi was the ideal person to turn around our competitive program and create a championship mentality within our club. As a result, we are well positioned moving forward and toward continued success. We respect his desire to seek the next challenge and wish him nothing but the best.”

In an interesting twist, the print edition of the Dispatch (not online yet), reports that Crew management have filed a complaint with the league against expansion Seattle Sounders for holding talks with Schmid, when he has a one-year non-compete clause in his contract. If this is true, not only has the Crew let slip the MLS Coach of the Year, but they are also screwing him on his way out the door.

Everyone seems to think it is a done deal that former Crew player and current top assistant Robert Warzycha will get the job. Not so fast comrades. Remember, a couple important facts: 1) Warzycha would be a good choice and McCullers is incompetent. 2) Last time there was a vacancy, Warzycha was made interim, then passed over for Schmid. Odds are 50-50. The one thing Warzycha has in his favor is that he would come cheap. McCullers and the Hunts are nothing if not tight wads.

The hard working men and women of Crew Soccer Nation deserve better than to lose their Great Leader. The struggle will continue without him. Let us put our support behind the Polish Rifle and persevere in the Black and Gold.

Players Union Case Against League Bosses Moves Forward

A date has been set and an arbitrator selected to hear the MLS Players Union’s grievance against the Big Boss Men of the league for their exploitive decision to short change the players on the supposed $1 million SuperLiga Tournament purse.

Players Union Executive Director Bob Foose told El Luchador today that respected sports arbitrator Shyam Das has been selected by both the union and the league bosses to hear and decide the case under Article 21 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“The arbitration proceedings will likely be held in Philadelphia and they will not be public,” Foose wrote to El Luchador in an email this afternoon. Foose, a friend of working men and women, said the arbitration is tentatively scheduled for late February.

The dispute stems from the league bosses’ decision to imply in numerous public statements that the $1 million purse for the tournament would be split among the workers (i.e., players), when in typical capitalist fashion, they really schemed to keep most of it to satisfy their bottomless greed and avarice (i.e. league management).

“MLS is misleading its great fans,” the players union said in a statement in July. “What has not been revealed by the league is that its New York office has unilaterally set its own bonus structure for players, who will receive only a small fraction of the $1 million. On top of that, the league has gone even further by prohibiting its teams from providing their own bonus pool for their players, despite the fact that this right is protected under the league's CBA.”

“It's a shame that MLS doesn't pay its players – the persons responsible for making the tournament exciting – their fair share of the proceeds. Their refusal to do so has left the players with a bitter taste in their mouths as they enter the tournament,” the statement said.

In August, the players on the Houston Dynamo and the New England Revolution announced an agreement that they would split evenly the bonus money at stake in the SuperLiga final.

“The players have made this decision to show their solidarity and in protest of the league's violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement with respect to the negotiation of bonuses for this tournament,” the union said.

The SuperLiga was started last year by a bunch of suits in an effort to milk every last bit of revenue from the players’ hard work. The tournament pits top teams from the Primera División of Mexico and Major League Soccer.

El Luchador encourages all the united members of Crew Soccer Nation to observe a boycott of the tournament. Thankfully, this will not be hard to do this year, as an agreement with the league means the Crew will participate in the CONCACAF Champions League (a legitimate tournament) instead of the SuperLiga nonsense.

The arbitrator who will consider the matter in February, Das, 64, is a Harvard educated lawyer who works out of Ardmore, PA, near Philadelphia. He has arbitrated disputes for decades in many different industries, most recently making a name for himself in sports arbitration as the designated arbitrator for both the NFL and Major League Baseball. A list of recent baseball related actions Das has been involved in can be found at USA Today.

According to Eugene Freedman at the Baseball Think Factory: “Of his 120 cases decided, Arbitrator Das has sided with management 44 times, the union 51 times, and has issued a split decision 25 times.”

El Luchador predicts the following: Workers 1, Capitalists 0. Stay tuned.

Schelotto, Schmid

Not to throw a downer on the MLS Cup celebrations, but more bad news: Sports Illustrated reports that unless the Hunt ownership group ponies up some serious cash, the prospects are not good for retaining double MVP (regular season and MLS Cup) Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Coach of the Year Sigi Schmid. The next year will be a huge test for the organization. With all the talk by Clark Hunt about "family" and yada, yada, yada, how committed is he really to making the Crew a dynasty franchise. They have taken Sigi right up to the brink with his contract set to expire in a matter of days. Wewill know within the next week whether they intend to rest on their laurels or offer a serious defense of their newly acquired title. The Nordecke Luchador was on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse Tuesday evening as hundreds of Crew faithful gathered to honour the club in the company of Gov. Strickland. Every time Clark or Schmid was mentioned, the crowd chanted, "Re-sign Sigi!" Indeed. Resign Sigi, do what it takes to keep Schelotto, and don't let go of Lenhart, Moffat, and Gaven to name just a few. It's not as challenging as it sounds. "Cash moves everything around me."