These are extremely late not to mention quick and dirty (because somehow Friday is a heavy day at the Joe Job), but here we go.
- Former Revolution midfielder Andy Dorman is on Wales' radar for an international call-up; the Home Nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) have instituted a new rule (it may be a new over-arching FIFA rule, but I'm checking on that) that allows for a nation to select players not born within their borders as long as they received five years of schooling there before their 16th birthday. The rule applies to Dorman, an English-born player who plies his club trade at St. Mirren, because he grew up in Wales.
- Another former MLSer, Ade Akinbiyi, is confident he can make a difference at League Two side Notts County. Akinbiyi didn't have the best stay in MLS, appearing fourteen times for the Dynamo and failing to score. There's a perception that players like Akinbiyi can come to MLS and make an impact because their pedigrees are of the English variety. But Akinbiyi is thirty-five, and clearly on the downswing, so the physically and pacey nature of MLS didn't suit his game. League Two would seem to be his level.
- Only peripherally connected to soccer, this story on the bidding for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision title game is nonetheless worth pointing out, if only for one reason. Despite the fact that the tenets of Pizza Hut Park (mentioned in the story because the facility is bidding for the aforementioned title game) have been called FC Dallas for five years since their re-branding and move to Frisco, the writer of the story still calls them the Dallas Burn. Is it an honest mistake overlooked in editing or does it show lack of respect for American soccer because he failed to check?
- The Northwestern soccer team is excited to see the US qualify for the World Cup; unfortunately there's a shot at MLS in there (accurate, perhaps, but still), with a player saying “There is American soccer, like the MLS, but for the real good stuff, you’ve got to watch European leagues to watch the highest quality soccer.” If MLS can't get young college players to care about a league they might actually have a shot to play in, it's time to address the issues.
Deep Cuts appears every weekday, and highlights American soccer-related items from around the web. If you have a story for Deep Cuts (even shallow ones), you can send it along to matchfitusa@gmail.com.
