I watch Fox Football Fone-In occasionally now. I used to watch it pretty faithfully, probably because Stephen Cohen was a pretty interesting fellow to listen to. It's difficult to agree with his rants all the time, but at least he has informed rants -- and he believes them.Now I watch Eric Wynalda in Cohen's chair and I just don't see the fuss. I see a smarmy dude who is not as informed as he thinks he is; he's got superficial knowledge of the international game I guess he can hang in a casual conversation. But for damn sure, he ain't buying his own B.S.
Wynalda can't carry the show and his smug outlook on the game, his disdain for his co-host and equal condescension for the audience's questions are equally ugly. And now the USSF is thinking of hiring this guy as an assistant for the U.S. U-20 national team?
Use extreme caution when handling this package. Wynalda's contributions to American football are well noted, but they have to be tempered. The guy was a pioneer, but that doesn't mean he could play all that well. He stood out in an era (error?) of American football when the quality was many rungs below what it is today -- kinda like the old cliche about being the tallest little person.
Wynalda's smarm I think is innate--it's not a made-for-TV schtick. Do we want this molding the youth of our game? Time will tell...
Off to the races with this week's tour of the football blogosphere:
- Just one more word on Wynalda, here's a 2006 post from The Big Lead on his feud with Bruce Arena -- classy dude, classy.
- Caught Offside is reporting that John Terry is ready to resign the England captaincy over his affair with Wayne Bridge's former chick, above.
- Total Football Madness says England's players want Terry to retain the armband--affairs and abortions notwithstanding.
- EPL Talk has its usual high quality analysis of the situation: Captaincies are increasingly irrelevant; If Terry isn't captain, why is on the squad still?; and the comical reaction of the fans that they've lost respect for Terry.
- If you need them, Who Ate All the Pies has four reasons John Terry should retain the captaincy.
- In case you missed it, Egypt beat Ghana 1-0 to win the African Cup of Nations. Relive a live blog at World Cup Blog.
- Egypt repeats. Soccer FanHouse reports.
- If you're a fan of league cups, and you recognize the FA Cup is the grandfather of them all, you'll love this post: the contention is that cups are fun only if teams take them seriously. Amen.
- A Cultured Left puts it out there: Manchester United delivered a beat-down on Arsenal.
- Silly Season ended yesterday and aside from Robinho's City exit, all was relatively quiet. Soccernet has a decent roundup of movements.
- Serie A Talk examines the influence of Arrigo Sacchi's on Jose Mourinho.
- Fox Soccer Channel is going HD--I guess. EPL Talk is all over it.
- Football comparison: Super Bowl v. Champions League? See who wins at Champions League Talk.
- Oh You Beauty has a great three-part analysis on Rafael Benitez. Must Read.
- And closing it out, Kickette has a few WAGs out on the town.
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