How can we make the United States fall in love with soccer? Buy your friends a beer and watch as a lifelong love affair with the beautiful game begins.
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South Africa 2010. No matter where you were in the world, when American soccer fans saw Landon Donovan's strike hit the back of the net, beer went errrrrvrywhere. The pubs erupted with World Cup joy. Lucky for us we don't have to wait four years for an equalizing moment. Major League Soccer is jam-packed with amazing strikes, goals, headers, and golazos. Every week there are goals that make you leap out of your seat. Since great goals often come from the most unlikely of places you're often not prepared when that beer of yours goes tumbling over in that moment of goal-scoring ecstasy.
In the spirit of these unforgettable moments, we at the Free Beer Movement offer you a fitting pairing to replace that spilt pint. Each week we bring you a carefully selected beer to go perfectly with the best scoring moments MLS has to offer. Enjoy responsibly.
Goal of the Week Ten: Luis Gil – Real Salt Lake
Major League Soccer fans awarded Real Salt Lake's Luis Gil the 2013 Goal of the Week Award for week #10. The RSL midfielder headed home his second goal of the year; this time against the Vancouver Whitecaps. In this goal sequence the ball only touches three RSL players start to finish. It begins on the home endline with GK Nick Rimando blasting a goal kck forward across the pitch. As the whole RSL offense bombs forward, Joao Plata catches the ball as it slows outside the Whitecaps’ 18 yard box. He sends in the cross to a fleet-footed Luis Gil who is crashing the box like a bull in a china shop. Gil heads the ball into the net with his last bit of energy before rolling to the ground from a collision with Joe Cannon.
This teenager is stacked to the gills with talent. In his honor (and your soggy socks) we at the Free Beer Movement recommend you replace your "Spilt Pint" with a Ballast Point brew. Ballast Point Brewing Co (San Diego, CA) originates from Southern California, much like our young, goal-scoring prodigy. All of their beverages are fantastic, but the "Wahoo" Wheat Beer is the recommendation this week. Summer is quickly approaching, so it is time to start transitioning your taste buds to the refreshing flavors of hefeweizens (as well as other summery beer categories). We like “Wahoo” because it succinctly summarizes the end to end sprinting motion of Gil’s bombing header and subsequent spiral to the turf.
Ballast Point is available across the country at better beer stores and bars. Pick one up today.
Until the next one… cheers to good beer and good goals!
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
D.C. United, in collaboration with DC Brau Brewing Company announced that DC Brau will brew a limited edition D.C. United specific beer. While the beer is currently without a name, D.C. United fans have the opportunity to name the new brew. Fans can submit their suggestions at "Brand the Brew" on the United website.
The special DC Brau craft beer, a golden ale, is crafted specifically for D.C. United and its fans to enjoy. One thousand gallons of the beer will be produced and will be made available exclusively at participating D.C. United official bar partners and at the DC Brau Brewing Company.
“My motivation for making this particular beer with D.C. United came from a willingness to make an ale that all soccer fans can enjoy,” said DC Brau President and Head Brewer Jeff Hancock. “United fans drink all kinds of different beer, and with this particular ale I wanted it to reach a broad spectrum of palettes from those who drink everything from light lagers to hoppy pale ales. There's a little something for everybody in this Golden Ale!”
The D.C. United “Brand the Brew” contest launched yesterday, and will run until May 29. The final list of fan suggestions will be given to a panel of D.C. United players to choose the winning name to appear on beer. The winner will receive a field-side D.C. United gameday experience for two and bragging rights for naming the new D.C. United and DC Brau beer. The brew is planned to become available for order on June 11.
“The unifying factor between D.C. United and DC Brau is the same element that connects both of us to our fans,” said DC Brau CEO Brandon Skall. “Pride: Pride in what we produce, pride in our city and pride in ourselves!”
“Anyone who walks through the Lot 8 tailgate will undoubtedly see DC Brau’s distinctive silver cans and Capitol Dome logo in the hands of our most ardent fans,” said D.C. United Marketing Manager Andrew Minucci. “The quality of their product is what our fans demand and we are excited to quench their thirst by combining the beer they crave with the team they love.”
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
Editor's Note: Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but It bends toward justice”. Sometimes we American soccer fans get wrapped up in the day-to-day, Monday morning quarterbacking (or centerbacking), knee-jerk reactions and miss out on the big picture. This weekly column will focus on picking out the larger themes and issues of Major League Soccer and the American game.
By Eric Betts / Senior Crystal Ball Correspondent
One of the toughest things to do as a soccer watcher is to project. How will a player performing well on Field A for Team 1 will do if placed on Field B and Team 2?
Even the people who are paid to make these judgments at the highest levels have a far from sterling success rate. For us amateurs, it can feel like the height of foolishness even to guess whether the way-better-than-everyone-on-the-field girl at pickup is former-Division-1 or former-Division-III good, much less whether someone who’s scoring consistently in MLS will be able to repeat the feat for the U.S. team or in the Premier Bundesligue A.
So then it’s a little satisfying to see a pair of players we had pegged for success three tiers down move on to MLS and do pretty well in their first two months in the league. Those of us who live in Austin got to see two of the young season’s promising rookies, Dillon Powers and Kekuta Manneh.
It didn’t take the Football Manager database to figure that out those two had futures at a higher level, not when they were the two best players on the field every time they stepped on it. (The Aztex had a third player drafted in the first round, Blake Smith at number 8 to the Impact. I get Smith’s strengths, but given the choice I would have taken Powers and ran with him, positional needs be damned.) We’ve covered their influence on the Aztex herebefore.
Last year I saw Manneh do this in Houston live, mere minutes after he stepped onto the field for the first time and just hours after he actually joined the team. It was like those teams who show up for the finals of a rec league season with that one guy who hasn’t been to any of the previous games. And that guy starts juggling as he jogs around the field to warm up. Manneh Manneh indeed.
With Manneh and Powers it may have been easy, but this projection is supposedly one of our weak points as a soccer-culture. As the narrative goes, we see kids who are bigger, stronger or faster than everyone they’re competing against and decide they could probably cut it at the next level, while Lil Messi and Xavi Jr. ...sorry... while Young Schweinsteiger and Mini-Reus are left picking up the discarded Capri Sun husks. (I sense a wonderful Muppet Babies/JL8-esque web show coming on.)
You’ve likely heard all the reasons our system has trouble picking out these gems: inexperienced coaching at the youngest ages, overemphasis on winning rather than player development, poor playing surfaces hampering touch, close control and passing. Because of that difficulty we seem to be trying option B: Teach everyone the technical stuff, and then siphon off the ones who picked it up and are still strong and fast. That’s what newly triumphant Germany appears to have done. Young Schweinsteiger (It’s pronounced Schweinst-ee-ger) would be playing forward and goalie and probably point guard and quarterback long after his more diminutive Spanish counterparts had been relegated to the number eight shirt on the Chess Club.
We do need to do more to find and polish those less-obvious gems, but for now it’s a strategy that makes sense for American soccer. If you’ve traditionally produced athletes, then why not take those known commodities and try to make them better rather than reaching for a kind of player we may not even be able to find?
The Austin Aztex begin their second PDL season next weekend in Oklahoma City. I have no idea how many future first round picks we’ll find on the field here this season, but I’m looking forward to trying to figure it out.
About Eric
Eric Betts is a freelancer writer who lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and his dog Lando (yup). He is a contributing writer for "The Other 87 Minutes", their brilliance featured every Tuesday on the Free Beer Movement in the form of "the Tuesday 10" or the "Tuesday XI". While attending Emory University he won "College Jeopardy"
For just $44 you can get two tickets and two FREE BEERS for next Wednesday's (May 8th, 7pm ET) match against the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo.
That's a great deal, and in the spirit of the FBM philosophy.
Even better, though? We're giving away two of the FBM-esque packages for Wednesday's game.
Yup, that's FREE BEER and FREE TICKETS for you and a friend! Why not make it an epic FBM night and bring a newbie and show 'em what American soccer is all about?
Entering the contest is simple. Just tweet at us the following:
"Hey @FreeBeerMovemnt... I want free tickets and free beer from @DCUnited! #FBMDC"
Want a second chance to enter? Like us on Facebook and comment on the D.C. United ticket post.
It's that simple!
A great contest, great American soccer, and a chance to practice the Free Beer Movement in action!
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
Emerald City Supporters members, Seattle Sounders player Roger Levesque, and Sounders announcer Ross Fletcher taste test Redhook Brewing Company's No Equal" Amber Lager (made for the Emerald City Supporters SG)) and Widmer Brother's Brewing Company's "Green & Gold" Kolsch (made for the Timbers Army SG).
Think they might have been a little biased?
Now we've tried both "No Equal" and "Green & Gold" and while the Sounders are having fun and games with propping up te ECS beer and burning of the TA beer they're both very well-crafted brews.
Beer Advocate and Rate Beer both give solid ratings for ECS' amber while the TA kolsch doesn't have enough ratings to aggregate a score yet on either BA or RB they early reviews are just as positive as their Cascadia competitor.
We've always stressed at the Free Beer Movement that its completely fine to hate your opponent for those 90 minutes on the field just as long as you can share a brew before or after the match.
Both "No Equal" and "Green & Gold" should be brews that either a Sounders fan or Timbers fan can share, and appreciate, when their beer is in the others' glass
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
This is a case of beer. We are making an argument or case about something. See the connection?
Last night 20,465 "fans" attended a Major League Soccer game between FC Dallas and Los Angeles Galaxy. We say "fans" because late in the match there was one person who couldn't help himself from being not a fan, but a massive idiot. It would be more likely to say that 20,464 fans attended the match along with a single, bumbling moron.
Late in the game, one that saw two PK saves and a red card, FC Dallas' George John redirected a header that already bounced off the crossbar to earn the home side a dramatic late winner against the defending MLS Cup Champion Galaxy. In the ensuing celebration John was struck by a flying projectile later identified as an aluminum Budweiser bottle. Directly behind the goal is FC Dallas Stadium's beer garden, home to one of the supporters groups, the "Dallas Beer Guardians", and, apparently, at least one total dumbass.
To be clear we've already spoken to the DBGs and they've informed us that the suspect (caught on camera above and arrested for public intoxication) was NOT a member of their group or any of the other FC Dallas SGs. Furthermore a member of DBG told us that they were concerned about aluminum bottles being sold in the garden (and informed the FCD FO as well) because of the potential of incidents just like last night's. Given Dallas' proximity to FBM HQ in Austin some our biggest adherents to the "FBM philosophy" are up in Dallas. We're proud of the responsible FBM-ing the Beer Guardians do and, more importantly, their condeming of the fan.
John's gash after being struck with a bottle.
Matches like those against high-profile teams like Los Angeles, (back-to-back Cup holders, stacked with talent like Robbie Keane and the just-returned Landon Donovan) often draw big crowds. Not too mention FC Dallas is sitting pretty in first place in the Western Conference so what you have is a recipe for a stadium full of relative newbies and/or casual fans. A last-minute goal, combined with too much alcohol, a first-timer acting stupidly, and a player ends up getting hurt. A team and its supporters painted with broad stokes.
The switch to put beer from the beer garden in only aluminum bottles was definitely a poor move. Certainly it was to speed up serving time versus tap beer and increase brand visibility on a bottle versus a plastic, see-through cup. More likely than not the FC Dallas front office will re-examine the issue of the bottles and listen to the SGs that warned them earlier. Hopefully it doesn't mean the closing or moving of of a place that is credited as a "a significant success and improved the usually quiet atmosphere of FC Dallas Stadium." The actions of one person shouldn't determine the future of many.
The Free Beer Movement creed is "building American soccer one beer at a time" and we firmly believe that the power of a few free beers can open the doors for many, many people to the beauty of soccer in the United States. Except for when the power of that beer is used to tear down the American soccer experience.
Posted at the footer of our site is the following:
"Free Beer Movement promotes the RESPONSIBLE consumption of alcohol. While viewing matches at bars or stadiums please look out for yourselves and appoint a designated driver to return all FBM participants and guests home SAFELY.
Free Beer Movement is not responsible for the actions of its members or guests and asks that each member of guest of the Free Beer Movement exercise PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in not over-consuming alcohol while viewing or attending soccer matches."
It's easy to get wrapped up in the "beer" part of the FBM, but beer is just the medium while soccer is the message. If at any point the over-consumption or irresponsible use of alcohol gets in the way of the greater message then you're doing it wrong. We've yet to hear about any FBM experiences that have gotten out of hand and, from our interactions with our friends, followers, and supporters FBM is just as much about beer education as it is soccer education; both how to be a good beer drinkers and good fans. Last night's individual was neither.
If the Free Beer Movement ever became associated with these sort of actions on a regular basis we will shut this thing down. Without hesitation.
George John, to his credit, was a sport about the incident and posted to Twitter that evening:
5 staples to fix the gash and 3pts later, all is well. Love the support! Maybe next time buy me the beer instead of throwing it at me.
According to the Dallas Morning News John is not pressing charges against the suspect. Certainly the Frisco Police Department will have other avenues to charge the man and FC Dallas and stadium security will make sure his first soccer game there was his last.
There is a reason soccer is often referred to "the beautiful game", but, unfortunately, it can also create some ugly moments. There's no questioning that these "ugly" parts of our game are influenced by a variety of factors around the world: racism, nationalism, civic pride, etc and often inflamed by alcohol.
It's important that we, as American soccer fans and soccer fans in the United States, hold ourselves to the highest standards as to avoid the darkest corners of the sport and where fandom sometimes exists.
For the Free Beer Movement it is important that we continue to promote the utmost responsibility when doing what we do best: "building American soccer one beer at time".
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
Soccer newbies demand you buy them a beer.
This Sunday is "National Beer Day," the unofficial holiday in which Americans celebrate the return of delicious beer and spirits to the nation's bars and stores with the end of Prohibition in 1933.
Millions of Americans lined up at their local bars, pubs, and taverns ("New Beer's Eve") awaiting this moment when at twelve midnight they could drink again without fear of their suds confiscated or their speak-easys shut down. Happy days were here again. (In fact, 4,207 liquor licenses were issued in Milwaukee alone on April 7th!)
To celebrate the resurrection of beer drinking in the United States we are encouraging each American soccer fan to exercise that Constitutional right to drink beer and do it this weekend at a soccer game with a soccer newbie.
Celebrate "National Beer Day" by making this weekend "National Free Beer Movement Weekend".
Without the repeal of the 18th Amendment we wouldn't have delicious, delicious beer. And without said beer we wouldn't have the greatest motivator in the world to build American soccer.
This weekend when you're attending a Major League Soccer game or a North American Soccer League game or a USL PRO game or any live game... bring a friend. When you're watching English Premier League match Saturday and Sunday mornings.... bring a co-worker. When you're pulling up a seat to any soccer game that's live on on TV anywhere in this great nation or from anywhere in the world.... save a seat for a family member.
All of these people, in all of these situations, are potential soccer fans and they just need the proper setting, the proper education, and the proper brew, all provided by you, for them to be exposed to the wonderful world of soccer.
This is the perfect weekend to participate. All across Europe there are matches that will make-or-break title contenders and games that will decide the survival of other clubs. And, of course, in our domestic league, the love of our life, the MLS season (and the NASL is kicking off) is in full swing. First Kick has come and gone, but the newness of the season is still alive. Every team is still alive and optimism still reigns supreme.
There are tailgates galore to grab a brew, bars abound ready to fill your pint, and fridges fully stocked to host a gang so why not bring a few new fresh faces along and expose them to the beautiful game?
We want your to share your beers and buds with us. Share the beers you're drinking across the country and the friends that you're introducing soccer to with us.
Tweet or Facebook us with your photos of FBM in action this weekend, National Free Beer Movement Weekend 2013.
Cheers!
Historical Note: For many beer nerds, December 5th is the ultimate Prohibition-ending holiday called "Repeal Day" in honor of the final necessary 2/3rds of states (Utah, of all places) ratifying the 21st Amendment. For the Free Beer Movement we're going with this day to honor when President Franklin D. Rooesvelt signed Cullin-Harrison Act became law, official ending the failed Prohibition experiment and allowing beer and other alcohol to flow freely again. Also, since this date falls during the MLS season it makes even more sense.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
It's probably no surprise that many American soccer fans are not only lovers of beer, but lovers of homebrewed beer. It should also come as no surprise that many Major League Soccer supporters groups host their own home brew competitions each year. The one that the Portland Timber's supporters, the Timber's Army has put on, officially or unofficially, since 2009 in certainly one of the more high-profile ones. In years past local craft brewers have made small batches of each winner's beer in several categories.
Beginning last year the Timber's beer sponsor Widmer Brother's Brewing Company, stepped forward to help judge and then brew the winner of one of the categories. For any home brewer going from nano-batches to a major breweries industrial brewing system would be quite the experience.
Just last month Widmer Brother's released "Green & Gold" Kolsch the creation of Timber's Army long-time member Abram Goldman-Armstrong. We had a chance to speak with Abe by phone to ask him about his history with TA, Portland as a beer and soccer town, and, of course, his winning brew.
Goldman-Armstrong in front of his own visage. Photo Credit: OregonLive.com
Free Beer Movement: What’s your history with soccer in Portland and the Timbers Army?
Abe: I started out going to my first Timbers match in 1988 with my parents. It was a Timbers reunion match. When the Timber came back in 2001 I got season tickets in section 107 and, yeah, I’ve been a part of it ever since. I’ve been actively involved in the organization since.
With MLS moving in we kinda got a little more organized and put together the Independent Supporters Trust know as the 107st. I was on the interim board of that and then I was elected to the initial board and the re-elected to the most recent board.
Along with that I edit and publish “The Whipsaw”, the Timbers Army fan-zine, now in our fourth year of that.
I’m involved in all different aspects. It’s definitely a major focus in my life.
FBM: What does it mean to be to be a supporter of the Timbers and what does it means to support a local club? What is it like to have live, local soccer in Portland week-in-and-week-out?
Abe: It’s really fantastic. The atmosphere at a Timbers match can’t really be matched in North America. Having a local team is really key. Going to a pub watching World Cup is fantastic or even if you have a good crowd watching EPL or other foreign matches, but soccer support here in Cascadia has really brought it to the next level.
When you go to a match here in Cascadia, whether you’re in Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver you’re going to find it’s more that a spectator sport. You’re there, you’re participating. We’ve always tried really hard in the Timbers Army to be engaging and engage the team. We’re willing the team to win and that’s really a key part of a local team.
You can be passionate about soccer, but you miss out on that day-to-day, when you go to a match, that shared energy. You just have to lose yourself to the crowd. You’re all there and it’s really pretty amazing.
FBM: How long have you been home brewing? What is it about having local craft beer with your local team?
Abe: I’ve been home brewing since I was 17 years old so about 17 years in total now. It’s really a big part of my life. I also write about beer. I’m really engaged in the brewing community here.
Beer is really interwoven into the Timbers Army here. I probably say hi to fifteen different brewers at a Timbers game. We live and breathe beer here as much as we live and breathe soccer. We have more breweries than any other city in the world. It really is a part of our fabric in Oregon. I think that’s something that’s a natural fit. Beer and watching soccer go hand-in-hand.
The whole beer community is really passionate about Timbers. And the Timbers Army is passionate about beer. It works out pretty well.
On our bus trip to Seattle we had about 20 different breweries sponsoring each bus. So each bus has its own Oregon brewery on it. Small, independent, local breweries that are really passionate about the team and willing to donate kegs. It’s not just that we’ve got beer on the bus, but it’s “we got local beer on the bus and here’s the brewer sitting on the bus going to the game and yelling at the referee with us for the full ninety minutes”.
I think we’re really lucky here in Cascadia to have a really vibrant brewing culture. It makes it that much more of a community to have local craft beer. And we have local craft beer in the stadium, too. Something that’s really important to who we are and how we operate.
FBM: Discuss the Timbers Army home brew contest and how long Widmer’s been a part of it.
Abe: 2013 will be our four year for the Timbers Army Home Brew Competition. It started as a fairly informal affair and actually home brewing competitions were outlawed for a year so because of some weird law. So in 2010 we didn’t have any judging and we said, “well we’re going to all show up and tailgate” and did that. We decided to just go ahead and that just had a people’s choice award.
In 2011 we had a more formal competition again. All the beers were judged blind by a range of judges, some of them nationally ranked. We partnered with a couple of local breweries that year. The Lompoc brewed the winner, and the runner-up was brewed by by McMenamins, and the third place winner was brewed by Hop Works. That year I placed third with a Northwest-style Red Ale.
Anyhow in 2012 we had the competition again at Lompoc and Widmer had approach us to brew the winner. We basically split the competition in half. There was the “Full 90” which Widmer was going to brew; something that you could drink for a full match, something that was under 6 percent alcohol and something that wasn’t going to blow your face off with hops. It was a good fit.
Lompac brewed the winner of the “Pride of Cascadia” category which included IPAs, Cascadian Dark Ales, Imperial IPAs, and Northwest Red Ales.
In the “Full 90” category there was some pretty stiff competition, but the judges (Widmer sent down four of their brewers to help out) settled on a kolsch that I had brewed. And that’s how that all came about here.
FBM: Why did you decide to go with a kolsch? Tell us a little about the ingredients you used. Describe the taste and the flavor and how it best represents your passion for the Timbers and your passion for craft beer.
Abe: Kolsch, as you probably know, is a style that originate in Cologne, Germany. It's a top fermented beer. It's an ale, but generally brewed with all pilsner malts. Very light. Very, very pale ale. So pale you wouldn't call it a pale. It's very golden-straw in color. It's basically like a lager except for the yeast strain that is used. It's a style that I really fell in love with when I went to Cologne during the 2006 World Cup. I went around to a few of the local brewpubs and it (the kolsch style) really made an impression on me. It's a style that I've been pretty much brewing every summer since then.
It's a style that is pretty different than the stuff I normally brew, but it's worked its way into my rotation of beers that I brew. In this case I used a different yeast strain that I have never used before, a "kolsch-two" from White Labs here in Mount Hood. I used an organic pilsner malt from British Columbia and I used Hallertaur hops that I grew in my own backyard.
It ended up being the palest and brightest beer I ever brewed. I was really happy with it.
I was really honored that it won.
FBM: Being at Widmer, was that kind of a Willy Wonka experience for you?
Abe: It was pretty interesting. I brew on a ten-gallon system at home and even Widmer's test batches were brewed using a ten barrel-system so 310 gallons, but they stepped it up to their 250-barrel brew house and that's 7,750 gallons for one batch.
It was pretty unreal. I've been brewing for seventeen years and that was brewing more beer in one batch that I had in my entire life.
It was a good experience. I think I learned a lot about the practicalities of brewing on that kind of system. You can't do exactly what you want when it comes to availability of ingredients.
When I had to scale up the batch to brew at Widmer we had to make a number of changes; we obviously couldn't use the hops I grew from home (they ended up using Alchemy, Mt. Hood, and Hallertaur hops), the yeast strain I used was only seasonally available, and we ended up using Widmer's base two-row malt. We brewed three test batches before the big batch at the brewery and none of those were quite right. It was great to see that when we brewed it on the big system is was much closer to the original beer that the previous attempts.
That was pretty exciting.
VIDEO - Abram talks about his winning beer:
Note: All other photos courtesy of Widmer Brother's Brewing press release.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
An Henry wonder-goal here, a Villareal late-winner there, and twenty or so other great strikes (including former Austin Aztex Dillion Powers for Colorado Rapids) from week five of Major League Soccer.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
Editor's Note: Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but It bends toward justice”. Sometimes we American soccer fans get wrapped up in the day-to-day, Monday morning quarterbacking (or centerbacking), knee-jerk reactions and miss out on the big picture. This weekly column will focus on picking out the larger themes and issues of Major League Soccer and the American game.
Here’s a question for people who have been following the league a lot longer than I have: Is this the most varied that the MLS has had on the pitch in its history? Don’t listen to El Chelís: There may never have been as many styles working in the league at one time as there are right now.
El Chelís:"Everyone in MLS plays the same, 4-4-1-1."
In a broad sense, Chelís isn’t wrong: many MLS teams do play a lone striker up front with a deep-lying forward or advanced playmaker underneath him and two wide-men somewhere in front of two fullbacks. Chivas decidedly don’t, and their 3-5-2 is probably going to have to get its own column one of these weeks.
But it’s also a gross oversimplification. There are a lot of ways a team can play that way, but to characterize the league as such does miss the on-field diversification MLS has gone through as a result of its rapid expansion and the introduction of new talent with different skill sets and new coaches with ideas to take advantage of them. It doesn’t feel like we’re so far removed from the days when you could have your 4-4-2 in any color you like, so long as it was black. The games don’t bleed into one another; instead, three weeks in, some styles are as indicative of their particular teams as their shirts.
Take the darlings of the early season, the Montreal Impact and their cover version (parody? loving homage? bastardization?) of Roma’s old 4-1-4-Totti formation: a lone front man dropping deep – or in Marco Di Vaio’s case, deep and toward the flanks – allowing the next line of four midfielders to surge into open space onto passes from that forward or their talented midfield pivot. No one else in the league plays quite this way. Di Vaio’s chalkboards in particular make for a fascinating study, and I’m continually amazed by his ability to step back into midfield right past the boundary of a defender’s attention then surge by him as soon as that defender turns off (This example against Portland shows he doesn’t always have far to go).
Can they keep it up? Can their elderly legs do it on a hot, muggy Saturday in Houston? We’ll never know. They somehow get Houston in Houston on a Friday night in October, by which point half their creaky starting XI might be dead from natural causes.
Vancouver too escapes the worst of the Texas heat, getting the Dynamo this Saturday when the high in Houston is just 78 degrees. Their hot start comes with the use of a not-uncommon 4-2-3-1 formation, but the way they can mix and match their athletes and their playmakers in that formation gives them a variety of ways to attack opposing defenses. They haven’t even had to break out what might end up being the league’s best non-Goonies Plan B offense: give the ball to Daigo and have their squadron of speedsters run Hail Mary’s to open up space.
Porter’s Timbers adhered to Claudio Reyna’s Platonic ideal even as the side shifted into something more defensive in Seattle. (I like when Valeri moves into tiny pockets of space and thinks he’s open while his teammates look at him squatting in the same space and conclude he’s well-covered. You imagine with time they’ll figure it out.) RSL 2.0’s changes are more like a 1.5 patch than a new edition as long as the Rimando-Beckerman-Saborio core is intact, but they’ve been one of the league’s leading examples of a team-specific style for years now. Sporting KC may be grinding their gears as they shift from a philosophy that revolved around position to one of possession, but 69% against Toronto and 73% against Chicago suggest that the only thing they have left to figure out is the goal-scoring.
New York’s pressing means the team occasionally slips into a horseshoes and hand grenades approach to defensive positioning, but their team defense through three games is better than expected, relying less than nearly everyone expected on Dax McCarty as their own frantic Brain, scrambling to keep the various bolted-on components of their Inspector Gadget-squad from handcuffing themselves to a lit bomb or helicoptering while upside-down.
This variety is a boon for MLS. A match’s quality isn’t derived only from the quality of the players on the field. Stylistic clashes turn otherwise unspectacular teams into intriguing opponents for one another no matter what game you’re playing and are a big part of the appeal of a sporting event you may have heard a little about this month: the NCAA men’s basketball tournament (Quick: Count the number of times they say “tempo”).
When teams see as many varying paths to victory as they do right now, the real winners are going to be the fans who can appreciate the idiosyncrasies they’re going to be watching. No matter what El Chelís sees.
About Eric
Eric Betts is a freelancer writer who lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and his dog Lando (yup). He is a contributing writer for "The Other 87 Minutes", their brilliance featured every Tuesday on the Free Beer Movement in the form of "the Tuesday 10" or the "Tuesday XI". While attending the Emory University he won "College Jeopardy"
It’s #RivalryWeek! Are you excited yet? Have you started hash-tagging every tweet? Are you adding –Scum to the first syllable of your team’s rival city? And if you’re a Columbus supporter, do you just feel left out of this week’s action, or are you busy trying to figure out ways to mock San Jose?
Hey "Port-Scum" fans! While you're here in Seattle may I recommend some of our delicious local brews? I'll buy you one after the match!
Actually, the side that has it worst this week is the Vancouver Whitecaps. They’re already often left out of the Cascadia Cup rivalry, with Portland and Seattle much more interested in one another than the ‘Caps. Then they try to join in on Canada rivalries, and Montreal and Toronto just look down their noses. Take a rest, Vancouver – you’ve earned it.
I’ve spent the week thinking about rival beers and all I can think about is the big players: Budweiser vs Coors vs Miller. Heineken vs Stella Artois. Sapporo vs Asahi. And then I realized: it’s because craft beers don’t like to wage war on one another. Even here in Portland, which has more microbrews than I could visit in a year, the brewers tend to build one another up rather than insult and dismiss the competition. Every brewery is concerned about making the best beer possible rather than worrying about what the brewer down the block is adding to his hops and malts.
I could go off on some deep tangent about how MLS is still a young league and this means the sides should promote and encourage one another rather than engaging in petty rivalries. But don’t worry – that’s not my plan. I like #RivalryWeek. One of the best parts of sports is being able to get fired up about the opposition – letting all reason and sense take a backseat, and coming up with some great one-liners (by the way, that reference about the –Scum? Not a good one-liner. Get better, soccer fans). Don’t get me wrong – I’m not advocating going out and taking a swing at a visitor wearing the opposing team’s colors. But having some good trash talk at the ready is essential to fandom.
Unfortunately, that sort of rivalry doesn’t transfer very well to choosing a beer. We need cities like Austin and San Diego to get clubs if we really want to launch a collaboration rivalry week between beer and MLS. So instead, leave the rivalry in the stadium and try to embrace the concept I talked about above: that there’s not really a competition in craft brewing, but instead a place for anyone that wants to join in. Some breweries focus on West-Coast IPAs. Some try to bring a Germanic flavor to the States. Others want to make the best Belgian Ale in their neighborhood. And we all get to benefit.
This weekend try and embrace your rival's beers because as much as you're going to hate their colors there's no good reason to deny their delicious brews. So are you a Fire supporter headed to Kansas City? Stop by Boulevard Brewing before you cross over from Missouri, and give one of their wheats a try. A Revs fan heading to Philadelphia? Turns out that’s one of the best beer cities in the US. Victory Brewing’s less than 30 miles from PPL Park. You’ve also got Philadelphia Brewing, currently offering a beer called “Fleur de Lehigh”, which includes ginger, lemon grass, and rhubarb. Please, go try this for me.
And, of course, how can we leave #RivarlyWeek without touching on Portland visiting Seattle? One of the most hotly contested rivalries in MLS also features two cities filled with fantastic beer. As a Sounders fan living in Portland, I know that of which I speak. Timbers supporters, avoid Pyramid and make your way to Elysian (if they’ll let you in!) There’s a branch right across from CenturyLink Field, and they offer some of the best beers in town. If there’s anything available featuring chili and chocolate, get your hands on that. If not, Avatar Jasmine, which is always on tap, is one of the best IPAs I’ve ever tasted.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a Sounders sticker to scrape off my car, before anyone decides it’s funny to cover it with a Timbers one (again).
About Kirsten
I may be a law student at Lewis and Clark, but soccer is my true love, with beer coming in a distant second. That's not to say I don't love beer--I've tasted over a thousand different brews, am a bit obsessed with my "33 Beers" notebooks, and love my Untappd app. Living in Portland, Oregon, I attend quite a few festivals and tastings, and am able to argue passionately about the merits of Cascade hops vs. Chinook.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
Editor's Note: Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but It bends toward justice”. Sometimes we American soccer fans get wrapped up in the day-to-day, Monday morning quarterbacking (or centerbacking), knee-jerk reactions and miss out on the big picture. This weekly column will focus on picking out the larger themes and issues of Major League Soccer and the American game.
There’s a surprising lack of doom and gloom around MLS so far this year.
It’s true that American soccer fans are known for their level-headedness and taking a “wait-and-see” approach before jumping to conclusions about their teams (Pause for laughter). And yes it is early. But by God, the season’s started, why do so many fanbases still seem to have hope?
Perhaps I just read too many fan previews and familiarized myself with too many best and worst case scenarios now unfolding. If you put an infinite number of MLS bloggers in front of an infinite number of laptops, then eventually one of them will generate a preview that exactly mirrors the season.
Every death knell seems matched by an equal and opposite peal. Okugo and McInerney will win us the Cup in 20XX! With Gordon or Lenny on the field no way Wondo misses all those gift-wrapped chances against Salt Lake! Hey, at least we play Chicago next week!
This is a not-statistically-significant window into what parity looks like. Teams that were supposed to have continued their dominant runs have struggled. Teams that little was expected of have surged. Good teams that were thought might have some early roster turnover- and injury-induced hiccups have had some early roster turnover- and injury-induced hiccups.
Twelve of 19 teams have won one game. Only two have lost twice, and Colorado’s missing seemingly half its roster while Chicago has just proven everyone’s theory that Arne Friedrich’s name is inscribed above Austin Berry’s on last year’s Rookie of the Year trophy. Even Chivas USA have thwarted the impression that their season was going to end up looking like this and have started earning praise for their play:
For all the nonsense off the field, Chivas USA may not be all that bad a team.
In short, no one’s dreams have yet been dashed, which may not seem that surprising two weeks in but considering Barcelona and Bayern were somewhere between 7 and 13 points ahead at this mark in their respective seasons it certainly seems like another tick in favor of MLS. This is what the league as its structured is designed to do, from the draft before the season to the playoffs after it: Give everyone a chance for as long as possible.
But is parity worth it? Keeping certain teams financially and competitively within reach of the rest of the league is obviously of benefit to those rest of the league teams, but which way creates more fans for the league as a whole? Would it be worth introducing some peaks and valleys into the topography of the league’s playing field if it means more people would tune in for its biggest games?
More people watch games with big names and big-market teams, but for MLS last year the boost from that was small compared to factors like how good its lead-in program was. Some people watch MLS because of the teams that happen to be playing. A lot of people don’t watch because they haven’t yet been convinced that the league is worth their time.
This is a different way to ask the same question from last week: Will lopsided additional spending lead to more fans? And the answer from evidence we’ve seen overseas is probably yes. It’s no coincidence that the teams that were spending the most money on on-field product at the time when satellite television and the Internet began to open up the big European leagues to the rest of the world each and every week are the ones who picked up the most fans in the new global markets; you don’t see as many fans of Leverkusen or Valencia as you do of Real Madrid and Manchester United. Hell, you can find more “long-time” fans of Manchester City than you can of Porto or Monaco or to a team and being stuck with it of the other teams that actually had their glorious moment in the European sun.
But by the same token, the less successful, less rich clubs remain ill-positioned to take advantage of these new markets, and so are left further and further behind.. Their fan bases talk (a little facetiously, sure) of the burdens of their fandom, of being born and raised with this love that they can’t shake, no matter how much more appealing the Manchester sides of the league may look. The bulk of the money doesn’t trickle down, and neither do the bulk of the fans, leaving those who have grown up loving their team as the primary support system.
MLS isn’t ready yet for that kind of dichotomy. Too many American soccer fans are still picking their first MLS team; since they weren’t born into or adopted early by a fan culture, then why wouldn’t they take the option of flocking to the banner of a hypothetical sistemas solares superteam? Our theoretically American love for the underdog isn’t enough to keep people from rooting for the Yankees or the Lakers or Duke. The supporter nucleus will survive intact, but the people they’re supposed to be spreading the love for their team and their game to will be less open to the message. The parity days are already coming to a close as wealthy teams realize they can gain their competitive advantage by using all three DP slots or investing large sums of money into youth development to reap additional Homegrown rewards, but the league rightly realizes that it needs time for the foundations to solidify before it upends the competitive balance.
When it does, fans may find themselves longing for the good old days when teams still had hope even two weeks into the season.
About Eric
Eric Betts is a freelancer writer who lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and his dog Lando (yup). He is a contributing writer for "The Other 87 Minutes", their brilliance featured every Tuesday on the Free Beer Movement in the form of "the Tuesday 10" or the "Tuesday XI". While attending the Emory University he won "College Jeopardy"
There is no doubt that SKC has hefty expectations in 2013 after coming off another fantastic year in 2012.
Last season included winning the East for the second straight year, but most notably the 2012 Open Cup, at home, in front of a sellout crowd. In what will be remembered as one of the best moments in Kansas City sports, SKC took the liberty of de-throning Seattle controversially via penalties, but destiny was with the home team on that starry October night. #PaintTheWall.
Kansas City lost two big-time players in Kei Kamara and Roger Espinoza to the English Premier League, but the addition of Claudio Bieler & Benny Feilhaber will be a welcome sight for the KC faithful. Bieler has two goals in two games to start the season.
If we had to compare SKC to one local beer, it would undoubtably be the Boulevard Chocolate Ale. The highly anticipated release of the Chocolate Ale could very well be symbolic of SKC's season as well. Very high expectations, little return on your investment. Boulevard had a large recall of the Chocolate Ale last year and offered a full refund for anyone who discovered "flavors and aromas not intended by our brewers, attributes not detected prior to the January release of the beer." This hasn't dimmed Boulevard's reputation or Chocolate Ale enthuisasts who continue to support their hometown brewery and their unique one-off beer.
Same could be said for SKC, who have looked very questionable out of the gate in its' two first games. We associate losing to Toronto FC with violently vomitting bad beer. This team/beer could be classified as hit and miss.. You never know what you're going to get. Only time will tell.
One thing is for sure, the KC Cauldron and local brew-lovers will be behind their city (and their brewery) until the end of time.
New coach, new players, new outlook: Everything is new this year in Portland after the Timbers hired Caleb Porter to replace John Spencer. Significant roster turnover has brought familiar faces from around MLS as well as two older gentlemen from Europe’s top divisions to implement Porter’s pressing, possession style.
While the additions of Ryan Johnson, Will Johnson and Michael Harrington are expected to help carry the Timbers from two poor seasons to a playoff contender, new Designated Player Diego Valeri is the key. The Argentine playmaker is the hub around which Porter’s gambit will hinge. The responsibility of orchestrating the attack falls on Valeri, which serves a dual role of defining that role for the first time in Portland, while freeing Darlington Nagbe to meander through opposing defenses from the left side.
As Porter’s style requires up field pressing, the defense behind is often left exposed. This will be the Timbers’ greatest weakness in 2013, despite the additions of Harrington, Mikael Silvestre and Ryan Miller. The defense is improved from last year, but the set up puts more of the onus on the backline to perform at a high level. Only if Porter can use his diamond 4-4-2 with either Ben Zemanski or the injured Jack Jewsbury will Portland have adequate cover in front of the center backs. The Timbers might outscore more opponents than not, but it seems unlikely that clean sheets will be a regular occurrence.
All of that said, the paradigm has been redefined under Porter. Expect entertaining soccer, high scoring games and a wholly new attitude from players and fans.
This small, North Portland microbrewery rarely sells pints off site and never bottles. The Copacetic IPA is an admittedly light and fruity IPA, especially by northwest standards. The hoppy finish is bitter but refreshing, especially when enjoyed in the sun on the brewery’s porch. Perhaps most importantly for Timbers fans though, the beer’s name presents two ideals: Amnesia regarding the past two seasons with expectations of a Copacetic 2013.
Real Salt Lake may have needed 70 minutes to break through San Jose’s defenses, but Álvaro Saborío then scored twice inside 15 minutes to give Salt Lake the win over San Jose. RSL added to their strikeforce in the offseason with the return of Robbie Findley and the arrival of Joao Plata, the latter who turned provider for Saborío’s first goal about five minutes after he stepped on the pitch. Perhaps that’s a sign of great things to come for Salt Lake, who are looking to improve on last season’s minor setbacks and come roaring back reclaim their spot towards the top of MLS.
And so what better brewery for RSL than Epic? Perhaps Salt Lake City’s best-known brewery, at least for those of us who live outside the city limits. Interestingly enough, it’s often easier to find Epic’s limited-release beers than it is their classics. They’ve got a unique take on beer production: rather than create several different beers in one style, labeling and promoting them individually, the brewery produces an “Elevated Series”, with different hops, malts, and other grains added to the beer style.
The 825 State Stout Series is perhaps the most distinctive, particularly because Epic does not add flavorings to the stouts in this series. Whatever you get – chocolate or espresso, marshmallow or nut – is a flavor based solely on the malts involved.
The Whitecaps started their season off with a win in a hotly contested Canadian rivalry – ok, I’m lying, I was paid to insert the word “rivalry” into that sentence. But a win’s a win, and Gershon Koffie started the season off on the right foot for the ‘Caps. Newcomer Daigo Kobayashi also made an impression with his first assist for his new side, and the midfielder will likely be a welcome creative addition to the team. Vancouver have also secured the services of Premier League veteran Nigel Reo-Coker, who this Aston Villa fan has long thought would make a solid addition to any MLS team. This could very well be a side that secures more wins than losses.
I couldn’t resist nominating Granville Island’s Kitsilano Maple Cream for this season’s Whitecaps. What, after all, is more Canadian than maple? This beer would only be better if it had a large red leaf on the label. This ale is pretty much what you’d expect: toasted caramel with a hint of maple that manages to not overpower the beer. It’s got a nice and creamy mouthfeel and is easy-drinking, although it might not be one you keep going back to. Yep, it’s pretty much perfect for Vancouver.
Seattle are about to venture down a treacherous, dark path: they must venture into this season without the aid of Fredy Montero, who has been with the Sounders since their MLS debut. Their first foray into this unknown world ended in frustration, with Eddie Johnson unable to finish and the Impact determined to hang for a 1-0 victory.
Seattle have created a decent midfield for 2013, but many are asking if that’s enough for a side used to playoffs and Open Cup finals. There’s no real replacement for Montero, and the defense will certainly miss Jeff Parke’s solidity. But with the majority of the media content to focus on Seattle’s supporters rather than its play, it’s possible the changes to the team may not even be noticed.
But even if Seattle fans might have less to cheer about this season, at least they can console themselves with some pretty great beers (although they’re going to have to cross the borders to find Pliny the Elder – Russian River is now refusing to distribute in Washington state).
One of the better offerings is Two Beers, whose cans and bottles are now making their way across state lines. Heart of Darkness CDA is the perfect beer for this Sounders season: with its malty, chocolate taste, you’re not really getting what you expected, although the finish leaves a nice hint of citrus hops that might keep you coming back for more.
Celebrate "National Beer Day" by making this weekend "National Free Beer Movement Weekend".
The whole beer community is really passionate about Timbers. And the Timbers Army is passionate about beer. It works out pretty well.
FBM: Why did you decide to go with a kolsch? Tell us a little about the ingredients you used. Describe the taste and the flavor and how it best represents your passion for the Timbers and your passion for craft beer.
There is no doubt that SKC has hefty expectations in 2013 after coming off another fantastic year in 2012.
Beer Selection: 
Beer Selection: 
