MLS Thursday Night: LA Galaxy v FC Dallas

By: Bob | April 12th, 2007

Now this is a concept I can embrace. MLS kicks off its Thursday night Match of the Week on ESPN2 this evening. The choice of playing these on Thursday is an odd one likely driven by the television network but regardless it gives us all yet another opportunity to enjoy some midweek soccer. A national game of the week is only fun if there is hype so we’ll do our best to do the hyping around these parts each week.

Tonight’s game features the pre-Beckham/forever-Landycakes LA Galaxy against FC Dallas, a team that will forever be the center of my scorn until someone steps forward to blog about them (other than the excellent 3rd Degree, of course).

A few things I will be watching for this evening in between yelling at Eric Wynalda’s commentary and knocking back tall boys.

Kenny Cooper’s face - It scares the bejeezus out of me. He is the American version of Oliver Kahn. Oh the nightmares I will have tonight! In addition to his face, it is worth watching the kid play. Cooper scored 11 goals last season for FC Dallas. He played for the Manchester United reserve squad a few years ago and was loaned out to Oldham Athletic where he scored 3 goals in 10 games before joining Dallas. His father, Kenny Cooper Sr., was brought up as a keeper in the Blackburn Rovers system and had some success in the old North American Soccer League with the then Dallas Tornado.

Cobi Jones’ Hair - Speaking of nightmares, this picture forever haunts me. Not as much as the one of Pablo Mastroeni, mind you, but it is still scary. As does the fact that Jones is still playing in MLS for the team he began with when the league started in 1996. And he is still effective. This will be his last year in the league. If you saw the Galaxy’s game last week against the Houston Dynamo you saw Robbie Findley come on for Jones in the second half and pick up the pace of the game. Findley is going to be hard to keep out of the Galaxy lineup.

Landycakes’ Wife - If ESPN is going to make this into soccer’s version of Monday Night Football they will need to have shots of the players’ wives in the stands. Since Ms. Donovan is a known entity I say they dedicate a camera to her for the full 90. Even better, get one of those MNF sideline women to make out with her. The ratings will go through the roof.

As we used to say in college, the weekend starts on Thursday night. No wonder I failed that Friday morning grammar class. Enjoy the game. Feel free to leave your comments here before, during and after the match if you so desire. You too can be part of the hype machine!