Soccer By Ives

It's Q&A Time

It is (finally) that time again. Time for SBI readers to submit their questions and time for me to answer a few of them before I spend two weeks putting off the rest of them. Okay, I'm half-joking.

Seriously though, fire your soccer (or pop culture) questions my way and I will do my best to give you an answer, or at the very least my own opinion on the matter. Be sure to keep your questions from being too long, only ask one or two, and try to avoid topics that have already been beaten to death in past Q&A sessions. Don't know which topics those are? Look up past Q&As and you will figure it out.

Post your question/questions in the comments section below.

Fire away!

(The rest of) Your Questions Answered (Part 4 of 4)

 

                                                    Photo by ISIphotos.com

Here they are, the last of the questions from the most recent Q&A session (and yes, I use the word recent loosely).

Lots of topics discussed in this batch, including the following subjects: Landon Donovan, U.S. national team formations, MLS rookies, MLS salary cap, Spain vs. Manchester United and Jose Francisco Torres.

Now, onto the questions and answers. Enjoy:

Your (old) Questions Answered (Part 3 of 4)

If you have found yourself thinking, "You know, it's been forever since SBI had a Q&A" you are absolutely right. The craziness of the past few months, coupled with the size of the last batch of questions, led to almost half of the questions not being answered.

I didn't forget about them. I was just waiting for some downtime to have the chance to knock them out, and that chance has finally come. Here is Part Three of the last Four Part Q&A. Look for Part Four tomorrow.

Among the folks discussed in this batch of questions and answers: Guus Hiddink, Dirk Diggler (yes, really), Stefan Frei, Michael Bradley and Thierry Henry (to name a few).

Now here's a question SBI readers can answer for me. Would you rather I do a live Q&A where I handpick a small percentage of questions and answer those the same day, or would you rather wait however long it takes to have the Q&A finished? In this last Q&A I actually did both, answering a Best XI of questions right away. Let me know what you prefer and the popular pick will get the nod.

Now, back to the Q&A. Here are some of your (old) questions answered:

Your Questions Answered (Part 2 of 4)

 

Welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered. There is a good range of questions in this batch, with topics ranging from Jonathan Spector's U.S. national team prospects to my ranking of all the stadiums in MLS.

Surprisingly, there were no John O'Brien, MLS promotion/relegation or Red Bulls stadium questions. Trust me, I'm not complaining.

Now, onto the answers:

BP- Ives, thanks for the site. J. Spector, when healthy, starts for a top 10 Premiership side and plays well. If healthy (I know, big if), will he start at WC 2010?

If not healthy, will Bradley bring him anyway ala John O'Brien 2006?

IVES- If Spector can stay healthy and get in a full season as a starter with West Ham, I think he will pass Steve Cherundolo and Frankie Hejduk for the right back spot. If he continues to have injury issues I can't imagine Bob Bradley spending a precious World Cup roster spot on him.

------------------------------

Your Questions Answered (Part 1 of 4)

Welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered. If you are stunned to see answers to the last Q&A coming about two weeks earlier than you would have expected, shame on you. Of course, the next batch of answers will probably come in September.

This set of answers will cover topics ranging from the U.S. right back position, to potential U.S. World Cup venues, to Americans Abroad who may come back home, to MLS promotion/relegation (okay, so my answer on that one is pretty short. Take a guess).

Here are some more of Your Questions Answered:

-----------------------------------

RED DEVIL IN DC- Will Marcus Tracy get a chance to make the team for South Africa 2010? If not him are there any other "surprise" attacking players that might make the roster?

IVES- I have to believe Tracy will get a look at some point this year, and if not, certainly come January. He’s shown glimpses for Aalborg and is a nice prospect, but he has a long road to travel if he will challenge for one of the U.S. team’s 23 World Cup roster spots.

Your Questions Answered (The Lost Questions)

 

                                                                            Photo by ISIphotos.com

Don't let the headline fool you.

No, I'm not answering questions about Benjamin Linus, The Dharma Initiative or the Black Cloud Monster. These "lost" questions are the remaining questions I didn't get to from the February Q&A. I'm sure some of you gave up on them, but I always try to finish the Q&A's, even if it takes two months to do so.

Before we get to the answers, I wanted to point out the latest installment of The SBI Questions. For those of you who may have missed it, U.S. national team goalkeeper Tim Howard answered questions from SBI readers this week. Here are part one and part two of Howard's answers.

Now, onto the answers, which cover everything from the future of soccer online, to where the USA-Mexico rivalry stands in comparison to other world rivalries, to comparing Charlie Davies and Nery Castillo.

Enjoy:

Your Questions Answered (The Same Day Best XI Questions)

 

                                                                         Photo by ISIphotos.com

Okay, admit it. When I said I would answer some of the questions from today's Q&A on the same day you probably laughed. Well, don't laugh anymore.

Here is a Best XI of questions from today's Q&A. The rest will be answered shortly (hopefully). As for that last batch of questions from February? I will look to drop the answers to those this weekend: (Apologies for the technical difficulties with this post earlier. That's the last time I try to fix a headline from my Blackberry Storm.

MODIBO- Ives, thanks as always for your great work.
Predictions:

Can Seattle maintain their excellent record or is their fantastic start due to excitement surrounding the franchise and hilarious pep-talks by Drew Carey?

Can Mexico reverse their downward slide with Aguirre at the helm, or has too much damage been done this qualifying campaign (changes by the FMF, media scrutiny, questions about player commitment, injuries) to permit Mexico to come back to form? Are there any qualities that Aguirre brings that are significantly different or was his prior success reflective of other factors - greater team cohesion, for instance, or better player development and scouting by the FMF?
Thanks!

It's Q&A Time

It is that time again. Time for SBI readers to submit their soccer (and pop culture) questions and time for me to take way too long to answer them (kidding, okay, so maybe not). I know I still have the final portion of the last Q&A to get through (and I'm finishing that off as we speak), but I wanted to kick off the next Q&A because too much time has passed since the last session and there are plenty of new topics to cover.

In case you hadn't noticed in the last round of answers, not everybody's questions are being answered. I will pick as many questions as possible to cover, but the number of questions that are being submitted these days makes it tough to get to all of them. Keep your questions concise and limit yourself to one question and a short follow-up and chances your question will be answered.

As always, I recommend that you check out the archives of past Q&A's to see if the question you have has been answered in the past. This is highly recommended since questions that have been asked and answered recently won't be answered again.

Now it's your turn. Send your questions my way, and I will look to answer them as soon as possible. In fact, I can guarantee that I will answer a Best XI of questions before the end of today.

Send your questions this way.

Your Questions Answered (Part 3 of 4)

 

                                             Photo by ISIphotos.com

If you gave up hope on ever seeing the last Q&A session ever completed, I can't say I blame you, but here it is, back from the grave (or more like the SBI storage locker).

There are plenty of subjects covered in this batch of reader questions, from Jozy Altidore's loan deal to Freddy Adu's status, from where best to use Jose Francisco Torres, to which character on The Wire best embodied the show. No, there were no John O'Brien questions this time, but I'm sure more will come in the future. And yes, I'm sure there's a joke about O'Brien still playing for the USA when these questions were actually asked, but that would be wrong.

There are plenty of topics covered so dig in:

NICO- Of the coaches in the CONCACAF Hexagonal, which have impressed you? Any of the six coaches surprise you (negatively or positively)? Thanks much.

IVES- I would say that Costa Rica’s Rodrigo Kenton has done more with less than any other team in the region. If the coaches who have surprised me negatively, it must be said that Honduras manager Reynaldo Rueda couldn’t have been happy with the start Honduras got off to. Obviously the win vs. Mexico has helped turn things around for them.

Your Questions Answered (Part 2 of 4)

 

Good morning and welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered. Although the questions answered in this segment were from a month ago, most of the issues covered in them are still the issues being discussed today.

Such as? You have Landon Donovan's time at Bayern, David Beckham's MLS play, Jonathan Spector's prospects as the national team left back and how will Bobby Convey do in MLS.

Here they are, some more of your questions answered:

Your Questions Answered (Part 1 of 4)

Good afternoon and welcome to the Snowstorm Edition of Your Questions Answered. If you're fresh from shoveling some snow, or stuck at work wondering how the drive home will be, you probably need something to help pass the time.

With that in mind, here is the first installment of the answers from the most recent SBI Q&A. We cover everything from Beckham to USA-Mexico aftermath to World Cup seeding to best episode of The Office to what a U.S. national team might look like if it were made up of pro athletes from other sports (assuming they had grown up playing soccer):

Let's get it started. Enjoy:

Your Questions Answered (Part 5 of 5)

 

                                                                                  Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good afternoon folks. If you are looking at the above photo wondering why in the world John O'Brien is there, I can explain. After the latest question asking about John O'Brien I thought it would be nice to show a picture of him in his glory for those fans who keep holding out hope that he will some day make a return to the field.

Actually, I thought it would just be an ironic photo to run with the latest Q&A since I tell people over and over in Q&As to stop asking about the former Ajax midfielder because he has retired from professional soccer and is never coming back. When I actually broke my own rule and mentioned him in the last installment of Your Questions Answered, I came up with the idea of running this photo.

For those who don't recognize it, the photo comes from the U.S. team's 1-1 tie against South Korea in the 2002 World Cup. I was in the stadium that day and can tell you that I have never been in a stadium as electric and filled with excited fans as that day (That is also the game where I saw the biggest flag I've ever seen in my life). That includes World Cup finals, Champions League matches and MLS Cups (stop laughing).

Ah, memories are great aren't they? Seeing O'Brien at his best must still bring a tear to the eye of some U.S. fans who still think about all the potential and ability he had, and how the U.S. team could sure use a player like him today.

Enough with the reminiscing. it's time to get through the last portion of the January Q&A. Here are the last of Your January Questions Answered:

It's Q&A Time

Hello all. It is that time again. Time for you to fire your soccer-related questions my way and time for me to take two months to answer them.

Okay, so I'm kidding about that last part. A little. There will be a slight change to the Q&A, a change I am hoping will lead to a much quicker turnaround time on answering your questions. I will select the Top 100 questions and will answer them in four segments. This means your question may not be chosen so please make them good ones.

If you are new to the Q&A, or to SBI, I would suggest checking out past Q&A sessions. This might keep you from asking a question that has been covered before. Also, try to avoid the college thesis-like questions. If your question is longer than 50 words the chances are good it won't be chosen (unless you're discussing The Wire or Godfather movies).

As for those of you wondering about the final segment of the last Q&A. I will post those answers today, probably within the hour.

Now, let's get to some new questions. I'm looking for soccer questions, but if you ask a good pop culuture (movie/music/TV, etc.) question, chances are it will be chosen.

Fire away (and make them good).

Your Questions Answered (Part 4 of 5)

                                                                                 Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good afternoon all and welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered. It has taken WAY too long to answer these questions, but thankfully only a few of them have become outdated. No matter though because even the outdated ones provide a chance to discuss some popular subjects.

Among the topics in this batch of questions are U.S. player development, players with the best hair in world soccer, lineup possibilities for the Red Bulls, left back options for the U.S. national team and just how good a player Michael Bradley is.

Now, without any further delay, here are some more of Your Questions Answered:

Your Questions Answered (Part 3 of 5)

 

                                                                                  Photo by ISIphotos.com

If you were starting to wonder when the rest of the most recent Q&A session would be done (and by most recent I mean New Year's Day), I can't say that I blame you. A busy start to the new year has pushed the Q&A to the back burner, but I haven't forgotten about it and here is proof.

Here are some more of your questions answered (I will look to knock the rest of these out while I am in Columbus so stay tuned for them. No, seriously):

Your Questions Answered (Part 2 of 5)

    

                                                        Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good afternoon folks. Apologies for the lack of posts today. I'm using the relatively slow news day to take care of some SBI business. Here are some nuggets to discuss before getting to the latest Q&A:

Still no word on Sacha Kljestan's pending move to Celtic. The figure that I have been told that Kljestan's transfer fee would be is $3.5 million with an all-important sell-on clause.

Those wondering where Bobby Convey will wind up may have to wait a bit longer to find out. Multiple teams in MLS are interested in the left winger but continued concerns about Convey's knees are leaving some teams a bit wary about bringing him back home. The Jan. 31 transfer deadline is irrelevent in this instance since MLS teams can still acquire Convey well into April (when the MLS transfer window closes).

Now, onto the latest installment of Your Questions Answered. This is Part Two of the New Year's Q&A. I'm hoping to knock the remaining three segments out in the next week so keep an eye out for those. For now, here are some more of your questions answered: