Prost Amerika analyst Alan Hinton shared his thoughts on the world of soccer in the latest Hinton Unleashed. The Seattle legend discussed Clint Dempsey’s hamstring injury, Steven Gerrard’s ejection, the Barcelona and Real Madrid matchup and surprise teams in Major League Soccer.
Clint Dempsey
Seattle forward Clint Dempsey suffered a strained hamstring in preparation for the upcoming U. S. Men’s National Team friendlies in Europe against Denmark and Switzerland.
“It’s a coach’s nightmare.”
Hinton put the blame scarcely in the national team’s training methods. Today’s players continue to get hurt despite all of the modern technology to monitor their health. A return to less strenuous training practices may be in order.
Steven Gerrard
With fourth place and a Champions League slot on the line, Steven Gerrard was sent off after less than 40 seconds on the pitch in Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool.
“He (Gerrard) went in for the tackle. Then, he must have seen blood.”
Hinton noted that Gerrard admitted to his loss of self-control after entering the game as a second-half substitute. He apologized after the match for his actions. According to Hinton, this may hasten Gerrard’s Major League Soccer debut later this year.
Major League Soccer
When asked about early season MLS surprise teams, Hinton identified a couple that caught his attention: San Jose and Dallas.
“I think San Jose has been a bit of a surprise in many ways.”
FC Dallas leads the Western Conference standings with the Earthquakes holding down second place. San Jose moved into a new 18,000 seat soccer-specific stadium last week. Hinton sees positive signals for the low-budget San Jose side in 2015.
