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MLS - Greatest Goals 1996-2003
Urban Works // Unrated // June 22, 2004
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Soccer may be an acquired taste, and it may be difficult for some to sit through 90 minutes of low-scoring soccer, but even the most hardened soccer-haters usually admit that a beautiful goal from the "Beautiful Game" is one of the most exciting moments in sports. All the build-up, the frustrations and the near-misses of the minutes preceding finally pay off in one touch, whether it is a 18-yard bicycle kick, a free kick of 30 yards out or a toe poke from two feet off the line.
Goals of the former variety are the focus in Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals, a compilation of all the highlight-worthy (some more worthy than other) strikes in MLS play since its inception in 1996.
Narrated by JP Dellacamera, former voice of the U.S. men's national team and current voice of the women's national team, the nearly 60 minute program shows goals ranging from San Jose forward Eric Wynalda's strike against DC United in the league's inaugural game through all the goals in San Jose's MLS Cup 2003 victory. International superstars such as Hugo Sanchez and Carlos Valderrama are featured alongside American standouts like Brian McBride and Landon Donovan.
Highlight packages such as Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals often wear thin before the end of their running time, and this one is no different. With only eight years of existence, it is difficult to come up with 60 minutes of truly spectacular goals. In any one season, maybe 20 brilliant goals are scored, with the rest being anywhere from good to lucky. So, that's 160 goals, each taking about 10 seconds to show – roughly half of the running time. The answer? Show them all again. Each goal is replayed at least twice, in "slow motion" (looking more like someone with a jog control running the picture forward at half-speed than true slo-mo) before the next is shown. Throw in five minutes at the end about "goal celebrations," a credits scroll that includes the name of every player who scored a goal on the disc, every goal (spectacular or not – and from where I sit, none truly were) from the 2003 playoffs and a minute or so on the 2003 Goalkeeper of the Year, Pat Onstad (San Jose), and you end up with a very heavily-padded disc.
That's not to say that there aren't some fine finishes featured. The bit on bicycle kicks shows off some great goals, including one from the much-maligned Los Angeles striker Carlos Ruiz. A swerving bomb from long-forgotten Nicola Caricola would be instant classic material in any league in the world. Even though it is as much the goalkeeper's fault as the midfielder's talent, DC United's Marco Etcheverry contributes a shot from the midfield stripe that is worth a laugh at the poor opposing keeper.
The DVD
Video:
DVD has never looked as poor as it does on Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals. Digital artifacts – in 2004! – show up in many of the shots, the slow motion replays are nothing but motion blur and artifacts, and the picture generally looks over-the-air quality at best.
Sound:
A 2.0 track is provided, in order to be able to clearly hear the horrible, generic techno of the soundtrack. Dellacamera's voice is fine on the narration in between highlight packages. There is some distortion on the music early in the disc, as if the volume is clipping – or maybe that's intentional?
The main feature is also presented with a Spanish voiceover track.
Extras:
The only extra available is the ability to watch the goals by year. It's an interesting exercise, only to see how the best goals in the league have changed over the years. As the league has started replacing older, foreign-born standouts with younger, hungrier American-born players, the spectacular goals have become less about skill and more about effort. The swerving blasts have taken a backseat to the all-out effort of diving headers, for instance.
Final Thoughts:
For my money, the soccer goal is the most exciting scoring play in all of sports. But even with my bias towards the topic at hand, Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals fails to hold my interest. It's nice to see some of those early great moments in America's top domestic league again, but that certainly isn't enough to recommend a purchase.
Soccer may be an acquired taste, and it may be difficult for some to sit through 90 minutes of low-scoring soccer, but even the most hardened soccer-haters usually admit that a beautiful goal from the "Beautiful Game" is one of the most exciting moments in sports. All the build-up, the frustrations and the near-misses of the minutes preceding finally pay off in one touch, whether it is a 18-yard bicycle kick, a free kick of 30 yards out or a toe poke from two feet off the line.
Goals of the former variety are the focus in Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals, a compilation of all the highlight-worthy (some more worthy than other) strikes in MLS play since its inception in 1996.
Narrated by JP Dellacamera, former voice of the U.S. men's national team and current voice of the women's national team, the nearly 60 minute program shows goals ranging from San Jose forward Eric Wynalda's strike against DC United in the league's inaugural game through all the goals in San Jose's MLS Cup 2003 victory. International superstars such as Hugo Sanchez and Carlos Valderrama are featured alongside American standouts like Brian McBride and Landon Donovan.
Highlight packages such as Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals often wear thin before the end of their running time, and this one is no different. With only eight years of existence, it is difficult to come up with 60 minutes of truly spectacular goals. In any one season, maybe 20 brilliant goals are scored, with the rest being anywhere from good to lucky. So, that's 160 goals, each taking about 10 seconds to show – roughly half of the running time. The answer? Show them all again. Each goal is replayed at least twice, in "slow motion" (looking more like someone with a jog control running the picture forward at half-speed than true slo-mo) before the next is shown. Throw in five minutes at the end about "goal celebrations," a credits scroll that includes the name of every player who scored a goal on the disc, every goal (spectacular or not – and from where I sit, none truly were) from the 2003 playoffs and a minute or so on the 2003 Goalkeeper of the Year, Pat Onstad (San Jose), and you end up with a very heavily-padded disc.
That's not to say that there aren't some fine finishes featured. The bit on bicycle kicks shows off some great goals, including one from the much-maligned Los Angeles striker Carlos Ruiz. A swerving bomb from long-forgotten Nicola Caricola would be instant classic material in any league in the world. Even though it is as much the goalkeeper's fault as the midfielder's talent, DC United's Marco Etcheverry contributes a shot from the midfield stripe that is worth a laugh at the poor opposing keeper.
The DVD
Video:
DVD has never looked as poor as it does on Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals. Digital artifacts – in 2004! – show up in many of the shots, the slow motion replays are nothing but motion blur and artifacts, and the picture generally looks over-the-air quality at best.
Sound:
A 2.0 track is provided, in order to be able to clearly hear the horrible, generic techno of the soundtrack. Dellacamera's voice is fine on the narration in between highlight packages. There is some distortion on the music early in the disc, as if the volume is clipping – or maybe that's intentional?
The main feature is also presented with a Spanish voiceover track.
Extras:
The only extra available is the ability to watch the goals by year. It's an interesting exercise, only to see how the best goals in the league have changed over the years. As the league has started replacing older, foreign-born standouts with younger, hungrier American-born players, the spectacular goals have become less about skill and more about effort. The swerving blasts have taken a backseat to the all-out effort of diving headers, for instance.
Final Thoughts:
For my money, the soccer goal is the most exciting scoring play in all of sports. But even with my bias towards the topic at hand, Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals fails to hold my interest. It's nice to see some of those early great moments in America's top domestic league again, but that certainly isn't enough to recommend a purchase.
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