I Wish I Was A Geordie - The Blog of Newcastle United in the US

EVERTON DATE RULES OUT D.C. FOR NEWCASTLE TOUR; L.A., VANCOUVER, TORONTO, NEW YORK POSSIBLE

Newcastle United won't be sandwiching a weekend date in Washington between the July 20 game in Kansas City and the July 26 game in Columbus. DC United will be playing Everton at RFK Stadium on July 23. This leaves LA Galaxy and Vancouver Whitecaps as the only MLS clubs available on the open weekend in the Newcastle tour as announced so far.

It's possible Newcastle could swing west on the open weekend, but the time frame is short. It's also possible Newcastle could add games before Kansas City or after Columbus, which would make for a long but not unmanageable tour. Four MLS clubs have open dates for friendlies the weekend of July 16, and six have open dates the weekend of July 30. 

Update: On the weekend of July 16, the likely candidates for a friendly with a Premier League club are LA Galaxy and Toronto FC. Philadelphia and New England are also open that Saturday but play each other Sunday night in Massachusetts.

On the weekend of July 30, the only likely MLS candidate for a friendly is the New York Red Bulls. Chicago is open that weekend but will be coming off a match with Manchester United. Four other MLS clubs are open that Saturday but have matches on adjacent days or evenings.

It's possible Newcastle could arrange a U.S. friendly with another European club. Barcelona and AC Milan will be touring the U.S. at around the same time as Newcastle. Obviously, though, those are bigger names than Newcastle at this point for the U.S. audience.

COLUMBUS DATE CONFIRMED; D.C. NEXT?

Toon fans in the U.S.: You can add Columbus to the list of cities where you can see Newcastle United play this summer. And you may want to keep Washington, D.C. in mind.

The rumored match between Newcastle United and the MLS' Columbus Crew has been confirmed. The Mags will take on the Crew on Tuesday night, July 26, at 7:30 p.m., six nights after the previously announced July 20 date in Kansas City against Sporting KC.

Those dates leave a rather conspicuous gap over the weekend between. Only four MLS clubs have open dates on the schedule that weekend: Chicago Fire, D.C. United, L.A. Galaxy and the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Fire have already announced a match against Manchester United at Soldier Field that Saturday. Of the other three cities, Washington, D.C. would be much more easily reachable in a short time frame than Los Angeles or Vancouver - Washington is a little more than seven hours away from Columbus on the Interstate (close by U.S. standards), or a short hop by plane.

We have a call in to D.C. United asking whether a Newcastle visit to Washington might be in the works. No reply yet; watch here for further details.

TRUE GRIT

It's hard not to get caught daydreaming about the future as a Newcastle United fan these days.

This summer figures to be an exciting transfer window for the club, which could certainly use an injection of young talent. But can we all just take a moment to fully appreciate the current squad?

This team has some serious guts. That certainly showed in Saturday's gotta-have-it 4-1 win over Wolves at St. James' Park, a match that was apparently preceded by impassioned speeches by a few of United's veteran players. 

Shola Ameobi, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan backed up their words on the field, leading the way to a win that should put an end to any lingering relegation fears once and for all. The fact that those three starred says it all about this version of Newcastle. Ameobi is playing with a broken cheekbone; Nolan battled through an illness that kept him out of training the day before; and Barton was once again the target of rough treatment from Mick McCarthy's crew.

United's resolve has repeatedly been tested this season, and yet here it stands in ninth place in the league table with seven games to go. Still, the squad obviously has holes to fill before it can mount a serious European challenge in the coming years.

That may or may not happen, but that's beside the point. For now, take some time to enjoy watching a team that can take a punch and get back up.

DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT WE'RE HAVING AN ATTACK

In the wake of Newcastle United's stress-discharging 4-1 victory Saturday over Wolves, a fan tweeted that Newcastle is currently the fourth highest-scoring club in the Premier League, behind only Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. Thoughts upon further investigation:

1. I'll be damned.

2. But most of that offense must've come before the strike force was decimated, right? Wrong. Before Andy Carroll blew out his thigh/ego, Newcastle had scored 28 goals in 19 matches, a decent clip of 1.47 goals per match. Since then, the club has scored 20 goals in 12 matches, a spirited clip of 1.67 goals per match.

3. Sorry if this is too technical - after all, I am a former Professional Sportswriter - but if the club stands fourth in scoring, but only ninth on the table, it would stand to reason the defense might be problematic. Indeed, only seven clubs have yielded more goals than Newcastle, all of them serious relegation candidates.

4. The onslaught rarely lagged on Saturday. Newcastle easily could've scored six. The healing Shola Ameobi was a handful all day, Peter Lovenkrands was refreshingly visible, and grenades were falling to the danger zone from all over the pitch - how about Danny Simpson's hail-Mary to Ameobi that became Nolan's opening goal? One of the prettier exchanges all year.

5. But the resistance took a lengthy and frightening siesta after Wolves' lone goal, and this seems to have become the club's perverse habitual reaction to being scored upon. This Newcastle team is great with adversity and poor with success.

6. So, not to beat the same horse that was beaten here after the last match, but again...why do so many in the Toon Army think attack is Newcastle's biggest need?

I'll stop now, except to say, on this dreary April Sunday in Wisconsin: it's good to be worrying only about summer.

IN SHOLA WE TRUST

Well, so much for seeing what Leon Best could do as Newcastle United's top striker in the final two months of the season.

Word emerged this week that Best's ankle injury could force him to miss the rest of the season. Based on how things have gone on the injury front for United this season, it's probably best to assume he won't be back on the field in Newcastle's remaining eight league games.

Even if Best is able to return, he'll likely need some time to rediscover his match sharpness — which means Shola Ameobi appears to be United's top option up front moving forward.

Fans will be clamoring to see more of young Nile Ranger, but he has yet to score in the league this season. Peter Lovenkrands has chipped in with three Premier League goals, but has looked nonexistent on too many occasions. Then there's Shefki Kuqi, whom Newcastle picked up off football's scrap heap.

Based off those options, it looks like Ameobi will need to play a significant role in helping haul United away from the bottom end of the table. The big Nigerian-born-but-Geordie-raised striker has seven goals in all competitions this season, but he's clearly been hampered by the protective face mask he's been forced to wear since suffering a broken cheekbone at Fulham on Feb. 2. His last goal came in the 1-0 win at Wigan on Jan. 2.

Ameobi can be a lightning rod for criticism among certain Newcastle fans. His goalscoring record has never been able to match his raw talent — he may look awkward and slow at times, but how many big strikers can match him for skill? — and he's incredibly injury-prone. On his day, though, he can be a handful for opposition defenses.

United need Ameobi to have at least a couple of those days during the next two months.