Answering the bits and bytes

Never question the talent or lack thereof in Major League Soccer. It always draws a response. This week’s e-mail was a good indication… .

“You said: ‘There might be more talent in MLS these days, but there still isn’t a single team in the league that can put 11 above-average players on the field.’

“What about Dallas? I don’t see any average-athlete, non-soccer-player types in the first 11: Dario Sala, Drew Moor, Duilio Davino, Adrian Serioux, Blake Wagner, Dax McCarty, Juan Toja, Andre Rocha, Kenny Cooper, Arturo Alvarez, Ricardinho.

“You should be fair. I think we stand out as a team that stays away from the type of role player, solid athlete, hard worker, limits himself to one or two things he can do well, type of player you see on a lot of other teams.”

Robert Vega

Reply: FC Dallas sure looked pretty average Thursday night while losing 1-0 at home to a New England Revolution team that was missing six starters. Toja is the only player who really stands out above the rest, but you’re correct in saying Dallas is deeper than most in honest-to-goodness soccer players.

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“Good points on the [Alexi] Lalas-[Ruud] Gullit situation. I would imagine that Gullit, not knowing the lay of the land in the U.S., has relied on Lalas for his ‘local knowledge.’

“I’m still waiting on someone to call out the Galaxy for trading away the entire back line and goalkeeper in the space of a year… . While Abel Xavier is a very talented guy, it’s a question of chemistry and cohesion. Especially with the media madness surrounding ‘the Spice Boy,’ I’d think you’d want stability in defense.

“It’s frustrating being a Galaxy fan these days.”

Mark Baldwin

Reply: The ‘media madness’ surrounding David Beckham has pretty much died, as have the days when the Galaxy defense could be relied upon.

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“From your name, I’ll guess you’re a Brit and think that you have a genetic superiority concerning the world’s greatest sport.

“Very simply, you missed this one. The Galaxy showed some deep character in last night’s come-from-behind tie [2-2 with Houston]. You never mentioned the cheap shot that [Patrick] Ianni made on [Landon] Donovan.

“You could have mentioned that Ianni’s clearance was actually the winning goal for the Galaxy. You could have acknowledged that Beckham has played every minute this season when he could have made far more money from underwear ads. But you didn’t.”

Jim Stroud

San Diego (yeah, we drive all that way)

Reply: The so-called ‘cheap shot’ was legitimate shoulder-to-shoulder contact. The officials didn’t see Ianni’s last-minute header off the goal line as having been a goal. Beckham is being exceptionally well paid to play every minute this season. Have to agree with you on the genetic superiority, though, and well done on the drive.

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“I’m a Chicago Fire fan and not a Galaxy fan but I want to comment on Donovan’s ‘taunting’ after his first goal [against Houston].

“The replay showed that Donovan had to fight through Ianni’s grabbing and holding to get on the end of Beckham’s cross. The goal was even more amazing after seeing all the holding by Ianni.

“Emotion is something I think Donovan has lacked over the years, in MLS and on the national team … and if it results in warranted taunting, I’m all for it.”

Mark Johnson

Chicago

Reply: Emotion is one thing, belittling a beaten opponent is another. Donovan is the all-time leader in goals for the U.S. Ianni is struggling to make the U.S. Olympic team. They are on different levels. Donovan should have let his goal be answer enough for the fouling he suffered.

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“I live in Houston and am a Dynamo season ticket holder. I understand and empathize with your comment about everybody else getting a stadium here so the Dynamo should have one also. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way here.

“There is a big collection of good old boys in Houston who look for every opportunity to bash soccer. It has a serious undercurrent of racism because soccer is perceived as the sport of the illegal immigrants. I suspect it is similar in L.A., but your city is big enough to swallow that nonsense.

“I don’t know if the Dynamo has enough power to get a stadium built in downtown Houston, especially since neither the Rockets nor Astros really want more downtown competition. It doesn’t help that the Latino power base here hasn’t made any effort to get involved and [co-owner Oscar] De La Hoya has not been around making noise, which he told everybody he was going to do.”

Jeff Organ

Houston

Reply: Maybe Oscar is more worried about his upcoming fight than about a stadium and is leaving that battle to AEG.

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“Whatever happened to the Galaxy’s acquisition of [Celestine] Babayaro? Did he come here, see the state of the Galaxy team and decide he didn’t want to be part of it? Or did the deal just not work out?”

Latty Meisner

Reply: The Galaxy sent Babayaro packing after learning that he had a better opinion of his ability than the coaches did.

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“What do you know of ESPN’s plans in presenting the Euro tournament in June? They have not answered my e-mails.”

Henry Gibson

Reply: Every game in the June 7-29 European Championship will be shown live on one of ESPN’s various channels.

For comments or questions on soccer, e-mail grahame.jones@latimes.com