Sunday Evening With Dan Rather News

-Sometime in the wee hours this morning, we here at du Nord welcomed our 25,000th visitor. What a nice benchmark to hit. I didn't keep track of this stuff from day one, so I have no idea how many people have really been here. (Day 1 was March 7 2005.) One of the other things that never ceases to amaze me is the number of people from other countries outside the United States that come here every day. Since Jan 1 this year I have kept track of the countries where people have visited from. Here is that list:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Hong Kong
Iceland
Israel
Italy
India
Indonesia
Jamaica
Japan
Latvia
Macedonia
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Panama
Philipines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Serbia and Montenegro
Singapore
Slovakia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Trinidad & Tobago
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Wales
So I just want to say Hello and Thank you to every one for reading, and a special Hello and Thanks to all the foreign readers! Cheers!
-Our man Donovan from the DCenters feels that the new MLS Midwestern 2008 expansion city that Mr Commish Donny Garber was referring to was Cleveland! That's his hunch and he is sticking to it. D is not an idiot so maybe he is on to something here. My Milwaukee guess was only based on the fact that I love Peter Wilt, even though I hate Milwaukee, even though my sweet sister lives there, got it(?), and I wanna see Peter back in MLS where he belongs.
-Houston will be showing off their new team name and colors today. Yesterday we got a lil preview of what is coming - name: 1836, colors: dark blue and orange. I'm busy callin em the Thoity Sixa's. I hear that they will NOT have the kit to show today however. Booooooooooooooooooooo!
-AC Milan striker Alberto Gilardino was named Serie A Player of the Year for 2005. He played the first half of the year at Parma.
-Last night kicked off the La Primera Fase of the Copa Libertadores. This is a two legged playoff for 12 teams to fill the last 6 spots for the group stages. Last nights first leg scores:
Nacional 2-2 Universitario - for group A
Colo Colo 1-3 Guadalajara Chivas - for group D
Here are some more dates coming up for Libertadores Primera Fase matches over the next coupla days:
Wednesday:
Palmeiras v Deportivo Tachira - for group E
Thursday:
Deportivo Cuenca v Goias EC - for group F
River Plate v Oriente Petrolero - for group C
Friday:
Defensor Sporting - Independiente Santa Fe - for group B
-The English League Cup resumed last night with the first of two, second-leg semifinals:
Arsenal 2-1 Wigan - Wigan wins 2-2 on agg. by virtue of the almighty away goal!! Go Wigan Go! Hooray Latics! Hooray Beer!
And tonight is the other second leg semifinal:
Manchester United v Blackburn - tied at 1-1
-African Cup of Nations action. Here are the scores and today’s games:
Tuesday's scores:
Libya 1-2 Cote d'Ivoire - Drogba did play after all, and scored, sending Cote D'Ivoire onto the next round, and Libya out of the competition
Egypt 0-0 Morocco
Today's games:
Angola v Congo
Cameroon v Togo
-A couple of days ago I linked to an Eddie Pope interview from Soccer America. In case you didn't get to read it yet, there are some choice quotes from the USA & Salt Lake veteran defender on the present and future of the American players:
"You think about how big this country is, and we're not even tapping into all the resources we can. The under-18s have 58 kids here. Fifty-eight kids! It's going to be phenomenal."
and
"John Harkes was watching one of our training sessions and said to me, 'The game is moving so much faster than when I remember when you were starting.' The players are faster, they're stronger, the level of play has gotten better, they come into camp fitter, the camps are harder. And that's the way things should be. If they aren't, obviously we're not moving in the right direction as a country. The young players aren't afraid of anything and they're looking to make this team. It's good to see."
-New Team USA video footage from Tuesday's scrimmage v Swedish team Hammarby. Chris Klein was team captain. Chris Rolfe danced thru 5 Hammarby defenders & the keeper to score! Hammarby scored to tie it up. Then Freddy Adu passed perfectly to Pat Noonan on the left who came in 1v1 with the keeper and chipped him for the winner.
-UEFA.com has interview with Sir Alex Ferguson on coaching.
-Andrea Canales of Soccer 365 is trying to figure out why most American soccer crowds are so damn lame! Yes they can be! Timid, quiet, lame! I took my brother to see the USA U-17's a couple years ago, starring Freddy Adu. The game happened to be scheduled right during the middle of the biggest youth soccer tournament in the country, USA Cup, in Blaine Minnesota. They packed the stands with over 10,000 people. My brothers comment was simple: "This is quietest 10,000 people on earth." The place was dead. I was pissed off. These idiots couldn’t even conjure up the steam for a chant of U-S-A, U-S-A. Some fellas in the stands near us started singing and the whole crowd around them turned away from the game and just stared at the singers. Dumbfounded stares! Like a bunch of fuckin cattle. Did I say that I was pissed off! I don’t know what its going to take to change this, but it's almost everywhere and I don't like it. On the other hand, I do love my die-hard friends and their undying passion. We just need a lot more. Then it'll be gorgeous.
-Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer has quality stories, including some excellent Jon Stewart bits from the College Soccer Coaches national convention in Philly last weekend. Stewart was honored by the college coaches with an honorary All-American award.
-Nick Green of the Carson Daily Breeze takes a good look at where the LA Galaxy sit with preseason about to begin.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the old man of Brazil: At 40, Romário can still find excuses for a party
-In case you were wondering: Landycakes got engaged to his girlfriend Bianca Kajlich.