Mega Bitchin' Scrabble News
OK, so who is up for skipping out on work and watching USA v Poland at 1pm central time on Wed at the Local in downtown Minneapolis? Join me won't you!
~ ~ ~
How did the big big big matches go last weekend in Europe:
AZ Alkmaar 1-2 PSV - PSV's road win over the title challengers puts them in a great spot to win the league again. After being a close race all season, suddenly the lead is 11 points over AZ in third, and 7 over 2nd place Feyenoord. The bad news is that our guy DaMarcus Beasley seems to have fallen in to the dog house. For the third game in a row he did not start, and barely played at all. Two weekends ago he came on in the 61st for Kone at Vitesse. He did not see the pitch in the Champions League home loss to Lyon, and this past weekend he came on in the 78th minute for Vennegoor of Hesselink. Beaz now sits behind Farfan, Vennegoor and Kone on the depth chart. Bad news bears dude.
Wigan 0-4 Man United - Man U win the "little cup" in a game that was not even as close the score. Wigan played decent during the first 10 ten minutes of each half, but the other 35 of each was nearly 100% dominance by Man U. I watched the match with about 20 Man U fans, and whether or not that was a good idea, I still had a good time. I did get a cheap shot in on them though; Near the end of the match, the camera was panning around the Man U bench as the players smiled and shook hands etc, then they showed Paul Scholes. I said "Do you think he knows the score is not 8-0?" Hahahahahahahahaha! Sorry. It's like a nervous tick for me, I HAVE to lip off.
Chivas 1-0 America - the home boys get the win in North Americas biggest match of the club year. America really do look like a mess right now.
Lazio 0-2 Roma - Even though these teams have some despicable fans, those people sure make the stadium come alive with color and sound! Lazio had the better run of the whole game, but have no one who can finish for them. Roma on the other hand let Lazio play into their hand, shut them down and got 2 hard earned goals to show why they have now won an incredible 11 Serie A games in a row! A new record. Amazing. Too many camera shots of Totti though. I am sick of that guy. And no I don't feel sorry for him at all. It's called karma, and it can be nasty.
~ ~ ~
How did some of our other potential World Cup bound Americans do with their European clubs over the past weekend:
Oguchi Onyewu manhandled the entire Club Brugge team and scored the tying goal for his team Standard Liege as they got a point on the road in Belgium. Liege has 47 points and sits in 2nd place with Anderlecht at #1 at 49 points. Brugge is third with 47 also.
Kasey Keller and Gladbach got slapped around by red hot Werder Bremen 2-0. Gladbach could really use some more quality defenders.
Bobby Convey & Marcus Hahnemann at Reading – A 2-1 win over Preston keeps their lead at 12 points. Convey made the cross into the box which the keeper bumbled and was scooped in for the first goal.
Eddie Lewis scored for Leeds in a 2-1 win over Luton. I can't wait to see what Wednesday brings for Eddie & the USA.
Greg Berhalter was suspended and did not play for Energie Cottbus.
Brian McBride & Carlos Bocanegra of Fulham lost a tough one 2-1 to Bolton. They took the lead, then were caught in a goal mouth scramble at the end of the half. Bocanegra contributed to the madness in that scramble that resulted in an own goal against Fulham. Bolton handed out a typically rugged beating and got the home winner in the second half.
Steve Cherundolo played the full 90 in his team Hannover's 2-1 loss to Wolfsburg. I don't know what else to write.
Jonathan Spector is slowly creeping up my World Cup squad list as he played another full 90 for Charlton at the much sought after left back spot. His team drew 0-0 with Aston Villa.
~ ~ ~
Yanks Abroad has more on the DaMarcus Beasley odyssey.
~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales at Soccernet looks at the USA squad preparing for Poland on Wednesday.
~ ~ ~
US Soccer has nice photos of the boys training in Germany before Wednesdays match. The team is using the facilities of FC Kaiserslautern. The guys definitely look like they are in good spirits.
~ ~ ~
The US team is calling Ramstein Air Base their home during this trip to Germany. It's about 15 miles from Kaiserslautern.
~ ~ ~
Our fearless leader Bruce Arena talks to the British League Managers Association about his team and their World Cup chances.
~ ~ ~
Colorado is well underway in building their new stadium just outside Denver. Here are some fresh photos. First one shows the stadium (right in the middle) as they dig down for the foundation. Here is a closer shot. And 2 more detail shots - one - and - two.
~ ~ ~
Speaking of pictures of new club attributes. Here is a shot from the Metrostars new Pride & Passion Pub (taken by Jamison, and posted at BigSoccer)
~ ~ ~
Expect a new name out of Houston this week.
~ ~ ~
Glasgow Sunday Herald feature on new Metro Scottish defender Peter Canero.
~ ~ ~
Grahame Jones of the LA Times calls out FIFA on their boorish business tactics.
~ ~ ~
Remember last fall when the MLS playoffs were going on and San Jose lost their first game on the road to Los Angeles. Suddenly everyone was up in arms saying this two-legged playoff was not fair and not a true home field advantage to the higher seeded team. Well let's take a look at a few examples of it working pretty well in 2-legged knockout tournaments: UEFA Cup just had 16 match-ups, and the home team for the second leg won 11 times! In The Champions Cup, the home team is set up to claim the victory in all four match-ups with a lead or a tie going into the second leg. And the Champions League is looking like 7 of the 8 teams with second legs at home are set to go thru, cuz they have a lead or are tied right now, and the one team who is trailing is Juve who got 2 away goals in the first leg, which is huge. So as far as I am concerned, I love the two legged knock outs, and think they are great. All MLS needs to tweak is to add "the away goals rule" and we are all set for next fall. Carry on.
~ ~ ~
Miraculously Brad Friedel and Blackburn are in 5th place in the English Premiership! How have they done it?? Well many things naturally, but they beat The Arse 1-0 to literally put them into 5th place! Incredible!
~ ~ ~
Carlos Valderama interview at FIFA.com
~ ~ ~
FIFA.com reviews the first leg of New England v La Liga and previews the second leg.
~ ~ ~
American defender Cory Gibbs is still making his way back from 2 knee surgeries, and will play another reserve match for his team ADO Den Haag tonight.
~ ~ ~
St Pauli drew 0-0 at Rot-Oberhausen.
~ ~ ~
Two from Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune: United wins first trophy for Glazers - and - Racist Spanish fans push Eto'o to edge
~ ~ ~
Andrew Rogers of the Soccer Times writes about the high quality effort that Marcus Hahnemann has given Reading in the nets.
~ ~ ~
The Times of London "describe" the Glazer brothers trip to the team dressing room after Man U won the Carling Cup.
~ ~ ~
The new issue of the UEFA Champions League magazine is out. Read these stories:
Deco delight for Barcelona - they claim Deco is the real maestro of Barca
Scolari plots Portugal progress - ya gotta love a guy called Big Phil (On the other hand, I have a cousin who was called Little Phil, and that's NOT very cool.)
Preud'homme's high Standard - the technical director of Oguchi Onyewu's club team is a goalkeeping legend and now getting it going behind the scenes
La dolce vita? - the racism in Rome has an enemy and it is getting stronger everyday (Roberto Benigni is part of the camp fighting the demons)
~ ~ ~
Copa Libertadores Group stage!! This week’s matches and scores:
Tue Feb 28
Union Espanola - The Strongest - Grupo 3
Wed Mar 01
Caracas FC - Sao Paulo FC - Grupo 1
Thur Mar 02
Palmeiras - Atletico Nacional - Grupo 7
Paulista FC - Libertad - Grupo 8
~ ~ ~
Here's the current Mexican Clausura Single Table (after 7 of the 17 rounds):
16 Chiapas
16 Pachuca
13 Cruz Azul
12 UAG Tecos
11 Necaxa
11 Altante
11 Atlas
10 Sinaloa
9 Toluca
9 UNAM Pumas
9 Guadalajara
8 America
8 Morelia
7 UANL Tigres
7 Monterrey
6 San Luis
4 Santos
4 Veracruz
~ ~ ~
Romanian 2nd division team Arad sold a player to 4th division team Regal Horia for 15 kilograms of meat! I hope they know what kind of meat they are getting.
~ ~ ~
How did the big big big matches go last weekend in Europe:
AZ Alkmaar 1-2 PSV - PSV's road win over the title challengers puts them in a great spot to win the league again. After being a close race all season, suddenly the lead is 11 points over AZ in third, and 7 over 2nd place Feyenoord. The bad news is that our guy DaMarcus Beasley seems to have fallen in to the dog house. For the third game in a row he did not start, and barely played at all. Two weekends ago he came on in the 61st for Kone at Vitesse. He did not see the pitch in the Champions League home loss to Lyon, and this past weekend he came on in the 78th minute for Vennegoor of Hesselink. Beaz now sits behind Farfan, Vennegoor and Kone on the depth chart. Bad news bears dude.
Wigan 0-4 Man United - Man U win the "little cup" in a game that was not even as close the score. Wigan played decent during the first 10 ten minutes of each half, but the other 35 of each was nearly 100% dominance by Man U. I watched the match with about 20 Man U fans, and whether or not that was a good idea, I still had a good time. I did get a cheap shot in on them though; Near the end of the match, the camera was panning around the Man U bench as the players smiled and shook hands etc, then they showed Paul Scholes. I said "Do you think he knows the score is not 8-0?" Hahahahahahahahaha! Sorry. It's like a nervous tick for me, I HAVE to lip off.
Chivas 1-0 America - the home boys get the win in North Americas biggest match of the club year. America really do look like a mess right now.
Lazio 0-2 Roma - Even though these teams have some despicable fans, those people sure make the stadium come alive with color and sound! Lazio had the better run of the whole game, but have no one who can finish for them. Roma on the other hand let Lazio play into their hand, shut them down and got 2 hard earned goals to show why they have now won an incredible 11 Serie A games in a row! A new record. Amazing. Too many camera shots of Totti though. I am sick of that guy. And no I don't feel sorry for him at all. It's called karma, and it can be nasty.
~ ~ ~
How did some of our other potential World Cup bound Americans do with their European clubs over the past weekend:
Oguchi Onyewu manhandled the entire Club Brugge team and scored the tying goal for his team Standard Liege as they got a point on the road in Belgium. Liege has 47 points and sits in 2nd place with Anderlecht at #1 at 49 points. Brugge is third with 47 also.
Kasey Keller and Gladbach got slapped around by red hot Werder Bremen 2-0. Gladbach could really use some more quality defenders.
Bobby Convey & Marcus Hahnemann at Reading – A 2-1 win over Preston keeps their lead at 12 points. Convey made the cross into the box which the keeper bumbled and was scooped in for the first goal.
Eddie Lewis scored for Leeds in a 2-1 win over Luton. I can't wait to see what Wednesday brings for Eddie & the USA.
Greg Berhalter was suspended and did not play for Energie Cottbus.
Brian McBride & Carlos Bocanegra of Fulham lost a tough one 2-1 to Bolton. They took the lead, then were caught in a goal mouth scramble at the end of the half. Bocanegra contributed to the madness in that scramble that resulted in an own goal against Fulham. Bolton handed out a typically rugged beating and got the home winner in the second half.
Steve Cherundolo played the full 90 in his team Hannover's 2-1 loss to Wolfsburg. I don't know what else to write.
Jonathan Spector is slowly creeping up my World Cup squad list as he played another full 90 for Charlton at the much sought after left back spot. His team drew 0-0 with Aston Villa.
~ ~ ~
Yanks Abroad has more on the DaMarcus Beasley odyssey.
~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales at Soccernet looks at the USA squad preparing for Poland on Wednesday.
~ ~ ~
US Soccer has nice photos of the boys training in Germany before Wednesdays match. The team is using the facilities of FC Kaiserslautern. The guys definitely look like they are in good spirits.
~ ~ ~
The US team is calling Ramstein Air Base their home during this trip to Germany. It's about 15 miles from Kaiserslautern.
~ ~ ~
Our fearless leader Bruce Arena talks to the British League Managers Association about his team and their World Cup chances.
~ ~ ~
Colorado is well underway in building their new stadium just outside Denver. Here are some fresh photos. First one shows the stadium (right in the middle) as they dig down for the foundation. Here is a closer shot. And 2 more detail shots - one - and - two.
~ ~ ~
Speaking of pictures of new club attributes. Here is a shot from the Metrostars new Pride & Passion Pub (taken by Jamison, and posted at BigSoccer)
~ ~ ~
Expect a new name out of Houston this week.
~ ~ ~
Glasgow Sunday Herald feature on new Metro Scottish defender Peter Canero.
~ ~ ~
Grahame Jones of the LA Times calls out FIFA on their boorish business tactics.
~ ~ ~
Remember last fall when the MLS playoffs were going on and San Jose lost their first game on the road to Los Angeles. Suddenly everyone was up in arms saying this two-legged playoff was not fair and not a true home field advantage to the higher seeded team. Well let's take a look at a few examples of it working pretty well in 2-legged knockout tournaments: UEFA Cup just had 16 match-ups, and the home team for the second leg won 11 times! In The Champions Cup, the home team is set up to claim the victory in all four match-ups with a lead or a tie going into the second leg. And the Champions League is looking like 7 of the 8 teams with second legs at home are set to go thru, cuz they have a lead or are tied right now, and the one team who is trailing is Juve who got 2 away goals in the first leg, which is huge. So as far as I am concerned, I love the two legged knock outs, and think they are great. All MLS needs to tweak is to add "the away goals rule" and we are all set for next fall. Carry on.
~ ~ ~
Miraculously Brad Friedel and Blackburn are in 5th place in the English Premiership! How have they done it?? Well many things naturally, but they beat The Arse 1-0 to literally put them into 5th place! Incredible!
~ ~ ~
Carlos Valderama interview at FIFA.com
~ ~ ~
FIFA.com reviews the first leg of New England v La Liga and previews the second leg.
~ ~ ~
American defender Cory Gibbs is still making his way back from 2 knee surgeries, and will play another reserve match for his team ADO Den Haag tonight.
~ ~ ~
St Pauli drew 0-0 at Rot-Oberhausen.
~ ~ ~
Two from Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune: United wins first trophy for Glazers - and - Racist Spanish fans push Eto'o to edge
~ ~ ~
Andrew Rogers of the Soccer Times writes about the high quality effort that Marcus Hahnemann has given Reading in the nets.
~ ~ ~
The Times of London "describe" the Glazer brothers trip to the team dressing room after Man U won the Carling Cup.
~ ~ ~
The new issue of the UEFA Champions League magazine is out. Read these stories:
Deco delight for Barcelona - they claim Deco is the real maestro of Barca
Scolari plots Portugal progress - ya gotta love a guy called Big Phil (On the other hand, I have a cousin who was called Little Phil, and that's NOT very cool.)
Preud'homme's high Standard - the technical director of Oguchi Onyewu's club team is a goalkeeping legend and now getting it going behind the scenes
La dolce vita? - the racism in Rome has an enemy and it is getting stronger everyday (Roberto Benigni is part of the camp fighting the demons)
~ ~ ~
Copa Libertadores Group stage!! This week’s matches and scores:
Tue Feb 28
Union Espanola - The Strongest - Grupo 3
Wed Mar 01
Caracas FC - Sao Paulo FC - Grupo 1
Thur Mar 02
Palmeiras - Atletico Nacional - Grupo 7
Paulista FC - Libertad - Grupo 8
~ ~ ~
Here's the current Mexican Clausura Single Table (after 7 of the 17 rounds):
16 Chiapas
16 Pachuca
13 Cruz Azul
12 UAG Tecos
11 Necaxa
11 Altante
11 Atlas
10 Sinaloa
9 Toluca
9 UNAM Pumas
9 Guadalajara
8 America
8 Morelia
7 UANL Tigres
7 Monterrey
6 San Luis
4 Santos
4 Veracruz
~ ~ ~
Romanian 2nd division team Arad sold a player to 4th division team Regal Horia for 15 kilograms of meat! I hope they know what kind of meat they are getting.
posted by brucio at 13:13
10 Comments:
keep up the good work!
my friends and i will cut out of work early to be down at Mundial on 12th St. (btw A/B) in the East Village of Manhattan to watch the US v. Poland match.
The sad thing about the Romanian Meat swap is that the traded player desided to retire after the trade. The 2nd division team then didn't get their meat because he retired and know don't know how they are going to feed there players for the next month.
A developmental contract in MLS doesn't sound so bad now.
That was a nice BA interview with the British Managers Association.
I forgot Poland! Seriously though, I did forget about that match until just now. But I will try and skip out on Wednesday to make it down to the Local. Depends on how work is going.
I like how BA threw his hat in the ring of the Premiership when asked about coaching in Europe. The guy oozes confidence.
Is it just me, or does the P&P Pub look like Cletus's old digs in Metroland?
What a lengthy entry. but enjoyable read.
I watched both Man Utd and Roma game too, definitely prefer the ROme derby. I wonder how many more games will they continue to win, but with the kind of form they are showing, it definitely have a good probabilty in their next.
BTW 15kilos of meat is a good / bad deal, depends on how heavy that player is. heh.
Great find on the Bruce article. It unblocked my writer's block:
http://davewalker.org/blog2/?p=150
I don't think thats the first time a player has been traded for a pile of meat. Wasn't that what Colorado got in exchange for Jeff Cunningham from RSL?
the p&p pub looks like an embassy suites banquet hall.
That isn't the first time I've heard of a player being traded/sold for food. I don't remember the exact details, but I think a lower division english player was traded to another team for his weight in shrimp.
It doesn't have the same ring as worth your weight in gold, but I guess it's ok.
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