Stark Raving Lunatic News
-Regular reader BQ implored me to listen to the podcast of Big USA Bossman Bruce Arena's press conference pre-Guatemala & pre-World Cup. And as usual BQ was dead right. The podcast is so much better than reading the quotes on paper/screen. And Arena says a lot more then they put in the Press Release Quotes. Go Listen NOW!
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-Here is the USA roster for the match v Guatemala on Sunday in Dallas. (Remember, all the New England & Los Angeles players have been released so they can go play for their clubs in the Champions Cup next week.):
G:
*Brad Guzan
Zach Wells
D:
Bobby Boswell
*Jimmy Conrad
*Frankie Hejduk
*Heath Pearce
*Eddie Pope
M:
Brian Carroll
*Chris Klein
Kyle Martino
*Ben Olsen
Santino Quaranta
*Kerry Zavagnin
F:
*Eddie Johnson
*Chris Rolfe
*Josh Wolff
Brian Ching
* players I think will start the match.
- - -
-Do you think Deuce Dempsey is on fire right now? Check this out: He joined New England down in Bermuda on Monday. Last night they played the Bermuda U17's, winning 8-1 with Dempsey scoring 5! Yes FIVE! I know they are just kids, but still, 5!
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-We don't hear nearly enough from Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, but when we do he almost always jacks it out of the park. He is my favorite American soccer writer, and today he talks about the new US kit and many other topics that tickle his fancy.
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-Our Bobby Convey talks to the BBC about the Reading success story.
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-US Soccer has new video clips of interviews with defender Eddie Pope & Canadian coach Frank Yallop.
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-The little-heard-from Jeff Bradley writes about the role of the foreign player in MLS for the US Players Assoc.
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-Grahame Jones of the LA Times on Eddie Johnson's slow return from injury.
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-More on all this Houston team name bullshit from the Houston Chronicle's Bernardo Fallas.
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-While the Chronicle's Glenn Davis reports on DaMarcus Beasley's importance to team USA.
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-There is a rumor screaming around that internets thing about the man Bora Milutinovic coaching Togo in the World Cup. That would make them his 6th team! No confirmation though.
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-NYNJSoccer speak with Metrostars Youth Director (and former player) Giovanni Savarese.
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-The African Footballer Of The Year is to be named some time today. The 3 finalists are: Last years winner Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon & Barcelona), Didier Drogba (Cote D'Ivoire & Chelsea), and Michael Essien (Ghana & Chelsea).
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-Eddie Lewis and Leeds beat Watford 2-1 in a very important English Championship Division match last night. The 3 points jump Leeds back into 3rd place over Watford, with 62 points to the Hornets 61.
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-I know that yesterday I said that the Champions League resumes next week, and that the return legs were the following week. Chad pointed out that the return legs will played two weeks after the 1st legs. I knew that, but it still doesn't always transfer from my brain to my fingers as I type this stuff up. The first legs are Feb 21 & 22, and the return legs are Mar 7 & 8. Thanks Chad!
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-A lot of people rave about Mexican goal keeper Oswaldo Sanchez, but from what I have seen, he is a talented guy that can be rattled and thrown off his game. The USA v Mexico match in Columbus was a perfect example. During warm ups he was very unsatisfied with every single little thing around his goal. The US players got in his face a little, and never backed down, which really bugged him. Then there were the USA fans, they even got to him. He had a fit when streamers rained down on his goal. The volume of the fans and chanting distracted him. And once that first goal went in he was a goner. At one point he ran all the way out to midfield to argue with the referee, not to mention scrapping with his won defenders. Why am I writing all this crap? Last night his Mexico faced South Korea in Oakland, and Oswaldo was responsible for the game winning goal by the Koreans (1-0). On the bad play, he stopped a shot, but he cleared the ball with a little flick to a defender standing near the top of the box which was easily stolen by a Korean who smashed it home for the winner. Case closed. I really think he can be a liability for Mexico at the World Cup.
- - -
-UEFA Cup resumed with 2 legged knockout matches starting yesterday with return legs played next week. Here are the scores & the schedule:
Last night:
Litex 0-2 Strasbourg
Schalke 2-1 Espanyol
Heerenveen 1-3 Steaua
Basel 1-0 Monaco
Betis 2-0 AZ Alkmaar
Rosenborg 0-2 Zenit
Bolton 0-0 Marseille
Lokomotiv Moskva 0-1 Sevilla
Artmedia 0-1 Levski
Club Brugge 1-2 Roma
Hertha 0-1 Rapid Bucuresti
Lille 3-2 Shakhtar
Udinese 3-0 Lens
Today:
Stuttgart v Middlesbrough
Slavia v Palermo
Thun v Hamburg
- - -
-Copa Libertadores!! This Weeks matches:
Last night:
Independiente Santa Fe 2-2 Bolívar - Grupo 2
Deportivo Cali 0-1 Corinthians - Grupo 4
Cerro Porteño 0-0 Palmeiras - Grupo 7
Thursday:
Libertad - River Plate - Grupo 8
Universitario - Liga Dep. Universitaria - Grupo 5
UA Maracaibo - Internacional - Grupo 6
- - -
-The Spanish Copa del Rey is racing toward the finish line and the last semifinal match is to be played soon. Why no exact date you ask? Number 1, because it's Spain, and number 2, because Espanyol are in the UEFA Cup leaving very few open dates for them. I would assume we will know a date fairly soon for this match:
Deportivo La Coruna v Espanyol - Esp leads 2-1, but the away goal that Depor snagged could be huge.
So it's gonna be Real Zaragoza (6-5 winners over Real Madrid) v that winner in the 2006 Copa del Rey Final!
- - -
-Here is the USA roster for the match v Guatemala on Sunday in Dallas. (Remember, all the New England & Los Angeles players have been released so they can go play for their clubs in the Champions Cup next week.):
G:
*Brad Guzan
Zach Wells
D:
Bobby Boswell
*Jimmy Conrad
*Frankie Hejduk
*Heath Pearce
*Eddie Pope
M:
Brian Carroll
*Chris Klein
Kyle Martino
*Ben Olsen
Santino Quaranta
*Kerry Zavagnin
F:
*Eddie Johnson
*Chris Rolfe
*Josh Wolff
Brian Ching
* players I think will start the match.
- - -
-Do you think Deuce Dempsey is on fire right now? Check this out: He joined New England down in Bermuda on Monday. Last night they played the Bermuda U17's, winning 8-1 with Dempsey scoring 5! Yes FIVE! I know they are just kids, but still, 5!
- - -
-We don't hear nearly enough from Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, but when we do he almost always jacks it out of the park. He is my favorite American soccer writer, and today he talks about the new US kit and many other topics that tickle his fancy.
- - -
-Our Bobby Convey talks to the BBC about the Reading success story.
- - -
-US Soccer has new video clips of interviews with defender Eddie Pope & Canadian coach Frank Yallop.
- - -
-The little-heard-from Jeff Bradley writes about the role of the foreign player in MLS for the US Players Assoc.
- - -
-Grahame Jones of the LA Times on Eddie Johnson's slow return from injury.
- - -
-More on all this Houston team name bullshit from the Houston Chronicle's Bernardo Fallas.
- - -
-While the Chronicle's Glenn Davis reports on DaMarcus Beasley's importance to team USA.
- - -
-There is a rumor screaming around that internets thing about the man Bora Milutinovic coaching Togo in the World Cup. That would make them his 6th team! No confirmation though.
- - -
-NYNJSoccer speak with Metrostars Youth Director (and former player) Giovanni Savarese.
- - -
-The African Footballer Of The Year is to be named some time today. The 3 finalists are: Last years winner Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon & Barcelona), Didier Drogba (Cote D'Ivoire & Chelsea), and Michael Essien (Ghana & Chelsea).
- - -
-Eddie Lewis and Leeds beat Watford 2-1 in a very important English Championship Division match last night. The 3 points jump Leeds back into 3rd place over Watford, with 62 points to the Hornets 61.
- - -
-I know that yesterday I said that the Champions League resumes next week, and that the return legs were the following week. Chad pointed out that the return legs will played two weeks after the 1st legs. I knew that, but it still doesn't always transfer from my brain to my fingers as I type this stuff up. The first legs are Feb 21 & 22, and the return legs are Mar 7 & 8. Thanks Chad!
- - -
-A lot of people rave about Mexican goal keeper Oswaldo Sanchez, but from what I have seen, he is a talented guy that can be rattled and thrown off his game. The USA v Mexico match in Columbus was a perfect example. During warm ups he was very unsatisfied with every single little thing around his goal. The US players got in his face a little, and never backed down, which really bugged him. Then there were the USA fans, they even got to him. He had a fit when streamers rained down on his goal. The volume of the fans and chanting distracted him. And once that first goal went in he was a goner. At one point he ran all the way out to midfield to argue with the referee, not to mention scrapping with his won defenders. Why am I writing all this crap? Last night his Mexico faced South Korea in Oakland, and Oswaldo was responsible for the game winning goal by the Koreans (1-0). On the bad play, he stopped a shot, but he cleared the ball with a little flick to a defender standing near the top of the box which was easily stolen by a Korean who smashed it home for the winner. Case closed. I really think he can be a liability for Mexico at the World Cup.
- - -
-UEFA Cup resumed with 2 legged knockout matches starting yesterday with return legs played next week. Here are the scores & the schedule:
Last night:
Litex 0-2 Strasbourg
Schalke 2-1 Espanyol
Heerenveen 1-3 Steaua
Basel 1-0 Monaco
Betis 2-0 AZ Alkmaar
Rosenborg 0-2 Zenit
Bolton 0-0 Marseille
Lokomotiv Moskva 0-1 Sevilla
Artmedia 0-1 Levski
Club Brugge 1-2 Roma
Hertha 0-1 Rapid Bucuresti
Lille 3-2 Shakhtar
Udinese 3-0 Lens
Today:
Stuttgart v Middlesbrough
Slavia v Palermo
Thun v Hamburg
- - -
-Copa Libertadores!! This Weeks matches:
Last night:
Independiente Santa Fe 2-2 Bolívar - Grupo 2
Deportivo Cali 0-1 Corinthians - Grupo 4
Cerro Porteño 0-0 Palmeiras - Grupo 7
Thursday:
Libertad - River Plate - Grupo 8
Universitario - Liga Dep. Universitaria - Grupo 5
UA Maracaibo - Internacional - Grupo 6
- - -
-The Spanish Copa del Rey is racing toward the finish line and the last semifinal match is to be played soon. Why no exact date you ask? Number 1, because it's Spain, and number 2, because Espanyol are in the UEFA Cup leaving very few open dates for them. I would assume we will know a date fairly soon for this match:
Deportivo La Coruna v Espanyol - Esp leads 2-1, but the away goal that Depor snagged could be huge.
So it's gonna be Real Zaragoza (6-5 winners over Real Madrid) v that winner in the 2006 Copa del Rey Final!
posted by brucio at 11:01
3 Comments:
You know, if you put a colon in the middle of that Houston blurb, you'd have a major scoop. As in More on all this Houston team name: Bullshit, from the Houston Chronicle's Bernardo Fallas. I would root for the Houston Bullshit. Wouldn't you?
Hmmmmmmm? It does sort of have a ring to it!
Or Better yet. The Houston 2006 Bullshit. We would know it's fresh bullshit and with the bungle that the team managemnet has made along with all those cattle down there the Houston 2006 Bullshit sounds quite appropriate actually. By George I do like it.
Nice one D
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