Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Hardy Har Har News

UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal 2nd leg matches (with previous leg scores):
Yesterday:
Milan 3-1 Lyon - Milan get the 3-1 win on aggregate as well after a scoreless first leg. It looked for a long time like Lyon was gonna go thru at 1-1 with the away goal tie breaker, but in the dying moments Milan pulled a rabbit out of a thimble (as usual) with 2 strikes to win it. It would have been fun to see Lyon move on, but they didn't get it done where these 2 legged series are almost always won: At Home. Inzhagi got the first two and Shevchenko sealed it for Milan, with Diarra scoring for Lyon.
Villa v Inter - Villa got the one home goal they needed to go along with their away goal and knock out the always choking Inter 2-2 on aggregate. The away goals are always used as the first tie breaker and Villa got one by Diego Forlan less than a minute into the first leg last week. Defender Arruabarrena got the winner today.
Wednesday:
Barca v Benfica (0-0) - live at 1:30pm central time on Setanta
Juve v Arsenal (0-2) - live at 1:30pm central time on ESPN2
-Villarreal will play the winner of Juve-Arse, with Milan facing the winner of Barca-Benfica.
-Things got ugly in the Inter dressing room after the loss.
-Rob Hughes tells the two tales of one city: Milan awakens to find one dream dashed
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Simon Kuper for the Financial Times on the Dutch coach everyone is chasing - Guus Hiddink: Go Dutch for the England job
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It's official now - John O'Brien will play for Chivas USA in Los Angeles.
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Fat Tony Meola has been given the chance to get his 100th cap for Team USA when they play a little friendly v Jamaica next week in Cary NC. Coach Bruce Arena named the following 18 to his squad...
G:
Tony Meola -New York Red Bulls
Matt Reis - New England Revolution
D:
Chris Albright - Los Angeles Galaxy
Nick Garcia - Kansas City Wizards
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado Rapids
Eddie Pope - Real Salt Lake
M:
Clint Dempsey - New England Revolution
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
Pat Noonan - New England Revolution
John O’Brien - Chivas USA
Ben Olsen - DC United
Steve Ralston - New England Revolution
Kerry Zavagnin - Kansas City Wizards
F:
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Eddie Johnson - Kansas City Wizards
Taylor Twellman - New England Revolution
Josh Wolff - Kansas City Wizards
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Brian Ching was named Player of the Week in MLS after bagging 4 for Houston in their first ever match and win 5-2 over Colorado.
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Reading & USA midfielder Bobby Convey with a downloadable podcast talking about his clubs promotion to the English Premiership for the first time in the teams 135 year history, from US Soccer.
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A Conversation With (DC United President) Kevin Payne in the Washington Business Journal.
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A message about the defunct Striker Magazine from our pal BQ: I don't know if you know much about this but I bought a subscription to Striker magazine when if first came out. It was published by Harris Press. It occurred to me that I had not received an issue for quite some time. So I did a little snooping around the net and found out that they canceled the magazine do to lack of sales. I think it only published two issues. The first one I picked up on the magazine rack. The second was after I subscribed. What is bad about this situation is not only that they pulled the plug so early on the magazine, but they never sent me a refund or even sent a letter saying that it had been canceled. So I tracked down Harris on the internet and found an email address & phone number. I sent a note to them asking for a refund. The email bounced because their email box was full. I left a phone message and thankfully they did get back to me. They claim I will be getting a refund check in the mail. The question that I wonder about is how many people out there subscribed and then totally forgot about it and Harris is holding there money? Pretty bad business if you ask me. You can call this phone number: 217-807-7100. (editors note: ask for Lang Whitaker, he was the brains behind the mag.)
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"The hot tub, Jim Beam and a little bit of Slipknot on the radio!" - Who said it? Yes, of course, it's Marcus Hahnemann, the American keeper for Reading. Yanks Abroad talks to him about the glorious season his team has had!
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Hahnemann also WROTE a great article about what it feels like being promoted, for the US Players Assoc.
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Ethan in Philly keeps us up to date on the soccer story at Rowan Univ in South Jersey - they had a meeting for potential developers and 125 showed up!!!
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It's a couple of days old now, but I love DJ Walkers Stream of Consciousness match reports for FC Dallas so much that I still recommend you read it: FCD v Chicago on opening day.
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Kelly Whiteside of USA Today takes a look at where forward Eddie Johnson sits on his chances with the USA at the World Cup.
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Author David Eggers, a friend of a friend, writes about why most Americans don't care or even know about soccer in general or the World Cup in specific, for the Observer in England.
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Is this terrifying or what? Thanks to Green Haggerty for this one.
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An Editorial from the Houston Chronicle on the positive effects of a successful opening game of their new club.
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Nick Green of the Carson Daily-Breeze looks at MLS' opening weekend and the future of the game in America: A sport rising but with a ways to go
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The Salt Lake Tribune checks in on star strikers Jason Kreis's return from a serious knee surgery for Real Salt Lake.
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A profile of great young Costa Rico & Chicago defender Gonzalo Seagares by Luis Arroyave in the Chicago Tribune.
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Frank Dell'apa writes for the Boston Globe about what New England fans can expect this weekend when their team goes to play New York.
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According to one of the many sleuths (with even more free time than me) who inhabit the world of Big Soccer, the new team in Toronto will be called..... He did some ingenious trademark searches to verify his findings as well. (PS. The name is moronic.)
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I thought Salt Lake coach John Ellinger should have gotten the boot last year, and I predict the upper management will wise up and he will not see the end of this season as the head man.
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How great is it going to be at a match in Chicago later this summer? Here is a brand new picture that says it all.
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French newspaper L’Equipe says that Chelsea defender William Gallas will leave for Milan this summer.
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Columbus announced that they have signed Croatian holding midfielder Leonard Bisaku from Posusje in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Premier League.
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MLS commish Donny Garber talks future league expansions with Frank Giase in the Newark Star-Ledger.
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And Giase writes about the match up of the future: Marvell Wynne v Freddy Adu.
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Phil Ball tells us about his weekend at Soccernet: When Saturday Comes
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Here is a picture from last nights PSV reserve match. You tell me who that dude is standing on the sidelines third from left.
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Soccer 365 talks to 2 different members of New England about their season ahead (these took place before last Saturday's opener). Don Cuddy with Taylor Twellman, and Andrea Canales with Clint Dempsey.
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Sports Illustrated let Ricardo Setyon travel to 7 countries looking at the game we love. He loved the food too. (Like me)
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Another SI-guy, Gregory Sica took in the Boca Juniors v River Plate Superclassico in Buenos Aries last month.
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CONCACAF Champions Cup Finals are set, with a Mexican team destined to be the winner:
Toluca v America on April 12 in Toluca & April 19 in Mexico City
Semifinal recap:
Saprissa 3-2 Toluca - despite losing game 2, Toluca wins the aggregate series 4-3.
America 0-0 Alajuelense - giving America with a 2-1 win on aggregate.
Note: They do NOT use the "away goals break ties" rule. All ties will be settled with PK's after extra periods are played.
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Copa Libertadores Group stage!! This week’s matches and scores:
Apr 04
Sporting Cristal 2-2 Estudiantes LP - Grupo 2
Nacional 0-0 Internacional - Grupo 6
Atlético Nacional 1-2 Palmeiras - Grupo 7
Apr 05
São Paulo FC - Chivas Guadalajara - Grupo 1
The Strongest - Goiás EC - Grupo 3
Paulista FC - River Plate - Grupo 8
Apr 06
Universidad Católica - Corinthians - Grupo 4
Liga Dep. Universitaria - Universitario - Grupo 5
Cerro Porteño - Rosario Central - Grupo 7
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Tuesday Libertadores recap from Sports Illustrated - and tonight sees a big name match with Sao Paulo v Guadalajara Chivas!
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Yes, it has now been confirmed that agents of Mr Michael Ballack were concerned enough with my constant watch on their client that they did some "24" type stuff to give me a wicked virus. It worked, cuz I have lost his trail. But little do they know that I am only one man searching for the truth, and all of you out there are on the same mission, so please keep all eyes and ears open for Michael Ballack, and let me know where he is so I can report it. Thank you!
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The UEFA Cup quarterfinals are all set for the deciding 2nd leg matches on Thursday (first leg results included):
Zenit v Sevilla (1-4)
Schalke 04 v Levski (3-1)
Steaua Bucuresti v Rapid Bucuresti (1-1)
Middlesbrough v Basel (0-2)
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From a recent CONCACAF Executive Committee meeting comes bad news for fans of Suprissa and Suprissa stadium: In discussing the CONCACAF Champions Cup™ the Executive Committee was alerted to the occurrence of some fan disturbances during and after the semifinal encounter between Deportivo Saprissa and Deportivo Toluca on 29 March 2006 at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa (Costa Rica).
In light of an ongoing investigation into these events, and based on previous similar incidents in the last two years that have resulted in fines and suspensions, the CONCACAF Executive Committee determined that the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa would be ineligible to host any international games at any age level until the investigation is concluded. This suspension of the stadium affects only international games.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

MLS is going backwards with names. Inter Toronto FC? Horrible.

10:29 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

horrible!
you said it all on that one peter!

10:53 PM  
Blogger Zathras said...

No mention of Matterazzi's despicable elbow on Sorin?

9:43 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

you ever seen materazzi play before?
this is an every game occurence
he is lame

2:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I never quite got David Eggers books. I guess we just think differently though I had a former girlfriend that thought he was the greatest thing ever..come to think of it, she is gone and I no longer read David Eggers.....which I should have known better than to read the article linked.


And yes, that is Ernie Sterwart no doubt. I pulled out a W.C. 94 match that I was laying down to DVD from VHS with my shiny new DVD recorder. The game? On of my favorites, Arg. vs Romania. One of the most exciting W.C. clashes that I remember. So I stray...the point is, there was a feature on there that showed a very young Ernie Stewart. So much fun to look back on these guys and know what a big part of the coming of age of football here in the US that they played.

3:38 PM  

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