Friday, April 21, 2006

Kurtis Blow's Semi-Annual Sale News

Today's biggest news is non-news: Red Bull keep Mo Johnston as coach (for now, but for how long?), from Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
-Ives Galarcep from the North Jersey Herald has more words on the topic, including some on a deal that supposedly fell thru.
-But in reality that deal has now been completed bringing Haitian striker Jean Phillipe Peguero to the Meadowlands, according to Big Apple Soccer. More deals are in the works too.
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The First Division, and my Minnesota squad kick off their season this weekend against the defending champs/chumps from Seattle. USL has season previews of all the teams. (Make sure you come to our game on Sunday, it's gonna be a doozy, and it's free!)
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MLS matches this weekend:
Saturday
New York v DC - 3pm on ESPN2 - should be a great with the all heat between the fans being flamed, and NY's coach being forced to sit on a real hot seat.
Houston v Salt Lake - 7:30pm on Direct Kick - Ummmmm, I don't care.
Los Angeles v Columbus - 9:30pm on Direct Kick - New LA Pres Lalas gets to see his coach Sampson in action, and see the old LA coach Schmid bring his new team to town for some personal R-E-V-E-N-G-E!
Sunday
Dallas v Kansas City - 4pm on ESPN2 - Two teams who can score like crazy. Will KC win another one? It sure would be fun to see a team win 4 in a row to start the season and make everyone else scramble to keep up.
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Bruce Arena & Drew Carey are NOT Laurel & Hardy (Editors note: cuz neither one of em is skinny). At least that is what the Cleveland Plain Dealer says about their joint press conference promoting the USA match v Venezuela on May 26.
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Dallas free weekly The Observer has a very in-depth view on the life of FC Dallas striker El Pescadito, Carlos Ruiz. Warts and all.
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Part of the roof is starting to go on the new stadium in Denver. Bonji from Big Soccer posted these excellent pictures.
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And here is Bridgeview today.
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FYI - My birthday is coming up on May 3 and I would love one of these or one of these in XXL!
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The Columbus Dispatch looks at the Crew's new defender (and hopeful star) Marcos Gonzalez. He is one of coach Sigi's fancy new boyz.
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The Carson Daily Breeze have a feature on another Columbus player, young Southern California striker Kei Kamara.
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Business Week: A Breakout Year For Soccer?
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The Soccer Times says DaMarcus Beasley was found guilty and fined 1,500 euros by an Eindhoven judge for driving under the influence of alcohol. Beasley's driving license which had been suspended was reinstated. The judge was a little extra hard on DMB cuz he is a wealthy athlete, but Beasley said, "I've learned my lesson. But it has happened and I must be a man. I must take my responsibility to my family and PSV."
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Talented USA youngster Michael Bradley left New York during the January transfer window to sign with Heerenveen in Holland. He checks in with US Soccer via a downloadable podcast on his progress.
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I had linked to another US Soccer podcast the other day with US U20 coach Thomas Rongen. It's always great to listen to these things cuz you get a lot more than the few word bites that ever end up in newspaper and magazine articles. But one thing about what Rongen was saying bothered me. He talked about getting the young guys experience at high levels etc, but eluded to the fact that "winning" is not always the main focus when trying to see and evaluate players. My feeling is that our teams should be beyond that point, and a "must win" attitude is now needed to up the level of play. I really hope we stop this underdog mentality soon, and start acting like world beaters.
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You wanna watch MLS on the web. Now you can. For a small fee. Check it out now.
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Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald brings us: The essential Romário
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FIFA has a chat with Italy's boss Marcello Lippi. Great read. Part 1 - and - Part 2.
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Every football federation makes really stupid decisions based on "who-knows-what?" In today's case our favorite monster defenderOguchi Oneywu will miss his team Standard's biggest game of the year (Standard sit in first place 1 point ahead of #2 Anderlecht and the two teams meet tonight) because Oguchi got a red card back in October, appealed it, won a reprieve, yet now the league have turned around repealing that earlier reprieve and saying he must serve the suspension during this specific game. Holy Bat Shit, they are whacked! Yanks Abroad covers it a little better then I do, and fills in some details that I conveniently left out for sake of conspiracy.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times sees the supposed Wayne Rooney gambling stories as just another part of British culture, for good or bad.
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I read today that the reason our boy Ballack has not signed with Chelsea is cuz they have all those other world class midfielders and he wants assurance that he will play. Don't blame him. I would not sign with them if I was him, unless I was only in it for the money.
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UEFA Magazine's Big Interview for April: Paolo Maldini. (Thanks to Even for the corrected spelling of Paolo's name!:})
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Marco Van Basten has named a preliminary squad for Holland at the World Cup. He has left Roy Makaay & Clarence Seedorf off, but included Edgar Davids. What gives dude? Read the whole thing at Goal.
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Big Euro matches this weekend - only one needed:
The Arse v Tottenham - not only is it THE London derby, but they are battling for the 4th and final Champions League spot for England, AND it's the last game EVER at Arsenal's home ground Highbury. Do you need more?
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CUP MANIA:
English FA Cup Semifinals this weekend:
Chelsea v Liverpool - at Old Trafford on Sat Apr 22 - Unfortunately the only way to see this match is on closed-circuit TV at selected pubs and restaurants. There is a mandatory $20 PER PERSON COVER CHARGE from Setanta! Call your local watering hole to see if they are showing it.
Middlesbrough v West Ham - at Villa Park on Sun April 23 - see it live on FSC at 10am.
-The final will be played at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff
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French Cup or Coupe de France Semifinals were last night:
Olympique Marseille 3-0 Stade Rennes
Nantes 1-2 Paris Saint Germaine
-So, the final is April 29 with Marseille v PSG!
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The UEFA Cup Semifinals last night (with return legs on the 27th):
Steaua 1-0 Middlesbrough - goal by Nicolae Dica in a commanding win
Schalke 0-0 Sevilla - Sevilla now with the chance at home glory
-The final will be May 10 in Eindhoven.
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Last night was the end of the Copa Libertadores group grope stage, and now all 16 precious spots have been filled for the next round!! Here are the games and scores:
Chivas Guadalajara 0-0 Cienciano - Grupo 1
São Paulo FC 2-0 Caracas FC - Grupo 1
River Plate 1-0 Libertad - Grupo 8
Paulista FC 0-0 El Nacional - Grupo 8
-Let's see who has advanced from the groups to the round of 16 (with top seeds listed first):
Group 1 - Sao Paulo & Chivas Guadalajara
Group 2 - Independiente Santa Fe & Estudiantes LP
Group 3 - Goias EC & Newells' Old Boys (who sneak in on goal differential)
Group 4 - Corinthians & UANL Tigres (who also sneak in on goal differential)
Group 5 - Vélez Sarsfield & Liga Dep Universitaria
Group 6 - Internacional & Nacional
Group 7 - Atlético Nacional & Palmeiras
Group 8 - Libertad & River Plate
-We will have all the details on the knock out stages in a couple of days.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Roy Makaay getting the ax is a big surprise to me seeing as how much he kicks ass in Munich and when he was in Spain, but then I clicked on the link and read that he's only scored 6 goals in 43 apps...that is like soooo Jason Kreis... I don't even think Mr. 100 himself is even capable of that kind of suckiness wearing a national team uniform.

5:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A bit unfair on Makaay because of his position...he doesn't fit on the right of the front-line of a 4-3-3 system, which is dogma in Holland. Makaay is much more of a central striker. But with Van Nistelrooy a lock for the striker position, Makaay's never really had a chance to prove himself (and a ton of those caps have been as a late substitute, so it's not really an indication of him only getting 6 goals in 43 full games).

Oh, and it's Paolo Maldini, not Paulo. Show some respect to the greatest left-back ever.

7:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I sort of agree and disagree with your comments about Rongin and the U-20's.

In most situation with youth teams it's all about teaching them the things they need to become successful at the full Nat team level, meaning u-23 and above. Pushing winning to hard does not accomplish what most think it does. It does not allow the player to fully develop without fear of failure and not allowing him/her to play to their full potential, taking risks and trying new things out. But by the time they are U-20's you would think that most of the emphases should be about winning.

There are an awful lot of 18, 19 and 20 year olds playing in top leagues in Europe these days and I don't think there are to many coaches who are coddling those players by not being concerned about winning.

9:35 PM  
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