Crunching Riff News

MLS scores from this past weekend:
Columbus 1-2 Chicago - Nate Jaqua & CJ Brown scored first for the away team, and Rotund Rozental got a goal back for Columbus via PK, but too little too late.
New England 1-0 New York - Pat Noonan returns from injury and scores the goal for the New England win. Then gets injured again (see below).
DC 1-1 Salt Lake - Freddy Adu hit a smokin' first half free kick for the home sides lead, but RSL used great teamwork for Chris Klein's goal and road draw.
Kansas City 4-1 Colorado - Scott Sealy scored 36 seconds into the game for KC, but 10 minutes later Kyle Beckerman blasted Colorado back to level. In the second half though it was all KC as Dave van den Bergh got his first ever KC goal followed by two more from Davy Arnaud to seal the win.
Chivas USA 1-1 Dallas - Kenny Cooper gave Dallas the lead, but Juan Pablo Garcia salvaged the home team a point.
Los Angeles 1-2 Houston - Landon Donovan scored first for LA off a fantastic team set up, but Houston stormed back with killer goals by Craig Waibel & Dwayne DeRosario for a win even after going down to 10 men on Brian Mullan's second yellow card.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Standings (and who would be in and out of the playoffs is they started today):
East-
51 DC - already qualified for playoffs
38 Chicago
34 New England
33 Kansas City
- - - - - -
29 New York
26 Columbus
West-
46 Dallas - only 2 points gained or lost by Salt Lake from qualifying for playoffs
39 Houston
35 Chivas
35 Colorado
- - - - - -
33 Salt Lake
32 Los Angeles
~ ~ ~ ~
Yes Pat Noonan returned to give New England the win on Saturday, but he hurt his hip in the game and is doubtful for the Wednesday night match v DC. It's his hip flexor that is strained. Damn.
~ ~ ~ ~
In their last 8 matches including the US Open Cup, the Chicago Fire have won 7 and drawn 1. This also coincides with Tony Sanneh coming into the starting line up. Some things never cease to amaze. Before this season we had heard from some good sources that his career was over! Go Tony! Hooray Beer!
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS has decided to go ahead and start allowing teams to sell advertisements on the front of their jersey's for next year.
~ ~ ~ ~
LA have officially announced that they signed Brazilian defender/midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi from Swindon Town in England.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet remembers 9/11 from an MLS perspective.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division scores from the last weekend of the regular season:
Montreal 0-0 Toronto
Puerto Rico 4-2 Miami
Vancouver 3-2 Seattle
Rochester 1-0 Minnesota
Seattle 2-1 Atlanta
Puerto Rico 1-1 Miami
Charleston 0-0 Rochester
Toronto 5-0 Minnesota
Vancouver 1-0 Atlanta
-Very sadly my Minnesota Thunder finished last for the first time ever. EVER! FUCK!
~ ~ ~ ~
So here are the First Division Championship Playoffs:
Quarterfinals:
Fri Sept 15-
Charleston v Puerto Rico
Vancouver v Miami
Sun Sept 17-
Puerto Rico v Charleston
Miami v Vancouver
-Montreal and Rochester have a first round bye after finishing 1 & 2 in the standings.
Semifinals:
Fri Sept 22 & Sun Sept 24-
Montreal v Vancouver/Miami winner
Rochester v Charleston/Puerto Rico winner
Finals:
TBD weekend of Sept 29
~ ~ ~ ~
Josh at Throughball has posted his second article on what he thinks needs to happen to push our Minnesota Thunder further up the sports marketing ladder. He also answers some of the questions posted last week in a similar editorial by our friend BQ.
~ ~ ~ ~
Let's check in on some of our favorite Americans in Europe this weekend - including some huge performances in England:
-Brad Friedel of Blackburn saved not 1 but 2 penalties as his team drew 0-0 with Sheff United. Unfortunately Friedel had a teammate who had a PK stopped as well.
-Another American keeper Tim Howard of Everton held the clean sheet as his team beat Liverpool 3-0 in the Liverpool derby.
-Fulham came from behind to win 2-1 at Newcastle as Brian McBride scored the equalizer very late, and then Carlos Bocanegra won it in stoppage time!
-In the German Cup Kasey Kellers' Monchengladbach beat Rossbach 4-1 on the road, and Steve Cherundolo's Hannover beat Dynamo Dresden 3-2 on the road.
~ ~ ~ ~
The AP with a match preview of todays Reading v Manchester City match which has 4 Americans - 2 on each squad. Sadly Man City's DaMarcus Beasley will not play due to a hamstring strain.
~ ~ ~ ~
Phil Ball of Soccernet looks at play in Spain from the weekend past: The real thing at last
~ ~ ~ ~
Juventus played their first Italian league game outside of Serie A and were held to a 1-1 draw by 10 man Rimini in Serie B! Ouch!
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune tries to size up just exactly what Juve are in for this season: Humbled Old Lady can't look down her nose at Serie B
~ ~ ~ ~
I think the hideous "soundtrack" that goes on during sporting events in American stadiums and arena's just might actually kill Arsenal manager Arsne Wenger.
~ ~ ~ ~
This week we finally get back to the most exciting club action on earth - The UEFA Champions League! It's Match Day 1 of the group stage:
Tuesday-
Chelsea v Bremen - Live at 1:30pm central on Setanta
Barcelona v Levski - Live at 1:30pm central on ESPN Deportes
Sporting v Inter - Same Day Delayed at 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes
Bayern v Spartak Moskva
Galatasaray v Bordeaux - Same Day Delayed at 8pm central on Setanta
PSV v Liverpool - Live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Olympiacos v Valencia - Live at 1:30pm central on Setanta Closed Circuit
Roma v Shakhtar
Wednesday-
Dynamo Kyiv v Steaua Bucharesti
Lyon v Real Madrid - Live at 1:30pm central on ESPN Deportes
Manchester United v Celtic - Live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Kobenhavn v Benfica - Live at 1:30pm central on Setanta Closed Circuit
Porto v CSKA Moskva - Same Day Delayed at 6pm central on Setanta
Hamburg v Arsenal - Live at 1:30pm central on Setanta
Anderlecht v Lille
Milan v AEK - Same Day Delayed at 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes
-And don't miss the (ALL-NEW in America) Champions League Highlight Show on ESPN2 - Friday at 1pm central
-Matchday 2 is Sept 26 & 27