Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Zen Master-In-Training News

3rd Degree: I always thought [Dallas midfielder Marcelo] Saragosa had great teeth and now I know why...his dad is a dentist.

The 93rd US Open Cup Final is tonight:
Chicago v Los Angeles - live at 7pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
I will be watching at the Nomad in Minneapolis if you wanna meet up.
-Chicago has won the Open Cup 3 times
-LA has won the Open Cup 2 times, and are the defending Cup holders
-Both teams entered the tournament in the 4th round. Chicago beat Kansas City 2-0, New England 2-1, and DC United 3-0 to get to the final. Los Angeles beat Dallas Roma 2-0, Colorado 3-1, and Houston 3-1 to get the chance to defend their title.
-Chicago beat LA 2-1 on Saturday at Bridgeview in regular league play, but LA were the superior team on the pitch.
-Match previews:
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune
Soccernet
LA Soccer News
USA Today
-US Soccer has a podcast with Galaxy midfielder Quavas Kirk previewing the match.
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The English rumor mill lit up American style today when The Sun reported: "Reading hope to sign DC United's American wonderkid Freddy Adu on loan in January with a view to a permanent £5m deal." Ok, but I thought players could not sign a contract in Europe until they were 18, which Freddy won't be until next June.
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3rd Degree with a feature story on FC Dallas's Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Saragosa.
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The KC Star with a feature on Kansas City striker Scott Sealy who is turning into the real thing up top.
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Jeff Bradley's MLSnet column First XI: Face the facts
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There aren't many of them around, but Jack Bell of the New York Times talks to an actual USA soccer old schooler about the current coaching search.
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Steve Goff of the Washington Post looks at all the yellow and red card suspension that DC United have been piling up lately. There have been a ton of them, and many have been for pretty dumb reasons.
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Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet talks to Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo who joins the barking chorus saying MLS has to align its schedule to meet the international calendar. I say that's just not possible with our winters.
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Andrea Canales at Soccer365 sees the return to the Chivas USA lineup of keeper Brad Guzan as another step in his growth.
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A little update on plans for an MLS expansion team in the Cleveland area. 2 articles - ONE - and - TWO. Nothing substantial here, but tidbits are always good.
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Here's the official press release from FC Dallas on their new partnership with Brazilian club Paranaense.
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Marc Connolly of the US Players Assoc talks to young American midfielder Lee Nguyen at PSV Eindhoven in Holland.
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UEFA Champions League Matchday 2
Tuesday scores-
-Real Madrid 5-1 Dynamo Kyiv - Two goals from new papa Ruud Van Nistelrooy, two from Raul, and one more from Jose Antonio Reyes led the slaughter. Artem Milevsky got the only Kyiv goal early in the second half. Honestly up to a point it was not nearly as a bad a beating as the score shows.
-Steaua 0-3 Lyon - Huge road goals from Fred, Tiago and Karim Benzema.
-Benfica 0-1 Manchester United - Louis Saha with a great road goal winner. Benfica played too good to lose.
-Celtic 1-0 Kobenhavn - Kenny Miller scored for Celtic on a PK.
-CSKA Moskva 1-0 Hamburg - another bizarrely named Brazilian, Dudu, got the games only goal.
-Arsenal 2-0 Porto - Tierry Henry & Alexander Hleb got the goals for the home side.
-AEK 1-1 Anderlecht - Nicolas Frutos scored first for the road team, but AEK answered back almost immediately with a goal by Julio Cesar for the draw.
-Lille 0-0 Milan
Wednesday games-
-Levski v Chelsea - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2 & delayed at 6pm central on ESPN Deportes
-Bremen v Barcelona - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN Deportes & delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic
-Spartak Moskva v Sporting
-Internazionale v Bayern Munich - delayed at 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes & delayed at 4pm central on Setanta
-Liverpool v Galatasaray - live at 1:30pm central on Setanta
-Bordeaux v PSV - delayed to Thursday at 1pm central on ESPN Deportes
-Shakhtar v Olympiacos
-Valencia v Roma - delayed at 6pm central on Setanta & delayed at 11pm central on ESPN Deportes
-See the Champions League highlight show on Friday at 1pm central on ESPN2
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on Lyon's glorious Brazilian midfield star: Juninho wins with rhythm, not pace and power
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One of my least favorite players in all of football is Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes and he took himself to new lows yesterday v Benfica when he called the referee a fag. What a moron. Some people are rightly upset with him.
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The USL First Division Championship is Saturday:
Rochester v Vancouver - See it live at 6pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
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Chris Agnello, the Portland Timbers' coach and general manager, has resigned both positions in a move that surprised his staff and former players. - The Oregonian. Former player and current assistant coach Gavin Wilkinson has been handed the reigns to the company horse and buggy.
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Odds are very good that Montreal keeper Greg Sutton is headed to FC Toronto for their MLS debut next season.
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Wow! Boca Juniors are seriously considering building a new stadium to replace La Bombonera!
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Sepp Blatter, the Pres of FIFA, needs to badly change the subject from scandal, and so he has announced that world soccer needs to rid itself of the penalty kick shootout to decide major games. Agreed, but how to do it?

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would disagree that Benfica played too well to lose against Man U.

Yes, Benfica controlled the pace of the game. And they possessed the ball well. But once they got to the 18, they had nothing. There were no incisive runs or passes. There was no creativity. They could not unlock United's defense -- especially the central defense.

I must say, Rio Ferdinand looked great. Since his "drug" problem a few seasons back, I have not been a fan. And he hasn't warranted admiration with his play either. But yesterday he was a rock. That's bad news for his EPL opponents. Too bad he doesn't play for Charlton Athletic!

4:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're right about Saragosa having great teeth.
I also think he has great legs.

8:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know whether the MLS should align their calendar with Europe or not, but I don't think you can use weather as a reason not to align, much of Europe has winter weather conditions as bad as the U.S. and they make it work, the real question is whether you could get the fickle MLS fans out on a cold February, probably not.

Secondly, not withstanding the allegation of a wholly inappropriate remark to the ref, Paul Scholes has always been a quality person and great player...whats your beef with him, just interested to know...hating Man U is fine.

5:46 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

every european country with weather like the northern half of the us takes at least two months if not 4 or 5 months off during winter - norway, sweden, denmark, russia etc

paul scholes is a cheap shot and a whiner, sure he used to be good, but it doesnt make up for the visciousness he has been known to deal out to his opponents then complain to the ref when he is punished - this has nothing to do with liking manchester united or not, cuz i have enjoyed many of their players over the years, currently gabriel heinze and louis saha to name two

3:22 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

i am not much of a leg man myself

3:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have always thought that if the MLS ever really intends to go to the FIFA calendar they need to add a requirement to soccer specific stadiums in cold weather climates. That requirement would be a retractable roof. This would not only allow for soccer in the cold weather months, but also for concerts or whatever else could bring in money during the cold. Chicago, New York, Columbus, and Denver have already missed this chance. I realize it adds a lot of money to a deal that probably was very hard to complete in the first place, but it gives the league a lot more options. What good is controlling your dates if you cannot use them or draw a crowd for half of them because of the weather. Just some thoughts. Great work on the blog!

8:56 PM  

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