Used Mai Tai News

DaMarcus Beasley is out of PSV!!! He is being loaned to Manchester City!
~ ~ ~ ~
ADDITION: Kansas City Wizards founder Lamar Hunt has announced that Hunt Sports Group has sold its interest in the Wizards to Kansas City-based OnGoal LLC, a group of six investors led by Cerner Corporation executives Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig.
Read the Official Press Release
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS last tonight:
Kansas City 2-2 New York - Edson Buddle played the second 45 minutes of last Saturdays game for New York and scored 3 big goals in a 6-0 win. He played 45 minutes last night but it went in totally the opposite direction for him and his team. He got the start this time, but came out at half time with no goals and a groin strain. Now word on how bad. And KC defender Nick Garcia only last about 15 minutes before he came out with the same malady. Scott Sealy scored first for KC. NY's Amado Guevara played Houdini to amazingly weave thru the KC defense and pass to John Wolyniec for an equalizing goal. NY then took the lead on a great Youri Djorkaeff cross to Todd Dunivant, only to give up the tying goal to Josh Wolff in the 71st minute. KC is one point ahead of NY (30-29) for the 4th and final playoff spot in the Eastern standings. Both keepers, Bo Oshoniyi for KC and Tony Meolo for NY, made a couple of awesome saves.
Salt Lake 1-0 Los Angeles - Jeff Cunningham strikes again, this time in full afro, as LA keeper Kevin Hartman plays shitty shortstop and lets a slow roller go between his legs cuz he's too busy to bend his knees!
Chicago 2-2 Houston - It's the 58th minute, Wade Barrett stole the ball in midfield for Houston, and tips the ball over to teammate Dwayne DeRosario who is standing in the center circle. DeRo looks up and spots Chicago keeper Zach Thornton off his line. DDR winds up and lets fly with a high arcing shot. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! A 60 yarder! His teammates mob him! Awesome stuff! Big Zach was completely embarrassed by it, but his teammate Andy Herron bailed him out by scoring on a PK in the 75th minute to tie the match up for Chicago. The other goals came in the first half from Chicago's Justin Mapp and Houston's Chris Wondolowski.
Colorado 0-2 Dallas - Huuuuuuuge win for the slumping Burn, and on the road to boot. Dallas got goals by Ramon Nunez in the first half, and Richard Mulrooney in the second, both set up by Ronnie O'Brien. Colorado is turning to crap. Guess they jumped the gub on that contract extension for coach Fernando Clavijo.
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet, says Caribbean players have had decent success in MLS, but for some reason most Jamaicans have not.
~ ~ ~ ~
Looks like New England is on the verge of signing Mexican forward Jose Manuel Abundis from Toluca. He is out of contract. The 33 year old has seen his better days, but only a couple seasons ago was banging in lots of goals. Who knows if he has anything left to give, but this team sure needs the help at forward.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Toronto Star is reporting that the Bank Of Montreal has bought the naming rights to the new stadium in Toronto for $27 million dollars Canadian (24.3 US) over 10 years. Just a little better than Chicago got ($7.5 million for 10 years). Can someone please tell me again why Chicago fired Peter Wilt? I also find it comical that the Bank Of Montreal bought naming rights in Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~
In more crazy Toronto rumor news, yesterday I wrote that Johan Cruyff could be an assistant coach to Mo Johnston, but last night during the KC game telecast, the announcers spread the rumor that former KC head coach Bob Gansler would become an assistant in Toronto. Keeps on spinnin'.
~ ~ ~ ~
The South Jersey Philly MLS expansion project will get an update tomorrow: Rowan University President Donald Farish is holding a press briefing (at 10am central time on Friday Sept 1) to update reporters about the Rowan West/Major League Soccer project announced in March. This is not a major announcement, but simply an update to try to put an end to rumors and to explain the new direction in which the project is moving.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chivas USA has officially added two new players to their roster - both signed from Guadalajara Chivas in Mexico. 20 year old forward Jesus Morales has already suited up and started last Saturdays game v Houston and had a great first 30 minutes, while 28 year old midfielder/defender Johnny Garcia just received his work visa and is now eligible.
~ ~ ~ ~
Glen Davis of the Houston Chronicle with a look at the potential of an Argentine talent pipeline to MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ian Plenderleith of Matchnight examines the wrath of Landon Donovan which was hoisted upon the Barra Brava in DC last Saturday.
~ ~ ~ ~
Another American in Europe has lost his coach very early in the new season. Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege of Belgium have fired coach Johan Boskamp as the team earned only 2 points from four games.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division matches this weekend (starting tonight) - many of these matches have huge playoff implications seeing as the regular season only has two more weeks left:
Thursday
Portland v Montreal
Vancouver v Charleston
Friday
Rochester v Virginia Beach
Miami v Minnesota
Seattle v Charleston
Saturday
Atlanta v Rochester
Sunday
Puerto Rico v Minnesota
Toronto v Virginia Beach
Portland v Charleston
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division Table (top 6 make playoffs):
47 Montreal
40 Rochester
39 Vancouver
38 Charleston
35 Miami
34 Seattle
- - - - - -
32 Atlanta
32 Virginia Beach
31 Puerto Rico
27 Portland
27 Minnesota
25 Toronto
~ ~ ~ ~
Looks like Juventus are going to negotiate their way to a lesser penalty for match fixing. The deal will still have them demoted to Serie B, but have less points deducted to start the season.
~ ~ ~ ~
Eurocentric Transfer News (with the summer deadline today you can expect quite a lot of action):
-West Ham will pull off a massive upset and sign two Argentina stars, forward Carlos Tevez & defesive midfielder Javier Mascherano from Corinthians.
-Long time MLS fans will remember Junior Agogo who just signed with Nottingham Forest from Bristol.
-Portsmouth will sign striker Andy Cole from Manchester City.
-PSV will sign worn out Dutch forward Patrick Kluivert from Valencia.
-Spanish radio station Cadena Ser is reporting that Inter Milan will send Adriano to Real Madrid in Exchange for Ronaldo and lots of cash.
-Newcastle signed American/Italian forward Giuseppe Rossi to a 1 year loan deal from Manchester United.
-AC Milan signed Brazilian striker Ricardo Oliveira from Real Betis.
-Tottenham signed French midfielder Steed Malbranque from Fulham, who also received English midfielder Wayne Routledge as part of the deal.
-Sunderland new coach Roy Keane made his first signing an old friend, as in Trinidad & Tobago forward Dwight Yorke from Sydney.
-Real Madrid will sign Spanish midfielder Jose Antonio Reyes from Arsenal after all.
-Tottenham signed French defender Pascal Chimbonda from Wigan.
-Newcastle will sign Australian forward Mark Viduka from Middlesbrough.
-Real Betis signed defender & Swiss captain Johann Vogel from AC Milan.
-PSV signed Dutch defender Jan Kromkamp from Liverpool.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tons of Euro 2008 qualifying matches Saturday:
Group A
Serbia v Azerbaijan
Poland v Finland
Group B
Scotland v Faroe Islands
Georgia v France
Italy v Lithuania
Group C
Moldova v Greece
Malta v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Hungary v Norway - same day delayed at 3pm central on FSC
Group D
Czech Republic v Wales
Slovakia v Cyprus
Germany v Ireland
Group E
Estonia v Israel
England v Andorra - delayed at 10pm Tues Sept 5 on FSC
Group F
Spain v Liechtenstein
Northern Ireland v Iceland
Latvia v Sweden
Group G
Romania v Bulgaria - live at 1pm central on FSC
Belarus v Albania
Luxembourg v Netherlands

Whistling Freaks News

Yanks Abroad is reporting that USA & Kansas City forward Josh Wolff has been denied a work permit in England. He was scheduled to be transferred to Derby County, who play in the Championship Division. What a drag, and a total joke.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS games tonight:
Kansas City v New York - 7:30 central time on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Los Angeles - 8pm on Direct Kick
Chicago v Houston - 8pm on Direct Kick
Colorado v Dallas - no TV
~ ~ ~ ~
Chicago forward, and huge du Nord favorite, Chad Barrett broke his right foot last Saturday in the game v Colorado, and has had surgery to repair it. He will be out 6-8 weeks, meaning, practically the rest of the regular season. Damn.
~ ~ ~ ~
Boca Juniors star midfielder Matias Donnet has now officially joined DC United and is eligible to play immediately, but may not have a good enough level of fitness to allow that right away. (Includes video.)
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS has suspended Los Angeles defender Ugo Ihemelu for two games due to the heavy foul he committed that broke the leg of DC United midfielder Dominic Mediate.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Davis of the Dallas Morning News talks to FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock about the team, the stadium, the present and the future.
~ ~ ~ ~
I didn't pay much attention to this, but the annual Hall Of Fame game (played right after the induction ceremony, which was on Monday afternoon) was canceled at the last minute by the two MLS teams who were scheduled to play - Columbus (corrected) v New York. The Hall of Fame folks are none too pleased, and new inductee Alexi Lalas used the opportunity to return a thinly veiled shot at new Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena who has used his own thinly veiled comments to rip Lalas who ran the Red Bulls last years. I love it!
~ ~ ~ ~
Photos from the official turf laying ceremony at Colorado's brand new stadium - it looks fantastic. (Thanks Demko)
~ ~ ~ ~
The Associated Press with a feature on Chicago's rookie defender Dasan Robinson who is having a great season.
~ ~ ~ ~
LA Galaxy have placed forward Cornell Glen on the season ending injury list because of his non-healing knee injury.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Bradley's First XI from MLSnet: Fantastic finishes
~ ~ ~ ~
Marc Connolly of the US Players Assoc takes a look at new Hall of Fame member Alexi Lalas. He talks to Lalas himself and other players about the sexy red head.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Davis at Soccernet tries to figure out why the US Open Cup has not gained a greater popularity. I think some of the suggestions offered in this article are great, especially the blind draw.
~ ~ ~ ~
Listen in tonight to the Soccer Hour With Glenn Davis at 7pm central time from Houston. Hear it locally on 790 AM Radio or listen online at ESPN790.com. This weeks guests will be former US Soccer Secretary General Hank Steinbrecher & LA Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop. Davis will take your calls at 713-212-5790.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News looks at the controversial match referee Alex Prus had in LA last Saturday - Chivas v Houston.
~ ~ ~ ~
USA defender Steve Cherundolo's Hannover have already fired their coach Peter Neururer after just 3 games. The team lost all three matches and have given up 11 goals already!
~ ~ ~ ~
Phil Ball of Soccernet reviews the first full weekend of action in Spain's La Liga, and notices that the "little clubs" are still in the race: Dreams still intact
~ ~ ~ ~
Eurocentric Transfer News (with the summer deadline on Thursday expect quite a lot of action over the next two days):
-Atalanta signed Italian forward Christian Vieri, and former great player, to a 1 year contract at the leagues minimum wage.
-Osasuna signed Spanish midfielder Juanfran from Real Madrid.
-Middlesbrough signed England defender Jonathan Woodgate on a loan deal from Real Madrid.
-Middlesbrough also signed German defender Robert Huth from Chelsea.
-Atletico Madrid signed Portuguese midfielder Maniche, who was on loan at Chelsea last year, from Dynamo Moscow.
-Real Betis signed Brazilian forward Rafael Sobis from recent Copa Libertadores champs Internacional.
-Hamburg will sign Argentine defender & national team captian Juan Pablo Sorin from Villareal.
-Aston Villa signed Bulgaria midfielder Stilian Petrov from Celtic.
-Celtic signed Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen from Real Madrid.

Being Boiled News

Denver Post: The Colorado Rapids will roll out the sod today on their new Commerce City stadium, which is on schedule to open in April 2007.
~ ~ ~ ~
There is a rampant rumor floating around the internets that Toronto FC is going to hire Johan Cruyff to be an assistant coach. Yes, that Johan Cruyff. I don't understand it, but it would be quite the coup.
~ ~ ~ ~
New York forward Edson Buddle was named MLS Player of the Week.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLSnet talks to Chivas USA President and part-owner Antonio Cue about his team in their second season.
~ ~ ~ ~
The US National Soccer Hall of Fame's local newspaper in Oneonta New York, The Daily Star, with a story on the induction ceremony yesterday that saw Phil Anschutz, Alexi Lalas, Carla Overbeck & Al Trost crowned as the latest members of the Hall.
~ ~ ~ ~
DC United midfielder Domenic Mediate is out for the rest of the season after breaking his leg in nasty tackle by LA's Ugo Ihemelu. Mediate had to have surgery on his right leg to repair the break.
~ ~ ~ ~
Deseret Morning News with a feature story on the newest Salt Lake defender Jack Stewart.
~ ~ ~ ~
The latest news from the Kansas City Star on public financing for a new Wizards stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~
Two new columns from Soccer 365: Andrea Canales - Playoff Haters - AND - Andrew Rogers The Euro Perspective - US Soccer Continues To Prove Pundits Wrong
~ ~ ~ ~
The Houston Chronicle's Week In Review
~ ~ ~ ~
The Fire Alarm is reporting that Chicago forward Andy Herron is going to join up with his Costa Rican national team for a tournament in Switzerland this weekend. Plus a look at his two up and down seasons in Chicago.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald with his weekly Red Bulls column. Mainly about the impact of new arrival John Wolyniec on the forward line.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ives also talks to long injured Columbus midfielder Danny Szetela.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Wednesday night games:
Kansas City v New York - 7:30 central time on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Los Angeles - 8pm on Direct Kick
Chicago v Houston - 8pm on Direct Kick
Colorado v Dallas - no TV
~ ~ ~ ~
Great podcast of an interview with US U20 forward Erik Hort who plays for Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic. Excellent stuff. Download and listen.
~ ~ ~ ~
Take a look at this goal by Lionel Messi of Barcelona from yesterdays 3-2 win over Celta Vigo. Amazing player.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with a look at Chelsea & France destructive midfielder extraordinaire Claude Makelele.
~ ~ ~ ~
We have heard that FIFA warned Juventus against taking their match-fixing conviction appeals to civil court, but what exactly might happen if Juve proceeds with their appeal is yet to be known. Scott French of the LA Daily News takes a look at some serious repercussions, and it's not pretty for all of Italian soccer, not just Juventus. Wow.
~ ~ ~ ~
New Liverpool signing Dirk Kuyt was named Dutch Footballer of the Year last night.
~ ~ ~ ~
Eurocentric Transfer News:
-Celta Vigo signed a loan deal for Uruguayan midfielder Pablo Garcia from Real Madrid.
-Real Betis signed surprising German World Cup midfielder David Odonkor from Borussia Dortmund.
-Tottenham signed Egyptian striker Ahmed Mido from Roma to a permanent contract after having been with the London team on loan last season.

Jesus H Christ News

LA & USA striker Landon Donovan talks about the World Cup: "The human psyche is [conditioned] to find blame somewhere and I realize that a lot of times when the team does well, I get credit I shouldn't get, and a lot of time when it goes bad, I get criticism I don't deserve. A lot of the criticism after the World Cup was fair, too. I know I didn't play well."
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS weekend matches:
DC United 2-5 Los Angeles - DC is officially struggling now. Big time. And LA is starting to roll under Franky Yallop. The ill-health issues for LA are starting to clear up too. This spells trouble for others.
New York 6-0 Salt Lake - Where did this come from? 10 man RSL was absolutely pasted by the Red Bulls, who scored all their goals in the second half. NY had not scored in several games and Salt Lake was on a hot streak, so this was certainly not expected. Edson Buddle finally woke up and scored a hat trick after coming on at halftime.
Chicago 1-0 Colorado - Another of this years talented newcomers Dasan Robinson scored the games only goal.
Chivas USA 3-2 Houston - Referee Alex Prus had a rough game: he gave Houston a PK with a very questionable call that was really exaggerated by Chris Wondolowksi, but I won't go so far as to say he took a dive, then Prus red carded Houston's Ricardo Clark for a little shoving with Chivas' Sacha Kljesten which deserved yellow at most (for both players), and lastly he did not call a very obvious PK for Houston right in front of him during added time. Prus also let both teams cut the opposition down from behind way too many times. Ugly ugly match for him. But Ante Ravoz had a great goal for Chivas, and rookie sensation Jonathan Bornstein banged home another goal too.
New England 1-0 Columbus - The first 25 minutes were some of the worst soccer I have ever seen from professionals. It was like bad pinball. Then New England settled down, moved the ball wide like their coach asked of them, got the goal, and hung on for the win. Eddie Gaven had a chance to tie the game on a late PK, but had it saved by Matt Reis. Why was Gaven taking PK's?
Kansas City 1-0 Dallas - Scott Sealy gets the winner as KC tries to turn it around, while Dallas heads for the tank. Again?
~ ~ ~ ~
Cameroonian midfielder Alain Nkong is back with Colorado after a short stint at trying to find a team in France that didn't pan out. He had some great matches for the Rapids last year and will bring more excitement & unpredictability to the team.
~ ~ ~ ~
Some very rare public words from Phil Anschutz, the man basically responsible for making MLS happen (and stay alive financially), at the US Soccer Hall Of Fame Induction dinner Sunday night. Via Michael Lewis and Big Apple Soccer. Not all that exciting really.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ol' Grahame Jones of the LA Times with a feature story on Galaxy President Alexi Lalas who is inducted into the Hall Of Fame today as well.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Goff of the Washington Post talks to LA's Landon Donovan, mostly about his World Cup mega bummer.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ian Plenderleith of Matchnight was at the DC v LA match and was disgusted by what he saw from his beloved team.
~ ~ ~ ~
Beau Dure of USA Today was at the DC V LA game too, and says the "Landon In Germany = Worthless" banner just spurred Donovan on. To which I say: So what Landy Cakes?! You still sucked at the World Cup! Why didn't you find a way to get spurred on when it REALLY counted, you primadona freak.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Associated Press with a great article on the insane life of young Colorado midfielder Fabrice Noel who fled a death warrant in his native Haiti. If you don't know his story it's a great one to read.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Columbus Dispatch with features on two players, Joseph Ngwenya who worries a lot about the chaos in his home land Zimbabwe - AND - Danny Szetela who has battled injuries all season.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Kansas City Star with a feature on one of my favorite goal scoring defenders: KC's Jose Burciaga Jr.
~ ~ ~ ~
According to several stories floating around, US Soccer big wigs Sunil Gulati & Dan Flynn are in Europe this week to interview candidates for the USA coaches spot. They will head to South America next.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan Loney of the American Soccer News looks at the Hall of Fame inductions.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ever wonder what Carlos Valderama is up to these days besides putting on weight and watching his yellow hair go gray? The Jamaica Gleaner catches up with the Afro-ed one with a feature story.
~ ~ ~ ~
Soccer 365 has Q & A sessions with two players: Defender CJ Brown of Chicago - AND - Defender/Midfielder/Striker Jonathan Bornstein of Chivas USA.
~ ~ ~ ~
It looks like 29 year old Canadian defender Jim Brennan, formerly with Southhampton, will be the first signing by Mo Johnston & Toronto FC. He was at Norwich before that.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL Second Division Final:
Richmond 2-1 Charlotte - Robert Ssejjemba scored first for Richmond on a PK, with Chris Carrieri doubling the lead in the first half. Ross Spencer scored a desperation goal for Charlotte in the 90th minute. Congrats to Richmond!!
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division weekend matches:
Atlanta 1-2 Miami
Montreal 0-1 Virginia Beach
Seattle 1-0 Minnesota
Rochester 1-1 Puerto Rico
Vancouver 2-2 Minnesota - our boys battled back from 2-0 down in the second half to get a point
Montreal 2-0 Virginia Beach
Miami 7-1 Atlanta
Toronto 1-0 Puerto Rico
~ ~ ~ ~
Yanks Abroad with a big article on all the American's in the English Premiership this season - 12 players, and 2 owners!
~ ~ ~ ~
Let's see how some of our favorite Americans did in Europe this past weekend:
Tim Howard - Everton - A big 2-0 win over Tottenham.
Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - A 1-0 win and another clean sheet over Bielefeld.
Brad Friedel - Blackburn - 2-0 loser to Chelsea.
Marcus Hahnemann & Bobby Convey - Reading - 1-0 losers to Wigan.
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege - Did not play in his teams 1-1 draw with Zulte-Waregem - this has lead some to believe he may yet be transfered before the deadline on Thursday.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - An ugly 3-0 loss at home to recently promoted Alemannia Aachen.
DaMarcus Beasley - PSV Eindhoven - Didn't play in 1-0 loss to Twente. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Brian McBride & Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - BMB played the whole match in a 1-0 winner over Sheff Utd, but Boca again sat the bench.
~ ~ ~ ~
This appeared at Soccernet when I was gone last week, so it.s late, but Phil Ball previews La Liga.
~ ~ ~ ~
Eurocentric Transfer News:
-Bayern Munich signed Dutch midfielder Mark Van Bommel from Barcelona.
-Bolton signed French striker Nicolas Anelka from Fenerbahce.
-Fenerbahce replaced Anelka by signing Serbian forward Mateja Kezman from Atletico Madrid.
-Valencia signed Spanish midfielder Joaquin from Real Betis.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ex-PSV striker JVOH who signed with Celtic last week shows off his new shirt.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with his always delicious World Power Rankings.
~ ~ ~ ~
In case you didn't already know: Roy Keane has been named manager at Sunderland in the English Championship Division.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - group stage matches beginning on Sept 12 & 13. Here are those foursomes:
Group A - Levski Sofia, Chelsea, Werder Bremen, Barcelona
Group B - Spartak Moskva, Sporting Clube de Portugal, Internazionale Milano, Bayern Munchen
Group C - Liverpool, Galatasaray, Girondins de Bordeaux, PSV Eindhoven
Group D - Shaktar Donetsk, Olympiacos, Valencia, Roma
Group E - Real Madrid, Dynamo Kyiv, Steaua Bucuresti, Olympique Lyonnais
Group F - Benfica, Manchester United, Celtic, Kobenhavn
Group G - Arsenal, Porto, CSKA Moskva, Hamburg SV
Group H - AEK, Anderlecht, Lille Metropole, AC Milan

Out

Hi,
I'm sorry to say this but beyond what I already posted, Thursday & Friday are probably going to be fairly minimal/quiet at du Nord, cuz I will be out of range for most of those two days.
See ya soon,
Bruce

Upcoming Shopaholic News

The US Open Cup Quarterfinals last night - all 4 home teams won - match reports included:
DC 3-1 New York - Josh Gros scored first for DC, to be equalized by Amado Guevara for NY, but Jamil Walker got 2 more for DC.
Chicago 2-1 New England - Andy Herron scored for Chicago, then Taylor Twellman tied it for New England, but Herron scored again this time from the PK spot to win it.
LA 3-1 Colorado - Clint Mathis for Colorado & Quavas Kirk for LA scored in regulation time, with Landon Donovan scoring two for LA in Extra Time to get the win.
Houston 3-0 Dallas - Eddie Robinson, Alejandro Moreno & Chris Wondolowski all scoring for Houston who destroyed Trinidad & Tobago World Cup keeper Shaka Hislop's debut with Dallas. Hislop did not make any saves!
-The Semifinals, on Sept 6, line up like this:
Chicago Fire v DC United
Los Angeles Galaxy v Houston Dynamo
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS weekend matches:
Saturday
DC United v Los Angeles - 6:30pm central on HDNet
New York v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Colorado - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chivas USA v Houston - 10pm central on ESPN2
Sunday
New England v Columbus - 6pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Kansas City v Dallas - no TV
~ ~ ~ ~
USL Second Division Finals Saturday, Aug 26:
Richmond v Charlotte - live at 6pm on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division weekend matches:
Friday
Atlanta v Miami
Montreal v Virginia Beach
Seattle v Minnesota
Saturday
Rochester v Puerto Rico
Vancouver v Minnesota
Sunday
Montreal v Virginia Beach
Miami v Atlanta
Toronto v Puerto Rico
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round second leg scores & aggregate winners:
Steaua Bucuresti 2-1 Standard Liege - Steaua win 4-3 on agg
Arsenal 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb - The Arse win 5-1 on agg
Spartak Moskva 2-1 Slovan Liberec - Spartak win 2-1 on agg
Legia Warszawa 2-3 Shakhtar Donetsk - Shakhtar wins 4-2 on agg
Chievo Verona 2-2 Levski Sofia - Levski win 4-2 on agg
AEK Athens 3-0 Hearts - AEK win 5-1 on agg
Ruzomberok 0-2 CSKA Moskva - CSKA win 5-0 on agg
Mlada Boleslav 1-1 Galatasaray - Gala win 6-3 on agg
Ajax 0-2 Kobenhavn - Kobenhavn win 3-2 on agg
Fenerbahce 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv - Kyiv win 5-3 on agg
Rabotnicki 0-1 Lille Metropole - Lille win 4-0 on agg
Benfica 3-0 Austria Wien - Benfica advance with 4-1 aggregate victory
Crvena Zvezda 1-2 Milan - Milan win 3-1 on agg
Valencia 3-0 Salzburg - Valencia win 3-1 on agg
Osasuna 1-1 Hamburg - Hamburg win on away goal rule after 1-1 agg draw
Maccabi Haifa 1-1 Liverpool - Liverpool with 3-2 on agg
-The draw for the group stage is later today, with the matches beginning on Sept 12 & 13.
~ ~ ~ ~
Spain's La Liga kicks off their 06/07 season this weekend with several games on TV in America:
Saturday-
Valencia v Real Betis - live at 3pm central on GolTV
Sunday-
Deportivo La Coruna v Real Zaragoza
Espanyol v Gimnastic de Tarragona
FC Sevilla v Levante
Osasuna v Getafe
Racing Santander v Atletico Madrid - live at 12 noon central on GolTV
Real Madrid v Villarreal - shown two days later Tue Aug 27 at 8pm central on GolTV
Recreativo Huelva v Mallorca
Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad - The Vasco Derby - live at 2pm central on GolTV
Monday-
Celta Vigo v Barcelona - live at 2pm central on GolTV

The Best Of News

The US Open Cup resumes tonight with Quarterfinal matches:
DC v New York
Chicago v New England
LA v Colorado
Houston v Dallas
~ ~ ~ ~
The Kansas City Star is reporting that it looks like a choice has been made for a potential stadium site in Kansas City. They still have an awful lot of hurdles to overcome to make this thing reality. The biggest obstacle I have read about, and I think could end the whole deal, is that part of the funding will be put to a public vote on the November ballot. These projects rarely win voter sympathy. Worse yet is the prospect of where the team will actually play next year when their current stadium, Arrowhead, undergoes massive renovation for the American football and main resident Kansas City Chiefs.
~ ~ ~ ~
ADDITION: Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated gives a big heaping helping of appreciation for the DC United fans. The best in the business, both of them.
~ ~ ~ ~
ADDITION: And a more detailed article from Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet on the Clint-Dempsey-wants-to-go-to-Europe-NOW situation, that is not going well. (Dell'apa wrote about this yesterday in the Boston Globe.) (Thanks Evan.)
~ ~ ~ ~
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to DC United president Kevin Payne about what he thinks it will take to turn around the New York Red Bulls.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Washington Post examines the Austrian beverage company that now owns the New York soccer team - Red Bull.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jack Bell's column for the New York Times focuses on Salt Lake striker Jeff Cunningham.
~ ~ ~ ~
This weeks edition of the First XI by Jeff Bradley from MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~
US Soccer has a podcast of an interview with West Ham defender Jonathan Spector about his upcoming season and injury rehab.
~ ~ ~ ~
ADDITION: Another Jeff Bradley article today, this one from the US Players Assoc., on how they should go about hiring the new Team USA coach.
~ ~ ~ ~
DaMarcus Beasley played all 90 minutes of a reserve league match last night for PSV. He is back to full training, and I'm sure he wants to see the field this weekend for the full team.
~ ~ ~ ~
American defender Jay DeMerit and his Watford team picked up their first EPL point yesterday with a 1-1 against West Ham.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL Second Division Finals Saturday, Aug 26:
Richmond v Charlotte - live on TV at 6pm on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round second leg scores from yesterday & matches today (first leg scores included):
Yesterday:
Benfica 3-0 Austria Wien - Benfica advance with 4-1 aggregate victory
Crvena Zvezda 1-2 Milan - Milan win 3-1 on agg
Valencia 3-0 Salzburg - Valencia win 3-1 on agg
Osasuna 1-1 Hamburg - Hamburg win on away goal rule after 1-1 agg draw
Maccabi Haifa 1-1 Liverpool - Liverpool with 3-2 on agg
Today:
Steaua Bucuresti v Standard Liege (2-2) - American defender Oguchi Onyewu is back and fully healthy for this match.
Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb (3-0)
Spartak Moskva v Slovan Liberec (0-0)
Legia Warszawa v Shakhtar Donetsk (0-1)
Chievo Verona v Levski Sofia (0-2)
AEK Athens v Hearts (2-1)
Ruzomberok v CSKA Moskva (0-3)
Mlada Boleslav v Galatasaray (2-5)
Ajax v Kobenhavn (2-1)
Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kyiv (1-3)
Rabotnicki v Lille Metropole (0-3)
~ ~ ~ ~
The Italian Football Federation has told Juventus that they will impose new stronger punishments on the club if they insist on pursuing an appeal to the match fixing scandal conviction in civil court.
~ ~ ~ ~
In response to Juve's actions, FIFA has now warned all Italian clubs that they will be banned from European competitions if they insist on taking their Federation rulings to civil courts.
~ ~ ~ ~
Mexico national team coach Ricardo "Smoke em if you got em" La Volpe has been chosen as new man in charge of Boca Juniors.
~ ~ ~ ~
Spain's La Liga kicks off their 06/07 season this Sunday
Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad
Celta Vigo v Barcelona
Deportivo La Coruna v Real Zaragoza
Espanyol v Gimnastic de Tarragona
FC Sevilla v Levante
Osasuna v Getafe
Racing Santander v Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid v Villarreal
Recreativo Huelva v Mallorca
Valencia v Real Betis

You Stole My Money News

USA & Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann: "I've got a lot of guns because I like to shoot. I love it! I get the same sort of enjoyment out of them as I do when I go and play golf. It is relaxing for me."
~ ~ ~ ~
I have been having a ton of conversations over the past two weeks with people on many levels of soccer in America - fans, players, owners, gm's, newpaper journalists, web columnists & readers of this weblog etc - and the main theme we keep returning to is the state of MLS (and professionally soccer as a whole) at this exact moment in time. We have almost universally agreed the league is at some sort of teetering point. Success is evident. Soccer viewership/fandom in America is real. Quality is on the rise. The money is out there to be had. But how does the league take steps quickly to capitalize on all of this, without making bad steps that could be costly. It's pretty obvious that more talent is needed, and more money needs to be spent on the talent already here. I think this is a very long topic, but I will end it for today with an article by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe, who writes a really good column about this situation from a New England perspective. (He has written several similar stories in the past weeks as well, so go track em down in earlier edition of du Nord.)
~ ~ ~ ~
Another example of MLS growing pains are the ultra-complex rules of player acquisitions. Columbus and New York are embroiled in a fight over former Blackburn player Matt Jansen right now. Metrofanatic calls it idiotic. Agreed.
~ ~ ~ ~
It looks like Mo Johnston will be named the first coach of Toronto FC. Johnston starred in Scotland for both Rangers and Celtic (therefore is hated by fans of both teams), helped KC win their MLS cup in 2000, and briefly coached New York at the end of the Metrostars era, and beginning of the new Red Bulls era.
~ ~ ~ ~
Right midfielder Chris Klein of Real Salt Lake has been named MLS Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~
Speaking of RSL, Jeff Cunningham is suddenly making a very strong run at league Most Valuable Player. You usually don't get a shot at this award when your team stinks, but if they can retain their form and climb up the standings he has a real shot at it. (Right now they are still out of the playoffs.) Cunningham has stormed past Ante Razov to currently lead the league in goals scored with 14, and sits second in assists with 9, behind Terry Cooke of Colorado's 10. He also leads in shots on goal, 37, but more importantly has 3 game winning goals and 3 game winning assists (really huge considering his team only has 8 wins). Most telling for a striker though, he has scored or assisted on 23 of his teams 34 goals. Those are MVP numbers.
~ ~ ~ ~
Bob Holtzman of the Daily Breeze with a feature story on one of Chivas USA's two contenders for MLS Rookie of the Year, Jonathan Bornstein. (The other player is Sacha Kljestan.)
~ ~ ~ ~
Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated with a feature story on the potentially very talented Juan Pablo Garcia (corrected, thanks AC). And Luis has a continuation/follow-up at LA Soccer News. Bueno has said many times that he thinks JPG is one of, if not the, most talented players in MLS. (These stories are more detail and opinion on the story of JPG supposedly saying he wanted to go back to Mexico, that broke last week.)
~ ~ ~ ~
Brian Ching of the Houston Dynamo writes in his weblog about his rehab following knee surgery.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Houston Chronicle's world football Week In Review.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet with a feature story on DC United winger Josh Gros.
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Giase of the Newark Star Telegram with his weekly column focused on the New York Red Bulls Open Cup match in which coach Bruce Arena visits his old home at DC United. (How will those very creative fans react?)
~ ~ ~ ~
Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald also on the Red Bulls - he examines the teams many flaws.
~ ~ ~ ~
US Open Cup Quarterfinals!
Wednesday August 23:
DC v New York
Chicago v New England
LA v Colorado
Houston v Dallas
~ ~ ~ ~
The USA U20 roster has been announced for the upcoming Busan Tournament (Aug 29 - Sept 2) in South Korea. Team USA plays hosts SK on the 29th, Slovakia on Thursday Aug 31, & finishes with Argentina on Sept 2.
~ ~ ~ ~
Josh Blue who won the TV show Last Comic Standing this season is a huge soccer fan, even wearing a USA shirt on the show a couple times, but I just found out the he is also a great player who has been a member of the USA Paralympic Team. Blue has Cerebral Palsy, and is pretty frickin funny.
~ ~ ~ ~
I don't know how many of you Twin Citians know this, but USA Women's coach Greg Ryan played for our Minnesota Kicks in 1979.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kristian Dyer at Soccernet does a Q & A session with awesome young American midfielder Benny Feilhaber who plays for Hamburg in Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~
American defender Jay DeMerit & his team Watford play West Ham at home today - see it at 1:30pm central time on FSC.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yanks Abroad is reporting that USA & Nordsjaelland left defender Heath Pearce has multiple transfer offers on the table and a move may yet happen this month before the transfer window ends.
~ ~ ~ ~
Pearce has also penned his own article about life & playing in Denmark for the US Players Association.
~ ~ ~ ~
Soccer365 is reporting that former Dutch national team keeper Ronald Waterreus wants to play in MLS. Ok, fine. Whatever. He was with Rangers last year, but is currently unemployed.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round second leg matches this week (first leg scores included):
Today:
Benfica v Austria Wien (1-1)
Crvena Zvezda v Milan (1-0)
Valencia v Salzburg (1-0)
Osasuna v Hamburg (0-0)
Wednesday: Steaua Bucuresti v Standard Liege (2-2) - American defender Oguchi Onyewu is back and fully healthy for this match.
Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb (0-3)
Spartak Moskva v Slovan Liberec (0-0)
Legia Warszawa v Shakhtar Donetsk (1-0)
Chievo Verona v Levski Sofia (2-0)
AEK Athens v Hearts (1-2)
Ruzomberok v CSKA Moskva (3-0)
Mlada Boleslav v Galatasaray (5-2)
Ajax v Kobenhavn (1-2)
Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kyiv (3-1)
Maccabi Haifa v Liverpool (2-1)
Rabotnicki v Lille Metropole (3-0)
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the new president of Real Madrid who is trying to get the team back to glory: Real's president puts team first
~ ~ ~ ~
Mexican team Santos has been fined $25,000 after their fans made monkey noises every time Monterrey's Panamanian defender Felipe Baloy touched the ball. What the hell is wrong with people?
~ ~ ~ ~
The despicable (& unrepentent) man behind the match fixing scandal at Juventus, Luciano Moggi, who was given a five year ban from the game, has had his civil court appeal rejected. Yes!
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer market news:
-Juventus have signed French defender Jean-Alain Boumsong from Newcastle.
-Blackburn will sign Dutch defender Andre Ooijer from PSV.

Cat Calls For Dollars News

Columbus reporter: I saw in the newspaper that the day before the Madrid game, you called (Beckham's) jersey. Did you get it?
Salt Lake striker Jeff Cunningham: Nah, bro. You're not putting your name on your jersey when you play against us? You're wearing PRACTICE uniforms when you play against us?!? It's embarrassing! It's EMBARRASSING!!! Put your name on the back of your jersey and sign it! You know? That way I can sell that shit on eBay! Come on, homes! Ain't nobody gonna buy that nameless jersey on eBay! Anyone can go online and buy a Real Madrid practice t-shirt. I can buy one of those myself.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yanks Abroad talks to USA & PSV midfielder DaMarcus Beasley who says he is staying with his club in Holland. For now.
~ ~ ~ ~
Last week Juan Pablo Garcia of Chivas USA bitched about MLS, saying the league was not going to get him to his desired Europe, and he wants to go back to play in Mexico ASAP. But, shockingly, his team did not like the sound of that, so they asked him to not talk to the press, and even went so far as to try and claim that the words were not his own or taken out of context. Good one dudes! The Orange Country Register with the joke of a story.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS games last weekend:
DC 1-1 Colorado - Kyle Beckerman continues to have a great season with his goal for Colorado, while Christian Gomez scored the tier-upper for DC.
Columbus 1-0 New York - Joseph Ngwenya with a scorching long run and awesome goal for the win.
Salt Lake 3-1 Houston - What the hell is going on. Jeff Cunningham is on fire for RSL with another goal and two more assists. Chris Klein & Douglas Sequeira got the other two for Salt Lake, while Adrian Serioux scored for Houston, who suddenly look as bored as New England and DC by the regular season.
Chivas USA 1-1 Kansas City - Jose Burciaga smashed home one of his patented cannon shot goals for KC, but rookie sensation Jonathan Bornstein tied it up late for Chivas.
New England 0-1 Chicago - Andy Herron with a gorgeous goal to win it.
Los Angeles 2-0 Dallas - Landon Donovan and Santino Quaranta both chipped the Dallas keeper Dario Sala for goals.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Single Table Standings:
47 DC
39 Dallas
35 Houston
32 Colorado
31 Chivas
29 Salt Lake
28 Chicago
28 New England
26 Los Angeles
26 Kansas City
25 New York
23 Columbus
~ ~ ~ ~
DJ Walker with is Stream of Consciousness: FC Dallas at LA Galaxy.
~ ~ ~ ~
Columbus released their Croatian midfielder Leo Bisaku who had only played a few matches and was quite disappointing, as have been most of coach Sigi Schmid's signings from overseas. The team then re-signed midfielder Duncan Oughton of New Zealand who had been with the team previously, but has not played during the last 18 months due to injuries.
~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle has a Q & A session with Houston Dynamo team president Oliver Luck.
~ ~ ~ ~
It's been announced that Houston released long time forward Ronald Cerritos to make room for newly acquired forward Paul Dalglish from Hibernian in Scotland.
~ ~ ~ ~
Pete Gratoff of the Kansas City Star looks at the new television deals, and what they mean financially for MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of the LA Soccer News on the reunion of old friends, Chris Albright & Santino Quaranata, at the LA Galaxy.
~ ~ ~ ~
Bob Holtzman of the Daily Breeze looks at the pathetic wages of MLS's young trainee's.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL Second Division Semifinals:
First Leg:
Richmond 2-1 Cincinnati
Pittsburgh 0-4 Charlotte
Second Leg:
Charlotte 2-1 Pittsburgh - Charlotte wins 6-1 0n aggregate
Cincinnati 0-0 Richmond - Richmond wins 2-1 on agg
-The Richmond v Charlotte final will be played next Saturday, Aug 26 at 6pm on FSC in Richmond.
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division matches last weekend:
Virginia Beach 0-3 Miami
Rochester 1-1 Toronto
Portland 3-0 Puerto Rico
Altanta 2-1 Miami
Seattle 2-0 Vancouver
Toronto 1-1 Rochester
Minnesota 3-1 Puerto Rico – 4 wins on the trot baby! But now they go on the road for the final 6 games of the season. Who came up with this idiotic schedule? Really!
~ ~ ~ ~
How did some of our favorite Americans playing in Europe fare over the weekend:
-Danny Califf - Aalborg beat Randers 2-1 and now lead the Denmark league. He was also named to the league team of the week!
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach lost 1-0 to Nurmberg.
-DaMarcus Beasley did not suit up for PSV as they won 3-1 over NEC Nijmegen. DMB is still recovering from a hamstring injury.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover got smoked 4-0 at Hertha Berlin.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford lost 2-1 to Everton (see below).
-Tim Howard - Everton beat Watford 2-1 (see above).
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn lost badly to Portsmouth 3-0.
-Claudio Reyna - Manchester City got beat 3-0 by Chelsea.
-Marcus Hahnemann & Bobby Convey - staged a massive comback from 2-0 down to beat Middlesbrough 3-2.
-Brian McBride - Fulham got beat 5-1 by Man U. McBride came on as a sub. Carlos Bocanegra did not play for Fulham.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round second leg matches this week (first leg scores included):
Tue Aug 22
Benfica v Austria Wien (1-1)
Crvena Zvezda v Milan (1-0)
Valencia v Salzburg (1-0)
Osasuna v Hamburg (0-0)
Wed Aug 23
Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb (0-3)
Spartak Moskva v Slovan Liberec (0-0)
Legia Warszawa v Shakhtar Donetsk (1-0)
Chievo Verona v Levski Sofia (2-0)
AEK Athens v Hearts (1-2)
Ruzomberok v CSKA Moskva (3-0)
Mlada Boleslav v Galatasaray (5-2)
Steaua Bucuresti v Standard Liege (2-2)
Ajax v Kobenhavn (1-2)
Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kyiv (3-1)
Maccabi Haifa v Liverpool (2-1)
Rabotnicki v Lille Metropole (3-0)
~ ~ ~ ~
Barcelona forward and two time African player of the year Samuel Eto'o proved to be a very poor teammate this past weekend when he left an exhibition game before it ended after being subbed out at halftime.
~ ~ ~ ~
Simon Kuper of the Financial Times with an article on the songs of the fans: Football fans are back on the boos
~ ~ ~ ~
Former Red Bulls striker Jean Phillipe Peguero blew out his knee playing for his new Danish team Brondby. Bad news amigo. Here is the story from Big Apple Soccer, and a picture from the Brondby site that says it all.
~ ~ ~ ~
Retired USA star midfielder Earnie Stewart had an ugly start as Technical Director for his old club NAC Breda as they lost their Eredivisie season opener 8-1 to AZ Alkmaar!! OUCH!
~ ~ ~ ~
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires tore up his left knee in a preseason friendly with his new club Villarreal and will be out a good long time.
~ ~ ~ ~
The white haired former Newcastle & England coach Bobby Robson will have surgery Wednesday to remove a brain tumor. Best of luck to him.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated talks to Bayern Munich's English midfielder Owen Hargreaves.
~ ~ ~ ~
And Greg Lalas writes for SI too, about his Greek heritage and love of Greek football.
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer moves:
-Chelsea signed Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz from Hamburg. You might remember him from that ugly Holland v Portugal World Cup match as the guy who laid the hideous high boot to the inner-inner-inner thigh of Cristiano Ronaldo, that went unpunished by the referee and led to the card fest later on as the two teams took justice into their own hands. Jot this down: he will seriously hurt some one in the Premiership this season.
-Real Madrid signed Mali midfielder Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon.
-Celtic signed big Dutch forward Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from PSV.
-Newcastle will sign Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins from Inter Milan.
-Saudi Arabian club Al Ittihad have NOW signed Mexican forward Jared Borgetti from Bolton.

Interview With Minnesota Thunder Coach Amos Magee

Demko and I conducted an interview with Minnesota Thunder coach Amos Magee, for the awesome Blue Sky Soccer, touching on where his team sits as they approach the last 7 games of their season, among other things. (Including the dream of making an amazing run to get into the league playoffs.)

Great Gary's Ghost News

MLS games this weekend:
Saturday-
-DC v Colorado - 3pm central on ESPN2
-Columbus v New York - 6:30pm central on FSC
-Salt Lake v Houston - 8pm central on HDnet
-Chivas USA v Kansas City - 9pm central - no TV
Sunday-
-New England v Chicago - 2pm central on Direct Kick
-Los Angeles v Dallas - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~
Bruce Arena's Red Bulls have acquired another player - striker John Wolyniec was picked up from Los Angeles in exchange for future draft selections.
~ ~ ~ ~
Houston has signed journeyman forward Paul Dalglish from Scottish club Hibernian.
~ ~ ~ ~
The latest episode of Jeff Bradley's First XL, for MLSnet, focuses on the leagues stretch run.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yesterday Columbus coach Sigi Schmidt said he might be inclined to resign seeing as how bad the team was playing. After a day away, he tells the Columbus Dispatch that he is embarrassed, but not going to quit.
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with stories on New England midfielder Andy Dorman - AND - forward Pat Noonan.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan Loney of American Soccer News looks at Bruce Arena'a latest ranting.
~ ~ ~ ~
The quarterfinals of the US Open Cup are next Wednesday. Get ready.
~ ~ ~ ~
American defender Jonathan Spector talks to Yanks Abroad about his recovery from shoulder surgery and preparing to play for his brand new team West Ham.
~ ~ ~ ~
See USA goalkeeper Kasey Keller and his Moenchengladbach at Nuremberg this (Friday) afternoon live at 1:25pm central on GolTV (repeated again later).
~ ~ ~ ~
Very talented young American midfielder Michael Bradley talk to US Soccer (listen to it all via podcast) about the upcoming season for his team Heerenveen in Holland. His team begins the 06/07 season at ADO Den Haag on Saturday.
~ ~ ~ ~
Other Americans in Holland, DaMarcus Beasley (who is healthy) & Lee Nguyen of PSV also kick off their Eredivise season Sunday at home v NEC Nijmegen.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA.com has a feature story on new PSV coach Ronald Koeman.
~ ~ ~ ~
Retired USA & MLS star Peter Vermes, who is currently and assistant coach with the USA U20 team does a Q & A for the US Players Assoc site.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Players Assoc also has a new article by USA & Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann about his teams first ever launch into the English Premiership season.
~ ~ ~ ~
The EPL on FSC this weekend:
Saturday-
Newcastle v Wigan - 9am central
Bolton v Tottenham - 11am central
Reading v Middlesbrough - 1:15pm central
Sunday-
Chelsea v Manchester City - 10am central
~ ~ ~ ~
GolTV also has the Arsenal & Liverpool weekend games delayed on Mon & Tue:
Arsenal v Aston Villa - Monday 3pm central
Sheffield United v Liverpool - Tuesday 3pm central
~ ~ ~ ~
Bundesliga on GolTV this weekend:
Saturday-
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen - 8:25am central
Alemannia Aachen v Schalke - 10:30am central
Sunday-
Bochum v Bayern Munich - 9:55am central
Arminia Bielefeld v Stuttgart - 12 Noon central
~ ~ ~ ~
USL Second Division Semifinals (two legged total goal series):
Friday
Richmond v Cincinnati
Pittsburgh v Charlotte
Saturday
Charlotte v Pittsburgh
Sunday
Cincinnati v Richmond
-The final will be held the following weekend, with details TBA.
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division matches this weekend:
Friday-
Virginia Beach v Miami
Rochester v Toronto - live on TV tonight at 7pm central on FSC. Most of us will be able to get our first look at Rochester's brand new PAETEC Park!
Portland v Puerto Rico
Saturday-
Altanta v Miami
Seattle v Vancouver
Sunday-
Toronto v Rochester
Minnesota v Puerto Rico
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division table (top 6 make the playoffs):
43 Montreal
38 Vancouver
37 Rochester
35 Charleston
30 Puerto Rico
29 Atlanta
- - - - - -
29 Virginia Beach
28 Seattle
26 Miami
24 Portland
23 Minnesota
19 Toronto
~ ~ ~ ~
Juventus were denied today in their latest appeal to be reinstated to Serie A for the coming season. They will play in Serie B. But of course they immediately announced they will appeal to a higher court.
~ ~ ~ ~
Reggina has joined the disgraced ranks of Italian teams penalized for match fixing. The will be docked 15 points to start this season, but remain in Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~
See the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup, pitting cross-town rivals, on Sunday via Telemundo:
Barcelona v Espanyol - Barca won the first leg last night on a goal by Giuly - 3pm central
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer news:
-Portsmouth signs Nigerian forward Kanu from West Brom.

Kootchie Kootchie Koo News

Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena yelling at his players from the sideline during last nights game, heard very clearly during the TV broadcast: "Edson! Edson! Stay Alert!"
~ ~ ~ ~
According to the BBC, the EPL has asked the players to stop the tradition of sending the ball out of play when an opposing players goes down injured! They want the referee to decide if play should be stopped or not! Wow. Is this real? Will it happen? Should be very interesting. I think this may be their reaction to all the diving in the World Cup, that has become such an issue in recent years.
~ ~ ~ ~
O Colorado of Internacional have won the 2006 Copa Libertadores!!!
Internacional 2-2 Sao Paulo - a 4-3 aggregate win for the less storied Brazilian team from Porto Alegre. Inter played the last minutes with 10 men.
-Match report from Sports Illustrated.
-The winners join other regional champions - Barcelona of UEFA, Club America of CONCACAF, and Auckland City of Oceania, with African & Asian winners to be crowned in early November - for the World Club Championship in December.
-But Reuters is reporting that Internacional is already selling key players the morning after winning the Cup. Sad. Very sad.
~ ~ ~ ~
The 3 finalists have been named for the 2006 USA Player of the Year award:
-Clint Dempsey of New England
-Kasey Keller of Monchengladbach
-Brian McBride of Fulham
The award ceremony will be October 3rd in Los Angeles.
~ ~ ~ ~
3 MLS midweek games last night:
-Columbus 1-2 Salt Lake - It only took 18 months for RSL coach John Ellinger to figure out that you sign veteran players so you can let them play together instead of piecemeal. And it's finally working as the whole team is gaining confidence! Good for them. They needed some positivity. A couple more good solid wins and Iwill owe JE an apology for seeking his head so many times. Now we gotta find some love for Sigi Schmid and Columbus, who might just hang themselves after this one. Sigi has indicated it all just might be too much for him to handle. Literally! Really! And by the way, the goal Columbus did score came from one of the most dubious PK's of all time, as their player Jacob Thomas & the ball were both out of bounds when he was barely fouled and went down. Good thing that call didn't matter in the end result.
-New York 0-0 DC United - A farely slow game with very few real chances at goal. Neither team deserved to win, but New York probably played the better of the two. DC looked like they were on auto-pilot. I was hoping for something more special. And the candy-ass referee handed out early yellow cards for menial fouls - lame.
-Chicago 3-0 Kansas City - KC played a man down for almost the entire 2nd half and paid dearly for it. Their recent change of coach has not helped either. Nate Jaqua, Chad Barrett & Justin Mapp scored for Chicago, in that order.
~ ~ ~ ~
LA has lost midfielder Kyle Martino for the rest of the season due to a torn something-or-other in his hip, from the LA Daily News.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLSnet with a feature story on one of Dallas's favorite & now retired players Oscar Pereja, who has moved on to become the teams reserves coach.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of the LA Soccer News with a feature on the Amazing Jonathan, Jonathan Bornstein of Chivas USA.
~ ~ ~ ~
Canales also talked to LA's Landon Donovan who says he would love it if DaMarcus Beasley came back to MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~
Speaking of Donovan, two interesting & opposite opinions of him popped up in interviews this week with 2 other MLS players:
-Pablo Mastoeni - USA & Colorado midfielder: "Fans want to see and his World Cup teammates want to see him (LD) making an impact overseas. We want to see him being the world guy, not the U.S. guy, and he's good enough to do it."
-Dema Kovalenko - New York midfielder: "I was living in the United States for 15 years and going back there (to his native Ukraine), I realized it was not an easy thing. When Landon Donovan went to Europe and you see why he didn't stay. People don't understand that. When you're not happy every day going to training and outside the field not happy, it's not right. It's very, very difficult."
~ ~ ~ ~
Three players & a coach from the New York Red Bulls rank the bell to open the NASDAQ Exchange today. Players Amado Guevara, Todd Dunivant & Taylor Graham and asst coach Des McAleenan were the lucky devils. I guess.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tino Palace who writes the Clean Sheet at MLSnet is now stealing my stuff. I called the Salt Lake stadium turnaround SURREAL. Today he has a whole column about the story and calls it SURREAL. He is from Minnesota like I am, and obviously loves du Nord. Now he owes me. I love having that over people. Thieving bastard!
~ ~ ~ ~
An opinion column from a Kansas City area newspaper, the Johnson County Sun, on the great potential of a new stadium in their city.
~ ~ ~ ~
There have been a ton of rumors floating around since the World Cup about MLS players being made offers by Euro-clubs but the league turning them down, saying the offers are too small. 3 players who have come up a lot, Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolff and Jimmy Conrad, are all from KC, but their GM Curt Johnson doubts the true authenticity of those offers. From The Kansas City Star.
~ ~ ~ ~
David Mosse of Soccernet says forget about the England's Premiership, the real measuring stick for MLS should be Spain's La Liga. Completely agreed!
~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks at the steps MLS has to take to grow as a league.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL Second Division Semifinals (two-legged total-goal series):
Friday
Richmond v Cincinnati
Pittsburgh v Charlotte
Saturday
Charlotte v Pittsburgh
Sunday
Cincinnati v Richmond
-The final will be held the following weekend, with details TBA.
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division game last night:
Montreal 0-1 Charleston - can you believe that!?!
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division matches this weekend:
Friday-
Virginia Beach v Miami
Rochester v Toronto
Portland v Puerto Rico
Saturday-
Altanta v Miami
Seattle v Vancouver
Sunday-
Toronto v Rochester
Minnesota v Puerto Rico
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division table (top 6 make the playoffs):
43 Montreal
38 Vancouver
38 Charleston
37 Rochester
30 Puerto Rico
29 Atlanta
- - - - - -
29 Virginia Beach
28 Seattle
26 Miami
24 Portland
23 Minnesota
19 Toronto
~ ~ ~ ~
A handful of Euro friendly's were available for viewing on American TV yesterday. Here are the scores in those matches:
-Norway 1-1 Brazil - Morten Gamst Pedersen of Blackburn scored for Norway & Daniel Carvalho of CSKA Moscow for Brazil.
-Ireland 0-4 Netherlands - Ouch! Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of Ajax with 2, Arjen Robben of Chelsea & Robin van Persie of Arsenal scored the others for the Dutch.
-England 4-0 Greece - Frank Lampard & John Terry of Chelsea both scored, while Liverpool's Peter Preying Mantis Crouch got 2.
-Bosnia 1-2 France - Sergei Barbarez of Hamburg scored first for Bosnia, William Gallas of Chelsea tied it for France, with Julien Faubert of Bordeaux bagging the winner in second half added time.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with a wrap-up of yesterday's international matches: Among friendlies, some are alone
~ ~ ~ ~
Brazil's World Cup coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has officially accepted the job as new coach for South Africa.
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer news:
-Liverpool has snapped up Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt of Feyenoord, right from under the noses of Newcastle.

Click Your Teeth News

Tiger Woods may be great with a golf club, and he may have attended Stanford, but he proves again that most athletes are idiots, as he talks about what he wants for his kids: “No, not soccer. Hopefully, something more physical.”
~ ~ ~ ~
You can see the hit New England's Clint Dempsey lays on Kansas City's Jimmy Conrad here. It broke JC's jaw and got The Deuce suspended. Maybe Tiger should watch this too.
~ ~ ~ ~
Toffs has the old Minnesota Kicks jersey's for sale again!! Great looking shirt and a picture of our beloved Ace wearing one. Many sizes, decent price, Toffs quality. Excellent. Get yours today. Thanks to Jack for sending the link my way.
~ ~ ~ ~
Josh at ThroughBall has posted his first in a series of articles on how to better market our local hotshots, the Minnesota Thunder. Josh is a smart and passionate dude, obviously.
~ ~ ~ ~
3 MLS midweek games today:
-Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on FSC
-New York v DC United - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Chicago v Kansas City - 8pm central, no TV
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe talks to New England forward Taylor Twellman who makes it known that he feels like he and some of his cohorts are underpaid, and not to happy about it. No kidding.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of Soccernet looks at Bruce Arena's first official game back coaching in MLS after 8 years away. She talks to several coaches and GM's throughout the league about his return.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steven Goff of the Washington Post with a story on Bruce Arena's return too.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald with the same idea - Arena's return v his old team.
~ ~ ~ ~
And Ives also has a feature on the Red Bulls newest member Dema Kovalenko.
~ ~ ~ ~
Lars Lifrak of Soccer365 has a Q & A with DC United midfielder Ben "Captain Caveman" Olsen.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Colorado Springs Gazette talks to LA & USA forward Landon Donovan about his awful World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kansas City born Will John was excited when his hometown team acquired him from Chicago last year, but now he is very frustrated after not having seen the field at all this season. From the KC Star.
~ ~ ~ ~
More bitter players - Juan Pablo Garcia of Chivas USA came to MLS from Atlas of Mexico 18 months ago in order to make his path to European glory quicker & easier. Now he feels the league is no good for him, and heading back to Mexico would be the better route to his promised land. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side for this dude. Story in the Orange County Register.
-I want to say something in his defense now though: The article linked above ran last Saturday, and later that day he went out and scored a fantastic goal in helping his team Chivas USA win on the road for the first time this season. Not bad.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tonight you can also listen to the Soccer Hour with Glenn Davis, live from Houston, on the radio at 790AM - 9pm central time, or on the web via ESPN790.com. Tonight's guests will be Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy & Giovanni Van Bronckhorst of Barcelona! You can call into the show at 713-212-5790.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yesterday Bruce Arena hammered US Soccer in his Sports Illustrated interview for being unprofessional. Today the Dallas Morning News gives us a little more insight into just how unprofessional can be. They are trying to screw FC Roma from Dallas out of their $10,000 bonus for being the last lower division team standing in the US Open Cup. They are using "small print in the contract" type bullshit to give the money to someone else. A total joke. But us fans who tried to get tickets for the World Cup from these fuck-ups know first hand how unprofessional they are - the tickets were available first come first served, and they made us FAX our requests in, while having only one line to do it on! I guess they are still living in the 1980's.
~ ~ ~ ~
Carlos El Pescadito Ruiz will suit up for Guatemala tonight as they take on Haiti in Miami. Jarrod Laventure of New York & Fabrice Noel of Colorado Rapids will suit up for Haiti.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yanks Abroad chats with two young Americans about to make their EPL debut: Reading's Bobby Convey - and - Watfords's Jay DeMerit.
-You will be able to see Convey and his American teammate Marcus Hahnemann v Middlebrough, Saturday at 1:15pm central on FSC (delayed)
-Watford's opening game v Tim Howard & Everton will not be televised in the USA, but their 2nd game will be, and you only have to wait until Tues Aug 22 to see them take on Jonathan Spector & West Ham. 1:30pm central live on FSC.
~ ~ ~ ~
USA Today with an article on all the Americans in England this season. Also includes a list of all the Americans on European first division rosters.
~ ~ ~ ~
American youngster Jemal Johnson has been sold by Blackburn to Wolverhampton of the Championship division.
~ ~ ~ ~
Former DC United defender & captain Ryan Nelsen has signed a new four year contract extension with Blackburn.
~ ~ ~ ~
The second and climactic leg of the Copa Libertadores finals is today (first leg score included):
Internacional v Sao Paulo (2-1) - see it live on Fox Sports en Espanol at 8pm central.
-The away goal rule does NOT apply.
-Sports Illustrated with a game preview.
-And the same magazine's Gregory Sica has an interview with Internacional central defender Bolivar.
~ ~ ~ ~
A handful of Euro friendly's available for viewing today (all will be repeated on their respective channels):
Norway v Brazil - 1pm central on GolTV
Ireland v Netherlands - 1:30pm central on Setanta
England v Greece - 2pm central on FSC
Bosnia v France - 3:30pm central on GolTV
~ ~ ~ ~
Jack Bell of the New York Times looks at Real Madrid's attempt to improve it's supporting cast of players, as part of his regular weekly column.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Guardian has a list of the full rosters and moves (in and out of each club) made by all 20 English Premiership teams as the leagues gets ready for lift off on Saturday.
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer news:
-I didn't catch this at the time it went down, but Fiorentina has signed forward Adrian Mutu from Juventus.
-Contrary to earlier reports Mexican striker Jarded Borgetti is still signed with Bolton. His move to Saudi Arabia did not happen. It's unknown what his next step might be.

Hot Times On Campus News

ADDITION: Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated has a classic Q & A session with the New York Red Bulls coach, and one of my heroes, Bruce Arena! As they used to say in old time wrasslin': No holds barred!
~ ~ ~ ~
The Deseret(!) Morning News from Salt Lake City says Real Salt Lake is making a strong play to buy USA midfielder DaMarcus Beasley from PSV Eindhoven in Holland! But it won't be an easy deal to get done.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ok, here's a little sumthin' that will not surprise many of you regular readers:
There is a "fact" out there that I have consistently been getting wrong for ages, yet no one pointed it out to me until today. JF wrote in to tell me that I have been incorrectly refering to the Salt Lake City newspaper as the "Desert" Morning News. That's DESERT, as in - dry barren sandy landscape. All my mental efforts always go in to not refering to this paper as the "Dessert" Morning News. With DESSERT clearly being America's favorite meal. But it turns out that the paper is in fact called the "Deseret" Morning News, a completely different animal all together. As JF pointed out DESERET is a term from the original Book Of Mormon! It means "honeybee" in the language of the Jaredites. (Thanks Wikipedia) Wow. Completely different, yet perfectly logical name for the newspaper, with Salt Lake being such a huge Mormon area, and Utah being the beehive state. Maybe all of you already knew this, but I learned something new & interesting today! Thanks JF.
~ ~ ~ ~
There was a make up game played last night in the US Open Cup:
Chicago 2-0 Kansas City - goals by Calen Carr & Andy Herron. Both teams played a lot of their reserves.
-Match report from the Chicago Daily Southtown.
-Match report from the Kansas City Star.
-Two weeks ago the match was rained & lightninged out. The same two teams play again on Wednesday night, also in Chicago, in regular MLS action. Odd how it all works out isn't it.
-The best news for Chicago fans is that central defender Jim Curtain made his return from a broken foot. He missed over 3 months of games.
-Chicago have also signed midfielder Pascal Bedrossian from French team Lorient. He has played for the Armenian national team.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Cunningham of Salt Lake has been named MLS Player Of The Week for the 4th time this season. He also leads the league in goals scored. If his team was playing better he would be a clear leader for Player Of The Year.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Top goal scorers:
13 Jeff Cunningham
12 Ante Razov
10 Jaime Moreno
10 Brian Ching
9 Taylor Twellman
8 Carlos Ruiz
~ ~ ~ ~
New England midfielder Clint Dempsey has been suspended by MLS for 2 games after throwing an elbow that broke the jaw of KC defender Jimmy Conrad.
~ ~ ~ ~
To be officially announced shortly: DC United will sign Argentine midfielder Matias Donnet from Boca Juniors. He follows the line of recent mid-season Argentine signings by DC of Christian Gomez, Facundo Erpen, and Lucio Filomeno. From the Washington Post.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dema Kovalenko is back in MLS, joining the New York Red Bulls, and tells Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer that his bad reputation is undeserved.
~ ~ ~ ~
Could we be seeing the end of the 3 year run for New England? Frank Dell'apa at the Boston Globe thinks it's possible. Dempsey, Twellman & Noonan could all be gone soon.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald on what the Red Bulls can take from their shellacking at the hands of mighty Barca.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan Loney gets all Barca Crazy at American Soccer News.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Fort Worth Star Telegram's Tobias Lopez with a story on new Dallas keeper and Trinidad & Tobago World Cup star Shaka Hislop. (From last weekend.)
~ ~ ~ ~
The Houston Chronicle's Week In Review
~ ~ ~ ~
3 MLS midweek games on Wednesday:
Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on FSC
New York v DC United - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Kansas City - 8pm central, no TV
~ ~ ~ ~
When the English Premier League kicks off the 06/07 season this weekend, there will be 12 Americans on the teams ready for action:
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham
Bobby Convey - Reading
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Brad Friedel - Blackburn
Cory Gibbs - Charlton
Marcus Hahnemann - Reading
Tim Howard - Everton
Jemal Johnson - Blackburn
Brian McBride - Fulham
Claudio Reyna - Manchester City
Johann Smith - Bolton
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
~ ~ ~ ~
Don't know how I managed to miss this one, but the Guardian had a feature story a couple weeks ago on Watford's surprising American defender Jay DeMerit!!
~ ~ ~ ~
USA U20 & Maryland forward Robbie Rogers has signed a deal with Heerenveen in Holland. This is the same club that signed 19 year old American Michael Bradley last year. Bradley ended up as a key starter by seasons end.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of Soccer 365 with a feature on the rise in world football fortunes for Ghana. And will it affect Freddy Adu?
~ ~ ~ ~
Yesterday I linked to a book that J Hutcherson of the US Players Assoc had refered to in his column. ("Soccer in a Football World" - A soccer book by an American, about the game in America, that is not available in America!) Today a lovely reader sent a note pointing out that you can get it from Amazon in Canada for possibly less money than from the UK. Good idea. Although it will cost you about $US25 plus shipping from CAN, while UK cost is about $US16 plus shipping.
~ ~ ~ ~
Second leg of the Copa Libertadores final this Wednesday (The away goal rule does NOT apply in this tournament.):
Internacional v Sao Paulo (2-1)
~ ~ ~ ~
West Ham striker Dean Ashton had just been called into the England team for the first time this week for the friendly against Greece, but he broke his ankle while practicing today. Not good for him, club or country.
~ ~ ~ ~
Czech Republic star midfielder Pavel Nedved has announced his re-retirement from international matches after tomorrow's friendly v Serbia.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the national team coaching carousel: New coaches try to get up to speed

Driving My Drizzle News

Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts held a ground breaking ceremony for his new stadium, then said: "It's not absolutely done, it's still a big act of faith."
- AND -
Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerard in his new book looks back at the World Cup: "We are not as good as we think we are. England were guilty of over-confidence. Me and the other players constantly claimed we could win the World Cup - it was stupid."
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Dell'apa of Soccernet talks to US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati about the coaching search to replace Bruce Arena. It appears as though there is no hurry.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Soccer Saturday:
Houston 1-0 Dallas - The least handsome man in MLS, Craig Waibel, scores on an unmarked header off a corner kick. Houston played great team defense.
-Houston striker Brian Ching suffered a slight tear in the ligament of his right knee requiring surgery right away. He will miss at least a month.
Kansas City 4-0 Columbus - Looks like Sigi's miracle machine really is a mirage. This Columbus team stinks, and that's after getting pulverized by Kansas City who stink as well. Great game for KC, but brutal for Columbus. Both teams were desperate for a win, and the one with the newest coach, Brian Bliss, got it going. KC goals scored by Davey Arnaud, Scott Sealy, Sasha Victorine & Ryan Pore. Still no Eddie Johnson or Josh Wolff on the score board.
Chicago 1-2 Chivas - With reportedly half the stands filled with Chivas fans it ended all wrong again for the home team Chicago with a late penalty call that many Chicagoans disputed. The Emperor Claudio Suarez (corrected) scored the PK and nabbed his teams first road win of the season.
Colorado 1-0 Los Angeles - Colorado got their goal with awesome team defense and slick Niko Hernandez finishing off a Kyle Beckerman cross. When Colo scores first they are 7-0-1 this season. Not bad at all.
~ ~ ~ ~
And more MLS internationals from last Saturday:
New York 1-4 Barcelona - It was close for a while, even tied at 1-1 at half time after Ronaldinho scored on a PK and Youri Djorkaeff scored on a great team-effort goal, but then the Barca reserves (who were better than the starters) took over. End of story.
-Dema Kovalenko made his return to MLS with New York and did well for himself springing his team for their only goal.
-Tony Meola was simply awesome in goal during the 45 minutes he played.
-Match report from Big Apple Soccer.
-Two stories from the North Jersey Herald, one on the fans, and another on Ronaldinho by Ives Galarcep.
-Match report from Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
-Match report from the New York Times.
-And the Times reporter & du Nord pen pal Jack Bell chats very briefly with NYRB man Bruce Arena.
-Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News looks at Arena's debut.
-Lastly, I am gonna state this right now: Lionel Messi is better than Ronaldinho, and will very shortly prove how amazing he is! I am not saying more entertaining, I am saying that he is a bigger impact player.
- AND -
Real Salt Lake 0-2 Real Madrid - Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Robinho scored Madrid's goals in a game that was very tight and hard fought until Salt Lake sub and total goon Attiba Harris hacked down Madrid's Sergio Ramos to earn himself a nice red card. That player has done this same crap over and over since pre-season and should be cut from his team and never heard from again! On the other hand, the first Madrid goal off the pk was a complete joke. The referee wanted to show the stars that he too was a star and awarded the penalty for something that was barely even contact in the box. Not surprising then that Italian Antonio Cassano flopped down and got the call. Disgraceful.
-They say Tom Cruise was at the game.
-By far the most surreal moment of the weekend was an official ground breaking ceremony in Salt Lake City suburb Sandy for a new stadium. This is a deal we all thought was dead, even on Friday. How it got done, and if its really done, are two separate stories. The literal ground breaking was caught on film. Here you will see the owner Dave Checketts digging some dirt (like rich guys love to do - especially when they start a new project with someone else's money). The best part is that several Real Madrid players are in the picture too! Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Julio Baptista and coach Fabio Capello got a shovel going! Like I said, surreal.
-The two local Salt Lake newspapers again put all others to shame with their massive game day & stadium issue coverage of their team! It's very impressive indeed. The Desert Morning News - AND - The Salt Lake Tribune. I would guess there are at least 20 articles here between the two.
~ ~ ~ ~
In other league stadium news, New York Red Bulls have set Sept 19 as the date they will break ground on their home in Harrison NJ. I think that the latest design image is great. Red Bulls players and coaches react.
~ ~ ~ ~
After breaking the jaw of Kansas City defender Jimmy Conrad with an elbow in a match last Wednesday, New England star Clint Dempsey could find himself in a whole lot of trouble now. In preseason Dempsey got into a nasty fight with teammate Joe Franchino and ended up with a two week suspension. Then a few weeks ago he took a swipe at Chicago defender Gonzalo Seagares, catching him in the eye, and got a two game suspension (reduced to one on appeal). And now this! Conrad will miss at least a month with his mouth wired shut. (Should make for a great column for ESPN Soccernet.) No word yet from the league on if there will be any punishment, but if there is you can bet it won't be light.
~ ~ ~ ~
Reuters syndication news service with a story on the supposed humbling of Freddy Adu. I say supposed because he says he is growing up etc, but mostly still acts 17, which is a totally fine but usually very delusional age.
~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks back at Barcelona's visit to his town.
~ ~ ~ ~
Old Man Jones wants to know why MLS can't just go buy all the big stars. From the LA Times.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chivas USA win 100 hour charity soccer game 437-429!!!!! This is way too cool!
~ ~ ~ ~
Kyle McCarthy of the US Players Assoc with a feature on a du Nord favorite player, Kansas City defender Jose Burciaga.
~ ~ ~ ~
And the excellent J Hutcherson, also of the US Players Assoc, writes about a great looking book on the history of soccer in America, that is not available in America (of course).
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division weekend matches:
Fri
Rochester 1-0 Montreal
Seattle 5-1 Virginia Beach
Sat
Atlanta 1-1 Puerto Rico
Sun
Miami 2-0 Charleston
Minnesota 1-0 Rochester
Vancouver 3-0 Virginia Beach
~ ~ ~ ~
Minnesota Thunder forward Melvin Tarley is now headed to Colorado on loan for the rest of the season.
~ ~ ~ ~
Michigan Bucks beat Laredo 2-1 Saturday night to claim their first ever PDL title!
~ ~ ~ ~
A round-up of some Americans playing in Europe:
-Kasey Keller, the new captain of Monchengladbach, led his team to a 2-0 win over newly promoted Energie Cottbus in the Bundesliga.
-Eddie Lewis could only hit the post as his team Leeds lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace in the English Championship Division.
-Steve Cherundolo & Hannover lost 4-2 to Werder Bremen. Cherundolo had the ball stolen off him and coverted directly into the first Bremen goal, also in the Bundesliga.
~ ~ ~ ~
Second leg of the Copa Libertadores final this Wednesday:
Internacional v Sao Paulo (2-1)
-But the away goal rule does NOT apply in this tournament.
~ ~ ~ ~
Simon Kuper is back from a post World Cup break, and writes about Chelsea's new man Michael Ballack.
~ ~ ~ ~
Aston Villa in England has been sold to Cleveland Ohio business man Randy Lerner (who also owns the Cleveland Browns NFL team) for 63 million pounds. Story from the BBC. Formal details will take about 3 weeks to finish.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA.com with an article on German team Werder Bremen who are making a strong push to join the elite.
~ ~ ~ ~
So do you think Inter Milan have improved much in the off season? Here are two very big reasons to think they might be.
~ ~ ~ ~
From our resident Serb fan Sasha: The 'Plavi' (Blues) are no more. Serbia goes red, and adopts a more 'patriotic' look for their uniforms. I was a little worried when I heard Nike was commissioned to do the job, but I have to say on this uniform, Nike did a very, very good job. (the news release and photos on the front page in Cyrillic, but if I switch to English they disappear, but it's all about the pictures anyway). They will be debuted in Prague before the EC qualifying begins, and the Czechs have been gracious enough to let Serbia wear their new primary colors even though the Czechs have the same color.
~ ~ ~ ~
Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 for Community Shield on Saturday. John Arne Riise scored first for Liverpool. New signing Andriy Shevchenko tied it for Chelsea. But super-string-bean Peter Crouch got the winner for Liverpool in the 80th minute.
~ ~ ~ ~
From the International Herald Trib - Hughes on Grinsi: Klinsmann's legacy rolls on undimmed

Consciously News

New York Red Bulls midfielder Amado Guevara on NBA MVP Steve Nash who trained with the Red Bulls Thursday: “Playing basketball, I’m better than him. Soccer, he’s better than me.”
- AND -
Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena warned midfielders Danny O'Rourke and Dema Kovalenko — who has broken two opponents' legs — not to tackle Nash because he didn't "want to send back the MVP of the NBA in an ambulance."
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Soccer Saturday:
Houston v Dallas - will be shown delayed at 7:30pm central on ESPN2
Kansas City v Columbus - live at 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Chivas - live at 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Los Angeles - live at 8pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~
And more MLS v Internationals on Saturday:
New York v Barcelona - at Giants Stadium in New Jersey - live at 6:30pm on FSC
Salt Lake v Real Madrid - at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake - live at 8:30pm on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Single Table:
45 DC United
39 Dallas
32 Houston
28 New England
28 Colorado
27 Chivas
24 New York
23 Los Angeles
23 Salt Lake
22 Chicago
22 Kansas City
20 Columbus
~ ~ ~ ~
Dylan Butler at Big Apple Soccer says that New York invited Phoenix Suns NBA MVP point guard Steve Nash to train with the team on Thursday. Sounds like it was a blast for everyone involved.
-More on the story from USA Today. Nash says he wants to play against Barcelona on Saturday!!
~ ~ ~ ~
Soccer 365 has a Q & A with new KC midfielder Dave Van den Bergh.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Goff of the Washington Post with a wrap up on DC United's match with Real Madrid the other night.
~ ~ ~ ~
The LA Times has released its yearly list of the 100 most influential people in Southern California, and LA Galaxy owner and major MLS investor Phillip Anschutz is #6. His right hand man Tim Leiweke, who runs the AEG company, is also on that list.
~ ~ ~ ~
The latest on the KC stadium and ownership story.
~ ~ ~ ~
Soccernet with a feature on one of MLS's "enforcers", Houston defender Eddie Robinson. (I think he is a great defender, but a bit of a whiner too.)
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News talks to the newest member of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Santino Quaranta, about his coast to coast change, and the game winner he scored the other night in his first minutes with the team.
~ ~ ~ ~
DaMarcus Beasley of PSV is still being slowed down by a hamstring injury, but expects to be back to full training early next week.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Free Beer Movement makes a triumphant return to The Jimmy in St Paul on Sunday night. Our beleaguered yet beloved Minnesota Thunder take on their old hated rivals from Rochester. Thunder fans will be tailgating as usual, and the Free Beer Movement rules will be used. Free tickets will be on hand for newbies, and of course free beer. We also have food & other beverages, and great conversation available for free too. Plus you can come and stand with us and go nuts - win, win huge, lose, lose real bad, or draw.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division matches:
Thur
Minnesota 3-0 Toronto - our boys leaped over Toronto and off the bottom of the heap, by a point. The first half was pretty horrible to watch with lots of defenders lumping the ball to the forwards who were either offside or unable to score when one on one with the keeper. But the second half was much brighter, and even thrilling at times. The last 2 goals were scored in the 90th and 90+ minutes so it wasn't the rout it might look like on the scoreboard. A great win nonetheless.
Portland 1-0 Virginia Beach
Fri
Rochester v Montreal
Seattle v Virginia Beach
Sat
Atlanta v Puerto Rico
Sun
Miami v Charleston
Minnesota v Rochester
Vancouver v Virginia Beach
~ ~ ~ ~
Jonah Freedman's World Power Rankings, from Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~
Bundesliga kicks off the 06/07 season this weekend:
Fri
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund
Sat
Bayer Leverkusen v Alemania Aachen
Borussia Monchengladbach v Energie Cottbus
Hamburg v Arminia Bielefeld
Mainz v Bochum
Schalke v Eintracht Frankfurt
Stuttgart v v Nurnberg
Sun
Hannover v Werder Bremen
Wolfsburg v Hertha Berlin
~ ~ ~ ~
Copa Libertadores finals second leg next week! The away goals rule will NOT apply. Two legs.
Wed Aug 9
Sao Paulo 1-2 Internacional
Wed Aug 16
Internacional v Sao Paulo
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer action:
Portsmouth has signed goalkeeper David James from Manchester City.

Unveiling The Soda News

DC keeper Troy Perkins who made a great save on a blistering free kick by Real Madrid's Roberto Carlos: "You see him line up for the ball, you're like, 'Oh my God, he's going to bury this ball!"
~ ~ ~ ~
More MLS v Internationals last night:
DC United 1-1 Real Madrid - In Seattle of all places. Antonio Cassano scored first for Real in the 22nd minute, but DC struck back 2 minutes later with Alecko Eskandarian scoring after 5 great passes in a row by his teammates. Ciccinho also played fantastic for RM in the second half. I really thought he should have seen a lot more of the field at the World Cup for Brazil. Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
-Seattle Post Intelligencer's view of the event.
-Seattle Times' view of the event too.
- AND -
Club America 4-4 Barcelona - The second half of the twin bill with MLS from Reliant Stadium in Houston Texas. Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle
-The Chron with a look at the double header scene.
~ ~ ~ ~
3 Regular Season MLS matches tonight:
Houston 0-1 Los Angeles - The opening game in Houston saw Santino Quaranta step off the plane from DC, put on a new white shirt, enter the game as a sub, and score minutes after joining his new team from Los Angeles! All without even one training session. Houston absolutely pounded LA for about 75 of the 90 minutes but did not have enough finesse to get the job done. Eddie Robinson, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden and Brad Davis all played great for the Dynamo Hum. However, Superstar DDR did not play due to a red card suspension from the previous match. Bummer dudes. Hooray Santino. Boo Creepy Foot Doctor. Hooray Beer. Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
Colorado 1-4 Salt Lake - Wow! Has RSL arrived? Did they turn a corner? Two wins in a row and this one on the road. Match report from the Denver Post.
New England 0-0 Kansas City - Ummmmmmmmmmm. Nada. KC Star match report.
~ ~ ~ ~
And more MLS internationals coming Saturday Aug 12
Real Salt Lake v Real Madrid - In this one we will find out which team is blessed by royalty and which team is rife with foolhardy pipedreams. At Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake. See the game live at 8:30pm on FSC.
New York v Barcelona - Bruce Arena's first game in charge of the Red Bulls, at Giants Stadium in New Jersey - Live TV at 6:30pm on FSC.
~ ~ ~ ~
Lars Lifrak of Soccer 365 does a Q & A with DC United forward Alecko Eskandarian.
~ ~ ~ ~
Ian Plenderleith cheers like mad for Santino Quaranta in his regular column for Matchnight.
-I also just discovered that Ian does a soccer weblog too: From An Impossible Angle
~ ~ ~ ~
Tom Soehn, a DC United assistant coach for three seasons, has emerged as one of the leading candidates to coach Toronto FC. Soehn recently traveled to Canada to interview for the job. From the Washington Post.
~ ~ ~ ~
Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hislop has gotten his work visa and arrived in Dallas Tuesday to join his new team. They will need him as a back up to Dario Sala immediately.
~ ~ ~ ~
New England has signed Ivory Coast U21 player Arsene Okoh. He is waiting for his papers to clear before he can formally join up.
~ ~ ~ ~
US Soccer with a look at the MLS season stretch run - A-Z.
~ ~ ~ ~
Some in Salt Lake City are in desperation mode to find a home for RSL. Others are sitting back idly. But the owner, Dave Checketts has set a deadline of this Saturday to make a deal, or he is selling. More on the stadium soap opera from the Salt Lake Tribune.
~ ~ ~ ~
NYNJ Soccer News takes a look at the Red Bulls youth set up.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round first legs scores (second legs on Aug 22/23):
Austria Wien 1-1 Benfica
Dinamo Zagreb 0-3 Arsenal
Slovan Liberec 0-0 Spartak Moskva
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 Legia Warszawa
Salzburg 1-0 Valencia
Levski Sofia 2-0 Chievo Verona
Hearts 1-2 AEK Athens
CSKA Moskva 3-0 Ruzomberok
Milan 1-0 Crvena Zvezda
Galatasaray 5-2 Mlada Boleslav
Standard Liege 2-2 Steaua Bucuresti
Kobenhavn 1-2 Ajax
Hamburg 0-0 Osasuna
Dynamo Kyiv 3-1 Fenerbahce
Liverpool 2-1 Maccabi Haifa
Lille Metropole 3-0 Rabotnicki
~ ~ ~ ~
Copa Libertadores finals this week and next! The away goals rule will NOT apply. Two legs.
Wed Aug 9
Sao Paulo 1-2 Internacional - A huge upset victory last night on 2 goals from Rafael Sobis. Match report from Sports Illustrated.
Wed Aug 16
Internacional v Sao Paulo
~ ~ ~ ~
Bundesliga kicks off the 06/07 season this weekend:
Fri
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund - live at 1:30pm central on GolTV
Sat
Bayer Leverkusen v Alemania Aachen
Borussia Monchengladbach v Energie Cottbus
Hamburg v Arminia Bielefeld - delayed at 10:30am central on GolTV
Mainz v Bochum
Schalke v Eintracht Frankfurt - live at 8:30am central on GolTV
Stuttgart v v Nurnberg
Sun
Hannover v Werder Bremen - live at 10am central on GolTV
Wolfsburg v Hertha Berlin
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune: Fans flock to greet the new season
~ ~ ~ ~
Chelsea defender John Terry has been named the new captain of England.
~ ~ ~ ~
Werder Bremen forward Miroslav Klose has been named German Player Of The Year.
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer action:
Inter Milan signed Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Juventus.

Eighty Or Seventy News

From the Steven Goff On Line Chat at the Washington Post -
Fairfax, Va.: Real Madrid vs. Real Salt Lake This could be very, very ugly.
Steven Goff: Most games involving Real Salt Lake are very, very ugly.

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald on the return to New York of Youri "My Mother is so sick in France that I attended a French World Cup game in Germany so please don't be mad at me" Djorkaeff.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steven Goff of The Washington Post says that DC United has let midfielder Santino Quaranta exit the team, and he will now go play for Los Angeles. They say he needed a change of scenery in life. Future compensation was minimal.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Wash Post also takes a look at the mad scramble it's been to sell tickets for tonight's DC v Real match in Seattle.
~ ~ ~ ~
ADDITION: Goff also has his regular online chat session with readers today. Always a great read.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS internationals this week-
Wed Aug 9:
Double Header from Reliant Stadium in Houston Texas on FOX Soccer Channel
Houston v Los Angeles Galaxy at 7pm central, followed by
Club America v Barcelona at 9:30pm central
and
DC United v Real Madrid - at Qwest Field in Seattle. Game time is 10pm central, and you can see it nationally if you have MLS Direct Kick like I do. Ronaldo did not make the trip to the USA for this and other games. He is recovering from surgery to repair a damaged tibia.
Sat Aug 12
Real Salt Lake v Real Madrid - in this one we will find out which team is blessed by royalty and which team is rife with foolhardy pipedreams. at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake. At 830pm on FSC.
New York v Barcelona - at Giants Stadium in New Jersey - 630pm on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~
Prior to the game in Houston tonight, Barcelona has done some sight seeing along with the pre-season training. Yesterday they made a trip to NASA's Johnson Space Center!
-That same paper with a feature story on the star among stars, Ronaldinho.
~ ~ ~ ~
3 Regular Season MLS matches tonight:
New England v Kansas City - 630pm on Direct Kick
Houston v Los Angeles - 7pm on FSC
Colorado v Salt Lake - no TV
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Dell'apa at the Boston Globe with a feature on New England defender Michael Parkhurst who, after a slow start to the season, is really starting to play some great soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~
The city of Salt Lake is star struck by Real Madrid. From the Desert Morning News.
~ ~ ~ ~
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer concludes his trip to South Africa with a warning to all fans considering traveling to that country for World Cup 2010.
~ ~ ~ ~
Today at US Soccer you can see highlights of the amazing game Kasey Keller had v Brazil back in '98 at the Coliseum in LA. It's a little disappointing that they don't show us Preki's game winning goal too. I was at that historic game, but have never seen these highlights. Excellent nostalgia for me.
~ ~ ~ ~
Former USA defender Jeff Agoos reviews the All Star game for the US Players Assoc site.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jack Bell of the New York Times with a feature on the superhuman DDR - Houston's Dwayne DeRosario.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of Soccer365 sends MLS commish Donny G an open letter begging him not to sell the front of MLS shirts to corporate sponsors.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round with first legs yesterday & today, with second legs on Aug 22/23:
Yesterday's scores-
Austria Wien 1-1 Benfica
Dinamo Zagreb 0-3 Arsenal - Match report from the Guardian.
Today's matches-
Spartak Moskva v Slovan Liberec
Shakhtar Donetsk v Legia Warszawa
Salzburg v Valencia
Levski Sofia v Chievo Verona
Hearts v AEK Athens
CSKA Moskva v Ruzomberok
Milan v Crvena Zvezda
Galatasaray v Mlada Boleslav
Standard Liege v Steaua Bucuresti
Kobenhavn v Ajax
Hamburg v Osasuna
Dynamo Kyiv v Fenerbahce
Liverpool v Maccabi Haifa
Lille Metropole v Rabotnicki
~ ~ ~ ~
Copa Libertadores finals this week and next! The away goals rule will NOT apply. Two legs.
Tonight
Sao Paulo v Internacional - 730pm on FOX Sports en Espanol (replayed on Sat Aug 12 at 2pm on FOX Soccer Channel)
Wed Aug 16
Internacional v Sao Paulo
~ ~ ~ ~
Die Bundesliga kicks off the 06/07 season this weekend. (I will list all the games on Thurs.)

Life Will Just Simply Prosper News

Jimmy Conrad on his encounter with Didier Drogba for which he got a yellow card fora particularly nasty (& retaliatory) foul: "So once the sideline play came I actually won the ball and I'm like, 'You know what? I'm going to hammer him anyway.' My friends back home will appreciate it. He was all high-fives after he kicks me, but when I kick him he doesn't want to give me a high-five."
~ ~ ~ ~
USA Today reports on Bruce Arena's first day on the new job with the Red Bulls in New Jersey.
-Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger says Arena wants a permanent practice facility ASAP.
-Jack Bell of the New York Times covers Day One as well.
-Youri Djorkaeff did show up for Arena's first day. I am going to assume the two have been in touch and have a plan to sort out the mess between Djorkaeff and the rest of the team he abandon 6 weeks ago.
-Big Apple Soccer says Arena brought his comedy routine to his first post practice press gathering.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round with first legs today & tomorrow, with second legs on Aug 22/23:
Today-
Austria Wien v Benfica
Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal
Wed Aug 9-
Spartak Moskva v Slovan Liberec
Shakhtar Donetsk v Legia Warszawa
Salzburg v Valencia
Levski Sofia v Chievo Verona
Hearts v AEK Athens
CSKA Moskva v Ruzomberok
Milan v Crvena Zvezda
Galatasaray v Mlada Boleslav
Standard Liege v Steaua Bucuresti
Kobenhavn v Ajax
Hamburg v Osasuna
Dynamo Kyiv v Fenerbahce
Liverpool v Maccabi Haifa
Lille Metropole v Rabotnicki
~ ~ ~ ~
Arsenal are back in action today in the Champions League but they will be without 3 key players - Thierry Henry has been given extra time off after the World Cup, Jens Lehman was red carded in last years CL finals so he sits today, and Ashley Cole is about to be sold to Chelsea so he was left off the team to preserve his eligibility at his next team. On the other hand Jose Antonio Reyes is on the team, even though he wants to be sold to Real Madrid, but an appearance today for the Arse would probably make that sale a moot point.
~ ~ ~ ~
More MLS internationals this week-
Wed Aug 9:
Double Header from Reliant Stadium in Houston Texas on FOX Soccer Channel
Houston v Los Angeles Galaxy at 7pm central, followed by Club America v Barcelona at 9:30pm central
DC United v Real Madrid - at Qwest Field in Seattle. Game time is 10pm central. The game will be shown in DC, but not nationally. Damn it all. How about getting it on Direct Kick at least.
Sat Aug 12:
Real Salt Lake v Real Madrid - in this one we will find out which team is blessed by royalty and which team is rife with foolhardy pipedreams. at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake. At 830pm on FSC.
New York v Barcelona - at Giants Stadium in New Jersey - 630pm on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~
ADDITION: The Madison (Wisconsin) Capital Times with a long overdue update on Milwaukee's bid to land a MLS team.
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at what MLS hopes to gain with all of these big international matches.
~ ~ ~ ~
Real Madrid arrives in Salt Lake to train before their two matches this week. From the Desert News.
~ ~ ~ ~
Soccernet with two more articles on the fall out of these big foreign club matches and the MLS All Star game: Frank Dell'apa see's the positive - and - Ives Galarcep see's the negative. (By the way, Ives makes a great point here - what was the deal with the handing out of a trophy and big celebration after the All Star game?)
~ ~ ~ ~
The old man, Paul Gardner, comments on the All Star Game and disses Chelsea in the New York Sun. Hooray Beer.
~ ~ ~ ~
Nick Green of the Daily Breeze thinks all these matches are a deluge, and not a good one either.
~ ~ ~ ~
Greg Lalas does TV broadcasts for the New England Revolution and was on hand Sunday at the Coliseum for the Barca v Chivas match, which was quite the spectacle. For Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~
Los Angeles has finally gotten the rights to Canadian defender Ante Jazic. He has been training with the team since Frank Yallop took over as head coach, but had to wait for a work visa. He recently played for Kuban Krasnodar in Russia.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Houston Chronicle's Week In Review is back.
~ ~ ~ ~
USA & Standard Liege defender Oguchi Onyewu talks to US Soccer about the upcoming Belgian (corrected) league season. Listen to or download the podcast here.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales of the LA Soccer News on what a real "superclub" is all about.
~ ~ ~ ~
Copa Libertadores finals! The away goals rule will NOT apply. Two legs.
Wed Aug 9
Sao Paulo v Internacional - 730pm on FOX Sports en Espanol (replayed on Sat Aug 12 at 2pm on FOX Soccer Channel)
Wed Aug 16 - return leg
Internacional v Sao Paulo
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the effects of war on Israeli soccer: Maccabi Haifa tries to focus on the ball
~ ~ ~ ~
Further exams have shown that Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole only has a knee sprain and will miss a couple of weeks at most. Not nearly as bad as feared.
~ ~ ~ ~
See the English FA Community Shield match Chelsea v Liverpool - live on Sun Aug 13 at 9am on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~
Reggina have now officially been added to the list of teams charged in the Italian match fixing scandal. Doubtful more then a wrist slap will be handed out in this charade though.
~ ~ ~ ~
Euro-centric transfer news:
-Werder Bremen have signed German international defender Per Mertesacker from Hannover.
-Arsenal are all set to sign France winger and World Cup star Franck Ribery from Marseille.

TV Broadcasting Follow-Up

Last week I wrote an article for the Third Carnival of American Soccer Blogs about the quality of broadcasting in soccer games.

This past weekend two great examples made themselves available for me to use in my argument about what is wrong and how simply this stuff can be fixed.

1) The two biggest plays in the MLS v Chelsea match were Eddie Robinson clearing the ball off the goal line & Dwayne De Rosario scoring the winning goal, but on both plays the announcers were blabbing on and on about nothing of importance when the action was happening on the field and totally missed the plays. Then they reacted with shock as something big had just gone down. It took them several minutes to even figure out which players were involved and at first glance got all the names wrong.

As a matter of fact, the video production almost entirely missed the goal cuz they were busy showing us some bullshit long shot with their "happenin'" boom crane camera at the far end of the field.

A complete joke both times.

(As a side note, I have been watching the USA Basketball matches over the past two weeks as they prepare for the world championships and those ESPN broadcasts also have the announcers talking constantly about everything but the action on the court. It's truly awful, and disrespectful. But this is the ESPN way and we can expect a lot more of it in soccer. And I am starting to think that fans are taking regular season games less seriously because the announcers take them so lightly.)

2) During the Barca v Chivas game the announcers went on and on at length about the perceived lack of off-side calls, especially on the two goals. The announcers claimed that both goals should not have counted. Yet FSC who produced the game had almost no replays so us or their announce team could judge. Luckily for me I have a DVR so I can make my own replays, and sure enough, the referees got both calls right!!! Several of the "professional journalists" who wrote newspaper articles yesterday even mentioned that the referees blew the calls, but those people didn't do their homework either & were dead wrong too.

These are a few of the little things that I want to see fixed for the broadcasting of soccer in America NOW! But I can almost guarantee you that it will not happen any time soon. Especially not at ESPN who see themselves as the reason people are watching, not the sporting event.

Cops Is A Fine TV Show News

MLS All Star Most Valuable Player Dwayne De Rosario comments on Chicago's new Toyota Park stadium: "The stadium is great; the field is terrible."
~ ~ ~ ~
Big Huge MLS Weekender:
MLS All Stars 1-0 Chelsea - It wasn't the best game I have ever seen, but it sure was fun. And our boys got the win on an amazing goal by DDR, who proved all day long that he is a top quality player on any level! (Read much more below...)
- and -
Chivas USA 1-1 New England in a double header with Guadalajara Chivas 1-1 Barcelona - in front of a chraged up and sold out crowd at the Coliseum in Los Angeles who used more smoke bombs then I have ever seen in my life! (They say the old place holds around 92,000.) The first game and a half were ok, but the second half of Chivas v Barca was pretty fun. Ronaldinho did not disappoint the crowd either.
-Twellman scored for NE and Marsch tied it up for Chivas USA.
-Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with a match report.
-Andrea Canales writes two stories on the double header. One - and - Two. For Los Angeles Soccer News.
~ ~ ~ ~
More from MLS v Chelsea:
-Yes Chelsea had some obvious built in excuses for losing, like the fact that they were missing a couple players, made a lot of substitutions, and it was the first week of training for a few of their key players, but look at this list of MLS players who could not play for whatever reason:
-Taylor Twellman
-Ante Razov
-Carlos Ruiz
-Landon Donovan
-Shalrie Joseph
-Clint Dempsey
-Juan Pablo Garcia
-Andy Dorman
-Pablo Mastroeni
-Eddie Pope
These guys could have inflicted considerably more damage if they had been the starters & subs instead of some of the lesser dudes who got the nod.
-The Chelsea website called Jaime Moreno "chubby" - hahahahahahaha, yet while mocking people they conveniently forgot to mention how totally idiotic their guy Didier Drogba looks - somehow worse then last year
-Joe Canon made three great saves very late to keep the clean sheet and the win.
-Fecundo Erpen nutmegged Cannon about 5 minutes into the second half and we all thought the ball was headed for the net. But Eddie Robinson raced back to clear the ball off the line.
-Jose Morinho was insistent that Didier Drogba was not offside when he scored in the first half. But after watching the replay it was clear to me that either Morinho hadn't seen the replay before he made his remarks, or he is even more deluded than I thought he was. (And don't get all worked up Chelsea fans, I think he is a great coach, just a little too high on himself.)
-Match reports from the Chicago newspapers:
> Chicago Sun Times
> Chicago Tribune
> Daily Southtown
-The Daily Southtown also had several more really good stories on the game - excellent job by them! See the list of those stories here.
-Soccernet with two looks at what the game meant: Andrea Canales - and - Jeff Carlisle.
-The Guardian with a look at Chelsea's trip to the US and a little about the game itself. The most interesting thing to be found in this article is that Chelsea are going to build an academy in America with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
-Chelsea flew back to England right after the match in a plane chartered from the Dallas Mavericks.
-Houston striker Brian Ching has a weblog at the Houston Chronicle website. Read what he had to say about the game v Chelsea.
-Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated has his comments too.
~ ~ ~ ~
Wahl also sits down to lunch with the young jedi master - Fredua Koranteng Adu.
~ ~ ~ ~
Grahame Jones of the LA Times reports on the US coach position & Jurgen Klinsman.
~ ~ ~ ~
Pete Gratoff of the Kansas City Star reviews the state of the league at the All Star break.
~ ~ ~ ~
Matt Zimmerman of the LA Daily News with a feature story on Chivas USA striker, and MLS leading goal scorer, Ante Razov, who has revived his nearly dead career.
~ ~ ~ ~
More internationals coming up this week - Wed Aug 9:
Double Header from Reliant Stadium in Houston Texas on FOX Soccer Channel
Houston vs Los Angeles Galaxy at 7pm central, followed by
Club America v Barcelona at 9:30pm central
and
DC United v Real Madrid - at Qwest Field in Seattle. Game time is 10pm central. They are hoping to get this one on TV.
-Ronaldo did not make the trip to the USA for this and other games. He is recovering from surgery to repair a damaged tibia. Damn - he is still my favorite player.
~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle writes about the Mexican player I despise the most, Rafa Marquez of Barcelona.
~ ~ ~ ~
Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with a look back at the opening of MLS's first stadium - Crew Stadium - and what it has meant for the league.
~ ~ ~ ~
Colorado like the job that coach Fernando Calvijo is doing so much that they have given him a 2 year contract extension.
~ ~ ~ ~
The excellent source for all things soccer on television in America is of course SoccerTV.com - it's amazing how thorough their listings are. Today they have posted the following notice about the upcoming English Premier League viewing schedule - there are changes:
FOX Sports International (FSI) has sublicensed US and Canadian TV rights to an average of approximately 4 2006-2007 English Premier League (EPL) matches each week to Setanta Sports North America.
In the United States, FOX Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports USA will divide the 2006-2007 EPL season as follows:
*Saturdays at 7:30am ET: Setanta Sports USA
*Saturdays at 10am ET: Setanta Sports USA has the 1st and 3rd picks, FOX Soccer Channel has the 2nd and 4th picks
*Saturdays at 12noon ET: FOX Soccer Channel
*Sundays at 8:30am ET: Setanta Sports USA
*Sundays at 11am ET: FOX Soccer Channel
*Mondays at 3pm ET: FOX Soccer Channel
*Tuesdays-Fridays: Setanta Sports USA has the 1st pick, FOX Soccer Channel has the 2nd pick
The EPL will no longer air via pay-per-view in the US.
~ ~ ~ ~
Its also very interesting to note that GolTV has stolen the German league from FSC. So what exactly does the original all soccer channel from Fox have to show? Some EPL. Some MLS. Argentina. Some Mexico..... USL. Anything else? Wow. How the mighty have fallen.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division weekend scores:
Fri
Atlanta 2-4 Toronto
Virginia Beach 1-1 Montreal
Puerto Rico 1-3 Vancouver
Portland 0-1 Minnesota
Sat
Charleston 2-1 Toronto
Rochester 1-0 Atlanta
Sun
Miami 2-3 Vancouver
Virginia Beach 1-1 Montreal
~ ~ ~ ~
Mexican Primera Division 2006 Apertura opening weekend scores:
Chiapas 1-0 Necaxa
San Luis 0-1 America
Atlante 2-0 Morelia
Veracruz 3-0 Queretaro
Santos 2-2 Monterrey
Atlas 1-0 UNAM
Toluca 1-0 Guadalajara
Pachuca 2-3 Cruz Azul
UANL v UADG - played tonight
~ ~ ~ ~
The USA U20 team lost in the Milk Cup final last Friday 2-0 to Paraguay. They never got the machine running, and Paraguay used two excellent forwards and an amazing goal keeper to cruise to the title in Ballymena Northern Ireland. The USA was the title holder coming in.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round with first legs on Aug 8/9 and second legs on Aug 22/23:
Aug 8
Austria Wien v Benfica
Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal
Aug 9
Spartak Moskva v Slovan Liberec
Shakhtar Donetsk v Legia Warszawa
Salzburg v Valencia
Levski Sofia v Chievo Verona
Hearts v AEK Athens
CSKA Moskva v Ruzomberok
Milan v Crvena Zvezda
Galatasaray v Mlada Boleslav
Standard Liege v Steaua Bucuresti
Kobenhavn v Ajax
Hamburg v Osasuna
Dynamo Kyiv v Fenerbahce
Liverpool v Maccabi Haifa
Lille Metropole v Rabotnicki
~ ~ ~ ~
Eurocentric-transactions:
-Hernan Crespo has returned to Inter Milan on a loan from Chelsea. He played for the Blue & Black in 02-03. Awesome.
-Portsmouth are all set to sign Arsenal defender Sol Campbell on a free transfer.
-It looks like Puerto Rico has decided to get serious about international soccer, and have offered their head coaching job to Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath. Turns out Magath was born in Puerto Rico and his dad still lives there. He is said to be considering the job. Wild. I am all for it.
-Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad has signed Mexican forward Jared Borgetti from Bolton.

Cough Cough Cough News

USA & Standard Liege defender Oguchi Onyewu on his future at the club: "I have made the decision to stay here at least until the winter break."
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS officially announced a new deal with ABC/ESPN today for TV broadcasting. The biggest news from it is that the network will pay the league money (an undisclosed amount) to show the games. The interesting news is that the game of the week is being moved to Thursday night starting next season. My initial knee jerk reaction is that this is a bad move. On the other hand its not like they have had huge success on Saturday afternoon, so any attempt to make it work is fine with me. And while my guess is that this night was chosen because it is best for the network schedule, what kind of attendance will the stadiums draw? Who knows. I hope they get it right.
~ ~ ~ ~
The other announcement is that MLS teams will have a system in place to keep any players that come up through their junior/youth teams & sign them to their senior team, without having to put those players into the general league player draft. Good move.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Big Huge MLS-International Weekend:
MLS All Stars v Chelsea - Saturday on ESPN TV at 5:30pm central time from Chicago's Bridgeview Stadium. If you are in the Twin Cities please join me and others at The Nomad to watch the game.
-You can also listen to the game on the radio in Chicago at WMVP-1000am or online at ESPNRadio1000.com
Chivas USA v New England & Guadalajara Chivas v Barcelona - Sunday doubleheader at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. See the first game live at 6pm central on Direct Kick and HDNet, with the second game at 8:30pm live on Fox Soccer Channel
-Chicago's All Star forward Nate Jaqua is throwing out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs game today.
-At least one journalist in America realized that there are 2 teams playing in the All Star game Saturday: Every single article in the last 2 days has been about Chelsea. Kathryn Knapp of Chicagoland Soccer covered the MLS All Star practice session yesterday and talked to some of the players.
-And Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News with a feature story on USA & LA left back and All Star Chris Albright.
-Soccernet has two writers with game previews focusing on the MLS All Stars key players: Ives Galarcep - and - Jeff Carlisle.
~ ~ ~ ~
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated talks with now retired USA International (but not retired from MLS) Eddie Pope.
~ ~ ~ ~
Dan Loney at American Soccer News with his All Star thoughts.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yanks Abroad is reporting that USA & Standard Liege defender Oguchi Onyewu has a badly sprained ankle and may not be ready for his teams Champions League 3rd Round Qualifying match on Wednesday v Steaua Bucharesti.
~ ~ ~ ~
It will be an All-Brazilain final in The Copa Libertadores - On Wednesday night Sao Paulo beat Guadalajara Chivas 4-0 on aggregate and last night it was Internacional over Libertad 2-0 to win by that same aggregate score. A match report from Sports Illustrated.
-So the two legged final will be played starting next Wednesday, Aug 9.
~ ~ ~ ~
U20 Milk Cup final today from Ballymena Northern Ireland
USA v Paraguay - See that match live via the internet at 2pm central time from the BBC.
~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division games this weekend:
Fri
Atlanta v Toronto
Virginia Beach v Montreal
Puerto Rico v Vancouver
Portland v Minnesota
Sat
Charleston v Toronto
Rochester v Atlanta
Sun
Miami v Vancouver
Virginia Beach v Montreal
~ ~ ~ ~
The Mexican Primera Division 2006 Apertura begins this weekend:
Saturday
Chiapas v Necaxa
San Luis v America - live at 3pm on TeleFutura
Atlante v Morelia - live at 5pm on Galavision
Veracruz v Queretaro
Santos v Monterrey - delay to Monday at 9pm on Fox Soccer Channel
UANL v UADG
Atlas v UNAM - same day delayed at 9pm on Galavision
Sunday
Toluca v Guadalajara - live at 12Noon on Univision
Pachuca v Cruz Azul
Monday
UANL v UADG - same day delayed at 9pm on Galavision
-Soccernet with a season preview.
~ ~ ~ ~
The German League Cup final- Saturday, Aug 5 at 11am central on GolTV from Leipzig.
Werder Bremen v Bayern Munich
~ ~ ~ ~
Patrick Nathanson at the Financial Times with a feature story on a club that grows closer to my heart by the day - St Pauli of Hamburg.
~ ~ ~ ~
The English Championship Division starts their 06/07 season this weekend. You can see the whole line up of games here.
~ ~ ~ ~
Gregory Sica previews the Argentine Apertura season, which kicks off today, for Sports Illustrated.
-You can see Boca Juniors vs Banfield on Sunday live at 2pm central on FSC.
~ ~ ~ ~
Aging Costa Rican striker Paulo Wanchope has signed on with Rosario Central in Argentina.
~ ~ ~ ~
Former Celtic and Leicester manager Martin O'Neill will be announced today as the new man at Aston Villa. This is great for that club.

Hearts And Grafts News

From The Guardian's review of Frank Lampard's new book Totally Frank: Consider Lampard's reflections after a fortnight spent on Roman Abramovich's yacht. "I suppose people imagine that as a Premiership footballer, my life is quite special. I would agree, but those two weeks opened my eyes to another world." Ah, a millionaire yearning to be a billionaire ... is there anything more charmless?
~ ~ ~ ~
The Salt Lake Tribune broke the news that Eddie Pope will add his name to the growing list of USA players retiring from International play. Even though he was injured way too often, I have always loved this guys play.
-In addition to that announcement, Pope will also join what is quickly becoming another line, the one of players who will not be on the MLS All Star team v Chelsea on Saturday due to injury. (More on that game below.)
-US Soccer has a podcast of Eddie's official retirement announcement.
~ ~ ~ ~
Nearly criminally, Terry Cooke was again passed over for the All Star team as yes another DC United player, Fecundo Erpen was picked to replace Popey on the team.
-Juan Pablo García, midfielder for Chivas USA was also named to the All-Star team, but like his teammate Ante Razov will not play due to a his team having a game in LA the following day (which I have said many times before is a bad joke).
~ ~ ~ ~
Due to family health and personal reasons related to the current war and further political turmoil in his homeland, Colorado has agreed to sell midfielder, and huge du Nord favorite, Dedi Ben-Dayan to Israeli team Maccabi Netanya. Damn! I miss him already.
~ ~ ~ ~
Big Apple Soccer is reporting that Youri Djorkaeff and new Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena will have a sit down meeting to determine the players future with the team, but it will not happen before Arena officially take the team reigns from ABMOD on Aug 7.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jonathan Bornstein of Chivas USA was named MLS's July Player of the Month. He had a truly great month scoring 3 goals and playing his ass off wherever they put him on the field. He literally started at forward, left mid, and left back. Easily the current leader for Rookie Of The Year honors.
~ ~ ~ ~
US Soccer has a truly great video of FC Roma Dallas's mythical run in the open cup, and their game against LA on Tuesday night. Really well done! The ending has a rousing tribute to Roma by the LA Riot Squad! You must watch this.
~ ~ ~ ~
US Open Cup 4th Round scores:
DC United 2-1 Columbus
Los Angeles 2-0 Roma Dallas
Wilmington 1-2 New York - Wilmington tied the game in the 85th minute, only to see the Red Bulls win it a minute later! Kaboom. Match report from the Wilmington Star News.
Chicago v Kansas City - game postponed due to heavy rain and lightning - new date will be announced soon
Rochester 0-0 New England - NE win 5-4 on PK's - Rochester keeper Scott Vallow made 8 big saves (and 2 more during the shootout) to keep his team in it till the end. Match report from the Rochester Democrat And Chronicle.
Salt Lake 0-1 Colorado - Jacob Peterson with the games only goal. Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Houston 4-2 Carolina - Alejandro Moreno scored 2 for the winners. Match report by Bernardo Fallas for the Houston Chronicle.
Charleston 3-3 Dallas - Dallas win 5-3 on PK's away from home - Sounds like it was a wild one with Dallas down to 10 men and both teams scoring in over-time. Kenny Cooper bagged all 3 for Dallas. (Clarence "Bad Luck Charm" Goodson was the player ejected for Dallas). Match report from the Charleston Post And Courier.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Copa Libertadores second leg semi finals (with first leg scores included)-
Wednesday:
Sao Paulo 3-0 Guadalajara Chivas (1-0) - Sao Paulo roll to a 4-0 aggregate win over the Goats. Match report from Soccernet.
Thursday:
Internacional v Libertad (0-0) - see it on TV live at 7:30pm central time on Fox Sports en Espanol.
-The final will be played starting next Wednesday, Aug 9.
~ ~ ~ ~
Milk Cup
USA 2-2 Denmark - after leading 2-0 very early, the US U20 team let Denmark back into the match, settling for a draw. Luckily the one point still advances them to the final against Paraguay (who beat the hosts Northern Ireland 3-1) on Friday, to defend their title. Preston Zimmerman & Robbie Roger scored the goals for the USA boys.Match report from US Soccer.
-You will be able to see the Championship match live on the internet at 2pm central time via the BBC.
-USA defender Julian Valentin has been keeping a diary of the trip. (updated thanks to Mason16)
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round second leg matches (1st leg scores included)-
B36 0-5 Fenerbahce - Fener win 9-0 on agg
Dinamo Zagreb 5-2 Ekranas - Zabreg win 9-3 on agg
Spartak Moskva 0-0 Sheriff - after drawing 1-1 on agg, Spartak win on the away goal rule.
Rabotnicki 4-1 Debrecen - Rabot win 5-1 on agg
Steaua 3-0 Gorica - Steaua win 5-0 on agg
MyPa 2-2 Kobenhavn - Kobe win 4-2 on agg
Valerenga 2-2 Mlada Boleslav - Mlada win 5-3 on agg
Ruzomberok 3-1 Djurgarden - Ruzom win 3-2 on agg
Legia 2-0 Hafnarfjordur - Legia win 3-0 on agg
Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 Zurich - Salz win 3-2 on agg
Siroki Brijeg 0-0 Hearts - Hearts win 3-0 on agg
Dynamo Kyiv 4-0 Metalurgs - DK win 8-1 on agg
Crvena Zvezda 3-0 Cork -the team also known as Red Star Belgrade win 4-0 on agg
Sioni 0-2 Levski - Levski win 4-0 on agg
-The Third Qualifying Round matches will take place Aug 8/9 and Aug 22/23, see the draw here, to be followed by the group stages launching in mid-September.
~ ~ ~ ~
German League Cup - The top 6 teams from last seasons Bundesliga face off in this preseason tournament. No. 1 & 2 got a buy in the first round that saw 3 v 6 and 4 v 5, with those winners taking on the top two. Here are the semifinal results:
Werder Bremen 2-1 Hamburg
Bayern Munich 0-0 Schalke - Bayern wins 4-1 on pk's
-The final, Bayern Munich v Werder Bremen, will be played in Leipzig this Saturday, Aug 5 at 11am central. See it live on GolTV.
~ ~ ~ ~
Don't forget: MLS All Stars v Chelsea on Saturday from Chicago's Bridgeview Stadium. See it on ESPN TV at 5:30pm central time. You can also hear it on the radio in Chicago at WMVP1000am or online at ESPNRadio1000.com
-Andrea Canales talks to Chelsea bossman Morinho for Soccernet.
-Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated chats with Chelsea Cosmos midfielder Frank Lampard.
-Lamps, Snoop, and Drog (thanks James)
-Frank Dell'apa previews Chelsea's team for the match, at Soccernet too.
-Canada.com talks to Houston & Canuck midfield star Dwayne DeRosario about taking on the Blueboys of London.
~ ~ ~ ~
And on Sunday in LA it's a double header with Chivas USA v New England and Guadalajara Chivas v Barcelona at the Coliseum. See the first game live at 6pm central on Direct Kick and HDNet, with the second game at 8:30pm live on Fox Soccer Channel
~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle previews Barcelona's arrival for a match in his town on Aug 9 v America.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rochester still sneaking around looking at Salt Lake. Would they buy 'em and move 'em?
~ ~ ~ ~
The Soccer Times with a good Americans-In-Europe-(but almost entirely England)-Preseason roundup.

Greco Roman Tapir Hunting News

"The New York Red Bulls are expected to announce the signing of midfielder Dema Kovalenko today." - From the New York Times Jack Bell column today...... aaaaaaaaaahhh, everyone with healthy legs, run for the hills.
~ ~ ~ ~
ADDITION: Listen to the Soccer Hour with Glenn Davis tonight at 9pm central on 790 AM in Houston, or streaming live on the internet at ESPN790.com in the rest of the known world. Special Guest this week will be none other than Nacogdoches Clint Dempsey. You can call in to the show at 713-212-5790.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yes, Berlusconi has conned another group of people into giving him unearned, and totally undeserved, money. The powerful owner of AC Milan & former Italian prime minister will not be penalized by UEFA as his team WILL be allowed to play in the Champions League this year. Not cool. This sets a brutal precedent that if you fix matches, very little if anything of consequence will happen to you. Bad bad move on UEFA's part. This will now open the door for the other 3 clubs who were found to have fixed matches to have their punishments reduced even more then they already have been. Don't be surprised to see Juventus back in Serie A before the season starts.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tonight & tomorrow night it's the Copa Libertadores second leg semi finals (with first leg scores included)-
Wednesday:
Sao Paulo v Guadalajara Chivas (1-0) - see it on TV live at 7:30pm central time on Fox Sports en Espanol.
Thursday:
Internacional v Libertad (0-0) - see it on TV live at 7:30pm central time on Fox Sports en Espanol.
~ ~ ~ ~
It's been officially announced now that LA's Landon Donovan will not play in this weekends All-Star game v Chelsea due to a hamstring injury. Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni will also sit this one out with a sprained knee injury. They have been replaced on the roster and Colorado's Terry Cooke is NOT one of the players added. This is a shame. He has had a great season so far. Two Houston players were picked as replacements - midfielder Ricardo Clark and defender Eddie Robinson.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kasey Keller has been named Captain at his club team Borussia Monchengladbach. Fantastic.
~ ~ ~ ~
The USA U20 started off the 2006 Milk Cup in Northern Ireland in top fashion with a 3-0 win over Wales. US Soccer has the details. Jonathan Villanueva, Tony Beltran, & Dax McCarty scored for the Yanks, while Johann Smith had a PK saved by the Wales keeper.
-The USA was scheduled to meet Denmark today, and finish with a placement game on Friday.
~ ~ ~ ~
US Open Cup matches-
Last night:
DC 2-1 Columbus - Jamil Walker wins it in over time as DC out shoots Cowtown 32-10! Match report from the Washington Post.
Los Angeles 2-0 Roma Dallas - The little men are dead, and the big bad bully cup holders advance. It's pretty amazing that an amateur side made it this far. So, congrats, but adios amigos. Larry Morgan of the LA Daily News with a match report.
Tonight:
Wilmington v New York
Chicago v Kansas City
Rochester v New England
Salt Lake v Colorado
Houston v Carolina
Charleston v Dallas
~ ~ ~ ~
Michael Ballack went and got himself one of those closely shorn Jose Morinho haircuts, cuz he's what we call a "suck up". ChelseaFC.com has the word on this first two days with the team in America.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Salt Lake Desert News with a feature story on RSL's extremely promising 17 year old midfielder/defender Nik Besagno. I think this kid is going to be a star.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales on the MLS All Star team (and who should have been on the squad) for Soccernet. She does not share my belief that Terry Cooke should be there.
~ ~ ~ ~
Where, oh where, is John O'Brien? Remember him? Star of USA v Portugal in 02. Most gifted American player ever according to some smart people. Ajax prodigy. Now a Goat. Injuries kept him out of WC06, and he has barely played for Chivas USA this season. Luis Bueno at LA Soccer News checks in on Johnny O.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Bradley with his latest First XI at MLSnet, focusing on the All Star game.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jack Bell at the New York Times talks to USA & Everton keeper Tim Howard, plus a couple other hot topics.
~ ~ ~ ~
Danny Califf talks to Yanks Abroad about the start of a new season with his Danish club Aalborg.
~ ~ ~ ~
German Cup: I don't really know the significance of this cup, but I think it's a run-over from the end of last season. If I am not mistaken the top finishers last year compete in the next preseason. Any way, last night was the first semifinal:
Werder Bremen 2-1 Hamburg
And tonight is the second semifinal:
Bayern Munich v Schalke - see it live on tv at 1:30pm central on GolTV
~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on Ruud's new home: Van Nistelrooy finds another chance
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round, second leg matches (1st leg scores included)-
Yesterday:
B36 0-5 Fenerbahce - a punishing 9-nil agg win for the Turkish team
Today:
Dinamo Zagreb v Ekranas (4-1)
Spartak Moskva v Sheriff (1-1)
Rabotnicki v Debrecen (1-1)
Steaua v Gorica 2-0)
MyPa v Kobenhavn (0-2)
Valerenga v Mlada Boleslav (1-3)
Ruzomberok v Djurgarden (0-1)
Legia v Hafnarfjordur (1-0)
Red Bull Salzburg v Zurich (1-2)
Siroki Brijeg v Hearts (0-3)
Dynamo Kyiv v Metalurgs (4-1)
Crvena Zvezda v Cork (1-0)
Sioni v Levski (0-2)
-The Third Qualifying Round matches will take place Aug 8/9 and Aug 22/23, see the draw here, to be followed by the group stages launching in mid-September.

Frontal Windsurfing Mania News

Minimal stuff again today - Sorry.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tonight and tomorrow it's the US Open Cup 4th Round matches:
Tuesday:
DC United v Columbus
Los Angeles v Roma Dallas
Wednesday:
Wilmington v New York
Chicago v Kansas City
Rochester v New England
Salt Lake v Colorado
Houston v Carolina
Charleston v Dallas
~ ~ ~ ~
Luis Bueno of LA Soccer News talks to Chivas USA coach Bob Bradley who says LA should beat Roma Dallas "100 out of 100 times".
-And Cobi Jones will start at LEFT BACK for the Galaxy due to all of the teams injured defenders.
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Giase of the Newark Star-Ledger on the Red Bulls newest assistant coach John Harkes.
~ ~ ~ ~
Portland have re-signed their former star striker Alan Gordon on loan from Los Angeles for the remainder of the season. He's not going to help.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS have finally officially announced their return to Fox Soccer Channel. The first game was last Saturday night in KC v New England. They actually had announcers Sean Wheelock and Christopher Sullivan on site as opposed to their usual broadcasting technique of calling the game off a studio monitor (which is always a total joke). Good job FSC. Keep it up.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS have also become an official sponsor of the Big Soccer message boards. Cool idea. And way overdue.
~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round second leg matches (1st leg scores included)-
Today:
B36 0-5 Fenerbahce - a punishing 9-nil agg win for the Turkish team
Wednesday:
Dinamo Zagreb v Ekranas (4-1)
Spartak Moskva v Sheriff (1-1)
Rabotnicki v Debrecen (1-1)
Steaua v Gorica 2-0)
MyPa v Kobenhavn (0-2)
Valerenga v Mlada Boleslav (1-3)
Ruzomberok v Djurgarden (0-1)
Legia v Hafnarfjordur (1-0)
Red Bull Salzburg v Zurich (1-2)
Siroki Brijeg v Hearts (0-3)
Dynamo Kyiv v Metalurgs (4-1)
Crvena Zvezda v Cork (1-0)
Sioni v Levski (0-2)
-The Third Qualifying Round matches will take place Aug 8/9 and Aug 22/23, see the draw here, to be followed by the group stages launching in mid-September.
~ ~ ~ ~
Inter Milan have signed French midfielder Partrick Viera from Juventus.
~ ~ ~ ~
And I know you are all going to be stunned to find out that Italy have postponed the beginning of the Serie A season due to the turmoil surrounding the match fixing punishments that are being challenged in the courts. What a mess of a league.