Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Oh Goody Goody Gumdrop News

You know you have hit the big time when you are dead center in this weeks Walgreens advertising flyer! (thanks to Christine for this one)

The draw for the Copa America will happen this evening. I will get you details as soon as they are available. Apparently some matches have already been decided and US Soccer has announced that the USA will open v Argentina on June 28. Stay tuned.
-Other news we know so far: Argentina, Brazil and the hosts Venezuela will be seeded in the three groups. And, two other matches have been set - Brazil v Mexico on June 27 & Venezuela v Bolivia on June 26.
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Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet with an amazing article on a forgotten hero of American soccer. His name is Giles Heron and he played for Celtic in 1951. Yes 55 years ago. And he was black. What a story! And Heron is only one of several players talked about in this article. Thanks for telling it Frank. But answer me this question - Why is this story buried on the ESPN Black History Month site and not on the very front of their Soccernet page?
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It's official! Tim Howard is no longer a member of Manchester United. He has been signed permanently by Everton where he was been on loan this season. Great for Tim-may!
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Steve Goff at the Washington Post with a story on another young player trying to make the DC United roster - Guy-Roland Kpene.
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Does Dallas's newest signing, defensive midfielder Adrian Seriuox have a bum knee that needs surgery? 3rd Degree with the story.
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Missed this from last weekend - Dallas's new coach Steve Morrow drops a note containing his preseason thoughts on the FC Dallas Updates weblog. Again I say,I really hope they keep this blog rolling all year long.
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Phil Collin at the Long Beach Press-Telegram talks to Landon Donovan on his return to LA Galaxy training camp.
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James Edwards at the Deseret Morning News with a report on the state of the Real Salt Lake defense.
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Luis Bueno at LA Soccer News says Miguel Zepeda, formerly a star at Atlas in Mexico, is in training with Chivas USA looking for a spot on the team.
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Three more blog entries from Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer, coming from the New York Red Bulls preseason training camp in Bradenton Florida: Tuesday, Wednesday Part 1, and Wednesday Part 2.
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And Lewis spends some time talking to the Red Bulls newest keeper Nick Rimando.
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As both New England and Los Angeles will train in Bermuda next week, that country's two daily papers preview the visits: The Bermuda Sun - and - The Royal Gazette.
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Jack Bell at the New York Times with a story on Colorado owner Stan Kroenke, who's real first name is Enos. As in, "Enos, you dipstick!" So I guess we can see why he might go by Stan instead. But truth be told, Enos is a waaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler name.
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Mark Connolly at the US Players Assoc with his take on the latest USA soccer news, and a few tidbits of his own.
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Steven Wells latest rant for the Guardian centers on the story from the New York Times a couple weeks back about the new American immigrants using soccer to fight their racist little southern town, and then seeing Hollywood step in to snap up the story for big bucks. Swells uncovers the real story.
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Soccer America with a list of the top 10 MLS total goal scorers since 2002:
75 - Taylor Twellman
74 - Carlos Ruiz
58 - Jeff Cunningam
53 - Ante Razov
49 - Landon Donovan
45 - Edson Buddle
42 - Jason Kreis
39 - Jaime Moreno
36 - Brian Ching
33 - Dwayne De Rosario
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Andrew Rogers at Soccer 365 with a cool article on young American goalkeeper Chris Konopka who is on trial at Charlton in England.
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US Soccer has video highlights and exclusive postgame interviews with Lando & Jimmy C from the USA 2-0 Mexico game last week. This is fairly late in coming, but I can watch it all day long!
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Now we know why Houston midfielder Stuart Holden left the USA U23 team that is heading to Japan on Friday for a series of friendly matches. He injured his left hamstring. From the Houston Chronicle.
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And here is an update on the training sessions from that USA U23 team in California. Photos too. (Including this shocking picture of Jamie Watson going to ground from a "real hard tackle".)
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Maria Burns at Soccernet checks in on Freddy's lil brother Fro.
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A nice photo of Mia Hamm in her motherly state. Very sweet. (thank you Kelly for sending this)
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CONCACAF Champions Cup started yesterday - but for some reason FSC did not show the game last night. They will be showing it tonight at 10pm central time. It was on their schedule last night, but we saw that exciting Middlesbrough v Bristol City FA Cup replay instead (seriously, it was very exciting, but not what I wanted to see).
-W Connection v Guadalajara Chivas - first leg - I am going to place the score here (WC 2-1 Chivas) in white type so you have to highlight the text to read the score, and go to the link. That way you can watch it tonight and still be surprised if you so choose.
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Copa Libertadores - the group stage is off and running!
Tue Feb 13 scores-
-Defensor Sporting 3-0 Gimnasia
-Emelec 0-1 Velez Sarsfield
-Cucuta Deportivo 0-0 Deportes Tolima
-Game summaries from Reuters.
Wed Feb 14 matches-
-Audax Italiano v Sal Paulo
-Real Potosi v Flamengo
-Bolivar v Boca Juniors
Thu Feb 15 matches-
-Maracaibo - Parana
-Cerro Porteno - Gremio
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Three FA Cup fourth round replays are on tap yesterday & today. The 5th round will be held this coming weekend.
Last night-
Norwich 3-2 Blackpool - the game went to extra time after being tied 2-2 in regulation. The winner gets Chelsea in the next round.
Middlesbrough 2-2 Bristol City - Middles win 5-4 on penalty kicks. Yakubu missed a PK late in the game that could have won in for Boro, then missed his spot kick at the end too! (How much did the BC fans pay him to miss that badly?) A truly bad night for him that ends well thanks to his teammates. The winner gets West Brom in the next round.
Today-
Bolton v Arsenal - The winner gets Blackburn in the next round.
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UEFA Cup. Round of 32, Knock out stage. First leg matches. Today and tomorrow. See the line ups here.
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The fact that the riot & killing of a police officer two weeks ago in Catania Italy happened outside the stadium has not stopped the Italian federation from punishing the club. Catania will play all home games for the rest of this season behind closed doors or at neutral venues. They were also fined a relatively small amount of money, approx $60,000 dollars US. Word has it they will sue. Gee, great.
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Looks like Ronaldo's latest babe is a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model. He goes through babes faster than I go through cases of Schweppes Ginger Ale. Fast. (thanks to JF for sending us this link - JF said "Hooray Beer") I say Hooray Bikini's! Hooray Brazil! Hooray Feijoada!
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Finally, the new FIFA rankings are out today. Italy is the new #1. How that happened, I don't know. They should have been #1 right after the World Cup, but weren't. And they haven't played all that great since then, leading one to wonder how they climbed to the top now. It's all so freakin' odd. Anyway, in news closer to home, the USA beats Denmark & Mexico to move up 3 spots to #28, while Mexico loses and still climbs 2 spots to #19. Even odder yet Denmark loses to the USA, and Honduras, while drawing with El Salvador then climbs 5 spots to #18. Its a joke right? Obviously. But really, who cares. Well, I guess we all do in some perverse egotistical way. The rankings that I have grown to like is the Elo system. The same outfit that ranks world Chess Masters. Let's check them out today: Denmark drops from 5 to 12, Mexico drops from 17 to 19, and the US climbs from 23 to 20. That's better. Brazil are still #1, with France #2 and Italy #3. Not so sure about that.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"You know you have hit the big time when you are dead center in this weeks Walgreens advertising flyer!"

It has begun..

9:31 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Well at least now we know American advertisers consider Beckham's selling power to be at least as high as Queen Latifah's.

10:44 AM  

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