Some Of The Best Ever News

Utah Senate President John Valentine to his fellow politicians on trying to help build a soccer stadium in Salt Lake City for RSL: "I'm going to ask you to ask your kids and your grandkids about the issue. These kids all grew up playing soccer. These kids, when they get a chance to go to a soccer game, it's like us going to an American football game. It's different. It's a different generation."

The upcoming Walker Art Center screenings of the movie Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait has been a huge success in presale tickets. So much so, that they have added another showing at 9:15 pm on Saturday. Get your tickets now or miss out! (See links in the right hand column.)
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Adam Spangler of the great site This Is American Soccer contacted he a while back and asked me if I would be interested in doing do an interview with him about du Nord etc. I agreed and the results are now up. It was great talking to another fan who absolutely loves the game, but has other really strong interests outside of that. Most of my soccer friends are this same way and it's what gives me a better liking for who they are as people beyond the game. I hope you enjoy my blabbing, and tons of thanks to Adam who does a great job with his site.
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Team USA gets ready for Mexico on Wednesday night:
-US Soccer does an interview via podcast with USA coach Bob Bradley and a couple of players!
-Video from the last day of USA camp before they dead to Arizona. And a second video of the teams travel day.
-Read the Team USA daily blog.
-Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle previews the two teams new coaches.
-Allen Hopkins of Soccernet visits training camp and gives us his feedback.
-Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews the experienced USA players who will work with the youngsters for Team USA.
-A third Soccernet article today, this one from Andrea Canales, looks at Bob Bradley and his interim tag v Mexico.
-Canales also talks to 2 USA defenders Chris Albright - AND - Brian Namoff about the big game ahead. From LA Soccer News.
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Who knew? Houston & USA midfielder Ricardo Clark got married between the two USA camps this past month. Congrats to Rico & the Mrs.!!
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe talks to New England defender Michael Parkhurst about his time in the USA training camp.
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Dell'apa also says MLS turned down Celtic's $2 million offer for New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph. Good.
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LA Soccer News has a Q & A with Los Angeles Galaxy coach Frank Yallop.
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Last year Columbus had 241 goalkeepers on their roster. What will happen in 07? Will any of them last more than about 3 games,? Will they all get injured? Or just plain stink? From the Columbus Dispatch.
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DC has the opposite problem at keeper. They have a proven starter, but no one else. From the Washington Post
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The great Buzz Carrick who covers Dallas via 3rd Degree with his newest column: Top Ten Things I KNOW To Be True
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KC opened their training camp today! Good for them. I am really glad they have a new home. It should be interesting to see what the new owners, managers and coaches come up with for 07.
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Salt Lake gets underway today as well. But for now I am going to hold off on commenting or linking to any stories on that mess.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun continues to scream for that Latino influence to take over American soccer as he writes about Paul Cuadros's story of recent immigrant soccer in America in his book "A Home On the Field."
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Let's check in with our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - got another start for the light blue side of Manchester, went the full 90 but lost to Reading 0-2. Damn.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - play at home v Burghausen today.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started in the center of defense and played a great game in a 2-1 win over Newcastle. He had several big headers on goal during set pieces, and on the other end of the field he cleared a powerful shot by fellow American Oguchi Onyewu off the line.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started and went 67 minutes in a 1-1 draw at Groningen.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance at right back and his team demolished Aachen on the road 1-4!
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not dress for his teams 0-2 win at Man City.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - hard to keep writing this, but Jay played 90 minutes in a losing effort at home, 0-1 to Bolton.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on again as a late sub in his teams 2-1 victory over Newcastle.
-Benny Feilhaber - Hamburg - did not dress in the first game for his new coach. Not good.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - played as usual and beat Sheff Utd 2-1.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the whole match, did a great job on several key saves and grabbed yet another clean sheet, beating Manchester City 0-2.
-Tim Howard - Everton - shut out Liverpool in the derby as the game ended 0-0
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - Keller's team got back on the good foot with a 0-2 win at Bielefeld. Of course Kasey went the distance.
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - did not dress due to a hamstring injury. Leeds lost again, 2-1 to Norwich.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - went the distance and scored the game winner off an amazingly powerful run & cross by teammate Papa Bouba Diop. Defeated Newcastle 2-1.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Newcastle - got his first start for his new team and looked very good. Sadly they lost to Fulham 2-1. Gooch had a powerful shot on goal during a corner kick, but it was blocked off the line by fellow American Carlos Bocanegra.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - played a really strong match, all 90 minutes, but lost at Aston Villa 1-0.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - play at home v Burghausen today.
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Yanks Abroad has a match report from Fulham v Newcastle. With post game quotes.
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Newcastle coach Glenn Roeder likes what he sees from Onyewu, and wants to hear more from him on the field. From Soccernet.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated wants to see Americans in other leagues rather than all trying to play in England.
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Costa Rica beat Trinidad & Tobago 4-0 in a friendly yesterday down in Alajuela CR. Goals were scored by Harold Wallace, 2 from Alonso Solis, and Ronaldo Fonseca.
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Luis Bueno with his JORNADA 3 REWIND (review of round 3) of the FMF. Surprising Atlas is at the top. From LA Soccer News.
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It looks like Adidas is serious about coming after teams from North America. On Friday they announced that they are the new supplier to Mexico.
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Italy. What are we gonna do with ya? Obviously last springs match fixing scandal was not the big problem, but only the tip of the iceberg. And the situation was not helped by the fact that all the teams involved got off with a wrist slap. OK, maybe a tiny bit more than that, but considering the crimes I would say it was mild. Then the national team won the World Cup and all was forgiven. Wrongo. The violence this past week is sad beyond belief. Another person had died outside a match in a skirmish with police. This time it was a cop, so it will be taken much more seriously. They should have gotten serious when a fan was killed a couple of months ago in a brawl, but this is what it takes to get authorities to get down to action. So all league games have been put on hold for now. The national team has followed this edict and canceled their Wednesday friendly v Romania. It seems to me though that this is not an attitude limited to calcio in Italy. The whole of their society seems to be bathed in it. Sad really.
Commentary from:
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune: Soccer again confronts fan violence
-Peter Kiefer of the International Herald Tribune: Italian soccer remains in a void
-The Observer: Ultras pull the strings as Italy descends into chaos
-Patrick Barclay of the Sunday Telegraph: Bravo for Italians' contrition
-Robert Gotta of Soccernet: More than words needed to halt hooligans
-The word is starting to circulate that stadiums will be closed if proper security is not in place. This could mean some teams play behind closed doors or have their home games moved somewhere else.
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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrggghhh! So I watched some of Manchester United's beat down of Tottenham on Sunday, and while I must admit Cristiano Ronaldo is becoming one of, if not the, best players in the world, he took another dive in the box to draw a penalty. I really hate this crap. If I was team captain Gary Neville, and I am glad I am not the Rat Face, I would take Ronaldo out behind a large building and have a long hard talk with him. And maybe give him a Bobby Knight style smack to the chin while we were chatting. "Look at me! Look me in the eyes. Now listen up. This is unacceptable behavior son! Knock it off, or I will knock it off for you! Got it? Good! Now let's go win the league in style!"
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Two amazing things happened in Spain this past weekend:
1. Levante beat Real Madrid for the first time EVER! The Real fans want coach Capello's head!
2. Samuel Etoo made his return to the field for Barcelona after many months out with a knee injury. He played 5 minutes.
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Brian Oliver of the Observer has a great interview with Chelsea's Ivorian striker Didier Drogba. DD's life is great, except for one problem, his son wears Thierry Henry's Arsenal shirt!
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The Observer also has a very (I mean VERY) long story on Oakland A's GM Billy Beane's book Moneyball and it's effect on English soccer managers. They also talk about other "brainiacs" involved in American sports and their influence on English sports.
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Reports out of Germany say Australia is the latest country to chase after Jurgen Klinsmann to fill their national team coaching position.
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Jonathan Woodgate has made his loan from Real Madrid to Middlesbrough permanent. I saw an interview with him last week and he talks like he has marbles in his mouth. Speak up man! We wanted to hear what you had to say!
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John Carew scored a big goal for Aston Villa in his first start since he was swapped for Milan Baros with Lyon.
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Dutchman Jos Luhukay will be Kasey Keller and Gladbach's coach at least until the end of the season.
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Singapore beat Thailand 3-2 on aggregate to win their second straight Asean Football Championship.
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Ireland will play two friendly's in the USA in late May. On the 23rd they play Ecuador at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, and on the 26th they will play Bolivia at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.
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You will be able to see the Brazil v Portugal friendly on Tues at 2pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel. Heads up: Ronaldinho is injured and will not play.
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FSC will also be showing England v Spain on Wed at 2pm central.
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Gregory Sica at Sports Illustrated previews the upcoming Argentine Clausura. He picks River Plate to take it.
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The last of the Copa Libertadores qualifying matches are this week:
Tue Feb 6
-Danubio v Velez Sarsfield - second leg - Velez leads 3-0
-Liga Dep. Universitaria v Tacuary - second leg - tied 1-1
Wed Feb 7
-Santos v Blooming - second leg - Santos leads 1-0
-Parana v Cobreloa - second leg - Parana leads 2-0
Thur Feb 8
-Deportes Tolima v Deportivo Tachira - second leg - Tolima leads 2-1
-The group stage starts Feb 13!