Blinding Sunset News

Chivas USA coach Preki comments on the status of midfielder Amado Guevara with the team: "I have a vision of where this club is going and he's not part of it."

MLS schedule this week (all times central):
-Thu May 3
DC 1-1 New England - DC goal by Jamie Moreno (PK). NE goal by Andy Dorman.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post. - Hey at least DC got a point.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of The Boston Globe. - The Rev's are pissed off about the officiating.
Post-game analysis by Ian Plenderleith at the US Players Assoc.
-Sat May 5
KC v Columbus - Noon on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v New York - 8pm on HDNet
Colorado v Houston - 8:30pm on FSC
-Sun May 6
DC v Chivas - 2pm on Telefutura
New England v Chicago - 4pm on Direct Kick
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My MLS game notes - DC v NE:
-A couple of those ESPN pre-game New England player intros were pretty damn funny. Matt Reis was doing some bizarro grinning freak look, while Taylor Twellman stood hidden behind Pat Noonan doing some very odd cheerleader routine. Wow.
-DC tried playing with 4 in the back. Namoff at right back was at least a good move.
-DC's Fred2 went down with an injury, furiously rubbing his leg, so NE's Reis walked up to him and squirted water on it. Excellent irony.
-DC forward Jaime Moreno was not happy about starting the game on the bench. His reaction was this: "I can't say that on TV."
-Moreno did start the second half and drew & converted a PK for his teams only goal.
-NE defender James Riley had a terrible game at left back. He committed all kinds of reckless fouls, was called for non-fouls, knocked down two DC strikers in the box in almost identical fashion, only to have one called a PK and the other a yellow to the DC player for diving. Holy guacamole.
-Riley was also pretty out of hand with his screaming at Emilio for the supposed dive - which it wasn't. Several folks were over at my house watching the game and the consensus was that MLS has to take a page out of the NFL & NBA play book and start slamming players for this idiotic type of behavior.
-One guy at my house, Steve K, made an excellent comment on NE winger Khano Smith's shooting ability: "He's got that high & wide stuff mastered." Brilliant! (of course all my friends are brilliant)
-Ben Olsen was made captain of DCU for last nights game. I think he should have been given the armband a long time ago, like, the day after Etchevery retired, or maybe even before that.
-And Steve Ralston is a great choice for captain of New England.
-After a fairly uneventful first half it only took NE 30 seconds to score in the second half.
-Twellman's yellow shoes again provided the power on the goal. He did not score it, but he took a great shot which DC keeper Troy Perkins deflected right to Andy Dorman who put it away for the point.
-Oh, and Moreno was wearing those yellow shoes too. The numbers are growing. Maybe I should start a list of who is wearing em.
-The red card handed to NE's Shalrie Joseph was a fookin joke man! Yes, it was PROBABLY a foul, but in my opinion not yellow, and certainly not even in the same zip code as red. When I saw the ref flash red I figured it was a studs up tackle. Nope. Fair as Jennifer Connolly's skin.
-Fred2 later went down with a real injury, groin strain.
-Did ya see Stumpy Joe Franchino makes his return to the field for New Eng. He has been out dealing with personal issue since before the season started. We wish him all the best.
-Olsen at one point late in the game tried to goad Riley into a second yellow. Nice try vet.
-Crazy wild surge in the dying minutes from DC trying to steal the win. Olsen put a header off the cross bar, Moreno screamed for a hand ball, and Reis one handed away a great Emilio shot. What an ending!
-After the game Riley said Moreno gave him a wink after drawing the PK. Hahahahaha. Jaime, you crafty dog you!
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Andrew Hush at Soccer New England writes about the refereeing in the DC v NE game, which he thought was atrocious. My problem was how terribly inconsistent it got. One knock down in the box was a PK, while another was a yellow for a dive?
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Can someone tell me why 3 MLS teams, LA, Dallas & Toronto, are not playing this weekend, when all of them have their own stadium? Maybe its bull riding time again!
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The word from Toronto is that Paulo Nagamura was dealt to Chivas USA cuz he really wanted to be back in Los Angeles. Fair enough. Good job by TFC for making a guy happy.
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The MLS Players Union has posted the salaries of every player in the league, on their own site (I guess I didn't even know the union had their own site).
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times on the Chivas USA - Amado Guevara disaster.
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Andrea Canales of the LA Soccer News talks to Guevara's agent about his players mood and options.
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The latest rumor has MLS selling Guevara to a club in his native Honduras.
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Some stories from the local papers on the Real Salt Lake coaching change and its after effects:
-One and Two from the Deseret Morning News
-One and Two and Three and Four from the Salt Lake Tribune.
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First place New York will be in Salt Lake City this weekend for coach Kreis's debut. Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog says that there is a chance Juan Pablo Angel could make his Red Bulls debut too!
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Bob Luder at the Kansas City Star with a looks at the good start to Eddie Johnson's 2nd season in KC. (Notice I didn't write great, cuz he hasn't been. He has had enough quality chances on goal to have 7 or 8 goals already.)
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The US Players Assoc has a Q & A with Kansas City first year winger Michael Harrington. MH is off to a nice start, and he sure has some speed.
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Defender Shavar Thomas has moved across the hallway, from the Los Angeles Galaxy to Chivas USA.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews all the weekend's MLS matches and gives his opinion on Jason Kreis as a coach.
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Hey waddaya know, Tino Palace is back at MLSnet with his latest edition of The Clean Sheet: Sticking To The Plan. For his latest efforts Tino was paid with a lovely framed and signed photo of England's Queen Mum, and a one year subscription to Modern Ranch Hand magazine (he is a known amateur historian in the field).
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Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog says DC will "announce a formal partnership with Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro." OK then.
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USL First Division games this weekend:
Friday
-Carolina v Puerto Rico
-Rochester v Vancouver
Saturday
-Atlanta v Carolina
-Miami v Montreal
-Seattle v Portland
Sunday
-Charleston v Rochester
-Minnesota v Vancouver
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Jesse Erdmann's Week 4 First Division Power Rankings from Blue Sky Soccer.
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CONCACAF U17 World Championship Group B Qualifying Tournament from Kingston Jamaica. Here is the matches & scores:
-Costa Rica became the first team to qualify for the Youth World Cup from this group.
Sat April 28
-Costa Rica 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago - goals by Jorge Castro & Diego Brenes.
-Jamaica 0-3 Canada - goals by Daniel Tannous, Jarek Whiteman & William Hyde
Mon April 30
-Canada 0-0 Costa Rica
-Trinidad & Tobago 0-3 USA - goals by Alex Nimo (2) & Ellis McLoughlin, who was also red carded.
Wed May 2
-USA 2-1 Canada - USA goals by Billy Schuler & Mykell Baytes. Canada goal by Cedric Carrie.
-Jamaica 0-1 Costa Rica - goal by Esteban Lunar.
Fri May 4
-Canada v Trinidad & Tobago
-Jamaica v USA - 7pm
Sun May 6
-USA v Costa Rica - 5pm
-Jamaica v Trinidad & Tobago
-Standings (points - games played - team - goal differential)
7 - 3 - Costa Rica +3
6 - 2 - USA +4
4 - 3 - Canada +2
0 - 2 - Jamaica -3
0 - 2 - Trinidad & Tobago -5
-The top 3 from this group will advance to the finals in Korea in late summer.
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The USA can qualify tonight with a win, or a draw in the Canada v Trinidad & Tobago game played right before theirs.
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Official USA U17 team blog.
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The Marin Independent Journal in Northern California catches up with former Team USA stalwart Hugo Perez. He is doing many things these days including assistant coach of the First Division's new California Victory from San Francisco.
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Well, Eddie Lewis and his Leeds team are history now. The were still mathematically not elimidated from the English Championship division until yesterday when the business side of the club was put into what the British call "Administration" which is a variation on what Americans call "Bankruptcy". The FA has a strict rule about this and any club filing for financial protection is automatically deducted 10 points. Meaning, just like that, Leeds are relegated to the League One aka the third division.
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Yanks Abroad talks to Frankie Simek of Sheffield Wednesday who comments on his teams season, and the plight of fellow American Lewis.
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Mexican Playoffs - 10 teams qualify and the bottom 4 of them playing home & away with winners joining top 6.
Sat May 5 - second leg matches (with first leg scores included):
-Atlas v Morelia (1-1)
-San Luis v Santos Laguna (1-0)
-The other 6 teams awaiting match-ups are:
America
Cruz Azul
Guadalajara
Pachuca
UAG
UANL
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Copa Libertadores:
-This week begins the round of 16 in the knock out stages.
1st Legs:
-Wed May 2-
Caracas 2-2 Santos
America 3-0 Colo Colo
Defensor Sporting 3-0 Flamengo
Sao Paulo 1-0 Gremio
Boca Juniors 3-0 Velez Sarsfield
-Thu May 3-
Parana 1-2 Libertad
Nacional 3-2 Necaxa
Cucuta Deportivo 5-1 Toluca
-Second leg matches next week.
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UEFA Cup semifinal scores:
-Werder Bremen 1-2 Espanyol - Esp advance 5-1 on aggregate. WB goal by Hugo Almeida. Espanyol goals by Ferran Corominas & Jesus Maria Lacruz.
-Sevilla 2-0 Osasuna - Sevilla advance to defend their title 2-1 on agg. Goals by Luis Fabiano & Renato.
-The all-Spanish final, Sevilla v Espanyol, is May 16 in Glasgow.
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Three of the big Euro league races are still really tight. Here are the weekend's matches and standings:
-La Liga: -
Matches:
Barcelona at Real Sociedad
Sevilla at Real Madrid
Real Madrid v Sevilla
Valenica at Deportivo La Coruna
Zaragoza v Racing Santander
Standings:
62 Barcelona
61 Sevilla
60 Real Madrid
56 Valencia
54 Zaragoza
(6 left to play in Spain)
-Bundesliga: - Big move for Stuttgart as their opponents at the top all lost, and Bayern Munich were eliminated from the race.
Matches:
Schalke v Nurnberg
Stuttgart v Mainz
Werder Bremen at Hertha Berlin
Standings:
62 Schalke
61 Stuttgart
60 Werder Bremen
(3 left to play in Germany)
-England: - Chelsea choked again with a draw.
Matches:
Manchester United at Manchester City
Chelsea at Arsenal
Standings:
85 Man United
80 Chelsea
(3 games left to play)
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Ecuadorean striker Agustin Delgado who was being chased by the New York Red Bulls, but had been banned for one year by FIFA for fighting when he played at LDU Quito, has had the suspension shortened to 6 months. Will NYRB still have room to add him? Another MLS club maybe? He is kinda nuts, but he is also a quality goal scorer.
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Hey MLS, you wanna hire someone who knows what they hell they are doing when it comes to youth development??? The guy who has led the Liverpool Academy for the last 20 years just quit his job. Why did he quit, cuz he says head coach Rafa Benitez has been meddling with the youth teams. (Sounds like sour grapes to me.) This dude could be a gold mine. Hire him, and put him in charge of helping all the MLS youth teams get their act together.
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The Manchester Evening News talks to Ousmane Dabo of Man City who took a pretty serious looking beat down from teammate Joey Barton. Unpretty picture included.
-I think wisely Joey Barton, who has been suspended indefinitely by Man City, has taken his pinhead and left the country to find some solitude till shit blows over a little. The English tabloids have said he has "Fled The Country." Of course they said that.
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Word from Italy today is that my hero, the ONE AND ONLY Ronaldo, has torn a thigh muscle in training and may be done for the season. No, he was doing great. No. Damn it all.
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Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian says that hand-balling eight-balling Argentine midget called Maradona is NOT down for the count!
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Lastly, Soccer America has the story of a "miracle" header. A 57 yard header for a goal!