Monday, May 14, 2007

Feliz Dia da las Madres News

Video Highlights of the first Toronto goal, win, red card, flesh bite, and seat cushion tossing contest! Glorious all! And, another view of the first goal - from a handheld in the cheap seats.

~and~

Clint Mathis of New York described his team's performance on Sunday v Colorado to Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer like this: "It was almost like we were brain dead out there." Well, Clint oughta know what that looks like. He has pulled a quite a few of those days in the past couple years.


MLS weekend scores:
Toronto 3-1 Chicago - Tor goals by Danny Dichio, Kevin Goldthwaite & Maurice Edu. Chic goal by Chris Rolfe.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail.
Columbus 1-1 Chivas USA - 'lumbus goal by Ned Grabavoy. Chiv goal by Ante Razov (#101 for him).
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Kansas City 1-2 Dallas - KC goal by Michael Harrington. Dal goals by Kenny Cooper & Juan Carlos Toja.
Match report from myself and Paul Demko for Top Drawer Soccer.
Match report by Bob Luder of Kansas City Star.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Los Angeles 2-3 New England - LA goals by Kyle Martino & Tyrone Marshall (both set up by Landon Donovan). NE goals by Taylor Twellman (2) & Adam Cristman.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match Report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
New York 0-1 Colorado - goal by Niko Hernandez.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
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With no surprise at all that Taylor Twellman has been named MLS Player of the Week.
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The goals and win in Toronto brought with it a shower of round white seat cushion that had been given away to all in attendance. As soon as the game started you could see them flying on to the field like frisbee's. But once Danny Dichio scored the teams first ever goal, it was like a rain storm of the things. It happened again after the next two goals! TSN Canada with the story.
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More reaction to the Tor v Chic game and all the antics:
-Match report from MLSnet.
-Slam Sports article on Ronnie O'Brien's debut for TFC.
-Despite the win, Metro Canada says there are still questions about the teams strike corp.
-Post-game analysis from the CBC.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo's two Canadians are looking forward to their first game in TO on Wednesday night.
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Are You Loyal? has a great Q & A with former RSL general manager Steve Pastorino! (thanks to Luke for sending me this)
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I got an email from Adam Spangler of This American Soccer this morning. He was at the New York v Colorado game yesterday and said it was the "worst pro game of any kind I have ever been to". Oof. Here is his story of the game and peripherals.
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Sky Sports is reporting that Los Angeles has signed white haired Portuguese defender Abel Xavier who recently left Middlesbrough. He is a bit of a nut job as well.
-The word from LA Soccer News is that this is a done deal, but he will not be available to them until June 15.
-A poster calling himself Just Slim on Big Soccer says he is a close friend of Xavier and writes about the defender in depth.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times says the Xavier deal will happen in mid June, and also, that LA is trying to make a deal with Dallas to re-attain Carlos Ruiz!
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Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog says DC United is planning to put together a Marco Etcheverry tribute match.
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Check out this awesome picture of Ante Razov in action, taken by Andy Mead!
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Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch takes a look at the Crew's new Argentine Guillermo Barros Schelotto, whose arrival has not caused a fan eruption in Ohio's capital city.
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And Shawn Mitchell at the Col Disp with a story on Latino fans in Columbus.
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NYRB midfielder Claudio Reyna missed Sunday's game due to a groin muscle strain.
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LA Soccer News has a Q & A with Reyna.
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Kristian Dyer of Soccernet gives a thumb sideways to Juan Pablo Angel's MLS debut.
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Amado Guevara's MLS run is officially over now as he has been loaned out to his former club Montagua in his native Honduras.
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James Edwards at the Deseret Morning News talks to RSL new head man Jason Kreis after his first two games in charge. He is still alive, at least.
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Steve Davis with his weekend MLS match roundup from Soccernet.
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Soccernet's MLS Power Rankings.
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The US Players Assoc does a Q & A with ESPN announcer Rob Stone.
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I came across this very cool map of the USA & Canada with all the MLS & USL First Division teams marked off! Its pretty cool.
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Former Dallas coach Colin Clarke says he wants a chance to replace Lawrie Sanchez as coach of Northern Ireland.
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Here is some of the best/worst funniest/saddest gossip in weeks - George Best's son Calum wants to play in MLS. He has been busy getting in shape by partying with Lindsey Lohan. Excellent. Here is how I would greet him: "So, you are who's son? Oh him. Ok. Step right up ma'boy. You seem to have the pedigree we desire, so here's the big big cash. This is not a hard job, just knock it around a bit. Us Americans can't tell the good from the bad anyway. By the way, we love you already."
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USL First Division scores from the weekend:
Portland 2-2 Seattle
Puerto Rico 1-1 Montreal
Charleston 2-0 Miami
Atlanta 1-2 Carolina
California 1-3 Rochester
Seattle 1-3 Vancouver
Portland 2-0 Rochester

USL First Division standings:
11 Vancouver
8 Atlanta
8 Montreal
8 Rochester
7 Portland
6 Puerto Rico
6 Carolina
5 Charleston
5 Seattle
3 Miami
2 Minnesota
1 California
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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 - started in his last game at Man City and went 81 minutes before being subbed out of a 2-1 loss at Tottenham.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the distance of a home loss to Hansa Rostock 1-2.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started and went 90 minutes but lost 3-1 at Middlesbrough on the last day of the season.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - came on as a 60th minute sub, but lost 4-0 (4-1 on aggregate) in the Eredivisie Champions League spot playoffs.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - started and played the whole match beating Horsens 1-4.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full 90 in a loss at Arminia Bielefeld 3-1.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - started and played 78 minutes of a 1-0 win over Orebro.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - again left out of the team, as they drew 1-1 at home to Newcastle in their final Premiership game for the near future. DeMerit has been given the last month off to rest his tired bones.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - got his first ever EPL start, and went the distance too, but the team lost 3-1 at Middlesbrough.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - started as always, but gave up a 1 goal lead three different times, eventually settling for a 3-3 draw at home to Reading.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - got the start in goal, but went out injured in the 21st minute. The team drew 3-3 at Blackburn. The news got worse though when it was found out that he had broken 3 bones in his hand, suffered when he collided with a Blackburn player on the play leading to the first goal surrendered.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - came on as a 76th minute sub of a 2-2 draw at Alemannia Aachen.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started as usual and went 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw at Chelsea. The teams 6th place finish earns them a spot in next seasons UEFA Cup.
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - was released from the club in midweek. No further plans announced yet.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 90 minutes but lost 3-1 at Middlesbrough on the last day of the season.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Newcastle - came on as a 59th minutes sub in his last performance for the team, a 1-1 draw at Watford.
-Heath Pearce - Nordsjaelland - started and played the whole game as his team beat Vejle 3-0.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on as a 28th minute sub for an injured teammate, as his squad hung on for the relegation saving win at Old Trafford. Who would have figured that! West Ham won 6 of their last 8 matches to stay up.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - came on as a sub in the 90th minute of a 1-2 home loss to Stabaek.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - did not dress due to injury as his team lost 1-2 to Hansa Rostock.
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Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Watford defender Jay DeMerit who did not play the last few weeks for his team, since they were officially relegated, but he is healthy and looking forward to next season.
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The USA U20 team will play Argentina on Wednesday night in Rochester. Head coach Thomas Rongen previews the match via US Soccer podcast. Download or listen.
-Here is an official update on the match.
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Mexican Playoffs - The next round match-ups last night & tonight:
-first leg
UANL 1-3 Guadalajara
UAG 0-1 Cruz Azul
Atlas 3-3 America
Santos 1-1 Pachuca
-second leg
Guadalajara 3-2 UANL - Guada advance 6-3 on aggregate.
Cruz Azul 1-0 UAG - Cruz adv 2-0 on agg.
America 4-1 Atlas - America adv 7-4 on agg.
Pachuca 1-1 Santos - series tied 2-2 after full time. Pachuca advance on this awful tie breaker - There were the higher seeded team! Oh, now that is lame! See, MLS isn't the only league with daft rules!
-Semifinal match ups (dates tbd):
Pachuca v Cruz Azul
Guadalajara v America
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Mike Woitalla at Soccer America with the story on Americans headed south to play in the Mexican league. I heard Glenn Davis on his radio show recently ask Houston coach Dom Kinnear, who played at Necaxa, why American's didn't go play there anymore. I guess they weren't paying attention to these names.
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It looks like Canada are going to settle on current U20 coach Dale Mitchell as their new leader of the senior team. U17 coach Stephen Hart is expected to continue running the team through the Gold Cup, and until Mitchell completes his task with the U20 World Championship this summer.
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Copa Libertadores - Quarterfinals (first leg):
Tue May 15
Cucuta Deportivo v Nacional
Wed May 16
Defensor Sporting v Gremio
America v Santos
Thur May 17
Boca Juniors v Libertad
-Second leg matches:
Tue May 22
Nacional v Cucucat Deportivo
Wed May 23
Gremio v Defensor Sporting
Santos v America
Thur May 24
Libertad v Boca Juniors
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The leaders in both Spain and Germany choked this weekend. New leaders in both races!
-Two of the big Euro league races are still really tight, while a third features an epic relegation battle. Here are the weekend's matches and standings:
-La Liga-
(4 left to play in Spain)
Scores:
Barcelona 1-1 Real Betis
Real Madrid 4-3 Espanyol
Sevilla 2-1 Recreativo Huelva
Valenica 2-0 Zaragoza
Standings:
66 Real Madrid
66 Barcelona
64 Sevilla
62 Valencia
55 Zaragoza
-Bundesliga-
(1 left to play in Germany)
Scores:
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Schalke
Bochum 2-3 Stuttgart
Werder Bremen 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Standings:
67 Stuttgart - last game v Energie Cottbus
65 Schalke - last game v Arminia Bielefeld
-Serie A-
(2 left to play in Italy)
-8 teams fighting over 1 relegation spot
39 Livorno -15 gd, 1-0 Sampdoria, at Torino, v Atalanta
39 Torino -17 gd, 0-1 at Roma, v Livorno, at Inter
38 Parma -17 gd, 4-1 Messina, at Lazio, v Empoli
38 Catania -23 gd, 1-1 Milan, at Sampdoria, v Chievo
37 Siena -10 gd, 2-0 Empoli, at Palermo, v Lazio
37 Cagliari -11 goal differential, 1-0 at Fiorentina, v Roma, at Ascoli
36 Reginna 0 gd, 1-1 Chievo, at Empoli, v Milan
36 Chievo -9 gd, 1-1 at Reggina, v Ascoli, at Catania
-Already relegated: Messina & Ascoli
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

French Cup final:
Sochaux 2-2 Marseille - after extra time, Sochaux wins 5-4 on PK's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Relegated in England? One team in this batch was going down, and with Man U clearly not that team. Who were the ultimate losers?
-Man U 0-1 West Ham
-Sheff U 1-2 Wigan
-This leaves Sheffield United as the odd team out, and only by the slightest of margins too. The one goal loss was all that separated the two teams in the tie breaker. Wigan had -22 goal difference, Sheff U had -23. Wow. Just a few weeks ago SU looked safe, but lost several down the stretch run. They will return to the Championship Division from where they came from just 12 months ago. Charlton & Watford had already been demoted.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even though Wigan won the war of attrition and kept their Premiership spot for next season, coach Paul Jewell has stepped down.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manchester City gave coach Stuart Pearce the boot as well. At least he can now concentrate on the England youth teams.
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Also in England, the Championship Division promotion playoffs are all set. One of these 4 will get promoted:
Sat May 12
Southampton 1-2 Derby
Sun May 13
Wolverhampton 2-3 West Bromich Albion
Tue May 15
Derby v Southampton
Wed May 16
West Bromich Albion v Wolverhampton
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The Times of London has a Q & A with Man U legend Eric Cantona.
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The Observer has a transcript of a discussion between Portsmouth keeper David James and reporter Paul Wilson, looking back on the just finished English Premiership season.
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Popular Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli has signed a 4 year contract extension.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Tottenham manager Martin Jol.
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Fenerbahce won the Turkish league championship.
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Anderlecht have won the Belgian league title.
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Many Americans favorite whipping boy Giuseppe Rossi has scored 9 goals in 17 games since coming to Parma on loan in January. He is still the property of Man U.
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Reports from Brazil say Rikki Kaka will not be part of their team for the Copa America in July.
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Al Ahli have won their 32nd Egypt league title. Too bad they can't find some better teams to compete against, that league must get boring with the same team winning that much.
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The UEFA Cup final is this Wednesday in Glasgow.
Sevilla v Espanyol
-See it live at 1:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel.
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Mortiz Volz of Fulham hands out his Premiership end of season awards in his column for the Times of London.
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Lastly, a former Juventus executive has stepped forward with new allegations of the team peddling influence over referees going all the way back to 1984. Many will say that this is not surprising. But sure is sad to hear. From Channel 4's Football Italia.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Toronto game on Saturday was one of the best MLS games I have ever watched in terms of atmosphere. Loved it - and I'm a Fire fan!!

Awesome...

7:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That'd be awesome if Santa Claus joined the Galaxy.

smatthew

9:30 PM  
Blogger Ashley Gray said...

Kaka pulling out of the Copa America is a great disappointment. He has been awesome recently. With Ronaldo also already out and others to follow (ROnaldinho next?), it opens the way for Argentina to make up for their disappointing World Cup. Everyone seems to want to play for Argentina - Leo Messi and Carlos Tevez included.

http://copaamerica07.wordpress.com

6:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

those Tor-Chi highlights are great thanks mr M. That would have been a fantastic game to be at, BMO seems like a pretty fun place.

8:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with you winonanick. My wife and I are about to move to NY and I'm thinking I might have to get up to Toronto for some games. That is, if I can get a ticket. However I can't see myself becoming a TFC fan so long as that thug Braz is on the team.

11:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

FWIW at this point, the U-20s vs. Argentina game is actually tonight (Tuesday, not Wednesday).
At least I think so! DuNord is typically my bible, so it's hard to speak against something it prints..

2:51 PM  

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