Absolute Apocalypse & Anarchy News

Ray Hudson of GolTV describing Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello in the final moments of his teams championship claiming match: "Don Fabio is braver than a matador in high heels & a pink tutu. Capello is braver than a bullfighter with no knickers on."

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Shep Messing had 2 big rumors to announce at half time of the NY v KC game on Saturday. 1 - Landon Donovan is on the trading block for LA! AND 2 - The New York Mets are looking to buy an MLS team and have them play on land next to their new stadium in Queens! (see more on this story below)

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The Salt Lake Tribune has an exclusive Q & A with MLS Commissioner Don Garber.


All The Gold Cup Action:

USA 2-1 over Panama on Saturday in the Semifinals.
-They will take on Canada in the semi's on Thurs night.
-USA goals by Landon Donovan on a PK in the 60th minute, and Carlos Bocanegra with a header off a DaMarcus Beasley free kick in the 62nd minute.
-Panama should have lost a player on Donovan's penalty. LD was in alone on the keeper and was football tackled from behind in the box. Not only was the player not sent off, he wasn't even given a card. Unbelievable.
-Even earlier Panamaniac captain Baloy should have been sent off for his second yellow on a deliberate hand ball that broke up a USA counter attack. He just reached out and plucked the ball out of the air on purpose. The replay clearly showed it was intentional. But the referee called play on. No card, not even a foul for hand ball. Quite surreal.
-Panama finally lost a player, midfielder Manuel Torres, to a red card in the 76th minute for his second yellow.
-With 10 men Panama got desperate and turned it up a notch. They played better.
-Blas Perez scored in the 85th min for Pan after Steve Ralston picked off teammates Oguchi Onyewu & Frankie Hejduk who had Perez covered quite well. Very poor defense led to a powerful goal by a good striker with a wide open shot at the top of the penalty box.
-The USA had many many great chances to score. Taylor Twellman & Donovan both had 2 in the first 20 minutes. Twellman didn't put either chance on net. Donovan had both of his saved by the keeper. 7 quality USA chances in the first half led to 0 goals. This is unacceptable. Totally.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report from CONCACAF.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily Herald.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report from Yanks Abroad.
Match report from the LA Times.
Match report & players ratings from the New York Times.
Player ratings by Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America.
Post-game analysis by Ives Galarcep for Soccernet.
Post-game notes from Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Post-game analysis & player ratings by Robert Wagman of Soccer Times.
Post-game analysis by Greg Lalas for Sports Illustrated.
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du Nord 3 Star Of The Game
3. Carlos Bocanegra - The best of the 4 US defenders and another great header for a goal. He is really good at that these days.
2. Clint Dempsey - Always showing his flair and unpredictability to keep the opposition off balance. Even if he doesn't score for himself he sets up or frees others for their chances.
1. Landon Donovan - I still am against him playing on the outside of midfield, but he is dangerous every time he is on the field. Forced the Panama keeper into 2 great saves early and drew a PK that he converted and finally put the team over the top.
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US Soccer has post-game behind the scenes video.
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US Soccer with game photos.
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Official Team USA blog.
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US Soccer's Studio 90 has a new episode from last Friday featuring "regeneration training" & an interview with Jonathan Spector. (click on June 15)
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe attempts to jinx the whole damn thing by looking ahead to a potential USA v Mexico matchup in the final next Sunday.
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John Powers of the Boston Globe looks at the opportunities upcoming at Copa America.
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Mike Biglin on the MetroWest Daily Mail looks to see just who are the leaders of this new USA team.
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And then Biglin looks at what its gonna take for the USA to win the Gold Cup, and succeed at Copa America.
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Kristian Dyer at Soccernet with a story on the father-son team at the USA - Bob Bradley the coach, and Michael Bradley the young midfielder. Some people scream nepotism is the only way Michael is on this team and on the field. Smart people see his skills with their own two eyes and know differently. Sure he is not the best right now, but his potential & skills are obvious.
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Gold Cup Matches & Scores:
(all times central)
-Quarterfinals:
Canada 3-0 Guatemala - Can goals by Dwayne De Rosario, & 2 by Ali Gerba.
USA 2-1 Panama - USA goals by Landon Donovan (PK) & Carlos Bocanegra. Pan goal by Blas Perez.
Honduras v Guadeloupe - Hon goal by Carlos Pavon. Guad goals by Jocelyn Angloma & Richard Edward Socrier.
Mexico 1-0 Costa Rica in extratime - Mex goal by Jared Borgetti. Costa Rica had 3 players see red cards!
-Semifinals:
Thu Jun 21 - Soldier Field in Chicago-
USA v Canada - 6pm on FSC & TeleFutura
Mexico v Guadeloupe - 9pm on TeleFutura
-Final:
Sun Jun 24 - Soldier Field in Chicago-
2pm on FSC & Univision
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Soccer365 talks to Trinidad & Tobago and Dallas goalkeeper Shaka Hislop about his country at last summer's World Cup and this summer's Gold Cup.
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Two view points on the turmoil that is Venezuela, host of Copa America:
-New York Times
-Associated Press
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MLS scores this weekend:
-New England 3-3 Columbus - NE goals by Adam Cristman(2) & Pat Noonan. Colu goals by Robbie Rigers, Guillermo Barros Schelloto & Alejandro Moreno.
Match report from the Boston Globe.
Match report by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
Post-game notes from Shawn Mitchell at the Columbus Dispatch.
More post-game notes from Mitchell.
-DC 3-1 Chicago - DC goals by Rod Dyachenko & 2 by Luciano Emilio. Chic goal by Jerson Monteiro.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post-game notes & players ratings from Goff at his Soccer Insider blog.
-New York 3-3 Kansas City - NY goals by Juan Pablo Angel (2 - 1 on PK), & Clint Mathis. KC goals by Kerry Zavagnin & 2 from Yura Movsisyan.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald.
Match report from the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report from Big Apple Soccer.
-Chivas 2-0 Colorado - Chiv goals by Maykel Galindo & a Terry Cooke own goal.
Match report from the LA Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of LA Soccer News.
Match report from the Daily Breeze.
Post-game notes by George Tanner on his FC Rocky blog from the Rocky Mountain News.
-Toronto 4-0 Dallas - Tor goals by Maurice Edu, Danny Dichio, Carl Robinson & Jeff Cunningham.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
-Los Angeles 3-2 Salt Lake - LA goals by Nate Jaqua, Edson Buddle & Cobi Jones. RSL goals both by Chris Brown.
Match report from the LA Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of LA Soccer News.
Match report from the Daily Breeze. (With obligatory Beckham talk too.)
Match report by James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post-game notes from Edwards.
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My MLS post-game notes:
-You wanna know how bad Real Salt Lake are right now? They made a bad LA Galaxy team look pretty good. Oof.
-So what kinda goal keeping do ya call that from NY's Ronald Wattereus? Horrible is what I call it. He was so far off his line that I could have chipped him. He got beat three times by KC cuz he insists on playing 10 yards from the net until the ball is right on top of him. And Shep Messing was talking early in the broadcast about how RW can play that far off his line cuz he is that great. Hahahaha. So much for that theory.
-Carlos Marinelli is a great passer of the ball for KC.
-Columbus may not have much talent but at least they continue to play hard every time I have seen them. Come on Sigi. You can do it.
-But Columbus still have some huge weaknesses. Defensive midfield with Danny O'Rourke is below average. Defender Rusty Pierce is out of his league these days (and subbed off at half time this week), and the goalkeeper situation is terrible.
-Adam Cristman's second goal for New England was a thing of beauty: Matt Ries takes a goal kick. Cristman, on the far side of the center circle flicks it backwards with his head to a streaking Pat Noonan at the top left side of the box. Noonan turns back and squares a pass to the middle for Cristman who had taken off running right after his header. Cristman then pulverizes the ball first time into the top right corner from 15 yards out. Wow!
-TFC forward Danny Dichio may have a fractured bone in his left foot or ankle
-What a looker.
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There is a nice little rumor floating around that Rangers in Glasgow have made an offer of at least $1 million to LA for Nathan Sturgis.
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The other big LA rumor surfacing last week by Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog was that Honduran striker Carlos Pavon was going to sign with the Galaxy. The story took on pretty solid ground late Friday when Ives Galarcep on his Soccer by Ives blog said that the deal is done.
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Newspapers in Chile are saying that Marcelo Salas will NOT play for the Chicago Fire.
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The Toronto Sun with a story on young TFC & Canada U20 striker Andrea Lombardo.
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The TO Sun with another story on the growth of the TFC team during their first 11 matches.
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And finally the TO Sun with a story on the quality of the overall growth in Canadian soccer.
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The Toronto Star with an article wondering if TFC can do on the road what they do at home. Their next 6 games are all "away".
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Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer with a story on the amazing goal scoring exploits of NY's Juan Pablo Angel! 9 goals now in just 7 games, and scoring in 6 straight matches (one short of the MLS record)!
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Michael Lewis also at Big Apple Soccer with an article on the Merry-Go-Round defensive line ups of the Red Bulls.
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Billy Witz at the Daily Breeze talks to Freddy Adu about David Beckham.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet with a wrap of this past weeks MLS action. And the weekly Power Rankings.
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The Daily Herald, from somewhere in Utah, with an article on the new practice field Real Salt Lake will have. It sounds like it will be one zillion times better than that barbaric hell hole of home field they play on at Rice-Eccles.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times reports on a possible bid by the New York Mets to buy an MLS team.
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This weeks Major League Soccer Talk podcast features an interview with GolTV commentator and host Phil Schoen. Download or listen here.
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Bob Luder of the KC Star with an article on Kansas City midfielder Sasha Victorine. (This story ran before Saturday's match.)
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with a story on DC United's Josh Gross who has moved from outside midfielder to left back this season. (This story ran before this weekend's match.)
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USL First Division scores this weekend:
-Montreal 0-1 Charleston
-Carolina 0-1 Seattle
-Atlanta 0-0 California
-Minnesota 1-1 Miami
-Rochester 5-2 Charleston
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USL 1D Standings:
23 Rochester
21 Vancouver
19 Seattle
16 Montreal
15 Charleston
14 Portland
14 Miami
14 Puerto Rico
14 Carolina
13 Atlanta
8 Minnesota
7 California
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FIFA.com talks to Argentine long time star Javier Zanetti about Inter and Copa America (he is on the squad).
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Sebastian Perez-Ferreiro at Sports Illustrated talks to another Argentine named Javier, this one Saviola, about leaving Barcelona and playing in the upcoming the Copa America.
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The USA U20 team has begun practice in New Jersey for the upcoming World Cup in Canada.
-Team members Freddy Adu, Gabriel Ferrari & Julian Valentin with quotes via US Soccer.
-Here is the team blog.
-The team plays their last friendly this Sat Jun 23 v Chile at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford NJ.
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Andrea Canales at Soccernet writes about the confidence this USA U20 team has going into the World Cup.
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-Real Madrid are the 2006/07 Campeones of Spain's La Liga-
-Scores:
Real Madrid 3-1 Mallorca
Gimnastic 1-5 Barcelona
Sevilla 0-1 Villareal
-Final Standings:
76 Real Madrid - win tiebreaker on head to head record v Barca
76 Barcelona
71 Sevilla
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Reuters reports on the how the Real Madrid fans and team celebrated after the match. Via Soccernet.
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Sid Lowe at the Guardian with the story of Real's win.
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Ruud van Nistelrooy captured the Pichichi for being the top goal scorer in La Liga with 25.
-The Top 5:
25 Ruud van Nistelrooy
23 Diego Milito
21 Ronaldinho
21 Fredric Kanoute
19 Diego Forlan
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The New York Times with an article on Bolivia's battle against FIFA who have banned all international matches played at high altitude.
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The Guardian with a story on the emerging strength of many different teams in the Russian Premier league.
-CSKA & Zenit are tied for first with 21 points after 13 of 30 matches. FC Moscow & Spartak are tied for 3rd with 20 points. While Dinamo & PFK Samara are tied for 5th with 19 points. Tight race indeed.