Thursday, August 16, 2007

Certainly Did News

Gotta start today by thanking Jack Bell at the New York Times for a great mention of du Nord in his regular column yesterday. My ego loves it.

~and~

Admit it. You got goose bumps when Beckman stepped up to take that very first free kick from a dangerous spot. I did. And he hit if perfectly. Amazing.

~and~

What did Landon Donovan think of PAB's free kick: "I was so excited. We've all watched him on television and think it can't be that good. When I turned round, I thought: 'Holy Jesus, are you kidding me?' It was unbelievable."

~and~

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut wait a minute here! Where was everybody at the LA game last night??? All we have heard about is the huge crowds following Beckman's every waking moment. Yet, less than 18,000 were are Home Depot Center last night. WTF? I thought it was a circus? That is 9,000 empty seats.


SuperLiga
-Semifinals - 3 MLS v 1 FMF
-Tue Aug 14
Houston Dynamo 2-2 Pachuca Tuzos - Pachuca win 4-3 on Penalty Kicks after extra time finished tied - Hou goals by Dwayne De Rosario & Eddie Robinson. Pach goals by Juan Carlos Cacho & Andres Chitiva.
-Wed Aug 15
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 DC United - goals by P.A. Beckman & Landon Donovan.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report from the Washington Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Billy Witz of the LA Daily News.
Match report from the Orange County Register.
Match report by Scott French at Top Drawer Soccer.
Beckman match report by Andrea Canales at Soccernet.
Beckman match report by Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated.
Beckman match report by Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune.
Post-game notes & DC players ratings by Goff at Soccer Insider.
Slightly more cerebral match report by Canales for the US Soccer Players Assoc.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Final - Wed Aug 29
Los Angeles Galaxy v Pachuca Tuzos - at the Home Depot Center time TBD.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Great big of levity from Andrea Canales in the press box during the match. From Sideline Views.
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One of Beckman's kids sure loved that goal. (on far right in pic)
-The teammates loved it too.
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What was Christine Daniel's take on the big Beckman night at the LA Times blog Day In L.A.?
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Another LA Times reporter on the bigger picture of Beckman's real first game with an impact.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You askin' me if that boys world class?" & "I'm speechless!" (videos from the Shogun) But there is no chance of Shogun being "speechless". Not a chance!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Press Enterprise also has a story about Donovan handing over the LA captains armband to Beckman.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A couple game notes from me:
-Did you notice that Donovan was not the captain for LA last night. Beckman was. Hmmmm.
-DC keeper Troy Perkins did a terrible job on the free kick goal. He had his wall set up and at the last second decided he didn't trust them and moved to the center of the goal instead of staying to his right where the ball ended up going. He blew it. Perkins did get it right the second time. But that was too late. These keepers will learn.
-DC had their chances to score last night. But every time they were either off the mark or stuffed by LA keeper Joe Cannon.
-DC also could have had a PK in the 32nd min when Ty Harden ran over Jaime Moreno going for a loose ball.
-Josh Gros's defense on Landon Donovan's goal was just terrible. Gros kinda hesitated on the ball then stumbled as the pass went past him, then he didn't nearly the speed to catch LD. McTavish tipped that shot too and put it past Perkins.
-Kyle Martino should have ended the game for LA when Chris Klein laid a perfect cross to the far post, but Martino just whiffed on it.
-LA midfielder Kevin Harmes is a serious bruiser. He takes no prisoners. I would bet he rough style causes a fight before this season is over.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks back at the Dynamo's run in SuperLiga.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Aug 16
Colorado v New England - 8pm central on Direct Kick
Match preview from the Rocky Mountain News.
Match preview by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match preview by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
-Sat Aug 18
Toronto v Chivas - 2:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v DC - 6:30pm central on HDNet & Direct Kick
New York v Los Angeles - 6:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Salt Lake v Chicago - 8pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Aug 19
Houston v Dallas - 6pm central on Galavision
Kansas City v New England - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tony Sanneh has signed with Colorado and will be available to play in tonight's match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Young New York & USA star forward Jozy Altidore contributes to the New York Times blog Goal. JA starts off with his thoughts on Beckman, natch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Me & you & everyone else & their mother have been raving about the performances over the last 3 weeks by Dallas forward Arturo Alvarez. But keep in mind that last month we were all raving about Houston midfielder Stuart Holden. And now he is banged up and forgotten already. So let's not get ahead of ourselves and declare Alvarez the king of MLS just yet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree attends FC Dallas training as usual and gives us the inside report. A big part this week is a Q & A about the departure of midfielder Ramon Nunez.
-Adrian Serioux & Juan Toja are both out of this weekends Texas derby with thigh & ankle injuries respectively. Plus Marcelo Saragosa will miss the game due to red card suspension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News looks at the departure from FCD of Ramon Nunez who never really panned out, despite all the talent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It's not looking good for the right knee of Toronto FC catalyst Ronnie O'Brien. The word says its pretty bad and will need surgery. From the Toronto Star.
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Metrofanatic looks back at the first ever home game for the New York New Jersey Metrostars Red Bull, and shows the curse that game has laid over the whole team ever since.
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Ryan Hunt at Sports Illustrated with this weeks MLS Free Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A look at the new Houston Dynamo shirt. You will see the team in this new look starting this weekend. Houston will get just under $2 million a year for 4 years to wear the logo.
-More on the shirt sponsor deal from the Houston Business Journal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bill Urban at the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at the way the winners are built in MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I missed this story about a month ago from the Major League Baseball website about the Oakland A's crew starting the new San Jose Earthquakes MLS team. Interesting to see it written about from this perspective.
-Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about new SJE owner Lew Wolff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph in England has some nice words from the English manager Steve McClaren about the standard of play in MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The other day it was the fantastic Barra Brava in DC that got all the newspaper love. Today its the Empire Supporters Club in NYNJ. From the New York Observer. (thanks to Danny for sending me this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adidas has paid a whole bunch of musicians to write songs for the 13 MLS teams again this year:
-Chivas USA - Akwid - Chivas Explosivas
-New York - The Rapture - Whoo! Alright, Yeah... Uh Huh
-Salt Lake - Meg & Dia - The Mighty R-E-A-L
-Colorado - Rose Hill Drive - Goal!
-Houston - Mike Jones - Don't Play
-Dallas - The Polyphonic Spree - H-O-O-P-S Yes!
-Los Angeles - Kinky - We Are The Galaxy
-Kansas City - Blackpool Lights - Ain't Nobody Gonna Stop Us Now
-Chicago - OK Go - Here Comes The Fire
-Columbus - RJD2 - It's Your Crew
-Toronto - Barenaked Ladies - TFC
-DC - Bad Brains - DC United
-New England - Damone - Revolution
I don't want to make a whole lot of judgment on this music, but I can be pretty picky, but I do love love love the early Bad Brains, so it's real cool to see them here. (actually almost every note of each of these songs stinks)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Our Americans In Europe - how'd their mid-week matches go:
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played the full 90 of his teams 2-1 win over Bolton.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not dress for his teams 1-2 home loss to Chelsea.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on in the 80th minute of his teams 2-1 win over Bolton.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby - did not dress for is teams 1-0 loss at Man City.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started and went 90 in his teams 1-2 home loss to Chelsea.
-Brain McBride - Fulham - played the full 90 of his teams 2-1 win over Bolton.
And several more in UEFA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round matches today:
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - v HJK Helsinki
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - v Fredrikstad
-Gabriel Ferrari - Sampdoria - v Hajduk
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - played the whole match in UEFA Cup qualifying action and won 1-0 over MyPa of Finland.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Stadard - v Kaerjeng
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - v Hammarbay
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Fulham website has a Q & A with American midfielder Clint Dempsey.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at USA Today writes about Freddy Adu's Benfina & Champions League debut.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer talks to Michael Bradley about his big summer. Podcast. Download and listen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

America Soccer Daily talks to American defender Neven Subotic of recently relegated Mainz in Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico plays Colombia on Aug 22 in a friendly at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Denver.
-And instead of playing v the USA on Sep 9 the Mexicans will take on the mighty Panamaniac's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League
Third Qualifying Round - First legs yesterday and today.
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 14
Lazio 1-1 Dinamo Bucuresti
Valencia 3-0 Elfsborg
Rangers 1-0 Crvena Zvezda
Benfica 2-1 Kobenhavn
-Wed Aug 15
Zurich 1-1 Besiktas
BATE Borisov 2-2 Steaua Bucuresti
Tampere United 0-3 Rosenborg
Spartak Moskva 1-1 Celtic
Werder Bremen 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb
Salzburg 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Ajax 0-1 Slavia Praha
Sarajevo 0-1 Dynamo Kyiv
Fenerbahce 1-0 Anderlecht
Toulouse 0-1 Liverpool
Sparta Praha 0-2 Arsenal
Sevilla 2-0 AEK Athens
-Second legs Aug 28/29
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reports on the Sparta Prague v Arsenal Champions League game and says it was unfortunately anything but "beautiful".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morocco has rehired French coach Henri Michel to take over their national team again. He coached Ivory Coast at the 2006 World Cup, and Morocco at the 1998 World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on former French defensive stalwart Laurent Blanc who is having genuine success as manager at Bourdeaux.

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

On the attendance in LA...this match was not marketed at all, it was not a season ticket holder match, ticket prices were about $50, and weekday traffic in L.A. means driving 75 minutes to go 20 miles. With all of that going against LA, 17,000 is pretty good.

5:07 PM  
Blogger Peter L. said...

How come Chicago gets stuck with all the wimpy pop bands.I wish I was in DC, the Bad Brains aer great,even if I prefer Minor Threat as my DC hardcore band.

6:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gotta love the song about RSL coming together and having the courage needed to never to be defeated (with Chris Klein posing as Superman). Sasha may be skipping on the Chivas page, but at least he's still on that team!

8:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This "Beckman" and "Precious Ankles" routine is getting boring -- pl give it up.

11:13 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

ah jamesy
i am not talking about you and i and the real soccer fans
i am talking about the fawning millions
i thought everyone and their mother wanted to see beckman
thats what i am told by every news story written
so again i ask, where were they?

9:52 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

Anonymous said... This "Beckman" and "Precious Ankles" routine is getting boring -- pl give it up.



stop for a second and ask yourself something......

do you really think i give a shit what you want?

9:55 AM  
Blogger sleepylabeef said...

Brucio - good call on the Bad Brains! 'Pay To Cum' is still one of my all time favorite songs. Their new cd isn't bad at all by the way. MCA did a great job of representing the different styles they do so well. Say what you want about Beckman, but the man delivers when the pressure is on. You see that free kick he buried in CL semis of Man U - Real Madrid? He had just come on as a sub and the keeper barely had time to move. Powerful stuff.

3:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're a loser Brucio. Why don't you give up on your life instead. The world would be a better place.

4:24 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

Anonymous said... You're a loser Brucio. Why don't you give up on your life instead. The world would be a better place.



i agree 100%

4:50 PM  

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