Daydream Johnny News

Heartbreak for Houston fans. Frankly I am surprised at how little outrage is coming from media and fans in Houston about Joseph Ngwenya's brutal PK attempt last night in SuperLiga. He was the 5th and final shooter for his team and fluffed that little dink right to Pachuca's fake-lame-ass pirate of a goal keeper. A real question to ask is, will Ngwenya's mental state fall apart after this botch job. Of course it will never be as bad as this one.

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Toronto hasn't scored a single goal without star midfielder Ronnie O'Brien in the lineup. Wow.

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The Washington Post with a great indepth look at one of DC United's most prominent supporters sections, la Barra Brava. With print, audio & video. Excellent.


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.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
-Wed Aug 15
Los Angeles Galaxy v DC United - at Home Depot Center at 9pm central
Match preview by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
P.A. Beckman preview by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
P.A. Beckman preview by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
P.A. Beckman preview from the Orange County Register.
P.A. Beckman preview by Andrea Canales at Soccernet.
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Left back Marc Burch will not be available for tonight's game due to yellow card accumulation.
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Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog took this picture yesterday of the Home Depot Center field (the entire pitch looks just like this). Are you kidding me? This is a joke on AEG's part right? A disgrace.
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The SuperLiga Final is Wed Aug 29 - Pachuca v ???, time and location TBD.
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I love this one - Football 365 in England has a page everyday where all kinds of people check in with odds & ends. About half way down this page is a note by an Englishman who watched SuperLiga last night and loved what he saw. Awesome.
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MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Aug 16
Colorado v New England - 8pm central on Direct Kick
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The word from Dallas says Ramon Nunez is being sent to Chivas USA. Let's hope he can get it together, cuz he seems to be wasting some real talent.
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Both Gregory Sica (Q & A) and Sebastian Perez-Ferreiro at Sports Illustrated write about Argentine Guillermo Barros Schelotto who is leading Columbus back up the charts.
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The Salt Lake Tribune says that RSL coach Jason Kreis has decided to sign all three Argentines that have been training with the team for the past few weeks. I guess I didn't expect ALL of them to sign. The team had to release Costa Rican defender Daniel Torres to free up a roster spot.
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Slam Sports with a good opinion piece on the fake turf at BMO Field in Toronto. I hate the stuff personally. Do you think they would play pro hockey on that plastic stuff players can use for personal training. Uh, that would be no. Same difference. Save your argument.
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Pete Gratoff of the KC Star gets a peek at the jersey collection of Kansas City defender Jimmy Conrad, who swaps shirts with the stars after the big games he gets to play in.
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The Guardian with an article trying to figure out how Danny Dichio became a cult legend in Toronto, and other TFC lore.
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Pictures of construction on Real Salt Lakes new stadium in Sandy UT. Looking good!
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Amigo Energy has decided to splash out the big bucks to put their name on the front of the Houston Dynamo shirt. The exact dollar amount is not known, but MLS did set a minimum price tag and it has been said to be a decent amount of scratch. Great news, more cash for another team. Someone on BigSoccer.com did a nice mock-up of what the shirt could look like using the company's logo.
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The Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer both have articles about progress being made toward having a MLS team in their city.
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-A map of Chester where the stadium would be built.
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I missed this one a couple days ago. The St Louis Dispatch with a story on the guy behind the push for MLS is St Louis.
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I have been wondering who the money people were behind the supposed MLS team interest coming from Montreal and Vancouver. I have read a few things lately that are saying its the company that owner the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, and George Gillet who owns the Montreal Canadians hockey team and now Liverpool FC in England. Interesting. Obviously those two hockey clubs are seeing the positive results coming from Toronto FC and their hockey club ownership Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
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FIFA with a brief preview of the USA's Group E at the U17 World Cup that starts Saturday in South Korea.
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Our Americans In Europe - how'd their mid-week matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 37th minute for injured centerback Luisao, and his team went on to win 2-1 over Kobnhaven in the Champions League.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and played 65 minutes. He was subbed out for Nacho Novo who scored the games only goal in 1-0 win over Crvena.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - plays a league match today v Bolton.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - plays a league match today v Chelsea.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - plays a league match today v Bolton.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby - plays a league match today v Man City.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - plays a league match today v Aston Villa.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - plays a league match today v Chelsea.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 in goal for his teams 1-3 win at Tottenham.
-Brain McBride - Fulham - plays a league match today v Bolton.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - plays a league match today v Liverpool.
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Greg Seltzer at American Soccer Daily talks to American midfielder Benny Feilhaber about his new team Derby County.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times talks to American & Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann about his hand injury and opening day draw at Man U. Plus other soccer notes.
-Here is the full Q & A of Hahmenann's chat with Bell.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times reports on three young Americans playing in the Mexican Premiera: Three U.S.-born players were on the winning side during the second weekend of the Mexican league season. Midfielder Jose Francisco Torres helped defending champion Pachuca defeat Morelia, 3-1; Edgar Castillo started for unbeaten Santos Laguna as it beat Toluca, 3-2, and defender Michael Orozco was instrumental in San Luis' 3-1 win over Necaxa.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune has an article on the various colors of Team USA uniforms. This article has been written by others recently, but Zeigler writes better than all of them, so read it again.
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Canadian Atiba Hutchinson scored for Copehagen last night in the Champions League. His team lost 2-1 at Benfica, but that away goal could be huge.
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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 v Besiktas & return leg on Wed Aug 29
BATE Borisov v Steaua Bucuresti & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Tampere United v Rosenborg & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Spartak Moskva v Celtic & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Werder Bremen v Dinamo Zagreb & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Salzburg v Shakhtar Donetsk & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Ajax v Slavia Praha & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Sarajevo v Dynamo Kyiv & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Fenerbahce v Anderlecht & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Toulouse v Liverpool & return leg on Tue Aug 28
Sparta Praha v Arsenal & return leg on Wed Aug 29
Sevilla v AEK Athens & return leg on Tue Aug 28
-Second legs Aug 28/29
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I noticed after reading yesterday's Canadian roster for their match next week in Iceland that they did not call in any MLS players. I am not sure what this says.
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More ideas from referees on how they can better control the game. What will FIFA say? Unless they are getting a cut of some sort of derived money you can bet FIFA will say NO! From the Telegraph in England.
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Stemming from an incident at last months U20 World Cup in Canada where the Toronto police and players from Chile's team got into a brawl, FIFA has announced the following punishment for 1 Chilean player and the countries football Federation: Chilean player Jaime Grondona (no. 11) has been suspended for nine months at all levels (domestic and international) and fined a total of CHF 7,000 (including procedural costs) for two separate cases of assaulting match officials during the Chile v. Argentina match in Toronto on 19 July 2007. The player was found guilty of "misconduct against match officials" under the terms of article 49, paragraph 1(b) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
In addition, the Chilean football association has been fined CHF 15,000 for "team misconduct" as per article 52, paragraph 1(c) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code for the aggressive actions directed towards the match officials by Chilean players and officials at the conclusion of the same Chile v. Argentina match on 19 July 2007.