Monday, August 27, 2007

Double Gnip News

I want everyone out there to start referring to New York's new forward Francis Doe by his nickname: Grandpa. I am not kidding, that is his real nickname. Look it up if you don't believe me.

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The hot rumor going around has to be Juergen Klinsmann becoming the manager of Los Angeles Galaxy. Could it be? Would he be able to do something that Frank Yallop cannot? Then there is also the rumor of Grinsi taking over Tottenham.

~and~

US Soccer President Sunil Gulati & senior team Manager Bob Bradley definitely met with Fabio Capello in London on Thursday. Take from that what you will.

~and~

Somehow the USA U17 team rebounded from losing their first two group matches at the World Cup to win their final game, and launch themselves into the next round on goal differential. Stupidly I had written them off. Great for them! (see details below)


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Sat Aug 25
Toronto 0-1 DC - goal by Fred.
New England 2-1 New York - NE goals by Taylor Twellman & Carlos Mendes Own Goal. NY goal by Jozy Altidore.
Houston 1-1 Columbus - Hou goal by Nate Jaqua. Colu goal by Alejandro Moreno.
Chicago 2-0 Kansas City - goals by Cuauhtemoc Blanco & Calen Carr.
-Sun Aug 26
Colorado 3-0 Los Angeles - goals by Conor Casey, Colin Clark & Mike Petke.
Match report by John Meyer of the Denver Post.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from the Rocky Mountain News.
Post-game notes from George Tanner at FC Rocky - wildly goofy stuff in here.
Chivas 1-0 Salt Lake - goal by Jesse Marsch.
Match report by Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times.
Match report by Ivan Orozco of the LA Daily News.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post-game notes & follow up story by Edwards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My notes from this weekends MLS action:
-Carlos Mendes & Jon Conway of New York combined for easily the worst own goal of the year in MLS. Watch this debacle right here.
-In addition to signing Brazilian Denilson, they have also signed Sebastian Botero from Independiente Medellin in Colombia. Botero was born in America, but lived in Colombia his whole life.
-Blanco was superb for Chicago. Not much else to say - in the Spanish that's magnifico.
-One time Minnesota Thunder youngster Francis Doe aka Grandpa made his Red Bulls debut on Saturday.
-For the first time in 2 years Conor Casey looked like his old self again. Mean, tough, strong, and powering toward goal. Great to see for Colorado who suddenly are heading in the right direction again. Who said they should fire Clavijo?
-Ho ho ho, how bad are LA? Wow. Shockingly bad. Absolutely terrible. They just plain old stink. I don't care how many injuries they have. They actually started 2 guys I had never even heard of and had never played a game in LA or MLS for that matter - Mike Caso & Josh Tudela. How is that possible.
-New record for the books - Toronto FC has not scored a goal in 642 minutes and counting. They destroyed Salt Lake's old record of 557. And this one still has plenty of room to grow.
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Assistant LA coach Paul Bravo has been named the Galaxy's new Director of Soccer. Official Press Release.
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Steve Davis's great weekly match summary from MLSnet.
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Davis also writes for Soccernet and has an article about the huge mess of a club in LA.
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Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated with a feature story on Chicago's newest hero Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
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The Birmingham (England) Mail with a story on New York forward Juan Pablo Angel, who played in their city for 7 years at Aston Villa.
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Net X News with more info on Real Salt Lakes 3 new Argentine players.
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Andrew Rogers at Soccer365 does a Q & A with young Los Angeles wingers Quavas Kirk.
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MLS Golden Boot Chase:
14 Luciano Emilio
13 Juan Pablo Angel
12 Eddie Johnson
11 Taylor Twellman
10 Maykel Galindo
8 Jozy Altidore
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at the US Soccer Players Assoc looks to see if MLS is serious about connecting with Latino fans.
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MLS Rumors blog has DC United chasing after Shevchenko.
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The St Louis Dispatch tries to balance the scales a little by reporting that potential MLS owner Jeff Cooper is going to give the public as much info as possible about asking for city funding of his stadium project. Could he be the Anti-Checketts? Or just another salesman.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 23
Portland 1-0 Charleston
-Fri Aug 24
Rochester 0-2 Montreal
-Sat Aug 25
Miami 1-2 Portland
Minnesota 2-3 Atlanta
Vancouver 1-0 Charleston
-Sun Aug 26
Puerto Rico 1-0 Portland
Carolina 1-0 Montreal
Seattle 1-0 Charleston
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Division Standings:
48 Seattle
47 Portland
44 Montreal
39 Atlanta
39 Rochester
39 Puerto Rico
34 Vancouver
29 Carolina
--Playoffs End Here--
29 Charleston
28 Miami
20 Minnesota
19 California
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL Second Division - Harrisburg are league Champions!
Harrisburg 1-1 Richmond The City Islanders win it 8-7 on PK's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with US Soccer pres Sunil Gulati. I missed this one from late last week.
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US Soccer has an audio podcast with goalkeeper Kasey Keller after he signed late last week to play for Fulham in London.
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Yanks Abroad has a short update on DaMarcus Beasley’s start to the season at Rangers.
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Run DMB & Rangers go to Crvena Zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade) on Tuesday for the Champions League with Beas' boys holding a 1-0 lead.
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Charlie Davies & Hammarby take on Brian West & Fredrikstad in the UEFA Cup on Thursday.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - was on the bench but did not play in his teams 0-0 home draw with Guimaraes.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - played 89 minutes, scored the first goal and his team won at Kilmarnock 1-2.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played 90 in the back as his team won 0-3 at Hoffenheim.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played 90 minutes in the center of defense as his team lost again, this time 2-1 to Aston Villa.
-Nat Borchers - Odd Grenland - started and played the entire match as his team lost at home 1-3 to Viking.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - went the full 90 of his teams mauling at the hands of Ajax 4-1.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - started as always at centerback and his team won 1-2 at Esbjerg.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - started at right back as always but his team was crushed by the Bayern Munich machine 3-0.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - came on in the 63rd minute of his teams 3-0 loss at Bolton.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - did not dress for his teams 0-2 win at Brommapojkarna.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - started and played 83 minutes of his team 4-1 defeat at Leicester.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started and scored the games first goal, going 90 minutes in a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 1-2 home loss to Birgmingham.
-Gabriel Ferrari - Sampdoria - did not dress for his teams 1-2 win at Siena.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - started in goal of a 1-1 draw v Everton.
-Cory Gibbs - Charlton - still out with his knee injury, but back at training.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started in the goal as usual but got pounded 3-0 at Bolton.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - did not dress for his teams 1-1 draw with Schalke.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started in goal of a 1-1 draw v Blackburn.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - was on the bench but did not play as his squad beat Koblenz 1-0.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - got the start for his new team, went 90 minutes in goal, but lost 2-1 to Aston Villa.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started and went 73 minutes in his teams 1-2 home loss to Birgmingham.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - out indefinitely with a dislocated knee cap.
-Lee Nguyen - PSV - did not dress for the 5-0 pasting of NEC Nijmegen.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played all 90 at his team went on the road to kill Roeselare 0-4.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - started but was subbed out at half time in his teams 1-0 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - played the full 90 in his teams 3-2 loss at Charlton.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - went 90 as his team beat Monchengladbach 4-1.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - dressed but did not play in his teams 1-1 home draw with Wigan.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - was on the bench but did not play in his teams 2-1 win over Tromso.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started and played 74 minutes as his team won 0-3 at Hoffenheim.
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - did not dress as his team was beaten 3-0 by Bayern.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U17 World Cup
Starts in South Korea on Saturday - running Aug 18 to Sep 9.
-You can see all the games on ESPNU.
-The USA plays in Group E, and here are their first 3 matches:
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
USA 3-4 Tajikistan - USA goals by Mykell Bates, Greg Garza & Billy Schuler. Taj goals by Farkhod Vasiev, Samad Shohzukhurov, Nuriddin Davronov & Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev.
USA 1-3 Tunisia - USA goal by Jared Jeffrey(PK). Tun goals by Nour Hadhria(2- both PK's) & Rafik Dkhil.
USA 2-0 Belgium - USA goals by Kirk Urso & Mykell Bates.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report from Soccernet.
Post game quotes from coach & players from US Soccer.
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-Team USA site.
-USA U17 blog.
-The latest insider video clips from US Soccer.
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After losing their first two matches, the USA shockingly made it to the knockout stages via goal differential. They actually finished second in their group. Amazing. Most everyone, like me, thought they were dead & buried. Good for them.
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USA will play Germany in the next round, with the winner getting the winner of England v Syria.
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The two teams that beat the USA in the group stages, Tunisia & Tajikistan also advanced.
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The host team South Korea did not advance, while their neighbors in North Korea did.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U17 World Cup Knock Out Round
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 29
Tunisia v France
Spain v North Korea
Peru v Tajikistan
Ghana v Brazil
-Thu Aug 30
Argentina v Costa Rica
Nigeria v Colombia
USA v Germany
England v Syria
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League
Third Qualifying Round matches - Second leg matches (first leg scores included)
-Tue Aug 28
Dinamo Bucuresti v Lazio (1-1)
AEK Athens v Sevilla (0-2)
Liverpool v Toulouse (1-0)
Crvena Zvezda v Rangers (0-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London with a story on Reading manager Steve Coppell.
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Portsmouth goalkeeper David James writing for the Guardian about goalkeeping technique. Sounds boring, but he is a good writer and makes it about a lot more than my title makes it seem.
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England's Carling Cup 2nd round
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 28
Plymouth v Doncaster
Southend v Watford
Nottingham Forest v Leicester
Wigan v Hull
Birmingham v Hereford
Carlisle v Coventry
Bristol Rovers v West Ham
Derby County v Blackpool
Rochdale v Norwich City
Portsmouth v Leeds
Cardiff v Leyton Orient
MK Dons v Sheffield Utd
Burnley v Oldham
Swansea v Reading
Peterborough v West Brom
Shrewsbury v Fulham
Wolves v Morecambe
Sheffield Wed v Hartlepool
Luton v Sunderland
Wrexham v Aston Villa
Charlton v Stockport
-Wed Aug 29
Middlesbrough v Northampton
Newcastle v Barnsley
Bristol City v Manchester City
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Russian Premier League
-Standings after 22 rounds (of 30):
42 Spartak Moscow
40 Zenit St Petersburg
36 FC Moscow
34 CSKA Moscow
33 Dinamo Moscow
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some amazing things happened in the first week of La Liga:
-Barcelona with the unbelievable attack featuring Etoo, Ronaldinho, Deco, Messi and now Henry was held scoreless at Racing Santander
-All 3 newly promoted teams beat established Spanish teams in embarrassing order - Murcia beat high flying Real Zaragoza, Valladolid beat Espanyol 0-1, and most incredible of all Almeria beat Deportivo La Coruna 0-3!
-Villareal went away to Valencia and pounded them 0-3.
-Real won the Madrid derby over Atletico 2-1.
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Phil Ball at Soccernet returns with his Spanish perspective.
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Sid Lowe at the Guardian calls La Liga's start a Weekend Of Madness.
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I don't know if you watched that Sevilla game, but if you did you saw their defender Sevilla's defender Antonio Puerta crumple to the ground in the first half with what looked like a seizure. Turns out it was a heart attack. He is in critical condition. How sad.
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Very interesting looking new audio podcast from EPL Talk: Episode 80 features an interview with Dougie Brimson, author of non-fiction and fiction books about hooliganism and the screenwriter responsible for the movie Green Street Hooligans starring Elijah Wood. During this candid interview, Brimson discusses what motivates soccer hooligans to cause trouble, whether the United States has anything to worry about in the future regarding soccer hooligans, and the most passionate soccer fans he has ever witnessed plus much more.
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In Italy Juventus made it know that they are back with a 5-1 demolition of Livorno, and everyone is raving about Roma who won 0-2 at Palermo. But champions Inter were horrible against even worse Udinese in a 1-1 draw, oh it was ugly.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated checks in with one the most surprising heroes in last years Champions League run by Milan - Clarence Seedorf.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune rounds up the weekend for the big boy clubs of Europe.
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Paul Wilson at the Guardian writes a good article on how Germany has brought soccer back to the people and gotten rid of the ego's that make it all so absurd. Not to mention that they are having success with this attitude.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Unbelievably fantastic links today. As always, I am much indebted.

bq

11:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sad indeed - Puerta died today after his collapse on Saturday.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=457723&cc=5901

11:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clarence Seedorf is one of the most underrated players in the world. He's been a key contributor on so many top teams and has won everything there is to win in club football. I think the fact that he hasn't been a big time standout for the Oranje has dented his reputation.

1:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bruce, Would you post some info about the Womens World Cup that's about to start in a couple weeks??? Outside of the u.s. womens team I've no clue as to who the faves are...thanks for the work you do and you really got to re-think that L.A. as a darkhorse in MLS playoffs thing....you know the Fire are gonna bring it!!!!! dang

2:26 PM  

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