Hanso Sword Closeout Sale News
Player's on trial at Real Salt Lake. How about the dude on the right (here's another of just him)!!! He used to play guitar in Primal Scream. I think his name is Matias Mantilla. Photos stolen from The RSLFM Report.
~and~
If any of you are wondering just what the future of soccer broadcasting on ESPN could possibly be like, consider this - In March of this year ESPN fired NFL commentator (for 19 years) because he talked too much football strategy and not enough gossip and bullshit. You've been warned.
~and~
Last night in Toronto, MLS Commish Don Garber said he wants the league to grow to 18 teams by 2012. For the past 4 years or so the company line was 16 by 2010. Now it has grown. Money is going to his head. There are not nearly enough good players to add 5 more teams in this country in the next 5 years. No way, no how.
MLS
Matches & scores:
-Sat Aug 4
Chicago 0-0 Columbus
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Match report from MLSnet.
Dallas 1-0 Colorado - Goal by Drew Moor.
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report from MLSnet.
Post-game notes from George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on his FC Rocky blog.
Salt Lake 1-0 Houston - Goal by Robbie Findley.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report from MLSnet.
Post-game notes from the Deseret.
-Sun Aug 5
New England 0-3 DC - Goals by Josh Gross & Luciano Emilio(2).
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match Report by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report from MLSnet.
Post-game notes and players ratings by Goff at Soccer Insider.
Toronto 0-0 LA
Match report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My notes from this weekends MLS games that I saw.
Salt Lake v Hous
-Dwayne De Rosario of Houston did not play due to Yellow Card accumulation. That seems to be his one downfall.
-Alecko Eskandarian did not play for RSL due to an ankle injury.
-Ty Keough was doing TV commentary for Houston. I forgot about him.
-Salt Lake still had the grass down at their stadium covering the nasty worn out turf. But this is it for the real stuff. The college pointy ball needs wants to play on the faux-grass.
-Houston's Stuart Holden looks like he has still never had to shave his chin.
-There were a lot of problems with the broadcast picture. It kept blinking in and out all game long.
-RSL's Robbie Findley is making a strong run for Rookie Of The Year.
-Each team had 18 goal scoring opportunities by my count. That is not necessarily shots, but chances to be dangerous.
Dal v Colo
-Ray Burse Jr made his MLS debut in goal for Dallas after a great game in the SuperLiga last week.
-The next match he plays will be #200 for Colorado midfielder Pablo Mastroeni.
-Colo striker Herculez Gomez has bleached his hair blonde. It looks awful.
-Mexican forward Daniel Osorno made his debut for Colo in this match. He was OK.
-Dallas superstar Juan Toja seemed tired all game long.
-At one point in the 2nd half Colo was playing with 3 defenders, 2 midfielders and 4 forwards. It didn't matter.
-Jacob Peterson played as good as anyone for Colo.
-Dall had 18 Goal Scoring Chances, but Colo had 29 and no goals. Poor.
Tor v LA
-Troy Roberts, LA defender, cut off his awful looking dreadlocks.
-The word from Toronto is that after last nights game fans will no longer be allowed to throw streamers onto the field and at players at BMO field. I think the streamers are awesome, but I can see where it might be an issue.
-LA Rookie of the Year candidate defender Ty Harden cleared a goal off the line. Good work man.
-I really detest TFC defender Adam Braz. When he played for Montreal in the USL First Division I thought he was one of the dumbest, angriest cheap shots I had ever seen play the game. And nothing has changed in Toronto. Not long into the game he elbowed Landon Donovan right in the face.
-Toronto had a very solid 24 Goal Scoring Chances. You know how many the feeble Galaxy had? 5. For the whole frickin game. Lame-O.
NE v DC
-Christian Gomez did not start for DC due to a thigh injury.
-Fred did not start for DC due to a Red Card suspension.
-Jaime Moreno was on the bench, but still suffering from the thigh strain.
-Defender Brian Namoff was back in the starting 11 for DC though. Good news for them.
-New England had their full first 11 ready to go.
-Uncharacteristically NE keeper Matt Reis bobbled a save that DC's Josh Gros poked home for the first goal.
-DC got the other two goals on great moves for Luciano Emilio. The first came after several great passes all around the offensive end of the field finally springing Emilio. Supreme patience. The other was off a quickly taken free kick by Ben Olsen got to Emilio behind the NE def for an easy one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
New England's All-Star defender Michael Parkhurst had a weird step during Sunday's game v DC and he ended up hyper-extending his knee. It's not known how long he will be out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with a story on Salt Lakes new (only?) goal scoring threat Robbie Findley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle writes about Houston native and Dallas forward Arturo Alvarez who is really starting to turn into a great player this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times talks to former Chicago Fire coach Bob Bradley who was inducted into the teams "Ring OF Fire" before Saturday nights game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DC forward Luciano Emilio has been named MLS Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Davis of MLSnet with his look back at the weekends MLS games. Always good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales writes for Soccer 365 about the first goal in a LA shirt for Carlos Pavon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I missed this one last week from the Salt Lake Tribune. RSL is hoping to sign 3 Argentine's in the next 10 days. (see picture at top of post)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Soccernet's MLS Power Rankings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ives Galarcep, also at Soccernet, looks at the key players in the MLS race to the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The US Soccer Players Assoc talks to Tony Sanneh about trying to get a deal with a MLS team for the rest of this season, preferably New York, and his recent stint with my Minnesota Thunder. (By the way, that return to Thunder country yielded mixed results.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Salinas Californian newspaper talks to one of the new executives of the San Jose Earthquakes about immediate & long term plans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Another American newspaper sports columnist steps up to the penalty spots and chips the established sports writers, completely embarrassing them. From the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Hartford Business Journal reports that the Kraft family who own the New England Revolution will not let anyone in Hartford negotiate with MLS for a team because Hartford is in New England's "territory".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
New York Red Bulls have scrapped any plans to open their stadium in 2008. Delays now mean they will open the new park sometime in 09. Figures.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
US Open Cup - This week!
Fourth Round matches:
-Tue Aug 7:
Carolina Railhawks v Richmond Kickers
Charleston Battery v FC Dallas
Seattle Sounders v Colorado Rapids
-Wed Aug 8:
New England Revolution v Harrisburg City Islanders
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 3
Carolina 2-0 California
-Sat Aug 4
Atlanta 2-1 Charleston
Minnesota 1-1 Portland
Seattle 1-0 Puerto Rico
-Sun Aug 5
Montreal 1-0 Rochester
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
First Division Standings:
38 Seattle
38 Portland
34 Montreal
30 Puerto Rico
30 Rochester
29 Atlanta
29 Vancouver
27 Miami
26 Charleston
22 Carolina
19 California
16 Minnesota
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog says he is hearing that Peter Nowak will be named the coach of the USA Olympic Team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
US Soccer has a Q & A with Sal Zizzo about his new team Hannover in Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DaMarcus Beasley got pummeled by goonish Scottish league defenders in his Rangers debut. From Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA.com has an interview with our very own DMB.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
BQ sent me a rumor that Jay DeMerit may make it for Americans at Fulham. That would be pretty wild. But it's still a rumor at this point. (thanks to BQ, as always)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Can you believe it's time to check in with our favorite Americans in Europe again, and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - debuted for his new team, going the whole match in a 0-3 win at Inverness.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - sat out due to a red card suspension, as his team drew at Horsens 1-1.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - came on in the 71st minute of his teams 3-1 loss at Orebro.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - started at centerback, played 90 & nabbed a goal which turned out to be the game winner on the road, 4-1 at Zulte-Waregem. Great start.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The German teams are playing in the league cup tournament - DFB Pokal aka German Cup - here are those results for our Americans:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went 90 in defense as his team cruised to a 3-0 win over Verl.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - started as usual at right back and his team won 3-1 over Ahlen.
-Benny Feilhaber - Hamburg - did not play, as his team won 1-0 over Monchengladbach.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - did not play, as his team won 4-0 over Wurzburger.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - played left back for the entire match as his team pulled off a big upset, 1-0 over Bayer Leverkusen.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - debuted at left back and played 90 minutes in a massive 8-0 win over Hasborn
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - started in the defense & played the entirety of the 6-1 win over Worms.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started & went 84 minutes at forward as in a 3-0 win over Verl.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FMF Primera
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 3
UAG 1-4 Pachuca
-Sat Aug 4
UANL 0-0 San Luis
Morelia 1-1 Veracruz
Atlas 1-1 Toluca
Chiapas 1-1 Atlante
-Sun Aug 5
UNAM 1-1 Guadalajara
Necaxa 3-2 Monterrey
Santos Laguna 2-0 Cruz Azul
Puebla 0-0 America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Young Mexican striker Carlos Vela has been loaned by Arsenal to Osasuna in Spain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Russian Premier League
-Standings after 19 rounds (of 30):
36 Spartak Moscow
33 FC Moscow
31 Zenit St Petersburg
30 Dinamo Moscow
27 CSKA Moscow
24 FK Rubin Kazan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Again, here are the official start dates of the other 5 big leagues in Europe:
Bundesliga - Aug 10
Premiership - Aug 11
Eredivisie - Aug 17
La Liga - Aug 26
Serie A - Aug 26
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - The 2nd Qualifying Round - Second legs Aug 7/8 (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Aug 7
Zeta v Rangers (0-2)
Beitar Jerusalem v Kobenhavn (0-1)
Levski Sofia v Tampere United (0-1)
Dinamo Zagreb v Domzale (2-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated writes about his favorite time of the year for football.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Soccernet with an article on new Chelsea midfielder, Frenchman Flourent Malouda.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Simon Kuper at the Financial Times also writes about Malouda. (From last week.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FIFA.com has a Q & A with German Berti Vogts who is now the coach of Nigeria.
-In this old picture, I think Berti's mother was in charge of his hair style.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I had a feeling this might open some floodgates that could be better left untouched - more football from Monty Python - this time it's an interview with a brilliant footballing mind. (grazie to Ken for this video) (You have to be careful with Monty Python fans, cuz they are a lot like Frank Zappa fans and Grateful Dead fans, in that they don't realize that for many of us, a little goes a long way.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Barcelona go to China for some friendly's they will be "protected" from foul mouthed Chinese by Cops using video cameras to pick out cursers. Isn't that nice of the Chinese authorities. Makes you feel so warm and special.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
BBC with a story saying FIFA has told Scotland that they CANNOT use post-game video viewing to punish divers. (thanks to Bart for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at big big money transfers like those for Carlos Tevez & Franck Ribery.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
David James, the Portsmouth goalkeeper, writes in the Observer about what he did on his summer vacation. And no, it's not a Cheech & Chong skit starring Sister Mary Elephant.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Iraq will not be allowed to play Asian Football Confederation World Cup qualifiers at home. Two other Asian teams, Afghanistan & Palestine, have also been denied home games, all for security reasons.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I have still not heard that his transfer from West Ham is official, but Carlos Tevez trained with Manchester United already.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Oliver Kahn has made it official, this will be his last season in professional football.
~and~
If any of you are wondering just what the future of soccer broadcasting on ESPN could possibly be like, consider this - In March of this year ESPN fired NFL commentator (for 19 years) because he talked too much football strategy and not enough gossip and bullshit. You've been warned.
~and~
Last night in Toronto, MLS Commish Don Garber said he wants the league to grow to 18 teams by 2012. For the past 4 years or so the company line was 16 by 2010. Now it has grown. Money is going to his head. There are not nearly enough good players to add 5 more teams in this country in the next 5 years. No way, no how.
MLS
Matches & scores:
-Sat Aug 4
Chicago 0-0 Columbus
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Match report from MLSnet.
Dallas 1-0 Colorado - Goal by Drew Moor.
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report from MLSnet.
Post-game notes from George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on his FC Rocky blog.
Salt Lake 1-0 Houston - Goal by Robbie Findley.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report from MLSnet.
Post-game notes from the Deseret.
-Sun Aug 5
New England 0-3 DC - Goals by Josh Gross & Luciano Emilio(2).
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match Report by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report from MLSnet.
Post-game notes and players ratings by Goff at Soccer Insider.
Toronto 0-0 LA
Match report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My notes from this weekends MLS games that I saw.
Salt Lake v Hous
-Dwayne De Rosario of Houston did not play due to Yellow Card accumulation. That seems to be his one downfall.
-Alecko Eskandarian did not play for RSL due to an ankle injury.
-Ty Keough was doing TV commentary for Houston. I forgot about him.
-Salt Lake still had the grass down at their stadium covering the nasty worn out turf. But this is it for the real stuff. The college pointy ball needs wants to play on the faux-grass.
-Houston's Stuart Holden looks like he has still never had to shave his chin.
-There were a lot of problems with the broadcast picture. It kept blinking in and out all game long.
-RSL's Robbie Findley is making a strong run for Rookie Of The Year.
-Each team had 18 goal scoring opportunities by my count. That is not necessarily shots, but chances to be dangerous.
Dal v Colo
-Ray Burse Jr made his MLS debut in goal for Dallas after a great game in the SuperLiga last week.
-The next match he plays will be #200 for Colorado midfielder Pablo Mastroeni.
-Colo striker Herculez Gomez has bleached his hair blonde. It looks awful.
-Mexican forward Daniel Osorno made his debut for Colo in this match. He was OK.
-Dallas superstar Juan Toja seemed tired all game long.
-At one point in the 2nd half Colo was playing with 3 defenders, 2 midfielders and 4 forwards. It didn't matter.
-Jacob Peterson played as good as anyone for Colo.
-Dall had 18 Goal Scoring Chances, but Colo had 29 and no goals. Poor.
Tor v LA
-Troy Roberts, LA defender, cut off his awful looking dreadlocks.
-The word from Toronto is that after last nights game fans will no longer be allowed to throw streamers onto the field and at players at BMO field. I think the streamers are awesome, but I can see where it might be an issue.
-LA Rookie of the Year candidate defender Ty Harden cleared a goal off the line. Good work man.
-I really detest TFC defender Adam Braz. When he played for Montreal in the USL First Division I thought he was one of the dumbest, angriest cheap shots I had ever seen play the game. And nothing has changed in Toronto. Not long into the game he elbowed Landon Donovan right in the face.
-Toronto had a very solid 24 Goal Scoring Chances. You know how many the feeble Galaxy had? 5. For the whole frickin game. Lame-O.
NE v DC
-Christian Gomez did not start for DC due to a thigh injury.
-Fred did not start for DC due to a Red Card suspension.
-Jaime Moreno was on the bench, but still suffering from the thigh strain.
-Defender Brian Namoff was back in the starting 11 for DC though. Good news for them.
-New England had their full first 11 ready to go.
-Uncharacteristically NE keeper Matt Reis bobbled a save that DC's Josh Gros poked home for the first goal.
-DC got the other two goals on great moves for Luciano Emilio. The first came after several great passes all around the offensive end of the field finally springing Emilio. Supreme patience. The other was off a quickly taken free kick by Ben Olsen got to Emilio behind the NE def for an easy one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
New England's All-Star defender Michael Parkhurst had a weird step during Sunday's game v DC and he ended up hyper-extending his knee. It's not known how long he will be out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with a story on Salt Lakes new (only?) goal scoring threat Robbie Findley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle writes about Houston native and Dallas forward Arturo Alvarez who is really starting to turn into a great player this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times talks to former Chicago Fire coach Bob Bradley who was inducted into the teams "Ring OF Fire" before Saturday nights game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DC forward Luciano Emilio has been named MLS Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Davis of MLSnet with his look back at the weekends MLS games. Always good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales writes for Soccer 365 about the first goal in a LA shirt for Carlos Pavon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I missed this one last week from the Salt Lake Tribune. RSL is hoping to sign 3 Argentine's in the next 10 days. (see picture at top of post)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Soccernet's MLS Power Rankings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ives Galarcep, also at Soccernet, looks at the key players in the MLS race to the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The US Soccer Players Assoc talks to Tony Sanneh about trying to get a deal with a MLS team for the rest of this season, preferably New York, and his recent stint with my Minnesota Thunder. (By the way, that return to Thunder country yielded mixed results.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Salinas Californian newspaper talks to one of the new executives of the San Jose Earthquakes about immediate & long term plans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Another American newspaper sports columnist steps up to the penalty spots and chips the established sports writers, completely embarrassing them. From the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Hartford Business Journal reports that the Kraft family who own the New England Revolution will not let anyone in Hartford negotiate with MLS for a team because Hartford is in New England's "territory".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
New York Red Bulls have scrapped any plans to open their stadium in 2008. Delays now mean they will open the new park sometime in 09. Figures.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
US Open Cup - This week!
Fourth Round matches:
-Tue Aug 7:
Carolina Railhawks v Richmond Kickers
Charleston Battery v FC Dallas
Seattle Sounders v Colorado Rapids
-Wed Aug 8:
New England Revolution v Harrisburg City Islanders
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
USL First Division
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 3
Carolina 2-0 California
-Sat Aug 4
Atlanta 2-1 Charleston
Minnesota 1-1 Portland
Seattle 1-0 Puerto Rico
-Sun Aug 5
Montreal 1-0 Rochester
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
First Division Standings:
38 Seattle
38 Portland
34 Montreal
30 Puerto Rico
30 Rochester
29 Atlanta
29 Vancouver
27 Miami
26 Charleston
22 Carolina
19 California
16 Minnesota
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog says he is hearing that Peter Nowak will be named the coach of the USA Olympic Team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
US Soccer has a Q & A with Sal Zizzo about his new team Hannover in Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DaMarcus Beasley got pummeled by goonish Scottish league defenders in his Rangers debut. From Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA.com has an interview with our very own DMB.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
BQ sent me a rumor that Jay DeMerit may make it for Americans at Fulham. That would be pretty wild. But it's still a rumor at this point. (thanks to BQ, as always)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Can you believe it's time to check in with our favorite Americans in Europe again, and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - debuted for his new team, going the whole match in a 0-3 win at Inverness.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - sat out due to a red card suspension, as his team drew at Horsens 1-1.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - came on in the 71st minute of his teams 3-1 loss at Orebro.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - started at centerback, played 90 & nabbed a goal which turned out to be the game winner on the road, 4-1 at Zulte-Waregem. Great start.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The German teams are playing in the league cup tournament - DFB Pokal aka German Cup - here are those results for our Americans:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went 90 in defense as his team cruised to a 3-0 win over Verl.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - started as usual at right back and his team won 3-1 over Ahlen.
-Benny Feilhaber - Hamburg - did not play, as his team won 1-0 over Monchengladbach.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - did not play, as his team won 4-0 over Wurzburger.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - played left back for the entire match as his team pulled off a big upset, 1-0 over Bayer Leverkusen.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - debuted at left back and played 90 minutes in a massive 8-0 win over Hasborn
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - started in the defense & played the entirety of the 6-1 win over Worms.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started & went 84 minutes at forward as in a 3-0 win over Verl.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FMF Primera
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 3
UAG 1-4 Pachuca
-Sat Aug 4
UANL 0-0 San Luis
Morelia 1-1 Veracruz
Atlas 1-1 Toluca
Chiapas 1-1 Atlante
-Sun Aug 5
UNAM 1-1 Guadalajara
Necaxa 3-2 Monterrey
Santos Laguna 2-0 Cruz Azul
Puebla 0-0 America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Young Mexican striker Carlos Vela has been loaned by Arsenal to Osasuna in Spain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Russian Premier League
-Standings after 19 rounds (of 30):
36 Spartak Moscow
33 FC Moscow
31 Zenit St Petersburg
30 Dinamo Moscow
27 CSKA Moscow
24 FK Rubin Kazan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Again, here are the official start dates of the other 5 big leagues in Europe:
Bundesliga - Aug 10
Premiership - Aug 11
Eredivisie - Aug 17
La Liga - Aug 26
Serie A - Aug 26
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Champions League - The 2nd Qualifying Round - Second legs Aug 7/8 (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Aug 7
Zeta v Rangers (0-2)
Beitar Jerusalem v Kobenhavn (0-1)
Levski Sofia v Tampere United (0-1)
Dinamo Zagreb v Domzale (2-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated writes about his favorite time of the year for football.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Soccernet with an article on new Chelsea midfielder, Frenchman Flourent Malouda.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Simon Kuper at the Financial Times also writes about Malouda. (From last week.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FIFA.com has a Q & A with German Berti Vogts who is now the coach of Nigeria.
-In this old picture, I think Berti's mother was in charge of his hair style.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I had a feeling this might open some floodgates that could be better left untouched - more football from Monty Python - this time it's an interview with a brilliant footballing mind. (grazie to Ken for this video) (You have to be careful with Monty Python fans, cuz they are a lot like Frank Zappa fans and Grateful Dead fans, in that they don't realize that for many of us, a little goes a long way.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Barcelona go to China for some friendly's they will be "protected" from foul mouthed Chinese by Cops using video cameras to pick out cursers. Isn't that nice of the Chinese authorities. Makes you feel so warm and special.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
BBC with a story saying FIFA has told Scotland that they CANNOT use post-game video viewing to punish divers. (thanks to Bart for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at big big money transfers like those for Carlos Tevez & Franck Ribery.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
David James, the Portsmouth goalkeeper, writes in the Observer about what he did on his summer vacation. And no, it's not a Cheech & Chong skit starring Sister Mary Elephant.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Iraq will not be allowed to play Asian Football Confederation World Cup qualifiers at home. Two other Asian teams, Afghanistan & Palestine, have also been denied home games, all for security reasons.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I have still not heard that his transfer from West Ham is official, but Carlos Tevez trained with Manchester United already.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Oliver Kahn has made it official, this will be his last season in professional football.
posted by brucio at 17:15
10 Comments:
I'll admit to the Python and Zappa affliction but when it comes to the Dead, even a little goes too far for all of us.
Ray Burse was absolutely awesome again!
That's great news about the streamers. Personally, I think it looks pretty bush league, especially when every corner kick brings a new barrage. In any other professional sports league, fans who throw anything onto the field/court get ejected pretty damn quick. Why is this any different?
Its different because this is soccer.
On expansion:
This is from the MLS Rumors people. Our source says that the Senior International and Youth International player limit will be raised by one each by 2010 and the Salary cap is set to double from 2.3m to 4.6m by 2012. There will be no trouble filling rosters if this takes place.
ESPN fired Joe Theismann because he is a crappy commentator that knew nothing about the game, not because he did not "gossip" enough. He would spout off absolute nonsense about football, only Joe claims he was fired for not "gossiping" enough. Get the story straight. Great blog, though!
Totally random thought i had the other day while playin FIFA but how come in ur Americans in Europe you've totally shafted Nat Borchers(sp?) for the longest time?? If im correct plays in Norway for almost 3yrs now i think. And HELL NO i aint no Rapids fan!! DC United 4 LIFE fool.
Matias Mantilla is going on the hesher blog for sure, haaaaaa!
-Andrew
Three thoughts:
-Joe Thiesmann sucks, like the other guy said
-Level of play will be fine as long as they up the foreign player limits (preferrably abolish them altogether)
okay, I guess that's only two thoughts...
Weather or not Theisman was fired cause he sucks or not. Monday Night Football is pathetic now that its on ESPN. I don't care what Jamie Foxx thinks about the game, what his most recent project is, or what he is eating in the VIP suites with Tom Cruise.
While on the subject of NFL I'd love it if MLS restricted interview access to coaches and players to before the game, at halftime, or at the end of the game.
smatthew
nat gets the nod
he will be added
thanks for the recommendation
and thanks to everyone for their excellent opinions
i love it
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