Hang Around News

The newest In The Net podcast is on line from Brad Feldman, the voice of the New England Revolution, and one of his guests is your truly!! Download or listen here.

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Don't forget - DC United open play in the Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday night. They are at home again taking on Chivas of Guadalajara. (see schedule below)

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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com: Is Francis Doe the next Melvin Tarley or the next Brian Ching? Hahahahahaha, fantastic.

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In case you have not seen this, Matt Pickens, goalkeeper for Chicago, makes one of the worst blunders I have seen in a long time. He simply moves his hands out of the way and lets the ball go in from a nearly impossible angle. He later said he thought it was out of play. Wow it's bad.

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As much as I like Garth Lagerway's commentary on DC United TV games, yes I know he is smart, I am not sold on Real Salt Lake hiring yet another piece of their management team who has no experience at all. Who is the wise elder helping guide the young bucks? It sure isn't Dave Checketts.


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Sep 27
Kansas City v Los Angeles - 7pm central on ESPN2
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Ante Razov of Chivas USA was named MLS Player Of The Week.
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Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch is the guest blogger on Nick Green's 100 Percent Soccer site. Marsch goes off on diving wankers. Excellent.
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I regret not being able to listen to this podcast until last night, but you should go check out AYL Soccer’s The RSL Show episode that precursors (probably not an actual word) the Rocky Mountain Cup match last Saturday. Chris, Scott & Eric talk to three Salt Lake players that are all former Colorado players. So they have an excellent perspective on the heat caused by the Rocky Mountain Cup. I also want to say for the record that I believe that my Minnesota Thunder are the one and only rightful owners of the 2005 Rocky Mountain Cup because we beat both those two teams like a frickin drum that season. You too Kansas City.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle writes about the Dynamo players returning from injuries at just the right time - enough time to get into full swing for the playoffs. They are my pick to win it if they can get healthy.
-Fallas also has various Dynamo & soccer notes.
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Are you a big fan of Marco Etcheverry? Did you know DC United plans to honor El Diablo with a tribute match on Oct 20. If you want a souvenir La Barra Brava are having a special scarf made to commemorate the night. Git yers now.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog gives us the insider skinny from Sundays Chicago 1-1 DC match.
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Frank Giase at the Newark Star Ledger with an article on New England midfielder Steve Ralston.
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George Tanner of FC Rocky from the Rocky Mountain News gives his appraisal of the Colorado loss to Salt Lake last Saturday night.
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Nick Green at the Daily Breeze says this Saturday's Chivas USA v Chicago Fire game will turn into Chivas Guadalajara v Club America. Here is the poster he mentions.
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The Manchester Evenings News with the story of Morrissey going to the LA v Chivas match wearing a Chivas USA shirt. Picture included. (thanks to Alex for this one)
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Metrofanatic is asking you to pick the best Metrostars (now Red Bulls) goal of all time. There are three amazing goals to choose from, so it's not easy.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail talks to TFC youngster Marvell Wynn about his time so far in Toronto.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star on the vile goal scoring abilities of TFC. They are on course to be the first MLS team to score less than 30 goals in a season.
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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune with an article about new Real-er Yura Movsisyan. (from before last weekends game)
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Lewis looks at the teams new GM Garth Lagerway and what comes next for the always struggling RSL.
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Jozy Altidore of the New York Red Bulls uses the Goal blog from the New York times to fill us in on his injury progress. (This is from last week, but I missed it. Really good stuff, and obviously he came on as a sub on Saturday v New England.)
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With the Washington Nationals baseball team having played their last home game of the season, this means that DC United will never have to share their field again. The Nats have a new stadium to start next season. New turf is being laid at RFK any day now.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports talks to LA goomba Alexi Lalas who says it's time to get tough with the Galaxy players and staff. Sure, ask for accountability AFTER the shitty season. Genius.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet looks at the battle for MLS playoff spots 4-8.
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Soccernet's MLS Power Rankings.
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I missed this yesterday - Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com wraps up the past MLS week of matches.
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Andrea Canales at the US Soccer Players Assoc writes more about the bad blood and some violence building between LA Galaxy & Chivas USA fans after the latest Super Classico match. Should something be done?
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Jeff Cooper, the man and money behind the St Louis bid for MLS has been keeping a blog on the progress.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - started and went 66 minutes in a 1-2 win at Elfsborg.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went the distance as usual and the team won 2-1 over Westerlo.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - in the starting 11 but I don’t know how long he played in the teams 2-0 loss at Valerenga.
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American Soccer Daily talks to USA defender Jay DeMerit about the early season with his club Watford. They are on top of the Championship Division standings after 7 of the 46 league games they will play.
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Goal.com has a Q & A with American midfielder Eddie Lewis of Derby County in England.
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Soccer 365 has an article quoting Reading coach Steve Coppell on American midfielder Bobby Convey.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News introduces us to Eliseo Giusfredi, a local New Jersey kid now playing Seton Hall. And a little other locally flavored news.
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Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer talks to former USA international star goalkeeper Brad Freidel about his new soccer academy in Ohio that opened recently. (from last week, seems like I missed several good things last week)
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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated answers viewer mail, with questions ranging all over the planet.
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Copa Sudamericana
First Leg:
-Sep 19
Lanus 2-0 Vasco da Gama
Boca Juniors 2-1 Sao Paulo
Botafogo 1-0 River Plate
Goias 2-3 Arsenal
-Sep 20
Defensor Sporting 3-0 El Nacional
-Sep 25
Millonarios v Colo Colo
Pachuca v America
-Sep 26
DC United v Guadalajara Chivas - shown delayed at 10:30pm central on FSC. And live at 7:30pm central on FSE.
Second Leg (with first leg scores included):
-Sep 26
Vasco da Gama v Lanus (0-2)
Sao Paulo v Boca Juniors (1-2)
Arsenal v Goias (3-2)
-Sep 27
River Plate v Botafogo (0-1)
-Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas v DC United
-Oct 3
America v Pachuca
-Oct 4
El Nacional v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Colo Colo v Millonarios
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Steve Goff at the Soccer Insider has some great quotes from the Mexican press about the Guada v DC match up. Supposedly there is a bet in place between the owners of the two teams - the loser, Jorge Vergara or Will Chang, will shave his head!! Fantastic. They should do it right there on the field after the second match - WWE style!
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Mexican Apertura - top of the standings:
-Group 1
19 Toluca
15 Pachuca
-Group 2
23 Santos
19 Atlante
-Group 3
15 Morelia
14 San Luis
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Midweek Euro matches of significance:
-Wed Sep 26
Barcelona v Real Zaragoza - could end 4-3, both have big offensive power.
Fiorentina v Roma - a classic without Totti for Roma who is injured, and rested for this weekend when they play Inter.
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English League Cup Third Round matches:
-Tue Sep 25
Arsenal v Newcastle
Blackpool v Southend
Burnley v Portsmouth
Luton v Charlton
Manchester City v Norwich
Reading v Liverpool
Sheffield United v Morecambe
West Brom v Cardiff
-Wed Sep 26
Blackburn v Birmingham
Manchester United v Coventry
Tottenham v Middlesbrough
Hull v Chelsea
West Ham v Plymouth
Sheffield Wednesday v Everton
Fulham v Bolton
Aston Villa v Leicester
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe writes about the failings of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
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Long time Real Madrid & Spain star defender Fernando Hierro has been named the new Sporting Director of the Spanish Football Federation.
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Marseille turned up for their match last weekend at Auxerre with the wrong shirts. So they had to wear an odd Auxerre shirt instead. Strange action. (thanks to KJ for that one)
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about UEFA President Michel Plantini's drive to neutralize the impact of big money of the European game. Good luck stuffing that Genie back in the bottle buddy.
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The Guardian with tales of two boys who cry - Juventus forward Vincenzo Ianquinta with tears of rage, and Romanian legend Gheorghe Hagi with tears of humiliation.
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Real Madrid team president Ramon Calderon was held at JFK Airport in New York when his name came up as very similar to someone on a federal wanted list. He was held for 3 hours before they let him go. He is in the USA for family matters.
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Our friend Darren sent us this video he shot a couple years ago from the San Siro of Andrei Shevchenko, then of Milan, hitting a great free kick for a goal v Lazio.