Everyday Type Shirt News

Wake Forest, who have sent several great players to MLS in recent years, won the NCAA College Cup yesterday. Congrats Wake.

~and~

Super Pippo The Poacher scored 2 goals and Kaka set them both up plus scored the game winner himself to lead Milan to the Club World Cup title in Japan.

~and~

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will most likely miss next Sundays big derby v Real Madrid with a thigh injury. Damn it!

~and~

Tickets go on sale Wednesday for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying.

~and~

Out tomorrow on DVD - MLS Cup 2007: The Championship Match from A&E DVD.


Bernardo Fallas at the Houston Chronicle reports that the Dynamo has given head coach Dominic Kinnear a 3 year contract extension. I hope he got a lot of money to stay put!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times talks to former Chicago Fire coach Dave Sarachan who rips recently departed coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Ah, sour grapes... few things taste worse.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So far the two front runners to take over the Chicago helm are asst coach Dennis Hamlet, and former player Frank Klopas. Expect more names to be added to this list.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports says DC United is better off WITHOUT Juan Sebastian Veron.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A report from England says Liverpool will be the opponent for the MLS All Star game next summer in Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jim Dow at Rev's Net has an interview with New England assistant coach Paul Mariner.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com looks at MLS salaries for 07 and tells us who was the most deserving of much more cash then they were paid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The CBC talks to Canada & Houston keeper Pat Onstad about his excellent 2007.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Aberdeen (Scotland) Evening Express has articles on two Houston teammates who both have Aberdeen roots: Stuart Holden - and - Paul Dalglish.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet with a season review of DC United. And asks 5 Big Questions for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet also says Dallas coach Steve Morrow is over in England on a player scouting trip.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Salt Lake forward Alecko Eskandarian is in Belgium for a trial run with fellow American Oguchi Onyewu's club Standard Liege.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Miami Herald with the latest update on stadium plans in Miami (its in there, just dig a bit).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U23 Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 13
China U23 0-0 USA U23 in Changsha
-The most interesting thing about this game is that Maurice Edu started in the center of defense. Yes, defense.
-Sun Dec 16
China U23 3-3 USA U23 in Guangzhou - USA goals by Robbie Rogers, Patrick Ianni & Charlie Davies. The USA lead 3-0 at half time, but in classic AC Milan style gave up 3 second half goals to the red clad Liverpool, I mean China. Damn. Not the way you wanna do it.
Match report from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with game 2 photos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer did a Q & A with U23 coach Petr Nowak before the 2nd game in China.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U23 official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sal Zizzo did not play in China due to a bum ankle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about Toronto FC's two young players on the U23 team in China - Maurice Edu & Marvell Wynne.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Pocono Record (in Pennsylvania) has an article on current USA U17 goalkeeper Earl Edwards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NCAA College Cup - Final
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 16
Wake Forest 2-1 Ohio State.
Match report by Doug McIntyre of Soccernet.
Match Report from Wake Forest's Old Gold & Black.
Match report from Ohio State's The Lantern.
Match report from the Greensboro News Record.
Match report from the Winston Salem Journal.
Match report from the Columbus Dispatch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wake's best known player, defender Julian Valentin, who played for the USA U20's in last summers World Cup took a boot to the face in the title game and had to get 30 stitches to close the wound! Ouch. He was still on the field at the end to collect the championship trophy though!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 79th minute of a 1-0 loss at Belenenses.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - started as always, went the distance and even scored on a PK as they won 5-0 at home over Erzgebirge Aue.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started and went 90 but lost yet again, 0-1 on a 90th minute PK at home to Newcastle.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played all 90, yet didn't score this week, but his team sure did winning 1-5 at NAC Breda.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance in a terrible effort losing 5-1 at Energie Cottbus.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and went 84 minutes of a 1-1 tie game at Birmingham.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes of a brutal 0-1 home loss to Newcastle who scored in the 90th minute.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played 90 minutes but lost 0-1 at home to Plymouth Argyle and dropped down to 2nd place in the Championship division.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for a 0-1 loss at Middleborough.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the distance but got smoked at Wigan 5-3.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the entire match in a 1-1 draw at Birmingham.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the full game as usual and won 0-2 at West Ham.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - did not dress for his teams 1-0 home win over Mainz.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - on the bench but didn't play in a 0-1 loss at Middleborough.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the full match but could only draw 0-0 at Dender.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 84th minute of a 2-0 home win over Bochum.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - started as always but suffered a bad ankle injury in the 28th minute and was taken off. The team went on to lose 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - did not see the field in a 0-2 home loss to Everton.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played all 90 minutes but lost 1-0 at St Pauli.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - did not make the bench for his teams 2-1 loss at Murcia.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - started in defense and scored his teams 2nd goal, but they lost 2-3 at home to Oldham Athletic.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - came on in the 72nd minute of their 5-0 home win over Erzgebirge.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The damage to Frank Simek's ankle seemed serious. I will let you know when I see more news.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zak Whitbread has been added to the list above. He is finally back in the good graces of his team Millwall, seeing regular action and contributing well. He has scored 3 goals in the last 7 games. Kind of amazing for a defender!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Watford has lost 4 of their last 6 games, and are no longer on top of the Championship division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I would think that Fulham manager Laurie Sanchez is very near to getting the boot with only 2 wins all season, the team sitting in the relegation zone, and generally all around looking pretty miserable.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily talks to USA & West Ham defender Jonathan Spector.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer of ASD talks to American Preston Zimmerman about his new contract at Hamburg in Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club World Cup - Championship Match
-Sun Dec 16
Boca Juniors 2-4 Milan - Boca goals by Rodrigo Palacio & Pablo Ledesma. Milan goals by Pippo Inzaghi(2), Alessandro Nesta & Ricardo Kaka.
Match report featuring video, stats etc. from FIFA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The game was refereed by Mexican Marco Rodriguez, aka El Vampiro.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dorados of Culiacan has won the Mexican Division A crown (2nd division).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Matches in Europe this weekend:
Valencia 0-3 Barcelona
Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United
Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
Ajax v PSV - game postponed due to police strike.
Karlsruhe 1-1 Hamburg
Olympiacos 1-0 AEK Athens
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In England the top 2 separated themselves from #'s 3 & 4!
-Sean Ingle of the Guardian on the top 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London has an article on Blackburn manager Mark Hughes who says the biggest teams in England get treated less harshly than the rest - his proof - Arsenal v Chelsea, and no one saw red.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The loss dropped Liverpool to 5th and tied on points with Everton & Portsmouth (meaning they could easily be sitting in 7th).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Valencia coach Ronald Koeman could already be on the way out the door as he has done absolutely nothing to turn that talented team around.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich has been named the 2007 French Player Of The Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian reports from around Europe & the globe:
-Sid Lowe - Spain - Valencia take another beating.
-Raphael Honigstein - Germany - Bayern Munich's "General", Omar Hitzfeld, is not getting the job done.
-Marcela Mora y Araujo - Argentina - Boca lose the Club World Cup title game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia's weekend roundup of Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters previews next weekends Milan derby - Inter v Milan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer has an interview with Czech & Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times on the appointment of Fabio Capello to the England job.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet on next weekends El Clasico (Real Madrid v Barcelona on Sunday) and this past weekends La Liga action.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on Croatia & Werder Bremen forward Ivan Klasnic who returned to the field with 2 goals for his club this weekend, one for each kidney transplant he had earlier this year!! Amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has named their 2007 Players Of The Year today:
-Men - Ricardo Kaka
-Women - Marta