Monday, January 07, 2008

Chicken Catch-A-Tory News

The word from Chicago says goalkeeper Matt Pickens is NOT with Team USA in Carson, but rather in Norwich England on a trial. Waddaya think of that? Cool huh?

~and~

I still laugh when I hear anyone use the very English word "plonker". Don't know why, just find it hilarious.

~and~

I gotta also comment on the fact that the final season of The Wire started last night, and I have been seeing a lot of press hype for it. Great. But to all the media who are drooling over the show, I have one simple question for you - WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE LAST 4 GOD DAMN YEARS?!?!

~and~

If I was Bob Kraft, the owner of the New England Revolution, I would put my money down and sign Luis Figo. He is Portuguese, and we always here about the huge Portuguese population in Boston that love their futbol.


Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times reports on the potential overseas transfer of Chivas USA keeper Brad Guzan. The name of Celtic has been added to the list of team interested. Arsenal has been on the list for a while
-But what does a move to Celtic mean when their current keeper Artur Boruc just signed a new 3 1/2 year extension to his current contract.
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We get a rare Robert Wagman sighting from the Soccer Times. He is a soccer journalist veteran who we used to hear a lot more from - He writes about Don Garber's leadership at the helm of MLS. Wagman calls him the best Commissioner in American sports.
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This whole time we have all been going on the assumption that sooner or later Jeff Agoos would be out of a job with Red Bull New York (he has been the technical director). But just like his long playing career he has defied us geniuses and been kept on by the team. Great for him.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune has some quotes from Chicago Fire owner Andrew Hauptman on his Red Card blog.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says Dynamo assistant coach John Spencer is a leading candidate to be hired by Chicago for their head boss man position.
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FC Dallas is reported to be chasing after extremely dirty Mexican defender Davino formerly Club America. He is a world class cheap shot artist. But very experienced. I am not sure why he is not signed with any team in Mexico. America released him last month and no one else picked him up. Odd. He is not that old at 31.
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Steve Goff of the Washington Post is report on his Soccer Insider blog that DC United is close to signing Argentine center back Gonzalo Peralta from Almirante Brown. Goff also has some MLS coaching scuttlebutt.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet says that if Luis Figo does leave Inter Milan next summer for MLS it won't be to play for the LA Galaxy.
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Some time between Christmas & New Year New England Defender Michael Parkhurst got married. Congrats to him his significant other. Let's hope he is ready for USA training camp with those honeymoon legs of his.
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The Toronto Sun has an interview with the CEO of MLSEL, the company that owns FC Toronto, along with the Maple Leafs hockey team, and Raptors basketball team. (The article is mostly about hockey. Natch.) The company makes a lot of money, but their teams almost never win anything. And despite the huge success of TFC at the box office in year 1, I have been against this company owning this team since the first rumors flew. They don't care about winning, only making money.
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All three Toronto daily newspapers have the same story, TFC wants to wheel & deal before and during the upcoming Superdraft - a Mo Johnston trademark.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet looks at the difficulty of drawing up the MLS regular season schedule.
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Interliga
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 2
Monterrey 0-1 UNAM Pumas - goal by Pablo Bonells
Cruz Azul 0-1 San Luis - goal by Alfredo Moreno(PK)
-Thu Jan 3
Toluca 0-0 Atlas - no goals
Morelia 0-1 America - goal by Alejandro Arguello
-Sat Jan 5
Cruz Azul 1-0 Monterrey - goal by Edgar Andrade.
San Luis 2-0 UNAM Pumas - goals by Tressor Moreno & Alfredo Moreno.
-Sun Jan 6
America 2-1 Toluca - CA goals by Alejandro Arguello & Richard Nunez. Toluca goal by Vicente Sanchez.
Atlas 2-0 Morelia - goals both by Bruno Marioni.
-Tue Jan 8
Monterrey v San Luis
UNAM Pumas v Cruz Azul
-Wed Jan 9
Toluca v Morelia
Atlas v America
-Sat Jan 12
Semifinals
-All matches are played here in the USA, cuz they make loads of money!
-The top two teams will get spots in la Copa Libertadores.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA January Camp
-Official Blog.
-Photos from Friday and Saturday training sessions.
-Video stuff.
-And Audio from the first day - Interviews with coach Bob Bradley and players Landon Donovan & Eddie Johnson. And an interview with Ramiro Corrales who plays in Norway at Brann, and has not been to a camp in a few years.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle writes about the 3 Dynamo players at the USA camp - Brad Davis, Eddie Robinson & Rico Clark.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with an article on USA & New England centerback Michael Parkhurst.
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The Associated Press with an article on the opening of this training camp. For some reason the story is mainly about DaMarcus Beasley who would not have been invited to this camp even without the knee surgery he just went through.
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US Soccer has a comparison between players at the current USA camp and the similar one 4 years ago in January 04.
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Chicago goalkeeper Matt Pickens has left the USA camp (see top headline today for his whereabouts). He has been replaced by Los Angeles back up Steve Cronin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And the USA U23 team arrived in Florida today to begin their training camp as well.
-Their official team blog.
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Big Euro Club Matches
One really big (and another decent) Euro game this weekend:
Espanyol 3-0 Villarreal - this could have been a really fun high flying affair, but only one team got airborne.
Sevilla 3-0 Betis - the nasty old Seville derby was a beat down!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the beat down that Real Betis took.
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England's FA Cup 3rd Round matches & scores.
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Paul Doyle at the Guardian says that while the upsets in the FA Cup this weekend were great, by the time we get to the nitty gritty it will be business as usual.
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Americans In the FA Cup
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played all 90 minutes in a 2-2 have tie with Bristol Rovers. Not good. Road replay on Jan 15.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and went a full 90(!) in a 2-2 road tie with Tottenham. Got a Yellow Card and Spurs Tom Huddlestone got a Red Card when they went at it and Huddlestone headbutted Convey! Home replay on Jan 15.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the whole match and beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at home.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started and went 90 but could only manage a 2-2 home draw with Bristol Rovers. Road replay on Jan 15.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby - spent the day on the bench in a 2-2 home game v Sheffield Wednesday. Road replay on Jan 15.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - unfortunately he played this match and got smoked 1-4 at home by Coventry!
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - warmed the bench for a 2-2 road tie with Tottenham. Home replay on Jan 15.
-Tim Howard - Everton - sat this one out completely and had to watch the team lose 0-1 at home to Oldham.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started and went 90 in a 2-2 home match v Sheffield Wednesday. Road replay on Jan 15.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - out due to injured ankle, as team drew 2-2 at Derby. Home replay on Jan 15.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on at half time of a 0-0 home tie v Man City. Road replay on Jan 16.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - started and went the distance in a 0-0 tie game at Walsall. Home replay on Jan 15.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The only other American in Europe seeing action was:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - didn't move off the bench in a 1-1 draw at Vitoria Setubal. Benfica are still in 2nd place in Portugal, but now languish 9 points behind leaders Porto.
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The Canadian Soccer Association announced their list of finalists for that country's Player Of The Year award. The nominees are:
-Julian de Guzman - Deportivo La Coruna
-Dwayne De Rosario - Houston Dynamo
-Rob Friend - Monchengladbach
-Ali Gerba - Goteborg
-Richard Hastings - Inverness
-Atiba Hutchinson - Kobenhavn
-Ante Jazic - Los Angeles Galaxy
-Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo
-Paul Stalteri - Tottenham
-They will also award the Youth Player of the Year (U-20) & Junior Player of the Year (U-17).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even though he just had knee surgery that could sideline him up to 2 months, Didier Drogba has been included in the Ivory Coast roster for the African Nations Cup.
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Zaragoza's top player, Argentina midfielder Pablo Aimar is going to be out for at least a month after undergoing groin muscle surgery.
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Three from England's The Independent:
-On Fabio Capello & David Beckman.
-New Fulham coach Roy Hodgson.
-Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas again says that he loves life in North London and is going nowhere. And he will continue to say that right up until the moment he gets an offer that he can't refuse and is gone in a heartbeat.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with legendary Dutch player and now AZ Alkmaar coach Louis Van Gaal.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet on Valencia's brutal season and possible La Liga transfers in January.
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Lucy Turner at Soccernet interviews Argentina & Real Madrid left back Gabriel Heinze.
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Sorry, but this is all I have for you today. There is probably a lot more good info out there, but I am just to swamped to collect and assemble it all. Maybe tomorrow. Enjoy.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for your hardwork, the first thing I do when I get home from work is open your blog and hope there is a new entry up.

6:36 PM  
Blogger bwidell said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

7:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Figo and Ralston would make the oldest, creakiest, and by far the best winger combo in the league. Assuming Wells Thompson experiment goes back to the bench where he blongs, that is.

10:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Me no type good. I meant to say, "assuming Wells Thompson goes back to the bench where he belongs."

10:50 PM  
Blogger Kali said...

Regarding your comments on The Wire:

Word.

And Avon is back next week!

9:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE LAST 4 GOD DAMN YEARS?!?!"
---------

Wow, Brucio, that's really elegant. You're a wordsmith !

2:37 PM  

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