Cruising On A Sunny Afternoon News

This one has floated in under the radar but DC United has signed forward and team captain Jaime Moreno to a new 2 year contract. Moreno took a pay cut.

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USA forward Jozy Altidore on the New York Times Goal blog: "A lot of people have asked me who’s impressed me the most in camp. Landon Donovan. I’m the first to say that I’ve always thought he was a very good player. But after watching him train, do drills … he’s more than just a good player. He’s really something special, and I think he can get better as well. He’s accurate with both feet, he’s really fit, and I’ve been impressed seeing him against guys one-on-one."


Team USA
USA 2-0 Sweden - goals by Eddie Robinson & Landon Donovan(PK)
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report from the Associated Press.
Post-match analysis & USA players ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post-match analysis & USA players ratings from Soccer Times.
Post-match analysis by Jen Chang at Soccernet.
Post-match coach & players quotes from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Match video highlights from US Soccer.
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du Nord 3 Stars Of The Game
3 Brad Guzan - Made 2 big second half saves look really easy, and that is what you want your keeper to do! Perfect!
2 Eddie Robinson - First cap, first goal! What a start for a guy who is 29 years old. He plays defense like a world class mugger, and scrambled for the loose ball in front of the net like a hobo going after loose change! Excellent.
1 Landon Donovan - He was the leader on the field. Worked his ass off. Put the Swedes under pressure. Calmly and confidently sealed the game with the Penalty Kick, and in the process broke the USA goal scoring record with his 35th.
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My post-game notes:
-Others who shined: Brad Davis delivered great set piece service, Ricardo Clark worked hard & delivered a trademark powerful shot early, and Jozy Altidore was a definite spark at forward (drawing the foul on LD's PK) after Taylor Twellman gave us little more than 2 decent passes and a weak shot on goal in the first half. Outside backs Drew Moor and Ramiro Corrales both did their best to push into the attack. Second half subs Clarence Goodson (debut), Sacha Kljestan & Michael Parkhurst all held their own too.
-Disappointments were limited to 2: Taylor Twellman did little to nothing outside of the aforementioned 2 nice passes, and Maurice Edu did not show the same grit he had in his first 2 USA appearances. But hey, he's a new guy and that is a high standard I have him held too. On the other hand Twellman has finally fallen off my "give him another chance" list.
-Donovan wore those special new Copper-Orange-Sunburst colored Nike shoes.
-Robinson was the 44th player to score on his USA debut. That is an amazing stat when you think about it. (stolen from US Soccer)
-The game was #500 all time for Team USA, and their Win-Loss-Tie record sits at an astonishing 194-194-112! 500 games - .500 record. What are the odds? 50-50?
-Jeremiah White got his first USA cap, but only saw 9 minutes of action.
-Steve Cronin was a late edition to the training camp after Matt Pickens left for European tryouts, but he ended up being the back up (unused) keeper on the game day roster. Great for him.
-Players from the January camp who did not dress for the Sweden game were: Dan Califf (hamstring strain), Zach Wells, Will Hesmer, Todd Dunivant, Kyle Beckerman, Justin Mapp and Marvell Wynne.
-We had over 30 people gathered at the Sweetwater in St Paul to watch the game. I had a great time. It was cool to see so many of you, especially you Fred!
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Andrea Canales on the Sideline Views blog has an audio Q & A with USA & Chicago forward Chris Rolfe. Download or listen here.
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And Canales writing for Soccernet on Landon Donovan and the new USA all time goal scoring record.
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Official Team USA Blog.
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US Soccer President Sunil Gulati told Fox Soccer Channel that the USA will probably play 2 games in the late May international window. I think the Spain game will be the 2nd of those, so look for another in America on Memorial Day weekend.
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You can expect Team USA to regather at some point next week to prepare for the match v Mexico in Houston on Feb 6.
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Massive MLS Rumor Mongerville
It's official now that Chivas USA keeper Brad Guzan is off to Celtic for a serious trial. The word is that Celtic has offered 1 Million Pounds for the Worm. Damn that is low.
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While Celtic's Polish forward Maciej Zurawski could be headed to the Columbus Crew.
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I heard from the guys I was watching the African Cup of Nations with today that Nigerian left back Celestine Babayaro is headed to LA. Could be, could be. He is 30 years old currently club-less (as of a month ago). He has played for Anderlecht, Chelsea & Newcastle. And current LA coach Ruud Gullit is the man who brought him to Chelsea.
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Argentine midfielder Marcelo Gallardo could be headed to MLS from Paris St Germain. He is best known for his days at River Plate.
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Is Colorado trying to pry Christian Gomez away from DC United?
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Chivas USA has acquired Chicago defender Jim Curtain. JC has been all but non-existent in Chicago since 06.
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American midfielder Benny Feilhaber's agent told Yanks Abroad that he does not want to come to MLS right now. He wants to stay in Europe.
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An "anonymous" emailer told me that Chase Hilgenbrinck is coming home to MLS from Chile, where he has been playing for Nublense. Does any team "hold" his rights?
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Ives Galarcep is reporting that Dallas defender Chris Gbandi is in Norway on trial with Haugesund.
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Andy Herron is either headed back to Chicago or Suprissa. Either way, he is out of Columbus.
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Actual Genuine MLS News & Stuff
AOL Sports Fanhouse has a video interview with New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio at the MLS Superdraft. JCO has some words on Chicago. It also mentions the hilarious Section 8 Xmas card. (thanks to Ben for sending me one of those priceless gems.)
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Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio who is headed to South America to find new players. Last time he came back with defender Wilman Conde for Chicago. That worked out pretty well. Plus other world soccer news.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on New England buying LA right full back Chris Albright. I think it was a great move on the Rev's part.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog has a quick Q & A with Fire draftee Patrick Nyarko.
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The Seattle Times says that the Sounders are already scouting for players for 09 MLS.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet has some really great scuttle butt from the Superdraft - the ins, outs, arounds and upsidedowns so to speak.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet decides which teams did the best job on draft day.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports with his top draft day news review.
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Michael Lewis at MLSnet with an article on the last player selected in the Superdraft.
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MLS will hold a 4 round "supplemental draft" of players still available from the Superdraft last week. It will happen on Thursday afternoon.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer with an expansion article on who has the advantage right now - Philly or St Louis? And what about Miami, NYC, Vancouver and Montreal? There is also mention of some of the supporters hi-jinx at the Superdraft in Baltimore!
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USA U23 Training Camp
-The Olympic qualifying team is training in Bradenton FL in preparation of the qualifying tournament in late March.
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Official team blog.
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Americans In Europe - How'd they do this weekend?
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on at half time of a 1-0 home win over Feirense in Taca (Cup) de Portugal.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played 90 at left back in a 0-3 home loss to Arsenal.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played the entire match and scored his teams final goal as they trounced AZ Alkmaar 4-0 at home.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and lasted 80 minutes in a 0-2 home loss to Manchester United. Got a yellow card in the 70th minute for ?.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started up top by himself at home, went the distance, and lost 0-3 at home to Arsenal.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the whole match and drew 1-1 at home v Charlton.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - his career at Derby appears to be over as the team is shopping him around.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went 90 as always, but could only draw 1-1 at home v Middlesbrough.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the full 90 as always but lost again, 0-2 at home to Manchester United.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started and went 90 as always in goal, and won 1-2 at Wigan. He was the only American in England that got a win this weekend.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - came on in the 32nd minute of a 3-1 loss at Portsmouth.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - did not dress as his new team lost 1-0 at Panathanikos.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on for seconds at the end of a 1-1 road tie at Manchester City.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - on the bench again, but did not play in his teams 1-0 road loss to Barcelona.
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We keep hearing rumors that Danny Szetela is going to be sent out on loan for the rest of the season by Racing. Stay tuned.
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And the rumor mill at Fulham(erica) keeper rolling to, as they are already being linked to yet another manager - Slaven Bilic of Croatia was in attendance Saturday for the teams 0-3 home loss to Arsenal.
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American Soccer Daily says it looks like USA U17 midfielder Jared Jeffrey is headed to Belgium's Club Brugge. Now I have never been to Brugge, but if I were a farmer and retarded I might like it there, but I'm not, so I probably wouldn't. (This is a bit of an inside movie geek joke.)
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English FA Cup - 3rd round replays. Americans are in action:
-Tue Jan 22
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
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Big Euro Matches This Past Weekend
Villarreal 3-0 Valencia - it was no contest in the Valencia derby.
Hearts 1-0 Hibernian - Hearts still rules the Edinburgh derby.
Atletico Madrid 0-2 Real Madrid - oh yeah, the Madrid derby, but Real proved that Atletico are still pretenders.
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Roma fans have been banned from their clubs Italian Cup match on Wednesday v Sampdoria after 3 Catania fans were stabbed by Roma fans at a Serie A match in Rome on Sunday. These idiots have got to go. Roma's fans are particularly out of control these days.
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The Observer has an indepth interview with West Ham midfielder Lee Bowyer, who insists he is not the bad guy he is made out to be.
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Reuters asks the question many Italian calcio fans want to ask - What is wrong with Lazio? (Besides the whole Fascism thing.)
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Phil Ball of Soccernet on the Madrid derby and a history lesson on Spain's biggest daily tabloid paper Marca.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the growing ugliness of fans at Liverpool being directed at the teams ownership.
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FK Moscow & Zenit will kick off the new Russian season in late March with a game at Stamford Bridge in London. Odd, but kinda cool too. Must be all those oil barons slapping each other on the back.
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Several from The Guardian:
-Paul Wilson on the taming of the English stadium crowds. This is the polar opposite of the Roma situation. Neither situation is acceptable.
-Paul Doyle with the 6 best African footballers of all time.
-Somehow Eusebio tops the above list. And even though he was born in Mozambique, he and everyone else in the football world consider him Portuguese.
-Paolo Bandini on Serie A - Inter's win that they didn't deserve, but there was no controversy - that was a handball on the goal line, no mistaking that. And so was Torsten Frings denying a USA goal for Germany at the 2002 World Cup. Take that Hugh Dallas.
-Sid Lowe on La Liga - Real own the Madrid derby.
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African Cup of Nations
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea - Ghan goals by Asamoah Gyan(PK) & Sulley Muntari. Guin goal by Oumar Kalabane.
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco - Nam goal by Brian Brendell. Mor goals by Soufiane Alloudi(3!!), Tarik Sektioui(PK) & Monsef Zerka.
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire - goal by Salomon Kalou.
Mali 1-0 Benin - goal by Frederic Kanoute(PK).
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon v Egypt
Zambia v Sudan
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3 from Brian Oliver at the Guardian in Ghana:
-A look ahead to the young talents who may play now, and could be ripe for WC 2010 in South Africa.
-Checking in with a great/crazy report from Day One.
-Press box report on Ivory Coast v Nigeria & Mali v Benin. There was a riot in the press area!