Great Ship Of Destiny News

du Nord Major League Soccer Player Of The Week

Kyle Beckerman - Midfielder - Real Salt Lake
Scored 2 great goals, while turning in his regular shift of very hard play, then showed the leadership as team captain, and took the team to a big 4-0 home win over DC United. His team is playing quite well despite being 1-1-1 after 3 games. In the first game they came within moments of beating Chicago only to have some Blanco magic slap them back to reality. In game two they came as close to tying 2-2 at Chivas as they did losing 3-1, and for much of that match they were the better team. And now in game 3 they stepped up and played a full game against a team ripe for the picking. Beckerman was outstanding.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times says Chivas USA is on the hunt for a big big name to add to their team this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Steve Sirk at the Columbus team site with his always excellent weekly wrap up of his teams matches. Long, but well worth it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer lists the early candidates for the open job as NYRB top gun slinger. Some pretty interesting people there. I think Deputy Festus is available.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lewis reports that Argentine defender Guillermo Imhoff is training with the Red Bulls.
-And the team will not be offering a contract to Scottish defender Chris Innes from Gretna.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lewis talks to Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio about his multiple defensive question marks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

After 2 games you have to say that picking up Lorent Robert looks like a great move. Let's hope it continues!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

After 3 games Kenny Cooper of Dallas and Landon Donovan of Los Angeles lead the league in goal scoring with 3 apiece.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS named Guillermo Barros Schelotto of the Columbus Crew as the Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The North American Soccer Reporters have also named Schelotto as the MLS Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet with his excellent weekly game recap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
7 Chicago
7 Kansas City
6 Columbus
6 New England
3 New York
3 DC
3 Toronto
Western Conference
6 Colorado
5 Dallas
4 Chivas USA
4 Salt Lake
3 Los Angeles
2 Houston
0 San Jose
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Want to give a heads up to all the soccer fans in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St Paul:
It's the 5th Annual Minnesota Thunder Supporters Summit.
Any and all soccer fans are invited to join us to meet new friends in football and kick off the season.
Thursday, April 24th
7pm til ?:??am central time
The Sweetwater Bar & Grill in the Kelly Inn
Just off downtown St Paul
The Thunder also kick off their season at 9pm central that night in Portland and we will be watching.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

FIFA.com talks to Landon Donovan about the first opponent in World Cup qualifying - Barbados.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

In Beja, Portugal for the Campos Verdes International Tournament this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
USA v Northern Ireland
-Wed Apr 16
USA v Cape Verde Islands
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord Americans In Europe Player Of The Week

Brian McBride - Forward - Fulham Football Club
Looks to be playing nearly as well as he ever has. Had a fantastic early goal against Reading to set the pace, and gave his team his tremendous leadership in a very important win. They had not won in 33 road games before that. The whole team looked great and he was the #1 reason. Maybe he can even lead Fulham out of relegation. It's a long shot but if anyone can do it, it's McBride.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Matches from Monday:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - did not play in a 4-0 loss at Sundsvall.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - went the full 90 in a 1-1 home tie with take AIK.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still out injury as the team drew 1-1 at home against Plymouth.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - came on as a 79th minute sub but lost 4-0 at Sundsvall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tuesday games to watch for:
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - away to Koln
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - second leg Belgian Cup Semifinal match at Gent with aggregate at 2-2 from 1st leg
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - home against Augsburg
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - at home against Werder Bremen
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - home to Paderhorn
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wednesday games to watch for:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - the Taca de Portugal (League Cup) Semifinal derby match against Lisbon rivals Sporting!
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - at home versus Freiburg
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thursday games to watch for:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Tim Howard - Everton - at home to Chelsea
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

-Wed Apr 16
Mexico v China in Seattle - Chucho at the wheel of the company truck.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Danubio v Lanus
Estudiantes v Deportivo Cuenca
-Wed Apr 16
Bamin Real Potosi v Cruzeiro
San Lorenzo v Caracas
San Jose v Guadalajara Chivas
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
Libertad v Arsenal
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica v America
River Plate v Univ San Martin
Fluminense v LDU Quito
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cucuta Deportivo join Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 5 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Chelsea completely blew their chances to catch Manchester United this week by only getting 1 point in a 1-1 home tie with Wigan on Monday. They also travel to Everton on Thursday and could have been tied with a with there. Oof. Choke. Cough. Cak.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand signed a new 5 year contract with the team for an obscene amount of money. It's funny cuz he isn't even the best center back on his own team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet's The Insider gives us a great report from the Sunderland v Man City match. Always good reading.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph examine the holes in Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger's master plan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fulham midfielder Moritz Volz writing for The Times says - I believe we can survive. Great as always from Moritz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at Liverpool's on and off field trouble.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A brutally sad story from the archives of the Guardian - April 17 1989 - Hillsborough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

A rare midweek Old Firm derby takes place on Wednesday night at Celtic Park.
Celtic v Rangers
-Rangers currently have a 4 point lead over Celtic, and also have 2 games in hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Silvio Berlusconi, the owner of AC Milan, has been elected to a third term as Prime Minister of Italy. The LA Times has an article, plus a picture of Roma star Francesco Totti voting!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet tells what smaller clubs like Athletic Bilbao added to the futbol life in Spain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After being beaten 5-1 by Werder Bremen on Saturday, Schalke coach Mirko Slomka was fired. I guess that after finishing 2nd in the league last season, that 3rd this year was just not going to be good enough. The really insane part is that the team turn right around and beat Energie Catbutt 5-0 today. Maybe the players were inspired by the coach being replaced?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian says Schalke's firing of Slomka was the right move. And he would know a hell of a lot more about it than I do.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times looks at who they think will be the biggest names in this summer's transfer games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Holland & Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian looks at struggling Monaco in France. Could they get relegated?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

-Copa del Rey- Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Apr 16
Getafe v Valencia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coppa Italia- Semifinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 16
Inter v Lazio
Roma v Catania
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Wed May 7
Lazio v Inter (-)
Catania v Roma (-)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coupe de France- Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Amiens 1-0 Dijon
Lyon v Metz
-Wed Apr 16
Bordeaux v Sedan Ardennes
Carquefou v Paris St Germain
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Taca de Portugal- Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Vitoria Setubal v Porto
-Wed Apr 16
Sporting v Benfica
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Beker van Belgie- Semifinals
1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Standard de Liege 2-2 Gent
-Wed Mar 19
Anderlecht 1-0 Germinal Beerschot
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 15
Gent v Standard de Liege (2-2)
-Wed Apr 16
Germinal Beerschot v Anderlecht (0-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Relegation Battle in each of Europe's Top Leagues

-Premiership-
*34 of 38 games played
39 Newcastle
36 Middlesbrough
36 Sunderland
35 Wigan
32 Reading
31 Birmingham
29 Bolton
27 Fulham
11 Derby - already relegated
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-La Liga-
*32 of 38 games played
40 Osasuna
39 Valladolid
39 Valencia
37 Recreativo Huelva
34 Zaragoza
29 Murcia
22 Levante
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Serie A-
*33 of 38 games played
38 Siena
34 Torino
32 Catania
32 Cagliari
31 Parma
30 Reggina
30 Empoli
29 Livorno
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Bundesliga-
*28 of 34 games played
38 Karlsruhe
38 Hannover
34 Bochum
34 Borussia Dortmund
33 Hertha Berlin
29 Energie Cottbus
27 Hansa Rostock
25 Duisburg
25 Armenia Bielefeld
23 Nurnberg
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Ligue Un-
*33 of 38 games played
40 Monaco
40 Auxerre
38 Toulouse
35 Lens
35 Paris St Germain
35 Strasbourg
18 Metz
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship

FIFA.com talks to Croatia coach Josip Simunic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Jack Bell of the New York Times with his world soccer news round up.