Crazy Dry Goods News

UEFA Champions League Final

Match & Score:
-Wed May 22 in Moscow
Chelsea v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times with an article on Chelsea forward Didier Drogba.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times blog Goal with an article on Drogba too. He even references the Kuper article above.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The NYT Goal blog also gives us a great Champions League A-Z.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with a story on the fans flocking to Moscow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo sports on the Champions League - "The richest game on the planet".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Robert Caggiano on the Orlando Sentinel blog calls the Champions League Final the new American Holiday. Agreed. I took the afternoon off.

MLS Scoreboard

Week 9
Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 21
Toronto v DC - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Match preview from the CBC.
Match preview from the Toronto Sun.
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
-Thu May 22
San Jose v Houston - 9:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat May 24
Columbus v New England - 6:30pm central on FSC
DC v Toronto - 6:30pm central on
Dallas v Salt Lake - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Chivas USA - 8:30pm central on Direct Kick
Los Angeles v Kansas City 9:30pm central on HDNet
-Sun May 25
New York v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Serving Suspension:
Dave Van Den Bergh - New York - Red Card for throwing an elbow.
Adrian Serioux - Dallas - Red Card for tackle from behind.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Globe & Mail on their blog On Soccer reports that TFC midfielder Maurice Edu may not be healthy enough to play tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
19 Columbus (8)
16 Chicago (8)
16 New England (9)
12 New York (7)
11 Kansas City (8)
11 Toronto (7)
6 DC (8)
Western Conference
12 Colorado (8)
11 Los Angeles (8)
10 Houston (8)
9 Dallas (8)
8 Chivas (8)
8 Salt Lake (8)
4 San Jose (7)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

COLUMBUS CREW

Nick Green of LA's Daily Breeze with an article on coach Sigi Schmid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post ponders DC's offseason decision to overhaul their roster.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on the Eastern Conference bottom dwellers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stouffer on his blog The Pitch has notes on DC's struggles both Monday and Tuesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Beau Dure of USA Today looks at the Houston Dynamo's return to their original city to take on the re-animated San Jose Earthquakes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Head coach Ruud Gullit had surgery to repair a microfracture & meniscus tear in his left knee. Info from the official LA Galaxy blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Defender Eric Brunner who was dropped from the senior roster last week for Andrew Boyens, a bust from Toronto, has rejected the Red Bulls developmental contract offer and signed with Miami in the First Division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Pat Walsh of Goal.com on the beauty/agony of the Own Goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Is LA joining Seattle in the chase for Thierry Henry?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Newcastle forward Shola Ameobi is being offered a deal by Toronto. TFC coach John Carver used to be an assistant at Newcastle. That was also his connection to Laurent Robert.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian says Australian forward Mark Viduka is going to sign with DC United. Do you really believe that? Good, cuz I don't either, and I want to keep us all on the same page here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How about defender Ulises de la Cruz from Ecuador. Does your club need him?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily reports that both Columbus & Chicago are set to fight Fulham for Brian McBride.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

The San Jose Mercury News reports on city politicians passing another hurdle for possible stadium building.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

Here is the roster of our USA squad for the England match:
G:
Dominic Cervi - No Team
Brad Guzan - Chivas USA
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham
Dan Califf - Midtjylland
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard de Liege
Michael Orozco - San Luis
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
M:
Freddy Adu - Benfica
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers
Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
Ricardo Clark - Houston
Benny Feilhaber - Derby
Eddie Lewis - Derby
F:
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
Nate Jaqua - No Team
Eddie Johnson - Fulham
Josh Wolff - No Team
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It Starts Here
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

Our boys take part in the Toulon Tournament in France, May 21-29
-All games will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 21
USA v Turkey
-Fri May 23
USA v Ivory Coast
-Sun May 25
USA v Italy
-Tue May 27
Semifinals
-Thu May 29
Final
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer gives us photos of the team training.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has a Q &A with goalkeeper Dominic Cervi.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

I completely missed this on Monday - American Soccer Daily with a report on DaMarcus Beasley's return to the field for Rangers. He came on as a 77th minute sub in a 0-3 win at St Mirren.
-Former New England midfielder Andy Dorman played the entire match for St M.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Semifinals 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 21
Monterrey v Santos Laguna
-Thu May 22
San Luis v Cruz Azul
Semifinals 2nd leg Matches & Scores (1st leg scores included):
-Sat May 24
Santos Laguna v Monterrey (-)
-Sun May 25
Cruz Azul v San Luis (-)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated says Juan Sebastian Veron is The Man this season in Argentina with his club Estudiantes sitting at the top of a very exciting league. Plus other news from South America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here's the top of the standings after 15 of 19 rounds in Argentina's Primera Division Clausura:
33 Estudiantes
31 River Plate
29 Boca Juniors
28 San Lorenzo
27 Independiente
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Quarterfinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (1st leg scores included):
-Wed May 21
Fluminense v Sao Paulo (0-1)
Atlas v Boca Juniors (2-2)
-Thu May 22
Santos v America (0-2)
LDU Quito v San Lorenzo (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The knockout rounds bracket.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

SPAIN

Racing Santander has qualified for the UEFA Cup next season for the first time ever. So what is their reward? Head coach Marcelino Garcia walks away from the team. I would expect he will get some good job offers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FRANCE

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America reports that Jerome de Bontin, an American, has been named the new president of AS Monaco!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GERMANY

Reuters with a story on Germany coach Joachim Loew using basketball techniques in his defensive strategies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OTHERS

The Guardian tries to figure out how things in Holland work when the managers for the top 3 clubs all get fired at seasons end.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Week

-Scottish Premier League-
We have a tie at the top between the 2 usual culprits with one game left to play. (Ties are broken by goal differential.)
Points, Matches, Scores & Goal Differential:
-Thu May 22
86 Dundee v Celtic (+57)
86 Aberdeen v Rangers (+53)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship

UEFA has instituted a great new rule on Yellow Cards: all cards accumulated will be wiped out before the Semifinal match, therefore ensuring that a player receiving a Yellow in the Semi's will not miss out on the Final. Michael Ballack could have used that rule at World Cup 02.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

The Guardian with a story on Iranian club Persepolis who just won the league championship. This is the childhood team of our friend Saeed at the Sweetwater, so we love it too.