Tuesday, July 15, 2008

All-Yellow Is The Color Of My Love News

West Ham keeper Robert Green spent his offseason in Africa doing what he could to help those in need. Incredible story he wrote for the Independent. See England News section.


SuperLiga

Official match reports and video highlights etc.
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Matchday 1 Ejections:
Dwayne De Rosario - Houston - Red Card
Javier Munoz - Atlante - Red Card
Juan Pablo Rodriguez - Santos - Red Card
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Matchday 2 Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 15
DC v Atlante - 7pm central
Houston v Guadalajara - 9pm central
-Wed Jul 16
New England v Pachuca - 7pm central
Chivas USA v Santos Laguna - 9pm central
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All games can be seen live on TeleFutura.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 17
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 17
Columbus v Kansas City - 7pm central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
-Sat Jul 19
Toronto v San Jose - 2pm central on HDNet
New York v Los Angeles - 5:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Dallas v Colorado - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Salt Lake - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Tue Jul 22
DC v Houston - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
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The Latest Standings
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MLS 2008 All Star Game News

New England Revolution Coach Steve Nicol has added his 5 picks to the All Star squad:
-Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls
-Jim Brennan - Toronto FC
-Christian Gomez - Colorado Rapids
-Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado Rapids
-Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo
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MLS Commissioner Donald I Garber has added 2 players to the team:
-Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy
-Dwayne De Rosario - Houston Dynamo
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Those are some seriously sentimental picks except for Buddle. The other 6 guys are NOT in the best players in the league right now. Disappointing. Let's break it down:
-Juan Pablo Angel over Luciano Emilio??? Are you kidding me?
-Jim Brennan is not even the best guy on his won team - that would be Amado Guevara by a mile and half.
-Christian Gomez - look, I love the guy, but he has been yesterdays news for most of this season. His replacement at DC Marcello Gallardo is far superior right now. Not to mention Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Come on guys!
-Pablo Mastroeni - has been decent this season, but younger guys on his own team have been as good as him at the same position, that’s why Colorado is ok with selling him now. And you are really lining up with no Steve Ralston. I have him down as a candidate for league MVP right now!
-Pat Onstad - love him too, but please Jon Busch deserves this and we all know it.
-Dwayne De Rosario - having one of his worst halves of a season since he became a big time player. I don't care if he is Canadian. And he make this list at the expense of a guy having a huge season, Javier Morales, who has lead Real Salt Lake out off the trash heap.
-Chicago defender Gonzalo Segares (no relation to either DC defender Gonzalo Peralta or Gonzalo Martinez) also got the screwgee.
-What a sham. The guys who got jobbed should be pissed off.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card talks to defender Gonzalo Segares who says his ankle is fine. He subbed out of last weekend's game against Toronto after giving it a good wrenching.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Goal.com figures Carey Talley has been a great pick-up for CUSA this season.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise on the departure of El Guzano.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

With Marcelo Balboa unavailable for his own radio show tonight in Denver, Raps coach Fernando Clavijo will be one of two people filling in. How great is that? See link in the right hand column to down load it tomorrow. I stole this from George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on his blog FC Rocky.
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DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with an article on the teams newest player Craig Thompson.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle on the Dynamo's SuperLiga opponent Guadalajara Chivas.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Pete Grathoff of the Star talks to Argentine star Claudio Lopez about his first season in KC.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Soccer By Ives reports that Claudio Reyna has retired. The injuries just kept piling up and he did not see an end in sight, so he called it a day. Adios Claudio, you were one of America's greats!
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NYRB has signed a loan deal for Venezuelan defender Gabriel Cichero from Deportivo Italia in Caracas.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer hands out his midseason grades for the players on the team. Not surprisingly it's mostly ugly.
-I agree that Dave Van Den Bergh has been the teams best performer so far this season.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Sulaiman Folarin at Soccernet looks at the job Jason Kreis has done in making this team respectable.
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TORONTO FC

CBC with an article on youngster Abdu Ibrahim. They are excited about him.
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GENERAL

Chicago midfielder John Thorrington was named MLS Player Of The Week.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet with 10 things to note from Week 16.
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Davis also has his great weekly notes for MLSnet.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America looks at the wave of Argentine players the league is currently riding. Via Sports Illustrated.
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze looks at two players with a bright future if they keep playing like they are - Brad Guzan & Edson Buddle.
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Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star with his weekly notes.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with his weekend league wrap up.
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MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 15
Toronto v Independiente (Argentina)
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Toronto has signed forward Paul Dickov to a ridiculously high salary. Rumors swirling say it's between $500,000 & $750,000. Insanity.
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Others say Dickov has signed with no one, and that TFC is now chasing Turkish striker Hakan Sukur from Galatasaray.
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Steven Goff on his blog Soccer Insider reports that if no MLS teams want Carlos Ruiz he could end up being sold to a club in his native Guatemala. That would be a huge drag. I bet if his price was lower he could be traded in a heartbeat.
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Dallas has linked up with former USA star Earnie Stewart, who is the technical director of his long time club NAC Breda to bring a player to Dallas for a try out. He is Dutch midfielder Victor Sikora.
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USL First Division News

Anne Ramzy of Soccernet with a wrap up from the 1st Div this week.
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Minnesota Thunder

The Thunder play a friendly against English Championship division team Burnley tonight.
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Brian Quarstad at Blue Sky Soccer has posted audio of interviews with several people involved in tonight’s match - Thunder coach Amos Magee and midfielder Dale Weiler, and Burnley coach Owen Coyle, fan Jonathan Barren & PR guy Darren Bentley. Great stuff.
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US Soccer Youth Development Academy

The last days U18 games will all be broadcast live on ESPNU, with the Championship (1 v 1) being shown live on ESPN2 at 10pm central on Fri Jul 18.
All 4 U16 final day games will be shown Sat Jul 19 on ESPNU.
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Here are the 8 regional winners and their groups.
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U18 Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 12
Chicago Fire 1-4 Baltimore Bays
Colorado Rush 1-1 FC Westchester
CASL 0-2 Columbus Crew
Concorde Fire 0-6 LAFC
-Mon Jul 14
Chicago Fire 0-4 Colorado Rush
Baltimore Bays 3-0 FC Westchester
CASL 1-4 Concorde Fire
Columbus Crew 1-1 LAFC
-Wed Jul 16
Chicago Fire v FC Westchester
Baltimore Bays v Colorado Rush
CASL v LAFC
Columbus Crew v Concorde Fire
-Fri Jul 18
Finals
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U16 Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jul 13
Albertson 3-4 LAFC
Carmel United 2-1 Schulz Academy
Chicago Magic 1-1 CASL
Real Colorado 0-1 PDA
-Tue Jul 15
Albertson v Carmel United
LAFC v Schulz Academy
Chicago Magic v Real Colorado
CASL v PDA
-Thu Jul 17
Albertson v Schulz Academy
LAFC v Carmel United
Chicago Magic v PDA
CASL v Real Colorado
-Sat Jul 19
Finals
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Standings:
A U18 - 2 Played
6 Baltimore Bays (GD +6)
4 Colorado Rush (GD +4)
1 FC Westchester (GD -3)
0 Chicago Fire (GD -7)
B U18 - 2 Played
4 LAFC (GD +6)
4 Columbus Crew (GD +2)
5 Concorde Fire (GD -3)
0 CASL (GD -5)

C U16 - 1 Played
3 LAFC (GD +1)
3 Carmel United (GD +1)
0 Schulz Academy (GD -1)
0 Albertson (GD -1)
D U16 - 1 Played
3 PDA (GD +1)
1 CASL (GD 0)
1 Chicago Magic (GD 0)
0 Real Colorado (GD -1)
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Soccer In America

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer has an interview with one of those people who are the secret weapons of our growing game: Hugo Salcedo has been involved on many levels, top to bottom, for a long time. He is the guy who helped Michael Orozco find his way to a team in Mexico.
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Pitch Invasion with an article on ESPN's improved soccer coverage. I agree it has gotten better, but calling them jingoistic during USA World Cup games is asinine. Every country in the world has homers calling their national team games. Why would you expect anything else. And if you watch any game in England, no matter what foreign country or players are on the pitch the English announcers find ways to relate it all back to the Premiership. The author needs to get over himself a little bit here.
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Americans In Europe

Soccer America reports that DaMarcus Beasley has suffered a hamstring strain in preseason training. Not good for Run DMB. He could be out up to a month.
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How are our Americans in Scandinavia doing this summer:
Norwegian Tippeligaen:
-Adin Brown - Aalesunds - did not play as they lost 1-3 at home to Tromso.
-Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - was not on the bench as they drew 0-0 at home against Viking.
-Pat Noonan - Aalesunds - did not play as they lost 1-3 at home to Tromso.
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - played all 90 and won 1-3 at Stromsgodset.
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - was not on the bench as they drew 2-2 at Bodo Glimt.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - was not on the bench as they won 4-0 at Lillestrom.
Norwegian Adeccoligaen:
-Matthew Allen - Bryne - didn't play at they drew 1-1 at Sandnes
-Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance and got a Yellow Card but won 2-3 at Notodden.
-Joseph Lapira - Nybergsund - played the full match as they drew 2-2 at home against Sparta Sarpsborg.
-Jay Needham - Alta - played all 90 minutes and lost 1-3 at home to Lov Ham Bergen.
-Chris Rodd - Bryne - scored an Own Goal as they drew 1-1 at Sandnes.
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - was not on the bench as they lost 3-1 at Sogndal.
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - started and went 90 scoring the only goal of the game as they won 0-1 at Sandefjord.
Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at Goteborg today
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - scored his teams 1st & 3rd goals in a 2-4 winner over Malmo.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at Goteborg today
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RUMORS

Today it's Brad Friedel to Aston Villa.
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CONCACAF News

FIFA.com reports on Costa Rican's heading off to play in the Australian A League. Not good. These are the guys who should be playing in MLS.
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FIFA.com also has a short Q & A with the head of the football federation in the Bahamas. They are trying.
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Olympic Soccer News

NBC has announced that they are showing every minute of ALL men’s & women’s soccer games. Multiple cable channels will be used.
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South American News

The word from Brazil is that the real Ronaldo is about to sign with Flamengo.
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England News

West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green writes an article for the Independent about his weeks spent in Africa during this offseason. Fantastic. A must read.
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Kevin Mitchell of the Observer with an article on Cristiano Ronaldo, who he describes in two words: Witless & Bonehead. Hahahaha.
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European News

GERMANY

Schalke has signed Dutch midfielder Orlando Engelaar from Twente Enschede. He had a really good Euro 08 performance.
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Hamburg has released long time Argentine star defender Juan Pablo Sorin. He has suffered a string of injuries that have kept him sidelined for too long.
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ITALY

The Italian Referees Association says they are going to crack down this season "excessive protesting and simulation". We shall see.
-Getting your Diving Italians shirt here: Caution Azzurri. From Blue Sky Soccer!
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Milan have preseason friendlies set up against Juve, Man City & Sevilla.
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La Gazetta talks to Juventus midfielder Momo Sissoko about the upcoming season.
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SPAIN

English papers today ran with a story saying Samuel Eto'o was leaving Barcelona to play in Uzbekistan. Ha. Our main man Brian Quarstad just happened to speak with Mr Eto'o himself today because the great striker is in the Twin Cities for a youth clinic. Eto'o says that story is completely false. Read it here at Blue Sky Soccer. Good work BQ.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian pimps Real Madrid & Spain keeper Iker Casillas for this years Ballon d'Or.
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Former Real Madrid boss Vicente del Bosque is all set to take over as the next national team coach.
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OTHERS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian on the reclamation of the once fabled Hungarian club Honved. Now owned by an American businessman.
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World News

Pitch Invasion with the story of Nigerians playing their football in Finland!
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The Guardian with an article on the national team of Kurdistan. Yes, Kurdistan.
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Gavin Hamilton at World Soccer with a very interesting article about citizenship and national teams. The story involves a Brazilian, Qatar & Iraq. So why does it start with a little blurb about England? Why does it have to always be about England with some of these writers. The rest of us are sick of it.
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The Telegraph with an article on how money has changed the game. This is about nostalgia, which does no one any good. Yes, the old stories are great, but its the past and will always stay there.
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African News

The BBC shows young African players being ripped off by con-men. Very sad story.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Expect NBColympics.com to also air as much soccer as possible, besides the cable and network channels.

This could be the biggest olympics ever, with regards to the amount of coverage planned.

-joe

4:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is one of those "soccer has arrived" moments, because traditionally NBC has been utterly apathetic, if not downright antipathetic, towards soccer.

Wonder if they'll cut in with commercials....

5:42 PM  
Blogger Richard Whittall said...

As the author of the ESPN piece, I think I've spent my whole life trying to get over myself, to little effect. In that spirit, let me respond to your criticisms.

As someone mentioned in the comment thread (well, not someone, fredorrarci of the magisterial 'sportisatvshow.blogspot.com'), there is a difference between patriotic reportage and jingoism.

I think it would have been more effective for the 2002 broadcast if Jack Edwards had offered some concrete reasons for the importance of the win for US soccer, rather than yelling across the board nationalistic slogans in an attempt to get the perfect soundbite.

That said, I whole-heartedly agree with the whole English-bias thing. I remarked later that the English announcers added experience and restraint, if only because England hadn't qualified for the tournament.

Otherwise, criticism accepted!

9:54 PM  
Blogger chad said...

yes for some reason i thought the requisite for this year's all star game was actually this season. javi morales should be on that team.

11:21 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

Massive respect goes out to Richard Whittall!

4:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Chicago defender Gonzalo Segares (no relation to either DC defender Gonzalo Peralta or Gonzalo Martinez)" -- more comedy gold from Brucio. (Best appreciated if you know the background.)

9:00 PM  

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