Some Sweet Burberry Underpants News

Abdusalam Ibrahim, the young Ethiopian boy from my town of Minneapolis, made his pro debut on Saturday for Toronto. He came on at half time and did not disappoint, taking a great through ball from Amado Guevara to beat the Chicago defense, then rounded keeper Jon Busch and put the ball into an empty net. I was so damn excited for him. He is 16 years old! There was a downside though, in that he took not one but 2 dives, and was given a Yellow Card for the second. That crap has got to go. He is too talented to be diving and I hope his coach and veteran teammates home him get that expunged from his game. Huge congrats though to Ibrahim on his debut and goal. Let's hope for many more.

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Simon Kuper on the transfer market: "Just as oil is part of the oil business, stupidity is part of the football business." What a sentence. Read the story in the World News section.

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It has been revealed by the MLS Players Union that of the $1 Million dollar prize awarded to the winner of the SuperLiga, only $150,000 will actually go to the players. The other $850,000 goes to the team and league. Wow. Embarrassing. So much for the incentive for players.

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Salt Lake fans must be wetting themselves with excitement over the fact that they are in FIRST PLACE in the Western Conference. Can you believe it?? Insanity has struck. Good for them


SuperLiga

After the first 4 games we can see that SuperLiga will give us the same passion and quality as last year! Yes, there is a weak team in the field, Atlante, but maybe their beatdown in Houston will wake them up to the level they need to play at. Can't wait for Matchday 2.
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Matchday 1 Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 12
DC 1-2 Guadalajara - DCU goal by Luciano Emilio. Guad goals by Omar Rivera & Gonzalo Pineda.
Attendance: 22,453
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Houston 4-0 Atlante - HD goals by Dwayne De Rosario, Stuart Holden(2) & Brian Mullan.
Attendance: 13,105
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes and HD players ratings by Fallas on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
-Sun Jul 13
New England 1-0 Santos Laguna - NER goal by Kheli Dube.
Attendance: 10,118
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.
Match report from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Chivas USA 1-2 Pachuca - CUSA goal by Ante Razov. Pach goals by Claudio Suarez(OG) & Gabriel Caballero.
Attendance: 14,528
Match report by Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report from the LA Times.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
Post game notes aplenty from Andrea & Luis at the Sideline Views blog.
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Official match reports and video highlights etc.
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Ejections:
Dwayne De Rosario - Houston - Red Card
Javier Munoz - Atlante - Red Card
Juan Pablo Rodriguez - Santos - Red Card
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My notes from SuperLiga Matchday 1:
-Jaime Moreno of DCU had a penalty saved by Ernesto Michel of Guadalajara. When was the last time Moreno did not convert? (Steven Goff of the Washington Post said it's been nearly 4 years since he missed a PK in MLS play, and is currently on a streak of 20 in a row.)
-Did Guadalajara look good or what. Holy smokes. For a few minutes there I thought they were going to tear DC to shreds. But credit DCU for getting their act back together and playing hard, nearly tying the game at one point.
-DC was missing Marcello Gallardo who has a strained groin muscle, and it really showed. Add that to the longer term hamstring injury of Santino Quaranta and Ben Olsen's ankle injury and you end up with a significantly diminished midfield. Centerback Gonzala Peralta also has a groin injury.
-Goalkeeper Zach Wells may have had his best game for DC.
-Sven Goren Erickson, the new Mexico coach, was seen in the stands at RFK Stadium in DC on Saturday night and again in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium on Sunday night. [CORRECTED]
-USA manager Bob Bradley & his son Michael were seen in the stands of the Home Depot Center watching Chivas USA v Pachuca on Sunday night.
-I was shocked at how poor the field condition is in Houston. Big portions of the pitch are nothing but dirt. Wow. They should be embarrassed.
-Santos Laguna's long-term-delusional goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez has never shown any respect at all toward USA teams and players and he was at it again after his teams loss in Foxborough saying that he felt his team out played the Rev's. While I give his team plenty of credit for their extremely hard play with 10 men for a long stretch, they were definitely the 2nd best team on the field. Yes Santos had some nice chances, but New England had many many more and should have beaten them much worse than 1-0. When will he learn? Never I guess. Too bad.
-Santos are a really good team, but it was again pathetic of them to blame the turf for the loss. Sadly it's become typical.
-There was a 20 minute delay in the middle of the DC v Chivas game due a couple of banks of field lights going out.
-Now that is the Houston team that has won back to back MLS Cups. They drilled Atlante!
-Dwayne De Rosario showed again that he lacks brain cells at times when he got into a little scrap over a nothing foul and let it turn into a Red Card offense by not backing off and letting it go. Idiot.
-Houston played with out 3 injured regulars: Brian Ching, Richard Mulrooney & Eddie Robinson.
-Taylor Twellman missed yet another game for New England, with yet another injury, a strained hip flexor.
-I love watching Pachuca play. And in this offseason they lost potent striker Juan Carlos Cacho, but replaced him with even stronger forward Bruno Marioni. What a great move.
-Someone named Lance Parker played goalkeeper for Chivas USA on Sunday night. I have never even heard of him. Dan Kennedy had been backing up Brad Guzan in goal before this. So with Guzan sold to Aston Villa, I expected to see Kennedy. Instead we got this Parker guy. We will have to find out who he is.
-Chivas USA had many early chances to bury Los Tuzos and did not do it. They paid the price for it. The best chance was a Penalty Kick in which Pachuca keeper El Condor Colero dove the wrong way by El Emperador Suarez's shot hit the post and bounced away. I figured Suarez to be automatic on that PK.
-CUSA was also robbed on the foul given to Pachuca that set up the free kick and first goal. There was no foul at all on that play, and the referee was 6 miles away when he made the call, which the assistant referee did not call a foul.
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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 16
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 10
Kansas City v New York - KCW goals by Jimmy Conrad & Davy Arnaud. NYRB goal by Juan Pablo Angel.
Attendance: 8,773
Los Angeles 1-1 Chivas USA - LAG goal by Edson Buddle. CUSA goal by Ante Razov.
Attendance: 27,000
-Sat Jul 12
San Jose 1-1 Colorado - SJE goal by Ryan Johnson. CR goal by Conor Casey.
Attendance: 9,107
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News.
Match report from Center Line Soccer.
Match report from the Denver Post.
Chicago 2-1 Toronto - CF goals by Chris Rolfe & John Thorrington. TFC goal by Abdus Ibrahim.
Attendance: 15,118
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Nick Firchau of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report from the Toronto Star.
Post game notes by Arroyave on his blog The Red Card.
Salt Lake 2-0 Columbus v - RSL goals by Javier Morales & Robbie Findley.
Attendance: 12,378
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Post game analysis by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post game notes by Edward.
Player ratings for RSL by Edward on the Deseret News RSL blog.
Post game notes by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
More post game notes from Mitchell.
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Ejections:
Preki - coach - Chivas USA - Red Card (for arguing with officials)
Frank Yallop - coach - San Jose - Red Card (for arguing with officials)
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MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
33 New England
27 Columbus
24 Chicago
22 DC
21 Toronto
20 Kansas City (GD -4)
20 New York (GD -8)
Western Conference
23 Salt Lake
22 Los Angeles (GD +3)
22 Chivas (GD +1)
20 Colorado (GD +4)
20 Houston (GD -2)
18 Dallas
13 San Jose
(Goal Differential is the first tie breaker)
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog The Red Card reports that forward Calen Carr has blown out his knee and is done for the season.
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Cuauhtemoc Blanco apologizes. Also from The Red Card.
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I heard it was Blanco bobblehead night in Chicago on Saturday. But I have to ask - how to you make a bobblehead of a guy with no neck? Does he bobble at the waist or something like that?
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Gonzalo Segares cranked over his ankle and to be replaced. They say its not real bad though.
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The Toronto Star reports that there is no movement on a deal to send the rights to forward Brian McBride from TFC to the Fire.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Phil Collin of the LA Daily News talks to outgoing goalkeeper Brad Guzan who says goodbye to Chivas USA.
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Word from owner Jorge Vergara told reporters on Friday that the team is bringing in a very talented young goalkeeper from Saprissa in Costa Rica to fight for the starting goalkeeper job.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle reports that the team has re-signed forward Nate Jaqua for the remainder of this season. Jaqua wants to play next season in Seattle, his hometown, when they enter MLS. The international transfer period begins on Tuesday, so the signing will be completed anytime after that.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

The Wiz has sold forward Scott Sealy to San Jose for straight up good old fashioned cashola. I guess they figure Josh Wolff is all the forward they are going to need to climb out of the cellar and into the playoffs. Hmmm. Let's hope they have more then that up their big blue sleeve.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Here's a new one - Rev's defender Chase Hilgenbrinck has retired - to be come a Catholic Priest. Hey, whatever you need. Best of luck dude.
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Monique Walker of the Boston Globe writes about an old Rev's weakness that has suddenly become a strength - team depth.
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REAL SALT LAKE

The team has given up only 2 goals in the past 7 games. And one of those was an Own Goal.
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Midfielder Nathan Sturgis saw game action for the first time in nearly 3 months. He has been out with a hamstring injury.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Ryan Johnson had a fantastically powerful back post diving header goal from a great long range cross from the foot of Ramiro Corrales.
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TORONTO FC

Morgan Campbell on the Star's TFC blog hooks us up with a link to a video show done by an Englishman from Milton Keynes who as in Toronto recently and filed this great report. Campbell is even interviewed. Very cool stuff.
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Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail says TFC took a run at Benfica & Portugal forward Nuno Gomes. But sadly he turned them down. That would have been a great move. I know it's not really news, but it does show they are trying some interesting things.
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GENERAL

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with his weekly MLS (and this week SuperLiga) notes - The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly.
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MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 15
Toronto v Independiente (Argentina)
-Sun Aug 3
Colorado v Everton (England)
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USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

Here is a picture of some of my friends at last Friday's return to the National Sports Center and the opening of the new home of our Thunder. Check out those clouds. At halftime they told everyone to get out of the stadium and take care, then for the next 90 minutes we got a huge storm of heavy rain, powerful wind and massive lightning. We sat it out, then played half #2. The game ended tied at 2's. (thanks to Bob for sending me the picture)
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My team plays English Championship division team Burnley on Tuesday night in a friendly. Will it be fun? I don't know. I can't name one of their players (ever), and I pay attention. Honestly I can list about 500 teams I would put higher on my priorities. Maybe this is one of those games where the pinheads who live here but won't go see American Soccer will go out. But will it actually change their mind about going out again to see the local team. Let's hope it converts at least one.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 10
Portland 0-2 Puerto Rico
-Fri Jul 11
Rochester 1-0 Seattle
Minnesota 2-2 Carolina
-Sat Jul 12
Charleston 1-3 Puerto Rico
-Sun Jul 13
Montreal 0-1 Seattle
Rochester 0-0 Miami
Vancouver 1-1 Carolina
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USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played):
27 Charleston (15)
24 Puerto Rico (15) (GD +6)
24 Vancouver (14) (GD +1)
23 Seattle (17)
21 Portland (17)
20 Atlanta (14) (GD -2)
20 Miami (18) (GD -2)
20 Carolina (16) (GD -5)
18 Rochester (15)
17 Minnesota (16)
15 Montreal (15)
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USA Olympic Team

The team is expected to be announced on Thursday this week.
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USA U20 News

Match & Score:
-Fri Jul 11
USA 3-0 Mexico - USA goals by Sheanon Williams & Peri Marosevic(2).
Match report from the Laredo Morning Times. (Thanks to Joe J for this)
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USA U17 News

The annual trip to South America for Friendlies.
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Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 4
Uruguay 0-2 USA - in Montevideo Uruguay - USA goals by Jack McInerney & Carlos Martinez.
Three games in Rosario Argentina as part of Copa Ciudad de Rosario
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 9
ARF (Rosario) 1-3 USA - ARF goal by Cabrera Alberto(PK). USA goals by Robert Derschang, Victor Pineda & Jaime Gutierrez.
-Thu Jul 10
Argentina 3-0 USA - Arg goals by Rodrigo Diaz, Lucas Mugni & Adrian Martinez.
Match report from US Soccer.
-Fri Jul 11
Chile 1-3 USA - Chi goal by Piero Garate. USA goals by Stefan Jerome(2) & Carlos Martinez.
Match report from US Soccer.
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US Soccer Youth Development Academy

The first ever U18 & U16 national finals for the new Development Academy will be take place starting tomorrow, Sat Jul 12, and ending on Sat Jul 19.
All matches will be played at the Home Depot Center complex in Carson, CA.
The tournament is set up in two groups per age level and a round-robin tournament will determine #1-#4 in each group. Then those teams will then play the corresponding team in the other group for 1st, 3rd, 5th & 7th place trophies.
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 v Colorado Rush
Baltimore Bays v FC Westchester
CASL v Concorde Fire
Columbus Crew v 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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Soccer In America

While looking at a match report for the USA U20 game against Mexico last Friday I came across another article in the Laredo Morning Times written by Nino Cardenas about the growth of soccer in the USA. Pretty good stuff. Includes the local viewpoint too, which is very important to tomorrow.
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European News

ITALY

Juventus has signed Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen from Sevilla.
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World News

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times writes about the international transfer market, and all it's sheer lunacy.
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An AP article in which Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona and Cameroon talks about media access to players and how he feels a more American approach would benefit everyone in Europe and across the globe. IE. more access to players before and after games and during weekly training. He is in the USA vacationing and doing some promo work for Puma, even stopping in my town of Minneapolis on Tuesday. Some good stuff here. (thanks to BQ for the link)
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Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

Last week Sepp Blatter compared world club football contracts to slavery. Not only is this sheer idiocy, but it is an insult to the horror of what slavery is all about. Enough said.