Thursday, August 07, 2008

The Hum Of The Hammer News

It was not pretty, but they got the job done as the USA beat Japan 1-0 to get the Men's Olympic tournament started right. Details in USA Olympic section below

~and~

The speculation has ended for one of the biggest non-stories of the year - Cristiano Ronaldo is playing at Manchester United this season. The End. Here is a direct quote: "I'll be playing at Manchester United with my heart and soul. I will fight and honour the shirt with the same desire and dedication as I always have." Read the full Q & A from the Guardian in the England News section


USA Men's Olympic Team

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 7
Japan 0-1 USA - USA goal by Stuart Holden.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report & USA player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match report by Brent Latham at Yanks Abroad.
Match report from the New York Times.
Post game analysis by Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated.
Post game analysis by Jen Chang of Soccernet.
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Ratings for USA players by Greg Seltzer at Soccer365.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Video of post game interviews from US Soccer.
-Sun Aug 10
Netherlands v USA - 6:45am central on USA Network
-Wed Aug 13
Nigeria v USA - 4am central on USA Network

Yellow Cards (2 in the group stage will get you a suspension):
-Michael Bradley
-Freddy Adu
-Brad Guzan
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports feels that this tournament is Freddy Adu's chance to really make a big mark on the field.
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Beau Dure of USA Today on his blog The Netminder has a great story about his first day in China. Hilarious.
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Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Player Association writes that even though the Olympics are no World Cup, they can have a big influence on the average American sports fans view of soccer.
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Official USA team blog
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NBC's Olympic soccer website
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Group Standings
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 20 - Only 4 games this weekend.
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 9
Colorado v Toronto - 3pm central on FSC & FSE
Venue: Dicks Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Kansas City v Chivas USA - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
-Sun Aug 10
New York v DC - 4pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Los Angeles, Houston, Salt Lake, Columbus, San Jose & Dallas have the weekend off. Why is that?
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League Standings
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MLS News

COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post does a Q & A with midfielder Terry Cooke.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch on the teams addition of forward Pat Noonan.
-Mitchell has more Noonan notes on his blog Covering The Crew.
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What we have here is some video of the team bonding through some Paint Ball wars. Frankie Hejduk makes that statement that he is more nervous for this than playing at Estadio Azteca! Brilliant line! (thanks to Tommy for the link!)
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DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider reports that DC is going to sign a 30 year old Liberian goalkeeper with duel Swiss citizenship - Louis Crayton. He has been at Basel in the Swiss league the past 4 seasons. He has 35 caps for Liberia.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Very sad news comes from the LA Riot Squad as an original member, Jair de Jesus Garcia, was killed in the war in Afghanistan. His board name was Jairzhino. His older brother is another LARS original that some of you may know as Gunner. I am having a good thought for all of them today. Here is a short news article from the LA Daily New. (Thanks to LA Joe for the heads up.)
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RED BULL NEW YORK

NYRB has signed 24 year old Venezuelan defender Gabriel Cichero from Deportivo Italia in his homeland.
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Don't expect to see midfielder Dane Richards for another 2 to 3 weeks as he is recovering from a strained hip flexor.
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MLS Friendlies

-Wed Aug 6
New York 2-6 Barcelona (Spain) - NYRB goals by Seth Stammler & Jorge Rojas. FCB goals by Xavi Hernandez, Samuel Eto'o(2), Barfo Marquez, Jeffren Suarez & Pedro.
Attendance: 38,152
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Match report from Metrofanatic.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report from the Jersey Journal.
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Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives with a report on New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio's reaction to media asking if his team was overmatched by Barcelona.
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MLS Rookie Of The Year

Here is the du Nord ranking of the candidates:
1 Kheli Dube - New England Revolution
2 Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
3 Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy
4 Roger Espinoza - Kansas City Wizards
5 Julius James - Toronto FC
6 Anthony Beltran - Real Salt Lake
7 Bobby Burling - Chivas USA
8 Luke Sassano - New York Red Bulls
9 Justin Braun - Chivas USA
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And some others to consider:
-Ely Allen - Los Angeles Galaxy
-Erik Avila - FC Dallas
-Danleigh Borman - New York Red Bulls
-Stephen King - Chicago Fire
-Chance Myers - Kansas City Wizards
-Patrick Nyarko - Chicago Fire
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USL First Division News

The Oregonian on what tonight could be the last meeting in a long nasty rivalry between Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders.
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First & Second Division Teams of the Week.
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Minnesota Thunder

The Thunder play Charleston tonight and Seattle on Sunday night, so when those two teams meet next Tuesday in the US Open cup semifinal I should have a pretty good idea of who's going to do what.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 7
Minnesota v Charleston Battery
Portland v Seattle
-Fri Aug 8
Carolina v Montreal
Atlanta v Miami
Puerto Rico v Rochester
-Sat Aug 9
Portland v Charleston
-Sun Aug 10
Rochester v Puerto Rico
Minnesota v Seattle
Vancouver v Atlanta
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USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played) (goal difference):
34 Charleston (20) (GD +9)
34 Vancouver (20) (GD +1)
33 Puerto Rico (19)
30 Atlanta (19)
29 Seattle (21)
28 Rochester (20)
24 Portland (21)
23 Miami (21)
21 Minnesota (20) (GD -5)
21 Carolina (21) (GD -10)
19 Montreal (18)
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USL PDL Championship

Final
Match & Score:
-Sat Aug 9
Laredo Heat v Thunder Bay Chill - 8pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
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The battle of these two nicknames makes it seem like 3rd graders are taking the field. But it is funny that it's Heat & Chill.
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Laredo are the defending champs.
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Soccer In America

I got a hilarious SPAM email today titled "Best Cleetus Suggestion", and the first line in the email itself starts "Purchase medication fast..." How brilliant is that?
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Americans In Europe

IT'S OPENING WEEKEND FOR MANY
English Championship
-Bobby Convey - Reading - Sun Aug 10 at Nottingham Forest
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - Sat Aug 9 at Crystal Palace
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - Sat Aug 9 v Doncaster - away at the Olympics
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - Sun Aug 10 at Nottingham Forest
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - Sat Aug 9 v Doncaster
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - Sat Aug 9 v Burnley - out injured
English League One
-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - Sat Aug 9 at Leicester
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - Sat Aug 9 at Oldham
Scottish Premiership
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - Sat Aug 9 at Falkirk - out injured
French Ligue 1
-Freddy Adu - Monaco - Sat Aug 9 v Paris St Germain - away at the Olympics
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - Sat Aug 9 v Olympique Marseille
-Andrew Jacobsen - Lorient - Sat Aug 9 at Le Mans
Dutch Erstedivisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - Fri Aug 8 at Haarlem
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CONCACAF News

In a friendly match at RFK Stadium in Washington DC last night Guatemala beat Bolivia 3-0. The goals came from Mario Rodriguez, Dwight Pezzarossi & Pando Ramirez.
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Olympic Soccer News

The Associated Press with a very good report on all the Men's games today.
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FIFA's Olympic News Site
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Olympic Soccer Scoreboard

Men's Olympic Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 7
Australia 1-1 Serbia
Argentina 2-1 Cote d'Ivoire
Japan 0-1 USA
Netherlands 0-0 Nigeria
Belgium 0-1 Brazil [SCORE CORRECTED]
China 1-1 New Zealand
Honduras 0-3 Italy [SCORE CORRECTED]
Cameroon 1-1 South Korea
-Sun Aug 10
Argentina v Australia
Cote d'Ivoire v Serbia
Japan v Nigeria
Netherlands v USA - 6:45am central on USA Network
Brazil v New Zealand
Belgium v China
Cameroon v Honduras
Italy v South Korea
-Wed Aug 13
Argentina v Serbia
Australia v Cote d'Ivoire
Nigeria v USA - 4am central on USA Network
Japan v Netherlands
Brazil v China
Belgium v New Zealand
Honduras v South Korea
Cameroon v Italy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Men's Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Women's Olympic Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 6
Argentina v Canada
China 2-1 Sweden
Germany 0-0 Brazil
N Korea 1-0 Nigeria
Japan 2-2 New Zealand
Norway 2-0 USA
-Sat Aug 9
Sweden v Argentina
Canada v China
Nigeria v Germany
Brazil v N Korea
USA v Japan
New Zealand v Norway
-Tue Aug 12
China v Argentina
Sweden v Canada
N Korea v Germany
Nigeria v Brazil
Norway v Japan
USA v New Zealand
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Women's Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

The Guardian reports that Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely staying at Manchester United, and he does a Q & A with them on the subject.
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The Guardian begin their Premiership team previews:
-Arsenal
-Aston Villa
-Blackburn
-Bolton
-Chelsea [CORRECTED]
-Everton
NEW-Fulham
NEW-Hull City
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European News

FRANCE

Rennes has suspended forward Sylvain Wiltord after he said derogatory things about the teams coach to the press. How long will this last?
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GERMANY

The league cup or DFB Pokal kicks off today, with the top 64 teams in country playing this Round 1 games through Sunday.
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ITALY

Football Italia quotes the Milan team doctor as saying the knee surgery Kaka underwent this offseason did not fix the problems he has been having. Not good.
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UEFA Champions League

Third Qualifying Round - 1st leg matches Aug 12/13. 2nd leg matches 26/27. Here are the matches.
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UEFA Cup

Second Qualifying Round 1st leg matches Aug 14, and 2nd leg matches on Aug 28. Here are the matches.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought Brazil beat Belgium 1-0.

4:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Huge party in Honduras tonight!!!!!

8:18 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

thanks for the heads up on the wrong score

10:37 AM  
Blogger digchros said...

I might have missed something, but on Toronto's roster this weekend there was no Laurent Robert. Is he injured?

5:18 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

Robert out with hamstring strain.

11:05 AM  

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