Try Just A Little Taste News

Argentina win Men's Olympic gold beating Nigeria 1-0

~and~

Cleveland City Stars win their 2nd consecutive USL Second Division championship.

~and~

Porto has a Brazilian forward named Hulk! Yes, Hulk! Don't you have to be a fairly big jackass to go by that name??

~and~

Eddie Lewis, new to the Galaxy, talks to Nick Green of the Daily Breeze and reveals that he thinks the Guatemalans targeted him personally because he was just signed by the Galaxy and their teammate Carlos Ruiz was sent packing. Wow! See the full interview linked below in the Los Angeles Galaxy section.

~and~

Hello? Hello? Is anyone at MLS HQ home? Hello? Well, then I will leave this note on your door and see if you can get back to me on it. Why was Gabriel Cichero of NYRB given a 2 game suspension for a fairly innocuous elbow (that got him an initial Red Card), while Sean Franklin of LA throws an elbow so hard that he breaks a guys jaw, and he gets nothing (not even a foul in the game!). NOTHING. Hello? Still no one home?


CONCACAF Champions League News

The Preliminary Round - 1st Leg
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 26
Joe Public (T&T) v New England Revolution - 7pm central on FSC
Match preview from Soccer 365.
Tauro (Panama) v Chivas USA - 9pm central on FSC
Cruz Azul v Hankook Verdes (Belize) - 12 midnight central on FSC
-Wed Aug 27
Montreal Impact v Real Esteli (Nicaragua) - 7pm central on FSC
Alajuelense (Costa Rico) v Puerto Rico Islanders - 9pm central on FSC
Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) v Marathon (Honduras)
-Thu Aug 28
Harbour View (Jamaica) v UNAM Pumas - 7pm central on FSC
Jalapa (Guatemala) v San Francisco (Panama)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis of Soccernet previews the games this week.
-More preview from David Mosse at Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 22
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
New England 2-1 DC - NER goals by Taylor Twellman & Jeff Larentowicz. DCU goal by Jaime Moreno.
Attendance: 14,962
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Houston 4-0 Chivas USA - HD goals by Stuart Holden, Kei Kamara(2) & Nate Jaqua.
Attendance: 10,908
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
-Thu Aug 21
Los Angeles 0-1 Chicago - CF goal by John Thorrington.
Attendance: 27,000
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
-Sat Aug 23
DC 3-0 Colorado - DCU goals by Joe Vide, Santino Quaranta & Quavas Kirk.
Attendance: 17,283
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report by Chris Webb at United Mania.
Post game notes & DC player ratings by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
Toronto 1-1 New England - TFC goal by Chad Barrett. NER goal by Taylor Twellman.
Attendance: 20.461
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report from the Toronto Star.
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Columbus 3-0 Salt Lake - CC goals by Chad Marshall, Guillermo Barros Schelotto(PK) & Brad Evans.
Attendance: 12,448
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Match report the Deseret News.
Post game notes by Mitchell.
Kansas City 1-1 Dallas - KCW goal by Jimmy Conrad. FCD goal by Andre Rocha.
Attendance: 9,825
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Match report by Bob Luder the Kansas City Star.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Match report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Chivas USA 0-0 San Jose
Attendance: 12,209
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match report from the Daily Breeze.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News.
Post game analysis by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
Post game notes by Green.
-Sun Aug 24
New York 3-0 Houston - NYRB goals by Juan Pablo Angel, Dane Richards & Mike Magee.
Attendance: 12,549
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Match report by Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report from the New York Post.
Match report by Stefan Bondy of the Herald News.
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
Post game notes by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
Post game analysis by Brian Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ejections:
Pablo Ricchetti - Dallas - 2 Yellow Cards
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Defender Lider Marmol finally got his first goal in Chicago uniform - but it was an own goal, in a friendly that the team lost 3-1 to Veracruz in Mexico. See a few more details in the MLS Exhibition Matches section below.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post answers viewer mail.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch with an article on long time, but little used midfielder, Duncan Oughton.
-More quotes that did not make the article, from Mitchell's blog Covering The Crew.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mitchell also tells us that forward Alejandro Moreno was in Venezuela last week playing for the national team and scoring a goal in a 4-1 win over mighty Syria. Sounds like the kind of game the USA used to play, like say while warming up for World Cup 2006. Good for Moreno, but what a waste of a game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Not Good - the FCD Blog reports that newly signed midfielder Viktor Sikora has suffered a torn knee ligament and will need surgery. He will be out until early October.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Also the FCD Blog brings us notes and photos from a trip some team exec's just took to meet with exec's from the mighty River Plate in Argentina. Part 1 - and - Part 2. (One more segment on the way.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

DC has only tied 1 game all season. They also have 10 wins (most by any team in the league), and 10 losses (most by any team in the league). What a weird season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer has some notes for us from Galaxy training today, plus a Q & A with new winger Eddie Lewis. First Question - How's your head? It's the question we all want to hear the answer to.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccernet looks at Bruce Arena after one week on the job.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Steve Ralston played in his 350th MLS game. More than anyone else. By a mile.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Young hotshot forward Kheli Dube has suffered a tear in his quad muscle and could be out until early October.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe with two articles on unsung players who the team will depend upon if they are to earn more trophies this season: Jeff Larentowicz - and - Khano Smith.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Connolly of the Boston Herald pointed out that NE are in the middle of a 7 day, 3 country, 3 game road trip. DC to Toronto to Port Of Spain. Wow.
-Connolly also reports that new defender Gabriel Badilla from Saprissa will not be with the team until them return from T&T.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer tells the reason why midfielder Jorge Rojas got stranded in his native Venezuela this past weekend and missed the game. It's one I have not heard before.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Butler also reported that Hunter Freeman is now mysteriously back on the bench. A couple weeks ago we were told he would never play for the team again because he had already agreed a deal with a team in Norway for January. So much for Juan Carlos Osorio being a tough guy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexican centerback Diego Jimenez made his league and team debut on Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

The team acquired young Canadian forward Will Johnson from Heerenveen in Holland (he also played 1 year on load at De Graafschap). Chicago held his MLS rights and got 2 future low round draft picks for his rights.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Morgan Campbell of the Star says TFC are asking the same question that LA & Dallas were forced to ask many times over the past 6 or 7 years - Where is Carlos Ruiz? Oh, he is showing up on Monday? Really? Would you like to invest in emu meat? I hear it's very good, like beef, and will be all the rage....
-Campbell follows up on his blog at the Star by saying Ruiz didn't show up today. Shocking!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Guillermo Barros Schelotto of Columbus was name Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet with Ten Things We Need To Know from Week 22.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his weekly league review, this time starring the playmaker.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider gives us his weekly review: The Good, The Bad and The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times on their blog Goal looks at the huge amount of games (relatively) that some MLS teams are playing this summer, right into fall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Exhibition Matches

-Sun Aug 24
Veracruz (Mexico 2nd Division) 3-1 Chicago Fire - Vera goals by Alejandro Leyva, Enrique Seccafien & Lider Marmol(OG). CF goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Player Of The Year

Here is our initial alphabetical list of the candidates:
Juan Pablo Angel
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
David Beckham
Cuauhtemoc Blanco
Edson Buddle
Jon Busch
Kenny Cooper
Landon Donovan
Luciano Emilio
Amado Guevara
Shalrie Joseph
Javier Morales
Alejandro Moreno
Jaime Moreno
Steve Ralston
Matt Reis
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Who did we miss?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Young Player Of The Year - 22 Or Under

Here is our initial alphabetical list of the candidates:
Corey Ashe
Emmanuel Ekpo
Roger Espinoza
Jorge Flores
Eddie Gaven
Michael Harrington
Abdus Ibrahim
Amaechi Igwe
Kenny Mansally
Dax McCarty
Yura Movsisyan
Sainey Nyassi
Marco Pappa
Robbie Rogers
Marvell Wynne
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Who did we miss on this one?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

Some analysis of the teams current situation.
At the end of 2007 the Thunder sat at:
26 points from 28 games on 5 wins, 12 losses and 11 ties. They scored 32 goals and gave up 35. They finished 11th in a 12 team league.
Right now we have 4 games left to play and here is how the team sits:
27 points from 24 games on 7 wins, 11 losses and 6 ties. They scored 29 goals and gave up 34.
So, in general, they have improved minisculely. But their new ownership invested quite a bit in this team and I am sure they wanted a lot more in return. Let's hope that they are truly in this for the long run and continue the investment. Results come from consistency and patience, not quick fix blasts.
As a fan I am very frustrated.
The team fired long time player and coach Amos Magee in midseason after an awful run and brutal lack of effort on the field.
The season started brightly, but has now reverted to the same form we had seen over the previous 3 seasons.
When the team went to interim coach Don Gramenz the players seemed to respond with some very good if inconsistent performances. But the past 2 games have been back to that disastrous lack of guts.
When you watch from the stands week after week it starts to look like many of these guys simply don't care. I know they are not getting paid much money, but it's gotten to the point that they should be embarrassed. I am not going to lay it on every single one of them, because some guys really battle. But other guys are going through the motions, and sadly it seems to be some with the most skill, which I have to admit pisses me off.
There are 4 games to go, and the playoffs are still a possibility. So what will happen?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
Montreal 3-1 Atlanta
Seattle 0-0 Vancouver
-Fri Aug 22
Puerto Rico 2-1 Charleston
Minnesota 1-2 Carolina
Vancouver 2-1 Portland
-Sat Aug 23
Rochester 2-0 Atlanta
-Sun Aug 24
Miami 3-0 Charleston
Montreal 3-1 Atlanta
Seattle 4-3 Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played) (goal difference):
44 Puerto Rico (24)
42 Vancouver (24)
36 Charleston (25) (GD +4)
36 Seattle (26) (GD 0)
34 Rochester (25)
32 Atlanta (25)
31 Montreal (23)
- - - - - - - - -
28 Portland (25)
27 Miami (24) (GD 0)
27 Minnesota (24) (GD -5)
27 Carolina (25) (GD -11)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL Second Division News

Cleveland City Stars won the league championship on Saturday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Final Match & Score:
-Sat Aug 23
Cleveland City Stars 2-1 Charlotte Eagles - CCS goals by Steve Shak(OG) & Sallieu Bundu. CE goal by Joseph Kabwe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Just like that, the American love affair with Fulham is nearly over. Last season they had 5 on the books, but now it's just Clint Dempsey all by his lonesome. And he's not even starting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It's nearly a perfect parallel to all of the Premiership for Americans where there were 11 last year and only 5 this year with two of them fighting for one spot on the same team. How quickly the starkness rolls in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ravi Ubha at Soccernet talks to Brad Friedel about his new team, Aston Villa.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American's in English Carling Cup
2nd Round Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 26
Bobby Convey - Reading v Luton Town
Jay DeMerit - Watford v Darlington
Marcus Hahnemann - Reading v Luton Town
Eddie Johnson - Cardiff City v Milton Keynes
Jemal Johnson - Cardiff City v Milton Keynes
-Wed Aug 27
Clint Dempsey - Fulham v Leicester City
Jonathan Spector - West Ham v Macclesfield Town
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES

French Ligue 1
-Freddy Adu - Monaco - came on as a sub in the 87th minute of a 1-1 draw at home against Caen.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - started and played 82 minutes as the team got their first win of the season, 2-1 at home over Lille.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

French Ligue 2
-Quentin Westberg - Troyes - an unused sub at they lost 1-0 at Vannes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scottish Premiership
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - came on as a sub in the 81st minute as saw his game winning goal wrongly disallowed for offside as they tied 1-1 at Aberdeen.
-Maurice Edu - Rangers - did not dress for his new team as they drew 1-1 at Aberdeen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 1
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - came on as a sub in the 72nd minute (got booked 2 minutes later) as the team drew 0-0 at home against Energie Cottbus.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - went all 90 as they tied Bayern Munich 1-1 at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - started and played 77 minutes of a 1-2 home loss to Mainz.
-Grover Gibson - Rot Weiss Ahlen - started, lasted 52 minutes, picked up a Yellow Card and they lost 3-0 at Augsburg.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - on the bench but did not play as they beat Alemania Aachen 1-0 at home.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - started and went 60 minutes of a 0-0 draw at Frankfurt.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - in goal as they drew 0-0 at Frankfurt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dutch Erstedivisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - played all 90 of a 2-2 tie game at Stormvogels Telstar.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Belgian Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - came on as a sub in the 74th minute and won 3-0 over Westerlo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 77th minute and they beat Arsenal at home 1-0. It was only their 2nd win ever over their city rivals.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - played all 90 as normal, but lost 3-2 at Stoke City.
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - did not dress for the teams 3-2 loss at Stoke.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance in goal and won 1-2 at West Brom.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - out with a long term hip injury - the team lost 3-0 at Manchester City.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Championship Division
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and played 73 minutes of a 4-2 loss at Charlton.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the entire 90 minutes but lost 3-2 at Nottingham Forest.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the distance as always but lost 4-2 at Charlton.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff City - did not suit up for his new team as they drew 2-2 at home against Norwich.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - out with a long term ankle injury - the team drew 1-1 at home against Preston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League One
-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - came on in the 65th minute as they won 1-3 at Huddersfield.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - went the full 90 and drew 0-0 at Northampton.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Tippeligaen:
-Adin Brown - Aalesunds - out injured as they lost 1-0 at Tromso.
-Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - drew 1-1 at home against Lyn Oslo
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - lost 1-2 at Stromsgodset
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - lost 1-2 at home against Bodo Glimt
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - drew 1-1 at Hamarkamaratene
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Adeccoligaen:
-Matthew Allen - Bryne - lost 4-1 at Alta
-Clarence Goodson - Start - won 0-2 at Hodd
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - scored a goal as they drew 2-2 at Sparta Sarpsborg.
-Jay Needham - Alta - scored a goal as they won 4-1 at home over Bryne.
-Chris Rodd - Bryne - lost 4-1 at Alta
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - lost 0-2 at Start
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - got himself a Yellow Card as they drew 1-1 at Honefoss.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - won 2-0 at home over Sundsvall.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - started and went 65 minutes of a 1-0 home loss to Kalmar in the League Cup.
-Ryan Raybould - Gelfe - play on Tuesday at home against Helsingborgs.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - won 2-0 at home over Sundsvall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno at Sideline Views gives us the review of the Americans in the FMF from Round 5.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Olympic Soccer Scoreboard

Men's Final Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 23
Nigeria 0-1 Argentina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Week

Spanish Super Cup
(1st leg score included)
-Sun Aug 24 - 2nd leg
Real Madrid 4-2 Valencia - Real win it 6-5 on aggregate.
-Real played with 9 men for the last 41 minutes and still got the win.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dutch Super Cup
-Sat Aug 23
Feyenoord 0-2 PSV
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Italian Super Cup
-Sun Aug 24
Inter 2-2 Roma - Inter win 6-5 on PK's after the game and Extra Time end tied.
-Francesco Totti is the player who missed his Penalty Kick for Roma.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Sat Aug 23
Fulham 1-0 Arsenal - one of the seemingly endless string of London derbies, but this time Fulham won, and that never happens.
Stuttgart 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Bayern Munich
Werder Bremen 1-1 Schalke
Spartak Moscow 1-1 Dinamo Moscow - #4 hosted #2 and nothing changed
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Third Qualifying Round - 2nd leg
Matches & Scores (including 1st leg score):
-Tue Aug 26
Panathinaikos v Sparta Praha (2-1)
Artmedia v Juventus (0-4)
-Wed Aug 27
Slavia Praha v Fiorentina (0-2)
Dynamo Kyiv v Spartak Moskva (4-1)
BATE v Levski Sofia (1-0)
Dinamo Zagreb v Shakhtar Donetsk (0-2)
Olympiacos v Anorthosis Famagusta (0-3)
Kaunas v AaB (0-2)
Steaua Buchuresti v Galatasaray (2-2)
Olympique Marseille v Brann (1-0)
Atletico Madrid v Schalke (0-1)
Arsenal v Twente (2-0)
Fenerbahce v Partizan Belgrade (2-2)
Liverpool v Standard Liege (0-0)
Basel v Guimaraes Vitoria (0-0)
Wisla Krakow v Barcelona (0-4)