Monday, September 15, 2008

Feeling Happy About Various Objects News

I think many of us get really bored when ESPN feed us a steady Champions League diet of Manchester United & Chelsea every round. But at least this week they are taking on two opponents who are very worth taking a look at. Villarreal (sadly without Jozy Altidore who is not on their group stage roster) and Bordeaux with Loren Blanc at the helm playing really great looking football. So tune in. See schedule in UEFA Champions League section.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 25
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 11
New England 4-0 Chivas USA - NER goals by Taylor Twellman, Jeff Larentowicz, Khano Smith & Steve Ralston.
Attendance: 7,606 - just brutal!
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
-Sat Sep 13
Toronto 1-1 Columbus - TFC goal by Carl Robinson. CC goal by Pat Noonan.
Attendance: 19,657
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
Kansas City 2-0 Los Angeles - - KC goals by Josh Wolff & Davy Arnaud.
Attendance: 26,113
Venue: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City MO
DC 2-2 Dallas - DCU goals by Jaime Moreno & Santino Quaranta. FCD goals by Kenny Cooper & Andre Rocha.
Attendance: 19,890
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
New York 2-1 Salt Lake - NYRB goals by Juan Pablo Angel & Dave Van Den Bergh. RSL goal by Yura Movsisyan.
Attendance: 11,692
Venue: Giants Stadium, East, Rutherford NJ
San Jose 1-1 Houston - SJE goal by Ronnie O'Brien. HD goal by Brian Ching.
Attendance: 10,526
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
-Sun Sep 14
Colorado 2-0 Chicago - CR goals by Jon Busch(OG) & Omar Cummings.
Attendance: 14,214
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

EJECTION:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 2 Yellow Cards
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog the Red Card looks at what went wrong for the Fire yesterday. And some other notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

FCD has only lost one game [CORRECTED] when Kenny Cooper scores. (thanks to Kenobi for the clarification)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Jaime Moreno upped his all time goal scoring total to 122, and earned his 98th assists. 2 more helping hands and he will be the first player in league history to go for 100-100!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The awesomely named Boyzzz Khumalo made his debut (on loan) for the United and played quite well, setting up Moreno's goal. He was originally in the league a couple seasons ago with Chicago, and has spent the last 3 in the USL 2nd Division. Good pick up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider reports that DC added a few other young unknowns to their roster this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

The teams official blog has lots of post game notes and team coach and player quotes from after their kicking of LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was also reading back through the blog and found a very interesting post from one of the teams owners Robb Heineman. He is unhappy with the season so far, and gives fans a little insight into his thoughts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Holy smokes, was Beckham a non-factor against KC or what? Bruce Arena moved him to the central midfielder role and he vanished. He even let Davy Arnaud stroll towards goal and unleash a fantastic goal from 30 some yards out. Note to Arena: Beckman is a right sided midfielder. End of story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Hunter Freeman was finally sent packing by the club. They sold him off to Toronto. He has already signed with a Norwegian team for January.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Former RSL general manager Steve Pastorino at the Salt Lake Tribune says the team needs to learn from the USA how to win on the road in bad conditions, then they will be a legit contender.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

After 24 games played, Chicago has given up a league low 20 goals while LA has given up a league high of 49. That is quite the contrast.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider recaps the weekend: The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet gives us 10 things of note from Week 25.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Golden Boot

Top goal scorers:
16 Landon Donovan
14 Kenny Cooper
13 Edson Buddle
11 Luciano Emilio
10 Jaime Moreno
10 Brian Ching
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

There has been word floating around that Toronto has signed Scottish midfielder Brian Kerr, but there has been no official announcement yet. He was recently released by Hibernian.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

Seattle has put New England assistant coach Paul Mariner on their list of potential managers for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Several MLS broadcasts mentioned this weekend that Ottawa Canada is serious about making a move for a MLS team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CONCACAF website.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Group Stage kicks off on Tuesday September 16!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All televised games shown on FSC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 16
DC United v Saprissa - live at 6pm central
San Francisco v UNAM Pumas
Puerto Rico Islanders v Tauro - delayed at 9pm central
-Wed Sep 17
Marathon v Cruz Azul
Houston Dynamo v Luis Angel Firpo - this game is being postponed for now due to the damage done in Houston by Hurricane Ike this past weekend. No word on a new date yet.
Santos Laguna v Municipal
Impact de Montreal v Joe Public - live at 6pm central
-Thu Sep 18
Atlante FC v Olimpia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

New York is doing one last mad dash effort to sign Atlanta forward Macoumba Kandji today before MLS rosters are frozen for the rest of the season. This would be a huge boon to Minnesota's playoff hopes if Kandji was gone. I hope the deal gets done. Yes I am selfish.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Minnesota Thunder

The team is turning their last regular season home game of the year a fund raiser for Breast Cancer research (Sat Sep 20 v Montreal) and will wear a special jersey for the occasion. I will not spoil the surprise for everyone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are also rumblings of the club fielding a PDL team in the state next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 12
Rochester 0-2 Puerto Rico
-Sat Sep 13
Minnesota 4-0 Charleston
Seattle 1-1 Atlanta
Vancouver 1-0 Montreal
-Sun Sep 14
Carolina 1-1 Rochester
-Tue Sep 16
Montreal v Puerto Rico
-Wed Sep 17
Miami v Rochester
-Fri Sep 19
Charleston v Carolina
Puerto Rico v Atlanta
-Sat Sep 20
Carolina v Portland
Minnesota v Montreal
Seattle v Vancouver
-Sun Sep 21
Miami v Atlanta
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

Points - Team - Games played of 30 (goal difference):
*52 Puerto Rico (28)
*50 Vancouver (29)
*41 Montreal (28) (+7)
*41 Rochester (29) (+4)
*40 Seattle (29) (+2)
*40 Charleston (29) (-1)
36 Minnesota (29)
- - - - - - - - -
33 Atlanta (28)
%31 Portland (29) (-6)
31 Carolina (28) (-11)
%28 Miami (28)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs - with the #1 seed getting a first round buy.)
* clinched playoff spot
% eliminated from playoffs
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That leaves 3 teams battling for that one last spot (Minnesota, Atlanta & Carolina). Atlanta is the team that controls the keys to the car - if they win both their remaining games no one else can keep them out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog the Red Card advocates for Chicago Fire midfielder John Thorrington getting called in to the national team soon. (thanks to Doug for the suggested wording - always needed around here)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U17 News

Soccernet with an article on the next boy wonder for Team USA - 14 year old Charles Renken is the real deal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

The New York Times Play magazine has the story of one parent with a "star" 12 year old.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Rocky Mountain News has an AP article about a potential showdown between Fox and ESPN for Premiership rights when the next contract comes up for bid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 talks to Benny Feilhaber about his new team in Denmark, Aarhus, and some recurrence of the knee injury he suffered at the Toulon Tournament with the USA U23 team earlier this summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Red Bulls official team blog has a video clip of former player Jozy Altidore's debut for Villarreal on Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES

Spanish La Liga
-Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - came on as a halftime sub for his debut and the team won 1-0 over Deportivo La Coruna.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - on the bench but did not play as they beat Bolton 2-1 at home.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - played the full game as always and they won 1-2 at Tottenham.
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench backing up Friedel as they won 1-2 at Tottenham.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and won 2-3 at Stoke.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - out with a long term hip injury
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Championship Division
-Bobby Convey - Reading - came on as a sub in the 75th minute but lost 2-0 at Ipswich.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the full 90 losing 2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the distance but lost 2-0 at Ipswich.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - on the bench but did not play as they drew 0-0 at home against Bristol City.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - out with a long term ankle injury
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danish SAS Ligaen
-Dan Califf - Midjtylland - won 3-1 at home over Esbjerg
-Benny Feilhaber - Aarhus - out with a knee injury
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - drew 1-1 away to Horsens
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - won 0-2 on the road at Aalborg
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Tippeligaen:
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - lost 1-2 at home to Lyn
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - lost 1-2 at home to Kalmar
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

The Jamaica Observer with an article on the firing of Jamaica national team coach Rene Simoes after just 5 games. What does this mean for Jamaican football? And is there enough time left to save this qualifying campaign?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated gives us a looked back at the historic international career of Cuauhtemoc Blanco who retired last week from his national team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

You should search around the internet for a video clip of the foul John Terry of Chelsea committed against Man City. He got a Red Card for "denying a clear goal scoring opportunity". But that call was about as bogus a call they come. A truly horrendous call by the referee. Luckily it did not effect the outcome. But there is no way the league will over rule the card.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times Play magazine with an article on the wealthy Americans who own English teams.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Play also looks inside what gives Cristiano Ronaldo that amazing ball control.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer on the arrival of new coach Gianfranco Zola at West Ham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goalkeeper David James in the Observer on how England goes about building on the momentum from their huge win in Croatia last week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the insanity of the past two weeks, the only thing that makes sense at Newcastle is for the owner to sell the team immediately. Here is the teams official statement, from the owner Mike Ashley. (Mostly this is a bunch of excuses from a rich idiot who didn't do any financial background on the club before he bought it, and now he is up to his eyeballs in debt, and way over his head as a business man.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Long time Chelsea striker (a journeyman lately) has retired from the game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was odd seeing West Ham play West Brom and neither team had a sponsor on the front of their shirt. It was like the 60's all over again. The company's that had sponsored each of the teams went bankrupt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

ITALY

My friend Ken the Keeper is a Fiorentina fan and has been raving about this goal scored a couple weeks ago by Gilardino. Here is a video clip. It's ridiculous! (thanks Ken!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on the weekend that was in Serie A - Palemro spanked Roma, and Milan lost again!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have said it before, and I will say it again - Remember this name: Mauro Zarate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian looks at Round 2 from La Liga - Barca lose again!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet wonders what is next for La Liga with Real Madrid and Barcelona both falling flat out of the starting blocks. I say - it's a very long season, in which two games mean nothing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

The group stage kicks off!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer looks at three teams who make almost all of us ask, Who the hell is that team?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 1
-Tue Sep 16
Chelsea v Bordeaux - live at 1:30 on ESPN2
Roma v CFR
Panathinaikos v Inter Milan - delayed at 4:35pm central on Setanta USA
Werder Bremen v Anorthosis
Basel v Shakhtar Donetsk
Barcelona v Sporting - delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic
PSV Eindhoven v Atletico Madrid - delayed at 6:15pm central on Setanta USA
Olympique Marseille v Liverpool - live at 1:40pm central on Setanta USA
-Wed Sep 17
Manchester United v Villarreal - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Celtic v Aalborg
Steaua Buchuresti v Bayern Munich
Lyon v Fiorentina
Porto v Fenerbahce - delayed at 4:35pm central on Setanta USA
Dynamo Kyiv v Arsenal - live at 1pm central on Setanta USA
Juventus v Zenit St Petersburg - delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta USA
Real Madrid v BATE - delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Matchday 2 is on Sep 30 & Oct 1
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Club Matches This Week

Bundesliga
-Sat Sep 13
Schalke 3-3 Borussia Dortmund - the fiercest rivalry in all of Alemania saw Schalke choke away a 3-0 lead!
Hamburg 3-2 Bayer Leverkusen - the win puts the Hamburglars at the top of the charts after 4 rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Premiership
-Sat Sep 13
Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United - looks like the Liverpeople are for real!
Manchester City 1-3 Chelsea - the really new ridiculous money lost to the new ridiculous money.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ligue 1
-Sat Sep 13
Bordeaux 1-1 Marseille - the battle of the up and comers got them each a point.
Lyon 3-2 Nice - Nice looks like they can be a contender.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Liga:
-Sun Sep 14
Villarreal 1-0 Deportivo La Coruna - the new hotshots trumped the former new hotshots.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Argentina:
-Sun Sep 14
Boca Juniors 1-1 Independiente - a tie game in an age old battle, but Independiente gets the bragging rights cuz they finished with only 9 on the field.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brazil:
-Sun Sep 14
Cruzeiro 1-2 Palmeiras - there is a new #2 in the Brasileiro.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA
-Sat Sep 13
San Jose 1-1 Houston - a tie score and a near blood bath between the Bay Area new team v the former, now relocated, Bay Area team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico
-Sat Sep 13
San Luis 1-2 America - can the old guard turn their season around, maybe with this win they can.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pachuca 5-2 Guadalajara - two powerhouses both in big need of a win, and the Goats got mauled by the Gophers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Road To World Cup 2010 - South Africa News

Rueters reports on FIFA prez Sepp Blatter's current trip to visit the new stadiums etc in South Africa.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bruce,

Dallas has lost, but only once, when Cooper scored. It was a road loss to RSL in May of this year.

12:28 AM  
Blogger digchros said...

Who is the Chelsea journeyman that retired?

8:48 AM  
Blogger Nordy said...

FCD has never lost a game when Kenny Cooper scores.

The USMNT has never lost a game when Kenny Cooper scores. Bring on Frankencooper!

9:00 AM  
Blogger Nordy said...

By the way, Terry didn't get the card for "denying a clear goalscoring opportunity." He got the card for "serious foul play."

12:32 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Newer Posts Older Posts