Waterloo Reenactment News

It was a wild ending but my team the Minnesota Thunder were elimindated 5-4 by Vancouver in the first round of the USL-1 playoffs last night. Damn it all. See details in the USL-1 section.

~and~

A big shout out to the fantastic Highbury pub in Milwaukee, where I spent a great Saturday morning. Thanks to all the friends I saw & met, old & new, and everyone who works there, for the hospitality (Joe & Craig!).

~and~

From Steven Goff's blog (the best in the business) Soccer Insider: "Los Angeles and DCU have conceded a combined 100 goals." Holy Salvia Batgirl!

~and~

Welcome to Rio Tinto Stadium. See the Real Salt Lake section for details.


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 3 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 30
Saprissa v Marathon
UNAM v Houston - 9pm central on FSC
-Wed Oct 1
DC v Cruz Azul - 7pm central on FSC
Firpo v San Francisco
Olimpia v Montreal - 9pm central on FSC
Municipal v Puerto Rico - 12midnight central on FSC
-Thu Oct 2
Tauro v Santos Laguna - 7pm central on Galavision
Atlante v Joe Public - 9pm central on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 27
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 25
Chicago 3-1 Los Angeles - CF goals by Chris Rolfe(2) & Cuauhtemoc Blanco. LAG goal by Eddie Lewis.
Attendance: 20,156
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
-Sat Sep 27
Toronto 1-1 Houston - TFC goal by Marvell Wynne. HD goal by Hunter Freeman(OG).
Attendance: 20,074
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report from the Toronto Star.
Match report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Post game analysis by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Post game analysis from the Toronto Sun.
Post game notes & Houston player ratings by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
New York 4-5 Colorado - NYRB goals by Mike Magee, Juan Pablo Angel(PK), Dane Richards & Matthew Mbuta. CR goals by Omar Cummings, Conor Casey(3 - one via PK) & Mike Petke.
Attendance: 14,795
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Brian Lewis of the NY Post.
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
Post game notes & NYRB player ratings by Jack Bell of the New York Times on their blog Goal.
Post game notes by Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Time.
Chivas 2-1 Kansas City - CUSA goals by Alecko Eskandarain & Sasha Victorine. KCW goal by Josh Wolff.
Attendance: 14,783
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from the KC Star.
New England 0-1 Columbus - CC goal by Chad Marshall.
Attendance: 15,035
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Post game notes by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
More post game notes from Mitchell on his blog Covering the Crew.
San Jose 2-3 Salt Lake - SJE goals both by Darren Huckerby. RSL goals by Yura Movsisyan(2) & Javier Morales.
Attendance: 10,059
Venue: Buck Shaw Field, Santa Clara CA
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report from the Deseret News.
Match report by Embele Awipi of Center Line Soccer.
Player grades for RSL from the Deseret's RSL Blog.
-Sun Sep 28
Dallas 3-0 DC - FCD goals by Andre Rocha, Jeff Cunningham & Kenny Cooper.
Attendance: 12,138
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Post game notes & DCU player ratings by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ejections:
-Frankie Hejduk - Columbus - 2 Yellow Cards
-Jaime Moreno - DC - Red Card
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

I am not at all surprised that coach Preki, a former star for the Kansas City Wizards, had all three of his teams former Wizards players (and his teammates), Shavar Thomas, Alex Zotinca & Sasha Victorine in the lineup on Saturday against their old team, and that they delivered a big win.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com says CUSA fans have a second Sasha to love - Victorine.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Defender Zotinca made his season debut for the team after sitting out a long time with a knee injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Ives Galarcep on Soccer by Ives with an article on a report that the investor group from Vegas that is interested in an MLS team is very close to buying a chunk of the Crew. What does it all mean?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a true sign of a champion, the Crew won on the road against their biggest challenger New England despite playing the last 35 minutes a man down after Frankie Hejduk was sent packing for his second Yellow Card.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Coach Sigi Schmid was ejected in the dying seconds of the game for arguing with the referee. Who knows what he might have said, but you can be sure it was not pretty.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chad Marshall scored against New England on a corner kick, when no one else had done that against the Rev's all season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

John Haydon of the Washington Times with an article on the teams recent signing Boyzzz Khumalo. (Story ran before Sunday's game.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Jeff Cunningham got career goal #104!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Brain Ching had two big chances to score in Toronto this weekend and put the first one straight up and over the bar from 6 yards out, and on the second he got a great leading pass which he decided to control rather than first time and got stripped without even taking a shot. Very poor on his part.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Houston has elected to rest Brad Davis & Brian Ching by not taking them to Mexico City for the CCL game on Tuesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Josh Wolff - CHILENO!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Forward Macoumba Kandji made his debut coming on as a second half sub for injured Dane Richards. Then in the 73rd minute he works a great give & go with fellow debutante Matthew Mbuta who scores a beautiful goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Apple Soccer reports that Richards had received a call up from the Jamaican national team before the game on Saturday, then hurt his knee during the game, leaving it all up in the air.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with a story on the building of Red Bull Arena in Harrison NJ.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

After choking away 3 points last week at home, the Salt shakers had to get 3 on the road in San Jose on Saturday and they did. Only their 2nd road win of the season. They are still in the playoff race.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reports that copper mining company Rio Tinto has bought the stadium naming rights for RSL's new home in Sandy UT. The price is possibly $20 million for 10 years.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

The amount of teeth gnashing in the Toronto press is building in momentum. But one thing none of these people pointed out from day one of this season is that the teams #1 problem last season was the defense. And what did they do in the offseason or during this season to fix that problem? The answer is simple - NOTHING. End of story. Bring in all the forwards and midfielders you want, but if you have crap defense, then you have no chance of winning in the long run. NOTHING!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Right fullback Marvell Wynne scored his first ever league goal, and it was a beauty. He took a pass near midfield and cruised toward goal, put a great move on Dwayne De Rosario and blooped a shot with his left foot from the top of the box perfectly over Pat Onstad for the goal! Great stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Steve Davis at ESPN Soccernet with 10 things to note from Week 27.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with his weekly review, The Good, The Bad and The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his breakdown of the week that was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of ESPN Soccernet looks at the biggest players trades in the league this season, and tells us who got the best deals.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I think we can easily call this one early and give the official Player of The Week award to Colorado forward Conor Casey who scored 3 in a huge 4-5 road win against New York.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

The season is now over losing 4-5 to Vancouver in the 2 legged playoff series. Damn. They made a valiant effort, but giving up a bad late goal in game one, and then 3 in game two made it almost impossible to pull off the upset. Ricardo Sanchez was sent off for arguing with the referee late in game two as well, which didnt help. So it's on to next year. Who will be the coach? And which players will return?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Playoff Schedule

Puerto Rico (1) - by finishing top of the table in the regular season (the Commissioners Cup) they get a First Round bye.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores (seed):
-Fri Sep 26
Rochester (4) 2-0 Charleston (5) - Roch goals by Steve Guppy & Matthew Delicate.
Vancouver (2) 2-0 Minnesota (7) - Van goals by Jonathan Greenfield(OG) & Justin Moose.
Seattle (6) 2-1 Montreal (3) - Sea goals by Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar & Leighton O'Brien(PK). Mon goal by Stefano Pesoli.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Round 2nd Leg Matches & Scores:
-Sun Sep 28
Montreal 3-1 Seattle - Mon goals by David Testo, rocco Placentino & Samuri Ribeiro. Sea goal by Facekicker Levesque.
Minnesota 4-3 Vancouver - Minn goals by Luchi Gonzalez, Melvin Tarley, Stephen de Roux & Fredrico Moojen(PK). Van goals by Alfredo Valente, Martin Nash & Eduardo Sebrango.
Charleston 1-0 Rochester - Char goal by Osvaldo Alonso.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Second Round 1st leg Matches & Scores:
Puerto Rico - first round bye v Rochester - advanced 2-1 on aggregate
Vancouver - advanced 5-4 on aggregate v Montreal - advanced 3-2 on aggregate
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

Expect the roster for the next two World Cup qualifiers to be announced at the end of the week, and training camp to start at the end of the weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
USA v Cuba - 3pm central at RFK Stadium, Washington DC
-Wed Oct 15
Trinidad & Tobago - 7pm central at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet pimps Tim Howard for the Honda Player Of The Year award.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Ravi Ubha at ESPN Soccernet gives us some insight into the growth of Charlie Davies this season at Hammarby!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jen Cheng also of Soccernet looks on the other side, at the struggling Eddie Johnson who can't even make a wave at Cardiff right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Forward Vincenzo Bernardo signed a long term deal with Napoli in Serie A last week. He has been playing in their reserves, but the club like him a lot and wanted to make it permanent. Fantastic for him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES

French Ligue 1
-Freddy Adu - Monaco - came on as a 78th minute sub but lost at home 0-2 to Lille.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played all 90 as they beat Nice 1-0 at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

French Ligue 2
-Quentin Westberg - Troyes - on the bench as they won 3-2 over Tours at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spanish La Liga
-Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - was not on the bench as they beat Sporting Gijon 1-0 on the road.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scottish Premier League
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - did not dress as they won 0-3 at Hibernian.
-Maurice Edu - Rangers - did not dress as they won 0-3 at Hibernian.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 1
-Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - on the bench but did not play as they lost 1-0 at Hamburg.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the full match as usual and they pulled off a big 1-0 home win over Bayern Munich!
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - played the entire 90 at centerback as they won 3-0 at home against Stuttgart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the full 90 as they got a home draw 1-1 with Ingolstadt.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - entered the game in the 82nd minute as they won 2-0 at home against St Pauli.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - did not play as they lost 1-0 at Osnabruck.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - in goal for the whole game but they lost 1-0 at Osnabruck.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Italian Serie B
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - at home against Parma on Monday
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dutch Erste Divisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - went the full 90, got a Yellow Card, and drew 2-2 at Eindhoven.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Belgian Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went the full 90 and beat Anderlecht 2-1 at home to take over 1st place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Austrian Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - went the distance but lost at Lask Linz 2-0.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - on the bench but did not play as they lost 1-2 at home against West Ham.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - played all 90 and won 2-1 at home over Sunderland.
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench for the 2-1 win over Sunderland.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 as always but lost 0-2 to city rivals Liverpool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Championship Division
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not make the game day roster as they team won 4-0 at home over Swansea.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - injured so he was not in uniform for his team as they lost 2-1 at Sheffield United.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the full match and won big, 4-0 at home over Swansea.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on as a sub in the 76th minute but they lost 1-2 at home to Birmingham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League One
-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - dressed but did not play as they lost 1-2 at home to Peterborough.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - on the bench as they went to Swindon and won 1-2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danish Landspokal (League Cup) 3rd Round -
-Dan Califf - Midjtylland - play at Akademisk Boldklub on Monday
-Benny Feilhaber - Aarhus - out injured
-Floyd Franks - Blokhus - lost at home to Randers 0-2
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - lost at Skive 2-1
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - won at Blokus 0-2
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - win 1-2 at Avarta
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Tippeligaen:
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - started as usual but lost 0-1 at home to Viking.
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - dress but did not play in a 4-0 loss at Stabaek.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Adeccoligaen:
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - started and went 85 minutes, assisting on the last goal, in a 0-3 win at Bryne.
-Jay Needham - Alta - went all 90 as they lost 2-1 at Odd Grenland.
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - played the full match and they won 1-2 at Sandes Ulf.
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - played all 90 minutes, assisted on the teams first goal and got a Yellow Card as they drew 2-2 at home against Start.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - in goal for a 0-1 home loss to Djurgardens.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - played all 90 minutes of a scorless home tie with Trelleborgs.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - played in midfield for the full 90, got a Yellow Card, and they lost to Djurgardens at home 0-1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet reviews the group stage matches played so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

The top 5 Primera teams after 10 of 17 Rounds:
20 San Luis
19 Atlante
16 UNAM Pumas
15 Cruz Azul
15 UAdG Tecos
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Tottenham have just 2 points from their first 6 matches - oof!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Insider of ESPN Soccernet gives us a look at the Stoke v Chelsea match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arsenal got beat at home by Hull! Who saw that one coming?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Really cool story by Sean O'Conor of No Short Corners about a book written by an Englishman who played some "secret" games for Spartak Moscow back in the early 60's. Great stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GERMANY

Boo-hoo, Bayern Munich loses again in Bundesliga play - is Klinsi already in serious troubles?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ITALY

Is anyone impressed by what Jose Mourinho has done at Inter so far this season? I didn't think so.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SPAIN

Phil Ball at ESPN Soccernet with a look at the weekend in La Liga, and a little history on Sporting Gijon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There were ugly scenes in the stands of Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys where Espanyol hosted their crosstown rivals Barcelona. Supposedly a banned Barca supporters gang threw flares at Espanyol fans, which caused the game to be stopped for while. The stadium will close at the end of this season with a new one ready to take it's place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Group Stage - Matchday 2
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 30
Aalborg v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Villarreal v Celtic
Fiorentina v Steaua Bucuresti
Bayern Munich v Lyon - delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta
Arsenal v Porto - live at 1:45pm central on Setanta
Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kyiv - delayed at 4:40pm central on Setanta
BATE Borisov v Juventus
Zenit St Petersburg v Real Madrid - delayed at 4pm on ESPN Classic
-Wed Oct 1
CFR Cluj v Chelsea - live at 1pm central on Setanta
Bordeaux v Roma
Anorthosis Famagusta v Panathinaikos - delayed at 4:40pm central on Setanta
Inter Milan v Werder Bremen
Sporting v Basel - delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta
Shakhtar Donetsk v Barcelona - delayed at 4pm on ESPN Classic
Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Atletico Madrid v Olympique Marseille
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

2nd leg matches will be played Sep 30 & Oct 2. With the winners advancing to the Group Stage.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Club Matches This Week

Serie A
-Sun Sep 28
Inter 0-1 Milan - Ronaldinho scores the only goal in the derby della Madonnina.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Premiership
-Sat Sep 27
Everton 0-2 Liverpool - an ugly outing for the blue side of the Merseyside derby.
Fulham 1-2 West Ham - another in the nearly endless string of London derbies, with East End beating West End.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jupiler League
-Fri Sep 26
Standard Liege 2-1 Anderlecht - the battle for early season supremacy in Belgium between the top 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Portugese Liga
-Sat Sep 27
Benfica 2-0 Sporting - the home team wins again in one of "The Big Three" derbies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Liga
-Sat Sep 27
Espanyol 1-2 Barcelona - the big boys get the win in the Catalan derby.
-Sun Sep 28
Atletico Madrid 0-1 Sevilla - Sevilla won the war of the challengers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
-Sat Sep 27
New England 0-1 Columbus - the perenial Eastern power lose more ground to the league leading upstarts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Primera
-Sat Sep 27
Atlas 0-1 Guadalajara - the big team wins the second city derby.
-Sun Sep 28
America 2-0 Cruz Azul - a much needed win for America in one of two huge Mexico City derbies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brasileiro
-Sun Sep 28
Sao Paulo 2-0 Cruzeiro - with the win SP jumps up to #3 while Cruz drops to #5.
Botafogo 1-1 Fluminense - a draw in a big Rio derby.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

Andrew Jennings in the Sunday Herald of Scotland unearths a big fiancial hoo-ha surrounding the newest member of Sepp's World Cup Committee. Australian billionaire Frank Lowy is under investigation all over the world, including the USA for tax evasion, money laundering, fraud and many other lovely crimes, while at the same time he was just named to Sepp's committee. AND he just so happens to be in charge of Australia's bid to host the 2018 World Cup! The number of hands in the number of cookie jars is amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Why is digging up dirt on these guys so easy, but getting them out of power almost impossible?