Monday, October 27, 2008

Tearing Paper Into Strips News

MLS Scoreboard

Week 31 - The last round of the regular season.
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 23
Chicago 5-1 New York - CF goals by Chris Rolfe(3), Brian McBride & Daniel Woolard. NYRB goals by Juan Pablo Angel & Bakary Soumare(OG).
Attendance: 13,274
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
-Sat Oct 25
New England 1-3 Kansas City - NER goal by Jeff Larentowicz. KCW goals by Claudio Lopez(PK), Davy Arnaud & Michael Parkhurst(OG).
Attendance: 16,764
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the Worchester Telegram.
Match report from the Kansas City Star, also written by Kyle McCarthy.
Post game notes and KC coach & player quotes from the teams official blog Hillcrest Road.
Colorado 1-1 Salt Lake - CR goal by Conor Casey. RSL goal by Yura Movsysian.
Attendance: 16,047
Venue: Dick's Sporting Good Park, Commerce City CO
Match report by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Match report by Pat Rooney of the Rocky Mountain News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Player grades for Salt Lake by Edwards on the Deseret's RSL blog
San Jose 2-0 Toronto - SJE goals by Ryan Cochrane & Shea Salinas.
Attendance: 10,526
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Match report by Elliot Almond of the San Jose Mercury News.
Match report by Jeff Carlisle of Center Line Soccer.
Chivas 1-1 Houston - CUSA goal by Jim Curtain. HD goal by Dwayne DeRosario(PK).
Attendance: 18,165
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
Post game analysis by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise. (Ignore the headline, it is pure fiction)
-Sun Oct 26
Los Angeles 2-2 Dallas - LAG goals by Edson Buddle & Landon Donovan(PK). FCD goals by Drew Moor & Victor Sikora.
Attendance: 27,000
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Luis Bueno for the Dallas Morning News.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
Post game notes from the Galaxy's official team blog.
Columbus 1-0 DC - CC goal by Brad Evans.
Attendance: 19,591
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Post game notes by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

EJECTIONS:
-Gabriel Badilla - New England - Red Card
-Khano Smith - New England - Red Card
-Dan Kennedy - Chivas - Red Card
-Alvaro Pires - Los Angeles - Red Card
-Aaron Pitchkolan - Dallas - 2 Yellow Cards
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Badilla, Smith & Kennedy will all miss the first game of the playoffs due to their Red Cards. And I would not be surprised to see Smith get a second game because of the serious intent to injure that he delivered with his vicious tackle on KC's Herculez Gomez. Gomez walked away fine.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Final Regular Season Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Playoff Schedule
Quarterfinals - 1st Leg
-Thu Oct 30
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
-Sat Nov 1
New York v Houston - 4pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Salt Lake v Chivas - 5pm central on FSC
Venue: Rio Tinot Stadium, Sandy UT
Kansas City v Columbus - 7pm central on HDNet
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg
-Thu Nov 6
Chicago v New England - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
-Sat Nov 8
Columbus v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Chivas v Salt Lake - 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Nov 9
Houston v New York - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Chicago has named goalkeeper Jon Busch their Most Valuable Player, and Bakary Soumare as their Defender of the Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Losing your playoff spot in the 90th minute. Too painful to consider.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post wonders if interim head coach Gary Smith will be offered the full time job. Defender Mike Petke says: "If he does not get this full-time job, then somebody up there has a screw loose." By "up there" do you think he is referring to a deity?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Michael Arace of the Dispatch looks at the season ended, the team and fans, and the postseason ahead. A great article!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Crew website has a Q & A with General Manager Mark McCullers about the dramatic turnaround this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch examines the factors that went into turning it around as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram looks at FCD's season of "misses".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News looks at the season just completed by the teams Designated Player Duilio Davino. I think that for the second year in a row they have overpaid for an over the hill guy who didn't sell a single extra ticket. And isn't that what a DP should be all about? On the other hand Davino knows he must do better, and that is the sign of a true pro. I say, give him another shot to prove it, and if late July rolls around next year and he still isn't cutting it, then adios muchacho.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aparicio looks at how FCD managed to miss the playoffs this season. And what are they going to do to fix it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lopez also writes about the now ended career of Bobby Rhine.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

"Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber today fined D.C. United President and CEO Kevin Payne $5,000 due to inappropriate conduct directed at an official after the D.C. United at LA Galaxy match on Sept. 20, 2008."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out of the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Not good. Will coach Tom Soehn be back next season. Doubtful.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

The team finishes the regular season unbeaten in their last 9 league games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle looks ahead to the series with the Red Bulls.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Dynamo won the Reserve Division title with a record of 9-1-2. Colorado had won the first two, so it's now a new teams chance to lead in the development game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Grahame Jones of the LA Times says Landon Donovan is readying to leave MLS, "IF" anyone wants him, and "IF" the right deal can be made for him and the league and a new team etc etc.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Long time defender Greg Vanney retired after yesterday's game.
-Jones of the LA Times writes about Vanney.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer talks to the retiring Vanney after the game. He has several interesting things to say.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner of Soccer America has nothing but nasty things to say about Beckman and the way he has gone about trying to land a loan deal, not to mention flying all over the globe on personal endeavors throughout the season, while claiming to be all about the Galaxy. He also puts a boot to ESPN for good measure. I don't usually find myself agreeing with Gardner but today I give a thumbs up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The LA Times has quotes from Beckham's first press conference since the news of his Milan plan snuck out. He says he will be back in LA for sure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LA Times readers react to Beckham's proposed move to Milan.
How does last place feel. Tied with an expansion team. Oof. You can bet that Frank Yallop is having the last laugh now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal talks to commish Donald S Garber about the Beckman loan, and says the only way it will go through is if the Galaxy are happy with the deal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated feels like many of us do, that Beckham is out of line.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The team has named Steve Ralston as their Most Valuable Player, and Michael Parkhurst as their Defender of the Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Midfielder Shalrie Joseph on teammate Khano Smith trying to destroy KC's Herculez Gomez with a wild tackle that resulted in Smith getting a Red Card: “The guy ended Ralston’s regular season. He didn’t get a yellow. He didn’t get suspended, fined or nothing. We knew coming in that we definitely wanted to give him payback. We made him know that we didn’t appreciate what he did to one of our teammates.” Could not have been spoken more moronically clear. What an idiot. (A Rev's fan saw it this way: "Gomez foul was just a foul, not really with malice (certainly not done to break a leg), Khano's was with intent to injure." Ahh, blue tinted glasses!) Watch and decide for yourself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then the coach Steve Nicol turns around and complains about the other Red Card his team got, this time for hauling down a KC player as he went in alone on goal: "You can argue that it is a penalty, that it isn't a penalty, but, for me, the referee shows a complete lack of understanding in the situation," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "This is the last regular-season game. Both teams are in the playoffs. If somebody deserves to be sent off, then send them off and they'll miss [a game in] the playoffs. To send Badilla off just shows a lack of understanding and we really shouldn't be too surprised because the last time Kevin Stott was here, he did the exact same thing. He showed a lack of understanding on Shalrie Joseph, so if we ever see Kevin Stott again, it won't be too soon." Nicol also comes off like an idiot. An idiot packed inside a nicely wrapped box of Sour Grapes. If his players showed some discipline the referee would not have to have made those two calls. They were both easy Red Cards in an neutral fans mind. Again, sorry Rev's fans, I know how you are gonna see this one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe talks to the team about the length of the season. In 02 they played 28 games, this season its 40 and counting. But compared to most leagues around the world our season is short.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Walker also looks ahead to the series with the hated rivals the Chicago Fire.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New England players were all given commemorative watches by the teams ownership for winning SuperLiga. I bet they would have rather had the money!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

The Red Bulls Vikingsed their way into the playoffs. Never a good sign.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to coach Juan Carlos Osorio about the "new season" in the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at the Bulls shot in the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret News talks to two RSL originals about what it means to qualify for the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Salt Lake Tribune with 3 articles from the historic win:
-RSL's tie sure feels like a win
-RSL coach: "That's stuff history is made of."
-Win not a guilty pleasure
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Jay Hipps of Center Line Soccer can't help but compare his re-animated teams inaugural season with that of their hated enemy the LS Galaxy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the way, one of the guys shitcanned by Tottenham at the end of last week was GM Damien Comolli who put together the "partnership" between Spurs and the Equakes. What happens now? See more on the Tottenham blow up in the England News section below.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gareth Wheeler of the Sun looks at what TFC needs to do to improve next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Chicago Fire forward Chris Rolfe was named Player of the Week. I would hope so.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com breaks down the last week of the MLS regular season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis of ESPN Soccernet with 5 things to note from MLS Week 31.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

MLS Exhibition Matches

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 28
Portland Timbers (USL1) v Toronto FC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Golden Boot

This years winner is: Landon Donovan of Los Angeles with 20 goals. He also came very close to being the first player in league history to score 20 and get credit for more than 10 assists. He had 9. If his team was any good he would be a serious contender for league MVP, instead he is a distant 2nd to Schelotto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Top 8 Goal Scorers:
20 Landon Donovan
18 Kenny Cooper
15 Edson Buddle
14 Juan Pablo Angel
13 Brian Ching
11 Luciano Emilio
11 Conor Casey
10 Jaime Moreno
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And here are those top hander-outers of assistes's:
19 Guillermo Barros Schelotto
15 Javier Morales
12 Terry Cooke
11 Cuauhtemoc Blanco
10 David Beckham
10 Jaime Moreno
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

Stunningly the Seattle Sounders are about to spend Designated Player money on a guy who can barely run anymore. Swedish midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg who is only 31 peaked with Arsenal in the spring of 2002. He went to West Ham at the beginning of last season but was let go this summer when they realized he had nothing left in the tank, although in the press releases they deny this was the reason for ending his contract after 1 of 4 years. He played his last game for Sweden this summer saying he wanted to concentrate on West Ham but we now know how long that lasted. And somehow he is getting DP money? Reported to be $2.5 million a year, which is more than all the other DP's cept Becks. Are you serious? And even at his peak would he really sell that many tickets? They will introduce him on Tuesday.
-The Seattle Times reports on Ljungberg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A website called Prost Amerika has a Q & A with sounders GM Adrian Hanauer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The league released the rules for the Seattle expansion draft. It will be held on Wed Nov 26. Teams can only lose 1 player.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U17 News

Justin Rodriquez of ESPN Soccernet tells us all about another of the potentially brilliant young USA players, 16 year old striker Stefan Jerome.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

My good friend Brian Quarstad has officially launched his new soccer blog - Inside Minnesota Soccer. It features interviews, game stories, opinions etc from all things Minnesota soccer related, and this includes people from far and wide who come in contact or connection our great state and its soccer. Good luck to you BQ.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You wanna go for the new record and play a 35 hours game? (thanks to Banecek for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

While Frank Simek did not see the field this weekend for Sheffield Wednesday he was on the bench for the first time since last spring when he suffered a serious ankle injury. Great for him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ravi Ubha of ESPN Soccernet tells us about Dan Califf and his new team Midtylland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet also has an article on Carlos Bocanegra and his first season in France.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Scotsman has several quotes from Maurice Edu on life at Rangers, in an article about the return to the field of Barry Ferguson.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sporting Life has more from Edu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 talks to Kamani Hill about his try out at Bodo/Glimt in Norway, which has been extended.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES
(only those who took the field are listed)

French Ligue 1
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - went the full 90 and drew 2-2 at home against Le Mans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scottish Premier League
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and went 75 minutes in a 1-3 win at Hamilton.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 1
-Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - started and played 77 minutes of a1-0 home win over Karlsruhe.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the full match, got a Yellow Card and they drew 1-1 at home to Werder Bremen.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - played the entire match and they tied Hertha Berlin 1-1 at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the full 90, got a Yellow Card and won 0-2 at Osnabruck.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 70th minute of a 0-0 draw at Frankfurt.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - started and went 59 minutes of a 1-1 home draw against Nurnberg.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - played the whole game in the nets and drew 1-1 at home against Nurnberg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dutch Erstedivisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - went the full 90 minutes but lost at Excelsior 2-1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Belgian Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the whole match as they went to Racing Genk and tied 0-0.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Austrian Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - went the full match but got drilled 7-3 at Salzburg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 71st minute and got the tying goal in the 87th as they drew 1-1 at Portsmouth.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - the whole game as usual in the nets and whooped Wigan 0-4 on the road.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played all 90 and drew 1-1 at home against Manchester United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Championship Division
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went all 90 and kept a clean sheet in a scoreless home draw with QPR.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League One
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - played the full match, got a Yellow Card and lost 3-2 at Scunthorpe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danish SAS Ligaen
-Dan Califf - Midjtylland - went the distance but got smoked 3-0 at Brondby.
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - at home against Sonderjyske on Monday.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - came on in the 53rd minute, got booked, and drew at home 2-2 with AaB.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - started and was subbed out only in the dying seconds of stoppage time as they won 2-1 at home over Vejle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Tippeligaen
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - played the whole game as always, but went to Stabaek and got savaged 6-2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Adeccoligaen
-Clarence Goodson - Start - came on as a sub in the 72nd minute and scored 5 minutes later, but they lost 3-2 at Odd Grenland.
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - started and went 69 minutes as they lost 1-0 at Notodden.
-Jay Needham - Alta - played all 90, assisted on a goal, and won big 7-2 at home over Hodd.
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - started and went 69 mintues, as they got thumped 7-2 at Alta.
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - went the distance and scored 2 goals, 30th & 90th minutes, and they won 2-4 on the road over Sandnes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swedish Allsvenskan
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at home against Malmo on Monday.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - went the full 90 but lost 3-0 at Gelfe.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at home against Malmo on Monday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions League

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 6
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 28
Firpo v Houston
Olimpia v Joe Public
Atlante v Montreal
-Wed Oct 29
Pumas v San Francisco
DC v Marathon
Saprissa v Cruz Azul
Tauro v Puerto Rico
-Thu Oct 30
Municipal v Santos Laguna
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

POSTPONED DUE TO FLOODING - TO BE PLAYED ON WED NOV 5 Marathon v Saprissa
POSTPONED DUE TO HURRICANE IKE - TO BE PLAYED ON WED NOV 26 Houston v Firpo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated writes about the strength of the Mexican teams in the CCL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Standings (games played):
Group A
10 Cruz Azul (5)
7 Saprissa (4)
7 Marathon (4)
% 1 DC (5)
Group B
9 UNAM Pumas (5)
7 Firpo (4)
5 Houston (4)
% 2 San Francisco (5)
Group C
* 11 Montreal (5)
* 8 Atlante (5)
5 Olimpia (5)
% 3 Joe Public (5)
Group D
9 Santos Laguna (5)
7 Puerto Rico (5)
7 Tauro (5)
5 Municipal (5)
* Advanced
% Elimidated
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Chelsea had not lost in 86 consecutive home games until Sunday when the Liverpeople got them 0-1. That was one hell of a run.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tottenham finally fired coach Juande Ramos after starting the season with 2 points from 8 games. They have hired Portsmouth main man Harry "Bobblehead" Redknapp as they new boss and he promptly guided them to a win in his first day on the job - RESULTS! They also got rid of some executive staff and all the assistant coaches. House cleaning indeed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hull City meanwhile continue to be the big surprise in England, staying in 3rd spot, and tied on points with 2nd place Chelsea, who are 3 points behind leaders Liverpool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Robinho bags all 3 as Man City beat crappy Stoke 3-0.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was reading the other day that the top 10 richest people in Russia had lost a combine US$250 Billion in the past month or so of world wide economic plummet. So I was not surprised to see this in the Observer: Duncan Castles says Chelsea are looking to cut their overhead in any way possible.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Castles also interviews Chelsea boss Big Phil about his times so far at Stamford Bridge. He is loving it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with a round up of the Championship, League One and League Two.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David James in the Observer says the Premiership needs huge support from the fans if they are to survive the financial crunch. I ask, what is the Premiership going to do for those fans?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Lawton of the Independent went to Everton to see them play Man United, and what he saw was a very uninterested Cristiano Ronaldo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

ITALY

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian says Napoli are the great story of the early season in Serie A. Keep your eyes on Argentine forward Lavezzi - an awesome player!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian says that UEFA boss Michel Platini should be a lot more concerned with Juventus only drawing 25,000 for a match against Real Madrid in the Champions League, then how many foreigners play in the English Premiership.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has an article on coach Walter Zenga who is doing a great job at Catania.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Juve midfield legend Pavel Nedved.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters reports that Fiorentina striker Alberto Gilardino will be suspended for the teams next two matches after it was determined that in scoring goal against Palermo on Monday he used his arm intentionally to put the ball in the net. But the referee called the goal good. The Palermo players were even more insenced when Gilardino celebrated the goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NETHERLANDS

Leander Schaerlaickens of the Guardian looks at the shocking new top teams in the Eredivisie: Gronigen, Breda & Alkmaar. Not to mention Twente & Heerenveen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SPAIN

Barcelona were up 5-0 after just 37 minutes at home against Almería on Saturday. They have now won 9 in a row in all competitions. They are the worlds #1 now!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet says Barcelona are again dreaming of achieving sheer brilliance. And the rest of the news from the Spanish top flight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe of the Guardian sees the wild ride in Villarreal as they tied Atlectico 4-4!!! The three big Spanish sports daily papers all called it "madness". And all the other crazy games from La Liga.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OTHERS

Stabaek has won their first ever Norwegian league title! Congrats to them!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Club Matches Around The World This Week

England Premiership
-Sat Oct 25
Sunderland 2-1 Newcastle - the Tyne-Wear derby.
-Sun Oct 26
Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool - the 2 big teams at the top of the table went head to head and the Liverpeople pulled off a huge upset to go to the top. It was the first loss for Chelsea at home in over 4 YEARS!
West Ham 0-2 Arsenal - a lesser London derby (one of many).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Denmark SAS Ligaen
-Sun Oct 26
Copenhagen 0-0 Odense - the draw leaves them at #2 & #1 respectively.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

France Ligue Un
-Sun Oct 26
Olympique Marseille 2-4 Paris St Germain - the very old & bitter rivalry goes to the visitors.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga
-Fri Oct 24
Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 Koln - the Rhine derby.
-Sun Oct 26
Hoffenheim 3-0 Hamburg - the surprising upstarts jump to #1, while the Hamburglers drop to #3.

Italy Serie A
-Sat Oct 25
Juventus 1-0 Torino - the Turin derby.
-Sun Oct 26
Lazio 0-1 Napoli - like an 80's classic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spain La Liga
-Sun Oct 26
Villarreal 4-4 Atletico Madrid - these potential contenders had the shootout at the OK Corral.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico Primera
-Sun Oct 26
America 1-2 Guadalajara - El Classico, the biggest North American derby, and the road team keeps the homeboys at the bottom of the group.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Russia Premier League
-Mon Oct 27
Dinamo Moscow v CSKA Moscow - a Moscow derby pitting #3 v #2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

The international players organization FIFPro has named Cristiano Ronaldo the Player of the Year. No surprise. It only will be if he DOESN'T sweep all "best of" awards.
-The FIFPro Best 11:
G:
Iker Casillas
D:
Rio Ferdinand
Carlos Puyol
Sergio Ramos
John Terry
M:
Steven Gerrard
Xavi Hernandez
Ricky Kaka
Cristiano Ronaldo
F:
Fernando Torres
Lionel Messi
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Middle Eastern News

The Toronto Star with an article on the historic match that took place in Palestine this weekend. Thank you Star for not running a crappy wire report!

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

As to Hull City, cheers to Chris Wright, the former master of the goal for Hull City. And who would Chris Wright be? Just the President of the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves and the guiding force behind the National Sports Center in Blaine, MN (now, once again, the home of the MN Thunder).

Donovan

1:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is Davino really a DP? I thought that he was making around 300k, below the DP threashold.

9:04 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

you may be right andrew, but he is really close to top dollar if not there, and he has still been a disappointment at just about any dollar amount

3:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

free bet

well, i saw barcelona against betis at the camp nou...dodnt seem like #1 then but, with those scores, they look like that solid team...they seem like that Mourinhos Porto that won the Champions...

5:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think this is the second time I've dropped this correction in your comments: Colorado Reserves didn't win "the first two" reserve seasons, just the last two. DC won the first reserve season in 2005. (http://web.mlsnet.com/mls/reserve/2005/) Not that it matters much, but I get paid to sweat the details, and I do it off-duty too.

While I'm here, two other things: You say it's "doubtful" DC's coach, Tom Soehn, will be back. I'm happy that DC has never had an interim coach or, technically, ever fired a head coach. Two of them left for the national team (Arena, Nowak), two were let go by not having their contracts renewed after being given a couple of years (Rongen, Hudson), and the fifth head coach in DC's history is Soehn. Looks like he'll join the second group before he gets a chance to join the first.

Also, thanks for du Nord! Keep it up!

10:32 PM  

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