Some News for Thu Apr 30

Starters

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UEFA Champions League

Semifinals

First Leg Matches:
-Tue Apr 28
Barcelona 0-0 Chelsea - A real dullards delight.
-Wed Apr 29
Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal - MU goal by John O'Shea, the least talented guy on the field gets it done!

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the goal scoring hero and his winning team.

Second Leg Matches (with First Leg scores included):
-Tue May 5
Arsenal v Manchester United (0-1)
-Wed May 6
Chelsea v Barcelona (0-0)

US Open Cup

MLS team 1st qualifying round:
-Wed Apr 29
San Jose Earthquakes 1-2 Red Bull New York - SJE goal by Pablo Campos. RBNY goals by Mike Petke & John Wolyniec
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA

In the 2nd & final qualifying round New York will face DC United, date and location TBD by a coin flip (aka RFK Stadium).

MLS

International Friendly Match:
-Wed Apr 29
Chicago Fire 1-2 Club America (Mexico) - CF goal by Chris Rolfe. CA goals by Juan Carlos Silva & Pavel Pardo.
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune. Fire third string keeper Andrew Dykstra stopped a PK!
-A return match will be played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City later this year.

dN

Sons of Ben tip us off to the fact that Philadelphia will announce the name of their new team on May 11.

dN

Andrew Hush at ESPN Soccernet gives us his thoughts on last week and looks ahead to this weekend in MLS.

dN

MLS Week 7 Matches
-Sat May 2
Toronto v Columbus - 3pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
DC v Dallas - 6:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Chicago v Seattle - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Colorado v Salt Lake - 8:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
San Jose v Chivas - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Los Angeles v New York - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
-Sun May 3
New England v Houston - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA

Kansas City is on the bye week.

USL

BQ at Inside Minnesota Soccer sits down with Thunder coach Don Gramenz as the home season gets set to kick off! I better see all you Twin Citians on Saturaday night - bleecher tickets are only $5 and the new beer garden is pitchside - you have no excuse! Download or listen to the interview here.

dN

-Sat May 2
Minnesota Thunder v Vancouver Whitecaps - 7pm Central at the National Sports Center in Blaine
-Again, there are new $5 bleacher seats this season, $20 season passes for youth, and a brand new pitch-side beer garden!

England

The National of UAE interviews a Tottenham team executive about the impact manager Harry Redknapp has had on the team this season.

Europe

Sports Features with an article on Franck Ribery and the chances that he will stay at Bayern Munich after coach Juergen Klinsmann has been fired.

dN

The National of UAE tells the story of a tragic team from 1949 - Il Grande Torino were the most popular team in Italy who died in a plane crash.

dN

Other Cup competitions around Europe:

UEFA Cup Semifinals
First Leg Matches:
-Thu Apr 30
Dynamo Kyiv 1-1 Shakhtar Donetsk - DK goal by Dmytro Chygrynskiy(OG). SD goal by Fernandinho.
Werder Bremen 0-1 Hamburg - Ham goal by Piotr Trochowski.
-Second leg matches on May 7
-Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian writes about the battle between Ukraine's Big Two.

Puchar Polski Semifinals
1st Leg
-Wed Apr 29
Legia Warszawa 0-1 Ruch Chorzow
-Thu Apr 30
Lech Poznan 1-1 Polonia Warszawa
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Wed May 6
Polonia Warszawa v Lech Poznan (1-1)
-Thu May 7
Ruch Chorzow v Legia Warszawa (1-0)

South America

Tom Phillips of the Guardian with an article on my favorite player of all time Ronaldo, and his great comeback down at Corinthians. Some really good stuff here.