Some News for Fri May 29

STARTERS

Jose Mourinho's new contract to coach Inter is reported to be just under 14 Million Euros per season, with incentives it could go up to 15.4Million. In today's US Dollars that is 19.5M to 21.5M. Insanity!

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune tells us that a donor match has been found for the wife of RSL midfielder Andy Williams. Marcia Williams was diagnosed with a rare strain of Leukemia. This is great to hear.

MLS

Week 11 Matches:
-Wed May 27
Columbus Crew 2-1 San Jose Earthquakes - CC goals by Guillermo Barros Schelotto & Eddie Gaven. SJE goal by Ryan Johnson.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 8,793
-Thu May 28
Chivas USA 2-3 Chicago Fire - CUSA goals by Paulo Nagamura & Maykel Galindo. CF goals by Cuauhtemoc Blanco(2 - both via PK) & Patrick Nyarko.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 20,379
-Sat May 30
New York Red Bulls v Colorado Rapids - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Giants Stadium - East Rutherford NJ
New England Revolution v DC United - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Houston Dynamo v Toronto FC - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Seattle Sounders FC v Columbus Crew - 9:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Los Angeles Galaxy v Kansas City Wizards - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
San Jose Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
-Sun May 31
Chicago Fire v FC Dallas - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL

dN

EJECTIONS:
-Jesse Marsch - Chivas USA - 2 Yellow Cards

dN

I hate doing this but, again last night referee Tim Weyland went berserk with the yellow cards, handing them out like they were Hersey's Kisses. Come on dude. Talk to the players, settle them down, take control. Handing out card is not control. That’s like pulling out the belt every single time a kid does something wrong. Is you use it right, you rarely ever have to use it.
-Jesse Marsch did not deserve to be tossed from that game last night. Why? Because his first booking was not deserved. The second one, yes. First one, no.

Is it just me or did it seem like Chicago stole that game? Wow. It sure was fun to watch. End to end burners endure!

dN

Interesting - Houston Dynamo CEO Chris Canetti made a post on the teams official blog yesterday explaining exactly why they made a deal to acquire forward Dominic Oduro from New York. It's nice to see this openness with the fans.

dN

John Smallwood (how much crap does a guy take about a name like that - I would have changed it the day I turned 18) of the Philadelphia Daily News about the Union hiring of Peter Nowak to be their first head coach.

dN

The Philly Daily News talks to Union honchos about Nowak.

dN

The Toronto Globe & Mail reports that TFC will take on Real Madrid in a friendly on Fri Aug 7 at BMO Field. Real Madrid are willing to play on that fake turf, you ask? Oh no no, a grass field will be laid over the turf for this one game. Hahahahahahahaha.

dN

The New York Red Bulls site takes us inside their new stadium with their players seeing it for the first time. What did Juan Pablo Angel think: "This is by far the best stadium in this league."
-Here is the link to the stadium construction webcam again.

dN

Brian Lewis of the NY Post talks to Red Bulls CEO Erik Stover who says there is no conflict with head coach Juan Carlos Osorio despite reports to the contrary.

dN

John Connolly of the Boston Herald talks to New England keeper Matt Reis who looks to be recovered from injuries and back into the teams first 11. The team also plans on having forward Taylor Twellman on their game day roster.

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times writes about the Sounders big game for their head coach as they host his former team Columbus Crew.
-Same type of story from Don Ruiz at the Tacoma New Tribune. Also includes a team injury update.

dN

The Soccer 365 Grapevine reports that RSL fullback Chris Wingert is being offered around as trade bait. I thought he has been one of their steadier performers over the past couple of years.

dN

Chivas USA announced: "the signing of Cesar Zamora, an 18-year-old midfielder from Sylmar Ca, and a product of the Chivas USA Youth System, to a Developmental Contract." Very cool. That makes 3 players for them from their own youth set up.

dN

US Soccer gives us the audio of the Week 10 MLS Referee Review.

USL FIRST DIVISION

Weekend Matches:
-Fri May 29
Carolina RailHawks v Cleveland City Stars
Austin Aztex v Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sat May 30
Charleston Battery vCleveland City Stars
Rochester Rhinos v Montreal Impact
Portland Timbers v Vancouver Whitecaps
-Sun May 31
Minnesota Thunder v Puerto Rico Islander

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Here is a little stroll through history from a reader named Doug:
The L.A. Times runs a daily history blog of stories from past years. Today (May 28) they included stories about the USA v England international played in Los Angeles on May 28 1959. England won 8-1. Among those playing for England were Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright, Jimmy Greaves, Jimmy Armfield and Johny Haynes. The USA lineup included future hall-of-famers Adolph Bachmeier, Bill Looby, Ed Murphy and Al Zerhusen.
The blog page contains a pre-match story from the front page of the Times Sports section, a match report, and the reminiscences of an Englishman Peter Young (then a boy) who attended the match. There is also a link to Young's personal website which has a much more detailed write-up about the match and his impressions of the event.
I found it fascinating to read about this moment from our national team's history.
Thank you very much Doug!

dN

"Leaders in Football, the world's most exclusive football business event, taking place for the second time at Chelsea FC on 7th and 8th October 2009, is delighted to announce that Sunil Gulati, President of the USSF and Chairman of the USA 2018/2022 World Cup Bid Committee (will be a guest speaker). Other speakers are the event include: Jeremy Darroch, CEO of BSkyB; Jack Warner the President of CONCACAF; Andy Roxburgh, Technical Director, UEFA; Tim Leiweke, President and CEO of AEG and Lord Mawhinney, Chairman of The Football League."

dN

I encourage everyone involved in youth sports (participants, coaches, parents and even fans) to go check out this site We Play. I think they could do with some even better soccer resources, and maybe that is you.

TEAM AMERICA

The team is in Miami preparing for next weeks 2 big matches. They head to Costa Rica on Monday.

dN

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald talks to Oguchi Onyewu.

dN

Official Blog
-The latest video report from practice in Miami.

dN

World Cup Qualifying Matches:
-Wed Jun 3
Costa Rica v USA - from Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose CR - 9pm Central on ESPN & Galavision
-Sat Jun 6
USA v Honduras - from Soldier Field in Chicago IL - 7pm Central on ESPN Classic & Galavision

dN

The USA U18 team in Portugal - Lisbon International Tournament

Match Schedule:
-Wed May 27
USA 1-0 Finland - USA goal by Gale Agbossoumonde.
-Thu May 28
USA 0-0 Germany
-Sat May 30
USA v Portugal

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports on Tim Howard's desire to win the FA Cup on Saturday.

dN

Yanks Abroad talks to Maurice Edu who says he should be fine to play for Rangers on Saturday in their league cup final.

dN

Soccer 365 has an article on Americans who are executives in the world of European football.

dN

Jay DeMerit is in the cyber-business, or the dot.com business as they say - Check out his company: Songwhale

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Jose Francisco Torres went the full 90 for Pachuca in the 1st leg of the Mexican Primera final, but they lost 0-1 at Pumas in Mexico City.

MEXICO



Primera Clausura Liguilla Semifinals
1st Leg Match:
-Thu May 28
UNAM Pumas 1-0 Pachuca - UNAM goal by Dante Lopez.
2nd Leg Match (with 1st Leg score included)
-Sun May 31
Pachuca v UNAM Pumas (0-1) - 7pm Central on Telefutura

CANADA

The sale of GolTV Canada to Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment has been approved by the Canadian authorities. MLSE are the owners of Toronto FC.

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Police have found the remains of the brother of Honduran star Wilson Palacios. His brother had been kidnapped, a Half-Million Dollar ransom was paid, but he was never released.

ENGLAND

"Premier League football will now be available via iTunes after a deal was agreed with IMG Sports Media whereby classic matches, goals of the season and season review programs from 2002-2007 will be made available. " - From Leaders In Football

EUROPE

Hernan Crespo has not signed for Fiorentina has I previously reported, but instead he is now a player for Genoa. Don't be surprised when Inter sign Diego Milito from Genoa to find out that Crespo was part of a swap deal between the two teams, with Ricardo Quaresma tossed into the mix as well.

dN

Leaders In Football has a report on a presentation given last fall by a UEFA executive concerning the federations self governance and influence from the European Union. Very insidery kinda stuff here.

dN

Paris St Germain has hired Valenciennes coach Antoine Kombouare as their new head man replacing Paul Le Guen.

dN

Chelsea has announced the signing of Russian midfielder Yury Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow.

dN

French Ligue 1
Title on the line in final weekend of season:
77 Bordeaux - final match: Sat May 30 at Caen
74 Marseille - final match: Sat May 30 v Stade Rennes

dN

Relegation battles:

Italian Serie A - 2 fighting over 1 drop spot
(1 game left to go - bottom three go down)
34 Bologna - final match: Sun May 31 v Catania
34 Torino - final match: Sun May 31 at Roma
- - - - -
30 Lecce
30 Reggina

Spanish La Liga - 5 fighting over 1 drop spot
(1 game left to go - bottom three go down)
42 Valladolid - final match: Sun May 31 at Real Betis
41 Getafe - final match: Sun May 31 at Racing Santander
41 Real Betis - final match: Sun May 31 v Valladolid
40 Osasuna - final match: Sun May 31 v Real Madrid
40 Sporting Gijon - final match: Sun May 31 v Recreativo Huelva
- - - - -
35 Numancia
33 Recreativo Huelva

French Ligue 1 - 5 fighting over 2 drop spots
(1 game left to go - bottom three go down)
39 Sochaux - final match: Sat May 30 at Grenoble
39 Le Mans - final match: Sat May 30 at Lorient
37 Caen - final match: Sat May 30 v Bordeaux
37 St Etienne - final match: Sat May 30 v Valenciennes
34 Nantes - final match: Sat May 30 v Auxerre
-- - - -
25 Le Havre - final match: Sun May 31

German Bundesliga - Promotion/Relegation playoff - 3rd from bottom in 1.Bundes faces off against 3rd from top 2.Bundes:
1st Leg Match
-Thu May 28
Energie Cottbus(1.B) 0-3 Nurnberg(2.B)
2nd Leg Match
-Sun May 31
Nurnberg v Energie Cottbus (3-0)

dN

Other Cup competitions around Europe:

Scottish Cup Final
-Sat May 30
Rangers v Falkirk

English FA Cup Final
-Sat May 30
Chelsea v Everton

DFB Pokal Final
-Sat May 30
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen

Taca de Portugal Final
-Sun May 31
Pacos de Ferreira v Porto

Ukrainian Cup Final
-Sun May 31
Vorskla Poltava v Shakhtar Donetsk

SOUTH AMERICA

Just 4 rounds left in the Argentine Clausura, and here are the team still mathematically in the running for the title:
31 Lanus - Next: Sat May 30 v San Lorenzo
30 Velez Sarsfield - Next: Sun May 31 at Gimnasia de Jujuy
29 Huracan - Next: Fri May 29 v Banfield
25 Colon - Next: Sat May 30 at Godoy Cruz
23 Estudiantes - Next: Sun May 31 at Tigre
23 River Plate - Next: Sun May 31 at Argentinos Juniors
21 Gimnasia La Plata - Next: Sun May 31 v Racing Club
20 Newell's Old Boys - Next: Fri May 29 v Arsenal de Sarandi
20 Godoy Cruz - Next: Sat May 30 v Colon
20 Racing Club - Next: Sun May 31 at Gimnasia La Plata

COPA LIBERTADORES

Here is the Quarterfinal match schedule:
1st Leg Matches:
-Wed May 27
Cruzeiro 2-1 Sao Paulo - Cruz goals by Leonardo Silva & Ze Carlos. SP goal by Washington.
Caracas 1-1 Gremio - Car goal by Gabriel Cichero. Grem goal by Fabio Santos.
-Thu May 28
Defensor 0-1 Estudiantes - Est goal by Leandro Desabato.
Palmeiras 1-1 Nacional - Palm goal by Diego Souza. Nac goal by Santiago Garcia.
2nd Leg Matches (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Wed Jun 17
Nacional v Palmeiras (1-1)
Sao Paulo v Cruzeiro (1-2)
Gremio v Caracas (1-1)
-Thu Jun 18
Estudiantes v Defensor (1-0)

There is now a 3 week break until the 2nd leg matches of the Quarterfinals are played.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores
-Fri May 29
China 1-1 Germany - Chin goal by Hao Junmin. Ger goal by Lukas Podolski.
Belgium 1-1 Chile - Bel goal by Kevin Roelandts. Chil goal by Gary Medel.
Ireland v Nigeria
Wales v Estonia
-Sat May 30
Oman v Egypt
Jamaica v El Salvador
Cyprus v Canada
-Sun May 31
Ghana v Uganda
Japan v Belgium
Malawi v Rwanda
Bahrain v Congo
Qatar v Iraq
Kuwait v Vietnam
-Mon Jun 1
Uzbekistan v Bosnia-Herzegovina
China v Iran

ENDERS

Today's post is dedicated to Lord Humbert Sheepshanks IV.

It's been a long while since I spotlighted all the new blogs I added to the Fellow Freaks list, so here are the latest:

dN

Association Football Wilderness
Some People Are On The Pitch
The Orange Chair Chronicles
Chivas USA from the Stands
Ginge Talks The Footy
Twohundredpercent
Unprofessional Foul
Two Footed Tackle
Goalscoring Robot
The Fullback Files
Soccer Scene USA
The 24th Minute
Dynamo Planet
Footiebusiness
Soccer City FC
Match Fit USA
Match Pricks

Coach Bradley speaks

Bob Bradley briefed reporters today on preparations for the upcoming qualifiers against Costa Rica and Honduras. The U.S. still only has 12 players in camp owing to weekend club matches, but Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Bornstein are expected to arrive today. The squad will leave for San Jose on Monday morning and get two days of training in at Saprissa Stadium before Wednesday's match. The U.S. has never won a World Cup qualifying match in Costa Rica, compiling a 0-5-1 record. Here are some excerpts from the conference call:

On juggling rosters for the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches and the Confederations Cup:

"We are excited, but it does produce challenges. We understand that it’s necessary to have a big pool. ... January every year is an opportunity to look at different players, asses the depth of our pool. That comes in handy at this time when you're going from one tournament to the other. There are some possibilities in terms of players who may be able to do both, but we understand the demands of the different clubs around the world and in MLS."

On the nasty fake turf at Saprissa:

"I think for the most part the players will tell you the game is not the same on artificial turf. We’ve been very fortunate in the United States to have good options when it comes to places to play our games. I think we always feel the game is best, obviously, on a very good natural surface."

On playing in a hostile environment in Costa Rica:

"Costa Rica has had great success at Sapprissa stadium. It's loud, we've already talked about the turf, and they're very comfortable there. They have a great confidence. Certainly we are aware that we have never won there."

On the strengths of the Honduras squad:

"They are an athletic team -- quick, strong. ... They have experience. I know Amado [Guevara] as well as anybody. He's still a very gifted player, capable on any day of making some very special plays. They've been together as a team. They've had some ups and downs, but i think if you look at their games throughout the qualifying there's a realization on their end that this is a great opportunity for them."

On playing before a potentially pro-Honduras crowd at Soldier Field:

"Soldier Field has been a great venue for the U.S. national team. Speaking for the players, I know how much they enjoy playing in stadiums where there's atmosphere, where there's a lot of passion for the game. The game in Columbus is a good example. We don't really know at the end of the day exactly how the crowd was split, in terms of the support for our team and the support for the Mexican team. But what we did know is that there were a lot of people there for us, and we hear them and we appreciate what they bring. Whatever it ends up being like at Soldier Field, we know that there's still going to be a lot of the most loyal U.S. supporters there wearing the red, white and blue."

On new Mexican coach Javier Aguirre:

"Whenever a country starts out poorly in the qualifying, when they make a change there’s a lot of responsibility on the new coach, the responsibility to immediately re-establish cetain ideas, what the team's all about. ... Aguirre has never shied away from these kinds of moments. I think that’s the reason that they felt it was necessary to make the change. He’s someone who is not afraid to make tough decisions and put a stamp on the team."

On Jozy Altidore's return from a toe injury:

"Jozy has been in training these last few days. Obviously he has not played a competitive game in awhile. ... I know that Jozy was pleased with all parts of the last camp. He showed a great level of maturity in terms of how he trained every day and it paid off with his performance, first as a substitute against El Salvador and later as a starter against Trinidad. He's come into this camp and picked up on those efforts. The only factor that's still out there is he hasn't been able to play in matches."

On Frankie Hejduk's groin injury:

"I think he is questionable maybe on the weekend. ... Our plan is still to get him in here either Saturday or Sunday. The initial thought was that the groin was probably going to take 7 to 10 days, so we're somewhere in that period."

On Peter Nowak's departure from the U.S. coaching staff:

"We were aware of that development. Peter is a great friend of ours, has been a very imprort part of the work that we have done as a staff. We are very exited for him and his family to have this type of opportunity."

Some News for Thu May 28

STARTERS

Those rumors of Piotr Nowak becoming the first coach in Philadelphia are happening again today and this time they are proof positive. There is an announcement being made on Thursday.
-And the Sons of Ben announce that they will be watching next weeks Costa Rica v USA game with their teams new coach. Now THAT is cool.
-The Philadelphia Daily News posts confirmation too.
-And this afternoon US Soccer announces that Nowak has resigned from his position as USA U23 head coach, and USA assistant coach.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Final
-Wed May 27
Manchester United 0-2 Barcelona - Bar goals by Samuel Eto'o & Lionel Messi.













Kiss The Magic Shoe My Boy!

dN

George Vecsey of the New York Times tells us that the real winner was the "beautiful" part of the beautiful game.

dN

Dr Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Barca's wonderful looking win and their masterful coach Pepper Guardiola.

dN

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with his analysis of the game.

dN

John Molinaro of the CBC with high praise for Barca.

dN

Reuters with a match report.

dN

On a really sad note, a distraught Manchester United fan in Nigeria turned his mini-bus on a group of partying Barcelona fans, running them over and killing 4. Why?

MLS

Week 11 Matches:
-Wed May 27
Columbus Crew 2-1 San Jose Earthquakes - CC goals by Guillermo Barros Schelotto & Eddie Gaven. SJE goal by Ryan Johnson.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 8,793
-Thu May 28
Chivas USA v Chicago Fire - 9:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

dN

The defending champs won another game, which is great for them, but stalwart defensive midfielder Brian Carroll suffered a shoulder injury that could require surgery and keep him out for 2 or more months.
-Right fullback Frankie Hejduk was not in the lineup due to a groin muscle strain.

dN

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Southtown Star previews tonight's Goats v Fires game.

dN

The LA Times talks to Cuauhtemoc Blanco of the Fire about this big game in LA tonight.

dN

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet previews Chivas v Chicago and adds some historical perspective.

dN

Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze reports that "Sacha Kljestan, who left at halftime on Saturday with a sprained ankle, is listed as questionable. Kljestan admitted that the ankle has bothered him this season." Could this be why he has been so shite this season?

dN

FIFA.com weighs in on tonight's game, and other thingies from MLS.

dN

The agent of former Lyon midfielder Juninho says they have offers to play in "Japan, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil."

dN

LA right fullback Sean Franklin was following up quite well on his Rookie of the Year season, but has now been diagnosed with a torn tendon in his right hamstring. He could miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery. Does this mean we get to see more Tony Sanneh at right fullback?

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune writes about the RSL defense. They are the key to any teams success.

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News on RSL still shuffling their lineup. No answers yet.

dN

Brian Lewis of the NY Post talks to Red Bulls TD Jeff Agoos about the teams struggles and coaching trouble rumors.

dN

Steven Goff of the Washington Post writes about tie-game-mania that is sweeping the league.

dN

One of us, David Falk, has written an article on his beloved Seattle Sounders for The National in the UAE. Falk has been on the Sounders beat for many years.

dN

Houston has picked up forward Dominic Oduro from New York for future considerations.
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle tells us about the new Dynamo player.

dN

Don Girard of the Toronto Star with an article on TFC's top draft pick O'Brian White who is finally training with team after finishing college, and healing from a knee surgery.

dN

The Oregonian with a very pro Timbers stadium editorial.

dN

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree takes us to FC Dallas practice this week.

dN

Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch takes his turn to bitch about MLS referees.

dN

The Kansas City Star with an article on the Wizards rookie of the year candidate Matt Besler.

dN

Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet with his midweek league news & notes.

MLS COACHING HOT SEAT

who is the next MLS head coach to be relieved of their duties?

The du Nord Hot Seat (it's a very full boat right now):
1. Frank Yallop - San Jose
2. Juan Carlos Osorio - New York
3. Bruce Arena - Los Angeles
4. Schellas Hyndemann - Dallas
5. Robert Warzycha - Columbus
6. Steve Nicol - New England

US OPEN CUP

First Round Matches:
-Tue Jun 9
Harrisburg City Islanders v Reading Rage
Venue: Skyline Sports Complex - Harrisburg PA
Western Mass Pioneers v Emigrantes Das Ilhas
Venue: Lusitano Stadium - Ludlow MA
Ocean City Barons v Crystal Palace Baltimore
Venue: Carey Stadium - Ocean City NJ
Real Maryland FC v Aegean Hawks FC
Venue: Richard Montgomery H.S. - Rockville MD
Carolina RailHawks v Richmond Kickers
Venue: WakeMed Soccer Park - Cary NC
Wilmington Hammerheads v Charlotte Eagles
Venue: Legion Stadium - Wilmington NC
Charleston Battery v Atlanta FC
Venue: Blackbaud Stadium - Charleston SC
Miami FC Blues v Lynch’s FC
Venue: Tropical Park - Miami FL
Cleveland City Stars v St. Louis Lions
Venue: Middlefield Cheese Stadium - Bedford OH
Rochester Rhinos v Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Venue: Rochester Rhinos Stadium - Rochester NY
Minnesota Thunder v 402
Venue: National Sports Center - Blaine MN
Chicago Fire PDL v Milwaukee Bavarians
Venue: Toyota Park Practice Field - Bridgeview IL
El Paso Patriots v Arizona Sahuaros
Venue: Patriot Stadium- El Paso TX
Austin Aztex v Mississippi Brilla FC
Venue: Nelson Field - Austin TX
Kitsap Pumas v Portland Timbers
Venue: Bremerton Memorial H.S. - Bremerton WA
Orange County Blue Star v Sonoma County Sol
Venue: Concordia University - Irvine CA

dN

You can see the potential Second Round pairings here.

USL FIRST DIVISION

USL First Division Team of the Week

G:
Pat Hannigan - Miami - Five saves in 0-0 draw at Minnesota
D:
Frankie Sanfilippo - Charleston - Goal in 2-0 win at Rochester
Lyle Adams - Austin - Led team in 1-0 loss to Carolina
Kupono Low - Carolina - Led team in 3-0 win at Cleveland
Jonathan Greenfield - Minnesota - Led team in 0-0 draw against Miami
M:
Daniel Paladini - Carolina - Two assists in 3-0 win at Cleveland
Brian Farber - Portland - Two assists in 2-1 win at Puerto Rico
Darren Spicer - Charleston - Goal, assist in pair of wins
Andriy Budnyy - Carolina - Goal in 3-0 win at Cleveland
F:
Mandjou Keita - Portland - Two goals in win, draw at Puerto Rico
Sean Fraser - Puerto Rico - Goal in 1-1 draw against Portland

dN

Keita was named the leagues Player of the Week

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Landon Donovan and Mia Hamm have been added to the USA organizers bidding to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

TEAM AMERICA

Frankie Hejduk did not play for Columbus last night due to a groin muscle injury, and with qualifiers just a week away this could put a real damper on his participation.

dN

Maurice Edu is doubtful for Rangers Scottish League Cup final on Saturday with a strained right thigh muscle. This could keep him on the sidelines for USA too.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet feels that next weeks 2 games are the key to the whole qualifying round for the USA.

dN

The Miami Herald drops by USA camp yesterday and tells us all about it.

dN

Official Blog
-Video from Wednesday.
-Photos of the players practicing in Miami on Wednesday.

dN

World Cup Qualifying Matches:
-Wed Jun 3
Costa Rica v USA - from Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose CR - 9pm Central on ESPN & Galavision
-Sat Jun 6
USA v Honduras - from Soldier Field in Chicago IL - 7pm Central on ESPN Classic & Galavision

dN

Here is the Honduras roster:
G:
Noel Valladares
Junior Morales
Ricardo Canales
D:
Mario Beata
Victor Bernardez
Erick Norales
Osman Chavez
Maynor Figueroa
Oscar Bonieck
Emilio Izaguirre
Mauricio Sabillon
M:
Amado Guevara
Ramon Nunez
Roger Espinoza
Wilson Palacios
Hendry Thomas
Julio de Leon
Danilo Turcios
F:
Georgie Welcome
Allan Lalín
Carlo Costly
Carlos Pavon
Walter Martinez

dN

The USA U18 team in Portugal - Lisbon International Tournament

Match Schedule:
-Wed May 27
USA 1-0 Finland - USA goal by Gale Agbossoumonde.
Match report from US Soccer
-Thu May 28
USA 0-0 Germany
-Sat May 30
USA v Portugal

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Rangers team website with an article on Maurice Edu after the team won the league title last weekend.

dN

Michael Bradley's coach at Monchengladbach, Hans Meyer, has resigned from the team. He says he is too old to carry on. But he did help the team survive a relegation battle.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

The big chance begins tonight for Jose Francisco Torres as he and his Pachuca team go to Mexico City for the first leg of the final against Pumas.

MEXICO

Primera Liguilla Semifinals
1st Leg Match:
-Thu May 28
UNAM Pumas v Pachuca - 9pm Central on Telemundo
2nd Leg Match
-Sun May 31
Pachuca v UNAM Pumas - 7pm Central on Telefutura

Brent Latham at Yanks Abroad previews.

dN

Reuters with a story on the Mexican national team who new coach Javier Aguirre says must learn how to win on the road again.

CANADA

Canadian Championship tournament
Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps face off. The winner of the two legged round robin tournament gets a spot in the 09/10 CONCACAF Champions League.

Match Schedule:
-Wed May 27
Vancouver 1-0 Montreal - Van goal by Ethan Gage.

Standings (4 game home & away round robin):
6 (+2) Toronto (2 played)
6 (+2) Vancouver (3 played)
OUT - 0 (-4) Montreal (3 played)

Montreal has been elimidated from the tournament.

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

It's so flippin' great when Frank Dell'apa gets involved in soccer writing - From the Boston Globe soccer blog: Former MLSers have big success in just completed Costa Rican league.

ENGLAND

Seconds after Manchester United lost the UEFA Champions League final to Barcelona the rumors began all over again about Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the team for Real Madrid. And the player himself stoked the fire by simply answering the question of if he will be back with Man U next season by saying "I don't know." Let the lunacy begin again.

dN

Liverpool forward Fernando Torres has signed a new 4 year contract with the team.

dN

The National of the UAE has an interview with Manchester City and Ireland odd by talented midfielder Stephen Ireland.

EUROPE

Bordeaux has bought influential midfielder Yoann Gourcuff from Milan. The player has been on loan to Bordeaux this entire season, and is very close to leading them to the Ligue 1 title. Milan really blew it with this guy.

dN

German Bundesliga Promotion/Relegation playoff - 3rd from bottom in 1.Bundes faces off against 3rd from top 2.Bundes:
1st Leg Match
-Thu May 28
Energie Cottbus(1.B) 0-3 Nurnberg(2.B)
2nd Leg Match
-Sun May 31
Nurnberg v Energie Cottbus (3-0)

SOUTH AMERICA

Corinthians forward Ronaldo has been given a one match suspension for hair pulling. What an idiot.

dN

Just 4 rounds left in the Argentine Clausura, and here are the team still mathematically in the running for the title:
31 Lanus - Next: Sat May 30 v San Lorenzo
30 Velez Sarsfield - Next: Sun May 31 at Gimnasia de Jujuy
29 Huracan - Next: Fri May 29 v Banfield
25 Colon - Next: Sat May 30 at Godoy Cruz
23 Estudiantes - Next: Sun May 31 at Tigre
23 River Plate - Next: Sun May 31 at Argentinos Juniors
21 Gimnasia La Plata - Next: Sun May 31 v Racing Club
20 Newell's Old Boys - Next: Fri May 29 v Arsenal de Sarandi
20 Godoy Cruz - Next: Sat May 30 v Colon
20 Racing Club - Next: Sun May 31 at Gimnasia La Plata

COPA LIBERTADORES

Here is the Quarterfinal match schedule:
1st Leg Matches:
-Wed May 27
Cruzeiro 2-1 Sao Paulo - Cruz goals by Leonardo Silva & Ze Carlos. SP goal by Washington.
Caracas 1-1 Gremio - Car goal by Gabriel Cichero. Grem goal by Fabio Santos.
-Thu May 28
Defensor v Estudiantes
Palmeiras v Nacional

AFRICA

Reuters on the latest battle ground between Africa and Europe over young players.

CONFEDERATIONS CUP SOUTH AFRICA 2009

As reported here last week, ESPN has announced that the entire tournament will be shown live on their main channel and ESPN2 and in their phony version of High Definition.

Peter Nowak To Be First Coach Of Philadelphia Union

Yes folks the rumors came true, Peter Nowak will be introduced Thursday as the first ever head coach of the brand new Philadelphia Union.

What do you think? Good or bad move?

Some News for Wed May 27

STARTERS

Does anyone know if Chris Pontius of DC United is related to Pontius Pilate of the Roman judicial system? I was talking to Christian Miles of Fox Soccer Channel about this, and we didn't know the answer. We figured one of you would.

dN

The BBC is reporting that Ellis Short has become the 4th American to buy an English Premiership team - he has bought out 100% of Sunderland.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Final
-Wed May 27
Manchester United v Barcelona - From the Olympic Stadium in Rome - 1:25pm Central on ESPN

MLS

Week 11 Matches:
-Wed May 27
Columbus Crew v San Jose Earthquakes - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
-Thu May 28
Chivas USA v Chicago Fire - 9:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

dN

Remember last week when Nick Garcia of San Jose called Kei Kamara of Houston a mental midget. Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle has quotes from Dynamo players about how much it fired them up. Brian Ching in particular. He will not get a warm welcome next time he heads to SJ, but then again, has he ever? I love it. (thanks to Jason for this gem)

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch says Crew midfield general Guillermo Barros Schelotto is loving life in his new home town. Guille is learning English from teammate Danny O’Rourke’s mother!!!!

dN

Soccer America gives us their list of the "11 Who Starred" in the past week in MLS.

dN

Is Bakary Soumare out of Chicago when the summer transfer window opens? Don't bet against it.

dN

Beau Dure of USA Today with an article on the Chicago Fire as they head west to play Chivas USA on Thursday night. This could be a real humdinger.

dN

DC United's official team blog has a letter to fans from the teams new majority owner Will Chang.














DCU fans show clever support for new owner. Photo by Chris Leon.

dN

Nigel Reed at the CBC tells us that just maybe TFC has found their "kefi".

dN

The Toronto Sun talks to disgruntled TFC pine-rider Rohan Ricketts.

dN

Shaun Fuentes of Soccer365 talks to Trinidad & Tobago midfielder Chris Birchall who will report to the LA Galaxy in July. He has been with Brighton & Hove Albion this past season in the English League One.

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune calls Real Salt Lakes supposed connection to Real Madrid into question. If you believed an actual working relationship between those two teams ever existed, then drop me a line, I would like to talk to you about investing in my new hedge fund.

US OPEN CUP

MLS 2nd Round Qualifying Match:
-Tue May 26
Seattle Sounders FC 1-0 Colorado Rapids - SSFC goal by Kevin Forrest - Seattle moves on to the tournament proper.

dN

The draw for the first official round of the tournament should be released today.

TEAM AMERICA

Official blog

dN

Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise looks ahead to these 2 very important World Cup qualifiers.

dN

Daniel Girard of the Toronto Star on the call up of Marvell Wynne to the USA camp.

dN

World Cup Qualifying Matches:
-Wed Jun 3
Costa Rica v USA - from Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose CR -
9pm Central on ESPN Networks & Galavision
-Sat Jun 6
USA v Honduras - from Soldier Field in Chicago IL - 7pm Central on ESPN Classic & Galavision

dN

The USA U18 team in Portugal - Lisbon International Tournament

Match Schedule:
-Wed May 27
USA v Finland
-Thu May 28
USA v Germany
-Sat May 30
USA v Portugal

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Matt Taylor who had a decent season at Koblenz in Germany has signed for next season with Frankfurt (not Eintract) who are also in the 2.Bundesliga.

MEXICO

Primera Liguilla Semifinals
1st Leg Match:
-Thu May 28
UNAM Pumas v Pachuca

CANADA

Canadian Championship tournament
Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps face off. The winner of the two legged round robin tournament gets a spot in the 09/10 CONCACAF Champions League.

Match Schedule:
-Wed May 27
Vancouver v Montreal

Standings (4 game home & away round robin):
6 Toronto (2 played)
3 (+1)Vancouver (2 played)
0 (-3)Montreal (2 played)

ENGLAND

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports feels that Newcastle fans deserve more than they get from their players. And other thoughts from the world of football.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Here is the Quarterfinal match schedule:
1st Leg Matches:
-Wed May 27
Cruzeiro v Sao Paulo
Caracas v Gremio
-Thu May 28
Defensor v Estudiantes
Palmeiras v Nacional

Some News for Tue May 26

STARTERS



Huge Congrats go out to Maurice Edu, DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu as their teams Rangers and Standard Liege have won the Scottish and Belgian championships, respectively. Awesome seasons for these guys! Edu lead a special charge as he moved into the starting lineup 2 months ago and Rangers hasn't lost a game [CORRECTED] since then!



dN

Got this Twitter from Freddy Adu this afternoon: "a lil bit of a chance i might stay here or somewhere else. Benfica gotta sell to make up for lost money. Ill find out more within next 2 weeks" Still think Twitter is a joke??

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Final
-Wed May 27
Manchester United v Barcelona - From the Olympic Stadium in Rome - 1:25pm Central on ESPN

dN

Manchester United will be wearing their white kit. Barcelona their red/blue shirt with blue pants.

dN

Greg Lalas of Sports Illustrated looks at this seemingly historic matchup.

dN

Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail weighs up what a Manchester United victory would mean.

dN

Amy Lawrence of the Guardian writes that not only does Thierry Henry desperately want to win the Champions League title, he also wants to stuff Man U.

dN

Chad Nielsen of ESPN Magazine with a big story on Lionel Messi.

dN

Soccerlens does a Q & A with Lionel Messi.

dN

The BBC reports that there have been certain limits put on alcohol sales in Rome.

dN

The BBC talks to former Bayern Munich keeper Oliver Kahn about his UCL Final nightmare 10 years ago against Manchester United.

dN

And Teddy Sherringham writing for the Guardian tells the opposite story, how he and his Manchester United teammates pulled off that miracle in '99.

dN

Three of our favorite podcasts have UEFA Champions League Final previews:
-The European Football Show
Final Fantasy - The two best teams, featuring the two most talented players set against the backdrop of the Eternal City. Only the most hard-hearted football fan (Chelsea fans excepted) would argue that this year's Champions League Final is anything but the most romantic possible.
-EPL Talk
UEFA Champions League Final Preview - We preview the 2009 UEFA Champions League final between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Martin Rogers of Yahoo! Sports, Chris Oakley of Some People on the Pitch, Phil Schoen who calls LaLiga matches for GOL TV and South Florida Sun Sentinel Soccer writer Jeff Rusnak joins us.
-Football Weekly
Where next for Newcastle? - In this Bank Holiday special, the team ponder how Newcastle will cope in the Championship next season and preview the Champions League final

dN

Lionel Messi is The Spark. Is that some kind of new superhero?

MLS

Week 11 Matches:
-Wed May 27
Columbus Crew v San Jose Earthquakes - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
-Thu May 28
Chivas USA v Chicago Fire - 9:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

dN

Toronto FC midfielder Amado Guevara has been named Player of the Week.

dN

Steve Davis at Soccernet gives us 10 things to know from last weekends matches.

dN

Seattle rookie Steve Zakuani writing for ESPN Soccernet tells us what its like to be a first year professional player on a brand new team.

dN

The Toronto Sun with an article on TFC forward Chad Barrett's seeming inability to score goals even when given dozens of great chances. That is why my friend Pat nicknamed him "The Vasectomy" - where balls go to die.

dN

The Toronto Globe & Mail is the latest to slam the fake turf at BMO Field.

dN

Jack Bell of the New York Times on the hideous New York Red Bulls team. Remember a couple weeks ago when they were great for 45 minutes. Or was that a dream? And has coach Juan Carlos Osorio lost it?

US OPEN CUP

MLS 2nd Round Qualifying Match:
-Tue May 26
Seattle Sounders FC v Colorado Rapids

Winner moves on to the tournament proper.

USL FIRST DIVISION

Games This Past Weekend:
-Fri May 22
Puerto Rico Islanders 1-1 Portland Timbers
Cleveland City Stars 0-3 Carolina RailHawks
-Sat May 23
Charleston Battery 2-0 Rochester Rhinos
Minnesota Thunder 0-0 Miami FC Blues
-Sun May 24
Puerto Rico Islanders 1-2 Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex 0-1 Carolina RailHawks

dN

Standings:
19 Carolina
16 Charleston
13 Rochester
12 Portland
11 Vancouver
9 Puerto Rico
7 Miami
6 Austin
5 Montreal
4 Cleveland
3 Minnesota

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The AP is reporting that USA and Iran have had a discussion about playing a friendly in Tehran. But as we all know, talk is just that.

dN

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet writes about 3 more young players who (could) have duel citizenship in the USA and elsewhere and may be strong prospects for the USA national team - what will they choose to do?

dN

The Washington Post with an article on 2 young talented goalkeeping prospects on the DC United Academy teams.

dN

Another of the foreign glamour candidates that so many fans wanted US Soccer to hire as the latest national team coach has bitten the dust - Jose Pekerman was fired by UANL Tigres in Mexico after they finished 16th in the 18 team Primera. Add him to the Klinsmann list, and take a look at how dreadful Portugal are under Carlos Queiroz, and suddenly Bob Bradley has quite the impressive standing. By the way, who are all these brilliant coaches out there that should be running the USA show right now instead of Bradley? I hear the complaints, I just don't see any solutions being offered.

TEAM AMERICA

Team USA begins training camp today in Miami for the 2 upcoming World Cup qualifiers. (See the roster that I posted here at du Nord on Sunday.)

dN

Tim Howard at Everton and Maurice Edu & DaMarcus Beasley at Rangers will not be in Miami until after their teams have competed for their respective league Cup's next Saturday.

dN

Official blog
-Video interview with Edu on the Scottish League Cup final.

dN

Eric Lichaj of Aston Villa and Luis Robles of Kaiserslautern are with the full national team for the first time (but not on the official roster) as they prepare for the qualifiers and the Confederations Cup. These are the kind of players I fully expect to see on the Gold Cup roster.
-Who are these two you ask? Lichaj is a right fullback [CORRECTED] (converted from a midfielder) who is on the books at the team from Birmingham but has never played for the senior team. He is 20 years old. Robles is a 25 year old goalkeeper at Kaiserslautern in the 2 Bundesliga. He went to the University of Portland - the same school that produced Kasey Keller. He has seen plenty of first team action over the past 2 seasons when their regular keeper has been injured or suspended which this year was about half the games.

dN

The Confederations Cup roster will not be announced until Jun 7, and the team will leave at that time for South Africa.

dN

Worl Cup Qualifying Matches:
-Wed Jun 3
Costa Rica v USA - from Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose CR -
9pm Central on ESPN Networks & Galavision
-Sat Jun 6
USA v Honduras - from Soldier Field in Chicago IL - 7pm Central on ESPN Classic & Galavision

dN

The US Soccer Development Academy held their Spring Showcase in Sarasota FL this past weekend, with both the USA U17 & U20 teams taking part in matches. Here is a video recap.

dN

The USA U18 team in Portugal - Lisbon International Tournament

Match Schedule:
-Wed May 27
USA v Finland
-Thu May 28
USA v Germany
-Sat May 30
USA v Portugal

Roster:
G:
Justin Luthy - Columbus Crew Academy
Zac MacMath - Maryland
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - no team
Chad Barson - Akron
Paolo Del Piccolo - Colorado Rush
Greg Garza - Sporting CP
Kofi Sarkodie - Akron
Zarek Valentin - PA Classics
M:
Jose Altamirano - Del Mar Sharks
Steven Birnbaum - California
Miles Byass - Arsenal FC
Nicholas Millington - Wake Forest
Amobi Okugo - San Juan Lightning Crew
Dillon Powers - Andromeda
F:
Dion Acoff - Arsenal FC
Will Bates - Richmond Strikers
Hasani Sinclair - Schulz Academy
Justin Watson - Bridge FA7

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Kenny Mayne of ESPN Magazine does a Q & A with Tim Howard. Ti-May

dN

ESPN also has one of those hypothetical articles where great athletes play another sport - our pal Kristian Dyer writes about Tim Howard on an NFL team.

dN

Yanks Abroad with an article on Oguchi Onyewu and Standard Liege winning the Belgian League championship.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Jose Francisco Torres at Pachuca leads his team into the Primera Clausura Liguilla Final against UNAM Pumas.

MEXICO

Primera Liguilla Semifinals
1st Leg Match:
-Thu May 28
UNAM Pumas v Pachuca
2nd Leg Match:
-Sun May 31
Pachuca v UNAM Pumas

CANADA

Canadian Championship tournament - Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps face off. The winner of the two legged round robin tournament gets a spot in the 09/10 CONCACAF Champions League.

Match Schedule:
-Wed May 27
Vancouver v Montreal

Standings (4 game home & away round robin):
6 Toronto (2 played)
3 (+1)Vancouver (2 played)
0 (-3)Montreal (2 played)

ENGLAND

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian says that many Manchester United fans once considered midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron to be a very expensive flop, but really he was a precursor to the ultimate Champions League style player. It was the team that failed him, not the other way around.

dN

The BBC with an article on one time Manchester United player Danny Wallace and his fight against MS. Some day I will tell my Danny Wallace story on this blog. He is brave man to have gone through the ugly story I witnessed, and he shows today that his bravery did not end there.

EUROPE

Juventus has officially signed Brazilian midfield general Diego from Werder Bremen. Here is the story from the team website.

dN

Bayern Munich has added another jewel in their offense crown signing German forward Mario Gomez from Stuttgart. I hardly see where they need more players like this though. What they really need are defenders, and lots of them too.

dN

Lyon has agreed to let midfielder Juninho leave the team on free transfer. They have voided the last year of his contract.

dN

Jose Mourinho has signed a contract extension at Internazionale through the 2011/12 season. He looks pretty happy to me!



dN

Gordon Strachan has resigned as coach of Celtic after their end of season collapse let Rangers steal the title.

dN

Ajax has hired Martin Jol as their new head coach. He had just finished a decent season at Hamburg.

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian reports on Wolfsburg's Bundesliga title, and the rest of the German top division.

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian reports that Milan legend Paolo Maldini played his last home game ever yesterday, but some fans did not give him "many happy returns," and the rest of Serie A. An anti-Maldini banner hung in the stadium read: "Thanks captain. On the pitch you were an undying champion but you had no respect for those who made you rich." Oof! I really don't get that at all. He has always seemed to be the complete package of great skill, shining star, and simple modesty.

dN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the only thing worth reporting on in Spanish football this week - the relegation battle.

dN

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian writes about Bordeaux who got the win, but not the help they needed from others to clinch the Ligue 1 title last weekend, and the rest of the new from the league.

SOUTH AMERICA

Tim Vickery at Sports Illustrated with an article on a Brazilian goalkeeper with a special charm - Marcos.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Here is the Quarterfinal match schedule:
1st Leg Matches:
-Wed May 27
Cruzeiro v Sao Paulo
Caracas v Gremio
-Thu May 28
Defensor v Estudiantes
Palmeiras v Nacional

ENDERS

Sadly, in small town in Northern Ireland on Monday, a gang of Glasgow Rangers supporters drove into a Catholic neighborhood and beat a man to death. Great way to celebrate you bunch of pigs.

Some News For Mon May 25

[EDITORS NOTE: DUE TO SOME SORT OF BRAIN WARP THERE WERE SEVERAL ERRORS IN THIS POST THAT HAVE NOW BEEN FIXED, BUT THERE WERE SO MANY THAT I FELT THIS NOTE WAS EASIER THAN MARKING THEM INDIVIDUALLY - THANKS TO ALL THOSE THAT BROUGHT THE IDIOCY OF MY WAYS TO MY ATTENTION - YOU ARE BELOVED]

STARTERS

Wolfsburg are the German Bundesliga champions! Gluckwunsche!

dN

Rangers are the Scottish Premiership champions! Congratulations!

dN

Porto are the Portuguese Liga champions! Parabens!

MLS

Week 10 Matches:
Saturday, May 23
Toronto FC 3-1 New England Revolution - TFC goals by Dwayne DeRosario & Amado Guevara(2). NER goal by Shalrie Joseph.
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
Attendance: 20,478
DC United 0-0 Real Salt Lake
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 16,089
Kansas City Wizards 1-1 Chivas USA - KCW goal by Claudio Lopez. CUSA goals by Eduardo Lillingston.
Venue: Community America Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Attendance: 10,385
FC Dallas 1-1 Los Angeles Galaxy - FCD goal by Drew Moor. LAG goal by Landon Donovan.
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Attendance: 9,595
Houston Dynamo 3-1 San Jose Earthquakes - HD goals by Brian Ching, Kei Kamara & Craig Waibel. SJE goal by Ryan Johnson.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 12,619
Colorado Rapids 2-2 Seattle Sounders FC - CR goals by Conor Casey & Colin Clark. SSFC goals by Fredy Montero & Nate Jaqua.
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 16,528
Sunday, May 24
New York Red Bulls 0-1 Chicago Fire - CF goal by Chris Rolfe
Venue: Giants Stadium - East Rutherford NJ
Attendance: 10,762

Columbus had a buy this week.

dN

Ejections:
Josh Wolff - KCW - Red Card
Santiago Hirsig - KCW - 2 Yello Cards
Marcelo Saragosa - FCD - Red Card

dN

Frank Yallop has to be on the hot seat in San Jose big time!

dN

Top Goal Scorers
6 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
6 Conor Casey - Colorado
6 Brian McBride - Chicago
6 Josh Wolff - Kansas City
5 Amado Guevara - Toronto
5 Robbie Findley - Salt Lake
5 Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Columbus
5 Luciano Emilio - DC

dN

Playoff Picture - if the regular season ended today:
(Top 2 in the East and West plus next 4 make the post season)
East
Chicago
DC
West
Chivas
Seattle
Next 4
Toronto
Kansas City
Houston
Colorado
Out
Salt Lake
LA
New England
New York
Columbus
Dallas
San Jose

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Michael Bradley and Monchengladbach drew 1-1 on the last game of the season and that point is what separated them from the drop zone. The will play in the Bundesliga again next season. Bradley played the entire match.

dN

Oguchi Onyewu and Standard Liege won the 2nd leg playoff game 1-0 and won the Belgian Jupiler league championship 2-1 on aggregate! Gooch went the full 90 in his last game for the team.

dN

Maurice Edu & DaMarcus Beasley and Rangers won 3-0 over Dundee United to claim the SPL title! Edu went the full 90. Beasley did not dress.

dN

The Americans in England's Premier League finished 5th, 6th and 7th!!!!
-Tim Howard and Everton at 5
-Brad Friedel & Brad Guzan and Aston Villa at 6
-Clint Dempsey and Fulham at 7

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Jose Francisco Torres and Pachuca are through to the Clausura Liguilla Final

MEXICO

Liguilla
Semifinals
2nd leg
UNAM 1-2 Puebla (2-1) - series ends tied 3-3, so higher seed, Pumas, advances
Pachuca 2-3 Indios Juarez - Pach advance 4-3 on aggregate

Final
1st Leg
-Thu May 28
UNAM Pumas v Pachuca
2nd Leg
-Sun May 31
Pachuca v UNAM Pumas

ENGLAND

Relegated from the top flight (season is over - bottom three go down):
34 Newcastle
32 Middlesbrough
32 West Bromich Albion

EUROPE

France Ligue 1 title race (1 game left to play):
77 Bordeaux - final match: Sat May 30 at Caen
74 Marseille - final match: Sat May 30 v Stade Rennes

dN

Relegation battles:

Italy (1 game left to go - bottom three go down)
34 Bologna - final match: Sun May 31 v Catania
34 Torino - final match: Sun May 31 at Roma
- - - - -
30 Lecce
30 Reggina

Spain (1 game left to go - bottom three go down)
42 Valladolid - final match: Sun May 31 at Real Betis
41 Getafe - final match: Sun May 31 at Racing Santander
41 Real Betis - final match: Sun May 31 v Valladolid
40 Osasuna - final match: Sun May 31 v Real Madrid
40 Sporting Gijon - final match: Sun May 31 v Recreativo Huelva
- - - - -
35 Numancia
33 Recreativo Huelva

Germany (season over - bottom two go down, with 3rd from bottom playing home & away against #3 from 2.Bundesliga for the last spot to stay up/go down)
30 Energie Cottbus - home & away playoff with Nurnberg
- - - - -
29 Karlsruhe
28 Arminia Bielefeld

France (1 game left to go - bottom three go down)
39 Sochaux - final match: Sat May 30 at Grenoble
39 Le Mans - final match: Sat May 30 at Lorient
37 Caen - final match: Sat May 30 v Bordeaux
37 St Etienne - final match: Sat May 30 v Valenciennes
34 Nantes - final match: Sat May 30 v Auxerre
- - - - -
25 Le Havre - final match: Sun May 31

USA Roster For Costa Rica & Honduras Matches

So what do you think of the training roster for the 2 upcoming USA World Cup Qualifying matches (see schedule in right hand column)? Any surprises? Any omissions?

18 will be picked from this list for each game:

G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Stade Rennes
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Danny Califf - Midtjylland
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard de Liege
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
Marvell Wynne - Toronto FC
M:
Freddy Adu - Monaco
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Benny Feilhaber - Aarhus
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado Rapids
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca
F:
Jozy Altidore - Xerez
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Charlie Davies - Hammarby
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy


P.S. I will be in Chicago on Sat Jun 6 for the Honduras game, will you? Let me know...

Some News for Fri May 22

STARTERS

Gaaaaaaaaaak - Twitter: dunord

dN

USA June 3 & 6 World Cup qualifying matches roster to be announced on ESPN on Sun May 24 at 9am, along with a feature story on Tim Howard! Right on. Set your DVR, cuz you'll still be asleep like me.

dN

Boca Juniors were knocked out of the Copa Libertadores last by losing 0-1 at home to Defensor Sporting of Montevideo, Uruguay.

MLS

Week 10 Matches:
Saturday, May 23
Toronto FC v New England Revolution - 3pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
DC United v Real Salt Lake - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Kansas City Wizards v Chivas USA - 7:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Community America Ballpark - Kansas City KS
FC Dallas v Los Angeles Galaxy - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Houston Dynamo v San Jose Earthquakes - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Colorado Rapids v Seattle Sounders FC - 8:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Sunday, May 24
New York Red Bulls v Chicago Fire - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Giants Stadium - East Rutherford NJ

Columbus Crew has a bye week.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet with an article on Preki and his surprisingly strong Chivas USA team.

dN

Chicago centerback Bakary Soumare has been named to the roster by his country Mali for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers Sun Jun 7 v Ghana & Tue Jun 21 v Benin. Great for him. The bad news is that he will be away from the Fire for a long time then.

dN

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer talks to Seattle coach Sigi Schmid and LA coach Bruce Arena and asks them, which is harder - rebuild an MLS team or start a new one from scratch?

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times with an article on Sounders TD Chris Henderson, as we learn about his background.

dN

Freddie Ljungberg out of action this weekend due to Migraine.

dN

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe writes about the Revolution needing a big game this weekend to get their season on track.

dN

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post looks at how Seattle is marketing their team successfully when so many other teams in the league genuinely struggle with the concept.

dN

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle previews San Jose's trip to play in Houston this weekend. He also reports that Richard Mulrooney and Wade Barrett continue to be out with injuries, while Brian Ching is expected back.

dN

Elliot Almond of the San Jose Mercury News writes about how the Earthquakes are trying to get their act together as they head to Houston to take on their alter-ego.

dN

Here is the reason you want to watch Houston v San Jose this weekend:
The Marin Independent Journal talks to Equakes centerback Nick Garcia about his ugly run-ins with Dynamo forward Kei Kamara. Garcia calls him a "mental midget." Should be good.

dN

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree takes us to FC Dallas practice this week.

dN

Brad Rock of the Deseret News with an article on RSL's 3rd keeper who finds himself in the lineup due to injuries - Kyle Reynish.

dN

Orrin Schwarz of the Chicago Daily Herald with an article on two local boys trying to make good of a situation with the Chicago Fire.

dN

Ryan Johnston of Sports Net tells us that TFC began practicing on a real grass field this week. Article also includes a little news on possible roster changes, and a preview of this weekend.

dN

Get to know Chivas USA forward Eduardo Lillingston. From the teams own website. Pretty good stuff here. Text and video.

dN

The Oregonian with the latest political wranglings in the Portland stadium saga.

dN

Audio of US Soccer's latest weekly MLS Referee Review - Week 9. Listen or download here. I know some of you looooooooooove referee talk, so here you go.

dN

Here's an interesting game to play - Look at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 MLS SuperDraft lists, and see how well the 09 crop is doing so far.

USL FIRST DIVISION

Games This Weekend:
-Fri May 22
Puerto Rico Islanders v Portland Timbers
Cleveland City Stars v Carolina RailHawks
-Sat May 23
Charleston Battery v Rochester Rhinos
Minnesota Thunder v Miami FC Blues
-Sun May 24
Puerto Rico Islanders v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Carolina RailHawks

SOCCER IN AMERICA

As the spring showcase of the US Soccer Development Academy kicks off in Sarasota FL, US Soccer gives us a nice video preview.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Oguchi Onyewu went the distance on Thu night and helped his team Standard Liege hold a 1-1 draw on the road at Anderlecht in their 2 legged playoff to determine the league champions of Belgium. The two teams were tied on points at the end of the season, so this is how they settle it.
-Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 is reporting that Onyewu was racially abused by an Anderlecht player in this game.













The Stare II
(stolen from No Short Corners)

dN

David Mosse of ESPN Soccernet tells Freddy Adu to stay away from the U20 World Cup.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

How did our boys do in the playoffs list night, you ask?
-Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca - started and went 79 minutes as his team won 0-2 at Indios.
-Marco Vidal - Indios de Juarez - started but did not fair so well as he was subbed off at halftime, and they lost the first leg at home 0-2.

MEXICO





Primera Liguilla Semifinals
1st Leg Matches (with seeds included):
-Wed May 20
Puebla Camoteros (3) 1-2 UNAM Pumas(2) - Pue goal by Alejandro Acosta. UNAM goals by Martin Bravo & Marco Palacios.
-Thu May 21
Indios Juarez(4) 0-2 Pachuca Tuzos(1) - Pach goals by Chaco Gimenez & Luis Montes.
2nd Leg Matches (with 1st leg scores included):
-Sat May 23
UNAM v Puebla (2-1) - 5pm Central on Telemundo
-Sun May 24
Pachuca v Indios (2-0) - 7pm Central on Telefutura

If series ends tied the winner is the higher seed!

dN

Luis Bueno of Sports Illustrated tells us about 4 former MLS players involved in the playoffs right now.

ENGLAND

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports names his 08/09 Premier League Best 11. And a couple other awards too.

EUROPE

Amy Lawrence of the Guardian bids farewell one more time to Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini.

dN

Reuters has an article on former coach Juergen Klinsmann who continues his attack on Bayern Munich who fired him a couple weeks back. He says the team was not interested in hearing his ideas for progress. Sounds like a lot of spilled milk to me.

dN

Defensive midfielder Claude Makelele has signed a one year contract to continue playing with Paris St Germain .

dN

Race for the German Bundesliga 1 title: (1 games left to play)
66 Wolfsburg - Last: W 0-5 at Hannover - Next: Sat May 23 v Werder Bremen
64 (+28) Bayern Munich - Last: D 2-2 at Hoffenheim - Next: Sat May 23 v Stuttgart
64 (+21) Stuttgart - Last: W 2-0 v Energie Cottbus - Next: Sat May 23 at Bayern Munich

dN

Race for the French Ligue 1 title: (2 games left to play)
74 (+28) Bordeaux - Last: W 3-2 v Le Mans - Next: Sat May 23 v Monaco - and - Sat May 30 at Caen
71 (+27) Marseille - Last: L 1-3 v Lyon - Next: Sat May 23 at Nancy Lorraine - and - Sat May 30 v Rennes

dN

Race for the Scottish Premier League title: (1 games left to play)
83 Rangers - Last: W 2-1 v Aberdeen - Next: Sun May 24 at Dundee United
81 Celtic - Last: D 0-0 at Hibernian - Next: Sun May 24 v Heart Of Midlothian

dN

Belgian home-and-away playoff for the league title:
1st leg match:
-Thu May 21
Anderlecht 1-1 Standard Liege - And goal by Jonathan Legear. SL goal by Dieumerci Mbokani.
2nd leg match (with 1st leg score included):
-Sun May 24
Standard Liege v Anderlecht (1-1)

dN

Other Cup competitions around Europe:

Landspokal Final
-Thu May 21
Aalborg v Kobenhavn

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Final
-Wed May 27
Manchester United v Barcelona - From the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

dN

The New York Times Goal blog has a round table discussion about the upcoming final.

dN

UEFA has made disciplinary charges against Chelsea as a team, and individual players Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa, stemming from the crazed verbal attacks leveled at the referee in their semifinal loss to Barcelona. How Michael Ballack was not charged we may never know. The case will be heard on June 17.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Round of 16
2nd Leg Matches (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Thu May 21
Boca Juniors 0-1 Defensor - Defensor pulled off the upset and advance 3-2 on aggregate - Def goal by Diego De Souza.

Defensor joins Cruzeiro, Estudiantes, Gremio, Nacional, Sao Paulo, Caracas & Palmeiras in the Quarterfinals.



dN

Here is the Quarterfinal match schedule:
1st Leg Matches:
-Wed May 27
Cruzeiro v Sao Paulo
Caracas v Gremio
-Thu May 28
Defensor v Estudiantes
Palmeiras v Nacional
2nd Leg Matches (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Wed Jun 17
Nacional v Palmeiras
Sao Paulo v Cruzeiro
Gremio v Caracas
-Thu Jun 18
Estudiantes v Defensor

CONFEDERATIONS CUP SOUTH AFRICA 2009

The Johannesburg Times with an article on American Landon Donovan.

dN

Egypt names their training roster for the tournament. 5 players will be cut from this team for the official squad:
G:
Essam Al Hadari - Sion
Abdul Wahed Al Sayed - Zamalek
Mohamed Sobhi - Ismaili
Al Hani Soliman - Itiihad Alexandria
D:
Hani Said - Zamalek
Mahmoud Fathallah - Zamalek
Wael Gomaa - Al Ahli
Sherif Abdul Fadhil - Ismaili
Ahmed Said - Haras Hodoud
Ahmed Al Muhammadi - ENPPI
Sayed Moawad - Al Ahli
Hazem Emam - Zamalek
Ahmed Samir Farag - Ismaili
M:
Ahmed Fathi - Al Ahli
Mohamed Shawki - Middlesbrough
Hosni Abdi Rabu - Al Ahli Dubai
Ahmed Khairy - Ismaili
Mohamed Soliman - Ismaili
Abdul Aziz Tawfiq - ENPPI
Ahmed Hassan - Al Ahli
Mohamed Aboutrika - Al Ahli
F:
Ahmed Eid - Haras Hodoud
Mohamed Zidan - Dortmund
Mohamed Abougreisha - Ismaili
Ahmed Abdul Ghani - Haras Hodoud
Ahmed Raouf - ENPPI
Ehab Al Masri - Arab Contractors
Amr Zaki - Wigan

FIFA

The Guardian with an article on Whack Jack Warner who is warning England to clean up its act as a part of their World Cup 2018 bid. Some pretty unsavory customers are floating around the scenes and Jack rightly takes exception to it. The only problem I have with this is that when ever any white person disagrees with Jack he plays the race card, so this serious matter can come off like the boy crying wolf.

ENDERS

The National of the UAE mocks players hair-dos.

dN

Our great friend Brian Quarstad at Inside Minnesota Soccer posted a very cool reflection by Minnesota Thunder play by play man Chris Lindholm looking back to 1976 and his memories of the Minnesota Kicks team from the NASL. Brian also has some fun pictures that he himself took all those years ago. (They were both blown away to find Chris in one of Brian’s pictures!) I remember it being a fantastic time too. Those games, the TV show Soccer Made In Germany and my first coach Alex Becker changed my life. I hope you dig this