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