Some News for Tue May 19

STARTERS

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dN

I am pretty excited, because in the mail yesterday I got my copy of the brand new album by Sunn O))). It is called Monoliths And Dimensions. Their level of sub sonic heaviness may just sooth my wounded soul right now, like a white hot salve. This band is not about songs, or even musical virtuosity, but of tone, of layering & attitude, of challenge & pushing outward in all directions, of mental capacity. Fantastic band. The package came with a really bitchin' t-shirt too. How can you go wrong? I am really hoping it sounds a lot like the album cover:
















MLS

Is the reason for all these tie games the salary cap and long term push toward parity? In someway that is the essence of parity - everyone equal = tie games galore.

dN

Our friend Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card bids us all a very fond farewell.

dN

As expected Kansas City forward Josh Wolff was named MLS Player of the Week.

dN

MLS Commissioner Donald A. Garber posts his semi-regular note to the soccer fan at large. This time the focus is strictly on referee's. Always worth your time, even if like me you find referee talk beyond boring.

dN

No Fan Alone and the Colorado Rapids Class VI supporters site has an audio interview with Jeff Plush, Managing Director of the Rapids. Download or listen here.

dN

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze sees the Galaxy as much as anyone who is not a part of the team, and he seems as completely baffled by them as the rest of us.

dN

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America gives us 5 impressions of MLS as we near the 1/3 season marker. Via Sports Illustrated.

dN

I am sorry to write this, but Tony Sanneh has to go in LA. He is playing far worse than Abel Xavier did when they released him last year. I love Sanneh, and he is from here in the Twin Cities like me, but the mistakes he has made for the Galaxy are inexcusable, and last weekend Columbus' Guillermo Barros Schelotto bagged a goal way too easily. (I saw West Brom make the same mistake against Liverpool and Gerrard made them pay too, and West Brom is deservedly getting relegated.)

dN

DC United midfielder Ben "Captain Caveman" Olsen will be out of action for up to a month due to damage to a hamstring muscle.

dN

The Trinidad & Tobago Express reports that San Jose is chasing yet another of their natives, midfielder Densill Theobald.

dN

With Mexican forward Omar Bravo's loan at UANL Tigres about to end, do you think Houston will again go strong to sign the big time goal scorer they desperately need?

dN

The Kansas Business Journal with an article on new potential trouble in building the Wizards stadium. Ugh.

dN

Eurosport reports that Crewe Alexandra's French centerback Julien Baudet is going to signing a team in MLS. Which team? Colorado! He is 6'3" tall, 30 years old and played almost his entire career in the leagues of England under the Premiership.

dN

Legendary Boca Juniors striker Martin Palermo has several things to say about MLS. See South America section below for details.

USL FIRST DIVISION

The league announced their Team Of The Week:
USL First Division Team of the Week
G:
Scott Vallow - Rochester - Eleven saves in 2-1 win at Vancouver
D:
Nelson Akwari - Charleston - Led team in 0-0 draw at Montreal
Cedric Joqueviel - Montreal - Led team in pair of shutouts
Troy Roberts - Cleveland - Led team in 1-0 win at Minnesota
Devon McKenney - Carolina - Led team in 2-0 win at Miami
M:
Luke Kreamalmeyer - Carolina - Two goals in 2-0 win at Miami
Joshua Boateng - Cleveland - Goal in 1-0 win at Minnesota
Stephen deRoux - Montreal - Led team in 4-0 win over Austin
Brian Farber - Portland - Goal in 2-1 win over Rochester
Johnny Menyongar - Rochester - Goal, assist in 2-1 win at Vancouver
F:
Roberto Brown - Montreal - Goal, assist in 4-0 win over Austin

Vallow was named Player of the Week.

US OPEN CUP

MLS 2nd Round Qualifying Match:
-Wed May 20
DC United v Red Bull New York

The winning team moves on to the tournament proper.

dN

Michael Lewis of the New York Daily News previews the match.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 reports on red hot Hammarby striker Charlie Davies who has been suspended 5 games in the Swedish league for an elbow he threw.

CANADA

Jason de Vos at the CBC asks a very important question: "Who exactly is running Canadian soccer?" He's not talking about the person with the title, he is talking about the person with the power.

ENGLAND

Could we see a major shock in English football and Arsene Wenger leave Arsenal for Real Madrid??

dN

The Independent with an article on a former Premier League player Mark Ward, who has just been released from prison after serving time on drug charges.
-Ward also talks about the temptations facing the modern player.

dN

Michael Ballack is signing a 1 year contract extension with Chelsea.

dN

The Daily Mail lists Ryan Giggs own Man U Best 11: Giggs's XI: Schmeichel/Van der Sar, Neville, Stam, Ferdinand, Irwin, Beckham, Scholes, Keane, Giggs, Cantona, Rooney. He cheated with 2 keepers but no C Ronaldo??

dN

Patrick Barclay of The Times wonders how Manchester United will ever be able to replace manager Alex Ferguson. Simple - they won't, so get over it and move on. When he's done then he's done.

EUROPE

Slavia Prague has won its 2nd straight Czech Liga championship.

dN

Real Madrid's Italian centerback Fabio Cannavaro has now officially signed with his former club Juventus for next season.

dN

The Local in Germany has the first new quotes from recently fired Bayern Munich manager Jurgen Klinsmann.

dN

The Local also reports that Hertha Berlin Midfielder Pal Dardai bought beer for the teams entire home stadium last weekend - 74,000 strong! This takes Hooray Beer to a whole new level!

dN

Ballspiel from Deutsche Welle reports on the last breaths of Hertha Berlin's improbable title run.

dN

The German football federation is taking a chance this weekend by bringing the championship trophy to Wolfsburg ahead of time, figuring they have the best chance to win it. Will this be a jinx?

dN

Calciomercato has quotes from Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho, but nowhere in these quotes does he say he will return to Inter next season for sure. He implies it a little, but he certainly never says it. He also says that top to bottom it is harder to win in Serie A than the Premiership.

dN

Gazzetta gives us the best and worst from last weekend in Serie A.













Does it look like Inter partied on down after winning the Scudetto last weekend?!?!?

dN

FIFA.com does a Q & A with former Barca head coach Frank Rijkaard.

dN

Andy Mitten of The National of UAE with an article on the great season of coaching done by Pep Guardiola at Barcelona.

dN

Josif Kuze has been hired as the new coach of the Albanian national team.

dN

Top Goal Scorers In Europe’s Major Leagues:

England Premier League
18 Nicolas Anelka - Chelsea
18 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
16 Steven Gerrard - Liverpool
14 Robinho - Manchester City
13 Fernando Torres - Liverpool

Germany Bundesliga
26 Grafite - Wolfsburg
25 Edin Dzeko - Wolfsburg
23 Mario Gomez - Stuttgart
21 Patrick Helmes - Bayer Leverkusen
18 Vedad Ibisevic - Hoffenheim

Spain Primera Liga
29 Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona
28 Diego Forlan - Atletico Madrid
25 David Villa - Valencia
23 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
20 Gonzalo Higuain - Real Madrid

Italy Serie A
23 Marco Di Vaio - Bologna
22 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Inter
20 Diego Milito - Genoa
19 Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina
15 Kaka - AC Milan

France Ligue 1
22 Andre-Pierre Gignac - Toulouse
17 Guillaume Hoarau - Paris Saint-Germain
16 Karim Benzema - Lyon
13 Michel Fernandes Bastos - Lille
13 Ireneusz Jelen - Auxerre
13 Steve Savidan - Caen
13 Fernando Cavenaghi - Bordeaux

Netherlands Eredivisie
23 Mounir El Hamdaoui - AZ Alkmaar
22 Luis Suarez - Ajax Amsterdam
17 Marcus Berg - Groningen
16 Roy Makaay - Feyenoord Rotterdam
16 Blaise N'Kufo - Twente Enschede
16 Danijel Pranjic - Heerenveen

dN

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian on Lyon & Karim Benzema trying to spoil Marseille's party, plus the rest of Ligue 1 from last weekend.

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
71 (+27) Marseille - Last: L 1-3 v Lyon - Next: Sat May 23 at Nancy Lorraine

dN

Other Cup competitions around Europe:

Puchar Polski Final
-Tue May 19
Ruch Chorzow v Lech Poznan

UEFA Cup Final
-Wed May 20
Shakhtar Donetsk v Werder Bremen at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul Turkey
-Jonathan Wilson at The National of UAE gives us the story of Mircea Lucescu, the coach of Shakhtar Donetsk who has led the team to their highest point ever.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks ahead to Man U v Barca, and tries to define the meaning of "the greatest game ever played."

dN

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports begins the build up to the big game.

SOUTH AMERICA

Tim Vickery of the BBC on how Europe's game became popular in Brazil.

dN

Gregory Sica at Sports Illustrated does a Q & A with one of my favorite South American players - forward Martin Palermo of Boca Juniors.

dN

Caracas FC has won the Venezuelan Clausura championship.

U17 WORLD CUP NIGERIA 2009

The Daily Trust of Nigeria is reporting that FIFA is very worried about this event, "We are in real trouble over the venues; none in the country has met our requirements." What happens now? Our good friend Jack Warner is in charge of this, and the cynic in me says he finds the country not ready because he has not seen his slice yet. But it would not be prudent of me to say such a thing.
-The Daily Trust also reports on the frustration within the country over the unprepared nature of the stadiums. This really does look bad right now.

WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA 2010

The Cape Argus with an article on FIFA's transportation plans to work around a very weak bus system.

dN

AFP reports on the status of the newly rebuilt Johannesburg airport. Bugs-a-plenty.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Reuters reports that Qatar's bid to host the 2022 World Cup is a bid to unite all the people of the world in harmony.

dN

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger theorizes that being a professional soccer coach makes you a negative person.

dN

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at how the top managers go about keeping their jobs. Duh, well for starters they win, the rest if fairly easy after that.

ENDERS

Read this and then decide if there is still time to make the beautiful game work in America:
"Soccer will not catch on, you can be sure of it. It's just a temporary enthusiasm capable of lasting a whole month. We have lots of our own sports. Why should we want to go poking our nose into foreign things?"
-Graciliano Ramos
Brazil
1921