Some News for Wed June 3

STARTERS

Shout me down on Twitta: dunord

dN

Maurice Edu got the news he did not want - he needs knee surgery and could be out 2 months or more. That means we probably won't see him again until Rangers preseason. Damn.

TEAM AMERICA

US Soccer has a Q & A with Clint Dempsey as he gets his 50th cap tonight.


They also include then and now pictures - fantastic!

dN

World Cup Qualifying Matches:
-Wed Jun 3 - Matchday 4
Costa Rica v USA - from Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose CR - 9pm Central on ESPN2 & Galavision
Venue: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa - San Jose Costa Rica
-Sat Jun 6 - Matchday 5
USA v Honduras - from Soldier Field in Chicago IL - 7pm Central on ESPN & Galavision (see you there!)
Venue: Soldier Field - Chicago IL

dN

Official Blog

dN

It turns out that the reason goalkeeper Luis Robles left the USA training camp before this weeks big matches is that he is getting married. Big Congrats!

MLS

Week 12 Matches:
-Thu Jun 4
DC United v New York Red Bulls - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC

dN

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet tells us about his First 11 clashes between DC & NY.

dN

The roll that Houston on right now is even more impressive when you figure in that 3 of their 4 starting defenders are out with injury - Eddie Robinson, Wade Barrett & Richard Mulrooney.

dN

The Miami Herald with an article on life at the Los Angeles Galaxy without Landon Donovan.

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News looks at why RSL seems to open every game with whimper.

dN

Edward also writes that RSL midfield General Javier Morales is just not getting it done.

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times examines the Sounders strong start to their first MLS season.

dN

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post is on a roll with DCU right now, and has unearthed a comic strip that has been featuring the team!

USL FIRST DIVISION

Official Team Of The Week
G:
Steve Cronin - Portland
:D
Simon Gatti - Montreal
Lyle Adams - Austin
Scot Thompson - Portland
Kupono Low - Carolina
M:
Yordany Alvarez - Austin
Daniel Paladini - Carolina
Domenic Mediate - Puerto Rico
Kenji Treschuk - Charleston
F:
Roberto Brown - Montreal
George Josten - Portland

dN

Official Player Of The Week
Yordany Alvarez - Austin

SOCCER IN AMERICA

ESPN with an article claiming that soccer will never be massively popular in America because of the lack of statistics, and Americans are obsessed with statistics. (Thanks to TD for this one)

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Times of London with an article on Oguchi Onyewu's racism lawsuit against another player in Belgium.

dN

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 talks to Oguchi Onyewu about his plans for next season.

dN

Seltzer on his blog No Shorts Corners reports that Sal Zizzo has been told by Hannover that he is free to find a new club.

dN

Michael Bradley's club Monchengladbach has hired their former player Michael Frontzeck as the new coach. He was the coach at Arminia Bielefeld before getting fired half way through last season (they did not turn it around with a new coach and were relegated.)

dN

USA U20 candidate Mikkel Diskerud scored a smashing volley goal last weekend for his team Stabaek in Norway. Here is video. (thanks to Harald for sending this our way.)

CONCACAF

World Cup Qualifying Standings (after 3 of 10 rounds):
7 USA
6 Costa Rica
4 Honduras
3 Mexico
2 El Salvador
2 Trinidad & Tobago

MEXICO

CONMEBOL & Mexico have settled their differences and Mexican teams will return to Copa Libertadores action next season.

CANADA CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

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

A very big win for the Whitecaps last night leaves them sitting very pretty. Toronto and Montreal face off in the last game of the tournament, and TFC needs to win by 5 goals to advance!

Match Schedule:
-Tue Jun 2
Vancouver 2-0 Toronto - Van goals both by Ansu Toure.
-Thu Jun 18
Montreal v Toronto

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

ENGLAND

Patrick Barklay of The Times says that new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti could be in for a rude awakening in English football.

EUROPE

Matt Dickinson of The Times on the absurdity of huge transfer fees. Are those days here again?

dN

Coach Dick Advocaat has left Zenit St Petersburg to become the new top man of the Belgian national team.

SOUTH AMERICA

CONMEBOL & Mexico have settled their differences and Mexican teams will return to Copa Libertadores action next season.

dN

Argentina has been announced as the host for the next Copa America, in 2011.

dN

Flamengo has decided it will not punish Adriano for missing practice yesterday after he told them that a communication problem caused the incident. Sure.

FIFA

FIFA has reported a 2008 profit of $184 million USD from $957 million USD in revenue. Astonishing.

WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

CONCACAF
Matches & Scores
-Wed Jun 3
Costa Rica v USA

dN

Group standings for all regions.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 2
France 0-1 Nigeria - this is the first time ever that Nigeria has beaten France.
United Arab Emirates 2-7 Germany - Mario Gomez scored 4!
Turkey 2-0 Azerbaijan
-Wed Jun 3
Tanzania v New Zealand
Bahrain v Jordan
Antigua & Barbuda v Guyana
-Thu Jun 4
China v Saudi Arabia

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Reuters reports that FIFA has lifted the age limit on the rule that allows players who have been capped by youth national teams to switch to another country. Right now you can't switch after you reach 21, the new rule has no age limit. BUT the old rule is still in place that once you are capped by the senior team then you are tied to that country.

dN

The Guardian with an article on a new stadium in Taiwan that is solar powered.














And it looks really sharp too!

dN

FIFA.com has an article on the origins of the names of some of the worlds most famous clubs. Cool stuff if you didn't know the answers.

ENDERS

Former FC Dallas great Denilson has signed with Hai Phong Cement FC in Vietnam!