Some News for Tue Jul 28

STARTERS

I got an email from the folks at NBC Universal last night telling me that the August 12 Mexico v USA World Cup Qualifying game on mun2 (channel name) should be available to EVERYONE with cable or satellite. Here is their message: "NBC Universal has made mun2 free for the day of the game, August 12. To get mun2 call your cable, satellite or telco provider."
-Do we trust our local cable companies to come through with this?? Let's all hope it works. But I know some of you will be angry that day.

dN

USA forward Brian Ching to Mexico after humiliating 5-0 loss, looking ahead to Aug 12 Mex v USA World Cup qualifying match: "If they think that game is going to be anything like this, they've got another thing coming. It's not going to be hard to carry over these emotions."

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Here we go with year 2 of the new tournament. Matches begin tonight!

dN

Preliminary Round 1st Leg Matches:
-Tue Jul 28
DC United (USA) v Luis Angel Firpo (El Sal) - 7pm Central on FSC
Pachuca (Mex) v Jalapa (Guate) - 9pm Central
-Wed Jul 29
Toronto FC (Can) v Puerto Rico Islanders (PR) - 7pm on FSC
San Francisco (Pana) v San Juan Jabloteh (TnT) - 7pm
Liberia (CR) v Real Espana (Hond) - 9pm
-Thu Jul 30
W Connection (TnT) v New York Red Bulls (USA) - 7pm on FSC
Herediano (CR) v Cruz Azul (Mex) - 9pm
Olimpia (Hond) v Arabe Unido (Pana) - 9pm

dN

The Washington Post previews tonight's DC v Firpo game.

dN

Don Girrard of the Toronto Star previews TFC v Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

dN

Ryan Johnston of Sportsnet on TFC's growing injury list.

dN

Johnston also talks to TFC manager Chris Cummins about this game against PR.

dN

Brian Lewis of the NY Post talks to Red Bulls technical director Jeff Agoos about the teams dire need for success in the CCL.

MLS ALL-STAR GAME

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune gives us this cool piece of info on their RSL blog:
"Javier Morales will become the latest RSL player to honor teammate Andy Williams by wearing his jersey number. Morales will wear No. 77 in the MLS All-Star Game. The gesture is meant as a show of support for Williams, whose wife Marcia has been battling leukemia."

dN

Match:
-Wed Jul 29
MLS All-Stars v Everton (England) - 8:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT

dN

From Jose Romero of the Seattle Times on his blog:
"LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan in remained in Los Angeles Monday and Tuesday in order to rest and get treatment on a strained left calf muscle. He will join the MLS All-Stars on Wednesday and is expected to be able to play against Everton."

dN

Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune with an article on RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman who has just returned from Team USA and the Gold Cup in time for the All Star Game.

dN

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on that city hosting next years All Star game.

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News on the MLS star power.

dN

Edward also reports on the Real Salt Lake players on the All Star team that will get to play in front of their home fans.

dN

Dan Rassmussen of the Deseret News calls Everton manager David Moyes one of the best.

dN

The Liverpool Echo talks to Everton's American keeper Tim Howard about the teams season ahead - especially the new big money from Manchester City.

dN

Here are the other 14 MLS players that have been given 2009 All-Star status but will not take part in the match:
G:
Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo
Donovan Ricketts - Los Angeles Galaxy
D:
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City Wizards
M:
Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Columbus Crew
Shalrie Joseph - New England Revolution
Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto FC
Ricardo Clark - Houston Dynamo
Paulo Nagamura - Chivas USA
Amado Guevara - Toronto FC
F:
Brian McBride - Chicago Fire
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls

dN

These players should have been recognized as well - they have been great so far this season:
Bobby Boswell - Houston Dynamo
Omar Cummings - Colorado Rapids
Robbie Findley - Real Salt Lake
Ryan Johnson - San Jose Earthquakes
Clint Mathis - Real Salt Lake
Bryan Namoff - DC United

MLS

The person from the LA Riot Squad that jumped on the field to answer David Beckman's call for a challenge and was then banned for life from Home Depot center has had that ban removed at the request of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Mr Beckman. Nice. The guy was still an idiot (I am referring to both of them.)

dN

Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald makes the case for the Chicago Fire to clean house at the end of this season. All reasonable ideas that I can see happening.

dN

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer reports that to no one's surprised Red Bulls forward and captain Juan Pablo Angel is very upset about the plight of his team.

dN

Kansas City has signed 29 year old Hungarian forward Zoltan Hercegfalvi from Honved FC in Hungary. He will be known as Zoltan on his shirt. All Hail Zoltan! Oh, sorry that's Voltron.

Adam Cristman finally made his KC debut last weekend coming on as a sub in the 63rd minute.

dN

Gareth Wheeler of the Toronto Sun with a review of the league up to this point in the season, and a look toward the playoffs.

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times sees the 4 All Stars for Seattle Sounders as another sign of a great first year.

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Jack Bell of the NY Times talks to Seattle's Freddie Ljungberg about his first season in MLS so far. And some other league notes.

dN

Brian Lewis of the NY Post with the latest Red Bulls news.

dN

A local KC blogger, non-soccer, attends the KC v LA game last Saturday and gives his perspective on the night. Interesting perspective. (Thanks to K for this one)

MLS EXPANSION

Ben Rycroft of Metro-Toronto expects the announcement of Montreal as team 19 any day now.

USL FIRST DIVISION

Forward Gregory Richardson of Carolina has been named the USL-1 Player of the Week.

dN

Here is the Team of the Week:
G:
Bill Gaudette - Puerto Rico - Five saves in 0-0 draw at Portland
D:
Matt Bobo - Charleston - Goal in 2-1 win over Carolina
Stephen Keel - Portland - Led team in 0-0 draw against Puerto Rico
Nigel Henry - Puerto Rico - Led team in 0-0 draw at Portland
M:
Tyrell Burgess - Vancouver - Assist in 4-2 win over Puerto Rico
AJ Godbolt - Austin - Goal, assist in 2-2 draw against Montreal
Ciaran O'Brien - Montreal - Two assists in 4-1 win over Cleveland
Tiger Fitzpatrick - Rochester - Two assists in 4-1 win over Cleveland
F:
Gifton Noel-Williams - Austin - Goal, assist in 2-2 draw against Montreal
Gregory Richardson - Carolina - Three goals in 4-0 win over Miami
Paulo Araujo - Miami - Two goals in 2-1 win at Minnesota

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Beau Dure of USA Today on his blog The Netminder does Q & A with Bob Ley of ESPN who will be one of the World Cup US market coverage hosts from South Africa next summer.

TEAM USA

Phil Schoen (nice guy - good commentator) and Marcelo Balboa (nice guy - dull commentator) have been hired to announce the Mexico v USA World Cup qualifier next month. They will NOT be at the game, they will be somewhere here in the USA calling it off a TV screen. Lame.

dN

USMNT Official Blog

USA U18 TEAM

The team has headed to Belfast Northern Ireland for the annual Milk Cup. Here is the USA game schedule:

Matches:
-Mon Jul 27
USA 1-2 Denmark - USA goal by Will Bates.
-Wed Jul 29
USA v Germany
-Fri Jul 31
Placement Game (against team from other group - N Ireland, Bulgaria, Israel)

USA U20 TEAM

The team takes part in the Copa Ciudad de Rosario.

Matches:
-Sat Jul 25
USA 2-0 CA Tiro Federal - USA goals both by Jorge Flores.
-Mon Jul 27
USA 0-0 Uruguay - USA wins 5-4 on Penalty Kicks.
-Wed Jul 29
USA v Australia

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle reports that while Houston is talking to Livorno about selling Ricardo Clark, the initial offer has been turned down. I guess that means Clark will walk when the season ends because his contract expires on Dec 31.

dN

Clint Dempsey & Eddie Johnson with Fulham jump into UEFA Europa League action this week as they travel to FK Vetra of Vilnius, Lithuanian on Thursday for their First Leg match.

ENGLAND

EPL Talk as a treat for Chelsea fans, an audio interview with centerback John Terry and manager Carlo Ancelotti, from Dallas TX.

EUROPE

Jeffrey Marcus of the NY Times blog Goal takes a shot at breaking down the Eto'o for Ibrahimovic swap between Barca and Inter.

UEFA CHAMPIONS & EUROPA LEAGUES

Celtic, Shakhtar Donetsk, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos & Sporting are the biggest names to joining the Champions League today.

Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round, First Leg matches are Tue & Wed - here are the matches and results.

dN

Fulham, Steaua, Galatasaray, PSV, Roma, Lille, Fenerbahce, Athletic Bilbao & Hamburg are the biggest names to joining the Europa League this round.

Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round, First Leg matches are Thu - here are the matches and results.

ASIA

Ever wondered what the running track around some fields is really used for? The Chinese League has added a new wrinkle to their matches. It's called "Let's Chase the Ref." (thanks to JJ for this one)

ENDERS

Our friends at Bumpy Pitch have a bitchin' new shirt (called A View From The Shed End) hitting the streets for all you soccer-underground music fans:
"The shirt is inspired by the punk rock and soccer scenes of the late 1970's / 80's in London. The graphic depicts a classic punk in the Shed End of Stamford Bridge with the terrace end of the stadium directly across from him. We worked on the shirt with an artist named Nick Egan who is from London and was a fixture on the punk scene during this time. He also designed record covers, t-shirts and clothing for the likes of The Clash, the Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood. It touches on how soccer and music inspire one another and the culture around them, and I hope this continues to show the lifestyle and culture of the sport."