Some News for Wed Aug 19, 2009

STARTERS

Chicago coach Denis Hamlet on out of favor centerback Bakary Soumare: "He isn't committed to the team, his teammates orthe organization. As a coach, I can’t put a player on the field that is not 100 percent committed." Holy smokes!

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Group Stage is underway!

dN

Matchday 1
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 18
Columbus Crew 2-0 Puerto Rico Islanders - CC goals by Steven Lenhart & Robbie Rogers.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes from Mitchell on the Dispatch soccer blog.
Marathon 3-1 DC United - Mar goals by Walter Martinez, Jerry Palacios & Mario Berrios. DCU goal by Luciano Emilio(PK).
Post game notes from the Washington Post blog Soccer Insider.
UNAM Pumas 1-0 Comunicaciones - UNAM goal by Luis Fuentes.
-Wed Aug 19
Houston Dynamo v Isidro Metapan - 7pm Central on FSC
Arabe Unido v Pachuca - 7pm Central on Telefutura
Cruz Azul v Saprissa - 9pm Central on Telefutura
-Thu Aug 20
San Juan Jabloteh v Toluca - 7pm Central on Galavision
Real Espana v W Connection - 9pm Central on Galavision

dN

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks at the Dynamo's first game in this years tournament. And how does the club get their fans more interested in these games?

MLS

MLS Week 23 Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 19
Chicago Fire v Los Angeles Galaxy - 8pm Central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
-Thu Aug 20
Seattle Sounders FC v New England Revolution - 9pm Central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
-Sat Aug 22
DC United v Los Angeles Galaxy - 6:30pm Central on FSC & FSE
San Jose Earthquakes v Kansas City Wizards - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Chivas USA v Toronto FC - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
-Sun Aug 23
New York Red Bulls v FC Dallas - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Chicago Fire v Colorado Rapids - 5pm Central on Direct Kick
New England Revolution v Real Salt Lake - 5pm Central on Direct Kick
Houston Dynamo v Seattle Sounders FC - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick

dN

Glenn Davis on his blog in Houston says that Cruz Azul forward Luis Landin is possibly in their city talking deal with the Dynamo. That could be interesting. He has been known as a youngster with a lot of unfulfilled promise.

dN

Elliot Almond of the San Jose Mercury News talks with E-Quakes owner Lew Wolff about the latest on stadium building. It ain't pretty.

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Steve Sirk on the Columbus Crew OWS unleashes his latest notebook full of facts and great insider news from Cowtown.

dN

And Columbus has sealed the deal with forward Emilio Renteria of Venezuela.

dN

Michale Arace of the Columbus Dispatch sees the same gleam in the Crew players eyes that looks just like last year at this time. Hunger for a title.

dN

Stefan Bondy of The Record in North Jersey reports that New York will not have coach Juan Carlos Osorio or technical director Jeff Agoos on the staff when they kick off next season in their new stadium. The article also speculates on who might come in to replace them.

dN

Danny Cepero, goalkeeper for the New York Red Bulls, writing for the New York Times blog Goal tells us just how ugly this season has been from the inside.

dN

The Chicago Tribune's former soccer writer Luis Arroyave comes back into the fold for one day to cover Bex-mania. But that all fell apart when Bex angrily tried to take the skin off Pete Vagenas' shin last weekend and got rightly Red Carded. Here are Luis's thoughts on the hustle and bustle via a day long running blog. Starts off with the explosive story about a fight between Fire coach Denis Hamlett and centerback Bakary Soumare.

dN

The Trib also has a Q & A with Landon Donovan, looking at this summer and previewing tonight's game.

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Nick Firchau of Chicago's Southtown Star gives us more on the altercation between Hamlett and Soumare. Some have said it was a physical fight, while others said that is not correct.

dN

Toronto has released centerback Marco Velez. Good move.

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John Molinaro of the CBC on Toronto's awful road performances.

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Nigel Reed also of the CBC looks at TFC's young players and sees talent, but very raw talent.

dN

Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Sacha Kljestan appear on the cover of FIFA '10 with Frank Lampard of Chelsea.

dN

The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that Sounders big money player Freddie Ljungberg is still suffering badly from head trauma (doctors say it is NOT from migraines) and could be out for a while.
-Ljungberg has told people he has also suffered from "loss of memory and disorientation."

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times with an article on Sounders fullback James Riley and his connection to the fans.

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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet looks ahead to the playoff scenarios.

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Andrew Hush at Soccernet with his weekly league news round up.

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The Olympian tells us about the first professional meeting of the Nyassi twins - Sainey of New England and Sanna of Seattle.

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James Edward of the Deseret News looks at what RSL is going to have to do to make the playoffs.

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Brad Rock of the Deseret feels RSL's big problem is discipline, and with the head coach melting down left and right what do you expect from the players.

USL FIRST DIVISION

My Minnesota Thunder gives us the Player of the Week - Forward Melvin Tarley!!! Great job Mel!

dN

And here is the USL First Division Team of the Week:
G:
Caleb Patterson-Sewell - Carolina - Seven saves in 0-0 draw at Vancouver
D:
John Krause - Puerto Rico - Goal in 1-0 win against Montreal
David Hayes - Portland - Assist in 4-1 win at Rochester
Jeremy Tolleson - Carolina - Led team in 0-0 draw at Vancouver
Chris Pozniak - Vancouver - Led team in 0-0 draw against Carolina
M:
Ricardo Sanchez - Minnesota - Two assists in win, draw on road
Tsuyoshi Yoshitake - Charleston - Two goals in 4-1 win over Cleveland
Ryan Pore - Portland - Two goals, assist in two road wins
F:
Jean Alexandre - Austin - Goal, assist in 2-2 draw against Minnesota
Melvin Tarley - Minnesota - Three goals in draw, win on road
Mandjou Keita - Portland - Goal, assist in 4-1 win at Rochester

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 18
Carolina RailHawks 1-1 Vancouver Whitecaps
Cleveland City Stars 1-2 Montreal Impact
-Wed Aug 19
Rochester Rhinos v Minnesota Thunder
-Thu Aug 20
Charleston Battery v Vancouver Whitecaps
-Sat Aug 22
Cleveland City Stars v Minnesota Thunder
Rochester Rhinos v Carolina RailHawks
Portland Timbers v Miami FC Blues
-Sun Aug 23
Montreal Impact v Austin Aztex
Vancouver Whitecaps v Miami FC Blues

dN

Standings (with goal differential):
48 Portland(+25)
44 Carolina(+15)
44 Charleston(+12)
41 Puerto Rico(+9)
32 Rochester(+2)
29 Montreal(-2)
27 Vancouver(+2)
* * Out of Playoffs * *
25 Miami (-10)
19 Minnesota(-9)
15 Austin(-18)
13 Cleveland(-26)

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Peter Wilt, Red Stars pres and former Fire GM writing for Pitch Invasion describes for us his management style.

dN

The IMG Academy in Bradenton FL (not to be confused with the USA residential program, also in Bradenton) is building 9 new state of the art fields to go with their current 7. That is a huge upgrade for them. I love hearing about this kind of thing. (Thanks to BQ for the heads up)

TEAM USA

A Twitter message that was posted here and I thought had come from US Soccer quoting Pres Sunil Gulati talking about Jermaine Jones was NOT from them. So they asked me to take it down. And I have have no problem doing that. Gone.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Sport Hull with an article on Jozy Altidore's work visa cock-up.

dN

Steve Cherundolo at Hannover has already lost his coach this season, with Dieter Hecking resigning after 2 lousy outings to start the campaign.

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

EUROPA LEAGUE
Play-Off Round 1st Leg
-Thu Aug 20
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - v Amkar Perm
Mikkel Diskrud - Stabaek - v Valencia
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - at Rapid Wien
Ryan Guy - St Patrick's Athletic - at Steaua Bucureşti
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - at Rapid Wien
Tim Howard - Everton - v Sigma Olomouc
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - v Amkar Perm

EUROPE

The Dallas Business Journal reports that a Texas company has bought newly promoted Serie A team AS Bari. They open their season this Sunday on the road at 3 time defending champions Inter Milan.

dN

Long time Real Madrid right fullback Michel Salgado has signed with Blackburn in England.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Official web site.

dN

Fox in the USA is showing every single Champions League game on line for a fee. Check it out. (Thanks to JJ for the link)

dN

Only one of the five home teams won on Tuesday. Astonishing.

dN

Play-Off Round 1st Leg
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 18
Sheriff 0-2 Olympiacos - Oly goals by Dudu & Kostas Mitroglou.
Kobenhavn 1-0 APOEL - Kob goal by Zdenek Pospech.
Celtic 0-2 Arsenal - Ars goals by William Gallas & Gary Caldwell(OG).
Timisoara 0-2 Stuttgart - Stu goals by Timo Gebhart(PK) & Aleksandr Hleb.
Sporting 2-2 Fiorentina - Spo goals by Simon Vukcevic & Miguel Veloso. Fio goals by Juan Manuel Vargas & Alberto Gilardino.
-Wed Aug 19
Panathinaikos v Atletico Madrid
Levski Sofia v Debreceni
Lyon v Anderlecht
Red Bull Salzburg v Maccabi Haifa
Ventspils v Zurich

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Europa League Play-Off Round first Leg matches take place on Thursday.

ENDERS

Chelsea and The Big Ticket team up. NBA-er Kevin Garnett gets his own Chelsea inspired shoe.
-"Long standing CFC fan, NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett was the inspiration behind the new CFC- themed adidas TS Commander LT. This limited edition shoe incorporates an iconic royal blue and white split suede upper, a laser etched soccer ball pattern on the midsole and CFC yellow accents, including the team’s traditional lion’s crest, embossed on the tongue."