Monday, September 07, 2009

Some News for Mon Sep 7, 2009

STARTERS

Brazil & Ghana are the next two teams to have qualified for the World Cup.

dN

Edgar Castillo of UANL Tigres got his clearance from FIFA on Friday to swap from the Mexican national team to the USA.

TEAM USA

Official Team Blog

dN

World Cup Qualifying Match & Score:
-Sat Sep 5
USA 2-1 El Salvador - USA goals by Clint Dempsey & Jozy Altidore. ELS goal by Cristian Castillo.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy, UT
Attendance: 19,006
Match report from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by USA coach and players from US Soccer.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Player ratings by Mahoney.
Match report from the New York Times.
Player ratings by Jack Bell of the New York Times.
Match report from the Washington Post.
Match report by Beau Dure of USA Today.
Player ratings by Dure.
Match report by Steve Davis of ESPN Soccernet (includes video).
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep for ESPN Soccernet.
Post game analysis from ESPN The Magazine.
Post game analysis by Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated.
More post game notes by Freedman.
Player ratings by Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365.
Post game analysis by Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Paul Oberjuerge.

dN

My thoughts on the game:
-Two absolutely fantastic USA goals in the dying minutes of the first half made all the difference. And there was Landon Donovan making them both happen. Wow that guy is something else. Especially the 2nd goal, to not get flustered with the seconds running out in the half he cuts back and launches a perfect cross to Altidore for the winner! Bravo!
-As frustrating as it was for us USA fans to see our team only beat a clearly outmanned El Salvador by only 1 goal, we need to realize that no one else has been able to beat them by any bigger score in this qualifying round either. They also lost on the road to Costa Rica, Honduras and T&T all by 1 goal. While beating Mexico and drawing with Trinidad & Tobago and the USA at home.
-One of my favorite parts of the game was seeing the huge smile on the face of Jose Francisco Torres after he almost headed home a great cross from Stuart Holden. Yes, I know he missed, and should be mad at himself for not burying the cross, but the sheer joy of playing the game he loves came through the TV set and made me smile too.
-I watched the game a 2nd time and I still don't know why Jozy's second goal didn't count. I see no foul or offside, so it must have been something else. Of course ESPN does such a shit job of producing these games that we may never know what really happens off the ball in these games. They never seem to have the right shots to show us what is going on.
-No less than 6 players were to blame for El Salvador's goal. That is a colossal meltdown. Jonathan Bornstein is taking most of the beating from press and fans, and yes he started off the sequence with a horrible clearance from the end line. He played the ball up and over his head, but it went more sideways and right to El S's Zelaya who controlled the ball and turned into the box where he was semi-confronted by 3 more USA players, Bocanegra, Marshall and Bradley, who all stopped running and waited for the other guy to make a play. So Zelaya simply chipped the ball toward the penalty spot where Jonathan Spector was well positioned but still ball watching as 5'6" Christian Castillo towered up and over him to head the ball (Yes, 5'6"). And finally Tim Howard was out near the top of the 6 yard box for a weird stroll toward the back post and then lunged backward as the ball sailed over his outstretched arm and easily into the net. So blame Bornstein if you must, but the other 5 were just as bad on the play.
-And the complete lack of holding the ball during the last 30 minutes of the game nearly gave all the USA fans a heart attack. Why is it so hard for this team to hold a lead comfortably. And why do you take off a player like Feilhaber who is one of the best technically on the team and replace him with an very inexperienced Beckerman who shovelfooted all over the field.
-A huge boo goes out to Charlie Davies for his 2 ugly dives in the 2nd half. I hate that crap. And the second one caused him to jam his knee into the turf and injure it. What a fool. Why do players of that high skill level stoop to cheating to win. In the long run it never pays off. Unless you are Italy and win the World Cup!

dN

Several articles each from the 2 Salt Lake City Newspapers-
Deseret News:
-U.S. win huge for World Cup hopes
-U.S. salvages win over El Salvador
-U.S. squad: No place like home
-Empty seats speak loudly at Rio Tinto
-Donovan does his part to help ignite U.S. victory
Tribune:
-Two goals late in first half secures victory over El Salvador at Rio Tinto
-Kragthorpe: Six minutes to remember for Team USA
-Pastorino: USA goes airborne to ground El Salvador
-Soccer notes: Altidore, Davies a good fit for U.S.

dN

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America tells us exactly what the USA must do to punch their ticket to South Africa: "...match Costa Rica's performance on Wednesday (the Ticos are on the road at Trinidad & Tobago), and beat Costa Rica on Oct. 14 in Washington, D.C. (The result of the Oct. 10 game at Honduras wouldn't matter.)"

Hull City FC OWS reports on Jozy Altidore's game winner.

Fulham FC OWS reports on Clint Dempsey's goal for the USA too.

Jay DeMerit and Conor Casey did not travel to Trinidad with the team for Wednesday's game.

No Yellow Cards for USA means everyone is available to match in Trinidad.

Michael Black at the Deseret News does a Q & A with USA backup keeper Brad Guzan.

dN

du Nord 3 Stars Of The Game:

3 Rodolfo Zelaya - All those big buys in back could barely stop this guy, and he set up a very nice goal. He should be on an MLS roster asap.
2 Jozy Altidore - The game winning goal was a fantastic header. He deserved another goal too.
1 Landon Donovan - Great as always. What can you say about this guy. Got pissed off after going down a goal and turned that energy into success.

MLS

Official Web Site

dN

Week 25
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 5
New England Revolution 2-4 Kansas City Wizards - NER goals by Edgaras Jankauskas & Kheli Dube. KCW goals by Claudio Lopez, Jay Heaps(OG) & Josh Wolff(2).
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Attendance: 9,489
FC Dallas 2-2 D.C. United - FCD goals by JEff Cunningham & David Ferreira. DCU goals by Marc Burch & Jaime Moreno(PK).
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Attendance: 10,219
Colorado Rapids 1-0 Toronto FC - CR goal by Conor Casey.
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 10,821

dN

EJECTIONS:
Shalrie Joseph - New England - Red Card
Daniel Torres - Dallas - Red Card
Amadou Sanyang - Toronto - 2 Yellow Cards
Adrian Serioux - Toronto - Red Card

dN

Jaime Moreno of DC scored on a Penalty Kick this weekend and upped his all time league leading goal scoring tally to 129.

Jeff Cunningham scored a goal that moves him into a tie for 2nd place all time with Ante Razov at 114.

And Conor Casey of Colorado scored again giving him the league wide season high of 12 goal.

USL FIRST DIVISION

Official Web Site

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 3
Portland Timbers 1-2 Rochester Rhinos
-Fri Sep 4
Minnesota Thunder 1-1 Vancouver Whitecaps - 7pm Central on FSC
-Sat Sep 5
Cleveland City Stars 1-2 Montreal Impact
Miami FC Blues 3-1 Austin Aztex
-Sun Sep 6
Charleston Battery 1-3 Minnesota Thunder
Puerto Rico Islanders 2-0 Rochester Rhinos

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Leeds - started, played 72 minutes and got the winning goal as they trimphed 2-0 at home over Stockport County.
Jemal Johnson - Milton Keynes - went the full 90, scored the games first goal but lost 2-3 at home to Huddersfield Town.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - came on as a sub in the 67th minute but they lost 1-0 at Brighton.

IRELAND - Premier Division
Ryan Guy - St Patrick's Athletic - lost 1-0 at Shamrock.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - played the full match as they drew 0-0 at BV Veendam.

NORWAY - Adeccoligaen
Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - played the full 90 and scored what turned out to be the winning goal as they beat Skeid Oslo 4-1 at home.
Jay Needham - Alta - went the distance as they won 1-0 at home over Haugesund.
Connor Tobin - Nybergsund - came on as a sub in the 88th minute as they won 4-1 at home over Skeid Oslo.

SWEDEN - Superettan
Colin Burns - Ljungskile - got a rare start in the goal but they lost 2-1 at Mjallby Solvesborg.
Ryan Miller - Ljungskile - went the full 90 but they lost 2-1 at Mjallby Solvesborg.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - UANL - played the whole match as they drew 1-1 at home against his former team America.
Michael Orozco - San Luis - went the full 90 in a scoreless draw at Atlas.
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - started and played 54 minutes of a 2-0 loss at Cruz Azul.

CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 5 - Matchday 7
Costa Rica 0-3 Mexico
USA 2-1 El Salvador
Honduras 4-1 Trinidad & Tobago
-Wed Sep 9 - Matchday 8
El Salvador v Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago v USA
Mexico v Honduras

dN

Current Standings after 6 of 10 matches:
13 Honduras(+7 GD)
13 USA (+4 GD)
12 Mexico (+2 GD)
12 Costa Rica (-3 GD)
5 El Salvador (-3 GD)
5 Trinidad & Tobago (-7 GD)

UEFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Kahka Kahladze who has made his millions playing in Italy's Serie A helped the Italian national team by scoring 2 own goals for Georgia as they lost to the Italians by those 2 tallys. That smells like a clean pay off to me! Hahahaha.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 5
Scotland 2-0 Macedonia
Ukraine 5-0 Andorra
Iceland 1-1 Norway
Russia 3-0 Liechtenstein
Moldova 0-0 Luxembourg
Denmark 1-1 Portugal
Hungary 1-2 Sweden
Azerbaijan 1-2 Finland
Armenia 0-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Croatia 1-0 Belarus
Austria 3-1 Faroe Islands
Bulgaria 4-1 Montenegro
Poland 1-1 Northern Ireland
Slovakia 2-2 Czech Republic
Switzerland 2-0 Greece
France 1-1 Romania
Israel 0-1 Latvia
Turkey 4-2 Estonia
Cyprus 1-2 Ireland
Georgia 0-2 Italy
Spain 5-0 Belgium
-Wed Sep 9
Faroe Islands v Lithuania
Czech Republic v San Marino
Malta v Sweden
Liechtenstein v Finland
Scotland v Netherlands
Northern Ireland v Slovakia
Wales v Russia
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Turkey
Andorra v Kazakhstan
Belarus v Ukraine
England v Croatia
Montenegro v Cyprus
Albania v Denmark
Norway v Macedonia
Hungary v Portugal
Slovenia v Poland
Germany v Azerbaijan
Romania v Austria
Italy v Bulgaria
Israel v Luxembourg
Armenia v Belgium
Serbia v France
Moldova v Greece
Latvia v Switzerland
Spain v Estonia

dN

Standings

dN

UEFA Friendly
-Fri Sep 4
Malta 0-2 Cape Verde Islands
-Sat Sep 5
England 2-1 Slovenia

SOUTH AMERICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Brazil has clinched a spot at the World Cup!

dN

CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying
-Sat Sep 5
Colombia 2-0 Ecuador
Peru 1-0 Uruguay
Paraguay 1-0 Bolivia
Argentina 1-3 Brazil
Chile 2-2 Venezuela
-Wed Sep 9
Bolivia v Ecuador
Uruguay v Colombia
Paraguay v Argentina
Venezuela v Peru
Brazil v Chile

dN

Standings

ASIA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

The winner of this series takes on New Zealand for World Cup place.

Matches & Scores
-Sat Sep 5
Bahrain 0-0 Saudi Arabia
-Wed Sep 9
Saudi Arabia v Bahrain

dN

Friendlies:
-Sat Sept 5
Uzbekistan 0-0 Iran
Jordan 0-0 Malaysia
South Korea 3-1 Australia

AFRICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Ghana has clinched a spot at the World Cup!

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 5
Malawi 2-1 Guinea
Gabon 0-2 Cameroon
Rwanda 0-1 Egypt
Cote d'Ivoire 5-0 Burkina Faso
-Sun Sep 6
Mozambique 1-0 Kenya
Togo 1-1 Morocco
Benin 1-1 Mali
Nigeria 2-2 Tunisia
Ghana 2-0 Sudan
Algeria 1-0 Zambia
-Wed Sep 9
Cameroon v Gabon

dN

Standings

dN

Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 5
Angola 1-1 Senegal
Namibia 1-1 Swaziland

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 5
Germany 2-0 South Africa
Netherlands 3-0 Japan

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bruce,

I'm happy to see you are recovering from your illness of earlier this year.

Keep your head up, and continue to say "no" to drugs.

12:27 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

Thanks?

12:55 PM  
Blogger James said...

Come visit Bolivia and see the beautiful tourist spots here, and if you don't have a place to stay, well here is the right place, affordable and comfortable.

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4:10 AM  

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