Some News for Tue Sep 8, 2009
This is the Back To School Edition!
QUESTION ON MY MIND
Why did DC United switch a game date to Wed Sep 9 and schedule the game opposite the USA game? They should be lambasted for it. I hear the game was originally scheduled on the day the team played an exhibition against Real Madrid.
One thing to consider with these schedules is TV time. All the leagues games are on television, and those schedules are made a long time in advance, so moving them around isn't as easy as I want it to be. Great point. Thanks to the league insider who informed me.
STARTERS
The one we have all been waiting to read for a long time now:
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated does a Q & A with USA head coach Bob Bradley. Did this answer any of your questions? Besides the fact that the USA is individually not nearly as good as most of those team he talks about.
dN
UPDATE: Turns out the story below is still premature, and John Molinaro of the CBC reports that TFC is holding a press conference on Wednesday to announce the immediate retirement of forward Danny Dichio - the most fabled player in the teams short history! I would assume that this will also open a roster spot for JDG.
Huge move for TFC - Julian De Guzman has finally realized that this is his best deal and will sign with the team on Wednesday. He will bring a real talent in front of the centerbacks. And while this will not solve all of their defensive issues, it is a step in the right direction, and I haven't said that one about their defense since day 1 of the team.
-Peter Mallett of the Globe & Mail with the story.
TEAM USA
World Cup Qualifying Match & Score:
-Wed Sep 9
Trinidad & Tobago v USA - 6pm Central on ESPN Classic
Venue: Hasley Crawford Stadium - Port of Spain, Trinidad
dN
US Soccer with lots of pregame notes and facts.
dN
Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet on what needs improvement for the USA on Wednesday night.
dN
Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet previews the game.
dN
FIFA.com summarizes the qualifying tournament for our team so far.
dN
Trinidad & Tobago Express talks to T&T coach Russell Latapy, who says that despite only 5 points they are still going to go all out to win on Wednesday.
dN
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian with a look at the probable squad for T&T. They also are referencing the game on the island between the two teams last fall that T&T won - but forgot to mention that the USA was already advanced and sent the B-team.
-Here was the roster for that game in question: Brad Guzan, Troy Perkins, Jonathan Bornstein, Dan Califf, Frankie Hejduk, Michael Orozco, Heath Pearce, Marvell Wynne, Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Pablo Mastroeni, Danny Szetela, Jose Francisco Torres, Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, Robbie Rogers.
dN
Official Team Blog
dN
Paul Kennedy of Soccer America on the USA left fullback quandry. Will Edgar Castillo be any better than what we have used in the past 2 years?
MLS
Official Web Site
dN
Week 26
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 9
DC United v Kansas City Wizards - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
-Sat Sep 12
Toronto FC v Colorado Rapids - 2:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
New York Red Bulls v Kansas City Wizards - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Giants Stadium - East Rutherford NJ
DC United v Seattle Sounders FC - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Real Salt Lake v Chicago Fire - 8pm Central on FSC, FSE
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Los Angeles Galaxy v FC Dallas - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Sep 13
Chivas USA v New England Revolution - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Columbus Crew v Houston Dynamo - 4pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
dN
Kansas City forward Josh Wolff has been named the leagues Player of the Week.
dN
No offense to Wolff, but do the voters actually watch the games, or just see who scores the most goals every week and gives that player the award. In my opinion while Wolff certainly got 2 crucial goals this week, he was probably the 3rd most important player on his own team in their big win in New England.
dN
Dave Dir writing for 3rd Degree takes a look at the latest roster move from FC Dallas, giving up Drew Moor to get Ugo Ihemelu. It's great to see a former coach stepping up with his opinion like this! And I like Dir a lot.
dN
Paul Gardner of Soccer America looks at the different mentalities of goalkeepers - ie Kasey Keller & Josh Wicks.
dN
Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune reports that Seattle forward Fredy Montero was showing off his war wounds from getting stomped by Josh Wicks in the Open Cup final last week. Buuuuuuuuuuuut - Montero shows off a thigh injury, and if you watch the video it appears very unlikely that Montero got him in the thigh by Wicks. What is going on?
dN
Jose Romero of the Seattle Times with an article on speculation that Sounders midfielder Freddie Ljungberg heading back to Europe in the January transfer window.
dN
Steve Davis at MLSnet with a good look at the league's quality of "service from the wings." Yeah, not so much.
dN
As bad as things have been for DC United, they got worse over the weekend with word that 2 of their 3 starting defenders are out after having surgery - centerback Dejan Jakovic with hernia surgery & fullback Marc Burch with an unknown ankle surgery (Craig Stouffer from the Examiner says its "scar tissue build-up and infection."
dN
Jack Bell of the New York Times reportd on Monday that David Beckham is very interested in being part of a bid in Montreal to join MLS.
-Toronto's Globe & Mail reports on the same subject today.
dN
The BBC has video of Bex talking about his LA future.
-Sexy Bexy is also running around saying he would love to play for the Great Britain 2012 Olympic team. Sure, why not. (thanks to CMD for that nugget)
dN
Jason de Vos of the CBC weighs the Pros & Cons of TFC boss Mo Johnston.
dN
Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now does a Q & A with Fire fullback Brandon Prideaux.
dN
Kristian Dyer of ESPN Soccernet gives a go at making an initial list of league MVP candidates.
-I will try and get my own list going now too.
dN
Next years All Star game was already set to be played in Houston, and now we know that the game will be held at Reliant Stadium, not the Dynamo's Robertson Stadium home.
dN
MLSnet with an article on Houston centerback Eddie Robinson who is trying to return from a bad knee injury.
MLS COACH OF THE YEAR
Here are my candidates right now (listed alphabetically):
Bruce Arena
Dominic Kinnear
Sigi Schmid
Gary Smith
Robert Warczycha
Richie Williams
MLS EXHIBITIONS
Match & Score:
-Tue Sep 8
San Jose Earthquakes v CD Aguila (El Salvador)
USA U20 TEAM
Bryan Arguez of Hertha Berlin has been added to the USA World Cup team, replacing the injured Sam Garza.
CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Matchday 8
Matches & Scores
-Wed Sep 9
El Salvador v Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago v USA
Mexico v Honduras
dN
Standings:
13 Honduras (+7)
13 USA (+4)
12 Mexico (+2)
12 Costa Rica (-3)
5 El Salvador (-3)
5 Trinidad & Tobago (-7)
dN
FIFA.com on the tight race that appears to be going down to the bloody end.
MEXICO
Fanhouse with a rave-up on Giovanni Dos Santos. He was spectacular against Costa Rica.
ENGLAND
Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at the beating that every England managers takes fron the press by the time they leave the job. But why does it seem different for Fabio Capello.
dN
Henry Winter of the Telegraph looks at the circus that follows David Beckham everywhere he goes, and says its not good for the England World Cup team.
dN
Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks at Croatia ahead of their big game with England on Wednesday.
dN
Patrick Barclay of The Times on one of England's biggest weaknesses - right fullback, and how the coach sees it differently.
FRANCE
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune says France could face the wrecking ball on Wednesday in Serbia.
GERMANY
The Bundesliga OWS praises the new rising star from Werder Bremen and Germany - Mesut Ozil.
-Deutsche Welle's blog Ballspiel says, just don't call this new group "the golden generation."
dN
FIFA.com has a Q & A with Germany and Hannover goalkeeper Robert Enke.
-But Enke will not play on Wednesday due to illness, and will be replaced in goal by Rene Adler.
ITALY
Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Italy's non-existent offense that has not scored in their last 4 matches. (I think that takes us back to their 3-2 win over the USA.)
dN
Gazzetta reports that Italy is not churning out quality youth players at the same rate as the other big European countries.
EUROPE
Football Italia has an open letter from Adrian Mutu of Fiorentina to Chelsea & FIFA begging for leniency on the huge slab of money he has been ordered to pay back. He was cut from Chelsea after begin caught using cocaine, and FIFA has said that he must pay them back his transfer value, which they put at 16.6 Million Euros!
dN
FIFA.com does a Q & A with Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.
UEFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
England & Serbia can clinch spots at the World Cup with wins on Wednesday. Spain, Denmark and Slovakia can also get in with a combination of results go their way.
dN
Matches & Scores:
-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
SOUTH AMERICA
The Guardian on the failed Maradona experiment in Argentina.
dN
The Observer with an article on the success of Chile and their Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa.
SOUTH AMERICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Chile & Paraguay can qualify for the World Cup with wins on Wednesday.
dN
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying
-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
AFRICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 9
Cameroon v Gabon
dN
Standings
PODCASTS
The EPL Talk podcast this week features an audio interview with Guardian writer Barney Ronay (always great stuff from him), discussing him new book The Manager: The Absurd Ascent Of The Most Important Man In Football. Fantastic.
QUESTION ON MY MIND
Why did DC United switch a game date to Wed Sep 9 and schedule the game opposite the USA game? They should be lambasted for it. I hear the game was originally scheduled on the day the team played an exhibition against Real Madrid.
One thing to consider with these schedules is TV time. All the leagues games are on television, and those schedules are made a long time in advance, so moving them around isn't as easy as I want it to be. Great point. Thanks to the league insider who informed me.
STARTERS
The one we have all been waiting to read for a long time now:
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated does a Q & A with USA head coach Bob Bradley. Did this answer any of your questions? Besides the fact that the USA is individually not nearly as good as most of those team he talks about.
dN
UPDATE: Turns out the story below is still premature, and John Molinaro of the CBC reports that TFC is holding a press conference on Wednesday to announce the immediate retirement of forward Danny Dichio - the most fabled player in the teams short history! I would assume that this will also open a roster spot for JDG.
-Peter Mallett of the Globe & Mail with the story.
TEAM USA
World Cup Qualifying Match & Score:
-Wed Sep 9
Trinidad & Tobago v USA - 6pm Central on ESPN Classic
Venue: Hasley Crawford Stadium - Port of Spain, Trinidad
dN
US Soccer with lots of pregame notes and facts.
dN
Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet on what needs improvement for the USA on Wednesday night.
dN
Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet previews the game.
dN
FIFA.com summarizes the qualifying tournament for our team so far.
dN
Trinidad & Tobago Express talks to T&T coach Russell Latapy, who says that despite only 5 points they are still going to go all out to win on Wednesday.
dN
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian with a look at the probable squad for T&T. They also are referencing the game on the island between the two teams last fall that T&T won - but forgot to mention that the USA was already advanced and sent the B-team.
-Here was the roster for that game in question: Brad Guzan, Troy Perkins, Jonathan Bornstein, Dan Califf, Frankie Hejduk, Michael Orozco, Heath Pearce, Marvell Wynne, Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Pablo Mastroeni, Danny Szetela, Jose Francisco Torres, Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, Robbie Rogers.
dN
Official Team Blog
dN
Paul Kennedy of Soccer America on the USA left fullback quandry. Will Edgar Castillo be any better than what we have used in the past 2 years?
MLS
Official Web Site
dN
Week 26
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 9
DC United v Kansas City Wizards - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
-Sat Sep 12
Toronto FC v Colorado Rapids - 2:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
New York Red Bulls v Kansas City Wizards - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Giants Stadium - East Rutherford NJ
DC United v Seattle Sounders FC - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Real Salt Lake v Chicago Fire - 8pm Central on FSC, FSE
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Los Angeles Galaxy v FC Dallas - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Sep 13
Chivas USA v New England Revolution - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Columbus Crew v Houston Dynamo - 4pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
dN
Kansas City forward Josh Wolff has been named the leagues Player of the Week.
dN
No offense to Wolff, but do the voters actually watch the games, or just see who scores the most goals every week and gives that player the award. In my opinion while Wolff certainly got 2 crucial goals this week, he was probably the 3rd most important player on his own team in their big win in New England.
dN
Dave Dir writing for 3rd Degree takes a look at the latest roster move from FC Dallas, giving up Drew Moor to get Ugo Ihemelu. It's great to see a former coach stepping up with his opinion like this! And I like Dir a lot.
dN
Paul Gardner of Soccer America looks at the different mentalities of goalkeepers - ie Kasey Keller & Josh Wicks.
dN
Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune reports that Seattle forward Fredy Montero was showing off his war wounds from getting stomped by Josh Wicks in the Open Cup final last week. Buuuuuuuuuuuut - Montero shows off a thigh injury, and if you watch the video it appears very unlikely that Montero got him in the thigh by Wicks. What is going on?
dN
Jose Romero of the Seattle Times with an article on speculation that Sounders midfielder Freddie Ljungberg heading back to Europe in the January transfer window.
dN
Steve Davis at MLSnet with a good look at the league's quality of "service from the wings." Yeah, not so much.
dN
As bad as things have been for DC United, they got worse over the weekend with word that 2 of their 3 starting defenders are out after having surgery - centerback Dejan Jakovic with hernia surgery & fullback Marc Burch with an unknown ankle surgery (Craig Stouffer from the Examiner says its "scar tissue build-up and infection."
dN
Jack Bell of the New York Times reportd on Monday that David Beckham is very interested in being part of a bid in Montreal to join MLS.
-Toronto's Globe & Mail reports on the same subject today.
dN
The BBC has video of Bex talking about his LA future.
-Sexy Bexy is also running around saying he would love to play for the Great Britain 2012 Olympic team. Sure, why not. (thanks to CMD for that nugget)
dN
Jason de Vos of the CBC weighs the Pros & Cons of TFC boss Mo Johnston.
dN
Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now does a Q & A with Fire fullback Brandon Prideaux.
dN
Kristian Dyer of ESPN Soccernet gives a go at making an initial list of league MVP candidates.
-I will try and get my own list going now too.
dN
Next years All Star game was already set to be played in Houston, and now we know that the game will be held at Reliant Stadium, not the Dynamo's Robertson Stadium home.
dN
MLSnet with an article on Houston centerback Eddie Robinson who is trying to return from a bad knee injury.
MLS COACH OF THE YEAR
Here are my candidates right now (listed alphabetically):
Bruce Arena
Dominic Kinnear
Sigi Schmid
Gary Smith
Robert Warczycha
Richie Williams
MLS EXHIBITIONS
Match & Score:
-Tue Sep 8
San Jose Earthquakes v CD Aguila (El Salvador)
USA U20 TEAM
Bryan Arguez of Hertha Berlin has been added to the USA World Cup team, replacing the injured Sam Garza.
CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Matchday 8
Matches & Scores
-Wed Sep 9
El Salvador v Costa Rica
Trinidad & Tobago v USA
Mexico v Honduras
dN
Standings:
13 Honduras (+7)
13 USA (+4)
12 Mexico (+2)
12 Costa Rica (-3)
5 El Salvador (-3)
5 Trinidad & Tobago (-7)
dN
FIFA.com on the tight race that appears to be going down to the bloody end.
MEXICO
Fanhouse with a rave-up on Giovanni Dos Santos. He was spectacular against Costa Rica.
ENGLAND
Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at the beating that every England managers takes fron the press by the time they leave the job. But why does it seem different for Fabio Capello.
dN
Henry Winter of the Telegraph looks at the circus that follows David Beckham everywhere he goes, and says its not good for the England World Cup team.
dN
Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks at Croatia ahead of their big game with England on Wednesday.
dN
Patrick Barclay of The Times on one of England's biggest weaknesses - right fullback, and how the coach sees it differently.
FRANCE
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune says France could face the wrecking ball on Wednesday in Serbia.
GERMANY
The Bundesliga OWS praises the new rising star from Werder Bremen and Germany - Mesut Ozil.
-Deutsche Welle's blog Ballspiel says, just don't call this new group "the golden generation."
dN
FIFA.com has a Q & A with Germany and Hannover goalkeeper Robert Enke.
-But Enke will not play on Wednesday due to illness, and will be replaced in goal by Rene Adler.
ITALY
Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Italy's non-existent offense that has not scored in their last 4 matches. (I think that takes us back to their 3-2 win over the USA.)
dN
Gazzetta reports that Italy is not churning out quality youth players at the same rate as the other big European countries.
EUROPE
Football Italia has an open letter from Adrian Mutu of Fiorentina to Chelsea & FIFA begging for leniency on the huge slab of money he has been ordered to pay back. He was cut from Chelsea after begin caught using cocaine, and FIFA has said that he must pay them back his transfer value, which they put at 16.6 Million Euros!
dN
FIFA.com does a Q & A with Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.
UEFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
England & Serbia can clinch spots at the World Cup with wins on Wednesday. Spain, Denmark and Slovakia can also get in with a combination of results go their way.
dN
Matches & Scores:
-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
SOUTH AMERICA
The Guardian on the failed Maradona experiment in Argentina.
dN
The Observer with an article on the success of Chile and their Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa.
SOUTH AMERICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Chile & Paraguay can qualify for the World Cup with wins on Wednesday.
dN
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying
-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
AFRICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 9
Cameroon v Gabon
dN
Standings
PODCASTS
The EPL Talk podcast this week features an audio interview with Guardian writer Barney Ronay (always great stuff from him), discussing him new book The Manager: The Absurd Ascent Of The Most Important Man In Football. Fantastic.
posted by brucio at 21:31
3 Comments:
As a POTW voter who did indeed vote for Wolff, I'll speak up ...
Personally, I tend to watch the full MLSNET highlights and read match reports from games I didn't see. That's about as far as I can go -- and it means I've voted against the top scorer (or saver) on occasion.
But there's only so far I can go. I told people at the outset that the following conversation would never take place:
MRS. BD: Sweetheart, can you change this diaper?
BD: I can't. I'm trying to determine whether Pablo Mastroeni or Clyde Simms did a better job of clogging opposition passing lanes this week.
MRS. BD: Yeah, right -- Conor Casey had a freaking hat trick. Send Jamie your vote for Casey, then come up here and grab the Pampers.
This week, I thought Wolff's finishes were pretty good. No one else jumped out at me from the other two games, so that was that.
beau - this is what makes you so damn cool!
The interview with Barney Ronay was great.
Donovan
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