Some News for Wed Sep 16, 2009

STARTERS

Happy Birthday to my amazing brother Bill!

dN

Major League Soccer has announced that they will not play games next summer during the group stage of the World Cup. It's not perfect, but it's better than what we currently have going on. The league will also not play on the day of the Semifinals or Final!

dN

MLS will also played a completely balanced schedule next season for the first time ever! 16 teams playing each other once home and once away for a 30 game total! The Supporters Shield winners will be very legit in 2010!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 1
-Tue Sep 15
Juventus 1-1 Bordeaux - Juv goal by Vincenzo Iaquinta. Bor goal by Jaroslav Plasil.
Maccabi Haifa 0-3 Bayern Munchen - BM goals by Daniel Van Buyten & Thomas Muller(2).
Wolfsburg 3-1 CSKA Moskva - Wol goals all by Grafite. CM goal by Alan Dzagoev.
Besiktas 0-1 Manchester United - MU goal by Paul Scholes.
Zurich 2-5 Real Madrid - Zur goals by Xavier Margairaz(PK), Silvan Aegerter. RM goals by Cristiano Ronaldo(2), Raul Gonzalez, Gonzalo Higuain & Guti.
Marseille 1-2 Milan - Mar goal by Gabriel Heinze. Mil goals both by Pippo Inzaghi.
Chelsea 1-0 Porto - Che goal by Nicolas Anelka.
Atletico Madrid 0-0 APOEL
-Wed Sep 16
Liverpool v Debreceni
Lyon v Fiorentina
Inter v Barcelona
Dynamo Kyiv v Rubin Kazan
Stuttgart v Rangers
Sevilla v Unirea Urziceni
Olympiacos v AZ Alkmaar
Standard Liege v Arsenal

dN

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews last nights games - it was a night for Old Men to shine.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 3
-Tue Sep 15
Metapan 0-1 Arabe Unido - AU goal by Orlando Rodriguez.
San Juan Jabloteh 0-1 DC United - DCU goals by Christian Gomez(PK).
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-3 Cruz Azul - PRI goals by Cristian Arrietz, Fabrice Noel & Nicholas Addlery. CA goals by Pablo Zeballos(2) & Alejandro Vela.
-Wed Sep 16
W Connection v UNAM Pumas
Pachuca v Houston Dynamo
Saprissa v Columbus Crew
-Thu Sep 17
Toluca v Marathon
Comunicaciones v Real Espana

dN

Standings (with Games Played):
Group A
7 Arabe Unido(3 GP)
4 Houston Dynamo(2 GP)
3 Pachuca(2 GP)
0 Metapan(3 GP)
Group B
6 Marathon(2 GP)
6 Toluca(2 GP)
3 DC United(3 GP)
0 San Juan Jabloteh(3 GP)
Group C
7 Cruz Azul(3 GP)
3 Saprissa(2 GP)
3 Columbus Crew(2 GP)
1 Puerto Rico Islanders(3 GP)
Group D
6 UNAM Pumas(2 GP)
3 Comunicaciones(2 GP)
3 Real Espana(2 GP)
0 W Connection(2 GP)

MLS

Week 27 Matches & Scores
-Fri Sep 18
New York Red Bulls v New England Revolution - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
San Jose Earthquakes v Colorado Rapids - 10pm Central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
-Sat Sep 19
Seattle Sounders FC v Chivas USA - 2pm Central on FSC & FSE
Kansas City Wizards v FC Dallas - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Houston Dynamo v Real Salt Lake - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Los Angeles Galaxy v Toronto FC - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
-Sun Sep 20
Chicago Fire v Columbus Crew - 2pm Central on Telefutura

dN

All rosters of MLS teams are now frozen (as of midnight on Tue) for the rest of the season. Some late moves were made:
Houston:
-Sent forward Kei Kamara to Kansas City in exchange for money and forward Abe Thompson.
Kansas City:
-They basically bought Kei Kamara from Houston, and through forward Abe Thompson in as part of the deal.
New York:
-Signed forward Giorgi Chirgadze from their youth side. He is 18.
-Released fullback Alfredo Pachecho who was on loan from FAS.
-Sent goalkeeper Jon Conway to Chivas USA for a future draft pick.
Dallas:
-Signed American International left fullback/winger Heath Pearce, who was out of contract, but played last season in the German 2nd division at Hansa Rostock.
DC:
-Signed fullback/centerback Lawson Vaughn who was out of contract. He played for Chivas USA for a couple of seasons and really came on strong in 07 before a bunch of bad injuries destroyed his 08 & 09 years. Let's hope this new home does him good.
San Jose:
-Obtained centerback Bobby Burling from Chivas USA. They gave up a future draft pick for him.
-Just 29 days ago the team signed defender Fabio da Silva, but Tuesday they cut him from the team. He had come from Rio Branco of Serie D in Brazil. How did they screw that one up so badly?
-Darren Huckerby is done in San Jose! He has to have season ending hip surgery, and has said he will then retire. Hear and read his own words from the Norwich Evening News. (Thanks to Jay Hipps of Center Line Soccer for the heads up via Twitter.)

dN

Jeff Cunningham who bagged 3 goals last weekend for FCD was named the league's Player Of The Week.

Cunningham now has 116 all time goals claiming the #2 spot in league history all to himself, and now just 13 behind leader Jaime Moreno at 129.

It was just like old times when I saw Dallas play this past weekend, and Daniel Hernandez made his debut with the team by getting into an off the ball altercation with LA players. You can change the shirt, but he will never shy away from a good shoving, yelling and finger pointing session!

Honduran Marvin Chavez made his debut for FCD this past weekend, playing up top with Jeff Cunningham. He can play as an attacking midfielder too.

The one odd thing about Dallas signing Heath Pearce is that he plays on the left side of defense or midfield but they already have recently acquired Colombian fullback Jair Benitez and strong veteran left midfielder Dave Van Den Bergh. So where does Pearce fit in?

Beau Dure of USA Today with an article on Pearce and his new direction.

dN

Brian McBride returned to the Chicago line up ahead of schedule from his shoulder surgery. Did you really expect anything else from him?

dN

Claudio Suarez has been moved to the regular roster after a season full of injury battles. He has only played in 2 games so far this season for a grand total of 37 minutes. The guy they could really use though is Ante Razov who has not played at all.

dN

Houston is 2-4-3 in their last 10 games.

dN

Here is video of the very first fans picking their seats for next year at Red Bull Arena - very exciting to see it really happening.

EXHIBITION IN THE USA

Big exhibition game tonight in Kansas City - For Mexican Independence Day:
-Wed Sep 16
America v Guadalajara Chivas
Venue: Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City MO

USA U20 TEAM @ U20 WORLD CUP

Chivas USA midfielder Gerson Mayen has replaced the injured Anthony Wallace on the roster.

dN

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 26
USA v Germany - 9am Central on ESPN Classic
-Tue Sep 29
USA v Cameroon - 11:45am Central on ESPN2
-Fri Oct 2
USA v South Korea - 11:45am Central on ESPN2

U20 WORLD CUP

Starts Thu Sep 24!

dN

FIFA.com with news on many teams in the run up to the tournament.

dN

Kick Off with an article on Brazil's star attraction for this U20 World Cup - Walter.

dN

Here's the full match schedule.

EUROPE

David Conn of the Guardian unveils an ugly financial situation at Hull City - the home of Jozy Altidore.

dN

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian on South African midfielder MacBeth Sibaya, the World Cup, and his Russian club Rubin Kazan in the Champions League.

dN

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times on the long term economic planning for football building at Barcelona.

dN

The official Bundesliga website with an article on Hoffenheim - can they reach last years amazing heights again?

dN

Kick Off of South Africa talks to former France great Marcel Desailly about this winter's African Cup of Nations. He feels that this will be a great test for Ghana to show something big before the World Cup.

dN

La Gazzetta Dello Sport with a review of the best and worst over the past week in Serie A.

dN

Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet with more of his great weekly football-history-culture from Spain and La Liga. I really missed him during his year away.

dN

With all the insanity surrounding Chelsea and their punishment for stealing youth players, their chief executive Peter Kenyon has resigned. No surprise here.