Some News for Fri Oct 2, 2009

STARTERS

Ugh - The USA U20 team laid another egg at the World Cup. Losing 3-0 to South Korea. And again they looked quite inept on the green. Strange team. Horrible in game 1, very good in game 2, horrible in game 3.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Official Web Site, and video highlights from all the games.

dN

Group Stage
Matchday 5:
-Tue Sep 29
Columbus Crew 1-1 Saprissa - CC goal by . Sap goal by Alex Robinson.
Cruz Azul 2-0 Puerto Rico Islanders - CA goals by Mario Ortiz & Emmanuel Villa.
Arabe Unido 6-0 Metapan - AU goals by Orlando Rodriguez(3), Camilo Aguirre(2) & Eduardo McTaggar.
-Wed Sep 30
DC United 5-1 Jabloteh - DCU goals by Christian Gomez(2) & Boyzzz Khumalo(2) & Fred. SJJ goal by Jerrel Britto.
UNAM Pumas 2-1 W Connection - UP goals by Paco Palencia & Oscar Rojas. WC goal by Christain Viveros.
Houston Dynamo 0-1 Pachuca - Pac goal by Edgar Benitez.
Real Espana 2-0 Comunicaciones - RE goals by Fredy Thompson(OG) & Carlos Pavon.
-Thu Oct 1
Marathon 2-0 Toluca - Mar goals by Walter Martinez(PK) & Carlos Mejia.

dN

Standings (after 5 of 6 Games Played):
Group A
ADV - 12 Pachuca (5 GP)
10 Arabe Unido (5 GP)
7 Houston Dynamo (5 GP)
ELIM- 0 Metapan (5 GP)
Group B
12 Toluca (5 GP)
9 DC United (5 GP)
9 Marathon (5 GP)
ELIM - 0 San Juan Jabloteh (5 GP)
Group C
ADV - 13 Cruz Azul (5 GP)
7 Columbus Crew (5 GP)
5 Saprissa (5 GP)
ELIM - 2 Puerto Rico Islanders (5 GP)
Group D
ADV - 13 UNAM Pumas (5 GP)
6 Comunicaciones (5 GP)
6 Real Espana (5 GP)
4 W Connection (5 GP)

dN

The first tie breaker is head to head.
-DC holds that tiebreaker over Marathon. Houston holds the tiebreaker over Arabe. And Columubs holds the tiebreaker over Saprissa.

dN

Matchday 6 will be played Oct 20, 21 & 22.
DC - Oct 20 at Toluca
Columbus - Oct 20 at Puerto Rico
Houston - Oct 21 at Metapan

USL FIRST DIVISION PLAYOFFS

The Playoffs!

dN

Semifinal Round
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Oct 1
Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 Portland Timbers - VW goals by Charles Gbeke & Marcus Haber. PT goal by Ryan Pore(PK).
Montreal Impact 2-1 Puerto Rico Islanders - MI goals by Tony Donatelli & Roberto Brown. PRI goal by Jonathan Steel.
2nd Leg
-Sun Oct 4
Portland v Vancouver - 6pm Central on FSC
Puerto Rico v Montreal

dN

Vancouver had centerback Marco Reda ejected from the bench area at half time.

dN

All the games can be seen at USLlive.com.

MLS

Official Web Site

dN

Week 29
Matches & Scores
-Wed Sep 30
FC Dallas 1-0 New England Revolution - FCD goal by Jeff Cunningham.
-Fri Oct 2
Los Angeles Galaxy v Chicago Fire - 10pm Central on ESPN2, Deportes
-Sat Oct 3
DC United v Chivas USA - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Columbus Crew v Seattle Sounders FC - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Colorado Rapids v New England Revolution - 8pm Central on Direct Kick
San Jose Earthquakes v New York Red Bulls - 10pm Central on FSC & FSE
-Sun Oct 4
Houston Dynamo v Kansas City Wizards - 2pm Central on Telefutura

dN

Real Salt Lake & Toronto are off this week, while New England plays twice.

dN

Steve Davis on his site the Daily Soccer Fix lays about his MLS post season individual player awards if he was voting today.

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times gives a closer look at Sounders coach Sigi Schmid.

dN

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with an article on Landon Donovan & David Beckham - they seem to be on the same page, and not the pages of a book this time.

USA U20 TEAM @ U20 WORLD CUP

Official team blog

dN

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 26
USA 0-3 Germany - Ger goals by Semih Aydilek(PK), Florian Jungwirth & Manuel Schaeffler.
-Tue Sep 29
USA 4-1 Cameroon - USA goals by Bryan Arguez, Tony Taylor, Dilly Duka & Brian Ownby. Cam goal by Banana Yaya(PK).
-Fri Oct 2
USA 0-3 South Korea - SK goals by Young Gwon Kim, Bo Kyung Kim & Ja Cheol Koo(PK).

dN

Another toothless game.

dN

Bookings will see Sheanon Williams & Ike Opara miss the next match if they advance to the knock out stage.
-That leaves the teamm without 2 of the 4 starting defenders, and against scrambling for replacements. I would assume if they get another game the back line will look like this:
Mayen - Davies - Agbossoumonde - Flores
-So two midfielders in on the outside back spots.

dN

-Four big questions I have after watching the 3 games are these?
1. When you only bring 2 forwards to a tournament and you are desperate for goals, why does 1 of the strikers not see the field for even a minute? Why was he even there?
2. How bad does Brek Shea have to play before he gets subbed off? He constantly looked like a guy playing for the scouts in the stands. All flash and no substance. And to make matters worse, his flash was very poor. The touch of a pick-axe swinger, and the passing skills to match. At least he put in the time on getting his hair just the way he wanted it.
3. It looked as though over-confidence played a part in this third game loss.
4. Do we see any of these players attracting contract offers based on this tournament?

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Matchday 2
-Thu Oct 1
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the distance, winning 1-0 at home over Basel.
-Fulham lead Group E with 4 points - their next game is Oct 22 v Roma
Tim Howard - Everton - played the entire match and won on the road 1-2 at BATE Borisov.
-Everton lead Group I with 6 points - their next game is Oct 22 v Benfica

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with an article on Jose Francisco Torres of Pachuca.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

-Sun Oct 4
Rangers v Celtic - 6:30am Central
Chelsea v Liverpool - 10am Central
Sevilla v Real Madrid - 2pm Central

U20 WORLD CUP EGYPT 2009

FIFA.com's tournament news feed.

dN

Match schedule

dN

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 24
Egypt 4-1 Trinidad & Tobago - Egy goals by Afroto, Hussam Arafat(2) & Mohamed Talaat. T&T goal by Jean Luc Rochford.
-Fri Sep 25
Paraguay 0-0 Italy
Nigeria 0-1 Venezuela - Ven goal by Yonathan Del Valle.
Spain 8-0 Tahiti - Spain goals by Aaron Niguez(2), Emilio Nsue(2), Fran Merida, Kike(2) & Ander Herrera.
-Sat Sep 26
USA 0-3 Germany - Ger goals by Semih Aydilek(PK), Florian Jungwirth & Manuel Schaeffler.
Cameroon 2-0 South Korea - Cam goals by Andre Akono Effa & Germain Tiko.
Ghana 2-1 Uzbekistan - Gha goals by Ransford Osei & Dominic Adiyiah. Uzb goal by Sherzodbek Karimov.
England 0-1 Uruguay - Uru goal by Tabare Viudez.
-Sun Sep 27
Brazil 5-0 Costa Rica - Bra goals by Alan Kardec(2), Giuliano, Alex Teixeira & Rafael.
Czechia 2-1 Australia - Michael Rabusic & Tomas Pekhart(PK). Aus goal by James Holland(PK).
UAE 2-2 South Africa - UAE goals by Al Kamali Hamdan Ismaeel(PK) & Al Musabi Theyab Awana. SA goals both by Kermit Erasmus.
Honduras 3-0 Hungaria - Hon goals by Mario Roberto Martinez(2) & Arnold Peralta.
-Mon Sep 28
Italy 2-1 Trinidad & Tobago - Ita goals by Michaelangelo Albertazzi & Silvano Raggio. T&T goal by Juma Clarence.
Egypt 1-2 Paraguay - Egy goal by Afroto. Par goals by Federico Santander & Aldo Paniagua.
Nigeria 0-2 Spain - Spa goals both by Fran Merida(one via PK).
Tahiti 0-8 Venezuela - Ven goals by Jose Rondon(3, one via PK), Yonathan Del Valle(3), Jose Manuel Velazquez & Oscar Rojas.
-Tue Sep 29
South Korea 1-1 Germany - SK goal by Kim Min Woo. Ger goal by Richard Sukuta-Pasu.
USA 4-1 Cameroon - USA goals by Bryan Arguez, Tony Taylor, Dilly Duka & Brian Ownby. Cam goal by Banana Yaya(PK).
Uruguay 3-0 Uzbekistan - Uru goals by Nicolas Lodeiro, Jonathan Urretaviscaya & Santiago Garcia.
Ghana 4-0 England - Gha goals by Dominic Adiyiah(2), Andre Ayew & Ransford Osei.
-Wed Sep 30
South Korea 1-1 Germany - SK goal by Kim Min Woo. Ger goal by Richard Sukuta-Pasu.
USA 4-1 Cameroon - USA goals by Bryan Arguez, Tony Taylor, Dilly Duka & Brian Ownby. Cam goal by Banana Yaya(PK).
Uruguay 3-0 Uzbekistan - Uru goals by Nicolas Lodeiro, Jonathan Urretaviscaya & Santiago Garcia.
Ghana 4-0 England - Gha goals by Dominic Adiyiah(2), Andre Ayew & Ransford Osei.
-Thu Oct 1
Trinidad & Tobago 0-0 Paraguay
Italy 2-4 Egypt - Ita goals by Umberto Eusepi & Michelangelo Albertazzi. Egy goals by Ahmed Shoukri(3) & Bogy.
Venezuela 0-3 Spain - Spa goals by Daniel Parejo, Aaron Niguez(PK) & Ander Herrera.
Tahiti 0-5 Nigeria - Nig goals by Obiora Nwankwo, Ibok Edet, Kehinde Fatai, Nurudeen Orelesi & Daniel Adejo.
-Fri Oct 2
Germany 3-0 Cameroon - Ger goals by Richard Sukuta-Pasu, Semih Aydilek & Lewis Holtby.
South Korea 3-0 USA - SK goals by Young Gwon Kim, Bo Kyung Kim & Ja Cheol Koo(PK).
Uruguay v Ghana
Uzbekistan v England
-Sat Oct 3
Costa Rica v Czechia
Australia v Brazil
Hungaria v UAE
South Africa v Honduras

dN

See all the games live on ESPN2, ESPN Classic or ESPN360.com.

dN

The top 2 from each group and the four best 3rd place teams advance to the knock out stages.

dN

Standings:
Group A - 3 Played
ADV - 6 Egypt (+4 gd)
ADV - 5 Paraguay (+1 gd)
ADV - 4 Italy (-1 gd)
ELIM - 1 Trinidad & Tobago (-4 gd)
Group B - 3 Played
ADV - 9 Spain (+13 gd)
ADV - 6 Venezuela (+6 gd)
3 Nigeria (+2 gd)
ELIM - 0 Tahiti (-21 gd)
Group C - 3 Played
ADV - 4 Germany (+6 gd)
ADV - 4 South Korea (+1 gd)
3 USA (-3 gd)
ELIM - 3 Cameroon (-4 gd)
Group D - 2 Played
ADV - 6 Ghana (+5gd)
ADV - 6 Uruguay (+4gd)
0 Uzbekistan (-4 gd)
0 England (-5 gd)
Group E - 2 Played
4 Brazil (+5 gd)
4 Czechia (+1 gd)
3 Costa Rica (-2 gd)
0 Australia (-4 gd)
Group F - 2 Played
4 UAE (+1 gd)
3 Honduras (+2 gd)
3 Hungaria (+1 gd)
1 South Africa (-4 gd)

dN

Egypt, Paraguay, Italy, Spain, Venezuela, Germany, South Korea, Ghana, Uruguay & ?? have advanced to the knock out rounds so far.