Some News for Thu Oct 29, 2009

STARTERS

The USA U17 team gets a win, 1-0 over Malaei, at the World Cup giving them 3 points from 2 games. Last group stage game is Sunday against the United Arab Emirates.

MLS PLAYOFF NEWS

Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune writes about the Sounders experienced players who will need to lead this team in the playoffs.

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Jose Miguel Romero of the Seattle Times previews the game, stating the Houston will be well prepared.

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The Seattle Post Intelligencer previews the home team.

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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle also plays the experience card, but in the Dynamo's favor.
-Fallas compares & contrasts the two teams.

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Chris DeVille of Columbus Alive previews the Crew playoff appearance.

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Noah Davis of Sports Illustrated has a quote by a player on each of the teams in the playoffs telling us why their team will win it all. Updated rankings too.

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Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated previews the playoff matchups.

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Brian Strauss of Fanhouse previews the 2 series in the Western conference. I would expect the East tomorrow.

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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports likes the look of these playoff matchups.

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James Edward of the Deseret News says Columbus is the team that Real Salt Lake should be mimicking when it comes to team building.

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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune with an article on RSL midfielder Andy Williams and how he has lifted his team while his family had been engrossed in crisis.

MLS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

First Round playoff matches, home and away series:

1st Leg
WESTERN CONFERENCE
-Thu Oct 29
Seattle Sounder FC (3) v Houston Dynamo (2) - 9pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
-Sun Nov 1
Chivas USA (4) v Los Angeles Galaxy (1) - 4pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
-Sat Oct 31
Real Salt Lake (4) v Columbus Crew (1) - 5pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
-Sun Nov 1
New England Revolution (3) v Chicago Fire (2) - 1pm Central on FSC
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA

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2nd Leg
EASTERN CONCERENCE
-Thu Nov 5
Columbus Crew (1) v Real Salt Lake (4) - 7pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
-Sat Nov 7
Chicago Fire (2) v New England Revolution (3) - 7:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
WESTERN CONCERENCE
-Sun Nov 8
Houston Dynamo (2) v Seattle Sounder FC (3) - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Nov 8
Los Angeles Galaxy (1) v Chivas USA (4) - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

MLS

Freddie Ljungberg of Seattle has been named the October Player of the Month.

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DC United has handed out their team awards:
Clyde Simms - Most Valuable Player
Bryan Namoff - Defender of the Year
Luciano Emilio - Golden Boot (10 goals)
Devon McTavish - Humanitarian of the Year

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DC United team pres Kevin Payne has been fined $5000 by the league HQ for ripping the "negative" style of play from Colorado, New England and others in the press. He has apologized personally to the parties involved.

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The Orangeville Banner calls TFC's young centerback Nana Attakora one of the bright spots from the team's just ended season.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

The Vancouver Sun reports that the Whitecaps will begin their 2010 debut MLS season in a temporary facility while upgrades are being completed on their new removable roof home BC Place.

USA @ U17 WORLD CUP

USA gets the win they needed in game 2 of the 3 from the group stage. They dominated the game from minute 1 but could not get in position very often for a challenge on goal. Malawi sat back for the counter attack all game long, and must have been called for offside at least 34 times. One of those weird it-was-easy-but-it-was-hard games.

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Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mon Oct 26
Spain 2-1 USA - Spa goals by Borja & Pablo Sarabia. USA goal by Jack McInerney.
-Thu Oct 29
USA 1-0 Malawi - USA goal by Alex Shinsky.
-Sun Nov 1
USA v UAE - 9am Central on ESPNU

You can also watch all 3 games online at ESPN360.com

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Official Team Blog

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Group E
3 United Arab Emirates (+2)
3 Spain (+1)
0 United States of America (-1)
0 Malawi (-2)

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Mirror Football says Brad Guzan's day to take the goalkeeping crown from Brad Friedel at Aston Villa is not far away.

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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

GERMANY - DFB Pokal
Kenny Cooper - 1860 Munich - started and went 56 minutes but they lost at home 0-3 to Schakle.
David Yelldell - Koblenz - went the distance by lost heavily 4-0 at Hoffenheim.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga - this is the penultimate round of the season with both these teams sitting in the middle of the pack.
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - drew 1-1 AIK
Ryan Raybould - Gelfe - drew 0-0 at Haken

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Coming Up:

DENMARK - Landspokal
Dan Califf - Midtjylland - Wed Oct 28 at Esbjerg
Marcus Tracy - AaB - Thu Oct 29 at Hobro

SPAIN

Real Madrid were beaten badly in the first leg of the 4th Round of the Copa Del Rey by Alcorcon 4-0. This is a team from the third tier of Spanish football. Wow! The second leg is Nov 9 in Madrid. Meanwhile their biggest rivals in everything, Barcelona, went to Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (also 3rd division) and won 0-2.

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Sid Lowe of the Guardian says Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini is millimeters away from being relieved of his duties.
-They host Getafe this weekend in a derby game.

ITALY

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Juventus roll into 2nd place, and the rest of league's midweek games (minus the one being played today.)

BIG MID-WEEK EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

-Wed Oct 28
Juventus 5-1 Sampdoria - Juve stomps the crap out of a team that may now be seen as pretenders to the title chase, and leaps into the #2 spot in the standings.
-#1 Inter plays host to Palermo on Thu.

SOUTH AFRICA

Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated sees Carlos Alberto Parreira's return as the coach of the SA national team is a good thing. Many in SA are not happy about his return.

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The AP with an article on a native South African tribe, the Bafokeng, who will be trying to cash in on the World Cup, by building a training center and hoping to lure one of the nations from the tournament to make it their base camp. Via the New York Times. Thanks to JR for the link.

U17 WORLD CUP NIGERIA

Official web site

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Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 24
Nigeria 3-3 Germany - Nig goals by Stanley Okoro, Kenneth Omeruo & Edafe Egbedi. Ger goals by Lennart Thy, Shkodran Mustafi & Mario Goetze.
Brazil 3-2 Japan - Bra goals by Guilherme, Neymar & Wellington. Jap goals by Yoshiaki Takagi & Kenyu Sugimoto.
Honduras 0-1 Argentina - Arg goal by Sergio Araujo.
Mexico 0-2 Switzerland - Swi goals by Pajtim Kasami & Jose Rodriguez.
-Sun Oct 25
Iran 2-0 Gambia - Ira goals by Payam Sadeghian & Kaveh Rezaei.
Colombia 2-1 Netherlands - Col goals by Fabian Castillo & Deiner Cordoba. Net goal by Oguzhan Ozyakyp.
Turkey 1-0 Burkina Faso - Tur goal by Muhammet Demir.
Costa Rica 1-1 New Zealand - CR goal by Joel Campbell. NE goals by Michael Built.
-Mon Oct 26
United Arab Emirates 2-0 Malawi - UAE goals by Marwan Al Saffar & Mohammad Sebil.
Spain 2-1 USA - Spa goals by Borja & Pablo Sarabia. USA goal by Jack McInerney.
Uruguay 1-3 S Korea - Uru goal by Sebastian Gallegos(PK). SK goals by Nam Seung Woo, Son Heung Min & Lee Jong Ho.
Algeria 0-1 Italy - Ita goal by Federico Carraro.
-Tue Oct 27
Argentina 2-1 Germany - Arg goals by Esteban Espindola & Sergio Aruajo. Ger goal by Mario Goetze.
Nigeria 1-0 Honduras - Nig goal by Abdul Ajagun.
Switzerland 4-3 Japan - Swi goals by Haris Seferovic(2), Granit Xhaka & Ricardo Rodriguez. Jap goals by Takumi Mihayoshi(2) & Shuto Kojima.
Brazil 0-1 Mexico - Mex goal by Miguel Basulto.
-Wed Oct 28
Netherlands 2-1 Gambia - Net goals by Luc Castaignos & Tom Boere. Gam goal by Ebrima Bojang(PK).
Iran 0-0 Colombia
New Zealand 1-1 Burkina Faso - NZ goal by Gordon Murie. BF goal by Victor Nikiema.
-Thu Oct 29
Turkey 4-1 Costa Rica - Tur goals by Omer Ali Sahiner, Muhammet Demir, Engin Bekdemir & Gokay Iravul. CR goal by Jonathan Moya.
USA 1-0 Malawi - USA goal by Alex Shinsky.
UAE 1-3 Spain - UAE goal by Mohammad Sebil. Spa goals by Isco, Borja & Adria Carmona.
Italy 2-1 S Korea - Ita goals by Michele Camporese & Pietro Iemmello. SK goal by Kim Jin Su(PK).
Uruguay 2-0 Algeria - Uru goals by Adrian Luna & Sebastian Gallegos.
-Fri Oct 30
Germany v Honduras
Argentina v Nigeria
Japan v Mexico
Switzerland v Brazil
-Sat Oct 31
Gambia v Colombia
Netherlands v Iran
Burkina Faso v Costa Rica
New Zealnad v Turkey
-Sun Nov 1
Malawi v Spain
USA v UAE
S Korea v Algeria
Italy v Uruguay

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Standings:
Group A
*6 Argentina
4 Nigeria
1 Germany
0 Honduras
Group B
*6 Switzerland
3 Brazil
3 Mexico
0 Japan
Group C
4 Iran
4 Columbia
3 Netherlands
0 Gambia
Group D
*6 Turkey
2 New Zealand
1 Burkina Faso
1 Costa Rica
Group E
*6 Spain
3 United Arab Emirates
3 United States of America
0 Malawi
Group F
*6 Italy
3 South Korea
3 Uruguay
0 Algeria

*Has advanced to the knock out stages.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks at the modern evolution and confusion of the player wearing the #9 shirt. He describes a position he calls the False Nine.

ENDERS

The New York Times with an article on the Palestinian women's national team who have just played their first ever home game. And it was a big success. (with a cool video too.)