Some News for Mon Nov 2, 2009

STARTERS

The USA U17's advanced to the Round of 16 in the World Cup and play on Wednesday against Italy.

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Word is out that UANL Tigres left fullback Edgar Castillo has been invited to join Team USA for the 2 games in Europe later this month. This will be his first time with the team.

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Clint Dempsey set up one goal and scored another as Fulham beat Liverpool 3-1 at Craven Cottage. A huge win for the Londoners.

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New England again is the embarrassment of MLS drawing only 7,416 to their playoff game on Sunday afternoon. What a shame this is.

MLS PLAYOFF NEWS

How great were Robbie Findley and Shalrie Joseph for their teams this weekend. Wow. They both turned in great performances. Sacha Kljestan was pretty damn good too.

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I am still stunned that Columbus played the first playoff game of the season and left their best player on the bench. Guillermo Barros Schelotto was shown several times "warming up" but always with a bemused look on his face because here the team was in their biggest game of the season and he was not being called up. They lost 1-0. WTF?

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The league has finally admited that the final will be played on that fake turf at Qwest Field. What a joke.

MLS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

First Round playoff matches, home and away series:

1st Leg
WESTERN CONFERENCE
-Thu Oct 29
Seattle Sounder FC (3) 0-0 Houston Dynamo (2)
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Attendance: 35,807
-Sun Nov 1
Chivas USA (4) 2-2 Los Angeles Galaxy (1) - CUSA goals by Maicon Santos & Maykel Galindo. LAG goals by Mike Magee & Landon Donovan.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 25,218
EASTERN CONFERENCE
-Sat Oct 31
Real Salt Lake (4) 1-0 Columbus Crew (1) - RSL goal by Robbie Findley.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Attendance: 11,499
-Sun Nov 1
New England Revolution (3) 2-1 Chicago Fire (2) - NER goals by Emmanuel Osei & Shalrie Joseph. CF goal by Chris Rolfe.
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Attendance: 7,416

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2nd Leg (with first leg scores included)
EASTERN CONCERENCE
-Thu Nov 5
Columbus Crew (1) v Real Salt Lake (4) (0-1) - 7pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
-Sat Nov 7
Chicago Fire (2) v New England Revolution (3) (1-2) - 7:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
WESTERN CONCERENCE
-Sun Nov 8
Houston Dynamo (2) v Seattle Sounder FC (3) (0-0) - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Nov 8
Los Angeles Galaxy (1) v Chivas USA (4) (2-2) - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

MLS

Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal has a Q & A with Drew Carey - part owner of the Seattle Sounders.
-The magazine has 3 more soccer related stories today, but you can only read them if you have a subscribtion - which I do not.

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Kartik Krishnaiyer of MLS Talk reports that MLS is the second most watched soccer league on TV in America - behind the Mexican league, not the EPL!

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Speculation has been floating around for a new days now that Cuauhtemoc Blanco has signed a deal with Vera Cruz in Mexico and will move there after this MLS season. His future with MLS remains a question mark with Blanco seeming to say he is gone for good, while the Chicago Fire seem to feel that they are negotiating a new contract and Vera Cruz is just an offseason loan.

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Steve Sirk writing for the Crew website gives us the latest installment of his inside look at the Columbus Crew - simply the best stuff.

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The LA Galaxy announced today that David "Beckham will officially join AC Milan on December 28 and remain with the club throughout their season which ends on May 16, 2010. He will then re-join the Galaxy when the summer transfer window opens in July 2010."

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John Molinaro of the CBC talks to Toronto muckity-mucks and asks them how Mo Johnston still is the team's GM.

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Jack Bell of the New York Times writes about the big fella now in charge of all Red Bull soccer properties - he is in New York beginning to sort out their mess this week.

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Finalists for MLS 2009 Awards:

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - Thu Nov 19
Jeff Cunningham – FC Dallas
Landon Donovan – Los Angeles Galaxy
Shalrie Joseph – New England Revolution

GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR - Wed Nov 4
Kasey Keller – Seattle Sounders FC
Donovan Ricketts – Los Angeles Galaxy
Zach Thornton – Chivas USA

DEFENDER OF THE YEAR - Thu Nov 5
Geoff Cameron – Houston Dynamo
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado – Seattle Sounders FC
Chad Marshall – Columbus Crew

COACH OF THE YEAR - Wed Nov 11
Bruce Arena – Los Angeles Galaxy
Sigi Schmid – Seattle Sounders FC
Robert Warzycha – Columbus Crew

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR - Tue Nov 10
Kasey Keller – Seattle Sounders FC
Freddie Ljungberg – Seattle Sounders FC
Fredy Montero – Seattle Sounders FC

COLLEGE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Thu Nov 12
Stefan Frei – Toronto FC
Omar Gonzalez – Los Angeles Galaxy
Chris Pontius – DC United

So where are the awards for Forward and Midfielder of the Year?

The leagues Best 11 will be announced on Sat Nov 21.

USA @ U17 WORLD CUP

The USA beat the UAE to advance to the knock out stage of the tournament. For the second game in a row their 1 goal stood up, and also for the second game in a row the opposition keeper gifted them a goal.

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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 1-0 UAE - USA goal by Jack McInerney.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Paul Kennedy of Soccer America.
Player ratings by Kennedy.
Match report and player ratings by Brent Latham of ESPN Soccernet.

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Round of 16:
-Wed Nov 4
Italy v USA - 9am Central in Kaduna.

You can watch the game online at ESPN360.com

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Brent Latham of ESPN Soccernet previews the game against Italy.

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Latham writing for Yanks Abroad looks at the future of midfielder Luis Gil.

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Official Team Blog

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Group E
ADV - 9 Spain
ADV - 6 United States of America
ADV - 3 United Arab Emirates
ELIM - 0 Malawi

The top 2 advanced automatically, and the 3rd advanced as one of the 4 best 3rd place finishers.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Brad Friedel has now started 200 consecutive games in the Premiership. Every time he starts another game he is extending the all time record.

Michael Bradley and Gladbach stunned second place Hamburg 2-3 on the road, with Canadian Rob Friend scoring the winning goal!

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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - went the distance but lost at home 0-1 to Brondby.
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus - started and went 75 minutes as they drew at home 2-2 against Midtjylland.
Jeremiah White - AGF Aarhus - started and played 82 minutes of a 2-2 home draw with Midtjylland.

ENGLAND - Premiership
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - came on as a sub in the 59th minute, got a Yellow Card, and they lost 2-0 at Burnley.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the distance and scored the final goal as they beat Liverpool at home 3-1!
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - played the full 90 as usual and got a 1-1 draw at Everton.
Tim Howard - Everton - played the entire match and drew 1-1 at home to Aston Villa.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - played the whole 90 (at right back) and drew 2-2 at Sunderland.

ENGLAND - Championship
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - started and went the distance getting a Yellow Card while they drew 1-1 at Bristol City.

ENGLAND - League One
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - came on as a 73rd minute sub but they lost 2-3 at home to Walsall.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played the entire match, got a Yellow Card and lost at home 0-3 to Valenciennes.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - went the distance and got a big big road win 2-3 over Hamburg.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the entire 90 and won 1-0 at Koln.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Kenny Cooper - 1860 Munich -
came on as a sub in the 75th minute but they lost at home 0-1 to Kaiserslautern.

IRELAND - Premier Division
Ryan Guy - St Patrick's Athletic - played all 90 and scored the game winning goal as they won at Drogheda 1-2.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the distance, got a Yellow Card, and lost at Zwolle 3-1.

NORWAY - Tippeligaen
Hunter Freeman - Start - went the full 90 and beat Valerenga 2-0 at home.
Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance and scored a goal as they beat Valerenga at home 2-0.
Troy Perkins - Valerenga - in goal as usual but lost 2-0 at Start.

NORWAY - Adeccoligaen
Jay Needham - Alta - started and played 69 minutes as they drew 1-1 at home against Nybergsund.

SCOTLAND - Premiership
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - in the 18, but the match was suspended due to too much rain.

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Coming Up:

DENMARK - Superliga
Marcus Tracy - AaB - Mon Nov 2 at Odense.

PORTUGAL
Kamani Hill - Guimaraes - Mon Nov 2 at Academica Coimbra.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - UANL Tigres - went the distance, got a Yellow Card, and drew 2-2 at home with UAdG Tecos.
Michael Orozco - San Luis - played the entire match but they were embarrassed 0-3 at home by Monterrey who finished the match with 9 men.
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Atlas.

ENGLAND

Barney Ronay of the Guardian with Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

SPAIN

Sid Lowe on the Italian player that all American fans hate, Guiseppe Rossi, and the rest of the weekend passed in La Liga.

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Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet writes about the vastly differing fan cultures around Spain's big teams.

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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the man who could be the one to really lead Real Madrid back to the top - Gonzalo Higuain.

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on the only Englishman in the Bundesliga, and a wrap up of the weekend action in Germany's top league.

ITALY

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian looks at Napoli's explosive road win over Juventus, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

EUROPE

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with an article on the leader of UEFA - Michel Platini.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

-Sat Oct 31
Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham - the big London derby ended up showing who is contender and who is pretender, at least for now.
Real Madrid 2-0 Getafe - the lesser Madrid derby ends as expected.
Schalke 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen - #4 v #1 fought to a draw and changed nothing in the table.
-Sun Nov 1
Ajax 5-1 Feyenoord - beatdowns rarely happen when long-time rivals face off.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Paul Doyle of the Guardian reports that Lyon might be as screwed up as Liverpool before the 2 meet in a HUGE game on Wednesday.

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Matchday 4
-Tue Nov 3
Bayern Munchen v Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa v Juventus
Manchester United v CSKA Moskva
Besiktas v Wolfsburg
AC Milan v Real Madrid
Marseille v Zurich
APOEL v Porto
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
-Wed Nov 4
Fiorentina v Debreceni
Lyon v Liverpool
Rubin Kazan v Barcelona
Dynamo Kyiv v Inter
Unirea Urziceni v Rangers
Sevilla v Stuttgart
Arsenal v AZ Alkmaar
Standard Liege v Olympiacos

U17 WORLD CUP NIGERIA

Brazil and Netherlands were the 2 third place finishers that were eliminated.

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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 3-1 Honduras - Ger goals by Lennart Thy(2) & Kevin Volland. Hon goal by Antony Lozano.
Argentina 1-2 Nigeria - Arg goal by Esteban Orfano. Nig goals by Omoh Ojabu & Sani Emmanuel(PK).
Japan 0-2 Mexico - Mex goals by Carlos Campos & Carlos Parra.
Switzerland 1-0 Brazil - Swi goa by Nassim Ben Khalifa.
-Sat Oct 31
Gambia 2-2 Colombia - Gam goals by Lamin Sarjo Samateh & Ebrima Bojang. Col goals both by Gustavo Cuellar(1 via PK).
Netherlands 0-1 Iran - Ira goal by Milad Gharibi.
Burkina Faso 4-1 Costa Rica - BF goals by Zidane Zoungrana, Abdoulaye Ibrango, Louckmane Ouedraogo & Bertrand Traore. CR goal by Juan Golobio.
New Zealand 1-1 Turkey - NZ goal by Jack Hobson-McVeigh. Tur goal by Engin Bekdemir.
-Sun Nov 1
Malawi 1-4 Spain - Ma goal by Bruno Milanzi. Spa goals by Alvaro Morata(2), Adria Carmona & Javier Espinosa.
USA 1-0 UAE - USA goal by Jack McInerney.
S Korea 2-0 Algeria - SK goals by Lee Jong Ho & Son Heung Min.
Italy 0-0 Uruguay

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Group A
ADV - 7 Nigeria
ADV - 6 Argentina
ADV - 4 Germany
ELIM - 0 Honduras
Group B
ADV - 9 Switzerland
ADV - 6 Mexico
ELIM - 3 Brazil
ELIM - 0 Japan
Group C
ADV - 7 Iran
ADV - 5 Columbia
ELIM - 3 Netherlands
ELIM - 1 Gambia
Group D
ADV - 7 Turkey
ADV - 4 Burkina Faso
ADV - 3 New Zealand
ELIM - 1 Costa Rica
Group E
ADV - 9 Spain
ADV - 6 United States of America
ADV - 3 United Arab Emirates
ELIM - 0 Malawi
Group F
ADV - 7 Italy
ADV - 6 South Korea
ADV - 4 Uruguay
ELIM - 0 Algeria

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Round of 16
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 4
Argentina v Colombia
Turkey v UAE
Switzerland v Germany
Italy v USA
-Thu Nov 5
Spain v Burkina Faso
Iran v Uruguay
Mexico v South Korea
Nigeria v New Zealand

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Bracket

ENDERS

Who is he? Is this the man secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes of the USL? Rumors are running rampant. And we need answers!