Some News for Mon Nov 30, 2009

SEE YOU THERE

One of the most anticipated events of the past 3 years happens this Friday as FIFA hold the draw for the 2010 South Africa World Cup.
Where will your favorite end up?
Who will they have to play in the Group Stage?
And who will land in the Group of Death?

Come join me for lunch and watch the spectacle unfold:
Fri Dec 4
11am Central
The Sweetwater
At the Kelly Inn Best Western
Marion & I94
St Paul

And it's not every day we get to see Slappy Jack on live television.

STARTERS

Jeremy Schaap of ESPN on Twitter last night: "Interviewed Charlie Davies today. Brief clip on SportsCenter at 11 ET. Lede: He expects to be playing in SA next June. Recovering quickly"
-The US National Sccoer Players Association has a recap of that interview.
-If anyone can find video I would love to share it.

MLS CHAMPIONS REAL SALT LAKE

After struggling all season with a huge lack of consistency, the team had an 18 day break from games in early October, and after that they tore it up going 6-0-1 on the way to their first championship.

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Dan Rassmussen of the Deseret News with a feature story showing the teams month by month rise from mediocrity to top o' the heap.

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Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune puts the title into Utah prospective.

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Luke Garrot, a regular du Nord reader and Salt Lake City council member writes an editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune about his beloved team, their championship, and his & the cities loss when the team moved to the suburbs!

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Gordon Monson also of the Tribune tries to put RSL's title into local sporting lore.

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And finally Michael C Lewis of the Tribune sums up a weird and wonderful season of Real Salt Lake soccer.

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James Edward of the Deseret News on RSL's huge victory culmination in Seattle.

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Michael Black of the Deseret with a look at 4 of RSL's hero's of the season.
-Nick Rimando
-Kyle Beckerman
-Nat Borchers
-Robbie Findley

MLS

Jimmy Conrad, centerback for the Kansas City Wizards, writing for ESPN Soccernet (not ghost written!!) gives us "A vision for the future of Major League Soccer".

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Chicago has picked up with contract options on forward Brian McBride and centerback CJ Brown. There had been speculation that both may retire. End of story.

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Tripp Mickle of Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reports that the MLS board of governors want to sign commissioner Don Garber to a long term deal, but will wait until after the new collective bargaining agreement with the players union is settled to begin negotiating.

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Brian Lewis of the NY Post reports that Erik Soler is telling people that he has been "hired as sporting director of Red Bull New York."
-I am going to guess and say that the reason he has not been formally announced is that he needs to get an official work permit first.

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The Toronto Globe & Mail reports that TFC want to add more seats to BMO Field.
-Unfortunately there is still talk of the local Canadian Football League team sharing the stadium.

Gerry Dobson of Sports Net says that there is no room for the CFL at BMO Field.

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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch reports that Alejandro Moreno was never told by the Crew that he was not being put on their protected player list, and he was sent to Philadelphia in the expansion draft.
-More on Moreno, with additional quotes, including him saying he did not want to go.

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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune on the deal that sent RSL's coveted back up keeper Chris Seitz to Philly.
-RSL later picked up forward Abe Thompson on a free move from Houston.

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Former Colorado Rapids winger Terry Cooke is now playing for the North Queensland Fury in Australia's A-League.

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Mark Young at MLSnet gives us a look at the latest news on former MLS players around the world.

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MLS has sent a team of young players who are on special Generation Adidas contracts to South Africa for 3 friendlies. The first was played today.
-3 players on the original roster did not go to South Africa due to various reasons - Tristan Bowen (Los Angeles) - personal matters, Ciaran O'Brien (Colorado) - Injury, and Brek Shea (Dallas) - Hair related.
Match & Score:
-Mon Nov 30
Orlando Pirates reserves v MLS GA - MGA goals by Chris Pontius & Patrick Nyarko.

MLS RUMORS

Any rumor of Mexican centerback Rafa Marquez signing with a MLS team ended today when he signed a contract extension at Barcelona through 2012.

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The Washington Post is reporting that LA has opened contract negotiation with Landon Donovan to lock him in for the long run.

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Kyle McCarthy reported on his Twitter feed today: "Hearing word that Revolution defender Jay Heaps is planning to retire this week"

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Vincenzo Bernardo on his Twitter feed: "Leaving Napoli for good this time. Going to Rome then flying to the states. i finally made my decision" - looks like he is going to a team in MLS!

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Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now ponders the idea of the Fire hiring a European as their next head coach.

MLS EXPANSION

Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet writes that Philadelphia Union has a goal of matching Seattle's first season.

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The Detroit Free Press with the latest on the purchase of the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, and soccer prospects there, among other things.

USL-1/NASL MESS

Rochester Rhinos are the latest defectors from USL-1 to the new NASL.
-The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle with the story.

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As things stand right now, the NASL would be a 10 team league.

NCAA MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

In 3rd Round action unranked Maryland knocked out #10 seed Harvard, and unheralded Drake continues their amazing run now into the 4th round. All the other big teams are through.

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The tournament continues with the Quarterfinals this weekend.

Quarterfinal Matches & Scores:
-Fri Dec 4
North Carolina v Drake
Virgina v Maryland
-Sat Dec 5
Akron v Tulsa
Wake Forest v Duke

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Here is the full official bracket for the tournament.

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The Wall Street Journal on the Hispanic market and sports in America, including MLS.
-With a video report as well.

USA WORLD CUP 2018/22 BID

Jack Bell of the New York Times with the story of Robert Hermann and his trip with a USA contingent to talk World Cup with FIFA back in the 1960's.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Soccer 365 with the latest rumors on Benny Feilhaber, Devan Yao & Stuart Holden.

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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus - went the full 90 as they won 1-0 at home over Brondby.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the whole match but they lost 0-1 at home to Silkeborg.
Marcus Tracy - AaB - started and went 74 minutes as they drew at Esbjerg 1-1.
Jeremiah White - AGF Aarhus - came on as a 83rd minute sub in a 1-0 home win over Brondby.

ENGLAND - Premiership
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - started and went 73 minutes as they drew 1-1 at Manchester City.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes of a home 1-1 draw against Bolton.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in goal as usual but only drew at home 1-1 against Tottenham.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - got a game for a change, but lost 0-1 at home to Birmingham.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 and lost 0-2 to Liverpool.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - played the entire game as they beat Burnley 5-3 at home.

ENGLAND - Championship
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - went the distance, but probably would have rather been home in bed as they got clobbered at home 0-4 by West Bromich.

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Leeds - started and played 71 minutes as they drew 1-1 at Kettering Town.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played all 90, got a Yellow Card and also got a 1-1 road draw at Lyon. Not bad.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - played the whole match as they beat Schalke 1-0 at home.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
David Yelldell - Koblenz - went the distance in a losing effort, 2-1 at Karlsruhe.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - played the full game gettin' a Yellow Card in the dying seconds and won 2-1 at home over Den Bosch.

PORTUGAL
Freddy Adu - Belenenses - came on as a sub in the 80th minute but they drew at home 2-2 against Maritimo.

MEXICO

Primera Division Liguilla

America was knocked out by Monterrey in the only upset of the Quarters.

All playoff rounds are 2 Legs.

Quarterfinal Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st leg scores included)
-Sat Nov 28
America (4) 1-1 Monterrey (5) - Mon advance 2-1 on aggregate - Ame goal by Salvador Cabanas(PK). Mon goal by Humberto Suazo.
Cruz Azul (2) 3-2 Puebla (7) - CA advance 7-6 on aggregate - CA goals by Cezar Villaluz, Julio Juarez & Fausto Pinto. Pue goals both by Andres Olivera.
-Sun Nov 29
Toluca (1) 1-0 San Luis (8) - Series ends tied 1-1, so Tol advance as the higher seed - Tol goal by Hector Mancilla.
Morelia (3) 3-0 Santos Laguna (6) - Mor advance 4-2 on aggregate - Mor goals by Wilson Mathias, Miguel Sabah & Mauricio Romero.

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Semifinal Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Dec 2
Morelia(3) v Cruz Azul(2)
-Thu Dec 3
Monterrey(5) v Toluca(1)
2nd Leg
-Sat Dec 5
Cruz Azul(2) v Morelia(3)
-Sun Dec 6
Toluca(1) v Monterrey(5)

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES THIS WEEKEND

Matches, Scores & Thoughts:
-Sat Nov 28
Sporting 0-0 Benfica - the battle of Lisbon ends scoreless, but Benfica remains at #1
-Sun Nov 29
Everton 0-2 Liverpool - the Red side of the city wins the Liverpool derby, leaving the Blue side in an ever worsening position this season.
Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea - a huge win for the visitors in a lesser London derby, putting a wider gap, now 11 points, between the two.
Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid - Barca dominated their home leg of El Clasico even at the end when they played with only 10.
Inter 1-0 Fiorentina - the champs controlled most of the game but could not finish, needing a late PK to get the deserved win.
Olympiakos v Panathinaikos - "The Derby of the Eternal Enemies" sees Oly win and leap their rivals into 1st place! Great drama.

ENGLAND

The Observer with an article on Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin, who they call the antithesis of an Arsenal signing.

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The Guardian gives us Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

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Patrick Barclay of the Times says that the English national team has been well re-built by Fabio Capello, but it would not end if the Italian left today.

SCOTLAND

Graham Spiers of the Times looks at Rangers and sees ugliness more than just on the field, its in many places surrounding the club.

SPAIN

Barcelona won El Clasico 1-0 over Real Madrid, and jump back in front of them at the top of the table too.

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Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet on super-sub Zalatan for Barcelona and a Liga roundup.

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Sid Lowe of the Guardian looks at Cristiano Ronaldo's uninspiring return to the Real Madrid lineup, the quality of Zalatan Ibrahimovic at Barca, and the rest of La Liga over the weekend.

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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports feels Real Madrid were quite poor in their big match with Barcelona.

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Matt Dickinson of the Times on the massive ego and massive quality that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian looks at the new Uli Hoeness era at Bayern Munich, and the rest of the Bundesliga from the weekend.

ITALY

An Inter win and a Juventus loss opens the gap at the top to 6 points again, but this time it's AC Milan in the second spot and Juve dropping to third. 8 points back now.
-And next Saturday Juve host Inter!

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Paolo Bandini of the Guardian with an article on the rise of AC Milan & striker Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar, and the rest of Serie from the weekend.

EUROPE

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the rare player who is paid a fortune, and is still searching for success.

BRAZIL

The Big Finish - With 1 round left to play in the Campeanato Brasileiro we are down to the last 4 teams who have a legit chance for the title. Unfortunately we don't have any head to head matchups to look forward to.

Standings - after 37 of 38 games played:
64 Flamengo (GD: 13) - Last: W 0-2 at Corinthians - Finale: Sun Dec 6 v Gremio
62 Internacional (GD: 18) - Last: W 1-2 at Sport - Finale: Sun Dec 6 v Santo Andre
62 Palmeiras (GD: 14) - Last: W 3-1 v Atletico MG - Finale: Sun Dec 6 at Botafogo
62 Sao Paulo (GD: 11) - Last: L 4-2 at Goias - Finale: Sun Dec 6 v Sport

Atletico MG & Cruzeiro are out of the chase.

AFRICA

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Cote d'Ivoire & Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure.

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times with a look at the history of big sporting events in South Africa.

PODCASTS

Some good audio and video from EPL Talk that you need to check out:
-Audio: an interview with Robbie Earle, top English TV commentator who lead Wimbeldon during their best years, and played for the Reggae Boyz in the 98 World Cup.
-Video: A really high quality video on the FA Cup featuring a Visit to Millwall.

ENDERS

I don't know if any of you know who Mike Penner is, but he's a long time writer for the Los Angeles Times who has struggled greatly with gender identity. And he passed away last Friday. Scott French who has written about soccer for a long time, and was an acquaintance of Penner wrote this remembrance at Real Clear Sports. RIP Mike.