Monday, November 09, 2009

Some News for Mon Nov 9, 2009

QUESTION ON MY MIND

Who will help save my team?

The Minnesota Thunder is all but dead. This is horrible news. The team has been around since 1990 and won many amazing games & trophies, but currently finds itself in the hands of ownership who appear to be lying to everyone in sight, and have no money at all. A report came out over the weekend that says it looks like even all the players have been released from their contracts. The details are sketchy, but Brian Quarstad at Inside Minnesota Soccer has been doing an incredible job in uncovering as much as he possibly can. (The local newspapers have only followed his lead, beaten to the punch again.) We need help! Desperately! To save our team!

STARTERS

It'll be Colombia v Switzerland and Spain v Nigeria in the U17 World Cup Semifinals on Thursday.

MLS PLAYOFF NEWS

A big anti-whoopty-do it turned out to be for Columbus winning the Supporters Shield this year. They were the #1 over all seed, yet they had to travel all the way west to Salt Lake (at high altitude) for the 1st leg game, and then get the shortest turnaround of any series for their 2nd leg game. The Champs got hosed by the schedulers. On the other hand, they had their chances and blew it.

dN

Rogers Gone? - Do you remember those mystery Twitters we saw late last Thursday night from Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers? (See Friday's news post.) Well, I got an email over the weekend from a loyal reader who wondered if this is what those Twitters might have meant: "GM Mark McCullers has informed Robbie he will be left unprotected in the expansion draft..." Are they really bailing on him?

dN

I was in Chicago on Saturday night for the Fire v Rev's 2nd leg. It was a gorgeous night. The fact that I didn't need a coat on November 7th in the midwest is almost surreal. It was awesome to see Toyota Park completely full of people wearing red. It's the sight that all of us soccer fans in America dream about. The game was very good in the first half, dull for the first 25 minutes of the second half, and then exploded in the last 15. Great night. The only way that could have gone better for me is if New England had managed to score at the very end and sent the game into extra time chaos. Now that would have been really wild!

dN

Tom Dunmore of Pitch Invasion was at that game as well, and writes this fantastic description of what its like to be real fans of your team. (Thanks to D for the link)
-Fire supporters, aka Section 8, had a sit down with team owner Andrew Hauptman last week. This is what transpired.

dN

Jill Painter of the LA Daily News with an article just raving about Landon Donovan. Fantastic to see him getting some due from traditional sports columnists.

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News writes about Salt Lakes early prep for Chicago next Saturday night.

dN

The Deseret News has a Q & A with RSL captain Kyle Beckerman.

dN

Steve Pastorino (former RSL GM) writing for the Salt Lake Tribune says RSL coach Jason Kreis has done a great job in the post season so far.

dN

Holy smokes - has Houston's new forward Luis Landin been eating well or what? Believe me, I should know.

dN

Houston's left back Mike Chabala will not play in the semifinal after receiving a second Yellow Card in the playoffs. He get's a one game suspension.

dN

It was nice to see Beckman sporting the Cockatiel look.

MLS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg
Matches & Scores:
EASTERN CONCERENCE
-Thu Nov 5
Columbus Crew (1) 2-3 Real Salt Lake (4) - RSL advance 4-2 on aggregate - CC goals both by Guillermo Barros Schelotto. RSL goals by Javier Morales, Robbie Findley(PK) & Andy Williams.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 10,109
-Sat Nov 7
Chicago Fire (2) v New England Revolution (3) Chic advance 3-2 on aggregate - CF goals by John Thorrington & Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
Attendance: 21,528
Match report by Nick Firchau of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald.
Match report by Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now.
Post game analysis by Stejskal.
Post game notes on McBrides injury by Stejskal
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Post game analysis by McCarthy.
Match report from the Boston Globe.
Post game analysis from the Globe.
WESTERN CONCERENCE
-Sun Nov 8
Houston Dynamo (2) 1-0 Seattle Sounder FC (3) Hou advance 1-0 on aggregate - HD goal by Brian Ching.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 27,465
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes by Fallas.
More post game notes by Fallas on his blog.
Post game notes by Glenn Davis of the Chronicle on his blog.
Match report by Jose Miguel Romero.
Post game notes by Romero.
Post game quotes from Seattle coach & players by Romero.
Post game quotes from Houston players by Romero.
Match report from the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Post game analysis from the Intelligencer.
Another post game analysis from the Intelligencer.
-Sun Nov 8
Los Angeles Galaxy (1) 1-0 Chivas USA (4) LA advance 3-2 on aggregate - LAG goal by Landon Donovan(PK)
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 27,000
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Graham Jones of the Los Angeles Times.

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 13
Los Angeles Galaxy v Houston Dynamo - 10pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sat Nov 14
Chicago Fire v Real Salt Lake - 7pm Central on FSC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL

dN

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 22
7:30pm Central on ESPN

MLS

Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald with a post season analysis of the New England Revolution.

TEAM USA

We've got International Friendly matches in Slovakia & Denmark!

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Nov 14
Slovakia v USA - 9am Central on FSC
-Wed Nov 18
Denmark v USA - 1:30pm Central - TV TBA

dN

Here is the roster

G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton
Troy Perkins - Valerenga
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City Wizards
Clarence Goodson - Start
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Chad Marshall - Columbus Crew
Heath Pearce - FC Dallas
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
M:
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Dax McCarty - FC Dallas
Robbie Rogers - Columbus Crew
F:
Jozy Altidore - Hull City
Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids
Jeff Cunningham - FC Dallas
Eddie Johnson - Fulham

USA WORLD CUP 2018/22 BID

Here is the Timetable:

2009
Nov 10-12 - Workshop for final presentations from Cities
Dec - Determination of final Cities for Bid submission
2010
May 14 - Bid submission to FIFA
Aug - FIFA Venue Inspection Tour
Dec - Final decision by FIFA for Host of 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups

Thanks to Kyle Rogers of the Kansas City Wizards for that information.

dN

Kansas City also very much wants to be a host city if the USA gets the bid. If you want to support their plan you can check it out online right here.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Marcus Tracy scored the games only goal on Sunday as Aalbourg beat Kobnhaven 1-0. A big win!

dN

Frank is Back! Frank Simek has finally returned to the Sheffield Wednesday starting line up for the first time in ages. He has fought back from a bad ankle injury that has kept him out for what seems like a year and a half. There had been talking of sending him out on loan to get games, but it appears as though he is getting up to speed at Wednesday.

dN

DaMarcus Beasley also played in a league game for the first time in ages. He came on as a half time sub for Rangers. And I am not sure, but he may have come on as a defender.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus - played 90 as they drew 1-1 at Koge.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - went the full 90 and won 0-1 at Sonderjyske.
Marcus Tracy - AaB - started and went 74 minutes, scoring the winning goal as they beat Kobnhaven 1-0 at home.
Jeremiah White - AGF Aarhus - started and went 75 in a 1-1 road draw at Koge.

ENGLAND - Premiership
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - started and went 83 (his sub, the immaculately named Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored the game winner) as they beat Stoke 2-1 at home.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the full 90 and scrored the teams goal on a Penalty Kick as they drew 1-1 at Wigan.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the full 90 as then wolloped Bolton 5-1 at home.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance as usual and won 1-2 at West Ham. This win was badly needed.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - played the full match but lost 1-2 at home to Everton.

ENGLAND - Championship
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - started and played 72 minutes but they lost at home 1-2 to Queens Park Rangers.

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Leeds - came off the bench in the 86th minute and sealed the 2-0 road victory over Oldham with a goal in the 90th minute in the FA Cup.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - started and played 81 minutes, scoring a goal, as they drew 4-4 with Brighton in the FA Cup. They will now replay the game.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - started but was pulled in the 66th minute as they lost 3-2 at Toulouse.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - went the distance in a scoreless home draw against Stuttgart.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance but drew 2-2 at home to Hamburg.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Kenny Cooper - 1860 Munich - came on as a sub in the 74th minute, but they lost 1-0 at Energie Cottbus.
Matt Taylor - Frankfurt - started and played 75 minutes but they could only get a 0-0 home draw against Arminia Bielefeld.
David Yelldell - Koblenz - played the full match but lost 2-1 at Paderborn.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the full monty as they won at home 3-1 over TOP/Oss.

SCOTLAND - Premiership
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers -
came on as a sub at halftime (!) as they beat St Mirren 2-1 at home.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - UANL Tigres - went the distance, and scored the last goal as they be Atlante 4-0 at home.
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca - played all 90 but lost 3-0 at Toluca.
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - started and lasted 70 miuntes, getting a Yellow Card, as they lost at home 0-1 to Chiapas.

dN

Coming Up:

The final round of this season.

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - UANL Tigres - Sat Nov 14 at Pachuca
Michael Orozco - San Luis - Sat Nov 14 at Queretaro
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca - Sat Nov 14 v UANL Tigres
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - Sun Nov 15 at UNAM Pumas

dN

UANL, San Luis & Pachuca are all still alive for one of the last 3 playoff spots. Indios however are by far the worst team in the league with only 5 points, 10 behind their nearest competitor. And you thought the Red Bulls of New York were bad this season.

MEXICO

Toluca, Cruz Azul, Morelia, Santos Laguna, America, Monterrey and Puebla have clinched playoff spots, and are awaiting 3 more.

Then the bottom 4 square off with the 2 winners joining the top 6.

ENGLAND

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

SPAIN

Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet on a "taxing" week in Spain, and the two big teams from Madrid.

dN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian says its Groundhogs day for Atletico Madrid, and a round up of the weekend in La Liga.

GERMANY

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with the story of a man still fighting the East.

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on yet another Bayern Munich face plant and the rest of the Bundesliga.

ITALY

After a sour start to the season Milan has climbed their way up to #3 in the table, just 2 points behind #3 Juventus, and 7 back from #1, and city rivals, Inter.

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on the unraveling of Lazio, and a round up of the weekend from Serie A.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Nov 7
Atletico Madrid 2-3 Real Madrid - the hosts were down 0-3 and fought back late to make a game of it.
Bayern Munich 1-1 Schalke - the draw did neither one of them any favors, but it hurt Bayern much more because they dropped from #6 to #8. Schalke are still at #4.
-Sun Nov 8
Inter 1-1 Roma - the tied game shaves 2 points off Inter's lead over Juventus who got a win.
Lyon 5-5 Marseille - an insanely wild shoot out, with both teams scoring in stoppage time. The draw also takes Lyon out of the lead again.
Twente 1-0 Ajax - nothing but the point totals changed as #1 beat #3.
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United - huuuuge win for the home team, who now have a 5 point lead over their fellow contenders. Big time!

BRAZIL

With 4 rounds left to play in the Campeanato Brasileiro there are an astonishing 10 teams still technically alive for the title.

Standings - after 34 of 38 games played:
59 Sao Paulo - Last: D 1-1 Gremio - Next: Sat Nov 14 v EC Vitoria
58 Palmeiras - Last: L 1-0 at Fluminense - Next: Wed Nov 11 v Sport
57 Flamengo - Last: W 1-3 at Atletico MG - Next: Sun Nov 15 at Nautico
56 Atletico MG - Last: L 1-3 Flamengo - Next: Sat Nov 14 at Cortiba
54 Cruzeiro - Last: W 2-3 at Sport - Next: Sat Nov 14 v Gremio
53 Internacional - Last: D 1-1 at Gremio Barueri - Next: Sun Nov 15 v Santos
50 Avai - Last: W 0-1 at EC Vitoria - Next: Sun Nov 15 v Corinthians
49 Corinthians - Last: W 2-0 v Esporte Clube Santo Andre - Next: Sun Nov 15 at Avai
48 Gremio - Last: D 1-1 v Sao Paulo - Next: Sat Nov 14 at Cruzeiro
47 Goias - Last: L 2-0 at Atletico Paranaense - Next: Sun Nov 15 v Esporte

U17 WORLD CUP NIGERIA

Swtizerland & Colombia will face off in one Semifinal, with Spain taking on the hosts Nigeria in the other.

dN

Official web site

dN

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 8
Colombia 1-1 Turkey - Col win 5-3 in Penalty Kick Shootout - Col goal by Jorge Luis Ramos. Tur goal by Muhammet Demir.
Italy 1-2 Switzerland - Ita goal by Federico Carraro. Swi goals by Nassim Ben Khalifa & Oliver Buff.
-Mon Nov 9
Spain 3-3 Uruguay - Spa win 4-2 in Penalty Kick Shootout - Spa goals by Isco(PK) & Borja(2). Uru goals by Adrian Luna, Gabriel Mezquida & Sebastian Gallegos.
South Korea 1-3 Nigeria - SK goal by Son Heung Min. Nig goals by Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun & Terry Envoh.

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Nov 12
Colombia v Switzerland
Spain v Nigeria

dN

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 15
v

dN

Bracket

4 Comments:

Anonymous Sam said...

They are out of their minds for dumping Rogers. Must be some major drama going on.

Are you headed to Chicago this Saturday?

I am.

I'm afraid the weather wont be quite as nice.

11:03 PM  
Blogger digchros said...

First, terrible about the Thunder. IMS has done an incredible job covering the whole Minnesota soccer scene, especially when you consider it's not even a full-time job. Always props to Brian.

Also, I found it really odd that when Beasley didn't get a transfer, all of the fans seemed to give up on him. It's the same attitude we give to Freddy Adu. "You can't do it with an OK team, you have to go somewhere smaller."

The attitude should be, "He's not cutting it right now, he has to try harder."

Glad to see Beasley seems to be taking the second road instead of the shrivel up and die road.

12:24 AM  
Anonymous Nordy said...

Re: Min Thunder contracts...do you think there's a chance this report stemmed from confusion over the letters sent out by the USL? Since the reporter's source is a player, I could see how the USL letter could be driving these reports.

Re: Rogers...don't you think the Crew were consigned to losing him to a club overseas, so they didn't want to waste a spot protecting him in the expansion draft if they thought they were going to lose him anyways. I don't have any inside info, but that would seem more likely than a bout of insanity.

10:33 AM  
Anonymous Nordy said...

Also, glad to see Marcus Tracy get the start and score a goal. He has the potential to be excellent.

10:37 AM  

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