Some News for Wed Nov 18, 2009

STARTERS

On Thursday Toronto FC is expected to name Preki as their new head coach.

dN

Incredible quote from Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis on his teams tough regular season: "I was very overconfident. I think I added to what was a little bit of an underlying thing on the team that we were a bit overconfident going into this season. We had been reading a bit too much about how we would compete for a championship this year, and we forgot the little things that got us here. We don't have stars on our team, and we had got away from that a little bit."

dN

Algeria beats Egypt 1-0 in African World Cup qualifying playoff game, and earns that continents final spot in the 32 team tournament. Algeria?!?! Can you believe that?

dN

Ricardo Clark has told the Houston Dynamo that he will not be signing a new contract to stay in the league after his deal ends next month. See details in the "MLS" section below.

dN

Paul Dalgish, former Houston Dynamo forward, has been hired to manage the new Tampa Bay Rowdies.

USL FIRST DIVISION

Inside Minnesota Soccer with all the latest details, rumors, scenarios and border-line insanity.

MLS PLAYOFF NEWS

Los Angeles Galaxy

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise uses the word "turnaround" to describe the Galaxy season.

dN

The Toronto Sun finds a way to work TFC into the Galaxy success story.

dN

The Los Angeles Galaxy - official blog.

Real Salt Lake

The team has set up a deal to charter a plane for fans to go from Salt Lake to Seattle! Very cool.

dN

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America with an article on Andy Williams, who after a couple years suffering with his wife who had a horrible illness, things are finally looking up. She is home and improving and his team is in the final.

dN

Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune with an article on RSL head coach Jason Kreis, who will not accept losing.

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune with the latest RSL team notes.

dN

Lewis reports that the sale of half of RSL will be worth approx $52 Million. Wow!

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News writes about RSL forward Robbie Findley who will get to try to enact ultimate revenge on the team that traded him away.

dN

Edward with RSL team notes.

dN

Brad Rock of the Deseret News on the rise of RSL from one of the leagues all time worst to the final.

dN

The Associated Press with an article on the "scrappy" RSL who are not being taken lightly by Los Angeles. Via the Provo Herald.

dN

Greg Seltzer of Soccer365 says the RSL strikeforce of Findley & Movsisyan are ready for action on Sunday.

dN

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America wtih an article on RSL owner Dave Checketts who does what he has to do to help him club succeed.

dN

Beau Dure of USA Today writes about the crisis that was averted in Salt Lake a couple of years back when the stadium deal got done. It was nearly sold to Jeff Cooper in St Louis.

dN

Behind the Shield - the official blog of Real Salt Lake.

dN

Other

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune looks at the idea that MLS is the kind of league where a team with a losing record could make the finals.

dN

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports tackles the same subject.

dN

Phil Collin of the LA Daily News brings up the taboo subject of Seattle's Qwest Field having that awful fake turf playing surface.

dN

Kevin Stott has been named referee for the final. I think he is the best in the league.

dN

The Seattle Times MLS Cup section.

MLS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 22
Los Angeles Galaxy v Real Salt Lake - 7:30pm Central on ESPN
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Referee: Kevin Stott

TEAM USA

Team's official blog, and official YouTube page.

dN

International Friendlies
Match & Score:
-Wed Nov 18
Denmark v USA

CONMEBOL/CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING PLAYOFF

This 2 legged playoff will determine a spot in the World Cup.

2nd Leg - with 1st Leg scores included
-Wed Nov 18
Uruguay v Costa Rica - (1-0)

AFRICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

The final place will go to the winner of the playoff between Egypt v Algeria on Wednesday in neutral site Sudan.

African Playoff
-Wed Nov 18
Egypt v Algeria in Sudan.

UEFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING PLAYOFFS

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg - with 1st Leg scores included
-Wed Nov 18
France v Ireland - (1-0)
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Portugal - (0-1)
Ukraine v Greece - (0-0)
Slovenia v Russia - (1-2)

dN

Away goals is the first tie breaker.

MLS

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle reports that Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark has informed the team that he will not be signing a new contract with the team when his deal runs out on Dec 31. It has been talked about for a while now that he wants to head to Europe.

dN

The Chronicle also reports that Dynamo striker Brian Ching had surgery on his left knee to repair torn meniscus.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch says negotiations on a new contract between the Crew and star player Guillermo Barros Schelotto are not going well. The team is going low, and he is asking high. Big surprise.

dN

The LA Galaxy will spend Thanksgiving with the US military based in Kaiserslautern Germany.

dN

The Washington Post is reporting that Red Bull will hire former Norwegian national teamer Erik Stoler as their new Sporting Director. He would oversee the hiring of a new head coach in New York.

dN

Richard Snowden of Soccer 365 feels that MLS HQ is way too sensitive about being criticized. (I know that feeling.)

dN

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at MLS Commissioner Don Garber's comments on New York Red Bulls in his state of the league address this week.

dN

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe brings us up to date on the New England Revolution's early offseason happenings.

MLS POST SEASON AWARDS

Here are the 3 finalists for MLS 2009 Most Valuable Player Award, to be handed out on Thu Nov 19:
-Jeff Cunningham – FC Dallas
-Landon Donovan – Los Angeles Galaxy
-Shalrie Joseph – New England Revolution

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

The Original Winger does a Q & A with Rossetti Architects who designed the new Red Bull Arena. This is Part 1 of 2.

NCAA MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

The tournament begins on Thu Nov 19

Here is the official bracket for the full tournament.

USL FIRST DIVISION

The St Petersburg Times reports that the Tampa Bay Rowdies have hired former Houston Dynamo forward Paul Dalglish as their first head coach.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Noah Davis of Goal.com talks to Brad Guzan - the highly touted goalkeeper who sits behind greats on his 2 teams - Brad Friedel at Aston Villa & Tim Howard at the USA.

dN

TeamUSA.org with an article on Benny Feilhaber who gets to play with his national team at the stadium in Denmark where his club team AGF Aarhus plays.

SPAIN

Barcelona centerback Gabi Milito has played in a friendly this week, seeing action for the first time since 2 knee surgeries took him out for over a year.

FRANCE

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times tells us why the French are not in love with their national team.

EUROPE

The Guardian tells us how Portugal scouted Bosnia for their World Cup qualifying playoff series.

WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA 2010

The Guardian reports on the challenges still facing South Africa as the big day gets closer and closer.

Check out this amazing picture from the Guardian of Green Point Stadium in Cape Town engulfed in fog!













ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Matt Dickinson of The Times of London takes on the overused and undervalued notion of "respect". If we are all to take respect seriously in soccer then the punishments for those who abuse it have to much stronger.