Some News for Thu Dec 31, 2009

STARTERS

Official notice from Fulham FC: "American striker Eddie Johnson has joined Greek club Aris Thessaloniki FC on loan until June 30, 2010"
-The team is managed by Argentine Hector Cuper, who has a 15 year long resume including: Huracan, Mallorca, Valencia, Inter Milan, Real Betis & Parma.
-Aris, as they are known, is in 6th place at the midpoint of the Greek season, 16 points behind the leaders Panathinaikos.

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Joel Engel of the Santa Barbara Independent tells us, in 9 chapters, the staggering story of Eric Frimpong, former UC Santa Barbara soccer player who is serving 6 years in prison on a rape conviction. Many have thought all along he did not do it, and are more convinved now than ever.

MLS GENERATION ADIDAS 2010

Danny Mwanga of Oregon State is the latest to sign a lucrative developmental deal with the league.

dN

Stefan Bondy writing for the US National Soccer Players Association talks to Dilly Duka who signed with the league last week.

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer pimps for Jurgen Klinsmann to be the next Red Bulls head coach.

USL-1/NASL MESS

Following yesterday's announcement from US Soccer that the governing body would not sanction any division 2 league at this time, and wanted the arguing parties to find a solution, both leagues have made press statements.
-USL press release.
-NASL responds.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet examines Jozy Altidore's first half season at Hull.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

ENGLAND - FA Cup 3rd Round
-Sat Jan 2
Jemal Johnson - Milton Keynes - v Burnley
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - v Blackburn Rovers
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - v Blackburn Rovers
Tim Howard - Everton - v Carlisle United
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - v Crystal Palace
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - v Swindon Town
Zak Whitbread - Millwall - v Derby County
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - at Wigan
Eric Lichaj - Lincoln City - at Bolton
-Sun Jan 3
Mike Grella - Leeds - at Manchester United
Jay DeMerit - Watford - at Chelsea
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - v Arsenal
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - at Tranmere Rovers

ENGLAND - League One
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - Sat Jan 2 v Norwich City

SCOTLAND - Premiership
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - Sun Jan 3 at Celtic - have won 5 in a row
Dominic Cervi - Celtic - Sun Jan 3 v Rangers - have won 4 out of 5
Maurice Edu - Rangers - Sun Jan 3 at Celtic - have won 5 in a row

MEXICO

Interliga

Official Web Site

The tournament starts on Jan 2

2 teams from this tournament get a spot in the 2010 Copa Libertadores.
The 8 teams are split into 2 groups and the teams in each group play a round robin.
Then the winner of Group A plays the runner up from Group B for one spot, and winner of Group B plays the runner up from Group A for the other spot.

Group A
Atlante
Estudiantes
America
Santos
Group B
Tigres
Chiapas
Monterrey
Puebla

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 2
Atlante v Estudiantes Tecos
America v Santos Laguna
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Jan 3
UANL Tigres v Chiapas Jaguares
Monterrey v Puebla
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Tue Jan 5
Estudiantes Tecos v Santos Laguna
Atlante v America
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Wed Jan 6
Chiapas Jaguares v Puebla
UANL Tigres v Monterrey
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sat Jan 9
Santos Laguna v Atlante
America v Estudiantes Tecos
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Jan 10
Puebla v UANL Tigres
Monterrey v Chiapas Jaguares
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Wed Jan 13
Final 1 - A1 v B2
Final 2 - B1 v A2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

ENGLAND

Reuters reports that Wednesday's game between Arsenal and Portsmouth featured not a single English player in either starting 11. First time that has ever happened. Wow. Could you imagine an MLS game with no Americans on the field?

dN

The 3rd Round of the FA Cup takes place this weekend. Here are the games.

dN

Next Premier League games are on Sat Jan 9.

dN

Top Team Standings:
45 Chelsea (20 played)
43 Manchester United (20 played)
41 Arsenal (19 played)
37 Tottenham (20 played)
35 Manchester City (19 played)
35 Aston Villa (20 played)
33 Liverpool (20 played)

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
14 Jermain Defoe - Tottenham
14 Didier Drogba - Chelsea
14 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
13 Darren Bent - Sunderland
12 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
10 Louis Saha - Everton

SCOTLAND

The Old Firm Derby is on Sunday. 6:30am Central USA time.

SPAIN

Next La Liga games are on Sat Jan 2 & Sun Jan 3.

dN

Top Team Standings (after 15 played) & Next Matches:
39 Barcelona - Next: Sat Jan 2 v Villarreal
37 Real Madrid - Next: Sun Jan 3 at Osasuna
30 Sevilla - Next: Sat Jan 2 at Atletico Madrid
29 Valencia - Next: Sat Jan 2 v Espnayol
27 Mallorca - Next: Sun Jan 3 v Athletic Bilbao
27 Deportivo La Coruna - Next: Sun Jan 3 at Real Zaragoza

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
12 David Villa - Valencia
11 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Barcelona
10 Roberto Soldado - Getafe
10 Gonzalo Higuain - Real Madrid
9 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
8 Luis Fabiano - Sevilla

ITALY

Roma has signed forward Luca Toni from Bayern Munich on a loan.

EUROPE

Hurriyet reports on Turkey's bid to host Euro 2016.

Some News for Wed Dec 30, 2009

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT

U.S. Soccer Board of Directors Votes Unanimously Not to Sanction USL or NASL for Division II Status in 2010
-US Soccer is giving the 2 leagues another week to come to a compromise that could allow a provisional approval.

I figured this would be the answer at this time. They will get this sorted out one way another, and there will be second tier soccer, we just don't know which cities will have teams and what the league will be called. In other words, nothing has changed.

dN

One fear in all this has to be that if FIFA were to get involved they could threaten the US Soccer federation from expulsion until this mess is settled. FIFA could even go so far as to kick the USA out of the World Cup. It has happened before.

STARTERS

Word going around is that the Washington Times entire sports department is being eliminated meaning we won't see anymore DC United coverage from John Haydon via that paper. Really too bad.

MLS EXPANSION

The Oregonian with the latest updates from Portland on MLS 2011, what they will do for 2010 and stadium renovations.

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The Original Winger do a Q & A with Yahoo Sports soccer writer Martin Rogers. One of the good guys.

US SOCCER NEWS

A reader named Tony sent this one our way: "Further evidence that being a soccer fan is – God forbid!- becoming hip?"

USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

John Molinaro of the CBC on the recovery process for Oguchi Onyewu and Charlie Davies.
-Nothing new here, but a good write up none the less.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Brent Latham of Yanks Abroad reports that Benfica were caught offguard by Belenenses dismissing Freddy Adu from his loan deal that ran through to the end of the season.
-But Freddy's latest Twitter contradicts Benfica's surprise: "dont worry my friends this was agreed upon a while ago. Never even met this new coach at Belenenses."

dN

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 reports that Jared Jeffrey has been sold by Club Brugge in Belgium and signed a long term deal with Mainz in Germany. Very cool.
-Here is word from Mainz (in German.)

dN

Seltzer with a slew of other rumors at his great blog No Short Corners.

dN

Yanks Abroad talks to Ian Joyce who seems to have come out of nowhere to grab some time as the goalkeeper for Southend United.

dN

Neither DaMarcus Beasley or Maurice Edu played for Rangers on Wed Dec 30 as they drilled Dundee United 7-1! Yikes! Kris Boyd scored 5 goals.

ENGLAND

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has personally paid off the teams half a billion dollars in dept! Wow!

dN

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson has signed a contract extension.

dN

Bolton manager Gary Megson has been shown the door. Who takes over now?

dN

The 3rd Round of the FA Cup will be played this weekend. Here are those matches.

Some News for Tue Dec 29, 2009

STARTERS

Brujas FC of Desamparados is the Costa Rican Primera Division Torneo de Invierno Champions! Huge congrats to them. Former San Jose Clash and New England Revolution fullback Mauricio Wright is the teams manager! (thanks to FD for the heads up)
-This is only the teams 6th year of existence, and this is their first championship. So we will see them in the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League.










dN

Freddy Adu who has been on loan at Belenenses has been sent back to the team that owns his contract Benfica. Oof.
-Twitter message from Freddy this afternoon: "fellas i have had a deal on the table but we have to think about what the best situation is. Cant rush into anything. has to be right!"

MLS NEWS

Steve Davis at ESPN Soccernet looks at the future of the "Designated Player" rule.

MLS RUMORS

Any chances of Michael Ballack playing our league any time soon are about to end with him signing a 2 year contract extension with Chelsea.

MLS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star talks to Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad about negotiations on a new player/league agreement, and Conrad sounds confident that things will get done on time.

dN

The current deal expires on Dec 31, 2009. If no deal is in place by then the players could strike or the owners could lock them out.

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

World Track Sports is suggesting that El Salvador national team coach Carlos do los Cobos will be the next Chicago Fire head coach.

dN

The Washington Times - the Washington Post - both on the hiring of Curt Onalfo by DC United.

TEAM USA JANUARY TRAINING CAMP

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 talks to Houston's Geoff Cameron about the January camp.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Yanks Abroad reports that goalkeeper Adin Brown has been released from his contract by Aalesund in Norway. He is free to sign anywhere he wants, but a long injury filled career may put a halt to that.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - Premiership
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - started and went 55 minutes in a 2-2 road draw at Bolton.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the full 90 but gave up a goal in the dying seconds to lose 0-1 at home to Liverpool.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

SCOTLAND - Premiership
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - Wed Dec 30 v Dundee United
Dominic Cervi - Celtic - Wed Dec 30 at Kilmarnock
Maurice Edu - Rangers - Wed Dec 30 v Dundee United

MEXICO

Interliga

Official Web Site

The tournament starts on Jan 2

2 teams from this tournament get a spot in the 2010 Copa Libertadores.

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Brujas are the Costa Rica champs.

COSTA RICA - Primera Division Torneo de Invierno - Final:
1st leg
-Wed Dec 23
Puntarenas 0-0 Brujas
2nd leg
-Mon Dec 28
Brujas 0-0 Puntarenas - the series ends tied scoreless, so Penalty Kicks decide the champion, with Brujas winning 5-4.

ENGLAND

In some very sad news, the wife of Manchester United and Netherlands goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar has suffered a brain hemorrhage and is in very bad condition. He has left the team indefinitely. All the best to her.

dN

Big games this week - Matches & Scores:
-Mon Dec 28
Chelsea 2-1 Fulham - a London Derby featuring the #1 team
Tottenham 2-0 West Ham - a London Derby featuring the surprise #4 team
-Tue Dec 29
Aston Villa 0-1 Liverpool - Liverpool gets a desperation last minute goals to stay in the race for now.

dN

Next Premier League games are on Sat Jan 9.

dN

Top Team Standings:
45 Chelsea (20 played)
40 Manchester United (19 played)
37 Tottenham (20 played)
38 Arsenal (18 played)
35 Manchester City (19 played)
35 Aston Villa (20 played)

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
13 Jermain Defoe - Tottenham
13 Didier Drogba - Chelsea
13 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
12 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
11 Darren Bent - Sunderland
10 Louis Saha - Everton

SCOTLAND

The Old Firm derby is this Sunday.

JACK WARNER/SEPP BLATTER ODDITIES

England's Daily Express reports that Sepp Blatter's nephew is involved in the company that was awarded a very lucrative contract for hospitality at the World Cup.
-Do you think there is anything wrong with this?

PODCASTS

EPL Talk has an audio interview with Stefan Szymanski who is Simon Kuper's co-author of Soccernomics. Download or listen here.

ENDERS

The American Film Institute’s Top 10 for 2009 (alphabetical):
-A Serious Man
-A Single Man
-Coraline
-Precious
-Sugar
-The Hangover
-The Hurt Locker
-The Messenger
-Up
-Up in the Air

Some News for Mon Dec 28, 2009

STARTERS

Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhh! DaMarucs Beasley has suffered a tear in his thigh muscle. See details in Americans in Europe section. (Thanks to Bart of the heads up.)
-Later in the day Beasley posted this Twitter message: "Yea the injury is not as bad as we thought.. So with rest and extra treatment hope to be back by the end of the week! Fingers crossed!"

dN

The Washington Post reports that Curt Onalfo is the new head coach at DC United.

dN

Jimmy Conrad strikes again at ESPN Soccernet. The Kansas City Wizards centerback mocks the readers who took his previous column too seriously. I love this guy.

dN

Deportivo Walter Ferreti of Managua has won the Nicaraguan Apertura Championship. Congrats.

dN

NOTE: I am not much of a fan of those year in review, or decade in review articles, so don't expect to see links to them here.

MLS

LE Eisenmenger of the Examiner does a Q & A with a S Soccer Federation Referee Inspector. I know a lot of you love referee talk.

dN

David Falk of the Examiner does a Q & A with Seattle Sounders great rookie Stever Zakuani.

dN

The New England Sports Network makes a list of Top 10 Xmas presents for local sports.... and #10 is quite interesting. As are some of the comments below the article.

dN

Nigel Reed of the CBC writes about MLS trying to re-sign Stuart Holden in Houston.
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo have upped their offer to Holden.

dN

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle with an article on Houston's un-secret weapon - Geoff Cameron.

MLS RUMORS

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 reports that Jeremiah White may be the 2nd American to leave a team in Denmark and join Philadelphia.

dN

David Falk of the Examiner tries to round up all the latest Sounders player movement rumors.

MLS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

Richard Snowden of Soccer 365 on the CBA negotiation, and the role the leagues Single Entity system plays.
-Snowden feels Single Entity is a legit breaking point for the players union and their right to strike.

dN

The current deal expires on Dec 31, 2009. If no deal is in place by then the players could strike or the owners could lock them out.

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

Former Kansas City Wizards head coach has been given the same job at DC United.

dN

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Southtown Star with the latest on Chicago Fire coaching candidates.
-Confirmed interviewees:
Tom Soehn
Curt Onalfo
Richie Williams
Robin Fraser
Jesse Marsch
-Un-confirmed rumor:
Carlos de los Cobos - coach of El Salvador national team
-NOT on the list:
Hugo Sanchez

TEAM USA

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times talks to Sounders midfielder Brad Evans about being called into the USA January training camp.
-Evans wants to be on that World Cup roster.

USA U18 TEAM

There is a training camp for the U18 squad in Carson CA this week, through Sun Jan 3.

Here is the roster:
G:
Ryan Herman - Crossfire Academy
Jonathan Kempin - Kansas City Wizards
Andrew Wolverton - Concorde Fire
D:
Michael Ambrose - FC Dallas
David Caban - Chicago Fire
Sean Cunningham - Derby County Wolves
Nathanael Eggleston - Potomac Academy
George Fradenburg - Birmingham United
Bryan Gallego - NY Red Bulls
Kristian Garciamendez - Andromeda
Jordan McCrary - Concorde Fire
Jon-Paul Medina - California Odyssey
Pueblo Ocegueda - Tigres
Boyd Okwuonu - Edmond OK
Aaron Simmons - Dallas Texans
M:
Seth Casiple - California Development Academy
Samuel Coleman - FC Dallas
Amadou Dia - Real Colorado
Sean Davis - NY Red Bulls
Daniel Garcia - FC Dallas
Luis Gil - Pateadores
Markhus Lacroix - NJSA
Miguel Lopez - Lonestar SC
Daniel Metzger - PDA
Scott Thomsen - PDA
William Trapp - Columbus Crew
DeAndre Yedlin - Crossfire Premier
F:
Samuel Adjei - NY Red Bulls
Brandon Allen - PDA
Zachary Batteer - Beadling SC
Villyan Bijev - Cal Odyssey
Christopher Davis - Columbus Crew
Sean Okoli - Washington Premier FC
Jose Rivera - Pateadores
Jonathan Top - FC Dallas
Ryan Zinkhan - Richmond Strikers Academy

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Yahoo Sports reports on a new thigh injury suffered by DaMarcus Beasley. The team says he will be out 2 to 3 weeks. (thanks to Bart for the link)

dN

Maurice Edu made his return to Rangers first team, coming on as a sub on Sunday! Hooray Beer! The team had a few good words on their website.

dN

Noah Davis of Goal.com talks to Marcus Tracy of Aab about his first season as a professional.
-A quick Q & A to go with it.

dN

Arch Bell of Yanks Abroad talks to Mikkel Diskerud of Stabaek about his future.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

-Sat Dec 26 & Sun Dec 27

ENGLAND - Premiership
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - started and went 83 minutes drawing a Penalty Kick but lost at home 1-3 to Manchester United.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the full 90 in a scoreless home draw with Tottenham.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the distance but were beaten 3-0 at Arsenal.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - played the entire game but lost 2-0 at Liverpool.
Tim Howard - Everton - played the whole game as usual and drew 1-1 at Sunderland.

ENGLAND - Championship
Jay DeMerit - Watford - played all 90 but were held to a scoreless draw at home by Nottingham Forest.
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - went the distance and drew 2-2 at home with Newcastle.

ENGLAND - League One
Ian Joyce - Southend United - got a rare start and went all 90 but they lost 1-2 at home to Colchester United.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - started and played 73 minutes as they were routed 4-0 at Yeovil Town.

SCOTLAND - Premiership
Maurice Edu - Rangers - came on as a sub in the 74th minute as they went to Hibernian and won big 1-4.

-Mon Dec 28

ENGLAND - Premiership
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the entire game but lost 2-1 at Chelsea.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - got in another full 90 saw a Yellow Card and lost 0-3 at home to Manchester City.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance in a 2-0 home win over Burnley.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on as a sub in the 19th minute but they lost 2-0 at Tottenham.

ENGLAND - Championship
Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the full 90 and drawing 2-2 at Bristol City.

ENGLAND - League One
Ian Joyce - Southend United - got his 2nd start in a row and won this one 1-2 at Leyton Orient.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - went the full match scoring a goal but lost 2-5 at home against Brighton.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

ENGLAND - Premiership
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - Tue Dec 29 at Bolton
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Tue Dec 29 v Liverpool
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Tue Dec 29 v Liverpool

SCOTLAND - Premiership
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - Wed Dec 30 v Dundee United
Dominic Cervi - Celtic - Wed Dec 30 at Kilmarnock
Maurice Edu - Rangers - Wed Dec 30 v Dundee United

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

Soccer 365 with the latest on January transfer rumors.

dN

The Daily Mirror in England claims Burnley is interested in both Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden. But keep in mind that year after year the Mirror are statiscally the worst when it comes to their rumors actually happening.

CANADA

I am sorry for missing this a couple weeks back: The Canadian Soccer Association has named Simeon Jackson as their Player of the Year.
-And I am also sorry to say this: Who?
-It get's worse for me when I admit that there are 3 others in the top 10 that I have never heard of.

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

NICARAGUA - Apertura Championship:
1st leg
-Sun Dec 20
Real Esteli 1-0 Walter Ferreti
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 27
Walter Ferreti 4-1 Real Esteli - WF win 4-2 on aggregate.

dN

COSTA RICA - Primera Division Torneo de Invierno - Final:
1st leg
-Wed Dec 23
Puntarenas 0-0 Brujas
2nd leg
-Mon Dec 28
Brujas v Puntarenas (0-0)

ENGLAND

National team coach Fabio Capello has supposedly said that David Beckham will be on the World Cup roster if he is healthy.

dN

Tottenham moved back into the top 4 (at #4) with a strong PRODUCTIVE week. Premiership games on Mon, Tue & Wed will round out the holiday season. All team will them be off until Jan 9, with a round of FA Cup games on New Years weekend. (thanks to Nordy for clearing up the wrong usage of words)

dN

David Conn at the Guardian on Manchester City fans, who in just a week seem to have forgotten all about former coach Mark Hughes.
-Personally I would be a lot more excited about Roberto Mancini than Mark Hughes too.

dN

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher.

dN

Big games this week - Matches & Scores:
-Mon Dec 28
Chelsea v Fulham - a London Derby featuring the #1 team
Tottenham v West Ham - a London Derby featuring the surprise #4 team
-Tue Dec 29
Aston Villa v Liverpool - two teams trying desperately to stay in the race

dN

Next Premier League games are on Sat Jan 9.

dN

Top Team Standings:
45 Chelsea (20 played)
40 Manchester United (19 played)
37 Tottenham (20 played)
38 Arsenal (18 played)
35 Aston Villa (19 played)
35 Manchester City (19 played)

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
13 Jermain Defoe - Tottenham
13 Didier Drogba - Chelsea
13 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
11 Darren Bent - Sunderland
11 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
10 Louis Saha - Everton

FRANCE

Bordeaux has opened up a huge 9 point lead at the midway gap in the season (19 of 38 played).

dN

Next Ligue 1 games on Sat Jan 16.

dN

Top Team Standings - And this weeks Matches & Scores:
43 Bordeaux - Last: Wed Dec 23 W 1-2 at Toulouse
34 Lille - Last: Wed Dec 23 W 0-4 at Nancy Lorraine
33 Montpellier - Last: Wed Dec 23 W 1-2 at Lyon
32 Marseille - Last: Wed Dec 23 L 0-2 v Auxerre
30 Lyon - Last: Wed Dec 23 L 1-2 v Montpellier

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
11 Gervinho - Lille
10 Nene - Monaco
9 Pierre-Alain Frau - Lille
8 Asamoah Gyan - Stade Rennes
8 Lisandro Lopez - Lyon
8 Kevin Gameiro - Lorient

ITALY

David Beckman arrived at AC Milan for his first day of practice today, and everyone promptly lost their minds.

dN

Is Bayern Munich forward Luca Toni about to sign with Roma?

dN

Next Serie A games are on Wed Jan 6.

EUROPE

When Saturday Comes with the retelling of a good Xmas story in which German & English soldiers stopped fighting during WWI and played a soccer game instead.

dN

Reuters is reporting that Excelsior Mouscron has been kicked out of the Belgian top division because they can't afford to pay their bills, and have forfeited their 3 previous games.

BRAZIL

Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated looks at the growing violence around the game in Brazil as we get closer and closer to the 2014 World Cup.

ARGENTINA

The Buenos Aires Herald reports on a terrible car accident in which River Plate star in the making Diego Bounanotte was badly hurt, and 3 of his friends were all killed.

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS

Defending champion Egypt has lost two of their top players, Mohamed Abou Treika due to a broken foot and Amir Zaki due to a hamstring injury.

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

World Soccer is reporting that known Argentinian hooligans will be sent to the World Cup by that country's government, as long as said hooligans support the current government's campaigns. Wow. I wish my government would do that for me. And I don't even have a criminal record.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

FIFA and FIFPro (the players union) have announced their 2009 World Best XI:
G:
Iker Casillas
D:
Daniel Alves
Patrice Evra
John Terry
Nemanja Vidic
M:
Steven Gerrard
Xavi Hernandez
Andres Iniesta
F:
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Fernando Torres

du Nord On Holiday Break

Hello,

No one is home to take your call right now, but if you would like to leave a message do so after the beep. We will get back to you on the 28th. Buh-bye.

Bruce

PS. Happy Holidays Everyone!

Some News for Wed Dec 23, 2009

STARTERS

The reason given for Portland having fake turf in their new stadium is that they will be sharing the place with Portland State Universities football team. So much for soccer specific or the Timbers being the primary tenant.

MLS

Frank Dell'apa on his blog Soccer Confidential tells us about the great coaching success happening right now for 2 former New England Revolution favorites - Leonel Alvarez and Mauricio Wright. Alvarez led his team to the Colombian championship, and Wright's team is in the final!

dN

Seattle is going to spend part of their pre-season in Spain participating in the La Manga Cup. Several other MLS have done this before. The Sounders will be in one group with Nordsjaelland (Denmark), Rosenborg (Norway) & Stabaek (Norway). The other group will contain Brann (Norway), Krylia Sovetov (Russia), Midtjylland (Denmark) and Molde (Norway).

dN

Mark Young at MLSnet gives us a round up on many former MLSer's.

dN

Jack Bell of the New York Times shows us what Red Bulls midfielder Seth Stammler is doing this offseason - helping out the less advantaged people of Haiti.

The LA Galaxy has signed 3 young Brazilians from the legendary Sao Paulo club on loan for next season - Alex (21, left midlfield), Juninho (20, center midfield) & Leonardo (21 centerback).
-I know it's kind of ridiculous that all 3 have the names of other popular recent or current players.

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

Kelowna with a report that MLS/SUM has filed a lawsuit against Black & Decker for infringing on their turf in the MLS/SUM/Makita-Powertools marketplace. (Scroll down to the middle of the articles) It's interesting to note that SUM has enough money to pursue things like this. (Thanks to JJ for the heads up.)

MLS GENERATION ADIDAS 2010

Every year the league offers special developmental deals to players who have not finished college, but have high potential.

3 more signings announced today:
-Zach Loyd - North Carolina
-Toni Stahl - Connecticut
-Andre Akpan - Harvard

MLS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet gives us his thoughts on the negotiations for a new deal.

dN

The current deal expires on Dec 31, 2009. If no deal is in place by then the players could strike or the owners could lock them out.

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

The Oregonian tells us about the Portland Timbers search for a coach when they rise to MLS. The one guy being talked about right now is John Spencer. (Yes, the Blues Xplosion guy.)

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

The Oregonian with more on the redesign of PGE Park in Portland. (thanks to Brian for this one)

dN

The Vancouver Province gives us a look at where the Vancouver Whitecaps will play their first MLS games until their permanent home at BC Place is built. They will share it with a CFL team. Includes some rough images.
-Here is the team's official press release on the subject.

dN

Glenn Davis writing on the Fox Sports Houston website tells us again why the Dynamo need their own stadium.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Freddu Adu's reaction on Twitter to his coach getting the boot: "For those who dont know my coach at Belenenses just got fired so my decision making just got a lil bit tricky."
-What decision is that?

dN

Again I have to ask - Is it time for Carlos Bocanegra to hit the panic button at Rennes? He has now not played in 3 straight games after sitting out 1 with a suspension. What is going on? They lost today 2-0 at Sochaux.

dN

Landon Donovan's first potential games for EVerton:
-Sat Jan 2 v Carlisle United - FA Cup 3rd Round
-Sat Jan 9 at Arsenal
-Sat Jan 16 v Manchester City
-Sat Jan 23 potential FA Cup 4th Round
-Wed Jan 27 v Sunderland
-Sat Jan 30 at Wigan

dN

Mark Young at MLSnet gets us caught up with Marcus Hahnemann.

dN

Yanks Abroad talks to a teamless Ian Joy about what's next for him. MLS again perhaps?

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

NETHERLANDS - Dutch Cup Round of 16
Charles Kazlauskus - Helmond Sport - lost 3-0 at Twente Enschede and are out of the tournament.

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

COSTA RICA - Primera Division Torneo de Invierno - Final:
1st leg
-Wed Dec 23
Puntarenas v Brujas
2nd leg
-Mon Dec 28
Brujas v Puntarenas

ENGLAND

Guillem Balague of the Times wonders if this January is the time we will see Spanish striker David Villa move to a Premiership team.

dN

The Sun newspaper is putting out a scandalous story that they have confirmed that an unnamed Premier League manager has been a regular visitor to a brothel. That outta get ugly. Via The Times.

dN

The Independent previews the giant swath of Premier League matches that will happen over the next 11 days.

SPAIN

Spain has given national team head coach Vicente del Bosque a new contract that goes through Euro 2012.

FRANCE

Top Team Standings (after 19 of 38 rounds) - And this weeks Matches & Scores:
43 Bordeaux - Last: Wed Dec 23 - W 1-2 at Toulouse
34 Lille - Last: Wed Dec 23 - W 0-4 at Nancy Lorraine
33 Montpellier - Last: Wed Dec 23 - W 1-2 at Lyon
32 Marseille - Last: Wed Dec 23 - L 0-2 v Auxerre
32 Auxerre - Last: Wed Dec 23 - W 0-2 at Marseille
30 Lyon - Last: Wed Dec 23 - L 1-2 v Montpellier

dN

The next round begins on Wed Jan 13.

ARGENTINA

Marcela Mora y Aurajo of the Guardian says that Lionel Messi can definitely be a better player than Diego Maradona was.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks into his book of logic & magic to try and see what tactics lie ahead in the future for football.

When Saturday Comes points out potential flaws in video technology.

dN

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes that even though the recession has hit most people globally, the rich in the world of soccer appear to be getting richer.

ENDERS

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune also tells us what we all know - 2009 was the year of Barcelona.

Some News for Tue Dec 22, 2009

STARTERS

A brand new revelation from ABCNewspapers.com regarding the attempt to creat some order in the 2nd Division of soccer in America this spring: "...the national federation is going to order binding arbitration to iron out the details to make sure which professional soccer league it sanctions for the 2010 season."

dN

Landon Donovan was granted his UK work permit today. Off to the city of Liverpool he goes.

MLS

And what would the Metrofanatic Player of the Decade be without a Bum of the Decade. Excellent choice.

dN

Noah Davis of Goal.com talks to Chris Pontius of DC United after his surprisingly successful first year as a professional.

MLS GENERATION ADIDAS 2010

MLS Insider tells us of 4 youngsters who have already signed with MLS as part of this development program:
-Teal Bunbury
-Blair Gavin
-Dilly Duka
-Jack McInerney

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

Walter Zenga to Red Bull New York? Hmmmmm. Foreign coach with Serie A & MLS experience. Intriguing.

MLS EXPANSION

The Oregonian looks at how the USL/NASL Mess is affecting the Portland Timbers plans for entering MLS in 2011.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks at the latest state of getting a stadium built for the Dynamo.

dN

The Portland Timber's official website compares themselves to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Mexico City & Rio de Janeiro. Huh? They also have the plans for the rebuilt stadium with images to look at.
-The stadium will still have fake turf. Boo Creepy Turf Doctor.

USL-1/NASL MESS

Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer reports that here in my Twin Cities a new player is stepping into the world of 2nd division soccer. There are a lot of details to be worked out, but at least there is movement.

US SOCCER NEWS

The US Soccer Federation has awarded their Players of the Year for 2009:
-Landon Donovan Wins Male Player of the Year
-Hope Solo Wins Female Player of the Year
-Luis Gil Wins Young Male Player of the Year
-Tobin Heath Wins Young Female Player of the Year

USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

EPL Talk has an audio interview with Robert Poredos from the Slovenia Press Agency, talking football in that country, and the World Cup. It's great to get some real news on an opponent. Download or listen here.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Freddy Adu's coach at Belenenses, John Carlos Pereira, was given the boot yesterday after yet another loss. The team has only won 1 of 14 games, and sit dead last in the 16 team league. No word yet on who takes over. Will this help or hinder our Freddy?

dN

Jason de Vos of the CBC asks some very good questions about Landon Donovan going to Everton. I feel almost exactly the same way as de Vos.

dN

The Liverpool Daily Post with some Landy-Love.

dN

Greg Seltzer of No Short Corners reports that Jeremiah White is not longer at AGF Aarhus in Denmark. He is a free agent.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - Wed Dec 23 at Sochaux

NETHERLANDS - Dutch Cup Round of 16
Charles Kazlauskus - Helmond Sport - Wed Dec 23 at Twente Enschede

MEXICO

Mexico to play the mighty New Zealand in a friendly on Wed Mar 3 in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl.

ENGLAND

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the Premier League and sees "ownership by remote control."

dN

The Times of London looks at new Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini.

dN

England will play Egypt on Mar 3 at Wembley Stadium in a pre-World Cup friendly.

SCOTLAND

Craig Levein of Dundee United is the new Scottish national team head coach.

ENDERS

EA gives us video of blindfolded Keepie Uppie. It's basically a hip commercial. Thanks to NP for sending this one our way.

Team USA Winter Training Camp Roster

US Soccer will hold the now annual Team USA winter training camp next month for players currently out of season.

This year it will run from Jan 4 to the game against Honduras on Jan 23, with the team training in suburban Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center.

Here is the 30 player roster:

G:
Kevin Hartman - Kansas City Wizards
Troy Perkins - Valerenga
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
Zach Thornton - Chivas USA
D:
Kevin Alston - New England Revolution
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City Wizards
Omar Gonzalez - Los Angeles Galaxy
Clarence Goodson - IK Start
Chad Marshall - Columbus Crew
Heath Pearce - FC Dallas
Marvell Wynne - Toronto FC
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro
Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
Brad Davis - Houston Dynamo
Brad Evans - Seattle Sounders
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus
Eddie Gaven - Columbus Crew
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Jeff Larentowicz - New England Revolution
Dax McCarty - FC Dallas
Brandon McDonald - San Jose Earthquakes
Chris Pontius - DC United
Robbie Rogers - Columbus Crew
F:
Justin Braun - Chivas USA
Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids
Jeff Cunningham - FC Dallas
Robbie Findley - Real Salt Lake
Marcus Tracy - AaB Aalborg

(They listed Brandon McDonald as a forward, and I moved him to midfield.)

OK, so who are the surprises?

And who has been left off?
-I can only assume that they figure Stuart Holden & Ricardo Clark are headed to Europe in January, and that is why they are not included.
-Three other European players that come to mind are:
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland
Chris Rolfe - AaB Aalborg
Hunter Freeman - IK Start - (out due to a surgical procedure - thanks to Prairie for the info)
-ADDED BY READERS AFTER INITIAL POST:
Eric Brunner - Columbus Crew
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Chris Seitz - Philadelphia Union
Adin Brown - Aalesund
Dan Califf - Philadelphia Union
Jeremiah White - no club
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo - recovering from surgery
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy

Some News for Mon Dec 21, 2009

STARTERS

Barcelona win the Club World Cup 2-1 on a goal by who else, Lionel Messi. Congrats to them on winning absolutely everything! 6 titles in the year 2009. Some are going to call them the best team EVER. To me it's not something that can be compared to other eras, but, they have been something very special.

dN

DaMarcus Beasley does it again! Get's one goal (with his right foot no less) and sets up another. Wow. It almost brings tears to my eyes. Words from the Rangers website.

dN

And Maurice Edu took to the field for the Rangers reserve team today! Oh Hell Yeah and Hooray Beer! (pic from the official Rangers website)















dN

Hillcrest Road tells us that heavy duty machinery has invaded suburban Kansas City, and initial work on the Wizards stadium is about to happen! Pics included.

dN

In no surprise to anyone, Lionel Messi has been named the FIFA World Player of the Year.

MLS CUP WEEKEND - THOUGHT YOU HAD SEEN THE LAST OF THIS SECTION HADN'T YOU

Have you ever seen a New England Revolution game on TV? If so, then you most likely have seen shots of their supporters section (The Fort) including a big big dude in a wrestling mask standing in the front row. Well that guy is a very good amigo named Mike, is married to the excellent Prairie Rose, and shot this tremendous video of his trip to MLS Cup weekend. (And I am in it not once, but twice!)

MLS

College Player of the Year Teal Bunbury has announced that he is signing with MLS. He knocked home 17 goals with Akron this season to lead the nation. He played last summer with my hometown Rochester Thunder.

dN

Richard Snowden of Soccer 365 puts down a simple MLS fix - crack down hard on the cheap fouling. He feels it will make the game look much better to the fan.

dN

Ives Galarcep writing for ESPN Soccernet about the big questions being posed inside DC United these days.

dN

Philadelphia Union has announced a minor affiliation with PDL and youth club Reading Rage (soon to be called Reading United AC, I shit you not, and I think I just double gagged on that name) in Reading PA (60 miles northwest of Philly.)

dN

Columbus has signed forward Jason Garey to a new 4 year contract. Really? Why?

dN

ESPN Chicago has a published their Chicago Fire Top 10 Players of the Decade. Are you surprised by any of these?

MLS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

The current deal expires on Dec 31, 2009. If no deal is in place by then the players could strike or the owners could lock them out.

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times with a few new small pieces of interest.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Luke Cyphers of ESPN Magazine with an article on DaMarcus Beasley & Maurice Edu and their struggles that can go along with the glory of being at a club across the Atlantic Ocean.

dN

And the Scottish version of News of the World talks to Beasley about Rangers chasing after Stuart Holden.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet looks at the tough decision it can be to leave the USA for those "greener pastures."

dN

Is there bad news in France right now? Carlos Bocanegra seems to find himself on the bench. After being suspended one game due to Yellow Card accumulation he has been stuck on the bench for the last 2 matches. Not good.

dN

Marcus Hahnemann is doing a fantastic job in the goal for Wolverhampton keeping clean sheets in 3 of the past 4 games!

dN

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 reports on the progress in health for Zak Whitbread. Where is he going to play?

dN

The Liverpool Echo on Everton signing Landon Donovan.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - Premiership
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the full 90 and beat Manchester United 3-0 at home.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the distance and won 1-0 at home over Stoke.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - again going the distance and this time beating Burnley 2-0 at home.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full match getting a home draw 1-1 against Birmingham.

ENGLAND - Championship
Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the entire game but went to Peterborough United and lost 2-1.
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - came on as a sub in the 54th minute, got a Yellow Card, and lost at home 0-2 to Swansea City.

ENGLAND - League One
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - came on as a sub in the 53rd minute as they drew 2-2 at home against Oldham Athletic.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - played the entire game but lost 3-2 at Bayer Leverkusen.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the full 90, got a Yellow Card, and lost at home 2-3 to Bochum.

SCOTLAND - Premiership
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers -
played the full game, scored a goal and set up another as they hosted Motherwell and trounced them 6-1.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - Mon Dec 21 v Augsburg

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

The Stuart Holden to Blackburn rumors did not go away over the weekend.

ENGLAND

Stan Kroenke has bought a few more shares of Arsenal stock, bringing him to within a whisker (he has a big bushy mustache, whisker, get it) of having to make a full purchase bid. England law says that if you own 30% you must bid for the whole thing. He is at 29.999999 or something.

dN

Paul Doyle of the Guardian gives us Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

dN

Richard Williams of the Guardian on new Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini.
-Us Inter fans know him well.

dN

No rest for the wicked - games galore all through Christmas and New Years weekends.

dN

Top Team Standings:
41 Chelsea
37 Manchester United
35 Arsenal
35 Aston Villa
33 Tottenham
29 Manchester City

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
13 Jermain Defoe - Tottenham
13 Didier Drogba - Chelsea
12 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
11 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
10 Darren Bent - Sunderland
10 Louis Saha - Everton

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian feels that Real Madrid are finally looking like convincing championship material, and the rest of the weekend in the Liga.

dN

La Liga is on break until Sat Jan 2.

dN

Top Team Standings:
39 Barcelona
37 Real Madrid
30 Sevilla
29 Valencia
27 Mallorca
27 Deportivo La Coruna

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
12 David Villa - Valencia
11 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Barcelona
10 Roberto Soldado - Getafe
10 Gonzalo Higuain - Real Madrid
9 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
8 Luis Fabiano - Sevilla

FRANCE

Ligue plays midweek games this week, and is then on break until Sat Jan 16.

dN

Top Team Standings - And this weeks Matches & Scores:
40 Bordeaux
32 Marseille
31 Lille
30 Lyon
30 Montpellier

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
10 Nene - Monaco
9 Gervinho - Lille
8 Pierre-Alain Frau - Lille
8 Asamoah Gyan - Stade Rennes
8 Lisandro Lopez - Lyon
8 Kevin Gameiro - Lorient

GERMANY

This weekend was the unofficial half way point of the German championship, and the leader is crowned the figurative Christmas Champion: Thus, Bayer Leverkusen is the winner at the break. I wonder whent he last time was that they lead the league at this stage.

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on first place Leverkusen, and the rest of the weekend in die Bundesliga.

dN

Top Team Standings - And - Matches & Scores:
35 Bayer Leverkusen - Last: W 3-2 v Monchengladbach
34 Schalke - Last: W 1-0 v Mainz
33 Bayern Munich - Last: W 5-2 v Hertha Berlin
31 Hamburg - Last: W 2-1 v Werder Bremen
30 Borussia Dortmund - Last: W 1-0 v Freiburg
28 Werder Bremen - Last: L 2-1 at Hamburg

dN

The top goal scorer at the midpoint of this season is not nearly as explosive as last year when Vedad Ibisevic of Hoffenheim had 18 by this time. Then he blew his knee out, and didn't score another goal.

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
12 Stefan Kiessling - Bayer Leverkusen
9 Lucas Barrios - Borussia Dortmund
8 Kevin Kuranyi - Schalke
8 Mario Gomez - Bayern Munich
7 Edin Dzeko - Wolfsburg

ITALY

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian writes about the ever disintegrating atmosphere at Juventus (the lost again), and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

dN

Serie A is on break until We Jan 6. Inter is running away with it, holding the biggest league in all of Europe's leagues.

dN

Top Team Standings:
39 Inter
31 Milan
30 Juventus
28 Roma
28 Parma
27 Napoli

dN

Top Goal Scorers:
11 Antonio Di Natale - Udinese
10 Diego Milito - Inter
9 Francesco Totti - Roma
8 Samuel Eto'o - Inter
8 Giampaolo Pazzini - Sampdoria
8 Alessandro Matri - Cagliari
8 Marek Hamsik - Napoli

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

A new format this year sees the knock out round legs spread out over 4 days instead of 2, giving more TV space for the teams.

SOUTH AMERICA

COLOMBIA - Futbol Profesional Copa Mustang II Final:
1st Leg
-Wed Dec 16
Atletico Huila 0-1 Deportiva Independiente Medellín
2nd leg
-Sun Dec 20
Deportiva Independiente Medellín 2-2 Atletico Huila - DIM win the title 3-2 on aggregate!

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Jurgen Klinsmann, talking World Cup.

CLUB WORLD CUP

Barcelona beat Estudiantes in the Final on Saturday 2-1 on a goal by the great Messi in Added Extra Time after ending 1-1 in regulation.

dN

The tournament was played in Abu Dhabi.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 9 - Match 1
Al Ahli FC 0-2 Auckland City FC - Auc goals by Adam Dickinson & Chad Coombes.
-Fri Dec 11 - Match 2
TP Mazembe 1-2 Pohang Steelers FC - TPM goal by Mbenza Bedi. PS goals both by Denilson (no, not that one).
Sat Dec 12 - Match 3
Auckland City FC 0-3 Atlante FC - Atl goals by Daniel Arreola, Christian Bermudez & Lucas Silva.
-Tue Dec 15 - Semifinal
Pohang Steelers FC 1-2 Estudiantes de La Plata - PS goal by Denilson - EDLP goals both by Leandro Benitez.
-Wed Dec 16 - Semifinal
Atlante FC 1-3 FC Barcelona - Atl goal by Guillermo Rojas. Bar goals by Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi & Pedro.
-Sat Dec 19 - Final
Barcelona 2-1 Estudiantes - Bar goals by Pedro & Lionel Messi. Est goal by Mauro Bosello.

Some News for Fri Dec 18, 2009

STARTERS

Kasey Keller: "...we have been told of a probable lockout date of Feb. 1st" - AND - "...he major points for the players are: guaranteed contracts, free agency, and the right to negotiate with other MLS teams." See all the rest of Keller's words in the MLS Collective Bargaining Agreement section. [LINK CORRECTED]

dN

Everton says the deal with Landon Donovan is complete. He will be with them on Jan 1 or 2. Includes video of coach David Moyes.

dN

Every time I see ESPN make their grandiose claims that they are 100% committed to soccer, we get proof that it is a charade. Here is the latest: ESPN is launching more and more localized sports coverage, and on their page to find local news we get many sports listed, but no soccer of any kind, just sections for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Coll Football, Coll Basketball, NASCAR, PGA & MMA. Busted again.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Here is the draw for the first round of knockout games:














dN

Matchday 7 will be played on Tue Feb 16, Wed Feb 17, Tue Feb 23 & Wed Feb 24.

CHARLIE DAVIES

The Washington Post gives us the first glimpse at details in the car crash that killed one person and seriously injured USA forward Charlie Davies.

MLS

The great Metrofanatic announce their MetroStars/Red Bull Player of the Decade. It might surprise you. But I love it.

dN

DC United has signed Cristian Castillo from El Salvador on a loan deal. He played last year for Alianza in his homeland, and was loaned out to Leon in Mexico, who have recently bought him, and now Leon turns right around and loans him out to DC. Weird.

MLS RUMORS

Several juicy DC United player rumors coming from the Washington Post as usual. And also a mention of some young Brazilian's for the Galaxy.

dN

Soccer By Ives with a couple of cool sounding rumors - Stuart Holden to Blackburn - and - John Spencer to coach Portland.

dN

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America ruminates on the future of Stuart Holden.

dN

River Plate wants Juan Pablo Angel to return and help revive the struggling club.

dN

Patrick Viera to MLS? From Soccer 365.

MLS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

Kasey Keller takes to his own blog to give us some off season thoughts, and some real opinions on the players negotiations with MLS.

dN

Jose Romero of the Seattle Times with more words from Keller, and Sounders player rep James Riley.

dN

The current deal expires on Dec 31, 2009.

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

The Washington Post reports on a possible kick up stairs for a DC United assistant.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

The Kansas City Wizards blog has video of team pres Robb Heineman talks about their new stadium plans. Very upbeat.

NCAA

Soccer America has announced their list of 2009 MVPS (FIRST TEAM):
G Diego Restrepo, Virginia, Jr.
F Andre Akpan, Harvard, Sr.
M Anthony Ampaipitakwong, Akron, Jr.
M Corben Bone, Wake Forest, Jr.
F Teal Bunbury, Akron, Soph.
M Irving Garcia, UC Irvine, Sr.
D Zach Loyd, North Carolina, Sr.
M Ashley McInnes, Tulsa, Jr.
F Danny Mwanga, Oregon State, Soph.
M Kyle Nakazawa, UCLA, Sr.
D Ike Opara, Wake Forest, Jr.

dN

And Soccer America's Player of the Year: F Teal Bunbury, Akron, Soph.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

In the first knockout round of the UEFA Europa League Clint Dempsey & Fulham have drawn Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, while Tim Howard and Everton have been drawn against Sporting of Portugal. Both will be tough, but not impossible! Very exciting.

dN

Bryan Arguez is out the door at Hertha Berlin. Where will he go?

CANADA

Rumor going 'round that Canada will play Jamaica on Jan 31. Where?

GERMANY

Soccer365 translates some Juergen Klinsmann quotes ripping Bayern Munich's former general manager & new chairman Uli Hoeness.
-These are the same criticisms that I have written about this club many times.

dN

BUNDESLIGA - Standings - And - Last round before winter break Matches & Scores:
32 Bayer Leverkusen - Next: Sat Dec 19 v Monchengladbach
31 Schalke - Next: Fri Dec 18 v Mainz
30 Bayern Munich - Next: Sat Dec 19 v Hertha Berlin
28 Werder Bremen - Next: Sun Dec 20 at Hamburg
28 Hamburg - Next: Sun Dec 20 v Werder Bremen
27 Borussia Dortmund - Next: Sat Dec 19 v Freiburg

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

The final 5 teams - Anderlecht, Lille, Happoel Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos & Villarreal - joined 19 teams - Hertha Berlin, Panathinaikos, Roma, Fulham, Club Brugge, Kobenhavn, Ajax, Sporting, Hamburg, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Salzburg, Benfica, Everton, Shakhtar, Werder Bremen, Athletic Bilbao & PSV - that have advanced to the knockout rounds already.

And 8 teams from the Champions League - Juventus, Wolfsburg, Marseille, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urziceni & Standard Liege - will drop down to fill out the 32 team field.

dN

Here is the draw for the first knockout round.

ARGENTINA

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated writes about Banfield winning the Argentine championship, the first time in their 113 years!!!
-Neither Boca Juniors or River Plate have qualified for the 2010 Copa Libertadores. Wow.

CLUB WORLD CUP

Barcelona meets Estudiantes in the Final on Saturday.

dN

The tournament is being played in Abu Dhabi.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 9 - Match 1
Al Ahli FC 0-2 Auckland City FC - Auc goals by Adam Dickinson & Chad Coombes.
-Fri Dec 11 - Match 2
TP Mazembe 1-2 Pohang Steelers FC - TPM goal by Mbenza Bedi. PS goals both by Denilson (no, not that one).
Sat Dec 12 - Match 3
Auckland City FC 0-3 Atlante FC - Atl goals by Daniel Arreola, Christian Bermudez & Lucas Silva.
-Tue Dec 15 - Semifinal
Pohang Steelers FC 1-2 Estudiantes de La Plata - PS goal by Denilson - EDLP goals both by Leandro Benitez.
-Wed Dec 16 - Semifinal
Atlante FC 1-3 FC Barcelona - Atl goal by Guillermo Rojas. Bar goals by Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi & Pedro.
-Sat Dec 19 - Final
Barcelona v Estudiantes

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated announces his All-Decade Starting XI.
-While we all might have other favorites we would like to see in a First 11, it's pretty tough to argue against anyone on this team.

dN

And Wahl lists the best and worst soccer events of the decade.

SPECIAL EDITION: MLS In Minneapolis

Today there has been lots of scuttlebutt concerning MLS coming to the Twin Cities and sharing a new stadium with the Minnesota Vikings. The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a story today.

dN

I live in Minneapolis, so let me shed some light on this story:

The owner of the Vikings is a liar. How’s that for a start.

Then we can go right to this: the stadium they are talking about in the article is one that the Vikings are on record as saying they have no interest in.

This stadium would be owned by the Metropolitan Sports Commission who would rent it out to the Vikings for 10+ games per year, and then the Commission would make money on everything else, just like they do now at the Metrodome (which is rented out nearly every single day of the year.)

Of course what the Vikings want is for the city, county, state to build them a stadium and then hand it over so the Vikings will make every penny on use above and beyond football games; naming rights, in-stadium advertising, parking, sky boxes, merch, food, beer etc etc

In their moves we also see the Vikings using the old ploy of saying “other sports” can be played in the stadium, just to placate politicians.

Across town the University of Minnesota built a new football stadium (that opened this Septmeber) saying international soccer would be played there, but in the end the field dimensions are too small for international soccer. Not to mention that it has fake turf. A good example of lies from people who need money to build stadiums

It’s not unlike the Seattle Seahawks using soccer as a tool when getting tax payers to pay for Qwest Field - they lied too - when in reality the Seahawks had no interest in MLS. Several years later when someone else put up all the money for a MLS team then the Seahawks jumped on the bandwagon to get their stadium used for 20+ more dates per year.

It’s all politics.

But I guess at least people are talking about soccer in my city, and I sure like that.

Some News for Thu Dec 17, 2009

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Arch Bell of Yanks Abroad does a great interview with Jay Needham who passed up MLS to play for Alta in Norway's 2nd division. How bad does your MLS experience have to be to go play in a league like that? He has some pretty open comments about MLS etc.

dN

The Glasgow Herald with a story on the amazing turnaround in the season for DaMarcus Beasley.

dN

The Guardian describes the dyer financial state of Jay DeMerit's team Watford.

dN

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 talks to Ian Joy about where he goes next.

dN

Clint Dempsey helped lead Fulham to a road win over Basel in the Europa League, which got them enough points to finish 2nd in their group behind Roma, and they now advance to the knockout stages early next year. The draw for the next round will be held on Fri Dec 18. Stay tuned.

MLS

TSN reports that Toronto has not picked up the contract options for both Amado Guevara and Pablo Vitti. That frees up a tooooooooon of salary cap space.

dN

Even though the Charleston Battery are dropping down to USL-2 for next season they are still planning to host the pre-season Carolina Challenge Cup with 3 MLS teams. Those teams will be Real Salt Lake, DC United and Toronto FC.

dN

Soccer 365 interviews Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller about what his team needs for next season to put them at the top of the league.

dN

Mark Young at MLSnet tracks down all your fave MLS alum players to see what is up with them this week. What's going on with Dedi?

MLS RUMORS

Steve Davis at ESPN Soccernet checks out all twists and turns that Landon Donovan's loan deal to Everton could uncover.

dN

I have read several different stories about Landon Donovan's new contract, with the range in salaries being 1.8 Million to 2.25 Million per season.

dN

Is Amado Guevara headed once again back to Motagua in Honduras?

dN

Landon Donovan was getting set to go on loan to America in Mexico until Everton came along!

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

Peter Wilt at Pitch Invasion writes about how a pro team goes about hiring a new head coach.

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Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now says that Soccer America got bad info on the Chicago coaching search. It's NOT down to just Jesse Marsch and Tom Soehn as reported yesterday.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

There will be no CFL games played at BMO field in Toronto. Hooray $12 beer!

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The company that put the roof on the new Red Bull Arena tell us all about it.

USL-1/NASL MESS

Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer takes the time to give us a team by team breakdown of everyone involved in the 2 leagues.

TEAM USA

Brad Paton of the US Soccer Review gives us his Top 5 Highs and Bottom 5 Lows for the USA in 2009.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA - Europa League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 70th minute and helped them win 2-3 at Basel, and advance to the knock out stages.

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Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

UEFA - Europa League
Dominic Cervi - Celtic - Thu Dec 17 at Rapid Wien
Tim Howard - Everton - Thu Dec 17 v BATE
Matt Luzunaris - Rapid Wien - Thu Dec 17 v Celtic

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

Has Miami FC sold USA U20 team forward Tony Taylor to Estoril Praia in Portugal (2nd tier - Segunda Liga)?

MEXICO

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated looks at what Mexico is going to have to do to succeed at the World Cup.

CANADA

For the 2nd year in a row the Canadian Soccer Association has named Nana Attakora of Toronto FC as the Under-20 Player of the Year.

ENGLAND

The Wall Street Journal writes about the looming financial tug of war between American Stan Kroenke and Russian Alisher Usmanov for the ownership of Arsenal.

SPAIN

Phil Munshull of the BBC has a great article on the first player of African decent to suit up for Athletic Bilbao. What took them so long?

GERMANY

Germany has signed national team coach Jochim Loew to a new contract that runs through 2012.

ITALY

COPPA ITALIA - Round of 16
-Wed Dec 16
Inter 1-0 Livorno - Int goal by Wesley Sneijder.
-The other 7 matches in this round will not be played until Mid-January.

EUROPE

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian gives us more of his amazing tactical analysis - The Nutmeg.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The draw for the first knock out stage will be done on Fri Dec 18.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 6 will be played on Wed Dec 16 & Thu Dec 17. This is the last round of the Group Stage.

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Standings

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6 teams - Hertha Berlin, Panathinaikos, Roma, Fulham, Club Brugge & Kobenhavn - joined 13 teams - Ajax, Sporting, Hamburg, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Salzburg, Benfica, Everton, Shakhtar, Werder Bremen, Athletic Bilbao & PSV - that have advanced to the knockout rounds already.

The other 5 spots will be filled Thursday.

And 8 teams from the Champions League - Juventus, Wolfsburg, Marseille, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urziceni & Standard Liege - will drop down to fill out the 32 team field.

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The draw is to be held on Fri Dec 18.

ARGENTINA

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated writes about Banfield winning the Argentine championship, the first time in their 113 years!!!
-Neither Boca Juniors or River Plate have qualified for the 2010 Copa Libertadores. Wow.

CLUB WORLD CUP

Barcelona meets Estudiantes in the Final on Saturday.