Some News for Fri Dec 11, 2009

STARTERS

In the 1st leg of the Mexican finals last night Cruz Azul was up 1-3 at Monterrey, but Reyados came storming back to win it 4-3!

dN

The UEFA Champions League draw will be held on Fri Dec 18. Teams will be divided into two pots. And teams from the same country or same Group stage can't face each other.
#1 Seeds: Bordeaux, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Fiorentina, Barcelona, Sevilla & Arsenal.
#2 Seeds: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moskva, AC Milan, Porto, Olympique Lyon, Inter Milan, Stuttgart & Olympiacos.

MLS

Just how bad does MLS want Stuart Holden to stay in Houston? My Fox Houston reports that Holden had a sit down with MLS commish Don Garber yesterday!

dN

The New York Times does a Q & A with Houston attacking midfielder Stuart Holden.

dN

Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now brings Fire fans a quote they should be very excited to read -"Wilman's got a year left in his contract and he's going to be here next year," Technical Director Frank Klopas said.

dN

Noah Davis of Goal.com has a chat with RSL's on field leader Kyle Beckerman.

dN

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America looks at some of the recent players that MLS has signed on loan deals and had it go so well that they player was bought outright.

dN

The Seattle Times does a Q & A with Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer.

MLS RUMORS

At this time word is that its only a matter of time till Chris Gbandi resigns with a MLS team. Good to have him back.

MLS COACHES MERRY-GO-ROUND

The Washington Post reports that the Fire want to talk to Richie Williams about their head coaching position. Williams is said to be no longer in the running for the same job in DC.

NCAA MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

Here is the 2009 NSCAA NCAA Division I All-America Team:
G:
Jeffrey Attinella - South Florida
D:
Bobby Warshaw - Stanford
Zach Loyd - North Carolina
Ike Opara - Wake Forest
M:
Kyle Nakazawa - UCLA
Anthony Ampaipitakwong - Akron
Corben Bone - Wake Forest
Tony Tchani - Virginia
F:
Teal Bunbury - Akron
Colin Rolfe - Louisville
Ryan Kinne - Monmouth
Andre Akpan - Harvard

dN

And here are the 3 finalists for the 2009 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy (aka The College Player of the Year):
-Andre Akpan - Harvard
-Corben Bone - Wake Forest
-Teal Bunbury - Akron
The award will be handed out on Fri Jan 8.

dN

The tournament concludes this weekend with the Semifinals and Final on Friday and Sunday respectively at WakeMed Park in Cary NC.

dN

Inside Minnesota Soccer does a Q & A with Akron goal scoring machine Teal Bunbury.

dN

The Washington Post with a very interesting article on Virginia goal keeper Diego Restrepo.

dN

Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Fri Dec 11
Akron v North Carolina
Wake Forest v Virginia

-Sun Dec 13
Final

dN

Here is the full official bracket for the tournament.

USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet looks at who might be called in to the annual January camp and match, for players who are out of their seasons. There are some good names on his list.

dN

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times on the USA v England rivalry, new words of war from Spain's Feranado Torres towards the USA, and Landon Donovan's immediate future.

MEXICO

Primera Division Liguilla

Monterrey fight back to take the first leg at home.
-Reuters with a match report.

All playoff rounds are 2 Legs.

Final Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Dec 10
Monterrey 4-3 Cruz Azul - Mon goals by Emanuel Villa(OG), Humberto Suazo(2) & Sergio Sanatana. CA goals by Christian Reveros(2) & Emanuel Villa.
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 13
Cruz Azul v Monterrey (3-4)

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES THIS WEEKEND

-Sat Dec 12
Barcelona v Espanyol - the Barcelona derby
Werder Bremen v Schalke - #3 hosts #2 with Bayern breathing down their necks.
-Sun Dec 13
Liverpool v Arsenal - battle of the big name pretenders
Lyon v Bordeaux - the only two who are legit title contenders go at it

ENGLAND

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, and Stan Kroenke's main competitor to buy Arsenal, has bought more stock in the team brining his total to 26%. Just behind Kroenke's 29.9%.

SCOTLAND

Ewan Murray of the Guardian looks at the financial troubles for Celtic & Rangers and wonders if it won't actually make the whole league a lot more competitive.

EUROPE

Zenit of St Petersburg Russia has hired former Roma manager Luciano Spalletti to run their ship. He replaces Dick Advocaat.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The first leg of the first round of knockout games, Matchday 7, begins Tue Feb 16.

dN

Amy Lawrence of the Guardian with 10 questions that can be asked now that the group stage is over.

SOUTH AMERICA

Chile Championship
2nd Leg
-Wed Dec 9
Catolica v Colo Colo (2-2)

dN

Peru Championship
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 13
Universitario Limav Alianza Lima (1-0)

ARGENTINA

Just 1 round left now in the Primera Apertura, and 2 teams want the crown. First next round is mid-week and the final round is next Sunday!

dN

Standings, Matches & Scores - after 17 of 19 games played:
41 Banfield - Finale: Sun Dec 13 at Boca Juniors
39 Newell's Old Boys - Finale: Sun Dec 13 v San Lorenzo

dN

Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian tells us about a new day dawning at River Plate.

CLUB WORLD CUP

The tournament is being played in Abu Dhabi, and begins on Wednesday.

-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 v Atlante FC
-Tue Dec 15 - Semifinal
Pohang Steelers FC v Estudiantes de La Plata
-Wed Dec 16 - Semifinal
Winner Match 3 v FC Barcelona
-Sat Dec 19
Final

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with his updated World Club Soccer Power Rankings.

PODCASTS

Sports Illustrated has a new podcast hosted by their own Jonah Freedman and Noah Davis of Goal.com. Download or listen here.