Monday, December 21, 2009

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.

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

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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.)

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

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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.

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

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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!

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

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The Liverpool Echo on Everton signing Landon Donovan.

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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.

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

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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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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The tournament was played in Abu Dhabi.

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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.

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