Some News for Mon/Tue Jan 11/12, 2010
Hey All. I am on vacation this week, so it's taking me a little more time then usual to get the reports together, mainly cuz I am out floating around the city all footloose and fancy free. Lot's of sleeping in, taking long lunches, and engaging in tom foolery. So bear with me here......
STARTERS
The BBC reports that Togo was basically kicked out of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Article includes amazing audio interview with team captain Emmanuel Adebayor, and more detail from the attack on the team by the Cabinda separatist rebels.
LANDON DONOVAN AT EVERTON
The thing that struck me most about Landon Donovan's debut at Everton was that he was taking the Corner Kicks. I know we USA fans sometimes question his quality at this job, but obviously he is good enough to step right into that role for Everton. Impressive indeed!
dN
Here are a few of my faves from amog the many many many articles on Landon Donovan's debut with Everton:
-Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365.
-The Liverpool Daily Post.
-The Times of London.
MLS NEWS
Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Crew has Guillermo Barros Schelotto all set to sign a new contract! Hooray Beer.
-The team has also signed fullback Jed Zayner to a new contract meaning that all their players from last year are now set to return except Alejandro Moreno who went to Philly in the expansion draft.
dN
DC United has decided not to bring back striker Luciano Emilio for another season. Word has it that he has signed with Rio Branco EC in Brazil.
dN
Wash Post with video of Freddy Adu's arrival in Greece - a wild scene!
-Can you picture how nuts it was when Eddie Johnson showed up?!?!
dN
Chivas USA announced that they have loaned forward Eduardo Lillingston to Tijuana for the upcoming Clausura season.
dN
Everyone in Chicago is chiming in on the Fire's new head coach Carlos of the Conch.
-Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star.
-Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald.
-Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now.
-Charlie Corr of ESPN Chicago.
-Chicago Tribune.
And Brian Strauss of Fanhouse writes about de los Cobos too.
The Conch points to Toyota Park and laughs at Sepp Blatter who thinks MLS should play during the winter months. (photo stolen from the Southtown Star)
dN
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says the New York Red Bulls started unofficial practice with their new head coach for next season TODAY!
-They are also headed to La Manga in Spain on Jan 20. I think this is a new sign of seriousness from this team.
dN
Lewis writing for the New York Daily News poses many questions about the hiring of Hans Backe as the Red Bulls 13th head coach.
MLS RUMORS
The Washington Post reports that former DC United goalkeeper Troy Perkins is looking to return to MLS after 2 years (parts of 3 seasons) in Norway at Valerenga.
dN
The Southtown Star reports that Salvadoran midfielder Julio Martinez will be signed on loan to the Chicago Fire from Leon in Mexico.
dN
All the best rumor mongering from Soccer 365 (And I say that with love.) Mike Magee, Julio Martinez, Stuart Holden, Ilia Javorijan and Iker Casillas make the list today.
MLS COLLEGE PLAYER DRAFT
The draft takes place on Thu Jan 14 starting at 1pm Central. And the first hour can be seen on ESPN2.
dN
Striker Teal Bunbury of Akron who is expected to a very high pick has been named the winner of the NCAA Player of the Year award AKA The Hermann Trophy. Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer has an audio interview with the talented forward who just signed a contract to play on a MLS team next season, and will be available in the college player draft later this week. Download or listen here.
dN
Best name in the draft: Two-Boys Gumede
USSF 2ND DIVISION
The Glasgow Herald paints a brutally bad picture of St Louis' first head coach Claude Anelka. Oof.
dN
Jason de Vos of the CBC does not like the set up of the new 2nd Division.
-The good part is that this is just a stop gap league intended to last 1 year until teams can get it properly sorted out for next season. So maybe de Vos might see some of his wished granted.
dN
The NASL teams held their first ever General Meetings this past weekend in Florida. Both Miami FC and the Carolina RailHawks websites have a few bits of news for us.
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports that Fox Soccer Channel is going to bring back all the programming they licensed to Setanta, and then start their own monthly subscription channel called Fox Soccer Plus. It's not know what they will be showing yet. (thanks to JJ for the article)
dN
PR Newswire with an article on the next step in the evolution of fake turf.
-As much as we hate the stuff, it is a reality, and this is at least another possible step up in quality.
TEAM USA JANUARY TRAINING CAMP
Official Blog
-1 thing worth mentioning from Monday: "Marcus Tracy continues to be bothered by tendinitis and remains sidelined."
dN
Nick Green of the Daily Breeze with an article on Omar Gonzalez.
dN
Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America tells us about young striker Alejandro Bedoya.
dN
Friendly Match & Score:
-Sat Jan 23
USA v Honduras AKA the Jonathan Bornstein Tribute Match
USA U20 TEAM
Eric Wynalda has been added to the coaching staff assisting head man Thomas Rongen along with other assistants Dave Dir and Tim Mulqueen.
US SOCCER WORLD CUP 2018/2022 BID
US Soccer announced the 18 stadiums that will be part of their official bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Stunningly Chicago is not on the list! San Francisco is the other major city to not make the cut. Below are the finalists (click image to enlarge):
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Fanhouse with an article on the English career of Clint Dempsey so far.
dN
FIFA looks at the next stop on the Freddy Adu world club tour - Aris in Salonika Greece.
dN
ESPN Soccernet looks to the weeks and months ahead for the Americans playing in Europe.
dN
GAME ACTION
ENGLAND - Premier League
Landon Donovan - Everton - got the start on his debut, put in the corner for his teams first goal, played 68 minutes and drew 2-2 at Arsenal.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 as usual and they drew 2-2 at Arsenal.
ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Leeds - came on as a sub in the 84th minute as they drew 1-1 at home against Wycombe.
Jon Paul Pittman - Wycombe - went the full 90 and scored his teams only goal as they drew 1-1 at Leeds.
AMERICANS IN EUROPE RUMORS
With Burnley's head coach moving on to Bolton, it looks like Stuart Holden will probably be going there on trial instead of Burnley.
-Greg Seltzer of No Short Corners confirms this, as only he can.
dN
Has Miami FC loaned centerback Gale Agbossoumonde to Braga in Portugal for the rest of their season?
dN
Bryan Arguez to Flamengo?? Come on!
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Arch Bell of Yanks Abroad talks to Herculez Gomez about his decision to split Kansas City and sign with Puebla.
MEXICO INTERLIGA
Official Web Site
dN
2 teams from this tournament get a spot in the 2010 Copa Libertadores.
dN
America takes on Monterrey in one game, while Puebla plays Estudiantes in the other, with the 2 winners claiming the Libertadores spots.
dN
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.
dN
Group A (3 games played)
ADV - 7 America (+5)
ADV - 4 Estudiantes (+1)
OUT - 3 Santos (-1)
OUT - 3 Atlante (-5)
Group B (3 game played)
ADV - 6 Puebla (+3)
ADV - 5 Monterrey (+1)
OUT - 2 Chiapas (-1)
OUT - 2 Tigres (-3)
dN
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 2
Atlante 2-1 Estudiantes Tecos
America 3-1 Santos Laguna
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Jan 3
UANL Tigres 1-4 Puebla
Monterrey 0-0 Chiapas Jaguares
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Tue Jan 5
Estudiantes Tecos 2-0 Santos Laguna
Atlante 3-0 America
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Wed Jan 6
Chiapas Jaguares 0-1 Puebla
UANL Tigres 1-1 Monterrey
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sat Jan 9
Santos Laguna 3-0 Atlante
America 3-3 Estudiantes Tecos
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Jan 10
Puebla 1-2 Monterrey
UANL Tigres 3-3 Chiapas Jaguares
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
dN
Playoff Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 13
Final 1 - America v Monterrey
Final 2 - Puebla v Estudiantes
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
ENGLAND IS A SPECIAL PLACE
American Tom Hicks is one of the owners of Liverpool FC, and he is disliked by the team's fans. His son Tom Jr is on the team's Board of Directors, and a few weeks ago supporters got their mitts on his personal email address. They began a major assault on his in-box with their thoughts on he & his father's ability (or lack thereof) to run the team. After reading and responding to several of these emails Jr finally snapped, as most would, and sent a response to one of the "fans" that in part read: "Blow me fuck face. Go to hell. I'm sick of you." Oof! As you can imagine this was received quite poorly, and those same fans then a field day with this email. Once the media got wind of it (which took about 4 seconds) Tom Hicks Jr quickly resigned from the club. Now, for a moment try to conjure up just how "friendly" those emails must have been from the "fans" that would make a guy respond in that manner. On the other hand, Jr should have known better. What did he think would happen once he hit "send"?
-Lesson learned: Don't mess with the Liverpeople.
WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA
FIFA.com does a Q & A with Spain's Fernando Torres.
ENDERS
Is anyone else as unnerved as I am by the picture of this guy that is constantly popping up in internet ad's lately? It makes me queasy:
STARTERS
The BBC reports that Togo was basically kicked out of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Article includes amazing audio interview with team captain Emmanuel Adebayor, and more detail from the attack on the team by the Cabinda separatist rebels.
LANDON DONOVAN AT EVERTON
The thing that struck me most about Landon Donovan's debut at Everton was that he was taking the Corner Kicks. I know we USA fans sometimes question his quality at this job, but obviously he is good enough to step right into that role for Everton. Impressive indeed!
dN
Here are a few of my faves from amog the many many many articles on Landon Donovan's debut with Everton:
-Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365.
-The Liverpool Daily Post.
-The Times of London.
MLS NEWS
Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Crew has Guillermo Barros Schelotto all set to sign a new contract! Hooray Beer.
-The team has also signed fullback Jed Zayner to a new contract meaning that all their players from last year are now set to return except Alejandro Moreno who went to Philly in the expansion draft.
dN
DC United has decided not to bring back striker Luciano Emilio for another season. Word has it that he has signed with Rio Branco EC in Brazil.
dN
Wash Post with video of Freddy Adu's arrival in Greece - a wild scene!
-Can you picture how nuts it was when Eddie Johnson showed up?!?!
dN
Chivas USA announced that they have loaned forward Eduardo Lillingston to Tijuana for the upcoming Clausura season.
dN
Everyone in Chicago is chiming in on the Fire's new head coach Carlos of the Conch.
-Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star.
-Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald.
-Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now.
-Charlie Corr of ESPN Chicago.
-Chicago Tribune.
And Brian Strauss of Fanhouse writes about de los Cobos too.
The Conch points to Toyota Park and laughs at Sepp Blatter who thinks MLS should play during the winter months. (photo stolen from the Southtown Star)
dN
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says the New York Red Bulls started unofficial practice with their new head coach for next season TODAY!
-They are also headed to La Manga in Spain on Jan 20. I think this is a new sign of seriousness from this team.
dN
Lewis writing for the New York Daily News poses many questions about the hiring of Hans Backe as the Red Bulls 13th head coach.
MLS RUMORS
The Washington Post reports that former DC United goalkeeper Troy Perkins is looking to return to MLS after 2 years (parts of 3 seasons) in Norway at Valerenga.
dN
The Southtown Star reports that Salvadoran midfielder Julio Martinez will be signed on loan to the Chicago Fire from Leon in Mexico.
dN
All the best rumor mongering from Soccer 365 (And I say that with love.) Mike Magee, Julio Martinez, Stuart Holden, Ilia Javorijan and Iker Casillas make the list today.
MLS COLLEGE PLAYER DRAFT
The draft takes place on Thu Jan 14 starting at 1pm Central. And the first hour can be seen on ESPN2.
dN
Striker Teal Bunbury of Akron who is expected to a very high pick has been named the winner of the NCAA Player of the Year award AKA The Hermann Trophy. Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer has an audio interview with the talented forward who just signed a contract to play on a MLS team next season, and will be available in the college player draft later this week. Download or listen here.
dN
Best name in the draft: Two-Boys Gumede
USSF 2ND DIVISION
The Glasgow Herald paints a brutally bad picture of St Louis' first head coach Claude Anelka. Oof.
dN
Jason de Vos of the CBC does not like the set up of the new 2nd Division.
-The good part is that this is just a stop gap league intended to last 1 year until teams can get it properly sorted out for next season. So maybe de Vos might see some of his wished granted.
dN
The NASL teams held their first ever General Meetings this past weekend in Florida. Both Miami FC and the Carolina RailHawks websites have a few bits of news for us.
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports that Fox Soccer Channel is going to bring back all the programming they licensed to Setanta, and then start their own monthly subscription channel called Fox Soccer Plus. It's not know what they will be showing yet. (thanks to JJ for the article)
dN
PR Newswire with an article on the next step in the evolution of fake turf.
-As much as we hate the stuff, it is a reality, and this is at least another possible step up in quality.
TEAM USA JANUARY TRAINING CAMP
Official Blog
-1 thing worth mentioning from Monday: "Marcus Tracy continues to be bothered by tendinitis and remains sidelined."
dN
Nick Green of the Daily Breeze with an article on Omar Gonzalez.
dN
Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America tells us about young striker Alejandro Bedoya.
dN
Friendly Match & Score:
-Sat Jan 23
USA v Honduras AKA the Jonathan Bornstein Tribute Match
USA U20 TEAM
Eric Wynalda has been added to the coaching staff assisting head man Thomas Rongen along with other assistants Dave Dir and Tim Mulqueen.
US SOCCER WORLD CUP 2018/2022 BID
US Soccer announced the 18 stadiums that will be part of their official bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Stunningly Chicago is not on the list! San Francisco is the other major city to not make the cut. Below are the finalists (click image to enlarge):
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Fanhouse with an article on the English career of Clint Dempsey so far.
dN
FIFA looks at the next stop on the Freddy Adu world club tour - Aris in Salonika Greece.
dN
ESPN Soccernet looks to the weeks and months ahead for the Americans playing in Europe.
dN
GAME ACTION
ENGLAND - Premier League
Landon Donovan - Everton - got the start on his debut, put in the corner for his teams first goal, played 68 minutes and drew 2-2 at Arsenal.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 as usual and they drew 2-2 at Arsenal.
ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Leeds - came on as a sub in the 84th minute as they drew 1-1 at home against Wycombe.
Jon Paul Pittman - Wycombe - went the full 90 and scored his teams only goal as they drew 1-1 at Leeds.
AMERICANS IN EUROPE RUMORS
With Burnley's head coach moving on to Bolton, it looks like Stuart Holden will probably be going there on trial instead of Burnley.
-Greg Seltzer of No Short Corners confirms this, as only he can.
dN
Has Miami FC loaned centerback Gale Agbossoumonde to Braga in Portugal for the rest of their season?
dN
Bryan Arguez to Flamengo?? Come on!
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Arch Bell of Yanks Abroad talks to Herculez Gomez about his decision to split Kansas City and sign with Puebla.
MEXICO INTERLIGA
Official Web Site
dN
2 teams from this tournament get a spot in the 2010 Copa Libertadores.
dN
America takes on Monterrey in one game, while Puebla plays Estudiantes in the other, with the 2 winners claiming the Libertadores spots.
dN
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.
dN
Group A (3 games played)
ADV - 7 America (+5)
ADV - 4 Estudiantes (+1)
OUT - 3 Santos (-1)
OUT - 3 Atlante (-5)
Group B (3 game played)
ADV - 6 Puebla (+3)
ADV - 5 Monterrey (+1)
OUT - 2 Chiapas (-1)
OUT - 2 Tigres (-3)
dN
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 2
Atlante 2-1 Estudiantes Tecos
America 3-1 Santos Laguna
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Jan 3
UANL Tigres 1-4 Puebla
Monterrey 0-0 Chiapas Jaguares
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Tue Jan 5
Estudiantes Tecos 2-0 Santos Laguna
Atlante 3-0 America
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Wed Jan 6
Chiapas Jaguares 0-1 Puebla
UANL Tigres 1-1 Monterrey
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sat Jan 9
Santos Laguna 3-0 Atlante
America 3-3 Estudiantes Tecos
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Jan 10
Puebla 1-2 Monterrey
UANL Tigres 3-3 Chiapas Jaguares
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
dN
Playoff Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 13
Final 1 - America v Monterrey
Final 2 - Puebla v Estudiantes
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
ENGLAND IS A SPECIAL PLACE
American Tom Hicks is one of the owners of Liverpool FC, and he is disliked by the team's fans. His son Tom Jr is on the team's Board of Directors, and a few weeks ago supporters got their mitts on his personal email address. They began a major assault on his in-box with their thoughts on he & his father's ability (or lack thereof) to run the team. After reading and responding to several of these emails Jr finally snapped, as most would, and sent a response to one of the "fans" that in part read: "Blow me fuck face. Go to hell. I'm sick of you." Oof! As you can imagine this was received quite poorly, and those same fans then a field day with this email. Once the media got wind of it (which took about 4 seconds) Tom Hicks Jr quickly resigned from the club. Now, for a moment try to conjure up just how "friendly" those emails must have been from the "fans" that would make a guy respond in that manner. On the other hand, Jr should have known better. What did he think would happen once he hit "send"?
-Lesson learned: Don't mess with the Liverpeople.
WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA
FIFA.com does a Q & A with Spain's Fernando Torres.
ENDERS
Is anyone else as unnerved as I am by the picture of this guy that is constantly popping up in internet ad's lately? It makes me queasy:
posted by brucio at 17:30
4 Comments:
My interpretation of that Casillas comment to the Madrid media is that Iker meant, "I'm not leaving this club unless they force me out."
I can't imagine Casillas EVER playing in MLS.
Word is Chicago was left off the list due to the failed Olympics bid, I guess that is some kind of negative.
Back when Becks joined the Galaxy, Donovan was quoted as saying that the two should split free kicks. I nearly died laughing at the thought that the two were close to comparable. Donovan had a tendency to float kicks in and I thought the way he faced away from his target was ridiculous.
In the last year or so, his set pieces have looked really good. Not quite lasers, but the accuracy and consistency have been great.
I'm still a bit surprised Everton gave him the nod, but he clearly has impressed hem. It would have been unthinkable (well, not to Donovan) three years ago.
Maybe it is too cold and snowy for MLS to play, but that looks like perfect weather conditions for the USMNT to host Mexico in a World Cup qualifier.
Post a Comment
<< Home