Some News for Thu Feb 18, 2010

STARTERS

Everton fans have named Landon Donovan as their Player of the Month for January.

dN

American Herculez Gomez (LA, Colorado, KC) scored his second goal of the new season for Puebla, and it was the late game winner!

CHARLIE DAVIES

He has arrived back in France at his club Sochaux, and their website has a great video interview with him.
-A short but very touching moment occurs when some older fans greet Charlie outside the teams headquarters. (I have been a real softy this week.)












UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The 1st Leg of the Round of 16!

dN

The three biggest talking points of Wednesday's games were:
-The Arsenal goalkeeper and his 2 giant blunders that cost them both goals
-Bayern Munich were clearly offside on their game winning goal
-Fiorentina got a Red Card on a play that should have only been a mild Yellow.

dN

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews both of Wednesday's matches.

dN

Matches & Scores - Round of 16 - 1st Leg:
-Tue Feb 16
Olympique Lyonnais 1-0 Real Madrid Club de Futbol - OL goal by Jean Makoun.
Associazione Calcio Milan 2-3 Manchester United Football Club - ACM goals by Ronaldinho & Clarence Seedorf. MUFC goals by Paul Scholes & Wayne Rooney(2).
-Wed Feb 17
Futebol Clube do Porto 2-1 Arsenal Football Club - Por goals by Silvestre Varela & Radamel Falcao. Ars goal by Sol Campbell.
Fussball-Club Bayern Munchen 2-1 Associazione Calcio Fiorentina e Florentia Viola - BM goals by Arjen Robben(PK) & Miroslav Klose. Fior goal by Per Kroldrup.

-Tue Feb 23
Verein fur Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V v Futbol Club Barcelona
Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus v Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux
-Wed Feb 24
Football Club Internazionale Milano Societa per Azioni v Chelsea Football Club
Central Sports Army Club Moscow v Sevilla Futbol Club Sociedad Anonima Deportiva

dN

A variation to the format this year sees the matches spread out over 4 days instead of 2, giving more TV space for the teams.

SALVADOR CABANAS

He has been moved out of the Intensive Care Unit, or whatever its called in Mexican hospitals. Great to hear.

STORY OF THE DAY

Hey lookee here - some pinhead from the Telegraph in England pulls his head out of John Terry's ass long enough to realize that maybe MLS isn't so bad after all.
-Now I can finally get some sleep at night.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated gets to see the movie I told you about last week - Pelada. It sounds great!

MLS NEWS

The Dallas Morning News with an article on FC Dallas's Brek Shea. Will he have a breakout year?
-"...there is a chance van den Bergh could come back, if he is willing to sign for less money. FCD still owns his MLS rights, and Hyndman said Wednesday that van den Bergh is "still in our minds."

dN

The Toronto Sun looks at the role of players getting try-outs in MLS preseason camps.

dN

One of Kansas City's newest signings Stephane Auvray (pronounced Ahh-vray) is a central holding type midfielder, who I am told has sweet hair. I didn't know much about the guy, so I asked the right people, and they were kind enough to fill us all in.

dN

Charlie Coor of ESPN Chicago looks at Fire midfielder Justin Mapp and says the player is getting a fresh start this spring.
-How many fresh starts is he going to get before they dump his underwhelmingness.

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times catches up with the Sounders yesterday in Spain for an update.

dN

Mayers writes today about the teams 3-0 loss to Rosenborg at La Manga.
-And post game quotes from coach Sigmund Schmid.

dN

The Seattle Post Intelligencer on a couple of Sounders trialists, and training in Spain.

MLS RUMORS

The Jamaica Gleaner reports on youngster Devon Hodges who they say is on the verge of signing with Colorado and teaming up with his countryman Omar Cummings.
-If he has the same spirit as Cummings then they would be getting a good one.

MLS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

The current deal expired on Jan 31, 2010, but the two sides agreed to originally extend it until Feb 12, and now a further 13 days to Feb 25.

The Miami Herald tries to decipher what the MLS players are angling for in a new CBA.

USL NEWS

The USL is slowly posting their countdown of the Top 25 USL First Division players of the past Decade:
25-21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14

13 - David Hayes

US SOCCER NEWS

Paul Gardner of Soccer America talks to newly reelected US Soccer President Sunil Gulati. Here is Part 2 of 2.
-And Part 1 from Wednesday in case you missed it.

USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

Brent Latham at Yanks Abroad plays a game of "What if..." with the USA World Cup roster.
-Some great scenarios played out here!

dN

Soccer 365 with some of that Guus Hiddink speculation/theory/conjecture talk.
-The less lively version of the "What if..." article.

TEAM USA

Ives Galarcep at Fox Soccer looks at the reasons behind this next USA game.

dN

Clemete Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with Brian Ching.

dN

Official Team Blog

dN

Friendly Match & Score:
USA v El Salvador - 6pm Central on ESPN Classic
Venue: Raymond James Stadium - Tampa FL
NOTE: The USA U17 team will play the El Salvador U17 game that same day prior to the senior squads meeting.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Maurice Edu went the full 90 for Rangers on Wednesday as they beat St Mirren in the Scottish Cup Round of 16, 1-0.
-DaMarcus Beasley did not dress for this game.
-Their Quarterfinal match will be on Sat Mar 13 at Kilmarnock.

dN

Stuart Holden did not start or make the bench for Bolton on Wednesday in their scoreless draw at Wigan.

dN

Yanks Abroad talks to a 16 year old, Will Packwood, at Birmingham City's academy in England.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Herculez pulls off a big one, but everyone else struggles.

Game Action: - Mid-week matches

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - UANL Tigres - Thu Feb 18 v Santos Laguna
Herculez Gomez - Pueblo - came on as a sub in the 63rd minute, and scored the games only goal in the 87th as they won 1-0 at home over San Luis.
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - came on as a sub in the 74th minute but they lost at home 3-4 to Monterrey.
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca - started and 74 minutes but they lost at home 0-1 to Guadalajara.
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - started, got a Yellow Card, and then got absolutely drilled 7-1 at Atlas. Oof.

dN

Coming Up: - Mid-week matches

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - UANL Tigres - Thu Feb 18 v Santos Laguna

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Round of 32, 1st Leg happens this week. Here are the results.

dN

2nd Leg matches will be played next week.

ENGLAND

The Norwich Evening News reports on an American who is trotting around the USA looking for investors for Norwich City.
-He is the same guy who set up the deal for Hicks & Gillette to buy Liverpool. Now there is a ringing endorsement.

dN

The Daily Mail reports on Portsmouth's on going massive money problems. They have asked for permission to sell players outside the transfer window to raise cash.

FRANCE

COUPE DE FRANCE - Quarterfinals
-Tue Mar 23
Lens v St Etienne
Monaco v Sochaux
Quevilly v Boulogne
Auxerre v Paris St Germain

dN

COUPE DE LA LIGUE - Final
-Sat Mar 27
Bordeaux v Olympique Marseille

COPA LIBERTADORES

The Group Stage, which runs through to Apr 22.

dN

GROUP STAGE - February Matches & Scores:
-Tue Feb 16
Libertad 2-0 Blooming - Lib goals by Victor Caceres & Rodolfo Gamarra.
Colo Colo 1-0 Italia - CC goal by Esteban Paredes.
-Wed Feb 17
Universitario 2-0 Lanus - Uni goals by Piero Alva & Gianfranco Labarthe.
Cuenca 1-4 Banfield - Cue goal by Gabriel Mendez(PK). Ban goals by Walter Erviti, Sebastian Fernandez(2) & James Rodriguez.
-Thu Feb 18
Alianza v Estudiantes
Universidad v Caracas

dN

Standings (6 Rounds):

Grupo 1
1 Cerro Porteno (Paraguay)
1 Independiente Medellin (Colombia)
Corinthians (Brazil)
Racing Club (Uruguay)

Grupo 2
3 Once Caldas (Colombia)
3 Sao Paulo (Brazil)
0 Nacional (Paraguay)
0 Monterrey (Mexico)

Grupo 3
3 Alianza Lima (Peru)
3 Estudiantes de la Plata (Argentina)
0 Bolivar (Bolivia)
0 Juan Aurich (Peru)

Grupo 4
6 Libertad (Paraguay) (2pd)
6 Universitario (Peru) (2pd)
0 Lanus (Argentina) (2pd)
0 Blooming (Bolivia) (2pd)

Grupo 5
3 Cerro (Uruguay)
0 Deportivo Quito (Ecudador)
Internacional (Brazil)
Emelec (Ecuador)

Grupo 6
6 Banfield (Argentina) (2pd)
3 Club Nacional (Uruguay)
0 Morelia (Mexico)
0 Deportivo Cuenca (Ecudador) (2pd)

Grupo 7
3 Velez Sarsfield (Argentina)
3 Colo Colo (Chile)
0 Cruzeiro (Brazil)
0 Deportivo Italia (Venezuela)

Grupo 8
Universidad de Chile (Chile)
Caracas FC (Venezuela)
Flamengo (Brazil)
Universidad Catolica (Chile)

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

The Associated Press with an article on the huge lack of VIP tickets being sold to this World Cup. Via Sports Illustrated.
-What a bummer. Think of how great this could have been if everyone went el cheapo instead of Price Gouge City.

PODCASTS

EPL Talks as audio of interviews with one time Manchester United goalscoring duo Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke. Aaahh, the good old days.