Friday, March 05, 2010

Some News for Fri Mar 5, 2010

STARTERS

Don't miss the Photo Essay: Nike takes du Nord to London England. Published earlier today right here at the big dN.

There has been a lot of talk about Landon Donovan staying at Everton. But I see three things in the way of that. #1 The Galaxy don't want that to happen. #2 Donovan would be a hypocrite just like David Beckham in saying that LA & MLS were his priorities, when he was clearly only looking out for himself. #3 and most importantly, Everton don't seem to be the kind of team to spend big money, and Donovan would not come cheap. In the end I don't see him staying, no matter how many nitwits start Facebook pages.

THE POWER OF THE MYSTERY OF JOE GAETJENS - 60 YEARS LATER

I have given Leander Schaerlaeckens of ESPN Soccernet a lot of crap over the past few months about his naive and arrogant coverage of the current USA soccer team and scene, but I cannot argue with this very cool and very long article he has written about little known legend Joe Gaetjens. Hope you dig it. You can also hear an interview with Schaerlaeckens on last weeks episode of the Waiting for Gaetjens podcast.
-You can also hear Schaerlackens talk about this story on last weeks episode of the podcast appropriately called Waiting for Gaetjens. (see link in right hand column)

dN

And not to be outdone Sports Illustrated this week publishes their own long story on Joe Gaetjens.

STUART HOLDEN

Stuart Holden is going to have surgery on his broken leg to help it heal faster.

Confirmed in Twitter from @CharlieDavies9: "Good luck to @stuholden22 in his surgery tomorrow"

BIG CLUB MATCHES THIS WEEKEND

-Sat Mar 6
Real Madrid v Sevilla
Fiorentina v Juventus
Roma v Milan
Werder Bremen v Stuttgart
-Sun Mar 7
Bordeaux v Montpellier - #1 v #2 tied at 51 points!
Belenenses v Sporting - the lesser Lisbon derby

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com gives us his 5 topics of this week from around the league.

dN

DC United has signed Kurt Morsink from Kansas City. The Curt Onalfo connection in action.

dN

New York has officially signed 28 year old Estonian midfielder Joel Lindpere, from Tromso in Norway.

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 a further 13 days to Feb 25. And now that Feb 25 has come and gone with no new deal being finished, we enter the Twilight Zone.

A Twitter message from the league at 3:10pm Friday: MLS and Players Union will meet next week in Washington DC to continue CBA negotiations. A mediator will take part in the meetings."

MLS PRESEASON GAMES

Kansas City & Columbus tied 1-1 on goals by Brian Carroll & Graham Zusi respectively.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

Vote for your fave scarf.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Ravi Uhba of ESPN Soccernet looks at the past few performances from our boys all across the continent.

ENGLAND

FA CUP - Quarterfinals
-Sat Mar 6
Portsmouth v Birmingham
Fulham v Tottenham
-Sun Mar 7
Reading v Aston Villa
Chelsea v Stoke City

dN

Top Premier League Team Standings (28 of 38 games played)
61 Chelsea - Next: In the FA Cup
60 Manchester United - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Wolverhampton
58 Arsenal - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Burnley
49 Tottenham - Next: In the FA Cup
49 Manchester City (27 games played) - Next: No game this weekend
- - - - -
48 Liverpool - Next: Mon mar 8 at Wigan
45 Aston Villa (26 games played) - Next: In the FA Cup

SPAIN

Top La Liga Team Standings (24 of 38 games played)
61 Barcelona - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Almeria
59 Real Madrid - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Sevilla
46 Valencia - Next: Mon Mar 8 v Racing Santander
43 Sevilla - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Real Madrid
- - - - -
40 Mallorca - Next: Sun Mar 7 v Sporting Gijon
38 Deportivo La Coruna - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Tenerife
37 Athletic Bilbao - Next: Sun Mar 7 v Valladolid

FRANCE

Amy Lawrence of the Guardian on the floundering French national team.

dN

Top Ligue 1 Team Standings (26 of 38 games played)
51 Bordeaux (24 played) - Next: Sun Mar 7 v Montpellier
51 Montpellier - Next: Sun Mar 7 at Bordeaux
49 Lyon - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Bolougne
- - - - -
48 Marseille (25 played) - Next: Sun Mar 7 v Lorient
47 Lille - Next: Sat Mar 6 at St Etienne
45 Auxerre - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Valenciennes

GERMANY

Top Bundesliga Team Standings (24 of 34 games played)
52 Bayern Munich - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Koln
50 Bayer Leverkusen - Next: Sun Mar 7 at Nurnberg
48 Schalke - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Eintracht Frankfurt
- - - - -
40 Hamburg - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Hertha Berlin
39 Dortmund - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Monchengladbach
38 Werder Bremen - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Stuttgart

ITALY

Top Serie A Team Standings (26 of 38 games played)
58 Inter - Next: Sun Mar 7 v Genoa
54 Milan - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Roma
51 Roma - Next: Sat Mar 6 v Milan
43 Palermo - Next: Sun Mar 7 v Livorno
- - - - -
41 Juventus - Next: Sat Mar 6 at Fiorentina
41 Napoli - Next: Sun Mar 7 at Bologna
40 Sampdoria - Next: Sun Mar 7 v Lazio

COPA LIBERTADORES

GROUP STAGE (runs through to Apr 22) - This Weeks Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 9
Racing Club v Cerro Porteno
Bolivar v Estudiantes
Emelec v Cerro
Cuenca v Morelia
-Wed Mar 10
Independiente v Corinthians
Once Caldas v Monterrey
Alianza v Juan Aurich
Nacional v Banfield
Caracas v Flamengo
-Thu Mar 11
Nacional v Sao Paulo
Quito v Internacional
Italia v Cruzeiro
Universidad Catolica v Universidad

2 Comments:

Anonymous Nell said...

Sorry, gonna have to disagree with your notion that if LD stays at Everton, he's a hypocrit. Donovan has shown throughout his career how much he values and loves MLS and has been a loyal servant for the Galaxy since 2005. It does him disservice to equate him to Beckham and his deal(s).

5:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Its a funny game. One missed PK less (maybe Zidane wouldnt have missed? Or his teammates wouldnt have been still emotionally raw from his expulsion?) and Domenech was a hero.

Instead the guy went to the WC finals all the way to the hit or miss of PK and somehow he's a crappy coach.
If he is a crappy coach, then I guess that 2006 team coached themselves and that national team coaches are overrated.

I dont think he is a great coach but having watched them play during the qualifications, I realized something that most people probably have not figured out: this is NOT the same team as 2006 and even less the team from 1998.

On paper, against Spain, it was as visible before the game as it was during the game: France has nowhere the talent of Spain. Not even close.

A bumbling, suspect defense (Boomsong? enough said), a mediocre midfield (I like Gorcuff in club play, still have to see him take a game by the horns with the national team) and a forward trio of Anelka, Henry and Ribery which are an enigman who can be brilliant and terrible all in one half, a classy player on the wrong side of 30 and the one superstar on the team.

Thinking that this team can make its mark at the WV is as delusional as ....well, the english who think they can win it with a suspect defense, a mediocre midfield (Lampard excluded. Gerrard is having a ...mediocre year.) and a forward line that resumes itlsef to Rooney and the Pretenders.

i dont think Domenech is a great coach but this team wouldnt be better with a media proclaimed genius like Gus who specializes in taking teams past the first round but doesnt do anything afterwards.

And no, I dont equate Donovan to Beckham. Donovan has done plenty for the MLS on the field and off. Most people I know want him to do well. Most people I know want Beckham to be hit by a bus.

Btw, Becky brings nothing to the national team but a guy who takes free kicks and corners (and do you really want to take the FK's away from Rooney?) so he's a late subsitution/FG kicker specialist type.
So why not have Rory Delap instead?
He is in better shape than Becky but more importantl, his throw ins would be an amazing weapon that other teams couldnt really adjust to.
How many throw ins do you get 30-35metres from goals in a 20mins span?
Those would be all goal opportunities for England.
If youre going to go with a late game specialist why go for one where another player can do the same (Rooney taking the FK) instead of one which brings an unmatched weapon to the game?
heck, you could actually get some use out of Crouch!!
Of course, I have no idea where he was born and honestly, I cant figure out this whole thing about non-countries having national teams.

Imagine if we told the world, we wnt to take a US team, a California team, a Florida team, an Iowa team and an Illinois team to the World Basketball Championships because ...you know... we invented the game so we 'deserve' more teams.
Somehow that retarded mentality still prevails in soccer to his day.

2:46 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Newer Posts Older Posts