Thursday, March 18, 2010

Some News for Thu Mar 18, 2010

STARTERS

Guillermo Barros Schelotto of the Columbus Crew has 4 goals in his last 2 real games. So do you think Crew coach Robert Warzycha finally regrets benching him for the 1st leg game against Real Salt Lake. I would if I was him, it cost them a shot at another title.

dN

Michael Lewis for the US National Soccer Players reports on USA U17 coach Wilmer Cabrera's plans to change the mentality of the American soccer player from the ground up.

STORY OF THE DAY - CLINT DEMPSEY

Holy Guaca-frickin-moly!

Clint Dempsey - Man of the hour!

After seemingly weeks on end of nothing but MLS preseason & Collective Bargaining Agreement blabbing it was great to just enjoy the thrill of the game today as Fulham pulled off a near miracle to advance in the knowingly lesser Europa League tournament.

Down to Juventus 3-1 from the 1st Leg, and then giving up a goal just 2 minutes into today's 2nd Leg, they somehow scraped back from 4-1 behind to win it 5-4 on a Clint Dempsey goal in the 82nd minute.

When i saw the starting lineups today, and Dempsey was on the bench, this is what I sent out on Twitter: "I am going to call it - Clint Dempsey will sub on score the winner for Fulham!"

And that is exactly what he did. His teammates fought all the way back to 4-4, then the Deuce subbed on in the 71st minute to pull off this instant-legend goal in the 82nd.

Not only was the timing great, and the execution perfect, but the degree of difficulty was 12 on a scale of 1-10. It's insane.

Here is that magical game winner.

Stunning!

What did Dempsey have to say: "I just thought, what the heck and tried to put it in the far post and it went in. Nine times out of 10 you won't make it but sometimes you've got to take a risk."

What did Ray Hudson say: "He took into account everything in the universe there is."

And what did I send on Twitter again: "I AM THE NEW NASTRADAMUS!!!!!! Dempsey scores! Dempsey scores! Dempsey scores!"

What did Dave Lifton Twitter: "Nord-stradamas"

What a day!

And Big Bad Bob, Marshall of the USA World Cup lawmen was at Craven Cottage to witness it all!

Was It The Magic Boots?

Remember last week when I showed you the new crazy looking boots from Nike?













Well, Clint Dempsey got his pair in the mail, and took them to practice. What did his teammates think? These and many other photos from Fulham FC. (Much thanks to RA for the great heads up.)













































































MLS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

At least for today I am trying to pretend there is no problem.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Barcelona and Bordeaux join Inter, CSKA, Man U, Lyon, Bayern & Arsenal in the Quarterfinals.

The draw for the pairings is on Fri Mar 19.

dN

Patrick Barclay of the Times sizes up what this loss means at Chelsea.

dN

Round of 16 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Tue Mar 16
Sevilla 1-2 CSKA Moscow - CSKA advance 3-2 on aggregate - Sev goal by Diego Perotti. CSKA goals by Tomas Necid & Keisuke Honda.
Chelsea 0-1 Inter - Int advance 3-1 on aggregate - Int goal by Samuel Eto'o.
-Wed Mar 17
Barcelona 4-0 Stuttgart (1-1) - Bar goals by Lionel Messi(2), Pedro & Bojan Krkic.
Bordeaux 2-1 Olympiacos (1-0) - Bor goals by Yoann Gourcuff & Marouane Chamakh. Oly goal by Konstantinos Mitroglou.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Cruz Azul & Toluca join Pachuca as three quarters of the teams to advance to the Semifinal round.
-Ugh, it looks like it could be another all-Mexican final four!

dN

For Columbus, they were in it until Sheepshead got himself a Red Card for an off the ball altercation that we did not see on TV, but the ref did. Toluca were clinical after that in killing off the game. Not to mention Zinha's 2 precision free kicks for goals. Impressive.

dN

Quarterfinals 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Tue Mar 16
Pachuca 2-1 Comunicaciones - Pac advance 3-2 on aggregate - Pach goals by Paul Aguilar & Luis Montes. Com goal by Rolando Fonseca(PK).
-Wed Mar 17
Toluca 3-2 Columbus Crew - Tol advance 5-4 on aggregate - Tol goals by Hector Mancilla(PK) & Antonio "Zinha" Naelson(2). CC goals both by Guillermo Barros Schelotto(1 via PK).
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Match report and video highlights from CONCACAF.
Cruz Azul 3-0 Arabe Unido - CA advance 4-0 on aggregate - CA goals by Javier Orozco(2) & Cesar Villaluz.
-Thu Mar 18
UNAM Pumas v Marathon (0-2)

Away goals is the tiebreaker.

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

@CharlieDavies9: It's official! I'm done with rehab!!! Leaving for Sochaux tomorrow! Who said I couldn't be back training so soon!? Let's go!!

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players site does a Q & A with Philadelphia centerback Michael Orozco.

dN

John Molinaro of the CBC brings us up to date on the TFC v Ali "DoubleWhopperExtraSauce" Gerba soap opera. The player wants out, while the team basically says he is a bum.
-This is the 3rd veteran the team has tossed off the back of the caboose already this year. Carl Robinson and Adrian Serioux were the others.

dN

Toronto has jammed a few more seats into BMO Field for this season bringing the total capacity to 21,800 now.

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times talks to new Sounders forward Miguel Montano.
-Mayers has a few more Montano quotes on his blog.

dN

Mayers also talks to Seattle head coach Sir Sigmund Schmid.

dN

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Southtown Star previews the Fire's rebuilt team.

dN

The FC Denver Blog gives us a Colorado Rapids training report, and an interview with Rob Valentino. (Where else would we learn anything else about this team?)

dN

And the same blog does an interview with Rapids defender Drew Moor.

dN

Jonah Freedman of MLS Soccer on the bond that will forever link San Jose and Houston.

dN

Luis Bueno of MLS Soccer talks to LA's Landon Donovan about his return to the league from his tremendous time at Everton.

dN

Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze with a nice big article on Donovan's return.

dN

The New England Revs gives us a video interview with their first year forward Zack Schilawski who has kind of come out of nowhere to get noticed in preseason.

dN

Kristian Dyer of ESPN Soccernet previews the season for Kansas City.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet previews the season for Houston.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

Pretty cool TV commercial for Red Bull Arena!

MLS RUMORS

Is Houston close to signing Jamaican holding midfielder Lovel Palmer?

MLS PRESEASON GAMES

San Jose & Houston end scoreless, and the second matches of the Carolina Challenge.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 17
San Jose Earthquakes 0-0 Houston Dynamo in San Francisco
-Fri Mar 19
CANCELED - Colorado Rapids v Seattle Sounders - called off due to wild weather
Tampa Bay Rowdies (USSF D2) v Philadelphia Union
-Sat Mar 20
FC Dallas v Columbus Crew - The Pioneer Cup - to honor Lamar Hunt
Kansas City Wizards v AC St Louis (USSF D2)
San Jose Earthquakes v Portland Timbers (USSF D2)
New York Red Bulls v Santos (Brazil)
-Sun Mar 21
LA Galaxy v CD Aguila (El Salvador)

The Carolina Challenge Cup starts this weekend:
-Sat Mar 13
Real Salt Lake 1-2 DC United
Charleston Battery (USL2) 0-0 Toronto FC
-Wed Mar 17
Charleston Battery (USL2) 1-3 Real Salt Lake
DC United 1-0 Toronto FC
-Sat Mar 20
Charleston Battery (USL2) v DC United
Real Salt Lake v Toronto FC

USL NEWS

The Top 25 USL First Division players of the past Decade:

#5 - Mauro Biello

6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
25-21

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

Stars kits revealed by club. Both home and away. "Go! Generic! G! O! Generic!"
-Front of shirt sponsor is Schwan's, the frozen food home delivery company. Which is different than I had been hearing. Interesting.

Now if they wear the yellow shirts with the blue shorts and blue socks, they will look like Brazil!! I can deal with that.

SOCCER IN AMERICA

CNN looks at the rise of soccer as the World Cup looms.

TEAM USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

Yesterday we quoted Bob Bradley as saying that 16-17 spots on the World Cup team are all set. So Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 tries to figure out exactly who those players are.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Everton website quotes Landon Donovan as saying that if he goes back to England he will ONLY play for Everton.
-Does that rule out the Chelsea rumors then? It appears so.

dN

Yanks Abroad talks to another Norwegian-American who, like Mikkel Diskerud, wants to pull on the star and stripes.

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA Europa League Round of 16 - 2nd Leg
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 71st minute and 11 minutes later scored the series clinching goals to win 4-1 on the day and 5-4 on aggregate over Juventus.

CONCACAF

Blanco leads his team to victory again. That creaky old freak is just unbelievable.

International Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 17
Mexico 2-1 North Korea in Torreon, Mexico

ENGLAND

The Telegraph, like a lot of us, want to say that Wayne Rooney is the best player on the planet right now. And while he has been playing amazing football, he is still not better than Lionel Messi.

dN

It took a couple of weeks, but according to league rules if a team goes into bankruptcy they are automatically deducted 9 points, and that scenario has now happened to Portsmouth. As if their task of avoiding relegation wasn't tuff-enuff, they now are down to 10 points for the season. It's all over.

dN

Check this out - Arsenal'a Andrey Arshavin answers reader questions on his personal website. Most of them are not related to football. It's more like an advice column. WTF? Possibly brilliant.
-Here is an example:
From liza1951: The question is – do you approve when a girl starts using makeup very early in her life?
Arshavin: As for the makeup, this is a purely personal matter for each girl, although I think it is better to consult a professional regarding this question.

FRANCE

The Telegraph reports on the tragic violence that has ratcheted up to the point of the death of a fan at Paris St Germain. Something needs to be done.

EUROPE

Gabrielle Marcotti of the Times tells us not to take lightly the Belgian national team in the years ahead. They have a great crop of talented youngsters.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Round of 16, 2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Thu Mar 18
Anderlecht 4-3 Hamburg - Ham advance 6-5 on aggregate.
Wolfsburg 2-1 Rubin Kazan - Wol advance 3-2 on aggregate.
Sporting 2-2 Atletico Madrid - series ends tied 2-2, so AM advance on the away goals tiebreaker.
Liverpool 3-0 Lille - Liv advance 3-1 on aggregate.
Marseille 1-2 Benfica - Ben advance 3-2 on aggregate.
Standard Liege 1-0 Panathinaikos SL advance 4-1 on aggregate.
Fulham 4-1 Juventus - Ful advance 5-4 on aggregate.
Werder Bremen 4-4 Valencia series ends tied 5-5, so Val advance on the away goals tiebreaker.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Alianza Lima of Peru has become the first team to advance to the knock out stages.

dN

GROUP STAGE (runs through to Apr 22) - This Weeks Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 16
Juan Aurich 4-2 Alianza - JA goals by Roberto Guizasola, Luis Tejada, Reimond Manco & Pedro Ascoy. AL goals by Joel Sanchez & Roberto Ovelar.
Banfield 2-0 Nacional - Ban goals by Sebastian Coates & Gonzalo Godoy.
Morelia 2-1 Cuenca - Mor goals both by Jared Borgetti. Cue goal by Jorges Garces.
Colo Colo 1-1 Velez Sarsfield - CC goal by Esteban Pardedes. VS goal by Santiago Silva.
-Wed Mar 17
Cerro Porteno 0-1 Corinthians - Cor goal by Ronaldo Phenameno!
Monterrey 2-2 Once Caldas - Mon goals by Osvaldo Martinez(PK) & Neri Cardozo. OC goals by Dayro Moreno & Jaime Castrillon.
Caracas 0-0 Universidad Catolica
Universidad Chile 2-1 Flamengo - UCh goals by Eduardo Vargas & Felipe Seymour. Fla goal by Rodrigo Alvim.
-Thu Mar 18
Sao Paulo v Nacional
Independiente v Racing Club
Cerro v Internacional

dN

Standings (6 Rounds):

Grupo 1 (2 played)
7 Corinthians (Brazil) (3 played)
3 Racing Club (Uruguay)
2 Independiente Medellin (Colombia)
1 Cerro Porteno (Paraguay) (3 played)

Grupo 2 (3 played)
8 Once Caldas (Colombia) (4 played)
6 Sao Paulo (Brazil)
2 Monterrey (Mexico) (4 played)
0 Nacional (Paraguay)

Grupo 3 (3 played)
12 Alianza Lima (Peru) (4 played)
4 Estudiantes de la Plata (Argentina)
3 Juan Aurich (Peru) (3 played)
1 Bolivar (Bolivia)

Grupo 4 (3 played)
7 Libertad (Paraguay)
7 Universitario (Peru)
3 Lanus (Argentina)
0 Blooming (Bolivia)

Grupo 5 (2 played)
6 Cerro (Uruguay)
4 Internacional (Brazil)
1 Deportivo Quito (Ecudador)
0 Emelec (Ecuador)

Grupo 6 (4 played)
10 Banfield (Argentina)
5 Nacional (Uruguay)
4 Morelia (Mexico)
3 Cuenca (Ecudador)

Grupo 7 (3 played)
7 Velez Sarsfield (Argentina)
4 Cruzeiro (Brazil)
4 Colo Colo (Chile)
1 Italia (Venezuela)

Grupo 8 (3 played)
7 Universidad Chile (Chile)
6 Flamengo (Brazil)
2 Universidad Catolica (Chile)
1 Caracas FC (Venezuela)

ENDERS

I went to a website today and got this on the screen, which I found ironically hysterical:

7 Comments:

Blogger Super Rookie said...

Brucio-

You under-emphasized the awesomeness of Nessy appearing on the NSC jerseys.

7:21 PM  
Anonymous joe the curmudgeon said...

from the Guardian UK

"There cannot have been a greater day in the history of Fulham."

Well done, Clint!

7:32 PM  
Blogger Lightning Striker said...

Gol TV is worth Ray Hudson's commentary alone ... incredible. thanks for the link, Brucio.
Peace and futbol.

8:21 PM  
Anonymous Former Thundergunner said...

I love that Wilmer Cabrera calls for the need to take risks, and then...Dempsey takes a risk!!

That one is even better than his long-range rocket last year!

And how about the scores in the Europa League! 6-5, 5-5, and 5-4 aggregate scorelines. Insane.

9:46 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

"6-5, 5-5, and 5-4 aggregate scorelines."

a complete breath of fresh air! i love it

11:53 PM  
Blogger Fake Sigi said...

So do you think Crew coach Robert Warzycha finally regrets benching him for the 1st leg game against Real Salt Lake. I would if I was him, it cost them a shot at another title.

Erm, that's a little simplistic, no? Considering the culpability of Frankie Hejduk in most of RSL's goals, the injuries Schelotto had been struggling to recover from, and the short week between the games?

At any rate, Crew look like a completely different team than they did at the end of last year. Looks like they needed a chance to heal and rest.

-FS

8:56 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

Yeah, its absolutely overly simplistic, but I was just trying to make a point, so hyperbole was my tool.

We love you Fake Sigi.

9:20 AM  

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