Some News for Wed Mar 17, 2010

STARTERS

Steve Davis on his blog Daily Soccer Fix explaining why he left ESPN Soccernet for Sports Illustrated: "New management is in charge at Soccernet, and I don’t get the feeling that MLS is a big part of the plan going forward."

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Here's a real anti-shocker for you: Robinho did not make the trip to New York with Santos. He has a thigh boo-boo.

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DC United made a big move Wednesday by releasing former USA prodigy Danny Szetela. What is going on with this guy? He has been through a lot of teams in a very short time.

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.

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Player reps from every team will gather in DC starting on Thursday to try and get this sorted out.

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Ives Galarcep on his blog Soccer By Ives reports that MLS players plan to strike on Monday. Oh no.
-I am also hearing that day may be Tuesday. (Which is when Philadelphia would be traveling to Seattle.)

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Peter Wilt writing for Pitch Invasion tells us how he would get this deal done.

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And an obviously orchestrated effort is now going on amongst the leagues owners to spread their word. Yesterday we heard from LA's Tim Leiweke, and today we get words from 3 more:
-Tripp Mickle of Street & Smith's Sports Business Daily talks to Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts who reiterates what his fellow owners have been saying - a strike could be a disaster.
-Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune talks to Seattle owner Joe Roth who is very direct in saying, "Everyone would lose their jobs. We would all lose our franchises. And that would be that." Great article.
-The Washington Post talks to San Jose owner Lew Wolff.

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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com looks at what the MLS club owners are saying public, and what it might mean.

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Ives Galarcep of Fox Soccer thinks a strike would be devastating.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Inter Milan (Hooray Beer!) and CSKA Moscow join Lyon, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Arsenal as three quarters of the Quarterfinals field.

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The Guardian with post-game video of coaches and match report on Chelsea v Inter.

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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on Inter's big win.

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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 v Stuttgart (1-1) - Live at 2:30pm Central on FSC
Bordeaux v Olympiacos (1-0) - Delayed at 5pm Central on FSC

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Pachuca is the first team to advance to the Semifinal round, where they will face the winner of Toluca & Columbus.

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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).
Match report & video highlights from CONCACAF.
-Wed Mar 17
Toluca v Columbus Crew (2-2)
Cruz Azul v Arabe Unido (1-0)
-Thu Mar 18
UNAM Pumas v Marathon (0-2)

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Away goals is the tiebreaker.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Seattle Sounders owner Joe Roth talking about a potential players strike: "What happens when you strike? The strike happens. But what happens then? The issues don’t get any clearer. People don’t change their minds; their sides don’t change. Then it just becomes both sides waiting somebody out. Well, I’ve been on both sides of this thing. I think they’d have a hard time waiting out a billionaire. I just don’t see how it profits anybody, a work stoppage."
-See the full article written by Don Ruiz for the Tacoma News Tribune in the MLS Collective Bargaining Agreement section.

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LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena on how Landon Donovan looked in his first day back training in Southern California: "He does looks pale. Those are the hazards of living in England."

FACT OF THE DAY

Our main man Jack Bell of the New York Times tells us that the last name of New York Red Bulls new head coach Hans Backe is pronounced "back-A".

HEAD INJURIES

Jack Bell of the New York Times talks to MLS veteran Alecko Eskandarian who has been forced to retire early due to on going concussion symptoms.

MLS WEEK 1 MATCHES & SCORES

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News on what happens to the Union's fist ever games if the strike hits.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Metrofanatic went to the Red Bulls media day and did Q & A's with what seems like half the team. Great stuff here.

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Jack Bell of the NY Times tells us that the Red Bulls are very high on first year defender Tim Ream.

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Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bulls new fullback Chris Albright. Video included.

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Kristian Dyer at MLS Soccer has an article on New York's sage veteran Mike Petke.

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Dyer with another MLS article on the NYRB assistant coach Richie Williams who is now with his fourth different head coach at the club.

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New England has signed Senegalese central midfielder Joseph Niouky from top flight Port Autonome in Senegal. He is 23 years old. I am told he is a "Box-to-box type player."

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According to an unofficial Lincoln City FC website Khano Smith is back with New England.

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Frank Dell'apa of ESPN Soccernet previews the season for New England.

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Kansas City announced their 4th international midfield signing of the week - Senegalese holding midfielder Birahim Diop. Diop was on the New York Metro Stars roster at one time.

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The Washington Post with an article on the return of goalkeeper Troy Perkins from Norway to DC United.

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Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune with an article on the depth of Seattle's goalkeeper position.

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The Seattle Times hosted an online Q & A with Seattle keeper Keller in which readers got to ask the questions.

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Andy Friedlander of the Dallas Morning News with an article on FC Dallas hardman Daniel Hernandez. A guy you almost forget is on the team. But he is now the team Captain.

MLS INJURY REPORT

Big Apple Soccer gives us an update on the knee injury suffered by Juan Pablo Angel after a brutal tackle by Julian du Guzman of Toronto at the end of a 4-0 Red Bull preseason win.
-Angel will NOT play against Santos this weekend.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

Jay Hipps of Center Line Soccer with an insanely detailed run down of a City Council meeting in San Jose that unanimously approved the re-zoning of land that the Equakes want to build their new stadium on. Great news.

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Two more local papers of the opening of Red Bull Arena - Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger - AND - The New York Times.

MLS RUMORS

Celtic forward Robbie Keane wants to play in MLS. The source? His wife.

MLS PRESEASON GAMES

New England could only manage a 1-1 draw with college team Duke, with the goals coming just 1 minute apart. New England scored and then fell asleep to let Duke equalize.

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-Wed Mar 17
Duke (NCAA) 1-1 New England Revolution
San Jose Earthquakes v Houston Dynamo in San Francisco

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

The Stars open their preseason this week on Thursday.
-Inside Minnesota Soccer has all the details.

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The team signed former DC United goalkeeper Louis Crayton.

TEAM USA

US Soccer gives us behind the scenes video the USA's recent trip to the Netherlands.
-I enjoyed seeing Bob Bradley get a little pissed off at half time!

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Chuck Culpepper of the New York Times gives us a taste of Landon Donovan mania that swept up Everton fans.

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Jozy Altidore has a new manager at Hull. It is fairly unsuccessful journeyman Ian Dowie, who looks like he got hit in the face repeatedly with a large book. Possibly a bible or an engineering textbook.

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Yanks Abroad talks to Chris Rolfe about his new life with Aalborg in Denmark.

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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - Premier League
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the distance in goal as they won on the road 1-2 at Wigan.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the full 90 as they won 2-1 at home over Ipswich.

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Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

UEFA Europa League Round of 16 - 2nd Leg
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - Thu Mar 18 v Juventus trailing 1-3 from the 1st Leg

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 as they beat Communicaciones 2-1 to advance 3-2 on aggregate to the Semifinals.

CONCACAF

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

ENGLAND

Top Premier League Team Standings (30 of 38 games played)
66 Manchester United
64 Chelsea
64 Arsenal
52 Tottenham
- - - - -
51 Liverpool
50 Manchester City - 28 played
49 Aston Villa - 28 played

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Round of 16, 2nd leg reverse fixtures will be played on Thu Mar 18.

Matches & Scores (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Thu Mar 18
Anderlecht v Hamburg (1-3)
Wolfsburg v Rubin Kazan (1-1)
Sporting v Atletico Madrid (0-0)
Liverpool v Lille (0-1)
Marseille v Benfica (1-1)
Standard Liege v Panathinaikos (3-1)
Fulham v Juventus (1-3)
Werder Bremen v Valencia (1-1)

COPA LIBERTADORES

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

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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 v Corinthians
Monterrey v Once Caldas
Caracas v Universidad Catolica
Universidad v Flamengo
-Thu Mar 18
Sao Paulo v Nacional
Independiente v Racing Club
Cerro v Internacional

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Standings (6 Rounds):

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

Grupo 2 (3 played)
7 Once Caldas (Colombia)
6 Sao Paulo (Brazil)
1 Monterrey (Mexico)
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 (2 played)
6 Flamengo (Brazil)
4 Universidad Chile (Chile)
1 Universidad Catolica (Chile)
0 Caracas FC (Venezuela)

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

The New York Times with an article on the money being spent to host the World Cup in SA. Very few countries have the gigantic range between massive wealth and desperate poverty that SA does.