Some News for Wed Mar 24, 2010

CONTEST du NORD

We are at #993 and closing in on 1000 Twitter followers & the person who becomes that number gets a prize. A Nike baseball cap from your choice of teams: Paris St Germain, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona, Werder Bremen or Inter Milan.

Don't hesitate flappy.

STARTERS

IS THIS FOR REAL? The Toronto Globe & Mail is reporting that BMO Field will host the 2010 MLS Cup final.

dN

Michael Bradley has suffered a broken nose at training with his team Monchenglacbach. He will need surgery to have it repaired. Ouch.

FACT OF THE DAY

I have been trying to nail down all the MLS teams TV commentator for the local broadcasts in 2010. Most of this is complete, but there are still some holes to fill. Let me know if you know anything more or different from what I have. Here is the list I have compiled so far:

Chicago - Dan Kelly & Chris Doran
Chivas - Christian Miles & Bernardo Osuna Allen Hopkins
Colorado - Marc Stout?
Columbus - Dwight Burgess & Bill McDermott
Dallas - Dave Dir Steve Jolley & Bobby Rhine
DC - Dave Johnston & Thomas Rongen
Houston - Charlie Palillo & Glenn Davis
Kansas City - Dave Borchard & Sacha Victorine
Los Angeles - Jim Watson & Mark Rogondino
New England - Brad Feldman & Jay Heaps
New York - Steve Cangelosi & Shep Messing
Philadelphia - JP Dellacamera & Kyle Martino
Salt Lake - David James & Brian Dunseth
San Jose - Jim Kozimor & John Shrader
Seattle - Arlo White
Toronto - Nigel Reed & Jason de Vos

STORY OF THE DAY

The Chivas USA blog has some great video of players delivering season tickets to long time fans. Awesome! (thanks to K for the link)

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks at the phenomenon of outside midfielders playing effectively on the side of the field that is opposite to their stronger foot.

WHY NOT!

There are lots of hints in the air that MLs is about to introduce a second Designated Player spot for each team. Hopefully we will have some actual news on this soon.

MLS WEEK 1 MATCHES & SCORES

Fred won't be playing for Philly on opening night due to a red card suspension incurred at the end of last season.

dN

The Delaware County Daily Times with an article on Philly's traveling supporters for their inaugural game.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Mar 25
Seattle Sounders v Philadelphia Union - 8:30pm Central on ESPN2
-Fri Mar 26
Chivas USA v Colorado Rapids - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
-Sat Mar 27
Columbus Crew v Toronto FC - 3pm Central on Direct Kick
FC Dallas v Houston Dynamo - 3pm Central on Telefutura
New York Red Bulls v Chicago Fire - 6pm Central on ESPN
Kansas City Wizards v DC United - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
San Jose Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake - 8pm Central on FSC
LA Galaxy v New England Revolution - 10pm Central on FSC

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Team roster compliance deadline was Wed Mar 26 at 4pm central. Each team has 24 spots.

dN

Charlie Coor of ESPN Chicago looks at the Fire locker room situation after all the roster turnover, with the latest being popular goalkeeper Jon Busch being trimmed.

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The Chicago Tribune on the Fire's new starting keeper Andrew Dykstra.

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Sam Stejskal of Chicago Now with more on Dykstra.

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The Washington Post on DC's new 17 year old signing Andy Najar.

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Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times wonders if the Sounders have enough punch in their offense.

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The Seattle Post Intelligencer on the center of Sounders midfield - Brad Evans and Osvaldo Alonso.

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The Associated Press talks to Seattle Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer about how they build the team and avoid the 2nd year slump. Via the Post Intelligencer.

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Twitter from NYRB's @Erik_Soler: "I would like to welcome Ibrahim Salou to the NY Red Bulls. Ibrahim is an athletic and physical forward who will immediately improve our team"

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com with some pregame Union notes - injuries etc.
-Kyle Martino will be the analyst on Union games along with JP Dellacamera. Great choice.

dN

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer thinks that the Philadelphia Union should follow Seattle's lead as a first year team.

dN

Narducci also looks at the league as a whole.

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John Molinaro of the CBC previews Toronto's season.
-They only have 15 healthy players on the roster for this weekend, including 2 goalkeepers.

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Paul James of the Toronto Globe & Mail looks at TFC's Ali Gerba mess.

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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer does a Q & A with Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.

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Center Line Soccer gets us up to date on San Jose Earthquakes training this week.

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Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet sees the positive for player and team (LA Galaxy) in David Beckham's injury.

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The Columbus Dispatch with a lot of Crew and league news today:
-A look at the leader of the Crew, and the best player in team history, Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
-Full run down on the team's roster.
-5 issues for the Crew to start the season.
-5 issues for MLS to start the season.

dN

The Attleboro Sun Chronicle on the start of another New England Revolution season.

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ESPN Soccernet has season previews on Dallas by Justin Rodriguez and Toronto by Frank Dell'Apa

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Beau Dure of USA Today with a season preview.
-And a few other preseason notes, including the end of Dure's blog at USA Today.

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Max Bergmann at the Huffington Post on the season ahead, which he feels could be a breakthrough.

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The New York New Jersey MetroStars Red Bulls have announced their All Time First XI:
G:
Tim Howard
D:
Jeff Parke
Mike Petke
Eddie Pope
M:
Youru Djorkaeff
Amado Guevara
Tab Ramos
Dave Van Den Bergh
F:
Jozy Altidore
Juan Pablo Angel
Clint Mathis

dN

FIFA.com on MLS season #15.

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Richard Snowden of Soccer 365 on the end of the civil war between players and management.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

The Houston Chronicle dips into the politics of stadium building. Great stuff here.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on the leagues very first stadium - Crew Stadium.
-Some small but very cool upgrades have been made to the stadium for this season.

dN

How are things looking in Philadelphia today? The roofs going on PPL Park:














MLS RUMORS

Reports out of India are again saying that Kansas city has signed forward Sunil Chetri.

dN

The latest from the Soccer 365 grapevine including David Trezeguet.

MLS EXPANSION

Atlanta rejoins the chase for team #20.

TEAM USA

Head coach Bob Bradley has been named the 2009 Coach of the Year by the US Olympic Committee. I have no idea what he has to do with the Olympics, but being honored is always cool.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Sochaux has posted a series of photos of Charlie Davies on his first official run back with the club.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - Wed Mar 24 at Copenhagen
Chris Rolfe - AaB - Wed Mar 24 v Silkeborg
Marcus Tracy - AaB - Wed Mar 24 v Silkeborg

ENGLAND - FA Cup Quarterfinal replay
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - Wed Mar 24 at Tottenham

ENGLAND - Premier League
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Wed Mar 24 v Sunderland
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Wed Mar 24 v Sunderland
Tim Howard - Everton - Wed Mar 24 at Manchester City

ENGLAND - Championship League
Jay DeMerit - Watford - Wed Mar 24 at Sheffield Wednesday.
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - Wed Mar 24 v Watford.

SCOTLAND - Scottish Cup
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - Wed Mar 24 at Dundee United
Maurice Edu - Rangers - Wed Mar 24 at Dundee United

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

Greece - League Cup
Freddy Adu - Aris - Thu Mar 25 v Kavala - 2nd Leg up 3-1
Eddie Johnson - Aris - Thu Mar 25 v Kavala - 2nd Leg up 3-1

CONCACAF

International Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 24
Mexico v Iceland in Charlotte NC

ENGLAND

A couple of weeks back we linked to an article saying the some Portsmouth players & coaches were going to band together and pay the wages of some of the teams employees that had been laid off in the bankruptcy proceedings. Well, the Daily Mail reports that they have done just. Good for them. Those players won't even notice that the money did not go into their back account.

dN

Paul Doyle of the Guardian says that Portsmouth head coach Avram Grant has shown real honor & leadership while putting up with through the teams inept business managers and ugly finances.

dN

FA CUP - Quarterfinals Replay
-Wed Mar 24
Tottenham 3-1 Fulham

SPAIN

Sevilla has given head coach Manolo Jimenez the boot. Luis Aragones, the racist pile of shit, is being considered for the job.

FRANCE

COUPE DE FRANCE - Quarterfinals
-Wed Mar 24
Lens 3-1 St Etienne
Monaco 4-3 Sochaux

Quevilly & PSG have already advanced.

GERMANY

DFB POKAL - Semifinals
-Wed Mar 24
Schalke 0-1 Bayern Munich

Werder Bremen has already advanced.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Sao Paulo & Alianza Lima have advanced to the knock out stages.

dN

Nacional of Paraguay has been eliminated.

dN

GROUP STAGE (runs through to Apr 22) - This Weeks Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 23
Estudiantes 2-0 Bolivar - Est goals by Jose Ernesto Sosa & Mauro Boselli.
Libertad 1-1 Universitario - Lib goal by Victor Ayala. Uni goal by 1 1.
-Wed Mar 24
Lanus v Blooming
Cruzeiro v Italia
Universidad Catolica v Caracas
-Thu Mar 25
Racing Club v Independiente
Quito v Emelec
Velez Sarsfield v Colo Colo

dN

Standings (6 Rounds):

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

Grupo 2 (4 played)
ADV-9 Sao Paulo (Brazil)
8 Once Caldas (Colombia)
2 Monterrey (Mexico)
OUT-0 Nacional (Paraguay)

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

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

Grupo 5 (2 played)
7 Cerro (Uruguay) (3 played)
5 Internacional (Brazil) (3 played)
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)

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

The New York Times says that African teams are trying to find the best coaches possible for this special World Cup for them.

dN

The NY Times also looks at the South African national team's World Cup memories.

ENDERS

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