Some News for Mon Apr 19, 2010
TWITTER
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STARTERS
Edson & Herculez! Herculez & Edson! Wowzer Wozee Wowow!
-Herculez has 10 goals in just 13 appearances for Puebla!
-Edson has all 7 of the LA Galaxy goals in the first 4 games of the season, in which they have won em all.
dN
I don't think any of us could begin to understand how sweet it would be for Claudio Ranieri to steal the Serie A title from under the nose/ego of Jose Mourinho, the man who followed him at Chelsea and has taken ever opportunity he can to disparage him.
BIG CLUB MATCHES TODAY
-Fri Apr 16
Inter Milan 2-0 Juventus - they simply don't like each other, and Inter are desperate to not let Roma run away with the title.
-Sat Apr 17
Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United - the Manchester derby with the Reds stabbing the Blues in second half stoppage time, and Man U staying in the title race.
Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea - another London derby with the #1 team choking and a new #4 emerging.
Espanyol 0-0 Barcelona - the city of Barcelona derby sees the league leaders advantage drop back to just 1 point.
Bordeaux 2-2 Lyon - with both desperately trying to keep pace with leaders Marsielle, neither succeed with both just falling further back.
-Sun Apr 18
Lazio 1-2 Roma - the Rome derby with the road teaming coming from a goal down to maintain their league lead.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Semifinals Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 20
Inter v Barcelona - live at 1:45pm central on Fox Soccer Plus - delayed at 4pm central on FSC
-Wed Apr 21
Bayern v Lyon - live at 1:30pm central on FSC
dN
The Observer on how Jose Mourinho & Inter plan to stop Lionel Messi.
WHY?
When I was in London on the Nike trip in late February I had a 30 or so minute chat with Nick Webster and some of the other folks from Fox Soccer Channel,and one thing that baffled me at the time, has stuck with me since then, and is now gnawing away at me was a comment Webster made about Landon Donovan. He literally stated that LD didn't have enough charisma. I have to admit that I should have taken the conflict of our back and forth to a whole new level at that time, but I didn't. Why didn't I? I was just too stunned and confused by such a completely wrong statement. To my mind LD oozes cool confidence. I have no idea what Webster was referring to that night, but I do know that I heard very little of what he said after that, because when I feel some has just simply got it wrong, that is when I tune out and move on, choosing not to waste anymore more of my few brain cells on the topic.
MLS WEEK 4
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 15
Toronto FC 2-1 Philadelphia Union - TFC goals both by Dwayne DeRosario (1 via PK). PU goal by Jordan Harvey.
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
Attendance: 21,978
-Sat Apr 17
Seattle Sounders 1-0 Kansas City Wizards - SS goal by Michael Fucito.
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Attendance: 35,924
Houston Dynamo 3-0 Chivas USA - HD goals by Geoff Cameron, Lovel Palmer & Dominic Oduro.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 14,843
DC United 0-2 Chicago Fire - CF goals by Marco Pappa & Brian McBride.
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 18,407
New York Red Bulls v FC Dallas - NY goals both by Juan Pablo Angel (1 via PK). FCD goal by Dax McCarthy.
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 13,667
San Jose Earthquakes v New England Revolution - SJE goals by Chris Wondolowski & Ike Opara.
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 9,082
Los Angeles Galaxy v Real Salt Lake - LAG goals both by Edson Buddle. RSL goal by Kyle Beckerman.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 20,344
-Sun Apr 18
Colorado Rapids 3-1 Toronto FC - CR goals by Conor Casey(2, both via PK) and Jeff Larentowicz. TFC goal by Dwayne DeRosario(PK).
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 9,928
dN
Columbus Crew had the weekend off.
dN
EJECTIONS:
-Dan Califf - Philadelphia - red card
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
The league has named Los Angeles forward Edson Buddle the Player Of The Week.
dN
Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated with his weekly review - Buddle stays red-hot, young center backs impress in Week 4 of MLS
dN
Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his Monday Morning Breakdown - Edson Buddle dominates the storylines, and other MLS news from the weekend.
dN
Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch looks at the Crew's weirdly/poorly constructed schedule that have given them 2 weeks off already this month when they will have a packed a schedule in summer with league, Open Cup and Champions League to deal with.
dN
Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 talks KC Wiz with team captain Jimmy Conrad.
dN
Word has it that Seattle signed forward Blase Nkufo to a Designated Player contract. He will arrive in the summer transfer window.
dN
DC released goalkeeper and 3rd in command of the USS Enterprise, Lt Worf, Josh Wicks.
MLS INJURY REPORT
Jimmy Conrad left the game for KC with a calf muscle injury.
MY THOUGHTS
From the weekends MLS games:
-Edson Buddle. Wow. 4 games, 7 goals, 4 wins, no one else on the team has scored! Wow.
-Who in the world is Michael Fucito?
-DC has 4 losses in 4 games. You can almost smell the sulfur burning all the way out here in Minnesota.
-Troy Perkins provided us with this weekends idiotic goalkeeping maneuver, letting Chicago score on a glanced header off a free kick from 70 YARDS AWAY! Was he sleeping?
-New York reverted straight back to a Giants Stadium sized attendance! Oof.
-Two questions on San Jose as a franchise - 1) if you have a stadium that only holds a little over 10,000 how can you not sell out every single game? - AND - 2) if you can't sell out every single game at that small of a level, why are you trying to build a new stadium that holds considerably more? (And I might as well add a 3rd thing too then: can someone remind me why exactly MLS went back to this market?)
-Bobby Convey is off to a good start for San Jose, being a main contributor in the teams 2 wins in a row.
-Which New England team that we have seen so far this season is the real one. I saw them as having a very hard time doing anything this year, but was surprised by their performances, until this week.
-Colorado v TFC had 3 PK's a Free Kick goal! Nothing more. And no one saw it in person. No one. Embarrassing.
-As good as Dwayne DeRosario has been for Toronto, Julian DeGuzman has been bad. Did you see JDG jump out of the way of the free kick that gave Colorado a goal? He literally jumped right out of the middle of wall allowing a shot to go straight through and into the corner of the goal. That chest level ball had no right to make it past the wall.
-After Geoff Cameron scored for Houston he was doing some sort of of bunny ears and hopping celebration. What in the world was that??
MLS GOAL SCORING LEADERS
7 Edson Buddle
4 Dwayne De Rosario
3 Conor Casey
3 Sebastian Le Toux
3 Javier Morales
3 Zack Schilawski
2 Brad Davis
2 Brian McBride
2 Guillermo Barros Schelotto
2 Ike Opara
2 Juan Pablo Angel
2 Kei Kamara
2 Kenny Mansally
2 Marco Pappa
2 Omar Cummings
MLS RUMORS
Columbus appears to be on the verge of signing French midfielder French trialist Leandre Griffit. The 25 year old midfielder last played for Crystal Palace but that ended almost a year ago, and he has only played in about 60 professional games since 2002.
dN
The latest from Soccer 365.
dN
The Alessandro Del Piero to MLS rumor is on again. Is this 3 or 4 years in a row at this time now for this anecdote?
MLS EXHIBITIONS
-Sun May 23
New York Red Bulls v Juventus (Italy)
USSF DIVISION 2
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 16
Crystal Palace Baltimore 0-1 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Carolina RailHawks 0-1 NSC Minnesota Stars - NSC goal by Daniel Wasson.
-Sat Apr 17
Portland Timbers 1-0 Rochester Rhinos
AC St Louis 1-2 Austin Aztex
Miami FC Blues 0-0 Vancouver Whitecaps
-Wed Apr 21
Puerto Rico Islanders v NSC Minnesota Stars
-Thu Apr 22
Portland Timbers v AC St Louis
-Sat Apr 24
Vancouver Whitecaps v AC St Louis
NSC Minnesota Stars v Tampa Bay Rowdies
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sun Apr 25
Montreal Impact v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Rochester Rhinos
dN
Standings:
NASL Conference>
4 Vancouver - 2 played (+2 GD)
3 Carolina - 2 played (+1 GD)
2 Miami - 2 played (0 GD)
0 Baltimore - 1 played (-1 GD)
0 Montreal - 1 played (-2 GD)
0 St Louis - 2 played (-3 GD)
USL Conference>
6 Austin - 2 played (+3 GD)
3 Tampa Bay - 1 played (+1 GD)
3 Portland - 1 played (+1 GD)
3 Minnesota - 2 played (-1 GD)
1 Rochester - 2 played (-1 GD)
- Puerto Rico - 0 played (- GD)
NSC MINNESOTA STARS
WE WON! WE WON! WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!
A huge night for the team on Friday as they only had to wait until game 2 to score the first goal in team history, and record the first win. Relief! The Stars went on the road and beat one of the more hyped teams in the league, Carolina, 0-1 on a goal by Daniel Wasson.
-Wasson looked great all game, and was extremely composed scoring his goal!
dN
Here is the team's first video report, which is a bit too earnest for my taste, until the 1:54 mark when their brilliant subtle sense of humor comes shining through. Yes that is my friend Joe in the background banging on the podium ala Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev - "Ve vill bury you!" And the team takes a flip-cam with em to Vancouver for a little road action.
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Brent Latham of Yanks Abroad tells all the MLS haters that their days are numbered.
USA U17 TEAM
The 3 matches in England this week have been canceled due to the ash cloud, but the games in Italy are still on.
International Tournament of Gradisca (Italy)
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Apr 25
USA v Mexico
-Mon Apr 26
USA v Romania
-Tue Apr 27
USA v Croatia
-Wed Apr 28
Semifinals
-Fri Apr 30
Final
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Centerback Eric Lichaj, of Aston Villa, on loan at Leyton Orient, scored his first ever professional goal this weekend! Hooray Beer.
dN
Jay DeMerit left his teams ugly loss on Saturday with an unknown leg injury.
dN
Clint Dempsey did not play due to a tweaked ankle.
dN
Carlos Bocanegra did not play because of a vaguely reported stomach muscle injury.
dN
Neither DaMarcus Beasley or Maurice Edu saw the field for Rangers this weekend.
dN
Game Action: (only those that played are listed)
DENMARK - Superliga
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus - went the distance but lost 1-0 at Brondby.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the whole match as they won 1-4 at Silkeorg.
ENGLAND - Premier League
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - came on as a sub in the 76th minute and they ended scoreless at Birmingham.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the full 90 as they won 1-2 at Portsmouth.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - antoher full match and another clean sheet for Wolves as they drew 0-0 at Fulham.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and won 2-3 at Blackburn.
ENGLAND - Championship League
Jay DeMerit - Watford - started and played 56 minutes as they were drilled 4-1 at Leicester.
ENGLAND - League One
Jemal Johnson - Stockport County - started and went 79 minuets but they the lost 2-0 at Leyton Orient.
Eric Lichaj - Leyton Orient - went the distance and scored late as they won 2-0 at home over Stockport.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - started and played 65 minutes as they won 2-3 at Milton Keynes.
GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - played the entire game but lost 3-1 at Schalke.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance as they got smoked 7-0 at Bayern Munich.
Greece - Super League
Eddie Johnson - Aris Thessalonika - started and played 60 minutes but they lost 2-1 at Olympiakos.
NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the full 90 but lost 2-0 at Cambuur Leeuwarden.
NORWAY - Eliteserien
Steve Clark - Honefoss - went the full 90 but lost 0-1 at home to Viking.
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - started and played 71 minutes as they won 4-2 at home oer Kongsvinger.
Hunter Freeman - Start - played the full match, got a yellow card, and lost 3-1 at Stromsgodset.
Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance as they lost 3-1 at Stromsgodset.
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - came on as a sub in the 77th minute but they lost at home 0-1 to Viking.
SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - went the full 90 as they won 3-0 at home over GAIS.
dN
Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)
DENMARK - Superliga
Chris Rolfe - AaB - Mon Apr 19 v Esbjerg
ENGLAND - Premier League
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Mon Apr 19 at Liverpool
ENGLAND - Championship League
Kenny Cooper - Plymouth Argyle - Mon Apr 19 v Newcastle
GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - Mon apr 19 at Arminia Bielefeld
NORWAY - Eliteserien
Erik Benjaminsen - Stabaek - Wed Apr 21 v Honefoss
Steve Clark - Honefoss - Wed Apr 21 at Stabaek
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Wed Apr 21 v Honefoss
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Wed Apr 21 at Stabaek
PORTUGAL - Liga
Greg Garza - Sporting - Mon Apr 19 v Vitoria Setubal
SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Apr 19 at Gelfe
Johan Smith - Kalmar - Mon Apr 19 v AIK
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
PRIMERA DIVISION - Game Action
Herculez Gomez - Pueblo - started and scored 2 goals including the game winner, but got a red card in the 66th minute, as they won 4-1 at home over Cruz Azul.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - came on as a sub at half time as they drew 1-1 at home against Toluca.
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - went the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Chiapas.
MEXICO
In the Mexican Primera Division the 2 top teams in each group plus the 2 team with the next best records make the playoffs aka Liguilla.
Guadalajara, Toluca, Monterrey, UNAM and Santos are all in the playoffs already. That leaves 3 spots still to fight for.
Clausura Standings after 16 of 17 Rounds:
Group 1
31 Guadalajara - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at Cruz Azul
27 Toluca - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 v Puebla
- - - - -
*23 Atlas - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 Chiapas
21 Queretaro - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at San Luis
12 Juarez Indios - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 v UNAM
11 San Luis - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Queretaro
Group 2
35 Monterrey - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at Morelia
24 Morelia - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Monterrey
- - - - -
22 America - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 v Santos
22 Pachuca - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at UANL
19 Puebla - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 at Toluca
18 Chiapas - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at Atlas
Group 3
28 UNAM Pumas - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 at Indios
28 Santos Laguna - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 at America
- - - - -
*24 Cruz Azul - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Guadalajara
19 UANL Tigres - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Pachuca
16 Atlante - NEXT: Fri Apr 23 at Estudiantes
16 Estudiantes Tecos - NEXT: Fri Apr 23 v Atlante
ENGLAND
Liverpool has officially announced an intent to sell the club, and have hired internal & external people to make that happen.
dN
Barry Glendenning and John Ashdown of the Guardian with Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.
dN
Top Premier League Team Standings (35 of 38 games played)
77 Chelsea
76 Manchester United
71 Arsenal
dN
Top Goal Scorers in the Premier League:
26 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
25 Didier Drogba - Chelsea
23 Darren Bent - Sunderland
22 Carlos Tevez - Manchester City
18 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
18 Jermain Defoe - Tottenham Hotspur
18 Frank Lampard - Chelsea
SPAIN
Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Espanyol's unwelcome greeting to their city rivals Barcelona at their brand new stadium, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga.
dN
Top La Liga Team Standings (33 of 38 games played)
84 Barcelona
83 Real Madrid
dN
Top Goal Scorers in La Liga:
27 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
25 Gonzalo Higuaín - Real Madrid
20 David Villa - Valencia
20 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
17 Diego Forlan - Atletico Madrid
15 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Barcelona
FRANCE
Last week I mentioned what a big surprise it was that Marsielle had taken the lead in France, while a reader was wondering why I would be surprised seeing as Marsielle finished 2nd last season, only losing the title on the last day. Now, I want to clear up why I wrote what I did. Because traditionally although Marsielle have had some of the leagues best players they are well know for their underachievement, AND the fact that just 2 months ago they were 11 points behind and showing no sign of this surge, not to mention Bordeaux cruising and Montpellier shocking. OK then, that's it.
dN
Top Ligue 1 Team Standings (33 of 38 games played)
68 Marseille
63 Auxerre
59 Lyon
59 Montpellier
58 Lille
57 Bordeaux - 32 played
dN
Top Goal Scorers in Ligue 1:
15 Mamadou Niang - Marseille
14 Anderson Luiz de Carvalho Nene - Monaco
14 Kevin Gameiro - Lorient
13 Asamoah - Rennes
13 Lisandro Lopez - Lyon
13 Mevlut Erding - Paris St Germain
12 Gervinho - Lille
12 Pierre-Alain Frau
GERMANY
It's a 2 team race now with Leverkusen falling on their sword!
dN
Top Bundesliga Team Standings (31 of 34 games played)
63 Bayern Munich
61 Schalke
54 Werder Bremen
54 Bayer Leverkusen
dN
Top Goal Scorers in the Bundesliga:
20 Edin Dzeko - Wolfsburg
19 Stefan Kiessling - Bayer Leverkusen
18 Kevin Kuranyi - Schalke
15 Lucas Barrios - Borussia Dortmund
15 Claudio Pizarro - Werder Bremen
14 Arjen Robben - Bayern Munich
12 Eren Derdiyok - Bayer Leverkusen
12 Albert Bunjaku - Nurnberg
ITALY
Roma came back late to win and keep their lead in Serie A.
dN
Paulo Bandini of the Guardian on Roma & Ranieri getting closer to an improbably title, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.
dN
Did you see Maicon from Inter play keepie up and pull off a sombrero to single handed beat 2 Juventus defenders, then score an astounding volley goal?? Holy Guacamole! This video shows that the ball never touches the ground between his 4 touches!!!! On the other hand, Chauncy who works in my office was not impressed.
dN
Amy Lawrence of the Observer on the Roma-Inter and Ranieri-Mourinho battle that will go down to the end.
dN
Top Serie A Team Standings (34 of 38 games played)
71 Roma
70 Inter
64 Milan
dN
Top Goal Scorers in Serie A:
22 Antonio Di Natale - Udinese
18 Diego Milito - Inter
15 Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina
14 Giampaolo Pazzini - Sampdoria
13 Fabrizio Miccoli - Palermo
13 Alessandro Matri - Cagliari
12 Paulo Vito Barreto - Bari
12 Pato - Milan
BRAZIL
Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated on Robinho, Neymar, Ganso and the revelation of the winter state tournament season - Santos.
ARGENTINA
Top Primera Division Team Standings (15 of 19 games played)
30 Estudiantes la Plata
30 Independiente
28 Godoy Cruz
28 Argentinos Juniors
23 Banfield
22 Huracan
22 Gimnasia
WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA
For the second time in 2010 Spain's deadly striker Fernando Torres has had surgery to repair some messed up cartilage in his knee. Will this fix they problem? And will be ready to go for the World Cup? Huge questions.
ENDERS
Last time Adrian Mutu made the big headlines he got a 1 year suspension from Chelsea for testing positive for cocaine. Chelsea cut him loose then successfully sued him for loss of a transfer fee. I think they won about 17 Million Euros in a settlement from him. Oof! And now he has been suspended from Fiorentina for nine month after a "doping test failure". This is crash and burn at its worst.
We want to amass 2000 Twitter followers ASAP. Join the parade today. Follow @dunord today! And strongly urge your friends to do that same.
STARTERS
Edson & Herculez! Herculez & Edson! Wowzer Wozee Wowow!
-Herculez has 10 goals in just 13 appearances for Puebla!
-Edson has all 7 of the LA Galaxy goals in the first 4 games of the season, in which they have won em all.
dN
I don't think any of us could begin to understand how sweet it would be for Claudio Ranieri to steal the Serie A title from under the nose/ego of Jose Mourinho, the man who followed him at Chelsea and has taken ever opportunity he can to disparage him.
BIG CLUB MATCHES TODAY
-Fri Apr 16
Inter Milan 2-0 Juventus - they simply don't like each other, and Inter are desperate to not let Roma run away with the title.
-Sat Apr 17
Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United - the Manchester derby with the Reds stabbing the Blues in second half stoppage time, and Man U staying in the title race.
Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea - another London derby with the #1 team choking and a new #4 emerging.
Espanyol 0-0 Barcelona - the city of Barcelona derby sees the league leaders advantage drop back to just 1 point.
Bordeaux 2-2 Lyon - with both desperately trying to keep pace with leaders Marsielle, neither succeed with both just falling further back.
-Sun Apr 18
Lazio 1-2 Roma - the Rome derby with the road teaming coming from a goal down to maintain their league lead.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Semifinals Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 20
Inter v Barcelona - live at 1:45pm central on Fox Soccer Plus - delayed at 4pm central on FSC
-Wed Apr 21
Bayern v Lyon - live at 1:30pm central on FSC
dN
The Observer on how Jose Mourinho & Inter plan to stop Lionel Messi.
WHY?
When I was in London on the Nike trip in late February I had a 30 or so minute chat with Nick Webster and some of the other folks from Fox Soccer Channel,and one thing that baffled me at the time, has stuck with me since then, and is now gnawing away at me was a comment Webster made about Landon Donovan. He literally stated that LD didn't have enough charisma. I have to admit that I should have taken the conflict of our back and forth to a whole new level at that time, but I didn't. Why didn't I? I was just too stunned and confused by such a completely wrong statement. To my mind LD oozes cool confidence. I have no idea what Webster was referring to that night, but I do know that I heard very little of what he said after that, because when I feel some has just simply got it wrong, that is when I tune out and move on, choosing not to waste anymore more of my few brain cells on the topic.
MLS WEEK 4
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 15
Toronto FC 2-1 Philadelphia Union - TFC goals both by Dwayne DeRosario (1 via PK). PU goal by Jordan Harvey.
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
Attendance: 21,978
-Sat Apr 17
Seattle Sounders 1-0 Kansas City Wizards - SS goal by Michael Fucito.
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Attendance: 35,924
Houston Dynamo 3-0 Chivas USA - HD goals by Geoff Cameron, Lovel Palmer & Dominic Oduro.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 14,843
DC United 0-2 Chicago Fire - CF goals by Marco Pappa & Brian McBride.
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 18,407
New York Red Bulls v FC Dallas - NY goals both by Juan Pablo Angel (1 via PK). FCD goal by Dax McCarthy.
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 13,667
San Jose Earthquakes v New England Revolution - SJE goals by Chris Wondolowski & Ike Opara.
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 9,082
Los Angeles Galaxy v Real Salt Lake - LAG goals both by Edson Buddle. RSL goal by Kyle Beckerman.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 20,344
-Sun Apr 18
Colorado Rapids 3-1 Toronto FC - CR goals by Conor Casey(2, both via PK) and Jeff Larentowicz. TFC goal by Dwayne DeRosario(PK).
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 9,928
dN
Columbus Crew had the weekend off.
dN
EJECTIONS:
-Dan Califf - Philadelphia - red card
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
The league has named Los Angeles forward Edson Buddle the Player Of The Week.
dN
Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated with his weekly review - Buddle stays red-hot, young center backs impress in Week 4 of MLS
dN
Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his Monday Morning Breakdown - Edson Buddle dominates the storylines, and other MLS news from the weekend.
dN
Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch looks at the Crew's weirdly/poorly constructed schedule that have given them 2 weeks off already this month when they will have a packed a schedule in summer with league, Open Cup and Champions League to deal with.
dN
Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 talks KC Wiz with team captain Jimmy Conrad.
dN
Word has it that Seattle signed forward Blase Nkufo to a Designated Player contract. He will arrive in the summer transfer window.
dN
DC released goalkeeper and 3rd in command of the USS Enterprise, Lt Worf, Josh Wicks.
MLS INJURY REPORT
Jimmy Conrad left the game for KC with a calf muscle injury.
MY THOUGHTS
From the weekends MLS games:
-Edson Buddle. Wow. 4 games, 7 goals, 4 wins, no one else on the team has scored! Wow.
-Who in the world is Michael Fucito?
-DC has 4 losses in 4 games. You can almost smell the sulfur burning all the way out here in Minnesota.
-Troy Perkins provided us with this weekends idiotic goalkeeping maneuver, letting Chicago score on a glanced header off a free kick from 70 YARDS AWAY! Was he sleeping?
-New York reverted straight back to a Giants Stadium sized attendance! Oof.
-Two questions on San Jose as a franchise - 1) if you have a stadium that only holds a little over 10,000 how can you not sell out every single game? - AND - 2) if you can't sell out every single game at that small of a level, why are you trying to build a new stadium that holds considerably more? (And I might as well add a 3rd thing too then: can someone remind me why exactly MLS went back to this market?)
-Bobby Convey is off to a good start for San Jose, being a main contributor in the teams 2 wins in a row.
-Which New England team that we have seen so far this season is the real one. I saw them as having a very hard time doing anything this year, but was surprised by their performances, until this week.
-Colorado v TFC had 3 PK's a Free Kick goal! Nothing more. And no one saw it in person. No one. Embarrassing.
-As good as Dwayne DeRosario has been for Toronto, Julian DeGuzman has been bad. Did you see JDG jump out of the way of the free kick that gave Colorado a goal? He literally jumped right out of the middle of wall allowing a shot to go straight through and into the corner of the goal. That chest level ball had no right to make it past the wall.
-After Geoff Cameron scored for Houston he was doing some sort of of bunny ears and hopping celebration. What in the world was that??
MLS GOAL SCORING LEADERS
7 Edson Buddle
4 Dwayne De Rosario
3 Conor Casey
3 Sebastian Le Toux
3 Javier Morales
3 Zack Schilawski
2 Brad Davis
2 Brian McBride
2 Guillermo Barros Schelotto
2 Ike Opara
2 Juan Pablo Angel
2 Kei Kamara
2 Kenny Mansally
2 Marco Pappa
2 Omar Cummings
MLS RUMORS
Columbus appears to be on the verge of signing French midfielder French trialist Leandre Griffit. The 25 year old midfielder last played for Crystal Palace but that ended almost a year ago, and he has only played in about 60 professional games since 2002.
dN
The latest from Soccer 365.
dN
The Alessandro Del Piero to MLS rumor is on again. Is this 3 or 4 years in a row at this time now for this anecdote?
MLS EXHIBITIONS
-Sun May 23
New York Red Bulls v Juventus (Italy)
USSF DIVISION 2
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 16
Crystal Palace Baltimore 0-1 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Carolina RailHawks 0-1 NSC Minnesota Stars - NSC goal by Daniel Wasson.
-Sat Apr 17
Portland Timbers 1-0 Rochester Rhinos
AC St Louis 1-2 Austin Aztex
Miami FC Blues 0-0 Vancouver Whitecaps
-Wed Apr 21
Puerto Rico Islanders v NSC Minnesota Stars
-Thu Apr 22
Portland Timbers v AC St Louis
-Sat Apr 24
Vancouver Whitecaps v AC St Louis
NSC Minnesota Stars v Tampa Bay Rowdies
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sun Apr 25
Montreal Impact v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Rochester Rhinos
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Standings:
NASL Conference>
4 Vancouver - 2 played (+2 GD)
3 Carolina - 2 played (+1 GD)
2 Miami - 2 played (0 GD)
0 Baltimore - 1 played (-1 GD)
0 Montreal - 1 played (-2 GD)
0 St Louis - 2 played (-3 GD)
USL Conference>
6 Austin - 2 played (+3 GD)
3 Tampa Bay - 1 played (+1 GD)
3 Portland - 1 played (+1 GD)
3 Minnesota - 2 played (-1 GD)
1 Rochester - 2 played (-1 GD)
- Puerto Rico - 0 played (- GD)
NSC MINNESOTA STARS
WE WON! WE WON! WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!
A huge night for the team on Friday as they only had to wait until game 2 to score the first goal in team history, and record the first win. Relief! The Stars went on the road and beat one of the more hyped teams in the league, Carolina, 0-1 on a goal by Daniel Wasson.
-Wasson looked great all game, and was extremely composed scoring his goal!
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Here is the team's first video report, which is a bit too earnest for my taste, until the 1:54 mark when their brilliant subtle sense of humor comes shining through. Yes that is my friend Joe in the background banging on the podium ala Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev - "Ve vill bury you!" And the team takes a flip-cam with em to Vancouver for a little road action.
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Brent Latham of Yanks Abroad tells all the MLS haters that their days are numbered.
USA U17 TEAM
The 3 matches in England this week have been canceled due to the ash cloud, but the games in Italy are still on.
International Tournament of Gradisca (Italy)
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Apr 25
USA v Mexico
-Mon Apr 26
USA v Romania
-Tue Apr 27
USA v Croatia
-Wed Apr 28
Semifinals
-Fri Apr 30
Final
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Centerback Eric Lichaj, of Aston Villa, on loan at Leyton Orient, scored his first ever professional goal this weekend! Hooray Beer.
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Jay DeMerit left his teams ugly loss on Saturday with an unknown leg injury.
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Clint Dempsey did not play due to a tweaked ankle.
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Carlos Bocanegra did not play because of a vaguely reported stomach muscle injury.
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Neither DaMarcus Beasley or Maurice Edu saw the field for Rangers this weekend.
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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)
DENMARK - Superliga
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus - went the distance but lost 1-0 at Brondby.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the whole match as they won 1-4 at Silkeorg.
ENGLAND - Premier League
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - came on as a sub in the 76th minute and they ended scoreless at Birmingham.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the full 90 as they won 1-2 at Portsmouth.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - antoher full match and another clean sheet for Wolves as they drew 0-0 at Fulham.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and won 2-3 at Blackburn.
ENGLAND - Championship League
Jay DeMerit - Watford - started and played 56 minutes as they were drilled 4-1 at Leicester.
ENGLAND - League One
Jemal Johnson - Stockport County - started and went 79 minuets but they the lost 2-0 at Leyton Orient.
Eric Lichaj - Leyton Orient - went the distance and scored late as they won 2-0 at home over Stockport.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - started and played 65 minutes as they won 2-3 at Milton Keynes.
GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - played the entire game but lost 3-1 at Schalke.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance as they got smoked 7-0 at Bayern Munich.
Greece - Super League
Eddie Johnson - Aris Thessalonika - started and played 60 minutes but they lost 2-1 at Olympiakos.
NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the full 90 but lost 2-0 at Cambuur Leeuwarden.
NORWAY - Eliteserien
Steve Clark - Honefoss - went the full 90 but lost 0-1 at home to Viking.
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - started and played 71 minutes as they won 4-2 at home oer Kongsvinger.
Hunter Freeman - Start - played the full match, got a yellow card, and lost 3-1 at Stromsgodset.
Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance as they lost 3-1 at Stromsgodset.
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - came on as a sub in the 77th minute but they lost at home 0-1 to Viking.
SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - went the full 90 as they won 3-0 at home over GAIS.
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Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)
DENMARK - Superliga
Chris Rolfe - AaB - Mon Apr 19 v Esbjerg
ENGLAND - Premier League
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Mon Apr 19 at Liverpool
ENGLAND - Championship League
Kenny Cooper - Plymouth Argyle - Mon Apr 19 v Newcastle
GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - Mon apr 19 at Arminia Bielefeld
NORWAY - Eliteserien
Erik Benjaminsen - Stabaek - Wed Apr 21 v Honefoss
Steve Clark - Honefoss - Wed Apr 21 at Stabaek
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Wed Apr 21 v Honefoss
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Wed Apr 21 at Stabaek
PORTUGAL - Liga
Greg Garza - Sporting - Mon Apr 19 v Vitoria Setubal
SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Apr 19 at Gelfe
Johan Smith - Kalmar - Mon Apr 19 v AIK
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
PRIMERA DIVISION - Game Action
Herculez Gomez - Pueblo - started and scored 2 goals including the game winner, but got a red card in the 66th minute, as they won 4-1 at home over Cruz Azul.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - came on as a sub at half time as they drew 1-1 at home against Toluca.
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - went the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Chiapas.
MEXICO
In the Mexican Primera Division the 2 top teams in each group plus the 2 team with the next best records make the playoffs aka Liguilla.
Guadalajara, Toluca, Monterrey, UNAM and Santos are all in the playoffs already. That leaves 3 spots still to fight for.
Clausura Standings after 16 of 17 Rounds:
Group 1
31 Guadalajara - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at Cruz Azul
27 Toluca - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 v Puebla
- - - - -
*23 Atlas - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 Chiapas
21 Queretaro - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at San Luis
12 Juarez Indios - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 v UNAM
11 San Luis - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Queretaro
Group 2
35 Monterrey - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at Morelia
24 Morelia - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Monterrey
- - - - -
22 America - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 v Santos
22 Pachuca - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at UANL
19 Puebla - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 at Toluca
18 Chiapas - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 at Atlas
Group 3
28 UNAM Pumas - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 at Indios
28 Santos Laguna - NEXT: Sun Apr 25 at America
- - - - -
*24 Cruz Azul - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Guadalajara
19 UANL Tigres - NEXT: Sat Apr 24 v Pachuca
16 Atlante - NEXT: Fri Apr 23 at Estudiantes
16 Estudiantes Tecos - NEXT: Fri Apr 23 v Atlante
ENGLAND
Liverpool has officially announced an intent to sell the club, and have hired internal & external people to make that happen.
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Barry Glendenning and John Ashdown of the Guardian with Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.
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Top Premier League Team Standings (35 of 38 games played)
77 Chelsea
76 Manchester United
71 Arsenal
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Top Goal Scorers in the Premier League:
26 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
25 Didier Drogba - Chelsea
23 Darren Bent - Sunderland
22 Carlos Tevez - Manchester City
18 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
18 Jermain Defoe - Tottenham Hotspur
18 Frank Lampard - Chelsea
SPAIN
Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Espanyol's unwelcome greeting to their city rivals Barcelona at their brand new stadium, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga.
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Top La Liga Team Standings (33 of 38 games played)
84 Barcelona
83 Real Madrid
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Top Goal Scorers in La Liga:
27 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
25 Gonzalo Higuaín - Real Madrid
20 David Villa - Valencia
20 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
17 Diego Forlan - Atletico Madrid
15 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Barcelona
FRANCE
Last week I mentioned what a big surprise it was that Marsielle had taken the lead in France, while a reader was wondering why I would be surprised seeing as Marsielle finished 2nd last season, only losing the title on the last day. Now, I want to clear up why I wrote what I did. Because traditionally although Marsielle have had some of the leagues best players they are well know for their underachievement, AND the fact that just 2 months ago they were 11 points behind and showing no sign of this surge, not to mention Bordeaux cruising and Montpellier shocking. OK then, that's it.
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Top Ligue 1 Team Standings (33 of 38 games played)
68 Marseille
63 Auxerre
59 Lyon
59 Montpellier
58 Lille
57 Bordeaux - 32 played
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Top Goal Scorers in Ligue 1:
15 Mamadou Niang - Marseille
14 Anderson Luiz de Carvalho Nene - Monaco
14 Kevin Gameiro - Lorient
13 Asamoah - Rennes
13 Lisandro Lopez - Lyon
13 Mevlut Erding - Paris St Germain
12 Gervinho - Lille
12 Pierre-Alain Frau
GERMANY
It's a 2 team race now with Leverkusen falling on their sword!
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Top Bundesliga Team Standings (31 of 34 games played)
63 Bayern Munich
61 Schalke
54 Werder Bremen
54 Bayer Leverkusen
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Top Goal Scorers in the Bundesliga:
20 Edin Dzeko - Wolfsburg
19 Stefan Kiessling - Bayer Leverkusen
18 Kevin Kuranyi - Schalke
15 Lucas Barrios - Borussia Dortmund
15 Claudio Pizarro - Werder Bremen
14 Arjen Robben - Bayern Munich
12 Eren Derdiyok - Bayer Leverkusen
12 Albert Bunjaku - Nurnberg
ITALY
Roma came back late to win and keep their lead in Serie A.
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Paulo Bandini of the Guardian on Roma & Ranieri getting closer to an improbably title, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.
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Did you see Maicon from Inter play keepie up and pull off a sombrero to single handed beat 2 Juventus defenders, then score an astounding volley goal?? Holy Guacamole! This video shows that the ball never touches the ground between his 4 touches!!!! On the other hand, Chauncy who works in my office was not impressed.
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Amy Lawrence of the Observer on the Roma-Inter and Ranieri-Mourinho battle that will go down to the end.
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Top Serie A Team Standings (34 of 38 games played)
71 Roma
70 Inter
64 Milan
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Top Goal Scorers in Serie A:
22 Antonio Di Natale - Udinese
18 Diego Milito - Inter
15 Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina
14 Giampaolo Pazzini - Sampdoria
13 Fabrizio Miccoli - Palermo
13 Alessandro Matri - Cagliari
12 Paulo Vito Barreto - Bari
12 Pato - Milan
BRAZIL
Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated on Robinho, Neymar, Ganso and the revelation of the winter state tournament season - Santos.
ARGENTINA
Top Primera Division Team Standings (15 of 19 games played)
30 Estudiantes la Plata
30 Independiente
28 Godoy Cruz
28 Argentinos Juniors
23 Banfield
22 Huracan
22 Gimnasia
WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA
For the second time in 2010 Spain's deadly striker Fernando Torres has had surgery to repair some messed up cartilage in his knee. Will this fix they problem? And will be ready to go for the World Cup? Huge questions.
ENDERS
Last time Adrian Mutu made the big headlines he got a 1 year suspension from Chelsea for testing positive for cocaine. Chelsea cut him loose then successfully sued him for loss of a transfer fee. I think they won about 17 Million Euros in a settlement from him. Oof! And now he has been suspended from Fiorentina for nine month after a "doping test failure". This is crash and burn at its worst.
posted by brucio at 17:25
10 Comments:
Charisma and confidence, not the same thing... charisma is being and engaging face for the sport, out there interacting, talking it up... You're right, Landon's got cool confidence, and generally he's quiet. I think its part of the reason that he's not the USA Captain, it's usually Boca. Maybe you can explain more of what Nick Webster had to say, but based on your description it doesn't seem that far off.
The reason Geoff Cameron celebrated his goal like that was due to his VW commercial on proper goal celebration techniques.
http://www.youtube.com/user/volkswagen#p/c/88DAFFB0CCAC3CAC/5/7lcetEx9pnY
If you see Zakuani powerlifting the corner flag, or Schelotto pulling his boot off and playing it like a flute...that's why.
all 8 are pretty funny - except the host
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TyH2dR1KeA&feature=PlayList&p=88DAFFB0CCAC3CAC&playnext_from=PL
saw that NYRB game online. First thing I noticed was the sea of blue seats. So sad.
Not only would it be sweet for Tinkerman to beat Mourinho, but also to stick it to Juve, who are still floundering after unceremoniously sacking Ranieri.
As for San Jose:
If any of those three questions were as easy to answer as they are to ask, MLS as a whole would be a lot farther along. But I'll bite.
1) There are myriad reasons for this, so I'll just throw out a few:
- There are thousands of other things that people can be spending their money on, most recently the Sharks playoff run.
- Moving the team in 05 hemorrhaged a large portion of the fan base that has yet to return. Whether they will return to see a winning team remains to be seen.
- A large group of soccer-but-not-MLS fans in SF are being missed out on, because most San Franciscans don't see SJ/Santa Clara as the Bay Area (its at least an hour between them)
2) This seems obvious. The team is currently RENTING their stadium, while building a new one would allow them to keep all profits, including food/bev, parking, etc.
3) I don't work for MLS, so I can't tell you, but I can say that this market has the potential to be a cornerstone of the league.
Also, just a quick note, Argentinos Juniors have only played 14, so with their game in hand they could go top of the league.
thanks Sean, I was hoping for someone to chime in.
As for Anonymous.... have you seen LD do an interview?? There is NOTHING shy about the guy. He tells you exactly what he is thinking every time. On the other hand Bocanegra just spews out a couple of athlete cliches - to me he has the charisma of a turnip. Am I missing in something here?
Confidence can increase someone's charisma, but we all know tons of extremely confident pricks that no one likes.
My guess is that the lack of charisma this guy felt LD had was more in reference to his (LD) not being an exciting fellow on camera. Landon can be funny and likable, and very confident, but I have seen enough of his interviews to know that he can also be a little dry.
I actually kind of like that about him, though. I like that he is not trying to be likable or anything different to be more "impressive" for the cameras. He's just Landon.
fair enough, that makes sense to me
@bruce, Conrad isn't the captain anymore. Arnaud is.
I live in the bay area and I can echo the sentiments above about San Jose vs. San Francisco. San Jose is simply not San Francisco. Some people do go down from San Francisco and the east bay (Oakland, Berkeley, etc.) to cheer for the Quakes, and for many people around here that kind of drive (an hour from most places) is routine, but it's practically the difference between Princeton, NJ and NY. To put it another way if I were flying back to the bay area, I would gladly fly into SFO or Oakland, but never to San Jose. This isn't to say that people aren't crazy about soccer in the south bay--they are--but it really is three different sports markets. I for one think that given the right circumstances the bay area could support three MLS teams (Oakland/Fruitvale, San Francisco, San Jose), but that's another topic...
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