Some News for Mon Apr 5, 2010

AN APOLOGY

Proving that some of the readers of du Nord are definitely smarter than the writer.

On Friday I posted a Twitter and then opened the daily du Nord post with what I thought at the time to be a very funny nickname for Houston forward Luis Landin. Myself and few others coined the name El Burrito Grande for Landin cuz he has a reputation for being "chubby".

But....

Over the weekend a very wise reader called Humberto, who labeled himself a Friend In Football of du Nord, pointed out that the nickname was racist.

Would I call a white guy a burrito? Hell no.

And calling a Mexican guy that is just plain offensive.

Humberto is 100% right.

I thank him for teaching me an important lesson.

I also want to thank Humberto for doing so in a concise, adult fashion. He could have really gone off on me and been justified.

We can all learn from this.

Think twice.

I unequivocally apologize for my ignorant words.

And yes, Humberto, you are my Friend In Football. This is how friends treat each other.

STARTERS

It's almost impossible to comprehend what is going on but... HERCULES GOMEZ SCORED AGAIN!!!! That is now 8 goals in 11 games at Puebla!

dN

Maurice Edu got the game winner for Rangers! (photo from the Scotland Herald - see article below in Americans In Europe section)














dN

Real Madrid & Barcelona are tied at the top of La Liga and set to face off next Saturday. But, players are threatening to strike due some teams having big unpaid wages to the players, and the league owing the players union money, with the two amounts totally 18 Million Euros. Wow!

dN

3 new leaders in Europe's top 5 leagues after thes weekends games.
-Chelsea in England
-Bayern Munich in Germany
-Lyon in France

BIG CLUB MATCHES THIS WEEKEND

Matches & Scores: (with significance)
-Sat Apr 3
Manchester United 1-2 Chelsea - #2 becomes #1 and now controls their own destiny - Win all their games and be champions again.
Barcelona 4-1 Athletic Bilbao - Barca stays #2 while Bilbao are just pretenders at #6.
Schalke 1-2 Bayern Munich - #1 drops to the #2 spot as the road team gets a huge win.
-Sun Apr 4
Guadalajara 1-0 America - an insanely frantic game won by the home team staying at #1 in the league as well.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Quarterfinals Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 6
CSKA Moscow v Inter Milan (0-1) - Live at 11:30am Central on FSC.
Barcelona v Arsenal (2-2) - Live at 1:45pm Central on FS+ - Delayed at 4pm Central on FSC.
-Wed Apr 7
Manchester United v Bayern Munich (1-2) - - Live at 1:45pm Central on FSC.
Bordeaux v Lyon (1-3) - Live at 1:45pm Central on FS+ - Delayed at 4pm Central on FSC.

Away goals is the tiebreaker.

HEAD INJURIES

BrainAndSpinalCord.org with an article on concussions in MLS, and how the league does not have a standardized policy for dealing with these potentially life altering injuries.

MLS WEEK 2

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 1
Houston Dynamo 2-1 Real Salt Lake - HD goals both by Brad Davis(Both via PK). RSL goal by Javier Morales.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 18,197
LA Galaxy 2-0 Chivas USA - LAG goals both by Edson Buddle.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 19,805
-Sat Apr 3
Colorado Rapids 2-2 Chicago Fire - CR goals by Omar Cummings & Conor Casey(PK). CF goals by Collins John & Brian McBride(PK).
Venue: Disck's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 11,641
-John Meyer of the Denver Post - Opportunities wasted by Rapids
-Guillermo Rivera of Chicago Now - Fire Game Recap and Player Ratings
DC United 0-2 New England Revolution - NER goals both by Kenny Mansally.
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 20,664
-John Haydon of the Washington Times - D.C. United shell-shocked by Mansally's late strikes
-The Washington Post - D.C. United still struggling to score goals, gets shut out by Revolution in home opener
-Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald - Ken-do attitude
Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe - Mansally is finding his range
Seattle Sounders 0-1 New York Red Bulls - NYRB goal by Macoumba Kandji.
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Attendance: 36,066
-Brian Lewis of the NY Post - Red Bulls snap 29-game road winless skid, lead East
-Big Apple Soccer - Mac The Knife
-Nathaniel Baker of American Soccer News - A road win! Bulls shut out Sounders, 1-0
-Jack Bell of the New York Times - Red Bulls: Road Warriors
-Dave Martinez of The Offside - The Easter Miracle! Red Bulls Beat Sounders, Gain Road Win
-Todd Dybus of the Seattle Post Intelligencer - Plenty of chances, no goals for Sounders in loss to NY
-Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times - Red Bulls end road blues, stun Sounders FC 1-0
-Mayers - Sounders FC 0-1 New York Red Bulls, postgame thoughts and player ratings
-Mayers - Sigi Schmid quotes
-Mayers - Sounders FC player quotes
-Mayers - New York Red Bulls player quotes
-Mayers - Colombian forwards face off
-Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times - Sounders waste their scoring chances
-Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune - Chances don't convert to goals for Sounders FC
-Ruiz - Morning after: New York 1, Sounders 0

dN

No EJECTIONS this weekend!

MY THOUGHTS

New England forward Kenny Mansally was my Player of the Week. He came on as a 2nd half sub for New England and completely changed the game. His goals were also fantastic efforts.

dN

New York won a road game for the first time in 29 tries! It had been since May 2008!

dN

Cory Gibbs was great for New England. He has always been one of my favorites, and its good to see him healthy.

dN

It was Colorado's turn to gag on another home opener by attracting under 12,000 people, and looking at the empty stands on TV it appeared as though there were even less than that actually on hand. So so sad. I would hate to be a fan of that team. But a huge thumbs up to those who stick with it. You are true fans.

dN

I guess Freddie Ljungberg's back was ok.

dN

Based strictly on their form this past weekend, here is how I rank the teams who played:
1 New York
2 New England
3 Houston
4 Los Angeles
5 Chicago
6 Colorado
7 Salt Lake
8 Seattle
9 Chivas USA
10 DC

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated with 5 Things We Learned From MLS Week 2.

dN

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his Monday MLS Breakdown. Juan Manuel Pena at DC united is the focus of several topics.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet - Week 2 Wrap-up

dN

Somehow I always miss out when these get posted - Steve Sirks' always magical Columbus Crew notebook.

dN

Yeah it was only a friendly against Evansville, but new Indian striker Sunil Chhetri bagged 3 goals for the Kansas City Wizards.

dN

And Colorado has officially signed former Wizards midfielder Claudio Lopez. Interesting.

dN

Toronto has officially released forward Ali Gerba. There is no chance another MLS team will want to sign him up.

dN

Len Zeihm of the Chicago Sun with lots of good Fire player notes. (This article ran before the Saturday game, but still very relevant.)

dN

Steve Hunt of Fox Sports Southwest writes about Dallas' much improved team chemistry.

dN

Hunt also writes about FCD fullback Heath Pearce who is thinking about the World Cup.

dN

Gareth Wheeler of the Toronto Sun doesn't see where the Designated Player rule can help clubs field a winning team. He may be right.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Crew have been working a lot on shooting. Shouldn't they all, as pros, being doing tons of this everyday?!?!?!

dN

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at the system the Red Bulls have been using so far this season, and why it has been working for them.

dN

Jen Chang of Sports Illustrated makes of list of players MLS should make Designated.
-I have to say that I pretty much hate this list outside of #1 and #4. But then again, I don't have a better list, so maybe I should just shut up.

dN

CSN Philly checks in with Union coach Peter Nowak during the teams week off from games.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Phill.com talks to Union forward Sebastian Le Toux about the teams goals for the season - The playoffs or bust.

MLS VIDEO WONDERLAND

Dave Martinez of The Offside got this amazing video footage of skydivers landing in Red Bull Arena, from the parachuters viewpoint! Wow!

MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

The FC Dallas official team blog tells us that their U17 team is in the Netherlands for a high level tournament at the Ajax Amsterdam training facility. Bobby Rhine is with the team and checks in.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

A final vote is expected on Wednesday in Houston to approve all the last of the money needed from the city to finish financing a stadium for the Dynamo.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle with the latest on Dynamo stadium prospects.

MLS RUMORS

Soccer 365's Grapevine full of rumors, today includes grapes that resemble Giuseppe Favalli, Raul, David Trezeguet, Dario Delgado, Scott Sealy and many more.

US OPEN CUP

9 MLS will play off for 2 spots in the Open Cup tournament proper.

MLS - Play-In Rounds
Bracket 1 (1 team will advance)
-Date TBA
New York Red Bulls v Philadelphia Union
-Date TBA
NYRB/PU Winner v New England Revolution
-Wed Apr 13
Kansas City Wizards v Colorado Rapids
-Date TBA
NYRB/PU/NER Winner v KCW/CR
Bracket 2 (1 team will advance)
-Thu Apr 14
San Jose Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake
-Date TBA
DC United v FC Dallas
-Date TBA
DCU/FCD winner v SJE/RSL winner

dN

All the best Open Cup info can be found right here at The Cup.

dN

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News with word on the Union entering the Cup.

USSF DIVISION 2

The new season starts on Sat Apr 10.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

The Blaine Spring Lake Park Life with a good long article on our Stars. Quotes too.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Sunday Herald of Scotland with words from Maurice Edu after he scored another game winner for Rangers.

dN

Yanks Abroad talks to Benny Feilhaber about getting back on the field for Aarhus.

dN

Jay DeMerit missed Watford's Saturday game due to a back injury, but was back in on Monday as a 10th minute sub.

dN

Dominic Cervi made the subs bench for Celtic.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus - came off the bench in the 16th minute in a home scoreless draw against Randers.
Yura Movsisyan - Randers - got the start and played 75 minutes, getting a yellow card, and they drew 0-0 at Aarhus.
Chris Rolfe - AaB - came on as a 70th minute sub and they drew 1-1 at home v Sonderjyske.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Jozy Altidore - Hull City - came on as a sub in the 65th minute but they lost 2-0 at Stoke.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the full game as they won 2-1 over Wigan.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the distance as they won 0-1 at Bolton.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - played the entire match but lost 1-0 at Arsenal in the 90th+ minute.
Tim Howard - Everton - in goal as usual and saved a PK but they drew 2-2 at home against West Ham.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - went the full match as they drew 2-2 at Everton.

ENGLAND - Championship League - Weekend
Kenny Cooper - Plymouth Argyle - came on as a sub in the 81st minute as they got the win 1-2 on the road at Doncaster.

ENGLAND - Championship League - Mon Apr 5
Jay DeMerit - Watford - came on as a sub in the 10th minute as they won 1-0 at home over West Bromich.

ENGLAND - League One - Weekend
Mike Grella - Leeds - started and went 75 minutes but they lost badly 0-3 at home against Swindon.
Jemal Johnson - Stockport County - played the whole game as they drew 1-1 at home with Walsall.
Eric Lichaj - Leyton Orient - played the full 90 but lost at home 1-3 to Hartlepool.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - came on as a sub in the 54th minute but they lost at home 1-2 to Huddersfield.

ENGLAND - League One - Mon Apr 5
Jemal Johnson - Stockport County - started and played 68 minutes of a 2-1 loss at Norwich.
Eric Lichaj - Leyton Orient - went the distance but lost 2-1 at Southampton.
Jon-Paul Pittman - Wycombe - played the full 90 but lost 2-1 at Walsall.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - got the start and went the distance as they won 2-1 at home over Stockport.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played the full game but lost 1-2 at home to Lyon.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - started but was subbed off in the 88th minute as they lost at Stuttgart 2-1.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full 90 and drew 0-0 at Hamburg.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
David Yelldell - Koblenz - went the distance and got the win 2-1 at home over Paderborn.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - played the whole game but lost at home 0-1 to Stormvogels Telstar.

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Maurice Edu - Rangers - went the distance and got the games only goal winning 1-0 over Hamilton.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Matthew Allen - Sandefjord - Mon Apr 5 v Odd Grenland
Erik Benjaminsen - Stabaek - Mon Apr 5 v Tromso
Steve Clark - Honefoss - Mon Apr 5 at Haugesund
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Mon Apr 5 v Tromso
Hunter Freeman - Start - Mon Apr 5 v Valerenga
Clarence Goodson - Start - Mon Apr 5 v Valerenga
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Mon Apr 5 at Haugesund

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Apr 5 at AIK
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Tue Apr 6 at Malmo
Johan Smith - Kalmar - Tue Apr 6 at Atvidaberg
Micheal Thomas - Halmstad - Tue Apr 6 at Malmo

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

It's all Herculez all the time! He scores for Puebla again, giving him 8 goals in 11 games since going to Mexico in January!

dN

PRIMERA DIVISION - Game Action
Herculez Gomez - Pueblo - came on as a sub at half time and scored yet again but they could only draw 1-1 at Morelia.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - played the whole match, got a yellow card, and won won 1-2 at Indios.
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - went the full 90 and got a yellow card but lost at home 1-2 to Pachuca.

AMERICANS IN ASIA

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 has a few words with Lee Nguyen and his new team back in Vietnam.

MEXICO

In the Mexican Primera Division the 2 top teams in each group plus the 2 team with the next best records make the playofs or Liguilla.

Clausura Standings after 13 of 17 Rounds:
Group 1
31 Guadalajara
20 Toluca
- - - - -
18 Quertaro
17 Atlas
9 San Luis
6 Juarez Indios

Group 2
30 Monterey
21 Morelia
- - - - -
*20 Pachuca
18 America
13 Puebla
12 Chiapas

Group 3
24 Santos Laguna
23 Cruz Azul
- - - - -
*21 UNAM Pumas
14 Estudiantes Tecos
13 Atlante
12 UANL Tigres

ENGLAND

Chelsea jumps back into the lead with just 5 games to play. If they win them all then they are champs! Simple.

dN

Newcastle has clinched promotion back to the Premier League for next season.

dN

Patrick Barclay of the Times thinks Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson has been busy hiding his teams weaknesses.

dN

Hugh McIlvanney of the Times ponders that question we always hear being asked - Is the Premiership the best league in Europe?

dN

Top Premier League Team Standings (33 of 38 games played)
74 Chelsea
72 Manchester United
71 Arsenal
59 Manchester City - 32 played
- - - - -
58 Tottenham - 32 Played
55 Liverpool
54 Aston Villa - 32 played

dN

Top Goal Scorers in the Premier League:
26 Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
25 Didier Drogba - Chelsea
22 Darren Bent - Sunderland
20 Carlos Tevez - Manchester City
18 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
17 Jermain Defoe - Tottenham Hotspur
17 Frank Lampard - Chelsea

SPAIN

Tim Vickery of the BBC wonders why Lionel Messi has to be brilliant every single game just to please some people.

dN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian sees Zaragoza and striker Humberto Suazo back on the upswing, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga.

dN

Valladolid gave coach Onesimo Sanchez the boot out the door today. They are 2nd from the bottom, 8 points from relegation safety and have 8 games left to go.

dN

Top La Liga Team Standings (30 of 38 games played)
77 Real Madrid
77 Barcelona
56 Valencia
48 Sevilla
- - - - -
48 Mallorca
45 Athletic Bilbao
43 Villarreal

dN

Top Goal Scorers in La Liga:
26 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
24 Gonzalo Higuaín - Real Madrid
20 David Villa - Valencia
18 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
16 Diego Forlan - Atletico Madrid
15 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Barcelona

FRANCE

Lyon leaps back to the top of the table. Following a run of winning the league title 7 years in a row they were knocked off last season by Bordeaux, but this week they re-took the top spot.

dN

Top Ligue 1 Team Standings (31 of 38 games played)
57 Lyon
57 Montpellier
57 Auxerre
- - - - -
56 Bordeaux - 29 played
56 Marseille - 29 played
54 Lille

dN

Top Goal Scorers in Ligue 1:
15 Mamadou Niang - Marseille
13 Anderson Luiz de Carvalho Nene - Monaco
13 Asamoah - Rennes
13 Lisandro Lopez - Lyon
13 Kevin Gameiro - Lorient
12 Mevlut Erding - Paris St Germain
12 Gervinho - Lille

GERMANY

Bayern Munich becomes the 3rd new leader this week in Europe's top 5 leagues!

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian wonders if Bayern Munich aren't spending too much energy slapping themselves on the back for a job well down over the past 7 days, and the rest of the Bundesliga wrapped up.

dN

Top Bundesliga Team Standings (29 of 34 games played)
59 Bayern Munich
58 Schalke
53 Bayer Leverkusen
- - - - -
52 Dortmund
48 Werder Bremen
45 Hamburg

dN

Top Goal Scorers in the Bundesliga:
18 Kevin Kuranyi - Schalke
18 Stefan Kiessling - Bayer Leverkusen
18 Edin Dzeko - Wolfsburg
15 Lucas Barrios - Borussia Dortmund
12 Claudio Pizarro - Werder Bremen
12 Eren Derdiyok - Bayer Leverkusen
12 Albert Bunjaku - Nurnberg

ITALY

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Catania's win in the Sicilian Derby, the return of Maxi Lopez (a guy I forgot was still even a professional) and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

dN

Livorno has fired coach Serse Cosmi. They are currently in last place, 9 points from safety of the drop, and only 6 games left to play. A new manager now? Really?

dN

Top Serie A Team Standings (32 of 38 games played)
66 Inter
65 Roma
63 Milan
51 Palermo
- - - - -
51 Sampdoria
49 Napoli
48 Juventus
45 Fiorentina
45 Genoa

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

EUROPE

World Soccer with an article on former German star Karl-Heinz Remmenigge, who is now a force in the management of football across Europe.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times writes about Oakland A's baseball exec Billy Beane who worships at the alter of Arsene Wenger.

ENDERS

Meet the sensational - Amandititita!

These three videos are nothing but good dumb fun.

La Muy Muy
El Muy Muy
Metrosexual

Thanks to Danny for turning us on to these hilarious videos!