Some News for Thu Apr 29, 2010

NEW USA SHIRT

Here it is, the new USA shirt from Nike - "White Jersey with Grey Sash and Obsidian Blue Trim Echoes Uniform Worn by 1950 U.S. World Cup Team."




















STARTERS

Inter! Inter! Inter! Inter will meet Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League Final in Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sat May 22 on Fox.

dN

Clint Dempsey's Fulham team scored 2 late goals against Hamburg to win 2-1 and advance to the final of the Europa League. Unreal! Fulham in the Europa League final, who saw that coming?!?!?!
-They will take on Atletico Madrid in the final! Fulham can win this thing!
-The crazy part is that the final will be played at Hamburg's stadium - on Wed May 12.

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Pachuca are again CONCACAF Champions! They will head to the Club World Cup in December! Goooooooooooo Gophers!

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And if you can believe this, it was the Eddie & Freddy show for Aris in the Greek playoffs. See all the details below in Americans In Europe!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Semifinals Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 27
Lyon 0-3 Bayern - BM advance 4-0 on aggregate to reach the Final - BM goals all by Ivica Olic.
-Wed Apr 28
Barcelona 1-0 Inter (1-3) - IM advance 3-2 on aggregate - Bar goal by Gerard Pique.

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How did Inter beat Barca? I will tell you how. Not with staggering defense, but rather that Inter sold Barca Ibrahimovic. And not only did they get rid of his baggage, but they got Samuel Eto'o in trade. And then the cash they received in the deal was used to buy the following players: Wesley Sneijder, Lucio, Diego Milito & Thiago Motta. Are you kidding me? That's right up their with the Dallas-Minnesota Hershel Walker deal for fiasco's.

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Amy Lawrence of the Guardian on Inter manager Jose Mourinho leading his team to big victory.

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Roberto Gotta of Soccernet (a fellow Inter fan!) reports on the amazing defensive display by Inter Milan.

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Gazzetta Dello Sport's review of the match.

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Gazzetta with many Mourinho post game quotes.

Matt Dickinson of the Times on Mourinho's "finest hour."

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Barney Ronay of the Guardian says Bayern earned the right to play for the championship.

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Gabirel Marcotti of the Times on the top notch quality of the Bayern players.

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Bayern winger Franck Ribery will not play in the Final after getting a 3 game suspension for a red card against Lyon in the 1st leg match.
-See video of the foul here. I totally understand the red card, but 3 games? Really? Don't we see a foul like this about once every half dozen games?

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The Final
-Sat May 22
Inter Milan v Bayern Munchen
Venue: Bernebeau Stadium - Madrid Spain

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Pachuca are the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions!

Final Match:
2nd Leg
-Wed Apr 28
Pachuca 1-0 Cruz Azul - series ends tied 2-2, but Pachuca win it on the away goals tie breaker - Pac goal by Edgar Benitez

FUN OF THE DAY

KC forward Kei Kamara is taking a savage beating from press and fans all over the world for the goal he missed last weekend. With the ball on the line he swung and missed, then slipped on the wet grass and put the ball in the net with his hand. Unreal. Even PTI rubbed it in on Tuesday. Some have balled it the greatest miss of all time!
-In case you have not seen it.

STORY OF THE DAY

Al-Jazeera reports that "Qatar will build 12 air-conditioned outdoor stadiums if it wins the right to host the 2022 World Cup." That is insane!

TWITTERVERSE

After coming from 0-1 down to beat Hamburg 2-1 today in the 2nd leg of the Europa League Semifinals all of Fulhamland is overjoyed!
@FulhamFC: "AND THERE'S THE FINAL WHISTLE!!! WE'VE DONE IT!" & "Amazing scenes here. Everybody overjoyed. It's a massive player/fan love in!"

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives talks to USA coach Bob Bradley today, and here is part of that interview.

The Washington Post with a lot the same, but a few more interesting things from that session.

WHY NOT!

Here's one for the "Of course I saw that coming" file: In a Canadian Championship match last night Toronto centerhack Nick Garcia baited some poor sap from Montreal into punching him in the face and getting a red card.
-Name me one guy who has played against Garcia and hasn't wanted to punch him in the face.

MLS WEEK 6

All 16 teams in action on Saturday.

Matches & Scores:
-Sat May 1
DC United v New York Red Bulls - 3:00PM Central on TeleFutura
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
New England Revolution v FC Dallas - 6:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Houston Dynamo v Kansas City Wizards - 7:30PM Central on FSC/FSE
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Chicago Fire v Chivas USA - 7:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
Real Salt Lake v Toronto FC - 8:00PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
San Jose Earthquakes v Colorado Rapids - 9:00PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Los Angeles Galaxy v Philadelphia Union - 9:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Seattle Sounders FC v Columbus Crew - 9:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Obviously MLS has named Edson Buddle the Player Of The Month for April.

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DC has resigned forward Luciano Emilio, to a short term (don't know what that means) contract. He was with the team the 3 previous seasons, but they released him last fall.
-Craig Stouffer of the Examiner talks to Emilio about rejoining the team.

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Philly is very close to maxing out their season ticket limit of 12,000. Not bad.

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Former Dallas coach Dave Dir writing for 3rd Degree tells FCD fans not panic, but to expect more out of their team.

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The Examiner checks in on Columbus Crew practice on Wed, giving some indications as to how they will play this weekend at Seattle.

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The Columbus Dispatch takes us up close and personal with Danny O'Rourke, the Crew's entrant in the UFC's The Ultimate Fighter show.

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Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald with an article on New England's newest midfielder Marko Perovic.
-Perovic had a fantastic free kick for a goal last weekend.

MLS INJURY REPORT

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer - and - Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News both follow up on the knee injury to Union forward Sebastian Le Toux.

MLS RUMORS

The UK press has linked Leeds defender Rui Marques with Toronto for a summer move.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

Newly added:

-Sat Jul 24
DC United v Rangers (Scotland)
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC

US OPEN CUP

DC finally broke out of a scoring slump and turned Dallas's Kevin Hartman into Chris Seitz - did they both get a keeper glove endorsement from Crisco?

MLS - Play-In Rounds:

Bracket 1 (1 team will advance)
-Wed May 12
New York Red Bulls v New England Revolution
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
-Date TBA
NYRB/NER Winner v Colorado Rapids

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Bracket 2 (1 team will advance)
-Wed Apr 28
DC United 4-2 FC Dallas - DCU goals by Adam Cristman(2), Christian Castillo & Andy Najar. FCD goals by Bruno Guarda & Dax McCarty(PK).
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
-Wed May 19
DC United v Real Salt Lake
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC

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

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 28
NSC Minnesota Stars 0-3 Rochester Rhinos
-Thu Apr 29
Portland Timbers v Vancouver Whitecaps

Standings (As of Thu Apr 25):
NASL Conference>
7 Vancouver - 3 played (+3 GD)
3 Carolina - 2 played (+1 GD)
2 Miami - 2 played (0 GD)
1 Montreal - 2 played (-2 GD)
0 Baltimore - 2 played (-3 GD)
0 St Louis - 4 played (-7 GD)
USL Conference>
7 Portland - 3 played (+4 GD)
7 Rochester - 4 played (+3 GD)
6 Puerto Rico - 2 played (+4 GD)
6 Austin - 3 played (+2 GD)
6 Minnesota - 5 played (-5 GD)
3 Tampa Bay - 2 played (0 GD)

USL NEWS

The Charleston Post & Courier has an interview with USL president Tim Holt.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

It was not pretty last night as my team lost 0-3 to Rochester. We had 3 golden chances to score and flubbed em all. Oof. And then goalkeeping made at least 1 mistake on 2 breakaway goals. Not good. But worst of all, too many guys on the field just looked soft out there, and we were promised a team that would fight if nothing else. A couple guys need to ride the pine, I don't care how good they are with the ball at their feet. And there were only a couple of guys who act and play like true professionals. Them I respect.

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Match report from Inside Minnesota Soccer.

US SOCCER NEWS

Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald introduces us to the man behind the curtain, Dan Flynn CEO of US Soccer.

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Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer National Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with former referee Brian Hall, who is now the USSF "manager of assessment and training for referees."

USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

ESPN has hired Jurgen Klinsmann for this World Cup broadcast team. We will see him on "prematch, halftime and postgame shows from South Africa."

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Freddy Adu has his best game ever as a pro, and Eddie Johnson had his best game ever in Europe, combine that and Aris get a big 2-0 win over favored Olympiakos in the 1st of 6 games in the Greek playoffs.
-Freddy danced on the ball continuously throwing off the Oly defense, who obviously don't know he only has a left foot. He set up Johnson for the first goal and later drew a penalty that another teammate failed to convert when the keeper saved it. Big night for Freddy.
-There there is Eddie, who scored both Aris goals. The first was a header of a Freddy cross, and the second was a steal of a back pass from centerback to keeper, which Johnson snatched just before the keeper could get to it, then rounded the beaten man and scored into an empty net. Glorious!
-They travel to PAOK for game 2 of 6 in the Greek round robin playoffs for European tournament spots next season.

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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA - Europa League Semifinals, 2nd Leg
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - Thu Apr 29 - came on as a sub in the 57th minute, and got a yellow card, but they won 2-1 over Wolfsburg, and now advance to the final.

GREECE - Super League European Tournament Playoffs:
Freddy Adu
Eddie Johnson
-Wed Apr 28
Aris Saloniki 2-0 Olympiakos - both AS goals by Johnson, who went the full 90, getting a yellow card for taking off his shirt after goal 2. And a start and 89 minutes played for Adu.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Wed Apr 28 - went the full 90, got booked, and lost 4-1 at Kalmar.
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Wed Apr 28 - went the distance as they won 1-0 at home over Gelfe.
Micheal Thomas - Halmstad - Wed Apr 28 - came on as a sub in the dying seconds of a 1-0 home win over Gelfe.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

CONCACAF - Champions League Final 2nd leg
Jose Torres - Pachuca - started and went 80 minutes as they won 1-0 late, ending the series tied 2-2, and Pac wins it on the away goals tie breaker!

VOYAGEURS CUP - CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

The 3 professional teams in Canada play each other home and away for the annual title.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 28
Toronto FC 2-0 Montreal Impact - TFC goals by Dwayne DeRosario & Chad "The Vasectomy" Barrett*.
-May 5
Vancouver Whitecaps v Montreal Impact
-May 12
Montreal Impact v Toronto FC
-May 19
Vancouver Whitecaps v Toronto FC
-May 26
Montreal Impact v Vancouver Whitecaps
-Jun 2
Toronto FC v Vancouver Whitecaps

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STANDINGS:
3 Toronto (1 played)
0 Montreal (1 played)
- Vancouver (0 played)

The winner represents Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League.

*The Vasectomy - Where balls go to die!

ENGLAND

Soccernet reports that Chelsea has bought Argentina & Atletico Madrid starlet Kun Aguero for 40 Million Pounds.

GERMANY

CNN with an article on Felix Magath, the coach who lead Wolfsburg to a stunning league title last year, and is very close to pulling it off with Schalke this season.
-Schalke and Bayern are tied on points with just 2 games left. But Bayern holds a substantial +37 to +24 goal differential which is the first tie breaker.

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Both Bochum and Hamburg have fired their coaches this week in an effort to salvage their seasons, albeit from different places in the table.

ITALY

Andrea Agnelli will follow in his legendary father Umberto's footsteps and become the new team president of Juventus.

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It looks as though Leonardo will be one year and out as manager of AC Milan. No word yet on who will replace him.

EUROPE

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Semifinal Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Thu Apr 29
Fulham 2-1 Hamburg - Ful advance by that score after a 0-0 first leg.
Liverpool 2-1 Atletico Madrid - series ends tied 2-2 and AM advance on the away goal tie breaker.

Final
-Wed May 12
Fulham v Atletico Madrid

COPA LIBERTADORES

Matches & Scores - Round of 16:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 27
Guadalajara 3-0 Velez Sarsfield - Gua goals by Omar Bravo(2) & Hector Reynoso(PK).
San Luis 0-1 Estudiantes de la Plata - Est goal by Leandro Gonzalez.
-Wed Apr 28
Flamengo 1-0 Corinthians - Fla goal by Adriano(PK).
Universitario Deportes 0-0 Sao Paulo
Banfield 3-1 Internacional - Ban goals by James Rodriguez, Roberto Battion & Sebastian Fernandez. Int goal by Kleber.
-Thu Apr 29
Alianza Lima v Universitario Chile
Once Caldas v Libertad
Cruzeiro v Nacional

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Here is the full Knockout Stage Bracket:
1 Corinthians v 16 Flamengo (0-1)
8 Universitario Chile v 9 Alianza Lima (-)
- - - - -
5 Libertad v 12 Once Caldas (-)
4 Velez Sarsfield v 13 Guadalajara (0-3)
- - - - -
3 Estudiantes de la Plata v 14 San Luis (1-0)
6 Internacional v 11 Banfield (1-3)
- - - - -
7 Nacional (Uruguay) v 10 Cruzeiro (-)
2 Sao Paulo v 15 Universitario Deportes (0-0)

ENDERS

So what do you think of this 2nd shirt for Brazil. Dots!