Some News for Tue Apr 20, 2010

TWITTER

Come on everybody, let's Twitter! Follow us @dunord today!

STARTERS

We have all seen the USA blue shirts, and debated all the pros and cons, and on Thu Apr 29 we will get to do the same with the 2nd kit, which we all assume will be white.

dN

The first American soccer player that I ever heard of was Kyle Rote Jr, and yesterday it was announced that he will be inducted into the American soccer hall of fame. Cool.

dN

And speaking of cool. Here is the awesome looking ball from Adidas that will be used for the World Cup Final.














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

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

This is the Final series!

Match Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Apr 21
Cruz Azul v Pachuca - Live on FSC - check listings for time.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I am not a man. I am Cantona."

STORY OF THE DAY

Daniel Girard of the Toronto Star talks to former TFC players Ali Gerba who complains loudly about the way the team treated him and then let him go.
-Is that sour grapes? Woof.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT









MinnPost with a story of a guy from right here in my own back yard who is helping to stage the Gaza World Cup. What the hell is that, you ask? It's awesome and I wish I could go. Aid workers from countries all over the world team up with 16 local clubs in Gaza to make up the 16 "national teams" who will play in a single elimination tournament.

The tournament kicks off on May 2 with Italy taking on the hosts of Palestine.

I think we should start a pool, and play along! Who wants in? I think we should go with 8 people and we each randomly get 2 teams to start with. A small fee to enter,and the money is donated. How's that sound? Drop me an email.

Matches & Scores:

Round of 16
Netherlands-Al Mashtal v Russia-Shojaeya - May 3
England-Jama3y Rafah v Ireland-Friendship - May 3
Spain-Services Nuseirat v France-Shabab Rafah - May 5
USA-Services Maghazi v Serbia-El Zaytoon - May 4
Italy-Services Rafah v Palestine-Al Hilal - May 2
Turkey-Ahly Nusseirat v Germany-Ahly Gaza - May 6
South Africa-El Shate'e Services v Jordan-Shabab Khan Yunis - May 4
Algeria-Gaza Sports v Egypt-Ittihad Khan Yunis - May 5

Quarterfinals
May 8
Winner Netherlands/Russia v Winner England/Ireland
Winner Spain/France v Winner USA/Serbia
May 9
Winner Italy/Palestine v Winner Turkey/Germany
Winner South Africa/Jordan v Winner Algeria/Egypt

Semifinals
May 12
Winner Quarter 1 v Winner Quarter 2
Winner Quarter 3 v Winner Quarter 4

Final
May 15

WHY?

Portsmouth FC is $182 Million in debt! How do you do that??? And why are they still be allowed to play in the FC Cup final. That kind of spending is basically insane.

MLS WEEK 5

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 22
FC Dallas v Seattle Sounders FC - 7PM Central on ESPN2
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Sat Apr 24
New York Red Bulls v Philadelphia Union - 3PM Central on TeleFutura
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
New England Revolution v Colorado Rapids - 6:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Columbus Crew v Real Salt Lake - 6:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Kansas City Wizards v Los Angeles Galaxy - 7:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Chicago Fire v Houston Dynamo - 7:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
Chivas USA v San Jose Earthquakes - 9:30PM Central on FSC
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Apr 25
Toronto FC v Seattle Sounders FC - 1PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet reviews the past weekend of games.

dN

Barry Gorman who departed Penn State last week after 20 years or so as head coach has been named FC Dallas Technical Director.

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times with the huge batch of weekly Sounders team notes.

dN

The Washington Post has words from 3 at DC United, GM Dave Kasper and then coach Curt Onalfo & goalkeeper Troy Perkins.

dN

The Cary News (NC) with an article on New England's rookie forward Zack Schilawski.

dN

Glenn Davis of Fox Sports Houston likes what he saw of the Dynamo last week, and especially newconer Lovel Palmer.
-The Jamaica Obverser also writes about Palmer, and the rip-snortin' goal he scored last Saturday.
-Que Golaso! The video.

MLS INJURY REPORT

DC has lost 2 more players to injuries: forward Chris Pontius will miss as much as 6 weeks with a hamstring tear, and centerback Dejan Jakovic will be out for a month due to a broken collar bone.

dN

New York forward Macoumba Kandji hurt his foot at practice and will have xrays to see whats wrong. Not good.

MY THOUGHTS

Here is how I ranked the teams based strictly on their performance last week:
Week 4
1 Chicago - a huge road win for a struggling team
2 Los Angeles - impressive win over the defending champs
3 Houston - powerful home win
4 San Jose - another surprising week and a good home win
5 Colorado - used the altitude to their advantage
6 Seattle - still struggling to score, but a win is a win
7 New York - pulled that one out of the fire
8 Salt Lake - played well on the road, but were not the better team
9 Dallas - almost there, but not quite
10 Kansas City - strong showing, but a loss is a loss
11 Philadelphia - shot them selves in the foot, would have deserveda a point
12 Toronto - got a lucky home win, followed by a poor road loss again
13 New England - went to San Jose and got stuffed
14 Chivas USA - put up to no challenge on the road
15 DC - killed at home, fairly inept all around

Columbus did not play

MLS RUMORS

Marcus Hahnemann is interested in talking to both Portland Vancouver about their goalkeeping positions for next season. Both teams would be foolish not to sign him.

dN

The rumors from Italy have Alessandro Del Piero of Juventus tied to the New York Red Bulls
-NYRB say they have no knowledge of this deal.

dN

The Frenchman that Columbus is considering signing, Leandre Griffit, is a right sided midfielder.

MLS EXPANSION

Jason de Vos of the CBC gives his views on Montreal joining MLS.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer reports on the glorious Old Timey scoreboard that our team is installing. I am in heaven. Includes quotes from your truly.
-I say "old" about 20 times in 100 words.

SOCCER IN AMERICA

George Vecsey of The New York Times gives the appointment of Claudio Reyna as US Soccer youth technical director a big thumbs up.

USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze is also making the case for Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Ravi Ubha of ESPN Soccernet gives us a rundown of Americans abroad over the past couple of matches.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Chris Rolfe - AaB - Mon Apr 19 - started and played 86 minutes of a scoress draw at home against Esbjerg.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Mon Apr 19 - started and went 80 minutes of a 3-0 loss at Liverpool.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Apr 19 - played the entire match as they won 1-3 on the road at Gelfe.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

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

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

The Associated Press with an article on the crazy success of Herculez Gomez. Via the Ventura County Star.

ENGLAND

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian on Fabio Capello's picking of the England national team - injury and recovery from will have a big roll in selecting their 23 players.

dN

Patrick Barclay of the Times on the financial inequalities between teams and how to possibly correct it.

SPAIN

Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet on the current state of Spanish fubtol - strengths and weaknesses. But, total failure??

GERMANY

Raphael Honingstein of the Guardian looks at Hamburg's search for a new head coach - could it be the Englishman Steve McClaren or the Frenchman Gerrard Houllier? And the rest of the past weekend in the Bundesliga.

ITALY

Gazzetta dello Sports gives us this weeks Serie A Heroes and Zeroes.

dN

COPPA ITALIA - Semifinals
2nd Leg
-Wed Apr 21
Udinese v Roma (0-2)
Final
-Date TBA
Inter v Roma/Udinese winner

EUROPE

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian on Andriy Shevchenko who is approaching his final seasons before retirement with Dynamo Kyiv.

BRAZIL

Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated on Robinho, Neymar, Ganso and the revelation of the winter season - Santos.

COPA LIBERTADORES

These are the last week of the group stage.

dN

5 of 14 spots are set:
Libertad, Banfield, Corinthians, Universidad Chile & Alianza Lima have advanced to the knock out stages.

2 teams have already qualified for the knock out rounds after complications with the Swine Flu last season, giving Guadalajara & San Luis of Mexico spots in this years tournament.

Then the 8 Group winners advance, along with the 6 runners up with the best records.

dN

Lanus join Cerro Porteno, Caracas, Emelec, Monterrey, Italia of Venezuela, Juan Aurich, Bolivar, Blooming and Nacional of Paraguay in the eliminated pile.

dN

GROUP STAGE (runs through to Apr 22) - This Weeks Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 20
Bolivar v Juan Aurich
Estudiantes v Alianza
-Wed Apr 21
Nacional v Monterrey
Sao Paulo v Once Caldas
Nacional v Morelia
Banfield v Cuenca
Universidad v Universidad Catolica
Flamengo v Caracas
-Thu Apr 22
Corinthians v Independiente
Internacional v Quito
Cerro v Ganador G5
Cerro Porteno v Racing Club

dN

Standings (6 Rounds):

Grupo 1 (5 played)
ADV-13 Corinthians (Brazil)
7 Racing Club (Uruguay)
6 Independiente Medellin (Colombia)
OUT - 1 Cerro Porteno (Paraguay)

Grupo 2 (5 played)
11 Once Caldas (Colombia)
10 Sao Paulo (Brazil)
OUT-3 Monterrey (Mexico)
OUT-0 Nacional (Paraguay)

Grupo 3 (5 played)
ADV-15 Alianza Lima (Peru)
10 Estudiantes de la Plata (Argentina)
OUT-3 Juan Aurich (Peru)
OUT-1 Bolivar (Bolivia)

Grupo 4 (DONE)
ADV-12 Libertad (Paraguay)
10 Universitario (Peru)
OUT-8 Lanus (Argentina)
OUT-1 Blooming (Bolivia)

Grupo 5 (5 played)
10 Deportivo Quito (Ecudador)
9 Internacional (Brazil)
7 Cerro (Uruguay)
OUT-1 Emelec (Ecuador)

Grupo 6 (5 played)
ADV - 11 Banfield (Argentina)
6 Nacional (Uruguay)
5 Morelia (Mexico)
4 Cuenca (Ecudador)

Grupo 7 (DONE)
ADV-13 Velez Sarsfield (Argentina)
11 Cruzeiro (Brazil)
OUT-8 Colo Colo (Chile)
OUT-1 Italia (Venezuela)

Grupo 8 (5 played)
ADV-11 Universidad Chile (Chile)
7 Flamengo (Brazil)
6 Universidad Catolica (Chile)
OUT-2 Caracas FC (Venezuela)

ENDERS

Some controlled kinda chaos for ya: LCD Soundsystem - "Drunk Girls"