Some News for Wed Jun 9, 2010

STARTERS

The Los Angeles Galaxy goes for a new league record tonight in Salt Lake as they try to go 13 games without a loss to start the season.

dN

Vancouver has already sold their initial batch of 10,000 season tickets for their MLS campaign in 2011. The next block will go on sale soon. Fantastic!

dN

FYI: All World Cup games are at 6:30am, 9:00am or 1:30pm Central time.

dN

I had a few emailers ask how to pronounce the last name of Ace Ntsoelengoe. Here you go, its: net-so-LEN-gay
-Thanks to Luke for suggesting I post it.

TWITTER

Get on board our Twitter train: @dunord

USA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA

2 days till we get started and 3 days till the big game.

dN

Jozy Altidore is back to full training, but said his ankle is "a little sore."

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jun 12
USA v England - 1:30pm Central on ABC
Venue: Royal Bafokeng Stadium - Rustenburg
-Fri Jun 18
USA v Slovenia - 9:00am Centraol on ESPN
Venue: Soccer City Stadium - Johannesburg/Ellis Park
-Wed Jun 23
USA v Algeria - 9:00am Centraol on ESPN
Venue: Loftus Versfeld Stadium - Tshwane/Pretoria

dN

Oliver Kay of the Times tells us about the referee for the big game. (thanks to Bart for the link)
-I only remember this guy as the really creepy bastard who laughed while handing out a red card in the last world cup. He literally made my skin crawl at the time. Just look at him and his psychotic glee:



















Wayne Drehs of ESPN on coach Bob Bradley who wastes no time with busy talk.

Jay Greenburg of the NY Post on coach Bob Bradley.

The NY Post also sees Jozy Altidore as a player waiting to bust out.

And Brian Lewis of the NY Post calls this team the best USA team ever.

Paul Fletcher of the BBC on Bob & Michael Bradley.

Ronald Blum of the Associated Press says stopping Rooney is the key to stopping England.
-You won't get any argument out of me.

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet also says the USA knows that Wayne Rooney is the key for England.

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger tells us that 5 former New York Metrostars/Red Bulls players are on the USA team.
-Is that a curse??!!??!!

Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Edson Buddle's battle to win a starting job against England.

Fagan also looks at down/away time for the players.
-Lots of great video clips on this page too.

Stefan Bondy of NorthJersey.com on Landon Donovan's resolve.

Bondy also looks at the potential success of this USA team.

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad on Robbie Findley.

David Smith also of Yanks Abroad on Steve Cherundolo.

The Daily Mail on Clint Dempsey and his Fulham the giant killers mentality.

Melissa Segura of Sports Illustrated with the Clint Dempsey story.

Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star Ledger on the USA striker corp.

American Stefan Fatsis writing for English paper The Independent tells England to bring it on.

dN

- - - - -
Official Team Blog

The US Soccer video page at You Tube. Fantastic stuff!
- - - - -

dN

USA OPPONENTS:

England
-Simon Austin of the BBC tells us about coach Fabio Capello's assistants.
-The Daily Mail says England is being put through extra training due to the lack of satisfaction being felt by coach Fabio Capello.
-Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail tries to fire his countrymen up by telling them that England CAN win the cup.
-Sam Wallace of the Independent with 5 key questions about England.

Slovenia
-The Independent talks to Robert Koren who says that they are thinking about themselves not their opponents.

dN

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated gives his full prediction for the USA at WC 2010.

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated wonders were Bob Bradley will be after the World Cup.

Davis also gives us 5 great USA World Cup performances to remember.

Dave Lange of the St Louis Globe Democrat with the story of Charlie Colombo one of the stars of the 1950 USA World Cup team. (thanks to BQ for the heads up on this article)

The Washington Post on the number of Americans in SA.

GROUP C SCHEDULE WORLD CUP 2010

-Sat Jun 12
England v USA - 1:30pm Central on ABC
Venue: Royal Bafokeng Stadium - Rustenburg
-Sun Jun 13
Algeria v Slovenia - 6:30am Central on ESPN
Venue: Peter Mokaba Stadium - Polokwane
-Fri Jun 18
Slovenia v USA - 9:00am Central on ESPN
Venue: Soccer City Stadium - Johannesburg/Ellis Park
England v Algeria - 1:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Green Point Stadium - Cape Town
-Wed Jun 23
Slovenia v England - 9:00am Central on ESPN2
Venue: Port Elizabeth Stadium - Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth
USA v Algeria - 9:00am Central on ESPN
Venue: Loftus Versfeld Stadium - Tshwane/Pretoria

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated ranks the final 32.

Andres Iniesta of Spain has not been healthy for much of 2010 and after trying to play for Spain in a friendly yesterday he came out with a thigh muscle issue. No real details, but he has barely played in months. I have figured he would not be a big time player at this tourney.

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian does not see the positives in the Ivory Coast that others might.
-Sven Goren Eriksson is their coach for Pete's sake.

Owen Gibson of the Guardian writes about South Africa who hope to be the big surprise African team.

James Lawton of the Independent sees Kaka as a player with something to prove.

dN

Portugal and Spain both crushed opponents yesterday.

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 8
Portugal v Mozambique - Por goals by Danny & Hugo Almeida.
Spain 6-0 Poland - Spa goals by David Villa, David Silva(2), Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Torres & Pedro

QUOTE OF THE DAY

From our Friend-In-Football Bart Edes: The Philippines, where I spend most of my time, seems to be the only country in East Asia that is NOT football crazy. The Filipinos picked up basketball from the USA and ran with it. You can't walk 10 feet without running into a Lakers fan. If they had to choose an American sport, it should have been baseball. If they had gone that route, you would probably today see dozens of Philippine nationals in the professional ranks in North America. In contrast, height disadvantages have played a big role in keeping Filipinos out of the NBA. Anyway, the missus and I have managed to attract 60+ people to our USA-England match watching bash this weekend. The clash starts at 02.30 Sunday local time, providing a good excuse for a Saturday night of partying before the event. Given local sporting tastes, the bulk of the group will be expats. The good news is that the Yank fans will outnumber the English supporters by about 3-2 (I've got a Welshman, a Scot, a French couple and a German on side!). The one complication is that my wife (and visiting mother-in-law) are English, and they have lured a fair number of Three Lions supporters to our place. People have come in from Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong to attend this party. Actually, I would not be surprised if we attract a larger number of Americans for this match than any other venue in the Philippines. U-S-A! U-S-A!!

STORY OF THE DAY

Steven Sandor of the Toronto Sun points out the we will know MLS has arrived when a game like tonight's Salt Lake v Los Angeles match has the whole North American soccer community buzzing!
-I believe that analysis is 100% correct.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

CTV News in British Columbia with a really good video report on the unveiling of the new Vancouver Whitecaps logo, and their temporary home for next season which looks fantastic.

MLS WEEK 12

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 9
Chicago Fire v Colorado Rapids - 7:30 PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
Real Salt Lake v Los Angeles Galaxy -8PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
-Thu Jun 10
Kansas City Wizards v Philadelphia Union - 7PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Seattle Sounders FC v DC United - 9PM Central on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA

dN

And then a 2 week break commences for the World Cup group stage.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe on the return of Steve Ralston to New England.

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News previews the arrival of Los Angeles to Sandy UT. A huge game.
-Fullback Chris Wingert is ready to play for RSL.

dN

Len Zeihm of the Chicago Sun Times sees a chance for the Fire to get their season really rolling tonight.

dN

John Meyer of the Denver Post talks to Colorado coach Gary Smith about their last game before the World Cup break.

dN

The Odessa American reports on West Texas United beating FC Dallas in friendly yesterday. Obviously it was the Dallas reserves.

dN

Jack McCarthy of the Chicago Tribune says that Fire coach Carlos The Conch will take the break to assess his team and figure out what they need going forward.

MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Fort Bend Now with an article on a local youth club working with the Houston Dynamo Academy team.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

Opening day at Philadelphia's PPL Park is a sell out.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com compares the new Union stadium to Chicago's Toyota Park.

dN

Pete Ratajczak of Center Line Soccer writes about the new stadium project in San Jose while checking out Toyota Park in Chicago.

MLS RUMORS

Now that Kenny Cooper has messed up a great chance to establish himself in Germany, by demanding a loan deal so he could improve his World Cup chances and backfired in his face, there is talk of him returning to play at Dallas again.

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 9
Miami FC Blues v Crystal Palace Baltimore
NSC Minnesota Stars v Montreal Impact
Austin Aztex v Portland Timbers
Vancouver Whitecaps v Carolina RailHawks

dN

Standings (As of Mon Jun 7):
23 Austin - 10 played
18 Tampa Bay - 10 played
15 Rochester - 10 played
15 Vancouver - 9 played
12 Montreal - 8 played
12 Carolina - 8 played
12 Portland - 9 played
10 Baltimore - 9 played
11 Minnesota - 12 played
9 Puerto Rico - 7 played
9 Miami - 9 played
4 St Louis - 9 played

dN

Standings base on Points Per Game:
2.3 Austin
1.80 Tampa Bay
1.67 Vancouver
1.50 Carolina
1.50 Montreal
1.50 Rochester
1.33 Portland
1.29 Puerto Rico
1.11 Baltimore
1.00 Miami
0.92 Minnesota
0.44 St Louis

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Etahn Skolnick of NBC sees soccer as a slow growing giant in America.
-It's what I have described as a glacier.

dN

The Associated Press tells us about ESPN's expectations for this World Cup in America.

dN

The New York Times on ESPN and Univision who see the USA as a soccer country.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Ynaks Abroad talks to young goalkeeper in France Quentin Westberg who is looking for a new team.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

The Daily Echo with a story on Freddy Adu possibly moving to League 1 team Southampton.

ENGLAND

Dan Donovan of the Huffington Post looks at some scary financial details of the English Premier League.

SPAIN

Both Xavi Hernandez & Pedro Rodriguez have signed contract extensions with Barcelona.

dN

And Gonzalo Higuain has signed a new deal with Real Madrid.

ITALY

Roma has taken a big big risk and signed Brazilian striker Adriano.