Some News for Fri Jul 30, 2010

STARTERS

The floodgates appear to be open on MLS rosters with teams announcing signings left and right. See new MLS Movement section below.

dN

The USA U20 team won the prestigious Milk Cup today in Northern Ireland, beating the hosts 3-0 in the final. Hooray Near-Beer. See more details in the USA U20 section below.

dN

Seems like every newspaper in the world had a story today saying "Landon Donovon expresses interest in returning to Everton."
-My question then becomes: If David Silva is worth a 30 Million Pound transfer, then what is LD worth? Sure as hell isn't that 10 Million being tossed around by English newspapers.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Preliminary Round of the knock out stage 1st Leg matches are now complete. 16 teams are paired to play home and away for 8 spots in the Group Stage.

dN

Preliminary Round Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Toronto FC (Canada) 1-0 Motagua (Honduras) - TFC goal by Chad Barrett.
San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad & Tobago) 0-1 Santos Laguna (Mexico) - SL goal by Rodrigo Ruiz.
San Francisco (Panama) 2-3 Cruz Azul (Mexico) - SF goals by Eduardo Jimenez & Gabriel Torres. CZ goals all by Emaunuel Villa(3).
Los Angeles Galaxy (USA) 1-4 Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico) - LAG goal by Richard Martinez(OG). PRI goals by David Foley, Nicholas Addlery(2) & Josh Hansen.
-Wed Jul 28
Tauro FC (Panama) 0-3 Marathon (Honduras) - Mar goals by Claudio Labarinas(2) & Milton Palacios.
Seattle Sounders (USA) 1-0 Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) - SS goal by Fredy Montero.
Brujas (Costa Rica) 2-2 Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) - Bru goals by Andres Nunez & Jose Cordero. JP goals by Kerry Baptiste & Trent Noel.
-Thu Jul 29
CD FAS (El Salvador) 1-1 Xelaju (Guatemala) - Fas goal by Williams Reyes. Xel goal by Nelson Crossa.

dN

2nd Leg
-Tue Aug 3
Motagua (Honduras) v Toronto FC (Canada) (0-1)
Cruz Azul (Mexico) v San Francisco (Panama) (3-2)
Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) v Seattle Sounders (USA) (0-1)
-Wed Aug 4
Santos Laguna (Mexico) v San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad & Tobago) (1-0)
Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico) v Los Angeles Galaxy (USA) (4-1)
Marathon (Honduras) v Tauro FC (Panama) (3-0)
-Thu Aug 5
Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) v Brujas (Costa Rica) (2-2)
Xelaju (Guatemala) v CD FAS (El Salvador) (1-1)

dN

2nd Leg matches are all next week Tue-Thu. We will post the schedule on Monday.

TEAM USA

Our team is back in action on Aug 10 at the new Giants Stadium in New Jersey against the mighty canary shirted Brazil.

dN

And Bob Bradley WILL coach that team.

dN

We will know the USA roster probably on Tuesday. Will it be a celebration of the World Cup team, or a changing of the guard?

dN

Ticket sales have passed the 50,000 mark.

dN

Friendly Match & Score:
-Tue Aug 10
USA v Brazil
Venue: New Giants Stadium - East Rutherford NJ

TWITTERVERSE

Houston midfielder Geoff Cameron returns from knee surgery:
-geoffcameron: "It feels good getting back on the training pitch! Excited for practice!"

dN

Freddy Adu's tryout at Sion in Switzerland ends with no offer of contract:
-FreddyAdu11: "Hopefully some good news in the next couple days. I know I'm going to be praying. Until then I will be incognito. Ill keep you updated."

STORY OF THE DAY

Arch Bell of Yanks Abroad talks to Jozy Altidore who is hoping to stay at Villarreal this season and get a shot at real playing time.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated reports that the MLS board of governors is discussing a plan to expand the league schedule from 30 to 34 games for next season, keeping intact the home and away with every team.
-To me, anything other than that is unacceptable.

WTF

The Chosun Ilbo with a story on the treatment that the North Korean soccer team have been given since their return from the World Cup.
-Let's put it this way - they did NOT get a heroes welcome.
-A quote: "...the team were made to stand on a stage ... and subjected to ideological criticism for six hours.... Around 400 officials including the vice minister of the Workers' Party, Sports Minister Pak Myong-chol, other athletes and sport students were apparently part of the audience."

MLS WEEK 18

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 31
Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution - 2:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Colorado Rapids v FC Dallas - 3:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Kansas City Wizards v Toronto FC - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Houston Dynamo v New York Red Bulls - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Real Salt Lake v DC United - 8:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
San Jose Earthquakes v Seattle Sounders - 9:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Chivas USA v Columbus Crew - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Aug 1
Los Angeles Galaxy v Chicago Fire - 6:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Red Bulls forward Macoumba Kandji got his green card, so he comes off the team's international player portion of the roster. NOTE: I was told by people much smarter than me that this is old news.

dN

New England has won 4 games in a row without conceding a goal, with the last 3 of them being in SuperLiga. Nonetheless a strong defensive showing.

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune says RSL is ready to go this weekend, and expect their 3 All Stars, and the slowly returning from injury Kyle Beckerman to be ready as well.

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News feels that RSL forward Robbie Findley is still looking to put it all together this season.
-Would put it this way - he has been pretty useless this year, and I still can't believe he got picked for the World Cup team and Brian Ching did not.

dN

Charlie Corr of EXPN Chicago calls new Fire signing Nery Castillo a piece to the puzzle, not the key to solving it.

dN

Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star says the Wizards are counting on momentum from their win over Manchester United to propel them down the stretch and toward a playoff birth.

dN

Charles Gooch of the KC Star reviews the "first half" of the Wizards season.

dN

John Boyle of the Everett Herald likes the plan behind Seattle signing Alvaro Fernandez as a Designated Player - he is young and on the rise, not at the end of his career.

dN

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle on the Dynamo's great week as hosts of a hugely successful All Star Game. And some other team notes.

dN

And now Houston gets New York and Thierry Henry's league debut at home. Not bad. Lets hope they get a good crowd.

dN

John Meyer of the Denver Post writes about some bad luck for the Rapids, and how it will have to change for their season to move upward.

dN

The Washington Post tells us about new DC midfielder Branko Boskovic, and how the team he is hoping he can be a catalyst for positive change.

dN

Craig Stouffer of the Examiner on DC's forgotten forward Danny Allsopp.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on some of the nearly unknown players that the Crew are turning into their go to guys.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe reports that New England has signed a new forward and midfielder - Ilija Stolica, a 31 year old veteran Serbian from Buducnost Podgorica in Montenego, and Roberto Linck aka Betu, a 22 year old Brazilian (with an American passport) midfielder from Ramnicu Valcea in Romania who also has played indoor for the Chicago Storm.

dN

Dallas announced the signing of 3 players from their academy team: Ruben Luna, Victor Ulloa and Moises Hernandez. All local kids!
-Luna is tipped to have the quickest impact.

dN

Big Apple Soccer has words from MLS commissioner Donald G Garber on the Red Bulls probable signing of Mexican captain Rafael Marquez.
-Marquez has been released from his Barcelona contact today.

dN

Kansas City made 2 moves, releasing midfielder Santiago Hirsig who will now sign with Quilmes in Argentina, and forward Sunil Chhetri will be released from the team for the rest of this season so he can join up with the India national team as they prepare for and then play in the 2011 Asian Cup which is being played during the month of January in Qatar. Chhetri will rejoin the team next year for preseason training.

dN

Philadelphia released their #3 goalkeeper Brian Perk, and then signed midfielder JT Noone. This is Noone's first pro contract.

dN

Colorado acquired fullback Anthony Wallace from Dallas for future lower round draft picks.

MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

In winning the SUM Cup this week, DC United U17 keeper Dakota Niedermeier stopped 5pks in 9 rounds, then took the winning PK himself! Video from the official DC United website.

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 31
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Montreal Impact
Carolina RailHawks v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Miami FC Blues
-Sun Aug 1
AC St Louis v NSC Minnesota Stars

dN

Standings (Thru Wed Jul 28):
35 Austin - 17 played
33 Rochester - 20 played
33 Vancouver - 20 played
26 Portland - 18 played
26 Minnesota - 21 played
24 Carolina - 16 played
23 Montreal - 19 played
23 Tampa Bay - 18 played
23 Puerto Rico - 18 played
19 Baltimore - 18 played
19 St Louis - 19 played
15 Miami - 18 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.06 Austin
1.65 Rochester
1.65 Vancouver
1.50 Carolina
1.44 Portland
1.28 Tampa Bay
1.28 Puerto Rico
1.24 Minnesota
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.21 Montreal
1.06 Baltimore
1.00 St Louis
0.83 Miami

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The website NYSportsJournalism does a Q & A with the agent of Landon Donovan (among others) on how the World Cup has changed the value and marketability of LD.

dN

Creative Loafing in Atlanta called the 33,000 attendance at the Man City v Club America game in the Georgia Dome the "Disappointment of the Week." They wonder how the city can bid for to host World Cup games if that is all they can draw.

USA U20 TEAM

The team has won the championship in Ballymena, Northern Ireland at the annual Milk Cup tournament.

dN

The USA triple headed strike force of Omar Salgado, Juan Agudelo and Adrian Ruelas scored 5 goals in the tournament.

dN

Match report from the tournament website.
-Including high praise for our boys by the Northern Ireland coach.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 26
USA 1-0 China - USA goal by Omar Salgado.
-Wed Jul 28
USA 3-2 Denmark - USA goals by Adrian Ruelas(2) & Fuad Ibrahim.
-Fri Jul 30
Title Match:
USA 3-0 Northern Ireland - USA goals by Gale Agbossoumonde, Juan Agudelo & Adrian Reulas.

dN

USA Roster:
G:
Samir Badr - Porto
Zac MacMath - Maryland
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Braga
Bryan De La Fuente - Chivas USA
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia
Sacir Hot - Boston College
Perry Kitchen - Akron
Zarek Valentin - Akron
Ethan White - Maryland
M:
Fuad Ibrahim - Toronto FC
Francisco Navas Cobo - Houston Dynamo
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb
Ernest Nungaray - Morelia
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Conor Shanosky - DC United
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Adrian Ruelas - Santos Laguna
Omar Salgado - Unattached

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Third Qualifying Round
1st Leg
-Thu Jul 29
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - went the full 90 but got smoked 1-5 at home by Genk.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the whole match but lost 0-1 at home to Sporting.

ENGLAND

The folks at When Saturday Comes with a renewed sense of optimism for a more wide open title race as this years Premiership season draws near. But they are still delusional in thinking that "new blood" (besides the team with the most money in the world Manchester City) are going to compete for the title.

dN

The Guardian explains some new Premier League rules that set limits on rosters and foreign players etc.

dN

Long time England goalkeeper David James has signed a one year deal with Bristol City in the English Championship Division.

dN

Daniel Taylor of the Guardian says Mark Hughes is the right man for the Fulham head coaches job.

SPAIN

Side Lowe of the Guardian with an article on Racing Santander's 18 year old wunderkind Sergio Canales.

GERMANY

German World Cup revelation Sami Khedira has been transfered from Stuttgart to Real Madrid.

GRATUITOUS DIEGO FORLAN PHOTO

Here is Diego this week in Kolkata India, presumably relaxing before his preseason begins at Atletico Madrid.















Photo taken from Diego's own Twitter feed.

Some News for Thu Jul 29, 2010

STARTERS

On back to back nights Bruce Arena coached teams lost 1-4 and 2-5 at home. I bet he wants to take a few days off and just get drunk as a skunk.

MLS ALL STARS

Now that's an ass kicking! Plain and simple. And it started just 21 seconds into the game. The brutal opening that saw Kevin Alston put a lazy backpass right on to the foot of Federico Macheda, and then Macheda smash home a corner kick 11 minutes later, the All Stars actually got back into the back in the second half when Brian Ching scored on a very typical (for him) headed corner. Then it just fell apart, with DDR getting a late goal in a flurry to take the game back from disaster into simply embarrassing territory.

dN

Match & Score:
-Wed Jul 28
MLS All Stars 2-5 Manchester United - MLS goals by Brian Ching and Dwayne DeRosario. MU goals by Federico Macheda, Darron Gibson, Tom Cleverley & Javier Hernandez.
Match report by Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle.
Match report from the Guardian.
Match report by Simon Evans of Reuters.
Venue: Reliant Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 70,728

dN

The Houston Chronicle on the night had by Dynamo All Star Brian Ching.

dN

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle with notes on the Dynamo organization and MLS big wigs.

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Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated finds it hard to come up with positives for MLS at this game.

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Grant Wahl of SI also has a few notes.

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Simon Evans of Reuters on Manchester United's massive world wide support.

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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America on the good and bad from last night.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Preliminary Round of the knock out stage starts now. 16 teams are paired to play home and away for 8 spots in the Group Stage.

dN

Seattle dominated the Meatpan (sic) last night but could only score once and that was on a horrible goalkeeping blunder.

dN

Preliminary Round Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Toronto FC (Canada) 1-0 Motagua (Honduras) - TFC goal by Chad Barrett.
San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad & Tobago) 0-1 Santos Laguna (Mexico) - SL goal by Rodrigo Ruiz.
San Francisco (Panama) 2-3 Cruz Azul (Mexico) - SF goals by Eduardo Jimenez & Gabriel Torres. CZ goals all by Emaunuel Villa(3).
Los Angeles Galaxy (USA) 1-4 Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico) - LAG goal by Richard Martinez(OG). PRI goals by David Foley, Nicholas Addlery(2) & Josh Hansen.
-Wed Jul 28
Tauro FC (Panama) 0-3 Marathon (Honduras) - Mar goals by Claudio Labarinas(2) & Milton Palacios.
Seattle Sounders (USA) 1-0 Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) - SS goal by Fredy Montero.
Match report by Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune.
Brujas (Costa Rica) 2-2 Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) - Bru goals by Andres Nunez & Jose Cordero. JP goals by Kerry Baptiste & Trent Noel.
-Thu Jul 29
CD FAS (El Salvador) v Xelaju (Guatemala)

PICTURE OF THE DAY

The Seattle Sounders appear to have a new member of their ownership group. At least in "appearance." Meet the new 80 pounds lighter Drew Carey:












MLS WEEK 18

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 31
Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution - 2:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Colorado Rapids v FC Dallas - 3:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Kansas City Wizards v Toronto FC - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Houston Dynamo v New York Red Bulls - 8:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Real Salt Lake v DC United - 9:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
San Jose Earthquakes v Seattle Sounders - 9:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Chivas USA v Columbus Crew - 9:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Aug 1
Los Angeles v Chicago - 6:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Our old pal Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune introduces us to new Fire attacker Nery Castillo.
-I really hope this move works out for Chicago.

dN

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe takes us through the first half of a terrible season for the New England Revolution. The Steve Nicol era has never looked this bad.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times on the Sounders newest signing Uruguayan Alvaro Fernandez.
-Mayers does a short Q & A with Sounders honcho Adrian Hanauer about the teams 3rd DP.
-Here is a reprint of what we wrote about Fernandez last week:
He signed with Nacional (Uruguay) in 09, but played the last 2 seasons on loan at Vitoria Setubal (Portugal) & Universidad de Chile (Chile.)
He was also just on the Uruguay World Cup team, starting against Ghana (subbed out at half time), coming on as a sub in the 84th against S Korea, coming on as a sub in the 85th against Mexico and coming on as a sub in the 71st against South Africa.

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

Charles Gooch of the Kansas City Star reports on the Wizards hiring a PR company to looking to renaming and recoloring the team.

MLS EXPANSION

Geoff Arnold of the Oregonian on the coin flip between Portland and Vancouver (won by the Whitecaps) that will determine which teams picks first in the MLS expansion and MLS Super drafts etc next winter.
-Arnold also has a few words on "not-yet" head coach Jon Spencer.

dN

Bruce Constantineau of the Vancouver Sun on the Whitecaps winning this initial coin toss that will set many more things in motion for next seasons expansion.

dN

Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal Constitution with another in his string of stories looking at the viability of MLS in that geographically important city.
-Atlanta hosted Club America v Manchester City last night at the Georgia Dome. The game ended tied 1-1, with Man City winning 4-1 in a Penalty Kick Shoot Out. Attendance was 33,721.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

The Baltimore Sun wonders if a new DC United Stadium could be built in Charm City rather than the Capital City.
-The NFL Baltimore Ravens home M&T Bank Stadium will host Inter Milan v Manchester City on Sat Jul 31.

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 27
-Wed Jul 28
AC St. Louis 3-0 Portland Timbers
Montreal Impact 0-1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
-Sat Jul 31
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Montreal Impact
Carolina RailHawks v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Miami FC Blues
-Sun Aug 1
AC St Louis v NSC Minnesota Stars

dN

Standings (Thru Wed Jul 28):
35 Austin - 17 played
33 Rochester - 20 played
33 Vancouver - 20 played
26 Portland - 18 played
26 Minnesota - 21 played
24 Carolina - 16 played
23 Montreal - 19 played
23 Tampa Bay - 18 played
23 Puerto Rico - 18 played
19 Baltimore - 18 played
19 St Louis - 19 played
15 Miami - 18 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.06 Austin
1.65 Rochester
1.65 Vancouver
1.50 Carolina
1.44 Portland
1.28 Tampa Bay
1.28 Puerto Rico
1.24 Minnesota
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.21 Montreal
1.06 Baltimore
1.00 St Louis
0.83 Miami

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America does a Q & A with former USA star international Tab Ramos.

USA U20 TEAM

The team is playing for the title today in Ballymena, Northern Ireland at the annual Milk Cup tournament.

dN

Championship Match & Score:
USA U20 v N Ireland - Milk Cup Final - Watch online Fri Jul 30 at 12noon Central

dN

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 26
USA 1-0 China - USA goal by Omar Salgado.
-Wed Jul 28
USA 3-2 Denmark - USA goals by Adrian Ruelas(2) & Fuad Ibrahim.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Third Qualifying Round
1st Leg
-Thu Jul 29
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - v Genk
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - v Sporting

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

COPA LIBERTADORES - Semifinals 2nd Leg
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - Tue Aug 3 - at Universidad de Chile with series tied 1-1.

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Reinaldo Rueda who led Honduras to the World Cup has stepped down as head coach.

ENGLAND

Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini.

FRANCE

French Champions Trophy
-Wed Jul 28
Marseille 0-0 Paris St Germain - Mar wins 5-4 in Penalty Kick Shoot Out.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Inter took the narrowest lead over Sao Paolo thanks to SP's goalkeeper standing on his head most of the game.

2nd Leg matches are both next week.

dN

Matches & Scores - Semifinals:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Guadalajara Chivas 1-1 Universidad de Chile - GC goal by Omar Arellano. UdC goal by Rafael Olarra.
-Wed Jul 28
Internacional 1-0 Sao Paulo FC - Int goal by Giuliano.
2nd Leg
-Tue Aug 3
Universidad de Chile v Guadalajara Chivas (1-1)
-Thu Aug 5
Sao Paulo FC v Internacional (0-1)

Away goals is the tie breaker.

ARGENTINA

Tim Vickery of the BBC tells us why Maradona is no longer coach of the national team.

Some News for Wed Jul 28, 2010

STARTERS

Hoo-hooooo! Last night in the CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round the mighty LA Galaxy got smoked in their own home hookah but D2Puerto Rico 1-4! And LA's only tally was an own goal. Wow. Again Wow. All hail Puerto Rico! Toronto won at home 1-0 over Motagua.

dN

Bob Bradley will not get a shot at becoming the Fulham manager right now, as Mark Hughes, formerly the boss at Manchester City and Blackburn most recently, has been hired as the new head coach.

MLS ALL STARS

SOLD OUT! 70k+!

dN

Match & Score:
-Wed Jul 28
MLS All Stars v Manchester United - 7:30pm Central on ESPN2.
Venue: Reliant Stadium - Houston TX

dN

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated sits down with MLS chief bobo Donald E Garber for a one on one conversation in Houston.
-Its not looking good for the Galaxy signing Ronaldinho.

dN

Shawn Mitcell of the Columbus Dispatch on the Crew's 2 All Stars - Chad Marshall and Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

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Andy Friedlander of the Dallas Morning News on that cities hometown-boy-done-good - Omar Gonzalez of the LA Galaxy.

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Christopher Vito of the Delaware County Daily Times says Union forward Sebastien Le Toux is very excited for tonight's game.

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Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle on the star of the MLS team Landon Donovan.

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Ortiz also reports on last nights big party in Houston, and some other All Star Game notes.

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James Edward of the Deseret News with an article on the excellent season so far by RSL centerback Jamison Olave.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Preliminary Round of the knock out stage starts now. 16 teams are paired to play home and away for 8 spots in the Group Stage.

dN

3 of the 4 road teams won the 1st Leg matches last night. Toronto were they only ones to hold serve.

dN

Down goes LA! The only starters that Los Angeles rested were goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and centerback Omar Gonzalez. Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle went the full 90!
-Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer has a quote from LA coach Bruce Arena that nicely sums up his teams pathetic performance.

dN

Grahame Jones of the LA Times writes probably the most he has written about the Galaxy all season, and its about the bad loss. (He just loves to rub it in on the Galaxy, MLS and US Soccer.)

dN

John Molinaro of the CBC on Toronto's home win. But was it enough?

dN

Preliminary Round Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Toronto FC (Canada) 1-0 Motagua (Honduras) - TFC goal by Chad Barrett.
San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad & Tobago) 0-1 Santos Laguna (Mexico) - SL goal by Rodrigo Ruiz.
San Francisco (Panama) 2-3 Cruz Azul (Mexico) - SF goals by Eduardo Jimenez & Gabriel Torres. CZ goals all by Emaunuel Villa(3).
Los Angeles Galaxy (USA) 1-4 Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico) - LAG goal by Richard Martinez(OG). PRI goals by David Foley, Nicholas Addlery(2) & Josh Hansen.
-Wed Jul 28
Tauro FC (Panama) v Marathon (Honduras)
Seattle Sounders (USA) v Isidro Metapan (El Salvador)
Brujas (Costa Rica) v Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago)
-Thu Jul 29
CD FAS (El Salvador) v Xelaju (Guatemala)

TEAM USA

I fully expect Big Bad Bob to be in charge of our squad for this game.

dN

Friendly Match & Score:
-Tue Aug 10
USA v Brazil
Venue: New Giants Stadium - East Rutherford NJ

STORY OF THE DAY

Metrofanatic has a really nice "Thank You" to long time MetroStars/Red Bulls lunchpail carrier John Wolyniec.

I remember Woly as the guy playing for the Milwaukee Rampage and torching my Minnesota Thunder in the playoffs. Lots of respect goes his way from du Nord.

And here is a classic vid clip of Woly doing the Thriller dance after scoring a huge goal in Houston.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

MLS commissioner Donald F Garber on the league's 20th team: "If we could write the book, the next chapter would be a second team in New York. We're working hard to achieve that. We've been spending time talking to potential investors, doing a lot of planning to figure out how to make the economics work. The Red Bulls have been very supportive of having a hometown rival. I hope our 20th team is in New York City. We've got a lot of work to do to achieve that."

And Garber on MLS stadiums: "One thing that we now know is that some of our most successful stadiums are the ones that are located in or close to downtown."

FACT OF THE DAY

Since Kansas City beat Manchester United on Sunday the team has sold over 1100 NEW season tickets!

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Brian Strauss of Fanhouse feels that MLS has got it wrong when they put more time and effort into friendlies against big Euro clubs, then they do into advancing in the CONCACAF Champions League.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle does a good Q & A with Dynamo head honcho Chris Canetti.

dN

Soccer America gives us their mid-season Best XI. Plus subs.

dN

The Washington Post looks at where DC United sits as they move into the second half of the season.
-And a little extra sumpin sumpin with team pres Kevin Payne.

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Simon Evans of Reuters on Philly Frenchy Sebastien Le Toux.

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Shawn Mitcell of the Columbus Dispatch with the latest notes from Crewville.

MLS INJURY REPORT

New England forward Kheli Dube is out for at least a week with a strained knee ligament.

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

John Schreier of the Denver Post wonders why the Colorado Rapids can't attract the international buzz of a European friendly this time of year.
-Unfortunately he doesn't ask anyone who can answer that question.

MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Real Salt Lake will take on DC United on Thursday in Houston for the SUM U17 Cup. All 16 MLS junior teams participated in the event held around the All Star Game.

MLS RUMORS

Soccer 365 with the latest off the rumor hotline on Alvaro Fernandez, Macoumba Kandji and more.

MLS EXPANSION

Geoff Arnold of the Oregonian does a Q & A with MLS commish Donald D Garber.

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 27
Carolina RailHawks 0-1 Rochester Rhinos
-Wed Jul 28
AC St. Louis v Portland Timbers
Montreal Impact v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
-Sat Jul 31
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Montreal Impact
Carolina RailHawks v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Miami FC Blues
-Sun Aug 1
AC St Louis v NSC Minnesota Stars

dN

Standings (Thru Tue Jul 27):
35 Austin - 17 played
33 Rochester - 20 played
30 Vancouver - 19 played
26 Portland - 17 played
26 Minnesota - 21 played
24 Carolina - 16 played
23 Montreal - 18 played
23 Tampa Bay - 18 played
23 Puerto Rico - 18 played
19 Baltimore - 18 played
16 St Louis - 18 played
15 Miami - 18 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.06 Austin
1.65 Rochester
1.58 Vancouver
1.53 Portland
1.50 Carolina
1.28 Montreal
1.28 Tampa Bay
1.28 Puerto Rico
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.24 Minnesota
1.06 Baltimore
0.88 St Louis
0.83 Miami

USA U20 TEAM

The team is in Ballymena, Northern Ireland for the annual Milk Cup tournament.

dN

Adrian Ruelas gets the game winner against Denmark!

The USA is the only team to win their first 2 matches, beating China & Denmark, and now move on to the title game against the host nation on Friday.

dN

You will be able to watch the Final live online right here from the BBC.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 26
USA 1-0 China - USA goal by Omar Salgado.
-Wed Jul 28
USA 3-2 Denmark - USA goals by Adrian Ruelas(2) & Fuad Ibrahim.
-Fri Jul 30
Title Match:
USA v Northern Ireland

dN

Team Standings:
6 USA +2
4 Northern Ireland +5
4 Mexico +2
3 Denmark +2
0 Japan -5
0 China -6

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Third Qualifying Round
1st Leg
-Wed Jul 28
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - v Genk
-Thu Jul 29
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - v Sporting

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

Ron Blum of the Associated Press with some of the latest talk on Jozy Altidore, and tidbits of info on Clint Dempsey, Oguchi Onyewu, DaMarcus Beasley, Benny Feilhaber and Clarence Goodson.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

COPA LIBERTADORES - Semifinals 1st Leg
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - Tue Jul 27 - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at home against Universidad de Chile.

MEXICO

Mexico has chosen 2 different coaches to run the national team on an interim basis until a permanent replacement for Javier Aguirre is found. Cruz Azul coach Enrique Meza will coach the Mexican national team on Aug 11 v Spain. And then former Chivas coach Efrain Flores will coach the team on Sep 4 v Chile and Sep 7 v Colombia.

ENGLAND

Andy Hunter of the Guardian says Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson says he is pleased with the teams ownership and the fans should not be complaining.

ENGLAND & ITALY

Mario Balotelli the semi-insane yet young and talented Inter Milan forward is in the process of being sold to Manchester City. The deal will be completed this week, and it just so happens that both teams are in the USA training right now and will be playing each other on Saturday night in Baltimore. How about that for coincidence?

SPAIN

The LA Galaxy website talks to new Real Madrid head coach Jose Mourinho about his team arriving in LA for training and a couple of friendlies.
-This is the 3rd time in 4 years that Mourinho has brought his team (Chelsea, Inter & Real) to southern California for preseason.

GERMANY

Reuters ponders the question of why Raul went to Schalke of all teams.

RUSSIA

Jonathan Wilson of The Guardian says that its looking like Zenit are the team to beat in Russia this season.
-They have won 8 league games in a row. Well done.

COPA LIBERTADORES

The U got the road goal they wanted against Chivas (playing the game in Mexico City before their new stadium in Guadalajara opens.)
-Match report by Marc Serber of Soccer 365.

dN

The Brazilians clash tonight.

dN

Matches & Scores - Semifinals:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Guadalajara Chivas 1-1 Universidad de Chile - GC goal by Omar Arellano. UdC goal by Rafael Olarra.
-Wed Jul 28
Internacional v Sao Paulo FC

PODCAST

EPL Talk has an audio interview with Gwendolyn Oxenham star of the great movie Pelada. (See the link in the left hand column to buy your copy today, you will not regret it.) With an intro by Ray Hudson.

Some News for Tue Jul 27, 2010

STARTERS

Sacha Kljestan scored just 7 minutes into his UEFA Champions League debut for Anderlecht as they won 1-3 at TNS. They get the 2nd leg next week at home.

dN

Diego Maradona is OUT as manager of the Argentina national team. Long live Diego, and good for the team, as they will be better without him.

dN

ESPN has quietly done away with their MLS page on their website Soccernet. And now there is just a small generic USA page too. The 4 current featured stories on the page are on All-Stars v Manchester United, Liverpool, MLS Rankings and Manchester City. So you can clearly see their supposed commitment to the league is gone. We can tell from that where their true interests lay.

MLS ALL STARS

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated previews the game.

And then Davis on his great blog Daily Soccer Fix lays out the quality insidery kinda stuff that us fanaticos really want to know.

dN

Chris Duncan of the Associated Press previews the game, and gets a few encouraging words from Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson about the improvements in MLS.

dN

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer on the Union's surprise All Star Sebastian Le Toux.

dN

Franks Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe with a profile of the talented New England fullback Kevin Alston. He has the potential to be really good. And the right coach in Steve Nicol to get him on the right track.

dN

Mike Foss of USA Today on LA centerback Omar Gonzalez.

dN

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on the big week for LA Galaxy manager Bruce Arena - Tue in the Champions League, and Wed coaching the MLS All Stars v Manchester United.

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune says the league really likes their All Star game format of the leagues best against a big foreign club team.

dN

Match & Score:
-Wed Jul 28
MLS All Stars v Manchester United - 7:30pm Central on ESPN2.
Venue: Reliant Stadium - Houston TX

dN

The league has announced a further 7 players who will receive All Star bonuses, but not be on the active roster for the game:
Jimmy Nielsen - Kansas City
Kasey Keller - Seattle
Joel Lindpere - New York
Robbie Rogers - Columbus
Freddie Ljungberg - Seattle
Fredy Montero - Seattle
Conor Casey - Colorado

Robbie Rogers, Kasey Keller and Freddie Ljungberg??? Are you kidding me? They have barely registered on my radar this season.

dN

Here are the guys who got hosed:
-Eddie Gaven - Columbus
-Justin Braun - Chivas USA
-Daniel Hernandez - FC Dallas
-Gregg Berhalter - Los Angeles
-Nat Borchers - Salt Lake
-Javier Morales - Salt Lake - He is in the First XI, duh (thanks to T for waking me up)
-Alvaro Saborio - Salt Lake

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

3 highlights from MLS commissioner Donald B. Garber's internet chat with fans at USA Today:
-After they announce team #20 (likely to begin play in 2013), they will next look at Atlanta, San Antonio, San Diego, Detroit and Miami. Sounds like a 2nd New York team as #20 is a done deal to me.
-With the addition of 2 more teams next year the league will keep the conference set up but move 2 teams from the West to East. That doesn't seem to make sense to me because that would put 10 in the East and only 8 in the West. Anyway, who are the potential teams that would move? Houston and Dallas? They make the most geographical sense.
-MLS owners are working on having a reserve league or some other plan to continue the growth of young player development.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Preliminary Round of the knock out stage starts now. 16 teams are paired to play home and away for 8 spots in the Group Stage.

dN

Preliminary Round Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Toronto FC (Canada) v Motagua (Honduras)
San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad & Tobago) v Santos Laguna (Mexico)
San Francisco (Panama) v Cruz Azul (Mexico)
Los Angeles Galaxy (USA) v Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico)
-Wed Jul 28
Tauro FC (Panama) v Marathon (Honduras)
Seattle Sounders (USA) v Isidro Metapan (El Salvador)
Brujas (Costa Rica) v Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago)
-Thu Jul 29
CD FAS (El Salvador) v Xelaju (Guatemala)

dN

Steven Sandor of the Toronto Sun with a TFC match preview.
-The opponent Motagua features Amado Guevara and Georgie Welcome.

dN

Daniel Girard of the Toronto Star also previews.

dN

Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun looks at what advancement in this tournament could mean for TFC.

dN

John Molinaro of the CBC previews the TFC v Motagua match.

dN

Nigel Reed of the CBC on Toronto representing all of Canada in this tournament.

FACT OF THE DAY

I loved seeing Rio Tinto Stadium sold out for the Real Salt Lake game last weekend. They are doing something right!

STORY OF THE DAY

This is how it should be done in America - one step at a time.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press on a new soccer club started in their city less than 2 years ago that is building the proper way, with bigger plans down the road.

WHY NOT!

The New York Times has an economist compare soccer refereeing to financial regulators. Great stuff. (Thanks to Tomas for this one, good thing someone reads the business pages.)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times gives us a quick Q & A with Sounders centerback Jeff Park.

dN

Don Ruiz of The Olympian talks to Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller about his plans for next season. Keller wants to keep playing.

dN

Friank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger on Thierry Henry as he prepares for his MLS debut in Houston on Saturday. Hot. Really frickin hot.

dN

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer on the Union buying midfielder Justin Mapp from Chicago, and the signing of Chacho Coudet.

dN

Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald on the Fire's fairly lousy first half of the season.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

DC United has released winger Boyzzz Khumalo.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

The Washington Post with a little info on DC United stadium talk.
-And a little more stadium talk.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

The WVHooligan blog has a good photo spread from the KC v Man U game.

dN

Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star talks to MLS commissioner Donald C. Garber about the Wizards growth as an organization, and the excitement surrounding their new stadium, and the big win over Man U.

USSF DIVISION 2

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com with an article on Philadelphia native and one of the Montreal Impact's top players Tony Donatelli.
-He has been a du Nord favorite going back several years now.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 27
Carolina RailHawks v Rochester Rhinos
-Wed Jul 28
AC St. Louis v Portland Timbers
Montreal Impact v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
-Sat Jul 31
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Montreal Impact
Carolina RailHawks v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Miami FC Blues
-Sun Aug 1
AC St Louis v NSC Minnesota Stars

dN

Standings (As of Sun Jul 25):
35 Austin - 17 played
30 Rochester - 19 played
30 Vancouver - 19 played
26 Portland - 17 played
26 Minnesota - 21 played
24 Carolina - 15 played
23 Montreal - 18 played
23 Tampa Bay - 18 played
23 Puerto Rico - 18 played
19 Baltimore - 18 played
16 St Louis - 18 played
15 Miami - 18 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.06 Austin
1.60 Carolina
1.58 Rochester
1.58 Vancouver
1.53 Portland
1.28 Montreal
1.28 Tampa Bay
1.28 Puerto Rico
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.24 Minnesota
1.06 Baltimore
0.88 St Louis
0.83 Miami

USA U20 TEAM

The team is in Ballymena, Northern Ireland for the annual Milk Cup tournament.

dN

They won the first match against China, with the lone goal coming from highly touted prospect Omar Salgado.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 26
USA 1-0 China - USA goal by Omar Salgado.
-Wed Jul 28
USA v Denmark
-Fri Jul 30
Placement match

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Steve Cherundolo has been named the new captain of Hannover. And here I thought he was going to leave.

dN

Cody Arnoux who was with the Everton reserves last season has signed with English League One team Plymouth Argyle who's coaching staff includes Paul Mariner and John Carver - both former MLS coaches.

dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Samir Badr about moving his way up the Porto pecking order.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

NORWAY - Eliteserien

Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Mon Jul 26 - went the full 90 as they won 3-2 at home against Lillestrom.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Jul 26- went the distance as they beat Elfsborg 3-0 at home.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Third Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Tue Jul 27 - started and went 87 minutes while scoring the first goal in a 1-3 road win at The New Saints (Wales).

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Third Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Dominic Cervi - Celtic - Wed Jul 28 at Braga

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America does a Q & A with Jonathan Bornstein about his upcoming January move to Tigres.

dN

Coming Up:

COPA LIBERTADORES - Semifinals 1st Leg
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - Tue Jul 27 v Universidad de Chile

MEXICO

Mexico has chose 2 different coaches to run the national team on an interim basis until a permanent replacement for Javier Aguirre is found. Cruz Azul coach Enrique Meza will coach the Mexican national team on Aug 11 v Spain. And then former Chivas coach Efrain Flores will coach the team on Sep 4 v Chile and Sep 7 v Colombia.

ENGLAND

Rob Hughes of the New York Times on the spending spending spending spending of Manchester City.

GERMANY

Real Madrid legend Raul has signed with Schalke. Will he make a difference for them, and how will he handle a whole new league and life. Gelsenkirchen sure as hell aint Madrid.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Here we go!

Matches & Scores - Semifinals:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Guadalajara Chivas v Universidad de Chile
-Wed Jul 28
Internacional v Sao Paulo FC

ENDERS

A Very Kraftwerk Summer - comic strip by chutsul. (use the slideshow for best results) (Thanks to Billy M for this one.)

Some News for Mon Jul 26, 2010

STARTERS

I think Kansas City levitated for a while there on Sunday evening!

Let's not get carried away here, these were big English teams in name only, but.... The 10 man Kansas City Wizards and the New York Red Bulls each took down a giant from Manchester on Sunday, winning 2-1 over United and City respectively in friendlies. (But it sure didn't look like Kei Kamara's goal crossed the line to me.)

dN

A big thumbs down to Warren Barton on Fox Soccer Channel who kept referring to Kansas City as Kansas. Get it right man. The British always stuff it in our face when we "get it wrong." Barton also went off when Man U old timer Ryan Giggs got a yellow card for smacking KC's Michael Harrington twice in the face during one of those stupid pre-corner kick scrums. Barton made a statement to the effect of "I have been in this game for 25 years and you don't do that as a referee. You take the player aside and have a quiet word first." Well Warren, the ref had done just that about 30 seconds earlier. Then Giggs got even rougher and got his ass booked. Pay attention buddy. 25 years means nothing if you are not even looking at what is going on. And Harrington should have been booked too.

dN

The night before down in the capital city DC United pasted recently relegated and newly exhausted Portsmouth 4-0! Not a bad weekend of friendlies.
-It was really weird seeing Portsmouth wearing DC United's white uniforms during the game. The Portsmouth blue and white uni's got lost in shipment!














dN

The Copa Libertadores Semifinals begin on Tuesday with Mexicans Chivas of Guadalajara hosting Universidad de Chile of Santiago, and a Brazilian stand-off with Internacional of Porto Alegre hosting Sao Paolo. 2nd leg return matches are the following week. See schedule in Copa section below.

dN

And the CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round begins on Tuesday too. 3 MLS teams are in action (2 from USA and TFC representing Canada.)

MLS ALL STARS

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle with an article on the host city's two players on the All Star team Brian Ching and Brad Davis.

dN

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com sees the All Star game as a burden on players and teams at this time of the season.

dN

Match & Score:
-Wed Jul 28
MLS All Stars v Manchester United - 7:30pm Central on ESPN2.
Venue: Reliant Stadium - Houston TX

dN

The league will soon announce a further 8 players who will receive All Star bonuses, but not be on the active roster for the game.

TEAM USA

Our team is back in action on Aug 10 at the new Giants Stadium in New Jersey against the mighty canary shirted Brazil.
-Brazil announced their new look roster for that game today:
G:
Jefferson - Botafogo
Renan - Avai
Victor - Gremio
D:
Andre Santos - Fenerbahce
Daniel Alves - Barcelona
David Luiz - Benfica
Henrique - Racing Santander
Marcelo - Real Madrid
Rafael da Silva - Manchester United
Rever - Atletico Mineiro
Thiago Silva - AC Milan
M:
Carlos Eduardo - Hoffenheim
Ederson - Lyon
Hernanes - Sao Paulo
Jucilei - Corinthians
Lucas Leiva - Liverpool
Paulo Henrique Ganso - Santos
Ramires - Benfica
Sandro - Internacional
F:
Andre - Santos
Neymar - Santos
Alexandre Pato - AC Milan
Robinho - Santos
Diego Tardelli - Atletico Mineiro

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Two from the Kansas City Star:

-"Kansas City Wizards president Robb Heineman welcomed [Manchester United manager Alex] Ferguson and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar with a plate of ribs and fries from Oklahoma Joe’s." (OK Joe's is du Nord approved!!!)

-"And for one night in Kansas City, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Alex Ferguson spent the night in the same hotel."

FACT OF THE DAY

On January 1 1999 no MLS team had their own stadium.

As of today 10 of the leagues 16 teams are playing in their own stadium: Crew Stadium, Home Depot Center, Pizza Hut Park, Toyota Park, Dicks Sporting Good Park, BMO Field, Rio Tinto Stadium, Red Bull Arena and PPL Park.

And the next wave is on the way with Kansas City already well into construction of their new home, while both San Jose & Houston have acquired the land and are finalizing all the money issue to build their own places.

Then you have 2 teams, New England and Seattle, that share a stadium with their owners NFL teams.

That only leaves DC out in the cold. And its not a pretty picture.

Beyond that the next three teams to enter the league, Portland, Vancouver and Montreal all have their own stadiums.

The question then is who will be team 20 and what will their stadium be like.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Our pal Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives unearths Landon Donovan's new TV commercial in Mexico for Gana Gol. Great fun.

STORY OF THE DAY

"I believe the NFL is the most popular league in the world for a reason. And that’s that every fan knows at the beginning of the season that their team has a chance to go to the Super Bowl. And I believe that belief is an important quality for any league to be successful. Therefore I certainly subscribe more to the NFL’s approach to parity than I do perhaps to the structure of the English Premier League, where for the most part only a handful of clubs really have a chance of winning the league each year."

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle on Sunday has a Q & A with MLS commissioner Donald A. Garber.

WHY NOT!

Why was Red Bull Arena not packed beyond belief yesterday for a doubleheader of NYRB, Tottenham, Manchester City and Sporting? Add in Henry. What the hell is going on?

dN

And the 2 lowest attendances in MLS this weekend were at the East and West leaders home games. I don't get it.

MLS WEEK 17

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 22
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-2 San Jose Earthquakes - LAG goals by Edson Buddle & Landon Donovan. SJE goals by Bobby Convey & Brandon McDonald.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 17,712
-Sat Jul 24
Toronto FC 1-1 FC Dallas - TFC goal by Maicon Santos. FCD goal by Milton Rodriguez.
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
Attendance: 19,743
Columbus Crew 3-0 Houston Dynamo - CC goals by Emilio Renteria, Andy Iro & Leandre Griffit.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 13,585
Real Salt Lake 1-1 Chivas USA - RSL goal by Ned Grabavoy. CU goal by Jesus Padilla.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Attendance: 19,469
-Sun Jul 25
Seattle Sounders FC 2-1 Colorado Rapids - SS goals by Matt Pickens(OG) & Steve Zakuani. CR goal by Omar Cummings.
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Attendance: 36,333

dN

EJECTIONS:
Bobby Boswell - Houston - 2 Yellow Cards

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Seattle forward Steve Zakuani was named MLS Player Of The Week.
-But his first goal against Colorado was actually an own goal. Zakuani's shot hit the post, bounced out and his the back of Rapids keeper Matt Pickens and then went in. That's an own goal.

dN

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated gives us 5 things to take away from Week 17. AND MLS's top 10 current Colombians. Nice.

dN

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Thierry Henry about being ready to play in Houston next weekend.

dN

And Lewis reports that forward John Wolyniec is done at Red Bull and has been offered a coaching position by the team instead of cutting him.

dN

Igor Henriques of Sports Network sings the high praises of TFC's star Dwayne De Rosario.

dN

The Columbus Dispatch with a review of the past week in Crew-ville.

dN

Joseph D'Hippolito of the Washington Post with a feature article on former Maryland and now LA Galaxy star defender Omar Gonzalez.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

Philadelphia has bought midfielder Justin Mapp from Chicago. Mapp is one of those young talents who has never lived up to his early hype.

dN

One that day that MLS announced that prospect Omar Salgado has been signed to the league (team yet to be determined) he scored for the USA at the Milk Cup. (See details in the USA U20 section below.)

dN

New England has released midfielder Michael Videira.

IF MLS HAD A SINGLE TABLE STANDING

Standings:
40 Los Angeles Galaxy
34 Columbus Crew
31 Real Salt Lake
26 New York Red Bulls
26 FC Dallas
23 San Jose Earthquakes
23 Colorado Rapids
23 Toronto FC
22 Seattle Sounders
19 Houston Dynamo
17 Chicago Fire
16 Kansas City Wizards
15 Chivas USA
14 Philadelphia Union
14 New England Revolution
12 DC United

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK

NOT Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall who slipped and fell coming out for a routine ball allowing Columbus an easy open net goal. Was this gaff bigger than Chris Seitz's earlier in the season for Philly? I say yes it was. Everything is going wrong for Houston right now. See it here if you dare.

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

The Seattle Times reports on Tod Leiweke stepping down as CEO of the company that partially owns the Sounders, and runs their stadium Qwest Field. There are many that feel behind the scenes Leiweke played a huge role in getting Seattle off to such a great start in the market by using the Seahawks staff and status to legitimize the Sounders from day 1.
-None of that is really mentioned in this article though.

MLS RUMORS

Martin Rogers of Yahoo says that the only way LA sells Landon Donovan is if someone offers them a ridiculous amount of money.

dN

Brian Lewis of the New York Post on the Red Bulls seemingly never ending run of roster talk.

dN

Soccer 365 with the latest pillow talk on Raul Tamudo, Michael Bradley, David Beckman and much more.

I suspect that Tamudo is the attacking midfielder that New York is looking for.

dN

The Telegraph of Calcutta says Indian player Sunil Chhetri wants out of Kansas City because he has not been able to crack the lineup.

MLS EXPANSION

The Vancouver Province shows the Whitecaps putting their roster in shape for the big move next season.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

Check out this cool model of the new Wizards Stadium. Courtesy of the teams official blog Hillcrest Road.















I can't wait to be there for opening day next summer.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

A great crowd of over 52,000 went to Arrowhead Stadium and saw the near impossible - KC beat Manchester United. Were you there?

dN

Charles Gooch of the Kansas City Star with a great headline: Did That Really Happen?
-What the game meant in KC.

dN

The Red Bulls thoroughly outplayed Man City to win their game.

dN

You gotta admit that it was fun to watch Red Bulls winger Dane Richards lay waste to Wayne Bridge. He skinned him alive for both goals. Goal 1 - and - Goal 2.

dN

Brian Lewis of the New York Post says Red Bulls forward Macoumba Kandji was the toast of the opposition after this weekends games.

dN

And struggling DC walloped floundering Portsmouth 4-0 on three goals from Danny Allsopp. On the other hand Portsmouth had a pretty rotten day long before kickoff, and had to deal with 100+ degree heat! You know what they say about the British and hot weather.
-A report from the Portsmouth website spells out all of their troubles.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 24
DC United 4-0 Portsmouth (England)
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Match report from the Washington Post.
-Sun Jul 25
New York Red Bulls 2-1 Manchester City (England)
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Match report by Brian Lewis of the NY Post.
Kansas City Wizards 2-1 Manchester United (England)
Venue: Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City MO
Match report by Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star.
Photos from the Star.

dN

One small item from the KC-Man U game that meant a great deal somewhere else is when India's Sunil Chhetri came on as a sub for KC in the 69th minute. Football fans all over India were joyous at the occasion.

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 24
Crystal Palace Baltimore 0-1 AC St Louis
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-1 Rochester Rhinos
-Sun Jul 25
Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-0 Miami FC Blues
Vancouver Whitecaps 1-1 NSC Minnesota

-Tue Jul 27
Carolina RailHawks v Rochester Rhinos
-Wed Jul 28
AC St. Louis v Portland Timbers
Montreal Impact v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
-Sat Jul 31
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Montreal Impact
Carolina RailHawks v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex v Miami FC Blues
-Sun Aug 1
AC St Louis v NSC Minnesota Stars

dN

Standings (As of Sun Jul 25):
35 Austin - 17 played
30 Rochester - 19 played
30 Vancouver - 19 played
26 Portland - 17 played
26 Minnesota - 21 played
24 Carolina - 15 played
23 Montreal - 18 played
23 Tampa Bay - 18 played
23 Puerto Rico - 18 played
19 Baltimore - 18 played
16 St Louis - 18 played
15 Miami - 18 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.06 Austin
1.60 Carolina
1.58 Rochester
1.58 Vancouver
1.53 Portland
1.28 Montreal
1.28 Tampa Bay
1.28 Puerto Rico
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.24 Minnesota
1.06 Baltimore
0.88 St Louis
0.83 Miami

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The Big Money takes a look at the growth of soccer in our country, and the chances of MLS making hay after the World Cup.

USA U20 TEAM

The team is in Ballymena, Northern Ireland for the annual Milk Cup tournament.

dN

And they have won the first match against China, with the lone goal coming from highly touted prospect Omar Salgado.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 26
USA 1-0 China - USA goal by Omar Salgado.
-Wed Jul 28
USA v Denmark
-Fri Jul 30
Placement match

dN

Teams in Tourney:
China
Denmark
Japan
Mexico
Northern Ireland
USA

dN

USA Roster:
G:
Samir Badr - Porto
Zac MacMath - Maryland
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Braga
Bryan De La Fuente - Chivas USA
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia
Sacir Hot - Boston College
Perry Kitchen - Akron
Zarek Valentin - Akron
Ethan White - Maryland
M:
Fuad Ibrahim - Toronto FC
Francisco Navas Cobo - Houston Dynamo
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb
Ernest Nungaray - Morelia
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Conor Shanosky - DC United
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Adrian Ruelas - Santos Laguna
Omar Salgado - Unattached

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Graeme Macpherson of the Glasgow Herald with an article on Maurice Edu who is hoping to make 2010-11 a big year.

dN

Sacha Kljestan has played one game at Anderlecht and they already have a trophy, winning Belgian Super Cup. They begin league play Sat Jul 31 v Eupen.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

BELGIUM - Super Cup
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - started and went 60 minutes as they won the preseason Super Cup title 1-0 over Gent.

DENMARK - Superliga
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - went the distance but lost 1-2 at home to Sonderjyske.

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - played the full 90 as they won 2-0 at home over Jaro.

LATVIA - Virsliga
Nate Weiss - Jelgava - lost 2-1 at Jurmala.

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - played full game but lost at home 1-2 to Rosenborg.
Hunter Freeman - Start - played the whole game, got a yellow card and won 1-2 at Molde.
Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance getting a yellow card too and winning 1-2 at Molde.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Steve Clark - Honefoss - Mon Jul 26 v Lillestrom
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Mon Jul 26 v Lillestrom

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Jul 26 v Elfsborg

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Third Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Tue Jul 27 at The New Saints (Wales)
Dominic Cervi - Celtic - Tue Jul 27 at Braga

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - San Luis - came on as a sub in the 61st minute as they drew at home 1-1 against Monterrey.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 57th minute as they won 3-0 at home against America.
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - came on as a sub in the 56th minute as they lost at home 0-3 to Cruz Azul.
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - went the full 90 in a home scoreless draw with Puebla.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the distance getting a yellow card and winning big 3-0 at home over America.

dN

Coming Up:

COPA LIBERTADORES - Semifinals 1st Leg
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - Tue Jul 27 v Universidad de Chile

MEXICO

The Primera Division Apertura season kicked off this past weekend!

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 23
Estudiantes Tecos 0-3 Cruz Azul
-Sat Jul 24
Chiapas Jaguares 1-1 Necaxa
Pachuca Tuzos 3-0 America
UANL Tigres 0-1 Queretaro
Guadalajara Chivas 0-0 Puebla
San Luis 1-1 Monterrey Rayados
Atlante 1-4 Santos Laguna
-Sun Jul 25
Morelia Monacas 1-0 Atlas
UNAM Pumas 2-1 Toluca

dN

Glasgow Celtic has signed Mexican national team centerback Efrain Juarez from Pumas.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Preliminary Round of the knock out stage starts Tuesday. 16 teams are paired to play home and away for 8 spots in the Group Stage.

Preliminary Round Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Toronto FC (Canada) v Motagua (Honduras)
San Juan Jabloteh (Trinidad & Tobago) v Santos Laguna (Mexico)
San Francisco (Panama) v Cruz Azul (Mexico)
Los Angeles Galaxy (USA) v Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico)
-Wed Jul 28
Tauro FC (Panama) v Marathon (Honduras)
Seattle Sounders (USA) v Isidro Metapan (El Salvador)
Brujas (Costa Rica) v Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago)
-Thu Jul 29
CD FAS (El Salvador) v Xelaju (Guatemala)

SPAIN

Spain legend Raul officially left Real Madrid today. He is the teams all time leading scorer by a mile. There is a lot of speculation on where he is headed.

dN

And another long time Real Madrid anamoly Guti (seen here with his new Cameron Diaz look) has left the team today and has been signed by Besiktas in Turkey.













COPA LIBERTADORES

Matches & Scores - Semifinals:
1st Leg
-Tue Jul 27
Guadalajara Chivas v Universidad de Chile
-Wed Jul 28
Internacional v Sao Paulo FC

BRAZIL 2014 WORLD CUP

Mano Menezes is the new national team coach. "Who?" you ask. He has coached his whole career at clubs in Brazil, the past 3 years at Corinthians and the 3 prior to that at Gremio. He is said to be a conservative coach not unlike Dunga.
-Tim Vickery of the BBC on the new boss.

ENDERS

The greatest gentleman in the game today.
The greatest club captian in the game today.
From the greatest team in the game today.
Javier Zanetti - Internazionale Milano














Inter is currently training in Philadelphia for a couple of stateside friendlies.