Some News for Fri Jul 16, 2010

STARTERS

Carlos Bocanegra has been sold by Rennes to Saint Etienne.

dN

The Chicago Fire announced today that they will introduce a new Designated Player on Saturday. Rumors are amok and flimsy at best. Who could it be now? Do you think they would give Cuauhtemoc Blanco DP money to return? I suppose.
-From the teams official Twitter: "The Fire will be naming the Designated Player between Games 1 and 2 of tomorrow night's SuperLiga doubleheader"

dN

Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts insinuated in a radio interview that Los Angeles is going to sign Ronaldinho.

dN

The Los Angeles Galaxy has made an announcement that they are not interested in selling Landon Donovan this summer. Is that it? Or is that a bargaining chip to raise the price.

MLS ALL STARS

12 more All Stars will be named next Monday, to fill out the roster.

dN

Reports from Dallas say that FCD's David Ferreira & Heath Pearce will be named as All-Stars.

WORLD CUP WRAP UP

Will it blend? That is the question. The Vuvuzela.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

From an article about the Wilpon family buying into MLS and a 2nd New York team: "it may be impossible for the Wilpons, even after building the spectacular Citi Field, to come up with a soccer arena the equal of Red Bull Arena. But it sure would be fun to see them try."

See full article below in MLS Expansion section.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Holy guacamole! Brad Friedel's new goalkeeper shirt for Aston Villa is bright yellow with tiger stripes on the arms! TIGER STRIPES! The only way to explain this is to surmise that he lost a bet.




















WHY?

Do you want to know why Chicago is struggling just to stay in contention for a playoff spot - check out their exhibition of terrible goalkeeping & defending in SuperLiga.

MLS WEEK 17

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 14
Columbus Crew 0-1 Kansas City Wizards - KCW goal by Teal Bunbury.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 11,304
-Thu Jul 15
DC United 0-1 Seattle Sounders FC - SS goal by Roger Levesque.
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 13,716
-Sat Jul 17
Philadelphia Union v Toronto FC - 2:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Columbus Crew v New York Red Bulls - 6:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
FC Dallas v Real Salt Lake - 7:30PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Colorado Rapids v Kansas City Wizards - 8PM Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
-Sun Jul 18
DC United v Los Angeles Galaxy - 6:30PM Central on FSC
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Filip Bondy of the NY Daily News is big on the Red Bulls signing of Thierry Henry.

dN

General sports columnist Jay Greenberg of the NY Post sees Henry and New York fitting hand in hand.

dN

Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch wonders how the Henry signing could effect the Crew.

dN

Blaise Nkufo was on the Seattle bench last night but did not play, but you can expect him to make his debut very soon.
-Their next 2 games are a friendly on Sun Jul 18 v Celtic, and a league match on Sun Jul 25 v Colorado.

dN

Mista of Toronto is working himself into shape and could debut this weekend at Philadelphia.
-Expect Maicon Santos to suit up for TFC.

dN

Both of DC's new signings Branko Boskovic & Pablo Hernandez made their debut in the loss last night as 2nd half subs.

dN

DC has released forward Luciano Emilio.

dN

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News with a Union news round up.

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times gives out his own fictitious MLS Mid-Season Awards.

MLS EXPANSION

FantasyPlayers.com with an interesting look at a 2nd team in New York as it relates to the New York Mets and their owners the Wilpon family.

MLS RUMORS

Soccer 365 with rumors on Michael Bradley, Anton Peterlin, Ramon Nunez, Blanco, Oscar Perez and more.

dN

Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald on the chances of the Fire resigning Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

MLS EXPANSION

Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports on new interest in an expansion team for Atlanta, and an English team is involved.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 17
San Jose Earthquakes v Tottenham (England)
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
-Sun Jul 18
Seattle Sounders v Celtic (Scotland)
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA

Superliga 2010

The Group Stage is underway.

dN

Group A (1 of 3 played)
3 Morelia (+4)
3 New England Revolution (+1)
0 UNAM Pumas (-1)
0 Chicago Fire (-4)
Group B (1 of 3 played)
3 Houston Dynamo (+1)
3 Puebla (+1)
0 Chivas USA (-1)
0 Pachuca (-1)

dN

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 14
New England Revolution 1-0 UNAM Pumas - NER goal by Zack Schilawski.
Venue: Gillette Stadium – Foxborough MA
Chicago Fire 1-5 Morelia - CF goal by Steve Kinney. Mor goals by Elias Hernandez, Luis Gabriel Rey, Miguel Sabah, Rafael Marquez Lugo, & Jaime Lozan.
Venue: Toyota Park – Bridgeview IL
-Thu Jul 15
Houston Dynamo 2-1 Pachuca - HD goals both by Joseph Ngwenya. Pac goal by Damian Manso.
Venue: Robertson Stadium – Houston TX
Match report by Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle.
Chivas USA 1-2 Puebla - CU goal by Michael Umana. Pue goals by Nicolas Olivera and Álvaro Gonzalez.
Venue: Home Depot Center – Carson CA
-Sat Jul 17
Chicago Fire v New England Revolution - 6pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Toyota Park – Bridgeview IL
UNAM Pumas v Morelia - 8:30pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Toyota Park – Bridgeview IL
-Sun Jul 18
Houston Dynamo v Chivas USA - 7pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium – Houston TX
Pachuca v Puebla - 9:30pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium – Houston TX

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 15
Tampa Bay Rowdies 0-0 Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sat Jul 17
Rochester Rhinos v Carolina Railhawks
Miami Blues FC v Puerto Rico
Austin Aztex v AC St Louis
Montreal Impact v Crystal Palace Baltimore

dN

Standings (As of Thu Jul 15):
32 Austin - 16 played
29 Vancouver - 17 played
27 Rochester - 16 played
24 Minnesota - 19 played
23 Portland - 16 played
21 Carolina - 14 played
20 Tampa Bay - 16 played
20 Montreal - 16 played
18 Puerto Rico - 15 played
16 Baltimore - 16 played
14 Miami - 16 played
13 St Louis - 15 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.00 Austin
1.71 Vancouver
1.69 Rochester
1.50 Carolina
1.44 Portland
1.26 Minnesota
1.25 Tampa Bay
1.25 Montreal
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.20 Puerto Rico
1.00 Baltimore
0.88 Miami
0.87 St Louis

USL/NASL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 17
Portland Timbers (USSF-D2) v Manchester City (England)
Venue: Harry A. Merlo Field - Portland OR
Charleston Battery (USL 2) v Bolton Wanderers (England)
Venue: Blackbaud Stadium - Charleston SC

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Greg Seltzer of MLS Soccer with an article on Frank Simek and his new team.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Erik Benjaminsen - Stabaek - Sun Jul 18 at Brann
Steve Clark - Honefoss - Sun Jul 18 at Viking
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Sun Jul 18 at Brann
Hunter Freeman - Start - Sun Jul 18 v Aalesund
Clarence Goodson - Start - Sun Jul 18 v Aalesund
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Sun Jul 18 at Viking

RUSSIA - Premier Division
Yevgeni Starikov - FC Tom Tomsk - Sun Jul 18 v Anzhi Makhachkala

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Sun Jul 18 at Elfsborg
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Sat Jul 17 at IFK Goteborg
Johan Smith - Kalmar - Sun Jul 18 at Djurgarden

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

SUPERLIGA Group Stage: Thu Jul 16
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 57th minute of a 2-1 loss at Houston.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 but lost 2-1 at Houston.
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - on the bench but did not play.

dN

Coming Up:

SUPERLIGA Group Stage:
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - Sun Jul 18 v Puebla
Jose Torres - Pachuca - Sun Jul 18 v Puebla
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - Sun Jul 18 v Puebla

MEXICO

Pablo Barrera has left UNAM Pumas to sign with West Ham in England.

SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP

From a reader named Greg comes some interesting stats from the tourney:
I was looking at FIFA's WC stats and thought "looking at total fouls by team doesn't tell you the whole story." And sure enough, if you adjust for the number of games played, including extra time, a certain regional rival to the south was the, um, most aggressive team at WC 2010, committing 20.8 fouls per game! Netherlands was #13 -- fouling 15% less than El Tri -- and the other semifinalists were well below the median. The US, too, was low -- only committing an adjusted 12.2 fouls / game.
You can see all the numbers here. I took FIFA's numbers and added 1/3 of a game for teams that went to extra time.

ENDERS

What is it that fans like so much about Ji Sung Park of Manchester United? I hear people rave about him all the time, and I don't get it. Its not that I think he is bad, but just....... eh.