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.