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.)