Some News for Mon Aug 16, 2010

BOB BRADLEY WATCH

I am not sure why I got caught up in the Bob Bradley rumor mania last week. I usually dont go that route at all. Maybe the fact that an American coach was being talked about as a manager in the EPL I got carried away. I still think he has no shot at the Aston Villa job.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Final Match & Score:
2nd Leg
-Wed Aug 18
Internacional v Guadalajara (2-1)

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Group Stage is begins on Tuesday. 2 groups of 4 with everyone playing the others in their group home and away for a total of 6 games. At the end, the top 2 from each group will advance to the semifinals, which will also be home and away.

dN

Luis Bueno of Goal.com gives us Cinco De Bueno! Five things to watch for in the tourney.

dN

Round One Matches & Scores
-Tue Aug 17
Toronto FC v Cruz Azul
Puerto Rico Islanders v Olimpia
Monterrey v Saprissa
-Wed Aug 18
Joe Public v Santos Laguna
Columbus Crew v Municipal
Real Salt Lake v Arabe Unido
FAS v Toluca
-Thu Aug 19
Marathon v Seattle Sounders

STORY OF THE DAY

You certainly dont see a press release like this every day!

National Sports Center seeks financial partners for NSC Minnesota Stars pro soccer team
BLAINE, Minn. (August 16, 2010) – Last week the United States Soccer Federation, USSF, released new higher standards for Division 2 professional soccer teams playing in a USSF-sanctioned league in 2011. The National Sports Center (NSC), owners of the NSC Minnesota Stars, view is this is a positive development for pro soccer in North America.
“We welcome and support the efforts by USSF to upgrade the standards for pro soccer” said Kris Bjerkness, the Stars General Manager. “The new standards will necessitate that we find a partner organization or individual in order for the Stars to qualify under the new higher standards. As we stated early on, we are open and pursuing creative public/private ownership model going forward and we look forward to the opportunity”.
“The NSC had many motivations in starting the Stars pro team,” said Paul Erickson, Executive Director. “But one of our primary reasons was to preserve the long and proud history of Professional soccer in Minnesota at the highest level possible.”
“Ownership of a team based at the NSC is a unique opportunity,” continued Erickson. “The facility boasts one of the best, accessible, soccer specific stadiums in the country, at the largest amateur sports campus in the world, with year-round training facilities for player development. We are proud of what we have accomplished in the past seven months and look forward to the opportunity to continue pro soccer in Minnesota.”

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Is Clint Dempsey going to have to go through the crap of proving himself to a new manager at Fulham all over again? He did not start the game at Bolton this past weekend, and only came on as a sub in the 75th minute, at which point the team's quality clearly picked up a couple of notches. Let's hope that is not the case again this season. It's getting really old if it is.

FACT OF THE DAY

In 7 MLS games on Saturday only 11 goals were scored. Oof.

STAT OF THE DAY

James Edward of the Deseret News points out that teams who scores first this season in MLS are 106-8-29! Wow! Simply Frickin Wow!

OOF

VIDEO: Both goalkeeper and forward make terrible plays.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

The brother of USA and Pachuca forward Herculez Gomez is a topic prospect in the fighting world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA.) The online magazine Sherdog is one of the top opinionators in that sport, and has a feature on Ulysses Gomez this week.
-It's cool seeing him march to the battlefield in a Colorado Rapids shirt. (Probably a couple years old now, most likely from when Herc played in Denver.)














WHY?

Hey Heath Pearce! What's up with the mustache? Are you trying to be the next Kenny Cutler?

MLS WEEK 20

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 14
Philadelphia Union 1-1 Colorado Rapids - PU goal by Danny Mwanga. CR goal by Jeff Larentowicz.
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Attendance: 17,749
New York Red Bulls 0-1 Los Angeles Galaxy - LAG goal by Edson Buddle.
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 25,000
New England Revolution 1-0 Houston Dynamo - NER goal by Ilija Stolica.
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Attendance: 11,546
DC United 1-3 FC Dallas - DCU goal by Jair Benetiz(OG). FCD goals by David Ferreira, Eric Alexander & Jeff Cunningham.
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 12,474
Real Salt Lake 2-0 Columbus Crew - RSL goals both by Javier Morales
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Attendance: 16,906
San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 Kansas City Wizards - SJE goal by Chris Wondolowski
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 8,619
Chivas USA 0-0 Seattle Sounders FC
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 13,839

dN

EJECTIONS:
Jason Hernandez - San Jose - Red Card
Mariano Trujillo - Chivas - Red Card
Leo Gonzalez - Seattle - Red Card

dN

Getting A Jump Start On Week 21:
-Wed Aug 18
Chicago Fire v New England Revolution - 7:30pm Central On Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated gives us 5 things to take away from Week 20.

dN

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his Monday MLS Breakdown Weekly wrap-up.

dN

Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales is named MLS Player Of The Week.

dN

A virus of some sort knocked LA coach Bruce Arena off his feet and into the hospital at the end of last week. He was not on the bench Saturday for their win over NY. He is expected to be 100% again very soon.

dN

Houston appears to have hit rock bottom. They have not won in 10 consecutive league games now, going back to May 22. The only slight improvement over last week was a couple shots on goal as opposed to none.

dN

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle tells us about the Dynamo's desperate search for a winning strategy. (Posted before the weekend, but still relevant.)

dN

Jeff Cunningham scored career goal #128 (in 334 games) leaving him just 4 behind all time league leading goal scorer Jaime Moreno who currently sits on #132 (in 335 games).

dN

The New England Revolution have a nice piece on their official website telling us more about their surprise of the season - Marko Perovic.

dN

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe talks to former Revs great Steve Ralston, and other NER notes.
-The Revs defense is going unnoticed by most of us. They are a rock right now.

dN

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News on the Union's blame-the-referee trip.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch takes us back to the Crew's loss in Salt Lake after a couple days to evaluate.
-The Crew are thin on players, only 17 healthy right now. Not good at all.

dN

The Kansas City Star does a Q & A with two Wizards: Kei Kamara - and - Teal Bunbury.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

San Jose has signed a Designated Player: 30 year old Brazilian attacking midfielder Geovanni. He played last season with Jozy Altidore at Hull City.

dN

Colorado has signed their first academy player - Davy Armstrong.

dN

Details here from DC on their third development academy signing - 6' 4" defensive midfielder Conor Shanosky.
-Craig Stouffer of the Examiner with more on Shanosky and others.

dN

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says former Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec is still searching high and low for a MLS job.

IF MLS HAD SINGLE TABLE STANDINGS

POINTS - TEAM - GAMES PLAYED
43 - Los Angeles - 20
39 - Salt Lake - 21
37 - Columbus - 20
33 - Dallas - 19
31 - New York - 20
29 - Seattle - 21
28 - Colorado - 19
26 - San Jose - 18
26 - Toronto - 19
21 - Chicago - 16
21 - New England - 18
20 - Kansas City - 19
20 - Houston - 20
19 - Chivas - 19
17 - Philadelphia - 19
12 - DC - 20

MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERS

Goals:
13 Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy (15 games)
11 Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls 20 games)
9 Sebastion Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (17 games)
8 Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto FC (18 games)
8 Alvaro Saborio - Real Salt Lake (19 games)
8 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders (21 games)

dN

Assists:
11 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy (14 games)
9 Sebastian Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (17 games)
9 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders (21 games)
8 Bobby Convey - San Jose Earthquakes (18 games)

MLS INJURY REPORT

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times talks to Sounders Zakuani and Montero about weekend injuries sustained.

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK

San Jose's Khari Stephenson unlocks a very constipated offense. And although they only scored 1 goal, he was great. I did not see that coming from him. Can he keep it going?

dN

Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman was excellent too.

dN

Dont get me wrong on RSL's Javi Morales. He had a fine weekend, and he's getting the big hype for player of the week for his 2 goals. And while both looked great, they were the fault of lousy Columbus defense. The first one was an awesome strike to the back post, but the Crew's Steven Leanhart literally ducked as he must have thought it was going wide. And on the second goal, Columbus left a whole in one end of the wall that Morales nailed his free kick right through.

MY THOUGHTS

As a man with a strong distaste for all things Mexican national team, I was giddy watching LA's Juninho strip the ball from NY's Rafa Marquez, then glance up-field and hit Edson Buddle with a perfect pass that EB finished for the game winner. YES!

dN

And LA just got back to that powerhouse defense that they let slide since around the time of the World Cup. Are they on track again, or was this a one time thing.

MLS EXPANSION

The Vancouver Province does a Q & A with Whitecaps part owner Steve Nash. Things beyond soccer are discussed as well.

USSF DIVISION 2

The Toronto Press reports that Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo gives his technical and coaching staff the dreaded "vote of confidence."

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 14
Crystal Palace Baltimore 2-1 Carolina RailHawks
Rochester Rhinos 2-1 Montreal Impact
NSC Minnesota Stars 0-1 Vancouver Whitecaps
AC St Louis 0-1 Portland Timbers
Miami FC Blues 3-3 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Puerto Rico Islanders 2-0 Austin Aztex

-Wed Aug 18
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Rochester Rhinos
Carolina RailHawks v Miami FC Blues
-Thu Aug 19
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
-Fri Aug 20
AC St Louis v Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sat Aug 21
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Montreal Impact
Rochester Rhinos v Miami FC Blues
NSC Minnesota Stars v Portland Timbers
-Sun Aug 22
Austin Aztex v Carolina RailHawks

dN

Standings (As of Sat Aug 14):
42 Rochester - 23 played
41 Austin - 20 played
38 Vancouver - 23 played
31 Portland - 22 played
28 Carolina - 20 played
28 Puerto Rico - 21 played
28 Minnesota - 24 played
26 Tampa Bay - 22 played
25 Montreal - 23 played
24 Baltimore - 22 played
21 St Louis - 22 played
20 Miami - 22 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.05 Austin
1.83 Rochester
1.65 Vancouver
1.41 Portland
1.40 Carolina
1.33 Puerto Rico
1.18 Tampa Bay
1.17 Minnesota
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.09 Baltimore
1.09 Montreal
0.95 St Louis
0.91 Miami

TEAM USA

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America takes a step back from Bob Bradley and USA v Brazil to clear the air. He hits is pretty straight!

USA U20 TEAM

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Fuad Ibrahim of Toronto FC, who was just with the team in Northern Ireland.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America tells us about 18 year old Conor Doyle who recently signed with Derby County in the English 2nd tier (Championship Division), and has been seeing playing time right off the bat.

dN

Carlos Bocanegra's St Etienne beat Charlie Davies' Sochaux 3-2 on Saturday, but neither was on their team's game day roster.

dN

Sacha Kljestan didnt play this weekend as Anderlecht rolled 4-0. Presumably he is being saved for the Champions League game on Wednesday.

dN

Ricardo Clark was on the bench but did not play in the DFB Pokal for Eintracht Frankfurt. They won 0-4 on the road to advance to the Second Round.

dN

Both Hunter Freeman and Clarence Goodson were rested by Start, as they lost 4-3 to Rosenborg in the Quarterfinals of the NM Cupen.

dN

He didn't play but Eric Lichaj was on the subs bench for Aston Villa this weekend. That could be the sign of big things to come.

dN

Charles Kazlauskas did NOT get 2 yellow cards on Friday as Helmond Sport won on the road. He only got one, and the initial press report that I read last week has been corrected. Thanks to those who brought it to my attention.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the entire match but lost 2-0 at Kobenhavn.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 75th minute of a scoreless draw at Bolton.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the distance as they won 3-0 at home over West Ham.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - went the full 90 as they won 2-1 at home over Stoke.
Stuart Holden - Bolton - played the entire game as they drew 0-0 at Fulham.
Tim Howard - Everton - in goal as usual but they lost 1-0 at Blackburn.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - came on as a 70th minute sub but they lost at home 1-2 to Cardiff City.

ENGLAND - League One
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - played the whole game as they drew at home 1-1 with Carlisle United.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - went the distance as they drew 1-1 at Plymouth Argyle.

GERMANY - DFB Pokal First Round
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - started and was subbed off in the 90th minute but not until after he got a yellow card and scored the first goal of a 1-3 road win at Erzgebirge Aue.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played 120 minutes of scoreless soccer then lost 5-4 in a Penalty Kick Shoot Out at Elversberg.
Danny Williams - Freiburg - came on as a sub in the 73rd minute as they won 0-1 at Oberneuland 1948.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - played the full match and won 0-2 at Lubek.

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Maurice Edu - Rangers - went the full 90 as they won at home 2-1 over Kilmarnock.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

DENMARK - Superliga
Chris Rolfe - AaB - Mon Aug 16 at Midtjylland

GERMANY - DFB Pokal First Round
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Mon Aug 16 at VfR Aalen

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Aug 16 at Mjallby
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Mon Aug 16 at Atvidaberg

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Playoff Round 1st Leg
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Wed Aug 18 at Partizan

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Playoff Round 1st Leg
Brad Friedel or Guzan - Aston Villa - Thu Aug 19 at Rapid Wien

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Pachuca's head coach Guillermo Rivarola resigned on Sunday after another terrible outing.

dN

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 52nd minute but lost 4-1 at Cruz Azul.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the distance but lost 4-1 at Cruz Azul.

dN

Coming Up:

COPA LIBERTADORES - Finals 2nd Leg
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - Wed Aug 18 - at Internacional trailing 2-1

MEXICO

Santos Laguna has raced out to a perfect start in the Apertura with 12 points from 4 games and only 1 goal allowed. They are the only unbeaten/untied team in the Primera. They are led up top by Ecuadorian striker Christian Benetiz who has an amazing 6 goals already, and goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez anchoring that quality defense. But no other real big names. Impressive.

ENGLAND

Chelsea proved that preseason games mean nothing as they hammered West Brom 6-0 to start the season.

dN

The real shock of the opening weekend though went to newly promoted Blackpool who went on the road to Wigan grabbed a massive 0-4 win. They finished in 6th place in the second division last season and won the playoff to get promoted. Now this! Wow.

dN

The play of the weekend has to go to Liverpool keeper who greened an Arsenal shot into his own net. Stink bomb!

dN

And a terrible but predictable debut for the ultra-talented but always-underwhelming Joe Cole at Liverpool as he gets a Red Card for a bad tackle.

dN

Rob Hughes of the New York Times looks at the huge gaps between poor teams and rich teams in the English top flight.

dN

Barry Glendenning of the Guardian gives us Five things we learned from watching football this weekend.

dN

Amy Lawrence of the Observer talks to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, new 3 year contract extension in his pocket, who worries about the future of the game.

dN

Premier League
Opening Weekend Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 14
Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester City
Aston Villa 3-0 West Ham United
Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Everton
Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Fulham
Sunderland 2-2 Birmingham City
Wigan Athletic 0-4 Blackpool
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Stoke City
Chelsea 6-0 West Bromwich Albion
-Sun Aug 15
Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal
-Mon Aug 16
Manchester United v Newcastle United

SPAIN

Super Copa
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Aug 14
Sevilla 3-1 Barcelona - Sev goals by Luis Fabiano & Frederic Kanoute(2). Bar goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
2nd Leg
-Sat Aug 28
Barcelona v Sevilla (1-2)

FRANCE

The huge story in Ligue 1 after 2 rounds is that newly promoted Caen have 2 wins in 2 games and they are over Marseille and Lyon!

And another stunningly bad week for some of the biggest teams:
-Champions Marseille lost again, this time at Valenciennes.
-Lyon lost to Caen, giving them 1 point out of 6.
-Bordeaux loses for the second time!

Toulouse is the only other team with 6 points from 2 games, with Montpellier playing on Monday.

GERMANY

The Bundesliga will start the new season on Friday!

Opening Weekend of the German Bundesliga:
-Fri Aug 20
Bayern Munchen v Wolfsburg
-Sat Aug 21
Hoffenheim v Werder Bremen
Monchengladbach v Nurnberg
Koln v Kaiserslautern
Freiburg v St Pauli
Hannover v Eintracht Frankfurt
Hamburg v Schalke
-Sun Aug 22
Mainz v Stuttgart
Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen

ITALY

Supercoppa
Match & Score:
-Sat Aug 21
Inter v Roma
Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza

EUROPE

Here are the nominees for the UEFA Culb Footballer Of The Year (which year? 2009? 2010? 2011?). An overall winner is announced, along with one winner at each of 4 positions.
-Goalkeeper:
Julio Cesar - Inter Milan
Hugo Lloris - Lyon
Victor Valdes - Barcelona
-Defender:
Lucio - Inter Milan
Maicon - Inter Milan
Gerard Pique - Barcelona
-Midfielder:
Xavi Hernandez - Barcelona
Arjen Robben - Bayern Munich
Wesley Sneijder - Inter Milan
-Striker:
Lionel Messi - Barcelona
Diego Milito - Inter Milan
Wayne Rooney - Manchester United

dN

Damian Spellman of the Independent tells us who the teams in Europe are that import that most players.

ENDERS

Who made the following brilliant films? Dont look it up. Guess.
-The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
-Hot Lead and Cold Feet
-The Shakiest Gun in the West
-The Reluctant Astronaut
-Gus the Field Goal Kicking Donkey