Some News for Mon Aug 2, 2010

STARTERS

The New York Red Bulls will introduce new signing Mexican international Rafa Marquez on Tuesday.

dN

No surprise: Everton manager David Moyes says the team cannot afford to buy Landon Donovan.

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

Gerry Dobson of Sportsnet tells us about the ridiculous trip Toronto has to make to get to their game in Honduras Tuesday.
-And people from Europe think these trips are easy. Puh-leeeeeeeeeeeeez.

dN

Preliminary Round Matches & Scores:
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)

COPA LIBERTADORES

FIFA.com talks to Guadalajara goal keeper Luis Michel about the teams important trip to Santiago Chile.

dN

Matches & Scores - Semifinals:
2nd Leg
-Tue Aug 3
Universidad de Chile v Guadalajara Chivas (1-1)
-Thu Aug 5
Sao Paulo FC v Internacional (0-1)

dN

Away goals is the tie breaker.

TEAM USA

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

dN

We will learn the names on the USA roster probably on Tuesday.

STORY OF THE DAY

The New York Cosmos are officially back in business. And Pele said so. After a year behind the scenes they are ready to start things off by combining forces with high quality Queens NYC youth club BW (Blau Weiss) Gottschee, now renamed The Cosmos Academy, and will play in the US Development Academy. The bigger goal for the club is MLS.
-Here is the press release.

Who are the 2 key behind the scenes players?
-Chairman: Paul Kemsley - former vice-chairman of Tottenham is tight with Newcastle's hamfisted owner Mike Ashley and Tottenahm bobble-headed manager Harry Redknapp. One source reports him as being worth 180 Million Pounds, while another says he had to borrow money from friends to pay off 2 Million Pounds in gambling debts. His real estate company went bankrupt last year around this time in a big ugly way. He has also been on the English version of the TV show The Apprentice.
-CEO: Carl Johnson - owner of Anomaly, and unconventional marketing company

Jack Bell of the New York Times who covered the Cosmos in their prime gives us his view on the news.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Manchester City fullback Micah Richards on what he found from American soccer teams, facilities, fans etc at the end of his team's preseason trip to the USA: "We were blown away because when we came out here, we were told that soccer isn’t a big sport out here. I was shocked because I think it’s very underrated."

STAT OF THE DAY

Landon Donovan became the 6th player in MLS history to reach the 100 goal plateau on Sunday. He scored twice giving him a total of 101.

FUN FACT OF THE DAY

Grass is green.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

The Kansas City Wizards sent us this great new pic of stadium construction. I can never get enough of these images! (Click to humongousize.)







THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Nigel Reed of the CBC on the uptick in quality of players coming to MLS.

MLS WEEK 18

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 31
Philadelphia Union 1-1 New England Revolution - PU goal by Sebastien Le Toux. NER goal by Marko Perovic.
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Attendance: 18,147
Colorado Rapids 1-1 FC Dallas - CR goals by Mehdi Ballouchy(PK). FCD goal by Julian Baudet(OG).
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 10,596
Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Toronto FC - KCW goal by Teal Bunbury.
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Attendance: 10,385
Houston Dynamo 2-2 New York Red Bulls - HD goals by Brad Davis(PK) & Brian Mullan. NYRB goals both by Juan Pablo Angel.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 24,740
Real Salt Lake 3-0 DC United - RSL goals by Alvaro Saborio, Robbie Findley & Nelson Gonzalez.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Attendance: 17,719
San Jose Earthquakes 0-1 Seattle Sounders - SS goal by Fredy Montero.
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 10,351
Chivas USA 3-1 Columbus Crew - CU goals by Justin Braun, Blair Gavin and Carlos Borja. CC goal by Steven Lenhart.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 13,419
-Sun Aug 1
Los Angeles 2-3 Chicago - LAG goals both by Landon Donovan(both via PK). CF goals by Marco Pappa, Collins John & Mike Banner.
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 20,348

dN

EJECTIONS:
Lovel Palmer - Houston - Red Card

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated with five things to take away from Week 18.

dN

New York Red Bulls forward Juan Pablo Angel was named the league's Player Of The Week.

dN

Thierry Henry may have assisted on both of JPA's goals in Houston, but he also missed a wide open net from 5 yards (he somehow put it wide!), and then shot wide again in a 1-on-1 with inexperienced keeper Tally Hall. Houston kept their end of the choking bargain too with Brad Davis missing a 2nd PK that he put high over the bar.

dN

Big Apple Soccer writes that Thierry Henry's league debut for the Red Bulls was good, but not good enough.

dN

How brutal was LA manager Bruce Arena's week? On Tuesday the Galaxy lost to Puerto Rico at home 4-1. On Wednesday he lead the MLS All-Stars to a 5-2 asskicking from Manchester United. And back home on Sunday night the struggling Chicago Fire put 3 past the one time invincible Galaxy defense and won 3-2 giving LA their first league loss of the season at home. Oof.

dN

The leagues other "big" team Columbus continued their terrible road form losing badly to ugly Chivas USA, leaving the Crew stuck at 2 wins in 8 road games.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with his usual Monday look back the Crew's weekend match.

dN

Mitchell also reports on a concussion suffered by Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven.
-Update.

dN

Chicago's newest young keeper Sean Johnson was fantastic in their win in LA. Has he unseated the failed experiment of Andrew Dykstra?
-Adam Soucie of the Orlando Sentinal gives us the lowdown on Johnson.

dN

Freddie Ljungberg made his Chicago Fire debut on Sunday subbing on in the 58th minute. While Nery Castillo still doesn't have his paperwork that will allow him to play.

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times on the 2 newest Sounders - Blaise Nkufo and Alvaro Fernandez.

dN

Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune with words from the team's new boys.

dN

Kyle Mccarthy of Goal.com on the job that Philadelphia has done building their team in year one.

dN

Jack McCaffrey of the Delaware County Daily Times likes what he sees in the Union's work ethic.

dN

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News on the Union's hunger for success.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com with his usual look back at the previous Union week.

dN

Paul James of the Toronto Globe & Mail reverts to using excuses as to why Toronto lost at Kansas City.

dN

Gareth Wheeler of the Toronto Sun sees a much improved TFC team compared to all previous seasons.

dN

Charles Gooch of the Kansas City Star fills us in on the latest chapter of the Kei Kamara-Nick Garcia hatefest.

dN

Embele Awipi of the Salinas Californian on the again-struggling San Jose Earthquakes.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

Seattle has shipped Freddie Ljungberg of to Chicago in exchange for a future Superdraft pick.

MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERS

Goals:
12 Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy (14 games)
11 Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls (17 games)
8 Sebastion Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (13 games)
8 Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto FC (16 games)
8 Alvaro Saborio - Real Salt Lake (18 games)
7 Marco Pappa - Chicago Fire (15 games)
7 Justin Braun - Chivas USA (16 games)
7 Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids (16 games)
7 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders (19 games)
7 Steve Zakuani - Seattle Sounders (19 games)

dN

Assists:
11 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy (13 games)
8 Bobby Convey - San Jose Earthquakes (16 games)
8 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders (19 games)
7 Sebastian Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (13 games)
7 Patrick Nyarko - Chicago Fire (14 games)
7 Michael Stephens - Los Angeles Galaxy (19 games)

MLS INJURY REPORT

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle tells us that Dynamo midfielder Geoff Cameron is hoping to be ready to play on Thursday after missing the entire season so far with a knee injury.
-And keeper Pat Onstad has gone to Germany for abdominal surgery.

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK

First year goalkeeper Sean Johnson lead Chicago to a huge victory in Los Angeles, handing the Galaxy their first league home loss of the season. He is our Player Of The Week!

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

Tripp Mickle of Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reports on a 4 year contract extension for MLS commissioner Donald I Garber.

dN

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reports on a security breakdown at Robertson Stadium that could have been a disaster.
-Here is a picture of the numbskulls, stolen from the Associated Press.




















MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at the Philadelphia Union development system.

MLS RUMORS

Soccer 365 with the latest rumors on Nuno Gomes, Raul Tamudo, Kamani Hill, Guiseppe Rossi, Reda Johnson and more.

dN

Kamani Hill is training with the San Jose Earthquakes.

MLS EXPANSION

The Detroit News with an article on the family who want to bring MLS to the Pontiac Silverdome.
-Check out this giant heap of delusion: "Some 110 million people are expected to watch the first live broadcast from the old home of the Lions (AC Milan v Panathinaikos on Fri Aug 6), according to the promoters and owners of the stadium, the Apostolopoulos family -- 30 million in the U.S. on the Fox Soccer Channel and, overseas, a total of 70 million on two European broadcasters."
-That statement alone should make MLS brass never take their call again.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

In a special non-MLS match 36,569 people watched Inter Milan crush Manchester City 3-0 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 5
FC Dallas v Inter Milan (Italy)
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Sat Aug 7
Los Angeles Galaxy v Real Madrid (Spain)
Venue: Rose Bowl - Pasadena CA [corrected]

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 31
Crystal Palace Baltimore 1-1 Montreal Impact
Carolina RailHawks 2-2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-2 Portland Timbers
Austin Aztex 3-1 Miami FC Blues
-Sun Aug 1
AC St Louis 2-2 NSC Minnesota Stars

-Wed Aug 4
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Miami FC Blues
Rochester Rhinos v Portland Timbers
-Fri Aug 6
AC St. Louis v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
-Sat Aug 7
Carolina RailHawks v Montreal Impact
Austin Aztex v Tampa Bay Rowdies
Puerto Rico Islanders v Miami FC Blues

dN

Standings (Thru Sun Aug 1):
38 Austin - 18 played
34 Vancouver - 21 played
33 Rochester - 20 played
27 Portland - 19 played
27 Minnesota - 22 played
25 Carolina - 17 played
24 Tampa Bay - 19 played
24 Montreal - 20 played
23 Puerto Rico - 18 played
20 Baltimore - 19 played
20 St Louis - 20 played
15 Miami - 19 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.11 Austin
1.65 Rochester
1.62 Vancouver
1.47 Carolina
1.42 Portland
1.28 Puerto Rico
1.26 Tampa Bay
1.23 Minnesota
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.20 Montreal
1.05 Baltimore
1.00 St Louis
0.79 Miami

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The Baltimore Sun on big time international teams playing exhibitions in that city.

USA U20 TEAM

KVIA in El Paso TX with an article on their hometown boy Omar Salgado who lead the USA to the Milk Cup championship last week in Northern Ireland. (The article was posted before they won the title.)
-Salgado is a 6'4" striker!

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated on Charlie Davies recovery, with only 1 week to go until the start of the Ligue 1 season for Sochaux.

dN

The Bolton News with an article on Stuart Holden. They love this guy.

dN

Michael Parkhurst and his defensive mates stuffed the high scoring Yura Movisyan.

dN

Goal.com with Part 1 of their Americans in the UK season preview (the lower leagues.)

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - came on as a sub in the 38th minute, as they dominated the second half and won the season opener 4-1 at home over Eupen.

DENMARK - Superliga
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - went the whole match and won 0-2 at Randers.

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - played the full 90 getting a yellow card and drawing 1-1 at Lahti.

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - went the distance but got clobbered at Tromso 3-0.
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - started and played 84 minutes as they won 2-1 at home over Odd Grenland.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Hunter Freeman - Start - Mon Aug 2 - at Valerenga - out due to yellow card accumulation suspension
Clarence Goodson - Start - Mon Aug 2 - at Valerenga

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Aug 2 - at Atvidaberg
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Mon Aug 2 - at Trellegorg

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Third Qualifying Round
2nd Leg
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - Thu Jul 29 - at Genk trailing 1-5
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - Thu Jul 29 - at Sporting trailing 0-1

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Edgar Castillo grabbed his first goal of the season albeit in a losing effort.

Jose Torres & Herculez Gomez didn't play for Pachuca this weekend.

dN

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - San Luis - came on as a sub in the 55th minute and scored his teams only goal as they lost 2-1 at Puebla.
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - came on as a sub in the 62nd minute but they lost 3-2 at Monterrey.
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 79th min as they went to Toluca and got a 1-1 draw.

dN

Coming Up:

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

CANADA

Jason de Vos of the CBC gives his opinion on the current state of Canadian soccer. He is not pleased with some folks.

THE GUARDIAN: PREMIER LEAGUE 2010 PREVIEWS

(They add 1 or 2 each day until the season kicks off on Aug 14.)

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham
Blackburn
Blackpool
Bolton
Chelsea
Everton
Fulham
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle
Stoke
Sunderland
Tottenham
West Brom
West Ham
Wigan
Wolverhampton

SPAIN

Rob Hughes of the New York Times on Spain's big 2 - Barcelona and Real Madrid - who go about things in very different ways, but have the exact same goals in mind.

ITALY

Legendary player Roberto Baggio has been named the new technical director of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio aka the Italian football federation.

EUROPE

Twente beat Ajax 1-0 on Saturday to win the Dutch Super Cup.

dN

And then the Netherlands Eredivisie 2010 season kicks off on Friday with Twente at Roda.

ARGENTINA & BRAZIL

The Associated Press reports that "Argentina and Brazil have agreed to play two friendly matches annually, using only players based in the local leagues." I like that.

AFRICA

Sven Goren Eriksson could not fleece the Ivory Coast of enough money to satisfy himself, so he has decided that he does not want to coach their national team any longer. They will be better off without him. Guaranteed.