Thursday, August 19, 2010

Some News for Thu Aug 19, 2010

STARTERS

An exciting day today for American fullback Eric Lichaj who got his first ever senior team start at Aston Villa, going the distance in a 1-1 road draw in the UEFA Europa League at Rapid Wien. Brad Guzan was in goal for Villa too.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Internacional of Porto Alegre, Brazil is the Champion!

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This is the team's second Libertadores title, having just won it back in '06.

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They will now move on to the Club World Cup in December (8-18) in the United Arab Emirates.

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Tales Azzoni of the Associated Press tells us about our fave player Andres D'Alessandro who led Inter to the title.

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Final Match & Score:
2nd Leg
-Wed Aug 18
Internacional 3-2 Guadalajara - Int win series 5-3 on aggregate - Int goals by Rafael Sobis, Leandro & Giuliano. Gua goals by Marco de la Mora & Omar Bravo.

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Can someone explain to me what it is when Mexican teams lose in big games like this? Why do they so often turn to violent actions? I know this happens all over the world, but the frequency with which I see it from Mexican club and national team is something I find incredible. As a fan I would be embarrassed if it was my team. As last night's game wore down the number of cheap shots grew and grew and when the game ended there was a full on scrum in the middle of the field. Why not win with some honor and pride. It happens so often its almost laughable. In this case the Chivas coach said after the game that it was all Inters fault.

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Sadly an Internacional fan was killed in the celebrations after the game.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Group Stage is underway. With the final game of round 1 tonight.

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Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times previews the Sounders trip south to Marathon.

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Don Ruiz of the Olympian previews too.

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Round One Matches & Scores
-Tue Aug 17
Toronto FC 2-1 Cruz Azul - TFC goals by Martin Saric & Mista. CA goal by Chaco Gimenez.
Puerto Rico Islanders 1-1 Olimpia - PRI goal by Nicholas Addlery. Oli goal by Mauricio Copete.
Monterrey 1-0 Saprissa - - Mon goal by Aldo De Nigris.
-Wed Aug 18
Joe Public 2-5 Santos Laguna - JP goals by Makan Hislop & Yu Hoshide. SL goals by Jose Cardenas(4) & Juan Enriquez.
Columbus Crew 1-0 Municipal - CC goal by Emmanuel Ekpo.
Real Salt Lake 2-1 Arabe Unido - RSL goals both by Alvaro Saborio. AU goal by Alice Cooper.
FAS 0-0 Toluca
-Thu Aug 19
Marathon v Seattle Sounders - 9pm Central on FSC

dN

The referee in the RSL-Arabe game did the right thing for once and added 8 minutes of stoppage time in second half. Arabe just lay on the field over and over again trying to kill the game off. Their strategy failed them. Refs need to get serious on this issue.

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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune on RSL's win, and Arabe's pathetic performance.

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James Edward of the Deseret News says RSL avoided a real embarrassment.

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-A few more post games notes from Edward.

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El Arabe had 2 players sent off, one for a bad tackle in the first half, the other very late in second half stoppage time for arguing with the ref about the late PK call. They also got 5 more yellow cards.

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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch reviews the Crew win. Not pretty, but three points is three points in a tournament like this.

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Hot damn that Emmaunuel Ekpo goal for Columbus was amazing. Bobbing and weaving through two defenders, he even passes to himself and then hammers a great shot to the back post. Golazo! Check it out now.

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And how about that Jose Cardenas of Santos Laguna bagging 4 goals! Wow-o-wow.

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GROUP STANDINGS:
Group A
3 Toronto (Canada) (+1)
3 Real Salt Lake (USA) (+1)
0 Arabe Unido (Panama) (-1)
0 Cruz Azul (Mexico) (-1)
Group B
3 Santos Laguna (Mexico) (+3)
3 Columbus Crew (USA) (+1)
0 Municipal (Guatemala) (-1)
0 Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) (-3)
Group C
3 Monterrey (Mexico) (+1)
- Seattle Sounders (USA)
- Marathon (Honduras)
0 Saprissa (Costa Rica) (-1)
Group D
1 Olimpia (Honduras)
1 Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico)
1 Toluca (Mexico)
1 FAS (El Salvador)

STORY OF THE DAY

This American Soccer has a knock-out article from well traveled Brent Latham about the stark realities of being a soccer writer trying to cover our country.

DREAM SCENARIO OF THE DAY

I want to see an MLS team go after one of my favorite players of the last 5 years - Argentine playmaker Andres D'Alessandro. I love this guy. He would tear the league to shreds. Currently playing in Brazil for Internacional. Yes, he has played for a whole bunch of teams, and yes his haircut is brutal, but..... he is amazing.

TWITTERVERSE

Heath Pearce (@HeathPearce4) of FC Dallas is going mustache crazy. Check him out:















This photos was taken as Pearce was on his way to a casting call for the new season of Reno 911.

MLS WEEK 21

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 18
Chicago Fire 2-1 New England Revolution - CF goals by Baggio Husidic & Calen Carr. NER goal by Marko Perovic.
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
Attendance: 14,056
-Sat Aug 21
Toronto FC v New York Red Bulls - 12:00pm Central On Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
San Jose Earthquakes v Los Angeles Galaxy - 3:00pm Central On Telefutura
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Columbus Crew v Colorado Rapids - 6:30pm Central On Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
FC Dallas v Chivas USA - 7:30pm Central On FSC
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Houston Dynamo v Chicago Fire - 7:30pm Central On Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Kansas City Wizards v New England Revolution - 7:30pm Central On Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
-Sun Aug 22
DC United v Philadelphia Union - 1:00pm Central On Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com gives us his view on the great past and now deteriorating future in Washington DC, with United falling to the bottom of the table, their stadium rotting out from under their feet and the city not giving a damn to help them get a new one going. Depressing.

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Sebastian Salazar of CSN Washington with notes from today's DCU practice. A little calmer then Tuesday's kerfuffle.

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We were so used to seeing Chicago winger Calen Carr with the giant mop of curly hair, that it was crazy to see him out there last night with a shaved head. He still ran his ass off, and then bagged the game winner with huge effort.

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Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe gives us some New England notes after their loss last night in Chicago.

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From the Quid Pro Quo department we learn that KC forward Teal Bunbury will get a one game suspension for his role in a skuffle with San Jose's Jason Hernandez that got JH a 3 game sit down.

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Charles Gooch of the Kansas City Star states his case for the high quality of Wizards goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

The Oregonian reports that the loan from MLS of Omar Salgado to Vancouver has fallen apart over citizenship and age. Will he get a shot with the Timbers instead?
-And Soccer By Ives reports that Vancouver's signing of Cody Arnoux may also be improper.
-They also have just signed for RSL fullback Willis Forko.

MY THOUGHTS

I went through and made a list of what I think are every MLS team's weak links. How do you see it?

Chivas - 2nd forward, goalkeeper, attacking & defensive mid
Chicago - right fullback, goal scoring forward
Colorado - backline, wide attackers
Columbus - goal scoring forward, fullbacks
DC - goal scoring forward, one centerback, fullbacks, wide left, attacking mid
Dallas - wide right, 2nd forward
Houston - one centerback, left fullback, goalkeeper, wide mids, goal scoring forward
Kansas City - goal scoring forward, centerbacks, attacking mid
Los Angeles - defensive mid, 2nd goal scorer
New England - goal scoring forward, wide left
New York - fullbacks, one centerback
Philadelphia - centerbacks, goalkeeper, defensive mid
San Jose - attacking mid, 2nd goal scorer
Salt Lake - wide mids, 2nd goal scorer
Seattle - right side fullback and mid
Toronto - fullbacks, goal scoring forward, right side mid

MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Penn Live on the chances of former USA youth international standout Sheanon Williams catching on with the Red Bulls.

MLS RUMORS

Forward Jemal Johnson gets a look from KC this week.

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Soccer 365 with today's latest rumors on Jan Gunnar Solli and more.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

San Diego and baseball team the Padres have announced a friendly at PETCO Park on Tue Sep 14 between Chvias USA and Chivas of Guadalajara.
-Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with the details.

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Match & Score:
-Tue Sep 14
CD Chivas USA v Guadalajara (Mexico)
Venue: PETCO Park, San Diego CA

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 18
Crystal Palace Baltimore 0-2 Rochester Rhinos
Carolina RailHawks 2-1 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

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Standings (As of Wed Aug 18):
45 Rochester - 24 played
41 Austin - 20 played
38 Vancouver - 23 played
31 Carolina - 21 played
31 Portland - 22 played
28 Puerto Rico - 21 played
28 Minnesota - 24 played
26 Tampa Bay - 22 played
25 Montreal - 23 played
24 Baltimore - 23 played
21 St Louis - 22 played
20 Miami - 23 played

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

COLLEGE SOCCER

George Dohrmann of Sports Illustrated looks at the strong college to pro pipeline developing at Akron.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Sounds like Eric Lichaj had a fairly brutal first half in his debut for Aston Villa, but was more steady and reliable in the second half. Not the worst for a debut on the road in Europe.

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A forklift full of articles from Brent Latham of the USA 10 Kit:
-Americans desperately looking for a team to play on.
-Mikkel Diskerud's future.
-Who is Conor Doyle?

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The Telegraph of Derby with an article on Conor Doyle.

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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Playoff Round 1st Leg
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Thu Aug 19 - got the start in goal, suffering a yellow card but drawing 1-1 at Rapid Wien.
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - Thu Aug 19 - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Rapid Wien.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

More from Brent Latham of the USA 10 Kit on the current state of soccer for Sonny Guadarrama at Atlante.

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Game Action:

COPA LIBERTADORES - Finals 2nd Leg
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - Wed Aug 18 - started and played 78 minutes but they lost 3-2 at Internacional and hence lost the Final series 5-3.

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of Sports Illustrated wonders how Mesut Ozil fits into the Real Madrid lineup.

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And Gabriele Marcotti of Sports Illustrated looks at Real Madrid's entire lineup - how does it all connect together?

GERMANY

The Bundesliga will start the new season Tomorrow!

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CNN sings the praises of rebel club St Pauli as they are back in the top flight.

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Raphael Honigstein of Sports Illustrated does a Bundesliga season preview, and only sees one team in the top spot.

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Matches & Scores:
-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

Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with Rafa Benitez, the new boss at European Champions Inter Milan.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated raves about the documentary film The Two Escobars.

4 Comments:

Blogger Patrick said...

2 things:

Agreed on ESPN, gave that site up a long time ago.

I'd say Seattle is weaker in center back than in right back.

8:31 PM  
Anonymous Fordprefect said...

Agree on ESPN, they should at least establish decent soccer journalism before trying to charge for it.

However, their match tracker is pretty solid, so I still use that. I used to to keep tabs on Brighton's opener, a 2-1 win. Meanwhile BBC was reporting 2-2 for the last 30 minutes of the game.

9:42 PM  
Anonymous whb said...

You forgot that ESPN will automatically inundate you with an inane video that starts playing when you go to their site.
Boooo ESPN.

10:40 PM  
Blogger Demko said...

What a disgraceful performance by Arabe Unido.

Thank goodness the ref didn't let them get away with that b.s.

Kudos to RSL for keeping their heads and getting the win.

12:40 PM  

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