Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Some News for Wed Aug 18, 2010

STARTERS

The USA officially announced a friendly today for Sat Oct 9 in Chicago v Poland. You goin'?

COPA LIBERTADORES

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

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Group Stage is underway. 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

Toronto and Monterrey get going on the good foot with 3 points at home.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch previews Columbus's heavy schedule ahead.

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune on RSL's first shot at real international competition.

James Edward of the Deseret News sees the RSL schedule as packed, but the players are up for it.

dN

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 v Santos Laguna - 7pm central on Telefutura
Columbus Crew v Municipal - 7pm Central on FSC
Real Salt Lake v Arabe Unido - 9pm Central on FSC
FAS v Toluca - 9pm central on Telefutura
-Thu Aug 19
Marathon v Seattle Sounders - 9pm Central on FSC

dN

TFC has to be very happy with knocking off red hot Cruz Azul.

Word going around the interwebs today is that Toronto played the best half of their existence last night. Anyone care to chime in on that?

Steven Sandor of the Toronto Sun thought Cruz Azul came in overconfident.
-I disagree. They may have come in under prepared, but making 6 changes to your lineup does not mean you are overconfident, it means you are rationing playing time so everyone stays as fresh as possible.

Gareth Wheeler of the Sun says that new TFC signing Mista showed his quality last night.

Paul James of the Globe & Mail takes shots at Cruz Azul too.

Chris Young of the Toronto Star with his thoughts on TFC's big win.

Jon Molinaro of the CBC on one of the forgotten players of MLS - Jon Conway, back up keeper for TFC, who got his shot in goal last night.

dN

GROUP STANDINGS:
Group A
3 Toronto (Canada) (+1)
- Real Salt Lake (USA)
- Arabe Unido (Panama)
0 Cruz Azul (Mexico) (-1)
Group B
- Columbus Crew (USA)
- Municipal (Guatemala)
- Santos Laguna (Mexico)
- Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago)
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)
- Toluca (Mexico)
- FAS (El Salvador)

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

MLS referee Alex Prus is on Twitter, and responds to all the talk of his 2 Red Cards from one incident involving Mariano Trujillo of Chivas USA and Leo Gonzalez of Seattle. Many of us questioned the Red To Gonzalez, as he was the victim of the cheap shot and did not warrant such punishment. Here is what Prus has to say in retrospect:

1) After emotions are down a little bit let analyze Gonzales/ Trujillo incident in my last game. After review my tape red to Gonzales harsh.
2) Even though Gonzales was instigator he did not make a contact above shoulders like I was told by my crew member on the field.
3) Not having the best view of the incident acted on opinion of my crew members. Saying that I am taking full responsibility for this call.
4) In officiating we survive as a team and sink as a team. As a head referee I take the blame even though it wasn't really my decision.
5) Great learning experience. Because referee is showing card,calls pk doesn't always means that he is making a call.

MLS WEEK 21

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 18
Chicago Fire v New England Revolution - 7:30pm Central On Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
-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

Jason Hernandez of San Jose was given an extra game suspension following a yellow card for a shot he took at Kansas City forward Teal Bunbury. There is no clear footage out there to see exactly what happened. But in one partial shot you see Hernandez wind up with his arm and swing at Bunbury's upper chest.

dN

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree gives us a good breakdown of 5 trouble spots for FC Dallas.

dN

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe tells us about New England moving defender Cory Gibbs back to his preferred left fullback spot. They look to a have a very strong back line again.

dN

Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald also reports on the Revs renewed defensive vigor.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet on San Jose signing Geovanni, Freddy Adu NOT MLS bound and the Rookie of the Year race.

dN

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times looks at the return of Gonzalo Segares to the Fire roster. Great move.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com defends the quality of Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz by making the comparison to Brad Guzan's first season at Chivas USA.
-I am gonna call bullshit on that one. Guzan did not have good numbers, but everyone watching could see he had the skillz to pay the billz. And he made no completely botched plays like Seitz has on numerous occasions.

dN

John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News gives some knee jerk readers a reality check on MLS. (second story in column)
-What I appreciate is that he says it with some tact.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch says the Crew are having difficulties signing forward Andres Mendoza due to a conflict with his previous club.
-It appears to be the same crap that Houston had to deal with in re-signing Joseph Ngwenya.

MLS RUMORS

Is Red Bull striker Mac Kandji about to be sold to Skoda Xanthi in Greece? (thanks to Dave for sending me this)

MLS STADIUMS

Oooooh - Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reports on his blog that initial work is already going on at the site where the Dynamo are going to be building their stadium. Excellent!

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-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

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Billy Witz of the New York Times talks to Columbus Crew forward Jason Garey about his advocacy for saving wetlands and restoring natural preserve along the Louisiana Gulf coast.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Brian Strauss of Fanhouse talks to Sacha Kljestan about his new team Anderlecht.

Kljestan did not dress for today's UEFA Champions League game, which Anderlecht drew 2-2 at Partizan in Belgrade, Serbia.

dN

Cody Arnoux who played for the Everton reserves last season has come back to North America and signed this week with Vancouver in D2.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

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

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Coming Up:

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

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Honduras has hired Juan de Dios Castillo as their new national team head coach. He was most recently coach of CD Motagua.

dN

Another former Motagua member, defender Emilio Izaguirre has signed with Celtic of Glasgow, Scotland.

ENGLAND

Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri has had minor knee surgery to repair damaged ligaments. He is expected to miss 4 weeks.

dN

Rob Hughes of the New York Times on the interesting signing by Manchester United of a player called Bebe who only a couple of years ago was homeless.

GERMANY

The Bundesliga will start the new season on Friday!

Reuters with a Bundesliga season preview. Via Yahoo.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

First leg matches are this week in the final round before the group stage. This round is called the Play-off Round. Second leg matches will be played next week.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Aug 18
Salzburg 2-3 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Basel 1-0 Sheriff
Partizan 2-2 Anderlecht
Braga 1-0 Sevilla
Werder Bremen 3-1 Sampdoria

TACTICS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian with an article on the role of the playmaker.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Neal aka Lightning Striker said...

Referee Prus tweeting about his game ... really ! ? !
I'm amazed (as a referee), but really like his commentary, and selective grammatical omissions in order to meet the 144 character limit. Will MLS or USSF respond with any directive.

10:57 PM  
Blogger Jay said...

Does this ^ mean Seattle now has legitimate grounds for an appeal?

10:29 AM  

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