Some News for Wed Aug 25, 2010

STARTERS

The UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw will happen on Thursday this week.

BOB BRADLEY WATCH

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated looks ahead to tomorrows meeting between BB and USSF.
-As for coaches getting a second 4 year shot at the World Cup, previous results have only been average:
Happened 48 times:
25 faring worse
13 faring better
10 faring the same

I don't like those odds at this time for team USA. I have stated before that I like Bob Bradley a lot and think he has done a great job for the USA, but its time for a new voice.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Group Stage is underway. The set up has 4 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 quarterfinals etc, which will also be home and away. [UPDATED]

dN

Great week for MLS v FMF showdowns!

dN

The home teams won both games last night, with Toronto losing 2 players to Red Cards, and Columbus giving up the games only goal in second half stoppage time.

dN

MLS teams will probably always struggle against fouls and cards on the road in this tournament unless the understand that most other leagues in the Americas don't allow a lot of rough play.

dN

James Edward of the Deseret News previews Salt Lake's trip to Mexico City to challenge the Cement Mixers.

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune previews RSL at Cruz Azul.

dN

Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune on Seattle's preparation for a strong Monterrey team.
-A few more games notes from Ruiz.

dN

Todd Dybas of the Seattle Press Intelligencer preview a big game for this organization.

dN

18,000 tickets had been presold in Seattle. While that is actually a poor number by their high standards, its a really good number for this tournament.

dN

Matches & Scores
Round Two
-Tue Aug 24
Arabe Unido 1-0 Toronto FC -
Santos Laguna 1-0 Columbus Crew -
-Wed Aug 25
Cruz Azul v Real Salt Lake - 7pm Central on FSC
Seattle Sounders v Monterrey - 9pm Central on FSC
Puerto Rico Islanders v CD FAS
-Thu Aug 26
Toluca v Olimpia
Saprissa v Marathon
Municipal v Joe Public

dN

Crazy controversy for Columbus at Santos as they had a goal disallowed. Emilio Renteria went off with busted open head, from a nasty intentional elbow that the referee saw and waved off, then Renteria returned to the field (seemingly waved on by referee) to quickly send in cross for a huge goal. But it turns out that Renteria did not official authorization to come back on the field. I have no idea why the call wasn't whistled dead the second Columbus put the ball in play if they had an illegal player on the field.
-Watching the video again it sure seems as though the referee is allowing Renteria on the field.
-Wasn't Andy Iro completely offside on that goal too, and the side ref did not call it? (Just watched video replay myself, and yes Iro was behind the 2nd to last defender all the way.)
-Columbus's Duncun Oughton also got smacked in the head by the Santos coach as he grabbed the ball for a throw in. But to me it looked like Oughton took a kick at the coach first.
-The tone of the action on the field really changed with Santos subbed in the brilliantly named Charles Darwin Quintero. He was a complete menace to the Crew defense.
-Columbus's net got shelled by Santos in the closing minutes of the game, and the goal seemed inevitable as I watched.
-See the video of game highlights here.

dN

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with a match report on Santos-Crew.
-More on the game from Mitchell.

dN

As for Toronto's trip to Panama, they just didn't do enough to get the win, although they probably didn't deserve to lose either. They simply weren't good enough.
-2 Red Cards did not help TFC either. The first was for a pretty bad collision, and the second off two Yellows where the first one was obvious to me, while the second one was more vague and appeared to be for arguing the first one.
-Some people seem upset about the first Red Card for TFC but when you slide into a prone keeper and your knees whack him in the head pretty hard, you have to expect the worst, and be overjoyed if its yellow.
-TFC just didn't bring the goods against an inferior opponent. Blame the ref all you want, but he is not the one who didn't bring it as a whole team for 90 minutes.
-And why in the name of Sam Hell does TFC stick Dwayne DeRosario out on the left wing in a huge game like this. He just seemed isolated and frustrated out there. He was trying to score all by himself. He should have been in the middle of the field driving Arabe crazy.

dN

Paul James of the Toronto Globe & Mail sees the game as a lost opportunity for TFC.

dN

Daniel Girard of the Toronto Star with a match report.

dN

Steve Sandor of the Sun calls TFC's performance sub-par. (Isn't sub-par a good think in golf? Aren't we using that wrong? Seems like something I would do!)

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Ryan Johnston of Sportsnet with TFC post game notes on the whole circus.

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Brian Straus of Fanhouse on last nights games, and the road challenges of CONCACAF.

dN

GROUP STANDINGS:
Group A
3 Real Salt Lake (USA) (+1)
3 Arabe Unido (Panama) (0)
3 Toronto (Canada) (0)
0 Cruz Azul (Mexico) (-1)
Group B
6 Santos Laguna (Mexico) (+4)
3 Columbus Crew (USA) (0)
0 Municipal (Guatemala) (-1)
0 Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) (-3)
Group C
3 Monterrey (Mexico) (+1)
3 Marathon (Honduras) (+1)
0 Seattle Sounders (USA) (-1)
0 Saprissa (Costa Rica) (-1)
Group D
1 Olimpia (Honduras)
1 Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico)
1 Toluca (Mexico)
1 FAS (El Salvador)

JACK WARNER/SEPP BLATTER/FIFA ODDITIES

Espen Sandli & Torgeir Korkfjord of Norweigian newspaper Dagbladet (Daily Paper) claim to have proof that Jack Warner arranged to sell 2010 World Cup tickets to a black market reseller for a personal profit! The deal collapsed and never happened.
-The newspaper has receipts and emails to back it up, and have contacted Warner who so far has not responded!
-They are saying Warner would have pocketed about $US140,000 on the deal.

STORY OF THE DAY

The Philadelphia Union website talks to their hotshot young forward Danny Mwanga who says he wants to be on that USA 2014 World Cup team! Oh yeah!

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q: Where did Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Rednapp get his start in coaching? (Don't cheat! See the answer in the "England" section below.)

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

When I heard that Jaime Moreno was being pushed out of the moving car by DC United my first thought was that he would go play for Bruce Arena in Los Angeles. And much to my surprise when Moreno did a radio interview yesterday, the very first call he took was from "Bruce in Los Angeles" who turned out to be none other than Arena. I see it happening. (see yesterday's du Nord post for links to audio of the interview.

FACT OF THE DAY

With approval by the NFL today Colorado Rapids owner Stan Kroenke is now the majority owner of the St Louis Rams. Thus moving the Rapids down another notch on his priority list.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Mike Wise of the Washington Post talks to DC coach Ben Olsen about his new and unexpected role.

dN

Sebastian Salazar of CSN Washington took in DCU practice on Tuesday and gives us these team notes.

dN

Charles Cuttone of Big Apple Soccer with an article on Salt Lake team president Bill Manning who has helped turn the team in to the real deal.

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Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle on the Dynamo's search for a Designated Player.

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Sports Network with an article on Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman whose long term plan at the team seems to working.

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Tribalfootball talks to Colorado midfielder Jamie Smith.

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Charlie Corr of ESPN Chicago sees set piece defending as a big Fire weakness.

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Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com gets a little distance from the Union's loss in DC and reevaluates what he saw. Good idea for a column.
-And I agree completely that Sebastian Le Toux is most effective up top.

dN

San Jose has given technical director John Doyle a new contract for next season.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

Chivas USA has announced the signing of another player from their youth academy - 18 year old left midfielder Bryan de la Fuente. He recently was a member of the USA U20 team that won the Milk Cup, and will be heading with that same team to a tournament in Peru next week.

MLS COACHES HOT SEAT

Things are not looking good for Martin Vasquez to last beyond this season.

And I think there are 3 other coaches that might have to get to the playoffs to keep there jobs:
-Gary Smith - Colorado
-Peter Vermes - Kansas City
-Frank Yallop - San Jose

MLS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES

I think we are down to 5 now:

Danny Mwanga - Philadelphia
Andy Najar - DC United
Tim Ream - New York
Michael Stephens - Los Angeles
Tony Tchani - New York

There are a few others out there with a chance to join this elite group, but they are going to have to step up for their team in a big way down the stretch.

MLS EXPANSION

Former New York and Houston fullback Kevin Goldthwaite has been signed by Portland.

MLS STADIUMS

Houston Press with more words on the new Dynamo stadium, and a sketch of what the area around the stadium will ultimately look like.
-Also word on the building of the team's practice facility.

USSF DIVISION 2

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 25
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Carolina RailHawks
-Thu Aug 26
Portland Timbers v Austin Aztex
-Fri Aug 27
Montreal Impact v Rochester Rhinos
-Sat Aug 28
Carolina RailHawks v Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sun Aug 29
Vancouver Whitecaps v Austin Aztex
Tampa Bay Rowdies v AC St Louis
Portland Timbers v Crystal Palace Baltimore

dN

Standings (As of Sun Aug 22):
48 Rochester - 25 played
44 Austin - 21 played
39 Vancouver - 24 played
34 Portland - 23 played
31 Carolina - 22 played
29 Puerto Rico - 22 played
28 Montreal - 24 played
28 Minnesota - 25 played
27 Tampa Bay - 23 played
24 Baltimore - 24 played
22 St Louis - 23 played
20 Miami - 24 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
2.10 Austin
1.92 Rochester
1.63 Vancouver
1.48 Portland
1.41 Carolina
1.32 Puerto Rico
1.17 Tampa Bay
1.17 Montreal
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.12 Minnesota
1.00 Baltimore
0.96 St Louis
0.83 Miami

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The New York Cosmos added to their East coast youth academy by acquiring LAFC in Pasadena and renaming it Cosmos Academy (West). The best part about these two new academies is: "costs normally incurred by the families of these elite players will now be fully covered – such as registration fees, uniforms, coaches’ salaries along with the cost of participating in select tournaments and its related travel." The teams will now be officially called BWG Cosmos and LAFC Cosmos.
-They also announced that Giovanni Savarese will head up the East coast academy.
-Here is a PDF of the whole press release.

TEAM USA

Noah Davis of the USA 10 Kit tells us what the deal is with this rumored USA v Colombia game in October.

USA U20 TEAM

The roster was announced today for a 4 team international tournament in Arequipa Peru Sep 1-13.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Sep 6
USA v Paraguay
-Wed Sep 8
USA v Colombia
-Fri Sep 10
USA v Peru

dN

USA Roster:
G:
Samir Badr - Porto
Cody Cropper - Ipswich Town
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Braga
Anthony Brooks - Hertha Berlin
Bryan De La Fuente - Chivas USA
Christian Flores - Club Tijuana
Greg Garza - Estoril
Emilio Orozco - Tigres
Korey Veeder - Crystal Palace Baltimore
M:
Victor Garza - Tigres
Kevin Huezo - Pachuca
Francisco Navas Cobo - Houston Dynamo
Ernest Nungaray - Morelia
Moises Orozco - Tigres
Conor Shanosky - DC United
Cesar Zamora - Chivas USA
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Jerome Kiesewetter - Hertha Berlin
Adrian Ruelas - Santos Laguna
Omar Salgado - Portland Timbers

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Dominic Cervi's chances of ever winning the #1 goalkeeper shirt at Celtic took a huge blow yesterday when the team signed a loan deal for a very highly regarded young keeper from Newcastle.

dN

Tim Howard served as back up keeper for Everton today.

dN

And Eddie Johnson watched the Fulham game from the bench too.

dN

Yanks Abroad talks to Di Vita Jensen at Honefoss in Norway.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - Carling Cup 2nd Round - Tue Aug 24
Stuart Holden - Bolton Wanderers - came on as a sub in the 66th minute as they won 0-1 at Southampton.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham United - went the full 90 as they won 1-0 at home over Oxford United.

ENGLAND - Carling Cup 2nd Round - Wed Aug 25
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a halftime sub and scored the final goal as they rolled 6-0 at home over Port Vale.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Playoff Round 2nd Leg
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - Thu Aug 26 at Dnepr (0-5)
Brad Friedel or Guzan - Aston Villa - Thu Aug 26 v Rapid Wien (1-1)

ENGLAND

The Sun tears Fabio Capello a new one. Wow. Is he really that bad? I don't think so. Just wow.
-Here is their headline:











dN

Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail on Harry Rednapp's wildman spending. Will Tottenham have the ownership to hold him back?
-Samuel also does a great job explaining why placing all the blame on Rednapp for the financial failures at Portsmouth, West Ham and Bournemouth is just plain wrong. Taught he a good lesson there.

dN

Harry Rednapp got his start in coaching as a player/assistant coach at the Seattle Sounders in 1976.

SPAIN

The new Primera Liga season starts this coming weekend!

dN

Phil Minshull of the BBC on Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid.

dN

Reuters tells us about a "strange" relationship between Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
-I can't find anything remotely "strange" mentioned in this article, but with David Villa now at Barca, I just don't see where Ibra fits in at all.

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of Sports Illustrated says things are not off to a great start for manager Felix Magath around his Schalke team.

dN

The Bundesliga website with an article on Franck Ribery showing himself to be a leader for young players at Bayern.
-He sure can tell them all about making huge mistakes.

ITALY

The new Serie A season starts this coming weekend!

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian previews Serie A 2010-11.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Kobenhavn, Zilina, Tottenham, Auxerre and Ajax today join Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Basel, Partizan and Werder Bremen in advancing to the group stage.

dN

Play-off Round
Matches & Scores:
2nd leg
-Wed Aug 25
Kobenhavn 1-0 Rosenborg - series ends tied 2-2 - Kob advance on away goals tiebreaker
Zilina 1-0 Sparta Praha - Zil advance 3-0 on aggregate
Tottenham 4-0 Young Boys - Tot advance 6-3 on aggregate
Auxerre 2-0 Zenit - Aux advance 2-1 on aggregate
Ajax 2-1 Dynamo Kyiv - Aja advance 3-2 on aggregate

dN

Here is a full list of the teams that will be in Thursday's Group Stage draw:
Ajax
Arsenal
Auxerre
Barcelona
Basel
Bayern
Benfica
Braga
Bursaspor
Chelsea
Cluj
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Inter
Kobenhavn
Lyon
Manchester United
Marseille
Milan
Panathinaikos
Partizan Belgrade
Rangers
Real Madrid
Roma
Rubin Kazan
Schalke
Shakhtar Donetsk
Spartak Moscow
Tottenham
Twente
Valencia
Werder Bremen
Zilina

ARGENTINA

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian wonders if the "romance" in the Argentine game is holding back the growth of the league and players.
-The final paragraph says it all.

SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP

The BBC reports on the referee from the Final who is now admitting Nigel de Jong should have been Red Carded for his boot to the chest of Xabi Alonso.

ALL AROUND THE WORLD

Fiorentina has joined the ranks of teams around the world that turn down corporate shirt sponsors and instead donate money to a charity for a tax write-off then put that charity on their shirts for the season. Fiore is partnering with Save the Children.

ENDERS

For the next 30 minutes du Nord is GIVING AWAY solid gold watches. Call the number listed below, and you could be a winner. Watches being given away are not like the watch pictured here. Lovely isn't it!? And the clock starts .... right ...... NOW! GO!