Monday, September 13, 2010

Some News for Mon Sep 13, 2010

STARTERS

Jonathan Wilson was on Twitter today writing that Russia will change their schedule to meet the current FIFA regulated schedule beginning in the 2011-12 season. Sounds like they will play a split season with a long winter break. This will put a lot more pressure on MLS.

Are you ready for the UEFA Champions League?!?!? The group stage starts tomorrow.

dN

Calciomercato reports on the growing concern of a players strike in Italy's Serie A over an expired collective bargaining agreement.
-Football Italia says owners don't want a strike either.

STORY OF THE DAY

Remember Nelson Valdez from the Chile Paraguay World Cup team? He scored 2 goals for a team in Spain called Hercules(!), wearing these insane dayglo-yellow-green and black hooped shirts, who went to Barcelona and knocked down the mighty FCB 0-2!











*Ed Note: How did I ever get the country wrong. Sorry to everyone on both sides of the fence. Thanks to Troy for straightening me out.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES COMING UP THIS WEEKEND


The Derby du Nord!
-Sat Sep 11
Lens 1-4 Lille - Lille storm to the win!

More Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 10
Hoffenheim 2-0 Schalke - The Hoff got all 9 points so far, while Schalke have a big fat 0.
-Sat Sep 11
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Atletico Madrid - surprisingly the second team from Madrid are playing as good as any team on the planet right now. Wow.
Bayern Munich 0-0 Werder Bremen - scoreless and mediocre for 2 teams who think they have what it takes.
Porto 3-2 Braga - Porto are right back to where they are used to being - #1.
-Sun Sep 12
Juventus 3-3 Sampdoria - Juve twice gave up the lead and now has 1 point from 2 games, while Samp will probably be near the top all season long.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Round Three of the Group Stage will be played Sep 14-16. Including Seattle's trip to the Purple Monster!

dN

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.

dN

Matches & Scores:
Round Three
-Tue Sep 14
Columbus Crew v Joe Public - 7pm on FSC
Monterrey v Marathon - 7pm on Telefutura
Municipal v Santos Laguna
Saprissa v Seattle Sounders - 9pm on FSC & Telefutura
-Wed Sep 15
Toluca v Puerto Rico Islanders - 7pm on Telefutura
Arabe Unido v Cruz Azul
Real Salt Lake v Toronto FC - 9pm on FSC
-Thu Sep 16
Olimpia v FAS - 7pm on Galavision

dN

GROUP STANDINGS (2 rounds played):
Group A
3 Real Salt Lake (USA) (0)
3 Arabe Unido (Panama) (0)
3 Toronto (Canada) (0)
3 Cruz Azul (Mexico) (0)
Group B
6 Santos Laguna (Mexico) (+4)
3 Columbus Crew (USA) (0)
1 Municipal (Guatemala) (-1)
1 Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) (-3)
Group C
6 Monterrey (Mexico) (+3)
3 Saprissa (Costa Rica) (+2)
3 Marathon (Honduras) (-2)
0 Seattle Sounders (USA) (-3)
Group D
4 Toluca (Mexico) (+4)
4 Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico) (+3)
1 FAS (El Salvador) (-3)
1 Olimpia (Honduras) (-4)

dN

Round 4 will be played Sep 21, 22 & 23.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Here it comes! The big Daddy! The Group Stage begins Tue Sep 14!

Match Day 1 (of 6 Group Stage games)
-Tue Sep 14
Twente v Inter
Bremen v Tottenham
Lyon v Schalke
Benfica v H Tel-Aviv
Manchester United v Rangers
Bursaspor v Valencia
Barcelona v Panathinaikos
Kobenhavn v Rubin
-Wed Sep 15
Bayern v Roma
CFR Cluj v Basel
Marseille v Spartak Moskva
Zilina v Chelsea
Real Madrid v Ajax
Milan v Auxerre
Arsenal v Braga
Shakhtar Donetsk v Partizan

QUESTION OF THE DAY

If Chicago does not make the playoffs do you think The Conch will bail?

FACT OF THE DAY

In the English Premier League this weekend only 1 goal was scored by an Englishman. Some guy named DJ Campbell from who the hell knows which club in the 90th minute.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Charlie Corr of ESPN Chicago with a very good article on Chicago Fire owner Andrew Hauptman. Where does his stand at this point in the season?

MLS WEEK 24

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 8
Chicago Fire SC 0-0 Toronto FC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridegeview IL
Attendance: 12,891
-Thu Sep 9
Seattle Sounders FC 0-0 Real Salt Lake
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Attendance: 36,078
-Fri Sep 10
CD Chivas USA 2-0 New England Revolution - CU goals by Justin Braun & Paulo Nagamura.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 10,783
-Sat Sep 11
Toronto FC 0-1 DC United - DCU goal by Julius James.
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
Attendance: 20,395
New York Red Bulls 3-1 Colorado Rapids - NYRB goals by Thierry Henry, Tim Ream & Dane Richards. CR goal by Omar Cummings.
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 19,014
Philadelphia Union 1-0 Chicago Fire SC - PU goal by Sebastein Le Toux.
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Attendance: 18,563
San Jose Earthquakes 0-0 FC Dallas
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 10,342
Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 Columbus Crew - LAG goals by Edson Buddle, Dema Kovalenko & Jovan Kirovski. CC goal by Andres Mendoza.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 19,482

dN

EJECTIONS: None! (Doesn't mean there weren't a fair amount of cheap shot fouls though.)

dN

Midweek matches coming up:
-Wed Sep 15
San Jose Eartquakes v Philadelphia Union - 9:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
-Thu Sep 16
FC Dallas v New York Red Bulls - 8:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frixco TX

That Thursday night game could be a doozy!

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Chivas USA forward Alan Gordon was named MLS Player of the Week. (Never in a million years did I think I would type that exact sentence.)

dN

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated with five things we learned from Week 24.

dN

The Columbus Dispatch with the Crew Review after a tough weekend in LA.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com looks back at PU's weekend win.

dN

Martin Rogers of Yahoo with an article on the return to the field of Douglas Bankmen.

dN

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News on the Union's first shut out of the year, and the play of backup keeper Brad Knighton.

MLS PLAYER PUNISHMENT

The league has suspended Salt Lake playmaker Javier Morales for doing something violent to Seattle's Oswaldo Alonso.
-Now I am not trying to suggest anything here but gee willikers I can't imagine what a nice clean player like Alonso would have done to provoke such a horrible reaction. Ok I guess I was suggesting.

MLS PLAYER MOVEMENT

Just remember that MLS rosters will freeze for the rest of the season at the end of the day on Wed Sep 15.

IF MLS HAD SINGLE TABLE STANDINGS

PTS-TEAM-GAMES
47 Los Angeles - 24
44 Columbus - 24
44 Salt Lake - 24
41 Dallas - 23
40 New York - 24
34 Colorado - 23
33 San Jose - 22
33 Seattle - 24
28 Toronto - 24
27 Kansas City - 22
26 Chicago - 22
25 Chivas - 23
24 New England - 23
24 Philadelphia - 23
23 Houston - 23
18 DC - 24

MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERS

Goals:
14 Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy (19 games)
12 Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls (24 games)
11 Sebastion Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (21 games)
10 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders FC (24 games)
9 Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids (21 games)
9 Justin Braun - CD Chivas USA (22 games)
9 Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto FC (22 games)
9 Omar Cummings - Colorado Rapids (23 games)

dN

Assists:
14 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy (18 games)
10 Sebastian Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (21 games)
9 Bobby Convey - San Jose Earthquakes (21 games)
9 David Ferreira - FC Dallas (23 games)
9 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders FC (24 games)
8 Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Coluumbus Crew (23 games)

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK AND OTHER STUFF

With a huge game in front of them a slumbering team came lurching awake and roared - Landon Donovan lead Los Angeles by inspiring his teammates off the field and then tearing Columbus apart on the field, and for that he is our Player of the Week.

MY THOUGHTS

LA v Columbus matched the 2 best teams in MLS, and not only was the game not on national TV, but the satellite feed didn't work for most of the first half, and when it did there was no audio, no graphics, and a picture that looked straight out of 1967 Soviet Union. Embarrassing!

dN

That new dude up top for Columbus, Andres Mendoza, looks like a frickin beast!

dN

Philly got their first ever clean sheet! Hooray Knighton!
-Although Knighton almost made his 2nd colossal blunder in as many starts when he went wide right after a loose ball and only his flailing miss kept him from playing the ball with his hands outside the box. He tried and failed to get himself booked.

dN

Can you believe that Houston is now the second worst team in the whole league? Wow!

dN

How scary can New York be with a few more weeks to gel before the playoffs?

dN

Toronto has fallen and it can't get up. And its doubtful it will. Let's go backwards in time and recount the mess:
-Sep 11 L 0-1 v DC
-Sep 8 T 0-0 @ CF
-Sep 4 L 1-0 @ FCD
-Aug 28 T 0-0 v RSL
-Aug 21 L 1-4 v NYRB
-Aug 11 L 1-0 @ NYRB
-Aug 7 W 2-1 v CUSA
-Jul 31 L 1-0 @ KCW
-Jul 24 T 1-1 v FCD
-Jul 17 L 2-1 @ PU
-Jul 10 W 1-0 v CR
-Jul 1 T 1-1 v HD
TOTAL: 2W-6L-4T
RECAP: 10 points from 36 possible points
-That will not get you to the playoff promised land.

MLS RUMORS

A rumor in England today says Everton is getting together $17 Million US to big for Landon Donovan.
-Is that enough in our book? Not mine. $20 Million is the number.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

The baby goats host the mama goats in San Diego.

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

USSF DIVISION 2

Hot damn my team got it right when it counted most! A huge 0-3 win down in St Louis to boost my NSC Stars back into the final playoff spot. And the goals were great! From a team that has found it very hard to score lately! Oh yes! Great job by the team!
-I would love to finish 8th in the league, barely make the playoffs, then knock out #1 seeded Austin in the first round!!!

dN

Minnesota Public Radio has an audio story on the future and possible demise of our NSC Minnesota Stars.
-They talk to 2 people who know an awful lot about it - head coach Manny Lagos and Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 11
Crystal Palace Baltimore 0-3 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Rochester Rhinos 3-0 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Carolina RailHawks 0-0 Portland Timbers
AC St Louis 0-3 NSC Minnesota Stars
Miami FC Blues 2-1 Montreal Impact
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-1 Austin Aztex

-Wed Sep 15
NSC Minnesota Stars v Carolina RailHawks
-Thu Sep 16
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Austin Aztex
-Fri Sep 17
Rochester Rhinos v Miami FC Blues
-Sat Sep 18
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Carolina RailHawks
NSC Minnesota Stars v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
AC St Louis v Austin Aztex
Puerto Rico Islanders v Portland Timbers
-Sun Sep 19
Montreal Impact v Tampa Bay Rowdies

dN

Standings (As of Sat Sep 11):
51 Rochester - 27 played
49 Austin - 25 played
44 Vancouver - 27 played
42 Portland - 27 played
38 Carolina - 26 played
36 Puerto Rico - 27 played
34 Montreal - 27 played
31 Minnesota - 27 played
28 Tampa Bay - 26 played
26 St Louis - 26 played
24 Baltimore - 27 played
23 Miami - 26 played

dN

Pro-Rated Standings based on Points Per Game:
1.96 Austin
1.89 Rochester
1.63 Vancouver
1.56 Portland
1.46 Carolina
1.33 Puerto Rico
1.26 Montreal
1.15 Minnesota
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT OF PLAY OFF SPOTS
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.08 Tampa Bay
1.00 St Louis
0.89 Baltimore
0.88 Miami

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

The 4th season of the US Development Academy league began this past weekend, and 2 new teams joined the league from our state - Minnesota Thunder Academy and Shattuck-St Mary's of Fairbault. there are both U15-16 and U17-18 levels.
-It looks both of our teams will play their first ever games the Weekend of Nov 13-14 at Chicago Magic & Chicago Fire.
-Followed by their first ever home games the weekend of Nov 20-21 v FC Milwaukee and Sockers FC.
-Here are the full schedules.

USA U20 TEAM

The team got roughed up pretty good and finished last in the Cuadrangular Internacional Sub-20 tournament in Arequipa Peru.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Sep 6
USA 0-5 Paraguay
-Wed Sep 8
USA 0-2 Colombia
-Fri Sep 10
USA 1-2 Peru - USA goal by Victor Garza.
-Sun Sep 12
USA 0-2 Peru - 3rd/4th Place match

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

Eddie Johnson debuted with Fulham this season finally, coming on as a sub for Clint Dempsey and helping to set up the game winning goal with a great move.

dN

Oguchi Onyewu still did not suit up for Milan, but if he is going to get a chance it will be next weekend as they team are in the Champions League, and the centerbacks are floundering badly. If he does not play next weekend, then I don't know what to think.

dN

DaMarcus Beasley was on the bench but did not debut with Hannover.

dN

Jozy Altidore was on the Villarreal bench as they cruised 4-0. They got a win, he got splinters in his butt.

dN

Jonathan Spector didn't suit up this weekend for West Ham.

dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad reports that for USA U17 prodigy Carlos Martinez has signed with the youth team of Energie Cottbus in Germany.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started and went 83 minutes as they won 1-1 at home over Wolverhampton.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the distance and lost 2-1 at Stoke.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - in goal as usual but lost 2-1 at Fulham.
Stuart Holden - Bolton - went the full 90 but lost 4-1 at Arsenal.
Tim Howard - Everton - played the entire match as they drew 3-3 at home against Manchester United.
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 83rd minute and they won 2-1 at home over Wolverhampton.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - came on as a sub in the 81st minute but lost 0-1 at home to Sheffield United.

ENGLAND - League One
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - played the whole game, getting a yellow card, and a 1-1 road draw at Colchester United.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - went the distance as they won 0-1 at Sheffield Wednesday.

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga
Greg Eckhardt - VPS - played the whole match getting a yellow card and drawing 1-1 at Haka.
Giuseppe Funicello - Mariehamn - went the full 90 as they won 2-1 at home over TPS.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - went the full 90 as they won 0-1 at Toulouse.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - played the whole game, seeing yellow, and getting pummelled 0-4 at home by Eintracht Frankfurt.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance getting a yellow card as they drew 2-2 at home with Leverkusen.
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - came on in the dying seconds for his season debut as they won easily 0-4 at Gladbach.
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - went the full 90 getting a yellow card and losing 2-0 at Hoffenheim.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
David Yelldell - Duisburg - went the full 90 and they won 2-1 at home over 1860 Munich.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the distance as usual, getting a yellow card, as they drew 1-1 at home against FC Eindhoven.

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - played the entire game but lost 3-2 at Valerenga.
Hunter Freeman - Start - went the full 90 but lost 3-2 at Lillestrom.
Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance but lost 3-2 at Lillestrom.

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Maurice Edu - Rangers - went the distance as they won 1-2 at Hamilton Academical.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at Djurgarden.
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - went the full 90 minutes but lost 2-0 at Hacken.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

All three Americans played for Pachuca this weekend. That is a first.

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 85th minute of a 1-1 home tie with Guadalajara.
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - started and played the first half as they won 0-1 at Atlante.
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - went the full 90, getting a yellow card, as they drew 1-1 at Pachuca.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - started but was subbed off at half time as they tied 1-1 with Guadalajara at home.
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - went the full 90 in a 1-1 home draw with Guadalajara.

ENGLAND

Man U choked again in their quest to be thought of in the same way as Chelsea, who are simply smokin'.

dN

Barney Ronay of the Guardian give us five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

SPAIN

Barca were soundly beaten at home by newly promoted Hercules!

dN

Phil Ball of Soccernet on Hercules' giant frickin win, and more.

dN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Hercules momentous beatdown of Barca, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga.

GERMANY

Wolfsburg were dumped at Dortmund and Bayern were held to a home scoreless draw by Bremen.

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on The Hoff's rise to the top again, and the rest of the weekend in die Bundesliga.

ITALY

Insanity reigned mostly supreme as Milan lost to newly promoted Cesena, and Roma got smoked 5-1 at Cagliari.

dN

Paulo Bandini of the Guardian tells us all about Cesena's embarrassment of Milan and their big money forwards, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

EUROPE/SOUTH AMERICA

Tim Vickery of the BBC on the Brazil-Portugal connection.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the Fire will keep Carlos De Los Cobos for next year and give him a shot with Castillo , Ljungberg , Nyarko and keeper Sean Johnson . The teams problems , though , are many and barely identifiable beyond playing with little heart. Poor defending is the #1 culprit , shoody midfield play #2 , poor finishing on the rare chances our forwards get #3 , and injuries at #4 bring me to the end of an excuse making list of why my Chicago Fire are so SH**TTY . Dang!

7:59 PM  
Anonymous Troy said...

Bruce!! Nelson Valdez is from Paraguay not Chile.

8:39 PM  
Anonymous hartley said...

I don't know what you are suggesting about Alonso, but Javier Morales is a very dirty player. And I sometimes wonder when and how much $ he is slipping to the refs.

10:07 PM  
Anonymous ericJ said...

Alonso is one of the best DM in the league.

11:00 PM  

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