STARTERSThe Los Angeles Galaxy has won the MLS 2010 Supporters Shield! They are the team with the most points in the regular season! Huge congrats to them!
dNAnd can you believe it - Chris Wondolowski of San Jose storms from way back in the pack to win the Golden Boot! 18 goals in 29 games. Amazing!
dNThe Columbus Crew has lost goalkeeper William Hesmer to a broken shoulder. He was in a big collision late in the game against Philadelphia and came up injured. And did you see Eddie Gaven take to the goal for the games wild last 10 minutes?!
dNHuge 1-3 win for Maurice Edu and Rangers in the Old Firm derby at Celtic.
SCANDAL: BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022The latest debacle involves Spain, Portugal and Qatar aligning to ensure blocks of votes for each others bids, which is of course illegal.
The Telegraph of London with
the horror stories pouring out of FIFA headquarters. We all know that the surface has barely been scratched on this bullshit.
USSF DIVISION 2 PLAYOFFSPuerto Rico grabbed a 2-0 home win which will force Carolina to come out and attack in the 2nd leg next Saturday.
Playoff Matches & Scores:
Final
Leg 1
-Sun Oct 24
Puerto Rico Islanders 2-0 Carolina RailHawks - PRI goals by Sandy Gbandi & Jonathan Fana.
Leg 2
-Sat Oct 30
Carolina RailHawks v Puerto Rico Islanders (0-2)
NOTE: series winners are determined by total goals. There is NO away goals tie breaker.
STORY OF THE DAYJoshua Mayers of the Seattle Times on
the marketing push that has made the Sounders so popular.
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES COMING UP THIS WEEKENDMatches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 23
Red Star 0-1 Partizan - the Belgrade derby sees Partizan jump over Red Star into first place.
-Sun Oct 24
Fenerbahce 0-0 Galatasaray - the Kitalar Arasi Derbi ends scoreless.
Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Hoffenheim - #1 v #4 face off, but the ties drops #1 back to #2. #4 remains the same.
Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 Mainz - the win brings Mainz back to the top, dropping Bayer to #5.
Villarreal 2-0 Atletico Madrid - the win keeps Villa at #2!
PSV 10-0 Feyenoord - yes, that scoreline is correct!
Celtic 1-3 Rangers - The Old Firm saw the home team score first, then the road team roll them, both had been 8-0-0 going in.
Manchester City 0-3 Arsenal - Ooooo Yeeeeeeah! The Arse appear to be for real! #3 now becomes #2, and #2 drops to #4!
DO YOU REALIZEIn this season of big name retirements from MLS, one guy has been lost in the shuffle - Steve Ralston!
Tons of accolades have been poured out for Jaime Moreno and Brian McBride. And then you have the long time quality pros Clint Mathis, Mike Petke, CJ Brown, Chris Klein and Eddie Lewis signing off as well.
But Ralston need his own celebration. The leagues true iron man, played the most games and most minutes, and delivered the most assists. Just ask Taylor Twellman how important a player Steve Ralston was in this league.
The fact that Rally gave it up mid-season due to knee injuries is why we didn't see a lot of praise go his way at seasons end. But to me he deserves as much love as those other 5.
Thanks Steve.
QUESTION OF THE DAYWhere in the world is Ricardo Clark? The last we saw of him he was being subbed off the field in the 30th minute of the USA World Cup loss to Ghana. He has yet to even see the bench this season for his German club team Eintracht Frankfurt.
HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTINGIMScounting looks at
5 MLS players they rates as transfer prospects.
FACT OF THE DAYJaime Moreno finished his DC United career on Saturday with another penalty kick goal, giving him a grand total of 133, moving him back into solo possession of the leagues all time goal scoring lead, 1 over Jeff Cunningham.
-The question remains as to whether or not JM will get to add to his total at another MLS club next season.
STAT OF THE DAY51 goals. That is how many the Colorado duo of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings have combined to bag in the past 2 seasons.
WHY?This is so sad. 7 people died in Kenya in a crush to get into a game between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards at the national stadium. Damn.
MLS WEEK 30Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 20
San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 CD Chivas USA - SJE goals all by Chris Wondolowski(1 via PK).
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 9633
-Thu Oct 21
New York Red Bulls 2-0 New England Revolution - NYRB goals by Dane Richards & Joel Lindpere.
UPDATED - thanks AlanVenue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance:
-Sat Oct 23
Houston Dynamo 2-1 Seattle Sounders FC - HD goals by Geoff Cameron & Cam Weaver. SS goal by James Riley.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 23,990
DC United 2-3 Toronto FC - DCU goals by Santino Quaranta & Jaime Moreno(PK). TFC goals by Maicon Santos & Dwayne De Rosario(2).
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 18,071
Kansas City Wizards 4-1 San Jose Earthquakes - KCW goals by Birahim Diop(3) & Eduardo(OG). SJE goal by Chris Wondolowski.
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Attendance: 11,518
Colorado Rapids 2-2 Real Salt Lake - CR goals by Omar Cummings & Conor Casey. RSL goals both by Alvaro Saborio(1 via PK).
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 17,729
CD Chivas USA 1-4 Chicago Fire SC - CU goals by Giancarlo Maldonado. CF goals by Brian McBride, Freddie Ljungberg, Calen Carr & Baggio Husidic.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 14,825
-Sun Oct 24
Columbus Crew 3-1 Philadelphia Union - CC goals by Guillermo Barros Schelotto(PK), Emilio Renteria & Andres Mendoza. PU goal by Sebastein Le Toux.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 19,006
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 FC Dallas - LAG goals by David Beckham & Juninho. FCD goal by Attiba Harris.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 24,993
EJECTIONS: NONE!
MLS PLAYOFFSThe top 8 teams are playing for playoff seeding:
(As of Sun Oct 24)
Seed- Pts - Team
#1W-59 - Los Angeles
#2W-56 - Salt Lake
#1E-51 - New York
#3W-50 - Dallas
#2E-50 - Columbus
#4W-48 - Seattle
#3E-46 - Colorado
#4E-46 - San Jose
dNMatches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Oct 28
Colorado Rapids v Columbus Crew - 8pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
-Sat Oct 30
FC Dallas v Real Salt Lake - 4pm Central on FSC
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
San Jose Earthquakes v New York Red Bulls - 9pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
-Sun Oct 31
Seattle sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy - 7pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
dN2nd Leg
-Thu Nov 4
New York Red Bulls v San Jose Earthquakes - 7pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
-Sat Nov 6
Columbus Crew v Colorado Rapids - 3pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Real Salt Lake v FC Dallas - 9pm Central on FSC
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
-Sun Nov 7
Los Angeles Galaxy v Seattle Sounders FC - 9pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWSGeneral NewsSan Jose forward Chris Wondolowski scored 4 goals in 2 games this week, and has hence been named the MLS Player of the Week.
dNSteve Davis of Sports Illustrated with
five things we learned from Round 30.
dNIn incomparable Dave Dir writing for 3rd Degree
handicaps the playoff teams.
dNMichael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer
proselytizes for new conferences and a new playoff format in 2011.
(LINK FIXED, thanks to Dave)COLORADO RAPIDSJohn Meyer of the Denver Post
wonders if the Raps caught a break as they head into the series against Columbus.
COLUMBUS CREWFormer Dallas back up keeper Ray Burse has been added to the team's roster as a replacement for William Hesmer.
dNAndy Gruenebaum is now the man in the net for the Crew, and its a damn good thing that he was the keeper they used in the Champions League games. He is ready to go.
dNBob Hunter of the Dispatch
on Hesmer (broken Glenoid bone), Gruenebaum, and the precious depth of the Crew roster.
DC UNITEDThe Washington Post talks to DCU Pres Kevin Payne who says
there will be NO changes to the team's technical staff, and there is not currently funding for any big money players.
-That smells like more of the same to me.
HOUSTON DYNAMOHow did the Dynamo end its miserable season? By winning 2 games in a row for the first time in 2010. And they did it in front of a great home crowd too.
KANSAS CITY WIZARDSThe team announced their post season awards:
Most Valuable Player: Kei Kamara
Golden Boot: Kei Kamara
Defensive Player of the Year: Jimmy Nielsen
Humanitarian of the Year: Jimmy Conrad
KCW Juniors Player of the Year: Konner Knoll
dNThe Star has
a post-season statistical wrap up of Wizards season.
dNThe Star also has two of their writers debate the
reasons for and
reasons against giving the Wizards a new name and look.
-I agree with the argument that it is the WRONG move to rename the team.
LOS ANGELES GALAXYStriker Edson Buddle almost swept the team awards this season:
Most Valuable Player: Edson Buddle
Defender of the Year: Omar Gonzalez
Budweiser Golden Boot: Edson Buddle
Humanitarian of the Year: Edson Buddle
NEW YORK RED BULLSBrian Lewis of the Post
spent the last game of the regular season in the stands with the supporters. Alright!
dNJack Bell of the Times on
the big season for the Bulls compared to last season.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTIONFrank Dell'Apa of the Globe reports on
the Revs as they move directly into the 2011 season without a day off.
REAL SALT LAKERSL has claimed the Rocky Mountain Cup for 2010 by winning their season series with Colorado. My Minnesota Thunder are the proud holders of the original Rocky Mountain Cup!
dNJames Edward of Deseret News with an article about
RSL's 2010 secret weapon - Alvaro Saborio. Is he a secret? Nah. Ok, then lets call him RSL's 2010 difference maker. Much better.
dNBrad Rock of the Deseret News
tells Utahanians to stop being surprised at how freakin good RSL is.
dNMichael C Lewis of the Tribune on
the RSL prep for Dallas.
SEATTLE SOUNDERSDavid Falk of the Examiner says the
Sounders fans are the next to be pissed off at their team for jacking up ticket prices for next season.
-TFC fans showed that being pissed off can make a difference, and get your teams attention.
TORONTO FCJohn Molinaro of the CBC says that
TFC's next general manager should be the man currently filling the interim roll - Earl Cochrane.
IF MLS HAD SINGLE TABLE STANDINGSLos Angeles wins the Supporters Shield!
dNFinal Regular Season Standings
Pts-Team
59 Los Angeles Galaxy
56 Real Salt Lake
51 New York Red Bulls
50 FC Dallas
50 Columbus Crew
48 Seattle Sounders FC
46 Colorado Rapids
46 San Jose Earthquakes
39 Kansas City Wizards
36 Chicago Fire SC
35 Toronto FC
33 Houston Dynamo
32 New England Revolution
31 Philadelphia Union
28 CD Chivas USA
22 DC United
MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERSAs of Sun Oct 24
Goals:18 Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes
17 Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy
15 Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto FC
14 Sebastion Le Toux - Philadelphia Union
14 Omar Cummings - Colorado Rapids
13 Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids
13 Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls
12 Alvaro Saborio - Real Salt Lake
11 Jeff Cunningham - FC Dallas
dNAssists:16 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
13 David Ferreira - FC Dallas
12 Brad Davis - Houston Dynamo
11 Sebastian Le Toux - Philadelphia Union
10 Patrick Nyarko - Chicago Fire
10 Bobby Convey - San Jose Earthquakes
10 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders
9 Javier Morales - Real Salt Lake
9 Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Columbus Crew
USL/NASL NEWSAustin Aztex are no more. The team has been sold to someone in Orlando and will be moved pronto.
-I could see living in Austin TX. You couldn't pay me enough to get me to move to Orlando.
AMERICANS IN EUROPEEugene/Yevgeni Starikov got a start and a goal for Tom Tomsk in Russia. Huge for him!
dNJozy Altidore did not leave the bench as Villarreal won again, keeping them in second place ahead of Barcelona on goal difference.
dNDavid Yelldell & Duisburg are having a really great start to the season, currently sitting Second in the 2 Bundesliga.
dNDaMarcus Beasley is still only seeing the bench at Hannover.
dNBrian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad on
the topic of Michael Parkhurst playing right back for the national team.
-How about left back ferchrisakes?!?!?!?!?!
dNGame Action: (only those that played are listed)
BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - went the full 90 as they won 2-0 at home over Westerlo.
DENMARK - Superliga
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the full game, getting a yellow card, and losing 2-0 at Aab.
ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the distance but lost 2-1 at West Brom.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in the goal as usual but lost 1-0 at Sunderland on an own goal.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - played the entire match but lost 2-0 at Chelsea.
Stuart Holden - Bolton - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at Wigan.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full match and drew 1-1 at Tottenham.
ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Carlisle United - went the distance and scored their first goal but lost 3-4 at home to Charlton Athletic.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - played the entire game but lost 3-4 at home to Charlton Athletic.
FINLAND - Veikkausliiga - The regular season has ended! All the Americans are safe from relegation.
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - finished the season in 6th place.
Greg Eckhardt - VPS - finished the season in 10th place.
Giuseppe Funicello - Mariehamn - finished the season in 12th place.
Lamar Neagle - Mariehamn - finished the season in 12th place.
Brian Pope - VPS - finished the season in 10th place.
Mason Trafford - Mariehamn - finished the season in 12th place.
GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - went the distance getting a yellow card as they lost badly 1-4 at home to Werder Bremen.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the whole game as they won 2-1 at home over Koln.
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - played the entire match picking up a yellow card as the game ended 0-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - got the start in goal but lost 3-0 at Duisburg.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - went the distance as they won 3-0 at home over Karlsruher.
LATVIA - Virsliga
Nate Weiss - Jelgava - came on as a sub in the 75th minute but lost 2-1 at RFC Olimps.
NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - played the whole game as they won 2-0 at home over Cambuur.
NORWAY - Eliteserien
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - went the full 90 but lost 3-2 at Start.
Clarence Goodson - Start - played the entire game winning 3-2 v Stabaek.
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - came on as a sub in the 58th minute, scoring just 2 minutes later, but they lost 4-1 at Stromsgodset.
POLAND - Ekstraklasa
Jeremiah White - Belchatow - came on as a sub in the 77th minute but they lost 1-0 at Arka Gdynia.
RUSSIA - Premier Division
Yevgeni Starikov - FC Tom Tomsk - went the full 90 and scored a goal, but they lost 2-1 at Spartak Nalchik.
SCOTLAND - Premier League
Maurice Edu - Rangers - went the distance as they beat rivals Celtic 1-3 on the road.
dNComing Up: (all possible players are listed)
ENGLAND - League Cup 4th Round
-Tue Oct 26
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - v Burnley
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - v Burnley
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - v Burnley
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - v Stoke
-Wed Oct 27
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - at Manchester United
ITALY - Serie A
Oguchi Onyewu - AC Milan - Mon Oct 25 at Napoli
SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Mon Oct 25 v Brommapojkarna
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Mon Oct 25 v AIK
AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORSAMERICANS IN MEXICOGames Action: (only those that played are listed)
Game Action:PRIMERA DIVISIONSammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - came on as a sub at half time but they lost 1-0 at Queretaro.
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - went the full 90 in a scoreless draw at America.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 60th minute, but they lost 2-0 at Chiapas.
dNComing Up:PRIMERA DIVISIONIsaac Acuna - America - Thu Oct 28 at San Luis
Edgar Castillo - San Luis - Thu Oct 28 v America
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - Tue Oct 26 v UANL Tigres
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - Wed Oct 27 v Queretaro
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - Wed Oct 27 v Necaxa
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - Wed Oct 27 v Toluca
Jose Torres - Pachuca - Tue Oct 26 v UANL Tigres
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - Tue Oct 26 v UANL Tigres
dNAfter these mid-week games there will only be 3 rounds left before the playoffs.
THE CARIBBEANDigicel Caribbean Cup 2010
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Fri Oct 22
Grenada 3-1 Puerto Rico-Sun Oct 24
Grenada 2-0 St Kitts & Nevis-Tue Oct 26
Puerto Rico v St Kitts & NevisENGLANDWhile Chelsea coasted to another win, #2 Man City got poked right in the eye by Arsenal and dropped to 4th place while The Arse took the #2 spot for themselves. Man U stayed at #4, while the big early season surprise is West Bromich Albion in 6th place with 15 points from 9 games.
dNBarney Ronay of the Guardian gives us
Five Things We Learning from the Premier League Weekend.
dNDavid James writing for the Observer
tells us about the plight of a long time Premiership goalkeeper now getting paid in the Championship division.
SPAINReal Madrid continue to dominate at #1 winning 6-1 against this weekend, while Villarreal are ahead of Barcelona on goal differential at #2.
dNSid Lowe of the Guardian
gives the raves to Villarreal, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga.
dNPhil Ball of Soccernet on
the nasty inner-politics at Barcelona, and the weekend that was in Spain's top flight.
FRANCELike a pelaton reeling in a breakaway pack, Marseille has caught early leaders Rennes and St Etienne and now claimed 2nd place, only 1 point behind Rennes. However Bordeaux still sit back in 9th, PSG in 7th and Lyon in 14th. Also newly promoted Brest are hanging strong at #4, also just 1 point behind first place.
GERMANYMainz take back the top spot with a win and a Dortmund tie, while surprising Hannover keep the 3rd spot. Bayern flopped again with a scoreless draw and now sit behind St Pauli in 11th place.
dNRaphael Honigstein of the Guardian looks at
horrible Koln who fired their manager, but the problem is bigger than that, and the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga.
ITALYLazio continues to be the biggest shock in all of Europe leading the league now by 4 points as Inter continues to drop points, this week tying Sampdoria at home. While Roma and Juventus suffer ties too. Milan plays on a rare Monday game.
dNPaolo Bandini of the Guardian on
struggling Fiorentina who have finally hoisted themselves off the bottom of the pile, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.
