Some News for Mon Oct 11, 2010
STARTERS
In the USSF D2 (second division) playoff semifinals it will be Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Puerto Rico Islanders and Montreal Impact v Carolina RailHawks.
TEAM USA
My Thoughts:
Well, the USA took 2 leads and then again made beginners mistakes for which the opponent punished them. Both Poland goals came off botched clearance attempts in and around the goal area. At times the USA looked great, but at other times they looked like they didn't really care much.
And what the hell was Maurice Edu doing at centerback??? I will never understand playing a guy at a position so foreign to him when there is little chance his club will ever play him there, giving him no time at all to learn the position. I am all for experimenting, but do it with players, not positions.
In a very bizarre move for a friendly, both teams only made 1 sub each.
Jozy Altidore scored his 10th USA goal in his 30th cap.
It was great to see Jermaine Jones out there. But his gaff lead to the second Poland goal. Too much dilly-dallying around in a vital part of the field. Be decisive man!
-And will Jones age be a factor in whether or not he can realistically contribute to this team. After all he will be 32 when the next World Cup happens.
dN
Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 9
USA 2-2 Poland - USA goals by Jozy Altidore & Oguchi Onyewu. Pol goals by Adam Matuszczyk & Jakub Blaszczykowski.
Venue: Soldier Field - Chicago IL
Attendance: 31,696
Match report from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by USA players & coaches from US Soccer.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Post game analysis & player ratings by Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated.
Player ratings by Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.
Post game analysis by Simon Borg of MLSsoccer.
Player ratings by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
Player ratings by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
dN
-Tue Oct 12
USA v Colombia
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
dN
Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo have headed back to France and Germany to rejoin his club teams. Reports say that this was pre-arranged.
dN
Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated previews the game against Colombia.
dN
So how does the USA find a proper left fullback to fill the giant hole?
-Ernst Bouwes of ESPN Soccernet tells us how the Netherlands does it. (Thanks to Tom for this one.)
CHARLIE DAVIES
What are you doing Charlie?
For those who missed it - it was a tale in two parts:
9 days ago in France Davies was pulled over after midnight by police for driving 201km, which is roughly 125mph. Insanity. This is the guy that nearly died a year ago in a violent car crash.
But the story has a twist. Turns out Davies was not driving the car. A teammate with a suspended license was driving. And when they pulled over, the two switched seats so the penalty would not be as severe on the driver. (The real proof will come out if there was a speed camera involved.)
Its now in the hands of the police, who are not pleased one bit with the lying.
Still why would a guy who nearly died in a car crash one year ago be riding with someone else who was driving that fast at night?
UEFA EURO 2012
After 2 games on Saturday, another full round of qualifiers are headed our way on Tue Oct 12. Stay alert.
dN
Paul Doyle of the Guardian looks at the also rans, and wonders if they should be there at all.
dN
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 9
France 2-0 Romania
Israel 1-2 Croatia
-Tue Oct 12
Scotland v Spain
England v Montenegro
Iceland v Portugal
Kazakhstan v Germany
Italy v Serbia
France v Luxembourg
Azerbaijan v Turkey
Switzerland v Wales
Belgium v Austria
Greece v Israel
Denmark v Cyprus
Macedonia v Russia
Slovakia v Ireland
Faroe Islands v Northern Ireland
Finland v Hungary
Liechtenstein v Czech Republic
Netherlands v Sweden
Belarus v Albania
Armenia v Andorra
Latvia v Georgia
San Marino v Moldova
Estonia v Slovenia
Group Standings
Only 2 games will be played on the next international date Nov 17, and then qualifying takes a big break until Mar 25/26 & 29.
STORY OF THE DAY
Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal on the financial direction that MLS should be pursuing.
-The Designated Player path is not the winning path.
Then I turn around and wonder if the folks who right those articles even know about these type things that are going on and growing at a very rapid pace:
Nancy Armour of the Associated Press on the "homegrown" player movement.
And do they take into account how much money the owners of the MLS teams are making off their marketing subsidiary?
OOF
During Fox Soccer's USA v Poland pre-game interviews a name graphic under USA coach Bob Bradley referred to him as: Brad Bradley. Twice.
THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT
This American Soccer with the story of the making the great soccer documentary Pelada. With a fantastic video introduction by the one and only Ray Hudson.
-Then go buy yourself a copy in the upper left hand corner of du Nord. (Turn off your Ad Blocker if you don't see the left hand column.)
MLS WEEK 28
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 7
Philadelphia Union 0-1 Los Angeles Galaxy - LAG goal by Edson Buddle.
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Attendance: 18,779
-Fri Oct 08, 2010
Chicago Fire SC 2-0 Columbus Crew - CF goals by Peter Lowry & Brian McBride.
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
Attendance: 15,124
-Sat Oct 09, 2010
New York Red Bulls 0-0 Real Salt Lake
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 20,829
FC Dallas 2-2 Colorado Rapids - FCD goals by Milton Rodriguez & David Ferreira. CR goals both by Jeff Larentowicz.
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Attendance: ??? (if anyone out there knows the figure please let us know)
DC United 0-2 San Jose Earthquakes - SJE goals both by Chris Wondolowski.
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 14,822
Kansas City Wizards 1-2 Seattle Sounders FC - KCW goal by Davy Arnaud(PK). SS goals by Sanna Nyassi & Alvaro Fernandez.
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Attendance: 11,522
CD Chivas USA 3-0 Toronto FC - CU goals by Jorge Flores, Jesus Padilla & Rodolfo Espinoza.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 12,426
-Sun Oct 10, 2010
Houston Dynamo 1-2 New England Revolution - HD goal by Dominic Oduro. NER goals by Shalrie Joseph & Kheli Dube.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 16,479
dN
EJECTIONS:
-Jaime Moreno - DC United - red card
-Brandon McDonald - San Jose Earthquakes - red card
-Joseph Ngwenya - Houston Dynamo - red card
-Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo - red card
dN
Early MLS WEEK 29
-Tue Oct 12
Chicago Fire SC v Kansas City Wizards - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
MLS PLAYOFF RACE
Colorado and Kansas City are the only two teams left to fight for the last playoff spot. Unfortunately due to Colorado's 9 point lead its not much of a fight. Any earning of points by Colorado or loss of points by Kansas City will end the chase.
San Jose & Seattle joined Salt Lake, Dallas, New York, Columbus & LA in clinching playoff spots this weekend!
Toronto, Chicago, DC, Chivas, New England, Houston & Philadelphia have all been eliminated from the post-season chase.
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski has been named the league's Player of the Week.
CHICAGO FIRE
Winger Patrick Nyarko, who for my money has been the best Fire player this season, has been playing the last few weeks with an ankle full of bone spurs, and will need offseason surgery to clean it up. How in the world do you run on bone spurs?? His stock just went up in my book.
COLUMBUS CREW
The Dispatch looks back at another bad weekend for the Crew.
-They are easily the coldest team headed for the playoffs.
FC DALLAS
I know they have tied 14 of the 28 games they have played this season. But they have also lost only 2. And its been 19 games since their last loss. I don't think they are good enough to win it all this season. But I sure wouldn't want to face them in the first round of playoffs.
NEW YORK RED BULLS
Dane Richards continued his hot streak with a goal for Jamaica on Saturday as they beat T&T 1-0 at The Office.
MLS POST SEASON AWARDS
Who do you think should be named Coach of the Year?
-I have 4 Candidates:
Bruce Arena
Hans Backe
Schellas Hyndeman
Jason Kreis
dN
What about Player of the Year?
-I have 10 candidates:
Edson Buddle
Dwayne DeRosario
Landon Donovan
David Ferreira
Kevin Hartman
Sebastien Le Toux
Fredy Montero
Javier Morales
Alvaro Saborio
Chris Wondolowski
IF MLS HAD SINGLE TABLE STANDINGS
As of Sun Oct 10
Pts - Team - Games - Max Pts Poss
IN-56 Los Angeles - 28 (62)
IN-52 Salt Lake - 28 (58)
IN-50 Dallas - 28 (56)
IN-48 New York - 28 (54)
IN-46 Columbus - 28 (52)
IN-45 Seattle - 28 (51)
IN-43 San Jose - 27 (52)
42 Colorado - 28 (48)
- - - - - - - - - - - -
33 Kansas City - 27 (42)
OUT-32 Chicago - 27 (41)
OUT-31 Toronto - 28 (37)
OUT-29 New England - 28 (35)
OUT-28 Chivas - 27 (37)
OUT-28 Philadelphia - 28 (34)
OUT-27 Houston - 28 (33)
OUT-21 DC - 28 (27)
MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERS
(As of Mon Oct 11)
The two giant surprises in these stats are the names Chris Wondolowski (14 goals) and Patrick Nyarko (10 assists)! Fantastic seasons for both of them.
Goals:
16 Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy (23 games)
14 Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes (25 games)
13 Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto FC (26 games)
13 Sebastion Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (26 games)
13 Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls (28 games)
12 Omar Cummings - Colorado Rapids (27 games)
11 Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids (25 games)
11 Jeff Cunningham - FC Dallas (25 games)
dN
Assists:
14 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy (22 games)
13 David Ferreira - FC Dallas (28 games)
10 Patrick Nyarko - Chicago Fire (24 games)
10 Bobby Convey - San Jose Earthquakes (26 games)
10 Sebastian Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (26 games)
9 Brad Davis - Houston Dynamo (25 games)
9 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders (28 games)
8 Javier Morales - Real Salt Lake (24 games)
8 Michael Stephens - Los Angeles Galaxy (24 games)
8 Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Columbus Crew (27 games)
MLS EXHIBITIONS
Friendly Match & Score:
-Tue Oct 12
Seattle Sounders FC v CD Guadalajara (Mexico)
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
USSF DIVISION 2
The Puerto Rico Islanders, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Carolina RailHawks & Montreal Impact have advanced to the semifinals.
dN
My NSC Stars suffered a brutal end to the season, losing 4-0 in Cary NC to the RailHawks. Daniel Paladini came on in the second half and just took Minnesota apart, scoring the first goal and setting up the next two. The Stars had played a lot of the game with 10 men after team captain Andres Arango had a mental melt down of Adam Braz proportions and got 2 yellows in a few seconds in the 37th & 38th minutes. Then his centerback partner Kyle Altman pulled up lame with a hamstring injury in the 62nd minute and 2 minutes later it was all over.
dN
Now we can only hope that a financial solution can be found and we still have a team next season. The National Sports Center saved Minnesota Thunder fans for one year, but the future is clearly unknown at this point.
dN
Playoff Matches & Scores:
First Round Leg 1
-Wed Oct 6
Montreal Impact 2-0 Austin Aztex - Mon goals both by Ali Gerba.
Venue: Saputo Stadium - Montreal QB
NSC Minnesota Stars 0-0 Carolina RailHawks
Venue: National Sports Center - Blaine MN
-Thu Oct 7
Puerto Rico Islanders 2-0 Rochester Rhinos - PRI goals by Jonathan Fana & David Foley.
Venue: Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel - Bayamon PR
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2-0 Portland Timbers - VW goals by Gershon Koffie & Martin Nash(PK).
Venue: Swangard Stadium - Burnaby BC
First Round, Leg 2
-Sat Oct 9
Rochester Rhinos 2-1 Puerto Rico Islanders - PRI advance 3-2 on aggregate - RR goals by Andrew Hoxie & Anthony Hamilton. PRI goal by Alexis Rivera.
Venue: Marina Auto Stadium - Rochester NY
Carolina RailHawks 4-0 NSC Minnesota Stars - CR advance 4-0 on aggregate. CR goals by Daniel Paladini, Josh Gardner, Amir Lowery & Brian Kallman(OG).
Venue: WakeMed Park - Cary NC
Austin Aztex 2-3 Montreal Impact MI advance 5-2 on aggregate. AA goals by Maxwell Griffin & Edward Johson. MI goals by Ali Gerba(2) & Eduardo Sebrango.
Venue: House Park - Houston TX
-Sun Oct 10
Portland Timbers 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps FC VW advance 2-1 on aggregate - PT goal by James Marcelin.
Venue: Merlo Field - Portland OR
dN
Semifinal
Leg 1
-Thu Oct 14
Puerto Rico Islanders v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Carolina RailHawks v Montreal Impact
Leg 2
-Sun Oct 17
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Puerto Rico Islanders
Montreal Impact v Carolina RailHawks
Final
Leg 1
Match will be played on the weekend of Sat Oct 23
Leg 2
Match will be played on the weekend of Sat Oct 30
NOTE: series winners are determined by total goals. There is NO away goals tie breaker.
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Steve Davis of the Daily Soccer Fix writes about some of those exact same complaints about Fox Soccer Channel that you and I share with each other all the time. And yet we too love the channel.
-Don't even get me started on Christian Miles!
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Game Action: (only those that played are listed)
ENGLAND - League One
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - Sat Oct 9 - went the full 90 as they won 1-0 at home over Notts County.
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Game Action:
PRIMERA DIVISION
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - played the whole game, getting a yellow card, and tying 2-2 at Queretaro.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 69th minute as they won at home 3-2 over UNAM.
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - went the full 90 as they beat UNAM Pumas 3-2 at home.
ENGLAND
David Conn of the Guardian says that Manchester United owners need to wake up and smell the Liverpool.
FRANCE
Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated introduces us to new French sensation Yann M'Vila.
ITALY
Phil Minshull of the BBC looks at the national team and sees a new head coach and a refresh on the players adding up to the same thing that got them nowhere are the last World Cup.
EUROPE
FIFA.com does a Q & A with legendary Swedish striker and now first year coach Henrik Larsson.
UEFA
Gabrielle Marcotti of the Wall Street Journal sees UEFA injecting a little bit of the NFL's all-encompassing-control into European club football.
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
Another round of qualifying is come & gone.
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 9
Mali 2-1 Liberia
Senegal 7-0 Mauritius
Comoros 0-1 Mozambique
Tanzania 0-1 Morocco
Burkina Faso 3-1 Gambia
Burundi 0-1 Cote d'Ivoire
Rwanda 0-3 Benin
Angola 1-0 Guinea-Bissau
Kenya 0-0 Uganda
Malawi 6-2 Chad
Cameroon 1-1 Congo DR
-Sun Oct 10
Zimbabwe 0-0 Cape Verde Islands
Guinea 1-0 Nigeria
Madagascar 0-1 Ethiopia
Libya 1-0 Zambia
Central African Republic 2-0 Algeria
Sierra Leone 0-0 South Africa
Niger 1-0 Egypt
Ghana 0-0 Sudan
Congo 3-1 Swaziland
Togo 1-2 Tunisia
dN
Group Standings
dN
Only 2 games (oddly the exact same number as Europe) will be played on the next international date Nov 17, and then qualifying takes a big break until Mar 25-29.
BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022
Rob Hughes of the NY Times looks at what it takes to make a successful hosting bid.
TOP THIS
In the USSF D2 (second division) playoff semifinals it will be Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Puerto Rico Islanders and Montreal Impact v Carolina RailHawks.
TEAM USA
My Thoughts:
Well, the USA took 2 leads and then again made beginners mistakes for which the opponent punished them. Both Poland goals came off botched clearance attempts in and around the goal area. At times the USA looked great, but at other times they looked like they didn't really care much.
And what the hell was Maurice Edu doing at centerback??? I will never understand playing a guy at a position so foreign to him when there is little chance his club will ever play him there, giving him no time at all to learn the position. I am all for experimenting, but do it with players, not positions.
In a very bizarre move for a friendly, both teams only made 1 sub each.
Jozy Altidore scored his 10th USA goal in his 30th cap.
It was great to see Jermaine Jones out there. But his gaff lead to the second Poland goal. Too much dilly-dallying around in a vital part of the field. Be decisive man!
-And will Jones age be a factor in whether or not he can realistically contribute to this team. After all he will be 32 when the next World Cup happens.
dN
Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 9
USA 2-2 Poland - USA goals by Jozy Altidore & Oguchi Onyewu. Pol goals by Adam Matuszczyk & Jakub Blaszczykowski.
Venue: Soldier Field - Chicago IL
Attendance: 31,696
Match report from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by USA players & coaches from US Soccer.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Post game analysis & player ratings by Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated.
Player ratings by Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.
Post game analysis by Simon Borg of MLSsoccer.
Player ratings by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
Player ratings by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
dN
-Tue Oct 12
USA v Colombia
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
dN
Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo have headed back to France and Germany to rejoin his club teams. Reports say that this was pre-arranged.
dN
Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated previews the game against Colombia.
dN
So how does the USA find a proper left fullback to fill the giant hole?
-Ernst Bouwes of ESPN Soccernet tells us how the Netherlands does it. (Thanks to Tom for this one.)
CHARLIE DAVIES
What are you doing Charlie?
For those who missed it - it was a tale in two parts:
9 days ago in France Davies was pulled over after midnight by police for driving 201km, which is roughly 125mph. Insanity. This is the guy that nearly died a year ago in a violent car crash.
But the story has a twist. Turns out Davies was not driving the car. A teammate with a suspended license was driving. And when they pulled over, the two switched seats so the penalty would not be as severe on the driver. (The real proof will come out if there was a speed camera involved.)
Its now in the hands of the police, who are not pleased one bit with the lying.
Still why would a guy who nearly died in a car crash one year ago be riding with someone else who was driving that fast at night?
UEFA EURO 2012
After 2 games on Saturday, another full round of qualifiers are headed our way on Tue Oct 12. Stay alert.
dN
Paul Doyle of the Guardian looks at the also rans, and wonders if they should be there at all.
dN
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 9
France 2-0 Romania
Israel 1-2 Croatia
-Tue Oct 12
Scotland v Spain
England v Montenegro
Iceland v Portugal
Kazakhstan v Germany
Italy v Serbia
France v Luxembourg
Azerbaijan v Turkey
Switzerland v Wales
Belgium v Austria
Greece v Israel
Denmark v Cyprus
Macedonia v Russia
Slovakia v Ireland
Faroe Islands v Northern Ireland
Finland v Hungary
Liechtenstein v Czech Republic
Netherlands v Sweden
Belarus v Albania
Armenia v Andorra
Latvia v Georgia
San Marino v Moldova
Estonia v Slovenia
Group Standings
Only 2 games will be played on the next international date Nov 17, and then qualifying takes a big break until Mar 25/26 & 29.
STORY OF THE DAY
Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal on the financial direction that MLS should be pursuing.
-The Designated Player path is not the winning path.
Then I turn around and wonder if the folks who right those articles even know about these type things that are going on and growing at a very rapid pace:
Nancy Armour of the Associated Press on the "homegrown" player movement.
And do they take into account how much money the owners of the MLS teams are making off their marketing subsidiary?
OOF
During Fox Soccer's USA v Poland pre-game interviews a name graphic under USA coach Bob Bradley referred to him as: Brad Bradley. Twice.
THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT
This American Soccer with the story of the making the great soccer documentary Pelada. With a fantastic video introduction by the one and only Ray Hudson.
-Then go buy yourself a copy in the upper left hand corner of du Nord. (Turn off your Ad Blocker if you don't see the left hand column.)
MLS WEEK 28
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 7
Philadelphia Union 0-1 Los Angeles Galaxy - LAG goal by Edson Buddle.
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Attendance: 18,779
-Fri Oct 08, 2010
Chicago Fire SC 2-0 Columbus Crew - CF goals by Peter Lowry & Brian McBride.
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
Attendance: 15,124
-Sat Oct 09, 2010
New York Red Bulls 0-0 Real Salt Lake
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 20,829
FC Dallas 2-2 Colorado Rapids - FCD goals by Milton Rodriguez & David Ferreira. CR goals both by Jeff Larentowicz.
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Attendance: ??? (if anyone out there knows the figure please let us know)
DC United 0-2 San Jose Earthquakes - SJE goals both by Chris Wondolowski.
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Attendance: 14,822
Kansas City Wizards 1-2 Seattle Sounders FC - KCW goal by Davy Arnaud(PK). SS goals by Sanna Nyassi & Alvaro Fernandez.
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Attendance: 11,522
CD Chivas USA 3-0 Toronto FC - CU goals by Jorge Flores, Jesus Padilla & Rodolfo Espinoza.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 12,426
-Sun Oct 10, 2010
Houston Dynamo 1-2 New England Revolution - HD goal by Dominic Oduro. NER goals by Shalrie Joseph & Kheli Dube.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 16,479
dN
EJECTIONS:
-Jaime Moreno - DC United - red card
-Brandon McDonald - San Jose Earthquakes - red card
-Joseph Ngwenya - Houston Dynamo - red card
-Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo - red card
dN
Early MLS WEEK 29
-Tue Oct 12
Chicago Fire SC v Kansas City Wizards - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
MLS PLAYOFF RACE
Colorado and Kansas City are the only two teams left to fight for the last playoff spot. Unfortunately due to Colorado's 9 point lead its not much of a fight. Any earning of points by Colorado or loss of points by Kansas City will end the chase.
San Jose & Seattle joined Salt Lake, Dallas, New York, Columbus & LA in clinching playoff spots this weekend!
Toronto, Chicago, DC, Chivas, New England, Houston & Philadelphia have all been eliminated from the post-season chase.
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski has been named the league's Player of the Week.
CHICAGO FIRE
Winger Patrick Nyarko, who for my money has been the best Fire player this season, has been playing the last few weeks with an ankle full of bone spurs, and will need offseason surgery to clean it up. How in the world do you run on bone spurs?? His stock just went up in my book.
COLUMBUS CREW
The Dispatch looks back at another bad weekend for the Crew.
-They are easily the coldest team headed for the playoffs.
FC DALLAS
I know they have tied 14 of the 28 games they have played this season. But they have also lost only 2. And its been 19 games since their last loss. I don't think they are good enough to win it all this season. But I sure wouldn't want to face them in the first round of playoffs.
NEW YORK RED BULLS
Dane Richards continued his hot streak with a goal for Jamaica on Saturday as they beat T&T 1-0 at The Office.
MLS POST SEASON AWARDS
Who do you think should be named Coach of the Year?
-I have 4 Candidates:
Bruce Arena
Hans Backe
Schellas Hyndeman
Jason Kreis
dN
What about Player of the Year?
-I have 10 candidates:
Edson Buddle
Dwayne DeRosario
Landon Donovan
David Ferreira
Kevin Hartman
Sebastien Le Toux
Fredy Montero
Javier Morales
Alvaro Saborio
Chris Wondolowski
IF MLS HAD SINGLE TABLE STANDINGS
As of Sun Oct 10
Pts - Team - Games - Max Pts Poss
IN-56 Los Angeles - 28 (62)
IN-52 Salt Lake - 28 (58)
IN-50 Dallas - 28 (56)
IN-48 New York - 28 (54)
IN-46 Columbus - 28 (52)
IN-45 Seattle - 28 (51)
IN-43 San Jose - 27 (52)
42 Colorado - 28 (48)
- - - - - - - - - - - -
33 Kansas City - 27 (42)
OUT-32 Chicago - 27 (41)
OUT-31 Toronto - 28 (37)
OUT-29 New England - 28 (35)
OUT-28 Chivas - 27 (37)
OUT-28 Philadelphia - 28 (34)
OUT-27 Houston - 28 (33)
OUT-21 DC - 28 (27)
MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERS
(As of Mon Oct 11)
The two giant surprises in these stats are the names Chris Wondolowski (14 goals) and Patrick Nyarko (10 assists)! Fantastic seasons for both of them.
Goals:
16 Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy (23 games)
14 Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes (25 games)
13 Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto FC (26 games)
13 Sebastion Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (26 games)
13 Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls (28 games)
12 Omar Cummings - Colorado Rapids (27 games)
11 Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids (25 games)
11 Jeff Cunningham - FC Dallas (25 games)
dN
Assists:
14 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy (22 games)
13 David Ferreira - FC Dallas (28 games)
10 Patrick Nyarko - Chicago Fire (24 games)
10 Bobby Convey - San Jose Earthquakes (26 games)
10 Sebastian Le Toux - Philadelphia Union (26 games)
9 Brad Davis - Houston Dynamo (25 games)
9 Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders (28 games)
8 Javier Morales - Real Salt Lake (24 games)
8 Michael Stephens - Los Angeles Galaxy (24 games)
8 Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Columbus Crew (27 games)
MLS EXHIBITIONS
Friendly Match & Score:
-Tue Oct 12
Seattle Sounders FC v CD Guadalajara (Mexico)
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
USSF DIVISION 2
The Puerto Rico Islanders, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Carolina RailHawks & Montreal Impact have advanced to the semifinals.
dN
My NSC Stars suffered a brutal end to the season, losing 4-0 in Cary NC to the RailHawks. Daniel Paladini came on in the second half and just took Minnesota apart, scoring the first goal and setting up the next two. The Stars had played a lot of the game with 10 men after team captain Andres Arango had a mental melt down of Adam Braz proportions and got 2 yellows in a few seconds in the 37th & 38th minutes. Then his centerback partner Kyle Altman pulled up lame with a hamstring injury in the 62nd minute and 2 minutes later it was all over.
dN
Now we can only hope that a financial solution can be found and we still have a team next season. The National Sports Center saved Minnesota Thunder fans for one year, but the future is clearly unknown at this point.
dN
Playoff Matches & Scores:
First Round Leg 1
-Wed Oct 6
Montreal Impact 2-0 Austin Aztex - Mon goals both by Ali Gerba.
Venue: Saputo Stadium - Montreal QB
NSC Minnesota Stars 0-0 Carolina RailHawks
Venue: National Sports Center - Blaine MN
-Thu Oct 7
Puerto Rico Islanders 2-0 Rochester Rhinos - PRI goals by Jonathan Fana & David Foley.
Venue: Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel - Bayamon PR
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2-0 Portland Timbers - VW goals by Gershon Koffie & Martin Nash(PK).
Venue: Swangard Stadium - Burnaby BC
First Round, Leg 2
-Sat Oct 9
Rochester Rhinos 2-1 Puerto Rico Islanders - PRI advance 3-2 on aggregate - RR goals by Andrew Hoxie & Anthony Hamilton. PRI goal by Alexis Rivera.
Venue: Marina Auto Stadium - Rochester NY
Carolina RailHawks 4-0 NSC Minnesota Stars - CR advance 4-0 on aggregate. CR goals by Daniel Paladini, Josh Gardner, Amir Lowery & Brian Kallman(OG).
Venue: WakeMed Park - Cary NC
Austin Aztex 2-3 Montreal Impact MI advance 5-2 on aggregate. AA goals by Maxwell Griffin & Edward Johson. MI goals by Ali Gerba(2) & Eduardo Sebrango.
Venue: House Park - Houston TX
-Sun Oct 10
Portland Timbers 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps FC VW advance 2-1 on aggregate - PT goal by James Marcelin.
Venue: Merlo Field - Portland OR
dN
Semifinal
Leg 1
-Thu Oct 14
Puerto Rico Islanders v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Carolina RailHawks v Montreal Impact
Leg 2
-Sun Oct 17
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Puerto Rico Islanders
Montreal Impact v Carolina RailHawks
Final
Leg 1
Match will be played on the weekend of Sat Oct 23
Leg 2
Match will be played on the weekend of Sat Oct 30
NOTE: series winners are determined by total goals. There is NO away goals tie breaker.
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Steve Davis of the Daily Soccer Fix writes about some of those exact same complaints about Fox Soccer Channel that you and I share with each other all the time. And yet we too love the channel.
-Don't even get me started on Christian Miles!
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Game Action: (only those that played are listed)
ENGLAND - League One
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - Sat Oct 9 - went the full 90 as they won 1-0 at home over Notts County.
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Game Action:
PRIMERA DIVISION
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - played the whole game, getting a yellow card, and tying 2-2 at Queretaro.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 69th minute as they won at home 3-2 over UNAM.
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - went the full 90 as they beat UNAM Pumas 3-2 at home.
ENGLAND
David Conn of the Guardian says that Manchester United owners need to wake up and smell the Liverpool.
FRANCE
Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated introduces us to new French sensation Yann M'Vila.
ITALY
Phil Minshull of the BBC looks at the national team and sees a new head coach and a refresh on the players adding up to the same thing that got them nowhere are the last World Cup.
EUROPE
FIFA.com does a Q & A with legendary Swedish striker and now first year coach Henrik Larsson.
UEFA
Gabrielle Marcotti of the Wall Street Journal sees UEFA injecting a little bit of the NFL's all-encompassing-control into European club football.
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
Another round of qualifying is come & gone.
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 9
Mali 2-1 Liberia
Senegal 7-0 Mauritius
Comoros 0-1 Mozambique
Tanzania 0-1 Morocco
Burkina Faso 3-1 Gambia
Burundi 0-1 Cote d'Ivoire
Rwanda 0-3 Benin
Angola 1-0 Guinea-Bissau
Kenya 0-0 Uganda
Malawi 6-2 Chad
Cameroon 1-1 Congo DR
-Sun Oct 10
Zimbabwe 0-0 Cape Verde Islands
Guinea 1-0 Nigeria
Madagascar 0-1 Ethiopia
Libya 1-0 Zambia
Central African Republic 2-0 Algeria
Sierra Leone 0-0 South Africa
Niger 1-0 Egypt
Ghana 0-0 Sudan
Congo 3-1 Swaziland
Togo 1-2 Tunisia
dN
Group Standings
dN
Only 2 games (oddly the exact same number as Europe) will be played on the next international date Nov 17, and then qualifying takes a big break until Mar 25-29.
BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022
Rob Hughes of the NY Times looks at what it takes to make a successful hosting bid.
TOP THIS
posted by brucio at 17:33
3 Comments:
And will Jones age be a factor in whether or not he can realistically contribute to this team. After all he will be 32 when the next World Cup happens.
Could say the same amount about Donovan. Something says I think we will still see both of them on the team.
Top this = :D
I'm tired about hearing this whole "age concern" with Jones. As long as he stays healthy, he'll be in the World Cup in 2014. He's a center mid, not a winger/attacking midfielder like Donovan who will also be 32 in 2014, and Dempsey who will be 31. As Jones showed against Poland, he's clearly a step above all of our center mid's (even Bradley).
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