Thursday, October 21, 2010

Some News for Thu Oct 21, 2010

STARTERS

San Jose hosted Chivas USA on Wed night and the plan was to give red hot striker Chris Wondolowski a well earned night of rest -he was in the 18 man roster, but not the first 11. So much for that! His replacement Cornell Glen got injured late in the first half, so Wondo warmed up and entered the game sitting at a scoreless tie. What did he do? Bagged a hat-trick (the first on a PK) in a 3-0 win. Wow! I mean Wow! Holy Cow Wow! He is now tied with Edson Buddle as the top goal scorer in MLS at 17. No one, and I mean no one saw this season coming. See lots more about Wondolowski in the San Jose Earthquakes section below.

ROONEY v FERGIE

Whatever happened to the philosophy we so often hear from clubs - "Hey, look, if a player is not happy here and he wants to leave, then we don't want that player around and we will help them leave." Don't we hear this from clubs all the time? Why is it so different now? Because he is a big name player, and not an average one?

The guy wants out. The transfer window opens in 10 weeks. Do what you like with him until then.

On the other hand, why does something in the back of my head keep whispering.... "He's not going anywhere. He and Red Nose will make up."

SCANDAL: BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America tells us where things stand, and looks at some of FIFA's other more recent scandals.

TELENOVELA HIGADO PISCINA

This right here is some great stuff:
The Boston Globe with an inside looks at the owners of the Red Sox buying Liverpool in dramatic fashion.
-Photos from the day of the sale.

dN

Gabrielle Marcotti at the Wall Street Journal looks at Liverpool FC now that the new owners are in place - how do they fix this team?

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE

Group Stage Round 6

The last game is tonight.

dN

Puerto Rico, obviously distracted by First Leg of the USSF D2 championship coming up this weekend, lost to Hondurans Olimpia and were bounced from the tournament.

Leaving the door open for Toluca to walk on in.

dN

Even though there is still one match left, it has no significance on the the standings.

8 teams ADVANCE - Olimpia & Toluca join Santos Laguna, Columbus Crew, Saprissa, Salt Lake, Cruz Azul and Monterrey in advancing to the knock out rounds.
-No.1 Seeds: Real Salt Lake, Santos Laguna, Monterrey & Olimpia.
-No.2 Seeds: Cruz Azul, Columbus Crew, Saprissa & Toluca.

8 teams are OUT - Puerto Rico joins Municipal, Marathon, FAS, Joe Public, Toronto, Arabe and Seattle in the eliminated pile.

dN

The draw for the knock out rounds will be held on Mon Nov 1.

dN

Round 6
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 19
Toronto FC 1-0 Arabe Unido - - TFC goal by Nana Attakora.
Real Salt Lake 3-1 Cruz Azul - RSL goals by Paulo Junior(2) & Collen Warner. CA goal by Cesar Villaluz.
Seattle Sounders 1-2 Saprissa - SS goal by Nate Jaqua. Sap goals by Jairo Arrieta & Josue Martinez.
Santos Laguna 6-1 Municipal - SL goals by Daniel Luduena(2), Oribe Peralta(2), Rodrigo Ruiz & Carlos Villalba. Mun goal by Juan Castillo.
-Wed Oct 20
Toluca 5-0 FAS - Tol goals by Hector Mancilla(3), Juan Cuevas & Nestor Calderon.
Marathon 0-1 Monterrey - Mon goal by Sergio Santana.
Olimpia 3-0 Puerto Rico Islanders - Oli goals by Roger Rojas(2) & Fabio de Souza.
-Thu Oct 21
Joe Public v Columbus Crew - 7pm Central on FSC

dN

STANDINGS (6 rounds played)
Group A (6 rounds played)
ADV-13 Real Salt Lake (USA) (+6)
ADV-10 Cruz Azul (Mexico) (+6)
OUT-8 Toronto (Canada) (-2)
OUT-3 Arabe Unido (Panama) (-9)
Group B (6 & 5 rounds played)
ADV-13 Santos Laguna (Mexico) (+12)
ADV-9 Columbus Crew (USA) (+3)
OUT-8 Municipal (Guatemala) (-4)
OUT-1 Joe Public (Trinidad & Tobago) (-11)
Group C (6 & 5 rounds played)
ADV-16 Monterrey (Mexico) (+7)
ADV-10 Saprissa (Costa Rica) (+4)
OUT-6 Marathon (Honduras) (-6)
OUT-3 Seattle Sounders (USA) (-5)
Group D (5 rounds played)
ADV-13 Olimpia (Honduras) (+5)
ADV-10 Toluca (Mexico) (+10)
OUT-8 Puerto Rico Islanders (Puerto Rico) (-2)
OUT-2 FAS (El Salvador) (-13)

STORY OF THE DAY

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe on the rise of the Red Bulls, beginning with a little history of soccer in New Jersey.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE DAY

From Soccer America - How great is this - Pachuca has already used all 3 subs then has their keeper sent off and a PK called. Meaning a field player has to man the nets. Let's all watch and see what happens, shall we.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES COMING UP THIS WEEKEND

Two of the real classic rivalries happen on Sunday in Turkey and Scotland. And one of the uglier ones in Serbia.

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 23
Manchester City v Arsenal - #2 v #3
Red Star v Partizan - the Belgrade derby - unfortunately both teams have bands of moronicly violent fans
-Sun Oct 24
Fenerbahce v Galatasaray - the Kitalar Arasi Derbi (Asian against European Derby)
Borussia Dortmund v Hoffenheim - #1 v #4
Bayer Leverkusen v Mainz - #3 v #2
Villarreal v Atletico Madrid - two team trying to keep in touch with the league leaders
PSV v Feyenoord - a couple of Dutch heavyweights duke it out
Celtic v Rangers - The Old Firm

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 3

dN

All the people going nutty over Tottenham's Gareth Bale and his 3 goals against Inter yesterday need to take it down a notch. Or six. Yes, it is great any time a player can bag the hat trick, but is it really that impressive to do it after the other team is up 4-0, has turned out the lights, and gone home to bed? Not really. I'd put it more down to luck of timing than skill.

dN

Rob Hughes of the New York Times reviews all the games from Wednesday.


dN
So, after 3 rounds Arsenal, Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea & Lyon have earned all 9 points.

dN

Matchday 4 will be played Tue & Wed Nov 2 & 3.

Group Standings

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"He is DC United."
-Ben Olsen on Jaime Moreno

FACT OF THE DAY

The French Ligue de Football Professionnel has decided that both games in this year's Ligue 1 series between Marseille and Paris St Germain will be played in empty stadiums. There has been too many years of fan violence to allow it to continue.

MLS WEEK 30

Matches & 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 v New England Revolution - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
-Sat Oct 23
Houston Dynamo v Seattle Sounders FC - 3:00pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
DC United v Toronto FC - 6:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Kansas City Wizards v San Jose Earthquakes - 7:30pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark - Kansas City KS
Colorado Rapids v Real Salt Lake - 8:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
CD Chivas USA v Chicago Fire SC - 10:00pm Central on FSC
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun Oct 24
Columbus Crew v Philadelphia Union - 3:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Los Angeles Galaxy v FC Dallas - 7:00pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA

MLS PLAYOFF RACE

Los Angeles holds the reigns to the Supporters Shield. A win and its theirs. A Salt Lake loss and it belongs to LA as well. But if LA screws up and loses in the last game Sunday night, a Win by RSL will give them the regular season crown!

The top 8 teams are playing for playoff seeding.

As of Wed Oct 20:
Seed/Pts/Team/Games/Pts Poss
#1W-56 Los Angeles - 29 (59)
#2W-55 Salt Lake - 29 (58)
#3W-50 Dallas - 29 (53)
#1E-48 New York - 29 (51)
#4W-48 Seattle - 29 (51)
#2E-47 Columbus - 29 (50)
#3E-46 San Jose - 29 (49)
#4E-45 Colorado - 29 (48)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Jason de Vos of the CBC asks about the possible change in Canadian player quotas for the now 2 and soon to be 3 Canadian clubs in the league.

The Wall Street Journal has a pretty meaningless article trying to compare MLS to NBA attendance, and saying some markets have soccer teams that are besting their basketball counterparts. They use average attendance as their stat. If they use total number through the gate for a full season its not even close. I know the NBA teams have 41 home games compared to MLS 15, but come on, this is one lame argument.

CHICAGO FIRE

This is it for a great one - centerback CJ Brown plays his last game today! All best to him on a great career.

Charlie Corr at ESPN looks at the Fire goalkeeper situation - Sean Johnson is back healthy, but Andrew Dykstra has done very well the past two games. So who plays tonight?

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch checks out the Crew's long and tough road over the past 2 months of games.

DC UNITED

Lots of former DCU greats will be in attendance for Jaime Moreno's last game. It would be cool to be there!

All the local writers are covering the end of the DC career of Jaime Moreno:
-Craig Stouffer of the Examiner.
-John Haydon of the Times.
-Joseph White of the Associated Press. Via the Examiner.

Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with interim head coach Ben Olsen.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America examines the downward spiral of the Dynamo team.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

When is the last time that New York beat New England? October 22, 2005!!!

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald on the Revs as they end their season tonight, quietly.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Tobias Lopez at Sports Illustrated sees the Union's best chances of improvement is through youth.

REAL SALT LAKE

The Davis County Clipper has a profile of owner Dave Checketts.
-Make sure you "STOP" the slideshow before you start reading or the formatting of the page will shift back and forth the whole time. I got nauseaus.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Last night's win moves SJE up one spot in the playoff seeding to #7, where they are currently matched up against Columbus.

Elliot Almond of the Mercury News on Chris Wondolowski's big big night.

Wondowlowski is now tied with Edson Buddle for the MLS Golden Boot with 17 goals.
-This was his second hat trick of the season, which no Equake has ever done.
-He has scored the teams last 9 goals. While this is great for him, its scary for a team headed into the playoffs. If he doesn't score, will the team?
-And he broke the regular season goal scoring record of 15 set by Ronald Cerritos.

Last night was the first time that this incarnation of the Equakes has beaten Chivas USA.

IF MLS HAD SINGLE TABLE STANDINGS

As of Wed Oct 20.

Seed-Pts-Team-Games-Max Pts Poss
#1W-56 Los Angeles - 29 (59)
#2W-55 Salt Lake - 29 (58)
#3W-50 Dallas - 29 (53)
#1E-48 New York - 29 (51)
#4W-48 Seattle - 29 (51)
#2E-47 Columbus - 29 (50)
#3E-46 San Jose - 29 (49)
#4E-45 Colorado - 29 (48)
- - - - - - - - - - - -
OUT-36 Kansas City - 29 (39)
OUT-33 Chicago - 29 (36)
OUT-32 Toronto - 29 (35)
OUT-32 New England - 29 (35)
OUT-31 Philadelphia - 29 (34)
OUT-30 Houston - 29 (33)
OUT-28 Chivas - 29 (31)
OUT-22 DC - 29 (25)

MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad with an article on new MLS Generation Adidas signing Omar Salgado who just finished a training stint at Everton in England, and will be available in the SuperDraft in January.

MLS RUMORS

Could former Fire head coach Denis Hamlett be the next DC head coach? Or how about me?
-Ben Olsen wants the job!

USSF DIVISION 2

The league has announced their post-season awards:

Rookie of the Year: Maxwell Griffin - Austin Aztex

Coach of the Year: Bob Lilley - Rochester Rhinos

Golden Boot: Ryan Pore - Portland Timbers

Goalkeeper of the Year: Jay Nolly - Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Defender of the Year: Greg Janicki - Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Most Valuable Player: Ryan Pore - Portland Timbers

Best XI
G:
Jay Nolly - Vancouver Whitecaps FC
D:
Greg Janicki - Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Aaron Pitchkolan - Rochester Rhinos
Troy Roberts - Rochester Rhinos
M:
Ryan Pore - Portland Timbers
Martin Nash - Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Jamie Watson - Austin Aztex
Paulo Araujo, Jr. - Miami FC
Daniel Paladini - Carolina RailHawks
F:
Eddie Johnson - Austin Aztex
Ali Gerba - Montreal Impact

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com talks to local Swedish journalists to get the vibe on Alejandro Bedoya.

dN

Both Sacha Kljestan and Jozy Altidore played in the Europa League today. See below for details.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Group Stage
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - Thu Oct 21 - came on as a sub in the 82nd minute as they won 1-0 at home against PAOK.
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Thu Oct 21 - went the full 90 as they won 3-0 at home over Athen AEK.

THE CARIBBEAN

Digicel Caribbean Cup 2010
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Fri Oct 22
Grenada v St. Kitts & Nevis
-Sun Oct 24
Grenada v Puerto Rico

ENGLAND

The Telegraph with a report on the financial stability at Arsenal.
-They talk to former MLS exec Ivan Gazidis who is CEO of Arsenal.

GERMANY

Leander Schaerlaeckens of ESPN asks the question - Is the Bundesliga the best league in the world?

EUROPE

Yesterday we told you that Galatasaray had fired head coach Frank Rijkaard, and now today he has been replaced by Romanian legend Gheorge Hagi.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Group stage games today - Thu Oct 21 - and there were some really good match-ups. Sampdoria getting beat by Metalist was the only real upset of the day though.

dN

Matches & Scores

dN

Group Standings

dN

The next round will be played on Thu Nov 4.

BRAZIL

Tim Vickery at Sports Illustrated on the great one, Pele, who turns 70 this week. Is he the greatest? He sure thinks so.

4 Comments:

Anonymous wes said...

Wait, wait wait. I will grant you that Bale's hat trick was not the greatest hat trick of all time (one Spurs message board said it was the greatest hat trick in Spurs history, proving that they were 8 years old), but you can't just say it was down to Inter falling asleep. Sure their defending turned to piss, but the angle of the first two goals was pitch perfect. They were hit on the ground with pace from 18 yards out and no one could do anything. The world did not stop, but they were all good goals.
Sorry, had to defend the Welsh Wonder.

7:38 PM  
Anonymous Dan M. said...

while i agree it wasn't the best ever (obviously), a hattrick in the champions league, against the reigning champs, who could be considered the best defensive team in the world is nothing to sneeze at.

COYS!

9:45 PM  
Anonymous kyl said...

Putting the ball in the same corner three times in three shots past one of the best keepers in the world (after running past 3-4 players for two of them) is incredible.
I know where you're coming from, as Maicon wasn't in the picture for a few of them, but he still made Cordoba (one of the fastest Centerbacks around) look like Collocini. To describe his display of stamina, speed and precision as lucky-- is a stretch that many will check you on.

12:08 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

Awesome!

9:03 AM  

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