Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Some News for Tue Nov 30, 2010

STARTERS

In a little pick up game yesterday the Blue & Red team beat the White team 5-0. The players on the White team got angry and aggressive. One of their players was sent home early for trying to hurt people. The Blue & Red team partied til dawn.
-Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Barcelona's destruction of Real Madrid.

dN

Jonathan Spector had the game of his career today scoring 2 goals to lead West Ham over Manchester United in the League Cup quarterfinals. See details below in the Video Clip Of The Day section.

dN

Jermaine Jones has been dropped from the Schalke first team and sent to train with the reserves due to a poor attitude according to his coach. See the details below in the Americans In Europe section.

dN

Monterrey & Santos Laguna will battle it out on Thu (8pm Central) & Sun (6pm Central) for the Mexican Primera Apertura Championship. Who ya got?
-NOTE: Dates & times updated thanks to Efran.

USA WORLD CUP 2022 BID

Like that huge USA game against Ghana at the World Cup this past summer, USA fed President Sunil Gulati has called this bid "A unique opportunity." Will he lead his team to victory where head coach Bob Bradley could not?

dN

Only in a FIFA world could the USA not get the bid! But I strongly feel we will host in 2022!

dN

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated is in Zurich for the vote and feels the USA is the favorite.

dN

Jack Bell of the NY Times talks to Alan Rothenberg about the USA getting the 94 World Cup, and then looks at today.

dN

The Herald Sun of Australia tells us what the USA bid looks like from down under.

BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022

2 days until the rights to host the next 2 World Cups will be awarded.

dN

The announcement of the 2 host countries will be made live Thu Dec 2 at 9am Central on FIFA.com.
-There will also be a live coverage starting at 8:30am Central on Fox Soccer Channel.

dN

Reuters tells us about a report that came out today projecting the profitability of each host nation.
-I don't know what the hell these numbers mean, but most people love stats, so here are some for those of you who dig it:
2018
100% England
91% Spain-Portugal
87% Netherlands-Belgium
86% Russia
2022
100% USA
73% Japan
71% S Korea
70% Qatar
68% Australia

dN

The Age in Australia tries to sift through all the possibilities. Good stuff.

dN

Who are the FIFA World Cup bid voters you ask? There were 24 of them, but with 2 being suspended its down to 22 now:
SUSPENDED-Amos Adamu - Nigeria
-Jacques Anouma - Ivory Coast
-Franz Beckenbauer - Germany
-Sepp Blatter - Switzerland
-Chuck Blazer - United States
-Michel D’Hooghe - Belgium
-Senes Erzik - Turkey
-Mohamed bin Hammam - Qatar
-Julio Humberto Grondona - Argentina
-Issa Hayatou - Cameroon
-Chung Mong Joon - South Korea
-Marios Lefkaritis - Cyprus
-Nicolas Leoz - Paraguay
-Angel María Villar Llona - Spain
-Worawi Makudi - Thailand
-Vitaliy Mutko - Russia
-Junji Ogura - Japan
-Michel Platini - France
-Hany Abou Rida - Egypt
-Rafael Salguero - Guatemala
SUSPENDED-Reynald Temarii - Tahiti
-Ricardo Terra Teixeira - Brazil
-Geoff Thompson - England
-Jack Warner - Trinidad & Tobago

dN

Doesn't it blow your mind to realize that the Greazy Slapper controls enough votes to probably get anyone the World Cup?!?!?

BRAZIL

Only 1 round left in the Campeonato Brazileiro Serie A, and 3 teams can will the title:
68 Fluminense - Next: Sun Dec 5 v Guarani (18th place)
67 Corinthians - Next: Sun Dec 5 at Goias (19th place)
66 Cruzeiro - Next: Sun Dec 5 v Palmeiras (10th place)

The tournament started in 1971: Flum last won this championship in 1984, Corin in 2005 and Cruz in 2003.

STORY OF THE DAY

WARNING: Massive Scum Bag Alert!

Brian Quarstad of IMSoccer exposes Dean Johnson, the man who destroyed 20 years of my beloved Minnesota Thunder in about 18 months, as Johnson tries to buy a new team in Belgium while he still owes people in the Twin Cities over a Million dollars.
-Johnson left his players and employees out to dry, and never even bothered to file for bankruptcy. He just walked away!

VIDEO CLIP OF THE DAY

The game of his career!

Lil Jonny Spector has about as many splinters in his butt from riding the pine at West Ham this season as I have bits of food in my beard, but today in the League Cup quarterfinals he got his chance to start against his youth club Manchester United, they stuck him in the center of midfield, and all he did was score not one but two goals! West Ham won 4-0!
-Brian Straus of Fanhouse with words and video.
-Spector's name & picture will be splashed on newspaper headlines all around the globe tomorrow.
-And his name was a world wide trending topic on Twitter all afternoon here.

I absolutely love seeing players this happy after scoring goals!
















FACT OF THE DAY

When we in the USA look at our teams who play in the CONCACAF Champions League and see them struggle in the league playoffs, we say its because they are tired due to a lack of depth on the squads. But check out South America where the 2 teams playing for the Copa Sudamericana title are both near the bottom of the table in their leagues: Goias of Brazil are in 19th of 20 teams, and Independiente of Argentina are 18th of 20 teams. We don't have it too bad relative to that.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

MLS Youngsters In Spain

MLS has sent a team of their best young players to Spain for 3 friendly matches this week and next.

I can't quite figure this out, but there are only 2 defenders listed on the roster, and only 1 of them is an actual defender.
-Maybe it will give this team's coach Schellas Hyndman a chance to roll out his conceptualized 2-3-5 lineup.

All of these players are currently in or were in the league's Generation Adidas contract program, meaning they were signed for bigger money at a younger age but don't count against the team's salary cap. It's developmental in nature!

The league has provided us with video from their first day on the ground.

Noah Davis for MLSsoccer.com gives us some insight on prodigy Luis Gil.

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 2
MLS youth v Real Madrid Reserves
-Tue Dec 7
MLS youth v Rayo Vallecano Reserves
-Wed Dec 8
MLS youth v Atletico Madrid Reserves

MLS youth roster:
G:
Stefan Frei - Toronto
Sean Johnson - Chicago
D:
Jeremy Hall - Portland
Ike Opara - San Jose
M:
Corben Bone - Chicago
Danny Cruz - Houston
Dilly Duka - Columbus
Luis Gil - Salt Lake
Baggio Husidic - Chicago
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia
Brek Shea - Dallas
Tony Tchani - New York
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York
Tristan Bowen - Los Angeles
Teal Bunbury - Kansas City
Peri Marosevic - Dallas
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia
Danny Mwanga - Philadelphia
Andrew Wiedeman - Dallas

Head coach: Schellas Hyndman - Dallas

CHICAGO FIRE

Guillermo Rivero of Chicago Now reports that centerback Wilman Conde is gone. He has signed with Puebla in Mexico. Damn.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Raps traded for defensive midfielder Joseph Nane from TFC in exchange for a 3rd round Superdraft pick in 2012.

FC DALLAS

The team's 35 year old captain Daniel Hernandez had surgery on the meniscus in the right knee and will be out of action until at least early January.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Kyle McCarthy of MLSsoccer.com does a Q & A with head coach Steve Nicol.
-They do some reflecting and projecting.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Sounders wide-open winger Steve Zakuani is in England training with Everton.

TORONTO FC

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment who owns TFC will be searching for a new corporate President & CEO as their current leader Richard Peddie is set to retire next year.
-Could this mean the days of MLSE making a fortune off the Maple Leafs, Raptors and FC without giving a damn about winning could come to an end?

MLS RUMORS

Centerback Julien Rodriguez of Marseille to KC?

SOCCER IN AMERICA

A student at Penn State University writes an article for the school's newspaper The Daily Collegian that is headlined: Now is a very good time to be a soccer fan.
-While I don't agree with everything in this article I like the spirit of it, and totally agree that its a special time to be a soccer fan in America.

USA U20 TEAM

Noah Davis at MLSsoccer.com does a Q & A with talented striker Omar Salgado, who will be part of the MLS Superdraft in January.

USA U17 TEAM

They will play 3 international friendlies in Phoenix AZ.

The games will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 1
USA v South Korea - 6pm Central on FSC
-Fri Dec 3
USA v Brazil - 6pm Central on FSC
-Sun Dec 5
USA v Turkey - 6pm Central on FSC

dN

A new USA roster has been announced since their trip last month to England for training and friendlies so I can only assume that they are using the same roster:
G:
Kendall McIntosh - Mustang Academy
Fernando Pina - Houston Dynamo
D:
Kellyn Acosta - FC Dallas
Mobi Fehr - Tokyo Verdy 1969
Alessandro Mion - Kendall SC
Nathan Smith - Cal Odyssey
Andrew Souders - Crew Soccer Academy
Danny Zaid - Camp Elite Guatemala
M:
Joe Amon - South Carolina United FC
Alejandro Guido - Aztecs Premier
Nico Melo - Florida Rush
Marc Pelosi - De Anza Force
Esteban Rodriguez - Cosmos Academy West
Tarik Salkicic - Strictly Soccer
Dillon Serna - Colorado Rapids
F:
Daniel Flores - Cal Odyssey
Alex Muyl - Cosmos Academy East
Andrew Oliver - Westside United
Mario Rodriguez - Central Aztecs
Cole Seiler - CESA

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The AP reports that Jermaine Jones has been bounced from the Schalke first team due to poor performance and attitude, and sent to their 4th division reserves team. Oof!
-This is not the first time he has been in trouble for his attitude. That was the reason why the German national team never gave him a real chance.
-This is also a ploy of sheer desperation by coach Felix Magath to get his team's attention. So far this season they are just a team of losers.
-Bundesliga.com looks at 12 reasons Schalke are so wretched.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - League Cup - Quarterfinals
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Wed Dec 1 - went the full 90 in midfield, scoring 2 huges goals as they won 4-0 over Manchester United!

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

ENGLAND - League Cup - Quarterfinals
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Wed Dec 1 at Birmingham
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Wed Dec 1 at Birmingham
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - Wed Dec 1 at Birmingham

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Group Stage - Matchday 5
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - Thu Dec 2 v Dinamo Zagreb
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Wed Dec 1 at Zenit

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

Greg Seltzer at MLSsoccer.com reports that Aarhus wants to sell Benny Feilhaber, and teams are interested.

THE CARIBBEAN

Caribbean Cup 2010 - The final group stage is going on now and then the knock-out rounds through to the Final that will all be played in Fort-de-France, Martinique from Nov 26 - Dec 5.

dN

Jamaica(I1) joined Cuba(H1/2) in the knock out stage.

Trinidad & Tobago is OUT.

dN

6 MLS players saw the field for Jamaica on Monday:
Omar Cummings - Colorado
Shaun Francis - Columbus
Ryan Johnston - San Jose
Lovel Palmer - Houston
Dane Richards - New York
Shavar Thomas - Kansas City

dN

Group H
ADV-6 Cuba (+3)
4 Grenada (+1)
1 Martinique (-1)
OUT-0 Trinidad & Tobago (-3)
Group I
6 Jamaica (+4)
3 Antigua & Barbuda (-1)
1 Guyana (-1)
1 Guadaloupe (-2)

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 26
Trinidad & Tobago 0-2 Cuba
Martinique 1-1 Grenada
-Sat Nov 27
Guyana 1-1 Guadaloupe
Jamaica 3-1 Antigua & Barbuda
-Sun Nov 28
Grenada 1-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Martinique 0-1 Cuba
-Mon Nov 29
Antigua & Barbuda 1-0 Guyana
Guadaloupe 0-2 Jamaica
-Tue Nov 30
Cuba v Grenada
Martinique v Trinidad & Tobago
-Wed Dec 1
Guadaloupe v Antigua & Barbuda
Guyana v Jamaica

ENGLAND

The League Cup Quarterfinals:

Manchester United lost their first game in all competitions this season as they got blown away 4-0 by Premier League doormats West Ham!!

All 3 big teams from Birmingham are still in the tournament!
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 30
Arsenal 2-0 Wigan Athletic
West Ham United 4-0 Manchester United
-Wed Dec 1
Birmingham City v Aston Villa
Ipswich Town v West Bromwich Albion

GERMANY

The Bundesliga will begin its annual 4 week break after the games on Sun Dec 19.

ITALY

The Serie A players have set a new strike date of Dec 11 if a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached. They had set a preliminary strike date back in Sep but that was quashed when the two sides began negotiations, but there has been no movement on a new deal since.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 5 -
The games will be played on Wed Dec 1 & Thu Dec 2.

dN

Matches & Scores

dN

Group Standings

COPA SUDAMERICANA

Final
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 1
Goias v Independiente
-Wed Dec 8
Independiente v Goias

ARGENTINA

Just 3 rounds left in the Primera Apertura. Here are the leaders and who they face next:
36 Estudiantes - Next: Fri Dec 3 v Argentinos Juniors
(4)31 Velez Sarsfield - Next: Tue Nov 30 v Tigre - Next: Sat Dec 4 at Godoy Cruz
28 Arsenal de Sarandi - Next: Wed Dec 1 at Olimpio
27 Godoy Cruz - Next: Sat Dec 4 v Velez Sarsfield
25 Racing Club - Next: Thu Dec 2 v Gimnasia la Plata
25 River Plate - Next: Fri Dec 3 at Colon
25 Newells Old Boys - Next: Sat Dec 4 at San Lorenzo
24 Lanus - Next: Sat Dec 4 v Independiente

dN

Colon & All Boys are now officially out of the running.

ENDERS

And you think your team stinks? How would you like to support Madron FC? Via the Guardian. Thanks DL.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Some News for Mon Nov 29, 2010

STARTERS

Trouble is a brewin'. Just about all of the Americans in the English Premiership are on teams that are in a deep hole, occupying 5 of the last 6 spots in the standings:
20th place - West Ham - Jonathan Spector
19th place - Wolverhampton - Marcus Hahneman
17th place - Fulham - Clint Dempsey & Eddie Johnson
16th place - Everton - Tim Howard
15th place - Aston Villa - Brad Friedel, Brad Guzan & Eric Lichaj.
*Bolton & Stuart Holden is the only one not in trouble, sitting in 6th.

dN

Monterrey & Santos Laguna will battle it out on Wed & Sat for the Mexican Primera Apertura Championship. Who ya got?

BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022

3 days until the rights to host the next 2 World Cups will be awarded.

dN

The announcement of the 2 host countries will be made live Thu Dec 2 at 9am Central on FIFA.com.

dN

Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail smashes the bid of Portugal & Spain, two countries on the verge of bankruptcy.

FIFA SCANDAL

With a rebel yell, he cried "More! More! More!"

And then he yawned cuz he doubted it would make any difference.

dN

German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung uncovers even more FIFA executive bribe taking, this time in the 90's. They name Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and Issa Hayatou of Cameroon as taking some pretty big lumps of money from disastrous marketing company ISL. (In German)

dN

And will the shit will hit the fan tonight in England when a BBC investigative report show goes after FIFA?

Will there be a vote on Thursday?!?!?!?!?!?!

USA WORLD CUP 2022 BID

Jere Longman of the NY Times looks at what the USA could reap by winning this bid.

PODCASTS

The It's Called Soccer crew in Toronto do an audio interview with NASL commissioner Aaron Davidson.
-Enlightening.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

MLS TRADES/PLAYER MOVEMENT ETC

So in the aftermath of last week's Expansion Draft, let's see all the action our two new teams took with their growing rosters (8 of the 20 players were moved on quickly):
Portland
-Dax McCarty and allocation money were sent to DC United for Rodney Wallace and a 4th round pick.
-Anthony Wallace sold back to Colorado Rapids for allocation money.
-Arturo Alvarez traded to Real Salt Lake for a 2nd-round pick in the 2011 MLS Draft.
Vancouver
-Nathan Sturgis was sent to Toronto for superdraft pick
-Sanna Nyassi sent to Colorado Rapids for international player slot
-O'Brian White shipped off to Seattle Sounders for allocation money.
-Alejandro Moreno sold to Chivas USA for allocation money.
-Alan Gordon sold back to Chivas USA for allocation money.

CHICAGO FIRE

Charlie Corr of ESPN Chicago sees the Fire's exit door getting mighty crowded - are Ljungberg & Conde next?
-Collins John and Krzysztof Krol were released last week.

CD CHIVAS USA

Jeffrey King of MLSsoccer.com does a Q & A with the team's current top ranking exec or manager Stephen Hamilton.

DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post reports that Ben Olsen is the new head coach of DCU.
-Can anything DCU pres Kevin Payne says can ever be trusted again after he repeated told anyone who asked that Olsen was NOT a candidate?

dN

Craig Stoufer of the Examiner gives us the view after Olsen's press conference today.
-Olsen was responsible for going out and getting Dax McCarty, who happens to fill a roll the team was pretty vacant on until now.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Metrofanatic has a very nice tribute to a player who scored 62 big goals for the Bulls but is now on his way out the door - Thank You, Juan Pablo Angel.

dN

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer reports that a proposed state of the art training facility for the Red Bulls could be built in the semi-mythical soccer town of Kearny.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Quakers have announced that Geovanni not coming back for next season. He was good for them, but not at that price.
-The team also let contracts expire on Cornell Glen and Eduardo.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province on the team's securing fullback Wes Knight to a MLS contract, one of their prized possessions from 2nd Division soccer.
-The teams also signed their first player from their academy - midfielder Philippe Davies.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

-Sat Nov 27
Newcastle United Jets FC (Australia) 2-1 Los Angeles Galaxy - NJ goals by Sasho Petrovski & Labinot Haliti. LAG goal by Landon Donovan.
Venue: EnergyAustralia Stadium - Newcastle
Attendance: 23,317

MLS RUMORS

Robbie Keane anyone? Any takers? Hmmm, Vancouver, is that you over there? He's available.

dN

Soccer 365 with today's latest rumors involving Pavel Pardo, Julien Rodriguez, Jonathan Spector, Andy Najar, Mike Grella, Jozy Altidore, Tony Donatelli and many more.

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

According to the Atlanta Soccer Blog the NSC Minnesota Stars will play the first game of the new season on April 9 at the Atlanta Silverbacks.

COLLEGE SOCCER

Here is the schedule for the Division I championship tournament:

THIRD ROUND
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 28
Louisville 2-1 Ohio St
Dartmoutyh 1-2 UCLA
SMU 1-0 William & Mary
Michigain St 1-1 North Carolina - NC advances 5-4 in Penalty Kick Shootout.
-------------------------------------------
Akron 2-1 Indiana
Brown 0-2 California
South Carolina 1-3 Michigan
Penn St 0-1 Maryland

dN

A big shout-out to our friend-in-football Keeper Ken of Minneapolis who is an Akron alum, and whose father passed away last week. Ken is in Akron for the funeral and got to see his beloved Zips win on Sunday.

dN

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Dec 3
North Carolina v SMU
Venue: Fetzer Field - Chapell Hill NC
-Sat Dec 4
Louisville v UCLA
Venue: Cardinal Park Stadium - Louisville KY
Akron v California
Venue: Lee R Jackson Field - Akron OH
Maryland v Michigan
Venue: Ludwig Field - College Park MD

dN

Semifinals
-Fri Dec 10
NC/SMU winner v Lou/UCLA winner - 7:30pm or 10pm Central on ESPNU/2
Akr/Cal winner v Mar/Mich winner - 7:30pm or 10pm Central on ESPNU/2
Venue: Harder Stadium - Santa Barbara CA

dN

Final
-Sun Dec 12 - 3pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Harder Stadium - Santa Barbara CA

USA U20 TEAM

The squad was part of the 3 team Torneo de las Americas in Kennesaw GA over Thanksgiving weekend.
-The USA drew with Colombia in Game 1, but lost 3-1 in a Penalty Kick Shootout.
-Then the USA drew with Mexico in Game 3, but lost 4-2 in a Penalty Kick Shootout.

dN

In the game against Mexico, the USA did not use any substitutions. Why would you fly players in from all over the world and not use them in a friendly? OK so maybe they are getting the team ready for World Cup qualifying, but come on, these are youth players we are talking about here. Get 'em on the field Thomas!

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 26
USA 1-1 Colombia - USA goal by Alex Zahavi.
-Sat Nov 27
Colombia ? Mexico - game ended in a tie but no word on score or who won on PKs.
-Sun Nov 28
USA 1-1 Mexico - USA goal by Gale Agbossoumonde.

dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to forward Tristan Bowen.

dN

Roster
G:
Eduardo Fernandez - Real Salt Lake AZ (USA)
Jonathan Kempin - Sporting Kansas City (USA)
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Estoril Praia (Portugal)
Bryan De La Fuente - Chivas USA (USA)
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia (Portugal)
Sebastian Ibeagha - Duke (USA)
Korey Veeder - Crystal Palace Baltimore (USA)
Parker Walsh - Karlsruher SC (Germany)
M:
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham (England)
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union (USA)
Moises Orozco - UANL Tigres (Mexico)
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame (USA)
Conor Shanosky - DC United (USA)
Alex Zahavi - Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Cesar Zamora - Chivas USA (USA)
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls (USA)
Tristan Bowen - Los Angeles Galaxy (USA)
Fuad Ibrahim - Toronto FC (Canada)
Omar Salgado - No Club

USA U17 TEAM

They will play 3 international friendlies in Phoenix AZ this week.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 1
USA v South Korea
-Fri Dec 3
USA v Brazil
-Sun Dec 5
USA v Turkey

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Guardian reports that Marcus Hahneman has been replaced as the #1 in goal at Wolverhampton. (Thanks to Bart of the tip off)
-Does this mean we could see him in a Portland uniform come January?

dN

Stuart Holden did not play for Bolton this weekend due to a thigh muscle strain. No word on the severity.

dN

The Independent has a big feature story on Holden.

dN

Sacha Kljestan & Anderlecht moved into first place in Belgium.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - went the full 90, getting a Yellow Card, as they won 4-1 at home over Charleroi.

DENMARK - Superliga
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the whole game as they drew 1-1 at home against Sonderjyske.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the entire game, grabbing their only goal, and a Yellow Card, as they drew 1-1 at home against Birmingham.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in goal for a 2-4 home loss to Arsenal.
Tim Howard - Everton - in the goal for the whole 1-4 home beatdown from West Brom.
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 73rd minute as they tied 1-1 at home with Birmingham.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - played the full match as they drew 1-1 at Nancy.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
DaMarcus Beasley - Hannover - came on as a sub in the 84th minute of a 3-0 home win over Freiburg.
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - played the full game but lost 4-1 at Dortmund.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance as they beat Freiburg 3-0 at home.
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - started but got a Yellow Card and was subbed out at half time as they lost 5-0 at Kaiserslautern.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - in goal as they rolled 4-0 at home over Rot Weiss Oberhausen.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - went the full 90 as they won 0-2 at Hertha.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - played the full 90 as they won 5-2 at home over Fortuna Sittard.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

ENGLAND - League Cup - Quarterfinals
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Wed Dec 1 at Birmingham
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Wed Dec 1 at Birmingham
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - Wed Dec 1 at Birmingham
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Wed Dec 1 v Manchester United

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Group Stage - Matchday 5
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - Thu Dec 2 v Dinamo Zagreb
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Wed Dec 1 at Zenit

MEXICO

Laguilla (Playoffs)
Semifinal
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Nov 25
UNAM Pumas 0-0 Monterrey
America 1-2 Santos Laguna
2nd Leg
-Sun Nov 28
Monterrey 2-0 UNAM Pumas - Mon advances 2-0 on aggregate.
Santos Laguna 3-3 America - SL advances 5-4 on aggregate.

dN

Final
1st Leg
-Wed Dec 1
Santos Laguna v Monterrey
-Sat Dec 4
Monterrey v Santos Laguna

THE CARIBBEAN

Caribbean Cup 2010 - The final group stage is going on now and then the knock-out rounds through to the Final that will all be played in Fort-de-France, Martinique from Nov 26 - Dec 5.

dN

Trinidad & Tobago is the first team OUT. I would guess they (along with Jamaica) were a favorite coming in. Slappy Jack is probably asking the players to send him money seeing as their will be no bonuses to snap up. And head coach Russell Latapy is not off to a good start.

Cuba has advanced to the knock out stage.

dN

Group H
ADV-6 Cuba (+3)
4 Grenada (+1)
1 Martinique (-1)
OUT-0 Trinidad & Tobago (-3)
Group I
3 Jamaica (+2)
1 Guadaloupe (0)
1 Guyana (0)
0 Antigua & Barbuda (-2)

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 26
Trinidad & Tobago 0-2 Cuba
Martinique 1-1 Grenada
-Sat Nov 27
Guyana 1-1 Guadaloupe
Jamaica 3-1 Antigua & Barbuda
-Sun Nov 28
Grenada 1-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Martinique 0-1 Cuba
-Mon Nov 29
Antigua & Barbuda v Guyana
Guadaloupe v Jamaica
-Tue Nov 30
Cuba v Grenada
Martinique v Trinidad & Tobago
-Wed Dec 1
Guadaloupe v Antigua & Barbuda
Guyana v Jamaica

ENGLAND

du Nord recap: Manchester United & Arsenal won this weekend, moving them up to #1 & #2 respectively while Chelsea tied to fall from the top spot.

dN

The highlight of the European weekend was the sensational 5 goal performance from Dimitar Berbatov of Manchester United!

dN

The Guardian with five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

dN

The League Cup Quarterfinals are this mid-week.
-All 3 big teams from Birmingham are still in the tournament!
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 30
Arsenal v Wigan Athletic
West Ham United v Manchester United
-Wed Dec 1
Birmingham City v Aston Villa
Ipswich Town v West Bromwich Albion

SPAIN

du Nord recap: The biggie is on Monday with Barca hosting Real Madrid, otherwise, Villarreal, Espanyol and Valencia won to remain a distant 3rd, 4th and 5th.

dN

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Real Madrid's already legendary manager Jose Mourinho.

FRANCE

du Nord recap: #2 Brest saw their game postponed due to bad weather, which is bad news for them as Marseille won big leaping them over former #1 Montpellier (now 4th) and are the new top dogs. Lille & PSG stayed right behind but failed to take the top place themselves as they both tied their games. Chokers.

GERMANY

du Nord recap: Dortmund continue to pile it on at #1, winning for the 5th game in a row, while Mainz win to remain second, and don't look now but Bayern win again and move up to 5th. IF they don't finish 1st or 2nd this season I will eat Uli Hoeness's size 14 double E shoe. The other big story is Schalke's lack of ability to get away from the bottom, losing badly again and sitting in 15th place, one above relegation. "Paging Felix Magath. A Mr. Grim Reaper is holding for you on line 2."

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on Hamburg, under-skilled managers, plus the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga.

dN

Koln has shown the door to head coach Michael Meier who was in this 6th season at the team. He insists he was not distracted by talk of making another Halloween movie.

ITALY

du Nord recap: Some much needed luck and quality came Inter's way for a change, they move up to 5th after winning big while #1 Milan tied, #2 Lazio tied, #3 Juventus tied, and #4 Napoli lost!

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Palermo's strong season so far, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

COPA SUDAMERICANA

Goias of Brazil and Independiente of Argentina will meet in the Final.

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 24
Palmeiras 1-2 Goias - Series ends tied 2-2 with Goi advancing on the away goals tie breaker.
-Thu Nov 25
Independiente 2-1 Liga de Quito - Series ends tied 4-4 with Ind advancing on the away goals tie breaker.

dN

Final
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 1
Goias v Independiente
-Wed Dec 8
Independiente v Goias

ARGENTINA

Just 3 rounds left in the Primera Apertura. Here are the leaders and who they face next:
36 Estudiantes - Last: Sun Nov 28 W 1-2 at Independiente - Next: Fri Dec 3 v Argentinos Juniors
(4)31 Velez Sarsfield - Next: Tue Nov 30 v Tigre - Next: Sat Dec 4 at Godoy Cruz
28 Arsenal de Sarandi - Last: Fri Nov 26 W 2-1 v San Lorenzo - Next: Wed Dec 1 at Olimpio
27 Godoy Cruz - Last: Fri Nov 26 W 1-3 at Gimnasia la Plata - Next: Sat Dec 4 v Velez Sarsfield
(4)23 Colon - Next: Mon Nov 29 at Argentinos Juniors - Next: Fri Dec 3 v River Plate
25 Racing Club - Last: Sat Nov 27 W 1-2 at Banfield - Next: Thu Dec 2 v Gimnasia la Plata
22 All Boys - Last: Sat Nov 27 L 2-1 at Quilmes - Next: Thu Dec 2 v Banfield
25 River Plate - Last: Sun Nov 28 W 1-0 v Olimpio - Next: Fri Dec 3 at Colon
25 Newells Old Boys - Last: Sun Nov 28 W 1-0 v Boca Juniors - Next: Sat Dec 4 at San Lorenzo

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I just want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

And please enjoy a long four day weekend like we will.

See ya Monday.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Some News for Wed Nov 24, 2010

OH YEAH COLORADO!


















Huge congratulations goes out to the 2010 MLS Cup winners the Colorado Rapids.

The team was welcomed back to Denver with a real crowd honoring them. The pictures are exciting to look at. Could this be the beginning of something new? The Denver Post gives us an article, a video, and a photo slideshow.

A few things struck me as I watched the video of the teams homecoming in Denver:
-Jeff Larentowicz finally got an MLS Cup after all the losses in New England.
-Pablo Mastroeni got his title after so many years on crappy teams.
-Brian Mullan joined a very tiny list by winning his 5th MLS Cup title. 1 with Los Angeles Galaxy, 1 with San Jose Earthquakes, 2 with Houston Dynamo, and now 1 with his hometown Colorado Rapids! I may be wrong, but I think Jeff Agoss is the only other MLS player to achieve this amazing feat.
-The team had several players that grew up in Denver which is pretty cool
-The roster was full of guys I have never or rarely ever even heard of. They must have the most anonymous roster of all the teams in the league. Weird.
-Its only 2 days later but both Julian Baudet and Anthony Wallace have already been moved on to new teams. (See more details on those moves and many others below.)

And finally I wanna give a big shout-out to 2 friends-in-football who work for the winning team, and live & breathe soccer with the same passion that you and I have - Zach and German, Huge congrats to you guys!

STARTERS

UNAM Pumas v Monterrey, and America v Santos Laguna begin the Mexican Apertura semifinals on Thursday.

MLS EXPANSION DRAFT

The two news teams for the 2011 season got to stock their roster with players from the other 16 teams in the league. Teams could protect a certain amount of players initially, and then only lost 2 in the draft. Here are the players chosen:

dN

PORTLAND TIMBERS
Dax McCarty - Dallas
Eric Brunner - Columbus
Adam Moffat - Columbus
Anthony Wallace - Colorado
David Horst - Salt Lake
Robbie Findley - Salt Lake
Peter Lowry - Chicago
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Jordan Graye - DC
Arturo Alvarez - San Jose

dN

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Sanna Nyassi - Seattle
Atiba Harris - Dallas
Nathan Sturgis - Seattle
Shea Salinas - Philadelphia
Alan Gordon - Chivas USA
O'Brian White - Toronto
Alejandro Moreno - Philadelphia
Joe Cannon - San Jose
Jonathan Leathers - Kansas City
John Thorrington - Chicago

dN

There were some very usable players picked, and some roster filler, but also some bafflers (Bornstein is gone to Mexico, and Findley has said he is looking to Europe), and then some complete stiffs.

BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022

8 days until the rights to host the next 2 World Cups will be awarded.

dN

The announcement of the 2 host countries will be made live Thu Dec 2 at 9am Central on FIFA.com.

USA WORLD CUP 2022 BID

Remember the letter we got a couple weeks back from President Bill Clinton asking us to donate money to help pay for the US bid? Well MLS/SUM got that letter too, and they donated $2 Million.

dN

Speaking of President Clinton.... He signed his name to an editorial at Sports Illustrated.

STORY OF THE DAY

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talked to USA U20 head coach Thomas Rongen who announced that German U17 team captain Fabian Hurzeler (Bayern Munich reserves) is officially switching his national team alliance with FIFA to the USA, and will join the USA U20 team in January. Wow.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 5

dN

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews Tuesdays games.

dN

Tottenham, Inter, Schalke, Manchester United, Valencia, Barcelona, Real Madrid & Milan join Bayern Munich & Chelsea as the first 4 teams who have advanced to the knock out stage.
-10 of the 16 have gone through.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 23
Spartak Moskva 0-3 Marseille - Mar goals by Mathieu Valbuena, Loic Remy & Bandao.
Roma 3-2 Bayern Munich - Rom goals by Marco Borriello, Daniele De Rossi & Francesco Totti. BM goals both by Mario Gomez.
Basel 1-0 CFR Cluj - Bas goal by Federico Almerares.
Chelsea 2-1 Zilina - Che goals by Daniel Sturridge & Flourent Malouda. Zil goal by Issiaka Bello.
Ajax 0-4 Real Madrid - RM goals by Karim Benzema, Alvaro Arbeloa & Cristiano Ronaldo(2).
Auxerre 0-2 Milan - Mil goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Ronaldinho.
Partizan 0-3 Shakhtar Donetsk - SD goals by Taras Stepanenko, Jadson & Eduardo Da Silva.
Braga 2-0 Arsenal - Bra goals both by Matheus Nascimento.
-Wed Nov 24
Rubin Kazan 1-0 Kobenhavn - RK goal by Christian Noboa.
Inter 1-0 Twente - Int goal by Esteban Cambiasso.
Tottenham 3-0 Werder Bremen - Tot goals by Younes Kaboul, Luka Modric & Peter Crouch.
Schalke 3-0 Lyon - Sch goals by Jefferson Farfan & Klaas Jan Hunterlaar(2).
Hapoel Tel Aviv 3-0 Benfica - HTA goals by Eran Zahavi(2) & Douglas.
Rangers 0-1 Manchester United - MU goal by Wayne Rooney(PK).
Valencia 6-1 Bursaspor - Val goals by Juan Mata(PK), Roberto Soldado(2), Aritz Aduriz, Joaquin Rodriguez & Alejandro Dominguez. Bur goal by Pablo Batalla.
Panathinaikos 0-3 Barcelona - Bar goals by Pedro Rodriguez(2) & Lionel Messi.

dN

Group Standings

PREDICTION OF THE DAY

Jaime Moreno will start next season on the roster of the Los Angeles Galaxy.

FACT OF THE DAY

10 teams will make the MLS playoffs next season, up from this years 8. The bottom 4 teams will initially playoff to join the remaining 6.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE DAY

MLS Commissioner Don Garber at half time of MLS Cup talking about the leagues future plans.

WHY?

For those of us in the Western Hemisphere with a job, we got kind of screwed when the Spanish Primera Division decided to move the upcoming Barcelona v Real Madrid game from Sun Nov 28 to Mon Nov 29. Dammit! Set your DVR instead of watching with a big gang of friends.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated is NOT in favor of the new playoff format that MLS is going to put in place.

MLS TRADES/PLAYER MOVEMENT ETC

After taking Dax McCarty with the first pick in the expansion draft, Portland sent him & some cash to DC in exchange for Rodney Wallace and a 4th round Superdraft pick.

dN

Philadelphia bought defensive midfielder Brian Carroll from Columbus. PU sent an unspecified Superdraft pick to the Crew as well.

dN

Portland traded a 3rd round Superdraft pick to New York for midfielder/fullback Jeremy Hall.

dN

Columbus did not renew the contract option on forward Jason Garey.

dN

Colorado sent centerback Julian Baudet and fullback Danny Earls to Seattle in exchange for defensive midfielder Pete Vagenas.
-I would be surprised to see any of those three on the teams opening day rosters.

CHICAGO FIRE

Chicago lost John Thorrington & Peter Lowry in the expansion draft.

CD CHIVAS USA

Chivas USA lost Alan Gordon and the future rights to Jonathan Bornstein in the expansion draft.

COLORADO RAPIDS

On the shot that became the MLS Cup game winning goal Macoumba Kandji tore his left ACL. He will have surgery asap. What a price to pay.

dN

Colorado lost Anthony Wallace in the expansion draft.

COLUMBUS CREW

Columbus lost Eric Brunner & Adam Moffat in the expansion draft.

FC DALLAS

Sean Fitz-Gerald of the Canadian National Post on the left knee of George John that provided the winning margin in MLS Cup.
-His teammates have his back 100%.

dN

Captain Daniel Hernandez will need an MRI to find out if he tore his ACL in the final and need surgery. It was also the 4th time he has played in the final and lost. Damn.

dN

Dallas lost Dax McCarty & Atiba Harris in the expansion draft.

DC UNITED

DC lost Jordan Graye in the expansion draft.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

M. Willis has a very good retort to Graham's critique of the new Kansas City team name etc.
-I love how smart the du Nord readers are.

dN

Kansas City lost Jonathan Leathers in the expansion draft.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Jack Bell of the Times talks to Tim Ream about making his USA debut.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Defensive midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi has become an American citizen. Huge congrats to him.

dN

Philadelphia lost Alejandro Moreno & Shea Salinas in the expansion draft.

REAL SALT LAKE

Noah Davis does a short Q & A with prodigy Luis Gil.

dN

Salt Lake lost Robbie Findley & David Horst in the expansion draft.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

San Jose lost Joe Cannon & Arturo Alvarez in the expansion draft.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Seattle lost Sanna Nyassi & Nathan Sturgis in the expansion draft.

TORONTO FC

While the hardcore Toronto fans may not have boycotted the final, they sure stayed away. And the supporters club members who did attend acted fairly boorish throughout the game, then went home early. On top of that the city seemed almost oblivious that a final was taking place at BMO. The local media pretty much ignored the goings on. The gloss of Toronto being a big time soccer town a little of its shine this past weekend.
-On the other hand, I had a blast all weekend long!

dN

Toronto lost O'Brian White in the expansion draft.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

-Sat Nov 27
Newcastle United Jets FC (Australia) v Los Angeles Galaxy
Venue: EnergyAustralia Stadium - Newcastle

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated conducts a Q & A with commissioner Don Garber.

NASL NEWS

Brian Quarstad of Inside Minnesota Soccer gives us the lowdown on US Soccer giving the NASL the THUMBS UP for a sanctioned second division league in 2011 and going forward.

COLLEGE SOCCER

Here is the schedule for the Division I championship tournament:

THIRD ROUND
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 28
Louisville v Ohio St
Dartmoutyh v UCLA
SMU v William & Mary
Michigain St v North Carolina
-------------------------------------------
Akron v Indiana
Brown v California
South Carolina v Michigan St
Penn St v Maryland

TEAM USA

Here are the official nominees for the Player and Young Player of the Year from US Soccer:

US Soccer Player of the Year Finalists
-Carlos Bocanegra, Defender
-Michael Bradley, Midfielder
-Steve Cherundolo, Defender
-Clint Dempsey, Midfielder
-Landon Donovan, Midfielder

dN

US Soccer Young Player of the Year Finalists
-Gale Agbossoumonde, Defender
-Zac MacMath, Goalkeeper
-Alessandro Mion, Defender
-Dillon Powers, Midfielder
-Andrew Souders, Defender

USA U20 TEAM

The squad will be part of the 3 team Torneo de las Americas in Kennesaw GA over Thanksgiving weekend.

dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Juan Agudelo.

dN

And Sciaretta talks to the highly thought of Sebastian Lletget from West Ham United.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 26
USA v Colombia
-Sat Nov 27
Colombia v Mexico
-Sun Nov 28
USA v Mexico

dN

Roster
G:
Eduardo Fernandez - Real Salt Lake AZ (USA)
Jonathan Kempin - Sporting Kansas City (USA)
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Estoril Praia (Portugal)
Bryan De La Fuente - Chivas USA (USA)
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia (Portugal)
Sebastian Ibeagha - Duke (USA)
Korey Veeder - Crystal Palace Baltimore (USA)
Parker Walsh - Karlsruher SC (Germany)
M:
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham (England)
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union (USA)
Moises Orozco - UANL Tigres (Mexico)
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame (USA)
Conor Shanosky - DC United (USA)
Alex Zahavi - Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Cesar Zamora - Chivas USA (USA)
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls (USA)
Tristan Bowen - Los Angeles Galaxy (USA)
Fuad Ibrahim - Toronto FC (Canada)
Omar Salgado - No Club

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com talks to Clint Dempsey about how tough the job is week after week playing for a middle of the pack Premiership team.

dN

Rob Hughes of the New York Times on the seemingly never-ending sad weird tale of Freddy Adu.

And a couple more updates from our friend Henrik in Denmark:
-Aris doesn't want Adu back.
-"On a side note it is quite amusing to see a Greek club complain that a contract isn't being honored. The term ironic is due I think."

Arch Bell of Yanks Abroad reports on how Freddy Adu did in a reserve match with Randers yesterday. But the team insists he is not getting a try out.

dN

Game Action:

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Group Stage - Matchday 5
Maurice Edu - Rangers - Wed Nov 24 - did not play due to the knee injury as they lost 0-1 at home against Manchester United.
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Wed Nov 24 - started and went 70 strong minutes as they won 3-0 at home over Lyon.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

There are no Americans left in the Apertura playoffs after San Luis and Pachuca were both knocked out in the Quarterfinal round.

dN

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise talks to Jonathan Bornstein about his January move to Tigres.

MEXICO

Laguilla (Playoffs)
Semifinal
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Nov 25
UNAM Pumas v Monterrey
America v Santos Laguna
2nd Leg
-Sun Nov 28
Monterrey v UNAM Pumas (-)
Santos Laguna v America (-)

CANADA

Bruce Constantineau of the Vancouver Sun on the prospects of a real professional league forming in Canada.

THE CARIBBEAN

Caribbean Cup 2010 - There is another group stage and then the knock-out rounds through to the Final that will all be played in Fort-de-France, Martinique from Nov 26 - Dec 5.

dN

Group H
Cuba
Grenada
Martinique
Trinidad & Tobago
Group I
Antigua & Barbuda
Guadaloupe
Guyana
Jamaica

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 26
Trinidad & Tobago v Cuba
Martinique v Grenada
-Sat Nov 27
Guyana v Guadaloupe
Jamaica v Antigua & Barbuda
-Sun Nov 28
Grenada v Trinidad & Tobago
Martinique v Cuba
-Mon Nov 29
Antigua & Barbuda v Guyana
Guadaloupe v Jamaica
-Tue Nov 30
Cuba v Grenada
Martinique v Trinidad & Tobago
-Wed Dec 1
Guadaloupe v Antigua & Barbuda
Guyana v Jamaica

dN

Semifinal
-Fri Dec 3
Winner H v Runner Up I
Winner I v Runner Up H

3rd Place
-Sun Dec 5
Semifinal Losers

Final
-Sun Dec 5
Semifinal Winners

COPA SUDAMERICANA

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 24
Palmeiras v Goias (1-0)
-Thu Nov 25
Independiente v Liga de Quito (2-3)

BRAZIL

Tim Vickery of the BBC with a bag of recent Brazilian football stories that never cease to stop boggling the mind, all in the run up to the 2014 World Cup.

ARGENTINA

Just 4 rounds left in the Primera Apertura. Here are the leaders and who they face next:
33 Estudiantes - Next: Sun Nov 28 at Independiente
31 Velez Sarsfield - Next: Tue Nov 30 v Tigre
25 Arsenal de Sarandi - Next: Fri Nov 26 v San Lorenzo
24 Godoy Cruz - Next: Fri Nov 26 at Gimnasia la Plata
23 Colon - Next: Mon Nov 29 at Argentinos Juniors
22 Racing Club - Next: Sat Nov 27 at Banfield
22 All Boys - Next: Sat Nov 27 at Quilmes
22 River Plate - Next: Sun Nov 28 v Olimpio
22 Newells Old Boys - Next: Sun Nov 28 v Boca Juniors
21 Lanus - Next: Mon Nov 29 at Huracan

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Some News for Tue Nov 23, 2010

STARTERS

Thank you Toronto! We had an incredible time over 4 days. The Social Bar, and the Drake Hotel bar deserve special notice for making us feel so comfortable.

dN

Sporting Kansas City will now & forever be known as the SporKs!

BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022

9 days until the rights to host the next 2 World Cups will be awarded.

dN

The announcement of the 2 host countries will be made live Thu Dec 2 at 9am Central on FIFA.com.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 5

Real Madrid & Milan join Bayern Munich & Chelsea as the first 4 teams who have advanced to the knock out stage.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 23
Spartak Moskva 0-3 Marseille - Mar goals by Mathieu Valbuena, Loic Remy & Bandao.
Roma 3-2 Bayern Munich - Rom goals by Marco Borriello, Daniele De Rossi & Francesco Totti. BM goals both by Mario Gomez.
Basel 1-0 CFR Cluj - Bas goal by Federico Almerares.
Chelsea 2-1 Zilina - Che goals by Daniel Sturridge & Flourent Malouda. Zil goal by Issiaka Bello.
Ajax 0-4 Real Madrid - RM goals by Karim Benzema, Alvaro Arbeloa & Cristiano Ronaldo(2).
Auxerre 0-2 Milan - Mil goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Ronaldinho.
Partizan 0-3 Shakhtar Donetsk - SD goals by Taras Stepanenko, Jadson & Eduardo Da Silva.
Braga 2-0 Arsenal - Bra goals both by Matheus Nascimento.
-Wed Nov 24
Rubin Kazan v Kobenhavn
Inter v Twente
Tottenham v Werder Bremen
Schalke v Lyon
Hapoel Tel Aviv v Benfica
Rangers v Manchester United
Valencia v Bursaspor
Panathinaikos v Barcelona

dN

Group Standings

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

Last weekend, the 2 Minnesota team's play their first ever home games (all games played at Shattuck St Mary's Sports Complex due to weather.)

Matches & Scores:
U15/16
-Sat Nov 20
Minnesota Thunder Academy 2-0 FC Milwaukee - MTA goals by Brandon Welter & Ismaila Jome.
Shattuck-St Mary's 2-2 Sockers FC
-Sun Nov 21
Shattuck-St Mary's 2-1 FC Milwaukee
Minnesota Thunder Academy 1-1 Sockers FC - MTA goal by Adama Keita.
U17/18
-Sat Nov 20
Minnesota Thunder Academy 4-4 FC Milwaukee - MTA goals by Gerald Ben(2), Issac Kannah & Thomas Obarski.
Shattuck-St Mary's 0-2 Sockers FC
-Sun Nov 21
Shattuck-St Mary's 2-3 FC Milwaukee
Minnesota Thunder Academy 1-2 Sockers FC - MTA goal by Thomas Obarski.

COLLEGE SOCCER

Here is the schedule for the Division I championship tournament:

FIRST ROUND
Matches & Scores
-Thu Nov 18
Coll of Charleston 3-2 E Tennessee St
Providence 6-2 St Peter's
Monmouth 0-4 Dartmouth
Sacramento St 2-1 Santa Clara
-------------------------------------------
Creighton 4-1 New Mexico
Princeton 1-2 UMBC
Michigan State 2-0 Oakland
Georgetown 3-0 UNC Greensboro
-------------------------------------------
West Virginia 4-2 Xavier
Tulsa 2-0 Bradley
Brown 2-1 Boston College
UC Santa Barbara 1-0 Denver
-------------------------------------------
Duke 2-1 Coastal Carolina
UCF 3-0 USF
Virginia 0-1 Old Dominion
Pennsylvania 1-0 Bucknell

dN

SECOND ROUND
Matches & Scores:
#1 Louisville 3-1 Coll. of Charleston
#16 Ohio State 2-1 Providence
#9 Notre Dame 1-2 Dartmouth
#8 UCLA 4-1 Sacramento State
-------------------------------------------
#5 SMU 2-2 Creighton - SMU advances in Penalty Kick Shootout
#12 William & Mary 0-0 UMBC - W&M advances in Penalty Kick Shootout
#13 Butler 0-1 Michigan State
#4 North Carolina 0-0 Georgetown - NC advances in Penalty Kick Shootout
-------------------------------------------
#3 Akron 3-2 West Virginia
#14 Indiana 5-1 Tulsa
#11 Connecticut 1-1 Brown - Bro advances in Penalty Kick Shootout
#6 California 2-1 Santa Barbara
-------------------------------------------
#7 South Carolina 1-0 Duke
#10 Michigan 2-1 UCF
#15 Penn State 4-1 Old Dominion
#2 Maryland 4-0 Pennsylvania

dN

THIRD ROUND
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 28
Louisville v Ohio St
Dartmoutyh v UCLA
SMU v William & Mary
Michigain St v North Carolina
-------------------------------------------
Akron v Indiana
Brown v California
South Carolina v Michigan St
Penn St v Maryland

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

Freddy Adu news involving Denmark club Randers from our friend-in-football Henrik (all in Danish):
-Adu is playing for Randers reserves 8AM Eastern. I wonder if the Greeks allowed that?
-Randers admits interest in Adu, but says he lacks physique
-... and here is how he played: full 90, 2 shots on the sidebars, showed good technique
-Randers reject rumors that they are planning to sign Adu

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

There are no Americans left in the Apertura playoffs after San Luis and Pachuca were both knocked out in the Quarterfinal round.

MEXICO

Laguilla (Playoffs)

Quarterfinal
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Nov 17
UNAM Pumas 1-2 Cruz Azul Cementeros
San Luis Gladiadores 0-0 America Aguilas
-Thu Nov 18
Pachuca Tuzos 1-1 Monterrey Rayados
Chiapas Jaguares 1-1 Santos Laguna
2nd Leg
-Sat Nov 20
Cruz Azul 0-2 Pumas - Pum advance 3-2 on aggregate.
America 4-1 San Luis - Ame advance 4-1 on aggregate.
-Sun Nov 21
Monterrey 3-3 Pachuca - series ends tied 4-4. Mon advances due to higher seed tie breaker rule.
Santos 1-0 Jaguares - San advance 2-1 on aggregate.

dN

Semifinal
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Nov 25
UNAM Pumas v Monterrey
America v Santos Laguna
2nd Leg
-Sun Nov 28
Monterrey v UNAM Pumas (-)
Santos Laguna v America (-)

COPA SUDAMERICANA

Semifinal
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Nov 17
Goias (Brazil) 0-1 Palmeiras (Brazil) - Pal goal by Marcos Assuncao.
-Thu Nov 18
Liga de Quito (Ecuador) 3-2 Independiente (Argentina) - LDQ goals by Juan Salgueiro, Miller Bolanos & Neicer Reasco. Ind goals by Nestor Silvera & Lucas Mareque.
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 24
Palmeiras v Goias (1-0)
-Thu Nov 25
Independiente v Liga de Quito (2-3)

Monday, November 22, 2010

Colorado Wins Their 1st MLS Cup

Contributing Editor Graham Fox

Well, the MLS season has finally come to an exciting close with one of those games that rarely happens, a come from behind win. If TV commentators and my half drunk memory of the event are to be believed, this was the 1st time in 50 games that Colorado have won after trailing at half-time.

Of course they had 30 extra minutes in which to get that win, but by hook or by crook, they did.

Casey Conor scrambled home a goal while laying on his ass, and then Kandji forced a cross of George John's thigh to secure the win.

I've seen wildly swinging opinions across the internet today from: "It was a great and exciting game" to "It was a horrible game with boring long balls" to "There was a great atmosphere" to "The TFC supporters staged a massive protest and all left at half time and ruined the cup final."

All I really know is I was entertained. And I'm sad the MLS season has drawn to a close.

Don't look now, but the expansion draft is about to begin.

Post-Game Wrap Up Articles
-Steven Goff over at The Washington Post wraps it up.
- Jeffery Marcus over at the New York Times does the same.
-ESPN has the wrap up + video.
-And of course Soccer by Ives has lots of coverage.
-The Dallas News has local coverage.
-The Denver Post is just a tiiinnnnny bit more upbeat.

Post Game Twitter
You should go through and read both the Colorado Rapids and the FC Dallas twitter feed for plenty of pre, during, and post game tweets and pictures. Colorado Rapids has a hilarious picture of both Colorado and FC Dallas headed home through the same security line.

Tweet of the Cup
Hoover_Dam
"Man, I am hurtin' right now--that is the LAST time I get in a not drinking contest with @dunord. Mofo can sober me under the table."

Friday, November 19, 2010

MLS Cup 2010: FC Dallas vs Colorado Rapids

Contributing Editor Graham Fox

While Bruce is out living it up in Canada with the rest of you MLS fanaticos, I'm still here in good old Kansas City, home of the, ahem, Sporting Kansas City.

MLS Cup 2010 - This is it folks
Who: FC Dallas vs Colorado Rapids
When: 8:30 Eastern / 7:30 Central
Where: Toronto, Canada
Channel: ESPN / Galavision / TSN2
Twitter: #MLSCup

Preview:
I detected that not everyone is as excited about this cup final as they should be, but don't let the pessimistic people get you down. There are a lot of great story lines to follow, and both teams have shown they can play exciting attacking football, none more so than FC Dallas who absolutely thrashed LA without mercy last week.

The storyline I love the most is of the coaches, both of whom have slowly assembled winning teams out of losers.

Colorado Rapids
Take Gary Smith. He suffered for years six months (thanks Jason) as assistant coach to Clavijo, and watched as Colorado lost game and after game and mistreated their fans, before finally getting his big chance.

And he did not let his chances slip away. There have been big changes since he took over, beginning with actual organized practices and a team that no longer leaves players out to dry, organizational changes that have placed more emphasis on the fans, and a gradual crescendo that has built to a rancorous cup final.

Gary has assembled a great team full of likable players. The hard headed target man, Conor Casey. The speedster always terrorizing defenses, Omar Cummings. The diminutive but always going full force Wells Thompson. The bearded keeper who fits right into the Denver atmosphere, Matt Pickens. The stolid defender and only Japanese player in the league, Kosuke Kimura. And don't forget the man with the rockets attached to his boots, the man who saw New England fail time and time again to win an MLS Cup, Jeff Larentowicz. He's been gifted one more chance to win the cup.

FC Dallas
A few states away, Schellas Hyndman and his lucky leather jacket have followed a similar path. FC Dallas were horrible, with a coach that claimed they were rebuilding, but without results to follow. After years of trying, FC Dallas was finally able to coax Hyndman away from the college where he had been coaching for 30 years. Their persistence in pursuing him and faith they had has paid off.

Hyndman has slowly crafted a team that never gives up and fight to the bitter end. Claiming a slew of defensive and offensive records this season, Dallas is winning games with flair and style and slowly bringing the crowds back to Pizza Hut Park.

Hyndman's team includes great personalities. Scorer of great goals, spirit of the team, and MLS MVP, David Fierria. Work horse and terrier mixed into one, Dax McCarty. MLS great, first on and off the field every game and every practice, super-sub Jeff Cunningham. Bruiser and goal scorer, Attiba Harris. Speedy and decisive playmaker, Brek Shay. And don't forgot the man in goal who Henry tried to put out of service. Cast off by Kansas City, he's having one of the best years of his carreer, Kevin Hartman.

It's going to be a great game.

Breaking down a Brand: Sporting Kansas City
As a Kansas City fan, er member, I can't let the name change go without talking about it a little. But instead of giving my knee jerk irrational reaction, I decided to talk to an expert on branding.

Curt Cuscino, Principal & Creative Director at branding specialist House of Tears Design broke it all down in an email.

"Curt, you're a branding expert, what's your take on the Wizards rebrand and new logo?"

Curt Responded:
Great question! I actually spent the first part of my morning yesterday reading and researching the decisions behind this, the reasoning, etc because it is just. that. baffling. I even watched the lengthy "reveal" video that the club's president did in P&L (not something I'd normally care about).

We certainly weren't involved in the rebrand or new logo creation, that's for sure, so no worries - I'm honestly not sure they involved any expert in their process from what I can tell, which is absolutely dumbfounding.

In short, the whole rebrand looks to be an ill-fated, epic fail on sooooo many levels. A brand IS more than a logo for sure, so the decisions' consequences go deeper than that, though that could've been so much more compelling (for all the intellectual reasoning they have behind what's there...which is good to have...it just doesn't work).

The main problems as I see them:
- trying to reinvent the wheel on how sports teams are named. Sporting Kansas City instead of Kansas City Sporting? I could be wrong and haven't done full research on this, but how many sport teams in existence are named this way, i.e. Chiefs Kansas City? With that kind of branding decision, it leads a person to believe there will be other branches, i.e. XYZ Agency (New York) leads you to believe typically there is, or will be, an XYZ Agency (San Francisco), right? But this isn't a company like that, and from what I can tell, this is not at all the plans, as you'd expect with a sports team...as they don't have "branches" other than maybe a farm team (though those are usually named differently too).

- Besides the order of the name, the name itself is of course terrible generica - again, had they brought in a branding expert to help with the naming, it might have turned out very differently. People love having a character which embodies a mentality that THEY can connect to. How do you connect to the concept of "Sporting"? That character can define a massive group of people...a generation even. Just watch ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary on the Raiders (produced by Ice Cube of course).

In the reveal, the president seems to try to reason that its "Sporting" because they're about "more than just soccer", such as "...we're about rugby...", but wait? This IS the soccer team's name right? If this is the name of the complex holding the wizards, a rugby team, AND our underwater basketweaving team, then the entire context changes and this generica umbrella name might actually work...but its not. Its the soccer team's name...and nothing but.

- the logo design itself...everybody has an opinion, and that's fine. One of the main concerns though, aside from stale color choices and what apparently is "S" and "C" which after tons of thought, I could not make sense of (the president reveals that this both means "sporting club" AND is a loose allusion to the medical symbol with the snakes wrapping around the pole...the caduceus...to demonstrate health being important...what?!) - is simply the way it reads. If we're going with this abnormal ordering of "Sporting Kansas City", which is doomed for all kinds of branding dilution with some fans saying KC Sporting, others saying Sporting KC, others saying Kansas City Sporting...the logo reinforces that it is "Kansas City Sporting" (reading top down, like anyone would). So right out of the gate, they've created confusion and inconsistency...further evidence that they probably did this all in-house.

- did I mention it looks strikingly similar to the MLS Eastern Conference mark?

- What do you cheer? "Go Chiefs!" Ok, that's doable. Do we yell "Go Sporting!" or "Go Sports!"? Wouldn't we feel a little silly if we were at a baseball game yelling "Go Baseball!"? When creating a brand name like this that is so huge...used in so many ways, you have to think of every possible usage, and the fans and event environment are most definitely one.

I could go on... but did I answer your question?

Yes Curt, you sure did.

Enders
You can't have Canada without the Trailer Park Boys.


Call Sign
You can always email me at grahamfox@gmail.com or find me on twitter.

Thanks to everyone who followed my live Twitter coverage of the Wizards big surprise reveal. I had a great time covering it, a lot of people followed my feed, and I met a lot of cool people.

See you on Monday.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Some News for Thu Nov 18, 2010

STARTERS

See you in Toronto for MLS Cup!

dN

Vancouver Whitecaps announce the signing of a quality centerback - USA World Cupper Jay DeMerit.
-I doubt there is a single team in the league that wouldn't love to have him.















MLS PLAYOFFS

Current Toronto Forecast:
-Fri - high of 45, low of 37, partly cloudy
-Sat - high of 45, low of 30, partly cloudy
-Sun - high of 45, low of 43, mostly cloudy
-Mon - high of 55, low of 48, showers

dN

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 21
Colorado Rapids v FC Dallas - 7:30pm Central on ESPN.
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON

dN

GENERAL NEWS

Steve Davis gives us the preview of all MLS Cup Final previews. Read it, and commit it to memory. Or commit yourself to a group home.

dN

Rob Hughes of the New York Times chimes in the final, saying the teams are not the glamor names, but they are very good.
-Wow Rob Hughes writing about MLS. Never thought I would see it. Sure he gets a few things wrong, like implying that Dallas is only a team of foreigners with no young American prospects. But it's exciting, to me at least to have a respected European scribe like Hughes writing about our game.

dN

Jeff Bradley of ESPN asks former Metrostars keeper Mike Ammann to rate the two goalkeepers in the final.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN with his preview.

dN

ESPN also gives us 5 reasons to watch the game.
-Like anyone insane enough to be reading this blog needs a reason to be watching.

dN

John Meyer of the Denver Post wonders if the weather in Toronto will play any role in the outcome of the game.
-Nope.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Jennings of Soccer 365 talks to Raps head coach Gary Smiff and centerback Drew Moor.

dN

Its kinda sad how little there is being written about the Rapids.

FC DALLAS

Jonah Freedman of MLSsoccer.com with a nice big article on The Enigma himself, Jeff Cunningham.

dN

Steve Hunt of the Morning News gives credit to FCD assistant coach John Ellinger.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN with an article on one of the keys to this game - Daniel Hernandez.

dN

Jeffrey King of Fanhouse brands Schellas Hyndmann as a mad scientist.

dN

Fox Sports Southwest compares FCD to the Texas Rangers baseball team and their run to the championship just a month ago.

dN

The Dallas Business Journal on the teams charge for the Cup, and corporate dollars.

BIDDING TO HOST WORLD CUP 2018 & 2022

14 days until the rights to host the next 2 World Cups will be awarded.

dN

The announcement of the 2 host countries will be made live Thu Dec 2 at 9am Central on FIFA.com.

FIFA SCANDAL

Two voting members and four other FIFA executives have been suspended from the organization for roles they played in a bribery and World Cup vote rigging scandal. Read the official release from FIFA.

USA WORLD CUP 2022 BID

The House of Representatives passed a resolution today in support of the USA bid to host the World Cup. Here are some details:
House Concurrent Resolution 327 complements the government guarantees submitted earlier to FIFA by:
-Expressing support for the USA Bid Committee’s efforts to bring the 2022 FIFA World Cup to the United States;
-Encouraging the relevant Federal agencies to continue supporting the USA Bid Committee in its efforts to meet all requirements for the United States to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup;
-Affirming that the Congress stands prepared to consider requests by the President for support related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ if the United States is selected to host the event; and,
-Reiterating the many reasons why the United States would be an ideal host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

TEAM USA

The USA won 0-1 in South Africa on Wednesday. The games only goal was a thing of pure beauty as Mix Diskerud danced on the ball just to left of the goalkeeper, then deftly flicked it to the middle for Juan Agudelo who controlled it with his left thigh, and then chipped it over the SA goalkeeper with the outside of his right foot. Gorgeous.

dN

Match & Score:
Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup
-Wed Nov 17
South Africa 0-1 USA - USA goal by Juan Agudelo.
Match report by the Cape Town Times. Very SA-centric as you would expect.
Match report by US Soccer.
Post-game quotes from USA coach & players by US Soccer.
Match report by ESPN.
Match report by Mike Woitalla of Soccer America.
USA player ratings by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
USA player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of ESPN.
USA player ratings by Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com

dN

Every player on the USA roster played except back up keeper Dominic Cervi.

dN

USA Lineup:
Brad Guzan
Eric Lichaj - Clarence Goodson (Gale Agbossoumonde) - Tim Ream (Nat Borchers) - Jonathan Bornstein (Jonathan Spector)
Alejandro Bedoya (Mix Diskerud) - Brian Carroll - Eddie Gaven - Logan Pause - Robbie Rogers (Juan Agudelo)
Robbie Findley (Teal Bunbury)

dN

My key thought: What would it have been like to see a really dynamic player like Geoff Cameron in the midfield instead of the middling talents of Brian Carroll and Logan Pause. I have no idea why those two were on the roster.

dN

The team got to meet South African legend Nelson Mandella today. Pretty cool.

dN

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports goes coo-coo for cocoa puffs over Juan Agudelo.

dN

SA roster.
G:
Moeneeb Josephs - Orlando Pirates
Itumeleng Khune - Kaizer Chiefs
D:
Bevan Fransman - Hapoel Tel Aviv
Siboniso Gaxa - Lierse
Morgan Gould - Supersport
Tsepo Masilela - Maccabi Haifa
Anele Ngcongca - Genk
Keegan Ritchie - Moroka Swallows
Siyabonga Sangweni - Golden Arrows
Siyanda Xulu - Mamelodi Sundowns
M:
Daylon Claasen - Lierse
Kagisho Dikgacoi - Fulham
Andile Jali - Orlando Pirates
Thanduyise Khuboni - Golden Arrows
Reneilwe Letsholonyane - Kaizer Chiefs
Teko Modise - Orlando Pirates
Matthew Pattison - Mamelodi Sundowns
Steven Pienaar - Everton
Siphiwe Tshabalala - Kaizer Chiefs
F:
Kermit Erasmus - Supersport
Sthembiso Ngcobo - Kaizer Chiefs
Bernard Parker - Twente
Davide Somma - Leeds

STORY OF THE DAY

The Washington Post brings us up to date on a frustrated Charlie Davies.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE DAY

Marco Pappa struck the 2010 MLS Goal of the Year.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"At first I thought it didn't go in. I saw it go in but thought it was going to be called off. I was like no, please, please call it a goal. I was like, oh man, I think I just scored and then I ran and blacked out when I was celebrating. They said I pushed them out of the way when I was celebrating but I don't remember that. It's a great feeling."
-Juan Agudelo after scoring his first goal for Team USA.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES COMING UP THIS WEEKEND

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Nov 20
Arsenal v Tottenham - the genuine London derby.
Villarreal v Valencia - #3 v #4
Ajax v PSV - the long run battle of the big clubs.
-Sun Nov 21
Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich - its like a grudge match from 10-15 years ago.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 5 games are next week on Tue Nov 23 and Wed Nov 24.

dN

Two teams have already advanced, Bayern Munich & Chelsea, and several more are poised to follow.

dN

Matches

STAT OF THE DAY

The Kansas City Star has a poll running asking the question: What do you think of the new Sporting Kansas City name?

The results are not pretty:
56% Hate it!
12% Love it!
21% I'm willing to give it a chance
11% I could not possibly care less
Total Votes: 893

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Steve Davis of the Daily Soccer Fix gives us his MLS Best XI.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

COLUMBUS CREW

Michael Arace of the Dispatch continues the cry of hurt that Crew fans are feeling with the release of long time star Frankie Hejduk and the only true difference maker they have ever had Guillermo Barros Schelotto. What do the fans think?
-Its cool to see some big time du Nord readers having their say.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Terez Paylor of the Star with reaction to the team's new name etc etc.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of The Province on the team's signing of Jay DeMerit.

MLS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

The following players will no longer be on the special developmental contracts (Generation Adidas contracts) for next season. Those contracts did not count against the salary cap, but any new contract for those players will.
Eric Avila - FC Dallas
Nico Colaluca - New England Revolution
Roger Espinoza - Sporting Kansas City
Stefan Frei - Toronto FC
Bruno Guarda - FC Dallas
Baggio Husidic - Chicago Fire
Fuad Ibrahim - Toronto FC
Chance Myers - Sporting Kansas City
Alex Nimo - Real Salt Lake
Ciaran O’Brien - Colorado Rapids
Brek Shea - FC Dallas

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

And Coming Up next weekend, the 2 Minnesota team's play their first ever home games at Macalester College (MTA) and Shattuck St Mary's Sports Complex.

Go see these games if you can, and give me a report on what you saw.

Matches & Scores:
U15/16
-Sat Nov 20
Minnesota Thunder Academy v FC Milwaukee - 2pm
Shattuck-St Mary's v Sockers FC - 2:30pm
-Sun Nov 21
Shattuck-St Mary's v FC Milwaukee - 11:30am
Minnesota Thunder Academy v Sockers FC - 2pm
U17/18
-Sat Nov 20
Minnesota Thunder Academy v FC Milwaukee - 12 noon
Shattuck-St Mary's v Sockers FC - 12 noon
-Sun Nov 21
Shattuck-St Mary's v FC Milwaukee - 9am
Minnesota Thunder Academy v Sockers FC - 12 noon

COLLEGE SOCCER

Here is the schedule for the Division I championship tournament:

FIRST ROUND
Matches & Scores
-Thu Nov 18
Coll of Charleston v E Tennessee St
Providence v St Peter's
Monmouth v Dartmouth
Sacramento St v Santa Clara
-------------------------------------------
Creighton v New Mexico
Princeton v UMBC
Michigan State v Oakland
Georgetown v UNC Greensboro
-------------------------------------------
West Virginia v Xavier
Tulsa v Bradley
Brown v Boston College
UC Santa Barbara v Denver
-------------------------------------------
Duke v Coastal Carolina
UCF v USF
Virginia v Old Dominion
Pennsylvania v Bucknell

dN

SECOND ROUND
Matches & Scores:
#1 Louisville v winner Coll. of Charleston/East Tennessee St
#16 Ohio State v winner Providence/St. Peter's
#9 Notre Dame v winner Monmouth/Dartmouth
#8 UCLA v winner Sacramento State/Santa Clara
-------------------------------------------
#5 SMU v winner Creighton/New Mexico
#12 William & Mary v winner Princeton/UMBC
#13 Butler v winner Michigan State/Oakland
#4 North Carolina v winner Georgetown/UNC Greensboro
-------------------------------------------
#3 Akron v winner West Virginia/Xavier
#14 Indiana v winner Tulsa/Bradley
#11 Connecticut v winner Brown/Boston College
#6 California v winner UC Santa Barbara/Denver
-------------------------------------------
#7 South Carolina v winner Duke/Coastal Carolina
#10 Michigan v winner UCF/USF
#15 Penn State v winner Virginia/Old Dominion
#2 Maryland v winner Pennsylvania/Bucknell

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Our name Henrik in Denmark sets us up with two articles (both in Danish) about Freddy Adu. As you know Freddy's contract is still owned by Benfica, who obviously want to sell him for some kind of return on their investment. He has been loaned out to 3 different teams now, Monaco, Benelenses & Aris, and all three have grown tired of him pretty quickly.
-Bold reports that Freddy is in Denmark training with Randers.
-The Bold reports that his Greek team Aris are not happy with this arrangement at all, ignoring that fact that he does not play or even train with their team, and are asking the Greek Federation to step in.

dN

Yanks Abroad introduces us to 19 year old Josh Gatt who is playing for Rheindorf Altach in the Austrian second division.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Games Action: (only those that played are listed)

PRIMERA DIVISION APERTURA LAGUILLA
Edgar Castillo - San Luis - Wed Nov 17 - started and went 89 minutes in a scoreless home draw.

dN

Coming Up:

PRIMERA DIVISION APERTURA LAGUILLA
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - Thu Nov 18 v Monterrey
Jose Torres - Pachuca - Thu Nov 18 v Monterrey
Marco Vidal - Pachuca - Thu Nov 18 v Monterrey

MEXICO

Laguilla (Playoffs)
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Nov 17
UNAM Pumas 1-2 Cruz Azul Cementeros
San Luis Gladiadores 0-0 America Aguilas
-Thu Nov 18
Pachuca Tuzos v Monterrey Rayados
Chiapas Jaguares v Santos Laguna
2nd Leg
-Sat Nov 20
Cruz Azul v Pumas (2-1)
America v San Luis (0-0)
-Sun Nov 21
Monterrey v Pachuca (-)
Santos v Jaguares (-)

CONCACAF

Some International friendly games were played on Wednesday.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 17
South Africa 0-1 USA
Panama 2-0 Honduras
Jamaica 0-0 Costa Rica
Guyana 0-3 Guatemala

UEFA EURO 2012

Two qualifiers this week.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 17
Croatia 3-0 Malta
Finland 8-0 San Marino

dN

Group Standings

Qualifying then takes a big break until Mar 25.

COPA SUDAMERICANA

Palmeiras made the first step toward the final with a big road win.

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Nov 17
Goias (Brazil) 0-1 Palmeiras (Brazil) - Pal goal by Marcos Assuncao.
-Thu Nov 18
Liga de Quito (Ecuador) v Independiente (Argentina)
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 24
Palmeiras v Goias (1-0)
-Thu Nov 25
Independiente v Liga de Quito (-)

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS

Two qualifiers this week.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 17
Botswana 1-0 Tunisia
Togo 0-0 Chad

dN

Group Standings

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 17
Sweden 0-0 Germany
England 1-2 France
Portugal 4-0 Spain
Argentina 1-0 Brazil
Netherlands 1-0 Turkey
South Africa 0-1 USA
Romania 1-1 Italy
Switzerland 2-2 Ukraine
Ireland 1-2 Norway
Austria 1-2 Greece
Poland 3-1 Cote d'Ivoire
Hong Kong 0-7 Paraguay
Denmark 0-0 Czech Republic
Luxembourg 0-0 Algeria
Iraq 1-1 Kuwait
Ecuador 4-1 Venezuela
Panama 2-0 Honduras
N Ireland 1-1 Morocco
Russia 0-2 Belgium
Montenegro 2-0 Azerbaijan
Chile 3-0 Uruguay
Albania 0-0 Macedonia
Slovenia 1-2 Georgia
China 1-0 Latvia
Bulgaria 0-1 Serbia
Senegal 2-1 Gabon
Egypt 3-0 Australia
Hungary 2-0 Lithuania
Israel 3-2 Iceland
Slovakia 2-3 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Oman 0-4 Belarus
Jamaica 0-0 Costa Rica
Mozambique 1-3 Zimbabwe
Colombia 1-1 Peru
Guinea 1-2 Burkina Faso
Guyana 0-3 Guatemala
Malawi 2-1 Rwanda
Libya 1-1 Niger - Lib win 4-1 on Penalty Kick Shoot Out
Saudi Arabia 0-0 Ghana
Mali 3-1 Congo DR
Estonia 1-1 Liechtenstein
Tajikistand 1-0 Afghanistan
Newer Posts Older Posts