Some News for Thu Dec 30, 2010

Hey all! Just a little fill-in work today of items I have collected this week. And Happy New Year to everyone!

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

DDR strikes again! Dwayne DeRosario is always providing dramatic headlines, and this time he has dome it by bolting to Celtic on a try out that was supposedly not even known about by his team Toronto FC or MLS. Wow!
-Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America puts it about as well as can be put.

dN

Freddie Ljungberg is also with Celtic, and has actually signed a deal to play for them.

dN

Columbus has signed 30 year old Chilean right fullback Sebastian Miranda from Union Espanola where he was the team's captain. He is expected to fill the hole left by the departure of Frankie Hejduk.

dN

Now the rumor mill says Juan Carlos Osorio will NOT be the new head coach of Chivas USA!

dN

Long time MLS standout centerback Diego Gutierez has been named technical director of the Philadelphia Union.

dN

Soccer 365 with MLS related rumors on Rodrigo Brasesco, Miguel Lopez, Alex, Marco Matterazi, Adrian Mutu and more.

dN

LATE EDITION: Rumor has it that Paul Mariner is headed to Toronto FC as their new head coach?!?!?!

dN

Scott French of ESPN Los Angeles reports that the LA Galaxy has signed veteran right fullback Frankie Hejduk.

dN

Wayne Rooney's younger brother John has signed a contract with MLS and will be in the SuperDraft.

dN

The first list of young players that MLS has signed to special developmental contracts known as Generation Adidas has been finalized. Here is that list:
-Will Bruin - forward - Indiana
-Corey Hertzog - forward - Penn State
-Perry Kitchen - defensive midfielder - Akron
-Zac MacMath - goalkeeper - Maryland
-Darlington Nagbe - forward - Akron
-Michael Nanchoff - midfielder - Akron
-Omar Salgado - forward - Guadalajara
-Kofi Sarkodie - defender - Akron
-Zarek Valentin - defender - Akron

I am not sure if more names will be added to this list in the next week or so or not.

ENGLAND

The Premier League is one of the very few around the world to play through Christmas and New Years etc, with as astonishing 4 rounds played in just 11 days. Here are some of the marquee games from the Top Four Clubs, and a look at our American players in the Prem.

dN

Standings (as of Thu Dec 30):
38 Man United (18 played)
38 Man City (20 played)
36 Arsenal (19 played)
34 Chelsea (19 played)
- - - - - -
33 Tottenham (19 played)
29 Bolton (20 played)
27 Sunderland (20 played)

dN

At the other end of the table there are on 5 points between 11th place Everton and 20th place West Ham.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 26
Man United 2-0 Sunderland
Newcastle 1-3 Man City
-Mon Dec 27
Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea
-Tue Dec 28
Man City 4-0 Aston Villa
Birmingham 1-1 Man United
-Wed Dec 29
Chelsea 1-0 Bolton
Wigan 2-2 Arsenal
- - - - - -
-Sat Jan 1
West Brom v Man United
Man City v Blackpool
Birmingham v Arsenal
-Sun Jan 2
Chelsea v Aston Villa
-Tue Jan 4
Man United v Stoke
-Wed Jan 5
Arsenal v Man City
Wolverhampton v Chelsea

dN

And here is what our America players are up against during this stretch:
ENGLAND - Premier League

Clint Dempsey - Fulham - Previous: Sun Dec 26 started and played 53 minutes as they lost 1-3 v West Ham - Last: Tue Dec 28 went the full 90 getting a yellow card as they won 0-2 at Stoke - Next: Sat Jan 1 at Tottenham - And Then: Tue Jan 4 v West Brom.
-Currently in 18th place with 19 points from 19 games.

Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Previous: Sun Dec 26 played the full 90 but lost 1-2 v Tottenham - Last: Tue Dec 28 went the distance losing 4-0 at Man City - Next: Sun Jan 2 at Chelsea - And Then: Wed Jan 5 v Sunderland.
-Currently in 15th place with 20 points from 19 games.

Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Previous: Sun Dec 26 on the bench as they lost 1-2 v Tottenham - Last: Tue Dec 28 on the bench as they lost 4-0 at Man City - Next: Sun Jan 2 at Chelsea - And Then: Wed Jan 5 v Sunderland.
-Currently in 15th place with 20 points from 19 games.

Marcus Hahnemann - Previous: Sun Dec 26 on the bench as they lost 1-2 v Wigan - Last: Wed Dec 29 on the bench as they won 0-1 at Liverpool - Wolverhampton - Next: Sat Jan 1 at West Ham - And Then: Wed Jan 5 v Chelsea.
-Currently in 19th place with 18 points from 19 games.

Stuart Holden - Bolton - Previous: Sun Dec 26 went the full 90 and they won 2-0 v West Brom - Last: Wed Dec 29 started and went 82 minutes as they lost 1-0 at Chelsea - Next: Sat Jan 1 at Liverpool - And Then: Wed Jan 5 v Wigan.
-Currently in 6th place with 29 points from 2 games.

Tim Howard - Everton - Previous: Sun Dec 26 postponed v Birmingham - Last: Tue Dec 28 played the entire game as they drew 1-1 at West Ham - Next: Sat Jan 1 at Stoke - And Then: Wed Jan 5 v Tottenham.
-Currently in 11th place with 22 points from 19 games.

Eddie Johnson - Fulham - Previous: Sun Dec 26 came on as a sub in the 53rd minute as they lost 1-3 v West Ham - Last: Tue Dec 28 did not dress as they won 0-2 at Stoke - Next: Sat Jan 1 at Tottenham - And Then: Tue Jan 4 v West Brom.
-Currently in 18th place with 19 points from 19 games.

Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - Previous: Sun Dec 26 played the full 90 but lost 1-2 v Tottenham - Last: Tue Dec 28 played the whole game getting a yellow card and losing 4-0 at Man City - Next: Sun Jan 2 at Chelsea - And Then: Wed Jan 5 v Sunderland.
-Currently in 15th place with 20 points from 19 games.

Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Previous: Sun Dec 26 dressed but did not play as they won 1-3 at Fulham - Last: Tue Dec 28 came on as a sub in the 34th minute as they drew 1-1 v Everton - Next: Sat Jan 1 v Wolverhampton - And Then: Wed Jan 5 at Newcastle.
-Currently in 20th place with 17 points from 20 games.

USA RELATED

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America looks at the new and quickly improving USA U20 team, with players from all over the world joining in.

Noah Davis of MLSsoccer does a Q & A with USA U20 prospect Joseph Gyau of Hoffenheim.

Reports from Scotland say Mo Edu has still not recovered from his knee injury suffered 7 weeks ago.

Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with GolTV commentator Phil Schoen.

CONCACAF

The current Elo World Football Ratings for CONCACAF teams (FIFA rankings in parentheses):
11 Mexico (27)
24 USA (18)
43 Honduras (59)
44 Costa Rica (69)
45 Jamaica (58)
60 Canada (84)
61 Panama (64)
84 Guadeloupe (-)
88 Cuba (62)
90 Trinidad & Tobago (89)
95 El Salvador (117)
99 Guatemala (118)
105 Haiti (90)
133 Guyana (109)
134 Grenada (94)
143 Antigua and Barbuda (106)
144 Suriname (115)
144 Barbados (131)
159 Bermuda (175)
163 St Vincent & the Grenadines (142)
164 St Kitts & Nevis (121)
175 Dominica (129)
176 Nicaragua (158)
178 St Lucia (181)
178 Dominican Republic (168)
180 Belize (172)
185 Puerto Rico (133)
189 Cayman Islands (157)
196 Aruba (199)
201 Bahamas (194)
206 British Virgin Islands (176)
215 Turks & Caicos (187)
216 US Virgin Islands (200)
221 Anguilla (203)
222 Montserrat (203)
-/173/177 Netherlands Antilles(151)/Curacao(-)/Sint Maarten(-)

NOTE from Wikipedia: The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved on 10 October 2010, resulting in two new constituent countries, Curacao and Sint Maarten, with the other islands joining the Netherlands as "special municipalities", officially public bodies, and sometimes now unofficially referred to as the Netherlands Antilles.

MEXICO

Mexico's 2011 Primera Clausura season kicks off next week on Thu Jan 6 with Necaxa hosting Chiapas Jaguares.

dN

Here are the full schedule for opening weekend.
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jan 6
Necaxa v Chiapas Jaguares
-Fri Jan 7
Cruz Azul v Estudiantes Tecos
Queretaro v UANL Tigres
Monterrey v San Luis
-Sat Jan 8
Santos Laguna v Atlante
Atlas v Morelia
-Sun Jan 9
Toluca v UNAM Pumas
Puebla v Guadalajara

dN

America & Pachuca are off the first weekend. Then they open round 2 against each other at Estadio Azteca.

INTERNATIONAL

Marcelo Bielsa is back in charge of Chile, the team he led to a very good World Cup last summer. He had quit the team after Jorge Segovia has been elected the new federation president. But Segovia was recently ousted due to a illegal voting, and a new regime has been installed, returning Bielsa to the coaches job.

dN

The Asian Cup begins on Fri Jan 7 with 16 teams in 4 groups. The first game pits hosts Qatar v Uzbekistan.
-I must say that Group A might be the weakest group I have ever seen in modern confederation championships: China, Kuwait, Qatar & Uzbekistan. These teams are currently ranked 87, 102, 114 & 109 by FIFA.

dN

New head coach Leonardo gets to work at Inter.
-Here is a picture of technical director Marco Branca, new head coach Leonardo and president Mossimo Moratti.














ENDERS

Something a little different for ya:
Paco de Lucia Shreds video by the brilliant St Sanders.

Some Words for Fri Dec 24, 2010

Hey all, Bruce here.

I am gonna close up shop for a little while during the holidays. Take a siesta or two.

But as the news breaks over the next week I will return to provide what coverage I can.

Until then, Happy Holidays to everyone out there.

Bruce McGuire - du Nord futbol

Some News for Thu Dec 23, 2010

STARTERS

It's always official when its on the team's own website - Inter Milan and head coach Rafael Benitez are now divorced.

dN

Robbie Findley of Real Salt Lake has signed with Nottingham Forest in the English second division. He still needs to acquire a work permit, which can be tricky.
-An announcement from the team's web site.
-Comments from the head coach.

dN

The rumor is rampant that Chivas USA will name Juan Carlos Osorio as their new head coach! Wow. Just wow!
-Scott French at ESPN with a report on that rumor.
-Does this mean that Toronto will turn to Fernando Clavijo to run their team? It's the same kind of logic.

ENGLAND

The Premier League is one of the very few around the world to play through Christmas and New Years etc, with as astonishing 4 rounds played in just 11 days. Here are some of the marquee games from the Top Four Clubs to see.

dN

Standings:
34 Man United
32 Arsenal
32 Man City
31 Chelsea
- - - - - -
27 Tottenham
27 Sunderland
26 Bolton

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 26
Man United v Sunderland
Newcastle v Man City
-Mon Dec 27
Arsenal v Chelsea
-Tue Dec 28
Man City v Aston Villa
Birmingham v Man United
-Wed Dec 29
Chelsea v Bolton
Wigan v Arsenal
-Sat Jan 1
West Brom v Man United
Man City v Blackpool
Birmingham v Arsenal
-Sun Jan 2
Chelsea v Aston Villa
-Tue Jan 4
Man United v Stoke
-Wed Jan 5
Arsenal v Man City
Wolverhampton v Chelsea

dN

And here is what our America players are up against during this stretch:
ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - Sun Dec 26 v West Ham - and then - Tue Dec 28 at Stoke
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Sun Dec 26 v Tottenham - and then - Tue Dec 28 at Man City
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Sun Dec 26 v Tottenham - and then - Tue Dec 28 at Man City
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - Sun Dec 26 v Wigan - and then - Tue Dec 28 at Liverpool
Stuart Holden - Bolton - Sun Dec 26 V West Brom - and then - Wed Dec 29 at Chelsea
Tim Howard - Everton - Sun Dec 26 v Birmingham - and then - Tue Dec 28 at West Ham
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - Sun Dec 26 v West Ham - and then - Tue Dec 28 at Stoke
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - Sun Dec 26 v Tottenham - and then - Tue Dec 28 at Man City
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Sun Dec 26 at Fulham - and then - Tue Dec 28 v Everton

FACT OF THE DAY

Barcelona has announced plans to play preseason matches in the USA again next summer, but will not battle any MLS teams.
-Sat Jul 30
Barcelona v Manchester United - in Washington DC
-Wed Aug 3
Barcelona v Milan - in Miami
-Sat Aug 6
Barcelona v America - in Dallas

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Jimmy Conrad has signed a contract with Chivas USA.

dN

New England has signed centerback Ryan Cochrane

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Sky Sports reports that Aston Villa are leaving future plans up to Brad Friedel on whether or not he stays with the team.
-It also says that if he decides to leave that they will have to go looking for a new #1 keeper - What about Guzan? He has sat there for 3 years.....

Some News for Wed Dec 22, 2010

STARTERS

Update on the job status of Inter Milan manager Rafael Benitez. Yesterday reputible sources claimed he was fired from his job, but as of now that has not officially happened. No one is saying much at this point, but it is known that Inter exec's and Benitez's lawyer met today, and will meet again tomorrow. The situation has been described by Inter owner Massimo Moratti as "a mess."
-My guess is that some people have turned down the job, including Luciano Spalletti, and that Benitez is holding out for an even bigger payout to leave.
-The team is on holiday break and will not play again until Thu Jan 6 when they host surprise 2nd place Napoli.

dN

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian gives us a look back at the year 2010 by way of on field tactical innovations.

STORY OF THE DAY

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune calls Andres Iniesta of Barcelona & Spain a once in a lifetime player.

ENGLAND

The Premier League is one of the very few around the world to play through Christmas and New Years etc, with as astonishing 4 rounds played in just 11 days. Here are some of the marquee games from the Top Four Clubs to see.

dN

Standings:
34 Man United
32 Arsenal
32 Man City
31 Chelsea
- - - - - -
27 Tottenham
27 Sunderland
26 Bolton

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 26
Man United v Sunderland
Newcastle v Man City
-Mon Dec 27
Arsenal v Chelsea
-Tue Dec 28
Man City v Aston Villa
Birmingham v Man United
-Wed Dec 29
Chelsea v Bolton
Wigan v Arsenal
-Sat Jan 1
West Brom v Man United
Man City v Blackpool
Birmingham v Arsenal
-Sun Jan 2
Chelsea v Aston Villa
-Tue Jan 4
Man United v Stoke
-Wed Jan 5
Arsenal v Man City
Wolverhampton v Chelsea

dN

Arsenal clearly has the toughest path with games again 2 of the other 3 in the stretch.

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

@GrantWahl - Ronaldinho appears headed to Gremio, not Los Angeles.

PODCASTS

I had the privilege of being a guest last night in the latest edition of Daniel Feuerstein's weekly show Feuerstein's Fire. We talk a whole bunch of MLS & USA. Download or listen here.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch reports that the Crew are having a hard time trying to sign two players they recently required the rights to - Jeff Cunningham and Aaron Hohlbein.

FC DALLAS

FCD has signed their star player David Ferreira to a new multiyear contract. Wooooo hooooooo.

Brian Straus of Fanhouse on Ferreira's new deal.

Why doesn't Ferreira have a nickname?

DC UNITED

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America talks to new assistant coach Pat Onstad about what he sees at his new team.

dN

The team announced that they have sign prodigy Andy Najar to a new multiyear contract.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

The team has signed 15 year old Zach Pfeffer from their academy. He is an attacking midfielder.

Kerith Gariel of the Daily News on the signing of Pfeffer.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Kip Kesgard of the Oregonian with lots of team news, including a map showing which sections of the stadium are ALREADY sold out for next season, and his Holiday wishes. (click image to enlarge)




















MLS RUMORS

David Suazo to Houston? That will work out about as good as Luis Landin to Houston.

dN

The Red Bulls have supposedly offered a contract to their long time academy prospect Matt Kassel.

dN

Soccer 365 with their roundup of the latest batch of rumors.

dN

Nicolas Anelka is having his name tossed around as someone who wants to play in MLS. This according to his brother Claude. Yes, that rhymes with fraud.

USA U20 TEAM

The team will hold another training camp in early January as they get closer and closer to World Cup qualifying next year. The camp will run Jan 2-13 in Ft Lauderdale FL.

dN

Here is the roster:
G:
Cody Cropper - Ipswich
Zac MacMath - Maryland
Brian Sylvestre - Vancouver Whitecaps
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Estoril Praia
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia
Moises Hernandez - FC Dallas
Sacir Hot - Boston College
Sebastian Ibeagha - Duke
Perry Kitchen - Akron
Zarek Valentin - Akron
Korey Veeder - No team
Ethan White - DC United
M:
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Fabian Huerzeler - Bayern Munich
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb
Moises Orozco - UANL Tigres
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Conor Shanosky - DC United
Alex Zahavi - Maccabi Haifa
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Conor Doyle - Derby County
Omar Salgado - No team
Bobby Wood - 1860 Munich

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Liverpool Echo on Everton's reaction to Landon Donovan turning down a loan deal for this season. And there is a mention of interest in other American players.

dN

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America reports that Charlie Davies will NOT be in the 18 today, and is resisting going out on loan for the spring.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - Wed Dec 22 - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Caen.

GERMANY - DFB Podal Round of 16
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - Wed Dec 22 - played the whole game but they lost 5-3 in a Penalty Kick Shootout after the game ended 1-1 at Alemania Achen.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - Wed Dec 22 - in goal as usual and they won 1-2 at Koln.

ENGLAND

David Bernstein has been unanimously approved as they chairman of the Football Association.

dN

The Guardian gives us the Worst XI for the first half of this Premiership season.

SPAIN

Copa Del Rey Round of 32
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Dec 22
Almeria 4-3 Mallorca
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Espanyol
Real Betis 1-2 Getafe
Sevilla 5-3 Malaga
Real Madrid 8-0 Levante

GERMANY

DFB Pokal Round of 16
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 22
Wolfsburg 1-3 Energie Cottbus
Koln 1-2 Duisburg
Stuttgart 3-6 Bayern Munchen
Alemannia Aachen 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt - AA advances 5-3 in a Penalty Kick Shootout

ENDERS

Landon Donovan appears on the cover of the new issue of Outside magazine. And there is an article too (with video), nothing us soccer geeks don't already know. Its great to see him getting credit outside our world. Thanks to Beau Dure for the link.

Some News for Tue Dec 21 2010

STARTERS

Landon Donovan has officially announced that he will not be playing anywhere this offseason. He is currently resting and will begin training in January for the LA Galaxy 2011 season.

dN

Has anyone else noticed that the Los Angeles Galaxy are officially named LA Galaxy. All their official press releases come that way, and so does the web site. No Los Angeles to be found anywhere. Interesting.

dN

Inter Milan has fired head coach Rafa Benitez after just 1/2 a season. He was the wrong man for the job from the very start.
-The rumor is that last seasons Milan manager (one mediocre season) Leonardo will get the job.













HOLD YER HORSES MR.! There is no verification that Benitez has been fired. Sky Sports and the Guardian both published headline stories saying he was released, but the team says there has been no such firing. Mass confusion reigns. Stay tuned.

STORY OF THE DAY

Readers of the Guardian have given the highest ratings in the first half of the Premier League season to Stuart Holden! Yes, our Stu Holden! Wow.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I would have to give myself an 11."
-Jose Mourinho assessing his coaching abilities in 2010.

STAT OF THE DAY

Top Goal Scorers In Europes Biggest Leagues:
17 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
17 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
14 Theofanis Gekas - Eintracht Frankfurt
13 Papiss Demba Cisse - Freiburg
13 Hulk - Porto
13 Nene - Paris St Germain
13 Moussa Sow - Lille
13 Bjorn Vleminckx - NEC

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Steve Davis at the Daily Soccer Fix recently returned from a soccer trip to England and tells us all about it in three installments.
-Part 1
-Part 2
-Part 3

PODCASTS

Brian Balboa and the Orange Slice crew talk to our friend-in-football Ben Hooper of The Bumpy Pitch and The Original Winger.

WHY?

Why do teams all over the world insist on making statements like: "Player X is not for sale." And then the media writes the story saying "Team Y says Player X is not for sale." Of course the player is for sale. Every players is always for sale, It just depends on if the price is right or not. So the next time you see one of those worthless articles, please don't click on it, that way they will go away much faster. And writers and editors, please stop wasting your and our time. Thanks.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

There we a couple of roster moves that we missed at the end of last week:
-Hunter Freeman has left Start in Norway and signed with the Houston Dynamo. Great move, as they need serious help at fullback for 2011. (thanks to everyone for the corrections, lazy editing on my part, naturally)
-Portland shipped goalkeeper Steve Cronin to DC in exchange for goalkeeper Troy Perkins. Perk needed some new scenery.

CD CHIVAS USA

Scott French of ESPN Los Angeles reports that young Guadalajara goalkeeper Sergio Arias looks to be headed north the Amerigoats.

DC UNITED

Pat Onstad has been hired as the team's new goalkeeping coach. See details in Houston Dynamo section.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Jose Ortiz of the Chronicle reports that Dyno goalkeeper Pat Onstad has officially retired from playing, and will become the goalkeeping coach at DC United.

dN

Steve Campbell of the Chronicle looks at the new faces on the Dyno roster.
-I see new names, but not nearly enough new talent.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Pete Grathoff of the Star does a Q & A with new signing Luke Sassano.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger sees the Bulls having a very busy offseason if they want to move up in the league.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian on the hot selling new Timbs jersey, and the story behind the design.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

The coming season will officially be the last one for goalkeeper Kasey Keller. He recently signed a new one year contract, and then announced that he would retire when the season ends.

TORONTO FC

Paul Attfield of the Globe & Mail on opening weekend which will see TFC traveling to long time Canadian rival city Vancouver. Should be a great atmosphere.

MLS RUMORS

Is Robbie Findley headed to Nottingham Forest in the English second tier?

dN

Soccer 365 with the latest rumors involving Robbie Findley, Jonas Sandqvist, Nicklas Anelka, Marco Flores, Juan Aurich and more.

TEAM USA

Annual January training camp for players who are out of season.
-Begins Tue Jan 4
-Ends Sat Jan 22

dN

Match & Score:
-Sat Jan 22
USA v Chile
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA

dN

Roster
G:
Dominic Cervi - Celtic
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire
Matt Pickens - Colorado Rapids
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
D:
A.J. DeLaGarza - Los Angeles Galaxy
Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy
Omar Gonzalez - Los Angeles Galaxy
Ugo Ihemelu - FC Dallas
Zach Loyd - FC Dallas
Ryan Miller - Halmstads
Tim Ream - New York Red Bulls
Anthony Wallace - Colorado Rapids
Marvell Wynne - Colorado Rapids
M:
Eric Alexander - FC Dallas
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro
Sam Cronin - San Jose Earthquakes
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Jeff Larentowicz - Colorado Rapids
Dax McCarty - DC United
Brek Shea - FC Dallas
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Justin Braun - Chivas USA
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes

dN

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated speculated on 10 of those players being selected, and why they should be in camp.

dN

30 more players that I thought could have been on that list:
-Kevin Alston
-Eric Avila
-Tony Beltran
-Eric Brunner
-Geoff Cameron
-Mike Chabala
-Bobby Convey
-Hunter Freeman
-Eddie Gaven
-Michael Harrington
-Jason Hernandez
-William Hesmer
-Patrick Ianni
-Di Vita Jensen
-George John
-Nick LaBrocca
-Brandon McDonald
-Drew Moor
-Kyle Nakazawa
-Ike Opara
-Michael Orozco Fiscal
-Michael Parkhurst
-Chris Pontius
-Robbie Rogers
-Yevgeni Starikov
-Michael Stephens
-Nate Sturgis
-Tim Ward
-Sheanon Williams
-Sal Zizzo

USA U20 TEAM

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Zarek Valentin who just finished another training camp with the team, only days after winning the College Cup with Akron.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - Premier League
Tim Howard - Everton - Mon Dec 20 - went the full 90 as usual and they won 1-2 at Manchester City.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - Mon Dec 20 - played the whole match but got beat 3-1 at Union Berlin.

GERMANY - DFB Podal Round of 16
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - Tue Dec 21 - went the full 90 but lost 2-0 at Hoffenheim.

SPAIN - Copa Del Rey Round of 32 1st Leg
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - Tue Dec 21 - came on as a sub in the 72nd minute but the game ended scoreless at Valencia.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - Wed Dec 22 at Caen
Charlie Davies - Sochaux - Wed Dec 22 at Monaco

GERMANY - DFB Podal Round of 16
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - Wed Dec 22 at Alemania Achen
David Yelldell - Duisburg - Wed Dec 22 at Koln

ENGLAND

Jonathan Wilson at Sports Illustrated sees player agents as wielding more power than ever before.

dN

David Conn of the Guardian sees a powerful agent behind moves at Blackburn.

SPAIN

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Real Madrid & Spain keeper Iker Casillas.

dN

Copa Del Rey Round of 32
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Dec 21
Barcelona 0-0 Athletic Bilbao
Cordoba 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna
Valencia 0-0 Villarreal
-Wed Dec 22
Almeria v Mallorca
Atletico Madrid v Espanyol
Real Betis v Getafe
Sevilla v Malaga
Real Madrid v Levante

GERMANY

DFB Pokal Round of 16
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Dec 21
Koblenz - Kaiserslautern - postponed due to weather conditions
Augsburg 0-1 Schalke
Hoffenheim 2-0 Monchengladbach
-Wed Dec 22
Wolfsburg v Energie Cottbus
Koln v Duisburg
Stuttgart v Bayern Munchen
Alemannia Aachen v Eintracht Frankfurt

ITALY

Brian Glanville for the Guardian with an obituary on the head coach of Italy's 1982 World Cup winning team - Enzo Bearzot.

dN

Milan has told the press that they are going to announce the signing of ultra-talented and ultra-insane striker Antonio Cassano.
-If there was any chance he could keep his act together he would add a great deal to that team's already strong attack.

SOUTH AMERICA

Tim Vickery of the BBC tells us the story of San Martin who just won their 3rd Peruvian championship in just 7 years of existence.

AFRICA

Jeffrey Marcus of the NY Times on the continent's player of the year Samuel Eto'o.

ENDERS

New York Cosmos now have a shirt to go with their team name. But still no team. I guess their two youth academy's can wear that shirts right?

USA Roster for Annual January Camp

The annual training camp for potential USA national team players that are out of season in winter begins on Tue Jan 4 at the Home Depot Center training facility and ends with a game on Sat Jan 22 v Chile at the HDC Stadium.

Roster
G:
Dominic Cervi - Celtic
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire
Matt Pickens - Colorado Rapids
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
D:
A.J. DeLaGarza - Los Angeles Galaxy
Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy
Omar Gonzalez - Los Angeles Galaxy
Ugo Ihemelu - FC Dallas
Zach Loyd - FC Dallas
Ryan Miller - Halmstads
Tim Ream - New York Red Bulls
Anthony Wallace - Colorado Rapids
Marvell Wynne - Colorado Rapids
M:
Eric Alexander - FC Dallas
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro
Sam Cronin - San Jose Earthquakes
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Jeff Larentowicz - Colorado Rapids
Dax McCarty - DC United
Brek Shea - FC Dallas
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Justin Braun - Chivas USA
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes


So who did not make this list that should have?

Some News for Mon Dec 20, 2010

STARTERS

Whoa. Sports Business Journal reports that MLS is asking Fox Soccer Channel to pay $20 Million per season for broadcast rights.
-The current deal is worth $3 Million per season.

dN

Alajuelense has won the Costa Rica championship. Big victory high five and congrats to them!

dN

Comunicaciones won the Guatamalan title. Congratulations to them and their fans!

dN

Once Caldas and head coach Juan Carlos Osorio have won the Colombian Primera A championship. Huge congrats to them.

FACT OF THE DAY

US Soccer has named Landon Donovan as the Player of the Year.

dN

US Soccer has named Gale Agbossoumonde as the Young Player of the Year.

MLS FIRST KICK

The first round of home games for each team for next season have been announced:

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 15
Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Galaxy
-Sat Mar 19
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Toronto FC
DC United v Columbus Crew
New York Red Bulls v Seattle Sounders FC
FC Dallas v Chicago Fire SC
Houston Dynamo v Philadelphia Union
Colorado Rapids v Portland Timbers
CD Chivas USA v Sporting Kansas City
San Jose Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake
-Sun Mar 20
Los Angeles Galaxy v New England Revolution
-Sat Mar 26
Chicago Fire SC v Sporting Kansas City
Columbus Crew v New York Red Bulls
Philadelphia Union v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Toronto FC v Portland Timbers
New England Revolution v DC United
Real Salt Lake v LA Galaxy
-Thu Apr 14
Portland Timbers v Chicago Fire SC
-Thu Jun 9
Sporting Kansas City v Chicago Fire SC

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP

The Final in the United Arab Emirates - The club champion from each of the 6 federations (plus the host) faced off for the world title.

dN

Inter Milan finished off 2010 in style with an easy win and another trophy.

dN

Final
-Sat Dec 18
Inter Milan 3-0 TP Mazembe - IM goals by Goran Pandev, Samuel Eto'o & Jonathan Biabiany.

STORY OF THE DAY

The New York Times reports on the wedding of my friend-in-football Amos Magee, long time great for the Minnesota Thunder and current assistant coach of the Portland Timbers. (thanks to Tom for this link)

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES COMING UP THIS WEEKEND

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Dec 18
Milan 0-1 Roma - Milan had a chance to gain a 6 point lead, but choked it away to a team who as beaten them 3 of the last 4 times they have played in Milan.
Espanyol 1-5 Barcelona - A miracle happened in the Barcelona derby - Espanyol scored a goal! It's the first goal Barca has given up in 7 games, but their winning margin is still 31-1 in those games. Oh, and Messi didn't even score!
-Sun Dec 19
POSTPONED - Chelsea v Manchester United - the battle for dominance
Marseille 1-1 Lyon - the two powerhouses of the past decade in France battled it out, but are still stuck behind the surprise leaders.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

The Daily Observer in Gambia with an article on Futty Danso of Portland and the 6(5) other Gambian players currently on MLS team rosters. (thanks to Bart for this one)
-They have the most players of any country in Africa.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Kasey Keller has signed a new deal to play for the team another season.

dN

The Sounders announced that they have signed Erik Friberg, a 24 year old central midfielder from Hacken in Sweden.
-I assume he will take over the role Nate Sturgis played last season.

USA U20 TEAM

The team is in Florida Dec 12-19 for a training camp. They will play 2 friendlies against Canada.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 16
USA 2-0 Canada - USA goals by Soony Saad & Jack McInerney.
Match report from US Soccer.
-Sat Dec 18
USA 5-0 Canada - USA goals by Joseph Gyau(2) & Josh Gatt(3).
Match report from US Soccer.

dN

With a keen foreshadowing Noah Davis at MLSsoccer.com talked to both Gyau & Gatt on Friday.

dN

Roster:
G:
Zac MacMath - Maryland
Kevin Piedrahita - America de Cali
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Estoril Praia
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Perry Kitchen - Akron
Eric Schoenle - West Virginia
Ben Sweat - South Florida
Zarek Valentin - Akron
Korey Veeder - Unattached
M:
Steven Evans - Portland
Joshua Gatt - Rheindorf Altach
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Conor Shanosky - DC United
F:
Conor Doyle - Derby County
Dylan Mares - Louisville
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Adrian Ruelas - Celtic
Soony Saad - Michigan
Omar Salgado - Unattached

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Charlie Davies was on the subs bench this week for Sochaux. This is big news even though he did not play.

dN

Rico Clark made his first start of the season for Eintrachu Frankfurt, and all they did was knock off the league leaders Borussia Dortmund. Huge for Clark!

dN

Things are piling up even worse for Jermaine Jones as they won yet another game since he has been sent to the reserve team. The first team has not lost since he was demoted.

dN

Mo Edu and Rangers had their Scottish Premier League game postponed due to bad weather.

dN

After a year away from the field in Munich, due to a loan and and injury, Kenny Cooper returned in a 29 minute substitute performance for 1860.

dN

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - went the distance as they won 0-2 at Club Brugge.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - game postponed due to weather
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - game postponed due to weather
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - game postponed due to weather
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - game postponed due to weather
Stuart Holden - Bolton - went the full 90 and got a yellow card as they lost 1-0 at Sunderland.
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - game postponed due to weather
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - game postponed due to weather
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - started but was subbed off in the 57th minute as they went to Blackburn and got a 1-1 tie.

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Carlisle United - game postponed due to weather
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - game postponed due to weather
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - game postponed due to weather

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - played the whole match as they won at home 2-0 over Arles.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - started but came out after 78 minutes of a 1-2 home loss against Hamburg.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the full 90 but it was rough as he was responsible for an own goal and a yellow card as they lost 3-1 at Nurnberg.
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - played the full match as they won 1-0 at home over Dortmund.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Kenny Cooper - 1860 Munich - came on as a sub in the 71st minute but they lost at home 0-1 to Paderborn.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - went the distance but lost 0-1 at home against Bochum.

SPAIN - Primera Division
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - came on as a sub in the 84th minute of a 3-1 win at home against Mallorca.

dN

Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

ENGLAND - Premier League
Tim Howard - Everton - Mon Dec 20 at Manchester City

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - Mon Dec 20 at Union Berlin

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Mo Edu - Rangers - Tue Dec 21 at Dundee United

CENTRAL AMERICA

Guatemala - Liga Nacional:

The Apertura champion has been crowned and it is Comunicaciones.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Dec 16
Comunicaciones 1-1 Municipal
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 19
Municipal 2-2 Comunicaciones - series ends tied 3-3, and Com win it 3-4 in a Penalty Kick Shootout.

dN

Costa Rica - Primera Division:

Alajuelense has won the Torneo de Invierno Final.

Final
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 19
Alajuelense 1-1 Herediano - series ends tied, and Ala wins it 4-3 in a Penalty Kick Shootout.

ENGLAND

du Nord Recap: With most of the games canceled due to snow we saw the top teams remain unchanged.

dN

The Guardian with 5 things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

dN

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian with a highly informed review of the first half of the Premier League season.

SPAIN

du Nord Recap: Barca stayed absolutely brilliant winning big in the Barcelona derby, but they did give up a goal for the first time in 7 games. Real stayed #2, follow by Villarreal, Valencia and Espanyol.

dN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Barcelona's new ways to achieve brilliance, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga.

FRANCE

du Nord Recap: #1 Lille had their game snowed out, as PSG, Lyon and Marseille all got draws.

GERMANY

du Nord Recap: The leaders from Dortmund lost only their second game of the season, but still lead by 10 points over Mainz and Leverkusen. Another Bayern win sees them jump up to 5th place.

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on Bayern's continued climb up the table, and the rest of the weekend's games in the Bundesliga.

ITALY

du Nord Recap: Milan could really stretch their lead at the Xmas break, but they lost to Roma and let shocking Napoli and Lazio cut the lead to 3 points.

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian says that Rafa Benitez cannot treat the owner at Inter like he treated the owners of Liverpool, and the rest of the round in Serie A.

SOUTH AMERICA

The Colombia Primera A Clausura championship Final

Once Caldas win another title! It is the clubs 4th championship.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 15
Deportes Tolima 2-1 Once Caldas
-Sun Dec 19
Once Caldas 3-1 Deportes Tolima - OC win 4-3 on aggregate.

AFRICA

Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon and Inter Milan has been named the African Footballer of the Year!

ENDERS

Aaaaaaaaaahhhh! An old favorite! Thanks Joe.

World Cup Bid Mad LIbs

Contributing Editor Graham Fox

Welcome to a special du Nord Mad Lib!

Start by filling in the blanks below and then reading through the story. For best effect, fill in the blanks below or get a friend to fill in the blanks before reading the story.

You can also play online or print out a copy using this Google doc!

Winning a World Cup Bid Fill in the Blanks
1. Adjective:___________
2. Type of natural resource:____________
3. VERB ending with ing: ______________
4. Noun: _____________
5. Noun: _____________
6. Day of the week: __________
7. Adjective: _______________
8. Adjective: _______________
9. Emotion: ________________
10. Job title: ________________
11. Verb:___________________
12. Landmark: _______________
13. Important job title: ______________
14. Adjective: ______________________
15. Name of a soccer star: ___________
16. Political figure: _________________
17. Number: ______________________

Winning a World Cup Bid
It’s really (1)ADJ to win a World Cup Bid, but, if you do everything just right, your country may just win!

First, you have to represent a country that produces a lot of (2)NATURAL RESOURCE. Then, you have to start (3)VERB up all the possible representatives. Start by sending each of them a (4)NOUN, and then follow up by sending them a new (5)NOUN at least every (6)DAY OF THE WEEK.

Once you are on an established giving schedule, you can start to really do some bribing. Try sending (7)ADJ amounts of cash to secure votes, all the while realizing that each representative is receiving (8)ADJ amounts of cash from other bidders as well. Try to win their undying (9)EMOTION.

Soon, a delegation of World Cup (10)JOB TITLE will come and visit your country to (11)VERB all of your (12)LANDMARK. It’s important that they are treated as an (13)IMPORTANT JOB TITLE. They really care very (14)ADJ about what they see and inspect.

Finally, you need to put together a great bid book and gather lots of celebrities. During your presentation, be sure to get (15)SOCCER STAR and (16)POLITICAL FIGURE on the stage at the same time. If everything has gone according to plan, you will be notified you’ve won (17)NUMBER days before the actual presentations and voting takes place.

ENDERS


Call Sign
0 Graham Fox 0 email 0 twitter 0

2010/11 UEFA Champions League Knock-Out Stage - Round of 16 Matches

The draw for the Round of 16 has been made and these are the Matches & Scores:

1st Leg

-Tue Feb 15
Milan v Tottenham
Valencia v Schalke

-Wed Feb 16
Roma v Shakhtar
Arsenal v Barcelona

-Tue Feb 22
Kobenhavn v Chelsea
Lyon v Real Madrid

-Wed Feb 23
Marseille v Man United
Inter v Bayern

2nd Leg

-Tue Mar 8
Shakhtar v Roma
Barcelona v Arsenal

-Wed Mar 9
Tottenham v Milan
Schalke v Valencia

-Tue Mar 15
Man United v Marseille
Bayern v Inter

-Wed Mar 16
Chelsea v Kobenhavn
Real Madrid v Lyon

Some News for Thu Dec 16, 2010

STARTERS

Its official, Birmingham City is interested in Edson Buddle, and he is in England training with the team right now. Could he go?
-The first question that popped into my mind when I heard rumors of this potential deal is, Can he get a work permit?

dN

The folks who run Blackburn are not insane afterall and made it be known that they have not or never will consider Maradona as a head coach at their club. End of story.

dN

Damn you Soccer Gods! Our fave striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel suffered a broken clavicle yesterday in the Europa League and will be out of action for up to a couple of months. Damn!

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP

The Final in the United Arab Emirates - The club champion from each of the 6 federations (plus the host) face off for the world title.

dN

Word from the middle east is that Wesley Sneijder of Inter will not play in the title game due to a thigh muscle strain.

dN

Final
-Sat Dec 18
Inter Milan v TP Mazembe - delayed at 10pm Central on Fox Soccer Channel

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 6 will be played Dec 15 & 16.

dN

24 teams advanced at the end of this round, and will be joined up 8 more teams who finished in third place in the Champions League group stage, for the knock out rounds.

dN

The following teams have already advanced: Manchester City, Lech Poznan, Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting, Villarreal, Dynamo Kyiv, BATE Borisov, CSKA Moskva, Sparta Praha, Zenit St Petersburg, Stuttgart, Young Boys, PSV Eindhoven, Metalist Kharkiv, Paris St Germain, Liverpool, Porto & Besiktas.

dN

PAOK, Sevilla & Napoli grabbed 3 of the 6 remaining spots on Wednesday, leaving the other 3 for Thursday, and those were claimed by Aris, Lille & Anderlecht.

Here is how the battles for those 3 spots broke:

Group B
Aris 2-0 Rosenborg
Leverkusen 1-1 Atletico
Aris 10 (+2)
Atletico 8 (+2)

Group C
Lille 3-0 Gent
Lille 8 (+2)
Gent 7 (-5)

Group G
AEK 0-3 Zenit
Anderlecht 2-0 Hakduk Split
Anderlecht 7 (0)
AEK 7 (-4)

dN

Here are the match ups for the Round of 32.

dN

Groups Stage Matches & Scores

dN

Group Standings

WORLD CUP 2018/22 BIDDING FALLOUT

The New York Times does a Q & A with CONCACAF secretary general and FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer.

dN

Check out this crazy animation about Qatar winning the rights to host the 2022 World Cup. It comes from some sort of a news agency in Taipei, Taiwan.

STORY OF THE DAY

Depression is a serious subject that is way too misunderstood. More and more we see people step and talk about it though. Which is fantastic. If you have been following Taylor Twellman's story lately you have heard him admit to the struggle with depression.
-Andy Mitten of Four Four Two writes about the power of depression, and a connection to Wolfsburg Hannover goalkeeper Robert Enke who took his own life just over a year ago. A great read. (thanks to Tim for the correction)

PODCASTS

RedNation has an audio interview with our friend-in-football journalist and author Beau Dure. Listen or download here.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES COMING UP THIS WEEKEND

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Dec 18
Milan v Roma - Milan tries to put their stamp on the first half of the season
Espanyol v Barcelona - The Barcelona derby
-Sun Dec 19
Chelsea v Manchester United - the battle for dominance
Marseille v Lyon - the two powerhouses of the past decade in France battle it out, with both shooting for the top tier of the league standings

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

CD CHIVAS USA

Chivas released forward Giancarlo Maldonado.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Down The Byline in KC bids farewell to Jimmy Conrad.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The Gals signed Jovan Kirovski to a new contract.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

The Timbs announced the signing of 4 more from their D2 roster last year:
-Kalif Alhassan
-Futty Danso
-Kevin Goldthwaite
-James Marcelin

MLS RUMORS

Rumors flying fast and furious that Guillermo Barros Schelotto is negotiating with a MLS team.

dN

Kansas City is said to be looking for a second designated player.

USA U20 TEAM

The team is in Florida this week for a training camp. They won the first of two friendlies against Canada.

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 16
USA 2-0 Canada - USA goals by Soony Saad & Jack McInerney.
-Sat Dec 18
USA v Canada

dN

Roster:
G:
Zac MacMath - Maryland
Kevin Piedrahita - America de Cali
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Estoril Praia
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Perry Kitchen - Akron
Eric Schoenle - West Virginia
Ben Sweat - South Florida
Zarek Valentin - Akron
Korey Veeder - Unattached
M:
Steven Evans - Portland
Joshua Gatt - Rheindorf Altach
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Conor Shanosky - DC United
F:
Conor Doyle - Derby County
Dylan Mares - Louisville
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Adrian Ruelas - Celtic
Soony Saad - Michigan
Omar Salgado - Unattached

USA U18 TEAM

The team was in Israel for a tourney this week - they finished with no wins, one draw and two losses.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Dec 14
USA 0-3 France
-Thu Dec 16
USA 0-0 Israel
-Fri Dec 17
USA 1-2 Germany - USA goal by Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler.

dN

Roster:
G:
Jonathan Kempin - Sporting Kansas City
Andrew Wolverton - Concorde Fire
D:
Michael Ambrose - FC Dallas Academy
Jonathan Campbell - North Carolina Fusion
Bryan Gallego - NY Red Bulls Academy
Juan Pablo Ocegueda - UANL Tigres
Boyd Okwuonu - FC Dallas Academy
Walker Zimmerman - GSA Phoenix
M:
Connor Hallisey - California Development Academy
Jordan McCrary - Concorde Fire
Daniel Metzger - NY Red Bulls Academy
Victor Pineda - Chicago Fire
Marcus Salandy-Defour - DC United Academy
Will Trapp - Columbus Crew Academy
Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler - CASL Chelsea
F:
Villyan Bijev - Cal Odyssey
Sean Okoli - Seattle Sounders Academy
Luis Rendon - FC Richmond Magic
Khiry Shelton - Lonestar SC Academy
Jonathan Top - FC Dallas Academy

AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Group Stage - Matchday 6
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Thu Dec 16 W 2-0 v Hajduk Split - got what they needed to advance to the knock out stage and they won and AEK Athens lost to Zenit.

CENTRAL AMERICA

Guatemala - Liga Nacional:

The Apertura Final is this week. Home and away.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Dec 16
Comunicaciones v Municipal
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 19
Municipal v Comunicaciones

dN

Costa Rica - Primera Division:

The second leg of the Torneo de Invierno Final will be played this Sunday.

Final
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 19
Alajuelense v Herediano

ITALY

Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with Inter's great captain Javier Zanetti.

SOUTH AMERICA

The Colombia Primera A Clausura championship Final

Tolima takes the lead, but must go on the road for second leg.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 15
Deportes Tolima 2-1 Once Caldas
-Sun Dec 19
Once Caldas v Deportes Tolima (1-2)

ENDERS

The Big Picture from the Boston Globe posts 2010 in photos:
-Part 1
-Part 2
-Part 3

One particular shot in Part 2 literally made me gasp out loud! Wow.

Thanks to Adam for reminding me just how great The Big Picture is.

Some News for Wed Dec 15, 2010

STARTERS

If you add up the previous 6 games played by Barcelona the score stands at 26-0! You read that correctly.

dN

There is serious talk in England that Blackburn may hire Maradona has their new head coach. Do they WANT to get relegated?

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP

The Final in the United Arab Emirates - The club champion from each of the 6 federations (plus the host) face off for the world title.

dN

Inter Milan strolls into the final with a convincing win over the Asian champions.
-Inter has been stumbling bad lately, so its still to be seen if this win gets them back into a forward moving gear.

dN

Semifinals
-Tue Dec 14
TP Mazembe 2-0 Internacional (Brazil) - Maz goals by Dioko Kaluyituka & Mulota Kabangu.
-Wed Dec 15
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 0-3 Inter Milan (Italy) - IM goals by Dejan Stankovic, Javier Zanetti & Diego Milito.

dN

Paul Doyle of the Guardian on the high flying Almighty Mazembe.

dN

Third Place
-Wed Dec 15
Pachuca 2-2 Al Wahad - Pac win 4-2 in a Penalty Kick Shootout.

dN

Final
-Sat Dec 18
Inter Milan v TP Mazembe

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 6 is this week on Wed & Thu.

dN

24 teams will advance after this round, and will be joined up 8 more teams who finished in third place in the Champions League group stage, for the knock out rounds.

The following teams have already advanced: Manchester City, Lech Poznan, Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting, Villarreal, Dynamo Kyiv, BATE Borisov, CSKA Moskva, Sparta Praha, Zenit St Petersburg, Stuttgart, Young Boys, PSV Eindhoven, Metalist Kharkiv, Paris St Germain, Liverpool, Porto & Besiktas.

6 places left to be had.

dN

Matches & Scores

dN

Group Standings

STORY OF THE DAY

In the further crumbling of Chivas USA team Vice President Stepehn Hamilton has resigned. Since the season ended the team fired the head coach Martin Vasquez because he wouldn't replace one of his assistants, and then President & CEO Shawn Hunter walked. Is anyone running the ship? Antonio Cue please pick up the white courtesy phone.

MUST LISTEN PODCASTS

Glenn Davis on the Dynamo All Access radio show recently spoke with the very passionate Hank Steinbrecher who was the General Secretary of US Soccer during 90's. Hank has some great thoughts on player development, and people need to listen to this man. You can listen or download right here.

dN

The BBC's Inside Fulham FC podcast - Clint Dempsey looks back at that famous win against Juventus, as it wins the BBC London 2010 Sporting Moment of the Year award. Listen or download here.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

I have been reading little things about this over the past weeks, and am not sure how much to believe, but here is the gist:

Atletico Madrid is leading a world wide team alliance to improve marketing and player knowledge. 7 teams are supposedly already in, and 3-5 more are expected to join. They are also looking to playing a tournament next August between these teams.
-Al Ain (UAE)
-America (Mexico)
-Atletico Madrid (Spain)
-Manchester City (England)
-Raja Casablanca (Morocco)
-Shanghai Shenhua ( China)
-United Muangthong (Thailand)

And hoping to add some of these teams:
-Brazil (Atletico Paranaense, Palmeiras and Internacional)
-USA (Red Bull New York, San Jose and Chivas USA)
-Japan (Yokohama Marinos and FC Tokyo)

I find it all fascinating.

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

The last 24 hours in the life of discarded Philly goalkeeper Chris Seitz:
-Gym time then xmas shopping and figuring out my life
-Why hello there seattle
-Its not all over yet!!
-id like to thank the fans in philly for sticking by me and cheering me on Its been an honor to play for such intelligent and faithful fans
-its finally public... FC DALLAS!

Just think, 13 months ago he was the backup keeper on recent MLS Cup winning Real Salt Lake. But nothing is as crazy as being on 3 teams in one day, like today.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

GENERAL NEWS

Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian reports on an agreement between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver to provide 500 tickets to away fans any time three long time rivals meet.
-Many supporters of these teams want to eventually push the teams up to the FIFA standard of 5% of the tickets should go to away fans.

dN

RE-ENTRY DRAFT

Wed Dec 14 will see the second phase of the player re-entry draft. This is for veteran players who are looking to move to different teams.
-Teams who select these players are then able to negotiate a new contract with the player.

-Here are the players that were selected & by whom:
Juan Pablo Angel - Los Angeles
Ryan Cochrane - New England
Jimmy Conrad - Chivas USA
Jeff Cunningham - Columbus
Fred - New England
Cory Gibbs - Chicago
Frankie Hejduk - Kansas City
Tyrone Marshall - Colorado
Luke Sassano - Los Angeles
Chris Seitz - Seattle
Josh Wolff - DC

-These are the players who were not:
Preston Burpo
Nico Colaluca
Nick Garcia
Dema Kovalenko
Claudio Lopez
Jaime Moreno
Richard Mulrooney
Ciaran O'Brien
Pat Onstad
Duncan Oughton
Gino Padula
Marcelo Saragosa
Dario Sala
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Adrian Serioux
Chris Sharpe
Khano Smith
Khari Stephenson
Carey Talley
Peter Vagenas
Alex Zotinca

And here is the order in which the team's selected:
1 DC - Josh Wolff
2 Chivas - Jimmy Conrad
4 New England - Ryan Cochrane - Fred
7 Chicago - Cory Gibbs
8 Kansas City - Frankie Hejduk
9 Seattle - Chris Seitz
10 Columbus - Jeff Cunningham
14 Los Angeles - Juan Pablo Angel - Luke Sassano
16 Colorado - Tyrone Marshall

Teams Who Elected Not To Make Any Picks:
Philadelphia
Houston
Toronto
New York
Salt Lake
San Jose
Dallas
Vancouver
Portland

The picks will continue until teams are finished. After all picks are made, then a club can re-draft their own players, but not before then.

dN



As the re-entry draft ended teams went on a wild trading spree. Here is the action:

-LA sold forward Tristan Bowen to Chivas USA. (Bowen had been a LA academy player at one time)

-LA & KC swapped players they had just chosen in the draft, with LA sending Luke Sassano to KC for Frankie Hejduk.

-Dallas sent a future Superdraft pick to Seattle for Chris Seitz who had just been selected by the Sounders in the re-entry.

dN

COLORADO RAPIDS

Nick Thomas at MLSsoccer.com does a Q & A with head coach Gary Smiff.

COLUMBUS CREW

In not-surprising news Columbus did not retain any rights to Guillermo Barros Schelotto, meaning his run is MLS is most likely over.

DC UNITED

The Washington Post with an article on DCU's fourth academy signing Ethan White.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

The Staffordshite Sentinel reports that Teal Bunbury scored in a reserves game for Stoke, but like so many of his games last season, had several more good chances that he failed to take advantage of. They lost 3-1.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

I guessed the wrong South America star striker that LA would take in the re-entry draft. I thought Bruce Arena would select a player that he brought into the league in MLS Year One - Jaime Moreno. Instead he took Juan Pablo Angel. I think this is a great move.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

The Bundesliga website shows a very emotional departure from Koln for supposed new Union keeper Faryd Mondragon.

MLS RUMORS

The Soccer365 Grapevine with words on Oguchi Onyewu, Edson Buddle, Aleksandar Jevtic, Darko Lazovic, Almami Moreira, Benny Feilhaber, Christian Lara, Helge Payer, Richard Blanco, Jhon Viafra, John Restropo and more.

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Brian Lewis of the NY Post reports that Atletico Madrid supposedly is interested in the Red Bulls Juan Agudelo and Dallas' Brek Shea.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

While we have only heard lots of rumors that we will have a team next season, we do have player news finally, giving us more hope that the rumors have weight behind them:
IM Soccer News has a link to an article stating that the Stars have picked up the contract option on 11 of their players from last season, and released 4.
-These players made up the core of the team that really came together as the season progressed, and made the playoffs. The first 11 at the end of the season was as good as any in the league, and with some real depth I have no doubt they could have gone much further.

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Here is where we stand for 2011:

ON ROSTER:
Ely Allen
Kyle Altman
Andres Arango
Simone Bracalello
Chris Clements
Devin Del Do
Geison Moura
Lucas Rodriguez
Kentaro Takada
Joe Warren
Daniel Wasson

MAYBE:
Kevin Friedland
Scott Lorenz
Johnny Menyongar
Matt VanOekel

QUESTION MARKS:
Louis Crayton
Brian Cvilikas
Andre Gotsmanov
Thomas Granum
Two Boys Gumede
Neil Hlavaty
Brian Kallman
Vorgan Less
Melvin Tarley
Warren Ukah
Leland Wright

SOCCER IN AMERICA

The Daily Express in England has talk of an Arsenal academy complex being started in the USA, in conjunction with their largest stock holder and Colorado Rapids owner Stak Kroenke.
-This deal is sad to be a much bigger endeavor than the loose agreement between the two teams made a couple of years back.

USA U20 TEAM

The team will be in Florida Dec 12-19 for another training camp. They will play 2 friendlies against Canada.

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Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 16
USA v Canada
-Sat Dec 18
USA v Canada

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Roster:
G:
Zac MacMath - Maryland
Kevin Piedrahita - America de Cali
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Estoril Praia
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Perry Kitchen - Akron
Eric Schoenle - West Virginia
Ben Sweat - South Florida
Zarek Valentin - Akron
Korey Veeder - Unattached
M:
Steven Evans - Portland
Joshua Gatt - Rheindorf Altach
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Alex Molano - Dinamo Zagreb
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Conor Shanosky - DC United
F:
Conor Doyle - Derby County
Dylan Mares - Louisville
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Adrian Ruelas - Celtic
Soony Saad - Michigan
Omar Salgado - Unattached

USA U18 TEAM

The team is in Israel for a tourney this week.

The USA got off to a rough start as they lost to France in their opening game.

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Matches & Scores:
-Tue Dec 14
USA 0-3 France
Match report from US Soccer.
-Thu Dec 16
USA v Israel
-Sat Dec 18
USA v Germany

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Roster:
G:
Jonathan Kempin - Sporting Kansas City
Andrew Wolverton - Concorde Fire
D:
Michael Ambrose - FC Dallas Academy
Jonathan Campbell - North Carolina Fusion
Bryan Gallego - NY Red Bulls Academy
Juan Pablo Ocegueda - UANL Tigres
Boyd Okwuonu - FC Dallas Academy
Walker Zimmerman - GSA Phoenix
M:
Connor Hallisey - California Development Academy
Jordan McCrary - Concorde Fire
Daniel Metzger - NY Red Bulls Academy
Victor Pineda - Chicago Fire
Marcus Salandy-Defour - DC United Academy
Will Trapp - Columbus Crew Academy
Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler - CASL Chelsea
F:
Villyan Bijev - Cal Odyssey
Sean Okoli - Seattle Sounders Academy
Luis Rendon - FC Richmond Magic
Khiry Shelton - Lonestar SC Academy
Jonathan Top - FC Dallas Academy

USA U17 TEAM

The USA U17s found out what group they will play in for CONCACAF World Cup qualifying in Jamaica Feb 14-27. The 4 best teams advance to the big tournament.

Mexico automatically qualifies because they are hosting the World Cup.

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Group A
Costa Rica
Haiti
El Salvador

Group B
Cuba
Panama
USA

Group C
Guatemala
Jamaica
Trinidad & Tobago

Group D
Barbados
Canada
Honduras

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Top 2 from each group advance to knock out rounds.

Last 4 get a place in the U17 World Cup.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Bolton News talks to Stuart Holden about scoring the game winning goal last weekend.

Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Group Stage - Matchday 6
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - Wed Dec 15 - came on as a 78th minute sub as they won 0-2 at Club Brugge - already qualified for the next round.

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Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Group Stage - Matchday 6
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Thu Dec 16 v Hajduk Split - They need a win, a loss for AEK Athens to already qualified Zenit, and make up a goal differential of 1 goal (which would happen naturally if Ander won and AEK lost.)

AMERICANS IN EUROPE - RUMORS

Brian Zygo of The Zygo Soccer Report tells us about a youngster who is getting a try out at Uniao de Leiria in Portugal's 2nd tier.

CENTRAL AMERICA

Guatemala - Liga Nacional:

The Apertura Final is this week. Home and away.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Dec 16
Comunicaciones v Municipal
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 19
Municipal v Comunicaciones

ENGLAND

Does the Carlos Tevez "I want to leave Manchester City" story smell exactly like the Wayne Rooney "I want to leave Manchester United" story or is it just me?
-It's got that rotten egg smell.

GERMANY

The Bundesliga website reports that Arjen Robben has returned to Bayern Munich from a 3 month injury layoff, and they hope to have him on the field when the winter breaks ends.

This coming weekend will be the last round of Bundesliga games until their winter break ends on Jan 14.

ITALY

Daniel Taylor of the Guardian looks at Man City and former Inter striker Mario Balotelli's new book that makes a point of calling out some Italian fans on their ugly racism.

SOUTH AMERICA

This week will see the Colombia Primera A crown a new Clausura champ.
Final
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 15
Deportes Tolima v Once Caldas
-Sun Dec 19
Once Caldas v Deportes Tolima

ARGENTINA

Reuters reports that Argentina is now the world's largest exporter of players. Via Four Four Two.

ENDERS

Three players were honored with their individual awards from last summer's World Cup.

Golden Ball: Diego Forlan - Uruguay
























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Golden Boot: Thomas Muller - Germany
























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Golden Glove: Iker Casillas - Spain