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.