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?
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?
posted by brucio at 17:40
5 Comments:
Hunter Freeman left IK Start in NORWAY not sweden and he is a RB exclusively and not a CB.
interesting story about the Peruvian club San Martin. Guess who's in the photo on that article? Toronto FC washout Pablo Vitti.
Hi Brucio. Where did you read that Benitez was fired by Inter?
He has not been fired (yet) and yesterday president Moratti said that he's going to stay.
Anyway, I believe the change will happen immediately after Christmas.
IMHO Leonardo is a big mistake: he does not have the right attitude, he will not be loved by the fans, and he does not have the experience to manage a a group with such a big ego.
Hi FrancoS,
The Benitez story was the head line on Sky Sports, the Guardian and Tuttosport (where the image was stolen from) at about 5:30pm Central time on Tuesday.
Otherwise I never would have posted it.
This morning Gazzetta says he is not fired.
A friend of mine suggested that hiring Leonardo would only be to poke a stick at Milan. Which to me sounds like a waste of time. I have always felt that if you REALLY want to piss someone off, then ignore them completely.
Your insights are very much appreciated here.
Bruce
Hey Bruce —
Ike Opara received an invitation to USA camp but turned it down due to a nagging groin injury. (His time will come, I'm sure!)
Jay
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