Wednesday, December 15, 2010

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

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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.

dN

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.

dN

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.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 16
USA v Canada
-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 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.

dN

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

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

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.

dN

Group A
Costa Rica
Haiti
El Salvador

Group B
Cuba
Panama
USA

Group C
Guatemala
Jamaica
Trinidad & Tobago

Group D
Barbados
Canada
Honduras

dN

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.

dN

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
























dN

Golden Boot: Thomas Muller - Germany
























dN

Golden Glove: Iker Casillas - Spain

4 Comments:

Anonymous wes said...

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

-Bruce, Maradona didn't get Argentina relegated, did he? Of course everything will be fine!

11:41 PM  
Anonymous TimChapman said...

Robert enke was a honorer keeper not Wolfsburg

12:34 PM  
Anonymous TimChapman said...

Hannover*

12:35 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

thanks tim

1:13 PM  

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