Wednesday, December 22, 2010

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.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Rich said...

Blogger brucio said...

"the citizenship status is different from a green card the green card is paper work whereas citizenship/passport takes about 5 years to achieve"


Hi Bruce,

RE: Ryan Smith

Hopefully, it won't take him too long to attain dual citizenship since his father is an American. [Smith has already indicated that he would love to play for the U.S.]

FUN FACT:
Bassist / guitarist Richard Snyder who played on Beefheart's Ice Cream For Crow worked at my local record shop (Poo-Bah Records) for about 20 years; I used to see him all the time and didn't know about his past until a few years ago. From what I understand, he is now working as a nurse.

- Rich

8:22 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Newer Posts Older Posts