Some News for Wed Dec 8, 2010

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 6 (the last group stage round) will be played Tue Dec 7 & Wed Dec 8.

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Advanced:
A1 - Tottenham
B1 - Schalke
C1 - Manchester United
D1 - Barcelona
- - - -
A2 - Inter Milan
B2 - Lyon
C2 - Valencia
D2 - Kobenhavn
- - - -
E1 - Bayern Munich
F1 - Chelsea
G1 - Real Madrid
H1 - Shakhtar Donetsk
- - - -
E2 - Roma
F2 - Marseille
G2 - Milan
H2 - Arsenal

Real Madrid, Milan, Bayern Munich & Chelsea have qualified out of the lower bracket, and we await the other 4 from Wednesday's games to fill out the knock out stage list. But the big news of the day is that Shakhtar Donetsk has moved on to the final 16 for the first time ever, and they did so by winning their group ahead of Arsenal.

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On Wednesday we saw Bayern, Real Madrid and Arsenal cruise to big wins. While Chelsea and Milan got beat.

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Matches & Scores:
-Tue Dec 7
Benfica 1-2 Schalke - Ben goal by Luisao. Sch goals by Jose Manuel Jurado & Benedikt Howedes.
Man United 1-1 Valencia - MU goal by Anderson. Val goal by Pablo Hernandez.
Twente 3-3 Tottenham - Twe goals by Denny Landzaat(PK), Roberto Rosales & Nacer Chadli. Tot goals by Peter Wisgerhof(OG) & Jermain Defoe(2).
Werder Bremen 3-0 Inter - WB goals by Sebastian Prodl, Marko Arnautovic & Claudio Pizarro.
Lyon 2-2 Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Lyo goals by Lisandro & Alexandre Lacazette. HTA goals by Ben Sahar & Eran Zahavi.
Barcelona 2-0 Rubin Kazan - Bar goals by Andreu Fontas & Victor Vazquez.
Kobenhavn 3-1 Panathinaikos - Kob goals by Martin Vingaard, Jesper Gronkjaer(PK) & Djibril Cisse(OG). Pan goal by Cedric Kante.
Bursaspor 1-1 Rangers - Bur goal by Sercan Yildrim. Ran goal by Kenny Miller.
-Wed Dec 8
Bayern Munich 3-0 Basel - BM goals by Franck Ribery(2) & Anatoliy Tymoshchuk.
CFR Cluj 1-1 Roma - CC goal by Lacina Traore. Rom goal by Marco Borriello.
Marseille 0-1 Chelsea - Mar goal by Brandao.
Zilina 1-2 Spartak Moskva - Zil goal by Tomas Majtan. SM goals by Alex & Ibson.
Real Madrid 4-0 Auxerre - Karin Benzema(3) & CRonaldo.
Milan 0-2 Ajax - Aja goals by Demy de Zeeuw & Toby Alderweireld.
Arsenal 3-1 Partizan - Ars goals by Robin Van Persie(PK), Theo Walcott & Samir Nasri. Pat goal by Cleo.
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Braga - SD goals by Razvan Rat & Luiz Adriano.

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Group Standings

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In the end Real Madrid did the best overall scoring 16 of 18 possible points. Shakhtar, Chelsea & Bayern were next with 15 and Barcelona & Man United round out the elite group with 14 of 18 points.

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The draw for the knockout stage will be held on Fri Dec 17.

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP

This years tournament is taking place in the United Arab Emirates.

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The club champion from each of the 6 federations (plus the host) face off for the world title.

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The 3 Americans at Pachuca are all there.

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Al Wahda from the United Arab Emirates won the preliminary game and will face Chunma on Saturday in the 2nd Quarterfinal.

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Our Friend-In-Football Roberto Gotta of ESPN tell us that winning this tournament is the least Inter coach Rafa Benitez has to do to keep his job.

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Matches & Scores:
Preliminary
-Wed Dec 8
Al Wahda SC (UAE) 3-0 Hekari United FC (Papua New Guinea) - Wah goals by Hugo, Ferdando Baiano & Abdulraheem Jumaa.

Quarterfinals
-Fri Dec 10
TP Mazembe Englebert (DR Congo) v CF Pachuca (Mexico)
-Sat Dec 11
Al Wahda SC (UAE) v Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma FC (South Korea)

Semifinals
-Tue Dec 14
Fri Dec 10 Winner v Internacional (Brazil)
-Wed Dec 15
Sat Dec 11 Winner v Inter Milan (Italy)

Final
-Sat Dec 18
Winners

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated gives us a genuinely good story after a week of FIFA nausea.
-And Wahl thinks, like I do, that Wesley Sneijder should be on the FIFA Ballon D'or list ahead of Andres Iniesta.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

MLS Young All Stars in Spain

The Generation Adidas team played its final game in a series of friendly matches in Spain. And winning all 3.

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 2
MLS Up & Comers 2-1 Real Madrid Reserves - MLS goals by Teal Bunbury & Dilly Duka. RMR goal by Salinas.
-Tue Dec 7
MLS Up & Comers 1-0 Rayo Vallecano Reserves - MLS goal by Peri Marosevic.
-Wed Dec 8
MLS Up & Comers 4-1 Atletico Madrid Reserves - MLS goals by Teal Bunbury(2), Juan Agudelo & Michel(OG). AM goal by Pichu Atienza.

MLS youth roster:
G:
Stefan Frei - Toronto
Sean Johnson - Chicago
D:
Jeremy Hall - Portland
Ike Opara - San Jose
M:
Corben Bone - Chicago
Danny Cruz - Houston
Dilly Duka - Columbus
Luis Gil - Salt Lake
Baggio Husidic - Chicago
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia
Brek Shea - Dallas
Tony Tchani - New York
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York
Tristan Bowen - Los Angeles
Teal Bunbury - Kansas City
Peri Marosevic - Dallas
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia
Danny Mwanga - Philadelphia
Andrew Wiedeman - Dallas
-Head coach: Schellas Hyndman - Dallas

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CHICAGO FIRE

Guillermo Rivera of Chicago Now with some followup on why Wilman Conde ended up not signing with Puebla after being introduced by the team publicly.

CD CHIVAS USA

The team has released forward Giancarlo Maldonado from his contract.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Dover Daily Democrat in New Hampshire has an article on their hometown boy Conar Casey.

COLUMBUS CREW

The Crew acquired defender Aaron Hohlbein from Kansas City via the "Re-Entry" draft.

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Craig Merz at MLSsoccer.com does a Q & A with head coach Robert Warzycha.

DC UNITED

DCU acquired forward Joseph Ngwenya from Houston via the "Re-Entry" draft.

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ESPN looks at the very big job that new head coach Ben Olsen has in front of him.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The local Fox affiliate has a video interview with Revs COO Brian Biello.
-He says all the same crap team exec's have been saying for 4 straight years now. Booooooooooooo!

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Red Bulls winger Dane Richards was just named the Golden Boot winner at the recently concluded Caribbean Cup. His country Jamaica won the title.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Kip Kesgard of the Oregonian gives us the run down of the Timbers now complete coaching staff.
-Our great Friend-In-Football Amos Magee remains on the staff.

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The team will officially show off their new shirts on Thursday, and open the team store.

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Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian with an article on Maryland teammates reunited in Portland - Jeremy Hall and Rodney Wallace.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times brings us up to date on Sounders off-season news bits.

MLS RUMORS

Today's rumor roll from Soccer 365 includes Oguchi Onyewu, Joel Lindpere, Ronaldinho, Aurelein Collin, Giovanni Hernandez, Jerome Rothen, Robbie Keane and more.

COLLEGE SOCCER

Division I championship tournament:

Semifinals
-Fri Dec 10
North Carolina v Louisville - 7:30pm Central on ESPNU/2
Akron v Michigan - 10pm Central on ESPNU/2
Venue: Harder Stadium - Santa Barbara CA

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Final
-Sun Dec 12 - 3pm Central on ESPN2
Semifinal Winners
Venue: Harder Stadium - Santa Barbara CA

USA U18 TEAM

The team is in Israel for a tourney.

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Dec 13
USA v Germany
-Tue Dec 14
USA v France
-Thu Dec 16
USA v Israel

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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

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Bolton News says Stuart Holden is expected back in the starting lineup for this weekends game against Blackburn.

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The word from Munich is that Kenny Cooper is ready to go.

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Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Conor Doyle of Derby County about getting a shot with the USA U20 team.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Jonathan Borstein has reported to his first training camp with UANL Tigres.
-He will be fighting for the left fullback spot with current starter Jorge Torres Nilo.

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Pachuca gets ready for their first game in the Club World Cup on Friday.

ENGLAND

Newcastle has hired Alan Pardew as their new head coach.

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of Sports Illustrated tells about the player leading Freiburg's great first half to the season - Papiss Demba Cisse.
-Me neither.

ITALY

John Molinaro of the CBC takes a look at a couple of veterans who are making a big difference in Serie A this season.

EUROPE

Top Goal Scorers In Europes Biggest Leagues
16 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
15 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
13 Theofanis Gekas - Eintracht Frankfurt
13 Moussa Sow - Lille
12 Hulk - Porto
12 Bjorn Vleminckx - NEC

COPA SUDAMERICANA

Goias has a 2-0 advantage in the Championship round which will see the final leg played Wednesday at Independiente.

Final
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 1
Goias 2-0 Independiente - Goi goals by Rafael Moura & Otacilio Neto.
-Wed Dec 8
Independiente v Goias (0-2)

ARGENTINA

Primera Apertura

Big games tonight in Argentina.

Only 2 teams and 2 rounds left in the season! Estudiantes leads Velez by what else, 2 points.

Here are the leaders and who they face next:
39 Estudiantes - Next: Wed Dec 8 at River Plate
37 Velez Sarsfield - Next: Wed Dec 8 v Huracan

ASIA

The Asian Cup is set for Jan 7-29, 2011 in of all places Qatar.
-4 groups of 4 will play round robins, then one-off knock out stages.
-Japan, Australia and South Korea are of course the favorites, but the last two are in the same group meaning one will have a tougher road to the final.

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There has been rumblings that the insane may hire the insane, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been heard blabbering about hiring Diego Maradona as the next head coach for the Iranian national team.

ENDERS

What do you figure these two, the Pierce Brothers, have contributed to the world of American soccer?