Some News for Wed Jan 19, 2010

STARTERS

Jose Jorge Balderas Garza the man accused of shooting Club America star Salvador Cabanas in the head 12 months ago has been arrested in Mexico City.

dN

The LA Galaxy has announced that they have signed Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel to a new contract.
-The press release says he was signed to a designated player contract, which means they spent a fair amount of money on him. I don't get that at all. Sure he was great at one time, but he is going to have to have one hell of a season to earn that kind of money.

dN

Nery Castillo is now officially gone from the Chicago Fire as he signed a new loan deal with Aris in Greece, from the club that owns his contract Shakhtar Donetsk.
-Coach Hector Kuper was fired by Aris on Tuesday.

dN

Honduras, El Salvador, Panama & Costa Rica have advanced to next summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup championship tournament.

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Don't look now, but Inter rolls again! 5 wins in 5 games under Leonardo beating Cesena 3-2 today. They are now in 4th place, 6 points behind leaders Milan with 1 game in hand. The rest of Serie is shitting themselves! Oh Yeah!
-Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, Inter will be in big trouble if they don't shore up the back line. They have not kept a clean sheet in months, and Cesena, like many teams before them, had plenty of chances at goal to do more damage. Bayern Munich will not lose in the Champions League next month if they are allowed to score goals.

STORY OF THE DAY

We Are Back!

The New York Cosmos today announced that iconic footballer Eric Cantona has been persuaded to come back into the game as Director of Soccer with overall responsibility for all soccer-related matters, which will include the proposed first team. (click images to enlarge)







































The question you have to ask though, is what does Cantona know about running a soccer operation?

TEAM USA

The annual January training camp for young and out-of season players with national team potential begins tomorrow Tue Jan 4 in Carson CA and ends with a friendly game on Sat Jan 22 at the Home Depot Center.

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The USA took on the Canadian U23 team yesterday winning 4-0 with goals by Mikkel Diskerud, Teal Bunbury, Chris Wondolowski & Alejandro Bedoya.

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe on Alejandro Bedoya.

Joseph D'Hippolito of the USA Today looks at the new wave of foreigners in the team for the USA.
-But this is obviously the future of a global culture.
-Thomas Rongen has unearthed a staggering 425 of this type of players so far.

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Official team blog
-Q & A with Zack Lloyd.
-And a ridiculous video of a day at camp with Dax McCarty and Brek Shea.

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Match & Score:
-Sat Jan 22
USA v Chile - 9pm Central on Telefutura & ESPN3.com.
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA

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USA 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
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
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Yevgeni (Eugene) Starikov - Zenit/Tom Tomsk
Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

I know its controversial, and some of you will despise me for writing this, but these are the reasons to become a US Soccer member:

"As a benefit of being a member of the US Soccer Supporters Club, we are pleased to extend an invitation from US Soccer President Sunil Gulati to attend the first-ever US Soccer Fan Forum.
This is an opportunity for you to ask Sunil questions about US Soccer and get his thoughts on any topic our most loyal fans want to discuss. Sunil is looking to have an open and engaging conversation, so be sure to come prepared with questions.
The US Soccer Fan Forum will be held on Jan 22 at the Home Depot Center in Carson CA, prior to the USA match against Chile. The event will start two to three hours before kickoff. The exact start time is TBD.
This unique opportunity is available to a limited number of US Soccer SC members who have purchased tickets to this match, so submit your RSVP today to reserve your spot. Each US Soccer SC member that is selected for this experience is welcome to bring one guest who must also be a ticket-holder for the match.
Go here for more info."

NOTE: US Soccer needs to do a LOT more of this in the future if they want this program to actually work, and the fact that program is nearly to its third year and this is the first event of this kind if very disappointing. But lets hope its a sign of real action to come and not just a one off.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Huge congrats to DC coach Ben Olsen who's wife gave birth to their 2nd child!

WHY NOT!

Let me say this, I really like the former Canadian national Jason De Vos. I heard him speak at the MLS Cup last fall, and really regret not meeting him. And his writing at the CBC is fantastic, not to mention his commentary during Toronto FC TV games. Yeah, this guy is a winner through and through.

That being said, he writes today about Claudio Reyna being in charge of US Soccer Youth Development, and what Canada is doing to push their program in to the future.

By the way, why hasn't any American journalists written a big story about Reyna's speech at the National coaches conference last week? Huh? Where is the story guys? I know a lot of you were there!

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Today's name in the hopper is: John Carew.
-He's no Rod Carew.

dN

Soccer 365 gives us whispers on Mike Grella, Mateja Kezman, Daron Moreno, Aitor Ocio, Juanito, Ricardo Vilar, Sacir Hot and more.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Carey Talley officially retired from MLS today. He played 13 years on several teams with lots of success. All the best to him.

dN

Seattle, Portland and Vancouver will play some sort of pre-season tournament!
-Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times with a few details.

CHICAGO FIRE

Did we miss this? CF acquired goal keeper Jon Conway from TFC last week.
-I would expect him to compete in preseason camp with Andrew Dykstra to be the back up for Sean Johnson, with the loser moving on.

FC DALLAS

Marvin the Martian Chavez has re-upped with the FCDs.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

The 'mo signed 2 academy players today - midfielder Josue Soto & forward Alex Dixon.

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Jeff Carlisle of ESPN with the latest news on Colin Clark (scroll down to second part of article.)

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

The team has signed right fullback Michael Harrington to a new contract. He had a very good 2010 season.

dN

The Sporks have announced some pre-season friendlies:
-Sat Feb 5
SKC v Columbus Crew in Phoenix
-Wed Feb 9
SKC Inter-Squad in Phoenix
-Sat Feb 12
SKC v Colorado Rapids in Phoenix
-Tue Feb 15
SKC v Houston Dynamo in Phoenix
-Sat Feb 26
SKC v Portland Timbers in Phoenix
-Fri Mar 4
SKC reserves v Arizona Sahuaros(NPSL) in Tuscon
-Sat Mar 5
SKC v New York Red Bulls in Tuscon

PORTLAND TIMBERS

John Canzano of the Oregonian on the Timbers marketing strategy.

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Jeff Carlisle of ESPN on FrankenCooper.

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The Timbs have signed backup goalkeeper Adin Brown from their Division 2 roster.

TORONTO FC

John Molinaro of the CBC looks at the contract of promising centerback Nana Attakora which ends after the 2011 season.
-So will he sign a new deal with TFC, be sold, or walk away free next January?

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America talks to Joe Cannon about the challenges that await him with his new team.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Oguchi Onyewu made his Twente debut going the distance in a big win.
-The team is in 2nd place, just 1 point behind leaders PSV Eindhoven.
-Their next game is Sun Jan 23 at 4th place Gronigen.

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Jermaine suits up for Blackburn.




















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Game Action:

ENGLAND - FA Cup 3rd Round replay
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - Tue Jan 18 - in goal as they won 5-0 v Doncaster Rovers.

GERMANY - DFB Pokal Round of 16
Timothy Chandler - Nurnberg - Wed Jan 19 came on as a sub in the 85th as they won 2-0 at Kickers Offenbach.

NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - Wed Jan 19 went the full 90 as they won 5-0 v Heracles.

SCOTLAND - Permier League
Mo Edu - Rangers - Tue Jan 18 came on as a sub in the 80th min as they won 1-0 v Inverness CT.

COPA CENTROAMERICANA

The 7 country Central American (UNCAF) championship is underway, hosted by Panama.

dN

Honduras, El Salvador, Panama & Costa Rica advanced to the knock out stage.

Those 4 semifinalists will be part of the Gold Cup CONCACAF championship next summer.

Guatemala, Belize & Nicaragua are out.

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Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jan 21
Panama v Costa Rica
Honduras v El Salvador

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Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jan 14
El Salvador 2-0 Nicaragua - ES goals by Jaime Alas & Rafael Burgus.
Costa Rica 1-1 Honduras - CR goal by Victor Nunez. Hon goal by Ramon Nunez.
Panama 2-0 Belize - Pan goals by Edwin Aguilar & Roberto Brown.
-Sun Jan 16
Belize 2-5 El Salvador - Bel goals by Elroy Smith & Orlando Jimenez. ES goals by Osael Romero, Rafael Burgos(2), Jaime Alas & Deris Umanzor.
Guatemala 0-2 Costa Rica - CR goals by Marcos Urena(2).
Panama 2-0 Nicaragua - Pan goals by Alice (Armando) Cooper & Luis Renteria.
-Tue Jan 18
Nicaragua 1-1 Belize - Nic goal by Denis Espinoza. Bel goal by Daniel Jimenez.
Honduras 3-1 Guatemala - Hon goals by Ramon Nunez & Jorge Claros(2). Gua goal by Pando Ramirez.
Panama 2-0 El Salvador - Pan goals by Edwin Aguilar & Alice Cooper.

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Standings:
GROUP A
ADV-9 Panama (+6)
ADV-6 El Salvador (+3)
Out-1 Nicaragua (-4)
Out-1 Belize (-5)
GROUP B
ADV-4 Honduras (+2) (4 goals scored)
ADV-4 Costa Rica (+2) (3 goals scored)
Out-0 Guatemala (-4)

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Final
-Sun Jan 23
Winners

SPAIN

COPA DEL REY
Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Wed Jan 19
Real Betis 3-1 Barcelona - Bar advances 6-3 on aggregate.
Deportivo la Coruna 2-3 Almeria - Alm advances 4-2 on aggregate.
-Thu Jan 20
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid (1-3)

Barcelona, Almeria & Sevilla have advanced to the Semis.

GERMANY

DFB POKAL
Round of 16
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 19
Kickers Offenbach 0-2 Nurnberg
Koblenz 1-4 Kaiserslautern

Nurnberg & Kaiserslautern advance to the Quarterfinals next week.

ITALY

Inter Milan beat Cesena today in Serie A play. It was one of the two games they had in hand, and are now just 6 points out of the lead.

dN

Gabriele Marcotti at the Wall Street Journal on Inter's new man in charge, the loveable Leonardo.

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Catania has hired former Argentine great Diego Simeone as their new head coach.
-His most recent job was head man at San Lorenzo in Argentina.

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And I think I may have missed this - Roberto Donodoni is the new head coach at Cagliari.

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COPPA ITALIA
Round of 16
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 19
Sampdoria 2-2 Udinese - Sam win it 5-4 in a Penalty Kick Shootout.
Roma 2-1 Lazio
-Thu Jan 20
Milan v Bari

Roma, Sampdoria, Naspoli, Juventus, Parma, Palermo & Inter have advanced.

EUROPE

Ruud Gullit has been hired as the new head coach of Terek Grozny in the Russian Premiership.
-Their new season begins on Mar 10.
-Zenit are the defending champs.

ASIA

Asian Cup
Jan 7-29
Qatar

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Uzbekistan advanced as A1, Qatar as A2, Japan as B1, Jordan as B2, Australia as C1, South Korea as C2, Iran as D1 and Iraq as D2 to the knockout rounds.

N Korea, UAE, Bahrain, China, Kuwait, Syria, India and Saudi Arabia have been eliminated.

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Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jan 21
Japan v Qatar - 6:30am Central
Uzbekistan v Jordan - 9:30am Central
-Sat Jan 22
Australia v Iraq - 6:30am Central
Iran v South Korea - 9:30am Central

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Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jan 7
Qatar 0-2 Uzbekistan - Uzb goals by Odil Ahmedov & Server Djeparov.
-Sat Jan 8
Kuwait 0-2 China - Chi goals by Zhang Linpeng & Deng Zhuoxiang.
-Sun Jan 9
Japan 1-1 Jordan - Jap goal by Maya Yoshida. Jor goal by Hassan Abdel Fattah.
Saudi Arabia 1-2 Syria - SA goal by Taisir Al Jassim. Syr goals both by Abdelrazaq Al Hussain.
-Mon Jan 10
India 0-4 Australia - Aus goals by Tim Cahill(2), Harry Kewel & Brett Holman.
S Korea 2-1 Bahrain - SK goals both by Ja-Cheol Koo. Bah goal by Fawzi Mubarak.
-Tue Jan 11
N Korea 0-0 UAE
Iraq 1-2 Iran - q goal by Younis Mahmoud. n goals by Gholamreza Rezaei & Iman Mobali.
-Wed Jan 12
Uzbekistan 2-1 Kuwait - Uzb goals by Maksim Shatskikh & Server Djeparov. Kuw goal by Bader Al Mutwa(PK).
China 0-2 Qatar - Qat goals both by Yousef Ahmad.
-Thu Jan 13
Jordan 1-0 Saudi Arabia - Jor goal by Baha'a Abdulrahman.
Syria 1-2 Japan - Syr goal by Firas Al Khatib. Jap goals by Makoto Hasebe & Keisuke Honda.
-Fri Jan 14
Australia 1-1 S Korea - Aus goal by Michael Jedinak. SK goal by Ja-Cheol Koo.
Bahrain 5-2 India - Bah goals by Fawzi Ayish(PK) & Ismaeel Abdulatif(4). Ind goals by Gouramangi Aingh & Sunil Chetri.
-Sat Jan 15
Iran 1-0 N Korea - n goal by Karim Ansarifard.
UAE 0-1 Iraq q goal by Waleed Abbas(OG).
-Sun Jan 16
China 2-2 Uzbekistan - Chi goals by Yu Hai & Hai Junmin. Uzb goals by Odil Ahmedov & Aleksandr Geynrikh.
Qatar 3-0 Kuwait - Qat goals by Bilal Mohammed, Mohammed Al Sayed & Fabio Montezine.
-Mon Jan 17
Jordan 2-1 Syria - Jor goals by Ali Diab(OG) & Odai Al Saifi. Syr goal by Mohamed Al Zeno.
Saudi Arabia 0-5 Japan - Jap goals by Shinji Okazaki(3) & Ryoichi Maeda(2).
-Tue Jan 18
Australia 1-0 Bahrain - Aus goal by Mihael Jedinak.
S Korea 4-1 India - SK goals by Dong-Won Ji(2), Ja-Cheol Koo & Heung-Min Son. Ind goal by Sunil Chetri(PK).
-Wed Jan 19
UAE 0-3 Iran - n goals by Arash Afshin, Mohammad Noori & Waleed Abbas(OG).
Iraq 1-0 N Korea - q goal by Karrar Jassim.

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GROUP A
ADV-7 Uzbekistan (+3)
ADV-6 Qatar (+3)
OUT-4 China (0)
OUT-0 Kuwait (-3)
GROUP B
ADV-7 Japan (+6)
ADV-7 Jordan (+2)
OUT-3 Syria (-1)
OUT-0 Saudi Arabia (-7)
GROUP C
ADV-7 Australia (+5)
ADV-7 S Korea (+4)
OUT-3 Bahrain (+1)
OUT-0 India (-10)
GROUP D
ADV-9 Iran (+5)
ADV-6 Iraq (+1)
OUT-1 N Korea (-2)
OUT-1 UAE (-4)

ENDERS

Henry Rollins letter to David Beckham. (I know its a couple years old, but its still funny)