Some News for Fri Feb 18, 2011

STARTERS

MLS and Fox Soccer have reached a one year TV broadcasting deal supposedly worth $8 $6.25 Million. FSC will show 29 regular season games during the upcoming season, all on either Friday (14) or Saturday (15) nights.
-Why all the Friday night games? No one has said a word about it yet.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE

Quarterfinals:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 22p
Columbus Crew v Real Salt Lake - 7pm Central on FSC
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Cruz Azul v Santos Laguna
Venue: Estadio Azul - Mexico City DF
-Wed Feb 23
Toluca v Monterrey
Venue: Estadio Nemesio Diez - Toluca, Edomex
-Thu Feb 24
Saprissa v Olimpia
Venue: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Ayma - San Jose

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Round Of 16
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 22
Kobenhavn v Chelsea - Live at 1:30pm Central
Lyon v Real Madrid - Delayed at 4pm Central
-Wed Feb 23
Marseille v Man United - Live at 1:30pm Central
Inter v Bayern - Delayed at 4pm Central

CONCACAF U17 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

The 2011 CONCACAF U17 Championship/World Cup Qualifying is now under way in Jamaica.
-Mexico has already qualified as the hosts of the tournament. 4 more CONCACAF teams will advance.

dN

Trinidad & Tobago got a win yesterday and advanced to the knock out stage. Saturday's game between Jamaica & Guatemala will decide who else from Group D will advance and what their seeding will be.

Costa Rica gets the Group A #1 send after beating El Salvador today who are the #2 seed then.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Feb 14
Haiti 1-3 Costa Rica - Hai goal by Johnley Chery. CR goals by William Quiros, Gabriel Leiva & John Ruiz.
Cuba 1-3 USA - Cub goal by Frank Lopez. USA goals by Alfred Koroma, Andrew Oliver & Esteban Rodriguez.
-Tue Feb 15
Barbados 1-2 Honduras - Bar goal by Zari Prescod. Hon goals by Bryan Rochez & Eder Velasquez.
Jamaica 2-2 Trinidad & Tobago - Jam goals by Jason Wright(PK) & Romario Williams. T&T goals both by Shackiel.
-Wed Feb 16
El Salvador 3-0 Haiti - Haiti forfeit
Panama 0-0 Cuba
-Thu Feb 17
Canada 8-0 Barbados - Can goals by Keven Aleman(2), Chris Nanco(2), Michael Petrasso(2), Said Jalali & Wesley Cain.
Guatemala 0-1 Trinidad & Tobago - T&T goal by Adan Noel.
-Fri Feb 18
Costa Rica 3-2 El Salvador - CR goals all by John Ruiz. Sal goals both by Geraldo Iraheta.
USA v Panama - 3:30pm Central
-Sat Feb 19
Honduras v Canada
Jamaica v Guatemala

dN

Standings:
Group A
ADV-3 Costa Rica +2 (1 gp)
ADV-3 El Salvador +3 (1 gp)
OUT-0 Haiti -5 (withdrawn) (2 gp)
Group B
ADV-3 USA +2 (1 gp)
1 Panama 0 (1 gp)
1 Cuba -2 (2 gp)
Group C
ADV-3 Canada +8 (1 gp)
ADV-3 Honduras +1 (1 gp)
OUT-0 Barbados -9 (2 gp)
Group D
ADV-4 Trinidad & Tobago +1 (2 gp)
1 Jamaica 0 (1 gp)
0 Guatemala -1 (1 gp)

The top 2 from each group will advance.

dN

Quarterfinals:
-Tue Feb 22
Costa Rica v Panama - 11am Central
United States v El Salvador - 2pm Central on ESPN3.com

-Wed Feb 23
Canada v Trinidad & Tobago - 11am Central
Jamaica v Honduras - 2pm Central

Semifinals - these 4 will go to the World Cup

Final - CONCACAF Champion

dN

USA Roster
G:
Kendall McIntosh - Mustang Academy
Fernando Pina - Houston Dynamo Academy
D:
Kellyn Acosta - FC Dallas Academy
Joe Amon - South Carolina United
Zach Carroll - Vardar
Mobi Fehr - Tokyo Verdy
Nathan Smith - Cal Odyssey
Andrew Souders - Crew Soccer Academy
M:
Jordan Allen - Empire United
Matt Dunn - Koln
Alejandro Guido - Aztecs Premier
Marc Pelosi - De Anza Force
Esteban Rodriguez - Cosmos Academy West
Tarik Salkicic - Strictly Soccer
Dillon Serna - Colorado Rapids Academy
F:
Paul Arriola - Arsenal FC
Alfred Koroma - Solar Chelsea
Jack McBean - LA Galaxy
Andrew Oliver - Westside United
Mario Rodriguez - Central Aztecs

dN

The official blog of the USA youth national teams has some great stuff on the players in their squad.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

-Sun Feb 20
Celtic v Rangers - the Old Firm in Premier League action
-Does a huge rivalry like this lose some of its intensity when you are playing 5 or 6 times per year? I would think it has to.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Countdown Begins

PODCASTS

The World Football show from the BBC's World Service focuses their weekly show on the retirement of the amazing Ronaldo, and several other topics. Extremely well done show. Download or listen here.

WHY?

The World Game from SBS in Australia. Why haven't I known about this site for years? Where have I been?

I found it today because they have a video interview with one of our all time favorite Friends-In-Football Peter Wilt. (In 3 parts)

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Soccer 365 with rumors on Kris Boyd, Ewerthon and much more.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

CHICAGO FIRE

The Fire continue their complete overhaul with the signing of 25 year old Uruguayan forward Diego Chaves from Nacional.

CD CHIVAS USA

CUAS gets a 1-0 win over the Whitecaps today on a late goal from Jesus Padilla.

COLUMBUS CREW

We keep hearing so much about DC's injured goalkeeper problems, but the Crew have a much bigger need with both William Hesmer and Andy Gruenebaum out and a real match next Tuesday in the CONCACAF CHampions League.

So the team has signed former Dallas keeper Ray Burse, who is expected to be the starter come next week. Wow.

The Crew lost to Houston 4-2 yesterday. First round Superdraft pick Justin Meram scored both Cbus goals.

The team has signed free agents Josh Gardner & Eric Gerhig, and Supplemental draft pick Andy Adlard.

FC DALLAS

FCD signed their 6th academy player, 16 year old goalkeeper Richard Sanchez.
-Its almost like Schellas is recruiting for a college team.

Dallas has acquired defensive midfielder Andrew Jacobson from Philadelphia in exchange for a future draft pick.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

The Dynamo beat Columbus 4-2 on Thursday. HD goals by Danny Cruz, Eddie Robinson, Brian Ching & Jason Garey.
-Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle with some notes on Dynamo players in the game.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

SKC signs its second academy player - 19 year old right fullback Kevin Ellis.
-Charles Gooch of the Star tells us about Ellis.

Pete Grathoff of the Star reports on the arrival of Mexican star Omar Bravo and the effect he is having on the locals in KC.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN with an article on Shalrie Joseph who really needs to step it up from a mediocre (for him) 2010.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with an article on long time academy prodigy Matt Kassel who is now with the senior team.

Lewis also looks at the new centerback pairing of veteran Rafa Marquez and youngster Tim Ream.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Van lost 1-0 to Chivas USA today.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Coming Up:

ENGLAND - FA Cup - 4th Round
Tim Howard - Everton - Sat Feb 19 at Chelsea

ENGLAND - FA Cup - 5th Round
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - Sun Feb 20 v Bolton or Wigan
Stuart Holden - Bolton - Sun Feb 20 at Fulham
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - Mon Feb 21 v Burnley

ENGLAND

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs has signed a contract extension through next season. Amazing.

dN

FA Cup
Its time for another round.

Matches & Scores:
4th Round Replay
-Sat Feb 19
Chelsea v Everton
-Sun Feb 20
Manchester City v Notts County
5th Round
-Sat Feb 19
Stoke v Brighton & Hove
Birmingham v Sheffield Wednesday
Manchester United v Crawley Town
-Sun Feb 20
Fulham v Bolton
Leyton Orient v Arsenal
-Mon Feb 21
West Ham v Burnley

SPAIN

Top of the Table: (23 GP)
62 Barcelona - Sun Feb 20 v Athletic Bilbao
57 Real Madrid - Sat Feb 19 v Levante
47 Valencia - Sat Feb 19 v Sporting Gijon
45 Villarreal - Sun Feb 20 v Malaga
38 Athletic Bilbao - Sun Feb 20 at Barcelona

FRANCE

Top of the Table: (23 GP)
45 Lille - Sun Feb 20 at Montpellier
40 Rennes - Sun Feb 20 at Toulouse
39 Marsielle - Sat Feb 19 v St Etienne
38 Lyon - Fri Feb 18 v Nancy
38 PSG - Sun Feb 20 at Nice

GERMANY

Top of the Table: (22 GP)
52 Borussia Dortmund - Sat Feb 19 v St Pauli
42 Bayer Leverkusen - Sun Feb 20 v Stuttgart
39 Bayern Munich - Sat Feb 19 at Mainz
38 Hannover - Sat Feb 19 v Kaiselslautern
37 Mainz - Sat Feb 19 v Bayern

ITALY

Top of the Table: (25 GP)
52 Milan - Sun Feb 20 at Chievo
49 Napoli - Sun Feb 20 v Catania
47 Inter - Sat Feb 19 v Cagliari
45 Lazio - Sun Feb 20 v Bari
43 Udinese - Sun Feb 20 v Brescia

COPA LIBERTADORES

The Group Stage is in full swing.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Feb 17
Leon Huanuco 1-2 Junior - LH goal by Carlos Elias. Jun goals by John Viafara & Carlos Bacca.
Gremio 3-0 Oriente Petrolero - Gre goals by Dougles(2) & Gilson.
Cerro Porteno 5-2 Colo Colo - CP goals by Roberto Nanni(2), Julio Dos Santos & Juan Itrube(2). CC goals by Cristobal Jorquera & Esteban Paredes.
Godoy Cruz 2-1 LDU Quito - GC goals by Carlos Sanchez & Nicolas Sanchez. LDU goal by Neicer Reasco.
-Tue Feb 22
Cruzeiro v Guarani
San Martin v San Luis
Emelec v Jorge Wilstermann
Once Caldas v Libertad
-Wed Feb 23
Leon Huanuco v Oriente Petrolero
Internacional v Jaguares
Estudiantes v Deportes Tolima
Fluminense v Nacional

dN

Standings:
Group 1
3 Universidad San Martin (Peru) (+3 gd) (1 gp)
3 Libertad (Paraguay) (+1 gd) (1 gp)
0 San Luis (Mexico) (-1 gd) (1 gp)
0 Once Caldas (Colombia) (-3 gd) (1 gp)
Group 2
3 Gremio (Brazil) (+3 gd) (1 gp)
3 Junior (Colombia) (+1 gd) (1 gp)
0 Leon de Huanuco (Peru) (-1 gd) (1 gp)
0 Oriente Petrolo (Bolivia) (-3 gd) (1 gp)
Group 3
3 America (Mexico) (+2 gd) (1 gp)
1 Argentinos Juniors (Argentina) (0 gd) (1 gp)
1 Fluminense (Brazil) (0 gd) (1 gp)
0 Nacional (Uruguay) (-2 gd) (1 gp)
Group 4
3 Velez Sarsfield (Argentina) (+3 gd) (1 gp)
1 Universidad Catolica (Chile) (0 gd) (1 gp)
1 Union Espanola (Chile) (0 gd) (1 gp)
0 Caracas (Venezuela) (-3 gd) (1 gp)
Group 5
3 Cerro Porteno (Paraguay) (+3 gd) (1 gp)
1 Santos (Brazil) (0 gd) (1 gp)
1 Tachira (Venezuela) (0 gd) (1 gp)
0 Colo-Colo (Chile) (-3 gd) (1 gp)
Group 6
3 Chiapas Jaguares (+2 gd) (1 gp)
1 Internacional (Brazil) (0 gd) (1 gp)
1 Emelec (Ecuador) (0 gd) (1 gp)
0 Jorge Wilstermann (Bolivia) (-2 gd) (1 gp)
Group 7
3 Cruzeiro (Brazil) (+5 gd) (1 gp)
3 Tolima (Colombia) (+1 gd) (1 gp)
0 Guarani (Paraguay) (-1 gd) (1 gp)
0 Estudiantes (Argentina) (-5 gd) (1 gp)
Group 8
3 Gody Cruz (Argentina) (+1 gd) (1 gp)
- Penarol (Uruguay)
- Independiente (Argentina)
0 Liga Quito (Ecuador) (-1 gd) (1 gp)