Some News for Mon Feb 28, 2011
STARTERS
The USA are the U17 CONCACAF Championships. See details below. Huge congrats to them for an outstanding performance.
dN
Birmingham beat Arsenal for the lesser Cup in England. The League Cup if you will, but not the FA Cup which is the biggie.
dN
Mar 1 is the day that MLS teams must get their rosters down to regulation size. Doesn't mean that the rosters are set, but they have to either sign players or release them.
STORY OF THE DAY
T&T's Newsday reports that the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation is finally admitting that they did not pay their players what they were owed for the 2006 World Cup, and after losing court case after court care they will finally pay up.
BUUUUUUUUUUT.... They don't have any money! So they will have to turn to Jack Warner for the money!!!!! Can you believe these people?!?!?! We know this story is not over yet, despite what judges ruling after judges ruling has said.
CONCACAF U17 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
The USA has won the 2011 CONCACAF U17 Championship/World Cup qualifying tournament in Jamaica.
-Mexico has already qualified as the hosts of the tournament. 4 more CONCACAF teams will advance.
dN
A spectacular goal from USA fullback Nathan Smith was the tournament winner.
The USA and Canada were scoreless after 90 minutes in the championship game, but the USA scored thrice in the Added Extra Time to win going away.
-Both teams had a player red carded for some extra-curriculars moments before the final goal was scored.
-Match report from US Soccer.
-Nathan Smith goal
-Andrew Oliver goal
-Alfred Koroma goal
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Semifinals
-Fri Feb 25
Panama 0-1 Canada - Can goal by Luca Gasparotto.
USA 2-0 Jamaica - USA goals by Marc Pelosi & Andrew Oliver.
dN
Final
-Sun Feb 27
CONCACAF Championship
Canada 0-3 USA - USA goals by Nathan Smith, Andrew Oliver & Alfred Koroma Score.
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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
The official blog of the USA youth national teams has some great stuff on the players in their squad.
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE
Second leg games will be played this week.
Quarterfinals:
2nd Leg
-Tue Mar 1
Real Salt Lake v Columbus Crew (0-0)
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Santos Laguna v Cruz Azul (0-2)
Venue: Estadio Corona - Torreen, Coahuila
-Wed Mar 2
Monterrey v Toluca (1-0)
Venue: Tecnologico - Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
-Thu Mar 3
Olimpia v Saprissa (0-1)
Venue: Estadio Carias Andino - Tegucigalpa
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The bad part is that nobody (in the organization) actually knows what happened. Not the Revolution coaching staff, nor the people in charge, they never asked me what actually happened. They just immediately gave me and Kevin punishment for something that they don’t even know what exactly happened.”
-Shalrie Joseph of the New England Revolution on being suspended from the team.
Actually Shalrie, the bad part is that a lot of people look up to you and you were arrested after being at a party at 3:30am during spring training.
Brian O'Connell of New England Soccer Today gives us the story of how Joseph and teammate Kevin Alston were sent hom from New England Revolution training camp in Florida last week, from Joseph's point of view.
-Joseph says Alston did nothing.
-He also completely accepts responsibility for what he did, and will take his lumps.
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
-Sat Feb 26
Bayern Munich 1-3 Borussia Dortmund - Dortmund crushed! Bayern got one last chance to try and stop Dortmund's run away championship season. But now its over!
-Sun Feb 27
PSV 0-0 Ajax - the scoreless draw helps neither in the league and no one gets to brag after the biggest rivalry in the Netherlands.
Lille 1-1 Lyon - #1 v #4 ended in a tie and hurt them both.
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Valencia - #5 loses to #3.
-Mon Feb 28
Milan 3-0 Napoli - #1 showed former #2 (now in 3rd) how its done! What else can you say.
HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING
The Washington Post reports that the New York Red Bulls fired long time assistant coach Richie Williams and Des McAleenan today.
STAT OF THE DAY
Udinese - currently the hottest team in Italy
10 games since winter break:
W 2-0 v Chievo
D 4-4 at Milan
W 2-4 at Genoa
W 3-1 v Inter
W 1-2 at Juve
D 1-1 v Bologna
W 2-0 v Sampdora
W 0-3 at Cesena
D 0-0 v Brescia
W 0-7 at Palermo
0 losses, 7 wins and 3 draws
24 of 30 points
5th place
1 point out of 4th
+19 in goals, 3rd best
WHY NOT!
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post introduces us to the Olsen's Army truck.
WHAT???
The Chelsea genius Ashley Cole shot a locker room attendant in the butt with an air pistol. His coach said he did nothing that would warrant discipline. Nah. Of course not.
MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS
The #2 MLS single season goal scorer Stern John has been spotted at Chivas USA training camp.He and CUSA head coach Robin Fraser were teammates in Columbus the year John exploded. Yeah, that is just completely wrong. Thanks to the smart readers for setting me straight.
dN
Soccer 365 with plenty of quality name dropping.
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
Steve Davis at Sports Illustrated digs in to examine the new playoff format.
CHICAGO FIRE
Lost to Seattle 1-0 on Saturday.
COLUMBUS CREW
The Duke of Obetz, Steve Sirk gives us his regular fantastic Crew notebook.
FC DALLAS
FCD won the Disney Pro Classic tournament on Saturday. See details below in MLS Exhibitions section.
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Dynamo lost to Dallas in the final of the Disney Pro Classic on Saturday. See details below in the MLS Exhibitions section.
Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle focuses on the Dyna's rebuilt defense.
-More Dynamo notes including a Brian Ching hamstring strain, and a MLS investigation into a supposedly ugly confrontation between Geoff Cameron and Dallas' Jair Benetiz a couple weeks back.
And Ortiz introduces us to draft pick forward Will Bruin.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC
Played (sorta split squad style) to a scoreless ties with both Portland and beat the Montreal Impact 2-0 with goals by C.J. Sapong (PK) & an Impact Own Goal on Saturday. NOTE: Thanks to the great readers for correcting our mistakes.
Charles Gooch of the Star looks at how the offense and defense are stacking up so far during preseason.
LA GALAXY
Scott French of ESPN hooks us up with video of dazzlin' Dave Beckman after his first training session back with the Galaxy.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
LE Eisenmenger of the Examiner talks to Rev head coach Steve Nicol. "So, how's it going coach?" And other team news.
NEW YORK RED BULLS
Simon Evans of Reuters talks to Thierry Henry about season 2 with the Bulls.
-Here is the full Q & A.
Beat the NASL Ft Lauderdale Strikers 2-0 on Saturday with goals by Thierry Henry & Mehdi Ballouchy.
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at who will be the Bulls #1 goalkeeper.
-The team also has injury problems at forward.
PHILADELPHIA UNION
The Union headed off to Greece over the weekend for a week of training. They have two games scheduled.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian talks to owner Merritt Paulson about how the roster is shaping up.
The Daily Monitor of Uganda with an article on their native son Brian Umony who is very nearly signed on with the Timbers.
Played to a scoreless tie with Kansas City on Saturday.
REAL SALT LAKE
RSL has released forward Pablo Campos.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Beat Chicago 1-0 on Saturday. Servando Carrasco scored the goal.
TORONTO FC
TFC lost to Orlando City (USL Pro - 3rd division) in the 3rd place game of the Disney Pro Classic on Saturday. See details below in the MLS Exhibitions section.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
Marc Weber of the Province on a central midfielder the Caps really hope will pan out Phillipe Davies.
Weber also writes about Jay DeMerit's love of Twitter.
-Although I must say the last time Jay was in Minneapolis many of us Twittered him like crazy to come meet up with us at a watering hole, and he pretended Twitter did not exist that night. Hahahahahahahahaha. Would you respond to me and my crew? Probably not.
Bruce Constantineau of the Sun tells us about promising draft pick Bilal Duckett.
MLS EXHIBITIONS
DISNEY PRO CLASSIC - See all games on ESPN3.com
Venue: ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex - Orlando FL
-Thu Feb 24
Orlando City 0-1 FC Dallas - FCD goal by Milton Rodriguez.
Toronto FC 2-3 Houston Dynamo - TFC goals by Jacob Peterson & Dwayne DeRosario. HD goals by Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis & Cam Weaver.
-Sat Feb 26
1st/2nd place - FC Dallas 1-1 Houston Dynamo - FCD wins 5-3 in Penalty Kick Shootout - FCD goal by Ruben Luna. HD goal by Francisco Navas Cobo.
3rd/4th place - Orlando City 1-0 Toronto FC - OC goal by Ian Fuller.
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
The guy in the depth chart ahead of Michael Bradley at Aston Villa was suspended for the game this weekend, but he still couldn't get off the bench.
dN
Game Action:
ENGLAND - Premier League
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa - on the bench as they won 4-1 v Blackburn.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Man City.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in goal for a 4-1 win over Blackburn.
Stuart Holden - Bolton - played the entire game as they drew 1-1 at Newcastle.
Tim Howard - Everton - in goal for a 2-0 win v Sunderland.
Jermaine Jones - Blackburn - went the distance, getting a yellow card and losing 4-1 at Aston Villa.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on as a sub in the 82nd min as they won 3-1 v Liverpool.
ENGLAND - Championship League
Brad Guzan - Hull City - in goal for a 0-2 loss v Cardiff.
Eddie Johnson - Preston North End - came on as a sub in the 69th min but they lost at home 1-2 v Burnley.
Eric Lichaj - Leeds - played the full 90 getting a yellow card and losing 3-0 at Swansea.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - played the whole game as they won 0-2 at Barnsley.
ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Swindon Town - went the distance in his debut but lost 4-1 at Southampton.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - played the whole game but lost 0-1 v Sheffield Wednesday.
FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - played the entire game in a losing effort 0-2 v Nice.
GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timothy Chandler - Nurnberg - played the entire game, getting a yellow card as they drew 1-1 at Schalke.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance as they won 0-1 at St Pauli.
GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - came on as a sub in the 76th min and got a goal as they won 4-1 at Karlsruher.
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - in goal as they lost badly 1-4 v Ingolstadt.
Bobby Wood - 1860 Munich - came on as a sub in the 82nd and they won 0-1 at Union.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - went the distance in a scoreless draw at Rot-Weiss Oberhausen.
NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at AZ.
NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the distance as they won 5-2 v Sparta Rotterdam.
SCOTLAND - Premier League
Mo Edu - Rangers - went the full 90 in a 4-0 win v St Johnstone.
TURKEY - Super Lig
Jozy Altidore - Bursaspor - did not dress as they won 0-2 at Bucaspor.
TURKEY - 1. Lig
Freddie Adu - Caykur Rizespor - started and played 55 min of a scoreless draw at Gungoren Belediyespor.
dN
Coming Up:
BULGARIA - A PFG
Jemal Johnson - Lokomotiv Sofia - Mon Feb 28 v Montana
ENGLAND - FA Cup - 5th Round
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa - Wed Mar 2 at Manchester City
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Wed Mar 2 at Manchester City
Tim Howard - Everton - Tue Mar 1 v Reading
NETHERLANDS - KNVB Beker - Semifinals
Oguchi Onyewu Twente - Wed Mar 2 v Utrecht
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Isaac Acuna scored a big goal this weekend but was subbed out after just 32 minutes. We are still trying to find out why he left the game.
Game Action:
PRIMERA DIVISION
Isaac Acuna - Queretaro - started and scored a goal but came out after just 32 minutes as they drew 1-1 at home v Cruz Azul.
Daniel Antunez - Estudiantes Tecos - did not dress as they lost 5-1 at Pumas.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on teh bench but did not play as they won 3-0 v Puebla.
Edgar Castillo - Puebla - didn't suit up for a 3-0 loss at Tigres.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - did not play as they tied 0-0 v San Luis.
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - came on as a sub in the 55th min but they lost 2-1 at Morelia.
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - did not dress as they lost 5-1 at Pumas.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 in a scoreless draw v San Luis
LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division)
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - did not suit up as they won 1-3 at Lobos BUAP.
Marco Vidal - Leon - started but received a yellow card and was subbed out after just 4 minutes as they drew 1-1 at Dorados.
MEXICO
Striker Carlos Vela is finally seeing first team action, and for the second game in a row he has scored for West Bromich Albion in England. And with Javier Hernandez getting more and more playing time at Manchester United the USA had better take notice of the first power lining up for the Mexican national team at the Gold Cup next summer.
ENGLAND
LEAGUE CUP
Birmingham City win the Cup. Congrats to them.
Final
-Sun Feb 27
Arsenal 1-2 Birmingham
dN
Recap du Nord: Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea all had the weekend off from league play so Man U got a big win to widen their gap at the top. Man City fell further behind in #3 by only getting a tie against Fulham.
Chelsea hosts Manchester United on Tuesday night.
Jacob Steinburg of the Guardian with five things we learned with the Premier League this weekend.
Top of the Premier League Table: (27 GP)
60 Man United - Sat Feb 26 W 0-4 at Wigan
56 Arsenal - League Cup final this weekend
50 Man City - Sun Feb 27 D 1-1 v Fulham (28 GP)
47 Tottenham - no game this weekend
45 Chelsea - no game this weekend (26 GP)
dN
FA Cup
5th Round
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 1
Everton v Reading
-Wed Mar 2
Manchester City v Aston Villa
5th Round Replay
-Wed Mar 2
Arsenal v Leyton Orient
SPAIN
Recap du Nord: Barca won easily and the saw their lead grow at the top as Real Madrid was held to a scoreless draw in Coruna. #3 Valencia won. #4 Villarreal lost. And #5 Athletic Bilbao dropped out of the top 5 with a loss, meaning Espanyol has moved back up.
Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Levante who are doing things the right way and hoping to avoid relegation at the same time, and the rest of the round in La Liga.
Phil Ball of ESPN on Villarreal in league and Europa play, plus a buzz around the rest of La Liga.
Top of the Primera Division Table: (25 GP)
68 Barcelona - Sat Feb 26 W 0-3 at Mallorca
61 Real Madrid - Sat Feb 26 D 0-0 at Deportivo La Coruna
51 Valencia - Sun Feb 27 W 1-2 at Athletic Bilbao
47 Villarreal - Sun Feb 27 D 2-2 at Racing Santander
40 Espanyol - Sat Feb 26 W 4-1 v Real Sociedad
- - - - -
38 Athletic Bilbao - Sun Feb 27 L 1-2 v Villarreal
A full slate of midweek games are headed our way next.
FRANCE
Recap du Nord: A draw between them hurt both #1 Lille and Lyon who went from 4th to 5th. Rennes win moves them to a tie for #1 on points, but behind on goal difference. Marsielle and PSG both won putting them in 3rd and 4th place.
Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated says Lyon coach Claude Puel is really feeling the pressure to bring the team back to the #1 spot in France.
Top of the Ligue 1 Table: (25 GP)
46 Lille - Sun Feb 27 D 1-1 v Lyon
46 Rennes - Sat Feb 26 W 2-0 v Lens
45 Marsielle - Sun Feb 27 W 1-2 at Nancy
44 PSG - Sun Feb 27 W 2-1 v Toulouse
42 Lyon - Sun Feb 27 D 1-1 at Lille
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COUPE DE FRANCE
Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 1
Reims v Nice
-Wed Mar 2
Lille v Lorient
PSG v Le Mans
Chambery v Angers
GERMANY
Recap du Nord: Dortmund showed to everyone that they will be the champions of Germany this season by going to Munich and stuffing Bayern into a garbage bin. Powerfully done. Leverkusen could only get a draw and fell to 12 points back in 2nd. The loss dropped Bayern from 3rd to 4th. And with a win Hannover gladly took that #3 spot. Mainz won to remain 5th, now only 2 points from 4th.
Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on the sweeping win by Dortmund and the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga.
Gabrielle Marcotti of the Wall Street Journal on Dortmund - young, cheaply put together and run by a mad scientist.
FIFA.com does a Q & A with Werder Bremen and Peru striker Claudio Pizarro.
Top of the Bundesliga Table: (24 GP)
58 Borussia Dortmund - Sat Feb 26 W 1-3 at Bayern Munich
46 Bayer Leverkusen - Sun Feb 27 D 2-2 at Werder Bremen
44 Hannover - Sat Feb 26 W 0-1 at St Pauli
42 Bayern Munich - Sat Feb 26 L 1-3 v Borussia Dortmund
40 Mainz - Sat Feb 26 W 1-2 at Hoffenheim
dN
DFB POKAL
Semifinals
-Tue Mar 1
Duisburg v Energie Cottbus
-Wed Mar 2
Bayern Munich v Schalke
ITALY
Recap du Nord: #1 Milan proved their standing by rolling over previous #2 Napoli 3-0 sending them tumlbling to 3rd. Inter moved up to 2nd place with a win. While Lazio in 4th lost and #5 Udinese won huge to close the gap to 1 point in 5th.
After getting brutally embarrassed by Udinese this weekend Palermo has fired head coach Palermo have confirmed the dismissal of Delio Rossi.
Alan Gardner of the Guardian on Palermo's total meltdown and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.
Top of the Serie A Table: (27 GP)
58 Milan - Mon Feb 28 W 3-0 v Napoli
53 Inter - Sun Feb 27 W 0-2 at Sampdoria
52 Napoli - Mon Feb 28 L 3-0 at Milan
48 Lazio - Sun Feb 27 L 1-0 at Cagliari
47 Udinese - Sun Feb 27 W 0-7 at Palermo
COPA LIBERTADORES
Tim Vickery of the BBC raves about the performance of Giovanni Hernandez of Junior.
-And how cool looking is the Junior badge??
dN
Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 1
Godoy Cruz v Penarol
Tachira v Colo Colo
The USA are the U17 CONCACAF Championships. See details below. Huge congrats to them for an outstanding performance.
dN
Birmingham beat Arsenal for the lesser Cup in England. The League Cup if you will, but not the FA Cup which is the biggie.
dN
Mar 1 is the day that MLS teams must get their rosters down to regulation size. Doesn't mean that the rosters are set, but they have to either sign players or release them.
STORY OF THE DAY
T&T's Newsday reports that the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation is finally admitting that they did not pay their players what they were owed for the 2006 World Cup, and after losing court case after court care they will finally pay up.
BUUUUUUUUUUT.... They don't have any money! So they will have to turn to Jack Warner for the money!!!!! Can you believe these people?!?!?! We know this story is not over yet, despite what judges ruling after judges ruling has said.
CONCACAF U17 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
The USA has won the 2011 CONCACAF U17 Championship/World Cup qualifying tournament in Jamaica.
-Mexico has already qualified as the hosts of the tournament. 4 more CONCACAF teams will advance.
dN
A spectacular goal from USA fullback Nathan Smith was the tournament winner.
The USA and Canada were scoreless after 90 minutes in the championship game, but the USA scored thrice in the Added Extra Time to win going away.
-Both teams had a player red carded for some extra-curriculars moments before the final goal was scored.
-Match report from US Soccer.
-Nathan Smith goal
-Andrew Oliver goal
-Alfred Koroma goal
dN
Semifinals
-Fri Feb 25
Panama 0-1 Canada - Can goal by Luca Gasparotto.
USA 2-0 Jamaica - USA goals by Marc Pelosi & Andrew Oliver.
dN
Final
-Sun Feb 27
CONCACAF Championship
Canada 0-3 USA - USA goals by Nathan Smith, Andrew Oliver & Alfred Koroma Score.
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
The official blog of the USA youth national teams has some great stuff on the players in their squad.
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE
Second leg games will be played this week.
Quarterfinals:
2nd Leg
-Tue Mar 1
Real Salt Lake v Columbus Crew (0-0)
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Santos Laguna v Cruz Azul (0-2)
Venue: Estadio Corona - Torreen, Coahuila
-Wed Mar 2
Monterrey v Toluca (1-0)
Venue: Tecnologico - Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
-Thu Mar 3
Olimpia v Saprissa (0-1)
Venue: Estadio Carias Andino - Tegucigalpa
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The bad part is that nobody (in the organization) actually knows what happened. Not the Revolution coaching staff, nor the people in charge, they never asked me what actually happened. They just immediately gave me and Kevin punishment for something that they don’t even know what exactly happened.”
-Shalrie Joseph of the New England Revolution on being suspended from the team.
Actually Shalrie, the bad part is that a lot of people look up to you and you were arrested after being at a party at 3:30am during spring training.
Brian O'Connell of New England Soccer Today gives us the story of how Joseph and teammate Kevin Alston were sent hom from New England Revolution training camp in Florida last week, from Joseph's point of view.
-Joseph says Alston did nothing.
-He also completely accepts responsibility for what he did, and will take his lumps.
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
-Sat Feb 26
Bayern Munich 1-3 Borussia Dortmund - Dortmund crushed! Bayern got one last chance to try and stop Dortmund's run away championship season. But now its over!
-Sun Feb 27
PSV 0-0 Ajax - the scoreless draw helps neither in the league and no one gets to brag after the biggest rivalry in the Netherlands.
Lille 1-1 Lyon - #1 v #4 ended in a tie and hurt them both.
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Valencia - #5 loses to #3.
-Mon Feb 28
Milan 3-0 Napoli - #1 showed former #2 (now in 3rd) how its done! What else can you say.
HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING
The Washington Post reports that the New York Red Bulls fired long time assistant coach Richie Williams and Des McAleenan today.
STAT OF THE DAY
Udinese - currently the hottest team in Italy
10 games since winter break:
W 2-0 v Chievo
D 4-4 at Milan
W 2-4 at Genoa
W 3-1 v Inter
W 1-2 at Juve
D 1-1 v Bologna
W 2-0 v Sampdora
W 0-3 at Cesena
D 0-0 v Brescia
W 0-7 at Palermo
0 losses, 7 wins and 3 draws
24 of 30 points
5th place
1 point out of 4th
+19 in goals, 3rd best
WHY NOT!
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post introduces us to the Olsen's Army truck.
WHAT???
The Chelsea genius Ashley Cole shot a locker room attendant in the butt with an air pistol. His coach said he did nothing that would warrant discipline. Nah. Of course not.
MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS
The #2 MLS single season goal scorer Stern John has been spotted at Chivas USA training camp.
dN
Soccer 365 with plenty of quality name dropping.
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
Steve Davis at Sports Illustrated digs in to examine the new playoff format.
CHICAGO FIRE
Lost to Seattle 1-0 on Saturday.
COLUMBUS CREW
The Duke of Obetz, Steve Sirk gives us his regular fantastic Crew notebook.
FC DALLAS
FCD won the Disney Pro Classic tournament on Saturday. See details below in MLS Exhibitions section.
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Dynamo lost to Dallas in the final of the Disney Pro Classic on Saturday. See details below in the MLS Exhibitions section.
Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle focuses on the Dyna's rebuilt defense.
-More Dynamo notes including a Brian Ching hamstring strain, and a MLS investigation into a supposedly ugly confrontation between Geoff Cameron and Dallas' Jair Benetiz a couple weeks back.
And Ortiz introduces us to draft pick forward Will Bruin.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC
Played (sorta split squad style) to a scoreless tie
Charles Gooch of the Star looks at how the offense and defense are stacking up so far during preseason.
LA GALAXY
Scott French of ESPN hooks us up with video of dazzlin' Dave Beckman after his first training session back with the Galaxy.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
LE Eisenmenger of the Examiner talks to Rev head coach Steve Nicol. "So, how's it going coach?" And other team news.
NEW YORK RED BULLS
Simon Evans of Reuters talks to Thierry Henry about season 2 with the Bulls.
-Here is the full Q & A.
Beat the NASL Ft Lauderdale Strikers 2-0 on Saturday with goals by Thierry Henry & Mehdi Ballouchy.
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at who will be the Bulls #1 goalkeeper.
-The team also has injury problems at forward.
PHILADELPHIA UNION
The Union headed off to Greece over the weekend for a week of training. They have two games scheduled.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian talks to owner Merritt Paulson about how the roster is shaping up.
The Daily Monitor of Uganda with an article on their native son Brian Umony who is very nearly signed on with the Timbers.
Played to a scoreless tie with Kansas City on Saturday.
REAL SALT LAKE
RSL has released forward Pablo Campos.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Beat Chicago 1-0 on Saturday. Servando Carrasco scored the goal.
TORONTO FC
TFC lost to Orlando City (USL Pro - 3rd division) in the 3rd place game of the Disney Pro Classic on Saturday. See details below in the MLS Exhibitions section.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
Marc Weber of the Province on a central midfielder the Caps really hope will pan out Phillipe Davies.
Weber also writes about Jay DeMerit's love of Twitter.
-Although I must say the last time Jay was in Minneapolis many of us Twittered him like crazy to come meet up with us at a watering hole, and he pretended Twitter did not exist that night. Hahahahahahahahaha. Would you respond to me and my crew? Probably not.
Bruce Constantineau of the Sun tells us about promising draft pick Bilal Duckett.
MLS EXHIBITIONS
DISNEY PRO CLASSIC - See all games on ESPN3.com
Venue: ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex - Orlando FL
-Thu Feb 24
Orlando City 0-1 FC Dallas - FCD goal by Milton Rodriguez.
Toronto FC 2-3 Houston Dynamo - TFC goals by Jacob Peterson & Dwayne DeRosario. HD goals by Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis & Cam Weaver.
-Sat Feb 26
1st/2nd place - FC Dallas 1-1 Houston Dynamo - FCD wins 5-3 in Penalty Kick Shootout - FCD goal by Ruben Luna. HD goal by Francisco Navas Cobo.
3rd/4th place - Orlando City 1-0 Toronto FC - OC goal by Ian Fuller.
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
The guy in the depth chart ahead of Michael Bradley at Aston Villa was suspended for the game this weekend, but he still couldn't get off the bench.
dN
Game Action:
ENGLAND - Premier League
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa - on the bench as they won 4-1 v Blackburn.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Man City.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in goal for a 4-1 win over Blackburn.
Stuart Holden - Bolton - played the entire game as they drew 1-1 at Newcastle.
Tim Howard - Everton - in goal for a 2-0 win v Sunderland.
Jermaine Jones - Blackburn - went the distance, getting a yellow card and losing 4-1 at Aston Villa.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on as a sub in the 82nd min as they won 3-1 v Liverpool.
ENGLAND - Championship League
Brad Guzan - Hull City - in goal for a 0-2 loss v Cardiff.
Eddie Johnson - Preston North End - came on as a sub in the 69th min but they lost at home 1-2 v Burnley.
Eric Lichaj - Leeds - played the full 90 getting a yellow card and losing 3-0 at Swansea.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - played the whole game as they won 0-2 at Barnsley.
ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Swindon Town - went the distance in his debut but lost 4-1 at Southampton.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - played the whole game but lost 0-1 v Sheffield Wednesday.
FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - played the entire game in a losing effort 0-2 v Nice.
GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timothy Chandler - Nurnberg - played the entire game, getting a yellow card as they drew 1-1 at Schalke.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance as they won 0-1 at St Pauli.
GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - came on as a sub in the 76th min and got a goal as they won 4-1 at Karlsruher.
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - in goal as they lost badly 1-4 v Ingolstadt.
Bobby Wood - 1860 Munich - came on as a sub in the 82nd and they won 0-1 at Union.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - went the distance in a scoreless draw at Rot-Weiss Oberhausen.
NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at AZ.
NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the distance as they won 5-2 v Sparta Rotterdam.
SCOTLAND - Premier League
Mo Edu - Rangers - went the full 90 in a 4-0 win v St Johnstone.
TURKEY - Super Lig
Jozy Altidore - Bursaspor - did not dress as they won 0-2 at Bucaspor.
TURKEY - 1. Lig
Freddie Adu - Caykur Rizespor - started and played 55 min of a scoreless draw at Gungoren Belediyespor.
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Coming Up:
BULGARIA - A PFG
Jemal Johnson - Lokomotiv Sofia - Mon Feb 28 v Montana
ENGLAND - FA Cup - 5th Round
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa - Wed Mar 2 at Manchester City
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Wed Mar 2 at Manchester City
Tim Howard - Everton - Tue Mar 1 v Reading
NETHERLANDS - KNVB Beker - Semifinals
Oguchi Onyewu Twente - Wed Mar 2 v Utrecht
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Isaac Acuna scored a big goal this weekend but was subbed out after just 32 minutes. We are still trying to find out why he left the game.
Game Action:
PRIMERA DIVISION
Isaac Acuna - Queretaro - started and scored a goal but came out after just 32 minutes as they drew 1-1 at home v Cruz Azul.
Daniel Antunez - Estudiantes Tecos - did not dress as they lost 5-1 at Pumas.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on teh bench but did not play as they won 3-0 v Puebla.
Edgar Castillo - Puebla - didn't suit up for a 3-0 loss at Tigres.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - did not play as they tied 0-0 v San Luis.
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - came on as a sub in the 55th min but they lost 2-1 at Morelia.
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - did not dress as they lost 5-1 at Pumas.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 in a scoreless draw v San Luis
LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division)
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - did not suit up as they won 1-3 at Lobos BUAP.
Marco Vidal - Leon - started but received a yellow card and was subbed out after just 4 minutes as they drew 1-1 at Dorados.
MEXICO
Striker Carlos Vela is finally seeing first team action, and for the second game in a row he has scored for West Bromich Albion in England. And with Javier Hernandez getting more and more playing time at Manchester United the USA had better take notice of the first power lining up for the Mexican national team at the Gold Cup next summer.
ENGLAND
LEAGUE CUP
Birmingham City win the Cup. Congrats to them.
Final
-Sun Feb 27
Arsenal 1-2 Birmingham
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Recap du Nord: Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea all had the weekend off from league play so Man U got a big win to widen their gap at the top. Man City fell further behind in #3 by only getting a tie against Fulham.
Chelsea hosts Manchester United on Tuesday night.
Jacob Steinburg of the Guardian with five things we learned with the Premier League this weekend.
Top of the Premier League Table: (27 GP)
60 Man United - Sat Feb 26 W 0-4 at Wigan
56 Arsenal - League Cup final this weekend
50 Man City - Sun Feb 27 D 1-1 v Fulham (28 GP)
47 Tottenham - no game this weekend
45 Chelsea - no game this weekend (26 GP)
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FA Cup
5th Round
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 1
Everton v Reading
-Wed Mar 2
Manchester City v Aston Villa
5th Round Replay
-Wed Mar 2
Arsenal v Leyton Orient
SPAIN
Recap du Nord: Barca won easily and the saw their lead grow at the top as Real Madrid was held to a scoreless draw in Coruna. #3 Valencia won. #4 Villarreal lost. And #5 Athletic Bilbao dropped out of the top 5 with a loss, meaning Espanyol has moved back up.
Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Levante who are doing things the right way and hoping to avoid relegation at the same time, and the rest of the round in La Liga.
Phil Ball of ESPN on Villarreal in league and Europa play, plus a buzz around the rest of La Liga.
Top of the Primera Division Table: (25 GP)
68 Barcelona - Sat Feb 26 W 0-3 at Mallorca
61 Real Madrid - Sat Feb 26 D 0-0 at Deportivo La Coruna
51 Valencia - Sun Feb 27 W 1-2 at Athletic Bilbao
47 Villarreal - Sun Feb 27 D 2-2 at Racing Santander
40 Espanyol - Sat Feb 26 W 4-1 v Real Sociedad
- - - - -
38 Athletic Bilbao - Sun Feb 27 L 1-2 v Villarreal
A full slate of midweek games are headed our way next.
FRANCE
Recap du Nord: A draw between them hurt both #1 Lille and Lyon who went from 4th to 5th. Rennes win moves them to a tie for #1 on points, but behind on goal difference. Marsielle and PSG both won putting them in 3rd and 4th place.
Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated says Lyon coach Claude Puel is really feeling the pressure to bring the team back to the #1 spot in France.
Top of the Ligue 1 Table: (25 GP)
46 Lille - Sun Feb 27 D 1-1 v Lyon
46 Rennes - Sat Feb 26 W 2-0 v Lens
45 Marsielle - Sun Feb 27 W 1-2 at Nancy
44 PSG - Sun Feb 27 W 2-1 v Toulouse
42 Lyon - Sun Feb 27 D 1-1 at Lille
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COUPE DE FRANCE
Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 1
Reims v Nice
-Wed Mar 2
Lille v Lorient
PSG v Le Mans
Chambery v Angers
GERMANY
Recap du Nord: Dortmund showed to everyone that they will be the champions of Germany this season by going to Munich and stuffing Bayern into a garbage bin. Powerfully done. Leverkusen could only get a draw and fell to 12 points back in 2nd. The loss dropped Bayern from 3rd to 4th. And with a win Hannover gladly took that #3 spot. Mainz won to remain 5th, now only 2 points from 4th.
Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on the sweeping win by Dortmund and the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga.
Gabrielle Marcotti of the Wall Street Journal on Dortmund - young, cheaply put together and run by a mad scientist.
FIFA.com does a Q & A with Werder Bremen and Peru striker Claudio Pizarro.
Top of the Bundesliga Table: (24 GP)
58 Borussia Dortmund - Sat Feb 26 W 1-3 at Bayern Munich
46 Bayer Leverkusen - Sun Feb 27 D 2-2 at Werder Bremen
44 Hannover - Sat Feb 26 W 0-1 at St Pauli
42 Bayern Munich - Sat Feb 26 L 1-3 v Borussia Dortmund
40 Mainz - Sat Feb 26 W 1-2 at Hoffenheim
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DFB POKAL
Semifinals
-Tue Mar 1
Duisburg v Energie Cottbus
-Wed Mar 2
Bayern Munich v Schalke
ITALY
Recap du Nord: #1 Milan proved their standing by rolling over previous #2 Napoli 3-0 sending them tumlbling to 3rd. Inter moved up to 2nd place with a win. While Lazio in 4th lost and #5 Udinese won huge to close the gap to 1 point in 5th.
After getting brutally embarrassed by Udinese this weekend Palermo has fired head coach Palermo have confirmed the dismissal of Delio Rossi.
Alan Gardner of the Guardian on Palermo's total meltdown and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.
Top of the Serie A Table: (27 GP)
58 Milan - Mon Feb 28 W 3-0 v Napoli
53 Inter - Sun Feb 27 W 0-2 at Sampdoria
52 Napoli - Mon Feb 28 L 3-0 at Milan
48 Lazio - Sun Feb 27 L 1-0 at Cagliari
47 Udinese - Sun Feb 27 W 0-7 at Palermo
COPA LIBERTADORES
Tim Vickery of the BBC raves about the performance of Giovanni Hernandez of Junior.
-And how cool looking is the Junior badge??
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Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 1
Godoy Cruz v Penarol
Tachira v Colo Colo
posted by brucio at 18:49
5 Comments:
every one of us would have bought him a dago at dusty's. smh.
I don't think Fraser and John were teammates. Fraser was with the Galaxy until 2002, by which time John was long gone from MLS. Also, with John on the Galaxy, LA would have gone unbeaten and untied for several consecutive seasons, so there's that.
I was at the two KC games on Saturday. The KC-Portland match was indeed 0-0, but the KC-Montreal match was 2-0 KC, a first half own goal and a second half penalty.
Kelly
Wow.
Thanks for Dan and Kelly here in the comments, and to everyone who emailed, for setting me straight on the facts.
I guess I need to get back to doing a little more research again instead of relying on this memory bank full of holes I call a brain.
Bruce
The League Cup may not be the biggie, but Birmingham City still qualify for the UEFA Europa League with the win.
p.s. my challenge word for this post: preckkni
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