Some News for Thu Feb 17, 2011

STARTERS

My new fave Brazilian player name is: Wallyson! From Cruzeiro.

dN

CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals start next Tuesday night! Feb 22! Are you ready?

dN

FC Miami Blues officially became the Fort Lauderdale Strikers today.

STORY OF THE DAY

How bad is the goalkeeper injury situation at DC United? Retired Houston keeper and current DC keeper coach Pat Onstad is set to begin training with the team in the nets!

What will the Dynamo have to say about this situation?

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

On Wednesday Arsenal comes from behind to grab a miraculous 2-1 win over Barca, while another Italian team, Roma, loses at home.

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune gives us good reports from both days: Tuesday - and - Wednesday.

dN

Round Of 16
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 15
Milan 0-1 Tottenham - Tot goal by Croucy's eatin' his nachoes.
Valencia 1-1 Schalke - Val goal by Roberto Soldado. Sch goal by Raul.
-Wed Feb 16
Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona - Ars goals by Robin Van Persie & Andre Arshavin. Bar goal by David Villa.
Roma 2-3 Shakhtar - Rom goals by Simone Perrotta & Jeremy Menez. SD goals by Jadson, Douglas Costa & Luiz Adriano.
-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

USA has advanced to the knockout stages as groupmates Panama and Cuba played to a scoreless tie on Wed.
-USA v Panama happens on Fri afternoon, which will determine who gets Group B seed #1 or #2 for the next round.
-Panama must win, draw or not lose by more than 2 goals and keep a clean sheet to advance.

Canada also advanced with a 8-0 thrashing of Barbados. It could have much worse too and the Barbados keeper actually made 14 saves. Sign that kid up!
-That means Honduras has also advanced, and when the two meet up on Saturday they will be playing for Group C seeding.

Costa Rica & El Salvador will play for Group A seeding on Friday.

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 v Trinidad & Tobago
-Fri Feb 18
Costa Rica v El Salvador
USA v Panama - 3:30pm Central
-Sat Feb 19
Honduras v Canada
Jamaica v Guatemala

dN

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OUT-0 Haiti -5 (withdrawn)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

The top 2 from each group will advance.

dN

Quarterfinals
-Tue Feb 22
A1 v B2
B1 v A2
-Wed Feb 23
C1 v D2
D1 v C2

WHY NOT!

Brian Litvack of the Business Insider is obviously a greenhorn and has a lot to learn about soccer in America as this article will attest to, but at least he is writing about it and see potential. I will take 10 of these for every 1 article spewing some rumor mill garbage from some of the really lame-ass soccer sites right here in America.

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Today's ridiculous name in the hopper: Gordon Lightfoot Jr, son of the brilliant song writing legend.

dN

Soccer 365 with today's rumors featuring Seol Ki Hyeon, Javier Martina and much more.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

CD CHIVAS USA

Here are some players wearing the new uniforms. But who is that on the right? Its Francisco Mendoza! Is he back? Sure looks like it. But without the 80'd rocker hair. Now he can't join the Scorpions!
-And who is the guy in the middle? That is Mexican keeper Sergio Arias who is on loan from the mothergoatship.












The team sold midfielder Sal Zizzo to Portland.

Scott French of ESPN does a Q & A with the team's new fullback Heath Pearce.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Raps took out the Galaxy 4-2 on Wednesday. Conor Casey got 2 goals, while trialists Caleb Folan & Steven Emory got the other two.

COLUMBUS CREW

The Crew signed the 4 players they selected in the Superdraft: Bernardo Anor, Rich Balchan, Cole Grossman and Justin Meram.

DC UNITED

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America talks to Charlie Davies about his new start with DC.

Craig Stouffer of the Examiner with lots of Davies quotes, plus words from Ben Olsen and Dave Kasper.

With Davies on the scene even Dan Steinburg of the Washington Post is paying attention to the Units again.

DC released centerback Julius James from the team today. Wow. Some people had him pegged as a starter.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Is Omar Bravo wearing the #99 shirt?

LA GALAXY

Landon Donovan(PK) and Adam Cristman got goals for the Galaxy on Wednesday but they lost 4-2 to Colorado.

LA bought an additional International roster spot via DC United.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Thierry Henry has been named the team captain for 2011.

NYRB will not have a red shirt in their closet again this season, instead going to an even darker color, midnight blue, for the second jersey.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Portland has acquired right-sided midfielder Sal Zizzo from Chivas USA for good old fashioned cash that can be spent on the salary cap.

The team also announced the signing of two players from their PDL squad - midfielder Freddie Braun and goalkeeper Jake Gleeson.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Quakes are headed for London today and will spend the next 8 days training at the home of Tottenham.
-Four of their academy players will be along for the trip. Very cool for them.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times says O'Brian White, acquired from TFC, is making an impact in preseason.

The Soundies signed destroyer Osvaldo Alonso to a new contract that runs through the 2014 season.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province says the Caps are definitely in need of some top level tested strikers.

MLS STADIUMS

San Jose is expected to begin clearing the land for their new stadium on Mar 3. Yes!

US OPEN CUP

Here are the details on the US Open Cup 2011.

The Participants:

Major League Soccer (Division I – 8 teams): Six automatic qualifiers based on the 2010 regular season standings and two qualifiers from a play-in competition that features 10 teams.
-Automatic Qualifiers (6 berths): Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders
-Play-in Qualifiers (2 berths): Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, D.C. United, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City

United Soccer Leagues PRO (Division III – 11 teams): All U.S.-based clubs automatically qualify.
-Automatic Qualifiers (11 berths): Charleston Battery, Charlotte Eagles, Dayton Dutch Lions, Harrisburg City Islanders, Los Angeles Blues, FC New York, Orlando City, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Richmond Kickers, Rochester Rhinos, Wilmington Hammerheads

United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (Amateur – 9 teams): The top U.S.-based club from each of nine PDL divisions will qualify based on the results of four pre-selected 2011 regular season games. Each of the 54 teams eligible will play two home and two away matches that will serve as qualifiers.

U.S. Adult Soccer Association (Amateur – 8 teams): The first and second place teams from each of the four U.S. Soccer regions will advance to the tournament. Approximately 50 teams entered qualifying at the local or state level.

National Premier Soccer League (Amateur – 4 teams): The process for determining NPSL qualifying teams will be announced in the coming weeks. The 36-team national amateur league is affiliated with the USASA. In previous years its teams participated via USASA regional qualifying.

dN

The Schedule:

Jun 14 - First Round
32 teams from USL PRO and Amateur Division

Jun 21 - Second Round
First round winners

Jun 28 - Third Round
Second round winners paired against eight MLS teams

Jul 12 - Quarterfinals

Aug 30 - Semifinals

Oct 4 - Final

USA U20 TEAM

The USA has learned their group stage match schedule for the 2011 CONCACAF U20 World Cup qualifying tournament in Guatemala.

-Tue Mar 29
USA v Suriname - 7pm Central
-Sat Apr 2
USA v Panama - 5pm Central

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com talks to David Yelldell about his uplifting 2010-11 season at Duisburg.

dN

Djurgarden in Sweden has secured a loan deal from Traffic for centerback prodigy Gale Agbossoumonde.

dN

Game Action:

UEFA - EUROPA LEAGUE - Round of 32 - 1st Leg
-Thu Feb 17
Mo Edu - Rangers - played the full 90 but they were head to a 1-1 tie v Sporting
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - on the bench but did not play as they lost badly 0-3 v Ajax.
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - went the distance in a quality 0-2 win at Rubin Kazan.

GERMANY

Recap du Nord: St Pauli did a number on their big rivals Hamburg yesterday, beating them 0-1 at the Imtech Arena. Promoted St Pauli now sit in a comfortable 11th place, while their much bigger cousins are in 7th. I bet the Reepperbahn was hopping last night!

ITALY

Recap du Nord: Inter made up their game in hand on Wed winning 1-2 at Fiore, moving them back into 3rd place and now 5 points behind league leaders and cross town rivals Milan.

dN

Top of the Table: (25 GP)
52 Milan
49 Napoli
47 Inter - Wed Feb 16 W 1-2 at Fiorentina.
45 Lazio
43 Udinese

EUROPE

Brazilian great Roberto Carlos has been run out of town while playing for Corinthians, and has now turned up at FC Anzhi of Makhachkala in the south of Russia (on the Caspian Sea.)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

The tournament resumed today, with the 1st leg matches in the Round of 32.

dN

Twente, Leverkusen, Ajax, Lech, Dynamo Kyiv, Benfica, Spartak Moskva, Young Boys, CSKA Moskva and Porto were all winners in Leg 1.

Dig in to the Matches & Scores right here.

COPA LIBERTADORES

The Group Stage is live.

dN

Cruzeiro, Jaguares and San Martin all got big wins last night to kick start their tournament.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 16
Union Espanola 2-2 Catolica - UE goals by Leonardo Monje & Braulio Leal(PK). Cat goals by Lucas Pratto & Fernando Meneses.
Emelec 1-1 Internacional - Eme goal by Fernando Gimenez. Int goal by Mario Bolatti.
Cruzeiro 5-0 Estudiantes - Cru goals by Wallyson(2), Roger & Walter Montillo(2).
Jaguares 2-0 Jorge Wilstermann - Jag goals by Antonio Salazar & Luis Esqueda.
Once Caldas 0-3 San Martin - SM goal by Heber Arriola(2) & German Alemmano.
-Thu Feb 17
Leon Huanuco v Junior
Gremio v Oriente Petrolero
Cerro Porteno v Colo Colo
Godoy Cruz v LDU Quito
-Tue Feb 22
Cruzeiro v Guarani
San Martin v San Luis
Emelec v Jorge Wilstermann
Once Caldas v Libertad

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
- Junior (Colombia)
- Oriente Petrolo (Bolivia)
- Leon de Huanuco (Peru)
- Gremio (Brazil)
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
1 Santos (Brazil) (0 gd) (1 gp)
1 Tachira (Venezuela) (0 gd) (1 gp)
- Colo-Colo (Chile)
- Cerro Porteno (Paraguay)
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
- Liga Quito (Ecuador)
- Penarol (Uruguay)
- Gody Cruz (Argentina)
- Independiente (Argentina)

ENDERS

My Holy Trinity of Husker Du albums: Zen Arcade, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig.