Some News for Fri Mar 18, 2011

VERY SPECIAL INTRO

Kosuke Kimura of the Colorado Rapids writes in the New York Times today asking for our help in his native Japan.

STARTERS

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe reports that the rumored USA v Spain friendly in early June looks likely to be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

dN

I think its kind of a silly publicity stunt, but what the hell - Sporting KC will give a tryout to Cinicinati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. The guy says he loves soccer and played while growing up, so why not give it a shot. Plus he doesn't have a job right now anyway. Do you think there is any chance that he has skills? He is fast!

dN

Seattle's big money Swiss international Blaise Nkufo demanded his release from the Sounders this week and just before game time yesterday the team announced that they had fulfilled his desires. The story floating around is that Nkufo did not like playing for Sigi Schmid (who actually demands his players put in an effort) and made no attempt to be a part of the team in preseason. Adios old boy.

BIG EURO LEAGUE GAMES THIS WEEKEND

-Sat Mar 19
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid - the Madrid derby usually isn't much of a challenge for Real, but who knows...
Dortmund v Mainz - if Dortmund were to lose and Leverkusen win on Sunday the lead would be down to 6 points.
Lyon v Rennes - #3 hosts #2 in France
-Sun Mar 20
Chelsea v Manchester City - #5 v #4 in England
Athletic Bilbao v Villarreal - #6 v #4 in spain battle for a Champions League spot
Marsielle v PSG - #4 v #5 in France

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Quarterfinals are now complete!

dN

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews the wins by Manchester United & Inter Milan on Tuesday - AND - Real Madrid & Chelsea on Wednesday.

dN

-Tue Mar 15
Man United v Marseille (0-0) - advances 4-1 on aggregate - MU goals both by Javier Hernandez. Mar goal by Wes Brown(OG).
Bayern 2-3 Inter (1-0) - series ends tied 3-3 and Int advances on away goals tie breaker - BM goals by Mario Gomez & Tomas Muller. Int goals by Samuel Eto'o, Wesley Sneijder & Goran Pandev.
-Wed Mar 16
Chelsea 0-0 Kobenhavn (2-0) - Che advances 2-0 on aggregate.
Real Madrid 3-0 Lyon (1-1) - RM advances 4-1 on aggregate - RM goals by Marcelo, Karim Benzema & Angel Di Maria.

dN

Quarterfinals
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 5
Schalke v Inter
Real Madrid v Tottenham
-Wed Apr 6
Chelsea v Manchester United
Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 12
Shakhtar Donetsk v Barcelona
Manchester United v Chelsea
-Wed Apr 13
Schalke v Inter
Tottenham v Real Madrid

dN

Semifinals
-Apr 26/27 & May 3/4
Chelsea/ManU v Inter/Schalke
Tottenham/Madrid v Barca/Shakhtar

dN

Final
-Sat May 28
Venue: Wembley Stadium - London

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

1st Leg games of the Semifinals were this week! The deciding games will be played in two weeks.

dN

Salt Lake were very efficient in winning leg 1 at home last night. And most importantly they did not give up any goals that could haunt them as road goal tie breakers.

Paul Kennedy of Soccer American with a RSL match report.

Monterrey went on the road and got a huge 1-2 win in Mexico City. The defending Mexican Primera Division champs are now firmly in the drivers seat.

dN

Semifinals
1st Leg
-Tue Mar 15
Real Salt Lake 2-0 Saprissa - RSL goals by Alvaro Saborio & Fab Espindola.
-Wed Mar 16
Cruz Azul 1-2 Monterrey - CA goal by Adrian Cortes. Mon goals by Neri Cardozo & Sergio Santana.
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 5
Saprissa v Real Salt Lake (0-2)
-Wed Apr 6
Monterrey v Cruz Azul (2-1)

STAT OF THE DAY

MLS is sitting on 7998 goals in league history. Who will bag #8000.

FACT OF THE DAY

Seattle drew a new team attendance record on Tuesday night of 36,433 fans (in the pouring rain!) to the first MLS game of the 2011 season last night.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

DC United coaches & players get behind the counter serving customers at the AWESOME Ben's Chili Bowl in DC!

dN

Have you ever heard Lio Messi speak? I don't recall ever hearing his voice. Here he is in a new clip from Adidas.

MLS FIRST KICK 2011

Jeff Carlisle and ESPN has two separate interviews with MLS commissioner Don Garber, one print with Carlisle and then a video Q & A.

dN

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America previews a big opening weekend of games!

dN

-Tue Mar 15
Seattle Sounders FC 0-1 LA Galaxy - LAG goal by Juninho.
Venue: Qwest Field
Attendance: 36,433
Match report by Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times.
Post game notes by Scott French of ESPN.

dN

-Sat Mar 19
Vancouver v Toronto - 5:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Empire Field
DC v Columbus - 6:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium
New York v Seattle - 6:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Houston v Philadelphia - 7:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium
Dallas v Chicago - 7:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park
Colorado v Portland - 8:00pm CT on FSC
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Chivas v Kansas City - 9:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center
San Jose v Salt Lake - 9:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
-Sun Mar 20
LA v New England - 7:00pm CT on Telefutura
Venue: Home Depot Center

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Today's ridiculous name in the hopper: Chad Ochocinco naturally.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

MLS has announced details of the 2011 Reserve League. It will consist of 3 six team divisions (East, West and Central) who will play the other 5 home and away for 10 total games.
-Here is the match schedule (scroll down.)
EAST
Columbus
DC
New England
New York
Philadelphia
Toronto
WEST
Chivas
Los Angeles
Portland
San Jose
Seattle
Vancouver
CENTRAL
Chicago
Colorado
Dallas
Houston
Kansas City
Salt Lake

CHICAGO FIRE

Fire SC signed SuperDraft pick attacking midfielder Davis Paul from Berkley.

Charlie Corr of ESPN sees the Fire's need for offense, offense and more offense.
-I think they could use a hefty dose of help on defense too.

CD CHIVAS USA

Adam Serrano of MLSsoccer.com does a Q & A with new head coach Robin Fraser.

COLORADO RAPIDS

John Meyer of the Denver Post does a Q & A with head coach Gary Smith.
-This might be the weirdest interview I have ever read on a coach who won the championship last season. It comes off like they just hired Smith and the Post is trying to explain his background to us.

Midfielder Jeff Larentowicz was in a scary car accident Wednesday - sitting at a stop light and got rear ended. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital with fear of a spinal cord injury, but it turns out he was 100% fine! Great news.

The Raps have made what they feel is a big signing in landing 28 year old Irish forward Caleb Folan from Hull in England. He scored 12 goals in 58 games with Hull.

FC DALLAS

Todd Date at ESPN/3rd Degree previews the FCD season.
-Most people do not see them repeating their feat of last season. Do you?

DC UNITED

In a surprise move Dax McCarty has been named captain of DCU.

Paul Tenorio of the Washington Post sees United finish their last preseason training as the real deal begins on Saturday.
-A few more DC notes.

Craig Stouffer of the Examiner has lots of notes on DCU too.

Jere Longman of the New York Times with an article on the return of Charlie Davies.
-How great would it be if he return stopped being a story because he succeeds?!?!

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Team president Chris Canetti addresses fans.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Andrew Wiebe of MLSsoccer.com does another Q & A with KC head honcho Robb Heineman on the ever of the 2011 season.

Pete Grathoff of the Star does a Q & A with former KC centerback Jimmy Conrad who is now with the weekends opponent Chivas USA.

KC has signed 24 year old Serbian left sided midfielder Milos Stojcev from Borac Cacak in Serbia's top league, SuperLiga.

LA GALAXY

There was no Omar Gonzalez or Juan Pablo Angel on the field for LA in their season opener. Gonzalez suffered a sprained shoulder (don't know when) and Angel was "ill" (don't know anything more about that.) Will they be ready for this weekend?

Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was out too but we already knew he had a thigh injury.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Rookie AJ Soares writing for the Boston Globe tell us five things you might not know about the Revolution's players.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Metrofanatic has attended the team's Media Day 10 straight years now, and this year bring us several interviews with players including Tim Ream, Jan Gunnar Solli, Joel Lindpere, Carl Robinson and Luke Rodgers.

Jeff Bradley of ESPN previews the Red Bulls season - No Excuses.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

The Union sign 3 including a T&T international:
-Keon Daniel - midfielder from Puerto Rico Islanders of the USSF D2 last season.
-Gabriel Farfan - midfielder from Club America in Mexico (and twin brother of the Union's Michael).
-Levi Houapeu - forward a SuperDraft pick.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Stephen Alexander of the Portland Tribune says even though the Timbers travel to the MLS Champs for their league debut, they want to celebrate too.

PT announced the signing of a loan deal for 22 year old Ugandan forward Brian Umony from Tuks FC of Pretoria, South Africa.

The Timbers also signed 3 more youngsters this week:
-Rodrigo Lopez - from their 2010 D2 roster.
-Chris Taylor - defender a SuperDraft pick from Tulsa.
-Spencer Thompson - forward was a Supplemental draft pick from UC-Irvine.

REAL SALT LAKE

Jamison Olave could be out 2 weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered on Tuesday againt Saprissa.

Simon Evans of Reuters sees some Barcelona in Real Salt Lake. Via Yahoo.

Michael C Lewis of the SL Trib says RSL is being called the "model franchise."

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

San Jose announced the signing of 20 year old American forwrd Ellis McLoughlin from Hertha Berlin II in Germany.

The Quakes also signed a loan deal to acquire 23 year old English attacking midfielder Simon Dawkins from Tottenham Hotspur.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Seattle announced the big signing on Friday of 30 year old Argentina international attacking midfielder Mauro Rosales from River Plate.
-If he is healthy (and that is a question) he could be yet another quality Sigi Schmid South American signing.

Steve Kelly of the Seattle Times on the departure of the teams second designated player in the past year - Blaise Nkufo.
-To succeed now the team really needs Fredy Montero to step up and have a huge season.

TORONTO FC

The Reds announce the signing of Superdraft pick defender Demitrius Omphroy.

TFC has signed 4 more players from their academy:
-Oscar Cordon - 18 year old midfielder
-Keith Makubuya - 18 year old forward
-Ashtone Morgan - 20 year old defender
-Matt Stinson - 18 year old midfielder

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province with an article on owner Greg Kerfoot.

VWC add some more players:
-Forward Camilo da Silva Sanvezzo from Gyeongnam in South Korea.
-Centerback Michael Boxal a Supplemental Draft pick.
-Midfielder Alexandre Morfaw from their 2010 D2 roster.
-Midfielder Russell Teibert from their academy.

MLS COACHES HOT SEAT

Preseason Prognosis:

Pretty Flimsy Ground:
Carlos de los Cobos - Chicago Fire SC
Peter Vermes - Sporting Kansas City

Obvious First Year Question Marks:
Robin Fraser - CD Chivas USA
Ben Olsen - DC United
John Spencer - Portland Timbers
Teitur Thordarson - Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Aron Winter - Toronto FC

Some Security For Past Accomplishments:
Steve Nicol - New England Revolution
Sigi Schmid - Seattle Sounders FC
Robert Warczycha - Columbus Crew
Frank Yallop - San Jose Earthquakes

Fairly Safe For Full Season:
Hans Backe - New York Red Bulls
Dominic Kinnear - Houston Dynamo
Peter Nowak - Philadelphia Union

Completely Safe This Season:
Bruce Arena - LA Galaxy
Schellas Hyndeman - FC Dallas
Jason Kreis - Real Salt Lake
Gary Smith - Colorado Rapids

TEAM USA

Two upcoming friendlies.

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 26
USA v Argentina
Venue: New Meadowlands Stadium - East Rutherford NJ
-Tue Mar 29
USA v Paraguay
Venue: LP Field - Nashville TN

dN

The Paraguay roster was announced today.
G:
Justo Villar - Valladolid
Diego Barreto - Cerro Porteno
D:
Paulo Da Silva - Real Zaragoza
Victor Hugo Mareco - Brescia
Marcos Caceres - Racing Santander
Antolin Alcaraz - Wigan
Aureliano Torres - San Lorenzo
Dario Veron - UNAM Pumas
Miguel Samudio - Libertad
M:
Enrique Vera - Liga de Quito
Marcelo Estigarribia - Newell's Old Boys
Osmar Molinas - Olimpia
Cristian Riveros - Sunderland
Nestor Ortigoza - San Lorenzo
Celso Ortiz - AZ Alkmaar
Edgar Barreto - Atalanta
F:
Osvaldo Martinez - Monterrey
Oscar Cardozo - Benfica
Edgar Benitez - Pachuca
Lucas Barrios - Borussia Dortmund

dN

USA roster
G:
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton
Tim Howard - Everton
David Yelldell - Duisburg
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - St Etienne
Jonathan Bornstein - UANL Tigres
Timothy Chandler - Nurnberg
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Jay DeMerit - Vancouver Whitecaps
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente
Tim Ream - Red Bull New York
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
Zak Whitbread - Norwich
M:
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Mikkel Diskeruud - Stabaek
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy
Mo Edu - Rangers
Benny Feilhaber - AGF
Stuart Holden - Bolton
Jermaine Jones - Blackburn
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht
F:
Juan Agudelo - Red Bull New York
Jozy Altidore - Bursaspor
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt

dN

Argentina roster
G:
Mariano Andujar - Catania
Adrian Gabbarini - Independiente
Sergio Romero - AZ Alkmaar
D:
Nicolas Burdisso - Roma
Federico Fazio - Sevilla
Ezequiel Garay - Real Madrid
Gabriel Milito - Barcelona
Nicolas Otamendi - Porto
Marcos Rojo - Spartak Moscow
Pablo Zabaleta - Manchester City
Javier Zanetti - Inter Milan
M:
Ever Banega - Valencia
Fernando Belluschi - Porto
Lucas Biglia - Anderlecht
Mario Bolatti - Internacional
Esteban Cambiasso - Inter Milan
Javier Mascherano - Barcelona
Javier Pastore - Palermo
F:
Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli
Angel Di Maria - Real Madrid
Nicolas Gaitan - Benfica
Lionel Messi - Barcelona
Eduardo Salvio - Benfica
Jose Sosa - Napoli

USA U20 TEAM

Here are the twenty players for the USA U20 World Cup Qualifying Roster.

G:
Zac MacMath - Philadelphia Union
Cody Cropper - Ipswich
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Djurgardens
Greg Garza - Estoril Praia
Moises Hernandez - FC Dallas
Sacir Hot - New York Red Bulls
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Perry Kitchen - DC United
Zarek Valentin - Chivas USA
Korey Veeder - Columbus Crew
M:
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Moises Orozco - UANL Tigres
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
F:
Eder Arreola - UCLA
Conor Doyle - Derby County
Joseph Gyau - Hoffenheim
Omar Salgado - Vancouver Whitecaps
Bobby Wood - 1860 Munich

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 29
USA v Suriname - 7pm CT on ESPN3.com
-Fri Apr 2
USA v Panama - 5 pm on ESPN3.com

Top 2 advance to knockout rounds, and the 4 winners of the first knock out games advance to the World Cup.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Mo Edu & Rangers were eliminated from the UEFA Europa League by PSV, while Oguchi Onyewu & Twente advanced to the Quarterfinals beating Zenit.

ENGLAND

Man United head coach Alex Ferguson has been given a 5 game suspension for his continued criticism of referees. The suspension begins on Apr 2.

Top of the Premier League Table: (28 GP)
60 Man United - Sat Mar 19 v Bolton (29 GP)
57 Arsenal - Sat Mar 19 at West Brom
53 Man City - Sun Mar 20 at Chlesea (29 GP)
51 Chelsea - Sun Mar 20 v Manchester City
48 Tottenham - Sat Mar 19 v West Ham

SPAIN

Barcelona fullback Eric Abidal has had surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. There has been no word on whether it is cancerous or not.

dN

Top of the Primera Division Table: (28 GP)
75 Barcelona - Sat Mar 19 v Getafe
70 Real Madrid - Sat Mar 19 at Atletico Madrid
54 Valencia - Sun Mar 20 v Sevilla
51 Villarreal - Sun Mar 20 at Athletic Bilbao
43 Espanyol - Sun Mar 20 at Malaga

FRANCE

Top of the Ligue 1 Table: (27 GP)
52 Lille - Sat Mar 19 at Brest
49 Rennes - Sat Mar 19 at Lyon
48 Lyon - Sat Mar 19 v Rennes
48 Marsielle - Sun Mar 20 v PSG
45 PSG - Sun Mar 20 at Marsielle

GERMANY

Schalke, after advancing to the Quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, fired head coach Felix Magath. Why now?

dN

Wolfsburg doesn't seem to care about Schalke's timing though as they immediately hired Magath to fill their head coaching vacancy.

dN

Top of the Bundesliga Table: (26 GP)
61 Borussia Dortmund - Sat Mar 19 v Mainz
52 Bayer Leverkusen - Sun Mar 20 v Schalke
47 Hannover - Sat Mar 19 v Hoffenheim
45 Bayern Munich - Sat Mar 19 at Freiburg
43 Mainz - Sat Mar 19 at Dortmund

ITALY

Top of the Serie A Table: (29 GP)
62 Milan - Sat Mar 19 at Palermo
57 Inter - Sun Mar 20 v Lecce
56 Napoli - Sun Mar 20 v Cagliari
53 Udinese - Sun Mar 20 v Catania
51 Lazio - Sat Mar 19 v Cesena

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Round of 16 - 2nd Leg
Matches & Scores:
CSKA Moskva v 0-1 Porto (1-2) - Por advances 3-1 on aggregate.
PSV 0-0 Rangers (1-0) - PSV advances 1-0 on aggregate.
Leverkusen 2-3 Villarreal (1-2) - Vil advances 5-3 on aggregate.
Braga 1-0 Liverpool (0-0) - Bra advances 1-0 on aggregate.
Benfica 2-1 PSG (1-1) - Ben advances 3-2 on aggregate.
Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 Man City (0-1) - DK advances 2-1 on aggregate.
Twente 3-0 Zenit (0-2) - Two advances 3-2 on aggregate.
Ajax 0-1 Spartak Moskva (0-3) - SM advances 4-0 on aggregate.

Matches & Scores.

Here are the Quarterfinal matchups.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Apr 7
Porto v Spartak
Benfica v PSV
Villarreal v Twente
Dynamo Kyiv v Braga

COPA LIBERTADORES

Junior of Barranquilla Colombia and Libertad of Asuncion Paraguay are the first teams to secure spots in the knock out rounds!

The first 3 teams broke into double figure points this week, with Junior leading everyone at 12, while both Cruzeiro & Libertad have 10 each. And Cruzeiro has an astonishing +14 goal difference.

Two teams are also officially out of the competition now too - Oriente Petrolero of Santa Cruz Bolivia and Guarani of Asuncion Paraguay.

Just over half the teams have played 4 of the 6 games now.

dN

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 15
Argentinos Juniors 0-1 Nacional - Nac goal by Santiago Garcia.
Univ San Martin 0-1 Libertad - Lib goal by Sergio Aquino(PK).
Once Caldas 1-1 San Luis - OC goal by Luis Nunez. SL goal by Juan Medina.
-Wed Mar 16
Jorge Wilstermann 1-4 Internacional - JW goal by Juan Brown. Int goals by Juan Brown(OG), Leandro Damiao, Ze Roberto & Kleber Correa.
Colo Colo 3-2 Santos - CC goals by Esteban Paredes, Ezequiel Miralles & Aandres Scotti. San goals by Elano & Neymar.
Cruzeiro 6-1 Deportes Tolima - Cru goals by Walter Montillo, Wallyson, Roger(2), Gilberto & Thiago Ribeiro. DT goal by Christian Marrugo.
Emelec 1-0 Chiapas Jaguares - Eme goal by David Quiroz(PK).
-Thu Mar 17
Leon de Huanuco 1-1 Gremio LH goal by Carlos Elias. Gre goal by Carlos Alberto.
Estudiantes 5-1 Guarani - Est goals by Rodrigo Lopez(3) & Leandro Gonzalez(2). Gua goal by Julian Benitez.
LDU Quito 5-0 Penarol - LDU goals by Carlos Luna, Walter Calderon(2), Carlos Valdez(OG) & Hernan Barcos(PK).
Junior 2-1 Oriente Petrolero - Jun goals both by Carlos Bacca. OP goal by Jhasmany Campos.

dN

Standings:
Group 1
ADV-10 Libertad (Paraguay) (+6 gd) (4 gp)
6 Univ San Martin (Peru) (0 gd) (4 gp)
3 Once Caldas (Colombia) (-3 gd) (4 gp)
2 San Luis (Mexico) (-3 gd) (4 gp)
Group 2
ADV-12 Junior (Colombia) (+4 gd) (4 gp)
7 Gremio (Brazil) (+4 gd) (4 gp)
4 Leon de Huanuco (Peru) (-2 gd) (4 gp)
OUT-0 Oriente Petrolero (Bolivia) (-6 gd) (4 gp)
Group 3
7 Argentinos Juniors (Argentina) (+2 gd) (4 gp)
6 America (Mexico) (+1 gd) (3 gp)
4 Nacional (Uruguay) (-2 gd) (4 gp)
2 Fluminense (Brazil) (-1 gd) (3 gp)
Group 4
6 Caracas (Venezuela) (+1 gd) (3 gp)
4 Union Espanola (Chile) (-1 gd) (3 gp)
4 Univ Catolica (Chile) (-1 gd) (3 gp)
3 Velez Sarsfield (Argentina) (+1 gd) (3 gp)
Group 5
5 Cerro Porteno (Paraguay) (+3 gd) (3 gp)
6 Colo-Colo (Chile) (0 gd) (3 gp)
2 Santos (Brazil) (-1 gd) (3 gp)
2 Depor Tachira (Venezuela) (-2 gd) (3 gp)
Group 6
7 Internacional (Brazil) (+7 gd) (3 gp)
7 Emelec (Ecuador) (+1 gd) (4 gp)
6 Chiapas Jaguares (-2 gd) (4 gp)
0 Jorge Wilstermann (Bolivia) (-6 gd) (3 gp)
Group 7
10 Cruzeiro (Brazil) (+14 gd) (4 gp)
9 Estudiantes (Argentina) (+1 gd) (4 gp)
4 Depor Tolima (Colombia) (-5 gd) (4 gp)
OUT-0 Guarani (Paraguay) (-10 gd) (4 gp)
Group 8
6 Liga Quito (Ecuador) (+6 gd) (4 gp)
6 Gody Cruz (Argentina) (+1 gd) (3 gp)
6 Penarol (Uruguay) (-5 gd) (4 gp)
3 Independiente (Argentina) (-2 gd) (3 gp)

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012

The CAF announced today that until civil unrest has settled down both Libya and Ivory Coast will not be allowed to play qualifying games at home.

FIFA

Executive Committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar has officially announced that he will challenge Sepp Blatter for the presidency of FIFA.
-And who thinks this would make any difference at all in how the organziatio is run. Actually it will probably be worse as Qatar almost openly bought the 2022 World Cup.

SHOUT OUT

A big howdy to our friend in Carrollton!