Some News for Mon Mar 7, 2011

STARTERS

Philadelphia Union has pulled off a coup and hired Taylor Twellman as the TV broadcaster partner of main commentator JP Dellacamera this season. Bob Rigby will also be a part of their telecasts. Great move.
-How did Twellman's only MLS team New England now hire him?? They will have the very ordinary Jay Heaps with Brad Feldman again this season.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

2nd leg Quarterfinal matches starts Tuesday!

Round of 16
Matches & Scores (1 Leg scores included):
2nd Leg
-Tue Mar 8
Barcelona v Arsenal (1-2) - 1:30pm CT Live
Shakhtar v Roma (3-2) - 4pm CT Delayed
-Wed Mar 9
Tottenham v Milan (1-0) - 1:30pm CT Live
Schalke v Valencia (1-1) - 4pm CT Delayed

NEXT WEEK:
-Tue Mar 15
Man United v Marseille (0-0)
Bayern v Inter (1-0)
-Wed Mar 16
Chelsea v Kobenhavn (2-0)
Real Madrid v Lyon (1-1)

It will probably be a game time decision next week for Real Madrid on whether or not Cristiano Ronaldo will be ready to go in this important game. He suffered a slight hamstring tear late last week and is expect to be out of action for 2 weeks.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 5
Hannover 3-1 Bayern Munchen - #3 blew away then #4 and dropped them to #5 out of the Champions League spots for next season. Panic in Munich!
Juventus 0-1 Milan - long long long time rivalry saw Milan get another win and keeping up the pace at #1 in the league.
-Sun Mar 6
Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United - a huge win for the Liverpeople in another old rivalry with Man U stumbling but still at the top.
Marseille 1-2 Lille - Lille proves they are a legit #1.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Brian Homewood of Reuters has an article on USA and CONCACAF representative to FIFA Chuck Blazer who is very unhappy over what he says are un-kept promises by FIFA to the confederation over the World Cup places they were promised for 2014.

Add this to the deception within FIFA toward CONCACAF regarding the 2022 World Cup bid and things are getting uglier by the month for people like Blazer, and CONCACAF president Jack Warner. Their power seems to be eroding quite badly.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Freddy Adu scores his first goal in the Turkish second division, and it was a game winner. The move and shot were typical Adu. Nicely done.

WHAT???

David Beckham continues his splendid commitment to the LA Galaxy by announcing that he will be heading off to London to attend a big wedding on Fri Apr 29. But no fear, he will be back just in time, and properly jet-lagged, for his team's game on Sun May 1 against fellow 2011 favorites FC Dallas. Thanks buddy.
-Yes Galaxy fans, you are his bitch.

MLS FIRST KICK 2011

Now just 8 days away!

-Tue Mar 15
Seattle Sounders FC v LA Galaxy - 8:30pm CT on ESPN
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Soccer 365 with the lastest rumors featuring Brian Edwards, Maharan Radi, Marcos Flores, Hughton Hector, Omar Arellano and more.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

The McGill Daily from McGill University in Montreal sees media as the key to the next step in the rise of the game in North America.

CD CHIVAS USA

CUSA lost 2-1 to UCLA on Saturday. Alan Gordon scored for Chivas.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Rapids played two games over the weekend:
-Friday the main squad lost 1-0 to San Jose.
-Saturday the reserves won 3-0 over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. CR goals by Andre Akpan(2) & Sanna Nyassi.

COLUMBUS CREW

The Crew dropped a 2-1 loss to New England. CC goal was scored by Tom Heinemann.

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch on the Crew's signing of Julius James and other team notes of interest.
-Mitchell has other notes after the loss to New England.

FC DALLAS

FCD signs another kid to a contract, this one is 18 year old Colombian forward Fabian Castillo from Deportivo Cali. He has recently played with the Colombia U20s.

DC UNITED

Jeff Maurer of the Washington Post with his latest DCU season preview - Part 4: The Strikers.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

The Dynamo played two south Texas colleges over the past couple of days, and beating both quite easily:
-Saturday 5-0 over SMU: HD goals by Will Bruin(3), Brad Davis & Jason Garey.
-Monday 6-0 over San Jacinto: HD goals by Brad Davis(PK), Cam Weaver(2), Will Bruin & Alex Dixon.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Pete Grathoff of the Star says SKC is all about setting a winning mentality this preseason.

Brent Latham of ESPN previews the season of SKC.

LA GALAXY

The Galaxy beat the Canadian U23's 4-0 on Friday. Goals were scored by Miguel Lopez, Mike Magee, Jovan Kirovski & Adam Cristman.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The Revs beat the Crews 2-1 on goals by Sainey Nyassi & Zack Schilawsk.

NER signed 18 year old Nigerian midfielder Michael Augustine from Abuja FC.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer reports that the Bulls are desperately searching for more forwards.

The Bulls signed right fullback/midfielder Teemu Tainio from Ajax, and centerback Stephen Keel from the 2nd division roster of the Portland Timbers.

-Tue Mar 8
New York Red Bulls v Atlas(Mexico) - in Phoenix AZ

REAL SALT LAKE

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated really likes the way RSL have put their whole organization together.

Richard Snowden of Soccer365 on RSL's shot at CONCACAF glory.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Steven Lenhart has had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in this right knee and will miss up to a month of action.

Chris Wondolowski scored on a PK as the Quakes beat Colorado on Saturday.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times gives us coach Sigi Schmid's Monday press conference.

Mayers also has words from GM Adrian Hanauer after the weekend's Cascadia Summit.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province and Bruce Constantineau of the Sun both report on the Whitecaps first Designated Player signing - 29 year old French forward Eric Hassli of Zurich.

Constantineau also reports on the goalkeeper Joe Cannon's recovery from a broken ankle.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

CASCADIA SUMMIT
Venue: Starfire Sports Complex - Tukwila WA

The hosts and league veterans Seattle lost both games in the tournament, while Portland and Vancouver both had a win and a tie.

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 4
Seattle Sounders 0-2 Portland Timbers - PT goals by Jorge Perlaza & Kenny Cooper.
-Sat Mar 5
Portland Timbers 1-1 Vancouver Whitecaps - PT goal by Ryan Pore. VW goal by David Horst(OG).
-Sun Mar 6
Seattle Sounders 2-3 Vancouver Whitecaps - SS goals by Roger Levesque & Miguel Montano. VW goals by Omar Salgado, Russell Teibert & Camilo Sanvezzo.

dN

DESERT CUP
Venue: Hi Corbett Field - Tucson AZ

Kansas City won the Cup on goal differential.

10,097 jammed the stadium for the Saturday games!

The Arizona Daily Star with an article on the sold out big show.
-Some good notes and quotes from the tournament.

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 4
Sporting Kansas City 6-1 Arizona Sahuaros - SKC goals by Mike Jones, Michal Mravec, C.J. Sapong, Chance Myers, Graham Zusi & Sinisa Ubiparipovic.
New York Red Bulls 3-1 FC Tucson - NYRB goals by Corey Hertzog(2) & Austin da Luz.
-Sat Mar 5
FC Tucson 3-3 Arizona Sahuaros
New York Red Bulls 2-2 Sporting Kansas City - NYRB goals by Thierry Henry & Dane Richards. SKC goals by Davy Arnaud & Kei Kamara(PK).

dN

CAROLINA CHALLENGE CUP
Venue: Blackbaud Stadium - Charleston SC

DC & Chicago got wins on Saturday in the first of three rounds at the Challenge.

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 5
Charleston Battery 1-2 DC United - CB goal by Stephen Armstrong(PK). DCU goals by Chris Pontius & Joseph Ngwenya.
Toronto FC 0-1 Chicago Fire - CF goal by Marco Pappa.
-Wed Mar 9
Charleston Battery v Toronto FC
DC United v Chicago Fire
-Sat Mar 12
Charleston Battery v Chicago Fire
DC United v Toronto FC

dN

ATLANTA PRO SOCCER CHALLENGE
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 9
New England Revolution v Columbus Crew
-Fri Mar 11
Columbus Crew v Houston Dynamo
-Sun Mar 13
Houston Dynamo v New England Revolution

MLS STADIUMS

On Wed this week the Montreal Impact will announce their plans for expanding Saputo Stadium for MLS entry in 2012.

TEAM USA

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad looks at some potential new faces to the USA squad for 2011.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

US Soccer gives us a Q & A with Mo Edu.

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The second half of the season started this weekend in Denmark with Clarence Goodson making his debut for Brondby, and Michael Parkhurst in the first 11 for Nordsjaelland, but neither Chris Rolfe or Marcus Tracy making the game day roster for AaB.

dN

Ricardo Clark was back on the Frankfurt bench for the first time since he suffered a fractured cheekbone. Great to see.

dN

David Yelldell of Duisburg suffered a badly gashed left hand and had to be subbed off after just 12 minutes. He has been having an outstanding season so far. They will play Schalke for the league cup title in late may.

dN

Zak Whitbread also got injured when he fell hard and hurt is back.

dN

Brad Guzan's loan deal at Hull City ended before this weekends games. Now its back to the bench and a very unlikely future at Aston Villa.

dN

Game Action:

BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - on the bench as they drew 1-1 v Genk.

BULGARIA - A PFG
Jemal Johnson - Lokomotiv Sofia - went the distance but they lost 0-2 at home to rivals Levski Sofia.

DENMARK - Superliga -
Clarence Goodson - Brondy - played the whole match as they drew 1-1 v Lyngby.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - went the full 90 but got routed 4-0 at Randers.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa - watched from the bench as they lost 3-2 at Bolton.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the full match as they won 3-2 v Blackburn.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the distance but lost 3-2 at Bolton.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - on the bench as they drew 3-3 v Tottenham.
Stuart Holden - Bolton - played the full game getting a yellow card and winning 3-2 v Aston Villa.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance as they won 1-2 at Newcastle.
Jermaine Jones - Blackburn - went the full 90 getting a yellow card as they lost 3-2 at Fulham.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - on the bench as they won 3-0 v Stoke.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - on the bench for a scoreless draw v Barnsley.
Eddie Johnson - Preston North End - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Norwich.
Eric Lichaj - Leeds - went the distance as they won 5-2 v Doncaster.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - started but came out in the 56th min as they drew 1-1 v Preston.

ENGLAND - League One

Mike Grella - Swindon Town - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 v Walsall.
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - on the bench as they won 2-4 at Sheffield Wednesday.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - played the whole game as they drew 3-3 at Brighton & Hove.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - went the distance as they lost 1-0 at Caen.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timothy Chandler - Nurnberg - went the full 90 in a big 5-0 win v St Pauli.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the entire game as they won big 3-1 over Bayern Munich.
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - on the bench for a scoreless tie v Kaiserslautern.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - started and played 62 min as they won 2-1 v Alemannia Aachen.
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - on the bench as they drew 1-1 at Bochum.
Bobby Wood - 1860 Munich - came on as a sub in the 88th as they drew 1-1 v Rot Weiss Oberhausen.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - started but was subbed off after just 12 minutes and they lost 1-2 v Arminia Bielefeld.

NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - played the full match as they won 2-0 v NAC Breda.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - came on as a sub in the 73rd min and they won 0-1 at Volendam.

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Mo Edu - Rangers - played the whole game as they won 0-1 at St Mirren.

TURKEY - Super Lig
Jozy Altidore - Bursaspor - started and went 76 min as they drew 1-1 v Istanbul BB.

TURKEY - 1. Lig
Freddie Adu - Caykur Rizespor - went the full 90 scoring the only goal as they won 1-0 v Gaziantep BB.

dN

Coming Up:

ENGLAND - Premier League
Tim Howard - Everton - Wed Mar 9 v Birmingham City

ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - Tue Mar 8 at Middlesbrough
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - Tue Mar 8 at Sheffield United
Eddie Johnson - Preston North End - Tue Mar 8 v Leeds
Eric Lichaj - Leeds - Tue Mar 8 at Preston
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - Tue Mar 8 at Leicester

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Swindon Town - Tue Mar 8 at Plymouth Argyle
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - Tue Mar 8 v Swindon Town
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - Tue Mar 8 v Hartlepool

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Jonathan Bornstein appears to have lost his spot in the lineup at Tigres, and for the second game in a row has watched all the action from the bench.

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Isaac Acuna - Queretaro - started and played 74 minutes but they lost 2-0 at Monterrey.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they drew 0-0 at Guadalajara.
Edgar Castillo - Puebla - came on as a sub in the dying seconds as they won 2-0 v Atlas.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - came on as a sub in the 63rd min but they lost 1-0 at Tecos.
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - on the bench as they lost 0-2 v Pumas.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the distance but they lost 1-0 at Tecos.

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division)
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - on the bench as they won 2-0 v Correcaminos.
Marco Vidal - Leon - on the bench as they won 1-0 v Merida.

CANADA

Jeff Blair of the Toronto Globe & Mail on the rising popularity of soccer across Canada. Is it the #1 sport in the Great White North? (thanks to Brian for the link.)

dN

Gerry Dobson of Sportsnet sees 2011 as a huge year for Canadian soccer.

ENGLAND

Recap du Nord: #1 Man U lost badly but still have a 3 point lead. Arsenal could have done a lot of damage considering they have a game in hand on Man U, but they choked too and only got 1 point. #3 Man City won, while 4th place Chelsea play Monday and 5th place Tottenham lost but maintain their spot fairly easily.

Top of the Premier League Table: (28 GP)
60 Man United - Sun Mar 6 L 3-1 at Liverpool (29 GP)
57 Arsenal - Sat Mar 5 D 0-0 v Sunderland
53 Man City - Sat Mar 5 W 1-0 v Wigan (29 GP)
48 Chelsea - Mon Mar 7 at Blackpool (27 GP)
48 Tottenham - Sun Mar 6 D 3-3 at Wolverhampton

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Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian with five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

Gabrielle Marcotti of the Wall Street Journal on Manchester United's crushing loss to Liverpool.

Martin Rogers of Yahoo looks at the failed drug test of Man City defender Kolo Toure and tells us that Toure does not deny it, but says it was a misunderstanding. Of course it was.

SPAIN

Recap du Nord: 1st place Barca squeaked out a win, while #2 Madrid & #3 Valencia rolled. 4th Villarreal lost again and find the going getting really tough. Then Espanyol and Bilbao continued their yo-yo with Athletic Bilbao up with week to 5th and Espanyol back down.

Top of the Primera Division Table: (27 GP)
74 Barcelona - Sat Mar 5 W 1-0 v Real Zaragoza
67 Real Madrid - Sun Mar 6 W 1-3 at Racing Santander
54 Valencia - Sat Mar 5 W 1-2 at Mallorca
50 Villarreal - Sat Mar 5 L 3-1 at Atletico Madrid
41 Athletic Bilbao - Sun Mar 6 W 2-0 v Sevilla
- - - - -
40 Espanyol - Sun Mar 6 L 1-0 at Levante

dN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian reports that things are now very ugly for Manuel Pellegrini at Malaga, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga.

Phil Ball of ESPN tells us what the Madrid media really thinks of Jose Mourinho, and the rest of the round in the Primera.

FRANCE

Recap du Nord: #1 Lille & #2 Rennes both won, while #3 Marseille lost to Lille and fall to 4th, moving Lyon up to 3rd. PSG lost and remain 5th.

Top of the Ligue 1 Table: (26 GP)
49 Lille - Sun Mar 6 W 1-2 at Marsielle
49 Rennes - Sat Mar 5 W 0-1 at Montpellier
45 Lyon - Sun Mar 6 W 5-0 v Arles
45 Marsielle - Sun Mar 6 L 1-2 v Lille
44 PSG - Sat Mar 5 L 0-1 at Auxerre

GERMANY

Recap du Nord: 1, 2 & 3, Dortmund, Leverkusen and Hannover, all won, with Hannover thumping Bayern and dropping them down to 5th and out of the Champions League spots, while a win for Mainz moved them up to #4.

Top of the Bundesliga Table: (25 GP)
61 Borussia Dortmund - Fri Mar 4 W 1-0 v Koln
49 Bayer Leverkusen - Sat Mar 5 W 3-0 v Wolfsburg
47 Hannover - Sat Mar 5 W 3-1 v Bayern Munich
43 Mainz - Sun Mar 6 W 2-4 at Hamburg
42 Bayern Munich - Sat Mar 5 L 3-1 at Hannover

dN

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on Bayern's fall, with a lame duck coach, and the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga. LINK CORRECTED
-The rumor mill says Van Gaal will not be back next season at Bayern.

ITALY

Recap du Nord: #1 Milan, #2 Inter, #4 Lazio & #5 Udinese all won, with #3 Napoli getting a draw and dropping them 8 points out of first but not losing any places.

Top of the Serie A Table: (28 GP)
61 Milan - Sat Mar 5 W 0-1 at Juventus
56 Inter - Sun Mar 6 W 5-2 v Genoa
53 Napoli - Sun Mar 6 D 0-0 v Brescia
51 Lazio - Sun Mar 6 W 2-0 v Palermo
50 Udinese - Sun Mar 6 W 1-0 v Bari

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on both Juve and Samp where things are a mess, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

Sampdoria fired head coach Domenico di Carlo today. Alberto Cavasin has been hired as the interim.

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Italy and Milan ironman Super Pippo Inzaghi.

BRAZIL

Tim Vickery of the BBC compares 2 Brazilian defenders - Luiz of Chelsea to Lucio of Inter.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 8
Libertad v Univ St Martin
Oriente Petrolero v Junior
Chiapas Jaguares v Emelec
-Wed Mar 9
Penarol v LDU Quito
Univ Catolica v Caracas
Guarani v Estudiantes
-Thu Mar 10
Union Espanola v Velez Sarsfield
Cerro Porteno v Depor Tachira

ENDERS

Hey American soccer fans. You can help the producers finish their film Gringos At The Gate!

"Across the only shared border of third and first world countries, two vastly different cultures collide on the soccer field."