Some News for Thu Mar 24, 2011

STARTERS

MLS Commissioner Don Garber told reporters that the league is throwing their weight behind Grant Wahl for the next FIFA president. Nice one!

dN

Sporting Kansas City's Teal Bunbury took NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco to Oklahoma Joes for lunch on Wednesday. Brilliant! du Nord approved!

STORY OF THE DAY

MLS will play a couple of big games this weekend and without a lot of star players due to their insistence on playing during specified FIFA International Match dates. These dates are known well in advance, so when the league is making out the schedule and they have a primo match-up like Salt Lake v LA why can't they just make sure that game is not on one of those dates. How tough can that be. Maybe it is tough. It would be great to know. But the people in Salt Lake are not getting their money's worth on the tickets this weekend, that's for sure.

TEAM USA

Friendly match week!

dN

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated previews USA v Argentina.

dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to head coach Bob Bradley about his roster.

dN

The New York Red Bulls U18 team got to train with Argentina yesterday. How cool is that! The team supplies us with video too.

dN

US Soccer has instituted a Respect Campaign, including a Fan Code of Conduct.

dN

US Soccer gives us video of interviews with Maurice Edu, Oguchi Onyewu and Clint Dempsey.

And a one-on-one video interview with Jay DeMerit.

dN

The official USA team blog.

dN

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

USA roster
G:
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton
Tim Howard - Everton
David Yelldell - Duisburg
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - St Etienne
Jonathan Bornstein - UANL Tigres
Timothy Chandler - Nurnberg
Jay DeMerit - Vancouver Whitecaps
Eric Lichaj - Leeds
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente
Tim Ream - Red Bull New York
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
M:
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Mikkel Diskeruud - Stabaek
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy
Mo Edu - Rangers
Benny Feilhaber - AGF
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

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Ochocinco is fast, that's not debatable. But on Wednesday he was betrayed by a rough first touch and seemed unsure of how to use his feet (not for kicking, but for placement when controlling and positioning his body). Which just so happen to be the two skills that separate football players and futbol players. (It would be like Kei Kamara showing up at Chiefs camp to try out for wide receiver but having stone oven mitts for hands.)"
-Charles Gooch of the Kansas City Star in his article about the first day of a try out for NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco.

I think most of us figured it would be exactly like this. The video footage I saw yesterday looked like a guy who is nowhere near a professional soccer player.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 2

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 25
Seattle v Houston - 9pm CT on FSC
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
-Sat Mar 26
Toronto v Portland - 1:00pm CT on TSN
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
Columbus v New York - 3:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Philadelphia v Vancouver - 3:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Chicago v Kansas City - 3:00pm CT on Telefutura
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
New England v DC - 3:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Dallas v San Jose - 8:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Salt Lake v LA - 8:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
Chivas v Colorado - 9:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA

dN

Standings (1 Games Played):
EASTERN CONFERENCE
3 DC United (+2 GD)
3 New York Red Bulls (+1 GD)
3 Philadelphia Union (+1 GD)
3 Sporting Kansas City (+1 GD)
1 Chicago Fire SC (0 GD)
1 New England Revolution (0 GD)
0 Houston Dynamo (-1 GD)
0 Columbus Crew (-2 GD)
0 Toronto FC (-2 GD)
WESTERN CONFERENCE
4 LA Galaxy (+1 GD) (2 GP)
3 Colorado Rapids (+2 GD)
3 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (+2 GD)
3 Real Salt Lake (+1 GD)
1 FC Dallas (0 GD)
0 CD Chivas USA (-1 GD)
0 San Jose Earthquakes (-1 GD)
0 Portland Timbers (-2 GD)
0 Seattle Sounders FC (-2 GD) (2 GP)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Paul Attfield of the Toronto Globe & Mail on the diversity of MLS.

Maria Burns Ortiz of Fox News sees MLS moving past the NHL in popularity.

FIFA.com on the great Northwest rivalries.

CHICAGO FIRE

The Fire signed 22 year old American forward Gabriel Ferrari who has spent the last 3 or 4 years in Italy playing for lower division teams.

FC DALLAS

FCD lost the first leg of the annual exhibition series the Rio Grande Plate to their partner UANL Tigres of Monterrey Mexico.
-Wed Mar 23
FC Dallas 1-2 UANL Tigres(Mexico) - FCD goal by Andrew Wiedeman. Tig goals by Carlos Ochoa & Francisco Acuna.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Terez Paylor of the Star reports on the first day of a try out for NFL star Chad Ochocinco.

Charles Gooch of the Star with the latest updates on the construction of Livestrong Sporting Park.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

So much for Thierry Henry being healthy. Michael Lewis of Big Apple Sauce Soccer reports that Henry will not play against Columbus this weekend due to a calf injury.

NYRB signed Superdraft pick centerback Tyler Lassiter.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Marc Narducci of the Inquirer looks at possible lineup changes this weekend for the La Union.

The Delaware County Daily Times with opinion piece on the financial struggles of the city of Chester, but having the Union's stadium is a real positive.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

News Fuzion has some graphics of the soon to be unveiled Portland Timbers-centric paint jobs on airplanes from Alaska Airlines.
-Amazingly cool. I am so jealous I could spit.

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret News with RSL notes leading up to Saturday's big matchup with LA.

Michael C Lewis of the Tribune with an article on gifted young centerback Chris Schuler who has already played some key minutes for the team.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times talks to forward Nate Jacqua about his return from hip surgery.

Stanley Holmes of Sportspress Northwest reports that head coach Sigi Schmid has no intention of panicking.
-But what happens if they lose Friday?

TORONTO FC

Dan Ilika of the Sun says TFC is looking forward to their home opener against Portland.
-Luckily for the Reds their opponent this weekend was the one team that looked worse than them on opening day. Both need a big improvement in this game.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Jason de Vos of the CBC saw a new era of Canadian soccer last weekend in Vancouver.

The Canadian Press talks to forward Eric Hassli about week 1 and more. Via Sportsnet.

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun says the Caps are going to stick with using a travel agent to sell their 500 ticket allotment to games in Seattle and Portland. This is not going over very well with the hardcore.

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 26
New England Revolution v DC United
Columbus Crew v New York Red Bulls
-Tue Mar 29
Real Salt Lake v FC Dallas

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

Street & Smith's Sport Business Journal announced their annual top 40 sports business people under the age of 40.
-Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson is on the list.
-Always some fascinating reading.

USA U20 TEAM

CONCACAF U20 World Cup Qualifying begins next Tuesday for the USA.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Stuart James of the Guardian talks to Marcus Hahnemann, the airplane pilot. (thanks to NP for the link)

dN

Tony Kelly of the Bolton News raves about the season Stuart Holden had been having, and laments his loss for the rest of the season.

CONCACAF

FRIENDLY
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Mar 24
Cuba v El Salvador
-Fri Mar 25
Panama v Bolivia
S Korea v Honduras
Jamaica v Venezuela
-Sat Mar 26
USA v Argentina
Mexico v Paraguay
St Kitts & Nevis v Grenada
Costa Rica v China
-Sun Mar 27
Belize v Cayman Islands
El Salvador v Jamaica
-Mon Mar 28
Guatemala v Bolivia
-Tue Mar 29
Costa Rica v Argentina
USA v Paraguay
Mexico v Venezuela
Belarus v Canada
Cuba v Panama
China v Honduras

ENGLAND

Richard Farley of EPL Talk does a Q & A with Chelsea and England captain John Terry.
-Quite a pull for EPL Talk!

SPAIN

As of today all La Liga games that were to be played over the weekend of Apr 2-3 have been postponed. At issue is TV revenue distribution. It could get ugly. Or it could be over quickly.

UEFA EURO 2012

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian says Serbia wants to clean up their image as a violent football culture.

dN

QUALIFYING
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 25
Hungary v Netherlands
Slovenia v Italy
Luxembourg v France
Serbia v N Ireland
-Sat Mar 26
Wales v England
Germany v Kazakhstan
Norway v Denmark
Bulgaria v Switzerland
Armenia v Russia
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Romania
Ireland v Macedonia
Albania v Belarus
Andorra v Slovakia
Cyprus v Iceland
Malta v Greece
Georgia v Croatia
Israel v Latvia
-Tue Mar 29
Lithuania v Spain
Netherlands v Hungary
Czech Republic v Liechtenstein
Sweden v Moldova
N Ireland v Slovenia
Turkey v Austria
Belgium v Azerbaijan
Romania v Luxembourg
Israel v Georgia
Estonia v Serbia

COPA LIBERTADORES

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 22
Libertad 2-2 Once Caldas - Lib goals both by Nicolas Pavlovich. OC goals both by Wason Renteria.
Caracas 0-2 Univ Catolica - UC goals by Jose Villanueva & Lucas Pratto.
San Luis 3-1 Univ St Martin - SL goals by Juan Medina & Michael Arroyo. USM goal by Ronald Quinteros.
-Wed Mar 23
Godoy Cruz 1-1 Independiente - GC goal by Ruben Ramirez. Ind goal by Matias Defederico.
Fluminense 3-2 America - Flu goals by Gum, Araujo and Deco. Ame goals both by Vicente Sanchez.
-Thu Mar 24
Oriente Petrolero v Leon de Huanuco
Velez Sarsfield v Union Espanola

dN

Standings:
Group 1
ADV-11 Libertad (Paraguay) (+6 gd) (5 gp)
6 Univ San Martin (Peru) (-2 gd) (5 gp)
5 San Luis (Mexico) (-1 gd) (5 gp)
4 Once Caldas (Colombia) (-3 gd) (5 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) (0 gd) (4 gp)
5 Fluminense (Brazil) (0 gd) (4 gp)
4 Nacional (Uruguay) (-2 gd) (4 gp)
Group 4
7 Univ Catolica (Chile) (+1 gd) (4 gp)
6 Caracas (Venezuela) (-1 gd) (4 gp)
4 Union Espanola (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
7 Gody Cruz (Argentina) (+1 gd) (4 gp)
6 Liga Quito (Ecuador) (+6 gd) (4 gp)
6 Penarol (Uruguay) (-5 gd) (4 gp)
4 Independiente (Argentina) (-2 gd) (4 gp)

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS

QUALIFYING
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 26
Burkina Faso v Namibia
South Africa v Egypt
Mali v Zimbabwe
Nigeria v Ethiopia
Senegal v Cameroon
Rwanda v Burundi
Cote d'Ivoire v Benin
Kenya v Angola
Guinea-Bissau v Uganda
Chad v Botswana
Malawi v Togo
-Sun Mar 27
Cape Verde Islands v Liberia
Madagascar v Guinea
Libya v Comoros
Mozambique v Zambia
Tanzania v Central African Republic
Algeria v Morocco
Congo DR v Mauritius
Niger v Sierra Leone
Congo v Ghana
Sudan v Swaziland

FIFA

World Football Insider is reporting that an unnamed world recognized former player is attempting a run at the FIFA presidency. This person is looking for a federation to nominate him.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 23
Chinese Taipei v Turkmenistan
Pakistan v India
Maldives v Kyrgyzstan
Bhutan v Afghanistan
Palestine v Philippines
Myanmar v Bangladesh
Cambodia v Tajikistan
-Thu Mar 24
Cuba v El Salvador
-Fri Mar 25
Spain v Czech Republic
Lithuania v Poland
Montenegro v Uzbekistan
Estonia v Uruguay
Panama v Bolivia
Turkmenistan v India
Pakistan v Chinese Taipei
Maldives v Tajikistan
S Korea v Honduras
Afghanistan v Bhutan
Bangladesh v Philippines
Myanmar v Palestine
China v New Zealand
Jamaica v Venezuela
Austria v Belgium
Cambodia v Kyrgyzstan
-Sat Mar 26
Portugal v Chile
USA v Argentina
Mexico v Paraguay
Colombia v Ecuador
Costa Rica v China
Jordan v Kuwait
N Korea v Iraq
St. Kitts & Nevis v Grenada
-Sun Mar 27
Brazil v Scotland
Belize v Cayman Islands
El Salvador v Jamaica
-Mon Mar 28
Guatemala v Bolivia
-Tue Mar 29
Germany v Australia
Portugal v Finland
Ukraine v Italy
England v Ghana
Costa Rica v Argentina
France v Croatia
USA v Paraguay
Mexico v Venezuela
Greece v Poland
Ireland v Uruguay
Oman v Tunisia
Belarus v Canada
Cuba v Panama
Slovakia v Denmark
Colombia v Chile
Equatorial Guinea v Gambia
Peru v Ecuador
Gabon v Cameroon
China v Honduras
Nigeria v Kenya
Cyprus v Bulgaria
Jordan v N Korea
Qatar v Russia
Kuwait v Iraq
Morocco v Botswana