Some News for Wed Mar 9, 2011

STARTERS

Happy Birthday to the Dark Prince himself - Clint Dempsey!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

2nd leg Quarterfinal matches!

dN

Barcelona and Shakhtar storm into the next round.

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews Tuesday's action.

dN

Round of 16
Matches & Scores (1 Leg scores included):
2nd Leg
-Tue Mar 8
Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal - Bar advances 4-3 on aggregate - Bar goals by Lionel Messi(2, one via PK) & Xavi Hernandez. Ars goal by Sergio Busquets(OG).
Shakhtar 3-0 Roma - SD advances 6-2 on aggregate - SD goals by Willian(2) & Eduardo da Silva.
-Wed Mar 9
Tottenham v Milan (1-0) - 1:30pm CT Live
Schalke v Valencia (1-1) - 4pm CT Delayed

WHAT???

With about 10 minutes to play in a preseason match last night Roger Espinoza of Kansas City took out Javier Morales of Salt Lake with a very rough tackle, and then all hell broke loose. Both teams benches cleared and pushing and shoving and shouting ensued. Eventually the rest of the game was called off, and the matched ended tied 2-2.

MLS FIRST KICK 2011

Now just 6 days away!

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

CHICAGO FIRE

Fire fans - the supporters have a new shop - Section 8 Merch Store.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Rapids are in Seattle to take on the Sounders tonight for the annual Community Shield match.

DC UNITED

Retired MLS all-time leading goal scorer Jaime Moreno has been hired by the team as their academy's technical training coach.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

KC got goals from Kei Kamara(PK) & Omar Bravo as they tied Salt Lake 2-2 on Tuesday.

Terez Paylor of the Star on the naming of the new Sporting KC stadium.

Sam Mellinger of the Star on what naming the new stadium Livestrong Sporting Park means.

Former New York midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic is getting a look in KC.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Over 23,000 showed up last night in Phoenix for the Red Bulls preseason game. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, with a Tim Ream own goal counting for Atlas and a Rafael Marquez penalty kick counting for the Bulls.

Fullback Chris Albright has had surgery to repair torn meniscus in his left knee.
-I know he hurt one of his knees quite badly a few years ago, but I don't know if this is the same one.

REAL SALT LAKE

RSL got goals from Alvaro Saborio & Fabian Espinodola as they tied Kansas City 2-2 on Tuesday.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times with some team notes.

Community Shield Match
-Wed Mar 9
Seattle Sounders FC v Colorado Rapids
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA

TORONTO FC

TFC has officially signed 3 players that coach Aron Winter brought in via his connections in the Netherlands: 32 year old Morocan midfielder Elbekay Bouchiba from Al-Shamal, 24 year old Dutch forward Javier Martina from HFC Haarlem and 23 year old Dutch forward Nick Soolsma from VV Young Boys.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Part owner Steve Nash will be in attendance for the team's first MLS home game on Sat Mar 19.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

CAROLINA CHALLENGE CUP
Venue: Blackbaud Stadium - Charleston SC

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
Venue: KSU Soccer Stadium - Kennesaw GA

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

What a great looking stadium in Kennesaw:














MLS STADIUMS

The Montreal Gazette on the expansion of Saputo Stadium for next season before the Impact join MLS.
-They will add 7000 seats.

TEAM USA

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America gives us an early look at the USA's 3 Gold Cup group stage pals.
-Guadeloupe
-Panama
-Canada

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

ENGLAND - Premier League
Tim Howard - Everton - Wed Mar 9 - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 v Birmingham.

dN

Coming Up:

EUROPA LEAGUE - Round of 16 - 1st Leg
Mo Edu - Rangers - Thu Mar 10 at PSV
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - Thu Mar 10 v Zenit

SPAIN

Ricky Kaka has joined Cristiano Ronaldo on the injured list at Real Madrid. Both are expected to miss two weeks. Kaka is suffering from a strain in the same knee he injured last year and played on during the World Cup to ill effect. This guy needs some serious time off to recover.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Round of 16 first leg matches Thursday.

dN

Round of 16
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Mar 10
CSKA Moscow v Porto
PSV v Rangers
Leverkusen v Villarreal
Braga v Liverpool
Benfica v PSG
Dynamo Kyiv v Man City
Twente v Zenit
Ajax v Spartak Moscow

dN

Matches & Scores.

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

dN

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

ENDERS

Check out this very cool looking book I unearthed. Its selling for way too much around the internets, but somehow I got it for $1.50! FTW. I will tell you all about it once I crack it open.