Some News for Mon Apr 4, 2011

STARTERS

FC Porto has claimed the Primeira Liga championship in Portugal. Huge congrats to them.
-It sure seems awfully early in the year to be claiming league titles already!

dN

I was sent a link to a very intriguing blog: The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.
-I'm really looking forward to digging in.

PODCASTS

Its like getting an amazing gift from Santa Claus and its not even Christmas morning!

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian gives us a podcast of his recent trip to Poland checking up on their preparations for co-hosting Euro 2012. Download or listen here.

STORY OF THE DAY

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on a very big weekend for Manchester United, Barcelona and AC Milan in their quests for a title.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

What a great weekend of soccer we had!

-Sat Apr 2
Milan 3-0 Inter - Derby della Madonnina saw the leaders trounce their would-be rivals.
Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Hannover - #1 rolls over the former #3 (now in 4th) to maintain their 7 point lead at the top.
Villarreal 0-1 Barcelona - even though this game would not effect the standsing between them, the #1s showed that they are boss over the former #3 (now #4) hosts.
Twente 2-0 PSV - we have a new leader in the Netherlands as the #2 hosts beat the #1s and they now swap spots in the standings.
-Sun Apr 3
Napoli 4-3 Lazio - #3 win the game and advance to the #2 spot!
Roma 0-2 Juventus - The Old Lady beats their bitter rivals as they struggle for a legitimate season.
Catania 4-0 Palermo - a rout in the Sicilian derby.
Hibernian 2-2 Heart of Midlothian - Hibs v Hearts is a tie in the Edinburgh derby.
Benfica 1-2 Porto - O Classico sees #1 vanquish #2 stretching their lead to an uncatchable 16 points, sealing the 2010/11 Portuguese Liga Championship!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Quarterfinals
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 5
Real Madrid v Tottenham - Live at 1:30pm CT on FSC
Schalke v Inter - Live at 1:30pm CT on Fox Soccer Plus, or delayed at 4:00pm CT on FSC
-Wed Apr 6
Chelsea v Manchester United - Live at 1:30pm CT on FSC
Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk - Live at 1:30pm CT on Fox Soccer Plus, or delayed at 4:00pm CT on FSC

dN

2nd Leg matches on Apr 12/13.

dN

Final
-Sat May 28
Venue: Wembley Stadium - London

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Here we go! The 2nd leg matches are this week.

dN

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune reports on RSL arriving in Costa Rica via chartered flight, and getting ready for a real battle. I can't wait.

Lewis talks to RSL midfielder Andy Williams who has been to the insane Monster's Cave before!

Jack Bell of the NY Times looks ahead to Salt Lake's huge trip to Central America.

dN

Semifinals
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 5
Saprissa v Real Salt Lake (0-2) - Live at 9:00pm CT on FSC
-Wed Apr 6
Monterrey v Cruz Azul (2-1) - Live at 9:00pm CT on FSC

dN

Final
1st Leg
-Wed Apr 20
2nd Leg
-Wed Apr 27

FACT OF THE DAY

Jose Mourinho lost his first home game as a head coach in 9 years this past weekend!

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Simon Burton of the Guardian with the story of Jay DeMerit's friend Ranko Tutulugdzija, who suffers from Rhabdomyolysis, but did not let that stop from making a film about DeMerit's dream story in football - Rise & Shine.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 3

Recap du Nord: Only 2 teams got wins in this round, how messed up is that. Columubs won at home in the first game of the weekend, and Colorado won at home in the last game. And at 3-0-0 Colorado is the clear leader out of the game. LA is in 2nd and have played an extra game. Salt Lake has 6 points from just 2 games played. Chivas, Portland And Dallas are all stinking with just 1 point. Seattle is not much better with 2 points and played an extra game.

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 1
Columbus Crew 2-0 FC Dallas - CC goals by Andres Mendoza(PK) & Eddie Gaven.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 14,549
-Sat Apr 2
Toronto FC 1-1 CD Chivas USA - TFC goal by Alan Gordon. CUSA goal by Alejandro Moreno.
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto ON
Attendance: 18,968
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3-3 Sporting Kansas City - VW goals by Attiba Harris & Camilo(2). SKC goals by Teal Bunbury(2) & Kei Kamara.
Venue: Empire Field - Vancouver BC
Attendance: 20,518
New England Revolution 1-1 Portland Timbers - NER goal by Stephen McCarthy. PT goal by Jack Jewsbury.
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Attendance: 7,114
New York Red Bulls 1-1 Houston Dynamo - NYRB goal by Dane Richards. HD goal by Cam Weaver.
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 13,664
LA Galaxy 1-0 Philadelphia Union - LAG goal by Leonardo.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 24,998
San Jose Earthquakes 2-2 Seattle Sounders FC - SJE goals by Simon Dawkins & Khari Stephenson. SS goals by Brad Evans & O'Brian White.
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 10,276
Sun Apr 03
Colorado Rapids 4-1 DC United - CR goals by Caleb Folan(2), Jamie Smith & Omar Cummings. DCU goal by Santino Quaranta.
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 9,857

dN

Both Chicago and Salt Lake had the weekend off.

dN

EJECTIONS:
Jackson - Dallas - 2 yellow cards (1 minute apart)
Chris Birchall - LA - red card
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia - red card

dN

Standings (3 Games Played):
EASTERN CONFERENCE
6 Philadelphia Union (+1 GD)
5 New England Revolution (+1 GD)
5 New York Red Bulls (+1 GD)
4 Chicago Fire SC (+1 GD) (2 GP)
4 Columbus Crew (0 GD)
4 Sporting Kansas City (0 GD)
4 Toronto FC (0 GD)
3 DC United (-2 GD)
2 Houston Dynamo (-1 GD)
WESTERN CONFERENCE
9 Colorado Rapids (+6 GD)
7 LA Galaxy (-1 GD) (4 GP)
6 Real Salt Lake (+4 GD) (2 GP)
4 San Jose Earthquakes (+1 GD)
4 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (+1 GD)
2 Seattle Sounders FC (-2 GD) (4 GP)
1 CD Chivas USA (-2 GD)
1 FC Dallas (-4 GD)
1 Portland Timbers (-4 GD)

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK AND OTHER STUFF

Without Eddie Gaven Columbus would have no one one on the field worth mentioning. He lead them to an important win against Dallas. Not the prettiest thing you have ever seen, but without Gaven Columbus would be sunk. I still think he should be named team captain.

MY THOUGHTS

Holy smokes Dallas stinks right now. They seem to have no idea that the name of the game is to score goals. They played last Friday like they had never heard that concept. And every guy in front of the back line looks like he is 5'3".

Someone named Camilo scored 2 goals in 2nd half stoppage time to allow Vancouver to steal a point from KC.

Vancouver put on one hell of a comeback and don't think the loud home crowd didn't play a part. It was fantastic to watch. I was talking to a friend who's recording cut off right at the 90 minute mark so he missed both of the stoppage goals.

Peter Vermes in KC moves to the top of list on the Coaches Hot Seat. Yes they have scored 8 goals in 3 games, but they have also given up the same amount, and completely blew the game in Vancouver where they should have won easily.

Its debated in a lot of places whether or not Teal Bunbury is a good finisher. He took an awful lot of shots last season to get his 5 goals. But the past two weeks he has looked like a world class finisher. Lets see a lot more of that!

That kid David Chiumeinto in Vancouver looks like a real firestarter. He has only played about 60 minutes so far but he has lit up the field the whole time he has been out there. Can't wait to see more of him.

Alan Gordon has gone from clean cut All-American boy in Los Angeles to long greasy-haired rocker in Toronto.

Julian de Guzman made his return to the field for Toronto coming on as a sub at half time.

I look forward to seeing more of Marcos Mondaini for Chivas. He could be something special.

And how cool is it that the kid who won the reality show contract with Chivas 3 years ago, Jorge Flores, is still with the team and playing some really good soccer.

Chivas might not win a lot this year, but they will not be embarrassed like they were at times last year.

Dan Kennedy is healthy again and replaced Zach Thornton in the goal for the Amerigoats.

Portland did a very good job of turning the momentum and sticking with New England after the Revs came out strong and looked like they were going to roll.

The Timbers first Superdraft pick Darlington Nagbe made his debut, but it was uneventful.

NY debuted Dwayne DeRosario to start the second half and with his first touch he put Dane Richards through for a goal! At that point we all thought the game might end 10-0. Instead Houston cranked up the defense with Tally Hall making huge saves and then they tied the game and hung on for a point.

Thiery Henry look either tired, or bored. But he sure is not contributing the big time plays that were expected of him.

Brian Ching of Houston took a brutal shot to the ribs and as hard as he tried to keep playing he finally had to be subbed out. It looked like he was in extreme pain. No word yet on damage.

Bruce Arena and Peter Nowak told their teams LA and Philly to go out and kick the crap out of each other. The players obliged. 78 yellow cards and 2 red cards later the Gals won on a free kick that David Beckman placed on the head of Leonardo. Game over.

LA moved David Beckham to the defensive midfield spot and it helped pull their strengthen their spine give the defense more stability.

The most fun game of the weekend by a mile was San Jose v Seattle. End to end burners is what we got. Seattle took two leads and watched San Jose come back both times. And Khari Stephenson's bomb of a goal for SJE is my goal of the week!

See that goal right here!

Both Ramiro Corales and Bobby Convey were really good on the Earthquakes left side of the field. Really good.

Is Mauro Rosales the real deal playmaker that Seattle needs? And boy oh boy did Brad Evans return to his best or what.

Oswaldo Alonso clocked Simon Dawkins with a nasty elbow right in front of the referee who made no call. Whoa.

Omar Cummings didn't even get to start for Colorado, thats how many good players they have up top, but he did get a goal.

The guy who replaced him in the lineup Caleb Folan scored twice.

Conor Casey has 3 yellow cards in 3 games for Colorado, and his card this weekend could have been red. It was a terrible tackle. Later he threw a wicked elbow that should have been at least a second yellow, and could have been another red, but it was a no call. Ugh.

4 of the 5 goals in the Colorado-DC game came after the 70th minute, probably due the altitude advantage the home team carries.

And all 5 of those goals are worthy watching. Great stuff right here.

I have loved the play of Pat Onstad for many years, but he is past it and DC really needs Bill Hamid to get healthy and get in the nets.

Finally, I was going to single out New England's sales and marketing stuff for doing such a horrendous job this weekend (less than 8K in the stands), but the defending champs in Colorado were not much better with under 10K. Then their is New York who add a huge piece to the championship chasing puzzle in Dwayne De Rosario and draw the smallest crowd ever at just 1 year old Red Bull Arena (less than 14K.) The heads of marketing at all 3 of those teams should be shown the door immediately.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated gives us five things you should know about Week 3.

Forward Camilo of Vancouver made a dramatic MLS debut and has been named MLS Player of the Week for his effort.

Goalkeeper Nick Rimando of Salt Lake was named the MLS Player of the Month for March.

Luke Wileman of TSN sees opposite ends of the early season satisfaction spectrum in Canada - Whitecaps and TFC.

CHICAGO FIRE

John Kass of the Chicago Tribune introduces us to Gaston Puerari who has started his MLS career with a bang.

The Fire announced the signing 23 year old Greek Paraskevas “Pari” Pantazopoulos a midfielder who they found in an open try out. Yup, it actually happens sometimes.

COLUMBUS CREW

The Dispatch with the Crew Review. Always worth a read.

Newcastle announced their second summer friendly with a MLS opponent:
-Tue Jul 26
Columbus Crew v Newcastle United (England)
Venue: Columbus OH - Crew Stadium

FC DALLAS

FCD finally got the rights to forward Maykel Galindo from Chivas. So expect an announcement of signing soon.

DC UNITED

Charlie Davies did not travel with the team to Colorado due to a strained groin muscle. No word on the severity.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle reports that the Dynamo were trying very hard in the last two weeks to reacquire their one time star Dwayne DeRosario who ended up in New York.

REAL SALT LAKE

Jody Genessy of the Deseret News with an article on Nick Rimando and his old UCLA pal Earl Watson who recently came to Salt Lake to play basketball for the Jazz.

James Edward of the Deseret looks at the team's off season training that is paying off early in the season.
-Will it lead to burnout?

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America sees the Sounders attack rounding into form without some of the expected anchors.

TORONTO FC

Gareth Wheeler of the Sun talks to former star Dwayne DeRosario who rips TFC as he departs for New York. I mean really rips em.
-He says the team did not keep their word on many things, was unhappy with his contract, and contradicted the teams words on his training with Celtic in the off season.

Daniel Girard of the Star talks to head coach Aron Winter who says DeRosario asked to be traded. Not the other way around.

Jason de Vos of the CBC, always the optimistic gentleman, sees the good in the move for everyone.

Cathal Kelly of the Star says TFC is not rebuilding, they are redigging the foundation.

Matt Scianitti of the National Post ponders what the deal means for all 3 parties involved - TFC, NYRB & DDR.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Nigel Reed of the CBC on the Caps dramatic come from behind on Saturday.

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun sees so many different players having good performances in the first 3 weeks it will not be easy to pick a lineup for week 4.

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Todays' ridiculous name in the hopper: Didier Drogba

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Apr 3
San Jose Earthquakes 0-1 Seattle Sounders - SS goal by Michael Tetteh.

MLS Reserve League

TEAM USA

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated with an extensive review of the 2 most recent USA friendlies. The good, the bad and the questions that need answering.

USA U20 TEAM

CONCACAF U20 World Cup Qualifying is underway.

With a USA win and 2 losses by Suriname the USA has advanced to the knockout round, but most play one more game for seeding.

dN

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 29
USA 4-0 Suriname - USA goals by Bobby Wood, Joe Gyau, Conor Doyle & Kelyn Rowe.
-Sat Apr 2
USA 2-0 Panama - USA goals both by Kelyn Rowe.
-Match report from US Soccer.

They also give us video highlights of the game against Panama.

Noah Davis of MLSsoccer.com on the high quality of Perry Kitchen.

dN

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

CONCACAF U20 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

The tournament is now set for the important Quarterfinals in Guatemala, and 4 teams will advance to the World Cup in Colombia.

Of the four top seeds the USA has the toughest game as they take on the host team Guatemala. Those fans will pack the stands and scream for an upset.

dN

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Mon Mar 28
Canada 2-1 Guadeloupe - Can goals by Lucas Cavallini & Derrick Bassi. Gua goal by Christophe Houelche.
Cuba 0-3 Mexico - Mex goals by Renay Melblanche(OG), Alan Pulido & Ulises Davila.
-Tue Mar 29
Suriname 4-0 USA - USA goals by Bobby Wood, Joe Gyau, Conor Doyle & Kelyn Rowe.
Guatemala 2-0 Jamaica - Gua goals by Jhamie Hyde(OG) & Gerson Lima.
-Wed Mar 30
Guadeloupe 0-3 Costa Rica - CR goals by Joel Campbell(2) & Deyver Vega.
Trinidad & Tobago 0-0 Cuba
-Thu Mar 31
Panama 3-0 Suriname - Pan goals all by Cecelio Waterman.
Honduras 2-1 Jamaica - Hon goals by Ever Alvarado & Alexander Lopez. Jam goal by Neco Brett.
-Fri Apr 1
Costa Rica 3-0 Canada - CR goals by Juan Golobio, Joel Campbell & Minor Escoe.
Mexico 5-0 Trinidad & Tobago - Mex goals by Taufic Guarch(3) & Alan Pulido(2).
-Sat Apr 2
USA 2-0 Panama - USA goals both by Kelyn Rowe.
Guatemala 1-3 Honduras - Gua goal by Gerson Lima. Hon goals by Antony Lozana, Nestor Martinez & Alexander Lopez.

dN

The top 2 from each group advance to the Quarterfinals knockout round, and the 4 winners of those games advance to the World Cup.

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 5
Costa Rica v Cuba
Mexico v Canada
-Wed Apr 6
USA v Guatemala
Honduras v Panama
-The 4 winners go to the World Cup.

dN

Semifinals
-Fri Apr 8
Tuesday Winners
Wednesday Winners

Final
-Sun Apr 10
Championship

dN

Standings:
Group A
ADV-6 Honduras
ADV-3 Guatemala
OUT-0 Jamaica
Group B
ADV-6 USA
ADV-3 Panama
OUT-0 Suriname
Group C
ADV-6 Costa Rica
ADV-3 Canada
OUT-0 Guadeloupe
Group D
ADV-6 Mexico
ADV-1 Cuba
OUT-1 Trinidad & Tobago

US SOCCER DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY

I got to see my first Dev Ac games this weekend as Sporting Kansas City came to St Paul to take on Minnesota Thunder. The KC U18's won 3-2, while the U16 game ended scoreless. I can't wait to see many more of these.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Sacha Kljestan & Anderlecht move into the final part of the Belgian season where the top 6 teams play a home and away round robin to decide the champion.

dN

Game Action:

BELGIUM - Pro League Playoff I
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - on the bench as they lost 1-3 v Standard Liege.

BULGARIA - A PFG
Jemal Johnson - Lokomotiv Sofia - went the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Beroe.

DENMARK - Superliga -
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - started but came off at half time due to a thigh injury in a 0-0 draw at Horsens.
Chris Rolfe - AaB - came on as a sub in the 76th min but lost 0-1 v Odense.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa - did not suit up as they drew 2-2 at Everton.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the full 90 as they won 3-0 v Blackpool.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in goal as they drew 2-2 at Everton.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - on the bench for a 4-1 loss at Newcastle.
Tim Howard - Everton - in goal as they drew 2-2 v Aston Villa.
Jermaine Jones - Blackburn - started but was subbed off in second half stoppage time as they drew 0-0 at Arsenal.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - on the bench as they lost 2-4 v Manchester United.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Brad Guzan - Hull City - played the whole game getting a yellow card and losing 0-1 v Millwall.
Eddie Johnson - Preston North End - started and played 59 min as they won 2-1 v Swansea.
Eric Lichaj - Leeds - played the entire match and they won 4-1 v Nottingham Forest.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - went the full 90 as they won 6-0 v Scunthorpe.

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Swindon Town - came off the bench in the 79th min as they tied 1-1 v Hartlepool.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - played the entire game as they tied 1-1 with Valenciennes.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - didn't dress as they lost 1-0 at Koln.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full 90 but they lost 4-1 at Dortmund.
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - went the distance as they drew 1-1 at Wolfsburg.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - started and played 66 min as they won 1-2 at Energie Cottbus.
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - came in as a sub in the 56th min as they tied 2-2 v Osnabruck.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - went the distance getting a yellow card and lost 2-1 at Greuther Furth.

NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - on the bench as they won 2-0 v PSV.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - came off the bench in the 63rd min as they tied 2-2 v Emmen.

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - went the distance as they won 2-1 at Rosenborg.
Josh Gatt - Molde - started and played 78 min of a tie game 2-2 v Tromso.

RUSSIA - Premier Division
Yevgeni Starikov - Tom' Tomsk - on the bench as they lost 2-0 at Terek Grozny.

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Mo Edu - Rangers - played the full match but they lost 2-3 v Dundee United.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - played the entire game and they won 0-1 at IFK Goteborg.
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - on the bench in a scoreless tie v Kalmar
Samuel Petrone - Mjallby - came on as a sub in the 74th min but they lost 0-1 v Helsingborg.

TURKEY - Super Lig
Jozy Altidore - Bursaspor - came on as a sub in the 86th min of a scoreless draw at Fenerbahce.

TURKEY - 1. Lig
Freddie Adu - Caykur Rizespor - came on as a sub in the 58th min but they lost 3-0 at Mersin Idmanyurdu.

dN

Coming Up:

ENGLAND - Championship League
Eddie Johnson - Preston North End - Tue Apr 5 at Reading

ENGLAND - League One
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - Tue Apr 5 at Leyton Orient

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Joe Benny Corona got the game winner for Tijuana on Sunday!

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they won 2-0 v Atlante.
Edgar Castillo - Puebla - on the bench as they lost 5-4 at America.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - on the bench as they won 1-3 at Morelia.
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - came on as a sub in the 73rd min as they won 1-2 at Necaxa.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - started and played 68 min getting a yellow card and they won 1-3 at Morelia.

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division)
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - went the full 90 scoring a goal as they won 2-0 v Atlante II.
Marco Vidal - Leon - played the whole game as they won 4-0 v Correcaminos UAT.

MEXICO

Recap du Nord: Second place in Group B is where all the action is. 4 teams have 16 points and one of them is going to advance. Atlante is the #2 (+5 GD) after this weekend even though they lost. #3 Toluca (+2 GD) drew, #4 Atlas (+2 GD) drew too, and #5 San Luis (+1 GD) lost. Maybe none of them want the place in the playoffs.

With only 5 rounds left here are the 8 teams currently in the playoff spots:
Group A
23 Tigres
20 Monterrey
Group B
19 America
16 Atlante
Group C
25 Pumas
21 Morelia
Wild Cards
21 Cruz Azul
18 Guadalajara

ENGLAND

Recap du Nord: Man U had a huge comeback win to stretch their lead to 7 points, while Arsenal & Chelsea both had ties that really hurt their chances of catching the leaders. Man City won huge and climbed to 3rd (Chelsea drops to 4th.) Tottenham stays at 5 with another draw.

Simon Burton of the Guardian with five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated tells us about Tottenham's French fullback Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

David Carr of the Guardian says British Parliment is getting serious about looking into the business practices of football. They have called 2 executives to answer questions.

Top of the Premier League Table: (31 GP)
66 Man United - Sat Apr 2 W 2-4 at West Ham
59 Arsenal - Sat Apr 2 D 0-0 v Blackburn (30 GP)
56 Man City - Sun Apr 3 W 5-0 v Sunderland
55 Chelsea - Sat Apr 2 D 1-1 at Stoke (30 GP)
50 Tottenham - Sat Apr 2 D 0-0 at Wigan (30 GP)

SPAIN

Recap du Nord: Barcelona won while #2 Real Madrid lost pushing the difference at the top to 8 points with 8 games to play. #3 Villarreal were Barca's victim and they fall to 4th, with Valencia moving up a spot. Then in 5th Sevilla takes over after winning while the former #5 Espanyol lost.

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the end of Jose Mourniho's 151 home game non-losing streak which ended this weekend, and the rest of the round in La Liga.

Phil Ball of ESPN on Barca's charge to the title, Madrid's loss and the rest of the weekend in Spain's first division.

Top of the Primera Division Table: (30 GP)
81 Barcelona - Sat Apr 2 W 0-1 at Villarreal
73 Real Madrid - Sat Apr 2 L 0-1 v Sporting Gijon
54 Villarreal - Sat Apr 2 L 0-1 v Barcelona
57 Valencia - Sat Apr 2 W 2-4 at Getafe
45 Sevilla - Sun Apr 3 W 3-1 v Zaragoza
- - - - -
43 Espanyol - Sun Apr 3 L 1-2 v Racing Santander

FRANCE

Recap du Nord: #1 Lille & # 2 Marseille both won and grew their lead while the next 3 all tied.

Top of the Ligue 1 Table: (29 GP)
58 Lille - Sat Apr 2 W 3-1 v Caen
54 Marsielle - Sun Apr 3 W 0-1 at Lens
51 Rennes - Sat Apr 2 D 0-0 v Auxerre
50 Lyon - Sun Apr 3 D 2-2 at Nice
46 PSG - Sat Apr 2 D 0-0 v Lorient

GERMANY

Recap du Nord: Borussia Dortmund won big over Hannover who fall to 4th, and keep their lead at 7 over #2 Leverkusen who also won. Bayern won to move up a spot to #3. And #5 Mainz goa a tie.

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian introduces us to Dortmund's 18 year old prodigy Mario Gotze, and the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga.

The BBC reports that St Pauli fans turned into total morons on Friday in their home game against Schalke. Lighters, coins and final beers were thrown at the assistant referees and finally after 88 minutes of abuse the referee called off the game. The Bundesliga will now decide the outcome of the game, and if any further punishment will be handed out. I sure as hell hope so.

Top of the Bundesliga Table: (28 GP)
65 Borussia Dortmund - Sat Apr 2 W 4-1 v Hannover
58 Bayer Leverkusen - Sat Apr 2 W 0-1 at Kaiserslautern
51 Bayern Munich - Sat Apr 2 W 1-0 v Monchengladbach
50 Hannover - Sat Apr 2 L 4-1 at Dortmund
45 Mainz - Sat Apr 2 D 1-1 v Freiberg

ITALY

Recap du Nord: Milan put a beating on former #2 Inter who drop to 3rd, while Napoli won and moved up to #2. #4 Udinese & #5 Lazio both lost.

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Edinson Cavani who has lead Napoli up to 2ned place, Milan smashing Inter, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

Serse Cosmi only got 4 games in charge of Palermo before being fired. The owner Maurizio Zamparini is a lunatic. How big of a lunatic? He just rehired Delio Rossi who he fired 5 weeks ago to coach the team again. What?

Top of the Serie A Table: (31 GP)
65 Milan - Sat Apr 2 W 3-0 Inter
62 Napoli - Sun Apr 3 W 4-3 v Lazio
60 Inter - Sat Apr 2 L 3-0 Milan
56 Udinese - Sun Apr 3 L 2-0 Lecce
54 Lazio - Sun Apr 3 L 4-3 at Napoli

COPA LIBERTADORES

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 5
Independiente v LDU Quito
Union Espanola v Caracas

FIFA

FIFA Presidential Election
-Wed Jun 1
Sepp Blatter v Mohamed Bin Hammam

ENDERS

Iran has hired Carlos Queiroz to coach their national team!