Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Some News for Tue Apr 26, 2011

STORY OF THE DAY

Steve Helman of the Boston Globe on Taylor Twellman and the concussions that ended his career.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

Home Opener
-Sat Apr 30
NSC Minnesota Stars v Carolina RailHawks - 7:30pm
Venue: National Sports Center Stadium - Blaine MN

Tickets

Tailgating begins around 5:30.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Final

The Salt Lake Tribune has a full special section just for this one game. That gives me goose bumps. Seriously.
-Lots of great stuff to read here, just click on over and dig in.

dN

The Deseret News has no special section, but plenty of articles:
-Real Salt Lake has to play better in finale
-Kreis has decision for holding midfield spot
-Where does Real Salt Lake's run rank among Utah's top sports stories?
-Fans wish Real Salt Lake good luck via social media

dN

Simon Evans of Reuters on the potential if RSL wins.

dN

Kyle Beckerman of RSL is suspended for this game.

Aldo de Nigris & Jesus Zavala of Monterrey are suspended for this game.

Luis Perez of Monterrey is out of this game due to injury.

dN

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg score included)
-Wed Apr 27
Real Salt Lake v Monterrey (2-2) - 9pm CT on FSC

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Semifinals

Manchester United wins leg 1 handily. On the road!

dN

Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated shows us how the behind the scenes Zinedine Zidane influence is boosting Real Madrid.

dN

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 26
Schalke 0-2 Manchester United - MU goals by Ryan Giggs & Wayne Rooney.
Venue: Arena AufSchalke - Gelsenkirchen
-Wed Apr 27
Real Madrid v Barcelona - 1:30pm CT live on FX
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu - Madrid

THE QUADRACLASICO - MADRID V BARCA 2011

Real Madrid & Barcelona face off 4 times in 3 competitions in 18 days beginning on Saturday April 16.

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Apr 16
Real Madrid 1-1 Barcelona - Primera Division - RM goal by Cristiano Ronaldo(PK). Bar goal by Lionel Messi(PK).
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu - Madrid
-Wed Apr 20
Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid - Copa Del Rey Final - RM goal by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Venue: Estadio Mestalla - Valencia
-Wed Apr 27
Real Madrid v Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Semifinal Leg 1 - 1:45pm CT on FSC
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu - Madrid
-Tue May 3
Barcelona v Real Madrid - UEFA Champions League Semifinal Leg 2 - 1:45pm CT on FSC
Venue: Camp Nou - Barcelona

SCOREBOARD
Team - Win - Tie - Loss
Barcelona - 0 -- 1 --- 1
Real Madrid 1 -- 1 --- 0

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I could easily have gone and played in the USA. Without doubt, I regret not having done that. I should have thought about the idea of this American adventure more seriously, more deeply, but there you are. It's much too late to go back now."

-Zinedine Zidane

See full article from Sports Illustrated above in the UEFA Champions League section.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What is going on with Michael Bradley? Not only is he not playing for Aston Villa, he is not even on the bench. This move has been a debacle so far. The "England, England, England, England" mantra is not working out very well for him.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Loyal reader & fellow blogger Mark Willis has written a series that we prefaced called Revolution Reboot. This is what he feels would make the New England Revolution relevant again.

Intro
Part I
Part II
Part III
Summing Up

Its one persons opinion. The enthusiasm must be applauded. Do you have an opinion on how your team is run?

OOF

Sachrin Nakrani of the Guardian tells us the story of ADO Den Haag player Gino Coutinho who finds himself is a bit of trouble with the law these days. "Run afoul" comes to mind. Thanks to Bill for this one.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Noah Davis writing for Run of Play with a view of the future of American soccer from a stadium in Guatemala City.

THATS WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

Bumpy Pitch presents their Rose City shirts and a tribute to one of their mentor's Clive Charles. Well done!






















Buy it here.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 7

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 29
Houston Dynamo v DC United - 7:30pm CT on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sat Apr 30
Philadelphia Union v San Jose Earthquakes - 3:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Columbus Crew v Vancouver Whitecaps - 6:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
New York Red Bulls v Sporting Kansas City - 6:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Colorado Rapids v Chicago Fire SC - 8:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Seattle Sounders FC v Toronto FC - 9:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Portland Timbers v Real Salt Lake - 9:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: JELD-WEN Field - Portland OR
CD Chivas USA v New England Revolution - 9:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sun May 1
FC Dallas v LA Galaxy - 6:00pm CT on Galavision
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX

dN

Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
11 New York Red Bulls (+7 GD) (7 GP)
10 Philadelphia Union (+2 GD) (5 GP)
9 Houston Dynamo (+2 GD) (6 GP)
9 Columbus Crew (+1 GD) (6 GP)
9 New England Revolution (-1 GD) (7 GP)
7 DC United (-3 GD) (6 GP)
7 Toronto FC (-3 GD) (7 GP)
5 Chicago Fire SC (-3 GD) (6 GP)
4 Sporting Kansas City (-2 GD) (5 GP)

WESTERN CONFERENCE
15 LA Galaxy (+3 GD) (8 GP)
12 Real Salt Lake (+7 GD) (4 GP)
9 Colorado Rapids (+1 GD) (6 GP)
9 Seattle Sounders FC (0 GD) (7 GP)
7 FC Dallas (-1 GD) (6 GP)
7 Portland Timbers (-4 GD) (6 GP)
6 CD Chivas USA (-1 GD) (6 GP)
6 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-2 GD) (7 GP)
5 San Jose Earthquakes (-3 GD) (6 GP)

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK AND OTHER STUFF

Benny Feilhaber of the New England Revolution.

When is the last time any player stepped onto a MLS field and single-handedly lifted a team to a new level. Not recently. And he did it with such subtlety and precision too.

MY THOUGHTS

Lets start with some "Did you know...."
-Crew midfielder Kevin Burns is the son of Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
-Maicon Santos is the captain of Toronto FC.
-Dallas started the game this weekend in the revolutionary 4-6-0 formation.
-No team who had scored first this season had lost... until this weekend when it happened twice!
-Terry Dunfield was the Whitecaps captain.
-Vancouver weather provided for skiing in the mountains and shirts & tshirts in the stands at the game on the same day.
-Vancouver games are being broadcast in Cantonese! That is a MLS first. The commentator's name is Golden Kong! That is cool.

Why do they play Guns & Roses right before kickoff at Gillette Stadium?

Debuts for both Rajko Lekic and Benny Feilhaber in New England. Both were effective.

New England also debuted their first-ever shirt sponsor United Health Care.

Feilhaber made great pass after great pass all game long, and even played a little defense.

Lekic scored the game winning goal.

KC debuted centerback Aurelin Collin. His game went quite badly. Getting a yellow card, being lectured to by the referee a few times, and then getting a bogus red card. Tough start to his MLS days.

I like it when Shalrie Joseph lines up at forward!

NER announcer Jay Heaps made the hilarious statement: "That's too early for a yellow card." Not directed at the player, but directed at the referee. Someone suggesting that an awful foul early in a game should go unpunished.

KC's second goal came on a terrible penalty call. The ball was already out of play before any foul occurred.

Teal Bunbury had a very quiet game, and was not effective when he did see the ball. Although he did draw the phantom penalty.

Ryan Smith made his 2011 season debut for KC, recovered from injury.

Steven Lenhart made his season debut for his new team San Jose.

Tony Tchani's goal for TFC was taken so coolly. I loved it. Fantastic pass from Julian de Guzman to set it up too. That was my favorite goal of the week. See it here.

If Tchani gets a yellow card for jumping into the stands after scoring, then why didn't Alan Gordon get one too, cuz he was right with Tchani.

How come Robbie Rogers of Columbus always looks like he is giving it the full 75%?

Andres Mendoza of the Crew has been sporting a great Bride of Frankenstein style headband the past few weeks. Awesome.































Another Crew player, Tom Heineman looks like the guitar player from Mastodon.



































Two TFC players made their debuts - English full back Richard Eckersley and Ecuadoran forward Joao Plata.

That Plata kid is tiny. As in teeny-tiny. As in I don't know if I have ever seen a MLS player that small before.

I love the spray the refs are using on free kicks. It cuts out all the garbage.

Next initiative should be to make players take throw-ins from where the ball actually went out of bounds.

Good to see Dallas's Brek Shea back in the attacking midfield where he belongs.

That Davide Chiumiento for Vancouver is just plain old good. He set up yet another Caps goal. Yes he did all but vanish in the 2nd half of the game, but so did all of his teammates.

Speaking of vanishing, was Eric Hassli even on the field. He did get another yellow card so he must have been out there.

I was stunned when David Ferreira completely missed the goal wide left on his penalty kick. Wow.

Caps keeper Jay Nolly was pretty lucky to not face another PK after taking out Fabian Castillo and not touching the ball. Lucky.

It seems like every time I see Eric Avila make a late sub appearance he scores a huge goal.

Dallas is in desperate need of some contributing strikers.

LA just tore Portland apart in the opening stages of their game and was up 2-0 after 8 minutes.

It could have been worse had Troy Perkins, making his Portland debut, not made two great saves early on.

Donovan Ricketts in goal for LA made some great saves too to keep the Timbers from gaining any momentum.

Diego Chara made his debut for Portland. I hope he has a great season.

Besides centerback Omar Gonzalez the Galaxy is a very small team. David Beckham might be the second tallest guy. Oh, and Juan Pablo Angel too.

JPA barely saw the ball in the second half for LA until he made the brilliant run to the endline and sent a blind cross to the far post that Landon Donovan buried with a header to seal the game.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

No real marquee matchups this week.

Landon Donovan was named the MLS Player of the Week.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Nick Thomas of MLSsoccer.com says Brian Mullan is taking his leg breaking tackle on Steve Zakuani very hard. He knows how badly he messed up.
-Zakuani needed surgery to repair badly broken right tibia and fibula.
-Two of Zakuani's former Seattle teammates who are now with Colorado, Tyrone Marshall & Sanna Naiassi have both been to the hospital.
-The teams are working on arranging a time for Mullan to go to the hospital to talk with Zakuani.

DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on the slow start to this season for 2010 Rookie of the Year Andy Najar.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star wonders if there is a problem when KC earns 3 red cards in just 5 games.
-SKC plans to appeal the red card given to centerback Aurelin Collin. It was not even a yellow card foul, much less red.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe on the instant upgrade that Benny Feilhaber brings to the Revs.
-How did Feilhaber's first game go?

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian on the lack of concentration that is killing Portland's defense all too often.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 26
Puerto Rico Islanders v NSC Minnesota Stars
-Fri Apr 29
Puerto Rico Islanders v Fort Lauderdale Strikers
-Sat Apr 30
FC Tampa Bay v Atlanta Silverbacks
NSC Minnesota Stars v Carolina RailHawks
-Sun May 1
FC Edmonton v Montreal Impact

dN

Standings:
6 Puerto Rico Islanders (+3 GD) (2 GP)
6 Carolina RailHawks (+2 GD) (3 GP)
6 FC Edmonton (0 GD) (3 GP)
4 NSC Minnesota Stars (+1 GD) (2 GP)
3 FC Tampa Bay (-1 GD) (2 GP)
1 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (-1 GD) (2 GP)
0 Atlanta Silverbacks (-2 GD) (2 GP)
0 Montreal Impact (-2 GD) (2 GP)

US OPEN CUP

MLS Qualifying:

2nd Stage
-Tue Apr 26
DC United v New England Revolution

USA U17 TEAM

A more senior version of the U17 team, and the one made up primarily of players who will be going to the World Cup this summer are off to train and play some games in Mexico.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 27
Mexico U17 v USA U17
-Sun May 1
Mexico U17 v USA U17

Roster
G:
Wade Hamilton - Arsenal FC
Kendall McIntosh - San Jose Earthquakes Academy
Fernando Pina - Houston Dynamo
D:
Kellyn Acosta - FC Dallas Juniors
Joe Amon - South Carolina United FC
Zach Carroll - Vardar
Mobi Fehr - Tokyo Verdy 1969
Alessandro Mion - Kendall SC
Reed Norton - Concorde Fire
Nathan Smith - Cal Odyssey
Andrew Souders - Crew Soccer Academy
M:
Matt Dunn - FC Koln
Alejandro Guido - Aztecs Premier
Fernando Laverde - FC Dallas Juniors
Nico Melo - Florida Rush
Marc Pelosi - De Anza Force
Esteban Rodriguez - Cosmos Academy West
Tarik Salkicic - Strictly Soccer
Dillon Serna - Colorado Rapids Academy
Colton Storm - HMMS Eagle FC
F:
Kellen Gulley - MS Chicago Fire Juniors
Alfred Koroma - Solar Chelsea FC
Jack McBean - LA Galaxy
Mario Rodriguez - Central Aztecs

dN

As a final wrap up to the Mondial Minimes Montaigu Tournament in France that involved a younger version of the U17 team the USA goals were scored by:
3 Kevin De La Torre - Chivas USA
2 Paul Arriola - Arsenal FC
1 Nicko Corriveau - Bethesda SC
1 Adam Najem - NY Red Bulls

They lost all three group stage games to France, Portugal and Japan, then beat Uruguay in the placement games to finish 7th.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Chris Rolfe who is finally back on the field and scoring again.
-See Rolfe's goal from last weekend right here. (begins around the 1:50 mark.) He sure looks like the explosive Chris Rolfe of old to me.

dN

Avi Creditor of Sports Illustrated on the promotion and relegation situations for Americans abroad.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Coming Up:

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division) - Promotion Playoff Quarterfinals
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - Tue Apr 26 at Cruz Azul Hidalgo - 1st Leg
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - Tue Apr 26 v Cruz Azul Hidalgo - 2nd Leg

AMERICANS IN ASIA

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad with a big article on Alex Smith who got a chance to re-start his soccer career in Australia.

CANADA

The Canadian Championship begins this week, and this year there are 4 teams involved. The winner goes to the CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round.

The format is two rounds with a home and away series in each. The winners in the first round will face off in the second round.

Matches & Scores:

Semifinals
1st Leg
-Wed Apr 27
Montreal Impact v Vancover Whitecaps
FC Edmonton v Toronto FC
2nd Leg
-Wed May 4
Vancover Whitecaps v Montreal Impact
Toronto FC v FC Edmonton

Final
1st Leg
-Wed May 18
Winners
2nd Leg
-Wed May 25
Winners

ENGLAND

Richard Williams of the Guardian sees Jose Mourinho as they man to replace Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
-I can see that. But only for a couple of years.

COPA LIBERTADORES

dN

Round Of 16

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 26
Velez Sarsfield v LDU Quito
Gremio v Univ Catolica
-Wed Apr 27
Once Caldas v Cruzeiro
Santos v America
Chiapas Jaguares v Junior
Estuniantes v Cerro Porteno
-Thu Apr 28
Fluminense v Libertad
Penarol v Internacional

ENDERS

The Boston Globe has a feature article on Chase Hilgenbrinck who left professional soccer nearly three years ago to become a priest.

6 Comments:

Anonymous sasha said...

according to MLSsoccer.com, Kevin Burns's dad's name is Tom. Another Majorleaguesoccersoccer.com mistake?

p.s. gotta love the salt lake tribune. they do a good job giving RSL some ink

6:57 PM  
Anonymous Colin said...

Not sure if you were joking, but Kevin Burns is not the son of Ken Burns.

7:44 PM  
Blogger Nordy said...

The "My Thoughts" section is classic. Well played.

11:49 AM  
Blogger Graham said...

Hi, I'm Ken Burns.

1:29 PM  
Anonymous eircJ said...

+1 for the Mastodon comment!

6:40 PM  
Blogger Troy said...

Great article. There are far too few Mastodon references in proper football punditry.

9:08 AM  

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