Some News for Wed Apr 6, 2011

STARTERS

Real Salt Lake has gone where no MLS team has gone before - The CONCACAF Champions League Final! But what does it mean if they don't win it all? We will all be watching and cheering Apr 20 in Mexico, and Apr 27 in Utah.

dN

The Whitecaps host New England tonight. Can they put on another show for their home fans? They are two for two so far!

dN

Costa Rica and Mexico have qualified for the U20 World Cup. The USA go after their spot tonight.

STORY OF THE DAY

Greg Lalas at MLSsoccer.com on the 15th Anniversary of the first MLS game ever played. Cue Eric Wynalda's entrance theme music.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur both lost badly in the 1st Leg matches on Tuesday. Those two series about all but over.

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews Tuesday's nearly decisive games.

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Real Madrid's romp over Tottenham.

Raphael Honigstein of Sports Illustrated on Schalke's great job exposing Inter's flaws.

dN

And much more tomorrow on rout #3 of the Quarterfinals courtesy of Barca, and a close win by Man U.

dN

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 5
Real Madrid 4-0 Tottenham - RM goals by Emmanuel Adebayor(2), Angel Di Maria & Cristiano Ronaldo.
Video Highlights
Inter 2-5 Schalke - Int goals by Dejan Stankovic & Diego Milito. Sch goals by Joel Matip, Edu(2), Raul & Andrea Ranocchia(OG).
Video Highlights
-Wed Apr 6
Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United
Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk

dN

2nd Leg matches on Apr 12/13.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

RSL! RSL! RSL! RSL! RSL! RSL!

dN

The Lakers played a pretty brilliant game defensively last night and got the result they needed. Sure they lost, but with the two goal cushion from the first leg, they did exactly what they had to do. Jamison Olave was a giant out there. Not only scoring the very important potential tie breaking road goal, but his defense was almost perfection. Nat Borchers did a great job along side Olave too. The whole team played really good defense. What a win!

The Deseret News with a match report.

The Deseret also rounds up the Twitter reports from several American soccer luminaries after the win.

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 5
Saprissa 2-1 Real Salt Lake - RSL advances 3-2 on aggregate - Sap goals by Luis Diego Cordero & Alonso Solis(PK). RSL goal by Jamison Olave.
-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

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

@smitchcd - Former #Crew96 D Gino Padula says tryouts for Schelotto/Padula Soccer Academy will begin in May. Academy to begin in late June or July.

PODCASTS

IMSoccer News debuts their NASL podcast. Listen or download here.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 4

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 06, 2011
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v New England Revolution - 9:00pm CT on TSN
Venue: Empire Field - Vancouver BC
-Fri Apr 08, 2011
FC Dallas v Colorado Rapids - 8:00pm CT on FSC
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
-Sat Apr 09, 2011
Seattle Sounders FC v Chicago Fire SC - 3:00pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Philadelphia Union v New York Red Bulls - 6:00pm CT on ESPN2
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
New England Revolution v Real Salt Lake - 6:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
DC United v LA Galaxy - 6:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
CD Chivas USA v Columbus Crew - 9:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
San Jose Earthquakes v Toronto FC - 9:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium - Santa Clara CA
-Sun Apr 10, 2011
Houston Dynamo v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 6:00pm CT on Galavision
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX

dN

New England & Vancouver play 2 games each this week.

dN

Portland & Kansas City are off this weekend.

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)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

FC DALLAS

Robert Casner of MLSsoccer.com does a Q & A with head coach Schellas Hyndman.

DC UNITED

Prodigy Andy Najar has declared his desire to play for the Honduran national team, not the USA.

The Washington Post with notes on DCU including Perry Kitchen, Bill Hamid, injuries, Najar and Branko Baskovic.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Jose de Jesus Ortiz reports on the poor condition of Brian Ching's ribs.

Ortiz also looks at the strong performances turned in so far by new goalkeeper Tally Hall.

Former academy player Alex Dixon made his debut last weekend.

TORONTO FC

Daniel Girard of The Star talks to TD Paul Mariner about the DeRosario trade and what the immediate future holds for the Reds.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun on the Caps defense.

MLS EXPANSION

The Montreal Impact fills us in on MLS Commissioner Don Garber's Q & A with fans in Montreal yesterday.

US OPEN CUP

MLS Qualifying:

1st Stage
-Wed Apr 6
DC United v Philadelphia Union
Venue: Maryland SoccerPlex, Germantown MD

2nd Stage
-Wed Apr 6
Houston Dynamo v Sporting Kansas City
Venue: Aggie Soccer Stadium - College Station TX

USA U20 TEAM

CONCACAF U20 World Cup Qualifying is at the crucial stage.

dN

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 6
Guatemala v USA - 9pm CT on ESPN3.com

dN

US Soccer with a feature article on Conor Doyle.

dN

Noah Davis of MLSsoccer.com with an article on Bobby Wood.

dN

Davis on strong team unity.

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 in the important Quarterfinals, and 4 teams will advance to the World Cup in Colombia. The winners of each game are the advancers, or is that advancees.

dN

Costa Rica & Mexico are the first two to advance, each winning big on Tuesday. Costa Rica's win was especially impressive in that they gave up the first goal just 3 minutes into the game, and then scored 6 unanswered!

dN

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 5
Costa Rica 6-1 Cuba - CR goals by Joel Campbell(3, 1 via PK), Mynor Escoe Miller(PK), Bryan Vega & Joshua Diaz Azofeifa. Cub goal by Yaudel Lahera.
Mexico 3-0 Canada - Mex goals by Kristian Alvarez, Diego De Buen & Jorge Mora.
-Wed Apr 6
USA v Guatemala - 9pm CT on ESPN3.com
Honduras v Panama
-The 4 winners go to the World Cup.

dN

Semifinals
-Fri Apr 8

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Fulham web site has a rave from head coach Mark Hughes about Clint Dempsey. (Thanks to BQ for the link)

dN

Life & Times with a video story on Charles Renken as he leaves home in St Louis to join Hoffenheim in Germany. (thanks to Adam for the link)

dN

Game Action:

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Mo Edu - Rangers - Tue Apr 5 - went the full 90 as they won 0-2 at St Johnstone.

dN

Coming Up:

UEFA - Europa League Quarterfinals 1st Leg
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - Thu Apr 7 v Villarreal

CENTRAL AMERICA

Honduras

DC United prodigy Andy Najar has declared his desire to play for the Honduran national team, not the USA.

ENGLAND

David Conn of the Guardian says English lawmakers are starting to ask questions about who owns Leeds United.

GERMANY

Gabrielle Marcotti of the Wall Street Journal on St Pauli where things went very wrong last weekend.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Round of 16 2nd Leg matches will be played this Thursday.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 7
Porto v Spartak Moscow
Benfica v PSV
Twente v Villarreal
Dynamo Kyiv v Braga

dN

Matches & Scores.

COPA LIBERTADORES

Penarol of Uruguay advanced to the knock out stage last night when 2 other teams in the group tied.

dN

Advanced: Cruzeiro, Estudiantes, Junior, Libertad and Penarol.

Out: Guarani, Jorge Wilstermann, Leon de Huanuco, Oriente Petrolero & Depor Tolima.

dN

Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 5
Independiente 1-1 LDU Quito - Ind goal by Leonel Nunez(PK). LDU goal by Julian Velazquez(OG).
-Wed Apr 6
Union Espanola v Caracas
Deportivo Tachira v Cerro Porteno
Jaguares v Internacional
Nacional v Fluminense
Santos v Colo Colo
America v Argentinos Juniors
-Thu Apr 7
Gremio v Junior
Jorge Wilstermann v Emelec
Univ Catolica v Velez Sarsfield

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)
OUT-4 Leon de Huanuco (Peru) (-4 gd) (5 gp)
OUT-3 Oriente Petrolero (Bolivia) (-4 gd) (5 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 Velez Sarsfield (Argentina) (+2 gd) (4 gp)
6 Caracas (Venezuela) (-1 gd) (4 gp)
4 Union Espanola (Chile) (-2 gd) (4 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
10 Internacional (Brazil) (+10 gd) (4 gp)
7 Emelec (Ecuador) (+1 gd) (4 gp)
6 Chiapas Jaguares (-2 gd) (4 gp)
OUT-0 Jorge Wilstermann (Bolivia) (-9 gd) (4 gp)
Group 7
ADV-13 Cruzeiro (Brazil) (+16 gd) (5 gp)
ADV-10 Estudiantes (Argentina) (+1 gd) (5 gp)
OUT-5 Depor Tolima (Colombia) (-5 gd) (5 gp)
OUT-0 Guarani (Paraguay) (-12 gd) (5 gp)
Group 8
ADV-9 Penarol (Uruguay) (-4 gd) (5 gp)
7 Liga Quito (Ecuador) (+6 gd) (5 gp)
7 Gody Cruz (Argentina) (0 gd) (5 gp)
5 Independiente (Argentina) (-2 gd) (5 gp)

RUSSIA 2018 WORLD CUP

World Football Insider reports that King Vladimir of Russia is cracking the whip on his football federation for 2018 success.

VERY OFF TOPIC

Did you know this?

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr)

He was adopted by his wife's second husband.

And he later had a child with her and him.