Monday, May 02, 2011

Some News for Mon May 2, 2011

STARTERS

Borussia Dortmund is the 2010/11 Bundesliga champions! Huge congrats to them. Hooray Dortmunder.

dN

FIFA presidential hopeful Mohammed Bin Hammam will NOT be at the CONCACAF general meetings this week in Miami because he could not get a visa to enter the United States. Oof!

dN

Young American centerback Zak Whitbread and his Norwich teammates today earned promotion to the English Premier League for next season! Fantastic. Shout out to KJ too!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Semifinals

Both home teams possess 2 road goals that could be used as tie breakers.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Tue May 3
Barcelona v Real Madrid (2-0)
-Wed May 4
Manchester United v Schalke (2-0)

THE QUADRACLASICO - MADRID V BARCA 2011

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

With 3 of the 4 played the teams are dead even at 1 win, 1 loss and 1 tie.

The grand finale is on Tue May 3.

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 0-2 Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Semifinal Leg 1 - Bar goals both by Lionel Messi.
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 - 1 -- 1 --- 1
Real Madrid 1 -- 1 --- 1

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."
-Martin Luther King, Jr

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Bundesliga was won this weekend!
-A win for Dortmund combined with a loss by Leverkusen nded it.
-Sat Apr 30
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Nurnberg - #1 wins the league title at home in front of their amazing fans
Koln 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen - #2 loses the Rheinderby II

Others:
-Sat Apr 30
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham - a London derby pitted #2 v #5 and was mired in controversial goals
Besiktas 2-0 Galatasaray - the Black Eagles win one of the three classic Istanbul derbies
West Brom 2-1 Aston Villa - the smaller club wins the lesser Birmingham derby
Mainz 3-0 Eintracht Frankfurt - losing the Rhein-Main-Derby causes Frankfurt to fall into the relegation zone
-Sun May 1
Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United - #3 beats #1 - big rivals over the past decade

FACT OF THE DAY

It was Cup weekend in Norway and the teams of all 13 Americans involved won. That has to be some sort of wild near miracle.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

The good folks at Adidas sent us this pic of the new 2011-12 AC Milan uniform. Sharp looking, even if I really dislike that team.


















VIDEO OF THE DAY


Futbolr TV has a video interview with Will Bruin of Houston. Great timing, right after his hattrick.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 7

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 29
Houston Dynamo 4-1 DC United - HD goals by Will Bruin(3) & Cam Weaver. DCU goal by Marc Burch.
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
Attendance: 20577
-Sat Apr 30
Philadelphia Union 1-0 San Jose Earthquakes - PU goal by Sebastian Le Toux(PK).
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Attendance: 18,279
Columbus Crew 2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps - CC goals both by Emilio Renteria. VW goal by Omar Salgado.
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
Attendance: 11,298
New York Red Bulls 1-0 Sporting Kansas City - NYRB goal by Luke Rodgers.
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
Attendance: 20,636
Colorado Rapids 1-1 Chicago Fire SC - CR goal by Andre Akpan. CF goal by Marco Pappa.
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO
Attendance: 11,789
Seattle Sounders FC 3-0 Toronto FC - SS goal by Alvaro Fernandez & Brad Evans(2).
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
Attendance: 36,287
Portland Timbers 1-0 Real Salt Lake - PT goal by Kenny Cooper.
Venue: JELD-WEN Field - Portland OR
Attendance: 18,627
CD Chivas USA 3-0 New England Revolution - CUSA goals by Nick LaBrocca, Marcos Mondaini & Alejandro Moreno.
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Attendance: 14,058
-Sun May 1
FC Dallas 2-1 LA Galaxy - FCD goals by Fabian Castillo & Brek Shea. LAG goal by Landon Donovan.
Venue: Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX
Attendance: 21,867

dN

EJECTIONS:
Jordan Harvey - Philadelphia - red card

dN

Recap du Nord: The only team to move up in the standings this week was Seattle with a win who jumped over Colorado who could only draw. The other 16 teams remained exactly as they were.

Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
14 New York Red Bulls (+8 GD) (8 GP)
13 Philadelphia Union (+3 GD) (6 GP)
12 Houston Dynamo (+5 GD) (7 GP)
12 Columbus Crew (+2 GD) (7 GP)
9 New England Revolution (-4 GD) (8 GP)
7 DC United (-6 GD) (7 GP)
7 Toronto FC (-6 GD) (8 GP)
6 Chicago Fire SC (-3 GD) (7 GP)
4 Sporting Kansas City (-3 GD) (6 GP)

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

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK AND OTHER STUFF

Brad Evans

Oh yeah its Brad Evans alright. The Seattle midfielder has a brutal 2010 due to injury but he is seriously ramping it up right now. And with defenses paying attention to his better known teammates he is free to rock n roam. Great game against Toronto with a beautiful cross for goal 1 and a blistering shot for goal 2 (and nearly had one right before that.) Then finished it off with a PK. Bravo! And add to that the Sounder destroyed Toronto who never had a sniff until it was already 3-0.

Watch Evans' first goal here. My favorite team goal of the week due to the defense turn over and counter attack passing. Great goal.

MY THOUGHTS

Emilio Renteria's first goal for Columbus was a pure talented striker number.

Omar Salgado looks to have a real future for Vancouver. I had no idea the youngster was that tall. He split two Columbus defenders to head home a great first ever MLS goal. See it here.

Another great goal of the weekend was scored by Colorado's Andre Akpan as he smashed one to the far post from a very tight angle. See it here.

New York was awarded a penalty after what was barely a foul on Dwayne DeRosario. But then Rafa Marquez steps up to take the PK and completely fluffs it. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!

Going back to the foul for the penalty though, Auvray did grab DDR so don't get me wrong, it was the correct call. Really poor by the KC defense.

Later Luke Rodgers scored his 3rd goal of the season for the Red Bulls. It came off a quick restart with KC asleep and De Ro pushed the ball right into Rodgers path for a simple tap goal.

Then Rodgers turns around a few minutes later and kicks KC keeper Nielsen right in the face going for a loose ball. This guy is a thug. A punk. Totally reckless. He got a yellow card, and could have gotten red.

It was good to see KC finally put a defensive midfielder in the starting 11 for a change. Stephen Auvray didn't have a perfect game, but he helped them break up the other team, and they only gave up one goal for a change.

Right near the end of the game NY's Mehdi Balouchy got booked for a dive in the box, but he was fouled harder than DDR when he got the penalty call. Very poor decision to hand out that card. Boooooo.

What is the deal with the Bill Murray banner at Red Bull Arena? Clue me in.

Does Houston have the attack back or what?

And it all starts with their defense. If you are solid in the back, the rest is soooooo much easier. After giving up a ton of goals last season the Dynamo went hard in the off season to firm up the back (that's what she said.)

The Houston sees Will Bruin turn into Brian Ching right before our eyes in this game. 3 goals for glory!

Brad Davis and Geoff Cameron ran the offense and the two forwards Cam Weaver and Bruin cleaned up with 4 great looking goals.

Chivas USA goes for the same first 11 two weeks in a row.

While New England has a different back 4 for probably every game so far. No wonder they can't get it together back there.

And their blunder for the 3rd Chivas goal is proof perfect.

Simon Elliot with splotches of gray hair in the Chivas lineup. Wow.

No Marko Perovic for New England. Was he hurt? Did I miss that?

Marcos Mondaini had an awesome flying scissor kick goal for the Goats. This is my fave of the week. See it here. Fantastic cross from Curious George too.

I think Mondaini is Spanish for "highlight".

Darlington Nagbe got his first start for Portland. Good for him.

And Portland put on another giant home performance. This time they got the defense right too, and got the clean sheet. Just great to see.

Khalif Alhassan had a tremendous set up for Kenny Cooper to score the Timbers goal.

I am loving watching Alhassan. He just isn't afraid to do things that no one expects. Sure it can look a little clumsy at times, but I love his attitude.

Then FrankenCooper did some chin ups on the cross bar to celebrate.

RSL were clearly drained from losing the CONCACAF final. But that was no excuse.

Salt Lake also left Jamison Olave, Fab Espindola and Robbie Russell at home.

Jair Benitez looked like he got hurt badly in a collision with his own goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. We have not heard if it was a knee injury or not.

What did you think of LA's dusty-grayish-blue uniforms?

Both Dallas goals were on weird blooping shots over Donovan Ricketts. With both of them mistakes? Who cares. They count big.

Landon Donovan really sacrificed his body to score LA's goal.

Wow did it ever pour down rain in Dallas. I have been through a bunch of those games in hot humid Minnesota summers, and they are really fun.

That stadium in Dallas was EMPTY after the restart.

And then Brek Shea cross/shoots to the back post and it goes in. See it here.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated with five things you should know from Week 7.

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his Monday Morning Breakdown.

CD CHIVAS USA

Scott French of ESPN does a Q & A with CUSA rookie centerback Zarek Valentin. (from last Friday)

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Sun May 1
Colorado Rapids 1-2 Chicago Fire - CR goal by Steven Emory. CF goals by Patrick Nyarko & Orr Barouch.
-Tue May 3
Sporting Kansas City v Real Salt Lake
Chivas USA v LA Galaxy
-Mon May 9
Columbus Crew v New England Revolution
Seattle Sounders v Chivas USA

dN

MLS Reserve League Standings Etc.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 29
Puerto Rico Islanders 2-2 Fort Lauderdale Strikers - PRI goals by Nicolas Addlery & Gregory Richardson. FLS goals by Eduardo Coudet(PK) & Scott Gordon.
-Sat Apr 30
FC Tampa Bay 1-1 Atlanta Silverbacks - TB goal by Mike Ambersley. AS goal by Willie Hunt.
NSC Minnesota Stars 1-1 Carolina RailHawks - NSC goal by Simone Bracalello. CRH goal by Etienne Barbara(PK).
-Sun May 1
FC Edmonton 0-5 Montreal Impact - MI goals by Ali Gerba(2), Anthony Legall, Nevio Pizzolitto(PK) & Idriss Ech Chergui.

-Sat May 7
FC Tampa Bay v Carolina RailHawks
Atlanta Silverbacks v FC Edmonton
NSC Minnesota Stars v Fort Lauderdale Strikers

dN

Standings (as of Sun May 1):
10 Puerto Rico Islanders (+5 GD) (4 GP)
7 Carolina RailHawks (+2 GD) (4 GP)
6 FC Edmonton (-5 GD) (4 GP)
5 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (0 GD) (4 GP)
5 NSC Minnesota Stars (-1 GD) (4 GP)
5 FC Tampa Bay (-1 GD) (4 GP)
4 Montreal Impact (+3 GD) (4 GP)
1 Atlanta Silverbacks (-3 GD) (4 GP)

US OPEN CUP

MLS Qualifying:
2nd Stage
-Tue May 3
San Jose Earthquakes v Portland Timbers

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Clarence Goodson about his new club Brondby.

dN

Oguchi Onyewu appears to have fallen out of the lineup at Twente. He has been on the bench almost every game for the past few weeks, and its really crunch time for them, battling not just for the Dutch title, but the Europa league too. Not good news.

dN

Freddy Adu bagged another goal, but in a losing effort.

dN

Game Action:

BELGIUM - Pro League - Playoff I
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 v Club Brugge.

BULGARIA - A PFG
Jemal Johnson - Lokomotiv Sofia - went the distance but lost3-1 at CSKA Sofia.

DENMARK - Superliga -
Clarence Goodson - Brondy - played the whole of a scoreless draw v Horsens.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - still out hurt as htye lost 1-0 at Lyngby.
Chris Rolfe - AaB - started and went 69 min as they won 2-0 v Midtjylland.

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga - season started today with just 1 game
Mason Trafford - Mariehamn - played the whole game as they won 0-2 at MyPa.
Josh Wicks - Mariehamn - went the full 90 as they won 0-2 at MyPa.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa - on the bench as they lost 2-1 at West Brom.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - got the day off as they won 0-3 at Sunderland.
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - played the entire match but lost 2-1 at West Brom.
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - on the bench as drew 1-1 at Birmingham.
Tim Howard - Everton - played the whole game as they drew 1-1 at Wigan.
Jermaine Jones - Blackburn - played the entire game getting a yellow card as they won 1-0 v Bolton.
Jonathan Spector - West Ham - went the full 90 but they lost 2-1 at Manchester City.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - came on as a sub in the 77th min but they lost 0-2 v Bristol City.
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - didn't suit up as they won 5-1 v Scunthorpe.
Eddie Johnson - Preston North End - not in the game day 18 as they lost 2-1 at Ipswich.
Eric Lichaj - Leeds - went the full 90 getting a yellow card as they won 1-0 v Burnley.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - went the distance and won 0-1 at Portsmouth.

ENGLAND - League One
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - Sat Apr 30 - on the bench but they lost 1-0 at Exeter.
Anton Peterlin - Plymouth Argyle - Mon May 2 - on the bench but they lost 1-3 v Southampton.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - went the distance but lost 3-0 at Dagenham & Redbridge.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint Etienne - played the full 90 as they drew 1-1 v Monaco.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - did not suit up due to the gashed foot as they lost 2-0 at Dortmund.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the entire match but lost 0-1 v Monchengladbach.
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - started but came off after just 21 min due to some sort of leg ailment and they lost 3-0 at Mainz.
Daniel Williams - Freiburg - came in as a sub in the 30th min and they won 0-2 at Hamburg.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - came on to start the second half of a scoreless draw v Erzebirge Aue.
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - went the distance getting a yellow card as they drew 2-2 v Fortuna Dusseldorf.
David Yelldell - Duisburg - in goal as usual and they won 0-4 at FSV Frankfurt.

NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente - on the bench as they won 4-0 v Willem II

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - played the entire game as they drew 0-0 at Veendam.

NORWAY - NM Cupen - 1st Round
Joe Bendik - Sogndal - won 2-6 at Saga.
Erik Benjaminsen - Stabaek - won 0-1 at Holmlia.
Rhett Bernstein - Mjondalen - won 1-7 at Uraedd.
Jonathan Borrajo - Ham-Kam - won 0-3 at Moelven.
Colin Burns - Sandefjord - won 0-5 at Husoy og Foynland.
Steve Clark - Honefoss - won 1-5 at Drammen.
Sean Cunningham - Molde - won 0-11 at Eidsvag.
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - won 0-1 at Holmlia.
Josh Gatt - Molde - won 0-11 at Eidsvag.
Kyle Helton - Mjondalen - won 1-7 at Uraedd.
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - won 1-5 at Drammen.
Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - won 0-1 at Ottestad.
Sebastian Troupe - Baerum SK - won 5-1 v Ullensaker-Kisa

RUSSIA - Premier Division
Yevgeni Starikov - Tom' Tomsk - left on the bench as they won 1-2 at Amkar Perm'.

SCOTLAND - Premier League Second Stage
Mo Edu - Rangers - played the whole thing as they rolled 0-5 at Motherwell.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Gale Agbossoumonde - Djurgarden - came on as a sub in the 75th but they lost 3-2 at Trelleborg.
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - went the distance but lost 1-0 at AIK.
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - on the bench but they lost 2-1 at Gefle.
Samuel Petrone - Mjallby - came on as a sub in the 80th as they won 0-3 at Norrkoping.

TURKEY - Super Lig
Jozy Altidore - Bursaspor - came on as a sub in the 66th min getting a yellow card but losing 1-0 at Kayserispor.

TURKEY - 1. Lig
Freddy Adu - Caykur Rizespor - came on as a sub in the 56th and scored a goal but they lost 2-1 at Adanaspor.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
Isaac Acuna - Queretaro - did not suit up as they lost 4-1 at Chiapas.
Daniel Antunez - Estudiantes Tecos - did not dress as they lost 1-3 v Santos Laguna.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they won 3-0 v Atlas.
Edgar Castillo - Puebla - did not dress as they lost 0-2 v Morelia.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - went the distance as they drew 1-1 v Necaxa.
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - did not dress as they won 2-1 v Toluca.
Sammy Ochoa - Estudiantes Tecos - did not dress as they lost 1-3 v Santos Laguna.
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - went the full 90 as they lost 2-3 v Monterrey.
Adrian Ruelas - Santos Laguna - did not dress as they won 1-3 at Estudiantes.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - started but came out in the 56th min as they drew 1-1 v Necaxa.

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division) - Promotion Playoff Quarterfinals
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - Sun May 1 - went the full 90 as they won 5-1 v Cruz Azul Hidalgo - they advance 7-3 on aggregate.

dN

Coming Up:

PRIMERA DIVISION - Liguilla Quarterfinals
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - 1st Leg Wed May 4 at Guadalajara
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - 1st Leg Wed May 4 at Cruz Azul
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - 1st Leg Wed May 4 v Tigres UANL
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - 2nd Leg Sat May 7 v Guadalajara
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - 2nd Leg Sat May 7 v Cruz Azul
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - 2nd Leg Sat May 7 at Tigres UANL

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division) - Promotion Playoff Semifinals
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - 1st Leg Wed May 4 v Leon
Marco Vidal - Leon - 1st Leg Wed May 4 at Tijuana
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - 2nd Leg Sat May 7 at Leon
Marco Vidal - Leon - 2nd Leg Sat May 7 v Tijuana

2011 CONCACAF GOLD CUP

Mexico has announced an initial 30 player from which their 23 will be picked.

G:
Jesus Corona - Cruz Azul
Guillermo Ochoa - Club America
Jonathan Orozco - Monterrey
Alfredo Talavera - Toluca
D:
Paul Aguilar - Pachuca
Edgar Duenas - Toluca
Jonny Magallon - Guadalajara
Rafael Marquez - New York Red Bulls
Hector Moreno - AZ
Ricardo Osorio - Monterrey
Francisco Rodriguez - PSV
Carlos Salcido - Fulham
Jorge Torres - UANL Tigres
M:
Pablo Barrera - West Ham
Israel Castro - UNAM Pumas
Andres Guardado - Deportivo La Coruna
Efrain Juarez - Celtic
Luis Perez - Monterrey
Jonathan dos Santos - Barcelona
Sinha - Toluca
Gerardo Torrado - Cruz Azul
Jesus Zavala - Monterrey
F:
Christian Bermudez - Atlante
Elias Hernandez - Morelia
Javier Hernandez - Man United
Aldo de Nigris - Monterrey
Oribe Peralta - Santos Laguna
Angel Reyna - Club America
Gio dos Santos - Racing Santander
Carlos Vela - West Brom

MEXICO

Final round of the regular Clausura season.

Recap du Nord: Plenty shuffling went down in the final round as the race for the playoffs concluded. Monterrey and America both claimed #2 spots in their groups with huge wins, bumping Guadalajara and Atlas out, and left them hoping for a Wild Card position. Which Guadalajara got, along with Cruz Azul. Santos Laguna and Atlas came up just short of the playoffs.

Playoff Standings as of Mon May 1: (with Laguilla seed included)
Group A
ADV-35 UANL Tigres #1
ADV-26 Monterrey #7
Group B
ADV-27 Atlante #4
ADV-26 America #6
Group C
ADV-35 UNAM Pumas #2
ADV-31 Morelia #3
Wild Card
ADV-26 Cruz Azul #5
ADV-25 Guadalajara #8
- - - - -
OUT-23 Santos Laguna
OUT-23 Atlas
OUT-21 Toluca

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 29
Estudiantes Tecos 1-3 Santos Laguna
-Sat Apr 30
Jaguares 4-1 Queretaro
Guadalajara 2-3 Monterrey
Tigres UANL 3-0 Atlas
Pachuca 1-1 Necaxa
San Luis 0-0 Cruz Azul
Atlante 2-1 Toluca
-Sun May 1
Puebla 0-2 Morelia
Pumas UNAM 0-2 America

dN

Laguilla - Quarterfinals (2 Legs)
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed May 4
Guadalajara v UANL Tigres
Cruz Azul v Atlante
-Thu May 5
Monterrey v UNAM Pumas
America v Morelia
2nd Leg
-Sat May 7
UANL Tigres v Guadalajara
Atlante v Cruz Azul
-Sun May 8
UNAM Pumas v Monterrey
Morelia v America

ENGLAND

Recap du Nord: #1 Man U stumbled and fell AGAIN, and with 2nd place Chelsea winning the lead is down to 3 points and wouldn't you know it the two teams face off next weekend. Nice. #3 Arsenal got that win over Man U! 4th place Man City won, but former 5th place Tottenham lost to Chelsea, and so a winning Liverpool jumped em into the #5 position - quite a comeback for Liverpool.

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

Top of the Premier League Table: (35 of 38 GP)
73 Man United - Sun May 1 L 1-0 at Arsenal
70 Chelsea - Sat Apr 30 W 2-1 v Tottenham
67 Arsenal - Sun May 1 W 1-0 v Manchester United
62 Man City - Sun May 1 W 2-1 v West Ham (34 GP)
55 Liverpool - Sun May 1 W 3-0 v Newcastle
- - - - -
55 Tottenham - Sat Apr 30 at Chelsea (34 GP)

SPAIN

Recap du Nord: What a weird round, with #'s 1, 2 & 3 all losing. So no one pulled further away or made up any ground. #4 Villarreal won, and Bilbao lost Monday fall down to 7th(!), leaving them displaced by Atletico Madrid who won and leaped up.

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the wicked whammy that Zaragoza coach Javier Aguirre put on Real Madrid and the rest of the round in La Liga.

Phil Ball of ESPN on a crazy upside down week/end in the Liga.

Top of the Primera Division Table: (34 of 38 GP)
88 Barcelona - Sat Apr 30 L 2-1 at Sociedad
80 Real Madrid - Sat Apr 30 L 2-3 v Zaragoza
63 Valencia - Sun May 1 L 1-0 at Osasuna
60 Villarreal - Sun May 1 2-1 v Getafe
52 Atletico Madrid - Sat Apr 30 W 0-1 at Deportivo La Coruna

FRANCE

Recap du Nord: Lille retakes the top spot with a win. Marseilles time at #1 was on a few days as they tied and dropped back to 2nd place. 3 (win), 4 (win), & 5 (draw) all stay the same.

Top of the Ligue 1 Table: (33 GP of 38)
63 Lille - Sat Apr 30 W 5-0 v Arles
62 Marsielle - Sun May 1 D 1-1 v Auxerre
56 Lyon - Sun May 1 L 2-0 at Toulouse (+22)
56 PSG - Sat Apr 30 W 3-1 v Valenciennes (+16)
52 Rennes - Sat Apr 30 D 0-0 v Bordeaux

GERMANY

Borussia Dortmund is the 2010/11 Bundesliga champions!

Recap du Nord: With a Dortmund win and a Leverkusen loss, the race for the title is officially over. Dortmund are Champs. The yo-yo war continues in the fight for 3rd place and Champions League next season as Bayern won and took the spot from Hannover who lost. Mainz remains in 5th.

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian celebrates the brand new title winners from Dortmund, and the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga.

Top of the Bundesliga Table: (32 of 34 GP)
72 Borussia Dortmund - Sat Apr 30 W 2-0 v Nurnberg
64 Bayer Leverkusen - Sat Apr 30 L 2-0 at Koln
59 Bayern Munich - Sat Apr 30 W 4-1 v Schalke
57 Hannover - Sat Apr 30 L 0-1 v Monchengladbach
52 Mainz - Sat Apr 30 W 3-0 v Eintracht Frankfurt

ITALY

Recap du Nord: #1 Milan won again and are now so close to winning the championship that they can taste it, but they will have to wait at least another week as #2 Inter won as well. #3 Napoli won, while #4 Lazio tied. And Udinese lost but stay in 5th place on a greater goal differential.

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Milan who are now just 1 point from winning the league, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

Top of the Serie A Table: (35 of 38 GP)
77 Milan - Sun May 1 W 1-0 v Bologna
69 Inter - Sat Apr 30 W 2-0 at Cesena
68 Napoli - Sat Apr 30 W 1-0 v Genoa
60 Lazio - Mon May 2 v Juventus
59 Udinese - Sun May 1 L 5-2 at Fioretina

EUROPE

Netherland
Top of the Eredivisie Table: (33 of 34 GP)
71 Twente - Sun May 1 W 4-0 v Willem II (+33 GD) - NEXT: Sun May 15 at Ajax
70 Ajax - Sun May 1 W 1-2 at Heerenveen (+40 GD) - NEXT: Sun May 15 v Twente
OUT-68 PSV Eindhoven - Sun May 1 W 2-1 v Vitesse (+45 GD) - NEXT: Sun May 15 at Gronigen
(PSV was elminated from contention for the title)
-So it will come down to the last game as Twente goes to Ajax on the final day

dN

POLISH CUP
Final
Matches & Scores:
-Tue May 3
Lech Poznan v Legia Warszawa

ARGENTINA

Primera Division

Recap du Nord: 1st place Velez with another huge win extendeding their lead out to 5 points over new #2 & winners River who leaped over Godoy Cruz who lost and fell to 3rd. Arg Jr moved up to #4 with a draw, but #5 Olimpio has a chance to move back up to 4th or even 3rd after their game Monday.

Standings (after 12 of 19 games played):
27 Velez Sarsfield - Sat Apr 30 W 0-4 at Estudiantes
22 River Plate - Sat Apr 30 W 0-1 at Racing Club
20 Godoy Cruz - Sat Apr 30 L 1-4 v Arsenal de Sarandi
19 Argentinos Juniors - Sat Apr 30 D 1-1 at All Boys
18 Olimpio - Mon May 2 v Tigre (11 GP)

COPA LIBERTADORES

Round Of 16

2nd Leg matches this week.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Tue May 3
Univ Catolica v Gremio (2-1)
America v Santos (0-1)
-Wed May 4
Cruzeiro v Once Caldas (2-1)
Libertad v Fluminense (1-3)
LDU Quito v Velez Sarsfield (0-3)
-Thu May 5
Junior v Chiapas Jaguares (1-1)
Cerro Porteno v Estuniantes (0-0)
Internacional v Penarol (1-1)

8 Comments:

Anonymous Joe the curmudgeon said...

Lots of news... well done!

8:34 PM  
Anonymous Doug the Curmudgeon said...

Since you asked, I think the Gals' grayish/blue unis suck.

11:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

re. bill murray?

if it's the pre-game tifo you're referring to it was mike petke night.
a 1 on the left, petke in the middle and a 2 on the right. and the "thanks petke metro legend" banner above might have tipped you off.

http://twitpic.com/4rnhv0

unless there's some other banner i didn't see, in which case i say the more bill murray banners the better.

cheers, chris

12:26 AM  
Blogger brucio said...

thanks chris

no that was not what i was referring to. that was obvious even for a chronic screw up like me. hahahahahaha.

this image is a banner that hangs in front of ESC and is of Murray from the Stripes era.

I can see it in that image you sent me. but there is no detail in that image to point it out to you. i will go further in search of.

thanks for at least trying to help

8:17 AM  
Blogger jim crist said...

theres no way 21,867 people were at that dallas game. i can countem all when i watch the video of brek's goal. thats some one shoes attendance fuddling there.

9:39 AM  
Anonymous Minnesota Nice FC said...

Am I the only one who simply stopped caring about the Classicos? Of the three most recent, none made for good football watching, the players and managers and staff have become an embarrassment. The whole thing just makes me annoyed.

12:10 PM  
Blogger kgaard said...

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."
-Martin Luther King, Jr

I can appreciate the sentiment, but this isn't a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote. See here:

Anatomy of a Fake Quotation

Pedantic nitpick, I know.

3:30 PM  
Anonymous Brian said...

@jimC, I'm not a Dallas fan in any way (I'm a Galaxy fan), but you do realize there was a huge rainstorm that hit during the second half and the game was stopped? Most people left.

In fact I was pleasantly surprised by the attendance Dallas had (at least during the first half anyway) since they usually have terrible attendance.

7:16 PM  

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