Thursday, May 12, 2011

Some News for Thu May 12, 2011

STARTERS

Costa Rica has officially been added to this summer's Copa America as replacement for Japan.

STORY OF THE DAY

Things have gotten very insane and probably surreal for Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

The Herald reports that last night during their game against Hearts a man came out of the stands and tried to attack him. The person was stopped just short reaching of Lennon.
-Other coaches from the two teams had comments on the incident after the game.

And the Evening Times then reports that 2 men were arrested this morning in conjunction with mail bombs that were sent over the past few months to Lennon and other prominent Celtic figures.

Also today another suspicious package was found in the mail intended for Celtic.

Not to forget that Lennon recently received a bullet in the mail too.

MLS EXPANSION

The two bitter rivals face off on Saturday night for the first time in MLS. Should be a doozy.

Match & Score:
Seattle Sounder FC v Portland Timbers - 10:00PM CT on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA

MLS comments to du Nord on potential expansion into Minnesota

And just like that a new website is born: Major League Soccer for Minnesota

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC V PORTLAND TIMBERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times talks to asst coach Brian Schmetzer, the original Stray Cat, about the Seattle-Portland rivalry which he coached through many times in the USL, with the first MLS meeting between these two teams coming up on Saturday night at Qwest Field.
-More quotes from Schmetzer, Fredy Montero and Taylor Graham.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated on Kasey Keller who is in his last year as a player.

John Canzano of the Oregonian on Paul Allen who is from Portland but owns a piece of the Sounders. Oof.

Portland is going to don their red shirts for the first time in this game.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

8 March 2011
OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ARSENAL!!! 3-1 WHAT ARE THEY LIKE!!!!


-From Osama Bin Laden's secret diary.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Official Barclays Premier League Weekend Preview
-If you have not been reading this then you are missing out. It is really well done.
-They also have a podcast now, but its only available via itunes.

DO YOU REALIZE

As if Barcelona midfielder wasn't boorish enough with his blatant dives and way over exaggerated injuries, it turns out he supposedly racially slurred Real Madrid's Marcello in one of their Champions League games a few weeks back. UEFA is investigating. If he is guilty I hope they lower the boom on this bozo.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian takes us back 25 years to a great coaching theorist who lead his team to the top of Europe - Valeriy Lobanovsky and Dynamo Kyiv.

STAT OF THE DAY

MLS has turned to the same player rating index that FIFA uses to give us some indication of how much effect a player is truly having on a game.

Here is how the index works.

And here is the first ever ranking.

The top rated player is Thierry Henry.

The three lowest rated players that have been on the field for at least 100 minutes are Adin Brown, Zach Thornton and Nate Jaqua.

My biggest problem with a ratings system like this is that it does not reward the risk takers. It only rates them with the same degree of difficulty as everyone else. But there are those special players that may try to do something 3 times and fail, which deducts from their score, then nails it on the 4th try and its one of the plays that almost no one else even attempts.

I also find that it is not kind to goalkeepers most of the time.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Ya gotta love this: The Houston Dynamo erected a rather large freeway billboard near FC Dallas's stadium in Frisco that calls out the local team and Texas rivals! Nicely done!















PICTURE OF THE DAY 2

The Blackpool - Preston rivalry has gone to the next level!

Blackpool fans rented an airplane to fly banners over the last Preston North End game of the season taunting their now relegated enemy.


















And then the Guardian reports that another Blackpool fan pulled off an amazing stunt on a TV Show featuring a word scramble.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 9

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 11
Philadelphia Union 1-1 LA Galaxy - PU goal by Danny Mwanga. LA goal by Landon Donovan.
Venue: PPL Park
Attendance: 19,178
FC Dallas 1-0 Toronto FC - FCD goal by Daniel Hernandez(PK).
Venue: Pizza Hut Park
Attendance: 8,145
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1-1 San Jose Earthquakes - VW goal by Davide Chiumiento. SJE goal by Chris Wondolowski.
Venue: Empire Field
Attendance: 15,608

-Sat May 14
Toronto FC v Chicago Fire SC - 6:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field
New England Revolution v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Gillette Stadium
DC United v Colorado Rapids - 6:30PM CT
Venue: RFK Stadium
FC Dallas v Philadelphia Union - 7:30PM CT
Venue: Pizza Hut Park
Real Salt Lake v Houston Dynamo - 8:00PM CT on FOX Soccer
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
LA Galaxy v Sporting Kansas City - 9:30PM CT
Venue: The Home Depot Center
San Jose Earthquakes v Columbus Crew - 9:30PM CT
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Seattle Sounder FC v Portland Timbers - 10:00PM CT on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field
-Sun May 15
New York Red Bulls v CD Chivas USA - 6:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: Red Bull Arena

dN

Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
15 New York Red Bulls (+8 GD) (8 GP)
14 Philadelphia Union (+2 GD) (8 GP)
13 Columbus Crew (+2 GD) (8 GP)
12 Houston Dynamo (+3 GD) (9 GP)
11 DC United (-5 GD) (9 GP)
10 New England Revolution (-4 GD) (9 GP)
10 Toronto FC (-6 GD) (10 GP)
7 Chicago Fire SC (-3 GD) (8 GP)
4 Sporting Kansas City (-3 GD) (6 GP)

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

MY THOUGHTS

For LA Juan Pablo Angel used a basketball move to help Landon Donovan score LA's goal. It was like he was blocking out Dan Califf under the basket getting in position for a rebound.

Donovan has scored in 5 consecutive games.

Angel is still not scoring for LA (I think he has one goal), but he is effective.

Carlos Ruiz in Philly on the other hand is anything but effective.

I really like the Keon Daniels plays for the Union, but then he gets subbed off at half time.

How huge of a pickup has Faryd Mondragon been? What a leader!

The Union went to 3 in the back around the 80th minute, and it paid off with a goal in the 84th. Great move by the coach.

Of course the goal was helped immensely by a stupid move from LA fullback Sean Franklin who laid out a weak backpass that Danny Mwanga easily scooped then rounded the keeper and fired home.

We saw another of those microscopic crowds in Dallas. Sad.

Brek Shea was back in the Dallas midfield and just tearing up and down the left wing almost at will.

This Richard Eckersley guy in the back for Toronto is a very reckless player, and then seconds after I write that he takes out Dallas's Brek Shea with a terrible flying tackle from behind. Not only did he leg connect with Shea's ribs but his forearm cracked him in the back of the head. Eckersley got a yellow. Well earned.

The TFC attack is ok, but there is still that extra thing missing.

TFC had a PK called against them late in the first half which the coach complained about after the game. I saw Adrian Cann with two hands on the shoulders of George John that spun him around and pulled him to the ground. Foul. End of story.

We see this kind of PK called all over the world on a regular basis. If you don't want the call to happen then don't put your hands on the guy! Easy solution.

A TFC assistant was tossed out of the game for arguing the call.

Daniel Hernandez converted the penal for FCD. It was his first goal since Aug 02!

TFC's Joao Plata at 5'2" is the shortest player ever in MLS. I thought Franco Niell was about 4'9"?

Marvin Chavez was all over the field for Dallas like an erratic squirrel. (I did not write erotic, but you thought it.) But he was not getting the job done.

Jackson on the other hand was amazing for Dallas! Wow! Defensively NOTHING got past him, he attacked with ferocity and his passing was great. Man of the Match. And maybe Player of the Week.

Both teams had guys booked for diving.

This was FCD keeper Kevin Hartman's 96th shut out. In honor of that lets listen to Question Mark and the Mysterians perform their hit song 96 Tears. Listen or download here.

Chris Wondolowski had a fantastic behind the leg goal for San Jose. See it here.

Vancouver midfielder Davide Chiumiento played like one of the best players in the league again last night.

Both teams had ample looks at goal in stoppage time but neither could execute and the both got 1 point.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Trib reports that Marcos Mondiani will get a 4 game suspension for the awful tackle he made on RSL's Javier Morales and badly broke leg and more.
-The suspension is the 1 game for the red card and 3 additional.

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze spends some time looking a little deeper into the MLS player salaries that were released earlier this week.

CHICAGO FIRE

Patrick Nyarko is still out of action with concussion symptoms. Damn.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Rapids forwards injury report:
-Omar Cummings out up to 1 month with slight ankle ligament tear.
-Caleb Folan out up tot 2 weeks with groin strain.
-Conor Casey is back from 4 weeks out due to a hamstring strain.

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch reports that the Crew are going to sponsor a tournament with the local gay community called Pride Cup.

Mitchell also gives us some inside-the-team tidbits.

FC DALLAS

Dallas signed their midfielder Brek Shea to a new long term deal that runs through the 2015 season.
-Shea recently turned 21.

DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with the latest DCU team news direct from president Kevin Payne.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle with a feature on versatile defender Andre Hainault.

Ortiz also writes that the Dynamo defense which is improved over last season has still had some poor moments.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Omar Bravo still looks to be another week away from playing.

LA GALAXY

The Galaxy announced a friendly against the blue side of Manchester.
-Sun Jul 24
LA Galaxy v Manchester City (England)
Venue: The Home Deport Center - Carson CA

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe writes about the NER debut of Ousmane Dabo last weekend.

Dell'Apa also tells us about the Revs aggressive scouting for more offense.

TORONTO FC

John Molinaro of the CBC reports that TFC is in a salary feud with promising centerback Nana Attakora that is leading to him being shoved out the door by the team altogether.
-I am sure there are plenty of other MLS teams that would love to give him a shot in their back line.

MLS EXHIBITIONS

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 11
Montreal Impact (NASL) 1-0 New York Red Bulls - MI goal by Ali Gerba.
Venue: Saputo Stadium - Montreal QC

MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERS

As of Thu May 12

Goals:
6 Charlie Davies
5 Landon Donovan
4 Will Bruin
4 Diego Chaves
4 Brad Evans
4 Thierry Henry
4 Emilio Renteria
4 Chris Wondolowski
Twelve tied with 3

Assists:
6 Brad Davis
5 David Beckham
5 Davide Chiumiento
4 Kalif Alhassan
Eight tied with 3

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 11
Carolina RailHawks 4-2 Ft Lauderdale Strikers - CRH goals by Pablo Campos(2), Etienne Barbara(PK) & Allan Russell. FLS goals by Patricke Otte & David Santamaria.
FC Tampa Bay 1-1 FC Edmonton - FCTB goal by Chad Burt. FCE goal by Chris Kooy.
-Sat May 14
Montreal Impact v Carolina RailHawks
Ft Lauderdale Strikers v FC Tampa Bay
NSC Minnesota Stars v Atlanta Silverbacks

dN

Standings (as of Wed May 11):
10 Puerto Rico Islanders (+5 GD) (4 GP)
13 Carolina RailHawks (+6 GD) (6 GP)
10 FC Edmonton (-3 GD) (6 GP)
7 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (0 GD) (6 GP)
6 NSC Minnesota Stars (-1 GD) (5 GP)
6 FC Tampa Bay (-3 GD) (6 GP)
4 Montreal Impact (+3 GD) (4 GP)
1 Atlanta Silverbacks (-5 GD) (5 GP)

USA U20 TEAM

The team is headed to France for a couple of friendly matches against their U20s next week under new interim head coach Tab Ramos.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue May 17
France v USA
-Thu May 19
France v USA

The most interesting thing about this roster has to be the inclusion of 3 players from Hertha in Berlin Germany.

Roster
G:
Cody Cropper - Ipswich Town
Brian Sylvestre - Vancouver Whitecaps
D:
Anthony Brooks - Hertha
Sean Cunningham - Molde
Sacir Hot - New York Red Bulls
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Daniel Potts - West Ham
Kofi Sarkodie - Houston Dynamo
M:
Luis Gil - Real Salt Lake
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Dillon Powers - Notre Dame
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Conor Shanosky - DC United
Victor Ulloa - FC Dallas
F:
Terrence Boyd - Hertha
Conor Doyle - Derby County
Josh Gatt - Molde
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Jerome Kiesewetter - Hertha
Donny Toia - Real Salt Lake

US SOCCER DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY

The 2011 Development Academy Finals will be held Jul 9-16 in Milwaukee.

Games will played at Uihlein Soccer Park, Marquette University and Marquette University High School fields.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

John Godfrey of the New York Times grades the USA players in Europe as most of their seasons are winding down. Part 1 - and - Part 2.

dN

Game Action:

ENGLAND - Championship Division - Promotion Playoffs Semifinals
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - 1st Leg Thu May 12 v Swansea City

NORWAY - NM Cupen - 2nd Round
-Thu May 12
Jonathan Borrajo - Ham-Kam - v Byasen
Joe Bendik - Sogndal - at Fyllingen
Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - v Lorenskog

dN

Coming Up:

ENGLAND - Championship Division - Promotion Playoffs Semifinals
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - 2nd Leg Mon May 16 at Swansea City

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Soccer America gives us the update on the promotion dreams of Tijuana and Joe Benny Corona.

dN

Game Action:

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division) - Clausura Playoff Semifinals
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - 1st Leg Wed May 11 - went the full 90 getting a yellow card as they drew 1-1 v Irapuato.

dN

Coming Up:

PRIMERA DIVISION - Liguilla Semifinals
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - 1st Leg Thu May 12 v Pumas
Miguel Ponce - Guadalajara - 2nd Leg Sun May 15 at Pumas

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division) - Clausura Playoff Semifinals
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - 2nd Leg Sat May 14 at Irapuato (1-1)

MEXICO

Laguilla - Semifinals

1st Leg
-Thu May 12
Guadalajara(8) v UNAM Pumas(2)
Cruz Azul(5) v Morelia(3)

CENTRAL AMERICA

Guatemala

Claurusa - Final
1st Leg
-Thu May 12
Comunicaciones v Municipal

ENGLAND

Liverpool has signed interim manager Kenny Dalglish to a permanent 3 year contract. He has done a great job with the team.

dN

Championship Division - Promotion Playoffs (to Premier League) - 1 team will advance
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu May 12
Nottingham Forest v Swansea City
-Fri May 13
Reading v Cardiff City

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian says this is the best Barcelona team of all time. Even better than Johan Cryuff's Dream Team.

FRANCE

COUPE DE FRANCE
Final
Matches & Scores:
-Sat May 14
PSG v Lille

ITALY

COPPA ITALIA
Final
-Sun May 29
Palermo v Inter

EUROPE

Who are the top goal scorers so far: (as of Thu May 12, 2011)

Top Goal Scorers In Europe's Biggest Leagues:
36 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
31 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
28 Antonio Di Natale - Udinese
27 Mario Gomez - Bayern Munich
26 Edinson Cavani - Napoli
23 Hulk - Porto
23 Bjorn Vleminckx - NEC Nijmegen
22 Alex - Fenerbache
22 Papiss Demba Cisse - Freiburg
21 Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United
21 Dmitry Bulykin - ADO Den Haag
21 Moussa Sow - Lille
20 Djibril Cisse - Panathinaikos - Greece
20 Samuel Eto'o - Inter
20 Kevin Gameiro - Lorient
20 Mads Junker - Roda JC
20 Jelle Vossen - Genk

Premier League
21 Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United
19 Carlos Tevez - Manchester City
16 Robin Van Persie - Arsenal

Primera Division
36 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
31 Lionel Messi - Barcelona
18 David Villa - Barcelona
18 Giuseppe Rossi - Villarreal

Serie A
28 Antonio Di Natale - Udinese
26 Edinson Cavani - Napoli
20 Samuel Eto'o - Inter
19 Marco Di Vaio - Bologna
19 Alessandro Matri - Cagliari

Bundesliga
27 Mario Gomez - Bayern Munich
22 Papiss Demba Cisse - Freiburg
16 Theofanis Gekas - Eintracht Frankfurt
16 Milivoje Novakovic - Koln

Ligue 1
21 Moussa Sow - Lille
20 Kevin Gameiro - Lorient
17 Youssef El Arabi - Caen

Eredivisie
23 Bjorn Vleminckx - NEC Nijmegen
21 Dmitry Bulykin - ADO Den Haag
20 Mads Junker - Roda JC

Premeira Liga
23 Hulk - Porto
16 Radamel Falcao - Porto
15 Joao Tomas - Rio Ave

Premier League
19 Gary Hooper - Celtic
16 David Goodwillie - Dundee United
15 Nikica Jelavic - Rangers
15 Anthony Stokes - Celtic

Others
22 Alex - Fenerbache - Turkey
20 Djibril Cisse - Panathinaikos - Greece
20 Jelle Vossen - Genk - Belgium

COPA LIBERTADORES

Quarterfinals

Recap du Nord: Last nights two winners Penoral and Santos both kept important clean sheets, but Santos up the ante with away win and road goal.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed May 11
Penarol 2-0 Univ Catolica - Pen goals by Juan Manuel Olivera & Alejandro Martinuccio.
Once Caldas 0-1 Santos - San goal by Alan Patrick.
-Thu May 12
Velez Sarsfield v Libertad
Chiapas Jaguares v Cerro Porteno

BRAZIL 2014 WORLD CUP

Dave Zirin at the Nation looks at how Brazil is "preparing their country" for the World Cup in '14 and the Olympics in '16.
(Thanks to Travis Clark for pointing us in the right direction)

GRATUITOUS DIEGO FORLAN PHOTO

No pic today. But....

Sid Lowe of Sports Illustrated describes how Forlan has gone from Atletico Madrid and World Cup hero to goat boy in just a few months. His game is a wreck and his future is murky.
-He has only scored 2 goals in 2011. What the hell went wrong?

SHOUT OUT

A shout out to my favorite hair style. I think women look amazing with this cut.

ENDERS

Danish movie director Nicolas Winding Refn has delivered some great underground films in the past 15 years, namely the Pusher trilogy, Bronson and Valhalla Rising. This clip from his new movie The Drive looks fantastic. Its the story of a man who is a Hollywood stunt driver by day and a crime getaway driver by night. The percussive minimalist sound-bed in this scene really ratchets up the tension. See it here.

4 Comments:

Blogger Joe Leyba said...

I love this quote. "OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ARSENAL!!! 3-1 WHAT ARE THEY LIKE!!!!"

1:36 PM  
Anonymous stpauljosh said...

Houston realizes that nobody Dallas will see that billboard, right? Ok, maybe the 20 or so who show up for the games, but still.

2:50 PM  
Blogger CACuzcatlan said...

Where are you getting your Copa America information? It's completely wrong. Japan announced back in April that they will, in fact, participate in Copa America after all (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/14/2168254/japan-decides-to-play-in-copa.html). If you are gonna throw up big claims like that, at least show your source. Sorry for the hostility, I love your site and read it daily, but please cite your sources before making a claim like that.

4:21 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

settle down big guy
there were so many sources that i didnt need to mark just one
but if you need bigfoot type proof then go here to see 8 of them

http://news.google.com/news/more?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=I0Q&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=costa+rica+copa+america&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=d8LSXD5ALWf2uTM3ik6cCBl0gwWMM&ei=_ZjRTdnpIMb50gHo9fH-DQ&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=2&ved=0CDsQqgIwAQ

4:37 PM  

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