Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Some News for Wed May 4, 2011

STARTERS

Funding is needed for the film Rise and Shine: The Jay DeMerit story. And you can contribute today at Kickstarter.












dN


Two MLS games tonight. See section below for details.

dN

We're still probably 2 weeks away from knowing the USA Gold Cup roster.

STORY OF THE DAY

Owen Gibson of the Guardian on the ever rising price of tickets to Premier League games.
-For next season the CHEAPEST Arsenal season ticket will cost you US$1570. Insanity!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Semifinals

Barcelona has advanced to the championship game for the 3rd time in 6 years. And they will be going for their 4th crown.

To me there was only one story of the Barca-Madrid series - Where in the world was Cristiano Ronaldo? 180 minutes in the Champions League Semifinals and we barely saw the highest paid highest transfer fee player (by a mile) in the world. I would be pissed off if I was a Real Madrid fan.

Rob Hughes of the New York Times with a review of Barca v Madrid.

It was kind of amazing to see Eric Abidal take the field for Barcelona only about 5 weeks since he had surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. Amazing.

And now we know they will face Manchester United again for the title. Will Man U show up this time? They sure didn't two years ago. One of these two teams will win their 4th European Championship.

dN

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Tue May 3
Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid - Bar advance 3-1 on aggregate. Bar goal by Andres Iniesta. RM goal by Marcelo.
-Wed May 4
Manchester United 4-1 Schalke - MU advance 6-1 on aggregate. MU goals by Luis Valencia, Darron Gibson & Anderson(2). Sch goal by Jurado.

dN

You have to wonder where Schalke got all the quality they had when they played Inter Milan in the last round.

THE QUADRACLASICO - MADRID V BARCA 2011

The series is over.

Real Madrid & Barcelona faced off 4 times in 3 competitions in 18 days.

They ended dead even at 1 win, 1 loss and 2 draws each.

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 1-1 Real Madrid - UEFA Champions League Semifinal Leg 2 - Bar goal by Andres Iniesta. RM goal by Marcelo.
Venue: Camp Nou - Barcelona

SCOREBOARD
Team - Win - Tie - Loss
Barcelona - 1 -- 2 --- 1
Real Madrid 1 -- 2 --- 1

PICTURE OF THE DAY

The Puerto Rico Islanders are on the cover of ESPN Deportes Magazine. Wow. (thanks to Brian for the link)
























THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT


17 consecutive passes leading to a Columbus goal by Emilio Renteria last weekend. Impressive. Watch it here.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

US Soccer has a video interview with Stuart Holden has he recovers from a serious knee laceration.

PODCASTS

The latest installment of the North American Soccer League Podcast from IMSoccer News is posted today, featuring a brief appearance from yours truly and others. Listen or download here.

WHAT???

The innuendo is true. There were talks within the French Football Federation of putting limits on the number of ethnic French youth they would push through to the national team levels.

Angelique Chrisafis of the Guardian with a story on secret recordings that were made at those meetings.

I was really hoping that this was hyped up gossip. But it doesn't look that way.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 8

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 4
DC United v Seattle Sounders FC - 6:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
Houston Dynamo v Colorado Rapids - 7:30pm CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Fri May 6
Portland Timbers v Philadelphia Union - 9:30pm CT on FSC
Venue: JELD-WEN Field - Portland OR

dN

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)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Jack Bell of the New York Times looks at some of the original MLS teams that are getting left in the dust by the new teams coming into the league.

CHICAGO FIRE

The Fire today announced the signing of 20 year old Colombian forward Cristian Nazarit from Santa Fe CD.

COLORADO RAPIDS

John Meyer of the Denver Post on the return of midfielder Brian Mullan. He is getting back to practicing with the team after his bad tackle severly broke the leg of Seattle's Steve Zakuani 10 days ago.
-He has 9 more games of his suspension serve.

COLUMBUS CREW

Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch on the Crew's awful attendance numbers.
-More quotes from Crew brass that did not make the print story.

DC UNITED

The one guy who was coming on strong the past few weeks in DC is now lost for the season - Branko Baskovic blew out his knee in a Reserve League game last week. Not only did he have ligament damage but he also had a fracture. Damn.

Craig Stouffer of the Examiner looks at the disastrous DC defense.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Houston has lost since opening day.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle says Brad Davis is the player who is stepping up to lead a Dynamo team that was sorely lacking in leaders last season.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star has 11 question about the Sporks that need answering.

LA GALAXY

Brian Lewis of the Post talks to forward Juan Pablo Angel about facing his old team New York this weekend.
-"A lot of emotions."

Injured centerback Gregg Berhalter is nearing full health as he played the final 31 minutes in a Reserve League game on Tuesday. With Leonardo out for the season they really need Berhalter healthy.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on young Diego Fagundez who had his debut with the Revs last week at age 16.

The Globe also reports that "Revolution goalkeeper Tim Murray and striker Ilija Stolica have been loaned to FC New York of the USL Pro League." (That's the 3rd division)

Brian O'Connell of ESPN looks ahead to the Revs game with Colorado this weekend.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

In reading Metrofanatic today I learned that NY has won 3 in a row using the same starting 11. Consistency. It really works. Do you hear that Steve Nicol?

Brian Lewis of the Post talks to goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul about the teams run of good form etc.

NYRB has Luke Rodgers nursing a sore knee and Teemu Tainio with a groin strain to worry about before Saturday's huge game in LA.

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Today's ridiculous name in the hopper: Mexican midfielder Sinha aka Antonio Naelson.

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Tue May 3
Sporting Kansas City 2-0 Real Salt Lake - SKC goals both by Chance Myers.
Chivas USA 3-1 LA Galaxy - CUSA goals by Victor Estupinan(2) & Chris Cortez. LAG goal by Hector Jimenez.
-Mon May 9
Columbus Crew v New England Revolution
Seattle Sounders v Chivas USA

dN

MLS Reserve League Standings Etc.

MLS OFFENSE STAT LEADERS

As of Tue May 3

Goals:
5 Charlie Davies
4 Will Bruin
4 Diego Chaves
Sixteen tied with 3

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

US OPEN CUP

MLS Qualifying:

2nd Stage
-Tue May 3
Portland Timbers 0-1 San Jose Earthquakes - SJE goal by Ike Opara.

3rd Stage
-Wed May 25
Sporting Kansas City v New England Revolution - venue TBA
-DATE TBA
San Jose Earthquakes v Chicago Fire
-The 2 winners of this stage advance to the tournament proper.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

DENMARK - Landspokal - Semifinals
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - Wed May 4 - drew 0-0 at Randers and advance to the final 1-0 on aggregate.

dN

Coming Up:

BELGIUM - Pro League - Playoff I
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Fri May 6 at Genk.

BULGARIA - A PFG
Jemal Johnson - Lokomotiv Sofia - Thu May 5 v Chernomorets Burgas

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

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

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

MEXICO

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

CANADA

Canadian Championship

The winner of the 4 team tournament goes to the CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round.

Matches & Scores:
Semifinals
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Wed May 4
Vancover Whitecaps v Montreal Impact (1-0)
Toronto FC v FC Edmonton (3-0)

CENTRAL AMERICA

Honduras

Clausura - Final
1st Leg
-Sun May 8
Motagua v Olimpia
2nd Leg
-Sun May 15
Olimpia v Motagua

dN

Guatemala

Claurusa - Semifinals
1st Leg
-Thu May 5
Malacateco v Municipal
Comunicaciones v Heredia
2nd Leg
-Sun May 8
Municipal v Malacateco
Heredia v Comunicaciones

dN

Costa Rica

Torneo De Verano - Final
1st Leg
-Sun May 8
Alajuelense v San Carlos
2nd Leg
-Sat May 14
San Carlos v Alajuelense

EUROPE

Netherland

FIFA.com does a Q & A with Ajax head coach Frank De Boer as his team chases two titles in two weeks.

dN

POLISH CUP

Legia Warszawa is the 2011 Cup Champion. Huge congrats to them.

Final
Matches & Scores:
-Tue May 3
Lech Poznan 1-1 Legia Warszawa - LW win 5-4 in Penalty Kick Shootout.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Semifinals

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Thu May 5
Villarreal v Porto (1-5)
Braga v Benfica (1-2)

COPA LIBERTADORES

Round Of 16

Santos of Brazil are the first team to qualify for the Quarterfinals.

Club America of Mexico City is out.

dN

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

VERY OFF TOPIC

Ralph Steadman letters Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas title card

2 Comments:

Anonymous RP said...

Boskovic's injury came against the Revolution in US One cup play not a MLS Reserve League game. It's a shame Steve Nicol continues the tradition of hacking skill players learned in his time in Jolly Olde.

9:27 PM  
Anonymous Colin said...

The highest paid player in the world isn't Ronaldo, it's Messi. And he most certainly did show up.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/soccerblog/messi_highest_paid_soccer_player_NJ2E83tbuMLd6EFIhpxhJP

6:30 AM  

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