Some News for Fri Jun 3, 2011

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

There will be a special screening of the film in progress Rise & Shine - The Jay DeMerit Story next Saturday, June 11 at the Sweetwater in St Paul. The film will be shown at 5pm with the USA v Panama game kicking off after that at 7pm.

Stay tuned for more details.

STARTERS

Clint Dempsey was named the Fulham Player of the Year today.
-This link includes video of all 12 of this goals this past season.
-He also claimed their #3 Goal of the Year for his side volley against Bolton.

















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Brad Friedel has signed a two year contract with Tottenham.
-Does this open the door for Brad Guzan at Aston Villa?

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Both UEFA and Africa have continental cup qualifiers going on this weekend. Always a good time to watch soccer.

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It'll be Santos v Penarol in the Copa Libertadores final.

STORY OF THE DAY

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian sees Bosnia-Herzegovina as serious competition.

JACK WARNER/SEPP BLATTER/FIFA ODDITIES

The FIFA ethics committee has hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to lead the investigation into the allegations of bribery against Jack Warner and Mohamed Bin Hammam.

And FIFA has brought in Henry Kissinger to help re-mold the organization into something more trust-worthy. Is it the German accented English that makes Henry so irresistible.

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The Telegraph of London reports that new witnesses have come forward to testify about the possibly bribes.
-FIFA executive committee members from Thailand and Sri Lanka are now also being dragged into the vortex.

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Linda Hutchinson Jafar of Reuters reports that Jack Warner will begin his defensive campaign on Sunday.

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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated brings together all that has gone down in the past week and tries to figure out how it will effect the USA (and others) down the road.

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The days top stories from Warner's home country of Trinidad & Tobago:

The Guardian reports that opposition political party leaders are urging the government to remove Jack Warner from office.

But an editorial in that same newspaper says that no judgement should be passed on Warner until an official investigation has been completed.

The Guardian has a story from Grenada where the former head of that countries football federation is imploring the current executives to come clean about what they know.

The Express reports on Warner's triumphant return home from the FIFA congress and his tongue lashing of his opponents.

This editorial about Warner from the Express by Kevin Baldeosingh takes a very odd and very racial turn.

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The Tribune of the Bahamas has praise for their federation who first brought the allegations of bribery forward.
-From the article:
After the (Caribbean Football Union) presentation 25 associations -- including the Bahamas -- was invited to a conference room to pick up a "gift," according to an affidavit sent to FIFA's ethics committee. Fred Lunn was one of the first to go to the room. When he opened his envelope he was shocked when US$40,000 in crisp, new $100 bills - four packs each of $10,000-- fell out. Although urged to accept the gift by a Caribbean Football Union (CFU) official, he decided to text his president, Anton Sealey, who was in Zurich, where FIFA is headquartered. Sealey called Lunn and told him "under no circumstances would the Bahamas FA accept such a cash gift." He instructed him to return the $40,000.

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The Jamaica Gleaner has a statement from the head of the Jamaican Football Federation Captain Horace Burrell. They say there were NO bribes.
-Some of that text:
"Let me state categorically that the JFF was not offered, neither received any funds prior to, during nor after the CFU meeting held May 10-11 in Trinidad."

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The Royal Gazette insists that the Bermuda football association stand their ground, and help rid CONCACAF of corruption and disgrace.

TEAM USA

Gold Cup

There is only one acceptable outcome for the USA team at this upcoming tournament. Win it. Then they get a spot in the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. If they do not win it, then I think its time for a change at the top. I defend Bob Bradley as strongly as anyone out there, but results are results are results. Git 'er done Bob!

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61,000 tickets have been sold for USA v Spain. Will they get that 68,000 sell out. I bet its close!

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Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe on the power and quality of Spain.

And here is a photo of some of Team Spain with their World Cup trophy at an event in Boston last night.




















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Ives Galarcep of Fox Sports on Clint Dempsey.

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David Smith of Yanks Abroad talks to Marcus Hahnemann.

Smith also talks to Jonathan Spector.

Jamie Hill of Yanks Abroad talks to Freddy Adu.

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Robber Rogers.

Nick Leyden of Yanks Abroad talks to Chris Wondolowski.

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Brian Straus of Sporting News on coach Bob Bradley's Gold Cup strategy.

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The official team blog.

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Matches & Scores:
Friendly
-Sat Jun 4
USA v Spain - 3:30pm CT on ESPN
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
Group Stage
-Tue Jun 7
USA v Canada - 7pm CT on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: Ford Field - Detroit MI
-Sat Jun 11
USA v Panama - 7pm CT on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: Raymond James Stadium - Tampa FL
-Tue Jun 14
USA v Guadaloupe - 8pm CT on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS

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Spain roster
G:
Iker Casillas - Real Madrid
Pepe Reina - Liverpool
Victor Valdes - Barcelona
D:
Alvaro Arbeloa - Real Madrid
Raul Albiol - Real Madrid
Joan Capdevila - Villarreal
Andoni Iraola - Athletic Bilbao
Carlos Marchena - Villarreal
Gerard Pique - Barcelona
Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid
M:
Xabi Alonso - Real Madrid
Sergio Busquets - Barcelona
Santiago Cazorla - Villarreal
Andres Iniesta - Barcelona
Bruno Soriano - Villarreal
Borja Valero - Villarreal
F:
Fernando Llorente - Athletic Bilbao
Manu Del Moral - Sevilla
Alvaro Negredo - Sevilla
Pedro Rodriguez - Barcelona
David Silva - Manchester City
Fernando Torres - Chelsea
David Villa - Barcelona

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USA Roster
G:
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton
Tim Howard - Everton
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Saint-Etienne
Jonathan Bornstein - UANL Tigres
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Clarence Goodson - Brondby
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa
Oguchi Onyewu - Twente
Tim Ream - New York Red Bulls
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
M:
Freddy Adu - Rizespor
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro
Michael Bradley - Aston Villa
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Benny Feilhaber - New England Revolution
Jermaine Jones - Blackburn
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht
Robbie Rogers - Columbus Crew
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Jozy Altidore - Bursaspor
Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes

IN ENGLAND

US Soccer video series focused on member of the national team that play their club ball in England:

-Clint Dempsey - American Midfielder in London
-Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones & Tim Howard talk loan deals
-Tim Howard at home

CONCACAF GOLD CUP

The Group Stage begins on Sunday!!

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Simon Evans of Reuters previews the tournament.
-5 players to watch. Via Yahoo.

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All team rosters

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Jason De Vos of the CBC relives some of his fond Gold Cup memories as a member of the Canadian national team.

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Matches & Scores:

Group Stage
-Sun Jun 5
Costa Rica v Cuba - 5pm CT
Mexico v El Salvador - 7pm CT
-Mon Jun 6
Jamaica v Grenada - 8pm CT
Honduras v Guatemala - 10pm CT
-Tue Jun 7
Panama v Guadeloupe - 5pm CT
USA v Canada - 7pm CT

FACT OF THE DAY

Tonight's Bruce Arena v Ben Olsen is truly a mentor/prodigy battle. Arena brought Olsen to the University of Virginia, then to DC United and finally to the USA. Now they are both head coaches. Olsen for DC and Arena for the LA Galaxy.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Injured Seattle Sounders midfielder Steve Zakuani has written an open letter of thanks that the team has posted on their website. He is very grateful to all the people who have reached out to him since he suffered the brutally broken leg. (thanks to TJ for the link)

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 12

-Wed Jun 1
CD Chivas USA 1-1 Vancouver Whitecaps - CUSA goal by Nick LaBrocca. VW goal by Camilo.
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Attendance: 11,753
-Fri Jun 3
LA Galaxy v DC United - 10:00PM CT on FOX Soccer
Venue: The Home Depot Center
-Sat Jun 4
Toronto FC v Sporting Kansas City - 6:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field
New York Red Bulls v Columbus Crew - 6:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Red Bull Arena
FC Dallas v New England Revolution - 7:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park
Chicago Fire SC v Seattle Sounder FC - 7:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park
Colorado Rapids v Philadelphia Union - 8:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Real Salt Lake v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 8:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
San Jose Earthquakes v Houston Dynamo - 9:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
CD Chivas USA v Portland Timbers - 9:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: The Home Depot Center

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EJECTIONS:
-Eric Hassli - Vancouver - red card

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

WESTERN CONFERENCE
29 LA Galaxy (+8 GD) (15 GP)
22 FC Dallas (+4 GD) (13 GP)
20 Seattle Sounders FC (+3 GD) (14 GP)
18 Colorado Rapids (+2 GD) (13 GP)
17 Real Salt Lake (+6 GD) (9 GP)
17 Portland Timbers (-2 GD) (11 GP)
14 CD Chivas USA (+1 GD) (12 GP)
13 San Jose Earthquakes (0 GD) (11 GP)
10 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-4 GD) (13 GP)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

COLORADO RAPIDS

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer with an article on Jeff Larentowicz who returns home to face Philadelphia this weekend.

DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with the latest in DCU team notes.

Goff also tells us about little known rookie forward Blake Brettschneider, who has been getting a chance to play important minutes lately.

LA GALAXY

Scott French of ESPN on the personal relationships between the Galaxy and their opponent tonight DC United.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer writes about centerback Stephen Keel who is getting a chance to play with the 2 first team centerbacks away for the Gold Cup.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Paul Danzer of the Vancouver WA Columbian looks at the Timbers willingness to gamble on offense.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Robert Jonas of Center Line Soccer took in Quakes practice on Thursday and fills us in on all the latest team news.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers at the Times has press conference quotes from Kasey Keller, Tyson Wahl, Fredy Montero & Jhon Kennedy Hurtado.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province looks at the changes new head coach Tom Soehn has already made in the Caps lineup.

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jun 5
Chivas USA v Portland Timbers
-Mon Jun 6
San Jose Earthquakes v LA Galaxy
-Tue Jun 7
Houston Dynamo v Colorado Rapids
DC United v New England Revolution
Seattle Sounders v Vancouver Whitecaps

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Standings Etc.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jun 4
Montreal Impact v FC Edmonton
FC Tampa Bay v Carolina RailHawks
Atlanta Silverbacks v NSC Minnesota Stars
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v Puerto Rico Islanders

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Standings (as of Wed Jun 1):
22 Carolina RailHawks (+12 GD) (9 GP) 2.44 PPG
16 FC Edmonton (+2 GD) (8 GP) 2.00 PPG
14 NSC Minnesota Stars (+3 GD) (10 GP) 1.40 PPG
11 Puerto Rico Islanders (0 GD) (7 GP) 1.57 PPG
10 FC Tampa Bay (-4 GD) (9 GP) 1.11 PPG
8 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (-2 GD) (8 GP) 1.00 PPG
5 Montreal Impact (-1 GD) (7 GP) 0.71 PPG
2 Atlanta Silverbacks (-8 GD) (8 GP) 0.25 PPG

US SOCCER DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch gets mixed reaction to the news that Crew Academy players will be asked to skip high school soccer next fall to play for the club.

CONCACAF

International Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jun 4
USA v Spain

ENGLAND

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian looks at the building of England's post World Cup team so far in qualifying.

UEFA EURO 2012

Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jun 3
Kazakhstan v Azerbaijan - GROUP A
Belgium v Turkey - GROUP A
Austria v Germany - GROUP A
Faroe Islands v Slovenia - GROUP C
Italy v Estonia - GROUP C
Romania v Bosnia-Herzegovina - GROUP D
Belarus v France - GROUP D
Moldova v Sweden - GROUP E
San Marino v Finland - GROUP E
Croatia v Georgia - GROUP F
Liechtenstein v Lithuania - GROUP I
-Sat Jun 4
Russia v Armenia - GROUP B
Slovakia v Andorra - GROUP B
Macedonia v Ireland - GROUP B
Greece v Malta - GROUP F
Latvia v Israel - GROUP F
England v Switzerland - GROUP G
Montenegro v Bulgaria - GROUP G
Iceland v Denmark - GROUP H
Portugal v Norway - GROUP H
-Tue Jun 7
Azerbaijan v Germany - GROUP A
Faroe Islands v Estonia - GROUP c
Belarus v Luxembourg - GROUP D
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Albania - GROUP D
Sweden v Finland - GROUP E
San Marino v Hungary - GROUP E

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Standings

ARGENTINA

This upcoming round of games sees 4 of the top 5 facing off against each other. Will things change or will they stay the same?

Primera Division Clausura - Standings - 3 games to go
30 Velez Sarsfield (+14) - Mon Jun 6 v Godoy Cruz
29 Lanus (+12) - Mon Jun 6 v Independiente
28 Godoy Cruz (+5) - Mon Jun 6 at Velez Sarsfield
26 Olimpio (+6) - Fri Jun 3 at Arsenal
25 Independiente (+7) - Mon Jun 6 v Lanus

COPA LIBERTADORES

Semifinals

Penarol got a massive away goal to join Santos as the two finalists!

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Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Jun 1
Club Cerro Porteno 3-3 Santos Futebol Clube San advances 4-3 on aggregate - CP goals by Cesar Benitez, Juan Lucero & Jonathan Fabbro. San goals by Ze Eduardo, Diego Barreto(OG) & Neymar.
-Thu Jun 2
Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield 2-1 Club Atletico Penarol - the series ends tied 2-2 and Pen advances on the away goals tie breaker - VS goals by Fernando Tobio & Santiago Silva. Pen goal by Matias Mier.

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Final

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Jun 15
Penarol v Santos
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Jun 22
Santos v Penarol

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012

Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jun 4
Zambia v Mozambique
Central African Republic v Tanzania
Morocco v Algeria
Cameroon v Senegal
Sierra Leone v Niger
Ghana v Congo
Uganda v Guinea-Bissau
-Sun Jun 5
Zimbabwe v Mali
Liberia v Cape Verde Islands
Guinea v Madagascar
Ethiopia v Nigeria
Comoros v Libya
Mauritius v Congo DR
Namibia v Burkina Faso
Egypt v South Africa
Burundi v Rwanda
Benin v Cote d'Ivoire
Swaziland v Sudan
Angola v Kenya
Botswana v Malawi
Tunisia v Chad

ASIA

AFP reports that the alleged match fixing scandal in South Korea is growing and getting worse as 1 player commits suicide. Via Yahoo.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jun 3
Hong Kong v Malaysia
S Korea v Serbia
Luxembourg v Hungary
-Sat Jun 4
Brazil v Netherlands
Bolivia v Paraguay
Peru v Czech Republic
-Sun Jun 5
China v Uzbekistan
Australia v New Zealand
Poland v Argentina
-Mon Jun 6
Ukraine v France
-Tue Jun 7
Paraguay v Bolivia
Norway v Lithuania
Brazil v Romania
Japan v Czech Republic
Ecuador v Greece
Venezuela v Spain
Russia v Cameroon
Gabon v Gambia
Australia v Serbia
Singapore v Maldives
S Korea v Ghana
Austria v Latvia
Italy v Ireland
Azerbaijan v Germany