Monday, June 20, 2011

Some News for Mon Jun 20, 2011

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD

Jack Warner has resigned from his role as FIFA Vice-President, Executive Committee Member and CONCACAF President.

FIFA confirms.
-But..... "As a consequence of Mr Warner’s self-determined resignation, all Ethics Committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained."

Tariq Panja of Bloomberg talks to Slappy who says he was undermined.
-Warner also says that handing out wads of cash was part of FIFA's gift culture.

STARTERS

There has been reports out of Germany that FIFA and Interpol are looking into betting irregularities around 3 CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage games.
-No other details have emerged on this story.

STORY OF THE DAY

The 2011 Women's World Cup starts in 6 days.

The USA is in Group C with Colombia, North Korea and Sweden, and play their first game 8 days from now.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 28
USA v N Korea
-Sat Jul 2
USA v Colombia
-Wed Jul 6
USA v Sweden

CONCACAF CHAOS

The Jamaica Observer reports that Lisle Austin is still fighting to be reinstated as interim CONCACAF president.
-He had the role for a few days after Jack Warner's initial suspension, then was removed by the executive board for alleged abuse of power, was again put in charge by a Bahamas court, and finally removed again by FIFA.

Sean Williams of the Observer says forces are conspiring to remove the Caribbean nations from the seat of power in CONCACAF.

TEAM USA

Gold Cup

A solid win over a confident Jamaica on Sunday will boost the USA in the right direction.

Official word on Altidore: Strained left hamstring. Getting a MRI on Tuesday to find out the extent of the damage. (That means odds are likely that it is bad. Lets hope not.)
-But no more on the severity yet.
-Don't expect Altidore for the rest of the Gold Cup.

dN

The official team blog.

dN

Matches & Scores:

Quarterfinals
-Sun Jun 19
USA 2-0 Jamaica - USA goals by Jermaine Jones & Clint Dempsey.
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC

Match report from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by coach and players from US Soccer.
Post game analysis by George Vecsey of the New York Times.
Player ratings by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Player ratings by Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated.

Match report from the Jamaica Observer.
Match report from the Jamaica Gleaner.

Donovan Ricketts played like a superstar in goal for Jamaica.

A Red Card was given to Jermaine Taylor of Jamaica. He wsa the last man back as the USA attacked and he brought down Jermaine Jones. On second viewing it looked like Jones was barely touched and made a scene of it. Sad but true. I loath divers.

Ben Strauss of the New York Times strolled around RFK Stadium and listened to USA fans give their latest opinions on Team USA.

Brian Straus of Sporting News talks to Sacha Kljestan about his time playing at Anderlecht and how he feels it has improved his game.

CONCACAF GOLD CUP

Matches & Scores:

CONCACAF has ruled that Mexico will be able to replace Christian Bermudez, Edgar Duenas, Antonio Sinha Naelson, Memo Ochoa and Francisco Rodriguez who were suspended due to a failed drug test after the first round of the group stage.
-It will be interesting to see how their club teams deal with this.
-The replacements are Paul Aguilar, Marco Fabian, Luis Michel, Hiram Mier and Hector Reynoso.

Blas Perez was shown a Red Card for Panama, and will not be available against the USA in the Semifinals.

Quarterfinals
-Sat Jun 18
Costa Rica 1-1 Honduras - Hon advances 4-2 in Penalty Kick Shootout - CR goal by Dennis Marshall. Hon goal by Jerry Bengston.
Mexico 2-1 Guatemala - Mex goals by Aldo De Nigris & Javier Hernandez. Gua goal by Carlos Ruiz.
-Sun Jun 19
Jamaica 0-2 USA - USA goals by Jermaine Jones & Clint Dempsey.
Panama 1-1 El Salvador - Pan advances 5-3 in Penalty Kick Shootout - Pan goal by Luis Tejada. ES goal by Rodolfo Zelaya(PK).

Semifinals
-Wed Jun 22
USA v Panama - 6pm CT
Honduras v Mexico - 9pm CT

Final
-Sat Jun 25
S1 v S2 - 8pm CT

dN

All team rosters

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

Eric Lichaj: Kansas City has the best locker room of any team that I have seen... Unreal

DO YOU REALIZE

I was reading a lot of forums last night and this morning with USA fans renewing their hatred of Michael Bradley. And one of the most common themes I come across is "No matter how good or bad he plays his Daddy never ever subs him out of the games." And I could not help but laugh when I read this because he was just subbed out last Tuesday against Guadaloupe. Thats when I stop reading and move on.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING

The New England Revolution ownership group took it upon themselves this past weekend to put a stop to fans who scream "You Suck Asshole" in unison every time the opponents goalkeeper take a free kick. They supposedly warned the fans via some emails etc, then sent the goon squad into the hardcore supporters sections to toss people out who said it during the game.

Sounds like a great way to communicate with the fans what you are trying to achieve with your marketing.

I went to the team's web page but could find nothing on this warning and any potential crackdown. I would think that the website would be one of several good places to promote the idea of banning this phrase from the stadium.

Or how about Twitter? I heard about some people helping fuel the overthrow of the Egyptian government using Twitter. That might be a way to help spread the word on chants you want to wipe out. I checked the team's Twitter account and found nothing before or after there either.

Facebook? Ok. I found a lot of angry fans on the team's Facebook page complaining about they way they were treated. But I didn't see anything from the team warning fans.

Tom Dunmore writing on Big Soccer laid out the situation between ownership and fans as best he could.

The whole story seems pretty incomplete to me. It would be welcoming to see it discussed out in the open.

FACT OF THE DAY

On Thursday Qwest Field in Seattle will be renamed CenturyLink Field.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Ben Grossman of Sports Business Journal on the principal of turning around negative energy that some still spread about MLS.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Check out Celtic's alternate kit for International game in 2011-12. I bet if it had a USB plug you could play keyboards on it.



















MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS


Week 14

Matches & Scores
-Wed Jun 15
New England Revolution 0-0 Toronto FC
Venue: Gillette Stadium
Attendance: 6,680
-Fri Jun 17
Sporting Kansas City 1-0 San Jose Earthquakes - SKC goal by CJ Sapong.
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Attendance: 18,467
-Sat Jun 18
Toronto FC 0-1 Seattle Sounders FC - SSFC goal by Fredy Montero.
Venue: BMO Field
Attendance: 21,839
New England Revolution 1-1 Chicago Fire SC - NER goal by Rajko Lekic. CF goal by Dominic Oduro.
Venue: Gillette Stadium
Attendance: 14,246
Houston Dynamo 0-2 Columbus Crew - CC goals by Andres Mendoza & Bernardo Anor.
Venue: Robertson Stadium
Attendance: 13,039
Colorado Rapids 1-3 LA Galaxy - CR goal by Conor Casey. LAG goals by Drew Moor(OG), Juninho & Chad Barrett.
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Attendance: 18,277
Real Salt Lake 1-1 DC United - RSL goal by Fabian Espindola(PK). Charlie Davies(PK).
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
Attendance: 16,841
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1-0 Philadelphia Union - VW goal by Alain Rochat.
Venue: Empire Field
Attendance: 20,168
CD Chivas USA 1-2 FC Dallas - CU goal by Michael Lahoud. FCD goals by Brek Shea & Jackson.
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Attendance: 11,253
-Sun Jun 19
Portland Timbers 3-3 New York Red Bulls - PT goals by Jack Jewsbury, Kevin Goldthwaite & Stephen Keel(OG). NYRB goals by Austin Da Luz, Thierry Henry & Dwayne DeRosario(PK).
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
Attendance: 18,627

dN

EJECTIONS:
-Gianluca Zavarise - Toronto - 2 yellow cards (Wed)
-Jhon Kennedy Hurtado - Seattle - 2 yellow cards
-Lovel Palmer - Houston - 2 yellow cards
-Caleb Folan - Colorado - red card
-Thierry Henry - New York - red card

dN

Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
23 New York Red Bulls (+8 GD) (15 GP)
22 Philadelphia Union (+4 GD) (14 GP)
21 Columbus Crew (0 GD) (15 GP)
18 Houston Dynamo (-1 GD) (16 GP)
17 DC United (-6 GD) (14 GP)
15 Chicago Fire SC (-3 GD) (15 GP)
15 New England Revolution (-7 GD) (16 GP)
15 Toronto FC (-11 GD) (17 GP)
13 Sporting Kansas City (-3 GD) (13 GP)

WESTERN CONFERENCE
34 LA Galaxy (+10 GD) (18 GP)
28 FC Dallas (+3 GD) (16 GP)
25 Seattle Sounders FC (+4 GD) (17 GP)
22 Real Salt Lake (+7 GD) (13 GP)
22 Colorado Rapids (+1 GD) (16 GP)
19 San Jose Earthquakes (+3 GD) (14 GP)
18 Portland Timbers (-4 GD) (14 GP)
17 CD Chivas USA (0 GD) (15 GP)
14 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-5 GD) (16 GP)

dN

Week 15

Matches & Scores
-Wed Jun 22
6:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Philadelphia Union v Sporting Kansas City
Venue: PPL Park
7:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Chicago Fire SC v Real Salt Lake
Venue: Toyota Park

QUICK THOUGHT

That Portland-New York game was a wild one. I know, obvious. But I am still thinking about it the next day, and that is not the usual.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated says Charlie Davies dives like Jamie Watson, and four other things you should know from week 14.

Columbus midfielder Bernardo Anor has been named MLS Player of the Week.
-He was making his first ever start.
-I had never heard of him before Saturday.

Anne Peterson of the Associated Press with an article on the triumph of the Northwest.

CHICAGO FIRE

The Fire sold struggling forward Gaston Puerari to Atlas in Mexico on Wednesday.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Raps will visit the White House next Monday to be honored by the president for their 2010 championship. Nice.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Luke Rodgers missed the game in Portland due to plantar fasciitis.

Stephen Alexander of the Portland Tribune raves about Thierry Henry, even in all his red card glory.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province talks about the Caps best player and big surprise around MLS this season Davide Chiumiento.

MLS LEADER LEADERS IN GOALS & ASSISTS

As of Fri Jun 17

Goals:
8 Landon Donovan
8 Thierry Henry
7 Charlie Davies
6 Eric Hassli
6 Brek Shea
6 Chris Wondolowski
5 Andres Mendoza
5 Luke Rodgers
5 Maicon Santos

Assists:
9 Brad Davis
7 David Beckham
6 Davide Chiumiento
6 Jack Jewsbury
5 Kalif Alhassan
4 Seven players tied

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Could Chicago be chasing after Pavel Pardo to run their midfield? It would be a great move.

IF MLS HAD SINGLE TABLE STANDINGS

34 LA Galaxy
28 FC Dallas
25 Seattle Sounders FC
23 New York Red Bulls
22 Real Salt Lake
22 Philadelphia Union
22 Colorado Rapids
21 Columbus Crew
19 San Jose Earthquakes
18 Portland Timbers
18 Houston Dynamo
17 DC United
17 CD Chivas USA
15 Chicago Fire SC
15 New England Revolution
15 Toronto FC
14 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
13 Sporting Kansas City

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jun 18
Montreal Impact 0-0 Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Carolina RailHawks 3-1 FC Tampa Bay - CRH goals by Matt Watson, Etienne Barbara & Allan Russell. TB goal by Warren Ukah.
NSC Minnesota Stars 1-1 FC Edmonton - NMS goal by Neil Hlavaty(PK). FEC goals by Shaun Saiko.
-Sun Jun 19
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-1 Atlanta Silverbacks - PRI goals by Jonathan Fana, Josh Hansen & David Foley. AS goal by Lucas Paulini(PK).

-Sat Jun 25
Atlanta Silverbacks v Carolina RailHawks
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sun Jun 26
FC Edmonton v Montreal Impact

dN

Standings (as of Sun Jun 19):
31 Carolina RailHawks (+16 GD) (12 GP) 2.58 PPG
20 FC Edmonton (+2 GD) (12 GP) 1.67 PPG
18 NSC Minnesota Stars (+2 GD) (13 GP) 1.38 PPG
17 Puerto Rico Islanders (-1 GD) (11 GP) 1.55 PPG
15 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (+2 GD) (11 GP) 1.36 PPG
13 FC Tampa Bay (-6 GD) (12 GP) 1.08 PPG
9 Montreal Impact (-1 GD) (11 GP) 0.82 PPG
5 Atlanta Silverbacks (-14 GD) (12 GP) 0.42 PPG

US OPEN CUP

Second Round

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 21
FC New York (USL PRO) v NY Pancyprian Freedoms (USASA)
Harrisburg City Islanders (USL PRO) v Rochester Rhinos (USL PRO)
Richmond Kickers (USL PRO) v Pittsburgh Riverhounds (USL PRO)
Wilmington Hammerheads (USL PRO) v Charlotte Eagles (USL PRO)
Charleston Battery (USL PRO) v Orlando City SC (USL PRO)
Madison 56ers (NPSL) v Chicago Fire PDL (PDL)
Kitsap Pumas (PDL) v Real Colorado Foxes (PDL)
Ventura County Fusion (PDL) v Los Angeles Blues (USL PRO)

dN

Third Round

MLS teams join in. Home teams TBD.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 28
New York Red Bulls v Winner 1
Chicago Fire v Winner 2
Columbus Crew v Winner 3
Real Salt Lake v Winner 4
FC Dallas v Winner 5
Sporting Kansas City v Winner 6
Seattle Sounders v Winner 7
LA Galaxy v Winner 8

TEAM USA

Raphael Honigstein of Sports Illustrated says that Germany is not pursuing Timothy Chandler to play on their national team.

USA U17 TEAM

U17 World Cup

Matches & Scores
-Sun Jun 19
USA 3-0 Czech Republic - USA goals by Aljedanro Guido, Esteban Rodriquez & Alfredo Koroma.
-Wed Jun 22
USA v Uzbekistan
-Sat Jun 25
USA v New Zealand

dN

Standings
GROUP D
3 New Zealand
3 USA
0 Czech Republic
0 Uzbekistan

dN

USA roster
G:
Wade Hamilton - Arsenal FC
Kendall McIntosh - San Jose Earthquakes Academy
Fernando Pina - Houston Dynamo
D:
Kellyn Acosta - FC Dallas Academy
Joe Amon - South Carolina United
Zach Carroll - Vardar
Mobi Fehr - Tokyo Verdy 1969
Alessandro Mion - Kendall SC
Nathan Smith - Cal Odyssey
M:
Matt Dunn - FC Cologne
Alejandro Guido - Aztecs Premier
Nico Melo - Florida Rush
Marc Pelosi - De Anza Force
Esteban Rodriguez - Cosmos Academy West
Tarik Salkicic - Strictly Soccer
Dillon Serna - Colorado Rapids Academy
Andrew Souders - Crew Soccer Academy
F:
Paul Arriola - Arsenal FC
Alfred Koroma - Solar SC
Jack McBean - LA Galaxy
Mario Rodriguez - Central Aztecs

MEXICO 2011 - USA U17 WORLD CUP

June 18 to July 10.


Official website


All games are shown on ESPN3.com, and some are shown on TV channel ESPNU.

dN

Group Stage

Matches & Scores
-Sat Jun 18
Congo 1-0 Netherlands
France 3-0 Argentina
Mexico 3-1 N Korea
Japan 1-0 Jamaica
-Sun Jun 19
Rwanda 0-2 England
Uzbekistan 1-4 New Zealand
Uruguay 3-0 Canada
USA 3-0 Czech Republic
-Mon Jun 20
Germany v Ecuador
Brazil v Denmark
Burkina Faso v Panama
Australia v Cote d'Ivoire
-Tue Jun 21
N Korea v Netherlands
Japan v France
Mexico v Congo
Jamaica v Argentina
-Wed Jun 22
Uruguay v Rwanda
USA v Uzbekistan
Canada v England
Czech Republic v New Zealand
-Thu Jun 23
Burkina Faso v Germany
Australia v Brazil
Panama v Ecuador
Cote d'Ivoire v Denmark
-Fri Jun 24
Japan v Argentina
Jamaica v France
N Korea v Congo
Mexico v Netherlands
-Sat Jun 25
Uruguay v England
Canada v Rwanda
USA v New Zealand
Czech Republic v Uzbekistan
-Sun Jun 26
Burkina Faso v Ecuador
Panama v Germany
Cote d'Ivoire v Brazil
Australia v Denmark

dN

Standings
GROUP A
3 Congo
3 Mexico
0 Netherlands
0 N Korea
GROUP B
3 France
3 Japan
0 Argentina
0 Jamaica
GROUP C
3 England
3 Uruguay
0 Canada
0 Rwanda
GROUP D
3 New Zealand
3 USA
0 Czech Republic
0 Uzbekistan
GROUP E
Burkina Faso
Panama
Germany
Ecuador
GROUP F
Australia
Cote d'Ivoire
Brazil
Denmark

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Twitter message today from DaMarcus Beasley's agent Lyle Yorks: Lots of rumors flying around Beas-still a Hannover player with 1 year left-we are in discussions with both Pachuca & Puebla

dN

Game Action:

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Joe Bendik - Sogndal - Sun Jun 19 - on the bench as they lost 2-0 at Molde.
Erik Benjaminsen - Stabaek - Sun Jun 19 - on the bench as they lost 0-1 v Viking.
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Sun Jun 19 - played the full 90 but lost 0-1 v Viking.
Josh Gatt - Molde - Sun Jun 19 - played the whole game as they won 2-0 v Sogndal.

RUSSIA - Premier Division
Yevgeni Starikov - Tom' Tomsk - Sat Jun 18 - went the full 90 but lost 3-0 at Dinamo Moskva.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Sat Jun 18 - went the distance as they drew 0-0 v Orebro.
Samuel Petrone - Mjallby - Sat Jun 18 - came on as a sub in the 68th min but lost 0-2 v IFK Goteborg.

dN

Coming Up:

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Gale Agbossoumonde - Djurgarden - Mon Jun 20 v Syrianska
Gale Agbossoumonde - Djurgarden - Thu Jun 23 at Orebro
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Tue Jun 21 at Hacken
Samuel Petrone - Mjallby - Thu Jun 23 v Syrianska

RUSSIA - Premier Division
Yevgeni Starikov - Wed Jun 22 v Rostov

NORWAY - NM Cupen - 4th Round
-Wed Jun 22
Joe Bendik - Sogndal - at Brann
Steve Clark - Honefoss - at Molde
Sean Cunningham - Molde - v Honefoss
Josh Gatt - Molde - v Honefoss
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - at Molde

CONCACAF

A power struggle between the Belize football federation and the Belize national government has caused FIFA to suspend the Belize national team from all official competition until the matter is resolved. They are currently in the first stage of World Cup qualifying.

CONCACAF 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Preliminary Round

Can you believe qualifying has already begun?

Belize won its 1st Leg match.

The very first games of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying will be played as a 2 legged series.
-Here are those 5 matchups between the 10 lowest rated teams in the region:

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Jun 15
Montserrat 2-5 Belize
-Sat Jul 2
Turks & Caicos Islands v Bahamas
-Sun Jul 3
US Virgin Islands v British Virgin Islands
-Fri Jul 8
Anguilla v Dominican Republic
Aruba v St. Luca
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Sat Jul 9
Bahamas v Turks & Caicos Islands (-)
-Sun Jul 10
British Virgin Islands v US Virgin Islands (-)
Dominican Republic v Anguilla (-)
-Tue Jul 12
St. Luca v Aruba (-)
-TBD
Belize v Montserrat (5-2)

The 5 winners will advance to join the next 19 highest rated teams in a six, four team group stage.

ENGLAND

7 after hiring under-the-radar Porto manager Jose Mourinho to run their club, Chelsea has gone back to the same team in Portugal to try and hire Andre Villas Boas as their latest boss.

Alex McLeish who was fired by Birmingham after they were relegated has been hired as the new manager by their fierce rivals at Aston Villa.
-Despite that controversy over hiring your enemy, he is a pretty uninspired hire.

ITALY

It looks like Inter head coach Leonardo is going to become the new technical director of Paris St Germain.
-Who will replace him is the new big dollar question.

ARGENTINA

Tim Vickery of the BBC at the end of another Argentine season, tells about the retirement of Martin Palermo, tries to determine why everything at River Plate is going so wrong, and more.

River Plate is in a relegation playoff series.

Matches & Scores
1st Leg
-Wed Jun 22
Belgrano v River Plate
2nd Leg
-Sat Jun 25
River Plate v Belgrano

ASIA

FIFA.com does a Q & A with legendary Italian keeper Walter Zenga who is now coaching Al Nasr in UAE.

TOP THIS

My Minnesota crew at the USA v Guadaloupe Gold Cup game at Livestrong sporting Park in Kansas City, KS on Tue Jun 14, 2011:



















ENDERS


Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at big time football from the Nerds v Jocks vantage.
-And uses some really cool graphics too.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Nordy said...

There has been reports out of Germany that FIFA and Interpol are looking into betting irregularities around 3 CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage games.

C'mon, Clint's got two kids to feed. Who can blame him for picking up a few extra dollars in a mostly meaningless game against Guadalupe?

9:25 AM  
Anonymous Dirk said...

Tennent's is a special brand of choad sauce

12:30 AM  

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