Some News for Thu Jun 30, 2011

STARTERS

Holy smokes - Fulham started their new season today. A Europa League qualifying match at home against NSI Runavik of the Faroe Islands.

dN

The USA U17 team got blown out of the World Cup today 4-0 by Germany. It wasn't even that close. A very sad performance. The team was not remotely in the same league as Ze Germans.
-Will Wilmar Cabrera continue to lead this program?

TEAM USA AT THE 2011 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP

Germany 2011 is under way.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 28
USA 2-0 N Korea - USA goals by Lauren Cheney & Rachel Buehler.
-Sat Jul 2
USA v Colombia
-Wed Jul 6
USA v Sweden

Group C
Colombia
North Korea
Sweden
USA

Great coverage by Jerrod Roh at IMSoccer News.

COPA AMERICA

2011 Copa America will kick off on Jul 1.

All games will be shown live on You Tube.

The 10 CONMEBOL teams are joined by guests Mexico and Costa Rica who have been mandated by CONCACAF to play their U23 teams.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 1
Argentina v Bolivia - 7:45pm CT on You Tube
-Sat Jul 2
Colombia v Costa Rica U23
-Sun Jul 3
Brazil v Venezuela
Paraguay v Ecuador
-Mon Jul 4
Uruguay v Peru
Chile v Mexico U23
-Wed Jul 6
Argentina v Colombia
-Thu Jul 7
Bolivia v Costa Rica U23
-Fri Jul 8
Uruguay v Chile
Peru v Mexico U23
-Sat Jul 9
Brazil v Paraguay
Venezuela v Ecuador
-Sun Jul 10
Colombia v Bolivia
-Mon Jul 11
Argentina v Costa Rica U23
-Tue Jul 12
Chile v Peru
Uruguay v Mexico U23
-Wed Jul 13
Paraguay v Venezuela
Brazil v Ecuador

dN

Quarterfinals
-Sat Jul 16
A1 v BT1
A2 v C2
-Sun Jul 17
B1 v BT2
C1 v B2

dN

Semifinals
-Tue Jul 19
Q1 v Q2
-Wed Jul 20
Q3 v Q4

dN

Final
-Sun Jul 24
Winner 1 v Winner 2

dN

Standings:
GROUP A
Argentina
Bolivia
Colombia
Costa Rica U23
GROUP B
Brazil
Ecuador
Paraguay
Venezuela
GROUP C
Chile
Mexico U23
Peru
Uruguay

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Shine On - Episode 2 - the ongoing documentary film of the 2011 NSC Minnesota Stars. My team. Our team. The local team. In the NASL.

THATS WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

The New England Revolution management team invited supporters to a summit last night to discuss "inappropriate language" in the stands and who the team has dealt with it. Fans feel they have been mistreated by stadium security.

Plenty of reports on the meeting from the fans point of view:
-Andrew Donahue for The Bent Musket
-Brian for The Drug Is Football
-Nathan Gower posted unofficial minutes from the meeting on Big Soccer.

And then we get an article by Kyle McCarthy posted at MLSsoccer.com. (This is the most official article we have seen yet.)

One of the funniest things I read in all of this is the fans section is referred to as The Fort, while the people who occupy The Fort refer to the rest of the stadium as The Morgue! Genius.

Again the team has to this day still never used their own website, blog or Twitter feed to alert the majority of fans to any of this. They almost appear to be trying to keep it well hidden.

One forum the fans have taken to is the team's Facebook page, and boy oh boy are they letting the management have it. Like this simple note to the team president:
-"Dear Brian Biello: Please Resign. Signed, a soccer fan who cares about his fellow supporters. - Brian Barrish"

And now on the heals of all that we get this mysterious string of Twitters that started yesterday and have lead to this press release: Fort Active Supporters Trust Founded - Begins Initiative to Bring New England Revolution Back To Boston Under Fan Based Ownership
-Hmmmmm. I didn't know the team was ever in Boston and then left.

WHAT???

Did you get yours yet? (thanks to Brian for the link)



















MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 16

Matches & Scores
-Wed Jun 29
Toronto FC 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps FC - TFC goal by Nick Soolsma(PK).
Venue: BMO Field
Attendance: 19,816
-Sat Jul 2
DC United v Philadelphia Union - 6:00PM CT on FOX Soccer
Venue: RFK Stadium
FC Dallas v Columbus Crew - 8:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park
CD Chivas USA v Chicago Fire SC - 9:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: The Home Depot Center
San Jose Earthquakes v New York Red Bulls - 9:30PM CT on ESPN2/ESPN Deportes
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Portland Timbers v Sporting Kansas City - 10:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
-Sun Jul 3
Colorado Rapids v Houston Dynamo - 8:00PM CT on ESPN2/ESPN Deportes
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
-Mon Jul 4
Real Salt Lake v New England Revolution - 7:30PM CT on ESPN2/ESPN Deportes
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
LA Galaxy v Seattle Sounders FC - 9:30PM CT on ESPN2/ESPN Deportes
Venue: The Home Depot Center

dN

Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
26 Philadelphia Union (+5 GD) (16 GP)
24 Columbus Crew (+3 GD) (16 GP)
24 New York Red Bulls (+6 GD) (17 GP)
19 Houston Dynamo (-1 GD) (17 GP)
18 DC United (-6 GD) (15 GP)
18 Toronto FC (-12 GD) (19 GP)
17 Sporting Kansas City (-2 GD) (15 GP)
17 Chicago Fire SC (-3 GD) (17 GP)
15 New England Revolution (-8 GD) (17 GP)

WESTERN CONFERENCE
35 LA Galaxy (+10 GD) (19 GP)
31 FC Dallas (+7 GD) (17 GP)
31 Seattle Sounders FC (+7 GD) (19 GP)
26 Real Salt Lake (+9 GD) (15 GP)
22 Colorado Rapids (-2 GD) (17 GP)
20 San Jose Earthquakes (+3 GD) (15 GP)
18 Portland Timbers (-8 GD) (15 GP)
17 CD Chivas USA (-1 GD) (16 GP)
14 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-7 GD) (18 GP)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Alexi Lalas writing for the Mirror of London with his latest MLS round up column.

FC DALLAS

The team announced that they have signed their centerback Ugo Ihemelu toa new contract that runs through the 2015 season.

DC UNITED

Craig Stouffer of the Examiner on the first day at practice for DDR.

dN

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with the latest DCU notes, and the arrival of DeRo.

dN

Goff also tells us about Clyde Simms life away from the game.

LA GALAXY

Luis Bueno of MLSsoccer.com on the new legend of Mike Magee.
-As if that isn't enough proof of his star quality, Jamie Cardenas tweeted this later in the day: "Mike Magee did an interview with Spanish language radio this morning-- and spoke Spanish!"

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

I didn't know teams could do something this cold but NER has released forward Marko Perovic who blew out his knee a few weeks ago and was lost for the season. He was their best player last year. Wow.
-Later in the day Kyle McCarthy who covers the Revs sent out this Twitter: "Perovic in short: option due at the end of June - he asked #revs and the league to not exercise his option - move is not injury related."

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Ives Galarcep of Fox Soccer does his best to explain why New York acquired Dwayne De Rosario from Toronto only a few weeks ago, and then shipped him off to DC this week.

dN

Head coach Hans Backe will not travel with the team this weekend as he is recuperating from an unknown surgical procedure. He is supposed to be ready to go for the following week.
-Lets make something up, shall we: He had a troublesome mole removed.

TORONTO FC

Paul Attfield of the Globe & Mail on the signing of two fairly big name Designated Players - Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans.

NASL NEWS

For the first time this season all 8 teams have played the exact same number of games - 13. Game 14 will mark the midway point of the 28 game season.

And Carolina is far and away the best team at this point.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

The big annual Blaine fireworks will follow the Star game on Monday night.

The team also owes Edmonton a loss. And I have a feeling they are going to deliver with their best performance of the season.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 29
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1-1 FC Tampa Bay - FLS goal by Eduardo Coudet. FCTB goal by Mike Ambersley.
Montreal Impact 0-0 Puerto Rico Islanders
-Sun Jul 3
Carolina RailHawks v Montreal Impact
-Mon Jul 4
Atlanta Silverbacks v Puerto Rico Islanders
FC Tampa Bay v Fort Lauderdale Strikers
NSC Minnesota Stars v FC Edmonton

dN

Standings (as of Wed Jun 29):
34 Carolina RailHawks (+20 GD) (13 GP) 2.62 PPG
23 FC Edmonton (+3 GD) (13 GP) 1.77 PPG
19 Puerto Rico Islanders (-1 GD) (13 GP) 1.46 PPG
18 NSC Minnesota Stars (+2 GD) (13 GP) 1.38 PPG
17 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (+2 GD) (13 GP) 1.31 PPG
14 FC Tampa Bay (-6 GD) (13 GP) 1.08 PPG
10 Montreal Impact (-2 GD) (13 GP) 0.78 PPG
5 Atlanta Silverbacks (-18 GD) (13 GP) 0.38 PPG

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Daniel Bohm of the San Jose Mercury News looks back at to the 1994 World Cup held here in the USA and what it did for today's game.
-Elliot Almond tells us what the USA players from that team are up to now. All but 1 are in soccer.

USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad with a lengthy article on Houston Dynamo Academy centerback Sebastien Ibeagha, about his recent time with the USA U20 team, and his desire to play in the Olympics next year.

USA U17 TEAM

U17 World Cup

The tournament is all over in fairly humiliating circumstances for the Americans. A 4-0 drubbing by Germany who took the foot off the gas early in the 2nd half when they knew it was over.

dN

The official team blog.

dN

Matches & Scores
-Thu Jun 30
Germany 4-0 USA

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.

dN

Today we saw Germany rout the Americans, while England went to Penalties to beat Argentina!

And in yesterdays late games Uruguay and Japan advanced to the Quarters.

Official website

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

dN

Round of 16

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 29
1 Congo 1-2 Uruguay - Con goal by Hardy Binguila. Uru goals by Maximiliano Moreira & Gaston Silva.
2 Uzbekistan 4-0 Australia - Uzb goals by Abbosbek Makhstaliev, Timur Khakimov, Conor Chapman(OG) & Davlatbek Yarbekov.
3 Japan 6-0 New Zealand - Jap goals by Hideki Ishige(2), Fumiha Hayakawa(2), Kip Colvey(OG) & Takumi Minamino.
4 Brazil 2-0 Ecuador - Bra goals by Ademilson & Leo.
-Thu Jun 30
5 Germany 4-0 USA - Ger goals by Koray Guenter, Mitchell Weiser, Samed Yesil & Marvin Ducksch.
6 England 1-1 Argentina - Eng advances 4-2 in Penalty Kick Shootout - Eng goal by Raheem Sterling. Arg goal by Maximiliano Padilla.
7 France v Cote d'Ivoire
8 Mexico v Panama

dN

Quarterfinals

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jul 3
Uruguay v Uzbekistan
Japan v Brazil
-Mon Jul 4
Germany v England
Winner 7 v Winner 8

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Steve Cherundolo is expected to miss the first 4 weeks of Hannover's preseason training due to the ankle ligament injury he suffered in the USA v Mexico game last Saturday.

dN

Steven Goff of the Washington Post tells us what's next for Freddy Adu.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Jamie Hill of Yanks Abroad tells us about the promising young Americans in the UANL Tigres system.

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of Sports Illustrated on Barcelona's nurturing of really talented youngsters like Thiago Alcantara.

ARGENTINA

San Martin San Juan wins the series 2-1 over Gimnasia La Plata and gets promoted to the top division while Gimnasia are the 4th team to be relegated from the Primera to Nacional B.

Gimnasia had been the home for one final season to Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Matches & Scores
-Wed Jun 29
Gimnasia La Plata 1-1 San Martin San Juan - SMSJ win series 2-1 on aggreaget.

River Plate, Quilmes and Huracan were also relegated.

Belgrano, Atletico de Rafaela and Union de Santa Fe were also been promoted from B Nacional (the 2nd division.)

BIG PIMPIN

OMG! Brek Shea is a painter!
-Left Foot Studio

FCD made this video.

Abstract Expressionism?