Some News for Wed Jun 22, 2011

STARTERS

DaMarcus Beasley has signed with Puebla in Mexico.
-Puebla has also signed Portuguese attacker Nuno Gomes.

















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The USA U17 team choked big time today as they lost 2-1 to heavy underdogs Uzbekistan. The USA had won the first round 2-0 3-0 over the Czech Republic while the Uzbeks had lost 4-1 to New Zealand.

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Aston Villa is reportedly not interested in buying Michael Bradley from Monchengladbach.

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Chelsea makes the hiring of Andre Villas-Boas from Porto as their new head coach.
-He follows in Mourinho's Porto to Chelsea footsteps.

THE FIFA SCANDAL STORY NEVER ENDS

Sepp Blatter is scheduled to attend the Gold Cup semifinals in Houston tonight, but will not speak with the press. Gee, why not? So much for his new transparency campaign.

Tariq Panja of Bloomberg tells us about a FIFA report that was leaked to the press and containing strong evidence against Jack Warner and Mohamed Bin Hammam.

Bin Hammam has repeated that he will NOT resign from FIFA.

The Trinidad Express says Jack Warner refuses to talk to investigators appointed by FIFA.
-A classic Slappy headline from the Express too:
























The Express also reports that Warner still can't step away from running CONCACAF as he lobbies to support his bobo Lisle Austin, the suspended interim CONCACAF president.

FIFA has officially begun investigating the actions of Austin in his few days as interim.

Trinidad Newsday tell us just how deep Warner has his hooks in Trinidad & Tobago football.

Its very probable that Warner's political career in T&T is now in jeopardy as well. He just cannot get out from under the avalanche, and any one who has followed his exploits for years knows that this bribery scandal is just the tip of the iceberg.

Owen Gibson if The Guardian reports that FIFA will pay Warner a "five figure annual pension" for the rest of his life as thanks for this service to the organization.

TEAM USA

Gold Cup

Jose De Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle on Nacogdoches Clint.

Ortiz also has a passionate post on Mexico-USA. Great reading.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated has an article on two of young players getting their first big shot on the team this summer - Eric Lichaj and Alejandro Bedoya.

Wahl also has a five-point preview.

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated previews tonight's game.

Ives Galarcep of Fox Soccer previews.

Steven Goff of the Washington Post previews the rematch.

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The official team blog.

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Semifinal

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 22
USA v Panama - 6pm CT on Fox Soccer
Venue: Reliant Stadium, Houston TX

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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
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

CONCACAF GOLD CUP

I am trying to understand why Mexico got to replace 5 players on their roster who tested positive for PEDs.

Matches & Scores:
Semifinals
-Wed Jun 22
USA v Panama - 6pm CT
Honduras v Mexico - 9pm CT

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

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All team rosters

2011 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP

Starts in 4 days

Pressure Makes Us

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

COPA LIBERTADORES

Final

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Jun 22
Santos v Penarol (0-0)

DO YOU REALIZE

Last year MLS averaged about 16,000 per game, and this season the average stands at about 17,200. Those 1200 extra tickets at $30 each brings in just over $500,000 per week more cash. Think it doesn't make a difference?

OOF

New England Revolution COO Brian Bilello again tries to appease angry supporters with a post on Facebook. Below is that message. (Its posted in three links due to space restraint on Facebook - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - go there to read the many comments)

All. I wanted to share some numbers with you to be clear about a significant amount of disinformation that is currently being perpetuated. There was 1 and only 1 arrest on Saturday night and that was for someone who threw a beer and assaulted staff. 1 and only 1 arrest. As with any arrest, that comes with an automatic letter of disinvite to the stadium as it should. No other letters of disinvite or "bans" have been issued.

In terms of ejections there were 3 ejections. At this point none of these people have been issued letters of disinvite. All of these were related to swearing and unruly behavior that took place after our supporter's liaison spent 20+ min in the fort trying to calm everyone down and limit the excessive profanity. Unfortunately there were some people who chose to increase the frequency and potency of their swearing rather than calming down. This includes a verbal assault on our supporter's liaison who has spent the last 4 years working closely with all of you.

There were 3 protective custody's for excessive intoxication. Two of these occurred before the second half kicked off and are completely unrelated. The third did occur in the fort but was unrelated.

In terms of action taking by our organization that is it. Our supporters liaison went to the fort to ask for people to stop using one chant that the supporters' groups themselves asked their members not to sing. Unfortunately as I said earlier some people took that for an excuse to amp up their behavior therefore 3 people were removed and one arrested as explained above.

I am truly sorry and saddened that there are so many people that feel that they can't enjoy a Revolution match without chanting you suck a****le 10+ times a game but make no mistake this entire incident was about limited number of fans in the fort refusing to deter that one chant. That is all that was asked, no more. No members of supporters groups were singled out, targeted, etc. and if our supporters groups were truly stopping this chant with their members as they told us they were doing than no members of any supporters group will have been impacted by this.

There has still been no mention of any of this on the team's official website or Twitter feed. These are 2 more great tools the ownership could be using to clear the air.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 15

Matches & Scores
-Wed Jun 22
Philadelphia Union v Sporting Kansas City - 6:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: PPL Park
Chicago Fire SC v Real Salt Lake - 7:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Toyota Park
-Thu Jun 23
Seattle Sounders FC v New York Red Bulls - 9:00PM CT on ESPN2
Venue: CenturyLink Field
-Sat Jun 25
DC United v Houston Dynamo - 5:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: RFK Stadium
San Jose Earthquakes v LA Galaxy - 5:30PM CT on FOX Soccer
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Philadelphia Union v CD Chivas USA - 6:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: PPL Park
FC Dallas v Portland Timbers - 7:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park
Sporting Kansas City v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 7:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Real Salt Lake v Toronto FC - 8:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
-Sun Jun 26
Chicago Fire SC v New York Red Bulls - 1:00PM CT on ESPN
Venue: Toyota Park
Seattle Sounders FC v New England Revolution - 3:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Qwest Field
Columbus Crew v Colorado Rapids - 7:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium

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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)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

English newspaper the Mirror debuts a new MLS blog, written by who else, Alexi Lalas.

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch says that even though Jeff Cunningham is really struggling in games this season he is finding other ways to contribute to the team, like helping out the young players at training. (thanks to Brian for the link)

DC UNITED

The Washington Times looks at Dax McCarty's struggle with a groin injury over the past month.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

American forward Ryan Guy made his debut on Saturday, and showed that he was up to the task with energy etc. He also scored the winning goal in the reserve game on Tuesday. Guy has spent the past few years scoring goals in the Irish top division.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

The Bulls announced that they will use reserves players in the Open Cup match next week against FC New York.
-Will it cost them? Who knows. Does Hans Backe care? Nope.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Newly signed midfielder Veljko Paunovic made his debut for the Union last weekend.
-I sure didn't see him add anything to the team in his 60 minutes on the field.

Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News reports on the return of forward Carlos Ruiz from the Gold Cup and how that effects the lineup.

Alecko Eskandarian has been named the Union's youth technical director. Fantastic. I missed this last week.

REAL SALT LAKE

Jean Alexandre has been suspended 1 game and fined for a reckless tackle he made that was not punished by the referee.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Don Ruiz of Tacoma News Tribune with a long quote from coach Sigi Schmid raving about Sounders fans.

Joshua Mayers of the Times with some team notes and updates.

Mayers also reports that the Sounders are opening up more seats for the game against New York on Thursday night. Capacity will move from 36,000 to 50,000. Wow.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province sees distinct improvement in the Caps since Tom Soehn took over as head coach.

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun with an article on right fullback Jon Leathers who has returned from an injury after missing 5 games.

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Today's ridiculous name in the hopper: Freddie Ljungberg (I kid you not)

And you know its a special time of year when you also read the names Owen Hargreaves and Francesco Totti in rumors.

Soccer 365 with all kinds of new rumors as the summer transfer window approaches, including Tim Ream, Marco Pappa, Juan Carlos Toja, Jozy Altidore, Johann Smith and much more.

US OPEN CUP

Second Round

Yesterdays wins set up not 1, not 2, but 3 derbies in the Third Round. Awesome!

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 21
FC New York (USL PRO) 0-0 NY Pancyprian Freedoms (USASA) - FC NY advances 6-5 in Penalty Kick Shootout.
Harrisburg City Islanders (USL PRO) 0-1 Rochester Rhinos (USL PRO)
Richmond Kickers (USL PRO) 4-1 Pittsburgh Riverhounds (USL PRO)
Wilmington Hammerheads (USL PRO) 3-2 Charlotte Eagles (USL PRO)
Charleston Battery (USL PRO) 0-1 Orlando City SC (USL PRO)
Kitsap Pumas (PDL) 3-1 Real Colorado Foxes (PDL)
Ventura County Fusion (PDL) 0-1 Los Angeles Blues (USL PRO)
-Wed Jun 22
Madison 56ers (NPSL) v Chicago Fire PDL (PDL)

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Third Round

MLS teams join in.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 28
New York Red Bulls v FC New York
Rochester Rhinos v Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew v Richmond Kickers
Real Salt Lake v Wilmington Hammerheads
FC Dallas v Orlando City
Sporting Kansas City v Madison/Chicago winner
Seattle Sounders v Kitsap Pumas
LA Galaxy v Los Angeles Blues

USA U17 TEAM

U17 World Cup

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The official team blog.

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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 - 3pm CT
-Sat Jun 25
USA v New Zealand - 6pm CT

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

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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.

The host team Mexico got its 2nd win on Tuesday and is the first team to advance to the knock out rounds.

Official website

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

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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 6-1 Ecuador
Brazil 3-0 Denmark
Burkina Faso 0-1 Panama
Australia 2-1 Cote d'Ivoire
-Tue Jun 21
N Korea 1-1 Netherlands
Japan 1-1 France
Mexico 2-1 Congo
Jamaica 1-2 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

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Standings
GROUP A
ADV-6 Mexico
3 Congo
1 Netherlands
1 N Korea
GROUP B
4 France
4 Japan
3 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
3 Germany
3 Panama
0 Burkina Faso
0 Ecuador
GROUP F
3 Australia
3 Brazil
0 Cote d'Ivoire
0 Denmark

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Stuart Holden about his rehab.

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Game Action:

NORWAY - NM Cupen - 4th Round
-Wed Jun 22
Joe Bendik - Sogndal - lost in Penalty Kick Shootout after 2-2 tie at Brann
Steve Clark - Honefoss - lost 3-1 at Molde
Sean Cunningham - Molde - won 3-1 v Honefoss
Josh Gatt - Molde - won 3-1 v Honefoss
Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - scored the games first goal but they lost 3-1 at Molde

RUSSIA - Premier Division
Yevgeni Starikov - Wed Jun 22 - started but came out in the 63rd min as they drew 1-1 v Rostov.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Gale Agbossoumonde - Djurgarden - Mon Jun 20 - on the bench as they won 3-0 v Syrianska.

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Coming Up:

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Gale Agbossoumonde - Djurgarden - Thu Jun 23 at Orebro
Samuel Petrone - Mjallby - Thu Jun 23 v Syrianska

ENGLAND

Manchester United is finishing up the deal to buy midfielder Ashley Young from Aston Villa.

ITALY

Gabriele Marcotti of Sports Illustrated sees Inter going back to their old wishy washy coaching nightmare carousel ways.
-Isn't that way coaches are always handled in Italian soccer?

ARGENTINA

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