Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Some News for Tue Jul 5, 2011

STARTERS

Team USA announced two friendly matches today: Fri Sep 2 v Costa Rica at the Home Depot Center in Carson CA, and Tue Sep 6 at Belgium in King Badouin Stadium, Brussels.

dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Timothy Chandler about not playing for the USA in the Gold Cup, and the upcoming Bundesliga season at Nurnberg.

STORY OF THE DAY

Police in Turkey executed raids all around the country arresting at least 19 people on charges of match fixing, including the chairman of Fenerbahce who won the title just a few weeks ago.
-Daren Butler of Reuters has a full report.
-Player Mehmet Yildiz of Eskisehirspor was also picked up.

TEAM USA AT THE 2011 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP

Germany 2011 is under way.

With a second win in the books the USA is assured of a place in the knock out rounds, and the game against Sweden on Wednesday will determine which of them gets the 1st seed. The USA only needs a tie to ensure that. (The 2nd see will most likely get a match with Brazil in the next round.)

The highlight of the win over Colombia came after Megan Rapinoe scored a great goal. She ran to the corner of the field to celebrate, found a giant fuzzy microphone, picked it up and sand "Born in the USA." Truly excellent. See the video here.

US Soccer gives us a preview of the game against the Swedes.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 28
USA 2-0 N Korea - USA goals by Lauren Cheney & Rachel Buehler.
-Sat Jul 2
USA 3-0 Colombia - USA goals by Heather O'Reilly, Megan Rapinoe & Carli Lloyd.
-Wed Jul 6
USA v Sweden - 1:45pm CT on ESPN and ESPN3.com

Group C
ADV-6 USA (+5)
ADV-6 Sweden (+2)
OUT-0 North Korea (-3)
OUT-0 Colombia (-4)

Read coverage by Jerrod Roh (U of M Women's asst coach) at IMSoccer News.

COPA AMERICA

The 2011 South American championship is being hosted by Argentina.

All games live on You Tube.

dN

Of the first 6 games played, 4 ended tied. The two losers were the 2 CONCACAF teams.

Both Argentina and Brazil really struggled.

There are no games being played on Tuesday.

Tim Vickery of the BBC tells us what he saw in the first round of the Group Stage.

dN

Group Stage

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 1
Argentina 1-1 Bolivia - Arg goal by Kun Aguero. Bol goal by Edvaldo Rojas.
-Sat Jul 2
Colombia 1-0 Costa Rica - Col goal by Adrian Ramos.
-Sun Jul 3
Brazil 0-0 Venezuela
Paraguay 0-0 Ecuador
-Mon Jul 4
Uruguay 1-1 Peru - Uru goal by Luis Suarez. Per goal by Paolo Guerreo.
Chile 2-1 Mexico - Chi goals by Esteban Paredes & Arturo Vidal. Mex goal by Nestor Araujo.
-Wed Jul 6
Argentina v Colombia - 7:45pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
-Thu Jul 7
Bolivia v Costa Rica - 5:15pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
-Fri Jul 8
Chile v Uruguay - 5:15pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
Mexico v Peru - 7:45pm CT on Univision and YouTube
-Sat Jul 9
Brazil v Paraguay - 2:00pm CT on Univision and YouTube
Venezuela v Ecuador - 4:30 pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
-Sun Jul 10
Colombia v Bolivia - 2:00pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
-Mon Jul 11
Argentina v Costa Rica - 7:45pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
-Tue Jul 12
Chile v Peru - 5:15pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
Uruguay v Mexico - 7:45pm CT on Univision and YouTube
-Wed Jul 13
Paraguay v Venezuela - 5:15pm CT on TeleFutura and YouTube
Brazil v Ecuador - 7:45pm CT on TeleFutura

dN

Standings:
GROUP A
3 Colombia (+1)
1 Argentina (0)
1 Bolivia (0)
0 Costa Rica (-1)
GROUP B
1 Brazil (0)
1 Ecuador (0)
1 Paraguay (0)
1 Venezuela (0)
GROUP C
3 Chile (+1)
1 Peru (0)
1 Uruguay (0)
0 Mexico (-1)

The top 2 from each group and the next best 2 advance to the Quarterfinals.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Has the USA men's national soccer team hit a plateau?

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated does his best to answer that question.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Despite reports that American Thomas DiBenedetto had bought Roma back in April, the deal is still not done.

FACT OF THE DAY

Well done SJE staff! It was just awesome to see the San Jose Earthquakes play a home game at Stanford Stadium and put over 41,000 in the seats. It looked and sounded like a real professional game!

PICTURE OF THE DAY

The LA Galaxy and their new Black uniforms with Gold trim.

















Attn Columbus Crew: The above shirt contains the color Gold, not Yellow like your "Gold" shirts.

WHY?

I still don't get it even though I have heard it rationalized twice: Real Salt Lake retired the jersey of their first ever player and now head coach Jason Kreis.

He wore #9, and they have now taken the number out of circulation.

This is year seven for the team, all time.

I know he was the first player they ever had, and he is special to the team and its ownership etc etc.

But really? They say it was about his whole career.

Yes he was very good. But he wasn't that great.

Weird.

WHAT???

Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun says Toronto FC are flying high and ready to put the hurt on the New York Red Bulls this week. His proof? There two wins over Vancouver last week. You mean the only team in the league worse than TFC right now? Oh, OK.
-He also sights the signing of two Designated Players, but they won't be able to play until after the summer transfer window opens.
-Every time people get excited about TFC they forget that the team has not addressed their terrible defense since the day the team began. Just a revolving door of projects, has-beens, and never-weres.

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 2-2 Philadelphia Union - DC goals by Josh Wolff &
Andy Najar. PU goals by Perry Kitchen(OG) & Carlos Ruiz.
Venue: RFK Stadium
Attendance: 13,365
FC Dallas 2-0 Columbus Crew - FCD goals by Brek Shea & Jackson.
Venue: Pizza Hut Park
Attendance: 20,704
CD Chivas USA 1-1 Chicago Fire SC - CUSA goal by Nikc LaBrocca.
CF goal by Dominic Oduro.
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Attendance: 15,152
San Jose Earthquakes 2-2 New York Red Bulls - SJE goals by Kari
Stephenson & Steven Lenhart. NYRB goals both by Joel Lindpere.
Venue: Stanford Stadium
Attendance: 41,028
Portland Timbers 1-2 Sporting Kansas City - PT goal by
Darlington Nagbe. SKC goals by CJ Sapong & Aurelien Collin.
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
Attendance: 18,627
-Sun Jul 3
Colorado Rapids 0-0 Houston Dynamo
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Attendance: 18,203
-Mon Jul 4
Real Salt Lake 3-3 New England Revolution - RSL goals by Will Johnson, Alvaro Saborio(2) & Fabian Espindola. NER goals by Rajko Lekic(PK), Chris Tierney & Shalrie Joseph.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
Attendance: 16,
LA Galaxy 0-0 Seattle Sounders FC - 9:30PM CT on ESPN2/ESPN Deportes
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Attendance: 27,000

Week 17 - comin' up!

Matches & Scores
-Wednesday, July 6, 2011
New York Red Bulls v Toronto FC - 7:00PM CT on Direct Kick and TSN
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Sporting Kansas City v Colorado Rapids - 7:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Columbus Crew - 9:00PM CT on Direct Kick and TSN
Venue: Empire Field
CD Chivas USA v San Jose Earthquakes - 9:30PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: The Home Depot Center

dN

EJECTIONS:
Bobby Burling - San Jose - 2 yellows
Andy Iro - Columbus - 2 yellows
Quincy Amarikwa - Colorado - 2 yellows
Nat Borchers - Salt Lake - red card
Ryan Cochrane - New England - 2 yellows

dN

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

WESTERN CONFERENCE
36 LA Galaxy (+10 GD) (20 GP)
34 FC Dallas (+9 GD) (18 GP)
32 Seattle Sounders FC (+7 GD) (20 GP)
27 Real Salt Lake (+9 GD) (16 GP)
23 Colorado Rapids (-2 GD) (18 GP)
21 San Jose Earthquakes (+3 GD) (16 GP)
18 Portland Timbers (-9 GD) (16 GP)
18 CD Chivas USA (-1 GD) (17 GP)
14 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-7 GD) (18 GP)

MY THOUGHTS

Some video highlights of things I really liked:
-Darlington Nagbe's insane goal for Portland! Wow!
-Great delivery from Steven Beitashour and header by Steven Lenhart for a San Jose goal.
-Brilliant first touch and quick shot for a goal by Nick Labrocca of Colorado.
-Andy Najar of DC scores from long range after dribbling from midfield.
-Brian Perk saved a penalty in his MLS debut for the Galaxy.

dN

I have never done this before, but the first half of the season is over and if I had to pick a best 11 this would be it:
Davide Chiumiento
Aurelien Collin
Brad Davis
Landon Donovan
Omar Gonzalez
Thierry Henry
Osvaldo Alonso
Faryd Mondragon
Drew Moor
Brek Shea
Carlos Valdes
-Who you got?

dN

See the full du Nord review of the first half of the season right here.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

New York midfielder Joel Lindpere has been named the MLS Player of the Week.

dN

Avi Creditor of Sports Illustrated with three thoughts from the weekend past.

FC DALLAS

Jackson has scored in 3 consecutive games. And in a match of "I can top that," Brek Shea has scored in 4 consecutive games. That's how you win. A lot.

DC UNITED

Fullback Jed Zayner had surgery to repair a torn meniscus. He will be out approx 6 weeks.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

SKC acquired the rights to 18 year old forward Soony Saad who left college this spring seeking a pro career. MLS used a weighted lottery to disperse his rights. I have no idea how the lottery was set up. He is predicted to be a talent.
-Saad scord 19 goals in his one season at the University of Michigan.

dN

Charles Gooch of the Star with 11 Things Sporting KC fans should know.

TORONTO FC

Kurtis Larson of the Sun hands out midseason grades to TFC players.
-What grade should the coach get? I say "Incomplete." He needs a full season to be graded.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province talks to John Thorrington who feels that despite his on going string of injuries he can still help the Caps improve.

dN

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun on the Caps long and grinding losing season.

MLS/USA & RELATED RUMORS

Today's ridiculous name in the hopper: Ludovic Giuly

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

DC and Chicago both had big scoring wins, while Seattle simply goes to 6-0-0.

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jul 3
DC United 4-1 Philadelphia Union - DCU goals by Stephen King, Kurt Morsink & Joseph Ngwenya(2 - 1 via PK). PU goal by Darius Madison.
-Mon Jul 5
Chicago Fire SC 5-0 FC Dallas - CF goals by Cristian Nazarit(3) & Orr Barouch(2 - 1 via PK).
LA Galaxy 1-2 Seattle Sounders FC - LAG goal by Adam Cristman. SS goals by Nate Jaqua & Lamar Neagle(PK).
-Tue Jul 6
New York Red Bulls v Toronto FC

dN

Standings Etc.

IF THE MLS PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY

10 teams will make the playoffs this year, the top 3 from the East and West, and the next best 4.

EAST
1 Philadelphia
2 New York
3 Columbus

WEST
1 LA
2 Dallas
3 Seattle

WILD CARDS
1 Salt Lake
2 Colorado
3 San Jose
4 Kansas City

MLS OFFENSIVE STATS LEADERS

As of Tue Jul 5

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

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

NORTH AMERICA SUMMER CLUB FRIENDLY SCHEDULE

Here are big friendlies this summer around North America featuring mainly European teams in their preseason.

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 7
Portland Timbers v Club America (Mexico)
Venue: JELD-WEN Field - Portland OR

NASL NEWS

At the exact midway point of the season, all teams have played 14 of 28 games, the league divides up pretty obviously:
-Carolina - the elite
-Edmonton - the huge surprise success
-Puerto Rico, Minnesota, Ft Lauderdale & Tampa - fairly even
-Montreal - the big surprise flop
-Atlanta - the smell

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jul 3
Carolina RailHawks 2-0 Montreal Impact - CRH goals by Pablo Campos & Nick Zimmerman.
-Mon Jul 4
Atlanta Silverbacks 3-4 Puerto Rico Islanders - AS goals by Ciaran O'Brien(2 PKs) & Junior Sandoval. PRI goals by Aaron Pitchkolan, Matt Bourace, David Foley(PK) & Jonathan Fana.
FC Tampa Bay 4-2 Fort Lauderdale Strikers - TB goals by Andres Arango, PAscal Millien, Aaron King & Mike Ambersley. FLS goals by Eduardo Coudet(PK) & Mike Palacio.
NSC Minnesota Stars 1-1 FC Edmonton - NMS goal by Devin Del Do. FCE goal by Alex Surprenant.

dN

Standings (as of Mon Jul 4):
37 Carolina RailHawks (+22 GD) (14 GP) 2.64 PPG
24 FC Edmonton (+3 GD) (14 GP) 1.71 PPG
22 Puerto Rico Islanders (0 GD) (14 GP) 1.57 PPG
19 NSC Minnesota Stars (+2 GD) (14 GP) 1.36 PPG
17 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (0 GD) (14 GP) 1.21 PPG
17 FC Tampa Bay (-4 GD) (14 GP) 1.21 PPG
10 Montreal Impact (-4 GD) (14 GP) 0.71 PPG
5 Atlanta Silverbacks (-19 GD) (14 GP) 0.36 PPG

TEAM USA

Brian Straus at Sporting News puts it like this - firing Bob Bradley won't fix anything.

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

Quarterfinals

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jul 3
Uruguay 2-0 Uzbekistan - Uru goals by Santiago Charamoni & Rodrigo Aguirre.
Japan 2-3 Brazil - Jap goals by Shoya Nakajima & Fumiya Hayakawa. Bra goals by Leo, Ademilson & Adryan.
-Mon Jul 4
Germany 3-2 England - Ger goals by Samed Yesil(2) & Kaan Ayhan. Eng goals by Samuel Magri(PK) & Hallam Hope.
France 1-2 Mexico - Fra goal by Jordan Ikoko. Mex goals by Kevin Escamilla & Carlos Fierro.

dN

Semifinals

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 7
Uruguay v Brazil - 3 pm CT
Germany v Mexico - 6pm CT

dN

Final

Match & Score:
-Sun Jul 10
Championship Game - 6pm CT

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Josh Gatt of Molde suffered a foot injury that will keep him out 3 weeks or so. They feared worse, but the team's website confirms the relief. (In Norwegian)

dN

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com reports that David Yelldell has signed at Bayer Leverkusen as a back up goalkeeper.

dN

Game Action:

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Joe Bendik - Sogndal - Sun Jul 3 - on the bench as they drew 1-1 at Start.
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Sun Jul 3 - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at Brann.
Josh Gatt - Molde - Sun Jul 3 - started but went out injured in the 43rd min as they rolled to a 5-2 victory v Aalesund.

NORWAY - 1 Divisjon
Colin Burns - Sandefjord - Sun Jul 3 - warmed the bench as they won 2-1 v Lov-Kam.
Steve Clark - Honefoss - Sun Jul 3 - went the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Sandnes Ulf.
Kyle Helton - Mjondalen - Sun Jul 3 - came on in the 85th min of a 0-0 tie v Bryne.
Kenneth Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Sun Jul 3 - came on as a sub in the 59th min but lost 1-0 at Sandnes Ulf.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Gale Agbossoumonde - Djurgarden - Mon Jul 4 - on the bench for a 1-1 tie v Helsingborg.
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Sun Jul 3 - played the full 90 getting a yellow card and lost 0-3 v Elfsborg.
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - Sun Jul 3 - went the full 90 but lost 1-3 v AIK.
Samuel Petrone - Mjallby - Sun Jul 3 - on the bench for a 6-0 loss at Hacken.

SWEDEN - Superettan
Nick Noble - Ljungskile - Sat Jul 2 - played the entire match as they drew 1-1 at Angelholm.
Matt Pyzdrowski - Angelholms - Sat Jul 2 - went the full 90 in a 1-1 tie v Ljungskile.
Michael Thomas - Ljungskile - Sat Jul 2 - played the whole game as they drew 1-1 at Angelholms.

CANADA

Canadian Championship

Final
2nd Leg (1st Leg scored included)
-Sat Jul 2
Toronto FC 2-1 Vancover Whitecaps TFC advances 3-2 on aggregate - TFC goals by Jaoa Plata(PK) & Mikael Yourassowsky. VW goal by Camillo.

Toronto FC advances to the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League.

CONCACAF 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Preliminary Round

Here are 5 matchups between the 10 lowest rated teams in the region. The 5 winners will advance to join the next 19 highest rated teams in a six, four team group stage.

Bahamas and US Virgin Islands both got 1st Leg victories this weekend.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Jul 2
Turks & Caicos Islands 0-4 Bahamas - Bah goals by Nesley Jean(2), Cameron Hepple & Jackner Louis.
-Sun Jul 3
US Virgin Islands 2-0 British Virgin Islands - USVI goals by Alderman Lesmond & Reid Klopp.

-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 (4-0)
-Sun Jul 10
British Virgin Islands v US Virgin Islands (0-2)
Dominican Republic v Anguilla (-)
-Tue Jul 12
St. Luca v Aruba (-)
-TBD
Belize v Montserrat (5-2)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

First Preliminary Round 2nd Leg matches will go down on Thu Jul 7.

ASIA

dN

AFC 2014 World Cup Qualifying

The 16 lowest rated teams paired up to face off in a home and away series.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Sun Jul 3
Chinese Taipei 3-2 Malaysia - series ends tied 4-4 and Mal advances 2-1 on the away goals tie breaker.
Pakistan 0-0 Bangladesh - Ban advances 3-0 on aggregate.
Laos 6-2 Cambodia - Lao advances 8-6 on aggregate.
Philippines 4-0 Sri Lanka - Phi advances 4-1 on aggregate.
Palestine 1-1 Afghanistan - Pal advances 3-1 on aggregate.
Macau 1-7 Vietnam - Vie advances 13-1 on aggregate.
Timor Leste 0-5 Nepal - Nep advances 7-1 on aggregate.
Myanmar 2-1 Mongolia - Mya advances 2-1 on aggregate.

The 8 winners advanced to be paired off with the next 22 lowest ranked teams for another home and away series

Then those 15 winners will meet up with the 5 highest seeds and formed into a group stage competition.

SEPP BLATTER ODDITIES

Sepp loves him some murderin' tyrants!
-The Guardian tells us about Blatters trip to Zimbabwe to meet with Robert Mugabe and give him $1.5million for "soccer." (Thanks to Jay for the link)

ENDERS

Do you want to know what scares the crap out of me? Its how often I agree with the opinions of Paul Gardner.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Newer Posts Older Posts