Some News for Mon Aug 29, 2011

BLOW YOUR SPEAKERS OUT, PLEASE

I give you my first musical mix set - Fri Aug 26 2011 - via Spotify. Enjoy. There will be more.

STARTERS

The day has finally come when Jeff Cunningham is the new MLS all time leading goal scorer. He buried a Penalty Kick on Saturday against Seattle for career goal #134 and finally surpassed Jaime Moreno's record. Huge congrats to Cunningham.

dN

The wheels fell off the George John English Premier League bandwagon as he failed to reach a contract agreement with Blackburn and now comes back to FC Dallas with tail between legs looking for his job back. How will this go down?
-Last week head coach Schellas Hyndmann, king of the #butteredleather jacket, said John did not want to be in Dallas!

dN

Michael Bradley is apparently on his way to Italy where he will join the Flying Donkeys of AC Chievo Verona.

dN

The 2 Manchester teams are off to monstrous starts to the new English Premier League season. Both with 9 points from 3 games. Both have given up 3 goals. And Man U has 13 scored goals, while Man City has 12. Wow. Not to mention they each destroyed opponents this weekend who thought they might be contenders for the title this season. Chelsea is the only team who is still looking to be a challenger. (Chel visit MU on 9-18, and host MC on 12-10.)
-The first Manchester derby of the season is Sun Oct 23 at United.

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Down in Spain the two land-levelers known as Real Madrid and Barcelona got their seasons off to 6-0 & 5-0 starts respectively. Yes, they will both be as great as the Manc teams this season.

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Western New York Flash won the WPS championship 5-4 in a Penalty Kick Shootout after the game against Philadelphia Independence ended tied 1-1. Huge congrats to them.

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With Serie A players striking out week 1 of the new season there is no word yet that says week 2 won't be washed out as well.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

2 upcoming friendlies.

Clint Dempsey did not fly to LA due to back spasms, but will join the team for the game in Belgium if he is healthy.

Chris Pontius and Jonathan Spector have been called in to the team to replace the injured Zach Loyd and Heath Pearce.

Fabian Johnson may not be available to play in either of these games as his application to make the switch from the German federation is still in progress.
-US Soccer has words from coach Jurgen Klinsmann on why Johnson was called in even thought he might not be able to suit up.

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Timmy Chandler about finally joining the USA national team again, this time under a new head coach.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
USA v Costa Rica - 10:00pm CT on ESPN2, ESPN3.com and Galavision
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Tue Sep 6
Belgium v USA - 1:30pm CT on ESPN and ESPN3.com
Venue: King Baudouin Stadium - Brussels

dN

ROSTER
G:
Bill Hamid - DC United
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers
Edgar Castillo - America
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Clarence Goodson - Brondby
Zach Loyd - Dallas
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis
Heath Pearce - Chivas USA
Tim Ream - New York Red Bulls
added: Jonathan Spector - Birmingham
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht
Jeff Larentowicz - Colorado Rapids
added: Chris Pontius - DC United
Robbie Rogers - Columbus Crew
Brek Shea - Dallas
Jose Torres - Pachuca
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Jozy Altidore - AZ
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy

FIFA SCANDAL

Mohamed Bin Hammam has appealed his ban from soccer to the International Sports Court of Appeals in Switzerland. It will be interesting to see if they take the case and is so on what grounds.

US OPEN CUP

Semifinals

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 30
Chicago Fire SC v Richmond Kickers - 7:30pm CT
Venue: Toyota Park
Seattle Sounders FC v FC Dallas - 9pm CT
Venue: Starfire Stadium

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 27
Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund - as Dor stumbles again early this season, Lev proved that they were not a fluke last year.
Lyon 2-1 Montpellier - Lyo pulls into 2nd place, just 1 points behind Mon at the top.
-Sun Aug 28
Tottenham 1-5 Manchester City - Tot learns they are not playing in the same league as Man City.
Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal - The red side of Manchester does their total destruction of a supposed contender too.
Lille 3-2 Marseille - last years champs show that they can beat a perennial early this season, so maybe they will fight to repeat.
-Mon Aug 29
Barcelona 5-0 Villarreal - Vil will again NOT challenge for a title.

STAT OF THE DAY

Brad Friedel moved to Tottenham in the offseason to help them solidify there defense, but in 2 games so far this season they have given up 8 goals.
-Of course they have been cursed with playing the killer Manchester cousins in their first two.

WHY?

The English FA Cup has names of rounds even more absurd than the names of their professional divisions. (The country where the 4th division is called League Two. What does that even mean?) Check these out.
-Before we even get to the First Round we have to sit through 6 rounds labeled like this:
Extra Premilinary Round (which took place 9 days ago)
Premilinary Round
First Qualifying Round
Second Qualifying Round
Third Qualifying Round
Fourth Qualifying Round
-theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen-
First Round (which is actually the 7th round)

The 11th round which they call the Fifth Round, is actually the Round of 16.

Confused as to why they insist on doing this? Me too. Although they are English. So there is that.

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

WEEK 24

Matches & Scores:
Seattle Sounders FC 6-2 Columbus Crew - SS goals by Lamar Neagle(3), Mauro Rosales(PK), Mike Fucito & Josh Gardner(OG). CC goals by Jeff Cunningham & Josh Gardner.
Venue: CenturyLink Field
Atten: 36,364
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1-0 Houston Dynamo - VW goal by Shea Salinas.
Venue: Empire Field
Atten: 20,226
Toronto FC 1-1 San Jose Earthquakes - TFC goal by Eric Avila. SJE goal by Chris Wondolowski.
Venue: BMO Field
Atten: 21,117
Sporting Kansas City 2-3 FC Dallas - SKC goals by Kei Kamara & Omar Bravo. FCD goals by Daniel Hernandez, Maicon Santos & Bobby Warshaw.
Venue: LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Atten: 20,018
Chicago Fire SC 2-0 Colorado Rapids - CF goals by Dominic Oduro & Cory Gibbs.
Venue: Toyota Park
Atten: 15,211
CD Chivas USA 0-1 Real Salt Lake - RSL goal by Alvaro Saborio.
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Atten: 14,127

dN

EJECTIONS:
Teal Bunbury - Kansas City - 2 yellow cards
Nat Borchers - Salt Lake - red card

MLS SUPPORTERS SHIELD STANDINGS

51 LA Galaxy (26 GP) (+17 GD)
48 Seattle Sounders FC (27 GP) (+13 GD)
46 FC Dallas (27 GP) (+7 GD)
41 Colorado Rapids (28 GP) (+3 GD)
40 Columbus Crew (26 GP) (+1 GD)
39 Real Salt Lake (24 GP) (+13 GD)
36 Sporting Kansas City (26 GP) (+4 GD)
35 Houston Dynamo (27 GP) (+1 GD)
34 Philadelphia Union (24 GP) (+6 GD)
32 New York Red Bulls (26 GP) (+4 GD)
32 Portland Timbers (26 GP) (-8 GD)
31 DC United (24 GP) (-1 GD)
31 CD Chivas USA (27 GP) (+2 GD)
26 San Jose Earthquakes (26 GP) (-8 GD)
27 Chicago Fire SC (26 GP) (-3 GD)
OUT-24 Toronto FC (28 GP) (-23 GD)
OUT-23 New England Revolution (26 GP) (-13 GD)
OUT-21 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (26 GP) (-15 GD)

The only movement in the entire standings was TFC pulling 1 point above New England.

Any points lost by Chicago or gained by LA will knock Chicago out of the race.

IF THE MLS PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY

The 10 teams:

WEST
1 LA Galaxy
2 Seattle Sounders
3 FC Dallas

EAST
1 Columbus Crew
2 Sporting Kansas City
3 Houston Dynamo

WILD CARD
1 Colorado Rapids
2 Real Salt Lake
3 Philadelphia Union
4 New York Red Bulls

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Steve Davis at Sports Illustrated with five things we learned from Week 24.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Just like THAT its over - Drew Moor just set a new record by playing the full 90 in his 69th consecutive MLS game, but in that game he got his 5th yellow card of the season suspending him for the next game, and WHAMMOOOO the streak has now ended.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

3 red cards in their last 5 home games.

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Aug 28
Chicago Fire SC 0-2 Colorado Rapids - CR goals by Quincy Amirikwa(PK) & Steven Emory.
-Tue Aug 30
Toronto FC v DC United
-Thu Sep 1
Colorado Rapids v Houston Dynamo
-Fri Sep 2
New England Revolution v Toronto FC
-Sat Sep 3
Chivas USA v Vancouver Whitecaps
Portland Timbers v LA Galaxy

dN

Standings Etc.

MLS EXHIBITION GAMES

Darrell Lovell of MLSsoccer.com looks ahead to the Houston v Monterrey match.

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Sep 4
Houston Dynamo v Monterrey (Mexico)
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

Seven MLS stadiums join forces to become concert promoters: Crew Stadium, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Pizza Hut Park, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, PPL Park, JELD-WEN Field and BC Place.
-AEG has competition within their own circle!

NASL NEWS

Perfect weekend for the French Canadians.

Tons of playoff implications from the weekends results, and all of them very positive for Montreal, as the Impact win moves them to 3 points from the last playoff spot, while the last 3 teams in those spots all lost.

dN

5 games left in the regular season.

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

August (6 games) was a miserable month for the Stars, as they won the first game then went very downhill from that point on. Earning only 4 out of 18 points.
A H A A A H
W L L D L L - 1-4-1 (W-L-T)
3 0 0 1 0 0 - 4 (GF)
1 1 2 1 2 2 - 9 (GA)

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 27
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0-2 FC Tampa BayFCTB goals by Aaron King & Mike Ambersley.
Atlanta Silverbacks 2-4 Carolina RailHawks - AS goals by Willie Hunt & Raphael Cox. CR goals by Etiene Barbara(3, 2 via PK) & Tony McManus.
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-2 FC EdmontonPRI goals by Nicolas Addlery, Jonathan Fana & Jay Needham. FCE goals by Shaun Saiko & Kyle Porter.
NSC Minnesota Stars 0-2 Montreal Impact - MI goals both by Sinisa Ubiparipovic.
-Tue Aug 30
Puerto Rico Islanders v FC Edmonton

dN

Standings (as of Sat Aug 27):
*51 Carolina RailHawks (+26 GD) (23 GP)
*44 Puerto Rico Islanders (+9 GD) (23 GP)
34 FC Tampa Bay (+5 GD) (23 GP)
29 NSC Minnesota Stars (-2 GD) (23 GP)
29 FC Edmonton (-5 GD) (23 GP)
28 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (-2 GD) (23 GP)
- - - OUT OF PLAYOFFS - - -
25 Montreal Impact (+2 GD) (23 GP)
#12 Atlanta Silverbacks (-33 GD) (23 GP)

*Secured playoff birth
#Elimindated from playoff birth

USL PRO NEWS

It will be Orlando v Harrisburg for the championship on Saturday.

Final
-Sat Sep 3
Orlando City SC v Harrisburg City Islanders - 6pm on FOX Soccer
Venue: Florida Citrus Bowl

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Clint Dempsey got another goal for Fulham, but in league play they have only 1 point from their first 3 games.

dN

Robbie Findley got his very first goal in the English Championship Division, which is pretty cool, even though they lost badly.

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Josh Gatt scored a goal for Molde in the 1st minute of the game.

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Conor O'Brien got his debut goal for SonderjyskE in Denmark as they won big on the road.

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Brad Rusin, the frost goon, got his second goal for Koge in Denmark, alas in a losing effort.

dN

Zak Whitbread continued his long injury curse with a hamstring injury during their game at Chelsea.

dN

Game Action:

BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - started and was subbed off in the 90th min as they drew 1-1 at Club Brugge.

BELGIUM - Second Division
Devann Yao - Boussu Dour Borinage - started but got a red card as they lost 2-1

DENMARK - Superliga
Clarence Goodson - Brondy - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at Midtjylland.
Conor O'Brien - SonderjyskE - started and played 86 min scoring a goal as they won 2-4 at Odense
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - went the distance as they won 4-0 v Lyngby.
Chris Rolfe - AaB - started and went 67 min as they rolled to a 1-4 win at Koge.
Brad Rusin - HB Koge - played the whole game and scored a goal but lost 1-4 v AaB.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the whole game scoring a goal but losing 2-1 at Newcastle.
Brad Friedel - Tottenham - went the distance but got shelled in a loss 1-5 v Manchester City.
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench for a scoreless game v Wolverhampton.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 as they won 0-1 at Blackburn.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - started but only playe 30 min due to injury as they lost 3-1 at Chelsea.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - played the full match scoring a goal but losing 1-4 v West Ham.
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - went the full 90 as they drew 2-2 at Watford.

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Brentford - came on as a sub in the 65th min but lost 0-2 v Tranmere.
Anton Peterlin - Wallsall - on the bench as they won 0-2 at Bournemouth.

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga
Giuseppe Funicello - Mariehamn - on the bench as they lost 2-0 at Honka.
Etchu Tabe - RoPS - went the distance for a 0-0 draw v VPS.
Mason Trafford - Mariehamn - played the full 90 as they lost 2-0 at Honka.
Josh Wicks - Mariehamn - went the full 90 as they lost 2-0 at Honka.

FINLAND - Ykkonen
Kyle Luetkehans - PS Kemi Kings - went the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Espoo.
Dan Stevens - PS Kemi Kings - played the whole game as they drew 1-1 at Espoo.
Jeremy Vuolo - AC Oulu - played the entire game as they won 1-3 at HIFK.
Kellan Wilson - HIFK - came on as a sub in the 21 min but lost 1-3 v Oulu.

FRANCE - Ligue 1
Quentin Westberg - Evian - on the bench as they lost 0-1 v Dijon.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - played the entire game as they won 1-0 v Augsburg.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full match as they drew 1-1 v Mainz.
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - went the distance but lost 1-2 v Werder Bermen.
Daniel Williams - Freiburg - on the bench as they won 3-0 v Wolfsburg.
David Yelldell - Bayer Leverkusen - on the bench

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - started and went 61 min as they won 3-1 v Hansa Rostock.
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - on the bench as they lost 0-4 v FSV Frankfurt.
Matt Taylor - Paderborn - on the bench as they drew 0-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bobby Wood - 1860 Munich - on the bench as they won 3-1 v Union Berlin.

ISRAEL - Ligat Al
Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona - played the entire match but lost 1-3 v Maccabi Netanya.
Leo Krupnik - Maccabi Netanya - played the whole game as they won 1-3 at Ironi Kiryat Shmona.

NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Jozy Altidore - AZ Alkmaar - started and went 76 min getting a yellow card as they won 0-3 at Groningen.

NETHERLANDS - Eerste Divisie
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - played the entire match but lost 0-1 v Eindhoven.

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Joe Bendik - Sogndal - on the bench as they won 0-3 at Lillestrom.
Sean Cunningham - Molde - on the bench as they won 1-3 at Aalesund.
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - played the whole game but lost 1-0 at Viking.
Josh Gatt - Molde - went the full 90 scoring a goal as they won 1-3 at Aalesund.

NORWAY - 1 Divisjon
Jonathan Borrajo - Hamarkameratene - went the full 90 scoring a goal as they won 1-2 at Ranheim.
Colin Burns - Sandefjord - on the bench as they won 1-2 at Lov-Ham.
Steve Clark - Honefoss - went the distance as they won 1-4 at Alta.
Kyle Helton - Mjondalen - played the whole game as theyw on 0-1 at Nybergsund.

PORTUGAL - Primeira Liga
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting - on the bench as they lost 2-3 v Maritimo.
Alex Zahavi - Vitoria Setubal - Mon Aug 29 v Braga

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Alejandro Bedoya - Rangers - came on as a sub in the 69th min as they won 2-0 v Aberdeen.
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers - went the full 90 as they won 2-0 v Aberdeen.
Mo Edu - Rangers - went the full 90 as they won 2-0 v Aberdeen.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - came on as a sub in the 88th min as they won 0-1 at Trellborg.

SWEDEN - Superettan
Lester Dewee - Angelholms - Mon Aug 29 v Falkenberg
Brian Edwards - Degerfors - in goal for the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Ljungskile.
Nick Noble - Ljungskile - went the distance as they won 1-0 v Degerfors.
Matt Pyzdrowski - Angelholms - Mon Aug 29 v Falkenberg
Michael Thomas - Ljungskile - played the entire match as they won 1-0 v Degerfors.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - played the entire game as they drew 0-0 at Morelia.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they won 0-1 at Atlas.
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - went the distance as they drew 1-1 v Queretaro.
Edgar Castillo - America -played the whole game but lost 2-0 at Pachuca.
Herculez Gomez - Estudiantes Tecos - came on as a sub in the 74 min but lost 2-1 at Atlante.
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - played the full 90 as they won 2-0 v Guadalajara.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - started and went 84 min getting a yellow card as they won 2-0 v America.

LIGA DE ASCENSO (2nd division)
Marco Vidal - Leon - played the full 90 getting a yellow card as they won 1-2 at Lobos BUAP.

ENGLAND

Jacob Steinberg & Ian McCourt if the Guardian with five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

SPAIN

After a 1 week delay due to a strike we got the opening round of the new La Liga season.

Sid Lowe of the Guardian says that despite all the money they spent Malaga looked just like Malaga, and the rest of the weekend in La Liga. Barcelona hosts Villarreal today.

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 27
Sporting Gijon 1-2 Real Sociedad
Valencia 4-3 Racing Santander
Granada 0-1 Real Betis
-Sun Aug 28
Atletico Madrid 0-0 Osasuna
Athletic Club Bilbao 1-1 Rayo Vallecano
Mallorca 1-0 Espanyol
Getafe 1-1 Levante
Real Zaragoza 0-6 Real Madrid
Sevilla 2-1 Malaga
-Mon Aug 29
Barcelona 5-0 Villarreal

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian sees Leverkusen and Dortmund headed toward the brawn over brilliance of English soccer, and the rest of the weekend in the Bundesliga.

ITALY

Serie A players blew off the first round of the new season with a strike over the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement. They were in this same position when last season kicked off and have given the owners plenty of time to negotiate in good faith. Now they strike.

SOUTH AMERICA

Special Home & Home Friendly Series:
-Wed Sep 14
Argentina v Brazil
-Wed Sep 28
Brazil v Argentina

BRAZIL

Recap du Nord: The race got even tighter this round but no one changed spots in the standings as #1 Corinthians lost, while #2 Flamengo, #3 Sao Paulo & #4 Vasco all tied. #5 Botafogo are the ones who cranked up the pressure with a win making them only 3 points out of first place. Nice.

Vasco head coach Ricardo Gomes suffered a stroke during their game this weekend and is in serious condition.

Brazil - Serie A Standings (19 of 38 games played):
37 Corinthians - LAST: Sun Aug 29 L 2-1 at Palmeiras - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Gremio
36 Flamengo - LAST: Sun Aug 29 D 0-0 v Vasco da Gama - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 at Avai
35 Sao Paulo (+7 GD) - LAST: Sun Aug 29 D 1-1 at Santos - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Fluminense
35 Vasco (+5 GD) - LAST: Sun Aug 29 D 0-0 at Flamengo - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Ceara
34 Botafogo - LAST: Sat Aug 28 W 1-2 at Fluminense - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Palmeiras

GRATUITOUS DIEGO FORLAN SHOUT OUT

Forlan has left Atletico Madrid to go weat the blue and black stripes of Inter Milan.

ENDERS

The UFC 185 pound champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva of Brazil won his mixed martial arts fight on Saturday night against , and who has defended his title 9 times in a row now, was asked after the fight if there is anyone out there who could challenge him, to which he replied, "My clone."
























Silva and his whole crew entered the ring again wearing Corinthians jerseys, cuz that's his fave team. He is also managed by my man O Fenomeno's company 9ine.