Some News for Wed Aug 31, 2011

STARTERS

Very bad injury news for Eric Lichaj who suffered a torn labrum (part of the hip) and depending on the severity or need for surgery he could be out until January at worst.

dN

A very interesting note on the day long frenzy on the closing of the international transfer window today: as much as the American soccersphere waited/anticipated for a Clint Dempsey move, the English press never even hinted that there was going to be one. Interesting.

dN

Rumor: USA to host Ecuador on Oct Tue 11 in the New York-New England zone.

US OPEN CUP

Experience pays off big time!

It will be 2 time defending champ Seattle hosting 4 time winner Chicago for the 2011 Open Cup championship.

SEMIFINALS
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 30
Chicago Fire SC 2-1 Richmond Kickers - CF goals by Sebastian Grazzini & Dominic Oduro. RK goal by William Yombi.
Venue: Toyota Park
Atten: 8,909
Match report by Charlie Coor of ESPN.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Orrin Schwarz of Chicago'd Daily Herald.
Seattle Sounders FC 1-0 FC Dallas - SS goal by Fredy Montero.
Venue: Starfire Stadium
Atten: 4,593
Player & coach quotes by Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times.
Match report by Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune.

dN

FINAL
-Tue Oct 4
Seattle Sounders FC v Chicago Fire SC - 9pm CT on Fox Soccer
Venue: Century Link Field

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

2 upcoming friendlies.

US Soccer gives us all the pre-game notes we could ever want for USA v Costa Rica.

US Soccer gives us a picture of the new kid - Fabian Johnson:
























US Soccer has Tim Howard answer viewer Tweets.

US Soccer does a Q & A with Timothy Chandler.

The game on Friday will be the first for Costa Rican interim head coach Ronald Gonzalez.

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

**Only for game in Belgium
%%FIFA has not cleared him to play for the USA yet

dN

Keyvan Antonio Heydari of the New York Times does a Q & A with Honduras head coach Luis Fernando Suarez, and one of the questions is about Klinsmann.

STORY OF THE DAY

The AP takes a look at what has already been a long 7 year pro career and full roller coaster ride for Freddy Adu. Via Fox.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Does this spell the end for the current San Jose Earthquakes technical staff?

Newest signing Edmundo Zura had his contract terminated less than 2 weeks after joining the team because he was so out of shape that he could not help the team down the stretch run this season.
-Official announcement.

He was signed on a loan deal from El Nacional in Ecuador, but only played 20 minutes total for the Quakes.

One clue that might have given SJE cause for concern is that this was his 4th loan deal in the last 7 seasons. To my way of thinking if a player has value then loan deals turn into transfers, but continuous loan deals mean the team who owns him is doing everything they can to get rid of him.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Fox (proper) will show Manchester United v Chelsea on Sun Sep 18 via tape delay after their NFL coverage.
-The game will also be shown live earlier on Fox Soccer.

Fox will do this a few more times throughout the NFL/EPL season.

FACT OF THE DAY

LA Galaxy can clinch a playoff spot with a win on the road against Sporting Kansas City on Mon Sep 5.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Dueling Mazes! Dueling Mazes! Dueling Mazes! Dueling Mazes! Dueling Mazes!

Yesterday we showed you the Portland Timbers corn maze:















And today we get the Sporting Kansas City corn maze:














Both awesome, but there is a small problem here, the KC maze was done in photoshop.

Timbers win!

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

WEEK 25

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 3
Real Salt Lake v Philadelphia Union - 8:00PM CT on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
-Mon Sep 5
Sporting Kansas City v LA Galaxy - 4:00PM CT on FOX Soccer
Venue: LIVESTRONG Sporting Park

HEY THERE BUDDY, HOW MANY MLS WINS YOU GOT?

14 LA
13 Dallas
13 Seattle
11 Columbus
11 Salt Lake
10 Colorado
9 Kansas City
9 Portland
8 Houston
8 Philadelphia
7 Chivas
7 DC
6 New York
5 San Jose
4 Chicago
4 New England
4 Toronto
4 Vancouver

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

CHICAGO FIRE

Sebastian Grazzini was pulled from the Open Cup game due to a hamstring injury. No report on severity yet?

DC UNITED

Keyvan Antonio Heydari of the New York Times does a Q & A with Honduras head coach Luis Fernando Suarez who says dealing with DCU concerning Andy Najar has not been easy.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star with the latest 11 most important SKC questions.

dN

Gooch also marks the 5th anniversary of the teams current owners taking control.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The Revs hand us photos and videos of pro golfer Sergio Garcia training with the New Englanders.
-I hear he has an ownership stake in a low low lower division team in Spain.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Jonathan Crowl of the Willamette Weekly with a deep look at the true power & controversy created by that power of the Timbers hardcore fanbase - The Army.
-Ooooooooh I can see this one causing quite a stir among the cognoscenti.

REAL SALT LAKE

RSL is now expecting to have Javier Morales back on the field Oct 1, about 2 weeks ahead of schedule.

dN

Nathan Miller of the Universe from BYU looks at RSL's popularity compared to the NBA's Utah Jazz. Its still not close.
-On the other hand MLS is 16 years old with RSL being 7, while the NBA is 65 years old with the UJ being 32.
-It was not that many years ago that NBA players got paid what MLS players get paid now. And the world wide appeal of soccer devours that of basketball (which is relatively strong), so the growth potential is exponentially more in soccer.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

The Caps released fullback Wes Knight who had been one of their very best players in the 2nd division.

dN

Kimiya Shokoohi of the Courier looks at the team's most fervent supporters.

MLS OFFENSIVE STATS LEADERS

As of Wed Aug 31

Goals:
12 Thierry Henry
11 Landon Donovan
10 Eric Hassli
10 Brek Shea
9 Dwayne De Rosario
9 Dominic Oduro
9 Chris Wondolowski
8 Camilo
8 Charlie Davies
8 Kei Kamara
8 Andres Mendoza
8 Maicon Santos

Assists:
13 Brad Davis
11 David Beckham
9 Mauro Rosales
8 Davide Chiumiento
8 Dwayne De Rosario
8 Jack Jewsbury
8 Sebastien Le Toux
7 Kyle Beckerman
7 Fredy Montero
7 Dane Richards

MLS/SUM BUSINESS

Soccer America examines league wide 2011 attendance through last weekends games.
-Overall attendance is up 1400 per game, but for some team's it is down:
Chicago -1800
Chivas -170
Columbus -3360
Houston -520
New England -460
Philadelphia -945
Salt Lake -225
Toronto -275

Chicago and Columbus are the two teams with a problem. Where as Philly does not because last year they played a few high profile games in the much bigger Lincoln Field so their numbers were skewed.

MLS EXPANSION

The St Paul Pioneer Press with a few words on a MLS team for Minneapolis. LINK FIXED

NASL NEWS

Huge game coming up this weekend with Ft Laurderdale hosting Montreal, and if the visitors win they would move into the final playoff spot bumping the Strikers out with only 4 games left to play.

dN

The rich get richer as Carolina acquires defender Tyler Lassiter on a loan deal from New York Red Bulls.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 30
Puerto Rico Islanders 1-1 FC Edmonton - PRI goal by Jonathan Fana. FCE goal by Michael Cox.
-Sat Sep 3
Carolina RailHawks v FC Tampa Bay
Atlanta Silverbacks v Puerto Rico Islanders
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v Montreal Impact
FC Edmonton v NSC Minnesota Stars

dN

Standings (as of Sat Aug 27):
*51 Carolina RailHawks (+26 GD) (23 GP)
*45 Puerto Rico Islanders (+9 GD) (24 GP)
34 FC Tampa Bay (+5 GD) (23 GP)
30 FC Edmonton (-5 GD) (24 GP)
29 NSC Minnesota Stars (-2 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 berth
#Eliminated from playoff berth

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Chievo gives us a Michael Bradley introductory video. In English with Italian subtitles.

dN

American Villyan Bijev has been officially signed by Liverpool, then immediately loaned out to Fortuna Dusseldorf of the German Bundesliga 2.

CENTRAL AMERICA

Honduras's star defensive midfielder Wilson Palacios has left Tottenham and signed with Stoke, both in England.

dN

And Costa Rica's big time striker Bryan Ruiz has changed teams too, leaving Twente in Holland to sign with Fulham in England.

CONCACAF 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Grenada v Belize
Trinidad & Tobago v Bermuda
Dominica v Nicaragua
Suriname v Cayman Islands
Antigua & Barbuda v Curacao
Haiti v US Virgin Islands
Guyana v Barbados
El Salvador v Dominican Republic
Canada v St. Lucia
St. Kitts & Nevis v Puerto Rico
Guatemala v St. Vincent/Grenadines

ENGLAND

For those addicted for the last hours of the summer transfer period, the Guardian takes you through the last minute madness around England.

UEFA EURO 2012 QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Israel v Greece
Andorra v Armenia
Lithuania v Liechtenstein
Finland v Moldova
Malta v Croatia
Luxembourg v Romania
Northern Ireland v Serbia
Faroe Islands v Italy
Ireland v Slovakia
Hungary v Sweden
Wales v Montenegro
Russia v FYR Macedonia
Norway v Iceland
Belarus v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Netherlands v San Marino
Germany v Austria
Slovenia v Estonia
Turkey v Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan v Belgium
Albania v France
Georgia v Latvia
Bulgaria v England
Cyprus v Portugal
-Sat Sep 3
Scotland v Czech Republic

BRAZIL

A full round of Serie A games tonight.

Brazil - Serie A Standings (19 of 38 games played):
37 Corinthians - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Gremio
36 Flamengo - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 at Avai
35 Sao Paulo (+7 GD) - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Fluminense
35 Vasco (+5 GD) - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Ceara
34 Botafogo - NEXT: Wed Aug 31 v Palmeiras

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012 QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Libya v Mozambique
Ghana v Swaziland
-Sat Sep 3
Mali v Cape Verde Islands
Cameroon v Mauritius
Senegal v Congo DR
Namibia v Gambia
Sierra Leone v Egypt
Burundi v Benin
Kenya v Guinea-Bissau
Malawi v Tunisia
Rwanda v Cote d'Ivoire
-Sun Sep 4
Zimbabwe v Liberia
Guinea v Ethiopia
Madagascar v Nigeria
Comoros v Zambia
Central African Republic v Morocco
Tanzania v Algeria
Niger v South Africa
Congo v Sudan
Angola v Uganda
Togo v Botswana

ASIA

Two of Australia's biggest names have come home to play in the A-League this summer: Harry Kewell for the Melbourne Victory and Brett Emerton for Sydney FC. Both are great moves for the league.

ASIA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Japan v N Korea
S Korea v Lebanon
Australia v Thailand
Oman v Saudi Arabia
Iran v Indonesia
Tajikistan v Uzbekistan
Iraq v Jordan
United Arab Emirates v Kuwait
China v Singapore
Bahrain v Qatar

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Spain v Chile
Venezuela v Argentina
Ukraine v Uruguay
Poland v Mexico
USA v Costa Rica
Peru v Bolivia
Panama v Paraguay
Ecuador v Jamaica
-Sat Sep 3
Honduras v Colombia
Burkina Faso v Equatorial Guinea
Guam v Vanuatu
Cook Islands v Fiji
New Caledonia v American Samoa
-Sun Sep 4
Mexico v Chile