Some News for Thu Sep 1, 2011

STARTERS

After we got the rumor yesterday that the USA would take on Ecuador on Tue Oct 11 in New England in an exhibition, we get official confirmation today of a different friendly game:
-USA v Honduras - Sat Oct 8 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami FL at 5pm CT on FOX Soccer and Univision
-There are 2 more international dates in November that will more than likely be filled. The dates are in the week before MLS Cup.

dN

Seattle finished the month of August with 7 wins 1 tie and 0 losses, playing in 3 different competitions - MLS, Concachampions and US Open Cup. Mighty impressive.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

2 upcoming friendlies.

Landon Donovan is being dropped from the USA roster for the game in Belgium. Thanks to Robert for the heads up.

US Soccer with a video report after day 2 of training. Player interviews.

And a 2nd video containing raw footage of a drill they do in training.
-Avert your eyes at the end or you will have to see Tim Howard blunder the same play he did against Gio Dos Santos and Mexico in the Gold Cup. If you come off the line to get the ball, you MUST get the ball, not cough it up.

Scott French from ESPN took in the teams training session yesterday that was open to the public.

The LA Galaxy gives us lots of pictures from the open training, including shots of players signing autographs after the session ended. Here is one of those picture, featuring a guy on the far left wearing a Black Flag t-shirt. Excellent.



















Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated on the team's build up to these next two friendlies.

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Bill Hamid who is getting his second taste of Team USA.

Adam Serrano of MLSsoccer.com on the relationship between the coach and Robbie Rogers that formed long before Klinsi took over.

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

USA 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
##Only for game in Los Angeles
%%FIFA has not cleared him to play for the USA yet

dN

Costa Rica Roster
G:
Leonel Moreira - Herediano
Danny Carvajal - San Carlos
Keylor Navas - Levante
D:
Johnny Acosta - Alajuelense
Carlos Johnson - Cartagines
Jose Mena - Deportivo Saprissa
Christopher Meneses - Alajuelense
Roy Miller - New York Red Bulls
Jose Salvatierra - Alajuelense
Roy Smith - Orion
Michael Umana - Chivas USA
M:
Randall Azofeifa - Genclerbirligui
Michael Barrantes - Aalesund
Cristian Bolanos - Kobenhavn
Allen Guevara - Alajuelense
David Guzman - Deportivo Saprissa
Kareem Mclean - Limon
Alvaro Sanchez - San Carlos
Rodney Wallace - Portland Timbers
F:
Randall Brenes - Cartagines
Daniel Colíndres - Santos de Guapiles
Josue Martinez - Deportivo Saprissa
Winston Parks - Baki
Alvaro Saborio - Real Salt Lake

USA V COSTA RICA REWIND

The last time the USA played Costa Rica (10-14 2009 in the final game of 2010 World Cup qualifying - the Charlie Davies accident game in DC)

Here is the USA roster:
Starters
Tim Howard
Steve Cherundolo
Carlos Bocanegra
Oguchi Onyewu
Jonathan Bornstein
Landon Donovan
Benny Feilhaber
Michael Bradley
Stuart Holden
Jozy Altidore
Conor Casey
Subs
Jose Torres for Feilhaber
Robbie Rogers for Holden
Kenny Cooper for Casey

After being ahead 0-2 in just 24 minutes Costa Rica thought they were on the way to the World Cup. By the time the game ended Onyewu had snapped the tendon in him thigh, Bornstein had scored a miracle goal, and Honduras not Costa Rica was headed to the World Cup.

See the video highlights of a very emotional day right here from US Soccer.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING

Elliot Almond of the San Jose Mercury News on the debacle the Earthquakes signing of Edmundo Zura turned into.
-Team management acknowledges they made a mistake but no one is going to pay for it with their job.

FACT OF THE DAY

English Premier League teams spent US$786 million in the summer transfer window this year. Yowzer.

PODCASTS

Matt Pyzdrowski, starting keeper of Angelholm in Sweden is this week’s guest on the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast. On the podcast he talks about his time in Sweden, the chances of Angelholm being promoted to the Swedish Premier League, and much more. Download or listen here.

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

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

DC midfielder Dwayne DeRosario has been named MLS Player Of The Month for August.

Jonah Freedman of MLSsoccer.com takes a look at the growth of the American centerback in MLS.

CD CHIVAS USA

Heath Pearce has been diagnosed with a torn hamstring and could miss the rest of the regular season. He and the team hope he is back on the field quicker then that.

The team has released midfielder Francisco Mendoza who was in his 2nd go-round with the team.
-At one time Christian Miles Fox acted like Mendoza was one of the greatest foreign players ever to grace our meager league. And that is not meant as an insult to Mendoza.

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch reports that head coach Robert Warzycha has been given a new 4 year contract.

FC DALLAS

FCD has 11 questions for their head coach Schellas Hyndman.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

KC announced that they have signed Haitian central attacking midfielder Peterson Joseph who was last on the books at Braga in Portugal but never played for them.
-Some places on the internet have his named reversed and refer to him as Joseph Peterson, which is incorrect.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Brian Lewis of the NY Post quotes Red Bulls GM Erik Soler that they want goalkeeper Frank Rost back next season. Luke Rodgers too.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Chris Vito of the Daily Times wonders who will replace centerback Carlos Valdes who is suspended for 1 game.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun tells us about the only Caps field player not to have seen the green this season Phillipe Davies.

Marc Weber of the Province says all the Caps players are on their toes after the release of fullback Wes Knight yesterday.

American centerback Omar Elmasri who has been in the UANL Tigres youth system in Mexico has left that team and is getting a tryout with the Caps.
-One of his main reasons for leaving was the increased violence/lack of safety in that country.

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 1
Colorado Rapids 3-0 Houston Dynamo - CR goals by Quincy Amarikwa & Andre Akpan(2).
-Fri Sep 2
New England Revolution v Toronto FC
-Sat Sep 3
Portland Timbers v LA Galaxy

dN

Standings Etc.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Sky Sports with an article on Stuart Holden's return to the field. He played in a reserve game this week.
-He should be ready for the first team when league play resumes for Bolton on Sat Sep 10 when they host Manchester United.

US Soccer does a Q & A with Michael Bradley about moving to his new team Chievo.

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Amaechi Igwe about life after a serious injury and a new team in Babelsberg of the German 3rd division.

dN

Game Action:

CZECH REPUBLIC - Cup - 3rd Round
Stefan Jerome - Sigma Olomouc - Wed Aug 31 W 1-2 at Vysocina Jihlava.

DENMARK - Landspokal - 2nd Round
Babajide Ogunbiyi - Viborg - Wed Aug 31 drew 2-2 v AaB but won 6-5 in Penalty Kick Shootout.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - Wed Aug 31 won 0-6 at Hillerod.
Chris Rolfe - AaB - Wed Aug 31 drew 2-2 at Viborg but lost 6-5 in Penalty Kick Shootout.
Brad Rusin - HB Koge - Wed Aug 31 won 0-2 at HIK

FRANCE - Coupe de la Ligue - Round of 32
Quentin Westberg - Evian - Thu Sep 1 - played the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Lens.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to Ernest Nungaray who is doing everything he can to break into the Morelia starting lineup.

AMERICANS IN SOUTH AMERICA

Game Action:

COLOMBIA - Categoria Primera A
Diego Restrepo - America de Cali - went the distance getting a yellow card as they drew 1-1 at Deportivo Pereira.

CONCACAF

Costa Rica has hired Jorge Luis Pinto as their new head coach. He will take over the team AFTER the USA game on Friday.
-He has walked away as coach of Junior in Colombia to take this new job.
-This will be his 2nd time in charge of CR and his has also been the national team coach of Colombia.

MEXICO

Two International Friendlies.

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Poland v Mexico
-Sun Sep 4
Mexico v Chile

ROSTER
G:
Guillermo Ochoa - Ajaccio
Alfredo Talavera - Toluca
D:
Efrain Juarez - Zaragoza
Sergio Perez - Monterrey
Rafael Marquez - New York Red Bulls
Francisco Rodriguez - Stuttgart
Hector Moreno - Espanyol
Edgar Duenas - Toluca
Carlos Salcido - Tigres
Adrian Aldrete - Morelia
M:
Efrain Velarde - Pumas
Antonio Naelson - Toluca
Gerardo Torrado - Cruz Azul
Israel Castro - Cruz Azul
Jesus Molina - America
Jesus Zavala - Monterrey
Andres Guardado - Deportivo La Coruna
F:
Pablo Barrera - West Ham
Christian Bermudez - Atlante
Giovani Dos Santos - Tottenham
Javier Hernandez - Manchester United
Aldo de Nigris - Monterrey
Oribe Peralta - Santos

CANADA

Two World Cup qualifiers.

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Canada v St. Lucia
Venue: BMO Field - Toronto
-Tue Sep 6
Puerto Rico v Canada

ROSTER
G:
Lars Hirschfeld - Valerenga
Milan Borjan - Sivasspor
D:
Nik Ledgerwood - Wehen Wiesbaden
Kevin McKenna - Koln
Andre Hainault - Houston Dynamo
Ante Jazic - Chivas USA
Dejan Jakovic - DC United
Jaime Peters - Ipswich Town
Mike Klukowski - Manisaspor
M:
Julian de Guzman - Toronto FC
Terry Dunfield - Toronto FC
Will Johnson - Real Salt Lake
Josh Simpson - Manisaspor
Atiba Hutchinson - PSV Eindhoven
Dwayne De Rosario - DC United
F:
Tosaint Ricketts - Politehnica Timisoara
Simeon Jackson - Norwich City
Olivier Occean - Greuther Furth
Iain Hume - Preston North End

CONCACAF 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Here are the groups.
-Note: This information comes from Wikipedia and not the confederations website because their site is almost unusable and does not have a page for group standings. Incredible. But not surprising when you consider that all their money goes into insiders pockets not the actual running of the confederation.

The winners of the 6 groups will advance to the next round.

The Bahamas withdrew due to gross incompetence and were not replaced.
-This is the fed run by Lisle Austin the guy who tried to take over CONCACAF after Slappy quit. Gee, don't know why he couldn't have done a bang up job like Jack did.

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

ITALY

Without playing a single game so far Palermo becomes the 45th Serie team in the past decade to fire their manager under those circumstances. Stefano Pioli will be replaced by the youth team coach Devis Mangia.

UEFA EURO 2012 QUALIFYING

Germany has won all 7 games and if it wins tomorrow against Austria then it would be the first team to claim a spot in the big tournament through qualification.

Here are the current standings so you can see how close your team is to the breakthrough.

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

BRAZIL

A full round of games was played on Wednesday night.

Recap du Nord: #1 Corinthians did the job and got a win, but Flamengo & Sao Paulo (formerly 2 & 3) both lost and tumbled down the standings to land at #4 & #5. Opening the door for Vasco da Gama & Botafogo to leap up and claim 2nd & 3rd place. Huge round for those two.

Brazil - Serie A Standings (20 of 38 games played):
40 Corinthians - LAST: Wed Aug 31 W 3-2 v Gremio - NEXT: Sun Sep 4 at Coritiba
38 Vasco (+7 GD) - LAST: Wed Aug 31 W 3-1 v Ceara - NEXT: Sun Sep 4 at America Mineiro
37 Botafogo - LAST: Wed Aug 31 W 3-1 v Palmeiras - NEXT: PSTPD Sun Sep 4 at Santos
36 Flamengo - LAST: Wed Aug 31 L 3-2 at Avai - NEXT: Sun Sep 4 v Bahia
35 Sao Paulo (+6 GD) - LAST: Wed Aug 31 L 1-2 v Fluminense - NEXT: Sat Sep 3 at Figueirense

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012 QUALIFYING

Botswana and Ivory Coast are both qualified for the Cup tournament, and Burkina Faso is right on the edge.

And by the end of next week all the places will be set for January in Gabon & Equatorial Guinea, two west coast countries between Cameroon and Congo.

Here are all the group standings.

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Sep 2
Libya v Mozambique
Ghana v Swaziland

ASIA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

This is the first round of the group stage that will run through February. Here are those groups.

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

CAT LOVERS ONLY

Ashes to ashes, fun to funky, we know Major Tom's a junky

BIG PIMPIN

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