Some Soccer News for Mon Oct 31, 2011

STARTERS

GOLDEN GOOSE EGGS! My Minnesota Stars won the NASL Championship on Saturday night down in Fort Lauderdale by tying the Strikers 0-0 after winning the 1st Leg at home 3-1! Oh what a glorious rainy night in South Florida for the Dark Clouds and all Minnesota players, staff, fans, families and friends! The team that nobody wanted has gone and won the Cup!

dN

And in the MLS Quarterfinals 1st Leg games Salt Lake blew out Seattle at home (sorry for picking you Seattle I know that can be a curse), while the other 3 road teams (the highers seeds) all did damage - LA, Houston and Kansas City were winners.

STORY OF THE DAY

Aaaaah, the petulant Rafa Marquez rides again.

Scott French of ESPN tells us about the post game incident between New York and LA in which Marquez lost what few brain cells he has ever possessed as the final whistle blew whipping a ball at Landon Donovan and causing a shoving match between the two teams. Marquez got a red card for his efforts. Juninho of LA got a red card too.

Rafa Marquez did not talk to the media after the game.

What did Landon Donovan have to say about New York? "In all my years in this league, I've not played against a cheaper team, and they've been doing that all year."

MLS CUP PLAYOFFS

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Oct 29
Real Salt Lake 3-0 Seattle Sounders FC - RSL goals by Alvaro Saborio & Ned Grabavoy.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
Atten: 17,067
-Sun Oct 30
New York Red Bulls 0-1 LA Galaxy - LAG goal by Mike Magee.
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Atten: 22,663
Philadelphia Union 1-2 Houston Dynamo - PU goal by Sebastien Le Toux. HD goals by Andre Hainault & Calen Carr.
Venue: PPL Park
Atten: 18,539
Colorado Rapids 0-2 Sporting Kansas City - SKC goals both by Teal Bunbury (1 via PK).
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Atten: 8,601
2nd Leg
(1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Nov 2
Sporting Kansas City v Colorado Rapids (2-0) - 7:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Seattle Sounders FC v Real Salt Lake (0-3) - 9:00pm CT on ESPN2
Venue: CenturyLink Field
-Thu Nov 3
Houston Dynamo v Philadelphia Union (2-1) - 7:30pm CT on ESPN2
Venue: Robertson Stadium
LA Galaxy v New York Red Bulls (1-0) - 10:00pm CT on ESPN2
Venue: The Home Depot Center

dN

EJECTIONS:
Rafa Marquez - New York - red card
Juninho - LA Galaxy - red card
Tyrone Marshall - colorado - red card

dN

Seedings

WEST
W1 67 LA Galaxy
W2 63 Seattle Sounders
W3 53 Real Salt Lake

EAST
E1 51 Sporting Kansas City
E2 49 Houston Dynamo
E3 48 Philadelphia Union

WILD CARD
OUT-WC1 52 FC Dallas
OUT-WC2 49 Colorado Rapids
WC3 47 Columbus Crew
WC4 46 New York Red Bulls

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 6
LAG/NYRB v SS/RSL
SKC/CR v HD/PU

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 20
Semifinal Winners
8:00pm CT on ESPN
Venue: The Home Depot Center, Carson CA

dN

COLORADO RAPIDS

Colorado had to make all three subs due to injury, and two were defenders. which is terrible news for the second leg because none of them will be ready to go on Wednesday.
-Fullback Kosuke Kimura suffered a broken left foot. He will be out for 4-6 weeks.
-Centerback Drew Moor sprained the AC joint in his right shoulder. He will be out 2-4 weeks.
-Forward Caleb Folan sprained his left ankle and left knee. He will be out 2 weeks.

And substitute centerback Tyrone Marshall who came in for Moor got a red card and will miss Wednesday's game as well.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Omar Bravo watched the whole game from the bench. That is one very expensive sub.

LA GALAXY

The Galaxy announced that they will play a friendly game in the Philippines on Sat Dec 3 against the Philippines National Team at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila. (thanks to Bart for the heads up)

REAL SALT LAKE

Now we know just how much of a difference Javier Morales can be for RSL. He is 100% finally and he helped them dismantle the Sounders.

Both centerbacks Jamison Olave (quad) and Nat Borchers (knee) left the field after injuries. We don't know the full extent yet, but that could be disastrous.

NASL FINALS SERIES

The Championship

Huge congrats to the Minnesota Stars on winning the NASL Championship! Hooray Surly!

Campeones! Campeones! Ole Ole Ole!

Video: The Trophy is OURS!
-Not on this video but during the presentation the commissioner David Downs name checked the Dark Clouds supporters crew for this efforts as well. Aw Yeah!

More video, this time from IMSoccer News, of the Stars celebrating with the traveling supporters.

Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on head coach Manny Lagos, his father a Minnesota soccer pioneer Buzz Lagos and the huge win for the Stars.

"The only people celebrating the Stars’ 3-1 aggregate win were the players and about a dozen of their fans, clad in blue and playing a trumpet and a drum."
-Michelle Kaufman

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald with a match report.

"I think we could have been playing all night and we still wouldn't have scored. Give credit to Minnesota tonight, they defended like lions."
-Martyn Lancaster, Strikers centerback

Dave Brousseau of the Sun Sentinel with a match report.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg score included)
-Sat Oct 29
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0-0 NSC Minnesota Stars - NMS win the series 3-1 on aggregate.

I somehow missed this Stars video clip from last week. And they talked a bunch to ME! Baby I'm a Star!

By the way, when do a search on Twitter for MN Dark Clouds MicheleBachmann comes up. Hmmmmm. Closet fan?

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matchday 4 will be played Nov 1 & 2

Group Standings

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 29
Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal - the Arse continue to show their new spirit as they won this primo EPL matchup between the 2 best London teams.
Stuttgart 1-1 Borussia Dortmund - a draw between #5 & #2 cost them each a place in the standings - now #6 & #3.
Roma 2-3 Milan - the first of two great rivalry games in Serie A saw Milan keep building and Roma keep struggling.
Inter 1-2 Juventus - Juve is on top, and Inter is in deep trouble.
Twente 2-2 PSV - a draw as #3 hosted #2 in the Eredivisie. They both fell 6 points off the pace though.
-Sun Oct 29
If you didn't watch MLS playoffs you were a punk! OK!?

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

The 2011 Boys High School Championship Tournaments

Class A Section Bracket:

Semifinals
-Mon Oct 31
AT Minneapolis Metrodome
Prairie Seeds Academy 2-1 Rochester Lourdes
Benilde-St. Margaret's 1-0 St Paul Academy

Final
-Thu Nov 3
AT Minneapolis Metrodome
Prairie Seeds Academy v Benilde-St. Margaret's

- - - - -

Class AA Section Bracket:

Semifinals
-Tue Nov 1
AT Minneapolis MetrodomeEastview v Minneapolis Southwest
Maple Grove v Eden Prairie

Final
-Thu Nov 3
AT Minneapolis Metrodome

USA U17 TEAM

The team was in France for the Val de Marne tournament.

The USA won 1 and lost 2 in this tourney.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 25
USA 0-3 France
-Thu Oct 27
USA 1-2 Peru - USA goal by Tyler Turner(PK).
-Sat Oct 29
USA 3-1 Netherlands - USA goals by Guyllain Kabala(PK), Wesley Wade & DeAndre Robinson.

Roster
G:
Paul Christensen - Seattle Sounders FC - Woodinville WA
Evan Louro - New York Red Bulls - South River NJ
D:
Conor Donovan - NC Alliance - Fuquay Varina NC
Elijah Martin - Cal Odyssey - Fresno CA
Shaquell Moore - Cobb FC - Powder Springs GA
Matt Nance - Vardar SC Freiburg - Washington MI
Kevin Politz - New York Red Bulls - Morganville NJ
John Requejo Jr. - Real So Cal - Carpinteria CA
Tyler Turner - South Central Premier - West Haven CT
M:
Steven Echevarria - New York Red Bulls - Slate Hill NY
Angel Heredia - San Jose Earthquakes - San Jose CA
Guyllain Kabala - New England Revolution - Manchester NH
Christopher Lema - New York Red Bulls - Ridgefield NJ
Declan McCabe - New England Revolution - Weston MA
Herber Mejia-Flores - McLean Youth Soccer - Manassas Park VA
Thomas Ziemer - Atletico Santa Rosa - Glen Allen CA
F:
Corey Baird - San Diego Surf - Escondido CA
Bradford Jamieson - CD Chivas USA - Los Angeles CA
Danya Kafai - Juventus Sports Club - Redwood City CA
DeAndre Robinson - Concorde Fire - Atlanta GA
Rubio Rubin - Westside Metros - Beaverton OR
Wesley Wade - New York Red Bulls - South Orange NJ

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - went the full 90 as they won 2-3 at America.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they won 2-1 v Santos Laguna.
Herculez Gomez - Estudiantes Tecos - started and went 81 min but lost 0-2 v Cruz Azul.
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - played the whole game getting a yellow card as they drew 0-0 at Tijuana.

MEXICO

Just 1 round to play now!

Recap du Nord: Guada got the point the needed to stay in first place and nearly clinch the #1 seed in the playoffs. # 2 Santos Laguna and #3 UNAM Pumas both lost and fell all the way to 6th & 7th! Meanwhile Cruz Azul, Tigres, Jaguares & Pachuca all own to move from 4, 5, 6 & 7 up to 2, 3, 4 & 5. Nicely done. 8th place Monterrey also lost and fell out of the playoffs to #10, while Queretaro rebounded with a win to move back into the #8 and final playoff position.

Santos Laguna is the only team who can steal the top seed from Chivas and that is if they win their two remaning games (1 in hand) and Guadalajara loses their regular season finale.

Everyone else will finish their regular seasons with 1 game left to be played next weekend.

Mexico - Primera Top 8 Standings (16 of 17 games played):
29 Guadalajara - LAST: Sat Oct 29 D 1-1 at Atlas - NEXT:
26 Cruz Azul (+3) - LAST: Sun Oct 30 W 0-2 at Tecos - NEXT:
26 Jaguares (+2) - LAST: Sat Oct 29 W 4-0 v Pumas - NEXT:
25 Tigres (+7) - LAST: Sat Oct 29 W 2-1 v Santos Laguna - NEXT:
25 Pachuca (-1) - LAST: Sat Oct 29 W 4-0 v Monterrey - NEXT:
24 Santos Laguna (15 GP) (+4) - LAST: Sat Oct 29 L 2-1 at Tigres - NEXT: Tue Nov 1 v Morelia - AND THEN:
24 Pumas (-2) - LAST: Sat Oct 29 L 4-0 at Jaguares - NEXT:
23 Queretara - NEXT:
- - - - -
10th - 21 Monterrey LAST: Sat Oct 29 L 4-0 at Pachuca

ENGLAND

Ian McCourt, Evan Fanning and Sachin Nakrani of the Guardian with five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the inevitable fall of Levante, and all the rest of from the weekend in La Liga.

Phil Ball of ESPN tells us a great story of coaching a bunch of ne'er-do-wells and then taking in the Real's of Sociedad & Madrid.

GERMANY

The Associated Press reported last week on really bad crowd violence committed by supporters of Eintract Frankfurt, Kaiserslautern and Dynamo Dresden. What a terrible scene. Via The Guardian.

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on Gladbach's new star Marco Reus and the rest of the round in the Bundesliga.

ITALY

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian writes about Juventus' claim to the top of Serie A as they beat Inter and the rest of the weekend in Italies top division.

BRAZIL

Recap du Nord: Vasco could only hold the lead for 1 week as they drew and dropped back to #2. While 2nd place Corinthians won and took the top place on a tie breaker. Botafogo won and moved to within 3 points of the leaders while staying in 3rd place. #4 Fluminense & #5 Flamengo both lost but managed to keep their places in the standings.

Serie A Top 5 Standings (32 of 38 games played):
58 Corinthians (17 W) - LAST: Sun Oct 30 W 2-1 v Avai - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at America Minerio
58 Vasco da Gama (16 W) - LAST: Sun Oct 30 D 0-0 v Sao Paulo - NEXT: Sun Nov 5 at Santos
55 Botafogo - LAST: Sat Oct 29 W 1-0 v Cruzeiro - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Figueirense
52 Flamengo - LAST: Sun Oct 30 L 4-2 at Gremio - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 v Cruzeiro
53 Fluminense - LAST: Sat Oct 29 W 1-2 at Ceara - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at Internacional

ARGENTINA

Recap du Nord: Boca took care of business to extend their lead at #1 to 9 points over 2nd place Rafaela who they beat. #3 Racing Club don't play until today and therefore fell to 4th. #4 & #5 Belgrano & Velez both lost falling to 6th & 7th now. That opened the door for Colon who won to move up to 3rd place and Lanus who also won to claim the #5 position.

Primera Division - Apertura - Top 5 Standings (13 of 19 played):
31 Boca Juniors - LAST: Sun Oct 30 W 3-1 v Atletico Rafaela - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at Velez Sarsfield
22 Atletico Rafaela (+1) - LAST: Sun Oct 30 L 3-1 at Boca Juniors - NEXT: Fri Nov 4 v Belgrano
21 Colon - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 at Tigre
*20 Racing Club (+6) - NEXT: Mon Oct 31 at Estudiantes - AND THEN: Sat Nov 5 v Argentinos Juniors
20 (+5)Lanus - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at Banfield
- - - - -
20 Belgrano (+3) - LAST: Sun Oct 30 L 0-1 v Colon
20 Velez Sarsfield (+2) - LAST: Sat Oct 29 L 3-1 at Argentinos Junior

*Round 13 game on Mon Oct 31

VERY OFF TOPIC

7 Skies H3 - The 24 hour long song by The Flaming Lips

dN

Then, go enjoy the first episode of the newly re-launched Bevis & Butthead.

Classic B & B exchange -
"Is this Florida?"
(sees bloody guy laying on the sidewalk)
"Eeeeeh, yup. That's Florida."
"Florida sucks."

Campeones Campeones Ole Ole Ole - The Minnesota Stars are the 2011 NASL Champions

I went to Fort Lauderdale this past weekend for the grand finale of the NASL Championship Series

Fort Lauderdale Strikers v My Minnesota Stars

This would be Leg 2 with the Stars holding a 3-1 lead from Leg 1


What a crazy whirl-wind trip!
But would you want it any other way?
Left my house at 530am Sat Oct 29.
Rocketed straight south to Miami via jet aeroplane arriving at High Noon.
Departing MSP it was 35 degrees.
Arriving MIA it was 85 degrees.
Joined some other travelers and jumped in a rented black Crown Vic cop car headed back north a few miles to Ft Lauderdale.
Drove past both the Fishing Hall of Fame and the Swimming Hall of Fame.
Dreamed of the Babe Winkelman (empty beer cans & rusty lures) and Mark Spitz (speedos & mustache wax) exhibits I was missing.
Instead of the hotel we went straight to a bar.
Called Maguires of course.
The Russian waitress dressed as a silver robot for Halloween.
I wanted to ask if she was wearing silver underwear too, but thought better of it.
I am a gentleman after all.
Met up with many other fellow fiends at the bar.
By 130pm we were already getting amped.
Tried to visit an art gallery that specialized in street art, but it was flooded out.
Did I mentioned that it had been raining consistently for 24 straight hours down there at that point?
And that it did not stop the whole time we were there?
Got to the hotel on the beach. Ha.
Changed clothes and we were off to the game by 430pm.
Listened to Gogol Bordello and some Haitian music on the way to the stadium.
Arrived at the tailgate and partied in the rain getting completely soaked within minutes.
Giant puddles of standing water everywhere.
No one cared.
We were 17 strong.
Greeted warmly by the Fort Lauderdale Striker Likers - supporters who smartly had lots of tents to hang around under.
They stared at 4 of us in particular who are all well over 6 feet tall and said, "You guys are huge." We said, "We left the big guys at home."
Shared our stash of Surly with them.
Headed into the stadium and had our own corner of the field set aside by the other teams staff.
Hung up some classic banners:
"You'll Never Beat Joe Warren"
"Pleasure"
"League Owned"
"Open Cup Banned"
"Captain Kyle Altman"
"Occupy Lockhart"
Etc.
Our players came out to warm-up and greeted us very well.
Score was 3-1 from Game 1 so all we had to do was not lose by more than 2, and we had a great chance.
It was a very intense game and Ft Laud attacked, attacked, and attacked some more.
But our team held stiff.
No errors!
No let downs!!
No prisoners!!!
No goals!!!!
We had some offense, but really none was needed.
Just enough to keep the other team honest.
By about the 75th minute you could sense that the Strikers were giving up.
They had used all 3 subs and none had made any difference.
Around the 82nd minute it started to hit me hard.
WE WERE GOING TO WIN THE FUCKING CUP!
My mind was exploding.
Leaping around. Grabbing everyone near me.
We had sung for nearly 90 minutes straight.
None of us had any voice left.
And then, the game was over!
It was over!
The Stars had won!
We ran to the corner of the field (the security would not let us past the fence though.)
The players came storming down to our end, hugging and singing with all of us.
We lost our minds.
We went nuts.
It was glorious.
Then the team went out to the middle of the field for the big trophy presentation.
We kept singing.
The commissioner of the league name checked the Dark Clouds in the presentation.
Oh yeah!
And then the team turned around and raced the trophy straight back to us again.
Lots and lots more hugs, and hoisting up that massive silver trophy.
I could not speak for about 30 minutes.
My phone was blowing up.
Calls, voicemails, texts.
We continued to party.
Off to the big post game celebration then.
Slipped into some dry clothes too.
Players families, wives and girlfriends joined in.
Several hours of joy.
Many beverages were drunk from the big cup!
Loads of pictures got taken.
I hugged tons of people again.
Traded stories for a long time.
Finally back to the hotel about 200am.
Driving to The Gap Band "You Dropped A Bomb On Me".
Baby!
Up at 830am.
Dunkin Donuts.
Off to the Miami airport.
Connected through Memphis.
Ate Interstate BBQ in the Memphis airport - Oh yes!
Bought a cool ELVIS mug at the gift shop.
Arriving in MSP at 615pm Sun Oct 30.
What a great trip!
What a huge win!
What a fantastic team!
What amazing fans!
The champions!
Campeones!
Shine On!
And we get to celebrate all over again at a team victory party on Tuesday night.
Will be hugging all those great fans that did not get to go to Florida with us.
And all those that did all over again.
Wow.
What a trip.
Did I say that already?


Now go enjoy these great photos (click to enlarge) taken by my Friends-In-Football Jeremy, Teresa and Brian:

Some News for Fri Oct 28, 2011

STARTERS

After 9 league games Levante leads La Liga with 7 wins, 2 draws and 0 losses. Astonishing!

STORY OF THE DAY

Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press reports that Taylor Twellman told a conference on brain trauma and concussions that the New England Revolution doctors missed treated him, and even sent him back into a game even after he said he had a concussion.

MLS CUP PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Round

Colorado scored in the final seconds of the first half and made that one goal stick in eliminating Columbus.

I think the attendance of these two Wild Card games should be evidence enough that only 8 teams should have been in the playoffs, not 10. Pathetic. No excuses.

dN

Matches & Scores:
(Seed included)
-Wed Oct 26
FC Dallas(1) 0-2 New York Red Bulls(4) - NYRB goals by Joel Lindpere & Thierry Henry.
Atten: 10,017
-Thu Oct 27
Colorado Rapids(2) 1-0 Columbus Crew(3) - CR goal by Omar Cummings.
Atten: 7,802

dN

EJECTIONS:
Jan Gunnar Solli - New York - red card

dN

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Oct 29
Real Salt Lake v Seattle Sounders FC - 9:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Sun Oct 30
New York Red Bulls v LA Galaxy - 2:00pm CT on ESPN2
Philadelphia Union v Houston Dynamo - 4:00pm CT on ESPN2
Colorado Rapids v Sporting Kansas City - 6:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 2
Sporting Kansas City v Colorado Rapids - 7:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
Seattle Sounders FC v Real Salt Lake - 9:00pm CT on ESPN2
-Thu Nov 3
Houston Dynamo v Philadelphia Union - 7:30pm CT on ESPN2
LA Galaxy v New York Red Bulls - 10:00pm CT on ESPN2

dN

Seedings

WEST
W1 67 LA Galaxy
W2 63 Seattle Sounders
W3 53 Real Salt Lake

EAST
E1 51 Sporting Kansas City
E2 49 Houston Dynamo
E3 48 Philadelphia Union

WILD CARD
OUT-WC1 52 FC Dallas
WC2 49 Colorado Rapids
WC3 47 Columbus Crew
WC4 46 New York Red Bulls

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 6
LAG/NYRB v SS/RSL
SKC/HWC v HD/PU

dN

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 20
Semifinal Winners
8:00pm CT on ESPN
Venue: The Home Depot Center, Carson CA

dN

General Playoff News

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated previews all 4 Quarterfinal series.

Brian Straus of the Sporting News on the tightness of playoffs and how much errors can cost a team.

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN previews the 2 Western Conference Quarterfinals.

Leander Schaerlaeckens of ESPN previews the 2 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

COLORADO RAPIDS

John Meyer of the Post with a match report from the Rapids Wild Card victory over lifeless Columbus.

The Rapids have lost midfielder Jamie Smith for the rest of the playoffs after he torn the ACL in his right knee last night.

Dan Boniface of the Post also points out that Omar Cummings celebrated his goal with a Tim Tebow tribute.

COLUMBUS CREW

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch dissects the Crews bad loss and ouster from the playoffs.
-More from Jardy on the loss.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle shows us how the Dynamo has grown and improved as the season wore on, and is peaking at the right time.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Terez Paylor of the Star wonders if SKC has learned to not give up the costly late goals. It has hurt them a lot this season.

LA GALAXY

Scott French of ESPN looks at who has the advantage between LA & NY.

French also tries to figure out who the player will be for LA that steps up to make the difference, other than Donovan & Beckham.

Phil Collin of the Daily News with his Galaxy analysis.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Jack Bell of the Times on the much much much anticipated New York v LA match up.

Brian Lewis of the Post talks to head coach Hans Backe and centerback Tim Ream.

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer reports that Luke Rodgers and Dax McCarty are expected to be ready to play against LA.

M Lewis also writes about Tim Ream and his frustrating second season as a pro.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News says the Union are as ready as they are every going to be for Houston.

Marc Narducci of the Inquirer sees Houston as hot coming into the playoffs and the Union as not. Does it matter?

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret on the building rivalry between Salt Lake and Seattle.

Martin Renzhofer of the Tribune sees the 2 teams approaches to the game as being very different.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Steve Kelly of the Times writes about the great season of defensive midfielder Osvaldo Alonso, who he calls an MVP.

Mauro Rosales is NOT traveling with the team to Salt Lake.

NASL FINALS SERIES

The Championship

South Florida Here We Come!

The Cup is ours so get out of the way!

Our crew has already begun arriving in Fort Lauderdale and I will join them tomorrow morning.

Losing is not an option.

dN

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg score included)
-Sat Oct 29
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v NSC Minnesota Stars (1-3) - 6:30pm CT live on U-Stream.

The game will be shown delayed on GolTV at 9pm CT.

And Dark Clouds will be streaming the Stars watch party. So you can watch the fans watch the game!!! Genius!

dN

The Stars welcome fans to join them at Brit’s Pub in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday night from 7:30 to 9:30 to celebrate the 2011 NASL season.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

The official Barclays English Premier League weekend preview.

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 29
Chelsea v Arsenal - a primo EPL matchup between the 2 best London teams.
Stuttgart v Borussia Dortmund - #5 hosts #2 with just two points seperating them.
Roma v Milan - the first of two great rivalry games in Serie A
Inter v Juventus - the other great rivalry game of the weekend and Juve are on top.
Twente v PSV - #3 hosts #2 in the Eredivisie.
-Sun Oct 29
A day of rest, so watch MLS playoffs! OK!?!?

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

The 2011 Boys High School Championship Tournaments

Class A Section Bracket:

My Lourdes team advanced to the Semifinals!

Quarterfinals
-Thu Oct 27
AT Hopkins HS
Prairie Seeds Academy 4-3 St Paul Humboldt
Rochester Lourdes 2-1 Sartell-St Stephen
AT St Cloud St U
Benilde-St. Margaret's 2-1 Cloquet-Esko-Carlton
St Paul Academy 2-0 Mankato West

Semifinals
-Mon Oct 31
AT Minneapolis Metrodome
Prairie Seeds Academy v Rochester Lourdes
Benilde-St. Margaret's v St Paul Academy

Final
-Thu Nov 3
AT Minneapolis Metrodome

- - - - -

Class AA Section Bracket:

Quarterfinals
-Thu Oct 27
AT Park HS
Eastview 2-1 Rochester Mayo
Minneapolis Southwest 5-1 Anoka
AT Roseville HS
North St Paul 0-2 Maple Grove
Eden Prairie 4-1 Blaine

Semifinals
-Tue Nov 1
AT Minneapolis Metrodome
Eastview v Minneapolis Southwest
Maple Grove v Eden Prairie

Final
-Thu Nov 3
AT Minneapolis Metrodome

Some Soccer News for Thu Oct 27, 2011

STARTERS

The man who led the charge of the re-formed New York Cosmos Paul Kemsley has resigned from the organization. This is not a good sign for the struggling proposition.

And since the Cosmos have fallen out of the race for the 20th MLS team, guess who has emerged as the man behind a new bid to bring a team to New York City. None other than Chuck Blazer!

STORY OF THE DAY

Ahmed El-sedawy of the Associated Press with an article about Bob Bradley and his new challenge as head coach of the Egyptian national team. Via the Deseret News.

On a connected note - Heba Elkayal of the Daily News Egypt has a fascinating look at a huge Ultras groups flourishing in Egypt. the Ultras White Knights are said to be 30,000 strong. (this article is from about 5 weeks ago)

MLS CUP PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Round

New York knocked out Dallas last night in the first game of the MLS playoffs. New York played a smart and cagey game. Dallas just looked worn out. They had little left after the first 30 minutes. New York just sat back and waited for them to run out of gas. Then they pounced and held on. That means New York and LA will face off next in a two game series starting on Saturday in New York. Our boy Brek Shea shaved the sides of his head and looked like a cross between a POW and a drown weasel. Think Travis Bickle. A very sad look. But he is young. He can fix that. A bunch of his teammates all had the shaved sides look. Not flattering.

Alexander Abnos of the Brooklyn Ink sitting at the Woodwork bar in Brooklyn gives us a great description of the final moments of the game.

Jack Bell of the New York Times rates the Red Bulls players.

Tom Spousta of the NY Times with a match report.

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with 2 articles on the Bulls defense and another on Mehdi Balloucy.
-TAKING THE DEFENSIVE - Henry shut down Hernandez
-'UNBELIEVABLY DISCIPLINED' - Backe on the Red Bulls' team defense
-INSTANT IMPACT - Ballouchy sets up winning goal

Brian Lewis of the NY Post writes that teamwork won the game for the Bulls.

3rd Degree provides us with a large amount of post game quotes from both teams.

dN

Matches & Scores:
(Seed included)
-Wed Oct 26
FC Dallas(1) 0-2 New York Red Bulls(4) - NYRB goals by Joel Lindpere & Thierry Henry.
-Thu Oct 27
Colorado Rapids(2) v Columbus Crew(3) - 9:00PM CT on Direct Kick

NOTE: If Wild Card games are tied after 90 minutes they go to 30 min of Added Extra Time and if still tied then the game will be settle in a Penalty Kick Shootout.

dN

EJECTIONS:
Jan Gunnar Solli - New York - red card

dN

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Oct 29
Real Salt Lake v Seattle Sounders FC - 9:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Sun Oct 30
New York Red Bulls v LA Galaxy - 2:00pm CT on ESPN2
Philadelphia Union v Houston Dynamo - 4:00pm CT on ESPN2
Colorado/Columbus winner v Sporting Kansas City - 6:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 2
Sporting Kansas City v Colorado/Columbus winner - 7:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
Seattle Sounders FC v Real Salt Lake - 9:00pm CT on ESPN2
-Thu Nov 3
Houston Dynamo v Philadelphia Union - 7:30pm CT on ESPN2
LA Galaxy v New York Red Bulls - 10:00pm CT on ESPN2

dN

Seedings

WEST
W1 67 LA Galaxy
W2 63 Seattle Sounders
W3 53 Real Salt Lake

EAST
E1 51 Sporting Kansas City
E2 49 Houston Dynamo
E3 48 Philadelphia Union

WILD CARD
OUT-WC1 52 FC Dallas
WC2 49 Colorado Rapids
WC3 47 Columbus Crew
WC4 46 New York Red Bulls

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 6
LAG/NYRB v SS/RSL
SKC/HWC v HD/PU

dN

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 20
Semifinal Winners
8:00pm CT on ESPN
Venue: The Home Depot Center, Carson CA

dN

General Playoff News

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated with his thoughts on the playoffs and post season awards.

COLORADO RAPIDS

John Meyer of the Post with an article on centerback Marvell Wynne.

COLUMBUS CREW

Michael Arace of the Dispatch offers up his pregame analysis.

dN

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch says the Crew remembers who knocked them out of the playoffs last season - Colorado. And they would like to return the favor.
-More on the big game.

LA GALAXY

A report from 98fm in Ireland says Robbie Keane may be ready to play this weekend.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

The Mercury with a huge feature story on head coach Peter Nowak.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com with a long look at the Union's connections to playoff soccer success.

dN

Marc Narducci of the Inquirer says the Union knows Brad Davis is the key to Houston's success.

dN

Narducci also writes about Freddy Adu's return to MLS and the playoffs where he is a Cup winner.

dN

Midfielder Veljko Paunovic is battling a hamstring injury and we probably wont find out until game time whether he is ready to go or not on Sunday.

REAL SALT LAKE

Martin Renzhofer of the Tribune says RSL knows they must take advantage of playing Game 1 at home against Seattle.

dN

The club is aiming for its 4th consecutive sold out game.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Head coach Sigi Schmid on the likelihood that Mauro Rosales will be recovered from a knee injury to play in the series against Salt Lake: I think it looks unlikely for Saturday. We've still got our fingers crossed and hope that he can play for us on Wednesday.

dN

Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune calls the playoff structure absurd, especially when you consider who the Sounders must play in the Quarterfinals.

dN

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise with an article on forward Sammy Ochoa who was a late season addition to the team, but has already contributed.

NASL FINALS SERIES

The Championship

Minnesota Stars fans love their team:
















dN

The Stars are hosting a post season bash next Tue Nov 1 at Brits Pub in downtown Minneapolis. More details soon.

dN

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg score included)
-Sat Oct 29
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v NSC Minnesota Stars (1-3) - 6:30pm CT live on U-Stream.

The game will be shown delayed on GolTV at 9pm CT.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

Loyal reader Dustin created this cool graphic - it the names of all the players who have suited up for the USA since 2008 in Word Cloud form.














FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

Alexei Barrionuevo of the New York Times reports that Orlando Silva the Brazilian Sports Minister who has been accused of corruption involving $20 Million of 2014 World Cup money has resigned.

dN

Brazil's Ricardo Teixeira a FIFA exco member and long time leader of the Brazilian football federation is being called in by state police for questioning next week on bribery.

dN

Tariq Panja of Bloomberg reports that FIFA has stopped work on a project in Thailand after that countries football leader Worawi Makudi has come under scrutiny for corruption.

Lots of shoes dropping now. Lets keep it going. Sooner or later its gotta arrive at Sepp's doorstep.

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

@herculezg Herculez Gomez - On a side note:Spoke to my boys from Puebla last night& asked how my boy Bease was doing, they all had the same response, team MVP. #respect

His team Tecos traveled to Puebla to take on his old team which now has DaMarcus Beasley on their roster.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

The official Barclays English Premier League weekend preview.

OOF

Giuseppe Rossi has suffered a torn ACL in his right knee and will be out up to 8 months after surgery.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Soccer America has a nice breakdown of how MLS academy trained players fared in the league this season. 14 debuted.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Gary Gray of the Insight reflects on the Timbers impressive first season in MLS.

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

The 2011 Boys High School Championship Tournaments

Class A Section Bracket:

Quarterfinals
-Thu Oct 27
AT Hopkins HS
Prairie Seeds Academy v St Paul Humboldt
Rochester Lourdes v Sartell-St Stephen
AT St Cloud St U
Benilde-St. Margaret's v Cloquet-Esko-Carlton
St Paul Academy v Mankato West

Semifinals
-Mon Oct 31
AT Minneapolis Metrodome

Final
-Thu Nov 3
AT Minneapolis Metrodome

- - - - -

Class AA Section Bracket:

Quarterfinals
-Thu Oct 27
AT Park HS
Eastview v Rochester Mayo
Minneapolis Southwest v Anoka
AT Roseville HS
North St Paul v Maple Grove
Eden Prairie v Blaine

Semifinals
-Tue Nov 1
AT Minneapolis Metrodome

Final
-Thu Nov 3
AT Minneapolis Metrodome

USA U17 TEAM

The team is in France for the Val de Marne tournament.

They have lost their 2nd straight game in this tourney.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 25
USA 0-3 France
-Thu Oct 27
USA 1-2 Peru - USA goal by Tyler Turner(PK).
-Sat Oct 29
USA v Netherlands

Roster
G:
Paul Christensen - Seattle Sounders FC - Woodinville WA
Evan Louro - New York Red Bulls - South River NJ
D:
Conor Donovan - NC Alliance - Fuquay Varina NC
Elijah Martin - Cal Odyssey - Fresno CA
Shaquell Moore - Cobb FC - Powder Springs GA
Matt Nance - Vardar SC Freiburg - Washington MI
Kevin Politz - New York Red Bulls - Morganville NJ
John Requejo Jr. - Real So Cal - Carpinteria CA
Tyler Turner - South Central Premier - West Haven CT
M:
Steven Echevarria - New York Red Bulls - Slate Hill NY
Angel Heredia - San Jose Earthquakes - San Jose CA
Guyllain Kabala - New England Revolution - Manchester NH
Christopher Lema - New York Red Bulls - Ridgefield NJ
Declan McCabe - New England Revolution - Weston MA
Herber Mejia-Flores - McLean Youth Soccer - Manassas Park VA
Thomas Ziemer - Atletico Santa Rosa - Glen Allen CA
F:
Corey Baird - San Diego Surf - Escondido CA
Bradford Jamieson - CD Chivas USA - Los Angeles CA
Danya Kafai - Juventus Sports Club - Redwood City CA
DeAndre Robinson - Concorde Fire - Atlanta GA
Rubio Rubin - Westside Metros - Beaverton OR
Wesley Wade - New York Red Bulls - South Orange NJ

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Erik Benjaminsen - Stabaek - Thu Oct 27 - on the bench as they lost 2-0 at Aalesund.
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Thu Oct 27 - went the full 90 but lost 2-0 at Aalesund.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:
PRIMERA DIVISION
Isaac Acuna - America - on the bench as they drew 1-1 at Santos Laguna.
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - went the full 90 as they won 2-1 v Tecos.
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - on the bench as they won 2-0 v Jaguares.
Herculez Gomez - Estudiantes Tecos - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at Puebla.
Sonny Guadarrama - Atlante - on the bench as they lost 1-0 at Pumas.
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - played the full match getting a yellow card as they won 2-1 v Queretaro.

MEXICO

Mid-week clashes.

Recap du Nord: Guadalajara stayed hot and now have a 4 point lead at the top. Santos, with a game in hand, tied and remains second. Due to lots of other teams deficiencies Pumas moved from 7th to 3rd with a win. A draw was enough to move Cruz Azul up the ranks to 4th. Jaguares lost and fell to 5th. Tigres lost but stayed were they were. Pachuca's tie game did the same for them. And Monterrey got a win to vault them over losing Queretaro and into the 8th and final playoff position.

Mexico - Primera Top 8 Standings (15 of 17 games played):
28 Guadalajara - LAST: Wed Oct 26 W 1-0 v Tigres - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 at Atlas
24 Santos Laguna (14 GP) (+4) - LAST: Wed Oct 26 D 1-1 v America - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 at Tigres
24 Pumas (-2) - LAST: Wed Oct 26 W 1-0 v Atlante - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 at Jaguares
23 Cruz Azul (+3) - LAST: Wed Oct 26 D 0-0 v Toluca - NEXT: Sun Oct 30 at Tecos
23 Jaguares (+2) - LAST: Wed Oct 26 L 2-0 v Tijuana - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 v Pumas
22 Tigres (+7) - LAST: Wed Oct 26 L 1-0 v Guadalajara - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 v Santos Laguna
22 Pachuca (-1) - LAST: Tue Oct 25 D 2-2 at Morelia - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 v Monterrey
21 Monterrey NEXT: Sat Oct 29 at Pachuca
- - - - -
9th-20 Queretaro - LAST: Wed Oct 26 L 2-1 at San Luis

ARGENTINA

Recap du Nord: Boca extended their lead to 6 points with a win over former 4th place team Colon. Racing drew and fell 2nd to 3rd. Atletico Rafaela were the other big winners and took over 2nd place. 4th & 5th place Colon & Tigre both lost dropping them to 6th & 9th respectively. Belgrano and Velez got wins to claim those 4th & 5th places in the standings.

#1 hosts #2 this weekend.

Primera Division - Apertura - Top 5 Standings (12 of 19 played):
28 Boca Juniors - LAST: Tue Oct 25 W 0-2 at Colon - NEXT: Sun Oct 30 v Atletico Rafaela
22 Atletico Rafaela (+1) - LAST: Tue Oct 25 W 3-1 v Argentinos Juniors - NEXT: Sun Oct 30 at Boca Juniors
20 Racing Club (+6) - LAST: Wed Oct 26 D 1-1 v Lanus - NEXT: Mon Oct 31 at Estudiantes
20 Belgrano (+4) - NEXT: Sun Oct 30 v Colon
20 Velez Sarsfield (+4) - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 at Argentinos Junior
- - - - -
6th-18 Colon - LAST: Tue Oct 25 L 0-2 v Boca Juniors
9th-17 Tigre - LAST: Wed Oct 26 L 0-1 v Belgrano

Some Soccer News for Wed Oct 26, 2011

STARTERS

Here we go! MLS playoffs begin tonight!

MLS CUP PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Round

Matches & Scores:
(Seed included)
-Wed Oct 26
FC Dallas(1) v New York Red Bulls(4) - 8:00PM CT on Fox Soccer
-Thu Oct 27
Colorado Rapids(2) v Columbus Crew(3) - 9:00PM CT on Direct Kick

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Oct 29
Real Salt Lake v Seattle Sounders FC - 9pm CT on Fox Soccer
Higher seeded WC winner v Sporting Kansas City - 6pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Sun Oct 30
Philadelphia Union v Houston Dynamo - 3pm CT on ESPN2
Lowest seeded WC winner v LA Galaxy - 7pm CT - TV TBA
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 2
Seattle Sounders FC v Real Salt Lake - 7pm CT on ESPN2
-Thu Nov 3
Houston Dynamo v Philadelphia Union - 7:30pm CT on ESPN2
-TBA
LA Galaxy v Lowest seeded WC winner
Sporting Kansas City v Higher seeded WC winner

dN

Seedings

WEST
W1 67 LA Galaxy
W2 63 Seattle Sounders
W3 53 Real Salt Lake

EAST
E1 51 Sporting Kansas City
E2 49 Houston Dynamo
E3 48 Philadelphia Union

WILD CARD
WC1 52 FC Dallas
WC2 49 Colorado Rapids
WC3 47 Columbus Crew
WC4 46 New York Red Bulls

dN

General Playoff News

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN previews the Wild Card games.

Carlisle also gives us analysis of all the teams in the playoffs.

Ken Gude of the Guardian previews the first batch of playoff games.

Alexi Lalas of the Mirror previews the playoff Wild Card games.

Charles Gooch of the KC Star tries to sort out the good and bad of the current playoff system.

If Wild Card games are tied after 90 minutes they go to 30 min of Added Extra Time and if still tied then the game will be settle in a Penalty Kick Shootout.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Its 1 day before they host Columbus and this is what the field in Denver looks like:
















COLUMBUS CREW

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch on how the Crew plan to replace suspended Emmanuel Ekpo in the center of the field.

FC DALLAS

Todd Date of ESPN looks at the FCD injury list and declares the team "fairly healthy."

Date also brings us an interview with FCD's go to player Brek Shea.

Steve Hunt of the Dallas Morning News looks at FCD's starting lineup compared to last year at this time.

LA GALAXY

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise has it right on the nose when he writes that LA is the team to beat for the title.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Joshua Robinson of the Wall Street Journal with an article on the influence veteran goalkeeper Frank Rost is starting to have over the team.

Big Apple Soccer with the latest NYRB team notes.

Patrick MacDonald of NJ.com previews NY v Dallas.

Brian Lewis of the Post reports that Arsenal will supposedly have a scout in the stands again tonight as they continue to track Tim Ream.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Marc Narducci of the Inquirer writes that the team needs veteran goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon to lead them in the post season.

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret says that RSL see themselves as an underdog going into the playoffs.
-Oh how the mighty have apparently fallen, as they were a strong favorite along with LA before the season began to win it all this year. Now they are merely an underdog.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times with an article on centerback Jeff Parke who has been a real foundation in the back for the team this whole season.

The team has posted a video interview conducted by the team's TV commentator Arlo White with Kasey Keller.

NASL FINALS SERIES

The Championship

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg score included)
-Sat Oct 29
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v NSC Minnesota Stars (1-3) - 6:30pm CT

The game will be shown on GolTV delayed at 9pm CT.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

ALL NEW: du Nord at the Controls - Fri Oct 21, 2011 - music mix at Spotify

FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

10 more members of the Caribbean Football Union are now under investigation for bribery by FIFA.

World Football Insider reports that Brazilian Federal Courts have opened an investigation on money for the 2014 World Cup being siphoned off.

PREDICTION OF THE DAY

On the day the MLS playoffs begin I am going to predict that the Seattle Sounders will win the Cup.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

FIFA.com asks several French players about their experience in MLS. Uplifting.

CHICAGO FIRE

Guillermo Rivero of Chicago Now takes a big look ahead to the 2012 Fire season.
-Did you know they went 7-2-2 down the stretch. That is very impressive.

DC UNITED

Steve Goff of the Washington Post does his annual year-end interview with DCU president Kevin Payne - Part 1 - and - Part 2. Lots of topics to cover.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle asks Steve Ralston about the vacant head coaches job with the Revs.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian on the Timbers going straight into building for next year.

Arnold also reports on GM Gavin Wilkinson's off season plans.

TORONTO FC

Kurtis Larson of the Sun sees TFC reflecting on this season but ready to move on to 2012 as well.

Ryan Wolstat of the Sun hands out grades for TFC in 2011.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun reports that new head coach Martin Rennie has already cleared out 2 of 3 of the assistant coaches from this past season.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

ENGLAND - Championship League
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - Wed Oct 26 - played the whole game as they won 1-0 v Leeds.

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga
Etchu Tabe - RoPS - Wed Oct 26 - went the distance but lost 1-4 v HJK.
Mason Trafford - Mariehamn - Wed Oct 26 - played the whole match as they lost 2-0 at JJK.
Josh Wicks - Mariehamn - Wed Oct 26 - on the bench as they lost 2-0 at JJK.

GERMANY - DFB Pokal - Second Round
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - Wed Oct 26 - started and played 74 min but lost 6-0 at Bayern Munich.
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - Wed Oct 26 - played the whole game as they won 1-2 at Erzgebirge.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Wed Oct 26 - played a full 120 minutes getting a yellow card as they lost 0-1 v Mainz.
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Wed Oct 26 - went the full 90 as they won 0-2 at Karlsruher.
Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin - Wed Oct 26 - on the bench as they won 0-3 at Rot Weiss Essen.
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - Wed Oct 26 - on the bench but they lost 0-2 v Schalke.

ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - Wed Oct 26 - went the full 90 but lost 0-1 v Bologna.

MEXICO

Mid-week clashes.

Mexico - Primera Top 8 Standings (14 of 17 games played):
25 Guadalajara - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Tigres
23 Santos Laguna (13 GP) (+4) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v America
23 Jaguares (+4) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Tijuana
22 Tigres (+8) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Guadalajara
22 Cruz Azul (+3) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Toluca
21 Pachuca (-1) - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 at Morelia
21 Pumas (-3) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Atlante
20 Queretaro - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 at San Luis

ENGLAND

League Cup - Round of 16

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 25
Arsenal 2-1 Bolton
Aldershot 0-3 Manchester United
Crystal Palace 2-0 Southampton
Cardiff City 1-0 Burnley
-Wed Oct 26
Wolverhampton 2-5 Manchester City
Stoke 1-2 Liverpool
Blackburn 4-3 Newcastle
Everton 1-2 Chelsea

FRANCE

Coupe de la Ligue - Round of 16

PSG and all their money are OUT at the hands of the Mustard Men.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 25
Marseille 4-0 Lens
-Wed Oct 26
Dijon 3-2 PSG
Montpellier 1-2 Lorient
Saint-Etienne 1-2 Lyon
Auxerre 1-2 Caen
Nice 2-1 Sochaux
Lille 3-1 Sedan
Le Mans 0-0 Stade Rennes - LM advances 4-1 in Penalty Kick Shootout.

ARGENTINA

Primera Division - Apertura - Top 5 Standings (11 of 19 played):
25 Boca Juniors - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 at Colon
19 Racing Club (+6) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Lanus
19 Atletico Rafaela (+1) - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 v Argentinos Juniors
18 Colon - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 v Boca Juniors
17 Tigre - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Belgrano

Some Soccer News for Tue Oct 25, 2011

STARTERS

Huge congrats to Helsingborg who won the Swedish Allsvenskan championship on Sunday!

STORY OF THE DAY

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian today looks at statistical analysis that shows the biggest clubs in English football have clearly pulled away from everyone else.

MLS PLAYOFFS - MATCHES & SCORES

Wild Card Round
(Seed included)
-Wed Oct 26
FC Dallas(1) v New York Red Bulls(4) - 8:00PM CT on Fox Soccer
-Thu Oct 27
Colorado Rapids(2) v Columbus Crew(3) - 9:00PM CT on Direct Kick

dN

Quarterfinals
1st Leg
-Sat Oct 29
Real Salt Lake v Seattle Sounders FC - 9pm CT on Fox Soccer
Higher seeded WC winner v Sporting Kansas City - 6pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Sun Oct 30
Philadelphia Union v Houston Dynamo - 3pm CT on ESPN2
Lowest seeded WC winner v LA Galaxy - 7pm CT - TV TBA
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 2
Seattle Sounders FC v Real Salt Lake - 7pm CT on ESPN2
-Thu Nov 3
Houston Dynamo v Philadelphia Union - 7:30pm CT on ESPN2
-TBA
LA Galaxy v Lowest seeded WC winner
Sporting Kansas City v Higher seeded WC winner

dN

Seedings

WEST
W1 67 LA Galaxy
W2 63 Seattle Sounders
W3 53 Real Salt Lake

EAST
E1 51 Sporting Kansas City
E2 49 Houston Dynamo
E3 48 Philadelphia Union

WILD CARD
WC1 52 FC Dallas
WC2 49 Colorado Rapids
WC3 47 Columbus Crew
WC4 46 New York Red Bulls

dN

Semifinals
-Sat/Sun Nov 5/6
LA/LWC v SS/RSL
KC/HWC v HS/PU

dN

Final
-Sun Nov 20
Semifinal Winners
8:00pm CT on ESPN
Venue: The Home Depot Center, Carson CA

dN

General Playoff News

If Wild Card games are tied after 90 minutes they go to 30 min of Added Extra Time and if still tied then the game will be settle in a Penalty Kick Shootout.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Its looking like concussion symptoms will keep Pablo Mastroeni out their game on Thursday.

Dan Boniface of the Post with a few words from players as they prepare for Columbus on Thursday.

COLUMBUS CREW

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch looks at who will replace suspended Emmanuel Ekpo in the center of midfield, from yesterday.
-More on the same subject today.

FC DALLAS

Brian Straus at Sporting News reports that it is very unlikely David Ferreira could be ready to go for any playoff games.

In 12 games since Sep 1 FCD is 3-8-1 in all competitions. Scoring 12, allowing 22, and claiming just 1 shut out.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle on the Dynamo's strong finish to the regular season.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star with a great regular season round up and SKC awards.

LA GALAXY

Scott French of ESPN on the first career goal for 16 year old Jack McBean, and many many more Galaxy team notes.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Brian Lewis of the Post reports that Luke Rodgers knee injury will keep him out of Wednesday's game.

Lewis also looks at the team's trip to Dallas where they had success just 5 weeks ago.

Jack Bell of the Times on the Red Bulls approach and Thierry Henry's feelings about the playoffs.

Bell also talks soccer shoe styles with old school goalkeeper Frank Rost.
-Only black leather shoes for Rost.

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer reports that NYRB elected to skip practicing Penalty Kicks. Really?

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Marc Narducci of the Inquirer previews Houston.
-Narducci also does a video interview with goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon.

REAL SALT LAKE

Martin Renzhofer of the Tribune writes that RSL is looking for the positives heading into the playoffs seeing as their regular season ended poorly.
-RSL sold out their last 3 home games. Pretty awesome.

The club has signed team president Bill Manning to a new contract that runs through the 2015 season.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

The Times with Seattle and Salt Lake injury lists.
-Mauro Rosales is listed as Questionable. Head coach Sigi Schmid comments.

Bob Wickwire of the Times does another Q & A with star goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

33,000 tickets had been sold as of this Monday for the game next Wednesday.

NASL FINALS SERIES

The Championship

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg score included)
-Sat Oct 29
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v NSC Minnesota Stars (1-3) - 6:30pm CT

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

ALL NEW: du Nord at the Controls - Fri Oct 21, 2011 - music mix at Spotify

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

Slavisa Stojanovic is the new head coach of Slovenia.

dN

International Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 11
France v USA
-Tue Nov 15
Slovenia v USA

FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

Andrew Warshaw of Inside World Football with an article on Germany's new member of the FIFA executive committee who is not convinced that Qatar won a fair vote for the 2022 World Cup.

dN

Warshaw also has a response from Chuck Blazer to comments made last week by Jack Warner.

dN

The Trinidad & Tobago Guardian talks to that countries former Prime Minister who feel Jack Warner has put so much fear into the top government officials that they will not turn on him like the soccer people did.

dN

"It is nothing less than a national disgrace that this injustice is allowed to continue. The players deserve their reward for getting Trinidad and Tobago into the world's biggest and most watched sporting competition and they have already been denied for far too long. It's time to pay the Soca Warriors."

The Trinidad Express has a strongly worded editorial about Warner and the T&T football federations continued fight against money owed to players from the 2006 World Cup.
-An audit of the federations finances is also being asked for.

TWITTERVERSE

@kylejmccarthy : J. Kraft reinforces his desire for an urban location for potential 20k-22k seat stadium - hopes to announce a SSS in the next 12 months.

New England Revolution owner Jonathan Kraft gives his same old song and dance. His next 12 months is like the old MetroStars 30-60 days. Shut up and get it done.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Budweiser has signed on as a sponsor of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. I guess they will be serving beer.

PREDICTION OF THE DAY

Here is a look back at how I did with my MLS preseason predictions:

PREDICTION (preseason)

BEST
x FC Dallas
x LA Galaxy
NO New York Red Bulls
x Real Salt Lake

PRETTY GOOD
x Colorado Rapids
x Houston Dynamo
NO San Jose Earthquakes
x Seattle Sounders FC

MIDDLE
x Columbus Crew
x DC United
x Sporting Kansas City

KINDA NOT SO HOT
x Chicago Fire SC
x New England Revolution
NO Philadelphia Union

PRETTY BAD
x CD Chivas USA
NO Portland Timbers
x Toronto FC
x Vancouver Whitecaps FC

dN

ACTUAL (postseason)

BEST
67 LA Galaxy
higher-63 Seattle Sounders FC
53 Real Salt Lake
52 FC Dallas

PRETTY GOOD
higher-51 Sporting Kansas City
49 Colorado Rapids
49 Houston Dynamo
higher-48 Philadelphia Union

MIDDLE
47 Columbus Crew
lower-46 New York Red Bulls
higher-43 Chicago Fire SC

KINDA NOT SO HOT
higher-42 Portland Timbers
lower-39 DC United
lower-38 San Jose Earthquakes

PRETTY BAD
36 CD Chivas USA
33 Toronto FC
lower-28 New England Revolution
28 Vancouver Whitecaps FC

dN

In conclusion I was pretty on the mark with half the league this year. And the majority of the other half I was very close on. Only 3 glaring errors out of 18, not bad at all:
-Predicted San Jose would do a lot better
-Predicted New York would do a lot better
-Predicted Philadelphia would do a lot worse

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on who should be the league's MVP.

CD CHIVAS USA

The team has announced their player awards:

Most Valuable Player of the Year – Dan Kennedy
Golden Boot Award – Nick LaBrocca
Defender of the Year – Heath Pearce
Spirit of Chivas USA – Alejandro Moreno

DC UNITED

Thomas Floyd of the Washington Times feels that Charlie Davies will not be back with DCU next season.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'Apa of the Globe on the end of the Steve Nicol era as manager of the Revs.
-Former players Jay Heaps & Steve Ralston are listed as possible successors.

Kyle McCarthy of the Herald on Stevie's run.
-Adds Paul Mariner and Brian Bliss to the potentials list.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle sees Dynamo assistant Steve Ralston as a great candidate for the Revs job. What does Ralston think?

MLS COACHES HOT SEAT

With Steve Nicol out at New England the Hot Seat is down to just 4 contestants:

As of Tue Oct 25
1 Hans Backe - New York Red Bulls - given the dreaded vote of confidence
2 Frank Yallop - San Jose Earthquakes - 4 years and one playoff appearance with a step backwards this season
3 Frank Klopas - Chicago - still interim
4 Gary Smith - Colorado - has a conflict with the team's technical director Paul Bravo

MLS OFFENSIVE STATS LEADERS

Final season tally.

Goals:
16 Dwayne De Rosario
16 Chris Wondolowski
14 Thierry Henry
13 Andres Mendoza
12 Camilo
12 Landon Donovan
12 Fredy Montero
12 Dominic Oduro

Assists:
16 Brad Davis
15 David Beckham
13 Mauro Rosales
12 Dwayne De Rosario
9 Kyle Beckerman
9 Davide Chiumiento
9 Fredy Montero
9 Patrick Nyarko
9 Sebastien Le Toux

USA U17 TEAM

The team is in France for the Val de Marne tournament.

The USA lost their first game to the hosts.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 25
USA 0-3 France
-Thu Oct 27
USA v Peru
-Sat Oct 29
USA v Netherlands

Roster
G:
Paul Christensen - Seattle Sounders FC - Woodinville WA
Evan Louro - New York Red Bulls - South River NJ
D:
Conor Donovan - NC Alliance - Fuquay Varina NC
Elijah Martin - Cal Odyssey - Fresno CA
Shaquell Moore - Cobb FC - Powder Springs GA
Matt Nance - Vardar SC Freiburg - Washington MI
Kevin Politz - New York Red Bulls - Morganville NJ
John Requejo Jr. - Real So Cal - Carpinteria CA
Tyler Turner - South Central Premier - West Haven CT
M:
Steven Echevarria - New York Red Bulls - Slate Hill NY
Angel Heredia - San Jose Earthquakes - San Jose CA
Guyllain Kabala - New England Revolution - Manchester NH
Christopher Lema - New York Red Bulls - Ridgefield NJ
Declan McCabe - New England Revolution - Weston MA
Herber Mejia-Flores - McLean Youth Soccer - Manassas Park VA
Thomas Ziemer - Atletico Santa Rosa - Glen Allen CA
F:
Corey Baird - San Diego Surf - Escondido CA
Bradford Jamieson - CD Chivas USA - Los Angeles CA
Danya Kafai - Juventus Sports Club - Redwood City CA
DeAndre Robinson - Concorde Fire - Atlanta GA
Rubio Rubin - Westside Metros - Beaverton OR
Wesley Wade - New York Red Bulls - South Orange NJ

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Brentford - Tue Oct 25 - came on as a sub in the 76th min but lost 0-1 v Stevenage.
Anton Peterlin - Wallsall - Tue Oct 25 - played the whole game but lost 1-2 v Exeter.

GERMANY - DFB Pokal - Second Round
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - Tue Oct 25 - came on as a sub in the 83rd min as they won 2-1 v Koln.
Matt Taylor - Paderborn - Tue Oct 25 - came on as a sub at half time getting a yellow and losing 4-0 at Greuther Furth.
Daniel Williams - Hoffenheim - Tue Oct 25 - went the distance as they won 2-1 v Koln.
Bobby Wood - 1860 Munich - Tue Oct 25 - came on as a sub in the 68th min but they lost 3-0 at Fortuna Dusseldorf.

PORTUGAL - Primeira Liga
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting - Mon Oct 24 - on the bench as they won 6-1 v Gil Vicente.

dN

Coming Up:

ENGLAND - Championship League
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - Wed Oct 26 v Leeds

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga
Giuseppe Funicello - Mariehamn - Wed Oct 26 at JJK
Etchu Tabe - RoPS - Wed Oct 26 v HJK
Mason Trafford - Mariehamn - Wed Oct 26 at JJK
Josh Wicks - Mariehamn - Wed Oct 26 at JJK

GERMANY - DFB Pokal - Second Round
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt - Wed Oct 26 at Bayern Munich
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - Wed Oct 26 at Erzgebirge
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Wed Oct 26 v Mainz
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt - Wed Oct 26 v Kaiserstlautern
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Wed Oct 26 at Karlsruher
Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin - Wed Oct 26 at Rot Weiss Essen
Luis Robles - Karlsruher - Wed Oct 26 v Schalke

ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - Wed Oct 26 v Bologna

MEXICO

And mid-week clashes.

Mexico - Primera Top 8 Standings (14 of 17 games played):
25 Guadalajara - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Tigres
23 Santos Laguna (13 GP) (+4) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v America
23 Jaguares (+4) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Tijuana
22 Tigres (+8) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Guadalajara
22 Cruz Azul (+3) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Toluca
21 Pachuca (-1) - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 at Morelia
21 Pumas (-3) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Atlante
20 Queretaro - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 at San Luis

ENGLAND

Manchester City has finally settled on punishment for their players Carlos Tevez stemming from his refusal to enter a game several weeks back - He will be fined 4 weeks pay.

dN

League Cup - Round of 16

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 25
Arsenal 2-1 Bolton
Aldershot 0-3 Manchester United
Crystal Palace 2-0 Southampton
Cardiff City 1-0 Burnley
-Wed Oct 26
Wolverhampton v Manchester City
Stoke v Liverpool
Blackburn v Newcastle
Everton v Chelsea

SPAIN

Phil Ball of ESPN sees a new trend in La Liga, centerbacks who can play with the ball at their feet.

FRANCE

Coupe de la Ligue - Round of 16

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 25
Marseille 4-0 Lens
-Wed Oct 26
Dijon v PSG
Montpellier v Lorient
Saint-Etienne v Lyon
Auxerre v Caen
Nice v Sochaux
Lille v Sedan
Le Mans v Stade Rennes

GERMANY

DFB Pokal Second Round games played this week on Tue & Wed.

ITALY

Roberto Gotta of ESPN does not see Juventus as ready to win Serie A yet.

EUROPE

Helsingborg won the Swedish Allsvenskan championship by 5 points on Sunday! Huge congrats to them.

dN

Zenit leads the field by 2 points for the Russian Premier League title with 2 rounds left to play.

dN

Molde leads the Norwegian Eliteserien by 8 points with 3 games to play.

dN

HJK has easily won the Finnish Veikkauisliiga championship currently holding an 22 point lead with only 2 games left to go.

BRAZIL

Serie A Top 5 Standings (31 of 38 games played):
57 Vasco da Gama - NEXT: Sun Oct 30 v Sao Paulo
55 Corinthians - NEXT: Sun Oct 30 v Avai
52 Botafogo (15 W) - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 v Cruzeiro
52 Flamengo (13 W) - NEXT: Sun Oct 30 at Gremio
50 Fluminense - NEXT: Sat Oct 29 at Ceara

ARGENTINA

Primera Division - Apertura - Top 5 Standings (11 of 19 played):
25 Boca Juniors - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 at Colon
19 Racing Club (+6) - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Lanus
19 Atletico Rafaela (+1) - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 v Argentinos Juniors
18 Colon - NEXT: Tue Oct 25 v Boca Juniors
17 Tigre - NEXT: Wed Oct 26 v Belgrano

VERY OFF TOPIC

Watch Jack White, Jimmy Page & The Edge discuss and play Seven Nation Army.