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."