Thursday, October 27, 2011

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

2 Comments:

Blogger Zathras said...

Stars celebration is 11/1 not 10/27, but most people who would be going are probably already aware of that.

2:07 PM  
Blogger brucio said...

thanks for the correction

3:22 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Newer Posts Older Posts