Some Soccer News for Thu Oct 6, 2011

STARTERS

Rumors began pouring out this afternoon that Chuck Blazer would step down as General Secratary of CONCACAF at years end. Confirmation came a short while later. It will be interesting if we hear any story behind this move.

-Bill Archer at Big Soccer with the story.
-Blazer will NOT step down from his FIFA executive committee post though. Interesting.
I have decided that I want Chuck Blazer's job!
Here is my CONCACAF Platform: "Fuck reform, burn it down! Lets Party! Everyone is too uptight!"

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times reports that "More than 55,000 tickets sold for (the Sounders) home finale on Oct. 15." Woooooooooow!!!!!

STORY OF THE DAY

The story of today is easily the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. No one person has changed our lives in the last 30 years more than him.

RIP Mr. Jobs

My first computer was a Mac Power Book. 8 megs of RAM. 80 megs of hard drive. I think my watch has more than that now.





















NASL SCOREBOARD

Playoffs

All tix for the Star home Semifinal game are just $10. You have NO excuse.

And the Twin Cities own Surly Brewing is providing free beer for the Dark Clouds pre-game tailgate party if you are 21 years old or over. Be there.

Semifinals - Home & Home Series
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Oct 8
NSC Minnesota Stars v Carolina RailHawks
Ft Lauderdale Strikers v Puerto Rico Islanders
2nd Leg
-Sat Oct 15
Carolina RailHawks v NSC Minnesota Stars
Puerto Rico Islanders v Ft Lauderdale Strikers

US OPEN CUP

So why isn't Paul Gardner raving about the huge Latino influence on the Seattle Sounders? He is always crying for MLS and the USA to adapt a more South American flair. Well dude, it doesn't get much more Latino then the Sounders outside of Latin America.
-These guys are regulars in the lineup:
Osvaldo Alonso
Servando Carrasco
Alvaro Fernandez
Leonardo Gonzalez
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado
Fredy Montero
Maurro Rosales

dN

"the play-in concept for MLS teams stinks."
-Portland Timbers owner @MerrittPaulson

I could not agree more.

The whole tournament needs a house cleaning.

First off we can all agree that it should be a lot more popular. And that takes times money and effort. Real effort. Not just talk about making it more popular.

Then I think these ideas should be implemented immediately:

-All MLS teams in the USA should be entered in.

-All NASL teams in the USA should be entered in.

-All USL-Pro teams in the USA should be entered in.

-Play-in for entrance by PDL teams.

-Play-in for entrance by all amateur teams.

-There should be NO bidding for home field, it should be a blind draw.

And finally, lets get some more games beyond the last round or two on TV. And if so many teams are already streaming their games online why can't there be a hub to find all of them, why do we have to play Sherlock Holmes to figure out where to watch something.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

US Soccer gives us video from team training in south Florida.

-And photos from Wednesday via Facebook.

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com talks to Michael Bradley about the USA, Italy and Egypt.

Jaime Hill of Yanks Abroad also writes about Bradley.

Its interesting to look at the racial mix of players on this USA roster as 8 of 22 are Caucasian while the other 14 have a mix of Latin and African backgrounds.

Wilson Palacios has been scratched from the Honduras roster due to a knee injury.

International friendlies

Matches & Scores:

-Sat Oct 8

USA v Honduras - 5pm CT on Fox Soccer

Venue: Sun Life Stadium, Miami

-Tue Oct 11

USA v Ecuador - 6pm CT on ESPN2

Venue: Red Bull Arena, Harrison NJ

dN

USA Roster.

G:

Bill Hamid - DC United

Tim Howard - Everton

Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake

D:

Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers

Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg

Steve Cherundolo - Hannover

Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting

Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis

Tim Ream - New York Red Bulls

Jonathan Spector - Birmingham

M:

DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla

Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake

Michael Bradley - Chievo

Clint Dempsey - Fulham

Maurice Edu - Rangers

Jeff Larentowicz - Colorado Rapids

Brek Shea - FC Dallas

Danny Williams - Hoffenheim

F:

Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls

Jozy Altidore - AZ

Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt

Teal Bunbury -Sporting Kansas City

dN

Honduras roster.

G:

Donis Escober - Olimpia

Donaldo Morales - Motagua

D:

Bryan Beckeles - Olimpia

Osman Chavez - Wisla

Maynor Figueroa - Wigan

Erick Norales - Marathon

Johnny Leveron - Motagua

Mauricio Sabillon - Marathon

M:

Roger Espinoza - Kansas City

Oscar Garcia - Olimpia

Julio Cesar De Leon - Shandong Luneng Taishan

Mario Martinez - Espana

Alfredo Mejia - Espana

Wilson Palacios - Stoke

F:

Jerry Bengtson - Motagua

Marvin Chavez - Dallas

Carlo Costly - Houston

Roger Rojas - Olimpia

WHAT???

So why is THIS not being called match fixing???

The Guardian reports that 9 men including Wayne Rooney's father and uncle and a player in a game have been arrested for "suspicious gambling practices."

What does that even mean? Usually it means that they used insider information to make bets on a game, but when a player from said game is involved what does that mean?

MLS MATCHES, SCORES & STANDINGS

Week 30

Matches & Scores:

-Tue Oct 4

New York Red Bulls 2-0 LA Galaxy - NYRB goals by Luke Rodgers & Thierry Henry.

Venue: Red Bull Arena

Atten:

-Thu Oct 6

Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Real Salt Lake - 8:30PM CT on Direct Kick

Venue: BC Place Stadium

-Sat Oct 8

New England Revolution v San Jose Earthquakes - 6:30PM CT on Direct Kick

Venue: Gillette Stadium

Seattle Sounder FC v Philadelphia Union - 9:00PM CT on Direct Kick

Venue: CenturyLink Field

dN

Standings:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

45 Sporting Kansas City (32 GP) (+7 GD) (Max 51)

44 Philadelphia Union (31 GP) (+7 GD) (Max 53)

44 Columbus Crew (32 GP) (-3 GD) (Max 50)

43 New York Red Bulls (32 GP) (+7 GD) (Max 49)

43 Houston Dynamo (32 GP) (0 GD) (Max 49)

38 DC United (30 GP) (0 GD) (Max 50)

37 Chicago Fire SC (31 GP) (0 GD) (Max 46)

OUT-31 Toronto FC (32 GP) (-23 GD)

OUT-27 New England Revolution (31 GP) (-16 GD)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

*64 LA Galaxy (32 GP) (+21 GD) (Max 70)

*57 Seattle Sounders FC (31 GP) (+18 GD) (Max 66)

*51 Real Salt Lake (31 GP) (+11 GD) (Max 60)

46 FC Dallas (31 GP) (+2 GD) (Max 55)

45 Colorado Rapids (32 GP) (+2 GD) (Max 51)

40 Portland Timbers (31 GP) (-6 GD) (Max 49)

OUT-36 CD Chivas USA (32 GP) (+1 GD)

OUT-32 San Jose Earthquakes (31 GP) (-7 GD)

OUT-22 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (30 GP) (-21 GD)

*Playoff berth

MLS OFFENSIVE STATS LEADERS

As of Thu Oct 6

Goals:

14 Dwayne De Rosario

14 Thierry Henry

12 Landon Donovan

12 Dominic Oduro

12 Chris Wondolowski

11 Charlie Davies

11 Andres Mendoza

11 Fredy Montero

10 Juan Pablo Angel

10 Fabian Espindola

10 Eric Hassli

10 Alvaro Saborio

10 Brek Shea

10 Sebastien Le Toux

Assists:

15 David Beckham

14 Brad Davis

12 Dwayne De Rosario

12 Mauro Rosales

9 Kyle Beckerman

9 Davide Chiumiento

8 Jack Jewsbury

8 Sebastien Le Toux

8 Fredy Montero

8 Patrick Nyarko

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:

-Wed Oct 5
New York Red Bulls 1-1 DC United - NYRB goal by Corey Hertzog. DCU goal by Cristhyan Najar.
-Sat Oct 8

Real Salt Lake v Chicago Fire SC

dN

Standings Etc.

CONCACAF

Upcoming International Friendlies

Matches & Scores:

-Fri Oct 7

Costa Rica v Brazil

-Sat Oct 8

USA v Honduras

UEFA EURO 2012 QUALIFYING

There are the 2 final dates of group play, and the Guardian breaks down what is on the line in each group.

Germany, Italy and Spain are already through.

Matches & Scores:

-Fri Oct 7

Czech Republic v Spain

Netherlands v Moldova

Turkey v Germany

France v Albania

Montenegro v England

Portugal v Iceland

Serbia v Italy

Wales v Switzerland

Slovakia v Russia

Belgium v Kazakhstan

Finland v Sweden

N Ireland v Estonia

Romania v Belarus

Andorra v Ireland

Cyprus v Denmark

Greece v Croatia

Bosnia-Herzegovina v Luxembourg

Armenia v Macedonia

Latvia v Malta

Azerbaijan v Austria

-Sat Oct 8

Liechtenstein v Scotland

-Tue Oct 11

Spain v Scotland

Italy v N Ireland

France v Bosnia-Herzegovina

Germany v Belgium

Denmark v Portugal

Ireland v Armenia

Malta v Israel

Croatia v Latvia

Macedonia v Slovakia

Turkey v Azerbaijan

Albania v Romania

Hungary v Finland

Sweden v Netherlands

Switzerland v Montenegro

Norway v Cyprus

Slovenia v Serbia

Moldova v San Marino

Georgia v Greece

Bulgaria v Wales

Russia v Andorra

Lithuania v Czech Republic

Kazakhstan v Austria

Group Standings

BRAZIL

Serie A Top 5 Standings (27 of 38 games played):

50 Vasco - NEXT: Sun Oct 9 at Internacional

48 Corinthians - NEXT: Sun Oct 9 v Atletico GO

46 Sao Paulo - NEXT: Wed Oct 5 at Cruzeiro

45 Botafogo (26 GP) - NEXT: Sat Oct 8 v Bahia

44 Fluminense - NEXT: Sun Oct 9 at Flamengo

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012 QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:

-Fri Oct 7

Congo DR v Cameroon

-Sat Oct 8

Cape Verde Islands v Zimbabwe

Liberia v Mali

Nigeria v Guinea

Ethiopia v Madagascar

Mozambique v Comoros

Gambia v Burkina Faso

South Africa v Sierra Leone

Egypt v Niger

Sudan v Ghana

Swaziland v Congo

Guinea-Bissau v Angola

Uganda v Kenya

Chad v Malawi

Zambia v Libya

Tunisia v Togo

-Sun Oct 9

Mauritius v Senegal

Cote d'Ivoire v Burundi

Benin v Rwanda

Morocco v Tanzania

Algeria v Central African Republic

Group Standings

CONCACAF 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:

-Fri Oct 7

St Lucia v Canada

Bermuda v Trinidad & Tobago

Dominican Republic v El Salvador

St Vincent/Grenadines v Guatemala

US Virgin Islands v Haiti

Barbados v Guyana

Belize v Grenada

Dominica v Panama

Cayman Islands v Suriname

Puerto Rico v St Kitts & Nevis

Curacao v Antigua & Barbuda

-Oct 11

Canada v Puerto Rico

Panama v Nicaragua

Trinidad & Tobago v Barbados

Guatemala v Belize

El Salvador v Cayman Islands

Haiti v Curacao

Antigua & Barbuda v US Virgin Islands

Suriname v Dominican Republic

Bermuda v Guyana

St Kitts & Nevis v St Lucia

-Oct 15

Grenada v St Vincent/Grenadines

Group Standings

-The 6 group winners advance to the next round.

ASIA 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:

-Tue Oct 11

Australia v Oman

Japan v Tajikistan

Indonesia v Qatar

Singapore v Jordan

Iran v Bahrain

China v Iraq

N Korea v Uzbekistan

Lebanon v Kuwait

Thailand v Saudi Arabia

-Sat Oct 15

Lebanon v S Korea

N Korea v Japan

Thailand v Australia

Singapore v China

Jordan v Iraq

Uzbekistan v Tajikistan

Kuwait v United Arab Emirates

Indonesia v Iran

Qatar v Bahrain

Saudi Arabia v Oman

Group Standings

CONMEBOL 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Matches & Scores:

-Fri Oct 7

Ecuador v Venezuela

Uruguay v Bolivia

Argentina v Chile

Peru v Paraguay

-Oct 11

Bolivia v Colombia

Paraguay v Uruguay

Chile v Peru

Venezuela v Argentina

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Matches & Scores:

-Fri Oct 7

Ukraine v Bulgaria

Japan v Vietnam

S Korea v Poland

Singapore v Philippines

China v United Arab Emirates

Indonesia v Saudi Arabia

Gabon v Equatorial Guinea

Costa Rica v Brazil

Australia v Malaysia

-Sat Oct 8

USA v Honduras

-Tue Oct 11

Estonia v Ukraine

Mexico v Brazil

Ghana v Nigeria

Honduras v Jamaica

Philippines v Nepal

USA v Ecuador

Poland v Belarus

Equatorial Guinea v Cameroon

-Sat Oct 15

Italy v Uruguay

Algeria v Cameroon

Brazil v Egypt

Costa Rica v Spain