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

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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

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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

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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"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

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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

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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.