Friday, November 04, 2011

Some Soccer News for Fri Nov 4, 2011

STARTERS

The stars have aligned and we are getting 3 of the top 5 teams in the MLS Semifinals this weekend. Both games are on Sunday evening. Should be fantastic!

Join me to watch both games on Sunday evening at the Sweetwater in St Paul.

dN

How excited is Houston manager Dominic Kinear that his team is advancing?!?! (click to enlarge)
















dN

Antonio Cassano of AC Milan has heart surgery yesterday and is said to be doing well. He will miss at least 4 months of action. He is very lucky it did not turn out a lot worse. We wish him all the best in his recovery.

dN

After the next two USA friendlies Brek Shea will begin training with Arsenal for the next month. Great move.

RISE & SHINE: THE JAY DEMERIT STORY

Opens this week.

Myself and some other fanaticos took in the first showing of the film last night in Minneapolis. A great crowd was on hand. And the finished product is a nice step up from the rough cut of the movie I saw a few months ago. We had a blast.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated writes about the movie.

Here is the Minnesota schedule:

Twin Cities
Marcus Oakdale Cinemas - Thu Nov 10
Marcus Parkwood Cinemas - Thu Nov 10

Duluth
Marcus Duluth 10 - Thu Nov 10

See the schedule for the whole rest of the country.

STORY OF THE DAY

Jake Appleman of the New York Times writes about the one player that is leading Manchester City toward the top echelon of world football - David Silva.

MLS CUP PLAYOFFS

Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Nov 2
Sporting Kansas City 2-0 Colorado Rapids - SKC advances 4-0 on aggregate - SKC goals by Aurelien Collin & CJ Sapong.
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Atten: 18,565
Seattle Sounders FC 2-0 Real Salt Lake - RSL advances 3-2 on aggregate - SS goals by Osvaldo Alonso(PK) & Lamar Neagle.
Venue: CenturyLink Field
Atten: 36,021
-Thu Nov 3
Houston Dynamo 1-0 Philadelphia Union (2-1) - HD goal by Brian Ching.
Venue: Robertson Stadium
Atten: 24,749
LA Galaxy 2-1 New York Red Bulls (1-0) - LAG goals by Mike Magee & Landon Donovan(PK). NYRB goal by Luke Rodgers.
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Atten: 20,000

dN

Seedings

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

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

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

dN

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 6
LA Galaxy v Real Salt Lake - Time & TV TBD
Sporting Kansas City v Houston Dynamo - Time & TV TBD

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 20
LAG/RSL v SKC/HD
8:00pm CT on ESPN
Venue: The Home Depot Center, Carson CA

dN

General Playoff News

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com tries to dig into the possible changes in scheduling, rules and playoffs etc etc for next season.

Alejandro Moreno was great as a studio analyst on ESPN the last 2 nights!

Steve Busfield of the Guardian sets the final 4.

COLORADO RAPIDS

John Meyer of the Post now ponders head coach Gary Smith's position with the team.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Houston is going to play in the Semifinals for the 4th time in their 6 years.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Chronicle with a match report from Houston's big win.
-Ortiz with more on game winning goal scorer and team leader Brian Ching.

Last night was the final time the Dynamo will play a game at Robertson Stadium, the only home they have ever known. Next season will open in their brand new stadium.
-This is what the new stadium construction site looked like at 3:06pm CT today.
















SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star tries to answer 11 important questions previewing the semifinals.

Joel Petterson of the New York Times on KC's amazing run since Livestrong Sporting Park opened in June.

KC has not given up a goal in their last 4 games.

LA GALAXY

Phil Collin of the Daily News with a match report.

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze with lots of good in-&-post-game notes.

Scott French of ESPN with a match report.

French with post-game analysis.

Arash Markazi of ESPN on David Beckham's huge contribution to the win.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Before last nights game MLS gave Rafa Marquez a further 2 game suspension after his red card in Game 1 for throwing the ball at Landon Donovan after the game, he also tried to throw a head butt, and nice hook and escalated a shoving match.

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer lays all of the Red Bulls short comings on team management.

The Star-Ledger with a match report.

The Post with post-game coach and player quotes from both teams.

Joseph D'Hippolito of the Times with a match report.

Jack Bell of the Time with Red Bulls' player ratings.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News with a match report.

Marc Narducci of the Inquirer with a match report.

REAL SALT LAKE

Martin Renzhofer of the Tribune looks at RSL's chances of returning to the Cup final.

Renzhofer with an article on fullback Tony Beltran who started for the first time in a few months and made the most of it with a huge save off the goal line.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times looks at what the Sounders have to build upon for next season.

Don Ruiz News Tribune looks at the health issues that contributed to the Sounder season ending before they planned.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

I will be surprised if Landon Donovan or Kyle Beckerman (which ever team wins this weekend) goes to play these games in Europe.

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America does a Q & A with head coach Jurgen Klinsman on the youth game. This is Part 1.

Juan Agudelo, Jack McInerney, Amobi Okugo and Sheanon Williams have been added to the USA U2/23 training roster.

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

USA Roster-
G:
Bill Hamid - DC United
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Clarence Goodson - Brondby
Alfredo Morales - Hertha
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake
Michael Bradley - Chievo
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim
Jermaine Jones - Schalke
Robbie Rogers - Columbus Crew
Brek Shea - Dallas
Danny Williams - Hoffenheim
F:
Jozy Altidore - AZ
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla
Edson Buddle - Ingolstadt
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy

2012-13 CONCACACHAMPIONS

LA Galaxy (Supporters Shield winner), Seattle Sounders (Open Cup winner) and Real Salt Lake (next best finisher) are 3 of the 4 USA teams that have qualified for next seasons tournament. Houston of Kansas City will be the last team in.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

ADV: Barcelona, Milan, Real Madrid

OUT: Dinamo Zagreb, Otelul Galati, Viktoria Plzen, Villarreal

Matchday 5 to be played Nov 22 & 23

Matchday 6 to be played Dec 6 & 7

FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

Tariq Panja of Bloomberg reports that FIFA is rattled by negative comments from one of their biggest sponsors Emirate Air.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

This is one of those very weird weekends were their is only 1 big matchup between two teams of consequence. What are the odds of that happening?

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Nov 6
Napoli v Juventus - Nap wants to stay with the leaders and Juve is the leader

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

MONTREAL IMPACT

Nick Sabetti of Sportsnet wonders if Montreal should go after a designated player right off the bat.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Martin Renne has hired his assistant from Carolina, Paul Ritchie, for the same coaching role in Vancouver.

The team has signed forward Atiba Harris to a new contract.

MLS COACHES HOT SEAT

As of Fri Nov 4 who is most likely to find their way headed off to do something else next season:

1 Hans Backe - New York Red Bulls - the highest payroll and they barely squeeked into playoffs
2 Frank Yallop - San Jose Earthquakes - 3 rough season and 1 good one
3 Gary Smith - Colorado - conflict with technical director

SOCCER IN MINNESOTA

The 2011 Boys High School Championship Tournaments
-AT Minneapolis Metrodome

Benilde and Eden Praire are the Boys state champs for 2011!! Huge congrats to both.

Class A Section Bracket:

Final
-Thu Nov 3
Prairie Seeds Academy 3-1 Benilde-St. Margaret's

- - - - -

Class AA Section Bracket:

Final
-Thu Nov 3
Eastview 1-3 Eden Prairie

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

UEFA - Europa League - Group Stage - Matchday 4
-Thu Nov 3
Jozy Altidore - AZ - started and played 87 min as they drew 2-2 at Austria Wien.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - on the bench as they won 1-2 at Kobenhavn.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the entire match as they won 4-1 v Wisla Krakow.
Brad Friedel - Tottenham - did not suit up as they lost 1-0 at Rubin Kazan.
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - went the distance as they won 3-0 v Sturm Graz.
Jermiane Jones - Schalke - was not in uniform for a 0-0 tie v AEK Larnaca.
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting - on the bench as they lost 1-0 at Vaslui.
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - went the full 90 as they tied 2-2 v Club Brugge.

MEXICO

Just 1 round to play now! Then Laguilla. The Playoffs.

Mexico - Primera Top 8 Standings (16 of 17 games played):
29 Guadalajara Chivas (+6) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Pachuca
26 Chiapas Jaguares (+6) - NEXT: Fri Nov 4 at Morelia
26 Cruz Azul Maquina (+5) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v America
25 UANL Tigres (+8) - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at Puebla
25 Pachuca Tuzos (+3) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 at Guadalajara
24 Santos Laguna Guerreros (+1) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Atlas
24 UNAM Pumas (-6) - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 v Tijuana
23 Morelia Monarcas (+2) - NEXT: Fri Nov 4 v Jaguares
- - - - -
Still Eligible for Playoffs:
- - - - -
23 Queretara Gallos Blancos (0) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Tecos
22 Puebla Camoteros (-2) - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 v Tigres
21 Monterrey Rayados (0) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Atlante
21 San Luis Gladiadores (-1) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Toluca
20 Toluca Diablos Rojos (-4) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 at San Luis

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 4 - Thu Nov 3.

Group Standings

BRAZIL

Serie A Top 5 Standings (32 of 38 games played):
58 Corinthians (17 W) - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at America Minerio
58 Vasco da Gama (16 W) - NEXT: Sun Nov 5 at Santos
55 Botafogo - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Figueirense
52 Flamengo - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 v Cruzeiro
53 Fluminense - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at Internacional

ARGENTINA

Primera Division - Apertura - Top 5 Standings (13 of 19 played):
31 Boca Juniors - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at Velez Sarsfield
22 Atletico Rafaela - NEXT: Fri Nov 4 v Belgrano
21 Racing Club (+6) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 v Argentinos Juniors
21 Colon (+2) - NEXT: Sat Nov 5 at Tigre
20 Lanus (+5) - NEXT: Sun Nov 6 at Banfield

CONCACAF 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

SECOND ROUND

The last two vital rounds are coming up next week. Who will advance? 4 spots left to fill.

Matchday 5

-Fri Nov 11
Suriname v El Salvador
Dominican Republic v Cayman Islands
Guyana v Trinidad & Tobago
Bermuda v Barbados
Dominica v Panama
Bahamas v Nicaragua
St. Kitts & Nevis v Canada
St. Lucia v Puerto Rico
Guatemala v Grenada
Belize v St. Vincent/Grenadines
Antigua & Barbuda v Haiti
US Virgin Islands v Curacao

Matchday 6

-Mon Nov 14
Cayman Islands v Dominican Republic

-Tue Nov 15
El Salvador v Suriname
Trinidad & Tobago v Guyana
Barbados v Bermuda
Panama v Dominica
Nicaragua v Bahamas
Canada v St. Kitts & Nevis
Puerto Rico v St. Lucia
Grenada v Guatemala
St. Vincent/Grenadines v Belize
Haiti v Antigua & Barbuda
Curacao v US Virgin Islands

THIRD ROUND

Group A
USA
Jamaica
Guatemala
2nd Rd Group F winner

Group B
Mexico
Costa Rica
2nd Rd Group A winner
2nd Rd Group B winner

Group C
Honduras
Cuba
2nd Rd Group D winner
Panama

Group Standings
-The 6 group winners advance to the next round.

BIG PIMPIN

Who's gonna be rockin the Slayer Silver Eagle hockey style jersey??

2 Comments:

Anonymous Charlie N. said...

Saw the movie last night in Morris County N.J. Great story, good movie. Only 24 in the theater-boooo. Well worth the time, go see it!

7:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SLAYER!!!

8:33 PM  

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