SPECIAL EDITION: Some News for Fri Dec 30, 2011

This is a Special Edition soccer news blast during this holiday week. I have been off enjoying regular life, cut had to at least lay all of this good stuff on you once this week. We will be back to regular service next week. But for now here is some news, in pretty much random order - no headlines or sections:

dN

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Dec 27, 2011 - My Dad's birthday - new music mix at Spotify.

dN

Everton sits down to do a video interview with Landon Donovan upon his return to the club.

MLS SuperDraft will be held on Thu Jan 12 in Kansas City. I will be there! Will you?

Seattle has signed 28 year old Swedish right fullback Adam Johansson from IFK Gothenburg.
-Thank to Henrik for the heads up.

23 year old danish midfielder Christian Sivebaek has been linked to the Seattle Sounders. He is from FC Midtjylland in Denmark.

San Jose has signed 29 year old Honduran centerback Victor Bernardez from Anderlecht in Belgium.

Joey Barton's wife gave birth to a son today - name: Cassius

Charlie Davies will be back in training with Sochaux come Jan 4.

Isaac Acuna is out of Club America and into the 2nd division at Merida.

Freddy Adu is doing some off-season training in Spain at Rayo Vallecano.

The KNVB Beker cup match between Ajax and AZ which was called off after a fan attacked the AZ goalkeeper on the field will be replayed on Jan 19 in an empty stadium.

Luis Bueno of Press Enterprise reports that Colombians now account for the "highest number of foreign-born players on MLS rosters."

Bolton has supposedly offered $3.9M for Tim Ream. Nice. Now try again. This time like you mean it.

Waking the Red post their All Time Toronto FC Worst XI. This is one hell of a list!
-Even the bench is grotesquely impressive.

Frank Dell'Apa of the Globe talks to new Revs head coach Jay Heaps who has this to say about one of their new additions to the roster: "I am particularly excited about Clyde Simms."
-Oof. Lets hope it gets a lot better from here for Mr Heaps.

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze reflects on 2011.

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN looks ahead to 2012 for US Soccer.

Luke Wileman of TSN reviews 2011 in MLS in Canada.

Celtic beats Rangers 1-0 and takes over lead in SPL.
-How did the Americans on Rangers do?
Alejandro Bedoya - did not suit up for the game.
Carlos Bocanegra - went the distance getting a yellow card.
Mo Edu - came on as a sub in the 78th min.

Houston acquired midfielder Nathan Sturgis from Toronto in exchange for a pick in the 2014 SuperDraft. Sturgis has always shown tons of promise but injuries have limited his playing time, and he has bounced from team to team around MLS.

MLSsoccer.com talks to Philadelphia keeper Zac MacMath about his recent training stint at Everton.

Mexican 2nd division team Indios of Juarez, announced they'll be dissolving due to financial problems.
-Wow, you have to imagine that the horrible crime of the drug war in that city has taken a toll on ticket sales and possible sponsorships.

Tom Marshall of MLSsoccer.com talks to Victor Garza about a potentially big 2012 at Tigres.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated with his best and worst, high and low, weird and wonderful of soccer in the year 2011.

Paris Saint-Germain has fired head coach Antoine Kombouare and hired former AC Milan and Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti as its new head coach.

Thierry Henry is all set to re-join Arsenal on a short term loan prior to the next MLS season in March.

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated looks the potential USA Olympic team.

NBA great Kevin Garnett has bought a stake in Roma.

The MLS Combine for potential draft picks to show off their skills will take place Jan 7-11 at Central Broward Park in Fort Lauderdale FL.

Trinidad & Tobago Newsday with the story of Jack Warner claiming he was personally given the TV rights to the 1998 World Cup in T&T for $1 in exchange for helping Sepp Blatter remain in charge of FIFA.

German striker Gerald Asamoah is telling people that he is headed to an unnamed team in MLS.

Russell Berrisford of the Vancouver Sun gives us a short list of what the Whitecaps need to accomplish in 2012.

Brian Straus of Sporting News with his best of 2011 of soccer in America.

Soccer America tells us about the 5 players who have signed special Generation Adidas contracts with MLS after leaving college early, or skipped college all together. Will there be more before the Superdraft on Jan 12?

Goalkeeper Diego Restrepo has left America de Cali in Colombia to sign with Tachira in Venezuela.

Happy Holidays - du Nord With Some Days Off

Happy Holidays everyone.

du Nord will be posted irregularly this week due to a nice holiday break.

Check in but don't always expect fresh news.

Bruce

Some Soccer News for Fri Dec 23, 2011

STARTERS

Jamie Trecker of Fox Soccer traveled to London and sat down for a video interview with Clint Dempsey.
-There really isn't anything new here for us diehards, but its great to see the words come out of Clint's mouth. What a talent!
-More great stuff with Clint and members of his family.

dN

Liverpool staff, players and fans giving Luis Suarez their full support against his being found guilty of using racist slurs against an opponent are missing the whole point. OK so you think the 8 game suspension was too much. But to my way of thinking at some point someone with authority has to put their foot down and say Enough is enough. This stops here and now and if it doesn't this is the penalty. I could care less that Suarez has black friends. That doesn't excuse anything. He said what he said and its wrong. Shut up and pay the price and lets move on.

dN

ITS ALIVE! Eddie Johnson, the Grown Ass Man, has come back to life and signed with Puebla in Mexico.
-Last we heard from Eddie he was dodging his Missus, hanging out in a Florida hotel room with a floozy, and getting his car wrecked by the wife when she found him.

dN

Former Milan and Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is going to be named the new head coach of Paris St Germain.

AFRICA

Yaya Toure of Cote d'Ivoire & Manchester City has been named the African Player of the Year.

The other 9 finalists were:
-Andre Ayew - Ghana & Marseille
-Kevin-Prince Boateng - Ghana & AC Milan
-Didier Drogba - Cote d'Ivoire & Chelsea
-Samuel Eto'o - Cameroon & Anzhi Makhachkala
-Gervinho - Cote d'Ivoire & Arsenal
-Asamoah Gyan - Ghana & Al Ain
-Seydou Keita - Mali & Barcelona
-Moussa Sow - Senegal & Lille
-Adel Taarabt - Morocco & Queens Park Rangers

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Dec 20, 2011 - new music mix at Spotify

STORY OF THE DAY

Here is something you definitely don't see every day, especially from former soccer stars!

The Guardian has an article on a new museum exhibition opening in Paris that shows how throughout recent history humans have used other humans as "displays" and "freak shows". The exhibit is curated by France 98 World Cup star Lillian Thuram! (thanks to Wes for the link)

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

The USA will hold its annual January training camp for players who are currently in their off-season.

The camp will run Jan 3-26 and training will take place in Phoenix, Carson CA and Panama.

They will finish with 2 games:
-Jan 21 v Venezuela
-Jan 25 at Panama

dN

US Soccer has quotes from Klinsmann on this roster.

dN

USA Roster
G:
Bill Hamid - DC United
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire SC
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
D:
Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
AJ DeLaGarza - LA Galaxy
Omar Gonzalez - LA Galaxy
George John - FC Dallas
Zach Loyd - FC Dallas
Michael Parkhurst - FC Nordsjaelland
Heath Pearce - CD Chivas USA
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt
Benny Feilhaber - New England Revolution
Jeff Larentowicz - Colorado Rapids
Brek Shea - FC Dallas
Graham Zusi - Sporting Kansas City
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
CJ Sapong - Sporting Kansas City
Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes

Who surprises you the most on this roster?
-Ricardo Clark sticks out for me.

Who is not on this list that should be?
-Tim Ream is getting married in January, so that is why he is not on this roster.

Here is my list of "Other possibles":
-Nat Borchers
-Eric Brunner
-Sean Franklin
-Eddie Gaven
-Clarence Goodson
-Ugo Ihemelu
-Dan Kennedy
-Nick LaBrocca
-Mike Magee
-Chad Marshall
-Ryan Miller
-Drew Moor
-Chance Myers
-Chris Rolfe
-Brad Rusin
-AJ Soares
-Yevgeni Starikov
-Etchu Tabe

USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM

The USA U23/Olympic team is in Lakewood Ranch Florida until Dec 23 for a training camp.

dN

US Soccer fills us in on a second inter-squad scrimmage.

dN

There will be another camp in January.

dN

Here is the roster.

G:
David Bingham - San Jose Earthquakes
Bill Hamid - DC United
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire
Zac MacMath - Philadelphia Union
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Eintracht Frankfurt
Royal-Dominique Fennell - Stuttgarter Kickers
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Kofi Sarkodie - Houston Dynamo
Zarek Valentin - Montreal Impact
Jorge Villafana - Chivas USA
Andrew Wenger - Duke
Sheanon Williams - Philadelphia Union
M:
Freddy Adu - Philadelphia Union
Bryan Arguez - Montreal Impact
Joe Corona - Tijuana
Danny Cruz - Houston Dynamo
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Dilly Duka - Columbus Crew
Jared Jeffrey - Mainz
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Michael Stephens - LA Galaxy
F:
Terrance Boyd - Dortmund
Will Bruin - Houston Dynamo
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Jann George - Nurnberg
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Andrew Wooten - Kaiserslautern

FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated sums it all up with a look back at the year in FIFA scandals.

BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD ALL DAY

Wisconsin Soccer Central reports on Landon Donovan stopping off for a family visit in Madison this week and doing some training at a local soccer complex as he prepares to head for Everton next week. With photos. Great stuff. Thanks to Keith for sending this our way.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Jere Longman of the New York Times on England getting tough on racism in soccer.

WELL WELL WELL

Kristan Heneage of the Guardian does an interview with DC United star Dwayne DeRosario.

OOF

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America reports that the German media are going after Jermaine Jones with a vengeance.
-The video of him stomping on the foot of an opposition player that he knew was dealing with a broken toe is just despicable.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Brad Friedel goes out of his way to clear the air on Landon Donovan. He never meant any ill will toward LD. He says it was all blown out of proportion. And he said he wished that people had listened to his whole interview, which was not about Donovan, but Clint Dempsey, before they took Friedel to task.

Jamie Trecker of Fox Soccer does a video interview with Brad Friedel in three parts: PART 1 - and - PART 2 - PART 3.

dN

Following up from Wednesday we get video from The Guardian of the fan running on to the field at Ajax and going after the AZ goalkeeper, who retaliates and was given a red card. The AZ players then walked off the field and abandon the game. No decision has been announced yet on what will happen. Usually a game like this would result in a forfeiture by the team that left.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

Chivas has signed 28 year old Ecuadorian midfielder Oswaldo Minda from Deportivo Quito.

dN

LA has signed American goalkeeper Nick Noble from Ljungskile in Sweden, and forward Pat Noonan from Seattle.

dN

New England has signed defensive midfielder Clyde Simms from DC United.

dN

Signed to a Generation Adidas contract:
-Chandler Hoffman - UCLA
-Sam Garza - UC Santa Barbara
-Darren Mattocks - Akron
-Andrew Wenger - Duke

FC DALLAS

FCD posted a Q & A with their team president Doug Quinn. This is Part 2.
-Here is Part 1 again in case you missed it last week.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star retells the story of his becoming a Kansas City Wizards fanatico.

LA GALAXY

Its official - Juninho is gone. He will be back with Sao Paulo next season, the team he was only on loan to the Galaxy from. He will be a big time player for them next season no doubt.

dN

LA has signed 18 year old attacking midfielder Jose Villarreal from their academy team. The year before he joined the Galaxy Academy he lead Pateadores to the US Soccer Development Academy U18 championship and looked fantastic doing so. He is also in the pool for the USA U20 team.

dN

The Galaxy also announced that 3 players, Sean Franklin, Bryan Jordan and Adam Cristman have all signed new deals with the team.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

CSNPhilly looks at the Union going after several Latino players this offseason.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Yvonne Zacharias of the Sun tells us what Joe Canon and John Thorrington are up to for Christmas.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

Silly name of the day: Bofo Bautista. He will always be Bozo to me.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - Wed Dec 21 - started and played 85 min as they got hammered 0-5 v Man United.
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Wed Dec 21 - went the full 90 but lost 1-2 v Arsenal.
Tim Howard - Everton - Wed Dec 21 - played the whole game as they won 1-0 v Swansea.

PORTUGAL - Taca de Portugal -
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP - Thu Dec 22 - went the full 90 as they won 3-0 v Maritimo.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Franco Panizo of Soccer By Ives talks to Eddie Johnson about signing with Puebla.

ENGLAND

Amy Lawrence of the Guardian with five things we have learned from the mid-week Premiership games.

SPAIN

La Liga is on break until Jan 7.

dN

Diego Simeone is the new Atletico Madrid head coach.

dN

Copa del Rey - Round of 32

Barcelona, Valencia, Albacete, Mirandes, Osasuna, Alcorcon, Cordoba, Levante, Racing, Malaga, Sociedad, Bilbao, Real Madrid, Espanyol, Mallorca and Sevilla have all advanced.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Thu Dec 22
Barcelona 9-0 L'Hospitalet - Bar advances 10-0 on agg.
Valencia 4-0 Cadiz - Val adv 4-0 on agg.

FRANCE

Ligue 1 is on break until Jan 14.

GERMANY

The Bundesliga is on break until Jan 20.

ITALY

Serie A is on break until Jan 7.

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Juventus who finished 2011 very strong, and the rest of the midweek action in Serie A.

EUROPE

Taca de Portugal - Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 21
Academica 3-2 Desportivo Aves
-Thu Dec 22
Sporting CP 3-0 Maritimo
UD Oliveirense 2-1 Olhanense
-Fri Dec 23
Moreirense v Nacional

USA January Camp Roster

The USA will hold its annual January training camp for players who are currently in their offseason.

The camp will run Jan 3-26 and training will take place in Phoenix, Carson CA and Panama.

They will finish with 2 games:
-Jan 21 v Venezuela
-Jan 25 at Panama

USA Roster
G:
Bill Hamid - DC United
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire SC
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
D:
Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
AJ DeLaGarza - LA Galaxy
Omar Gonzalez - LA Galaxy
George John - FC Dallas
Zach Loyd - FC Dallas
Michael Parkhurst - FC Nordsjaelland
Heath Pearce - CD Chivas USA
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt
Benny Feilhaber - New England Revolution
Jeff Larentowicz - Colorado Rapids
Brek Shea - FC Dallas
Graham Zusi - Sporting Kansas City
F:
Juan Agudelo - New York Red Bulls
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
CJ Sapong - Sporting Kansas City
Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes

Who surprises you the most?

Who is not on this list that should be?

Some Soccer News for Wed Dec 21, 2011

STARTERS

One day after Luis Suarez was given and 8 game suspension by the English FA for racial abuse, Rob Harris of the AP reports that Chelsea captain John Terry has been charged with racial abuse in a criminal court. Both were part of on field incidents. So why are they being treated differently?

dN

Jozy Altidore saw his team AZ's league cup game at Ajax postponed after a fan ran on the field and went after the AZ keeper, how knocked the fan down and then kicked him only to see the referee then give him a red card. At that point the AZ players walked off the field. Who knows what happens now.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Dec 20, 2011 - new music mix at Spotify

STORY OF THE DAY

Pizza Hut has decided not to renew their sponsorship of FC Dallas' stadium, so it will no longer be called Pizza Hut Park, but rather FC Dallas Stadium.
-What will become of the old Meat Lovers section.
-Is this a failure on FCD's part?
-Is there a new sponsor in the pipeline. My guess is not, because they sure didn't just find this out today when we did.

USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM

The USA U23/Olympic team is in Lakewood Ranch Florida until Dec 23 for a training camp.

dN

Franco Panizo of Soccer by Ives talks to Bryan Arguez about his return to the national scene.

Ives Galarcep of Fox Soccer breaks down the potential players for the Olympic qualifying team, position by position.

Galarcep also tells us about the philosophy of new head coach Caleb Porter.

dN

Two videos from US Soccer:
-Regeneration in the ocean.
-Interview with head coach Caleb Porter.

dN

There will be another camp in January.

dN

Here is the roster.

G:
David Bingham - San Jose Earthquakes
Bill Hamid - DC United
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire
Zac MacMath - Philadelphia Union
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Eintracht Frankfurt
Royal-Dominique Fennell - Stuttgarter Kickers
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Kofi Sarkodie - Houston Dynamo
Zarek Valentin - Montreal Impact
Jorge Villafana - Chivas USA
Andrew Wenger - Duke
Sheanon Williams - Philadelphia Union
M:
Freddy Adu - Philadelphia Union
Bryan Arguez - Montreal Impact
Joe Corona - Tijuana
Danny Cruz - Houston Dynamo
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Dilly Duka - Columbus Crew
Jared Jeffrey - Mainz
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Michael Stephens - LA Galaxy
F:
Terrance Boyd - Dortmund
Will Bruin - Houston Dynamo
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Jann George - Nurnberg
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Andrew Wooten - Kaiserslautern

2011-12 CONCACACHAMPIONS

Toronto FC has decided to play their 1st Leg game (Mar 7) against the LA Galaxy indoors at Rogers Centre, rather than chance inclement weather messing up the grass at BMO Field.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Shin Guardian does a Q & A with our FIF Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com and No Short Corners. This is Part 2 of 2.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Stuart Holden turned up yesterday in the away fans section at Blackburn to support his team Bolton! Thanks to John for the picture.
-Is Stuart Holden cool or what?!?!?!

From the Bolton News: "The first masterstroke of the night was pulled off before the opening whistle, as Stuart Holden – now back from the US to continue his rehabilitation – and Tony Kelly strolled across the pitch and into the stands to rapturous applause. Whoever thought of that one deserves their Christmas bonus."


















Even better was Bolton winning after having lost 5 straight.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

Signed to a Generation Adidas contract:
-Darren Mattocks - Akron
-Andrew Wenger - Duke

dN

Baggio Husidic who had been released by Chicago has signed with Hammarby in Sweden. Coached by Gregg Berhalter!

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star with an early 2012 preview.

LA GALAXY

MLSsoccer.com does a post season Q & A with head coach and general manager Bruce Arena.

dN

Brian Straus of Sporting News says the Galaxy need to move on from David Beckham, not sit around waiting for him to make a decision on his future.

MONTREAL IMPACT

MI has signed 21 year old Brazilian midfielder Felipe Martins from Wohlen of the Swiss 2nd division.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

The Union made the sign official of 27 year old Panama central midfielder Gabriel Gomez from Indios in Mexico.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

It looks like Seattle is about to announce the signing of 19 year old Trinidad & Tobago midfielder Cordell Cato.

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Times with an article on what the team is searching for this offseason.
-More from technical director Chris Henderson.

SOCCER IN AMERICA

James Martin of ESPN does a Q & A with Kasey Keller where they discuss MLS, USA, Spain and England.

ESPN television is considering hiring Keller as part of their broadcast team. That would be a very wise move.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The BBC talks to Zak Whitbread about his return from long term injury and playing the Premier league again.
-Thanks to Soccer America for the link.

dN

Nick Leyden of Yanks Abroad talks to Caleb Patterson-Sewell about life in his first year at Atletico CP in Portugal's 2nd division.

dN

Game Action:

GERMANY - DFB Pokal - Round of 16
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Wed Dec 21 - started but got a 2nd yellow card in second half stoppage time and was ejected as they lost 3-1 at Monchengladbach.

ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - Wed Dec 21 - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 at Lazio.

NETHERLANDS - KNVB Beker - Round of 16
Jozy Altidore - AZ Alkmaar - Wed Dec 20 - game postponed at Ajax

dN

Coming Up:

PORTUGAL - Taca de Portugal -
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP - Thu Dec 22 v Maritimo

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Tom Marshall of MLSsoccer.com reports that Greg Garza has become American #3 at Tijuana!
-Joe Corona and Edgar Castillo are already there.

CANADA

Peter James of Post Media News with a review of 2011 for Canadian soccer.

SPAIN

La Liga is on break until Jan 7.

dN

Copa del Rey - Round of 32

Albacete, Mirandes, Osasuna, Alcorcon, Cordoba, Levante, Racing, Malaga, Sociedad and Bilbao advanced today.
Real Madrid, Espanyol, Mallorca and Sevilla advanced yesterday.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Tue Dec 20
Real Madrid 5-1 Ponferradina - RM adv 7-1 on agg.
Espanyol 4-2 Celta - Esp adv 4-2 on agg.
Sporting de Gijon 0-2 Mallorca - Mal adv 2-1 on agg.
Sevilla 2-1 San Roque - Sev adv 3-1 on agg.
-Wed Dec 21
Atletico Madrid 0-1 Albacete - Alb adv 3-1 on agg.
Villarreal 0-2 Mirandes - Mir adv 3-1 on agg.
Osasuna 1-1 Almerian - Osa adv 4-2 on agg.
Zaragoza 0-2 Alcorcon - Alc adv 3-1 on agg.
Betis 2-1 Cordoba - sieres ends tied 2-2, Cor adv on away goals tie breaker.
Levante 4-1 Deportivo La Coruna - Lev adv 5-4 on agg.
Rayo Vallecano 4-3 Racing Santander - series ends tied 6-6, RS adv on away goals tie breaker.
Malaga 2-2 Getafe - Mal adv 3-2 on agg.
Granada 2-1 Real Sociedad - RS adv 5-3 on agg.
Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Real Oviedo - AB adv 2-0 on agg.
-Thu Dec 22
Barcelona v L'Hospitalet (1-0)

FRANCE

After today's matches Ligue Un will be on break until Jan 14.

GERMANY

Die Bundesliga is on break until Jan 20.

dN

DFB Pokal - Round of 16

Hertha, Holstein, Stuttgart and Gladbach advanced today.
While Bayern, Greuther, Hoff and Dortmund advanced yesterday.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Dec 20
Bochum 1-2 Bayern Munich
Nurnberg 0-1 Greuther Furth
Hoffenheim 2-1 Augsburg
Fortuna Dusseldorf 0-0 Borussia Dortmund - Dor advances 5-4 in Penalty Kick Shootout
-Wed Dec 21
Hertha Berlin 3-1 Kaiserslautern
Holstein Kiel 2-0 Mainz
Stuttgart 2-1 Hamburger
Monchengladbach 3-1 Schalke

ITALY

After today's matches Serie A will be on break until Jan 7.

EUROPE

Taca de Portugal - Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 21
Academica 3-2 Desportivo Aves
-Thu Dec 22
Sporting CP v Maritimo
UD Oliveirense v Olhanense
-Fri Dec 23
Moreirense v Nacional

SOUTH AMERICA

AP reports that 5 Chilean national team players have been given 10 game suspensions for breaking team curfew and getting drunk.

AFRICA

10 finalists for the African Player of the Year:
-Andre Ayew - Ghana & Marseille
-Kevin-Prince Boateng - Ghana & AC Milan
-Didier Drogba - Cote d'Ivoire & Chelsea
-Samuel Eto'o - Cameroon & Anzhi Makhachkala
-Gervinho - Cote d'Ivoire & Arsenal
-Asamoah Gyan - Ghana & Al Ain
-Seydou Keita - Mali & Barcelona
-Moussa Sow - Senegal & Lille
-Adel Taarabt - Morocco & Queens Park Rangers
-Yaya Toure - Cote d'Ivoire & Manchester City

The winner will be announced Thu Dec 22.

ASIA

South Korea has hired Choi Kang-Hee as their new head coach. He had previously been in charge of club team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

Some Soccer News for Tue Dec 20, 2011

STARTERS

Abby Wambach was named the AP Female Athlete of Year. Huge congrats to her.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Dec 20, 2011 - new music mix at Spotify

STORY OF THE DAY

Chris Bascombe of the Telegraph reports that Liverpool forward Luis Suarez has been suspended for 8 games and fined $70K for directing racial slurs at Man United Patrice Evra earlier this season. Wow. That is a stiff penalty.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated talks to Jurgen Klinsmann about the need for his players to train year round at a high level. This is a much more in-depth explanation than we have heard in the past from Grinsi.

2012-13 CONCACACHAMPIONS

Five more teams have qualified for the next season which will begin the summer:
-Alajuelense - Costa Rican Invierno champions
-Chorillo - Panamanian Apertura champions
-Metapan - El Salvadoran Apertura champions
-Municipal - Guatemalan Apertura champions
-Olimpia - Honduran Apertura champions

Tigres and Santos Laguna both qualified as a couple weeks ago as the Mexican Apertura finalists.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"THE return of Landon Donovan can only be a good thing for Everton FC.
I was surprised by how well he did the last time he was at EFC two years ago. Through ignorance more than anything else, I’d not seen much MLS and had no idea how good the standard is. But he did really, really well."

-Mark Lawrence of the Liverpool Daily Post

See the full article in the Americans In Europe section below.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Shin Guardian does a Q & A with our FIF Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com and No Short Corners. This is Part 1.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Black And Red United talks to former DC United prodigy Santino Quaranta who surprisingly has retired at age 27. What's next?

WELL WELL WELL

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger talks to former Red Bulls assistant coach Richie Williams about his new role in the US Soccer Development Academy.
-Williams also answers the question of why he was fired by Red Bull.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

The great soccer website Pitch Invasion has published a book featuring the very best articles to have ever appeared on the site. I could not recommend this more. You can buy it in digital and print formats.























MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

MLS is expected to release the names of the young players they have recently signed to the special "Generation Adidas" contracts. These are players who are not already affiliated with an MLS club through an academy and are either leaving college early or foregoing it altogether to turn pro.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

MLSsoccer.com does a post season Q & A with head coach Dominic Kinnear.

LA GALAXY

Multiple sources today are reporting that Sal Paulo wants Juninho back from his loan deal with the Galaxy. LA would have to pay a transfer fee if they wanted to keep him.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Portland will host a preseason tournament at Jeld Wen Field featuring themselves, 2 other MLS teams, San Jose and Chivas, and AIK of Stockholm, Sweden. The tournament will take place Mon Feb 27 to Sun Mar 4.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

MLSsoccer.com has more from the new top dog at Vancouver Rachel Lewis. Including video.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

Omar Gonzalez of LA to England?

Robbie Rogers to Leeds?
-Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Brek Shea has been telling people that he loved his time at Arsenal and would like to play there some day.

MLS PRESEASON

Just announced-

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Feb 4
Chicago Fire v Real CD Espana
Venue: New Orleans

SOCCER IN AMERICA

IMSoccer News has a fascinating look from a parents view point of 3 Minnesota boys who are in school in Madrid, Spain for a year and are playing soccer for a local club.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

MLSsoccer.com talked to Everton head coach David Moyes on their radio show Extra Time yesterday and asked him about his plans for Landon Donovan.

Mark Lawrence of the Liverpool Daily Post shares his thoughts on the return of Donovan to Everton.

19 year old Brian Span has left U Virginia early and signed with Djurgarden in Sweden.

dN

Game Action:

ENGLAND - Premier League
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - Tue Dec 20 - went the full 90 as they drew 2-2 at Wolverhampton.

GERMANY - DFB Pokal - Round of 16
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - Tue Dec 20 - played the whole game but they lost 0-1 v Greuther Furth.
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - Tue Dec 20 - went the distance as they won 2-1 v Augsburg.
Daniel Williams - Hoffenheim - Tue Dec 20 - came on as a sub in the 83rd min as they won 2-1 v Augsburg.

dN

Coming Up:

GERMANY - DFB Pokal - Round of 16
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Wed Dec 21 at Monchengladbach

ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - Wed Dec 21 at Lazio

PORTUGAL - Taca de Portugal -
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP - Thu Dec 22 v Maritimo

CONCACAF

The Home Depot Center in Carson CA will host an exhibition double header called the Doble Clasico Centroamericano on Sat Jan 28:
Comunicaciones v Municipal - a big Guatemalan derby
and
FAS v Club Deportivo Aguila - a big El Salvadoran derby

dN

Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe with an article on Costa Rican champions Alajualense, and their ties to New England.

SPAIN

Copa del Rey - Round of 32
2nd Leg
-Tue Dec 20
Real Madrid 5-1 Ponferradina - RM adv 7-1 on agg.
Espanyol 4-2 Celta - Esp adv 4-2 on agg.
Sporting de Gijon 0-2 Mallorca - Mal adv 2-1 on agg.
Sevilla 2-1 San Roque - Sev adv 3-1 on agg.
-Wed Dec 21
Atletico Madrid v Albacete (1-2)
Villarreal v Mirandes (1-1)
Osasuna v Almerian (3-1)
Zaragoza v Alcorcon (1-1)
Betis v Cordoba (0-1)
Levante v Deportivo La Coruna (1-3)
Rayo Vallecano v Racing Santander (2-3)
Malaga v Getafe (1-0)
Granada v Real Sociedad (1-4)
Athletic Bilbao v Real Oviedo (1-0)
Valencia v Cadiz (0-0)
-Thu Dec 22
Barcelona v L'Hospitalet (1-0)

GERMANY

DFB Pokal - Round of 16
-Tue Dec 20
Bochum 1-2 Bayern Munich
Nurnberg 0-1 Greuther Furth
Hoffenheim 2-1 Augsburg
Fortuna Dusseldorf 0-0 Borussia Dortmund - Dor advances 5-4 in Penalty Kick Shootout
-Wed Dec 21
Hertha Berlin v Kaiserslautern
Holstein Kiel v Mainz
Stuttgart v Hamburger
Monchengladbach v Schalke

ITALY

9 Serie A head coaches have been relieved of their duties already this season, including 2 each from Cagliari and Palermo.

EUROPE

Taca de Portugal - Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 21
Academica v Desportivo Aves
-Thu Dec 22
Sporting CP v Maritimo
UD Oliveirense v Olhanense
-Fri Dec 23
Moreirense v Nacional

BRAZIL

Tim Vickery writing for Sambafoot looks back at the year in Brazilian soccer ending with Santos in the Club World Cup final.

ARGENTINA

Diego Simeone has quit as head coach of Racing leading to speculation that he will be named as a new head coach at Atletico Madrid in Spain.

MIDDLE EAST

Qatar has fired their latest national team head coach Sebastiao Lazaroni due to poor performances.
-Wouldn't have anything to do with lousy players would it? Naaaah.

TACTICS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian reviews 2011 in tactical terms.
-Boca Juniors won the Argentinian Apertura conceding a record low of 6 goals in 19 matches. Racing, who came second, conceded only 8.

BIG PIMPIN

Here is the new MLS ball that the champions LA Galaxy will get to use for the 2012 season. All the other teams will play with the white version.























You can buy this ball right here.

ENDERS

Kim Jong-Il Droppin' The Bass

Some Soccer News for Mon Dec 19, 2011

STARTERS

Big Apple Soccer alerts us to a an interview that former New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul is accusing his former team of having a racist attitude when it comes to dealing with him and other players of African decent.

dN

Edson Buddle who was given an early winter vacation by the new coach at Ingolstadt last week is in London for a try out with West Ham. We wish him all the best.

STORY OF THE DAY

The New York Times takes us inside the world of the Fox Soccer Report!

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

MLSsoccer.com reports that Klinsi has hired former Bayern & Werder star Andres Herzog as a new assistant coach. Herzog is from Austria, who also played 1 season for the LA Galaxy.

USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM

The USA U23/Olympic team is in Lakewood Ranch Florida until Dec 23 for a training camp.

dN

US Soccer takes us through an intersquad scrimmage that happened on Sunday.
-Photos from that game.

US Soccer also brings us video of the camp in Florida.

dN

There will be another camp in January.

dN

Here is the roster.

G:
David Bingham - San Jose Earthquakes
Bill Hamid - DC United
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire
Zac MacMath - Philadelphia Union
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Eintracht Frankfurt
Royal-Dominique Fennell - Stuttgarter Kickers
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Kofi Sarkodie - Houston Dynamo
Zarek Valentin - Montreal Impact
Jorge Villafana - Chivas USA
Andrew Wenger - Duke
Sheanon Williams - Philadelphia Union
M:
Freddy Adu - Philadelphia Union
Bryan Arguez - Montreal Impact
Joe Corona - Tijuana
Danny Cruz - Houston Dynamo
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Dilly Duka - Columbus Crew
Jared Jeffrey - Mainz
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Michael Stephens - LA Galaxy
F:
Terrance Boyd - Dortmund
Will Bruin - Houston Dynamo
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Jann George - Nurnberg
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Andrew Wooten - Kaiserslautern

CLUB WORLD CUP

Final

Barcelona in a rout! And it wasn't even that close. Santos are just not in their league.

Just glorious!
Amazing video highlights.

We are seeing something very special with this team over the past 5 years.
It could be a long time before we see something like this ever again.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 18
Barcelona 4-0 Santos - Bar goals by Lio Messi(2), Xavi Hernanadez & Cesc Fabregas.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Dec 17
Schalke 5-0 Werder Bremen - a serious beating by Schalke over the previously 5th place team shows that they are for real.
Sevilla 0-3 Real Madrid - Sev is not close to being in Madrid's league. RM re-claims their 3 point lead in the standings.
-Sun Dec 18
Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal - the loss leaves Arsenal 12 points out of 1st place. while Man City looked strong.
Lazio 2-2 Udinese - neither could change their contender status into leader status.
Napoli 1-3 Roma - Rom got a big with that they needed to keep their season alive.
PSG 0-0 Lille - #2 & #3 both had a chance to take the top spot in France but they choked on their own vomit.

DID YOU KNOW?

Inside World Football reports that American Ted Howard will replace Chuck Blazer as CONCACAF general secretary. Thanks to BQ for the link.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Luke Lohr of The MLS Reserves talks to several of the game's top voices in American soccer broadcasting and asks their opinions on where their role is headed, and what the viewers really want from them.

WELL WELL WELL

Alexi Lalas has a new daily podcast called The Shot. Find it on iTunes.

OOF

Reuters reports that Sevilla president Jose Maria de Nido has been found guilty of fraud in a non-soccer related case and given a 7 1/2 year jail sentence! Wow, that is some fraud. He will appeal his verdict.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Clint Dempsey scored a great goal against Bolton this weekend. See it here. LINK FIXED

The goal was set up for Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz, and then approx 1 minute later Dempsey set up Ruiz for another goal! CONCACAF magic!

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Ricky Rubio of the Minnesota Timberwolves got to meet Kevin Friedland of the Minnesota Stars today, and even got his own Star jersey!


















MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Dave Martinez of Empire of Soccer has words from Red Bulls and Mexico veteran centerback Rafa Marquez talking about the growth of MLS and the difficulties he as faced.

dN

Player Transactions

San Jose bought Honduran winger Marvin Chavez from Dallas.

dN

Andres Mendoza of Columbus has signed to play for Atlante in Mexico.

dN

CD CHIVAS USA

Scott French of ESPN tells us about some CUSA targeted players.

COLUMBUS CREW

Centerback and captain Chad Marshall has signed a new contract with the team through the 2015 season.

FC DALLAS

Todd Date of 3rd Degree breaks down the sale of Marven Chavez to San Jose.

dN

Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times does a quick Q & A with centerback George John.

MONTREAL IMPACT

The Impact announced the signing of 32 year old Quebec native midfielder Patrice Bernier from Lyngby in Denmark.

REAL SALT LAKE

MLSsoccer.com does a post season Q & A with head coach Jason Kreis.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

Soccer 365 with lots of rumors concerning Cedric Fabien, Babjide Ogunbiyi, Thierry Henry, El-Hadji Diouf, Diego Restrepo, Greg Garza and many more.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), clint Dempsey (Fulham) and Tony Taylor (Atletico CP) all scored goal this weekend.

dN

Both Jozy Altidore and Mo Edu were subbed out at halftime this weekend.

dN

All 3 Americans were in the starting line up for Rangers.

dN

Frank Simek was back in the Carlisle line up after a long injury recovery.

dN

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com reports that Matthew Dunn is signing with OFK Belgrade in Serbia.

dN

Game Action:

BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - played the entire match as they won 3-2 v Lokeren.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the full 90 scoring a goal and setting up the other as they won 2-0 v Bolton.
Brad Friedel - Tottenham - in goal as usual and they won 1-0 v Sunderland.
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - played the whole game but lost 0-2 v Liverpool.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance as they drew 1-1 v Norwich.
Zak Whitbread - Norwich - played the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Everton.

ENGLAND - Championship League
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - on the bench but did not play as they drew 0-0 at Bristol City.
Danny Potts - West Ham - went the full 90 as they won 1-0 v Barnsley.
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - Mon Dec 19 - played the whole game but lost 1-0 at Crystal Palace.

ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Brentford - on the bench but did not play as they drew 1-1 at Bury.
Anton Peterlin - Wallsall - played the whole match as they drew 1-1 at Chesterfield.
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - went the full 90 as they drew 2-2 v Wycombe.

GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - suspended (first of two games)
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - on the bench as they drew 1-1 at Kaiserslautern.
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - went the full 90 as they tied 1-1 v Herth Berlin.
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - played the whole game as they won big 5-0 v Werder Bremen.
Daniel Williams - Hoffenheim - came on as a sub in the 66th min as they drew 1-1 v Hertha.
David Yelldell - Bayer Leverkusen - on the bench as they lost 0-3 v Nurnberg.

GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Matt Taylor - Paderborn - came on as a last minute sub as they won 2-3 at Fortuna Dusseldorf.

ISRAEL - Ligat Al
Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona - went the distance as they won 1-0 Hapoel Haifa.

ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - went the full 90 as they won 2-0 v Cagliari.

NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Jozy Altidore - AZ Alkmaar - started but came off at half time and they lost 2-1 at NAC Breda.

PORTUGAL - Primeira Liga
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting - played the whole game as they drew 1-1 at Academica.

PORTUGAL - Liga de Honra
Caleb Patterson-Sewell - Atletico CP - went the full 90 but lost 3-1 at Desportivo Aves.
Tony Taylor - Atletico CP - started and went 80 minutes scoring a goal but lost 3-1 at Desportivo Aves.

SCOTLAND - Premier League
Alejandro Bedoya - Rangers - started and went 52 min as they won 2-1 v Inverness.
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers - went the full 90 scoring a goal and getting booked as they won 2-1 v Inverness.
Mo Edu - Rangers - started but came out at half time as they won 2-1 v Inverness.

dN

Coming Up:

ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - Wed Dec 21 at Lazio

ENGLAND

Jacob Steinberg, Alan Gardner, Simon Burnton and Rob Smyth of the Guardian with five things we learned from watching football this weekend.

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the latest disaster that is Atletico Madrid, and the rest of the weekend in la Liga.

dN

Copa del Rey - Round of 32
2nd Leg
-Tue Dec 20
Real Madrid v Ponferradina (2-0)
Espanyol v Celta (0-0)
Sporting de Gijon v Mallorca (1-0)
Sevilla v San Roque (1-0)
-Wed Dec 21
Atletico Madrid v Albacete (1-2)
Villarreal v Mirandes (1-1)
Osasuna v Almerian (3-1)
Zaragoza v Alcorcon (1-1)
Betis v Cordoba (0-1)
Levante v Deportivo La Coruna (1-3)
Rayo Vallecano v Racing Santander (2-3)
Malaga v Getafe (1-0)
Granada v Real Sociedad (1-4)
Athletic Bilbao v Real Oviedo (1-0)
Valencia v Cadiz (0-0)
-Thu Dec 22
Barcelona v L'Hospitalet (1-0)

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on Raul leading Schalke to the top echelon of the Bundesliga, and a roundup of the rest of the weekend in Germany.

dN

DFB Pokal - Round of 16
-Tue Dec 20
Bochum v Bayern Munich
Nurnberg v Greuther Furth
Hoffenheim v Augsburg
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Dortmund
-Wed Dec 21
Hertha Berlin v Kaiserslautern
Holstein Kiel v Mainz
Stuttgart v Hamburger
Monchengladbach v Schalke

ITALY

Football Italia reports on 17 people being arrested for influencing Serie B games.

dN

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on 2 huge Saturday games and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.

dN

Palermo has fired head coach Devis Mangia. He will be replaced by Bortolo Mutti.

EUROPE

Taca de Portugal - Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Dec 20
Sporting CP v Maritimo
Academica v Desportivo Aves
Moreirense v Nacional
UD Oliveirense v Olhanense

AFRICA

10 finalists for the African Player of the Year:
-Andre Ayew - Ghana & Marseille
-Kevin-Prince Boateng - Ghana & AC Milan
-Didier Drogba - Cote d'Ivoire & Chelsea
-Samuel Eto'o - Cameroon & Anzhi Makhachkala
-Gervinho - Cote d'Ivoire & Arsenal
-Asamoah Gyan - Ghana & Al Ain
-Seydou Keita - Mali & Barcelona
-Moussa Sow - Senegal & Lille
-Adel Taarabt - Morocco & Queens Park Rangers
-Yaya Toure - Cote d'Ivoire & Manchester City

The winner will be announced Dec 22.

Some Soccer News for Fri Dec 16, 2011

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

I would love to see my du Nord Futbol Twitter feed hit 3000 followers by this weekend. Who wants to help me do that?

STARTERS

The BBC reports that Cameroon has suspended Samuel Eto'o for 15 games for his role in a players strike.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - all new music mix for Tue Dec 13, 2011

USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM

The USA U23/Olympic team is in Lakewood Ranch Florida until Dec 23 for a training camp.

















dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad introduces us to first time invitee Jann George.

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com with an article on Amobi Okugo and his Olympic dreams.

dN

There will be another camp in January.

dN

Here is the roster.

G:
David Bingham - San Jose Earthquakes
Bill Hamid - DC United
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire
Zac MacMath - Philadelphia Union
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Eintracht Frankfurt
Royal-Dominique Fennell - Stuttgarter Kickers
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Kofi Sarkodie - Houston Dynamo
Zarek Valentin - Montreal Impact
Jorge Villafana - Chivas USA
Andrew Wenger - Duke
Sheanon Williams - Philadelphia Union
M:
Freddy Adu - Philadelphia Union
Bryan Arguez - Montreal Impact
Joe Corona - Tijuana
Danny Cruz - Houston Dynamo
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Dilly Duka - Columbus Crew
Jared Jeffrey - Mainz
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Michael Stephens - LA Galaxy
F:
Terrance Boyd - Dortmund
Will Bruin - Houston Dynamo
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Jann George - Nurnberg
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Andrew Wooten - Kaiserslautern

CLUB WORLD CUP

Stay up partying or set your DVR for the final.

Final

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 18
Barcelona v Santos - Live at 4:30am CT on Sat Dec 17.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Here are the Round of 16 pairings:
(Higher seeds are listed second and will host the 2nd leg)

Lyon v APOEL
Napoli v Chelsea
AC Milan v Arsenal
Basel v Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica
Marseille v Inter Milan

dN

Exact dates are not set yet.

But the matches will be played on Feb 14, 15/21,22 & Mar 6,7/13,14.

TWITTERVERSE/FACEBOOKING

@landondonovan - Once a Toffee, always a Toffee

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Dec 17
Schalke v Werder Bremen - #3 v #5
Sevilla v Real Madrid - #5 v #2
-Sun Dec 18
Manchester City v Arsenal - #1 v #5
Lazio v Udinese - #4 v #2
Napoli v Roma - a good strong rivalry between two teams that want to be great
PSG v Lille - #2 v #3

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

The Jamaica Observer talks to Houston's JeVaughn Watson who says more Jamaican's need to come play in MLS.
-He talks a lot about his impressions of the league after his first season.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

MLSsoccer.com does a post season Q & A with head coach Peter Vermes.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times talks to GM Adrian Hanauer about new signings etc.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province with an article on the team's latest acquisition Lee Nguyen.

dN

The WCaps signed midfielder Matt Watson who played the past 3 season for new head coach Martin Rennie with the Carolina RailHawks.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

The Bolton News has quotes from Bolton Wanderers head coach Owen Coyle raving about Tim Ream who has been training with them.

dN

Folks in Mexico are saying that Club America is trying snap up Omar Gonzalez from the Galaxy.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

John Kretlow of Yanks Abroad talks to Zak Whitbread about his return to the field from a bad hamstring injury.

dN

West Ham reports that Danny Potts has signed a professional contract with the team. The 17 year old has been in their reserves this season.

ENGLAND

David Hytner of the Guardian does an interview with Tottenham midfielder Rafael Van Der Vaart.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

The draw for the Round of 32 was held today:
















In principle the first legs will be played on 8 March, with the returns taking place the following Thursday, 15 March.

dN

They also drew the match-ups for the winners in the Round of 16:
Salzburg/Metalist v Rubin/Olympiacos
Legia/Sporting v Porto/Manchester City
Steaua/Twente v Plzen/Schalke
Wisla/Standard v Hannover/Club Brugge
Stoke/Valencia v Trabzonspor/PSV
AZ/Anderlecht v Udinese/PAOK
Lazio/Atletico v Braga/Besiktas
Ajax/Manchester United v Lokomotiv/Athletic Bilbao

UEFA Champions League 2011-12 Round of 16 Pairings

The draw was made this morning for the Champions League Rd of 16 games.

Here are the matchups:
















Matches will be played on Feb 14, 15/21,22 & Mar 6,7/13,14.

Some Soccer News for Thu Dec 15, 2011

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

I would love to see the du Nord Futbol Twitter feed hit 3000 followers by this weekend. Who wants to help me do that?

STARTERS

Wow! Landon Donovan has signed a deal to go on loan to Everton from Jan 4 till Feb 25.
-The words straight from Everton.
-And here I thought he wanted a break.

dN

Mark Berman of Fox Houston reports that AEG is looking to sell their 50% stake in the Houston Dynamo.

dN

Universidad de Chile won the Copa Sudamericana last night. Huge congrats to them!

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - all new music mix for Tue Dec 13, 2011

USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM

The USA U23/Olympic team gathered in Lakewood Ranch FL today to begin a training camp that will run until Dec 23.

Here is the roster.

G:
David Bingham - San Jose Earthquakes
Bill Hamid - DC United
Sean Johnson - Chicago Fire
Zac MacMath - Philadelphia Union
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - Eintracht Frankfurt
Royal-Dominique Fennell - Stuttgarter Kickers
Sebastien Ibeagha - Duke
Kofi Sarkodie - Houston Dynamo
Zarek Valentin - Montreal Impact
Jorge Villafana - Chivas USA
Andrew Wenger - Duke
Sheanon Williams - Philadelphia Union
M:
Freddy Adu - Philadelphia Union
Bryan Arguez - Montreal Impact
Joe Corona - Tijuana
Danny Cruz - Houston Dynamo
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Dilly Duka - Columbus Crew
Jared Jeffrey - Mainz
Sebastian Lletget - West Ham
Amobi Okugo - Philadelphia Union
Kelyn Rowe - UCLA
Michael Stephens - LA Galaxy
F:
Terrance Boyd - Dortmund
Will Bruin - Houston Dynamo
Teal Bunbury - Sporting Kansas City
Jann George - Nurnberg
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim
Jack McInerney - Philadelphia Union
Andrew Wooten - Kaiserslautern

CLUB WORLD CUP

Barcelona won easily today to advance to the final against Santos, the final everyone expected.

But they lost striker David Villa to a badly broken leg in the process. He will be out of action for approximately six months.
-A big blow to Barcelona, and but an even bigger one to Spain and Euro 2012.

dN

All matches played in Toyota and Yokohama, Japan

dN

Play-In Game

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 8
Kashiwa Reysol 2-0 Auckland City FC - KR goals by Junya Tanaka & Masato Kudo.

Quarterfinals

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 11
Esperance 1-2 Al-Sadd - Esp goal by Oussama Darragi. AS goals by Khalfan Ibrahim & Abdulla Obaid.
Monterrey 1-1 Kashiwa Reysol - KR advances 4-3 in Penalty Kick Shootout - Mon goals by Humberto Suazo. KR goal by Leandro Domingues.

Semifinals

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 14
Santos 3-1 Kashiwa Reysol - San goals by Neymar, Borges & Danilo. KR goals by H Sakai.
-Thu Dec 15
Barcelona 4-0 Al-Sadd - Bar goals by Adriano Correia(2), Seydou Keita & Maxwell.

Final

Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 18
Semifinal Winners

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

ADV: AC Milan, APOEL, Arsenal, Barcelona, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Chelsea, CSKA Moscow, Inter Milan, Lyon, Marseille, Napoli, Real Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg

The draw for the Round of 16 will be held Fri Dec 16.

Matches will be played on Feb 14, 15/21,22 & Mar 6,7/13,14.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Dec 17
Schalke v Werder Bremen - #3 v #5
Sevilla v Real Madrid - #5 v #2
-Sun Dec 18
Manchester City v Arsenal - #1 v #5
Lazio v Udinese - #4 v #2
Napoli v Roma - a good strong rivalry between two teams that want to be great
PSG v Lille - #2 v #3

FACT OF THE DAY

Adidas & UEFA have signed a new deal for the German company to continue providing the official ball and major sponsorship of the Champions and Europa Leagues unitl 2018.

I have one of those Champions League balls from 4 or 5 years ago and it is a great ball.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

The Sports Turf Managers Association 2011 Field of the Year winner in the professional soccer category is Pizza Hut Park in Frisco TX, home of FC Dallas.
-The 2 other winners in the soccer category were:
Schools – Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds, MD
College/University – Ludwig Field, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
-Thanks to our old friend Jerry for the link. Welcome back my friend, its been too long.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated ranks the MLS teams by what he sees as their ambition to succeed, not just in wins and titles, but also in how they present themselves and how aggressive they are.
-The team at the bottom is so predictable that its sad. I feel really bad for their fans, and their ownership insults me as a fan of soccer in America.

Player Transactions

Vancouver Whitecaps won the lottery to acquire Lee Nguyen.
-Press release

dN

Portland Timbers have signed 19 year old Colombian forward Jose Adolfo Valencia from Santa Fe.
-They signed him to the league's first Young Designated Player contract, which takes even less money off the team's salary cap than a regular DP.

COLUMBUS CREW

The Crew announced the signing of goalkeeper Matt Lampson from their academy.
-Adam Jardy of the Dispatchy with a few more details.
-I can't find his age anywhere.

FC DALLAS

The team posted a "State of the Club" Q & A with their president Doug Quinn. This is Part 1.

dN

Todd Date of 3rd Degree writes about FCD's decision that they had seen enough of Maicon Santos to know they don't need him back for next season.

dN

Date also reports that FCD technical director Barry Gorman is stepping down.

DC UNITED

The team tells us about assistant coach Chad Ashton's recent scouting trip.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

The Union is set to announce the signing of 27 year old Panamaniac Gabriel Gomez.
-Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News with the story.
-Where will Gomez line up on the field. Most say defensive midfield, but Gabriel says left fullback.

REAL SALT LAKE

Randy Davis at MLSsoccer.com reports that its not just MLS players going to Europe during the offseason to train. RSL head coach Jason Kreis just returned from a week touring German clubs looking for innovation and inspiration.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

MLSsoccer.com does a post season Q & A with head coach Sigi Schmid.

MLS STADIUMS

Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle with an update on the Dynamo Stadium project.

dN

Elliot Almond of the San Jose Mercury News with the latest on the Earthquakes stadium movement.

NASL NEWS

Brian Quarstad of IMSoccer News reports that a year after failing to acquire the name they desired FC Tampa Bay has bought the rights to be called the Rowdies, harkening back to the original NASL.

So when will Minnesota become the Kicks?

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Steve Cherundolo & Hannover and Jozy Altidore & AZ Alkmaar advanced to the next round of the Europa League.
-But Brad Friedel & Tottenahm and Jonathan Spector & Birmingham were knocked out.

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Game Action:

UEFA - Europa League - Group Stage - Matchday 6
Jozy Altidore - AZ - Thu Dec 15 - went the whole 90 as they drew 1-1 v Metalist.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Thu Dec 15 - was not in uniform as they won 3-1 v Vorskla.
Brad Friedel - Tottenham - Thu Dec 15 - did not suit up as they won 0-4 at Shamrock Rovers.
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - Thu Dec 15 - played the entire match as they won 1-0 v Maribor.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Tom Marshall of MLSsoccer.com talks to Edgar Castillo about his new team Tijuana.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Matchday 6

PAOK, Rubin Kazan, Hannover, AZ Alkmaar, Club Brugge, Braga and Udinese advanced today.

Tottenahm, Kobenhavn, Austria Wien, Birmingham and Celtic were knocked out today.

ADV: Anderlecht, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Besiktas, Lazio, Legia Warszawa, Lokomotic Moskva, Metalist, PAOK, PSV, Salzburg, Schalke, Sporting CP, Standard Liege, Steaua Bucuresti, Stoke City, Twente, Wisla Krakow

OUT: AEK Athens, Dynamo Kyiv, Fulham, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Larnaca, Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Malmo, Maribor, Paris St-Germain, OB, Rapid Buchuresti, Rennes, Shamrock, Slovan Bratislava, Sturm Graz, Vaslui, Vorskla and Zurich.

Group Standings

The draw for the knock out stages will be held on Fri Dec 16.

SOUTH AMERICA

dN

The Sudamericana championship was won by Universidad de Chile!

Copa Sudamericana - Final
2nd Leg
-Wed Dec 14
Universidad Chile 3-0 LDU Quito - UC wins 4-0 on aggregate - UC goals by Eduardo Vargas(2) & Gustavo Lorenzetti.