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.

dN

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.