Some Soccer News for Thu Jan 19, 2012

STARTERS

David Beckham made it official today and signed a new 2 year contract with the LA Galaxy.
-But Beckham is staying with a team that will have at least 2 giant holes to fill this season - central midfielder Juninho returned to Sao Paulo and centerback Omar Gonzalez blew out his knee.

dN

There are terrible quality photos popping around the internet of a new LA Galaxy uniform that sees the return of the sash! I say YES.

dN

Minnesota Stars 2012 schedule! They open the season On Sat Apr 7 against Carolina at the Minneapolis Metrodome!
-Here is the full schedule for all of the NASL teams.

dN

The Copa Libertadores begins on Jan 24 with a home and away qualifying round for 12 teams to fill the final 6 places, and then the group stage begins on Feb 7.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Jan 17, 2012 - new music mix at Spotify.

STORY OF THE DAY

Lets just say its not puppies and candy!

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated talks to some of the Americans making up the new guard playing south of the border.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

The team is in the annual January training camp, and now in the final stages of prep for Saturday's game.

dN

US Soccer gives us more video:
-Those wacky kids playing ping pong.
-More practice field drills.

dN

A couple of in-house games in Carson during training camp:
-Fri Jan 13
USA 4-0 USA U23 - USA goals by Chris Wondolowki, Benny Feilhaber, Teal Bunbury & Graham Zusi.
-Tue Jan 17
USA 1-1 USA U23 - USA goal by Graham Zusi. U23 goal by Jack McInerney.

dN

International Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 21
USA v Venezuela - 8pm CT on ESPN3.com & Galavision
Venue: University of Phoenix Stadium
-Wed Jan 25
Panama v USA - 7:30pm CT on Galavision.
Venue: Estadio Rommel Fernandez

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
Zach Loyd - FC Dallas
Jeff Parke - Seattle Sounders
Michael Parkhurst - FC Nordsjaelland
Heath Pearce - CD Chivas USA
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt
Brad Evans - Seattle Sounders
Benny Feilhaber - New England Revolution
Jermaine Jones - Schalke
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

FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

FIFA finds new ways to make themselves look stupid almost every day. Today's coupe?

Both Brazil & Russia has laws that prohibit alcohol sales in stadiums due to crowd violence, but FIFA is insisting they changed their laws for the World Cup. Cuz FIFA knows better than the people who live in those countries right?
-The Irish Times tells of their hubris.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Sunday is a big day this weekend.

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jan 20
Monchengladbach v Bayern Munchen - the hosts had a surprising first half and want to prove to the top team that it was not a fluke.
-Sun Jan 22
Manchester City v Tottenham - a big chance for #1 to show their strength against #3 who want to show they belong.
Arsenal v Manchester United - an intense modern rivalry and they are at #5 and #2.
Inter v Lazio - an Inter win could move them all the way up to 3rd place, but #4 Lazio want to end their run.
Malaga v Barcelona - the new money hosts #2

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN gives us 10 American players to watch under the age of 21.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Three new veterans pull on the Sporting KC shirt: Convey, Nagamura and Peterson.
















MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

SKC has signed midfielder Jacob Peterson who was released by San Jose.

dN

Vancouver announced the signing of hacking midfielder Jun Marques Davidson. He played for head coach Martin Rennie in Carolina 2 years ago, and last season played for Tokushima Vortis the Japanese 2nd division.

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian reports on the progress of the building of the Timbers new training facility.

USA U17 TEAM

The team is playing in the Aegean Cup.

After losing game 1, the team game back to win game 2. Contrary to popular rumor they are still being coached by Wilmar Cabrera. (He must be done after this trip.)

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jan 17
USA 1-2 Turkey - USA goals by DeAndre Robinson
-Wed Jan 18
USA 3-2 Denmark - USA goals by Conor Donovan, Wesley Wade & DeAndre Robinson.
-Fri Jan 20
USA v Czech Republic

dN

Roster:
Adonis Amaya
Corey Baird
Paul Christensen
Conor Donovan
Steven Echevarria
Junior Flores
Angel Heredia
Guy Kabala
Chris Lema
Evan Louro
Aaron Meyer
Jorge Miranda
Shaquell Moore
John Requejo Jr
DeAndre Robinson
Rubio Rubin
Lawrence Taiwo
Tyler Turner
Wesley Wade
Dembakwi Yomba

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

NETHERLANDS - KNVB Beker - Round of 16
Jozy Altidore - AZ - came on as a sub in the 78th min as they won 2-3 at Ajax.

SPAIN

Copa Del Rey - Quarterfinals

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Jan 19
Valencia 4-1 Levante

FRANCE

The Coupe de France Round of 32 is set for this weekend.

ITALY

Coppa Italia - Round of 16
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jan 19
Inter 2-1 Genoa

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012

The African national team championship tournament begins Sat Jan 21 and is co-hosted by Gabon & Equatorial Guinea.

dN

The Guardian with previews of Libya and Zambia.

dN

Matches & Scores:

Group Stage
-Sat Jan 21
Equatorial Guinea v Libya
Senegal v Zambia
Venue: Estadio de Bata, Bata
-Sun Jan 22
Cote d'Ivoire v Sudan
Burkina Faso v Angola
Venue: Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo