Some Soccer News for Mon Feb 13, 2012
COUNTDOWN TO MLS 2012
STARTERS
After a big Real Madrid win and another Barcelona loss the gap is now 10 points at the top.
dN
The UEFA Champions League returns this week with 4 matches. See details in section below.
dN
Brian Ching has been given permission to leave Montreal preseason training camp for "personal reasons." This could mean a lot of things. Buts its not insignificant. A trade back to Houston is the most rumored result.
-Jose Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reports that Ching is in Houston working on a new contract with the Dynamo before a deal can be done for him to return.
dN
For the second time in his short return to Arsenal Thierry Henry delivered the game winning goal as a sub off the bench. Amazing.
-He has one game left with the team that made him a star, Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League.
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012
RELENTLESS ZOMBIES! Huge congrats to Zambia on winning their first African Cup of Nations championship. They beat Ivory Coast in a penalty kick shootout after 120 minutes of play ended scoreless.
Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian reports that Zambia's huge win will help with the healing of a 19 year old tragedy.
Rob Hughes of the NY Times with a great look at Zambia's impressive victory.
IC's two biggest stars let the team down as Didier Drogba missed a penalty kick over the top during regulation play, and Gervinho missed a penalty kick over the top during the shootout.
dN
Final
-Sun Feb 12
Zambia 0-0 Ivory Coast winner - Zam win 8-7 in a penalty kick shootout.
Venue: Stade d'Angondje, Libreville
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Round of 16 - 1st Leg
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 14
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona - live at 1:45pm CT on Fox Soccer
Lyon v APOEL - delayed at 4:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Wed Feb 15
AC Milan v Arsenal - live at 1:45pm CT on Fox Soccer
Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica - delayed at 10:30pm CT on Fox Soccer
The other half of the teams play their 1st Leg games next week.
DISASTER IN EGYPT
Cairo journalist Mohamed Seif posted on Twitter today that "Bob Bradley donates his earned two month pay to the families of the victims of the Port Said disaster."
STORY OF THE DAY
Contrary to popular belief Rangers FC has NOT filed for a Scottish version of "bankruptcy" today!
A decision on actual "administration" will not be made for 10 days.
The Herald of Glasgow reports that Rangers FC has filed papers of INTENTION to declare "administration".
-They have tons of debts and need help paying their creditors.
Here is the official statement from the team.
Here is the official statement from the team's chairman Craig Whyte.
The club provides answers to more questions that have been posed.
And what does this mean for the three Americans on the roster: Alejandro Bedoya, Carlos Bocanegra and Mo Edu.
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Feb 11
Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool - an old England classic match up with all the ugly undertones.
Monchengladbach 3-0 Schalke - they teams swap spots in the standings to #3 and #4 after the big win by the home team.
Udinese 1-2 Milan - Milan came back to now claim the #1 spot in Italy.
-Sun Feb 12
Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Getafe - a Madrid derby
BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD ALL DAY
Reuters reports that Liverpool's front of shirt sponsor has put pressure on the team's owners to clamp down on Luis Suarez and settle this racist mess once and for all.
DO YOU REALIZE
"In spite of losing so much – including my soccer employment, my financial security, and, many times over, my dignity – I appreciate that I should take comfort from the fact in 2012, I am indeed fortunate to be alive."
Paul James a former Canadian international player and coach who has written many great columns for the Toronto Globe & Mail is about to publish a memoir in which he admits to being a cocaine addict among other things.
Neil Davidson of the Globe & Mail tells James' story.
At 48 years old it takes a lot of guts to stand up and admit he has a major problem, then publicize it to try and help others.
DID YOU KNOW?
Paul Gardner of Soccer America pays tribute to an American soccer legend - Harry Keough.
STAT OF THE DAY
Major League Soccer currently ranks 9th in the world in average attendance:
-Equaling the Mexican league should be the next goal. I know that means a 50% growth, but it has to be the target.
1 Bundesliga - 42.7k
2 Premier League - Eng 35.3k
3 La Liga - 29.1k
4 Primera Division - Mex 25.8k
5 Serie A - 24.0k
6 Primera Division - Arg - 19.8k
7 Ligue 1 - 19.7k
8 Eredivisie - 19.1k
9 MLS - 17.9k
And MLS is ranked 16th in ALL sports leagues in the world.
But don't let anyone tell you that attendance is what is going to make or break MLS at this point. The only that matters now is TV ratings. As they go up the amount of money on hand to spend per team will leap forward. Its literally that simple.
Better quality TV production is one way the league can have an immediate impact on making this happen.
FACT OF THE DAY
Five games ago Hertha Berlin hired a new head coach Michael Skibbe to turn around their struggling season, but since then (4 games in the Bundeslig and 1 in the Pokal) they have managed a grand total of 0 points. Yes ZERO.
On Saturday they gave up 4 goals in just 16 minutes late in the first half which led to fans marching on team headquarters and demanding change.
Skibbe was fired on Sunday.
The fans also want general manager Michael Preetz to go.
The team's U19 coach Rene Tretschok has been named the interim manager, making him the 3rd manager of this season.
Hertha currently sit in 15th place of the 18 team league with 20 points from 21 games and a -11 goal differential. (Last place Freiburg has 17 points.)
THATS WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
LE Eisenmenger of the Examiner wonders if match fixing could inflict MLS.
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated has 10 preseason story lines that he is following.
dN
Former Red Bulls and TFC fullback Danleigh Borman has signed with SuperSport United in his native South Africa.
Player Transactions
New England Revolution signed 25 year old French forward Saer Sene from Bayern Munich II (reserve team).
dN
Philadelphia has signed MLS veteran fullback Chris Albright who had previously been released by New York.
CD CHIVAS USA
Scott French of ESPN with lots of team notes about players new and old.
COLORADO RAPIDS
Is CR about to announce the signing of 22 year old Argentine attacking midfielder Martin Rivero from Rosario Central?
-Nick Grove of the Denver Post on this rumor.
And in news almost as good, the Denver Post looks like it is finally going to give the Raps some decent coverage. Actual proactive articles? Amazing. A blog that is up to date? Astounding. Lets hope they keep it up. Hooray Beer!
DC UNITED
USA youth prospect Stefan Jerome is no longer in preseason camp with DCU.
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Scott French of ESPN with an article on young newcomer Eder Arreola.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC
Pete Grathoff of the Star declares that in just 1 year Sporting Kansas City has become ingrained in the local sports landscape like the other more traditional sports in a way the Wizards new could. HUGE!
dN
Tod Palmer of the Star with an article on rookie Cyprian Hedrick, who has a pretty good story behind him.
LA GALAXY
Scott French of ESPN on first year centerback Tommy Meyer who is getting his shot at the starting 11. Will he make it? Doubtful, but the team has high hopes for him.
MONTREAL IMPACT
Randy Phillips of the Gazette with the latest look at the Impact roster.
dN
The team is holding a contest for a fan to design the captains armband for this season. Very cool.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Timbers' owner Merritt Paulson was given the Sportsperson of the Year Award at 60th Oregon Sports Awards this weekend.
dN
Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian looks at Franck Songo'o from Cameroon who has been impressing the Timbers honcho during his tryout.
dN
In terrible news forward Eddie Johnson suffered his third concussion in less than a year late last week.
TORONTO FC
Kurtis Larson of the Sun talks with with GM Paul Mariner.
dN
TFC's latest preseason roster looks like this.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
Steve Bottjer of Sportsnet on 2nd year Cap and Canadian prodigy Russ Teibert.
MLS PRESEASON SCOREBOARD
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Feb 11
Sporting Kansas City 2-1 DC United - SKC goals by Graham Zusi & Soony Saad. DCU goal by Jose Burciaga Jr. (Yes, THAT Jose Burciaga Jr.)
Venue: Casa Grande Sports Complex - Casa Grande AZ
Philadelphia Union 1-1 Florida Gulf Coast U -
Venue: Deltona FL
Chivas USA 0-1 Chicago Fire - CF boal by Daniel Paladini.
Venue: Oxnard CA
Merida(Mexico) 1-1 New York Red Bulls - Mer goal by Rodrigo Noya. NYRB goal by Conor Lade.
Venue: Merida MX
USA U17 0-6 Columbus Crew - CC goals by Eddie Gaven(2), Milovan Mirosevic(PK), Emilio Renteria, Justin Meram & Olman Vargas.
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
USA U17 0-4 Columbus Crew - CC goals by Kevan George, Aaron Horton & Tommy Heinemann(2).
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
-Sun Feb 12
Portland Timbers 2-0 Houston Dynamo - PT goals by James Marcelin & Jack Jewsbury.
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
FC Dallas 101 River Plate reserves(Argentina) - FCD goal by Bruno Guarda(PK). RPR goal by Montero.
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium training fields
FC Dallas 6-0 U Memphis - FCD goals by Andrew Wiedeman(3), Fabian Castillo, Blas Perez & Scott Sealy.
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium training fields
-Mon Feb 13
Seattle Sounders 1-1 Orlando City - SS goal by Sammy Ochao. OC goal by Dennis Chin.
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
dN
Coming up:
-Tue Feb 14
Estudientes Tecos(Mexico) v New York Red Bulls
Venue: Guadalajara MX
Sporting Kansas City v Tuscon FC(amateur)
Venue: Tuscon AZ
San Jose Earthquakes v Houston Dynamo
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
Real Salt Lake v DC United
Venue: Casa Grande Sports Complex - Casa Grande AZ
LA Galaxy v Montreal Impact
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
Wed Feb 15
Portland Timbers v Chicago Fire
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
Seattle Sounders v Columbus Crew
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
Philadelphia Union v U Central Florida(NCAA)
Venue: Deltona FL
Thu Feb 16
USA U17 v Seattle Sounders
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
LA Galaxy v Chivas USA
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Landon Donovan executed another perfect pass to set up a goal for Everton in his last Premier League game with the club.
dN
Clint Dempsey made a big contribution to the game winning goal for Fulham as he hit a pile driver of a shot from 35 yards out that smashed off the crossbar and hit the goalkeeper in the back then bounced into the net for an own goal.
dN
Contrary to previous reports Tim Ream was NOT in the game day 18 for Bolton.
dN
US Soccer talks to Jonathan Spector about his team's great season, as Birmingham fights for promotion back to the Premier League.
-Rogers claims that if he had stayed in MLS he was going to be part of the Portland Timbers. Hmmmmmmmm?
dN
17 year old midfielder Marc Pelosi who is at Liverpool tore his MCL during practice on Sunday.
-Thanks to Michael for the heads up.
dN
The Yorkshire Post talks to Robbie Rogers about his goal for making the USA Olympic team again.
dN
Game Action:
BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - went the distance as they won 1-2 at Standard Liege.
ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the entire game and they won 2-1 v Stoke.
Landon Donovan - Everton - played the full game as they won 2-0 v Chelsea.
Brad Friedel - Tottenham - in goal as usual and they won 5-0 v Newcastle.
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench as they lost 0-1 v Manchester City.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 as they shut out Chelsea 2-0.
ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - came on as a sub in second half stoppage time of a scoreless game at Millwall.
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - came off the bench in the 75th min as they drew 1-1 v Watford.
GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - played the whole 90 as they drew 0-0 at Augsburg.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the entire match as they drew 1-1 at Mainz.
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim - on the bench as they tied 1-1 at Werder Bremen.
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - played the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Werder Bremen.
Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin - started but came off at half time getting a yellow card as they lost 5-0 at Stuttgart.
Daniel Williams - Hoffenheim - went the distance as they tied 1-1 at Werder Bremen.
GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Matt Taylor - Paderborn - on the bench as they lost 5-1 at Greuther Furth.
ISRAEL - Ligat Al
Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona - played the whole game as they tied 1-1 v Hapoel Be'er Sheva.
Leo Krupnik - Maccabi Netanya - played the full 90 but lost 3-1 at Hapoel Petah Tikva.
ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - Mon Feb 13 - started and played 75 min as they lost 2-0 at Napoli.
NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Jozy Altidore - AZ Alkmaar - came on as a sub in the 75th as they won 2-0 v Excelsior.
PORTUGAL - Primeira Liga
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting - played the whole game getting a yellow card as they lost 2-0 at Maritimo.
PORTUGAL - Liga de Honra
Caleb Patterson-Sewell - Atletico CP - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 v Santa Clara.
Tony Taylor - Estoril - came on as a sub in the 64th min as they won 0-2 at Portimonense.
SCOTLAND - Premier League
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers - went the distance as they won 1-4 at Dunfermline.
Mo Edu - Rangers - played the entire match as they won 1-4 at Dunfermline.
dN
Coming Up:
ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - Tue Feb 14 v Reading
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - Tue Feb 14 at Middlesbrough
George John - West Ham - Tue Feb 14 v Southampton
Danny Potts - West Ham - Tue Feb 14 Southampton
Robbie Rogers - Leeds - Tue Feb 14 at Coventry
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - Tue Feb 14 v Hull
ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Brentford - Tue Feb 14 at Colchester
Anton Peterlin - Wallsall - Tue Feb 14 at Oldham
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - Tue Feb 14 v Tranmere
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Game Action:
PRIMERA DIVISION
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - came on as a sub in the 65th min as they won 0-2 at Pumas.
Ricardo Bocanegra - Atlas - on the bench as they drew 1-1 v America.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they won 0-2 at San Luis.
Edgar Castillo - Tijuana - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 v Cruz Azul.
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - started and played 59 min as they drew 0-0 v Cruz Azul.
Greg Garza - Tijuana - on the bench as they drew 0-0 v Cruz Azul.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - on the bench as they lost 3-1 at Morelia.
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - played the whole game but lost 0-2 v Tigres.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 getting a yellow card as they won 2-0 v Tecos.
ENGLAND
Wolverhampton fired head coach Mick McCarthy today. A loss on Sunday dropped them back into the relegation zone.
dN
Jacob Steinberg, Tom Bryant and Evan Fanning of the Guardian with five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.
SPAIN
Sid Lowe of the Guardian sees the La Liga race as all but over, and reviews the rest of the games in this round.
GERMANY
Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on Gladbach's incredible season, and the rest of the weekend's round in the Bundesliga.
dN
Recap du Nord: #1 & #2 Dortmund and Bayern won to stay put, but #4 Gladbach romped over #3 Schalke and now they sit in opposite spots in the standings.
Die Bundesliga Standings (21 games played):
46 Dortmund (+32 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 W 1-0 Leverkusen - NEXT: Sat Feb 18 at Hertha
44 Bayern (+35 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 W 2-0 Kaiserslautern - NEXT: Sat Feb 18 at Freiburg
43 Gladbach (+22 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 W 3-0 v Schalke - NEXT: Sat Feb 18 at Kaiserslautern
41 Schalke (+18 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 L 3-0 at Gladbach - NEXT: Sun Feb 19 v Wolfsburg
ITALY
For the third week in a row Paulo Bandini of the Guardian takes glee in hammering Inter when they are down, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
The Round of 32 begins this week with 2 games on Tuesday and the rest on the regular Thursday. See all the matches & scores here.
COPA LIBERTADORES
Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Feb 14
Defensor Sporting v Deportivo Quito
Zamora v Boca Juniors
Atletico Nacional v Universidad Chile
-Wed Feb 15
The Strongest v Santos
Deportivo Tachira v Corinthians
Lanus v Flamengo
-Thu Feb 16
Nacional v Libertad
Godoy Cruz v Penarol
STARTERS
After a big Real Madrid win and another Barcelona loss the gap is now 10 points at the top.
dN
The UEFA Champions League returns this week with 4 matches. See details in section below.
dN
Brian Ching has been given permission to leave Montreal preseason training camp for "personal reasons." This could mean a lot of things. Buts its not insignificant. A trade back to Houston is the most rumored result.
-Jose Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reports that Ching is in Houston working on a new contract with the Dynamo before a deal can be done for him to return.
dN
For the second time in his short return to Arsenal Thierry Henry delivered the game winning goal as a sub off the bench. Amazing.
-He has one game left with the team that made him a star, Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League.
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2012
RELENTLESS ZOMBIES! Huge congrats to Zambia on winning their first African Cup of Nations championship. They beat Ivory Coast in a penalty kick shootout after 120 minutes of play ended scoreless.
Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian reports that Zambia's huge win will help with the healing of a 19 year old tragedy.
Rob Hughes of the NY Times with a great look at Zambia's impressive victory.
IC's two biggest stars let the team down as Didier Drogba missed a penalty kick over the top during regulation play, and Gervinho missed a penalty kick over the top during the shootout.
dN
Final
-Sun Feb 12
Zambia 0-0 Ivory Coast winner - Zam win 8-7 in a penalty kick shootout.
Venue: Stade d'Angondje, Libreville
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Round of 16 - 1st Leg
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 14
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona - live at 1:45pm CT on Fox Soccer
Lyon v APOEL - delayed at 4:00pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Wed Feb 15
AC Milan v Arsenal - live at 1:45pm CT on Fox Soccer
Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica - delayed at 10:30pm CT on Fox Soccer
The other half of the teams play their 1st Leg games next week.
DISASTER IN EGYPT
Cairo journalist Mohamed Seif posted on Twitter today that "Bob Bradley donates his earned two month pay to the families of the victims of the Port Said disaster."
STORY OF THE DAY
Contrary to popular belief Rangers FC has NOT filed for a Scottish version of "bankruptcy" today!
A decision on actual "administration" will not be made for 10 days.
The Herald of Glasgow reports that Rangers FC has filed papers of INTENTION to declare "administration".
-They have tons of debts and need help paying their creditors.
Here is the official statement from the team.
Here is the official statement from the team's chairman Craig Whyte.
The club provides answers to more questions that have been posed.
And what does this mean for the three Americans on the roster: Alejandro Bedoya, Carlos Bocanegra and Mo Edu.
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Feb 11
Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool - an old England classic match up with all the ugly undertones.
Monchengladbach 3-0 Schalke - they teams swap spots in the standings to #3 and #4 after the big win by the home team.
Udinese 1-2 Milan - Milan came back to now claim the #1 spot in Italy.
-Sun Feb 12
Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Getafe - a Madrid derby
BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD ALL DAY
Reuters reports that Liverpool's front of shirt sponsor has put pressure on the team's owners to clamp down on Luis Suarez and settle this racist mess once and for all.
DO YOU REALIZE
"In spite of losing so much – including my soccer employment, my financial security, and, many times over, my dignity – I appreciate that I should take comfort from the fact in 2012, I am indeed fortunate to be alive."
Paul James a former Canadian international player and coach who has written many great columns for the Toronto Globe & Mail is about to publish a memoir in which he admits to being a cocaine addict among other things.
Neil Davidson of the Globe & Mail tells James' story.
At 48 years old it takes a lot of guts to stand up and admit he has a major problem, then publicize it to try and help others.
DID YOU KNOW?
Paul Gardner of Soccer America pays tribute to an American soccer legend - Harry Keough.
STAT OF THE DAY
Major League Soccer currently ranks 9th in the world in average attendance:
-Equaling the Mexican league should be the next goal. I know that means a 50% growth, but it has to be the target.
1 Bundesliga - 42.7k
2 Premier League - Eng 35.3k
3 La Liga - 29.1k
4 Primera Division - Mex 25.8k
5 Serie A - 24.0k
6 Primera Division - Arg - 19.8k
7 Ligue 1 - 19.7k
8 Eredivisie - 19.1k
9 MLS - 17.9k
And MLS is ranked 16th in ALL sports leagues in the world.
But don't let anyone tell you that attendance is what is going to make or break MLS at this point. The only that matters now is TV ratings. As they go up the amount of money on hand to spend per team will leap forward. Its literally that simple.
Better quality TV production is one way the league can have an immediate impact on making this happen.
FACT OF THE DAY
Five games ago Hertha Berlin hired a new head coach Michael Skibbe to turn around their struggling season, but since then (4 games in the Bundeslig and 1 in the Pokal) they have managed a grand total of 0 points. Yes ZERO.
On Saturday they gave up 4 goals in just 16 minutes late in the first half which led to fans marching on team headquarters and demanding change.
Skibbe was fired on Sunday.
The fans also want general manager Michael Preetz to go.
The team's U19 coach Rene Tretschok has been named the interim manager, making him the 3rd manager of this season.
Hertha currently sit in 15th place of the 18 team league with 20 points from 21 games and a -11 goal differential. (Last place Freiburg has 17 points.)
THATS WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
LE Eisenmenger of the Examiner wonders if match fixing could inflict MLS.
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated has 10 preseason story lines that he is following.
dN
Former Red Bulls and TFC fullback Danleigh Borman has signed with SuperSport United in his native South Africa.
Player Transactions
New England Revolution signed 25 year old French forward Saer Sene from Bayern Munich II (reserve team).
dN
Philadelphia has signed MLS veteran fullback Chris Albright who had previously been released by New York.
CD CHIVAS USA
Scott French of ESPN with lots of team notes about players new and old.
COLORADO RAPIDS
Is CR about to announce the signing of 22 year old Argentine attacking midfielder Martin Rivero from Rosario Central?
-Nick Grove of the Denver Post on this rumor.
And in news almost as good, the Denver Post looks like it is finally going to give the Raps some decent coverage. Actual proactive articles? Amazing. A blog that is up to date? Astounding. Lets hope they keep it up. Hooray Beer!
DC UNITED
USA youth prospect Stefan Jerome is no longer in preseason camp with DCU.
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Scott French of ESPN with an article on young newcomer Eder Arreola.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC
Pete Grathoff of the Star declares that in just 1 year Sporting Kansas City has become ingrained in the local sports landscape like the other more traditional sports in a way the Wizards new could. HUGE!
dN
Tod Palmer of the Star with an article on rookie Cyprian Hedrick, who has a pretty good story behind him.
LA GALAXY
Scott French of ESPN on first year centerback Tommy Meyer who is getting his shot at the starting 11. Will he make it? Doubtful, but the team has high hopes for him.
MONTREAL IMPACT
Randy Phillips of the Gazette with the latest look at the Impact roster.
dN
The team is holding a contest for a fan to design the captains armband for this season. Very cool.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Timbers' owner Merritt Paulson was given the Sportsperson of the Year Award at 60th Oregon Sports Awards this weekend.
dN
Geoffrey Arnold of the Oregonian looks at Franck Songo'o from Cameroon who has been impressing the Timbers honcho during his tryout.
dN
In terrible news forward Eddie Johnson suffered his third concussion in less than a year late last week.
TORONTO FC
Kurtis Larson of the Sun talks with with GM Paul Mariner.
dN
TFC's latest preseason roster looks like this.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
Steve Bottjer of Sportsnet on 2nd year Cap and Canadian prodigy Russ Teibert.
MLS PRESEASON SCOREBOARD
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Feb 11
Sporting Kansas City 2-1 DC United - SKC goals by Graham Zusi & Soony Saad. DCU goal by Jose Burciaga Jr. (Yes, THAT Jose Burciaga Jr.)
Venue: Casa Grande Sports Complex - Casa Grande AZ
Philadelphia Union 1-1 Florida Gulf Coast U -
Venue: Deltona FL
Chivas USA 0-1 Chicago Fire - CF boal by Daniel Paladini.
Venue: Oxnard CA
Merida(Mexico) 1-1 New York Red Bulls - Mer goal by Rodrigo Noya. NYRB goal by Conor Lade.
Venue: Merida MX
USA U17 0-6 Columbus Crew - CC goals by Eddie Gaven(2), Milovan Mirosevic(PK), Emilio Renteria, Justin Meram & Olman Vargas.
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
USA U17 0-4 Columbus Crew - CC goals by Kevan George, Aaron Horton & Tommy Heinemann(2).
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
-Sun Feb 12
Portland Timbers 2-0 Houston Dynamo - PT goals by James Marcelin & Jack Jewsbury.
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
FC Dallas 101 River Plate reserves(Argentina) - FCD goal by Bruno Guarda(PK). RPR goal by Montero.
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium training fields
FC Dallas 6-0 U Memphis - FCD goals by Andrew Wiedeman(3), Fabian Castillo, Blas Perez & Scott Sealy.
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium training fields
-Mon Feb 13
Seattle Sounders 1-1 Orlando City - SS goal by Sammy Ochao. OC goal by Dennis Chin.
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
dN
Coming up:
-Tue Feb 14
Estudientes Tecos(Mexico) v New York Red Bulls
Venue: Guadalajara MX
Sporting Kansas City v Tuscon FC(amateur)
Venue: Tuscon AZ
San Jose Earthquakes v Houston Dynamo
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
Real Salt Lake v DC United
Venue: Casa Grande Sports Complex - Casa Grande AZ
LA Galaxy v Montreal Impact
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
Wed Feb 15
Portland Timbers v Chicago Fire
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
Seattle Sounders v Columbus Crew
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
Philadelphia Union v U Central Florida(NCAA)
Venue: Deltona FL
Thu Feb 16
USA U17 v Seattle Sounders
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
LA Galaxy v Chivas USA
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Landon Donovan executed another perfect pass to set up a goal for Everton in his last Premier League game with the club.
dN
Clint Dempsey made a big contribution to the game winning goal for Fulham as he hit a pile driver of a shot from 35 yards out that smashed off the crossbar and hit the goalkeeper in the back then bounced into the net for an own goal.
dN
Contrary to previous reports Tim Ream was NOT in the game day 18 for Bolton.
dN
US Soccer talks to Jonathan Spector about his team's great season, as Birmingham fights for promotion back to the Premier League.
-Rogers claims that if he had stayed in MLS he was going to be part of the Portland Timbers. Hmmmmmmmm?
dN
17 year old midfielder Marc Pelosi who is at Liverpool tore his MCL during practice on Sunday.
-Thanks to Michael for the heads up.
dN
The Yorkshire Post talks to Robbie Rogers about his goal for making the USA Olympic team again.
dN
Game Action:
BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - went the distance as they won 1-2 at Standard Liege.
ENGLAND - Premier League
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the entire game and they won 2-1 v Stoke.
Landon Donovan - Everton - played the full game as they won 2-0 v Chelsea.
Brad Friedel - Tottenham - in goal as usual and they won 5-0 v Newcastle.
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench as they lost 0-1 v Manchester City.
Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 as they shut out Chelsea 2-0.
ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - came on as a sub in second half stoppage time of a scoreless game at Millwall.
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - came off the bench in the 75th min as they drew 1-1 v Watford.
GERMANY - Bundesliga
Timmy Chandler - Nurnberg - played the whole 90 as they drew 0-0 at Augsburg.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the entire match as they drew 1-1 at Mainz.
Joe Gyau - Hoffenheim - on the bench as they tied 1-1 at Werder Bremen.
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - played the full 90 as they drew 1-1 at Werder Bremen.
Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin - started but came off at half time getting a yellow card as they lost 5-0 at Stuttgart.
Daniel Williams - Hoffenheim - went the distance as they tied 1-1 at Werder Bremen.
GERMANY - 2 Bundesliga
Matt Taylor - Paderborn - on the bench as they lost 5-1 at Greuther Furth.
ISRAEL - Ligat Al
Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona - played the whole game as they tied 1-1 v Hapoel Be'er Sheva.
Leo Krupnik - Maccabi Netanya - played the full 90 but lost 3-1 at Hapoel Petah Tikva.
ITALY - Serie A
Michael Bradley - Chievo Verona - Mon Feb 13 - started and played 75 min as they lost 2-0 at Napoli.
NETHERLANDS - Eredivisie
Jozy Altidore - AZ Alkmaar - came on as a sub in the 75th as they won 2-0 v Excelsior.
PORTUGAL - Primeira Liga
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting - played the whole game getting a yellow card as they lost 2-0 at Maritimo.
PORTUGAL - Liga de Honra
Caleb Patterson-Sewell - Atletico CP - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 v Santa Clara.
Tony Taylor - Estoril - came on as a sub in the 64th min as they won 0-2 at Portimonense.
SCOTLAND - Premier League
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers - went the distance as they won 1-4 at Dunfermline.
Mo Edu - Rangers - played the entire match as they won 1-4 at Dunfermline.
dN
Coming Up:
ENGLAND - Championship League
Conor Doyle - Derby County - Tue Feb 14 v Reading
Robbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - Tue Feb 14 at Middlesbrough
George John - West Ham - Tue Feb 14 v Southampton
Danny Potts - West Ham - Tue Feb 14 Southampton
Robbie Rogers - Leeds - Tue Feb 14 at Coventry
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - Tue Feb 14 v Hull
ENGLAND - League One
Mike Grella - Brentford - Tue Feb 14 at Colchester
Anton Peterlin - Wallsall - Tue Feb 14 at Oldham
Frank Simek - Carlisle United - Tue Feb 14 v Tranmere
AMERICANS IN MEXICO
Game Action:
PRIMERA DIVISION
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - came on as a sub in the 65th min as they won 0-2 at Pumas.
Ricardo Bocanegra - Atlas - on the bench as they drew 1-1 v America.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they won 0-2 at San Luis.
Edgar Castillo - Tijuana - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 v Cruz Azul.
Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - started and played 59 min as they drew 0-0 v Cruz Azul.
Greg Garza - Tijuana - on the bench as they drew 0-0 v Cruz Azul.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - on the bench as they lost 3-1 at Morelia.
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - played the whole game but lost 0-2 v Tigres.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 getting a yellow card as they won 2-0 v Tecos.
ENGLAND
Wolverhampton fired head coach Mick McCarthy today. A loss on Sunday dropped them back into the relegation zone.
dN
Jacob Steinberg, Tom Bryant and Evan Fanning of the Guardian with five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend.
SPAIN
Sid Lowe of the Guardian sees the La Liga race as all but over, and reviews the rest of the games in this round.
GERMANY
Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on Gladbach's incredible season, and the rest of the weekend's round in the Bundesliga.
dN
Recap du Nord: #1 & #2 Dortmund and Bayern won to stay put, but #4 Gladbach romped over #3 Schalke and now they sit in opposite spots in the standings.
Die Bundesliga Standings (21 games played):
46 Dortmund (+32 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 W 1-0 Leverkusen - NEXT: Sat Feb 18 at Hertha
44 Bayern (+35 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 W 2-0 Kaiserslautern - NEXT: Sat Feb 18 at Freiburg
43 Gladbach (+22 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 W 3-0 v Schalke - NEXT: Sat Feb 18 at Kaiserslautern
41 Schalke (+18 gd) - LAST: Sat Feb 11 L 3-0 at Gladbach - NEXT: Sun Feb 19 v Wolfsburg
ITALY
For the third week in a row Paulo Bandini of the Guardian takes glee in hammering Inter when they are down, and the rest of the weekend in Serie A.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
The Round of 32 begins this week with 2 games on Tuesday and the rest on the regular Thursday. See all the matches & scores here.
COPA LIBERTADORES
Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Feb 14
Defensor Sporting v Deportivo Quito
Zamora v Boca Juniors
Atletico Nacional v Universidad Chile
-Wed Feb 15
The Strongest v Santos
Deportivo Tachira v Corinthians
Lanus v Flamengo
-Thu Feb 16
Nacional v Libertad
Godoy Cruz v Penarol
posted by brucio at 18:44
2 Comments:
You don't mention it, Bruce, but a report I read this morning said that the Ivory Coast lost the ACN despite not allowing a single goal the entire tournament. That has got to hurt. (But I'm happy for Zambia's win)
Ivory Coast should maybe refrain from using EPL playing players to take PK, I think they got the English yips and are now choking like real brits!
>Better quality TV production is one way >the league can have an immediate impact >on making this happen.
Oh lord, yes!!!
Camera angles are simply HORRIBLE in the US. How many times do we see a curling FK go in from a camera somewhere behind the team benches.
if they do anything, its to add cameras behind the each net.
i watch a lot of euro soccer on dish, dont know the languages most times but its soccer, so i dont care....and I love how even in the smallest countries, they have multiple cameras, great angles and within of 30secs of a goal being score, Im guaranteed to see at least 4-5 replays of the goal.
here, its the NFL mentality (the games last 12mins of action and the rest is used in reaction shots and closeups of coaches). the guy scores, then you close up on the players kissing, the coach, maybe the fans, then the players again and then finally a replay or two.
No, no and NO!!
Every time I see the Montreal Gazette mentioned with soccer, it makes me laugh. not because, its a non-entity in a province where 90% of the people speak french but because the coverage is simply putrid.
the golf writer they penalized by covering soccer does the strict minimum and usually spends more time on inane things like rules rather than actually ever talking to players or even about them. team plays 3 preseason games and the only thing you know is that something called Jeff Braun played and that Eddie Sebrango was also on the field. you are better off trolling opposing team forums and blogs to find out more about the games(which is what Phillips does, repeating several key sentences from blog posts)
The two columnnists claim to like soccer (even going to WC duty) but have never mentioned the local team once in two years. And the third part time columnist only brings it up when some tragedy occurs or recently to share a study about concussions.
The old generation of anglo farts has to die off both in print and radio where the two senior guys on air also will never mention soccer unless its a planned segment.
Want to get them riled up? Call in and tell them that soccer has passed hockey as the most popular played sport around the time of the NASL folding and is now leading it 900,000 to 550,000 and its also double in Quebec.
The anglo world is still clinging hard to the soccer is a sport for foreigner mentality and you cant turn on tv or radio wihtout having at least one heavy accented brit explain to the savages how 'pacey' a player is. The french press seems to have passed this by now and the WC crew last time was led by 3 homegrown quebecers around 30-33yrs old who did an exceptional job in SA and whose knowledge of the game is visible.
if youre an unilingual anglo in Montreal, the internet is your friend.
if youre a soccer lover in Montreal, the Gazoo is not.
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