Some Soccer News for Wed Feb 15, 2012

COUNTDOWN TO MLS 2012







STARTERS

Two USA games confirmed today, one a World Cup qualifier and the other a friendly:
-Sat May 26
USA v Scotland - Friendly - 7:00pm CT on NBC Sports Network
Venue: EverBank Field, Jacksonville FL
-Fri Jun 8
USA vs Antigua - World Cup Qualifying - 6:00pm CT on ESPN & ESPN3.com
Venue: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa FL

dN

Five American players will be involved in the Europa League on Thursday. See details below.

dN

Montreal has sold over 32,000 tickets for their MLS debut.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Round of 16 - 1st Leg

Rob Hughes of the New York Times enjoys the pleasure that Lio Messi delivers, and reviews both games from Tuesday.

On Wednesday we saw Milan deliver a near death blow to Arsenal and Zenit win a wild one at home.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 14
Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Barcelona - BL goal by Michal Kadlec. Bar goals by Alexis Sanchez(2) & Lionel Messi.
Lyon 1-0 APOEL - Lyo goal by Alexandre Lacazette.
-Wed Feb 15
AC Milan 4-0 Arsenal - Mil goals by Kevin Prince Boateng, Robiniho(2) & Zlatan Ibrahimovic(PK).
Zenit St Petersburg 3-2 Benfica - Zen goals by Roman Shirokov(2) & Sergei Semak. Ben goals by Maximiliano Pereira & Oscar Cardoza.

The other half of the teams play their 1st Leg games next week.

dN

Here is the new Adidas ball that will be used at the Final in Munich Germany on Sat May 19:























DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Feb 14, 2012 - new music mix at Spotify.

FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

Lasana Liburd of Wired868.com gives us video of an interview on the street with Jack Warner where he basically says its all just propaganda being waged against him.

Liburd also reports that a judge has given the T & T football federation 3 days to figure out how they are going get their money back from Jack Warner who allegedly has it.

FACT OF THE DAY

Everton has named Landon Donovan as their Player Of The Month for January.

He won the same award in the same month during his loan their two years ago.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Brian Straus of Sporting News looks at why so many players from Colombia are pouring into MLS.

Player Transactions

San Jose has announced that they will get a 2nd season loan for Simon Dawkins of Tottenham.

COLUMBUS CREW

Columbus is introducing Barbasol as their new front of shirt sponsor.
-They are headquartered in the Columbus suburb of Dublin OH.














FC DALLAS

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America reports that David Ferreira is having difficulty returning from a badly damaged ankle and will see another specialist this week for re-assurance that he is healing properly.

LA GALAXY

Scott French of ESPN writes that the Galaxy boss is not worried about preseason game losses.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

New York is trying to sign American goalkeeper Luis Robles from Karlsruher of the 2.Bundesliga.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Frank Bertucci of the Daily News on the homecoming of veteran fullback Chris Albright.

TORONTO FC

Kurtis Larson of the Sun looks at Julian de Guzman who is in the final year of his contrac with TFC. What is his future with the team?

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province says the Caps obvious goal is to make the playoffs.
-The problem is that 9 teams will not achieve that goal this season.

dN

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun talks to center back Alain Rochat about the winning mentality the build needs to build.

MLS PRESEASON SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:

-Tue Feb 14
Estudientes Tecos(Mexico) 1-1 New York Red Bulls - ET goal by Gabriel Pereyra. NYRB goal by Kenny Cooper.
Venue: Guadalajara MX

-Wed Feb 15
Portland Timbers v Chicago Fire
Venue: The Home Depot Center Practice Field - Carson CA
Seattle Sounders 2-0 Columbus Crew - SS goals by Fredy Montero and Cordell Cato.
Venue: Bradenton Academy - Bradenton FL
Philadelphia Union v U Central Florida(NCAA)
Venue: Deltona FL
New England Revolution v Boston College(NCAA)
Venue: Foxborough MA

dN

Coming up:

-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

-Sat Feb 18
Houston Dynamo v SMU(NCAA)
Venue: Houston TX
Chicago Fire v San Jose Earthquakes
Venue: Ventura CA
Philadelphia Union v Orlando City(USL Pro)
Venue: Citrus Bowl - Orlando FL

-Sun Feb 19
Seattle Sounders v Florida Gulf Coast U(NCAA)
Venue: Bradenton FL

-Wed Feb 22
Seattle Spounders v Atlante(Mexico)
Venue: Cancun MX
New York Red Bulls v Real Salt Lake - Desert Diamond Cup
Venue: Tucson AZ
LA Galaxy v New England Revolution - Desert Diamond Cup
Venue: Tucson AZ
Chivas USA v Tijuana(Mexico)
Venue: San Diego CA

-Thu Feb 23
New York Red Bulls v UNAM Pumas(Mexico)
Venue: Chase Field - Phoenix AZ
Colorado Rapids v Yokohama(Japan) - Hawaiian Islands Invitational
Venue: Honolulu HI

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

Silly name of the day: The Alessandro DelPiero, Michael Ballack and David Bentley rumors continue their death rattle.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Coming Up:

UEFA - Europa League - Round of 32 - 1st Leg
Jozy Altidore - AZ - Thu Feb 16 v Anderlecht
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Thu Feb 16 v Club Brugge
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Thu Feb 16 at Plzen
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Thu Feb 16 at AZ
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP - Thu Feb 16 at Legia

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

2 home teams got wins last night, while Boca Juniors played a scoreless game on the road.

dN

Group Stage

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Feb 14
Defensor Sporting 2-0 Deportivo Quito - DS goals by Braian Aleman(PK) & Maximiliano Callorda.
Zamora 0-0 Boca Juniors
Atletico Nacional 2-0 Universidad Chile - AN goals by Juan Valencia & Dorlan Pabon.
-Wed Feb 15
The Strongest v Santos
Deportivo Tachira v Corinthians
Lanus v Flamengo
-Thu Feb 16
Nacional v Libertad
Godoy Cruz v Penarol

dN

Standings

Group 1
3 Internacional (+2)
- Santos
- The Strongest
0 Juan Aurich (-2)
Group 2
3 Emelec (+1)
- Lanus
- Flamengo
0 Olimpia (-1)
Group 3
3 Union Espanola (+2)
1 Bolivar (0)
1 Universidad Catholica (0)
0 Junior (-2)
Group 4
3 Fluminense (+1)
1 Boca Juniors
1 Zamora
0 Arsenal (-1)
Group 5
3 Libertad (+3)
3 Nacional (+1)
0 Vasco Da Gama (-1)
0 Alianza Lima (-3)
Group 6
3 Cruz Azul (+1)
- Corintians
- Deportivo Tachira
0 Nacional Asuncion (-1)
Group 7
3 Velez Sarsfield (+3)
3 Defensor Sporting (-1)
1 Deportivo Quito (-2)
1 Guadalajara (0)
Group 8
3 Atletico Nacional (+2)
- Godoy Cruz
- Penarol
0 Universidad Chile (-2)