Some Soccer News for Fri Mar 30, 2012
STARTERS
So brutal: Aston Villa announced today that their Bulgarian captain Stilian Petrov has been diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia.
dN
After a final appeal Luke Rodgers was DENIED a work visa and the New York Red Bulls released him from his contract today.
-He really was their secret weapon last year.
NOTICE
Sign up today for MLS Fantasy Soccer Manager, and then become a member of the du Nord Futbol league using this code: 3815-897
126 teams in our league so far. Lets go for 150! Come On!
Palace Eagles - managed by Phillip Lovas is in 1st Place!
TASTIEST MLS GAME OF THE WEEKEND
-Sat Mar 31
Portland Timbers v Real Salt Lake - 9:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
STORY OF THE DAY
I gotta back Diego on this one!
The BBC reports that Diego Maradona went into the stands after opposing fans of the team he manages Al Wasl after those fans made threats toward wives and girlfriends of his players. Applause for Diego!
2012 CONCACAF OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT
4 teams left.
All games can also be seen online at CONCACAF.com
dN
SEMIFINALS
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 31
El Salvador v Honduras - 5pm
Mexico v Canada - 8pm
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS
dN
FINAL
Matches & Scores:
-Mon Apr 2
Semifinal winners - 7pm
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Tue Apr 3
Barcelona v AC Milan (0-0)
Bayern Munich v Marseille (2-0)
-Wed Apr 4
Chelsea v Benfica (1-0)
Real Madrid v APOEL (3-0)
2011-12 CONCACACHAMPIONS
Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Apr 4
Santos Laguna v Toronto (1-1) - 7pm CT on Fox Soccer - live
UNAM Pumas v Monterrey (0-3) - 9pm CT on Fox Soccer - live
FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS
A series of happy Tweets from Herr Blatter today on reforming FIFA:
@SeppBlatter
-Historic day for FIFA’s reform process; two-chamber Ethics Committee approved.
-One chamber investigates and the other chamber acts as a judge
-I proposed this in June 2011. It is also the main point made by Pieth’s Independent Committee
-New Audit & Compliance Committee also well received – another milestone.
-Delighted that the Executive Committee has agreed to back me on this crucial reform
-Particularly happy that the ExCo backed my proposal to have a female member
-Football is for men and women. Vital to have a female voice on the Committee
Those messages were all posted before the report came out so you knew nothing negative toward Blatter was on the way.
The Independent Governance Committee that was set up to suggest reforms for FIFA has filed their initial report. Read it and weep.
-One person on Twitter has already called it the shuffling of the deck chairs.
The document basically says FIFA is hiding things, and that an investigative committee should be formed, but does not call for any specific investigations, and says nothing about looking in to the bids for the 2018 and 22 World Cups. Very sad.
dN
Bobby McMahon at Forbes looks at the mess FIFA is trying to clean up in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, and what that could mean for the 2016 Olympics in the same country.
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 31
Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao - with Barca trying to stay close to Real Madrid and Bilbao in red hot form this should be a great game.
Valencia v Levante - in a battle for 3rd place.
Benfica v Sporting Braga - #3 hosts #1 with just 2 points between them.
-Sun Apr 1
Juventus v Napoli - #2 v #4 and Juve needs it badly to keep pace at the top.
HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING
Juicy.
Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com talks to former Union forward Sebastien Le Toux who was shipped off to Vancouver unceremoniously, and now returns to PPL Park with his new team.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Obviously its the shoes! Nike Mercurial Vapor VIII - Cristiano Ronaldo v Rafa Nadal!
PICTURE OF THE DAY
I still think this Serbia shirt looks amazing. Via Todo Sobre.
MLS MATCHES & SCORES
WEEK 4
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 30
DC United v FC Dallas - 6:30PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: RFK Stadium
-Sat Mar 31
Toronto FC v Columbus Crew - 1:00PM CT on TSN/RDS
Venue: BMO Field
New York Red Bulls v Montreal Impact - 3:00PM CT on TSN/RDS
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Philadelphia Union v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 3:00PM CT
Venue: PPL Park
Portland Timbers v Real Salt Lake - 9:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
Seattle Sounders FC v San Jose Earthquakes - 9:00PM CT
Venue: CenturyLink Field
LA Galaxy v New England Revolution - 10:00PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: The Home Depot Center
-Sun Apr 1
Colorado Rapids v Chicago Fire SC - 6:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
CD Chivas USA v Sporting Kansas City - 8:00PM CT
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Bye: Houston Dynamo
MLS STANDINGS
EAST
9 Sporting Kansas City (+5)
6 Houston Dynamo (0)
4 Chicago Fire SC (+1)
3 Columbus Crew (0)
3 New York Red Bulls (0)
3 New England (-3)
1 DC United (-3)
1 Montreal Impact (-4)
0 Philadelphia Union (-4)
0 Toronto (-5)
WEST
7 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (+3)
6 Seattle Sounders FC (+4)
6 Real Salt Lake (+3)
6 San Jose Earthquakes (+3)
6 Colorado Rapids (0)
4 Portland Timbers (+1)
4 FC Dallas (0)
3 LA Galaxy (0)
3 CD Chivas USA (-1)
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune looks back at 5 years of the Designated Player!
-There are 22 DPs this season.
dN
More league punishment handed out today: MLS suspends Houston midfielder Adam Moffat 1 game for a reckless challenge, and fines Seattle midfielder Alvaro Fernandez for "embellishment of contact." Ouch.
dN
Its been a while since I have read a Chris DeVille article so it was fun to come across this interview today. Thanks to JK for sending me the link:
Chris DeVille of Columbus Alive does a long Q & with former Oasis songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher, and there is a fare amount of soccer talk including a bunch about MLS. Nicely done! Good reading.
dN
COLORADO RAPIDS
Captain Pablo Mastroeni is still out with concussion symptoms.
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Hatchet man Adam Moffat was given a 1 game suspension for a high cleated tackle last weekend.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC
Charles Gooch of the Star honors midfielder Graham Zusi as the team's best player in the first few weeks of the season.
LA GALAXY
Landon Donovan has been slowed by a nagging quad injury. Will he play this weekend?
PHILADELPHIA UNION
Marc Narducci of the Inquirer on the uncomfortable return of Sebastien Le Toux to PPL Park and head coach Peter Nowak's kingdom.
dN
Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News writes that Union forwards Danny Mwanga and Lionard Pajoy speak one language - try to put that ball in the net.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Midfielder Kalif Alhassan will miss the game this week due to a groin injury.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Alvaro Fernandez was given a fine but luckily for him no suspension for taking an obvious dive in their game last weekend! I love it when divers are reprimanded.
-But I sure would like to see the league get a lot more consistent on this stuff.
dN
Joshua Mayers of the Times has words from head coach Sigi Schmid on "embellishment."
dN
Mayers reports that the Sounders will also have to deal with injury absences this weekend.
dN
And finally Mayers writes about the lightning bolt start to the season for forward David Estrada.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
Eric Hassli is out this weekend due to a bum ankle.
MLS RESERVE LEAGUE
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 31
Toronto FC v Columbus Crew
-Sun Apr 1
New York Red Bulls v Montreal Impact
-Mon Apr 2
Colorado Rapids v Chicago Fire SC
LA Galaxy v CD Chivas USA
dN
Standings
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Michael Lewis of Tropigol with a great article about the good old days - Bruce Arena, Shep Messing and others at Nassau Communithy College.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA
The prestigious Dallas Cup begins this weekend with many of the best U19 club teams from around the world, like: Manchester United, UANL Tigres, Paris St Germain, Eintrachet Frankfurt, Everton, and the locals FC Dallas and Dallas Texan.
USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated weighs more of the fallout from the failure to advance in Olympic qualifying.
-Plus other soccer topics of the week.
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Michael Adubato of Yanks Abroad previews Sacha Kljestan & Anderlecht and Mix Diskerud & Gent as the Belgian Pro League playoffs begin.
UEFA
Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger has been given a 3 game suspension from his teams next European games.
-He was charged with improper conduct toward on official after the teams 3-0 win v Milan on Mar 6.
COPA LIBERTADORES
Two more big team Boca Juniors and Fluminense got wins last night.
And Flu becomes the first team to advance to the knockout rounds.
dN
ADVANCED: Fluminense(Brazil)
ELIMINATED: Juan Aurich(Peru)
dN
Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 27
Nacional 1-0 Alianza Lima - Nac goal by Tabare Viudez.
Tachira 0-0 Nacional Asuncion
Universidad Chile 2-1 Penarol - UC goals both by Matias Rodriguez. Pen goal by Carlos Valdez.
-Wed Mar 28
Defensor Sporting 1-0 Guadalajara - DS goal by Nicolas Olivera.
Universidad Catholica 2-1 Union Espanola - UC goals by Roberto Ovelar & David Gazale. UE goal by Gonzalo Villagra.
Olimpia 3-2 Flamengo - Oli goals by Sergio Ortema, Pablo Zeballos & Eduardo Aranda. Fla goals by Vagner Love & Dario Botinelli.
-Thu Mar 29
Boca Juniors 2-0 Arsenal - BJ goals by Pablo Ledesma & Juan Sanchez Mino.
Zamora 0-1 Fluminense - Flu goal by Rafael Sobis.
dN
Standings
Group 1
9 Santos (+5)
7 Internacional (+5)
7 The Strongest (-3)
OUT-0 Juan Aurich (-7)
Group 2
7 Lanus (+2)
7 Olimpia (+1)
5 Flamengo (0)
3 Emelec (-3)
Group 3
7 Union Espanola (+4)
7 Bolivar (0)
6 Universidad Catholica (+1)
1 Junior (-3)
Group 4
ADV-12 Fluminense (+4)
7 Boca Juniors (+2)
3 Arsenal (-1)
1 Zamora (-5)
Group 5
7 Libertad (+2)
7 Vasco Da Gama (+2)
6 Nacional (0)
3 Alianza Lima (-4)
Group 6
8 Corintians (+3)
7 Cruz Azul (+4)
4 Nacional Asuncion (-2)
2 Tachira (-5)
Group 7
9 Velez Sarsfield (+4)
6 Defensor Sporting (-2)
4 Deportivo Quito (+1)
4 Guadalajara (-3)
Group 8
8 Atletico Nacional (+6)
7 Universidad Chile (+3)
5 Godoy Cruz (-3)
1 Penarol (-6)
EGYPT
Bob Bradley's Egypt got a 2-1 win over Uganda in a friendly played in Khartoum.
-Kareim Faouk of Ahram with a report.
dN
The Pharaohs will also face Chad on Saturday in another exhibition.
dN
Hatem Maher of Ahram reports that some press and government officials are upset with Bradley over statements he made concerning the violence and deaths in Port Said.
So brutal: Aston Villa announced today that their Bulgarian captain Stilian Petrov has been diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia.
dN
After a final appeal Luke Rodgers was DENIED a work visa and the New York Red Bulls released him from his contract today.
-He really was their secret weapon last year.
NOTICE
Sign up today for MLS Fantasy Soccer Manager, and then become a member of the du Nord Futbol league using this code: 3815-897
126 teams in our league so far. Lets go for 150! Come On!
Palace Eagles - managed by Phillip Lovas is in 1st Place!
TASTIEST MLS GAME OF THE WEEKEND
-Sat Mar 31
Portland Timbers v Real Salt Lake - 9:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
STORY OF THE DAY
I gotta back Diego on this one!
The BBC reports that Diego Maradona went into the stands after opposing fans of the team he manages Al Wasl after those fans made threats toward wives and girlfriends of his players. Applause for Diego!
2012 CONCACAF OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT
4 teams left.
All games can also be seen online at CONCACAF.com
dN
SEMIFINALS
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 31
El Salvador v Honduras - 5pm
Mexico v Canada - 8pm
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS
dN
FINAL
Matches & Scores:
-Mon Apr 2
Semifinal winners - 7pm
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Tue Apr 3
Barcelona v AC Milan (0-0)
Bayern Munich v Marseille (2-0)
-Wed Apr 4
Chelsea v Benfica (1-0)
Real Madrid v APOEL (3-0)
2011-12 CONCACACHAMPIONS
Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Apr 4
Santos Laguna v Toronto (1-1) - 7pm CT on Fox Soccer - live
UNAM Pumas v Monterrey (0-3) - 9pm CT on Fox Soccer - live
FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS
A series of happy Tweets from Herr Blatter today on reforming FIFA:
@SeppBlatter
-Historic day for FIFA’s reform process; two-chamber Ethics Committee approved.
-One chamber investigates and the other chamber acts as a judge
-I proposed this in June 2011. It is also the main point made by Pieth’s Independent Committee
-New Audit & Compliance Committee also well received – another milestone.
-Delighted that the Executive Committee has agreed to back me on this crucial reform
-Particularly happy that the ExCo backed my proposal to have a female member
-Football is for men and women. Vital to have a female voice on the Committee
Those messages were all posted before the report came out so you knew nothing negative toward Blatter was on the way.
The Independent Governance Committee that was set up to suggest reforms for FIFA has filed their initial report. Read it and weep.
-One person on Twitter has already called it the shuffling of the deck chairs.
The document basically says FIFA is hiding things, and that an investigative committee should be formed, but does not call for any specific investigations, and says nothing about looking in to the bids for the 2018 and 22 World Cups. Very sad.
dN
Bobby McMahon at Forbes looks at the mess FIFA is trying to clean up in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, and what that could mean for the 2016 Olympics in the same country.
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 31
Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao - with Barca trying to stay close to Real Madrid and Bilbao in red hot form this should be a great game.
Valencia v Levante - in a battle for 3rd place.
Benfica v Sporting Braga - #3 hosts #1 with just 2 points between them.
-Sun Apr 1
Juventus v Napoli - #2 v #4 and Juve needs it badly to keep pace at the top.
HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING
Juicy.
Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com talks to former Union forward Sebastien Le Toux who was shipped off to Vancouver unceremoniously, and now returns to PPL Park with his new team.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Obviously its the shoes! Nike Mercurial Vapor VIII - Cristiano Ronaldo v Rafa Nadal!
PICTURE OF THE DAY
I still think this Serbia shirt looks amazing. Via Todo Sobre.
MLS MATCHES & SCORES
WEEK 4
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 30
DC United v FC Dallas - 6:30PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: RFK Stadium
-Sat Mar 31
Toronto FC v Columbus Crew - 1:00PM CT on TSN/RDS
Venue: BMO Field
New York Red Bulls v Montreal Impact - 3:00PM CT on TSN/RDS
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Philadelphia Union v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 3:00PM CT
Venue: PPL Park
Portland Timbers v Real Salt Lake - 9:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
Seattle Sounders FC v San Jose Earthquakes - 9:00PM CT
Venue: CenturyLink Field
LA Galaxy v New England Revolution - 10:00PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: The Home Depot Center
-Sun Apr 1
Colorado Rapids v Chicago Fire SC - 6:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
CD Chivas USA v Sporting Kansas City - 8:00PM CT
Venue: The Home Depot Center
Bye: Houston Dynamo
MLS STANDINGS
EAST
9 Sporting Kansas City (+5)
6 Houston Dynamo (0)
4 Chicago Fire SC (+1)
3 Columbus Crew (0)
3 New York Red Bulls (0)
3 New England (-3)
1 DC United (-3)
1 Montreal Impact (-4)
0 Philadelphia Union (-4)
0 Toronto (-5)
WEST
7 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (+3)
6 Seattle Sounders FC (+4)
6 Real Salt Lake (+3)
6 San Jose Earthquakes (+3)
6 Colorado Rapids (0)
4 Portland Timbers (+1)
4 FC Dallas (0)
3 LA Galaxy (0)
3 CD Chivas USA (-1)
MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS
General News
Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune looks back at 5 years of the Designated Player!
-There are 22 DPs this season.
dN
More league punishment handed out today: MLS suspends Houston midfielder Adam Moffat 1 game for a reckless challenge, and fines Seattle midfielder Alvaro Fernandez for "embellishment of contact." Ouch.
dN
Its been a while since I have read a Chris DeVille article so it was fun to come across this interview today. Thanks to JK for sending me the link:
Chris DeVille of Columbus Alive does a long Q & with former Oasis songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher, and there is a fare amount of soccer talk including a bunch about MLS. Nicely done! Good reading.
dN
COLORADO RAPIDS
Captain Pablo Mastroeni is still out with concussion symptoms.
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Hatchet man Adam Moffat was given a 1 game suspension for a high cleated tackle last weekend.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC
Charles Gooch of the Star honors midfielder Graham Zusi as the team's best player in the first few weeks of the season.
LA GALAXY
Landon Donovan has been slowed by a nagging quad injury. Will he play this weekend?
PHILADELPHIA UNION
Marc Narducci of the Inquirer on the uncomfortable return of Sebastien Le Toux to PPL Park and head coach Peter Nowak's kingdom.
dN
Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News writes that Union forwards Danny Mwanga and Lionard Pajoy speak one language - try to put that ball in the net.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Midfielder Kalif Alhassan will miss the game this week due to a groin injury.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Alvaro Fernandez was given a fine but luckily for him no suspension for taking an obvious dive in their game last weekend! I love it when divers are reprimanded.
-But I sure would like to see the league get a lot more consistent on this stuff.
dN
Joshua Mayers of the Times has words from head coach Sigi Schmid on "embellishment."
dN
Mayers reports that the Sounders will also have to deal with injury absences this weekend.
dN
And finally Mayers writes about the lightning bolt start to the season for forward David Estrada.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
Eric Hassli is out this weekend due to a bum ankle.
MLS RESERVE LEAGUE
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 31
Toronto FC v Columbus Crew
-Sun Apr 1
New York Red Bulls v Montreal Impact
-Mon Apr 2
Colorado Rapids v Chicago Fire SC
LA Galaxy v CD Chivas USA
dN
Standings
SOCCER IN AMERICA
Michael Lewis of Tropigol with a great article about the good old days - Bruce Arena, Shep Messing and others at Nassau Communithy College.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA
The prestigious Dallas Cup begins this weekend with many of the best U19 club teams from around the world, like: Manchester United, UANL Tigres, Paris St Germain, Eintrachet Frankfurt, Everton, and the locals FC Dallas and Dallas Texan.
USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated weighs more of the fallout from the failure to advance in Olympic qualifying.
-Plus other soccer topics of the week.
AMERICANS IN EUROPE
Michael Adubato of Yanks Abroad previews Sacha Kljestan & Anderlecht and Mix Diskerud & Gent as the Belgian Pro League playoffs begin.
UEFA
Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger has been given a 3 game suspension from his teams next European games.
-He was charged with improper conduct toward on official after the teams 3-0 win v Milan on Mar 6.
COPA LIBERTADORES
Two more big team Boca Juniors and Fluminense got wins last night.
And Flu becomes the first team to advance to the knockout rounds.
dN
ADVANCED: Fluminense(Brazil)
ELIMINATED: Juan Aurich(Peru)
dN
Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 27
Nacional 1-0 Alianza Lima - Nac goal by Tabare Viudez.
Tachira 0-0 Nacional Asuncion
Universidad Chile 2-1 Penarol - UC goals both by Matias Rodriguez. Pen goal by Carlos Valdez.
-Wed Mar 28
Defensor Sporting 1-0 Guadalajara - DS goal by Nicolas Olivera.
Universidad Catholica 2-1 Union Espanola - UC goals by Roberto Ovelar & David Gazale. UE goal by Gonzalo Villagra.
Olimpia 3-2 Flamengo - Oli goals by Sergio Ortema, Pablo Zeballos & Eduardo Aranda. Fla goals by Vagner Love & Dario Botinelli.
-Thu Mar 29
Boca Juniors 2-0 Arsenal - BJ goals by Pablo Ledesma & Juan Sanchez Mino.
Zamora 0-1 Fluminense - Flu goal by Rafael Sobis.
dN
Standings
Group 1
9 Santos (+5)
7 Internacional (+5)
7 The Strongest (-3)
OUT-0 Juan Aurich (-7)
Group 2
7 Lanus (+2)
7 Olimpia (+1)
5 Flamengo (0)
3 Emelec (-3)
Group 3
7 Union Espanola (+4)
7 Bolivar (0)
6 Universidad Catholica (+1)
1 Junior (-3)
Group 4
ADV-12 Fluminense (+4)
7 Boca Juniors (+2)
3 Arsenal (-1)
1 Zamora (-5)
Group 5
7 Libertad (+2)
7 Vasco Da Gama (+2)
6 Nacional (0)
3 Alianza Lima (-4)
Group 6
8 Corintians (+3)
7 Cruz Azul (+4)
4 Nacional Asuncion (-2)
2 Tachira (-5)
Group 7
9 Velez Sarsfield (+4)
6 Defensor Sporting (-2)
4 Deportivo Quito (+1)
4 Guadalajara (-3)
Group 8
8 Atletico Nacional (+6)
7 Universidad Chile (+3)
5 Godoy Cruz (-3)
1 Penarol (-6)
EGYPT
Bob Bradley's Egypt got a 2-1 win over Uganda in a friendly played in Khartoum.
-Kareim Faouk of Ahram with a report.
dN
The Pharaohs will also face Chad on Saturday in another exhibition.
dN
Hatem Maher of Ahram reports that some press and government officials are upset with Bradley over statements he made concerning the violence and deaths in Port Said.
posted by brucio at 17:44
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