Some Soccer News for Wed Mar 28, 2012

STARTERS

Toronto FC has the biggest game in their history tonight! We wish them all the best of luck against a very tough and red hot opponent.

dN

Onward and Upward amigo! One of our most beloved FIF is moving on - Shawn Francis aka the MLS Insider is leaving his job working for the league.
-Shawn is also known for The Offside Rules and the instigator of The Designated Players.

dN

MLS has given Houston's Colin Clark a very serious reprimand after he used an anti-gay slur at a member of the ball crew during their game last week in Seattle. The league handed down a 3 game suspension and an undisclosed fine, plus a demand that the player attend sensitivity and diversity training. Wow!
-Don Garber: "Major League Soccer will not tolerate this type of behavior from its players or staff at any time, under any circumstances."
-A statement from both Clark and the Dynamo.

Now lets see MLS do something about their partnership with the Boy Scouts who have anti-gay policies.

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

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Mar 27, 2012 - new music mix at Spotify.

2012 CONCACAF OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT

4 teams left.

All games can also be seen online at CONCACAF.com

STANDINGS

Group A
ADV-5 El Salvador (+4)
ADV-5 Canada (+2)
OUT-4 USA (+4)
OUT-1 Cuba (-10)
Group B
ADV-9 Mexico (+10)
ADV-6 Honduras (+1)
OUT-1 Panama (-3)
OUT-1 Trinidad & Tobago (-8)

GROUP STAGE

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Mar 22
El Salvador 0-0 Canada
USA 6-0 Cuba
Venue: LP Field - Nashville TN
-Fri Mar 23
Honduras 3-1 Panama
Trinidad & Tobago 1-7 Mexico
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sat Mar 24
Cuba 0-4 El Salvador
USA 0-2 Canada
Venue: LP Field - Nashville TN
-Sun Mar 25
Panama 1-1 Trinidad & Tobago
Mexico 3-0 Honduras
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Mon Mar 26
Canada 1-1 Cuba
USA 3-3 El Salvador
Venue: LP Field - Nashville TN
-Tue Mar 27
Honduras 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Mexico 1-0 Panama
Venue: The Home Depot Center - Carson CA

SEMIFINALS

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 31
El Salvador v Honduras - 5pm
Mexico v Canada - 8pm
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS

FINAL

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Apr 2
Semifinal winners - 7pm
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Quarterfinals

dN

Rob Hughes of the New York Times with a review of yesterday's wins by Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Bayern scored a convincing win on the road, while Barca & Milan played to a scoreless game at the San Siro.

dN

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Mar 27
Benfica 0-1 Chelsea - Che goals by Salomon Kalou.
APOEL 0-3 Real Madrid - RM goals by Karim Benzema(2) & Kaka.
-Wed Mar 28
AC Milan 0-0 Barcelona - 1:30pm on Fox Soccer - live
Marseille 0-2 Bayern Munich - BM goals by Mario Gomez & Arjen Robben.

dN

2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 3
Barcelona v AC Milan
Bayern Munich v Marseille
-Wed Apr 4
Chelsea v Benfica (1-0)
Real Madrid v APOEL (3-0)

2011-12 CONCACACHAMPIONS

Semifinals

dN

The Canadian Press previews TFC tonight. Via CBC.

John Molinaro of Sports Nets on this huge game for Toronto.

Daniel Girard of the Toronto Star on what Santos Laguna will put up against TFC tonight.

Kurtis Larson of the Toronto Sun on a very tough Santos Laguna team.

dN

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Mar 28
Toronto v Santos Laguna - 7pm CT on Fox Soccer - live
Monterrey v UNAM Pumas - 9pm CT on Fox Soccer - live

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

ESPN reports that several football leagues, including MLS, have officially launched the World League Association. Their aim is to be "the leading voice of the leagues at world level."
-Don Garber has been named to the Board of Directors.

WELL WELL WELL

The story from a Philadelphia Union press conference today appears to be that head coach Peter Nowak did not like the Inquirer's Marc Narducci continuing to ask questions about the team trading away Sebastien Le Toux before the season started, which cause Nowak to get quite upset with reporter and the two of them raising their voices at each other. Supposedly Nowak walked out of the press conf then came back to yell at Narducci some more.

Is the pressure of an 0 for 3 start to the season getting to Nowak?

The Philly press collectively feels that Nowak has not properly explained why he traded away a productive and popular player.

STAT OF THE DAY

Three are 31 Colombians in MLS this season!

FACT OF THE DAY

With Seattle opening up their stadium to the full 65,000 for games against Vancouver and Portland this season then will increase the number of seats for opposing fans from the agreed upon 500 to 1500. Nice.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

A trailer for a documentary film following Kansas City forward Kei Kamara as he returns home to Sierra Leone to play for his national team.

PODCASTS

The Best Soccer Show has a great interview with the always quoteable Herculez Gomez. Download or listen here.
-I wish more players were asn open and confident as Herculez, it would make so many more interviews listenable.

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

Colorado has signed 26 year old American forward Kamani Hill, who has not been with a club since the spring of 2010 when he was on loan at Desportivo Aves in Portugal's Liga da Horna.

CHICAGO FIRE

Jack McCarthy of the Tribune talks to goal keeper Sean Johnson about his big Olympic disappointment and returning to the Fire a week earlier then planned.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Charles Gooch of the Star with XI thoughts from last weekends win.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Kristian Dyer of Big Apple Soccer writes that the Bulls have just about run out of patience waiting for Luke Rodgers to get a work visa and will shortly begin hunting for other strikers.
-They better hurry up cuz with Juan Agudelo hurt too they dont have any experienced backups on the roster.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News says head coach Peter Nowak does not care about former player Sebastien Le Toux returning to PPL Park this weekend, he only cares about preparing his team to win.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times talks to Jeff Parke about losing his starting job, writing that Parke knows he has to shut up and work hard to get it back.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Tyler Green of 24 Hours Vancouver writes that Eric Hassli is going to have to contribute to the attack if the Whitecaps are going to build on a very good start to the season.

NASL NEWS

IM Soccer News interviews Atlanta head coach Alex Pineda on this weeks podcast. Download or listen here.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Coming Up:

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Quarterfinals - 1st Leg Thu Mar 29
Jozy Altidore - AZ - Thu Mar 29 v Valencia
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Thu Mar 29 at Atletico Madrid
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - Thu Mar 29 v Athletic Bilbao
Oguchi Onyewu - OUT INJURED - Sporting - Thu Mar 29 v Metalist

AMERICANS IN SOUTH AMERICA

Game Action:

COPA LIBERTADORES - Group Stage
Diego Restrepo - Tachira - Tue Mar 27 - on the bench for a scoreless game v Nacional Ascuncion.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Quarterfinals

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
AZ v Valencia
Schalke v Athletic Bilbao
Sporting CP v Metalist
Atletico Madrid v Hannover

2nd Leg matches will be played on Thu Apr 5

COPA LIBERTADORES

Nacional of Uruguay and Univ Chile both got important wins that keep them battling for the top spot in their group.

dN

ADVANCED: - (none)

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 v Guadalajara
Universidad Catholica v Union Espanola
Olimpia v Flamengo
-Thu Mar 29
Boca Juniors v Arsenal
Zamora v Fluminense

dN

Standings

Group 1
9 Santos (+5)
7 Internacional (+5)
7 The Strongest (-3)
OUT-0 Juan Aurich (-7)
Group 2
7 Lanus (+2)
5 Flamengo (+1)
4 Olimpia (0)
3 Emelec (-3)
Group 3
7 Union Espanola (+5)
7 Bolivar (0)
3 Universidad Catholica (0)
1 Junior (-3)
Group 4
9 Fluminense (+3)
4 Boca Juniors (0)
3 Arsenal (+1)
1 Zamora (-4)
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)
4 Deportivo Quito (+1)
4 Guadalajara (-2)
3 Defensor Sporting (-3)
Group 8
8 Atletico Nacional (+6)
7 Universidad Chile (+3)
5 Godoy Cruz (-3)
1 Penarol (-6)

EGYPT

Ahmed Abd El Rasoul of Ahram reports that Al Masry has been punished for their role in the disaster at Port Said stadium in which 74 supporters of the club Al Ahly were killed.
-Ahly has seen some punishment for their team's involvement in the melee too.

The BBC reports that Al Ahly have said that they will not play domestic football after Al Mahry was given only a two year suspension from the Egyptian league.
-Ahly also plans a civil lawsuit against Mahry.

Rasoul of Afram also reports on the Egyptian FA's response to Al Ahly.

Now that the investigation in Egypt is complete FIFA will begin their own.

In case you missed this:
Kareen Fahim of the New York Times reports on 75 people being charged in connection to the deaths.