Some Soccer News for Thu Apr 26, 2012

STARTERS

Monterrey has repeated as CONCACAF Champions League winners! Huge congrats to them. And just like last year they got a road goal in the 2nd leg to pull it off!

dN

Carlos Rodriguez of FC Dallas suffered a hideous dislocated elbow in the game against Salt Lake last night. He had collision with Javier Morales with Rodriguez falling to the ground and landing on his arm causing the elbow to pop out of joint. It was horrible to see.

dN

Atletico Madrid will face Athletic Bilbao, both from Spain, in the UEFA Europa League Final on Wed May 9 at the National Stadium in Bucharest, Romania.

dN

I think I may have missed this: Wolverhampton of the English Premier League and Cesena of Serie A became the second & third teams in the big leagues of Europe to be relegated this season.

MINNESOTA STARS FC

Match & Score:
-Sat Apr 28
Atlanta Silverbacks v Minnesota Stars FC - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Silverbacks Stadium

And our local watch party for this game will be held in Blaine at Bricks Pub will be at our usual spot in St Paul - the Sweetwater.

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

There are 137 teams in our league!

LateNight504FC managed by Alan Kansas is still in 1st Place!

TASTIEST MLS GAME OF THE WEEKEND

DC United v Houston Dynamo on Sat Apr 28 - 6:30PM CT at RFK Stadium

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Apr 24, 2012 - new music mix at Spotify.

STORY OF THE DAY

Brian Quarstad of IMSoccer News with all the latest on a potential stadium deal for the Minnesota Vikings that could include an MLS component.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Honestly - Who had Chelsea and Bayern in the final? Even last week. Not many of you.

dN

Final

So it will be Bayern Munich hosting Chelsea for the European club championship on Sat May 19.

Another large element to the story will be the number of players who will be out of the Final due to yellow or red card suspension.
-Chelsea:
John Terry
Branislav Ivanovic
Ramires
Raul Meireles
-Bayern Munich:
David Alaba
Holger Badstuber
Luiz Gustavo

-Sat May 19
Fussball Club Bayern Munchen Eingetragener Verein v Chelsea Football Club
Venue: Allianz Arena - Munich, Germany

dN

Semifinals Recap

Sid Lowe of the Guardian sees the two shiniest stars of them all Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo BOTH MISS HIGE PENALTY KICKS in the semifinal.
-How is that even possible?!

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on Bayern's special win.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Tue Apr 24
FC Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea FC - Che advances 3-2 on aggregate- Bar goals by Sergio Busquets & Andreas Iniesta. Che goals by Ramieres & Fernando Torres.
-Wed Apr 25
Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (1-2) - Series ends tied 3-3, with both teams having 1 road goal to negate the tiebreaker, and BM wins it 3-1 in a Penalty Kick Shootout - RM goals both by Cristiano Ronaldo(1 via PK). BM goal by Arjen Robben(PK).

2011-12 CONCACACHAMPIONS

FINAL

Los Rayados de Monterrey are again CONCACAF Champions. Last year they claimed the title with a road goal at Real Salt Lake. This year they did it in the final minutes of the game to Santos Laguna.

Neri Cardozo was the hero for Monterrey

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (with 1st Leg score included)
-Wed Apr 25
Santos Laguna 2-1 Monterrey - Mon wins 3-2 on aggregate - SL goals by Daniel Ludena & Oribe Peralta. Mon goal by Neri Cardozo.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Race for the title in the five biggest European leagues:
La Liga - 4 games left
88 Real Madrid - NEXT: Sun Apr 29 v Sevilla
81 Barcelona - NEXT: Sun Apr 29 at Rayo Vallecano
Premier League - 3 games left
83 Manchester United - NEXT: Mon Apr 30 at Manchester City
80 Manchester City - NEXT: Mon Apr 30 v Manchester United
Bundesliga - 2 games left
CHAMPS! - Borussia Dortmund
Serie A - 4 games left
74 Juventus - LAST: Wed Apr 25 W 0-1 at Cesena - NEXT: Sun Apr 29 at Novara
71 Milan - LAST: Wed Apr 25 W 1-0 v Genoa - NEXT: Sun Apr 29 at Siena
Ligue 1 - 5 games left
69 Montpellier - NEXT: Fri Apr 27 at Toulouse
67 PSG - NEXT: Sun Apr 29 at Lille

BUMMER OF THE DAY

I see this week where Soccer By Ives has joined the ranks of the websites that has advertisements that come popping up with blaring video the moment you click on to the site. Its really obnoxious.

Y'ALL READY FOR THIS?

If I ran a team and someone said to me, Bruce you have to either have Sergio Ramos on your team or play every game with 10 men, I would take my chances with the 10.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Jonah Freedman of MLSSoccer.com looks at the affect Barcelona has on youth soccer in America.

FACT OF THE DAY

Real Salt Lake has still NEVER won a game in Texas.

VIDEO & PICTURE OF THE DAY

The Houston Dynamo introduced their new 3rd shirt for 2012. Its like a darker version of their 1st uniform but with pinstripes on the front. Maybe its burnt orange as compared to plain old orange. There are supposedly a bunch of hat tips to former Houston based teams in the new design.
-Here is a video intro.

MLS MATCHES & SCORES

Week 8

-Wed Apr 25
FC Dallas 1-1 Real Salt Lake - FCD goal by Brek Shea(PK). RSL goal by Emiliano Bonfigli.
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
Atten: 10,069
-Sat Apr 28
Montreal Impact v Portland Timbers - 1:00PM CT
Venue: Olympic Stadium
New York Red Bulls v New England Revolution - 2:30PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Philadelphia Union v San Jose Earthquakes - 6:00PM CT
Venue: PPL Park
DC United v Houston Dynamo - 6:30PM CT
Venue: RFK Stadium
Columbus Crew v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Crew Stadium
Chicago Fire SC v Seattle Sounders FC - 7:30PM CT
Venue: Toyota Park
Real Salt Lake v Toronto FC - 8:00PM CT
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
Colorado Rapids v CD Chivas USA - 8:00PM CT
Venue: Dick's sporting Goods Park
LA Galaxy v FC Dallas - 9:30PM CT
Venue: The Home Depot Center

Bye: Sporting Kansas City

MLS STANDINGS

EAST
21 Sporting Kansas City (+9)
12 DC United (+4)
10 New York Red Bulls (+3)
8 Chicago Fire SC (0)
8 Houston Dynamo (0)
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7 Philadelphia Union (-2)
7 Columbus Crew (-3)
6 New England Revolution (-3)
5 Montreal Impact (-8)
0 Toronto FC (-9)
WEST
16 San Jose Earthquakes (+8)
16 Real Salt Lake (+4)
11 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (0)
11 FC Dallas (-2)
10 Seattle Sounders FC (+4)
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9 LA Galaxy (0)
9 CD Chivas USA (-1)
9 Colorado Rapids (-2)
7 Portland Timbers (-2)

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Philadelphia head coach Peter Nowak was ejected from his teams game last Saturday against Chivas for coming on to the field during an altercation between players from both teams and then shoving a Chivas player, and today he was given an additional 1 game suspension and $5000 fine for his actions. He will miss 2 games total. That is pretty stiff.
-Chivas head coach Robin Fraser was fined for his role in the incident, and both teams, the Union and CUSA, were handed down fines for their overall team behavior too.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN with his topics of interest for the week - formations, Chris Pontius and Zac MacMath.

Player Transactions

Colorado has signed 33 year old Brazilian forward Luis Eduardo Schmidt aka Edu. He last played in 2011 for Vitoria in Brazil's Serie B. And spent the majority of his career in Spain at Celta de Vigo and Real Betis.

dN

Two other MLS teams announced the signing of players that will go in to effect when the next Transfer Window opens on June 27.
-Chicago has signed 23 year old Brazilian midfielder Alex from Wohlen in Switzerland.
-Columbus has acquired 28 year old Costa Rican forward Jairo Arrieta from Saprissa.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Colorado expects to have Conor Casey as an option off the bench this weekend when they host Chivas.

COLUMBUS CREW

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch tells us all about new Crew signing Jairo Arrieta who will join the team in late June.

FC DALLAS

Jackson made his return to the Dallas lineup as a sub following his return from a loan spell at Cruziero.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Brad Davis and Corey Ashe might just be ready to roll this weekend.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Fullback Seth Sinovic has had surgery to repair a broken right hand and will be out for a couple of weeks.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Juan Agudelo trained with the team for the first time today in 5 weeks and is nearing full recovery from a torn meniscus.

Steven Keel could be out for up to a month after it was discovered that he had a stress fracture to a vertebrae in his back.

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at who just might be in the Bulls back 4 this weekend.
-Odds are good that their most experienced player will be the walking hazard Markus Holgerson.

REAL SALT LAKE

Emiliano Bonfigli who scored in his debut for RSL last night is a 23 year old Argentine who came to the team via the Supplemental Draft. He came on as a sub in the 69th min and scored in the 72nd. Fantastic.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Joshua Mayers of the Times updates us on the Sounders injury list.

Mayers fills us in a little more on who Sammy Ochoa is and how he is fitting in the team after a tough start to the season.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province with an article on midfielder Lance Watson, another of the players who followed head coach Martin Rennie from Carolina in the second division.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 25
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 3-2 Puerto Rico Islanders
- FLS goals all by Aly Hassan. PRI goals by Jay Needham & David Foley.
-Sat Apr 28
Carolina RailHawks v San Antonio Scorpions
Atlanta Silverbacks v Minnesota Stars
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Standings
10 Puerto Rico (+6)
8 Fort Lauderdale (+2)
5 Minnesota (+1)
5 Tampa Bay (0)
3 Carolina (0)
3 Atlanta (-2)
2 San Antonio (-4)
1 Edmonton (-3)

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Greg Seltzer of MLSsoccer.com has an article on Sean Cunningham who is seeing lots of playing time this season on loan at Stabaek.

Both Americans who were in the semifinals of the Danish Cup were eliminated. See details below.

dN

Game Action:

DENMARK - DBU Pokalen - Semifinals - 2nd Leg
Conor O'Brien - SonderjyskE - Wed Apr 25 - went the full 90 winning 4-3 v Kobenhavn, but the series ended tied 4-4, and Kob advances on the away goals tie breaker.
Brad Rusin - HB Koge - Thu Apr 26 - played the whole game getting a yellow card as they lost 1-0 at Horsens, so the series ends 3-2 in favor of Horsens.

ENGLAND - Premier League
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Tue Apr 24 - on the bench as they lost 1-2 v Bolton.
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - Tue Apr 24 - played the whole game getting a yellow card as they lost 1-2 v Bolton.
Tim Ream - Bolton - Tue Apr 24 - went the full 90 getting a yellow card and winning 1-2 at Aston Villa.

FINLAND - Suomen Cup - Round of 16
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - Wed Apr 25 L 2-1 at KooTeePee.
Mike Banner - Jaro - Thu Apr 26 at HJK.
Etchu Tabe - KuPS - Wed Apr 25 D 0-0 v TPS - KuPS advances 8-7 in Penalty Kick Shootout.
Aaron Wheeler - KooTeePee - Wed Apr 25 W 2-1 v Inter Turku.

UEFA - Europa League3:51 PM 4/26/2012 - Semifinals - 2nd Leg
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP - Thu Apr 26 - on the bench as they ..... at Athletic Bilbao (1-2)

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talks to the very gifted Alejandro Guido who just signed with Tijuana.

dN

Game Action:

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Final - 2nd Leg
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - came on as a sub in the 57th min as they won 2-1 v Monterrey, but the series ended tied 2-2 with Mon winning on the away goals tie breaker.

ENGLAND

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian has a warning for Chelsea - in the form of the downfall of Leeds in 1975.

FRANCE

Coupe De France - Final

Paul Doyle of the Guardian previews the grand finale which features a team from the 3rd division against powerhouse Lyon!

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Apr 28
Lyon v Quevilly

ITALY

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian looks at a seemingly insignificant transfer in the Serie A that could have a big say in the final standings.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Semifinals

Two Spanish teams Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid will meet in the final.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Thu Apr 26
Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Sporting CP - AB advances 3-2 on aggregate - AB goals by Markel Susaeta, Ibai Gomez & Fernando Llorente. SCP goal by Ricky Van Wolfswinkel.
Valencia 0-1 Atletico Madrid - AM advances 5-2 on aggregate - AM goal by Adrian.

Final

-Wed May 9
Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid
Venue: National Arena - Bucharest, Romania

COPA LIBERTADORES

The Knockout Stage began with 2 matches on Wednesday, and then we jump ahead to next Tuesday for the next batch.

Both road teams got favorable results last night as Fluminense held Internacional in a scoreless game, while Santos got a road goal even though they lost 2-1 at Bolivar. On the other hand it was a good win by Bolivar.

dN

Round of 16

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Wed Apr 25
Internacional 0-0 Fluminense
Bolivar 2-1 Santos
- Bol goals by Rafael(OG) & Jhasmani Campos. San goal by Maranhao.
-Tue May 1
Cruz Azul v Libertad
Atletico Nacional v Velez Sarsfield
-Wed May 2
Boca Juniors v Union Espanola
Emelec v Corintians
Vasco Da Gama v Lanus
-Thu May 3
Deportivo Quito v Universidad Chile
2nd Leg
-Tue May 8
Libertad v Cruz Azul
Velez Sarsfield v Atletico Nacional
-Wed May 9
Union Espanola v Boca Juniors
Corintians v Emelec
Lanus v Vasco Da Gama
-Thu May 10
Fluminense v Internacional
Universidad Chile v Deportivo Quito
Santos v Bolivar

Bracket

Fluminense v Internacional
Union Espanola v Boca Juniors

Universidad Chilev v Deportivo Quito
Libertadv Cruz Azul
-----
Corintians v Emelec
Lanus v Vasco Da Gama

Santos v Bolivar
Velez Sarsfield v Atletico Nacional

ENDERS

Marco Materazzi poses in front of the sculpture by Adel Abdessemed of Zinedine Zidane head butting Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final. CORRECTED