Some Soccer News for Thu Apr 5, 2012

STARTERS

Herculez Gomez continues his amazing run of goal scoring! Two more last night for Santos Laguna. I get confused on exactly how many he has scored lately but my unofficial tally is 10 goals in 8 games.

dN

Bolton manager Owen Coyle stated emphatically on the team website that Stuart Holden is NOT in his plans for this season. He wants Holden 100% for August and the new season.
-Does anyone think we will see Holden called in to the USA in late May?

dN

Three Americans were knocked out of the UEFA Europa League today with Jozy Altidore & AZ, Jermaine Jones & Schalke and Steve Cherundolo & Hannover all eliminated. The only one left is Oguchi Onyewu & Sporting CP, but he is out long term with the knee injury. Damn.

MINNESOTA STARS FC

I can't wait for the uniform and documentary unveiling tonight!!!

dN

Local sports blogger Jon Marthaler hit for a triple in Stars related interviews this week:
-CEO Djorn Buchholz
-Player/Asst Coach/Biz Devel Dir Kevin Friedland
-Supporters Jim Crist & Ben Pfutzenreuter

dN

Season Opener
-Sat Apr 7
Minnesota Stars FC v Carolina RailHawks - 7:30pm kick off
Venue: Minneapolis Metrodome

TASTIEST MLS GAME OF THE WEEKEND

The first Eastern Canada derby in MLS history, and it should be a doozy!

-Sat Apr 7
Montreal Impact v Toronto FC - 11:00AM CT on TSN & RDS (in Canada)
Venue: Olympic Stadium

And there are 2 or 3 more great looking games this weekend as well. Definitely the best round of the season so far. See below for details.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Apr 3, 2012 - new music mix at Spotify.

STORY OF THE DAY

Fund-raising begins this week for XI ("eleven"), a new quarterly publication about North American perspectives on soccer. In eleven eclectic and thoughtful ways in each issue – through long-form journalism, essays, interviews, fiction, poetry, translations and photography – XI will help tell the unique story of soccer in North America.
-The magazine is edited by David Keyes (Culture of Soccer), Tom Dunmore (Pitch Invasion) and John Turnbull (The Global Game).

NASL NEWS

Opening weekend schedule!

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Apr 7
Atlanta Silverbacks v San Antonio Scorpions
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v FC Edmonton
Puerto Rico Islanders v Tampa Bay Rowdies
Minnesota Stars FC v Carolina RailHawks

Watch online.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

You can read a transcript of or listen to all of Jurgen Klinsmann's press conference from yesterday.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Quarterfinals

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the genius of Messi and other players on the field for Barca and Milan.

Hughes also sees Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho already ramping up the mind games.

Semifinals

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the matchups:
-Real Mardrid & Bayern Munich
-Barcelona & Chelsea

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 17
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
-Wed Apr 18
Chelsea v Barcelona
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 24
Barcelona v Chelsea
-Wed Apr 25
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich

2011-12 CONCACACHAMPIONS

Semifinals

I was surprised to see that anyone thought Toronto getting beat last night was a complete failure. But some TFC fans and Toronto media see it that way. I see TFC getting this far as pure glorious gravy. Their defense is so bad that you might even call it a miracle they ever advanced. So rejoice in it and move on. Besides, it was one hell of a run and they had some great results against teams people thought they had no chance against. Be proud.

Tom Marshall of MLSsoccer.com was at the Santos-Toronto game, so lets read what he thinks.

Marshall also talks to Herculez Gomez about his run the teams great success.

John Molinaro of Sports Net on the TFC defense.

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg scores included)
-Wed Apr 4
Santos Laguna 6-2 Toronto - SL advances 7-3 on aggregate - SL goals by Herculez Gomez(2), Juan Rodriguez(2, both via PK), Oribe Peralta & Daniel Luduena. Tor goals both by Joao Plata.
UNAM Pumas 1-1 Monterrey - Mon advances 4-1 on aggregate - UP goal by Jose Garcia. Mon goal by Angel Reyna.

FINAL

Yet another year with an all-Mexican final!

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 18
Monterrey v Santos Laguna
-Wed Apr 25
Santos Laguna v Monterrey

DO YOU REALIZE

Jonah Freedman of MLSsoccer.com looks at Mexico's dominance of CONCACAF, and I mean complete and utter DOMINANCE!

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Christopher McCollum of Yanks Abroad has Part 2 of an interview with Herculez Gomez who is having the best season of his career right now.

PODCAST OF THE DAY

LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena talks bluntly about his teams rotten start to the season. Download or listen here.

MLS MATCHES & SCORES

WEEK 5

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 4
Real Salt Lake 1-0 Montreal Impact - RSL goal by Paulo Jr.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
Atten: 21,191
-Thu Apr 5
FC Dallas v New England Revolution - 7:30PM CT
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
-Sat Apr 7
Montreal Impact v Toronto FC - 11:00AM CT on TSN & RDS
Venue: Olympic Stadium
Columbus Crew v New York Red Bulls - 2:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: Crew Stadium
Sporting Kansas City v LA Galaxy - 3:00PM CT on ESPN & ESPN Deportes
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
San Jose v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 6:00PM CT
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
DC United v Seattle Sounders FC - 6:30PM CT
Venue: RFK Stadium
Real Salt Lake v Colorado Rapids - 8:00PM CT
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
Portland Timber v CD Chivas USA - 9:30PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field

Bye: Houston Dynamo, Chicago Fire & Philadelphia Union

MLS MATCH NOTES

Salt Lake was basically hanging on by their finger tips off the side of a cliff last night but clung to that last vine long enough to win. They essentially had 9 players on the field as Javi Morales jacked up a hamstring and Ned Grabavoy had broken ribs.

Montreal is lacking some serious quality up top or they could have inflicted a nice road win on RSL.

MLS STANDINGS

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

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

To no ones surprise at all Thierry Henry has been named the March Player of the Month.

CHICAGO FIRE

The Fire signed forward Patrick Nyarko to a contract extension. Good move.

FC DALLAS

Todd Date of 3rd Degree looks at what went wrong with the signing of Luis Perea.

DC UNITED

Paul Tenorio of the Post talks to centerback Brandon McDonald about his retro-active 1 game suspension for a bad tackle.

LA GALAXY

Brian Straus of Sporting News tries to figure out what is going on with the Galaxy.

MONTREAL IMPACT

Jon Spratt of Sports Net says Montreal needs to look closely at the defensive failings of Toronto FC to know how not to build their team.

Leander Schaerlaeckens of ESPN writes about the "coaching offspring" of Bob Bradley - Jesse Marsch.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News writes about head coach Peter Nowak's struggles to explain his methods to the public.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Don Ruiz of the Olympian writes about the Sounders hitting the road in league playe for the first time this season.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province sees the Caps defense leading the team early in a season where the offense was supposed to carry them.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

Avi Creditor of Soccer By Ives writes about talk of former Chicago standout Bakary Soumare looking to return to MLS. That would be good.

SOCCER IN AMERICA

Michael Lewis of Tropigol with a tribute to Giorgio Chinaglia who passed away last weekend.

USA U17 TEAM

In France for the Mondial de Montaigu tournament.

USA lost on Matchday 2 to Portugal.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 3
USA 4-0 UAE - USA goals by Ahinga Selemani, Tyler Turner, Wesley Wade & Bradford Jamieson.
-Thu Apr 5
USA 0-1 Portugal
-Knock out rounds on Apr 7 & 9

Standings:
Group A
3 France (+2)
-Cameroon (-)
0 Mexico (-2)
Group B
3 USA (+3)
3 Portugal (+1)
0 UAE (-4)
Group C
1 England (0)
1 Japan (0)
- Morocco (-)
Group D
3 Russia (+2)
- Ivory Coast (-)
0 China (-2)

All matches & standings.

Roster
G:
Paul Christensen - Seattle Sounders Academy
Evan Louro - New York Red Bulls Academy
D:
Adonis Amaya - Chivas USA Academy
Elijah Martin - Cal Odyssey
Shaquell Moore - Cobb FC
Kevin Politz - New York Red Bulls Academy
Tommy Redding - FC America Premier
John Requejo Jr - Real So Cal
Tyler Turner - South Central Premier
M:
Corey Baird - San Diego Surf
Junior Flores - McLean Youth Soccer
Angel Heredia - San Jose Earthquakes Academy
Cameron Lindley - Indiana United
Rubio Rubin - Westside Metros
F:
Bradford Jamieson - Chivas USA Academy
DeAndre Robinson - Concorde Fire
Ahinga Selemani - CSA Wolves
Wesley Wade - New York Red Bulls Academy

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated on Tim Ream's first 3 months at Bolton.

dN

Game Action:

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg Apr 5
Jozy Altidore - AZ - started and went 69 min but lost 4-0 at Valencia, getting eliminated 5-4 on aggregate.
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the entire match but lost 1-2 v Atletico Madrid and got eliminated 4-2 on aggregate.
Jermaine Jones - Schalke - went the full 90 as they drew 2-2 at Athletic Bilbao, and were eliminated 6-4 on aggregate.
Oguchi Onyewu - OUT INJURED - Sporting - they drew 1-1 at Metalist, and advanced 3-2 on aggregate.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

3 teams from Spain make the Semifinals.

Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 5
Valencia 4-0 AZ - Val advances 5-2 on aggregate.
Athletic Bilbao 2-2 Schalke - AB advances 6-4 on aggregate.
Metalist 1-1 Sporting CP - Spo advances 3-2 on aggregate.
Hannover 1-2 Atletico Madrid - AM advances 4-2 on aggregate.

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Thu Apr 19
Sporting CP v Athletic Bilbao
Atletico Madrid v Valencia
2nd Leg
-Thu Apr 26
Athletic Bilbao v Sporting CP
Valencia v Atletico Madrid

COPA LIBERTADORES

As a by-product of last nights results Lanus & Univ Chile advanced to the knock out stanges. While Penarol was elimidated.

dN

ADVANCED: Fluminense(Brazil), Lanus(Argentina), Universidad Chile(Chile)

ELIMINATED: Alianza Lima(Peru), Juan Aurich(Peru), Penarol(), Deportivo Tachira(Venezuela)

dN

Group Stage

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 3
Lanus 6-0 Olimpia - Lan goals by Mariano Pavone(2), Mauro Camoranesi, Mario Regueiro, Diego Valeri & Silvio Romero.
Deportivo Tachira 1-1 Cruz Azul - DT goal by Mauricio Parra. CA goal by Chaco Gimenez.
Alianza Lima 1-2 Vasco da Gama - AL goal by Miguel Curiel. VDG goals both by Felipe Bastos.
-Wed Apr 4
Godoy Cruz 0-1 Universidad Chile - UC goal by Angelo Henriquez.
Internacional 1-1 Santos - Int goal by Nei. San goal by Alan Kardec.
Emelec 3-2 Flamengo - Eme goals by Luciano Figueroa(2) & Fernando Gaibor(PK). Fla goals by Leo Moura & Deivid.
-Thu Apr 5
Libertad v Nacional
Junior v Universidad Ca
Juan Aurich v The Strongest

dN

Standings

Group 1
10 Santos (+5)
8 Internacional (+5)
7 The Strongest (-3)
OUT-0 Juan Aurich (-7)
Group 2
ADV-10 Lanus (+8)
7 Olimpia (-5)
6 Emelec (-2)
5 Flamengo (-1)
Group 3
7 Union Espanola (+3)
7 Bolivar (0)
6 Universidad Catholica (-2)
4 Junior (-1)
Group 4
ADV-12 Fluminense (+4)
7 Boca Juniors (+2)
3 Arsenal (-1)
1 Zamora (-5)
Group 5
10 Vasco Da Gama (+3)
7 Libertad (+2)
6 Nacional (0)
OUT-3 Alianza Lima (-5)
Group 6
8 Cruz Azul (+4)
8 Corintians (+3)
4 Nacional Asuncion (-2)
OUT-3 Tachira (-5)
Group 7
9 Velez Sarsfield (+4)
6 Defensor Sporting (-1)
4 Deportivo Quito (0)
4 Guadalajara (-3)
Group 8
ADV-10 Universidad Chile (+4)
8 Atletico Nacional (+6)
5 Godoy Cruz (-4)
OUT-1 Penarol (-6)