Some Soccer News for Wed Apr 18, 2012

STARTERS

Amazing - this is a picture of Fabrice Muamba yesterday shaking hands with his doctors as he was released from the hospital:
















dN

Claudio Reyna, Tony Meola, Desmond Armstrong and Tony DiCicco will be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame at the USA game against Brazil on May 30 in Landover MD.

dN

Aya Batrawy of the Associated Press writes that all 73 people charged in the deaths at the stadium in Port Said Egypt have entered Not Guilty pleas.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Apr 17, 2012 - new music mix at Spotify.

STORY OF THE DAY

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated on the long steady career of the one and only Brad Friedel.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Semifinals

He flops, he dives, he whines, he stalls, and then he scores the games only goal - Didier Drogba used his full bag of tricks to upset Barcelona almost singlehandedly. At least on offense. On defense Chelsea packed it in, got a little luck, and used mass frustration to stop Barcelona in Leg 1! It was impressive.

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian breaks down how Bayern did in Real Madrid.

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune sees the road ahead now as much tougher for Real Madrid.

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Tue Apr 17
Bayern Munich 2-1 Real Madrid - BM goals by Franck Ribery & Mario Gomez. RM goal by Mesut Ozil.
-Wed Apr 18
Chelsea FC 1-0 FC Barcelona - Che goal by Didier Drogba.
2nd Leg
-Tue Apr 24
FC Barcelona v Chelsea FC - 1:30pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Wed Apr 25
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich - 1:30pm CT on FX

2011-12 CONCACACHAMPIONS

FINAL

The Associated Press with an article on Santos Laguna's home city of Torreon which is another of the cities that is constantly listed as ravaged by the countries drug war.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 18
Monterrey v Santos Laguna - 9pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Wed Apr 25
Santos Laguna v Monterrey - 7pm CT on Fox Soccer

Y'ALL READY FOR THIS?

An article on Montreal's struggles away from home begins like this:

"Unlike Willie Nelson, the Impact has found life on the road a struggle during its first season in Major League Soccer."

Well, Willie manages this difficult part of his life with weed. So maybe the Impact needs more weed. Don't they have any Jamaicans on the team who can help out? (Call the stereotype police.)

Randy Phillips of the Montreal Gazette with the story.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Adam Elder of the New York Times on the growing power of the Xolos of Tijuana.

FACT OF THE DAY

Reading gained promotion to the English Premier League yesterday.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Mia Hamm writing for Time magazine about Lionel Messi - one of their 100 most influential people in the world.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Readers of the Guardian doctor pictures of Carles Puyol!



















MLS MATCHES & SCORES

Week 7

-Wed Apr 18
DC United v Montreal Impact - 6:30PM CT
Venue: RFK Stadium
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v Sporting Kansas City - 9:00PM CT
Venue: BC Place
-Sat Apr 21
Toronto FC v Chicago Fire SC - 2:30PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: BMO Field
Columbus Crew v Houston Dynamo - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Crew Stadium
Colorado Rapids v LA Galaxy - 8:00PM CT
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v FC Dallas - 9:00PM CT
Venue: BC Place
Portland Timbers v Sporting Kansas City - 9:30PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
CD Chivas USA v Philadelphia Union - 9:30PM CT
Venue: The Home Depot Center
San Jose Earthquakes v Real Salt Lake - 9:30PM CT
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
-Sun Apr 22
DC United v New York Red Bulls - 5:00PM CT on ESPN2
Venue: RFK Stadium

Bye: New England Revolution & Seattle Sounders

MLS STANDINGS

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

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN on the hot topics: Rafa Marquez, Chivas on the road, Columbus' midfield and TFC (oof.)

CD CHIVAS USA

Scott French of ESPN writes that Chivas is hoping to have Juan Pablo Angel back this coming weekend. He has been out with a concussion.

French also tells us about the team's new signing Jose Erick Correa.

FC DALLAS

Todd Date of ESPN talks to head coach Schellas Hyndmann about their opponent this weekend - Vancouver.

DC UNITED

This is pretty funny, even though it wasn't supposed to be initially!
-Steven Goff of the Post has a Q & A with head coach Ben Olsen.

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America sees a turn-around season in the cards for DCU.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Tod Palmer of the Star on what SKC has improved this season to set them off to 6 straight wins.

Charles Gooch of the Star ponders any midweek match lineup changes.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times with an article on Brian Mullan and Steve Zakuani. (posted on Saturday but still relevant.)

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Bruce Constantineau of the Sun with a profile on the team's other veteran centerback - Martin Bonjour from Argentina.

Mark Weber of the Province tells us all about Korean fullback Young-Pyo Lee.
-Its funny that Zen is mentioned in the article, cuz I think Lee is a pretty devout Christian.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 18
Puerto Rico Islanders v FC Edmonton
Tampa Bay Rowdies v Carolina RailHawks

USA U20 TEAM

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad talked to head coach Tab Ramos about building a new team, and how the camp that just ended went for him and the players he brought in.
-The U20 team will gather on May 28th and play friendlies in South America.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad with the latest on Michael Parkhurst's broken toe.
-Recently Parkhurst became the first foreign player to make 100 appearances at Nordsjaelland.

SPAIN

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque has signed a new contract that will keep him in charge throught the 2014 World Cup.

TOP EURO CLUB GOAL SCORERS

As of Tue Apr 17

Primera Division
41 Lionel Messi
41 Cristiano Ronaldo
22 Radamael Falcao
21 Gonzalo Higuain
18 Karim Benzema

Premier League
27 Robin Van Persie
24 Wayne Rooney
21 Kun Aguero
16 Three players tied

Bundesliga
25 Mario Gomez
24 Klaas Jan Huntelaar
20 Robert Lewandowski
17 Martin Harnik
17 Lukas Podolski

Serie A
23 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
20 Antonio Di Natale
19 Edison Cavani
18 Diego Milito
17 Rodrigo Palacio

Ligue 1
20 Oliver Giroud
15 Eden Hazard
14 Nene
12 Bafetimbi Gomis
12 Lisandro Lopez

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

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

This week sees the end of the Group Stage. 12 of 16 teams have already advanced.

Quito advanced after a total destruction of Chivas of Guadalajara.

Bolivar got the win to advance and knock out both Universidad Catholica and Junior.

The Wednesday night games will only effect seeding.

But on Thursday the last 2 places will be filled for the knock out rounds, and 3 teams in Group 1 have a shot at them.

dN

ADVANCED: (14 of 16) Atletico Nacional(Colombia), Boca Juniors(Argentina), Bolivar(Bolivia), Cruz Azul(Mexico), Corintians(Brazil), Deportivo Quito(Ecuador), Emelec(Ecuador), Fluminense(Brazil), Lanus(Argentina), Libertad(Paraguay), Universidad Chile(Chile), Union Espanola(Chile), Vasco Da Gama(Brazil), Velez Sarsfield(Argentina)

ELIMINATED: (15 of 16) Alianza Lima(Peru), Arsenal(Argentina), Defensor Sporting(Uruguay), xFlamengo(Brazil), Godoy Cruz(Argentina), Guadalajara(Mexico), Juan Aurich(Peru), Junior(Colombia), Nacional(Uruguay), Nacional Asuncion(Paraguay), Olimpia(Paraguay), Penarol(Uruguay), Deportivo Tachira(Venezuela), Universidad Catholica(Chile), Zamora(Venezuela)

dN

Group Stage

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 17
Deportivo Quito 5-0 Guadalajara - DQ goals by .
Velez Sarsfield 1-3 Defensor Sporting - VS goal by . DS goals by .
Bolivar 3-0 Universidad Catholica - Bol goals by .
Junior 2-1 Union Espanol - Jun goals by . UE goal by .
-Wed Apr 18
Boca Juniors v Zamora
Arsenal v Fluminense
Corinthians v Deportivo Tachira
Cruz Azul v Nacional Asuncion
-Thu Apr 19
Santos v The Strongest
Juan Aurich v Internacional
Universidad Chile v Atletico Nacional
Penarol v Godoy Cruz
dN

Standings

Group 1
10 Santos (+5)
8 Internacional (+5)
7 The Strongest (-4)
OUT-3 Juan Aurich (-6)
Group 2
ADV-10 Lanus (+5)
ADV-9 Emelec (-1)
OUT-8 Flamengo (+2)
OUT-7 Olimpia (-6)
Group 3
ADV-10 Union Espanola (+4)
ADV-10 Bolivar (+2)
OUT-7 Junior (0)
OUT-6 Universidad Catholica (-5)
Group 4
ADV-12 Fluminense (+2)
ADV-10 Boca Juniors (+4)
OUT-6 Arsenal (0)
OUT-1 Zamora (-6)
Group 5
ADV-13 Libertad (+4)
ADV-13 Vasco Da Gama (+4)
OUT-6 Nacional (-2)
OUT-3 Alianza Lima (-6)
Group 6
ADV-11 Corintians (+5)
ADV-8 Cruz Azul (+4)
OUT-4 Nacional Asuncion (-4)
OUT-3 Tachira (-5)
Group 7
ADV-12 Velez Sarsfield (+2)
ADV-10 Deportivo Quito (+7)
OUT-9 Defensor Sporting (-1)
OUT-4 Guadalajara (-10)
Group 8
ADV-11 Atletico Nacional (+9)
ADV-10 Universidad Chile (+4)
OUT-5 Godoy Cruz (-4)
OUT-1 Penarol (-9)

ADVANCED by Country:
Argentina 3
Bolivia 1
Brazil 3
Chile 2
Colombia
Ecuador 2
Mexico 1
Paraguay 1

ASIA

Another round this week.

Asian Champions League - Group Stage - Matchday 4 will be played on Apr 17 & 18.

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 17
Brisbane Roar 1-2 Ulsan
Jeonbuk Motors 3-2 Buriram United
Tokyo 3-0 Beijing Guoan
Guangzhou Evergrande 3-1 Kashiwa Reysol
Persepolis 1-1 Al Gharafa
Bani Yas 0-0 Al Ittihad
Al Arabi 0-1 Pakhtakor
Al Hilal 2-1 Al Shabab

-Wed Apr 18
Adelaide United 1-0 Pohang Steelers
Nagoya Grampus 0-0 Tianjin Teda
Seongnam 5-0 Central Coast Mariners
Bunyodkor 3-2 Gamba Osaka
Nasaf 0-1 Al Rayyan
Al Jazira 1-1 Esteghlal
Lekhwiya 1-0 Sepahan
Al Ahli 3-1 Al Nasr

-Standings etc.

ENDERS

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post with a nice tribute to long time Barra Brava member Chico Solares who passed away this week. RIP Chico.