Some Soccer News for Tue May 8, 2012

STARTERS

Holy Moly Spicolli! This video tour of the new Houston stadium is the best thing I have ever seen is this genre! Wow!

dN

Lionel Messi has scored a staggering 50 goals in the Primera Division this season, smashing the old record by 10 goals, and they still have 1 left to play.

dN

American Bill Miller has withdrawn his bid for Rangers FC. Back to the drawing board for the bankruptcy administrators.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue May 8, 2012 - new music mix at Spotify.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

The USA will begin announcing the roster for the upcoming friendlies and qualifiers in May 15.

Here is the full Q & A with USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann that was conducted by fans on Twitter today.

The team will play 5 games in 18 days. Here is the schedule:
-Sat May 26 - 7:00pm CT v Scotland - Friendly on NBC Sports Network
-Wed May 30 - 7:00pm CT v Brazil - Friendly on ESPN2
-Sun Jun 3 - 6:00pm CT @ Canada - Friendly on NBC Sports Network
-Fri Jun 8 - 6:00pm CT v Antigua & Barbuda - World Cup Qualifying on ESPN
-Tue Jun 12 - Time TBA @ Guatemala - World Cup Qualifying on TBA

Due to the high number of games in such a short time I think we can expect to see a larger than usual roster brought in.

Davidde Corran of ESPN does a Q & A with Jermaine Jones.

BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD ALL DAY

Check out this brilliant move by the San Jose Earthquakes management: "I got a chance to see the great Leo Messi play in person. He's smaller than me, but he's a bad dude. He can move through traffic with the rock on his foot!"

Mark Emmons of the San Jose Mercury News on the Earthquakes hiring Gus Johnson as a radio announcer for some of their games this season.

Please please please please MLS teams - hire more guys like Gus Johnson and less British guys. We don't need them. We have hundreds of great announcers. And sure every once in a while one of those Brit voices is good, but for the most part they are extremely average and somehow got the job because they are supposedly experienced professionals that fans admire. BS.

The Canadian teams have done a pretty great job finding some of the excellent hockey announcers to do games. Those guys are pros.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Philadelphia Union plays a friendly against German team Schalke tomorrow.

FACT OF THE DAY

AZ midfielder Adam Maher was named Dutch Footballer of the Year.

STAT OF THE DAY

Goals Per Shots:
-Lionel Messi - 50 league goals this season from 194 shots - 26%
-Cristiano Ronaldo - 45 league goals this season from 247 shots - 18%

As a comparison I checked on the stats of a team, Kansas City, in MLS that has a lot of attacking players who are not afraid to shoot. How do they stack up against the very very best? Not bad.
-Teal Bunbury - 14 career league goals on 116 shots - 12%
-Kei Kamara - 38 career league goals on 367 shots - 10%
-CJ Sapong - 8 career league goals on 72 shots - 11%

VIDEO OF THE DAY

USA v Algeria - animated - by BertLanz
PICTURE OF THE DAY

Looky who was sitting ringside at the UFC fights in East Rutherford New Jersey last Saturday night! Yup, our FIF Ives Galarcep! Takin' in all the action!

I had recorded the fights and was laying on the couch at about 2:30am when that friendly face popped up on the screen and stirred me from my stupor! So I had to get out the camera and snap a shot of him!

MLS MATCHES & SCORES

WEEK 10

-Wed May 9
New York Red Bulls v Houston Dynamo - 6:00PM CT
Venue: Red Bull Arena
Chicago Fire SC v Real Salt Lake - 7:30PM CT
Venue: Toyota Park
FC Dallas v Seattle Sounders FC - 7:30PM CT
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
-Sat May 12
Montreal Impact v LA Galaxy - 3:00PM CT
Venue: Olympic Stadium
Houston Dynamo v DC United - 3:30PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: BBVA Compass Stadium
New England Revolution v Vancouver Whitecaps FC - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Gillette Stadium
Columbus Crew v FC Dallas - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Crew Stadium
Chicago Fire SC v Sporting Kansas City - 7:30PM CT
Venue: Toyota Park
Seattle Sounders FC v Real Salt Lake - 9:00PM CT
Venue: CenturyLink Field
-Sun May 13
Philadelphia Union v New York Red Bulls - 11:30AM CT on ESPN2
Venue: PPL Park
San Jose Earthquakes v CD Chivas USA - 6:00PM CT on Galavision
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium

Bye: Toronto FC and Portland Timbers

MLS MATCH NOTES

Leading Goal Scorers: - As of Tue May 8
11 Chris Wondolowski
9 Thierry Henry
7 Kenny Cooper
6 Maicon Santos
5 Chris Pontius
4 Will Bruin
4 David Estrada
4 Kei Kamara
4 Steven Lenhart
4 Alvaro Saborio

MLS STANDINGS

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

MLS TEAM & PLAYER NEWS

General News

Chris Wondolowski has been named Player of the Week.

The 18 finalists for MLS Sueno 2012 gathering LA on Wednesday for 3 days of intense training with none other that Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

CHICAGO FIRE

CJ Brown will be the latest person to be inducted into the team's Ring of Fire.

COLORADO RAPIDS

Goalkeeper Matt Pickens has set a new team recorded with his 26th shutout.
-Joe Cannon held the previous record.

COLUMBUS CREW

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch: "Official count from today's Crew practice: 19 players available, 12 out w/injuries."
LA GALAXY

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze reports that the Galaxy players say they are close to being worried about how the season is going. Close?

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Brian Lewis of the Post reports that the Red Bulls management team has told Rafa Marquez to knock it off.

Lewis also writes that the Bulls have specific plans to add players this summer.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Damn. Winger Marvin Chavez will be out of action for up to a month with a strained left hamstring.
-That leaves them without BOTH of their outside end to end burners - Shea Salinas is out for several weeks with the broken collarbone.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

Raul to Philadelphia?

Alessandro Del Piero to Seattle?

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches & Scores:
-Tue May 8
LA Galaxy v San Jose Earthquakes

Standings

MLS SUMMER FRIENDLIES

Here is the complete schedule of all the big club matches going on this summer pitting MLS teams against European teams.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

@SachaKljestan - "Finally… Champions… What a feeling."

dN

Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad writes that despite being a terrible team Stabaek is finding rewards.

dN

Coming Up:

ENGLAND - Championship Division - Promotion Playoffs - Semifinals - 2nd Leg
Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - Wed May 9 - v Blackpool - Trailing 1-0 from 1st Leg

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Coming Up:

La Liguilla - Semifinals
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - 1st Leg - Thu May 10 at Tigres

MEXICO

Clausura - La Liguilla

Matches & Scores:
Semifinals

1st Leg
-Wed May 9
America v Monterrey
-Thu May 10
Tigres v Santos Laguna
2nd Leg
-Sat May 12
Monterrey v America
-Sun May 13
Santos Laguna v Tigres

If the teams are tied after the two legs, then the higher seed advances.

CANADA

Canadian Championship - Semifinals

Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg
-Wed May 9
Toronto FC v Montreal Impact (0-0)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC v FC Edmonton (2-0)

Finals
1st Leg
-Wed May 16
2nd Leg
-Wed May 23

ENGLAND

Championship Division - Promotion Playoffs - Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
2nd Leg (1st Leg score included)
-Wed May 9
Birmingham v Blackpool (0-1)

Final
West Ham v ???
EUROPE

Relegation In Europes Top Five Leagues

As of Tue May 8

Koln was relegated in Germany.
-With Hertha headed for a playoff against the 3rd team in the 2.Bundesliga to determine who goes up/down

Blackburn has been relegated from the Premier League in England.

Novara has been relegated out of Serie A.
Bundesliga (34 of 34 played)
-bottom 2 relegated - then - 3rd from bottom play 2.Bundes 3rd from top in 2 legs
-----
31 Hertha
-----
REL-30 Koln
REL-23 Kaiserslautern

Premier League (37 of 38 played)
-bottom 3 relegated
38 Aston Villa
37 Queens Park Rangers
-----
35 Bolton
REL-31 Blackburn
REL-25 Wolverhampton

Ligue 1 (36 of 38 played)
-bottom 3 relegated
38 Nice
38 Caen
37 Ajaccio
36 Sochaux
-----
35 Dijon
35 Brest
34 Auxerre

Primera Division (37 of 38 played)
-bottom 3 relegated
42 Granada
41 Villarreal
40 Rayo Vallecano
-----
40 Real Zaragoza
37 Sporting Gijon
REL-27 Racing Santander

Serie A (37 of 38 played)
-bottom 3 relegated
39 Genoa
-----
36 Lecce
REL-32 Novara
REL-22 Cesena

TOP EURO CLUB GOAL SCORERS

As of Tue May 8

Primera Division
50 Lionel Messi
45 Cristiano Ronaldo
23 Radamael Falcao
22 Gonzalo Higuain
20 Karim Benzema

Premier League
30 Robin Van Persie
26 Wayne Rooney
22 Kun Aguero
17 Clint Dempsey
16 Three players tied

Bundesliga
29 Klaas Jan Huntelaar
26 Mario Gomez
22 Robert Lewandowski
18 Cluadio Pizarro
18 Lukas Podolski
18 Marco Reus

Serie A
28 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
23 Edison Cavani
23 Diego Milito
22 Antonio Di Natale
19 Rodrigo Palacio

Ligue 1
21 Oliver Giroud
18 Nene
17 Eden Hazard
15 Lisandro Lopez
14 Pierre Aubameyang
13 Bafetimbi Gomis

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Final

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

COPA LIBERTADORES

The Knockout Stage

Round of 16

Matches & Scores:

2nd Leg (with 1st Leg scores included)
-Tue May 8
Libertad v Cruz Azul (1-1)
Velez Sarsfield v Atletico Nacional (1-0)
-Wed May 9
Union Espanola v Boca Juniors (1-2)
Corintians v Emelec (0-0)
Lanus v Vasco Da Gama (1-2)
-Thu May 10
Fluminense v Internacional (0-0)
Universidad Chile v Deportivo Quito (1-4)
Santos v Bolivar (1-2)

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

As Bullet Tooth Tony would say, "I loooove this track": Ty Segall - You Make The Sun Fry