Some Soccer News for Tue Jun 5, 2012

STARTERS

Stars! Stars! Stars! Stars! Stars! Stars! Stars! Stars! Stars!

MINNESOTA STARS FC

Open Cup - Fourth Round

Match and Score:
-Tue Jun 5
San Jose Earthquakes v Minnesota Stars - 10:00pm CT
Venue: Cagan Stadium - Stanford University

If you are in the Twin Cities then you had best get your butt to the Sweetwater in St Paul to watch the game with your fellow fanaticos!

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS

World Cup Qualifying

One thing that has been bugging me about the lackluster game against Canada is that Jurgen Klinsmann came out and said his team was tired. Tired??? I thought he was the fitness KING!?!? And if players are tired doesn't a smart coach use his whole 23 player roster? And if you don't have to limit your roster then why does a smart coach limit it? I am left baffled by all of this.

Brian Phillips of Grantland looks at the progress of Team USA under Jurgen Klinsmann.

dN

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jun 8
USA v Antigua & Barbuda - 6:00pm CT v Antigua & Barbuda on ESPN
Venue: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa FL
-Tue Jun 12
Guatemala v USA - 9:00pm CT on PPV
Venue: Estadio Mateo Flores - Guatemala City

dN

USA Roster (So Far)
G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Tim Howard - Everton
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers
Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
Edgar Castillo - Tijuana
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Clarence Goodson - Brondy
Oguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Real Salt Lake
Michael Bradley - Chievo
Joe Corona - Tijuana
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim
Jermaine Jones - Schalke
Jose Torres - Pachuca
F:
Jozy Altidore - AZ
Terrence Boyd - Dortmund
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna
Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes

dN

We hope to learn of the Antigua and Barbuda roster soon. In the mean time, enjoy their federation insignia. Nice. Much better than ours.


















THE LAMAR HUNT US OPEN CUP

FOURTH ROUND - Round of 16

Matt Schwab of the San Jose Mercury News looks at the return of Minnesota manager Manny Lagos to a place where he had huge success as a player.

Seattle Times has a transcript of a Q & A with Cal manager Eric Wynalda.

dN

Matches and Scores:
Harrisburg City Islanders v New York Red Bulls - 6:30pm CT
DC United v Philadelphia Union - 6:30pm CT
Michigan Bucks v Dayton Dutch Lions - 6:30pm CT
Sporting Kansas City v Colorado Rapids - 7:30pm CT
San Antonio Scorpions v Charlotte Eagles - 7:30pm CT
San Jose Earthquakes v Minnesota Stars - 10:00pm CT
Seattle Sounders v Cal - live on Fox Soccer at 9pm CT
Carolina RailHawks v Chivas USA - 6:00pm CT

CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

The First Group Stage of qualifying begins on Friday.

Standings:
Group A
Antigua & Barbuda
Guatemala
Jamaica
USA
Group B
Costa Rica
Guyana
Mexico
El Salvador
Guyana
Group C
Canada
Cuba
Honduras
Panama

dN

Matches and Scores:
Matchday 1
-Fri Jun 8
USA v Antigua & Barbuda - A
Jamaica v Guatemala - A
Mexico v Guyana - B
Costa Rica v El Salvador - B
Honduras v Panama - C
Cuba v Canada - C
Matchday 2
-Tue Jun 12
Guatemala v USA - A
Antigua & Barbuda v Jamaica - A
El Salvador v Mexico - B
Guyana v Costa Rica - B
Canada v Honduras - C
Panama v Cuba - C

UEFA EURO 2012

Begins Friday June 8 at 11am CT

No team has ever repeated as champions - will Spain do it?

dN

Plenty of articles from the New York Times over the past few days as the build up continues:
-Stain of Scandal Again Taints Italian Soccer By Jere Longman.
-Germany Is Loaded With Promise by Rob Hughes.
-Want to Beat Spain? Limit Its Passing and Hope for the Best by Rob Hughes.
-Do the Dutch Need a Rough-And-Tumble Approach by Rob Hughes.

dN

The Top 5 Do-Not-Miss Group Stage Games of Euro 2012:

-Sat Jun 9
Germany v Portugal - 1:45pm CT
-Sun Jun 10
Spain v Italy - 11:00am CT
-Mon Jun 11
France v England - 11:00am CT
-Wed Jun 13
Netherlands v Germany - 1:45pm CT
-Sun Jun 17
Portugal v Netherlands - 1:45pm CT

Y'ALL READY FOR THIS?

Football Italia reports that Chievo Verona management is prepared to lose Michael Bradley in the summer transfer window and have already identified his replacement.

DID YOU KNOW?

Zach Slaton of Forbes does a Q & A with the authors of Soccernomics - Simon Kuper (from Paris) and Stefan Szymaski. PART 1 - and - PART 2.




















WELL WELL WELL

After a Brazilian judge freed Ronaldinho from his contract at Flamengo which was not paying his salary, the player has a signed a contract with Atletico Mineiro until the end of the current season.

FACT OF THE DAY

WOW!

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald gives us the stunning roster of players who will be in Miami later this month for the World Soccer Master exhibition game. An unbelievable list!
PICTURE OF THE DAY

Architizer shows us what the Qataris are dreaming up for World Cup 2022.
-Thanks to Tim for the link.

















MLS TEAM AND PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

The Impact announced the signing of their first ever academy player today - defender Karl Ouimett.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Post gives us updates on the teams many injury issues.

DC UNITED

Craig Stouffer of the Examiner looks at long time player and now player coach Josh Wolff.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Tod Palmer of the Star with an article on backup keeper and the team's first ever academy signing Jon Kempin who will get his 2nd professional start tonight in the Open Cup.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

Montreal has supposedly moved on from chasing old hack Michael Ballack and are now after a guy who can contribue - Clarence Seedorf. But I still don't see it happening.

MLS RESERVE LEAGUE

Matches and Scores:
-Tue Jun 5
Montreal Impact v New England Revolution

USA U20 TEAM

The team is now in South America for some friendlies against Uruguay (twice) and Chile.

Matches and Scores:
-Wed Jun 6
Uruguay v USA
-Fri Jun 8
Uruguay v USA
-Tue Jun 12
Chile v USA

Roster
G:
Cody Cropper - Unattached
Tomas Gomez - Georgetown
D:
AJ Cochran - Wisconsin
Christian Dean - California Berkeley
Jordan McCrary - North Carolina
Eric Miller - Creighton
Juan Pablo Ocegueda - UANL Tigres
Boyd Okwuonu - North Carolina
William Packwood - Birmingham
M:
Luis Gil - Real Salt Lake
Benji Joya - Santos Laguna
Mikey Lopez - North Carolina
Victor Pineda - Chicago Fire
Caleb Stanko - Freiburg
Wil Trapp - Akron
F:
Villyan Bijev - Fortuna Düsseldorf
Daniel Cuevas - Santos Laguna
Daniel Garcia - FC Dallas Academy
James Rogers - New Mexico
Jonathan Top - FC Dallas

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Ives Galarcep of Fox Soccer reports that Hoffenheim has signed another American from their academy to a senior contract - 16 year old Russell Canouse who was just named the clubs academy Player of the Year.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Tom Marshall of MLSsoccer.com reports that DaMarcus Beasley is staying at Puebla for another season despite interest from other teams.

ITALY

Inter Milan has removed the interim tag from head coach Andrea Stramaccioni and given him a long term contract to run the team.

And Roma has hired veteran Zdenek Zeman as their new coach replacing Luis Enrique who lasted only 1 season. This is his 17th job as a head coach.
-Last season he helped Pescara gain promotion to Serie A for the first time in 20 years.

OCEANIA 2014 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Standings:
Group A
9 Tahiti
6 New Caldedonia
3 Vanuatu
0 Samoa
Group B
6 New Zealand
4 Solomon Islands
1 Fiji
0 Papa New Guinea

Matches and Scores:
-Mon Jun 4
New Caledonia 9-0 Samoa
Tahiti 4-1 Vanuatu
-Tue Jun 5
Papua New Guinea v Fiji
New Zealand v Solomon Islands

BIG PIMPIN

Lionel Messi will be in New York on Friday to show off this brand new shoe.