Some Soccer News for Tue Jul 31, 2012

STARTERS

Clint Dempsey is NOT with Fulham for upcoming preseason friendlies in Switzerland this week. And there is no other word on a possible transfer.

dN

CONCAChampions returns tonight!

dN
 
The USA women dominated their group at the Olympics! See full details below.

dN

Heather O'Rielly = Frankie Hejduk.
-Amazing spirit, 100% effort for 90 minutes, end to end burner, not so hot with the soccer touch, but the occasional moment of brilliance.

dN

On Sunday night NBC Sports Network will show a feature on San Jose star striker Chris Wondolowski. They spend 36 hrs with Wondo in the lead up to the All Star game. This could be pretty cool.
-Airs Sun Aug 5 at 8:30pm CT on NBCSN.

dN

Kicking + Screening London 2012 announced for Sep 28 to Oct 4. Oh yeah.

STORY OF THE DAY

Roger Bennett of ESPN with an article on Manchester City's master plan, and is there a place for American players.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

du Nord at the Controls - Tue Jul 31, 2012 - The Fall - new music mix at Spotify.

USA WOMEN AT THE OLYMPICS

The USA with a solid, although not overwhelming, win in the 3rd and final group stage game.

They finish with an impressive 9 points.

The next opponent, in the Quarterfinals, is New Zealand on Fri Aug 3.
-The winner of that game faces the winner of Great Britain v Canada.
-Very interesting that one whole side of the knock out bracket speaks English!

dN

Group Stage
Matches + Scores:
-Wed Jul 25
USA 4-2 France - USA goals by Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan(2) + Carli Lloyd. Fra goals by Gaetane Thiney + Marie-Laure Delie.
-Sat Jul 28
USA v Colombia - USA goals by Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach + Carli Lloyd.
-Tue Jul 31
USA 1-0 N Korea - USA goal by Abby Wambach.

dN

Roster
G
Hope Solo
Nicole Barnhart
D
Rachel Buehler
Amy LePeilbet
Heather Mitts
Kelley O'Hara
Christie Rampone
Becky Sauerbrunn
M
Shannon Boxx
Heather O'Reilly
Carli Lloyd
Lauren Cheney
Megan Rapinoe
Tobin Heath
F
Sydney Leroux
Alex Morgan
Amy Rodriguez
Abby Wambach

MENS OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT

Groups

GROUP A
4 Senegal (+2)
4 Great Britain (+2)
3 Uruguay (-1)
0 UAE (-3)
GROUP B
4 Mexico (+2)
4 N Korea (+1)
1 Switzerland (-1)
1 Gabon (-2)
GROUP C
ADV-6 Brazil (+3)
3 Belarus (-1)
1 Egypt (-1)
1 New Zealand (-1)
GROUP D
ADV-6 Japan (+2)
4 Honduras (0)
1 Morocco (0)
0 Spain (-2)

dN

Matches + Scores:

GROUP STAGE
Matchday 3
-Wed Aug 1
Brazil v New Zealand - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Mexico v Switzerland - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
Spain v Morocco - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D
Great Britain v Uruguay - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Senegal v UAE - 2:50pm CT in progress on MSNBC - GROUP A
N Korea v Gabon - GROUP B
Egypt v Belarus - GROUP C
Japan v Honduras - GROUP D

2012-13 CONCACACHAMPIONS

The Group Stage starts tonight.

dN

Group 1
Santos Laguna
Toronto
Aguila (Salv)
Group 2
Real Salt Lake
Herediano (CR)
Tauro (Pan)
Group 3
Houston Dynamo
Olimpia (Hond)
FAS (Salv)
Group 4
Seattle Sounders
Marathon (Hond)
Caledonian AIA (T+T)
Group 5
LA Galaxy
Isidro Metapan (Salv)
Puerto Rico Islanders (PR)
Group 6
Tigres
Alajuelense (CR)
Real Esteli (Nica)
Group 7
Monterrey
Municipal (Guat)
Chorrillo (Pan)
Group 8
Guadalajara
Xelaju (Guat)
W Connection (T+T)

dN

Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 31
Monterrey v Chorrillo - 7:00PM CT
Herediano v Real Salt Lake - 9:00PM CT on Fox Soccer
-Wed Aug 1
Toronto v Aguila - 7:00PM CT on Fox Soccer
Tigres UANL v Real Esteli - 9:00PM CT
Metapan v Puerto Rico Islanders - 9:00PM CT
-Thu Aug 2
W Connection v Xelaju - 7:00PM CT
Olimpia v FAS - 9:00PM CT
Seattle Sounders v Caledonia - 9:00PM CT on Fox Soccer

All games are shown on the internet at CONCACAF TV.

BUMMER OF THE DAY

Toronto signed a goalkeeper from the 4th division in England today. Are you telling me that there aren't enough great keepers around the lower divisions of Canada and the USA that deserve a shot on an MLS roster before this guy?

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Dave Martinez of Soccer By Ives writes that Thierry Henry has warned Tim Cahill about the problems a player can encounter when trying to jump right in to the MLS fire.
-Henry sounds like he regrets not taking his time preparing fully before debuting in New York, and mentions that Alessandro Nesta made the right move by taking his time in Montreal.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Holy Moly! A report on LigaBBVA World of the brand new Ferrari of Ever Bangega of Valencia starting on fire as the drove to training on Monday. There is nothing left of it.

MLS MATCHES AND SCORES

WEEK 22

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Aug 3
Houston Dynamo v New York Red Bulls - 7:00PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: BBVA Compass Stadium
-Sat Aug 4
DC United v Columbus Crew - 6:30PM CT
Venue: RFK Stadium
New England Revolution v Sporting Kansas City - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Gillette Stadium
Montreal Impact v Philadelphia Union - 6:30PM CT
Venue: Saputo Stadium
Chicago Fire SC v Toronto FC - 7:30PM CT
Venue: Toyota Park
Colorado Rapids v Real Salt Lake - 8:00PM CT
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
-Sun Aug 5
Portland Timbers v FC Dallas - 6:00PM CT on NBCSN
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
Seattle Sounders FC v LA Galaxy - 8:00PM CT on ESPN2
Venue: CenturyLink Field

3 teams have a buy this week: San Jose Earthquakes, Vancouver Whitecaps FC + CD Chivas USA.

MLS MATCH NOTES

Leading Goal Scorers:
(As of Tue Jul 31)
17 Chris Wondolowski
13 Kenny Cooper
13 Alvaro Saborio
11 Thierry Henry
10 Will Bruin
9 Landon Donovan
9 Alan Gordon
9 Eddie Johnson
9 Robbie Keane
9 Danny Koevermans
9 Chris Pontius
9 Saer Sene

Leading Assist Makers:
(As of Tue Jul 31)
10 Brad Davis
10 Dwayne DeRosario
9 David Beckham
9 Marvin Chavez
9 Graham Zusi
8 Felipe Martins
7 Landon Donovan
7 Mauro Rosales

MLS STANDINGS

EAST
38 New York Red Bulls (+6)
37 Houston Dynamo (+8)
37 Sporting Kansas City (+6)
33 DC United (+7)
32 Chicago Fire SC (0)
-----
28 Columbus Crew (0)
27 Montreal Impact (-10)
23 Philadelphia Union (0)
23 New England Revolution (-1)
19 Toronto FC (-14)
WEST
44 San Jose Earthquakes (+17)
42 Real Salt Lake (+8)
34 Seattle Sounders FC (+5)
34 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-2)
33 LA Galaxy (+4)
-----
26 CD Chivas USA (-7)
22 Colorado Rapids (-4)
22 FC Dallas (-6)
19 Portland Timbers (-17)

MLS TEAM AND PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

New York has signed 25 year old centerback Babajide Ogunbiyi from Viborg in Denmark. He played college soccer at Santa Clara.

COLORADO RAPIDS

The Daily Pilot of Costa Mesa writes about their favorite son, new Rapids defender Tyson Wahl.

COLUMBUS CREW

The Crew's new striker Federico Higuain is the older brother of Real Madrid forward Gonzalo Higuan.

dN

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch introduces us to the Crew's top academy prospect.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Seattle just waiting for a work visa to arrive for Christian Tiffert.

dN

Brian Westfall of the Sports Network talks to a self proclaimed "mature" Eddie Johnson.
-Is that different from being a Grown Ass Man?

dN

Seattle is also set to sign former prodigy Mario Martinez of Honduras. He has been under contract at Real Espana for the past 6 years, but bounced around a bunch on loan deals to little success.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Russell Berrisford of the Sun looks at the Caps playoff prospects with 11 regular season games to go.
-They are currently in 4th place, tied on points with 3rd place Seattle Sounders, and 1 point ahead of 5th place LA Galaxy. They trail both those teams in goal differential by a decent margin.

MLS SUMMER FRIENDLIES

Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 31
New York Red Bulls v Tottenham(England)
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
San Jose Earthquakes v Swansea(England)
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium – Santa Clara CA

-Wed Aug 1
Sporting Kansas City v Stoke City(England)
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park

-Thu Aug 2
LA Galaxy v Real Madrid(Spain)
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

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

MLS EXPANSION

The Sentinel of Strattforshire talks to Orlando City ownder Phil Rawlins about his long term plan of taking his USL Pro team to MLS.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Coming Up:

UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round - 1st Leg
Josh Gatt - Molde - Wed Aug 1 v Basel
Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Kiryat Shmona - Wed Aug 1 v Neftci
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Wed Aug 1 v Ekranas

UEFA Europa League - 3rd Qualifying Round - 1st Leg
Etchu Tabe - KuPS - Thu Aug 2 v Bursaspor
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Thu Aug 2 at St Patrick's
Terrence Boyd - Rapid Wien - Thu Aug 2 at Vojvodina

COPA MEXICO

Group Stage

Group 1
3 Dorados
1 Est Tecos
1 Morelia
0 Leon
Group 2
3 Altamira
3 Cruz Azul
0 Atlas
0 Toros Nexa
Group 3
3 Univ Guadalajara
1 Atlante
1 La Piedad
0 Pachuca
Group 4
3 Chiapas Jaguares
3 San Luis
0 Pumas Morelos
0 Necaxa
Group 5
3 Correcaminos UAT
3 Veracruz
0 America
0 Queretaro
Group 6
1 Merida
1 Tijuana
1 Celaya
1 Pumas UNAM
Group 7
3 Lobos BUAP
3 Irapuato
0 Puebla
0 Toluca

dN

Matchday 2
Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 31
Leon v Dorados
Necaxa v Jaguares
Merida v Tijuana
Correcaminos v Queretaro
Est Tecos v Morelia
Atlas v Altamira
San Luis v Pumas Morelos
Pumas UNAM v Celaya
Lobos BUAP v Toluca
-Wed Aug 1
Toros Neza v Cruz Azul
Pachuca v Univ Guadalajara
Puebla v Irapuato
-Thu Aug 2
La Piedad v Atlante
America v Veracruz

Some Soccer News for Mon Jul 30, 2012

STARTERS

Huge congrats to the men's + women's teams of Up Top from Minneapolis who both won the Street Soccer US Cup in New York City on Sunday!
-Read this great profile of the team at The Shin Guardian.

dN

Hon! Du! Ras! Did you see the MLS connection that scored the goal for Honduras that sent Spain spinning right out of the Olympic Men's Soccer Tourney? Oh yeah! Roger Espinoza to Andy Najar, back to Espinoza, to Jerry Bengtson, who slams it home! Honduras 1, Spain 0!

dN

Meet Clint Dempsey - Sweepstakes from Modelo Especial

dN

Geoff Cameron, recently signed by Stoke in England, was denied an English work permit (this was expected) and the team has filed an appeal which will be heard on Wed Aug 8.

STORY OF THE DAY

Local New York City politicians write an opinion piece for the New York Daily News on why a new MLS stadium in Queens is the right idea.

MINNESOTA STARS FC

The Stars lost for the 3 game in a row and fell another spot in the standings to 5th. Shit.

Matches + Scores:
-Sat Jul 28
Puerto Rico Islanders 1-0 Minnesota Stars
Venue: Bayamon Soccer Complex
-Sat Aug 4
FC Edmonton v Minnesota Stars
Venue: Clarke Stadium

USA WOMEN AT THE OLYMPICS

Tuesday the gals take on the "Democratic" half of Korea for knockout round seeding on the line.

dN

Group Stage
Matches + Scores:
-Wed Jul 25
USA 4-2 France - USA goals by Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan(2) + Carli Lloyd. Fra goals by Gaetane Thiney + Marie-Laure Delie.
-Sat Jul 28
USA v Colombia - USA goals by Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach + Carli Lloyd.
-Tue Jul 31
USA v N Korea - 11:15am CT on NBCSN

dN

Roster
G
Hope Solo
Nicole Barnhart
D
Rachel Buehler
Amy LePeilbet
Heather Mitts
Kelley O'Hara
Christie Rampone
Becky Sauerbrunn
M
Shannon Boxx
Heather O'Reilly
Carli Lloyd
Lauren Cheney
Megan Rapinoe
Tobin Heath
F
Sydney Leroux
Alex Morgan
Amy Rodriguez
Abby Wambach

MENS OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT

Brazil and Japan advanced to the knock out stage.

Groups

GROUP A
4 Senegal (+2)
4 Great Britain (+2)
3 Uruguay (-1)
0 UAE (-3)
GROUP B
4 Mexico (+2)
4 N Korea (+1)
1 Switzerland (-1)
1 Gabon (-2)
GROUP C
ADV-6 Brazil (+3)
3 Belarus (-1)
1 Egypt (-1)
1 New Zealand (-1)
GROUP D
ADV-6 Japan (+2)
4 Honduras (0)
1 Morocco (0)
0 Spain (-2)

dN

Matches + Scores:

GROUP STAGE
Matchday 2
-Sun Jul 29
Senegal 2-0 Uruguay
Mexico 2-0 Gabon
Brazil 3-1 Belarus
Egypt 1-1 New Zealand
Japan 1-0 Morocco
N Korea 2-1 Switzerland
Great Britain 3-1 UAE
Spain 0-1 Honduras
Matchday 3
-Wed Aug 1
Brazil v New Zealand - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Mexico v Switzerland - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
Spain v Morocco - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D
Great Britain v Uruguay - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Senegal v UAE - 2:50pm CT in progress on MSNBC - GROUP A
N Korea v Gabon - GROUP B
Egypt v Belarus - GROUP C
Japan v Honduras - GROUP D

2012-13 CONCACACHAMPIONS

Here We Go! The Group Stage of the new championship begins tomorrow!
dN

Group 1
Santos Laguna
Toronto
Aguila (Salv)
Group 2
Real Salt Lake
Herediano (CR)
Tauro (Pan)
Group 3
Houston Dynamo
Olimpia (Hond)
FAS (Salv)
Group 4
Seattle Sounders
Marathon (Hond)
Caledonian AIA (T+T)
Group 5
LA Galaxy
Isidro Metapan (Salv)
Puerto Rico Islanders (PR)
Group 6
Tigres
Alajuelense (CR)
Real Esteli (Nica)
Group 7
Monterrey
Municipal (Guat)
Chorrillo (Pan)
Group 8
Guadalajara
Xelaju (Guat)
W Connection (T+T)

dN

Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 31
Monterrey v Chorrillo - 7:00PM CT
Herediano v Real Salt Lake - 9:00PM CT on Fox Soccer
-Wed Aug 1
Toronto v Aguila - 7:00PM CT on Fox Soccer
Tigres UANL v Real Esteli - 9:00PM CT
Metapan v Puerto Rico Islanders - 9:00PM CT
-Thu Aug 2
W Connection v Xelaju - 7:00PM CT
Olimpia v FAS - 9:00PM CT
Seattle Sounders v Caledonia - 9:00PM CT on Fox Soccer

All games are shown on the internet too at CONCACAF TV.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

Bobby McMahon of Forbes sees Serie A as falling behind the other big leagues of Europe, with no end in sight for a change.

WELL WELL WELL

Dallas prodigy Brek Shea was left off the game day roster for the 2nd straight match, and after the game head coach Schellas Hyndman said his young star needs time off to sort out his head.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

All 25 goals from MLS Week 21 - via Kick TV.

MLS MATCHES AND SCORES

WEEK 21

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Real Salt Lake 2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC RSL goals by Alvaro Saborio(2, 1 via PK). VW goal by Darren Mattocks.
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
Atten: 18,702
-Sat Jul 28
Toronto FC 0-2 Houston Dynamo HD goals by Calen Carr + Brian Ching.
Venue: BMO Field
Atten: 19652
Montreal Impact 3-1 New York Red Bulls MI goals by Marco Di Vaio, Davy Arnaud + Sanna Nyassi. NYRB goal by Thierry Henry.
Venue: Saputo Stadium
Atten: 19,441
FC Dallas 0-1 LA Galaxy LAG goal by Mike Magee.
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
Atten: 22,565
Sporting Kansas City 1-2 Columbus Crew SKC goal by Kei Kamara. CC goals both by Jairo Arrieta.
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Atten: 18,938
Colorado Rapids 1-2 Seattle Sounders FC CR goal by Drew Moor. SS goals by Eddie Johnson + Osvaldo Alonso.
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Atten: 13,816
San Jose Earthquakes 1-1 Chicago Fire SC - SJE goal by Steven Lenhart. CF goal by Chris Rolfe.
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Atten: 10,525
Portland Timbers 0-1 CD Chivas USA CUSA goal by Danny Califf.
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
Atten: 20,438
-Sun Jul 29
Philadelphia Union 2-1 New England Revolution PU goals by Freddy Adu(PK) + Jack McInerney. NER goal by Saer Sene.
Venue: PPL Park
Atten: 18598

MLS MATCH NOTES

RSL becomes the second team this season to cross the 40 point threshold.
Houston moves past Kansas City into 2nd in the East.
Seattle moves past Vancouver into 3rd in the West.
Philadelphia beats and moves past New England into 8th in the East.

dN

There were 9 league games this week and 6 were SOLD OUT!!! Two more were within a few hundred of being sold out. The only game one that was not a sellout was in Colorado. Ugh. Come on Kroenke, step and put some real muscle into this team.

dN

EJECTIONS:
Joe Cannon - Vancouver - red card
Cole Grossman - Columbus - red card
Alan Gordon - San Jose - two yellow cards

dN

Chad Marshall was getting beat all night by Kei Kamara on head balls in the box, which was Marshall's bread winner. If he can't defend those any more then he just might be done.

dN

A rare occasion saw a sell out and standing room only in Dallas.

MLS STANDINGS

EAST
38 New York Red Bulls (+6)
37 Houston Dynamo (+8)
37 Sporting Kansas City (+6)
33 DC United (+7)
32 Chicago Fire SC (0)
-----
28 Columbus Crew (0)
27 Montreal Impact (-10)
23 Philadelphia Union (0)
23 New England Revolution (-1)
19 Toronto FC (-14)
WEST
44 San Jose Earthquakes (+17)
42 Real Salt Lake (+8)
34 Seattle Sounders FC (+5)
34 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-2)
33 LA Galaxy (+4)
-----
26 CD Chivas USA (-7)
22 Colorado Rapids (-4)
22 FC Dallas (-6)
19 Portland Timbers (-17)

MLS TEAM AND PLAYER NEWS

General News

Jairo Arrieta of the Columbus Crew was named MLS Player of the Week.

dN

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with the Monday Morning Breakdown - featuring Jack McInerney, the heat, Jay DeMerit, change/consistency in Houston, Nesta debut and Sean Johnson v the Goonies.

Player Transactions

San Jose has acquired midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy from New York in exchange for a 2013 international spot and a conditional 2013 draft pick.

dN

Columbus has signed 27 year old Argentine forward Federico Higuain to a Designated Player contract from Colon.

dN

The LA Galaxy has shipped out forward Chad "The Vasectomy" Barrett to Valerenga in Norway on a loan deal.

COLUMBUS CREW

Adam Jardy of the Dispatch asks 5 Questions of defender Carlos Mendes.

dN

The Crew's new Designated Player Federico Higuain is a journeyman who only scored 10 goals in the last two seasons at Colon, and a total of 26 goals in the past 6 seasons at 5 different teams.
-That is an odd player to spend a lot of money on.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Houston is in negotiations to bring back Ricardo Clark who left the Dynamo 2 years ago to sign with Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

The Post prints the transcript from Tim Cahill's introductory press conference earlier today.

dN

The Red Bulls post 3 conversations with new signing Tim Cahill about what brought him to the team:
-Part 1 - What Went Into His Decision to Join the Red Bulls
-Part 2 - Discussions with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
-Part 3 - What He's Looking Forward to the Most in New York

MLS SUMMER FRIENDLIES

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Roma(Italy) 2-1 El Salvador(national team)
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ

-Sat Jul 28
DC United 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain(France)
Venue: RFL Stadium – Washington DC
Chelsea(England) 0-1 AC Milan(Italy)
Venue: Sun Life Stadium - Miami FL
Liverpool(England) 0-0 Tottenham(England)
Venue: M+T Bank Stadium - Baltimore
Montpellier(France) 2-2 Lyon(France) - Lyo wins 4-2 in Penalty Kick Shootout - French Super Cup
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ

-Tue Jul 31
New York Red Bulls v Tottenham(England)
Venue: Red Bull Arena - Harrison NJ
San Jose Earthquakes v Swansea(England)
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium – Santa Clara CA

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

NASL NEWS

Atlanta was 1-8-5 on Jul 2 when Eric Wynalda took over as head coach. Since then they have won 2 and lost 3.

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 5-3 Atlanta Silverbacks
-Sat Jul 28
Puerto Rico Islanders 1-0 Minnesota Stars
Tampa Bay Rowdies 1-0 FC Edmonton
San Antonio Scorpions 8-0 Carolina RailHawks
-Sat Aug 4
Carolina RailHawks v Tampa Bay Rowdies
Atlanta Silverbacks v Fort Lauderdale Strikers
FC Edmonton v Minnesota Stars FC
-Sun Aug 5
San Antonio Scorpions v Puerto Rico Islanders

Watch online

Standings
35 San Antonio (+18)
33 Tampa Bay (+5)
31 Puerto Rico (+6)
27 Fort Lauderdale (-2)
26 Minnesota (0)
24 Carolina (-5)
16 Edmonton (-5)
14 Atlanta (-17)

USL PDL

Playoffs

SEMIFINALS
Matches + Scores:
-Sat Jul 28
Orlando City U23 1-2 Carolina Dynamo
Seattle Sounders FC U23 2-3 Forest City London

FINAL
Match + Score:
-Sat Aug 4
Carolina Dynamo v Forest City London
Venue: Macpherson Stadium - Greensboro NC
AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Game Action:

AUSTRIA -
Terrence Boyd - Rapids Vienna - went the full 90 as they won 0-1 at Wiener Neustadt.

BELGIUM - Pro League
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - on the bench as they tied 1-1 at Kortrijk.

DENMARK - Superliga
Charlie Davies - Randers - came on as a sub in the 71st min as they won 2-1 v Aarhus.
Clarence Goodson - Brondy - went the full 90 getting a yellow card as they won 2-1 v Silkeborg.
Conor O'Brien - SonderjyskE - played the entire game and won 1-2 at Esbjerg.
Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - started and went 78 min getting a yellow card and they tied 1-1 v Odense.

FINLAND - Veikkausliiga
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - played the whole match but lost 0-3 v Mariehamn.
Mike Banner - Jaro - played the whole game and won 0-2 at Lahti.

FINLAND - Ykkonen
Justin Moose - SJK - on the bench and lost 2-0 at RoPS
Pat Phelan - SJK - went the full 90 but lost 2-0 at RoPs.
Aaron Wheeler - KooTeePee - started and went 55 min as they lost 1-0 at JIPPO.

NORWAY - Eliteserien
Steve Clark - Honefoss - played the whole game as they won 3-2 v Haugesund.
Sean Cunningham - Stabaek - played the whole game but lost 3-1 at Aalesund.
Kenneth Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - came on as a sub in the 86th min and they won 3-2 v Haugesund.

NORWAY - 1 Divisjon
Rhett Bernstein - Mjondalen - went the distance and tied 2-2 at Bodo/Glimt.
Kyle Helton - Mjondalen - played the entire match as they tied 2-2 at Bodo/Glimt.
Sebastian Troupe - Baerum - played the whole game but lost 3-1 at Ranheim.

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga
Brian Span - Djurgarden - on the bench as they tied 0-0 v Elfsborg.

SWEDEN - Superettan
Brian Edwards - Degerfors - went the full 90 as they tied 2-2 at Jonkopings Sodra.
Patrick Hopkins - Ljungskile - played the full match in a 0-0 draw at Osters.
Ryan Miller - Halmstad - played the entire game and won 2-0 v Hammarby.
Matt Pyzdrowski - Angelholms - started but came out at half time as they lost 1-4 v Trelleborgs.

dN

Coming Up:

UEFA Champions League - Third Qualifying Round - 1st Leg
Josh Gatt - Molde - Wed Aug 1 v Basel
Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Kiryat Shmona - Wed Aug 1 v Neftci
Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - Wed Aug 1 v Ekranas

UEFA Europa League - 3rd Qualifying Round - 1st Leg
Etchu Tabe - KuPS - Thu Aug 2 v Bursaspor
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - Thu Aug 2 at St Patrick's
Terrence Boyd - Rapid Wien - Thu Aug 2 at Vojvodina

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Michael Orozco scored his first goal in the past two seasons for San Luis.

dN

Sonny Guadarama scored the game winning goal for Merida.

dN

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISION
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - went the distance but lost 1-3 v Toluca.
Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they won 2-1 v Atlante.
Edgar Castillo - Tijuana - played the whole game but lost 4-0 at Leon.
Joe Corona - Tijuana - started and went 56 min as they lost 4-0 at Leon.
Greg Garza - Tijuana - on the bench as they lost 4-0 at Leon.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - started and went 59 min getting a yellow card as they won 0-1 at Guadalajara.
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - went the distance scoring a goal but they lost 1-2 v Cruz Azul.
Jose Torres - Pachuca - started but got two yellow cards and was ejected as they lost 0-3 v Atlas.

LIGA DE ASCENSO
Isaac Acuna - Merida - started and went 61 min as they won 0-1 at Univ Guadalajara.
Sonny Guadarrama - Merida - went the full 90 scoring a goal as they won 0-1 at Univ Guadalajara.
Marco Vidal - Lobos BUAP - came on as a sub in the 71st min and they won 1-0 v Correcaminos.

CONCACAF

New promoted Leon is off to a shocking start with 2 big wins.

dN

Pachuca has stumbled out of the gates with a tie and a loss under head coach Hugo Sanchez. They got 2 red cards this week.

dN

The two teams that vied for the Clausura title, Santos Laguna and Tigres, have won both of their games as well.

MEXICO

Liga MX Apertura Round 2
Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Morelia 1-0 Monterrey
Leon 4-0 Tijuana
-Sat Jul 28
America 4-2 Jaguares
Tigres UANL 2-1 Atlante
Pachuca 0-3 Atlas
San Luis 1-2 Cruz Azul
-Sun Jul 29
Pumas UNAM 3-0 Queretaro
Puebla 1-3 Toluca
Guadalajara 0-1 Santos Laguna

Some Soccer News for Fri Jul 27, 2012

STARTERS

The 4th episode of the du Nord Futbol Show podcast is now ready for you to listen. Check it out right here.

dN

New York paid approx $1.57 Million for Tim Cahill.
-And the team put his through a 7 hour medical exam to make sure their investment was sound. Wow.

dN

Seattle has supposedly signed 30 year old Designated Player midfielder Christian Tiffert from Kaiserslautern. Meaning one of the current DPs on the roster is out? Alvaro Fernandez, Fredy Montero or Mauro Rosales? Looks like its Fernandez who has been sent to Chicago in exchange for allocation money.

dN

CONCACAF Champions League group stage begins next Tuesday! Yes!

STORY OF THE DAY

Montreal's Italian striker Marco Di Vaio has been charged with failing to report attempted sporting fraud while playing a game for Bologna 15 months ago. If found guilty he could receive a suspension of 3 to 6 months from Serie A, but FIFA could ask MLS to enforce that punishment. A verdict is expected on Aug 8.

MINNESOTA STARS FC

The teams first trip to Puerto Rico this season awaits, and success their has been minimal over the years.

Matches + Scores:
-Sat Jul 28
Puerto Rico Islanders v Minnesota Stars
Venue: Bayamon Soccer Complex

TASTIEST MLS GAME OF THE WEEK

Friday night its #2 v #3 in the West: Real Salt Lake v Vancouver Whitecaps!!!

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

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

USA WOMEN AT THE OLYMPICS

Big 2nd matchday for the USA as a win would put them in prime position to be the #1 seed from their group.

dN

Group Stage
Matches + Scores:
-Wed Jul 25
USA 4-2 France - USA goals by Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan(2) + Carli Lloyd. Fra goals by Gaetane Thiney + Marie-Laure Delie.
-Sat Jul 28
USA v Colombia - 11am CT on NBCSN
-Tue Jul 31
USA v N Korea - 11:15am CT on NBCSN

dN

Roster
G
Hope Solo
Nicole Barnhart
D
Rachel Buehler
Amy LePeilbet
Heather Mitts
Kelley O'Hara
Christie Rampone
Becky Sauerbrunn
M
Shannon Boxx
Heather O'Reilly
Carli Lloyd
Lauren Cheney
Megan Rapinoe
Tobin Heath
F
Sydney Leroux
Alex Morgan
Amy Rodriguez
Abby Wambach

MENS OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT

Groups

GROUP A
3 Uruguay (+1)
1 Great Britain (0)
1 Senegal (0)
0 UAE (-1)
GROUP B
1 Gabon (0)
1 Mexico (0)
1 N Korea (0)
1 Switzerland (0)
GROUP C
3 Belarus (+1)
3 Brazil (+1)
0 Egypt (-1)
0 New Zealand (-1)
GROUP D
3 Japan (+1)
1 Honduras (0)
1 Morocco (0)
0 Spain (-1)

dN

Matches + Scores:

GROUP STAGE
Matchday 2
-Sun Jul 29
Senegal v Uruguay - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Great Britain v UAE - 1:45pm CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Gabon - GROUP B
N Korea v Switzerland - GROUP B
Brazil v Belarus - 9:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP C
Egypt v New Zealand - GROUP C
Spain v Honduras - GROUP D
Japan v Morocco - GROUP D
Matchday 3
-Wed Aug 1
Great Britain v Uruguay - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Senegal v UAE - 2:50pm CT in progress on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Switzerland - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
N Korea v Gabon - GROUP B
Brazil v New Zealand - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Egypt v Belarus - GROUP C
Japan v Honduras - GROUP D
Spain v Morocco - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D

FIFASCANDALIZATIONINGS

AFP reports that FIFA's new ethic committee has been given leeway to investigate old as well as new corruption allegations.

WHAT A JOKE

This is not a problem for MLS, its a USA immigration law issue, but the Canadian Soccer Association wants to bitch about MLS anyway. While the league has acknowledged this issue since day 1 with Canadian teams.

Kurtis Larson of the Toronto Sun writes that Canadian players are being treated unfairly by MLS in relation to rosters.

Y'ALL READY FOR THIS?

Jonah Freedman of MLSsoccer.com sees DC head coach Ben Olsen as the breakout star of the MLS All Star game.

HMMMMM, VERY INTERESTING

The quality of video on the MLS website is so poor that I only watch their stuff on the MLS You Tube channel now, its nearly twice as good. The comparison is laughable, and I don't understand why the league can't give us a top notch feed on their own website. The options are there, they just choose not to use it. Having a default setting for slower connections is fine but so many people have really high speed and not giving them the option for better quality is a bad mistake. They are losing customers by only giving them this easily fixable yet inferior product.
-Just look at this difference.

MLSsoccer.com: (their only setting)

YouTube: (and not even on the best setting)

WELL WELL WELL

Scott French of MLSsoccer.com writes about the reasons that the LA Galaxy got off to such a rotten start this season, through the words of Mike Magee.
-After starting off 3-8-2, they have now gone 6-2-1.
VIDEO OF THE DAY

Philly.com has a series of interviews by Kerith Gabriel:
-Don Garber - MLS Commissioner
-Nelson Rodriguez - MLS Executive Vice President of Competition and Game Operations
-Howard Handler - MLS Chief Marketing Officer

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Robert Jonas of Center Line Soccer sneaks us this preview of Steven Lenhart Wig Night:

MLS MATCHES AND SCORES

WEEK 21

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Real Salt Lake v Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
-Sat Jul 28
Toronto FC v Houston Dynamo at 3:30PM CT
Venue: BMO Field
Montreal Impact v New York Red Bulls at 6:30PM CT
Venue: Saputo Stadium
FC Dallas v LA Galaxy on NBCSN at 7:00PM CT
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
Sporting Kansas City v Columbus Crew at 7:30PM CT
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Colorado Rapids v Seattle Sounders FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
San Jose Earthquakes v Chicago Fire SC at 9:30PM CT
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Portland Timbers v CD Chivas USA at 10:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
-Sun Jul 29
Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution on NBCSN at 6:00PM CT
Venue: PPL Park

MLS STANDINGS

EAST
38 New York Red Bulls (+8)
37 Sporting Kansas City (+7)
34 Houston Dynamo (+6)
33 DC United (+7)
31 Chicago Fire SC (0)
-----
25 Columbus Crew (-1)
24 Montreal Impact (-12)
23 New England Revolution (0)
20 Philadelphia Union (-1)
19 Toronto FC (-12)
WEST
43 San Jose Earthquakes (+17)
39 Real Salt Lake (+7)
34 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-1)
31 Seattle Sounders FC (+4)
30 LA Galaxy (+3)
-----
23 CD Chivas USA (-8)
22 Colorado Rapids (-3)
22 FC Dallas (-5)
19 Portland Timbers (-16)

MLS TEAM AND PLAYER NEWS

General News

Avi Creditor of Sports Illustrated proposes 4 updates to the All Star Game. I like 3 of his ideas a lot.

dN

Ives Galarcep of Fox sees LA + NY beginning to pull away from the field in the roster spending category. Both teams have the max 3 designated players, and all on high salaries.

dN

Todd Date of 3rd Degree talks to Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman about a man he greatly respects - LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. The two teams meet in Dallas on Saturday night.

SPORTING KANSAS CITY SC

Tod Palmer of the Star introduces us to new defender Neven Markovic who saw his first minutes with the club against Montpellier, at both fullback and centerback, earlier this week.
-And with injuries to Aurelien Collin and Lawrence Olum he may get his MLS debut this weekend.

MONTREAL IMPACT

Craig Forrest of Sports Net answers 5 questions about the current state of the Impact.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Peter Gobis of the Attleboro Sun writes that for the first time ever the Revs had no All Star caliber players this season, and its showing in the standings.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

John Duerdan of Sports Illustrated writes about Tim Cahill chosing New York over a return to his native Australia.

dN

Kristian Dyer of Big Apple Soccer talks to Joel Lindpere about his continued all-out effort for the Bulls.

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News writes that the Union needs to open their wallet if they want to compete.

dN

Marc Narducci of the Inquirer sees the teams chances of making the playoffs as long.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Steven Lenhart is expected to return to the field after sitting out with a concussion.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

The Canadian Press writes about the return from long term injury of Atiba Harris, an at times quality attacking player.
-Harris is also known as an awkward player who is prone to lash out and injure opposing players, earning him the nickname Atiba the Hun.

MLS SUMMER FRIENDLIES

Matches + Scores:
-Sat Jul 28
DC United v Paris Saint-Germain(France)
Venue: RFL Stadium – Washington DC

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

NASL SCOREBOARD

Matches + Scores:
-Sat Jul 28
Fort Lauderdale Strikers v Atlanta Silverbacks
Puerto Rico Islanders v Minnesota Stars
Tampa Bay Rowdies v FC Edmonton
San Antonio Scorpions v Carolina RailHawks

Watch online

Standings
32 San Antonio (+10)
30 Tampa Bay (+4)
28 Puerto Rico (+5)
26 Minnesota (+1)
24 Carolina (+3)
24 Fort Lauderdale (-4)
16 Edmonton (-4)
14 Atlanta (-15)

USL PDL

Playoffs

SEMIFINALS
Matches + Scores:
-Sat Jul 28
Orlando City U23 v Carolina Dynamo
Seattle Sounders FC U23 v Forest City London

FINAL
-Sat Aug 4

MEXICO

Liga MX Apertura Round 2
Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Morelia v Monterrey
Leon v Tijuana
-Sat Jul 28
America v Jaguares
Tigres UANL v Atlante
Pachuca v Atlas
San Luis v Cruz Azul
-Sun Jul 29
Pumas UNAM v Queretaro
Puebla v Toluca
Guadalajara v Santos Laguna

FRANCE

AFP reports that two French players have been suspended for abusing media during Euro 2012 - Samir Nasri 3 games and Jeremy Menez 1 game.

ENDERS

Mario Balotelli loves the UFC, and if he wasn't a football player would love to be a mixed martial arts fighter.

Some Soccer News for Thu Jul 26, 2012

STARTERS

The 4th episode of the du Nord Futbol Show podcast is now ready for you to listen. Check it out right here.

dN

All credit goes to David Beckham for spending the previous 2 days in London on official England Olympic duty, flying to Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon, starting for the MLS All Stars on Wednesday night and playing 74 minutes, helping them beat Chelsea culminating with a trademark long range pass of perfection, fulfilling tons of media requests, then getting back on an airplane to return to London for more Olympic duty. At 37 years old the guy is quite the amazing athlete.
-Imagine what the guy could accomplish if he dedicated himself to the LA Galaxy full time over the past 5 years.

dN

Tim Cahill is now officially a member of the New York Red Bulls. Video.
-Brian Lewis of the New York Post delivers to us an official statement from Cahill.

dN

There are only two more days in the MLS summer transfer period, so expect a bunch more moves.

TASTIEST MLS GAME OF THE WEEK

Friday night its #2 v #3 in the West: Real Salt Lake v Vancouver Whitecaps!!!

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

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

USA WOMEN AT THE OLYMPICS

Matchday 2 on Saturday. Are you ready?

dN

Group Stage
Matches + Scores:
-Wed Jul 25
USA 4-2 France - USA goals by Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan(2) + Carli Lloyd. Fra goals by Gaetane Thiney + Marie-Laure Delie.
-Sat Jul 28
USA v Colombia - 11am CT on NBCSN
-Tue Jul 31
USA v N Korea - 11:15am CT on NBCSN

MENS OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated with a wrap up of Matchday 1 at the men's tourney.

Groups

GROUP A
3 Uruguay (+1)
1 Great Britain (0)
1 Senegal (0)
0 UAE (-1)
GROUP B
1 Gabon (0)
1 Mexico (0)
1 N Korea (0)
1 Switzerland (0)
GROUP C
3 Belarus (+1)
3 Brazil (+1)
0 Egypt (-1)
0 New Zealand (-1)
GROUP D
3 Japan (+1)
1 Honduras (0)
1 Morocco (0)
0 Spain (-1)

dN

Matches + Scores:

GROUP STAGE
Matchday 1
-Thu Jul 26
UAE 1-2 Uruguay
Great Britain 1-1 Senegal
Mexico 0-0 N Korea
Gabon 1-1 Switzerland
Belarus 1-0 New Zealand
Brazil 3-2 Egypt
Spain 0-1 Japan
Honduras 2-2 Morocco
Matchday 2
-Sun Jul 29
Senegal v Uruguay - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Great Britain v UAE - 1:45pm CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Gabon - GROUP B
N Korea v Switzerland - GROUP B
Brazil v Belarus - 9:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP C
Egypt v New Zealand - GROUP C
Spain v Honduras - GROUP D
Japan v Morocco - GROUP D
Matchday 3
-Wed Aug 1
Great Britain v Uruguay - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Senegal v UAE - 2:50pm CT in progress on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Switzerland - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
N Korea v Gabon - GROUP B
Brazil v New Zealand - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Egypt v Belarus - GROUP C
Japan v Honduras - GROUP D
Spain v Morocco - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I was asked by the mgr to step up and play 90 in place of an injured teammate. I would do the same for any teammate. Time to #RISEandSHINE.
-Jay DeMerit on Twitter last night after being asked to go the full 90 in the All Star game last night after originally being scheduled to go only 45.

ODD BUT 100% TRUE

The Aug 12 New England Revolution home game will be paired with a 3 fight boxing card at Gillette Stadium. After the Revs game fans can stay to watch some local boxers go at it, and for an additional $100/$60/$40 they can get a seat near the ring. (Otherwise they will fill some unannounced seats in the stadium to watch the fights.)
-Hey look, at least they are trying something new. I will let you be the judge on whether or not it sounds stupid.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

ABC Nightline with a feature on David Beckham and the London Olympics.

MLS 2012 ALL STAR GAME

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com has a whole bunch of post-game quotes.

dN

Christopher Vito of Delaware County Daily Mail with more quotes on and from the Philadelphia Union contingent.

dN

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News says that the All Star players really enjoyed themselves.

dN

John Smallwood of the Daily News with some post-game and over-all analysis.

dN

Chelsea provided their own match report.

dN

Great moment of the night was the Philly fans singing "You're not English over there" to all the American posers who watch big teams from around the world, especially the EPL, but take every chance they get to put down MLS. Nicely played!

dN

Aurelien Collin suffered two facial fractures in his collision with Michael Essien. He is expected to be out up to 2 weeks. He was going to miss the Open Cup championship anyway due to yellow card accumulation. So he will get more time to rest.

dN

Tim Cahill was in the stands in Philadelphia last night.

dN

Great passers sprung the MLS goals - Donovan, Henry, Beckham, DeRosario and Beckerman.

dN

I couldn't decide between Jay DeMerit and Dwayne DeRosario for MVP.

dN

Match + Score:
-Wed Jul 25 MLS 3-2 Chelsea(England) - MLS goals by Chris Wondolowski, Chris Pontius + Eddie Johnson. Che goals by John Terry + Frank Lampard.
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
Atten: 19,236 - a stadium record

MLS MATCHES AND SCORES

WEEK 21

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Real Salt Lake v Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
-Sat Jul 28
Toronto FC v Houston Dynamo at 3:30PM CT
Venue: BMO Field
Montreal Impact v New York Red Bulls at 6:30PM CT
Venue: Saputo Stadium
FC Dallas v LA Galaxy on NBCSN at 7:00PM CT
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
Sporting Kansas City v Columbus Crew at 7:30PM CT
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Colorado Rapids v Seattle Sounders FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
San Jose Earthquakes v Chicago Fire SC at 9:30PM CT
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Portland Timbers v CD Chivas USA at 10:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
-Sun Jul 29
Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution on NBCSN at 6:00PM CT
Venue: PPL Park

MLS STANDINGS

EAST
38 New York Red Bulls (+8)
37 Sporting Kansas City (+7)
34 Houston Dynamo (+6)
33 DC United (+7)
31 Chicago Fire SC (0)
-----
25 Columbus Crew (-1)
24 Montreal Impact (-12)
23 New England Revolution (0)
20 Philadelphia Union (-1)
19 Toronto FC (-12)
WEST
43 San Jose Earthquakes (+17)
39 Real Salt Lake (+7)
34 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-1)
31 Seattle Sounders FC (+4)
30 LA Galaxy (+3)
-----
23 CD Chivas USA (-8)
22 Colorado Rapids (-3)
22 FC Dallas (-5)
19 Portland Timbers (-16)

MLS TEAM AND PLAYER NEWS

General News

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN with his weekly MLS column, on Chris Wondolowski and the goal record, Tim Cahill to New York, the surging Galaxy, the playoff races and the supporters shield.

Player Transactions

Chicago Fire has loaned midfielder Rafael Robayo to Millonarios of Colombia, the team from wence he came.

dN

Sporting Kansas City has signed 23 year old goalkeeper Scott Angevine who was formerly a member of their academy.

DC UNITED

Craig Stouffer of the Examiner talks to one of the new investors in DCU Jason Levien. Priorities 1, 2 + 3 are a new stadium.

REAL SALT LAKE

Martin Renzhofer of the Tribune says the Salt Lake staff is keeping tabs on the standings and possible playoff scenarios already.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Marc Weber of the Province conducts a Q + A with the teams new midfielder Barry Robson.

dN

John Molinaro of Sports Net writes about Whitecaps assistant coach Carl Robinson.

USA U20 TEAM

The team lost the 3rd place game at the annual Milk Cup in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

And Mexico wins yet another youth tournament. They have been absolutely destroying it the past 3 or 4 years. World beware.

dN

Matches + Scores:
Playoffs
-Thu Jul 26
1st Place - Denmark 0-3 Mexico
3rd Place - USA 3-4 Chile - USA goals by Walker Zimmerman, Benji Joya + Victor Pineda(PK).
5th Place - N Ireland 1-0 Turkey

dN

Roster
G:
Cody Cropper - Unattached
Kendall McIntosh - Santa Clara
D:
AJ Cochran - Wisconsin
Holden Fender - Concorde Fire
Eric Miller - Creighton
Juan Pablo Ocegueda - UANL Tigres
Boyd Okwuonu - North Carolina
Walker Zimmerman - Furman
M:
Benji Joya - Santos Laguna
Mikey Lopez - North Carolina
Collin Martin - DC United Academy
Daniel Metzger - Maryland
Dillon Serna - Colorado Rapids Academy
Wil Trapp - Akron
F:
Daniel Cuevas - Santos Laguna
Alfred Koroma - Solar Chelsea
Victor Pineda - Chicago Fire
Mario Rodriguez - Kaiserslautern

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Michael Bradley scored his first goal for Roma last night opening the scoring in the 2nd half against Liverpool.
dN

The Sentinel in Stoke writes about other teams trying to steal Geoff Cameron away from Stoke City at the last minute.
-Thanks to Bart for the link.

dN

More from the Sentinel as former Stoke player an current Orlando head coach Adrian Heath raves about Cameron.

dN

Game Action:

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Second qualifying round - 2nd Leg
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - Jul 26 - played the whole game but got blown out 0-5 v Twente.
Giuseppe Funicello - Thor Akureyri - Thu Jul 26 - played the full 90 but lost 0-1 v Mlada Boleslav.
Leo Krupnick - Maccabi Netanya - Thu Jul 26 - on the bench as they won 0-1 at KuPS.
Etchu Tabe - KuPS - Thu Jul 26 - went the distance but lost 0-1 v Maccabi Netanya.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Only 1 American played in the Copa last night, and that was defender Ventura Alvarado making his debut for America in a losing effort.

dN

Game Action:

COPA MEXICO - Matchday 1
Ventura Alvarado - America - Wed Jul 25 - went the distance but lost at Veracruz.
Adrian Ruelas - Veracruz - Wed Jul 25 - on the bench but did not play as they won 2-1 v America.

COPA MEXICO

Only 2 of the 8 Liga teams who played on Wed got a win, so another big night for the 2nd division!

Group Stage
28 teams - 14 from Liga (all but top 4 who are in CONCAChampions) + 14 from Asencio

Group 1
3 Dorados
1 Est Tecos
1 Morelia
0 Leon
Group 2
3 Altamira
3 Cruz Azul
0 Atlas
0 Toros Nexa
Group 3
3 Univ Guadalajara
1 Atlante
1 La Piedad
0 Pachuca
Group 4
3 Chiapas Jaguares
3 San Luis
0 Pumas Morelos
0 Necaxa
Group 5
3 Correcaminos UAT
3 Veracruz
0 America
0 Queretaro
Group 6
1 Merida
1 Tijuana
1 Celaya
1 Pumas UNAM
Group 7
3 Lobos BUAP
3 Irapuato
0 Puebla
0 Toluca

dN

Matchday 1
Matches + Scores:
-Wed Jul 25
Pumas Morelos 1-2 San Luis
Cruz Azul 3-0 Toros Neza
Univ Guadalajara 1-0 Pachuca
Celaya 0-0 Pumas UNAM
Irapuato 3-2 Puebla
Altamira 3-2 Atlas
Atlante 1-1 La Piedad
Veracruz 2-1 America

Matchday 2 is next Tue + Wed.

ENDERS

If the trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey was cut today for a summer 2012 release, what would it look like?

Some Soccer News for Wed Jul 25, 2012

STARTERS

The 4th episode of the du Nord Futbol Show podcast is now ready for you to listen. Check it out right here.

dN

The MLS summer transfer window closes on Fri Jul 27.

dN

Great comeback win for the USA Women today to start the Olympic tournament. Trailing 0-2 just 16 minutes into the match they stormed back to tie before half time and grab 2 more in the second half for a commanding 4-2 win.

dN

CONCACAF Champions League that starts next Tuesday!

dN

All of the MLS players will be wired up to the new Adidas mi-coach for tonight's All Star game, and you can track the as it happens data gathering right here.

STORY OF THE DAY 1

Arash Markazi on ESPN sees the LA Galaxy brand growing into a legitimate world wide power.

I think those black and gold uniforms the LA Galaxy have worn a few times lately are really sharp. This is the team that lined up last night in the friendly against Tottenham.

DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS

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

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS


USA WOMEN AT THE OLYMPICS

Group Stage
Matches + Scores:
-Wed Jul 25
USA 4-2 France - USA goals by Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan(2) + Carli Lloyd. Fra goals by Gaetane Thiney + Marie-Laure Delie.
-Sat Jul 28
USA v Colombia - 11am CT on NBCSN
-Tue Jul 31
USA v N Korea - 11:15am CT on NBCSN

dN

Roster
G
Hope Solo
Nicole Barnhart
D
Rachel Buehler
Amy LePeilbet
Heather Mitts
Kelley O'Hara
Christie Rampone
Becky Sauerbrunn
M
Shannon Boxx
Heather O'Reilly
Carli Lloyd
Lauren Cheney
Megan Rapinoe
Tobin Heath
F
Sydney Leroux
Alex Morgan
Amy Rodriguez
Abby Wambach

MENS OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT

Groups

GROUP A
Great Britain
Senegal
UAE
Uruguay
GROUP B
Gabon
Mexico
N Korea
Switzerland
GROUP C
Belarus
Brazil
Egypt
New Zealand
GROUP D
Honduras
Japan
Morocco
Spain

dN

Matches + Scores:

GROUP STAGE
Matchday 1
-Thu Jul 26
UAE v Uruguay - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Great Britain v Senegal - 2:00pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Mexico v N Korea - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
Gabon v Switzerland - 10:45am CT on MSNBC - GROUP B
Belarus v New Zealand - 3:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Brazil v Egypt - 1:45pm CT on MSNBC - GROUP C
Spain v Japan - 8:45am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D
Honduras v Morocco - 6:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP D
Matchday 2
-Sun Jul 29
Senegal v Uruguay - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Great Britain v UAE - 1:45pm CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Gabon - GROUP B
N Korea v Switzerland - GROUP B
Brazil v Belarus - 9:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP C
Egypt v New Zealand - GROUP C
Spain v Honduras - GROUP D
Japan v Morocco - GROUP D
Matchday 3
-Wed Aug 1
Great Britain v Uruguay - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Senegal v UAE - 2:50pm CT in progress on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Switzerland - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
N Korea v Gabon - GROUP B
Brazil v New Zealand - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Egypt v Belarus - GROUP C
Japan v Honduras - GROUP D
Spain v Morocco - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D

QUARTERFINALS
-Sat Aug 4
A: D-1 v C-2 - 6:00am CT on MSNBC
B: B-1 v A-2 - 8:30am CT on MSNBC
C: C-1 v D-2 - 11:00am CT on MSNBC
D: A-1 v B-2 - 1:30pm CT on MSNBC

SEMIFINALS
-Tue Aug 7
Winner A v B - 11:00am CT on NBCSN
Winner C v D - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN

BRONZE-MEDAL
-Fri Aug 10
Losers - 8:00am CT on MSNBC

GOLD-MEDAL
-Sat Aug 11
Winners - 9:00am CT on NBCSN

QUOTE OF THE DAY

NYC remains our top priority for our 20th team. We are still having discussions in Miami, Atlanta, Minneapolis and some other markets.
-MLS commissioner Don Garber today, Wed Jul 26, during fan chat on Facebook.

WELL WELL WELL

TV Guide, yes TV Guide, has an article on Chris Wondolowski being the real star of the MLS All Star team.

FACT OF THE DAY

Colorado has signed their goalkeeper Matt Pickens to a fat new multi-year contract. Good move.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Steve Goff of the Washington Post with a feature story on DC United head coach Ben Olsen.

MLS 2012 ALL STAR GAME

Brian Straus of Sporting News previews the MLS team that was thrown together 2 days ago for tonight's game.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com talks to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter about his city having an MLS team and hosting the All Star game. He has become a fan of the sport.
-Philly.com has photos from a big MLS party last night.

dN

Matt Schwab of the San Jose Mercury News writes about three Bay Area players who all represent the San Jose Earthquakes in the All Star game.

dN

13 more MLS players were named as reserves to the All Star squad today, mostly for contract bonus purposes. Here they are:
-Its really too bad that there are several players who are having great seasons that did not make this list and 7 players on this list that I disagree with.
Jon Busch - San Jose Earthquakes
Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
Marvin Chavez - San Jose Earthquakes
Kenny Cooper - New York Red Bulls
Brad Davis - Houston Dynamo
Fabian Espindola - Real Salt Lake
Roger Espinoza - Sporting Kansas City
Kei Kamara - Sporting Kansas City
Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders
Jamison Olave - Real Salt Lake
Marco Pappa - Chicago Fire
Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
Brek Shea - FC Dallas

Match + Score:
-Wed Jul 25 MLS v Chelsea(England) - 7:30pm CT
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA

MLS MATCHES AND SCORES

WEEK 21

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Real Salt Lake v Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
-Sat Jul 28
Toronto FC v Houston Dynamo at 3:30PM CT
Venue: BMO Field
Montreal Impact v New York Red Bulls at 6:30PM CT
Venue: Saputo Stadium
FC Dallas v LA Galaxy on NBCSN at 7:00PM CT
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
Sporting Kansas City v Columbus Crew at 7:30PM CT
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Colorado Rapids v Seattle Sounders FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
San Jose Earthquakes v Chicago Fire SC at 9:30PM CT
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Portland Timbers v CD Chivas USA at 10:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
-Sun Jul 29
Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution on NBCSN at 6:00PM CT
Venue: PPL Park

MLS STANDINGS

EAST
38 New York Red Bulls (+8)
37 Sporting Kansas City (+7)
34 Houston Dynamo (+6)
33 DC United (+7)
31 Chicago Fire SC (0)
-----
25 Columbus Crew (-1)
24 Montreal Impact (-12)
23 New England Revolution (0)
20 Philadelphia Union (-1)
19 Toronto FC (-12)
WEST
43 San Jose Earthquakes (+17)
39 Real Salt Lake (+7)
34 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-1)
31 Seattle Sounders FC (+4)
30 LA Galaxy (+3)
-----
23 CD Chivas USA (-8)
22 Colorado Rapids (-3)
22 FC Dallas (-5)
19 Portland Timbers (-16)

MLS TEAM AND PLAYER NEWS

Punishment

Landon Donovan will not play for LA this weekend due to a 1 game suspension after picking up his 5th yellow card of the season.

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Jose Ortiz of the Chronicle with an article on first year player Warren Creavalle.

LA GALAXY

David Beckham is not expected to play for LA this weekend due to his inclusion in the London Olympics opening ceremonies the day before.

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Brian Lewis of the Post reports that Tim Cahill is in New York and his new Red Bulls teammates are pretty excited.

REAL SALT LAKE

Martin Renzhofer of the Tribune writes about RSL's prep for CONCACAF Champions League that starts next Tuesday. Yes, next Tuesday.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC

Russell Berrisford of the Sun looks at how BC Place has become a real home field advantage for the Caps.

MLS SUMMER FRIENDLIES

In six games last night Colorado + Columbus won, LA, Montreal + Portland got ties, and Kansas City was blanked in a loss.
-Soccer By Ives has a quick wrap up of all the games.

dN

Just added:
-Sat Sep 8
Chicago Fire v Santos Laguna(Mexico)
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL

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Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 24
LA Galaxy 1-1 Tottenham(England)
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Sporting Kansas City 0-3 Montpellier(France)
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS
Colorado Rapids 2-1 Swansea City(England)
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Columbus Crew 2-1 Stoke City(England)
Venue: Crew Stadium
Montreal Impact 1-1 Lyon(France)
Venue: Saputo Stadium
Portland Timbers 2-2 Aston Villa(England)
Venue: Jeld-Wen Field - Portland OR

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

USA U20 TEAM

The team will next play on Thursday in the 3rd place game of the annual Milk Cup in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

BBC Northern Ireland always has the best coverage.

Matches + Scores:
Playoffs
-Thu Jul 26

1st Place - Denmark v Mexico
3rd Place - USA v Chile
5th Place - N Ireland v Turkey

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Sky Sports talks to Tim Ream about the Bolton preseason.

dN

Coming Up:

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Second qualifying round - 2nd Leg
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - Jul 26 v Twente
Mikkel Diskerud - Gent - Thu Jul 26 at Differdange
Giuseppe Funicello - Thor Akureyri - Thu Jul 26 v Mlada Boleslav
Jann George - Senica - Thu Jul 26 v APOEL
Leo Krupnick - Maccabi Netanya - Thu Jul 26 at KuPS
Etchu Tabe - KuPS - Thu Jul 26 v Maccabi Netanya

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Game Action:

COPA MEXICO - Matchday 1
Isaac Acuna - Merida - Tue Jul 24 - started and went 72 min as they tied 0-0 at Tijuana.
Greg Garza - Tijuana - Tue Jul 24 - went the full 90 as they tied 0-0 v Merida.
Sonny Guadarrama - Merida - Tue Jul 24 - played the whole game as they tied 0-0 at Tijuana.
Alejandro Guido - Tijuana - Tue Jul 24 - on the bench as they tied 0-0 v Merida.
Marco Vidal - Lobos BUAP - Tue Jul 24 - played the whole match and won 1-3 at Toluca.
William Yarbrough - Leon - Tue Jul 24 - went the full 90 but lost 2-1 at Dorados.

dN

Coming Up:

COPA MEXICO - Matchday 1
Ventura Alvarado - America - Wed Jul 25 at Veracruz
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - Wed Jul 25 at Irapuato
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - Wed Jul 25 at Pumas Morelos
Adrian Ruelas - Veracruz - Wed Jul 25 v America
Jose Torres - Pachuca - Wed Jul 25 at Univ Guadalajara

COPA MEXICO

5 of the 6 games last brought unexpected results. Thats what its all about!!

Group Stage
28 teams - 14 from Liga (all but top 4 who are in CONCAChampions) + 14 from Asencio

Group 1
3 Dorados
1 Est Tecos
1 Morelia
0 Leon
Group 2
Altamira
Atlas
Cruz Azul
Toros Nexa
Group 3
Atlante
La Piedad
Pachuca
Univ Guadalajara
Group 4
3 Chiapas Jaguares
Pumas Morelos
San Luis
0 Necaxa
Group 5
3 Correcaminos UAT
America
Veracruz
0 Queretaro
Group 6
1 Merida
1 Tijuana
Celaya
Pumas UNAM
Group 7
3 Lobos BUAP
Irapuato
Puebla
0 Toluca

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Matchday 1
Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 24
Morelia 1-1 Est Tecos
Jaguares 1-0 Necaxa
Queretaro 1-2 Correcaminos UAT
Dorados 2-1 Leon
Tijuana 0-0 Merida
Toluca 1-3 Lobos BUAP
-Wed Jul 25
Pumas Morelos v San Luis
Cruz Azul v Toros Neza
Univ Guuadalajara v Pachuca
Celaya v Pumas UNAM
Irapuato v Puebla
Altamira v Atlas
Atlante v La Piedad
Veracruz v America

The du Nord Futbol Show Podcast Ep. 4

Episode 4 of the du Nord Futbol Show podcast has been posted!

dN

On this show we discuss Zombie Peter Nowak, The MLS All-Hair Team, Terrence Boyd's Austrian debut, Tim Cahill coming to America, plus other transfers, and a critique of the MLS powerhouse teams.

dN

Your hosts Bruce McGuire and Wes Burdine hope you enjoy it, and look forward to your questions and comments.

dN

Download or listen via iTunes here.

Listen to or download the MP3 version here.

Subscribe to the RSS feed here.

dN

Find us on Facebook at the du Nord Futbol Show

Talk to us on Twitter (Bruce) @dunord and (Wes) @MnNiceFC

And my email address is up there in the top right section of the blog.

MLS And North American Summer Friendlies

Here is a list of all the summer club friendlies involving mostly MLS teams against foreign opponents that you will have a chance to see here on North American soil.

Matches + Scores:

-Wed Aug 8
Milan(Italy) v Real Madrid(Spain)
Venue: Yankee Stadium - New York NY

-Sat Aug 11
Real Madrid(Spain) v Celtic(Scotland)
Venue: Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia

-Sat Sep 8
Chicago Fire v Santos Laguna(Mexico)
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL

-Sun Sep 9
FC Dallas v Leon FC(Mexico)
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium - Frisco TX



Please let us know if we missed any.

Some Soccer News for Tue Jul 24, 2012

STARTERS

The 3rd du Nord MLS Hot List - which teams are currently hot and which ones are not.

STORY OF THE DAY 1

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com reports that former Philadelphia Union head coach Peter Nowak has filed a lawsuit against the Union for wrongful termination and unpaid severance package. In the article Tannenwald unearths the Unions detailed reasoning for firing Nowak. Its not pretty.

The Philadelphia Union released a one sentence statement: "The team disputes the allegations in complaint & will vigorously defend against the lawsuit."

STORY OF THE DAY 1

Roger Bennett of ESPN looks at MLS' new drive to build a national identity for the league.

USA WOMEN AT THE OLYMPICS

Group Stage
Matches + Scores:
-Wed Jul 25
USA v France - 11am CT on NBCSN
-Sat Jul 28
USA v Colombia - 11am CT on NBCSN
-Tue Jul 31
USA v N Korea - 11:15am CT on NBCSN

dN

Roster
G
Hope Solo
Nicole Barnhart
D
Rachel Buehler
Amy LePeilbet
Heather Mitts
Kelley O'Hara
Christie Rampone
Becky Sauerbrunn
M
Shannon Boxx
Heather O'Reilly
Carli Lloyd
Lauren Cheney
Megan Rapinoe
Tobin Heath
F
Sydney Leroux
Alex Morgan
Amy Rodriguez
Abby Wambach

MENS OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT

Groups

GROUP A
Great Britain
Senegal
UAE
Uruguay
GROUP B
Gabon
Mexico
N Korea
Switzerland
GROUP C
Belarus
Brazil
Egypt
New Zealand
GROUP D
Honduras
Japan
Morocco
Spain

dN

Matches + Scores:

GROUP STAGE
Matchday 1
-Thu Jul 26
UAE v Uruguay - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Great Britain v Senegal - 2:00pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Mexico v N Korea - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
Gabon v Switzerland - 10:45am CT on MSNBC - GROUP B
Belarus v New Zealand - 3:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Brazil v Egypt - 1:45pm CT on MSNBC - GROUP C
Spain v Japan - 8:45am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D
Honduras v Morocco - 6:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP D
Matchday 2
-Sun Jul 29
Senegal v Uruguay - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Great Britain v UAE - 1:45pm CT on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Gabon - GROUP B
N Korea v Switzerland - GROUP B
Brazil v Belarus - 9:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP C
Egypt v New Zealand - GROUP C
Spain v Honduras - GROUP D
Japan v Morocco - GROUP D
Matchday 3
-Wed Aug 1
Great Britain v Uruguay - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN - GROUP A
Senegal v UAE - 2:50pm CT in progress on MSNBC - GROUP A
Mexico v Switzerland - 11:00am CT on NBCSN - GROUP B
N Korea v Gabon - GROUP B
Brazil v New Zealand - 8:30am CT on NBCSN - GROUP C
Egypt v Belarus - GROUP C
Japan v Honduras - GROUP D
Spain v Morocco - 11:00am CT on MSNBC - GROUP D

QUARTERFINALS
-Sat Aug 4
A: D-1 v C-2 - 6:00am CT on MSNBC
B: B-1 v A-2 - 8:30am CT on MSNBC
C: C-1 v D-2 - 11:00am CT on MSNBC
D: A-1 v B-2 - 1:30pm CT on MSNBC

SEMIFINALS
-Tue Aug 7
Winner A v B - 11:00am CT on NBCSN
Winner C v D - 1:45pm CT on NBCSN

BRONZE-MEDAL
-Fri Aug 10
Losers - 8:00am CT on MSNBC

GOLD-MEDAL
-Sat Aug 11
Winners - 9:00am CT on NBCSN

BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD ALL DAY

Look at this will ya.... Former DC United MLS Cup winning hero Alecko Eskandarian writes for Sports Illustrated on the arrival of Tim Cahill to the New York Red Bulls, and what this will do for their starting lineup.

Great to see Eskandarian's name at SI.

Y'ALL READY FOR THIS?

Todd Date of 3rd Degree talks to Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman about the status of star player Brek Shea who has had a big falling out with the coach.

Date also talks to Hyndman, who is on the MLS Technical Committee, about some of the inner-workings of the league.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Yesterday I asked the simple question - Why did the New York Red Bulls give up on right winger Dane Richards? And one of the best people in all of Metroland answered that question for us - Dan Ryazansky of Metrofanatic:

Richards is a free agent after the season who wants to go to Europe. Le Toux is a free agent as well. So, basically you're making a trade for the rest of the year. The team only has TWO strikers, Titi and Cooper. Richards is definitely not a striker, although has played there with limited success. Meanwhile, Solli has been freed from his right-back-by-necessity position by the emerging Barklage. So Solli (when healthy) is free to play in the midfield, especially at his preferred right midfield position. So either Solli replaces Richards on the right and Le Toux enters the forward rotation (remember, Titi misses a lot of games for various reasons), or Le Toux plays on the right and Solli becomes a midfield jack-of-all-trades. It also fits with the Cahill signing: they can now roll many parts in midfield and up front, adjusting due to injuries or other factors.

WELL WELL WELL

Spain wins yet another world championship! How many medals can one neck hold up at a time?

STAT OF THE DAY

In the past 8 games Landon Donovan has scored 7 goals and set up 5 more.

Combine him with Robbie Keane and David Beckham and the trio has scored 17 goals in those 8 games. Wow.

THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Brian Sciaretta of the New York Times writes about the rapid return from knee surgery for LA Galaxy centerback Omar Gonzalez.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Wha??????? On Sunday Manchester City star Carlos Tevez played golf caddy for countryman Andres Romero at the British Open. Brilliant!

MLS 2012 ALL STAR GAME

Dwayne DeRosario has been named team captain.

dN

Philadelphia Union midfielder Michael Farfan has been added to the All Star team.

dN

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN has a very strong list of another 11 players who easily could have been on the All Star team.

dN

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com does an All-Star-centric Q + A with Jay DeMerit.

Match + Score:
-Wed Jul 25 MLS v Chelsea(England) - 7:30pm CT
Venue: PPL Park - Chester PA
MLS MATCHES AND SCORES

WEEK 21

Matches + Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Real Salt Lake v Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
-Sat Jul 28
Toronto FC v Houston Dynamo at 3:30PM CT
Venue: BMO Field
Montreal Impact v New York Red Bulls at 6:30PM CT
Venue: Saputo Stadium
FC Dallas v LA Galaxy on NBCSN at 7:00PM CT
Venue: FC Dallas Stadium
Sporting Kansas City v Columbus Crew at 7:30PM CT
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park
Colorado Rapids v Seattle Sounders FC at 8:00PM CT
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
San Jose Earthquakes v Chicago Fire SC at 9:30PM CT
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium
Portland Timbers v CD Chivas USA at 10:00PM CT
Venue: JELD-WEN Field
-Sun Jul 29
Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution on NBCSN at 6:00PM CT
Venue: PPL Park

MLS MATCH NOTES

Leading Goal Scorers:
(As of Tue Jul 24)
17 Chris Wondolowski
13 Kenny Cooper
11 Alvaro Saborio
10 Will Bruin
10 Thierry Henry
9 Landon Donovan
9 Alan Gordon
9 Robbie Keane
9 Danny Koevermans
9 Chris Pontius
8 Eddie Johnson
8 Saer Sene

MLS STANDINGS

EAST
38 New York Red Bulls (+8)
37 Sporting Kansas City (+7)
34 Houston Dynamo (+6)
33 DC United (+7)
31 Chicago Fire SC (0)
-----
25 Columbus Crew (-1)
24 Montreal Impact (-12)
23 New England Revolution (0)
20 Philadelphia Union (-1)
19 Toronto FC (-12)
WEST
43 San Jose Earthquakes (+17)
39 Real Salt Lake (+7)
34 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (-1)
31 Seattle Sounders FC (+4)
30 LA Galaxy (+3)
-----
23 CD Chivas USA (-8)
22 Colorado Rapids (-3)
22 FC Dallas (-5)
19 Portland Timbers (-16)

MLS TEAM AND PLAYER NEWS

Player Transactions

Chicago has signed 28 year old Dutch forward Sherjill MacDonald from Beerschot in Belgium.

dN

Chicago opened up the spot on their roster by loaning out forward Federico Puppo to Defensor Sporting in Uruguayan.

MONTREAL IMPACT

Jon Spratt of Sports Net wonders if Alessandro Nestra can help fix the Impacts terrible backline.
-Whoever thought a backline featuring Nelson Rivas was a solid idea had obviously not paying attention to how terrible he was the past few years in Italy. And I mean terrible.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Lisa Erickson of Bay Area Bias looks at the huge effect Hondurans Marvin Chavez and Victor Bernardez have had on the Earthquakes fantastic season.

TORONTO FC

Daniel Rouse of Sports Net sees Terry Dunfield as a key player for TFC's future. Really? Are you sure?

MLS SUMMER FRIENDLIES

Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 24
LA Galaxy v Tottenham(England)
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
Sporting Kansas City v Montpellier(France)
Venue: Livestrong Sporting Park - Kansas City KS
Colorado Rapids v Swansea City(England)
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Columbus Crew v Stoke City(England)
Venue: Crew Stadium
Montreal Impact v Lyon(France)
Venue: Saputo Stadium
Portland Timbers v Aston Villa(England)
Venue: Jeld-Wen Field - Portland OR

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

US SOCCER DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY

The 2011-12 Academy League Finals in Houston

The two age groups both have 8 teams in the final and they will play a group stage followed by a placement stage.

dN

U15/16

The New York Red Bulls are champions. Huge congrats to them!

Matches + Scores:
-Mon Jul 23
Seventh place - Charlotte Soccer Academy 0-3 DC United
Fifth place - Pateadores 2-0 PA Classics
Third place - Chicago Fire 1-1 Crew Soccer Academy Wolves - CSAW wins 6-5 in Penalty Kick Shootout.
Championship - New York Red Bulls 1-0 St Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri - 8pm CT at BBVA Compass Stadium

dN

U17/18

FC Dallas has won the championship! Huge congrats to them.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

2 Americans advanced to the next stage of the Champions League today. See details below.

dN

Game Action:

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Second qualifying round - 2nd Leg
Josh Gatt - Molde - Tue Jul 24 - was not dressed as they tied 1-1 at Ventspils and advanced 4-1 on aggregate.
Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona - Tue Jul 24 - went the full 90 as they won 2-1 v Zlina and advanced 2-1 on aggregate.

dN

Coming Up:

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - Second qualifying round - 2nd Leg
Daniel Antunez - Inter Turku - Jul 26 v Twente
Mikkel Diskerud - Gent - Thu Jul 26 at Differdange
Giuseppe Funicello - Thor Akureyri - Thu Jul 26 v Mlada Boleslav
Jann George - Senica - Thu Jul 26 v APOEL
Leo Krupnick - Maccabi Netanya - Thu Jul 26 at KuPS
Etchu Tabe - KuPS - Thu Jul 26 v Maccabi Netanya

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

The younger brother of Herculez Gomez, Ulysses, is a professional mixed marshall arts fighter and has been signed for a fight in the top division UFC on Aug 4. Huge congrats to him!

dN

Jon Arnold of the New York Times with an article on a player we seldom get to read anything about - Edgar Castillo of Tijuana.

dN

Coming Up:

COPA MEXICO - Matchday 1
Isaac Acuna - Merida - Tue Jul 24 at Tijuana
Ventura Alvarado - America - Wed Jul 25 at Veracruz
DaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - Wed Jul 25 at Irapuato
Edgar Castillo - Tijuana - Tue Jul 24 v Merida
Joe Corona - Tijuana - Tue Jul 24 v Merida
Greg Garza - Tijuana - Tue Jul 24 v Merida
Alexandre Gonzalez - Necaxa - Tue Jul 24 at Chiapas
Sonny Guadarrama - Merida - Tue Jul 24 at Tijuana
Alejandro Guido - Tijuana - Tue Jul 24 v Merida
Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - Wed Jul 25 at Pumas Morelos
Moises Orozco - Correcaminos - Tue Jul 24 at Queretaro
Adrian Ruelas - Veracruz - Wed Jul 25 v America
Jose Torres - Pachuca - Wed Jul 25 at Univ Guadalajara
Marco Vidal - Lobos BUAP - Tue Jul 24 at Toluca

COPA MEXICO

Group Stage
28 teams:
-14 from Liga (all but top 4 who are in CONCAChampions)
-14 from Asencio

Group 1
Dorados
Est Tecos
Leon
Morelia
Group 2
Altamira
Atlas
Cruz Azul
Toros Nexa
Group 3
Atlante
La Piedad
Pachuca
Univ Guadalajara
Group 4
Chiapas Jaguares
Necaxa
Pumas Morelos
San Luis
Group 5
America
Correcaminos UAT
Queretaro
Veracruz
Group 6
Celaya
Merida
Pumas UNAM
Tijuana
Group 7
Irapuato
Lobos BUAP
Puebla
Toluca

dN

Matchday 1
Matches + Scores:
-Tue Jul 24
Morelia v Est Tecos
Jaguares v Necaxa
Queretaro v Correcaminos UAT
Dorados v Leon
Tijuana v Merida
Toluca v Lobos BUAP
-Wed Jul 25
Pumas Morelos v San Luis
Cruz Azul v Toros Neza
Univ Guuadalajara v Pachuca
Celaya v Pumas UNAM
Irapuato v Puebla
Altamira v Atlas
Atlante v La Piedad
Veracruz v America

FRANCE

Ben Lyttleton of Sports Illustrated looks at the giant upside and the possible negative impact of Paris St Germain spending all that money to buy players.