Some Soccer News for Oct 5 2015

VERY IMPORTANT: St Paul Stadium Town Hall Meeting - Tue Oct 6 - if you live in the Twin Cities then you must attend!

dN

In MLS
4 teams have now qualified for the MLS playoffs - DC, Red Bulls, Dallas and LA. 8 more slots are open.
-13 teams will fight for those 8 places.
-Colorado, Philadelphia and Chicago are OUT of the playoff race.

dN

Question I often ask myself: Has Klinsmann destroyed the confidence of Omar Gonzalez?
dN

Interesting stat on a guy who I usually think of as terrible: Chad Barrett has 56 goals in MLS. That is not the stat of a terrible player.

dN

In NASL
Ottawa has clinched a playoff spot. They join New York Cosmos (Spring season Champions.)
4 teams make the playoffs. The Spring and Fall champs get in, along with the 2 teams with the 3rd and 4th best combined points.
Minnesota looks destined for the #3 seed unless Ottawa completely collapses, which would be very hard to imagine at this point.

dN

Speaking of Minnesota, they beat Tampa Bay 1-0 on Sat night.
A goal from Christian Ramirez was the winner.
Ramirez has scored 31 goals in 53 games for MNUFC.
Four things of note from the game:
1 Tampa got a red card in the first half (2 yellows for fullback Ben Sweat) - so far this season Minn opponents have seen red 10 times, while only 1 time for the Loons. Astonishing.
2 Ibson had a very quiet game.
3 Greg Jordan had a very strong game.
4 Juliano Vicentini left in the first half with a hamstring injury. No word yet on severity. But that's never good news.

dN

And speaking of Greg Jordan. We need a Comicbook hero to represent him.
I have come up with 3 choices:
-Beast Boy - the vegan superhero
-Swampthing - vegetation all, plus if he loses a limb it just grows right back
-Scott Pilgrim - he looks just like Michael Cera from the movie
Which do you prefer?

dN

USL Semifinals coming up:
Sat - Rochester Rhinos(E1) v Louisville City(E2)
Sun - OKC Engery(W1) v LA Galaxy II(W5)

dN

Amazing long long long read story from Oxford American. Legendary Memphis musician & producer wrote this amazing personal history of discovering music throughout his life. Worth is for the hilarious chapter on Bo Diddley along. (Dickinson encountered him in 1949!)
THE SEARCH FOR BLIND LEMON By Jim Dickinson

dN

USA v MEX
Coming up on Sat Oct 10 at 8:30pm CT on FS1
USA Roster for CONCACAF Cup Final
G (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa FC), Tim Howard (Everton FC), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
D (9): Ventura Alvarado (CF America), DaMarcus Beasley (Houston Dynamo), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders). Fabian Johnson (Borussia VfL 1900 Monchengladbach), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente), Tim Ream (Fulham FC), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City FC)
M (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (FC Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Danny Williams (Reading FC), DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland AFC), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
F (4): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)

dN

USA Olympic qualifying team won 6-1 over Cuba on Saturday. Play Panama (0W 1D 1L) on Tuesday in final game of the group stage.
-2 wins, 8 scored, 1 allowed
-USA has already clinched a spot in the knockout round but wants to avoid Mexico in semifinal round as the 2 semifinal winners go to the Olympics.

dN

Bob Bradley and Stabæk won 1-4 on Saturday at Mjøndalen.
-Still in 2nd place with 4 games left in the Norwegian Tippeligaen season.

dN

Budweiser, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Visa have asked Sepp Blatter to leave FIFA immediately. He says NO!



The Bird Is The Word