Some Soccer News for Aug 25, 2016

It's Day 238 of 2016.


Yes FC Dallas does a great job with their youth academy, but winning needs to become a bigger priority. And they want that too. By Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated.

• Owner Dan Hunt: "I want to win [MLS] Cup. I want to win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. I want to win the Supporters' Shield, and I want to advance in the CONCACAF Champions League.”

dN

Orlando City plays New York City this weekend. The match up is very personal for OC coach Jason Kreis. By Paul Tenorio of Four Four Two.

dN

When is the last time that the RSL-Colorado game meant anything real? Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni knows that it does this season. By Jeff Carlisle of ESPNFC.

dN

Vancouver has shipped hatchet man Pa Modou Kah to their USL team (VWFC2) and signed him to a player/coach contract. By Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province.

dN

There are some real doozies on the schedule in MLS Week 25 this weekend:
-Fri Aug 26
Real Salt Lake v Colorado Rapids - 7pm CT on UniMas
-Sat Aug 27
Toronto v Montreal Impact - 6:30pm CT on MLS Live
Houston Dynamo v Dallas - 8:pm CT on MLS Live
-Sun Aug 28
Portland Timbers v Seattle Sounders - 4pm CT on ESPN
Orlando City v New York City - 6pm CT on FS1

dN

Supposedly we will see the roster for the USA Men's World Cup qualifying games some time on Sunday.

dN

NASL Week 19 - midweek game:
-Wed Aug 24
Ottawa Fury 0-0 Miami

dN

Miami rested a lot of their starters on the road last night and still got a point and a shutout. Good way to go. They host Minnesota on Sat.

• Miami + Minn are tied on points and goal differential in the standings, but Miami has played 1 less game.

dN

Kevin Venegas is back to full training for Minnesota United. The sooner he can get back into the lineup the better, but he doesn't need to rush back.

dN

Minnesota's Ibson has been suspended an extra game after a nasty foul lead to a Red Card last weekend at Jacksonville. He literally kicked a ball and let his follow-through jack a guy right in the gut with the bottom of his foot. And Ibson's action was retaliatory too. It was definitely a Red Card.

• According to a league spokesman 4 other NASL players have gotten extra game suspensions this season:

1. Adam Moffat of New York Cosmos on Aug 13
2. Michel of Rayo OKC on May 28
3. Billy Forbes of Rayo OKC on May 28
4. Simon Mensing of Carolina RailHawks on Apr 2

dN

Edmonton is leading the NASL because of the work they are doing on the road.

• They have 12 points from 9 road games

Compared to Minnesota who has just 6 road points from the same number of road games.

• Minn trails Ed by 8 points in the standings. You can clearly see why.

dN

Richard Chaplow of Orange County Blues adamantly denies using any homophobic slurs against Robbie Rogers. By Bob Williams of the Telegraph.

• However, Chaplow was given a 2 game suspension, so he must have said something that went over the line. They just don't hand out suspensions for cursing.

dN

Crowds: du Nord Music Mix Vol 93 (download + extract)

dN

CONCACAF Champions League group stage Matchday 3 schedule:

• Dallas got a tie in Nicaragua with both teams goal coming in the first 7 minutes of the game off headers from set pieces.

• Tigres got a solid home win.

• Viewing: Univision Deportes and Facebook.

-Wed Aug 24
Don Bosco 2-5 Arabe Unido
Tigres UANL 3-1 Plaza Amador
Real Esteli 1-1 Dallas
-Thu Aug 25
W Connection v Honduras Progreso
Dragon v Saprissa

dN

American DeAndre Yedlin was sold to Newcastle this week and has a chance to really prove himself at the new club. Here is his story in England so far, from ugly to solid. By Chris Young of the Guardian.

• Newcastle hosts Brighton + Hove Albion on Saturday.

dN

Bundesliga season openers for the 9 Americans:
-Fri Aug 26
(Julian Green) Bayern v Werder Bremen (Aron Johannsson)
-Sat Aug 27
(Christian Pulisic) Dortmund v Mainz
(Bobby Wood) Hamburg v Ingolstadt (Alredo Morales)
(Timmy Chandler) Eintracht Frankfurt v Schalke
(Fabian Johnson) Monchengladbach v Leverkusen
-Sun Aug 28
(John Brooks) Hertha v Freiburg
Hoffenheim v RB Leipzig (Terrence Boyd)

dN

We should it to be 5 titles in a row for Bayern Munich...unless... By Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian.

dN

Here are 17 Bundesliga players you should keep your eyes on this season. By Thomas Hautmann of Fox Soccer.

• The list goes deeper than just the half dozen big name players in the league. Several Americans make the list too, and maybe not the ones you might expect.

dN

UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw:

• American Fabian Johnson and Monchengladbach were drawn into brutally tough Group C against Barcelona, Manchester City, and Celtic.

Group A
1 Paris St Germain
2 Arsenal
3 Basel
4 Ludogorets
Group B
1 Benfica
2 Napoli
3 Dynamo Kyiv
4 Besiktas
Group C
1 Barcelona
2 Manchester City
3 Monchengladbach
4 Celtic
Group D
1 Bayern Munchen
2 Atletico Madrid
3 PSV Eindhoven
4 Rostov
Group E
1 CSKA Moscow
2 Leverkusen
3 Tottenham
4 Monaco
Group F
1 Real Mardid
2 Dortmund
3 Sporting Portugal
4 Legia Warszawa
Group G
1 Leicester
2 Porto
3 Brugge
4 Kobenhavn
Group H
1 Juventus
2 Sevilla
3 Lyon
4 Dinamo Zagreb



The Bird Is The Word