Some Soccer News for Sep 26, 2016

It's Day 270 of 2016.


FIFA pulled a George W Bush today and broke out the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner. For what? The End Of Racism! Yes racism is dead. FIFA has declared that there is no more racism in soccer. Gone. Done. Finito. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? By Rob Harris of the AP.

• The head of the anti-racism committee is Constant Omari from Congo who never called a single meeting!!!

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Two Mexican clubs Xolos and Santos are using their marketing skills to attract English speakers as new fans. By Cesar Hernandez of ESPNFC.

• Go check out the Tigres Twitter page and see who is pictured at the top.

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Standings of Americans in Mexico after 11 rounds:

• Michael Orozco - Tijuana - 1st place

• Paul Arriola - Tijuana - 1st place

• Jose Torres - Tigres - 2nd place

• Omar Gonzalez - Pachuca - 3rd place

• Jonathan Bornstein - Queretaro - 14th place

• William Yarbrough - Leon - 15th place

• Jorge Villafana - Santos Laguna - 17th place

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Miguel Herrera did an autograph signing at a Carl's Jr. in Tijuana today, but the team did not send any pics of him eating Carl's Jr.

— Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) September 23, 2016

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My Minnesota United Notes:

• Game High(low)lights [VIDEO]

• That is now 3 losses in a row for Minnesota. And 2 games in a row losing to Ottawa. Minnesota had the lead, again.

• Jamie Watson scored for the 2nd game in a row, and put in one helluva performance. Constantly dangerous, and worked his ass off.

• Everyone else on the team gets a D for effort.

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NASL Week 23 results:
-Fri Sep 23
Miami 0-1 Puerto Rico
-Sat Sep 24
Fort Lauderdale 1-4 Tampa Bay Rowdies
Ottawa Fury 3-1 Minnesota United
Jacksonville Armada 1-1 Rayo OKC
Carolina RailHawks 1-0 Edmonton
Indy Eleven 3-0 NY Cosmos

NASL playoff standings: (top 4 advance)
49 New York (6 games left)
45 Indy (6 games left)
43 Edmonton (7 games left)
36 Minnesota (6 games left)
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35 Tampa Bay (7 games left)
33 Carolina (7 games left)
32 Miami (7 games left)
32 Fort Lauderdale (7 games left)

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Georgi Hristov of Tampa Bay named NASL Player Of The Week.

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NWSL playoffs start later this week. 4 teams enter. 1 team wins.

• Semifinal schedule:

-Fri Sep 30
Washington Spirit v Chicago Red Stars
-Sun Oct 2
Portland Thorns v Western New York Flash

The NSWL Golden Boot winner is Lynn Williams of Western who scored 11 goals in 19 games.

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USL playoffs will begin this week too:

• WEST:

-Fri Sep 30
Swope Park Rangers v LA Galaxy II
Colorado Springs Switchbacks v Vancouver Whitecaps 2
-Sat Oct 1
Sacramento Republic v Orange County Blues
Rio Grande Valley Toros v Oklahoma City Energy

• EAST:

-Sat Oct 1
Rochester Rhinos v Charlotte Independence
-Sun Oct 2
New York Red Bulls II v Orlando City B
Cincinnati v Charleston Battery
Louisville v Richmond Kickers

USL post season awards:

• Golden Boot: Sean Okoli of Cincinnati with 16 goals.

• Golden Glove: Tomas Gomez of Rochester Rhinos.

• Most Assists: Villyan Bijev of Portland Timbers 2 with 10.

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Dario Benedetto of Boca Juniors, before that he was at Tijuana and America, with the goal of the weekend! Howitzer! [VIDEO]

• When I was a kid I saw Ace Ntsoelengoe hit a goal like that for the Minnesota Kicks and its what made me want to stop being a defender and become a midfielder!

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UEFA Champions League - Big Games of Matchday 2:
-Tue Sep 27
Dortmund v Real Madrid
Dinamo Zagreb v Juventus
-Wed Sep 18
Ludogorets v PSG
Arsenal v Basel
Gladbach v Barca
Celtic v Man City
Atleti v Bayern

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Three teams still off to a perfect starts to the season in the Big Euro Leagues:
(how many games with no losses, no ties)

• 7 Feyenoord

• 6 Man City

• 5 Bayern Munich

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Dortmund has played 7 competitive matches in all competitions so far this season. And they have scored 25 goals! Averaging 3.6 goals per game. Outstanding.

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Biggest games of MLS Week 29:
-Sat Sep 24
Toronto 1-1 Philadelphia
DC 4-1 Orlando
Salt Lake 0-0 Dallas
-Sun Sep 25
LA 2-4 Seattle

My MLS Notes:

• New York Red Bulls, Toronto, New York City all clinched a spot in the post-season. They join Dallas. 4 of 12 spots are now taken.

• DC got a big win and took 6th place away from New England in the playoff race.

• Somehow Columbus is back in long-shot-contention for the final playoff position in the East.

• Ale Bedoya got his first ever goal for Philly. And the Union got a big road point in Toronto.

• Seattle came from a goal down to wipe LA off the field in the 2nd half. Not even LD could save LA.

• Jordon Morris showed off excessive pace for 1 goal against LA and infinite poise for the 2nd.

• It was LA's first home loss of the season.

• Colorado is the only team in the league without a home loss.

• 2 unsung forwards had big weekends for their team: Ola Kamara for Columbus and Patrick Mullins for DC.

• The best individual performance of the week came from a player that I bet you have never even heard of: Mauro Manotas. Which team? Houston. What did he do? Hat trick! Dynamo beat the Timbers.

The best analysis of the weekend in MLS. By Matt Doyle of MLS.

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du Nord MLS Coach Of The Year Candidates:

• Jesse Marsch

• Pablo Mastroeni

• Oscar Pareja

• Greg Vanney

• Patrick Viera

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The Chase for 6th Place - the final spot in the MLS playoffs:

• EAST:

38 Montreal (4 games left) - Next: Wed v San Jose
37 DC (4 games left) - Next: Wed v Columbus
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36 New England (3 games left) - Next: Sat v Kansas City
34 Orlando (4 games left) - Next: Wed at Toronto
32 Columbus (5 games left) - Next: Wed at DC

• WEST:

43 Kansas City (3 games left) - Next: Sat at New England
41 Portland (3 games left) - Next: Sat at Colorado
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38 Seattle (5 games left) - Next: Wed v Chicago
35 Vancouver (3 games left) - Next: Sun v Seattle
34 San Jose (5 games left) - Next: Wed at Montreal

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And the battle for the MLS Supporters Shield:
53 Dallas (3 games left) (1.71 ppg) (15 wins) (+8 gd)
48 Colorado (5 games left) (1.66 ppg) (12 wins) (+5 gd)
48 Toronto (4 games left) (1.60 ppg) (13 wins) (+12 gd)
48 LA (3 games left) (1.55 ppg) (11 wins) (+15 gd)
48 New York Red Bulls (3 games left) (1.55 ppg) (13 wins) (+13 gd)
48 New York City (3 games left) (1.55 ppg) (13 wins) (+2 gd)

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Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action. From the Guardian.



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