Some Soccer News for Nov 16, 2016

It's Day 321 of 2016.


Minnesota United has hired former Thunder player and coach Amos Magee as Director of Player Personnel. Fantastic.

• Here is an interview with Magee about his new job. [VIDEO]

Manny Lagos asked the other 4 men at the table to touch Amos Magee and then smell their hand, "He smells like a winner! Right?!?!"

Mr. Popular... #MNUFC pic.twitter.com/vMtBBtGIk9

— Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) November 16, 2016

dN

USMNT World Cup Qualifying:
-Tue Nov 15
Costa Rica 4-0 USA - CR goals by Johan Venegas, Cristian Bolanos + Joel Campbell(2).

My USA Notes:

• I got the Every Four Years Painful Costa Rica Meltdown Blues.

• Well, that was rough. Then again so is every trip to Costa Rica.

• You can't blame this one on the formation.

• The sad part is that any mystique the USA ever had in CONCACAF is completely gone. Not one team is intimidated to line up against them. So many first time losses to these countries have leveled the playing field. It will take a decade or more to rebuild that shield.

• The USA has 4 months to fix what is wrong or bring in a new coach.

• "We didn’t imagine to go into the hexagonal with two defeats right in the beginning." - Jurgen Klinsmann. You didn't? Cuz all of us did. We all imagined it and knew it was possible. There is no surprise here.

• I didn't see Fabian Johnson or Christian Pulisic on the field. I thought I saw their names in the starting lineup.

• For the 2nd game in a row John Brooks was a disaster. And he is considered one of our best and brightest.

• For the good of the team Jermaine Jones can't keep playing for the USA. They have no spot for him on the field, yet the coach won't replace him in the line up. he must retire now.

• Matt Besler at fullback in World Cup qualifying? Really? Seriously?

• In the first half the two teams were pretty even. A 0-0 score after 45 would have been OK.

One major soccer journalist finally calls for Klinsmann to be removed from the job. By Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated.

• As the day has worn on others have hinted at the same thing.

So what's next? By Brian Sciaretta of American Soccer Now.

Analyzing a game like this is never easy, fun or satisfying. But he does it anyway. (Probably with a stiff drink in his hand.) By Matt Doyle of MLSsoccer.

dN

The Hex - CONCACAF World Cup qualifying:

• Panama celebrated like they qualified for the World Cup.

• Costa Rica celebrated like they expected to win without issue.

• Honduras got one of the few (maybe the only) win in which they were the favorite.

• The USA stunk the place out. This morning the smell was so strong in the locker room that the stadium cleaning crew just set fire to the place.

Matchday 2
-Tue Nov 15
Costa Rica 4-0 USA
Honduras 3-1 Trinidad + Tobago
Panama 0-0 Mexico

Standings:
(2 of 10 games played)
6 Costa Rica (+6)
4 Mexico (+1)
4 Panama (+1)
3 Honduras (+1)
0 T+T (-4)
0 USA (-5)

• Matchdays 3 + 4 will be held on Fri Mar 24 and Tue Mar 28.

dN

Vines: du Nord Music Mix Vol 105 (download + extract)

dN

Sporting Kansas City has announced that both Benny Feilhaber and Ike Opara have signed new contracts with the team.

dN

Portland Timbers named The Notorious N.E.D. Ned Grabavoy as Director of Scouting and Recruitment.

• Like a lot of MLS teams, hiring more white guys.

dN

Chris Pontius of Philadelphia Union named Comeback Player Of The Year

• Other finalists were Frank Lampard and Kevin Molino.

dN

3-4-1-2. The latest formation craze that all the hip kids are gushing over. As explained by Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian.

dN

The Miguel Herrera + Tijuana Tracker:

• Standings - 1st Place, 3 Point Lead

• Up Next - Fri Nov 18 at Veracruz - Final game of regular reason

dN

Liga MX - Final round of the regular season:

• Tijuana (33), Pachuca (30), Tigres (30), Guadalajara (27) and America (27) have already advanced to the playoffs.

• And the other 3 playoff spots are up for grabs. Here is who is in the the race:

25 Necaxa - NEXT: Sat Nov 19 at Guadalajara
24 Pumas UNAM - NEXT: Sun Nov 20 at Puebla
24 Toluca - NEXT: Sun Nov 20 v Santos Laguna
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23 Leon - NEXT: Sat Nov 19 at Cruz Azul
22 Monterrey - NEXT: Sat Nov 19 at Morelia

dN

CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying:
Matchday 12

• With a loss Columbia falls from 3rd to 6th place and out of the qualifying positions.

• And with 2 wins Chile goes from 6th place to 4th and back in to contention.

• Argentina also moves up 1 and back into the playoff position.

-Tue Nov 15
Ecuador 3-0 Venezuela
Bolivia 1-0 Paraguay
Chile 3-1 Uruguay
Argentina 3-0 Colombia
Peru 0-2 Brazil

Standings
(12 of 18 games played)
27 Brazil (+19)
23 Uruguay (+13)
20 Ecuador (+6)
20 Chile (+4)
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19 Argentina (+2)
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18 Colombia (+0)
15 Paraguay (-6)
14 Peru (-2)
7 Bolivia (-21)
5 Venezuela (-15)



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