Some Soccer News for Jan 23, 2017

It's Day 23 of 2017.


Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. Hopefully my health stands up again. I hadn't been sick in almost two and a half years and I thought I had put all that behind me. But no.... Hopefully, this time. Right now I am just happy to be out of bed and posting this.

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CONCACAF has announced a new Champions League format! Now to sift through the rubble and see if its any good. By Jeff Carlisle of ESPNFC.

My Notes:

• The Caribbean and Central American teams will playoff from August to October.

• That winner will join teams from Liga MX (4), MLS (4) and champs from Canada, Caribbean Cup, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and El Salvador in a 2nd playoff from Feb to May.

• The tournaments will most likely be set up bracket style, with each pairing featuring a home and away match.

• But I am guessing that there will be a draw before each round to decide the adversaries.

• This format does nothing to fix the MLS team's issue of being in preseason form when the key games kick off in February.

CONCACAF expands club competition field, implements new Champions League format https://t.co/B1BKeN6u8Y#SCCL #CONCACAF @TheChampions pic.twitter.com/5LJsYHgpsm

— CONCACAF (@CONCACAF) January 23, 2017

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USMNT January Camp:

Brian Rowe replaced the injured Bill Hamid and Stefan Frei in the goalkeeper pool.

Kellyn Acosta (ankle), Matt Hedges (knee) and Kekuta Manneh were all released from the roster to deal with injuries and/or to get back to their clubs for MLS preseason.

Roster (28):
G (4)- David Bingham, Nick Rimando, Luis Robles, Brian Rowe
D (9)- DaMarcus Beasley, Steve Birnbaum, Brad Evans, Greg Garza, Taylor Kemp, Chad Marshall, Keegan Rosenberry, Walker Zimmerman, Graham Zusi
M (10)- Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, Jermaine Jones, Sacha Kljestan, Sebastian Lletget, Dax McCarty, Darlington Nagbe, Chris Pontius, Wil Trapp
F (5)- Juan Agudelo, Jozy Altidore, Jordan Morris, Chris Wondolowski, Gyasi Zardes

Friendlies:
-Sun Jan 29
USA v Serbia - 3:00pm CT on ESPN2
San Diego, Qualcomm Stadium
-Fri Feb 3
USA v Jamaica - 6:00pm CT on FS1
Chattanooga, Finley Stadium

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Landon Donovan says the USMNT has more talent then ever RIGHT NOW, but want's to see if they have that true deep-hearted spirit that other teams have shown. By Doug McIntyre of ESPNFC.

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Sure its Pipe Dream City but this is how Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid envision the USMNT winning the World Cup. By Scott French of Four Four Two.

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Young American dandy Christian Pulisic has signed a new contract with Dortmund.

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18 year old American forward Haji Wright is moving up with pecking order at Schalke and could make his debut soon. By Chris Brase of Bundesliga Fanatic.

• Defensive midfielder Weston McKennie has also been turning heads at Schalke.

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American midfielder Emerson Hyndman has gone from Bournemouth to Rangers on loan until the end of the season.

• He set up the late game winning goal against Motherwell this weekend after coming on as a sub in the 72nd min.

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American Paul Arriola is having a great start to the Clausura season for Tijuana. -Set up the game winner at Chivas this weekend. (Americans Michael Orozco and Joe Corona also started for Tijuana in that game and all 3 played the full 90 minutes.)

• Scored game winner and set up 2 more v Puebla.

• Xolos are in 2nd place in Liga MX after 3 rounds.

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DeAndre Yedlin had what some describe as his best professional game, setting up 2 in a 4-0 Newcastle win v Rotherham.

• Newcastle is in 1st place in the English Championship (2nd division) and has an 8 point lead in the 2 automatic promotion spots.

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Dom Dwyer from Sporting Kansas City is due to get his USA citizenship next month. Should he be considered for the USMNT? Is he good enough to make the team and added firepower? Who knows. By Chris Young of the Guardian.

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In case you missed it: Jermaine Jones did officially sign with the LA Galaxy.

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Imagine a Chicago Fire midfield with Dax McCarty and Juninho playing behind Nemanja Nikolic. That could be great.

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After helping build the Colorado Rapids team that was the surprise of MLS last season technical director Paul Bravo has been fired. He also held that role when the won MLS Cup in 2010. Damn.

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USA & DC United legend John Harkes' son Ian has signed with DC United after growing up in the their academy.

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The local NBC affiliate in San Diego is pretty confident that their city will land a MLS team. A little over confident if you ask me.

• And sharing a stadium with a college football team has a horrid stench to it.

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How did the NASL avoid the electric chair, and what is the plan for building toward a strong future? By Richard Farley of Four Four Two.

• Looks like Sunil Gulati was instrumental is making this happen.

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Minnesota United have completed a deal for Finnish midfielder Rasmus Schuller and are just waiting for his work visa to be processed. He played last season for Haken in Sweden.

Swedish reports have also confirmed that Rasmus Schüller is headed to #MNUFC, pending the international paperwork. https://t.co/NdfEPYEYH9

— FiftyFiveOne (@FiftyFiveOne) January 23, 2017

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The Loons also signed two more players from their NASL roster to the MLS update: Brent Kallman and Ibson. I am happy about both moves.

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New MNUFC TV color commentator Kydra de St Aubin talks about her new job. By Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated. (interview starts around the middle of the long column, and is titled 2A.)

• "[Soccer is]... pretty much the only sport where every single rule and aspect of the game is the same for women and men—the ball, the field, the length of the game, the substitutions, the rules, everything. I love the sport and I respect everything about it."

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MNUFC preseason games:
In Casa Grande
-Jan 31 v New England Revolution
-Feb 3 v NK Istra 1961 (Croatia)

In Portland
-Feb 9 v Vancouver Whitecaps
-Feb 12 v Portland Timbers
-Feb 15 v Real Salt Lake

In Orlando
-Feb 22 v Toronto
-Feb 26 v San Antonio (USL)

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Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend's action. By the Guardian.

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The strain of trying to keep up with the big boys in Spain has turned on Valencia who have not had much success if several year and are now facing a financial crisis as well. by Rory Smith of the New York Times.

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How about Sevilla though!! After snapping up former Chile head coach Jorge Sampaoli they have gone on a great run, beating Real Madrid 2 weeks ago and putting themselves into 2nd place just 1 point off the top. Amazing.

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Trinidad + Tobago can't win a game since they qualified for the Hex, and now can't hire a coach. What a disaster this federation is, all backwash from Jack Warner. By Lasana Liburd of Wired 868.

• They finally did get Dennis Lawrence as the head coach on Saturday after some difficult days.

• I still have great fears of that Oct 10 game at T + T who would love nothing more than to enact revenge for 1989 and knock the USA out of the World Cup.

The Bird Is The Word