Some Soccer News for Feb 1, 2017

It's Day 32 of 2017.


Apparently the group who made a bid yesterday to bring MLS to Sacramento CA did NOT include the ownership of current USL team Sacramento Republic - must to the shocking surprise of the Sacramento Republic!

Club Statement on MLS application: pic.twitter.com/dStWnJjpnl

— Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) February 1, 2017

• Look, unless the people who placed the bid strung the Republic along with a phony application to MLS, then the people running the Republic are pretty damn stupid, and can't really claim they didn't see this coming. On the other hand, devious bastards are everywhere.

dN

I was curious about the MLS teams followings on social media. So I ran the numbers.

Twitter Followers (thousand):
343 LA Galaxy
342 Seattle
327 Orlando
295 New York City
286 Vancouver
284 Houston
279 Toronto
268 Kansas City
262 Montreal
219 Portland
191 Atlanta
176 New York Red Bull
171 San Jose
130 Columbus
121 Dallas
116 Salt Lake
113 DC
111 Chicago
101 Philadelphia
84 New England
78 Colorado
64 LA FC
44 Minnesota

Facebook Followers (thousand):
2,251 New York City
1,855 LA Galaxy
768 New York Red Bull
723 Seattle
593 Orlando
371 Dallas
333 Montreal
328 Kansas City
316 Toronto
301 Portland
273 Chicago
267 Houston
219 Salt Lake
218 Colorado
208 New England
206 Vancouver
198 Columbus
185 DC
169 San Jose
169 Philadelphia
108 Minnesota
86 Atlanta
56 LA FC

dN

The 2017 Gold Cup Final will be played on Wed Jul 26 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara CA.

• A Wednesday? For a Cup Final? WTF?

dN

A glowing, hell, raving report on Clint Dempsey from Seattle preseason training camp. From Sounder At Heart.

dN

Super-villain Blas Perez has left MLS (Vancouver) and returned to his native Panama and signed with Arabe Unido. I am gonna miss the cheating, diving, cheap-shotting, goal scoring, team leading Panamaniac.

dN

Kingdom: du Nord Music Mix Vol 110 (download + extract)

dN

Looking ahead to that USMNT World Cup qualifier v Honduras on March 24 I have created this probable lineup.

• Howard Out - surgery

• Jones Out - suspension

• Help me fill the holes:

G: ???
RFB: Yedlin
RCB: Cameron
LCB: Brooks
LFB: ???
RM: Pulisic
DM: Bradley
AM: ???
LM: Johnson
F: Wood
F: Altidore

dN

Three new invitees are looking to make an impact with the USMNT - Sebastian Lletget, Chris Pontius and Walker Zimmerman. By Doug McIntyre of ESPNFC.

dN

USMNT Friendly:
-Fri Feb 3
USA v Jamaica - 6:00pm CT on FS1
Finley Stadium, Chattanooga

Here is the Jamaica roster:

• G: Andre Blake - Philadelphia Union, Ryan Thompson - unattached

• D: Dwayne Ambusley - Montego Bay United, Sergio Campbell - unattached, Oniel Fisher - Seattle Sounders, Rosario Harriott - Harbour View, Kevon Lambert - Montego Bay United, Kemar Lawrence - New York Red Bulls, Damion Lowe - Tampa Bay Rowdies, Ladale Ritchie - Montego Bay United

• M: Michael Binns - Portmore United, Omar Gordon - Montego Bay United, Ewan Grandison - Portmore United, Omar Holness - Real Salt Lake, Andrew Vanzie - Portmore United

• F: Cory Burke - Bethlehem Steel, Jourdaine Fletcher - Montego Bay United, Shamar Nicolson - Boys’ Town, Allan Ottey - Montego Bay United, Romario Williams - Atlanta United

dN

American midfielder Emerson Hyndman has scored for the 2nd game running at Rangers. His goal tied the game at 1-1, but they lost 4-1 at Hearts.

• Two more Americans played for Hearts as well, Perry Kitchen going the full 90 and Bjorn Johnsen starting, playing 64 minutes and setting up their 3rd goal.

dN

Africa Cup of Nations
Semifinals:
-Wed Feb 1
Burkina Faso 1-1 Egypt - Egy advances 4-3 in Penalty Kick Shootout.
-Thu Feb 2
Cameroon v Ghana - 1pm CT on beIN

Final:
-Sun Feb 5
Egypt v ??? - 1pm CT on beIN



The Bird Is The Word