Some Soccer News for Feb 20, 2017

It's Day 51 of 2017.


How did Monaco become the team to beat in France? By using their academy. By Igor Mladenoic of the Guardian.

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Corporate sponsors are finally showing FIFA how poor their decision making has been, and the corruption scandal was the last straw. By Tariq Panja of Bloomberg.

• The World Cup expansion to 48 also has TV broadcasters on the run. They will not pay top dollar for watered down regional qualifying that has been big business for the Confederations in the past.

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MINNESOTA UNITED PRESEASON

The MNUFC 2017 uniforms:

#MNUFC + @Target = Minnesota Made

Read Up » https://t.co/dJB2JV0HcA pic.twitter.com/z7C2zOUDCl

— Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) February 18, 2017

People have been asking me what I think about the new uniforms. I haven't said much. So here we go:

• They are just fine.

• Nothing special.

• Happy they are not hideous.

• The colors are good.

• I like the symmetry of gray shirt, gray shorts, gray socks - AND - white shirt, white shorts, white socks.

• Only part I don't like is the gray shoulders on the white shirt. Should have gone all white.

• I don't usually have much feeling about the uniforms - but the past few seasons with the gray shirt with the black wing on it have been very special and unique.

On Saturday morning the team was around the city showing off the new uniforms using this mannequin!

@katie_stp I would imagine that this is pretty freeing. pic.twitter.com/FIWRJUJyQx

— Jeff Rueter (@jeffrueter) February 18, 2017

In Orlando for the final 2 preseason games:
-Wed Feb 22
MU v Toronto
-Sun Feb 26
MU v San Antonio (USL)

We have not been told yet if any of the unsigned players made the trip to Florida.

In this article about the new Minn uniforms there is mention of a projected attendance for home game #1 on Mar 12 v Atlanta, and its impressive. By Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press.

• Greder also writes about the team's ongoing search for defensive help, especially at fullback.

I would love to see Minn United spend big money this summer on a true defensive midfield destroyer!


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One ardent follower of all things MLS reviews the 2017 uniforms, team by team. By Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated.

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As MLS budgets grown and the league gets more sophisticated teams are spending real money of defense. By Jeff Carlisle of ESPNFC.

• Look where it got Toronto last year after 9 years of total failure before that. And they didn't even spend that much, they just made defense a focus.

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USL team Cincinnati has fired their head coach John Harkes on the eve of a new season after just 1 year in charge. No real reason was given, they just said "it wasn't working out for us." Much better than the usual, "we parted company amicably." Which is always bullshit.

• I once got fired from a high profile job in which I felt that I had performed really really well for 1 year, and a week after getting fired it was in the newspaper that we had parted company on good terms. Ha! There was no such thing. I got fired. They had decided that they really didn't like me very much. (Despite the great success!) I cried. It hurt. Still does - but that was a long time ago, so not that much.

• Good luck to Harksey.

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CONCACAF Champions League

Quarterfinal Matches:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 21
Saprissa(6) v Pachuca(3) - 8:00pm CT
-Wed Feb 22
Red Bulls(8) v Vancouver(1) - 7:00pm CT
Tigres(5) v Pumas(4) - 9:00pm CT
-Thu Feb 23
Dallas(7) v Arabe Unido(2) - 7:00pm CT
-All games on Univision Deportes

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An quick initial voice over from Werner Herzog leads into this amazing scene of family dysfunction brought on by national recession. Only from Metalocalypse. [VIDEO]

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USMNT U20s at the CONCACAF Championship and U20 World Cup qualifying

From all reports that USA laid an egg in the first game against Panama (I have been warning people that Panama is really on the rise!)

• USA played up a man for 72 minutes, just to make the result that much worse.

• And their next opponent, Haiti, put 5 in the back of the net in their game 1 v St Kitts + Nevis. So that game will be very tough for the USA.

Group B Matches:
-Sat Feb 18
USA 0-1 Panama
-Tue Feb 21
USA v Haiti at 4:30pm CT
-Fri Feb 24
USA v St Kitts + Nevis at 4:30pm CT
-Games broadcast on Univision networks.

Tournament runs until Mar 5 in Costa Rica.

USA roster:

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown

• D: Marlon Fossey - Fulham, Justen Glad - Real Salt Lake, Aaron Herrera - U New Mexico, Erik Palmer-Brown - Sporting Kansas City, Tommy Redding - Orlando City, Auston Trusty - Philadelphia Union

• M: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Coy Craft - Dallas, Luca De la Torre - Fulham, Jonathan Gonzalez - Monterrey, Jeremiah Gutjahr - Indiana U, Jonathan Lewis - New York City, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland

• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - Las Palmas

• C: Tab Ramos

Group A: Mexico, Antigua + Barbuda, Honduras, Canada
Group B: USA, Panama, St Kitts + Nevis, Haiti
Group C: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bermuda, Trinidad + Tobago

Tournament format: 3 initial groups. Top 2 from each group advances to a 2nd group stage consisting of 2 groups of 3. The top 2 teams in each of those groups advances to the U20 World Cup, and winners of those 2 groups playing for the CONCACAF Championship on Mar 3.

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Americans Abroad

Bobby Wood suffered a thigh injury in game warmups on Saturday. No further word on just how bad the injury is. Not good news. They tied 2-2 v Freiburg.

John Brooks and Hertha got its heart broken - they lead Bayern Munich 1-0 until deep into stoppage time when Robert Lewandowski scored to tie the game on literally the last kick before the whistle.

Julian Green and his club Stuttgart have won all 4 games since the winter break ended and they have a 3 point lead at the top of Bundesliga 2. They have played 21 of 34 games. Things are looking good for promotion. Green is fully in the starting 11.

The Terrence Boyd + Darmstadt Tracker:

• Results - L Sat Feb 18 2-0 at Hoffenheim
• Note - Boyd started and played 57 minutes.
• Standings - Last place, 7 points below relegation + 4 points below playoff
• Up Next - Sat Feb 25 v Augsburg

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Former baseball great Mike Piazza is currently the owner of a 3rd division team in Italy - Reggiana. Why? By Andrew Keh of the New York Times.

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UEFA Champions League

Round of 16 Matches:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 21
Man City v Monaco - 1:45pm CT on FS1
Leverkusen v Atletico - 1:45pm CT on FS2
-Wed Feb 22
Sevilla v Leicester - 1:45pm CT on FS1
Porto v Juventus - 1:45pm CT on FS2

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The Miguel Herrera + Tijuana Tracker:

• Results - D Sun Feb 19 3-3 at Pumas UNAM
• Note - blew a 0-3 lead in the last 18 minutes of the game! OOF!
• Standings - 3rd Place, 3 points behind leader
• Up Next - Fri Feb 24 v Monterrey

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Big results in Liga MX:
-Sat Feb 18
Monterrey 1-0 Pachuca - #5 climbed up to #4 v and #3 went down to #6
Guadalajara 1-0 America - the Classico
-Sun Feb 19
Pumas 3-3 Tijuana - #7 stayed the same v #2 fell to #3

Up Next in Liga MX:
-Fri Feb 24
Tijuana v Monterrey - #3 v #4

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Biggest European matches this weekend:
-Sat Feb 18
Hertha Berlin 1-1 Bayern Munich - a last second goal saved Bayern.

Up Next:
-Sun Feb 26
Inter v Roma - #4 v #2
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona - #4 v #2
Villarreal v Real Madrid - #6 v #1
Marseille v Paris St Germaine - Le Classique, the biggest rivalry in France



The Bird Is The Word