Some Soccer News for Mar 23, 2017

It's Day 82 of 2017.


Bobby Wood has a herniated disc in his spine. Therapy can fix it. Surgery is inevitable. Never good.

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Landon Donovan already owns a piece of Swansea City and he has now invested in the bid to bring MLS to San Diego. By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

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A look at the current state of the main contenders for World Cup 2018. From the Guardian.

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A new day begins in African football. With a lost election for Issa Hayatou as president of the African football federation 16 of the scumbags at the top of FIFA have now been ejected from the previous regime. By Rory Smith for the New York Times.

• Hayatou had been prez of African federation for 29 years. Imagine the size of the bank account that dude has!!
• Like Jack Warner in the Caribbean, Hayatou has led Africa to great heights in FIFA, demanding respect in the form of more places at each World Cup.
• New leadership will get their chance in Africa.

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Now, lets switch to Europe and look at the new leadership for UEFA. They had a lot of house cleaning to do as well. By Rory Smith for the New York Times.

• Interesting note: "The big five countries (England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France) bring in 86 percent of the revenue, and only take 60 percent."

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MINNESOTA UNITED

Holy smokes this team's roster is thin. Injuries and international call ups will leave MNUFC with just 17 healthy players for the this weekends game at New England. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

• Not having a full roster of 30 players and room to stash more on a USL team are hurting the Loons just 3 weeks into a 9 month season.
• And playing games during the international break is hurting this team even more. 4 starters are missing.
• MLS gives teams the choice of whether or not they want to play during these dates - only 6 of 22 chose to do so this weekend. And Minnesota will play during 5 of the 6 international breaks in 2017.

MNUFC roster for NER game:

• G: Billy Heavner, Bobby Shuttleworth
• D: Vadim Demidov, Brent Kallman, Jermaine Taylor, Jerome Thiesson, Kevin Venegas
• M: Josh Gatt, Miguel Ibarra, Ibson, Ish Jome, Bashkim Kadrii, Collin Martin, Mohammed Saeid, Collen Warner
• F: Abu Danladi, Christian Ramirez

Match Schedule/Results:
-Sat Mar 25
New England v Minnesota - 1pm CT on MY29

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Meet The Shaggs - an in depth look at one of the worst/greatest rock bands of all time! Either way its a fascinating story. By Susan Orlean for the New Yorker.

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Crest: du Nord Music Mix Vol 116 (download + extract)

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USA MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM

The newest guys on the team: Kellyn Acosta, Sebastian Lletget, Dax McCarty, Jorge Villafana, Walker Zimmerman

• Do we see any of them making an impact at this time?

The amount of press is really starting to build today:

• The margin for error is pretty slim. By Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
• US players know the game is important and very close to being a MUST-WIN situation. By Doug McIntyre of ESPNFC.
• How different with the USA look under Bruce Arena than they did under Jurgen Klinsmann? By Doug McIntyre of ESPNFC.
• The plan against Honduras. By Paul Tenorio for Four Four Two.
• Its up to coach Bruce Arena to give the same support and guidance to Christian Pulisic that he gave to Landon Donovan at a young age. By Steve Davis for Four Four Two.
• How have the past few months been for the 18 year old Pulisic? By Doug McIntyre of ESPNFC.
• Sebastian Lleget has had a bump ride but is getting his shot with the US national team thanks to his former head coach with the LA Galaxy. By Kevin Baxter from The LA Times.
• How bad will all the injuries hurt the US team? By Ben Shpigel for the New York Times.
• MLS has the most to gain from a successful turn around of the USA qualifying campaign. By Joe Lago for Yahoo.

World Cup qualifying schedule/results:
-Fri Mar 24
USA v Honduras - 9:30pm CT on FS1 + UDN
Avaya Stadium, San Jose
-Tue Mar 28
Panama v USA - 9:00pm CT on beIN + Telemundo
Estadio Rommel Fernandez, Panama City

Roster:

• G: David Bingham, Tim Howard, Nick Rimando
• D: DaMarcus Beasley, Matt Besler, John Brooks, Geoff Cameron, Omar Gonzalez, Michael Orozco, Tim Ream, Jorge Villafana, Walker Zimmerman, Graham Zusi
• M: Kellyn Acosta, Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Sacha Kljestan, Sebastian Lletget, Dax McCarty, Darlington Nagbe, Christian Pulisic
• F: Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Jordan Morris, Chris Wondolowski

Honduras Roster:

• G: Ricardo Canales, Donis Escober, Luis Lopez
• D: Ever Alvarado, Brayan Beckeles, Felix Crisanto, Henry Figueroa, Maynor Figueroa, Emilio Izaguirre, Cesar Oseguera, Allans Vargas
• M: Bryan Acosta, Erick Andino, Jorge Claros, Carlos Discua, Roger Espinoza, Boniek Garcia, Mario Martinez, Oliver Morazan, Andy Najar, Romell Quioto
• F: Rubilio Castillo, Michaell Chirinos, Eddie Hernandez, Alberth Elis, Anthony Lozano

Panama Roster:

• G: Jose Calderon, Jaime Penedo
• D: Felipe Baloy, Erick Davis, Fidel Escobar, Adolfo Machado, Amir Murillo, Luis Ovalle, Roman Torres, Jean Carlos Vargas
• M: Edgar Barcenas, Miguel Camargo, Armando Cooper, Anibal Godoy, Gabriel Gomez, Amilcar Henriquez, Josiel Nunez, Alberto Quintero, Oscar Villarreal
• F: Abdiel Arroyo, Blas Perez, Tony Taylor, Luis Tejada, Gabriel Torres

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THE HEX - CONCACAF World Cup qualifying

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

-Matchday 3 + 4 Schedule/Results:
-Fri Mar 24
T+T v Panama - 6pm CT on beIN
Mexico v Costa Rica - 7:50pm CT on FS1
USA v Honduras - 9:50pm CT on FS1
-Tue Mar 28
Honduras v Costa Rica - 4pm CT on Telemundo
T+T v Mexico - 6pm CT on beIN
Panama v USA - 9pm CT on beIN

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CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying:

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)

Matchday 13 + 14 Schedule/Results:
-Thu Mar 23
Argentina v Chile
Uruguay v Brazil
Colombia v Bolivia
Paraguay v Ecuador
Venezuela v Peru
-Tue Mar 28
Bolivia v v Argentina
Ecuador v Colombia
Chile v Venezuela
Brazil v Paraguay
Peru v Uruguay

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The NASL season begins this weekend. Remember them? Yeah, me neither. Just kidding. I'm not THAT big of a jackass. Here is the full match schedule.

• For some reason 2 of the 8 teams are not playing on opening weekend.

The Bird Is The Word