Some Soccer News for Apr 24, 2017

It's Day 114 of 2017.


The Dark Knight Returns:

The Dark Knight Returns! @Migue10Ibarra @DMickCreative pic.twitter.com/oGaWPuca8L

— Bruce McGuire (@dunord) April 24, 2017

Double Diving Header!

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Schedule/Results:
-Sun Apr 23
Minnesota 1-0 Colorado Rapids - MU goal by Miguel Ibarra.

My MNUFC Notes:

• Game highlights [VIDEO]
• A necessary win at home over a badly weakened opponent in Colorado.
• Miguel Ibarra gets his first MLS goal in dramatic fashion.
• First clean sheet in MLS for the Loons is a good milestone after where they were early in the season.
• Three consecutive halves without giving up a goal is also very good.
• Played the lineup that I have been begging for since Day 1. (If they had not looked good and lost I think I would have had to shut up.)

________Shuttleworth________
Thiessen Kallman Calvo Burch
________Cronin Ibson________
___Molino JVenegas Ibarra___
__________Ramirez___________

• Lots of improvement needed all over the field if they want to build on this success.
• Got lucky with score still 0-0 and Badji hit the crossbar from 6 yards out with a relatively empty net - was harder to miss than hit crossbar.
• Both teams missed a couple other good chances to score and probably should have. I would say Colorado had clearer chances.
• Brent Kallman left the game with a calf contusion that should be OK. But you never know.
• Word is also going around that Kallman is dealing with a hip injury that was bothering him when he came off the field too.
• A big part of Ibarra's game has always been his confidence and you could see what that goal did for him. His focus went up several notches immediately following the goal.
• After almost 2 years not playing much its taking time for Ibarra to re-calibrate, but its coming. I promise.
• The team is desperately thin all over the field, centerback is no exception.
• The attendance of 17,491 is really really disappointing. The organization needs to spend some real money advertising this team.
• Two home wins in a row. They have a chance to make it three next week.

Post-game Media:

• Match report. By Megan Ryan of the Star Tribune.
• Match report. By Matthew de Witt for Fifty One Fifty.
• Post game impressions. By Alex Schieferdecker for Fitty Five One.
• Match report. By Sam Gordon for the Pioneer Press.
• Match report. By Eli Hoff of E Pluribus Loonum.

Up Next:
-Sat Apr 29
Minnesota v San Jose Earthquakes - 7:00pm CT on My29
-San Jose lost 2-0 at Houston this weekend.

dN

MLS

My MLS Notes:

• Dallas beat KC in the Battle of the Best.
• Chicago and Bastian Schweinsteiger did not find life on the road nearly as pleasant as at home.
• Philly threw away a 3-0 lead at home and could only hang on to tie Montreal 3-3. Jim Curtain could be finished.
• How bad is it in Philadelphia?

238 days since the Union won a game

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) April 22, 2017

• Atlanta played poorly at Salt Lake and still won 1-3. I will take that kinda poorly all day long.
• Orlando and coach Jason Kreis got revenge on NYC - it was a big road test and and they got an A!
• Oh boy, Curt Onalfo and LA are in deep trouble. They got smoked at home by Seattle. (LA has lost 3 of 4 home games.)
• David Villa has 46 goals in MLS.

MLS XI for Week 8. By Alexander Abnos for Sports Illustrated.

Eight from Week 8. By Caitlin Murray for Fox Sports.

The Armchair Analyst for Week 8. By Matt Doyle for MLS.

The Seattle Sounders winning ways are more and more driven by data analysis as much as anything. By Charles Boehm for Four Four Two.

Week 8 Schedule/Results:
-Wed Apr 19
New England 0-0 San Jose
-Fri Apr 21
Toronto 3-1 Chicago
-Sat Apr 22
Philadelphia 3-3 Montreal
Houston 2-0 San Jose
Portland 2-1 Vancouver
New England 2-2 DC
NYRB 2-0 Columbus
Dallas 1-0 Kansas City
Salt Lake 1-3 Atlanta
-Sun Apr 23
NYC 1-2 Orlando
LA 0-3 Seattle
Minnesota 1-0 Colorado

dN

Frank Yallop has resigned as head coach of Phoenix Rising just 4 weeks into the season, and a couple days after the arrival of Didier Drogba.

• I hope Drogba is not pulling a Beckham and bringing his own coach with him. That would be a drag.

dN

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

2nd Leg
-Wed Apr 26
Pachuca v Tigres (1-1)

dN

CONCACAF U17 Men World Cup Qualifying and Championship:

April 21 - May 7 in Panama.

USA is off to a strong start with a 5-0 win over Jamaica.

• The game was 0-0 at half time.

Up next for the USMNT is a Wednesday showdown with Mexico.

• Mex beat El Salvador 6-0 in their first game.

USMNT U-17 Roster:

• G: Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos (Benfica), Justin Garces (Kendall)
• D: Christopher Gloster (New York Red Bulls), Jaylin Lindsey (Sporting Kansas City), James Sands (New York City), Arturo Vasquez (Golden State), Akil Watts (IMG Academy)
• M: George Acosta (Weston), Taylor Booth (Real Salt Lake AZ), Christopher Durkin (DC United), Blaine Ferri (Solar Chelsea), Christopher Goslin (Atlanta United), Indiana Vassilev (IMG Academy), Adrian Villegas (Portland Timbers)
• F: Ayomide Akinola (Toronto), Andrew Carleton (Atlanta United), Zyen Jones (Atlanta United), Bryan Reynolds Jr (Dallas), Joshua Sargent (Scott Gallagher Missouri) Timothy Weah (Paris Saint-Germain)
• C: John Hackworth

Group C - USA Schedule/Results:
-Sun Apr 23
USA 5-0 Jamaica - USA goals by Christopher Durkin, Timothy Weah, Joshua Sargent + Ayomide Akinola(2)
-Wed Apr 26
USA v Mexico - 5:30pm CT
-Sat Apr 29
USA v El Salvador - 10:30am CT
-Streamed live on the CONCACAF Facebook page.

Format:

• 1st Group stage (round robin) - 3 groups of 4 teams - top two advance
• 2nd Group stage (round robin) - 2 groups of 3 teams - top two qualify for World Cup
• Final - 1st place teams in each group play for CONCACAF championship
• World Cup is Oct 6-28 in India

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Joe Corona scored the game winner for Tijuana as they took 1st place from Toluca in a 2-0 home win! He played 87 min.

• Paul Arriola also started and went 67 min for Tijuana.

dN

The Terrence Boyd + Torstan Frings + Darmstadt Tracker:

• Results - Sat Apr 22 Won 1-2 at Hamburger
• Note - Boyd not in uniform, but Bobby Wood played the full 90 for Ham
• Standings - Last place, despite winning 2 in a row they are still 11 points below relegation playoff and 13 points from safety - just 4 games left
• Up Next - Sat Apr 29 v Freiburg

dN

The Miguel Herrera + Several Americans + Tijuana Tracker:

• Results - Fri Apr 21 Won 2-0 v Toluca
• Note - huge win to beat the league leaders and grab the top spot - game winning goal by Joe Corona. Paul Arriola played took, while young American John Requejo was on the bench
• Standings - Retake 1st place with just 1 rounds left in the regular season
• Up Next - Sat Apr 29 at Tigres

dN

Sergio Ramos and his 22 Real Madrid red cards. By Louis Richards and Lawrence Ostlere for the Guardian.

• Easily my least favorite player of this era.

dN

BIG WEEKEND GAMES IN EUROPE:

-Sun Apr 23
Real Madrid 2-3 Barcelona - #1 + #2 are now tied on points but RM has 1 game in hand.

• Scroll down through this article to see all 5 goals and hear Phil Schoen and Ray Hudson on the call. Via Sports Illustrated and beIN Sports.

Lyon 1-2 Monaco - end the weekend #5 + #1

EFA Cup Semifinals
-Sat Apr 22
Chelsea 4-2 Tottenham
-Sun Apr 23
Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City
(Final - May 27 - Arsenal v Chelsea)

Midweek:

-Tue Apr 25
Atletico v Villarreal - #3 v #5

DFB Pokal Semifinals
-Tue Apr 25
Monchengladbach v Eintracht Frankfurt
-Wed Apr 26
Bayern Munich v Dortmund

Coupe de France Semifinals
-Tue Apr 25
Angers v Guingamp
-Wed Apr 26
PSG v Monaco

-Thu Apr 27
Manchester City v Manchester United - the Manchester derby + #4 v #5



The Bird Is The Word