Some Soccer News for May 31, 2017

It's Day 151 of 2017.


MINNESOTA UNITED

Hooray! All the state government portions of the new stadium have been dealt with now:

.@MNUFC statement on latest good stadium news pic.twitter.com/DdeN54Uf27

— Bruce McGuire (@dunord) May 31, 2017

A very thin Minnesota United roster gets thinner: MLS disciplinary committee has retroactively suspended Minnesota's Sam Cronin for 1 game - Sat Jun 3 at SKC - for a pretty brutal foul on Orlando's PC. [VIDEO]

• When the play happened Cronin was "aghast" that he got a yellow card. But the referee was standing right there looking directly at the play. On replay its an obvious red card.
• Someone will inevitably try to argue that Cronin "got the ball first." He sure did, and then his momentum took the bottom of his cleat right in to PC's planted ankle. Lucky its not broken.

Three very good reflections on how MNUFC could get better as unveiled by the game against Orlando last Saturday. By Alex Schieferdecker for Fifty Five One.

Schedule/Results:
-Sat Jun 3
Kansas City v Minnesota - 4pm CT on ESPN

dN

USMNT

USMNT centerback John Brooks has been sold by his hometown team Hertha Berlin to Wolfsburg, who barely survived relegation, for a reported $22,000,000. A record fee for an American.

Clint Dempsey, the kid from the trailer in Nacogdoches is one goal away from tying Landon Donovan as the USMNT all-time leading goal scorer. By Matt Pentz for the New York Times.

Bobby Wood is anxious to get back on the field for the USA, and hopes his injuries are behind him. From Associated Press, via Salt Lake Tribune.

Tim Howard has been named the starter for next weeks WC qualifiers.

Friendly Schedule:
-Sat Jun 3
USA v Venezuela - Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy UT - 9:00pm CT on FS1

Roster (26 players):

• G: Brad Guzan - Atlanta United, Ethan Horvath - Club Brugge, Tim Howard - Colorado Rapids, Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
• D: DaMarcus Beasley - Houston Dynamo, Matt Besler - Sporting Kansas City, John Brooks - Hertha Berlin, Geoff Cameron - Stoke City, Timothy Chandler - Eintracht Frankfurt, Omar Gonzalez - Pachuca, Matt Hedges - Dallas, Tim Ream - Fulham, Jorge Villafana - Santos Laguna, DeAndre Yedlin - Newcastle, Graham Zusi - Sporting Kansas City
• M: Kellyn Acosta - Dallas, Paul Arriola - Tijuana, Alejandro Bedoya - Philadelphia Union, Michael Bradley - Toronto, Fabian Johnson - Borussia Moenchengladbach, Dax McCarty - Chicago Fire, Darlington Nagbe - Portland Timbers, Christian Pulisic - Borussia Dortmund
• F: Jozy Altidore - Toronto, Clint Dempsey - Seattle Sounders, Jordan Morris - Seattle Sounders, Bobby Wood - Hamburg
• C: Bruce Arena

dN

US Open Cup

Third Round Schedule/Results - from last night and tonight.

dN

Yield: du Nord Music Mix Vol 126 (download + extract)

dN

MLS

San Jose Earthquakes have hired a new team president - Englishman Tom Fox, an executive from Aston Villa.

Week 14
-Wed May 31
Columbus v Seattle
New York City v New England
Orlando v DC
Houston v Salt Lake
(11 more games coming this weekend)

dN

Men's U20 World Cup - South Korea

USA goes against New Zealand early tomorrow morning for a chance to play Venezuela in the Quarterfinals.

USA will be missing 3 big players: Cameron Carter-Vickers - centerback (red card), Aaron Herrera - right fullback (yellow card accumulation), Derrick Jones - defensive midfielder (yellow card accumulation)

Round of 16 schedule/results (bracket):
S Korea 1-3 Portugal
Uruguay 1-0 Saudi Arabia
-----
Venezuela 1-0 Japan
USA v New Zealand - Jun 1 at 6:00am CT on FS1
-----
France v Italy - Jun 1
Zambia 4-3 Germany
-----
Mexico v Senegal - Jun 1
England 2-1 Costa Rica

Quarterfinal Schedule/Results (bracket):
Portugal v Uruguay - Jun 4
Venezuela v ??? - Jun 4
------
??? v Zambia - Jun 5
??? v England - Jun 5

USA Roster

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown U, Brady Scott - De Anza Force
• D: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Cameron Carter-Vickers - Tottenham, 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: Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Luca De La Torre - Fulham, Derrick Jones - Philadelphia Union, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland
• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Lagos Kunga - Atlanta United, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - unaffiliated, Josh Sargent - St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake
• C: Tab Ramos

The tournament.

dN

Canadian Championship

Montreal moves to the Finals on the shoulders of Ignacio Piatti and new Swiss play maker Blerim Dzemaili.

2nd Leg
-Tue May 30
Montreal 4-2 Vancouver - Mon advance 5-3 on aggregate.
-Wed May 31
Toronto v Ottawa (1-2)



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 30, 2017

It's Day 150 of 2017.


LIGA MX Clausura Liguilla

Chivas got the job done, winning their 12th Mexican championship. Congrats to them.

As we see so many times late in games in Mexico the physical nature came pouring out. Lots of ugly hacks, cheap shots, pushing and yelling. It was very very close to totally boiling over. The referee barely held it together.

Match report. By Nayib Moran for ESPNFC.

Final Schedule/Results:
Leg 2
-Sun May 28
Guadalajara 2-1 Tigres - Gua wins the championship 4-3 on aggregate.

A review of the 2017 Clasura. By Tom Marshall for ESPNFC.

Head coach Miguel Herrera has left Tijuana to become the head man for Club America.

dN

Four big rivalry games in MLS this weekend!!! (see details below)

• Seattle beat Portland
• Red Bulls beat New England
• San Jose lost to LA
• Dallas and Houston went scoreless

dN

There were Four Big Euro League Cup Finals on Saturday:

FA Cup Final
Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea

DFB Pokal Final
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 Borussia Dortmund

Copa Del Rey
Barcelona 3-1 Deportivo Alaves

Coupe De France
Angers 0-1 Paris St Germain

dN

English Championship Division Promotion Playoffs Final:

2 Americans involved, Huddersfield coach David Wagner, and Reading midfielder Danny Williams. (see details below)

-Mon May 29
Reading 0-0 Huddersfield Town - HT advances 4-3 in Penalty Kick Shootout.

dN

US Open Cup returns - Third Rd on Wed May 31. (see details below)

dN

USMNT U20 in World Cup Round of 16 on Thursday v New Zealand. (see details below)

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Results:
-Sat May 27
Minnesota 1-0 Orlando - MU goal by Christian Ramirez.

My MNUFC Notes:

• Game highlights [VIDEO]
• 4 wins this season now.
• One helluva play for the games only goal: Ibson with a hot long pass to JVenegas who flicks the ball up and over the defense to Ramirez who goes around the keeper then lets a defender slide past before shooting into the empty net! Straight down the middle of the field.What a flick, what a finish:

What a flick, what a finish. @Chris_Ramirez17 puts @MNUFC in front. #MINvORL https://t.co/UK1fzBdKWR

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 28, 2017

• Sometimes you just need 1.
• Big win for the coach against his former team.
• And Ibson. Ibson. Ibson. Ibson. What can I say? Just playing great week after week. That crazy slide tackle and then 360 spin move on the ground with the ball at his feet just outside their 18 yard box late in the game - Magnifico!
• And I am not even sure if any of these teams have figured out that its Ibson who is killing them.
• A rough first 20 minutes for MU, then play even out.
• Loons came out flying in the 2nd half. But it left them vulnerable a couple times too.
• Overall it wasn't a bad performance, but comparatively this was their worst of the past 3 games.
• And yet its the only time they get points, and all 3 at that.
• The Loons were 2nd to many balls, which leads to fouls, which become yellow cards and fouls committed in dangerous spots. Luckily it didn't cost them any goals.
• MN usually has more shots that opponents but this game it was very different with Orlando taking 20 to Minnesota's 5.
• Orlando wasted a lot of those shots including 3 golden chances.
• Shuttleworth saved 2 big ones from Cyle Larin, and another Orl shot went off the post (lucky Loons).
• That Ramirez goal was his 8th of the season. Which is very good.
• Unfortunately Ramirez had a couple missed chances too, mishitting or whiffing on a couple crosses - not easy attempts by any means, but he could have done better.
• Molino was out due to illness.
• That meant Jome got his first ever MLS start. He went 79 minutes.
• Jome was simple and solid, with 1 great pass that lead to an very good Ramirez attempt. Jome made NO glaring mistakes, which is a great sign. Happy for him. He still needs to go out on loan so he can play 90 every single week.
• The back 5 were solid. Kallman and Calvo made some nice plays, bottled up Larin a lot of the time, and only had 1 or 2 bad plays. The fullbacks were good on both ends of the field.
• Attacking set pieces still leave a lot to be desired. There is almost no threat right now on free kicks and corners. Iron Frickin Skillet.
• The 14 second half goals scored by the Loons this season is excellent, and near if not tops in the league.
• No longer have the worst goal differential: MN at -11, while RSL drops to -12.
• JVenegas continues to be a mystery man. Many praised his performance this week, but I saw mediocrity outside of that beautiful flick for the Ramirez goal. He only connected on 50% of this passes, and made far less plays than anyone else in the midfield. I mean FAR LESS. And he still shy's away from physicality. Soft. Orl easily took the ball from him too many times. At least the diving wasn't as bad, almost completely gone actually. He clearly has skill, but I wish we would see real effort from him.
• This team needs a #10 desperately!
• Cronin didn't have the best game either. Several fouls, including a nasty yellow card, and not many decent passes. His worst game as a Loon.
• Only the 2nd game in which MN has scored first. And they have won them both.
• Calvo named to MLS Team Of The Week.
• Final high point: No own goals!

Up Next:
-Sat Jun 3
Kansas City v Minnesota - 4pm CT on ESPN

Calvo + Jvenegas have left the team to join Costa Rica for World Cup qualifying.

Kevin Molino will be with Minn next Saturday in KC and then go join T+T for World Cup qualifying.

Jermaine Taylor will be with Minn next Saturday in KC and then go join Jamaica during the international break.

All the latest details on the MN United stadium that is inching closer and closer. Inching being the keyword here. By Brian Quarstad for Fifty Five One.

Injury/Illness updates, and a player comes in from Scotland to have a look around. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

dN

MLS

My MLS Notes:

• Good and Bad for Dallas: Mauro Diaz returned, coming on as a sub in the 81st. His first game since the middle of last October when he tore his achilles. The bad news though is that they couldn't score against rivals Houston and had to settle for 1 point. That's 3 ties and 1 loss in the last 4.
• Jozy Altidore (suspension) and Sebastian Giovinco (injury) sat out the Friday night Toronto game. AND THEY WON 5-0!
• Four wins in a row for Chicago. They have officially turned it around.
• Nemanja Nikolic of Chicago scored his 11th goal!
• Kansas City has 3 losses and 1 tie in the last 5. Somehow still in 1st place in the West.
• Houston, New England, Minnesota and Colorado are the only teams who do not have a win on the road.

Media:

• Analysis galore. By Matt Doyle for MLS.
• XI talking points. By Alexander Abnos for Sports Illustrated.
• 9 Takeaways. By Caitlin Murray for Fox Sports.

Week 13 results:

-Thu May 25
Chicago 2-1 Dallas
-Fri May 26
Toronto 5-0 Columbus
-Sat May 27
Seattle 1-0 Portland
Vancouver 0-1 DC
New York RB 2-1 New England
Colorado 1-0 KC
Minnesota 1-0 Orlando
Salt Lake 1-0 Philadelphia
San Jose 2-4 LA
-Sun May 28
Atlanta 3-1 New York City
Dallas 0-0 Houston

26 goals in 11 games = a paltry 2.4 GPG.

dN

• Miguel Almiron of Atlanta United named MLS Player Of The Week
• Sydney Leroux of FC Kansas City named NWSL Player Of The Week
• Antoine Hoppenot of Reno 1868 named USL Player Of The Week
• Zach Steinberger of Jacksonville Armada named NASL Player Of The Week

dN

Did you see this crash in the Indy 500??? The guy walked away from it UNHARMED:

REPLAY: @scottdixon9 checked, cleared, and released after this turn 1 incident during the #Indy500 at @IMS. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/gaD950M27F

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) May 28, 2017

dN

USMNT

Two upcoming World Cup qualifiers, preceded by a friendly.
Roster (26 players):

• G: Brad Guzan - Atlanta United, Ethan Horvath - Club Brugge, Tim Howard - Colorado Rapids, Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
• D: DaMarcus Beasley - Houston Dynamo, Matt Besler - Sporting Kansas City, John Brooks - Hertha Berlin, Geoff Cameron - Stoke City, Timothy Chandler - Eintracht Frankfurt, Omar Gonzalez - Pachuca, Matt Hedges - Dallas, Tim Ream - Fulham, Jorge Villafana - Santos Laguna, DeAndre Yedlin - Newcastle, Graham Zusi - Sporting Kansas City
• M: Kellyn Acosta - Dallas, Paul Arriola - Tijuana, Alejandro Bedoya - Philadelphia Union, Michael Bradley - Toronto, Fabian Johnson - Borussia Moenchengladbach, Dax McCarty - Chicago Fire, Darlington Nagbe - Portland Timbers, Christian Pulisic - Borussia Dortmund
• F: Jozy Altidore - Toronto, Clint Dempsey - Seattle Sounders, Jordan Morris - Seattle Sounders, Bobby Wood - Hamburg
• C: Bruce Arena

Timothy Chandler has been removed from the roster due to a hamstring injury.

Walker Zimmerman was not called in due to a knee injury that will keep him out for 6 weeks.

The following players have 1 yellow card and would be suspended with a 2nd: Matt Besler, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, John Brooks, Geoff Cameron

A deeper look into the players on the roster. By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

Name six uncapped American's that Bruce Arena could be considering for the Gold Cup roster? (Begins Jul 7.) By Arch Bell for ESPNFC.

Hexagonal Standings:
10 Mexico
7 Costa Rica
5 Panama
---
4 USA
---
4 Hondura
3 Trinidad + Tobago

Hexagonal Schedule/results:
Matchday 5
-Thu Jun 8
USA v T+T
Costa Rica v Panama
Mexico v Honduras
Matchday 6
-Sun Jun 11
Mexico v USA
-Tue Jun 13
Panama v Honduras
Costa Rica v T+T

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

David Wagner is set to become the 2nd American head coach in the Premier League, with Huddersfield Town, who won the Championship division promotion playoffs.

Danny Williams went the full 120 minutes but suffered a very tough loss in that same playoff game. He took Readings 2nd PK in the shootout and buried it.

Christian Pulisic came on as a sub at half time and eventually drew the penalty that became the DFB Pokal cup winning goal for Dortmund.

Timmy Chandler started and went 72 min for Eintract Frankfurt in the Cup defeat.

Despite that win its the end of the line for Thomas Tuchel, the head coach for Pulisic at Dortmund. By Stephan Uersfeld for ESPNFC.

dN

Men's U20 World Cup - South Korea

The USA wins the group after both Group F final games ended in ties.

Round of 16 opponent is indeed New Zealand, who finished 2nd in Group E behind France.

USMNT - Group F - Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 22
USA 3-3 Ecuador - USA goals by Josh Sargent(2) + Luca De La Torre.
Incheon Stadium
-Thu May 25
USA 1-0 Senegal - USA goal by Josh Sargent.
Incheon Stadium
-Sun May 28
USA 1-1 Saudi Arabia - USA goal by Brooks Lennon.
Daejeon Stadium

USA Roster:

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown U, Brady Scott - De Anza Force
• D: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Cameron Carter-Vickers - Tottenham, 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: Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Luca De La Torre - Fulham, Derrick Jones - Philadelphia Union, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland
• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Lagos Kunga - Atlanta United, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - unaffiliated, Josh Sargent - St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake
• C: Tab Ramos

Group F Standings:
5 USA (+1)
4 Sengal (+1)
4 Saudi Arabia (-1)
2 Ecuador (-1)

Round of 16 schedule/results (bracket):
S Korea 1-3 Portugal
Uruguay v Saudi Arabia - May 31
-----
Venezuela 1-0 Japan
USA v New Zealand - Jun 1 at 6:00am CT on FS1
-----
France v Italy - Jun 1
Zambia v Germany - May 31
-----
Mexico v Senegal - Jun 1
England v Costa Rica - May 31

The tournament.

dN

Canadian Championship

2nd Leg
-Tue May 30
Montreal v Vancouver (1-2)
-Wed May 31
Toronto v Ottawa (1-2)

dN

US Open Cup

3rd Round schedule/results - Takes place on Wed May 31.

dN

A long and incredible career ends for Francesco Totti. By Jason Horowitz for the New York Times.

• "The city of Rome is a mess. The bus never comes, they don’t pick up the garbage and the cops do nothing. Now Totti’s leaving. It’s the last thing we need."
• "Rome is a city of symbols, the pope, the Colosseum. And Totti..."
• "I feel awful, awful. Now we will realize it. That he is gone."
• Totti made his Roma first team debut in 1993 at age 16.
• At his peak in 2001 he lead them to their only Serie A title in the last 35 years.

My columns for 1500ESPN.



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 26, 2017

It's Day 146 of 2017.


Down goes Dallas! Down goes Dallas! [said in Howard Cosell voice]

• Chicago won their 4th straight and became the 1st to beat Dallas this season.
• Dallas paid the price for rest almost all of their regulars (only 2 or 3 on the field.)
• The Fire now have the same amount of wins this year as in all of last year.

dN

Four big rivalry games in MLS this weekend!!! (see details below)

• Seattle-Portland
• Red Bulls-New England
• San Jose-LA
• Dallas-Houston

dN

Congrats to former Minnesota Thunder, Stars and United executive Djorn Buchholz who has been hired as the executive director for the new National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco TX.

dN

LIGA MX Clausura Liguilla

Tigres roared back to salvage a home tie on 2 late goals by superstar Andre-Pierre Gignac.

Match report on a great one. By Tom Marshall for ESPNFC.

There is no "away goals" tiebreaker in the Finals.

Final Schedule/Results:
Leg 1
-Thu May 25
Tigres 2-2 Guadalajara
Leg 2
-Sun May 28
Guadalajara v Tigres (2-2) - 6:00pm CT on Univision Deportes

Lobos BUAP from Puebla has earned promotion from the 2nd division next season. It will be their first time in the modern era of Liga MX.


dN

Four Big Euro League Cup Finals on Saturday:
-FA Cup Final
Arsenal v Chelsea - 11:30am CT on FOX
-DFB Pokal Final
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund - 1:00pm CT on ESPN3
-Copa Del Rey
Barcelona v Deportivo Alaves - 2:30pm CT on ESPN3
-Coupe De France
Angers v Paris St Germain - 2:00pm CT on beIN

dN

English Championship Division Promotion Playoffs Final:

-Mon May 29
Reading v Huddersfield Town - 9:00am on beIN Sports

dN

An interview with Christian Pulisic as his historic season in Germany, especially with the bombing of the team bus, comes to a close. By Nick Ames for the Guardian.

dN

Is there really any surprise at all that FIFA has big issues confronting them in Russia? Aaaaaah, no. By Paul Kennedy for Soccer America.

• Nothing will actually be done about any of these issues. Its all talk, like everything having to do with FIFA changes.

dN

Long Strange Trip - trailer for a 4 hour film on the Grateful Dead in never before seen footage and interviews.

dN

Reminder: du Nord Music Mix Vol 125 (download + extract)

dN

RIP to the great + challenging writer Denis Johnson. If you are up for some heavy reading and some hardcore gritty truth this is your place.

• Jesus' Son
• Resuscitation Of A Hanged Man
• Angles
• Tree Of Smoke

I went to hear him speak at the my University a couple years ago. A real gentleman. Made me wonder where "that" stuff is stored in his head.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

The head coach sits down for another long interview with the local news. [VIDEO] By Eric Perkins for KARE 11.

• The coach says team is hoping to add players when the next transfer opens on June 10.

Francisco Calvo out of KC game due to intl call up, and stadium opening moved to 2019 (I have figured on that for 6 months now.) By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

• Johan Venegas did get called up by Costa Rica as well.
• You have to assume that Kevin Molino is getting called in for Trinidad + Tobago, but when?

Next Up:
-Sat May 27
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29

dN

MLS

Nikolic and Accam both scored again for Chicago - 4 wins in a row, 11 goals for Nikolic and 7 for Accam. Hottest duo in the league, by far.

• Nikolic also had a penalty saved at the end of the game.

What aren't FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo more popular in Texas and this derby a HUGE deal? By Tom Dart for the Guardian.

A run-of-the-mill bread-and-butter sports writer goes to an Atlanta United game and is blown away by the experience. By Will Leitch for Sports On Earth. Thanks to Joe for the link.

Week 13 schedule/results:
(11 games)
-Thu May 25
Chicago 2-1 Dallas
-Fri May 26
Toronto v Columbus
-Sat May 27
Seattle v Portland - 1:30pm CT on FOX
Vancouver v DC
New York RB v New England
Colorado v KC
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29
Salt Lake v Philadelphia
San Jose v LA - 9:00pm CT on Univision
-Sun May 28
Atlanta v New York City - 4:00pm CT on ESPN
Dallas v Houston - 7:00pm CT on FS1
-Montreal are off this week.

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AMERICANS ABROAD

David Wagner is one game away from managing Huddersfield town in the English Premier League. His rise from Mainz and Dortmund to England has been impressive. BY Kristan Heneage for Unibet.

Danny Williams will take the field for Reading against Wagner in this huge ($$$) game.

• The promotion playoff final is on Monday. (see schedule above)

dN

Men's U20 World Cup - South Korea

If the USA were to finish 2nd in this group, then their Round of 16 opponent would be... yes, that's right, Mexico!

USMNT - Group F - Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 22
USA 3-3 Ecuador - USA goals by Josh Sargent(2) + Luca De La Torre.
Incheon Stadium
-Thu May 25
USA 1-0 Senegal - USA goal by Josh Sargent.
Incheon Stadium
-Sun May 28
USA v Saudi Arabia - 4:00AM CT on FS1
Daejeon Stadium

USA Roster

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown U, Brady Scott - De Anza Force
• D: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Cameron Carter-Vickers - Tottenham, 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: Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Luca De La Torre - Fulham, Derrick Jones - Philadelphia Union, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland
• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Lagos Kunga - Atlanta United, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - unaffiliated, Josh Sargent - St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake
• C: Tab Ramos

Group F Standings:
4 USA (+1)
3 Sengal (+1)
3 Saudi Arabia (-1)
1 Ecuador (-1)

In the knockout stage the winner of Group F will play the #2 of Group E which as of right now is New Zealand.

The tournament.

dN

My columns for 1500ESPN.



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 25, 2017

It's Day 145 of 2017.


Another good day for the USMNT at the U20 World Cup. See details below.

dN

1st Leg of the Liga MX Final tonight - Tigres v Chivas. See details below.

dN

In Case You Missed It
My very 1st column for 1500am ESPN: Loons Will Need To Fix Thin Roster + tease of a new podcast.

dN

non-exist-ent

A post shared by brucio mcguire (@brucedunord) on May 23, 2017 at 5:37pm PDT

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

"Miguel Ibarra's my fri-end, and he'll keep on fighting till the end..." Ibarra tells his story from Minnesota to Leon and back to Minnesota. By Jeff Rueter for Four Four Two.

Joe Greenspan has returned to the team after his loan to Pittsburgh. He got a lot of playing time at centerback and earned accolades for his performances.

• The team will need more centerbacks (and even more so, quality centerbacks) with World Cup qualifying and Gold Cup straight ahead, mean Calvo will miss games.

Loons news, notes, noise, nibbles, etc. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

The magnifying glass is out and the game film is run at half speed, to examine the nuance of MU v LA one last time. By Noel Quinn for Fifty Five One.

Next Up:
-Sat May 27
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29

dN

MLS

Why have so few players moved from NASL + USL to MLS over the years? Will MNUFC players like Ramirez, Ibson, Kallman and Ibarra help changed that? By Jeff Rueter for the Guardian.

The Nemanja Nikolic story is one of the very best in this MLS season so far. By Thomas Floyd for Goal.

• Tonight's Chicago - Dallas game could be a really good one!

Week 13 schedule/results:
(11 games)
-Thu May 25
Chicago v Dallas
-Fri May 26
Toronto v Columbus
-Sat May 27
Seattle v Portland - 1:30pm CT on FOX
Vancouver v DC
New York RB v New England
Colorado v KC
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29
Salt Lake v Philadelphia
San Jose v LA - 9:00pm CT on Univision
-Sun May 28
Atlanta v New York City - 4:00pm CT on ESPN
Dallas v Houston - 7:00pm CT on FS1
-Montreal are off this week.

dN

USMNT

With the English season ending DeAndre Yedlin is back in his hometown of Seattle getting ready for the national team by training with the Sounders:

#AlwaysASounder

Full interview with @yedlinny --> https://t.co/DQtxZrZ24R pic.twitter.com/E8nzG6yGWZ

— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) May 25, 2017

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Not only is Perry Kitchen no longer captain at Hearts but the club has told him he is free to leave and not in their plans for next season. By Barry Anderson for the Edinburgh Evening News. Thanks to Martyn for the heads up.

dN

Men's U20 World Cup - South Korea

Josh Sargent does it again! Scoring the only goal today in a big win over Senegal. Tyler Adams and Luca De La Torre set up the game winner.

Game highlights. [VIDEO]

And in the other Group F game today Ecuador lost to Saudi Arabia which puts the USA in 1st place and their destiny in their own hands.

The 17 year old Sargent is making one helluva splash. After dominating at the U17 CONCACAF championship last month he is now making his name on the international stage. And seeing as he is not attached to any professional team he must be the most wanted man at the tournament in South Korea right now.

USMNT - Group F - Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 22
USA 3-3 Ecuador - USA goals by Josh Sargent(2) + Luca De La Torre.
Incheon Stadium
-Thu May 25
USA 1-0 Senegal - USA goal by Josh Sargent.
Incheon Stadium
-Sun May 28
USA v Saudi Arabia - 4:00AM CT on FS1
Daejeon Stadium

USA Roster

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown U, Brady Scott - De Anza Force
• D: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Cameron Carter-Vickers - Tottenham, 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: Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Luca De La Torre - Fulham, Derrick Jones - Philadelphia Union, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland
• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Lagos Kunga - Atlanta United, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - unaffiliated, Josh Sargent - St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake
• C: Tab Ramos

Group F Standings:
4 USA (+1)
3 Sengal (+1)
3 Saudi Arabia (-1)
1 Ecuador (-1)

In the knockout stage the winner of Group F will play the #2 of Group E which as of right now is New Zealand.

The tournament.

dN

More from the U20 World Cup - Oh England, not again:


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LIGA MX Clausura Liguilla

Final Schedule/Results:
Leg 1
-Thu May 25
Tigres v Guadalajara - 9:00pm CT on Univision Deportes
Leg 2
-Sun May 28
Guadalajara v Tigres - 6:00pm CT on Univision Deportes

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My columns for 1500ESPN.



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 24, 2017

It's Day 144 of 2017.


SPECIAL NOTE - My very 1st column for 1500am ESPN: Loons Will Need To Fix Thin Roster + the tease of a new podcast.

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Manchester is one city that knows exactly what to say to nihilistic fuckers! [CARTOON] By David Squires for the Guardian.

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UEFA Europa League Final

Man U are the champions in Stockholm. Congrats to them.

-Wed May 24
Ajax 0-2 Manchester United

Even though its just the B-League of tournaments the fact that Ajax is in a championship of any kind again is a very good thing. One of the forgotten great of Europe lately. By David Winner for the Guardian.

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Four Cup Finals on Saturday:
-FA Cup Final
Arsenal v Chelsea
-DFB Pokal Final
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund
-Copa Del Rey
Barcelona v Deportivo Alaves
-Coupe De France
Angers v Paris St Germain

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MINNESOTA UNITED

My Hot Tip for MNUFC: Stop leaking goals!!! I know its slowed down from the trainwrecks of Wk 1,2 + 4, but its still bad! We are all acting like its fixed! OK so Wk 8, 9 + 10 were very good at 0, 1, 0. But its back up again and far from problem solved.

From the LA game: LA's Baggio Husidic suffered a broken fibula in the 1st half and will be out 2 months. The fake turf played a big role in how his foot got caught up underneath him and caused his weight to pushed down on the leg trapped under his body.

A two topic reflection on MN v LA and the near future for the Loons. By Alex Schieferdecker for Fifty Five One.

Next Up:
-Sat May 27
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29

Orlando Facts:

• 4th place in the East
• Have not won since Apr 29
• Played 5 games in May so far
• 3 Losses and 2 Ties
• 12 goals allowed
• 4 goals scored
• As for their road form: 3 games - 2 losses - 1 tie - 7 allowed - 2 scored

Referees

• REF: NIMA SAGHAFI
• AR1: Kevin Klinger
• AR2: Felisha Mariscal
• 4TH: Juan Guzman

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MLS

Yes, the start of this season is the best its been for the Chicago Fire in quite some time. But the GM is preaching modesty and patience. By Dan Santaromita for CSN Chicago.

• The should be keeping their heads down and lips sealed cuz their success is modest and its only been 1/3 of the season. Still lots of time to fall on their face.

Top 10 goals of the season so far in MLS. [VIDEO] Chosen by Paul Mariner for ESPNFC.

All the goals from Week 12. [VIDEO] From MLS.

Most wins so far this season:

• 7 Toronto

Most losses so far this season:

• 8 Colorado
• 8 Salt Lake

Most ties so far this season:

• 5 Toronto

Top Goalscorers:

• 10 Nemanja Nikolic (1 via PK)
• 9 Erick Torres (5 via PK)
• 8 David Villa (1 via PK)
• 8 CJ Sapong (2 via PK)

Top 5 (6) Teams by Points Per Game:

• 2.00 Toronto
• 1.90 Dallas
• 1.75 Chicago
• 1.69 Kansas City
• 1.67 New York City
• 1.67 Orlando

Week 13 schedule/results:
(11 games)
-Thu May 25
Chicago v Dallas
-Fri May 26
Toronto v Columbus
-Sat May 27
Seattle v Portland - 1:30pm CT on FOX
Vancouver v DC
New York RB v New England
Colorado v KC
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29
Salt Lake v Philadelphia
San Jose v LA - 9:00pm CT on Univision
-Sun May 28
Atlanta v New York City - 4:00pm CT on ESPN
Dallas v Houston - 7:00pm CT on FS1
-Montreal are off this week.

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Men's U20 World Cup - South Korea

Gedion Zelalem, an important part of the USA midfield, is out with a torn ACL. He will need 9-12 months for full recovery.

Derrick Jones of the Philly Union now becomes a key in the that midfield. Lets learn everything about Jones. By Jonathan Tannenwald for Philly.com

USMNT - Group F - Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 22
USA 3-3 Ecuador - USA goals by Josh Sargent(2) + Luca De La Torre.
Incheon Stadium
-Thu May 25
USA v Senegal - 6:00AM CT on FS1
Incheon Stadium
-Sun May 28
USA v Saudi Arabia - 4:00AM CT on FS1
Daejeon Stadium

USA Roster

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown U, Brady Scott - De Anza Force
• D: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Cameron Carter-Vickers - Tottenham, 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: Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Luca De La Torre - Fulham, Derrick Jones - Philadelphia Union, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland
• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Lagos Kunga - Atlanta United, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - unaffiliated, Josh Sargent - St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake
• C: Tab Ramos

Group F Standings:
3 Sengal (+2)
1 Ecuador (0)
1 USA (0)
0 Saudi Arabia (-2)

The tournament.

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LIGA MX Clausura Liguilla

A preview of Thursday nights first leg - tigers v goats. By Tom Marshall for ESPNFC.

Final Schedule/Results:
Leg 1
-Thu May 25
Tigres v Guadalajara - 9:00pm CT on Univision Deportes
Leg 2
-Sun May 28
Guadalajara v Tigres - 6:00pm CT on Univision Deportes

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Canadian Championship

Ottawa came from behind to claim a huge home win. Everyone now expects them to get crushed in the 2nd Leg. We shall see.

16 year old Fonzie Davis lead Vancouver to victory. Ehhhhh! (thumbs up) By Joshua Clipperton for Canadian Press, via Vancouver Sun.

Semifinals Schedule/Results:
1st Leg
-Tue May 23
Ottawa 2-1 Toronto
Vancouver 2-1 Montreal
2nd Leg
May 31
-Tue May 30
Montreal v Vancouver
-Wed May 31
Toronto v Ottawa



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 23, 2017

It's Day 143 of 2017.


MINNESOTA UNITED

Abu Danladi out 2 to 3 weeks with groin muscle injury. Two articles, with a few different details:

• Version of the story by Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.
• Version of the story by Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

"One door closes and another one opens for somebody else, so we have to wait and see who maybe steps up." - Adrian Heath.
But who is on the roster that COULD step up? We are left baffled by the absence of Kadrii, and Schuller is still dealing with a hip injury. Jome is not the answer. Could Davis or KVenegas play in the attack at all? Questions, questions. We dream of answers.

Minnesota United will field a Special Olympics team from the state of Minnesota that will play a home and away series against a Texas team from the Houston Dynamo. The 2 games will take place right after games between the 2 MLS teams, on Jul 19 in Minneapolis and Sep 30 in Houston.

Next Up:
-Sat May 27
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29

Both Minnesota and Orlando have a big time forward and if you compare the stats they're nearly identical in production:
Christian Ramirez
10026 minutes played
128 games
117 starts
70 goals
1 goal every 143 minutes
4 yellow cards
0 red cards
Cyle Larin
5425 minutes played
71 games
65 starts
38 goals
1 goal every 143 minutes
1 yellow card
1 red card

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MLS

I am not sure how to figure out Philadelphia. After not winning a game in what felt like years (aka 16 games) they have now won 4 in a row. What gives? Why? How? I literally have no answers. But they have done it, and it is good. In those 4 games they have scored 11 goals and allowed 1. Their fans should be chanting, "It's a miracle!"

• Here is some form of explanation. By John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News.

The 5 best MLS goals from Week 12. [VIDEO]

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• Miguel Almiron of Atlanta United named MLS Player Of The Week
• Dane Kelly of Reno 1868 named USL Player Of The Week
• Christen Press of Chicago Red Stars named NWSL Player Of The Week
• Zach Steinberger of Jacksonville Armada named NASL Player Of The Week

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USMNT

The "yup," the "nope," and the "maybe" players for near future USA consideration. By Arch Bell for ESPNFC.

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AMERICANS ABROAD

It's a whole new world for DeAndre Yedlin and he is happy about it. His team Newcastle were crowned champions of England's 2nd division this season and have been promoted to the Premier League for 2017-18. By Kristan Heneage for the Guardian.

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Men's U20 World Cup - South Korea

How did the USA find their way back into a game that they were nearly out of with just 7 minutes gone? By Brian Sciaretta for American Soccer Now.

USMNT - Group F - Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 22
USA 3-3 Ecuador - USA goals by Josh Sargent(2) + Luca De La Torre.
Incheon Stadium
-Thu May 25
USA v Senegal - 6:00AM CT on FS1
Incheon Stadium
-Sun May 28
USA v Saudi Arabia - 4:00AM CT on FS1
Daejeon Stadium

USA Roster

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown U, Brady Scott - De Anza Force
• D: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Cameron Carter-Vickers - Tottenham, 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: Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Luca De La Torre - Fulham, Derrick Jones - Philadelphia Union, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland, Gedion Zelalem - Arsenal
• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Lagos Kunga - Atlanta United, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - unaffiliated, Josh Sargent - St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake
• C: Tab Ramos

Group F Standings:
3 Sengal (+2)
1 Ecuador (0)
1 USA (0)
0 Saudi Arabia (-2)

The tournament.

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Canadian Championship

Semifinals Schedule/Results:
1st Leg
-Tue May 23
Ottawa v Toronto
Vancouver v Montreal
2nd Leg
May 31
-Tue May 30
Montreal v Vancouver
-Wed May 31
Toronto v Ottawa



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 22, 2017

It's Day 142 of 2017.


Juventus is champion of Serie A once again. Congrats to them. I guess. Hahahaha.

dN

Real Madrid have won another Spanish Primera (aka La Liga) championship. Congrats.

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LIGA MX Clausura Liguilla

Tigres thoroughly dominated Tijuana and won the Semis in a run away. They will be next to impossible to beat in the Final.

The opponent is Guadalajara, aching to achieve the success of old.

American's Joe Corona (90 minutes) and Paul Arriola (last 19 minutes) played in the losing effort of Leg 2 for Tijuana.

Semifinals Schedule/Results:
Leg 2
-Sun May 21
Guadalajara(3) 1-1 Toluca(4) - series ends tied 2-2 so Gua advances as higher seed.
Tijuana(1) 0-2 Tigres(7) - Tig advances 4-0 on aggregate.

Final Schedule/Results:
Leg 1
-Thu May 25
Tigres v Guadalajara
Leg 2
-Sun May 28
Guadalajara v Tigres

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MINNESOTA UNITED

A tough home loss to take.

Schedule/Results:
-Sun May 21
Minnesota 1-2 LA - MU goal by Christian Ramirez. LAG goals by Giovani Dos Santos + Christian Ramirez(OG).

My MNUFC Notes:

• Game highlights [VIDEO]
• MNUFC looked like they were going to be really strong out of the gate, controlling a good portion of the game for 20+ minutes.
• Including 2 great chances, 1 from Ibarra and 1 from Kallman.
• But then LA started finding their shooting range from long distance. Too many guys given too much space. Slack MN defending.
• Which led to the 1st goal, where the very dangerous Romain Lettuce Allesandrini was not closed down and looped in a perfect ball for Gio Dos Santos to float in unmarked and beautifully side foot up and over Shuttleworth into the net.
• Very cruel, but I must admit incredible, goal to give up. An insanely great move by 2 very talented LA players.
• Both Burch and Calvo stood watching it unfold in front of them, not moving an inch. Hope they liked the show.
• Early in the 2nd half Ibarra and Ramirez squandered another great chance, never seeing a wide open Ibson at the back post.
• Soon after that Ramirez crashed a header off the post.
• FINALLY the Loons got their goal as Cronin sacrificed his body to put a header down into the middle of the box with only Ramirez reacting and he jammed it home. Ashley Cole kept him onside.
• Ramirez's anticipation was magical. Nearly everyone else on both teams was pushing out and he saw his hole to run in to.
• But for a 2nd time in 2 weeks a ball caromed off Ramirez on a set piece and ended up in the back of the Minn net for an own goal. A deflection [drink] off him in Houston on a set piece lead to a goal for the opposition too. That is 3 goals off CR during the set pieces, something is going very wrong. Its happened too many times to be dumb luck.
• The effort in the game from Minn was certainly there. No doubt about it.
• But the quality of the players on the field is just not good enough for Minnesota to compete at this level. So far they have beaten the two teams clearly worse than them, Salt Lake and Colorado, and gotten a signature win against Kansas City. But beating many other teams is going to be tough with this roster.
• The Loons have virtually no bench at all.
• Danladi got injured early (groin?) and Jvenegas came on to replace him. Leaving no other credible player to take the field.
• For some bizarre reason Heath subbed off Ibarra in the 78th min - he looked just fine to me. The player coming in was Jome who has no business being on a MLS field. None. Seriously. It was a wasted sub.
• To make matters worse there was no one else on the bench that could add anything to the attack late in the game when the Loons were in dire need of a spark.
• No Shuller in the gameday 18.
• No Kadrii in the gameday 18.
• What is going on?
• At this point Davis is a much better outside attacking option than Jome.
• Ibson was again great, except for one ugly back pass in the middle of the field that was nearly costly, but snuffed out.
• Other than that the Ibson "pick-pocket defense" was a thing of beauty. So many times a teammate slowed down the opponent with the ball and Ibson sneaked in from behind and to snatch the ball away. It was breathtaking!
• I bet Ibson made 10 defensive plays in total yesterday.
• Shuttleworth also made 3 strong saves.
• God dammit! How did they lose this game?!?!?

great moment in the @MNUFC v @LAGalaxy game yesterday pic.twitter.com/uOCOSmITyO

— Bruce McGuire (@dunord) May 22, 2017

Post-game Media:

• Match report. By Bill Stenross for Fitty Five One.
• A tale of two very different goals for Christian Ramirez. By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.
• Danladi with some sort of groin muscle injury. And a couple other things. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

How have the 7 players Minnesota brought with them from the NASL team performed so far this season? By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.

Next Up:
-Sat May 27
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29
-Next weeks MNUFC opponent Orlando got smoked at home.

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MLS

My MLS Notes:

• 2 big streaks ended: Dallas has lost for the 1st time this season. And it happened at home - AND - Toronto tied after winning 6 in a row.
• Philly with 2 more wins and 6 more points! Are you kidding me.
• Chicago also landed 2 wins etc.
• Atlanta got back on track with a thrashing of Houston.
• Orlando lost for the first time at their new stadium.
• Three other "contenders" lost on the road" Portland, Seattle and Kansas City. Its a cold cruel world away from home.

Media:

• Everything you might have missed from Week 12. By Charles Boehm for MLS.
• The best analysis of Week 12. By Matt Doyle for MLS.
• 7 glorious takeaways from Week 12. By Caitlyn Murray for Fox Sports.
• Week 12 highs in review. By Alexander Abnos for Sports Illustrated.

Week 12:
(16 games)
-Wed May 17
Philadelphia 2-0 Houston
Chicago 3-0 Colorado
Kansas City 3-0 Seattle
Salt Lake 2-1 New York City
San Jose 1-1 Orlando
-Fri May 19
New York Red Bulls 1-1 Toronto
-Sat May 20
Montreal 4-1 Portland
DC 0-1 Chicago
Seattle 1-0 Salt Lake
Atlanta 4-1 Houston
Philadelphia 2-1 Colorado
Vancouver 2-0 Kansas City
Dallas 0-1 San Jose
-Sun May 21
New England 2-1 Columbus
Minnesota 1-2 LA
Orlando 0-3 New York City

• 42 goals in 16 games = 2.6 GPG. Eh.

Coming up next in Week 13 of MLS:
(11 games)
-Thu May 25
Chicago v Dallas
-Fri May 26
Toronto v Columbus
-Sat May 27
Seattle v Portland - 1:30pm CT on FOX
Vancouver v DC
New York RB v New England
Colorado v KC
Minnesota v Orlando - 7:00pm CT on My29
Salt Lake v Philadelphia
San Jose v LA - 9:00pm CT on Univision
-Sun May 28
Atlanta v New York City - 4:00pm CT on ESPN
Dallas v Houston - 7:00pm CT on FS1
-Montreal are off this week.

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AMERICANS ABROAD

Bobby Wood and Hamburger got a very important win, 2-1 over Wolfsburg, to avoid a relegation playoff series. They finished in 14th.

John Brooks ended his season in horrible form, being subbed off at half time by a furious coach as they lost at home 2-6 to Leverkusen. Oof. His up and down season does not bode well for World Cup qualifying ahead.

Youngster Weston McKennie made his top flight debut, coming on in the 76th minute for Schalke as they tied Ingolstadt 1-1.

5 Americans did end their European season on high notes. By Steven Goff for the Washington Post.

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Men's U20 World Cup - South Korea

USA was shell-shocked and down 0-2 after just 7 minutes. But the team scrambled to stay in this one and twice came from behind to grab a desperate tie, scoring several minutes into 2nd half stoppage time.

Game highlights [VIDEO]

The front 3 attackers for the USA were remarkable:

• 16 year old Josh Sargent who just lead the USA U-17 team in qualifying for that age groups World Cup grabbed 2 goals for the older team.
• Luca De La Torre set up the 1st goal and scored the 3rd.
• While Brooks Lennon set up the 2nd and 3rd goals.

The story of team captain Erik Palmer-Brown. By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

USMNT - Group F - Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 22
USA 3-3 Ecuador - USA goals by Josh Sargent(2) + Luca De La Torre.
Incheon Stadium
-Thu May 25
USA v Senegal - 6:00AM CT on FS1
Incheon Stadium
-Sun May 28
USA v Saudi Arabia - 4:00AM CT on FS1
Daejeon Stadium

USA Roster

• G: Jonathan Klinsmann - U California, JT Marcinkowski - Georgetown U, Brady Scott - De Anza Force
• D: Danny Acosta - Real Salt Lake, Cameron Carter-Vickers - Tottenham, 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: Tyler Adams - New York Red Bulls, Luca De La Torre - Fulham, Derrick Jones - Philadelphia Union, Eryk Williamson - U Maryland, Gedion Zelalem - Arsenal
• F: Jeremy Ebobisse - Portland Timbers, Lagos Kunga - Atlanta United, Brooks Lennon - Real Salt Lake, Emmanuel Sabbi - unaffiliated, Josh Sargent - St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Sebastian Saucedo - Real Salt Lake
• C: Tab Ramos

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La Liga Title Race

Its all over and Real Madrid are champions once more.

Standings:
93 Real Madrid
90 Barcelona

-Wed May 17
Celta de Vigo 1-4 Real Madrid
-Sun May 21
Barcelona 4-2 Eibar
Malaga 0-2 Real Madrid

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Serie A Title Race

Juventus are champions once again. Congrats to them.

Standings:
(1 game left)
88 Juventus (+49)
84 Roma (+51)
83 Napoli (+53)

-Sat May 20
Chievo 3-5 Roma
Napoli 4-1 Fiorentina
-Sun May 21
Juventus 3-0 Crotone

dN

Starting next season the English FA will give out retroactive suspensions for simulation.



The Bird Is The Word

Truckin'

see ya Monday

Some Soccer News for May 18, 2017

It's Day 138 of 2017.


The draw for the 4th Round of the US Open Cup was held today and Minnesota United will once again travel to Sporting Kansas City on Jun 14. Again. Damn. Booooo. Boring. Same old shit year after year.

• By the way, if you think this was SKC v MU match was random, it wasn't. The draw is loaded. Check the only other two MLS v MLS matchups: NYC v RBNY and Portland v Seattle
• A draw, yeah right.

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RIP Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave who was found dead last night in a Detroit hotel room. Rock, drugs and suicide go way too hand in hand. Very sad. Story from Detroit Free Press.

• I saw Soundgarden a few times in their early days. I wasn't a fan, but loved the guitars - Black Sabbath meets Black Flag!

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USMNT

DeAndre Yedlin has grown a lot during 3 some times very tough years in England. How did he flourish at newly promoted Newcastle? By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

Jozy Altidore yearns for a shot at WC Russia 2018. By Martin Rogers for USA Today.

• Plus he has started a pretty interesting project for young players without a lot of money.

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LIGA MX Clausura Liguilla Semifinals Schedule/Results

The Tijuana and Tigres coaches have words for each other. By Tom Marshall for ESPNFC.

Leg 1
-Thu May 18
Toluca(4) v Guadalajara(3) - 7:30pm on Uni Deportes
Tigres(7) v Tijuana(1) - 9:30pm on Uni Deportes
Leg 2
-Sun May 21
Guadalajara(3) v Toluca(4)
Tijuana(1) v Tigres(7)

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US Open Cup 2nd Round results from last night.

• The 3rd Round takes place on Wed May 31.
• The 4th Round is when the MLS teams join.

Some big upsets last night:

• New York Cosmos lost to Reading United
• Richmond Kickers lost to Christos
• Indy Eleven lost to Michigan Bucks
• Pittsburgh Riverhounds lost to Chicago FC United

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MINNESOTA UNITED

I guess you could call the Minnesota roster a bunch of misfits. But don't call them quitters. By Matt Pentz for ESPNFC.

Two LA boys grew up watching the Galaxy and now will get their chance to play against them - Ibarra y Ramirez. By Wes Burdine for MLS.

Minnesota's game in Atlanta that was scheduled for Aug 13 has been moved to Tue Oct 3 at 6:00pm CT

LA has 2 wins and 2 losses in their 4 road games this season. And currently on a run of 1 win preceded by 2 draws.

Two observations from game in Toronto: 1) people need to stop talking about playoffs and 2) the teams tactics are firming up. By Alex Schieferdecker for Fity Five One.

Next Schedule/Results:
-Sun May 21
Minnesota v LA - 4:00pm CT on ESPN.

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MLS

Nenmana Nikolic of Chicago scored 2 more last night, giving him 10 for the season. -I rarely get anything right, but I did pick him out before the season as my candidate for Newcomer of the Year.

And freakin Philly does it again. I am baffled. Hadn't won in all 8 games this year, and now won 2 in a row. And have 4 shutouts in a row too. Unreal.

• And don't forget about Fafa Picault! Scoring goal. Oh yeah.

KC took the drills to Seattle, who look like they did last year under Sigi. Gerso got a hattrick for SKC.

RSL got a desperately needed win too.

Lets have a professional journalist break down last nights action for us. By Matt Doyle for MLS.

Week 12:
(16 games)
-Wed May 17
Philadelphia 2-0 Houston
Chicago 3-0 Colorado
Kansas City 3-0 Seattle
Salt Lake 2-1 New York City
San Jose 1-1 Orlando
-Fri May 19
New York Red Bulls v Toronto
-Sat May 20
Montreal v Portland
DC v Chicago - 3:00pm CT on Uni Mas
Seattle v Salt Lake
Atlanta v Houston
Philadelphia v Colorado
Vancouver v Kansas City
Dallas v San Jose
-Sun May 21
New England v Columbus
Minnesota v LA - 4:00pm CT on ESPN
Orlando v New York City - 6:00pm CT on FS1

dN

David Beckham and Co have made what some say is their final pitch to build a stadium for a MLS team in Miami. By Douglas Hanks and Martin Vassolo for the Miami Herald.

dN

Ancient: du Nord Music Mix Vol 124 (download + extract)

dN

An interview with probably the best Mixed Martial Arts fighter in the world - and you probably have never heard of him. Demetrious Johnson. And he is incredible. By Jon Wertheim for Sports Illustrated.

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AMERICANS ABROAD

Manager David Wagner leads his Huddersfield team into the Championship promotion playoff Finals.

And they will be matched up against Danny Williams and Reading.

dN

English Championship division promotion playoffs:

Huddersfield Town will take on Reading for the last promotion to the Premier League.

2nd Leg
-Tue May 16
Reading 1-0 Fulham - Rea advance 2-1 on aggregate.
-Wed May 17
Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Huddersfield - game ends tied 1-1 on aggregate, and Hud wins in Penalty Kick Shootout 4-3.

Final:
(Winner gets promoted to the Premier League, and there is an American on both sides.)
Sun May 28
Reading v Huddersfield Town

dN

Starting next season the English FA will give out retroactive suspensions for simulation.

dN

La Liga Title Race - Final games:

(1 game left)
90 Real Madrid
87 Barcelona (Barca has tiebreaker of head-to-head points 4-1)

-Wed May 17
Celta de Vigo 1-4 Real Madrid
-Sun May 21
Barcelona v Eibar
Malaga v Real Madrid

dN

Serie A Title Race - Final games:

(2 games left)
85 Juventus (+46)
81 Roma (+49)
80 Napoli (+50)

-Sat May 20
Chievo v Roma
Napoli v Fiorentina
-Sun May 21
Juventus v Crotone
-Sun May 28
Roma v Genoa
Bologna v Juventus
Sampdoria v Napoli

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Coppa Italia Final:

Juve has won the Italian Cup for the 3rd year in a row. I am sick of congratulating them. Hahahahahaha. No, huge congrats to them.

-Wed May 17

Juventus 2-0 Lazio


On the utter dominance of Juventus in Italy. Again. By Paolo Bandini for the Guardian.



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 17, 2017

It's Day 137 of 2017.


LIGA MX Clausura Liguilla Semifinals Schedule/Results

How do you stop Tigres? They are on a serious roll. By Cesar Hernandez for Four Four Two.

Leg 1
-Thu May 18
Toluca(4) v Guadalajara(3) - 7:30pm on Uni Deportes
Tigres(7) v Tijuana(1) - 9:30pm on Uni Deportes
Leg 2
-Sun May 21
Guadalajara(3) v Toluca(4)
Tijuana(1) v Tigres(7)

dN

Monaco are the champions of French Ligue 1:

🏆 CHAMPIONS !!!!!🍾🍾🍾#ASMonacoChampi8ns #MakeHistory pic.twitter.com/nKkQHbMbEv

— AS MONACO 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) May 17, 2017

dN

US Open Cup resumes tonight - Schedule/Results.

• 26 Second Round games begin on May 16 - with USL and NASL teams entering the tournament.

dN

After the top FIFA ethics and governance officials were fired last week we now have other key members in those departments resigning in protest. By Tariq Panja for Bloomberg.

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MLS

Portland Timbers seem to have found another Costa Rican gem in David Guzman. By Jamie Goldberg for the Oregonian.

Week 12:
(11 more games coming this weekend)
-Wed May 17
Philadelphia v Houston - hot team v top team in West
Chicago v Colorado
Kansas City v Seattle - big dogs battle
Salt Lake v New York City
San Jose v Orlando

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MINNESOTA UNITED

#MNUFC goalie Bobby Shuttleworth missed today's training session to have an operation on his broken nose, coach Adrian Heath said.

— Andy Greder (@andygreder) May 17, 2017

The story on Bobby Shuttleworth's nose surgery. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

Backup keeper John Alvbage is struggling with not being the starter. By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.

Next Schedule/Results:
-Sun May 21
Minnesota v LA - 4:00pm CT on ESPN.

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Ancient: du Nord Music Mix Vol 124 (download + extract)

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English Championship division promotion playoffs:

... will take on Reading for the last promotion to the Premier League.

2nd Leg
-Tue May 16
Reading 1-0 Fulham - Rea advance 2-1 on aggregate.
-Wed May 17
Sheff Wed v Huddersfield (0-0)

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IT'S ALMOST OVER: La Liga Title Race - Final games:

(1 game left)
90 Real Madrid
87 Barcelona (Barca has tiebreaker of head-to-head points 4-1)

-Wed May 17
Celta de Vigo 1-4 Real Madrid
-Sun May 21
Barcelona v Eibar
Malaga v Real Madrid

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IT'S OVER: Ligue 1 Title Race

1 game left and it doesn't matter - Monaco as champs. Huge congrats to them.

92 Monaco (+75)
86 PSG (+56)

-Wed May 17
Monaco 2-0 Saint Etienne



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 16, 2017

It's Day 136 of 2017.


Remarkable:

128 days after the accident and it felt amazing to get back on the field with my first minutes. Thankful for all the support to get back! https://t.co/mva8gQHktj

— Ryan Hollingshead (@rmhollingshead) May 15, 2017

• If you don't know his story - this winter he stopped his car on an icy Dallas freeway to help a stranded motorist and was hit by another car, throwing him 30 feet down the road and leaving him badly busted up including a fractured neck and spine.

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US Open Cup resumes tonight - Schedule/Results.

• 26 Second Round games begin on May 16 - with USL and NASL teams entering the tournament.

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100% of nothing has changed at FIFA. Fatma Samoura, 2nd in command, has been firing people left and right for incorrect use of funds. But her incorrect use of funds last year was hidden by accountants. By Paul Nicholson for Inside World Football.

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MINNESOTA UNITED

Everyone who watches MNUFC with me knows how many times I have said that Ibson would start for every team in MLS:

#MNUFC coach Adrian Heath told TSN that midfielder Ibson is the best player in training that he's worked with in his career.

— Andy Greder (@andygreder) May 13, 2017

• The Ibson article. Plus a few more things. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

How do you fix this? Loons are a bad 0-4-2 on the road, with 3.2 goals per game allowed. Even if you take out the two 5 goal games its still 2.3 per game.

Next Schedule/Results:
-Sun May 21
Minnesota v LA - 4:00pm CT on ESPN.

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My Loons-centric Essay:
In preseason we constantly heard from national media how Minnesota was going to be terrible and Atlanta was going to be great. But we knew there was no way to judge that until they actually played games. Now 10 games into a 34 games season the two teams are pretty much even in the standings. And this week all the articles are saying "Wow we were wrong about both of them..... etc etc etc blah blah blah." Stories from then and now are still both wrong. Its Kneejerk City out there. The initial stories should have been about Atlanta's big spending leading to high expectations, and Minnesota's slow-to-react team building would cost them out of the starting gate. Nothing more than that. And now as Atlanta hits a tough spot and key injuries slow them down, Minnesota has brought in a couple stabilizing veterans and pulled some of the bullets out of their feet that they shot themselves. To my eyes right now Atlanta is playing at their worst and Minnesota at their best, which leads me to believe that Atlanta is the better of the two and that over 34 games, not 0, and not 10, they will prevail. But again, that's why they play the games, and I might just be wrong as I usually am. To improve Minnesota MUST fix this very thin roster - 1 or 2 key injuries combined with international call ups and they just might be right back where they were in weeks 1-4, getting clobbered. Minn did not expect to be this thin. They went out and signed 5 veteran players from Europe to go with their MLS and Central American/Caribbean players. But all the European players, minus one, have been a spectacular bust. The good find in the bunch was Jerry Thiessen. On the flip side the bad players have put the team salary cap up against the wall. Alvbage, Demidov, Kadrii, and Schuller have been pure lousy. Lets see how they fix the problem this summer. That will tell the story of Minnesota and Atlanta in their inaugural MLS season.

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According to @IMSoccerNews Minnesota governor has vetoed the bill containing the Minnesota United stadium provisions.

• The veto had nothing to do with the stadium, just like last year. Other items in the bill were things the governor said from day 1 he would veto if they were left in.

• I have no idea what happens now.

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MLS

Can anyone explain what just happened in Philly? No wins in the first 8 games and now the last two won 3-0 v Red Bulls and 0-4 at DC. Hard to conceive. By John Smallwood for the Philadelphia Daily News.

The most-excellent, dude, MLS weekly awards show, You Know It, You Love It. [VIDEO] By Ale Moreno for ESPNFC.

The best centerback pairs in the league. By Steve Davis for Four Four Two.

• Gives Minnesota duo Kallman + Calvo something to shoot for. (I think they have been really good.)

Lots of strength lies in the Eastern Conference. By David Rudin for the Guardian.

Walker Zimmerman is on a fast rise and could be a big time star. By Arman Kafai for Dallas Morning News.

Even though RSL is missing a lot of players right now, they are still very very bad. By Christopher Kamrani for the Salt Lake Tribune.

Houston is at the other end of the world - flying high. Higher than even they thought they could at this point in this season. By Corey Roepken for the Houston Chronicle.

Week 12:
-Wed May 17
Philadelphia v Houston
Chicago v Colorado
Kansas City v Seattle
Salt Lake v New York City
San Jose v Orlando
(plus 11 more this weekend)

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• Lance Laing of North Carolina Named NASL Player Of The Week
• Nahomi Kawasumi of Seattle Reign Named NWSL Player Of The Week
• Ian Svantesson of Tulsa Roughnecks Named USL Player Of The Week
• Justin Meram of Columbus Crew Named MLS Player Of The Week

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I am loving this music! Bilaber by Otim Alpha - from the album Gulu City Anthems

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The day before 9/11 Osama Bin Laden sent his massive family into hiding. This is their story. by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy for the Guardian.

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A list of 20 great young players under 20 years old. Its quite the list. By Ben Lyttleton for Sports Illustrated.

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English Championship division promotion playoffs:

Danny Williams and Reading have knocked Tim Ream and Fulham out of the playoffs.

2nd Leg
-Tue May 16
Reading 1-0 Fulham - Rea advances 2-1 on aggregate.
-Wed May 17
Sheff Wed v Huddersfield (0-0)



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for May 15, 2017

It's Day 135 of 2017.


44 goals scored this week in MLS. WooooooHooooooo! I love it.

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Chelsea are English Premier League champions. Huge congrats to them.

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It was high drama in the Netherlands as Ajax choked on the last day of the Eredivisie season which let Feyenoord leap over them and claim the championship. Huge congrats to Feyenoord.

• Feyenoord won the title for the first time in 18 years!
• Good ol' Dirk Kuijt was the hero with all 3 goals.
• Another old boy Giovanni van Bronckhorst is the Feyenoord coach.
• Rotterdam partied hard! From Dutch News.

Final round results:
-Sun May 14
AZ 2-3 Utrecht
Feyenoord 3-1 Heracles

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The heinous fiends ruling/destroying Syria with an iron fist dipped in sulfur, cyanide and sarin have done an equally horrifying number on their national soccer team. By Steve Fairnaru for the New York Times.

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Special Minnesota United stat alert: Loons no longer with worst goal differential in the league at -11. Real Salt Lake is at -13.

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MINNESOTA UNITED

Results:
-Sat May 13
Toronto 3-2 Minnesota - Tor goals by Sebastian Giovinco(PK), Christian Ramirez(OG) + Tosaint Ricketts. MU goals both by Kevin Molino(1 via PK).

My MNUFC Notes:

• Game highlights [VIDEO]
• Lets start here: this game was going to be next to impossible to win or tie. OK. Toronto is THAT good.
• A decent game for the Loons on the road at Toronto. No complaints there. Good effort. Twice tying the game. They did better than was expected. Etc.
• But honestly when you look back they could have had more. They should have gotten a tie. Seriously.
• Toronto was beatable on this day. They were as tired as tired can be. Ripe for the pickin.
• In pro soccer giving max effort but not getting a point on the road is just not good enough. Its not a so-called "moral victory."
• Molino had 2 goals and a better game than the past few weeks. He responded to the criticism. Nice to see.
• Minnesota kept falling behind, and twice they answered, which was via that effort, but they could not come back a third time.
• A horrible tackle by Danladi giving away the first goal via PK. Which Giovinco converted.
• Then that first Molino goal! It was awesome.
• Just after halftime Ibson put a great pass to Danladi who then slipped Molino through and Hotboy smashed it high and to the near post - impossible for the keeper to stop. Again, just an awesome goal.
• Hell, lets watch it!
• Moments after tying it at 1-1 though the Loons gave up a 2nd goal. Brutal.
• On a set piece Ramirez and Chris Mavinga battled for the cross at the back post but the ball hit and went in off CR.
• I wonder in the future when they use Video Assistant Referee if that goal might be disallowed cuz Mavinga was all over Ramirez's back - looked close to a foul to me.
• Molino tied it a 2nd time, but this one was very lucky. After a handball call, Molino took a terrible PK that keeper Alex Bono parried right back to Molino who popped in the rebound. Bad PK - great luck - nice finish.
• Both Danladi and JVenegas blew great chances to score.
• In the first half Ibarra put Danladi through on goal but he shot too quick, trying to go near post and wasn't even close to goal.
• JVenegas has had 2 poor games in a row followed up by a rotten week of training, including getting sent home for 2 days. But there was no punishment from the coach as JV traveled to Toronto and then came on as a sub.
• So how did JV repay his generous manager? He played very poorly, weak runs, sloppy passing, and worst of all missing a wide open header 8 yards from goal, managing to put it 6 yards wide of goal. Seems impossible to miss that badly.
• Again the team was plagued by a poor sub pattern used way too late.
• How is it possible that Warner and Jome are preferred subs over Schuller and Kadrii. (Kadrii not even in 18.) I am gonna have to write about this bag of stiffs from Europe tomorrow.
• Gionvino subbed out in first half with thigh injury.
• Toronto brought on Jozy Altidore. What a monster that guy has become.
• He made the game winner happen by beating 3 MU defenders, especially Brent Kallman who got manhandled, never giving up on the play, then getting to the end line and crossing to Ricketts who also overpowered MU defenders to head home the goal.
• MN didn't seem ready for Toronto's 5 man midfield. They had no answers for it in 1st half, constantly just clearing the ball or lumping it long. That is not a strategy.
• You cannot give up 3 goals and expect to win. Can't happen.
• We did not see enough from Ibarra. Come on dude, this team needs you!
• Ramirez tried his best to hold up the ball and get teammates into the game, but those teammates gave him no return service whatsoever.
• Shuttleworth played the game with a mask and seemed a step slow on several plays. Not sure if he could have stopped any of the goals, but he seemed quite a bit off.
• You have to think that wearing the Hannibal mask was a big bother for Jesus Shuttlesworth.
• Ibson though, yeah, he is good.
• Heard a lot of complaints about the numbers on those white uniforms too. People can't read em on TV at all. Not one bit. Get it fixed.
• Now, right on cue, the next opponent for Minnesota picked themselves up off the scrap heap - LA with a dominant 1-3 road win at Red Bulls. Not what Minn wanted to see headed their way.
• MN must beat LA next weekend!
• Based on the competition this week and ahead its possible that the Loons could be looking at a run of 4 losses in a row; TFC, LA, Orl and KC. Then the break. Time for the team to dig extra deep.

Post game media:

• Match report. By Mike Koreen for the Star Tribune.
• Molino grabs 2 goals. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.
• Match report. By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.
• Match report. By Bill Stenross for Fifty Five One.
• TFC was running on fumes but got the job done. By Kurt Larson for the Toronto Sun.

Next Schedule/Results:
-Sun May 21
Minnesota v LA - 4:00pm CT on ESPN.

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MLS

My MLS Notes:

• Toronto are kings of the hill. 6 wins in a row and 3 in 8 days.
• Three rotten teams, Philly, LA and Colorado, had huge wins after horrible starts to the season.
• RSL is so decimated with injuries that only 14 players were in uniform at New England. Oof.
• Dallas still unbeaten.
• Chicago keeps getting better and better, especially at home.
• Justin Meram of Columbus will probably be named Player Of The Week.

Post-round media:

• 6 takeaways. By Caitlin Murray for Fox Sports.
• The Week 11 analytics. By Matthew Doyle for MLS.
• The MLS XI. By Alexander Abnos for Sports Illustrated.
• Things you shouldn't miss from Week 11. By Charles Boehm for MLS.

Week 11 Scores:
-Wed May 10
Columbus 1-2 Toronto
-Fri May 12
Houston 2-1 Vancouver
-Sat May 13
Toronto 3-2 Minnesota
Colorado 3-0 San Jose
Montreal 2-3 Columbus
DC 0-4 Philadelphia
Orlando 2-2 Kansas City
New England 4-0 Salt Lake
Chicago 4-1 Seattle
-Sun May 14
Portland 1-1 Atlanta
NYRB 1-3 LA
Dallas 1-1 NYC

44 goals in 12 games = 3.7 gpg.

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USMNT

The USA is expecting to play all 5 home World Cup qualifiers in MLS team stadiums. Bruce Arena thinks this is the best chance to win. By Paul Kennedy for Soccer America.

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AMERICANS ABROAD

Fabian Johnson returned from injury for Gladbach. He played the final 24 min as they tied 1-1 at Wolfsburg.

Joe Corona went the full 90 and set up the 1st goal for Tijuana as they won 2-0 over Morelia and advanced to the semis in Mexico.

• Paul Arriola was on the bench but didn't play for Tijuana

After their defense got torched for 4 goals in the 1st Leg Jorge Villafana was not in the gameday 18 for a 2nd Leg win, but not enough goals made up to advance. They are out.

Tim Ream and Danny Williams both went 90 as their teams tied 1-1 in the 1st Leg of the English Championship division promotion playoffs.

Alfredo Morales and Ingolstadt were relegated out of the Bundesliga.

Bobby Wood and Hamburger must defeat Wolfsburg in the seasons final game next week if they want to avoid the pro-rel playoff series to stay in the Bundesliga.

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English Championship division promotion playoffs:
1st Leg
-Sat May 13
Fulham 1-1 Reading Tim Ream v Danny Williams
-Sun May 14
Huddersfield 0-0 Sheff Wed - David Wagner coaches Hud.
2nd Leg
-Tue May 16
Reading v Fulham
-Wed May 17
Sheff Wed v Huddersfield

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LIGA MX PLAYOFFS

Tijuana advanced with Joe Corona playing a key role, but now they get the most on-fire team in the league Tigres in the Semifinals. Good luck to them.

Clausura Liguilla Quarterfinals Schedule/Results:
Leg 2
-Sat May 13
Monterrey(2) 0-2 Tigres(7) - Tig advances 6-1 on aggregate.
Toluca(4) 1-3 Santos Laguna(5) - Tol advances 5-4 on aggregate.
-Sun May 14
Tijuana(1) 2-0 Morelia(8) - Tij advances 2-1 on aggregate.
Guadalajara(3) 1-0 Atlas(6) - series ends tied 1-1 and Gua advances as higher seed.

Semifinals Schedule/Results:
Leg 1
-Thu May 18
Toluca(4) v Guadalajara(3) - 7:30pm?
Tigres(7) v Tijuana(1) - 9:30pm?
Leg 2
-Sun May 21
Guadalajara(3) v Toluca(4) - 6:00pm?
Tijuana(1) v Tigres(7) - 8:00pm?

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BIG GAMES IN EUROPE:

-Sat May 13
Leipzig 4-5 Bayern - a wild game leaves them at #2 + #1 (Leip lead 4-2 in 83rd min)
-Sun May 14
Roma 3-1 Juventus - Rom moves to #2 and 4 pts behind #1 Juv with 2 games left to play
Real Madrid 4-1 Sevilla - still #2 + #4 but RM is on track to win title with 1 game in hand on leader Bar.

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Premier League: 10 talking points from this weekend’s action. From the Guardian.

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La Liga Title Race - Final games:

87 Barcelona (1 game left) (Barca has tiebreaker of head-to-head points 4-1)
87 Real Madrid (2 games left)

-Wed May 17
Celta de Vigo v Real Madrid
-Sun May 21
Barcelona v Eibar
Malaga v Real Madrid

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Serie A Title Race - Final games:

(2 games left)
85 Juventus (+46)
81 Roma (+49)
80 Napoli (+50)

-Sat May 20
Chievo v Roma
Napoli v Fiorentina
-Sun May 21
Juventus v Crotone
-Sun May 28
Roma v Genoa
Bologna v Juventus
Sampdoria v Napoli

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VIRTUALLY OVER: Ligue 1 Title Race - Final games:

89 Monaco (2 games left) (+73)
86 PSG (1 game left) (+56)

-Wed May 17
Monaco v Saint Etienne
-Sat May 20
PSG v Caen
Rennes v Monaco



The Bird Is The Word