Some Soccer News for May 4, 2017

It's Day 124 of 2017.


A really nice tribute/obituary for my friend in football Tom Donovan who passed away this week. By Brian Quarstad for Fifty Five One.

dN

Philadelphia Union hasn't won a game in 247 days. Yes, that includes the offseason days, but its still awful.

dN

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMIFINALS

Two road goals by Higuain all but end this series in Juve's favor.

1st Leg
-Tue May 2
Real Madrid 3-0 Atletico Madrid
-Wed May 3
Monaco 0-2 Juventus
2nd Leg
-Tue May 9
Juventus v Monaco (2-0)
-Wed May 10
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid (0-3)

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

I would love it if someday every Minnesota United manager and coach spent time at Coverciano; the Italian managers school. The cream of the crop! By Paolo Bandini for Bleacher Report.

Beware the Kansas City high press - they are going to crank it up on Sunday against the Loons. And when it works for them its a sight to behold, even if they are the opponent/enemy. So then you decide to play long balls out of the back to beat the press, but they have 2 centerbacks in Besler and Opara who are good as any in MLS at winning the ball in the air and returning it to their attackers. Its gonna be a tough one.

8 plus minutes of MNUFC players/coach talking; Danladi, Brovsky, Heath, [VIDEO] By KSTP-5.

Schedule/Results:
-Sun May 7
Minnesota v Kansas City - 12:30pm CT on FS1

Referees:
REF - ALAN KELLY
AR1 - Apolinar Mariscal
AR2 - Kermit Quisenberry
4TH - Hilario Grajeda

By the way, Dom Dwyer and Sebastian Giovinco both put on shows last night - Minnesota faces them in the next two games. Beware. Be very aware.

• And they didn't beat just anybody, they beat two highly acclaimed goalkeepers and two of the best teams in MLS.

dN

MLS

Giovinco and Dwyer both bagged a pair of goals last night showing exactly why they are two of the very best in the league.

Week 10 Schedule/Results:
-Wed May 3
Toronto 2-1 Orlando
KC 2-0 New York RB
-Fri May 5
Colorado v Vancouver
-Sat May 6
Seattle v Toronto - 2:00pm CT on ESPN
DC v Montreal
Philadelphia v New York RB
Columbus v New England
Houston v Orlando
Salt Lake v Dallas
LA v Chicago
San Jose v Portland
-Sun May 7
Minnesota v KC - 12:30pm CT on FS1
New York City v Atlanta - 3:00pm CT on Univision

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• Rose Lavelle of Boston Breakers Named NWSL Player Of The Month for April.
• Justin Braun of Indy Eleven Named NASL Player Of The Month for April.

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Knowledge: du Nord Music Mix Vol 122 (download + extract)

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CONCACAF U17 Men World Cup Qualifying and Championship:

April 21 - May 7 in Panama.

Another big win for the USA team. Sargent and Akinola crushing more goals into the back of the net.

• How good is this USA team? One possible measuring stick shows that they completed 452 out of 503 passes. Honduras 111-143.

2nd Stage
Group D Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 1
Honduras 7-1 Cuba
-Wed May 3
USA 3-0 Honduras - USA goals by Josh Sargent(2) + Ayo Akinola.
-Fri May 5
USA v Cuba - 3:30pm CT

• All games can be seen on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (CONCACAF channels) and UniDep.

Group E Schedule/Results:
-Mon May 1
Costa Rica 2-1 Panama
-Wed May 3
Mexico 1-0 Panama
-Fri May 5
Mexico v Costa Rica

Tournament Format:

• 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.
• Championship game is played on Sun May 7.
• World Cup is Oct 6-28 in India.

dN

Canadian Championship

(winner advances to CONCACAF Champions League)

Prelim Round Schedule/Results:
1st Leg
-Wed May 3
Ottawa 1-0 Edmonton
2nd Leg
-Wed May 10
Edmonton v Ottawa (0-1)

Winner of this first match up will be paired off against Toronto. With Montreal and Vancouver meeting in the other semifinal series.

dN

LIGA MX

Race for the 8 playoff spots:
(1 game left in regular season)

*28 Tijuana (+7) - NEXT: Fri May 5 v Veracruz
*27 Monterrey (+9) - NEXT: Sat May 6 v Morelia
*26 Atlas (+5) - NEXT: Sat May 6 v Chiapas
*26 Guadalajara (+3) - NEXT: Sat May 6 at Necaxa
*26 Toluca (+1) - NEXT: Sun May 7 at Santos Laguna
*25 Santos Laguna (+5) - NEXT: Sun May 7 v Toluca
24 America (+1) - NEXT: Sat May 6 v Pachuca
22 Tigres (+10) - NEXT: Sat May 6 at Queretaro
----
21 Morelia (+2) - NEXT: Sat May 6 at Monterrey
21 Pachuca (-1) - NEXT: Sat May 6 at America
21 Veracruz (-5) - NEXT: Fri May 5 at Tijuana
20 Leon (-1) - NEXT: Sat May 6 v Cruz Azul
20 Necaxa (-5) - NEXT: Sat May 6 v Guadalajara
19 Queretaro (-2) - NEXT: Sat May 6 v Tigres
OUT Pumas
OUT Cruz Azul
OUT Chiapas
OUT Puebla
*clinched a playoff spot

dN

BIG GAMES COMING UP IN EUROPE:

-Sat May 6
Juventus v Torino - the Turin derby, and Juve could win the championship with a win and Roma loss or tie (Roma is at Milan on Sun)
Barcelona v Villarreal - #1 v #5
Dortmund v Hoffenheim - #4 v #3
-Sun May 7
Arsenal v Manchester United - #6 v #5
Marsielle v Nice - #6 v #3



The Bird Is The Word