Some Soccer News for Oct 31, 2017

It's Day 304 of 2017.


USMNT roster for Portugal friendly is not expected until next Monday.

Friendly Schedule:
-Tue Nov 14
Portugal v USA - 12:45pm CT on FS1
Estadio Dr. Magalhaes Pessoa, Leiria

US Soccer still planning on annual USMNT January camp at Stub Hub center training facilities in LA. Plus more tid bits. By Steven Goff for the Washington Post.

There are rumors of a game against Mexico in San Antonio.

dN

Italy's legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has announced that he will retire at the end of this season.

dN

MLS PLAYOFFS

Toronto won at Red Bulls last night, but just as big a story was the constant booing of Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley by NYRB fans. To be expected, right. But they it went to the next level with a loud chant of "Fuck You Jozy." Altidore was not amused:

Here's Jozy Altidore after tonight's game on being booed (which he was fine with) and cursed at (which he wasn't fine with) by RBNY fans: pic.twitter.com/bhSWqOb5kD

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) October 31, 2017

Diego Chara of Portland broke a bone in his foot last night. They haven't won a game without him this season. Not good.

Quarterfinals Schedule/Results:
1st Leg
-Sun Oct 29
Vancouver 0-0 Seattle
-Mon Oct 30
NYRB 1-2 Toronto - Giovinco. Who else? His 14th free kick goal of 2017.
Houston 0-0 Portland - did the brutal field lead to brutal injuries?
-Tue Oct 31
Columbus v NYCFC - 7:00pm CT

Previews:

• Columbus - The game might be more interesting in the stands than on the field. By for the Columbus Dispatch.
• New York - Are the heavy favorites actually ready? By Kyle Schnitzer for the New York Post.

2nd Leg
-Thu Nov 2
Seattle v Vancouver - 9:30pm CT
-Sun Nov 5
Toronto v NYRB - 2:00pm CT
-Mon Nov 6
NYCFC v Columbus - TBA CT
Portland v Houston - TBA CT

Last season due to a heart thingy Clint Dempsey was not a part of Seattle's playoff and MLS Cup win. He gets another one this year, and he probably won't get a lot more chances. By Jeff Carlisle for ESPNFC.

dN

Rest In Peace Dennis Banks.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Abu Danladi is officially one of three finalists for MLS Rookie of the Year. The other two are Jack Elliot of Philadelphia and Julian Gressel of Atlanta.

MNUFC Academy teams have their first derby matches!
-Sun Nov 5
Minnesota Thunder v Minnesota United
U-13 - 1:00 PM
U-14 - 3:00 PM
LOCATION CHANGE:Kuhlman Stadium (Upper Field) - Edina Community Center
5701 Normandale Road, Edina
Hwy 100 + Benton Ave - just north of Hwy 62

dN

NASL PLAYOFFS

The top NASL players who should be on MLS teams are....? By Jeff Rueter for Four Four Two.

dN

US SOCCER

Some news on the inner-workings of US Soccer and the future. By Grant Wahl for Sports Illustrated.

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Yesterday I linked to an article with Bobby Wood's coach having hope Wood could pick up the goal scoring again. Today? Totally the opposite - Wood is going down the shitter. By Stephan Uersfeld for ESPNFC.

• "He's descended into a negative spiral from which he has to free himself. He has the potential to be a good forward, but he is not in any sort of form right now. He might give it his all, but things are not going well for him somehow."

dN

COPA LIBERTADORES

Semifinal Schedule:
(no TV in America)
2nd Leg
-Oct 31
Lanus v River Plate (0-1)
-Nov 1
Gremio v Barcelona (3-0)

dN

MEXICO - COPA MX

Quarterfinals Schedule:
-Oct 31
Guadalajara v Atlante
Pachuca v Tijuana
America v Queretaro
Monterry v Santos Laguna

dN

EUROPEAN NEWS

The top 5 teams in Italy (Napoli, Inter, Juventus, Lazio and Roma) are so far ahead of the pack, in terms of wins and quality, already that they might has well have their own league this season. By Paolo Bandini for the Guardian.

dN

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP STAGE

Matchday 4 game schedule

Highlighted matchups:
-Tue Oct 31
Roma v Chelsea
-Wed Nov 1
Napoli v Manchester City
Tottenham v Real Madrid

dN

Boo! You dirty little weasels!



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 30, 2017

It's Day 303 of 2017.


MLS PLAYOFFS

Lets hope upon hope that the first leg games on Mon and Tues are dramatically better than the Sun night game. Vancouver didn't come to play and Seattle let them not play but not playing themselves.

Quarterfinals Schedule/Results:
1st Leg
-Sun Oct 29
Vancouver 0-0 Seattle - a dullards delight.
-Mon Oct 30
NYRB v Toronto - 6:00pm CT
Houston v Portland - 8:30pm CT

Previews:

• New York - Red Bulls very impressed by TFC. By Kyle Schnitzer for the New York Post.
• Toronto - Q + A with Vanney talking about Marsch. By John Molinaro for Sports Net.
• Houston - Who will step up to make a real difference? By Corey Roepken for the Houston Chronicle.
• Portland - Timbers have experience on their side. By Jamie Goldberg for the Oregonian.

-Tue Oct 31
Columbus v NYCFC - 7:00pm CT
2nd Leg
-Thu Nov 2
Seattle v Vancouver - 9:30pm CT
-Sun Nov 5
Toronto v NYRB - 2:00pm CT
-Mon Nov 6
NYCFC v Columbus - TBA CT
Portland v Houston - TBA CT

dN

Tyler Deric of Houston Dynamo named MLS Player Of The Month for October.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Six years ago yesterday!

On this day in 2011, the NSC Minnesota Stars claimed the NASL championship. #Wonderwall pic.twitter.com/UPGfgVOAyY

— Chris Lidholm 🎙 (@chrislidholm) October 30, 2017

Another argument for better defense next year (I can't believe some people are disagreeing with me on this point.) Goal output home and away was almost identical. It was the road defense that killed them.
17 Home Games:

• 7W - 4T - 6L
• 25 GF - 1.5 gpg
• 26 GA - 1.5 gpg
• 5 times shut out
• 4 clean sheets kept

-----
17 Away Games:

• 3W - 2T - 12L
• 22 GF - 1.3 gpg
• 44 GA - 2.6 gpg
• 5 times shut out
• 0 clean sheets kept

MNUFC Academy teams have their first derby matches!
-Sun Nov 5
Minnesota Thunder v Minnesota United
U-13 - 1:00 PM
U-14 - 3:00 PM
At Academy of Holy Angels Dome, Richfield

dN

USL PLAYOFFS

Red Bulls II, the defending champs, pulled off another upset win. OKC beat a higher seeded opponent too.

Quarterfinals Results:
-Sat Oct 28
Louisville 1-0 Rochester
Tampa Bay 1-2 Red Bulls II
Swope Park 1-0 Sacramento
San Antonio 1-1 OKC - OKC adv 4-1 on PKs.

Semifinals Schedule:
-Sat Nov 4
Louisville v NYRB II - 6:30pm CT
Swope Park v OKC - 7:30pm CT

dN

NASL PLAYOFFS

Semifinals Schedule:
Miami(#1) v New York Cosmos(#4) - 4:00pm CT
San Francisco(#2) v North Carolina(#3) - 7:00pm CT

• Semis + Final will air on beIN Sports.

dN

Emmanuel Ledesma of New York Cosmos named NASL Player Of The Week

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

John Brooks returned to the field, making his regular season debut for Wolfsburg. He went the full 90 as they tied 1-1 at Schalke.

20 year old Shaquell Moore made his debut for Levante in Spains La Liga. He came on in the 72nd as they tied 2-2 at Eibar.

Going back a month to Sep 26 things have not gone real well for Christian Pulisic and Dortmund:

• 9-26 Lost 1-3 to Real Madrid in Champions League
• 9-29 Won 1-2 at Augsburg in Bundesliga
• 10-14 Lost 2-3 to Liepzig in Bundesliga
• 10-17 Tied 1-1 at Apoel in Champions League
• 10-21 Tied 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt in Bundesliga
• 10-24 Won 0-5 at Magdeburg in DFB Pokal
• 10-28 Lost 4-2 at Hannover in Bundesliga
• 7 Games: 2W - 2T - 3L
• Won just 1 of 4 in Bundesliga

Bobby Wood is another player struggling in the Bundesliga, having scored in Game 2 of the season and he has yet to score another goal in any of the other 8 games he has played.

• Hamburg boss says he has not lost faith in Wood. By Stephan Uersfeld for ESPNFC.

dN

COPA LIBERTADORES

Semifinal Schedule:
(no TV in America)
2nd Leg
-Oct 31
Lanus v River Plate (0-1)
-Nov 1
Gremio v Barcelona (3-0)

dN

LIGA MX

Apertura Liguilla Race (with 2 round remaining in regular season.)
IN: Monterrey
OUT: Queretaro, Pumas, Veracruz

MEXICO - COPA MX

Quarterfinals Schedule:
-Oct 31
Guadalajara v Atlante
Pachuca v Tijuana
America v Queretaro
Monterry v Santos Laguna

dN

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP STAGE

Matchday 4 full Schedule.

Highlight games:
-Tue Oct 31
Roma v Chelsea
-Wed Nov 1
Napoli v Manchester City
Tottenham v Real Madrid

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

Two upsets in the big team zone:

• Dortmund beaten by surprising Hannover
• Real Madrid shockingly upset up nobodies Girona.

And 3 other big teams lost in head to head games with other biggies:

• Liepzig lost, but to Bayern.
• Milan lost to Juve.
• And Tottenham was beaten too, by Man U.

Results:

-Fri Oct 27
PSG 3-0 Nice
-Sat Oct 28
Man United 1-0 Tottenham
Bayern 2-0 Leipzig
Milan 0-2 Juventus
Bilbao 0-2 Barcelona
West Brom 2-3 Man City
Bournemouth 0-1 Chelsea
Hannover 4-2 Dortmund
Arsenal 2-1 Swansea
Roma 1-0 Bologna
Liverpool 3-0 Huddersfield
Atletico Madrid 1-1 Villarreal
Schalke 1-1 Wolfsburg
Bordeaux 0-2 Monaco
-Sun Oct 29
Girona 2-1 Real Madrid
Napoli 3-1 Sassuolo
Lille 0-1 Marseille
-Mon Oct 30
Hellas Verona v Inter



The Bird Is The Word

Topping Off The Old Banger With Petrol

Some Soccer News for Oct 26, 2017

It's Day 299 of 2017.


MLS PLAYOFFS

Two games completed and neither was even close. Red Bulls looked really good with a complete game performance ON THE ROAD.

Knock Out Round Schedule/Results:
-Wed Oct 25
Chicago 0-4 Red Bulls
Vancouver 5-0 San Jose
Match reports:

• New York - Red Bulls cruise past 1st round. By Ian Powers of the Associated Press, via the New York Daily News.
• Vancouver - Set pieces were the key. By Patrick Johnston for the Vancouver Sun.

-Thu Oct 26
Atlanta v Columbus - 6:00pm CT on ESPN2
Houston v Kansas City - 8:30pm CT on UniMas

Previews:

• Atlanta - Now just making the playoffs is not enough. By Doug Roberson for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
• Columbus - What is the strategy? By Andrew Erickson for the Columbus Dispatch.

-Very little attention being paid to game by the local media in Columbus.

• Houston - Looking for Erik Torres to step up. By Corey Roepken for the Houston Chronicle.

-With the Astros in the World Series this actual rivalry between Houston and KC is getting little love.

• Kansas City - The only goal is winning MLS Cup. By Sam McDowell for the Kansas City Star.

Quarterfinals – Western Conference Schedule:
1st Leg
-Sun Oct 29
Vancouver v Seattle - 7:30 CT on ESPN

dN

A small and secretly owned Mexican company could be the next people outed in FIFA scandals. By Tariq Panja for the New York Times.

dN

MLS commissioner comments publicly about the mess of Columbus Crew moving to Austin TX. By Daniel Roberts for Yahoo Finance.

dN

Grapes: du Nord Music Mix Vol 144 (download + extract)

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

I've been begging the Loons to focus on DEFENSE. But this interview with bosses Manny Lagos and Adrian Heath says they are focused on everything but DEFENSE. By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.

• This is hard to read. It makes me sad.
• Lagos: "I think to add a couple more offensive players that have a little more influence in the game that can control the tempo of the game for the team is going to be important. After that, I think you could talk about depth in center midfielders and wide positions."
• Cronin concussion improving
• Schuller is expected back from loan for preseason camp.
• Preseason begins on Jan 23.

This is from a similar article in the Star Tribune by Megan Ryan: "Heath did commend the work of Francisco Calvo, Michael Boxall, Brent Kallman, Collin Martin and Sam Cronin."

• That is the heart of the defnese that set records for goals allowed. And they are rewarded with praise.
• Am I completely wrong here? Am I missing something?

Very succinct answer from @GrantWahl pic.twitter.com/IorilUasAM

— Bruce McGuire (@dunord) October 26, 2017

Christian Ramirez - The Year In Goals

• Thanks to Onfield Management

dN

Jose Angulo of OKC Energy named USL Player Of The Month for October

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Timmy Chandler suffered a right meniscus tear that required surgery. He will be out until January.

Prior to the Gold Cup Kenny Saief suffered a hernia injury that needed surgery and then got infected. He is finally back to training with Gent in Belgium.

dN

COPA LIBERTADORES

Brazilian team Gremio rolled on the road last night. By Tim Vickery for ESPNFC.

Semifinal Schedule:
(no TV in America)
1st Leg
-Tue Oct 24
River Plate 1-0 Lanus - RP goal by Ignacio Scocco.
-Wed Oct 25
Barcelona 0-3 Gremio
2nd Leg
-Oct 31
Lanus v River Plate
-Nov 1
Gremio v Barcelona

dN

LIGA MX

With 3 games left to play in the Apertura season Monterrey has locked a place in the playoffs. At the other end of the spectrum both Queretaro and Pumas are already out of the playoff chase. And both Guadalajara and Puebla are 1 point from elimination. That leaves 6 teams chasing 7 of the top 8 for the other Liguilla positions.

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

In a round of midweek games none of the big 5 in Italy lost or tied.

Schedule:
-Tue Oct 24
Inter 3-2 Sampdoria
-Wed Oct 25
Chievo 1-4 Milan
Genoa 2-3 Napoli
Juventus 4-1 SPAL
Roma 1-0 Crotone

-Fri Oct 27
PSG v Nice
-Sat Oct 28
Man United v Tottenham
Bayern v Leipzig
Milan v Juventus
Bilbao v Barcelona
West Brom v Man City
Bournemouth v Chelsea
Hannover v Dortmund
Arsenal v Swansea
Roma v Bologna
Liverpool v Huddersfield
Atletico Madrid v Villarreal
Schalke v Wolfsburg
Bordeaux v Monaco
-Sun Oct 29
Girona v Real Madrid
Napoli v Sassuolo
Lille v Marseille
-Mon Oct 30
Hellas Verona v Inter



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 25, 2017

It's Day 298 of 2017.


Minnesota United offseason directive: DEFENSE

dN

14th Annual Dark Clouds End of Year Awards and Auction was last night. Great event. One of my favorites in several years. Here are the award winners:
Supporter Awards

• Tom Donovan Traver Of The Year (most away games): Andrew Lovgren
• Iron Skillet (for effort above and beyond): Ben Krouse Gagne and Phil Cross
• Jackass Of The Year (top supporter): Jim Oliver
• Buzz Lagos Lifetime Acheivement Award (long time major contribution to MN soccer): Brian Quarstad

Player Awards

• MNUFC Player Of The Year: Bobby Shuttleworth
• MNUFC Newcomer Of The Year: Jerome Thiesson

dN

Columbus Crew has changed its tune 100% and will offer FULL refunds (until Nov 3) on 2018 Season Tickets.

• They had previously announced that they were looking to move the team to Austin TX for the 2019 season and would not be giving refunds to people who were angry at having already purchased 2018 season tickets.
• Good move.

dN

Univision Deportes had finalized a deal to broadcast every team in Liga MX teams for the rest of the 2017/18 Season (Apertura now, and Clausura in the Spring.)

• Previously every team negotiated their own TV deal.

dN

MLS PLAYOFFS

Knock Out Round Schedule:
-Wed Oct 25
Chicago v Red Bulls - 7:30pm CT on FS1
Vancouver v San Jose - 9:30pm CT on UniMas
-Thu Oct 26
Atlanta v Columbus - 6:00pm CT on ESPN2
Houston v Kansas City - 8:30pm CT on UniMas

Still trying to figure out why San Jose popped champagne bottles on the field Sunday after beating Minnesota. Don't you usually wait until after you win that final game of the season, aka the championship?

Team by team Knock Out Round preview. By Matt Doyle for MLS.

Previews of tonight's 2 games:

• Chicago Fire - They made the playoffs, now they have bigger goals. By Orrin Schwarz for the Daily Herald.
• New York Red Bulls - Will this Bulls post-season be any different than the past? By Kyle Schnitzer for the New York Post.
• Vancouver Whitecaps - The Whitecaps big players must step forward and lead. By Ed Willes for the Vancouver Sun.
• San Jose Earthquakes - Feeling loose with all the pressure on Vancouver. By Martin Gallegos for the San Jose Mercury News.

dN

Grapes: du Nord Music Mix Vol 144 (download + extract)

dN

MLS

Q + A with LA Galaxy head coach, and now general manager too, Sigi Schmid. By Scott French for Four Four Two.

dN

U17 World Cup

Semifinals Schedule:
-Wed Oct 25
England 3-1 Brazil
Mali 1-3 Spain
-----------------
Final Schedule:
-Sun Oct 28
England v Spain

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Aron Johannsson can't get on the field at Bremen. Not good. By Stephan Uersfeld for ESPNFC.

• Young American Josh Sargent is headed to the same club in January.

dN

COPA LIBERTADORES

A win for River Plate in Leg One. By Tim Vickery for ESPNFC.

A preview of the South American team called Barcelona. By Tim Vickery for World Soccer.

Semifinal Schedule:
(no TV in America)
1st Leg
-Tue Oct 24
River Plate 1-0 Lanus - RP goal by Ignacio Scocco.
-Wed Oct 25
Barcelona v Gremio

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

Schedule:
-Tue Oct 24
Inter 3-2 Sampdoria
-Wed Oct 25
Chievo v Milan
Genoa v Napoli
Juventus v SPAL
Roma v Crotone



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 24, 2017

It's Day 297 of 2017.


My Minnesota United off-season directive: focus on Defense

dN

14th Annual Dark Clouds End of Year Awards and Auction

• Tue Oct 24
• 6:30pm (Auction runs 7:00 - 9:00 pm)
• Lake Monster Brewing - St Paul

dN

My 25 personal highlights of the Loons 2017 season in MLS:

• The first game of the season (at Portland).
• The snow game - the home opener (v Atlanta).
• Getting to do the coin toss at that home opener.
• The enthusiasm of the home crowd that built game by game throughout season.
• The first point (2-2 at Colorado on Mar 18).
• The first win (4-2 v RSL on Apr 1).
• The first road win (1-2 at Chicago on Aug 26).
• The comeback/revenge win (2-3 at Atlanta on Oct 3).
• 1.06 points per game was respectable.
• The Ibson to JVenegas to Ibarra diving header goal (v Colorado on Apr 23).
• The regular occurrence of the Ibson pickpocket defense - brilliant.
• Shuttleworth's facial damage didn't slow him down - Twice.
• Shuttleworth PK saves - Two.
• Ramirez scores 14 goals.
• Both of Thiesson's goals.
• Finlay's fast start with the club - 3 goals + 2 assists in six games.
• Danladi has 4 game winners.
• Molino with 9 assists - some of which were magical.
• The NASL players stepped up early in the season when things were desperate - Ramirez, Ibson, Ibarra, Kallman. Great job.
• 10 wins is about what I thought they would get.
• In preseason I predicted the Loons would finish 8th in the West. They finished 9th.
• My friends in football, in section 138 at TCF Bank stadium, and my travel partners.
• I traveled to 5 away games plus the Open Cup game - what a great enhancement to the season! I am a very lucky guy. Thanks a ton to everyone who helped make this happen.
• And finally, spending every game next to my brother Bill who means the world to me.

dN

LA Galaxy are the winner of the 2017 MLS Wooden Spoon. Huge congrats to them.

dN

This kinda seemed inevitable:

NEWS: Assistant coach Dave Sarachan will guide #USMNT vs. Portugal.

Details » https://t.co/WNfStUV3t9 pic.twitter.com/faCmgd2K4g

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 24, 2017

-Arena's other assistants will stay on for this game as well.

dN

du Nord Futbol's MLS Coaches Hot Seat for Seasons End (Oct 24)

• 4 Sigi Schmid - a total disaster in LA this year, and I would expect the entire management team to get flushed.
• 3 Ben Olsen - at this point new owners would spell doom for Benny.
• 2 Jason Kreis - the owner showed no patience with the previous head coach, so why should it be any different now? And they are worse off.
• 1 Jim Curtin - its just not working, and you can't really blame Curtin, but enough chances have been given.

ADDENDUM: And just like that Sigi Schmid comes off the board as LA move GM Pete Vagenas out of his job and give it Schmid in addition to his head coach position.

• This is the same arrangement Bruce Arena had in LA.

dN

"It’s a broken-down dirty old dump, but it’s our broken-down dirty old dump."

• The final day at RFK Stadium in Washington DC with the DC United faithful. By Dan Steinberg for the Washington Post.

dN

MLS PLAYOFFS

Knock Out Round Schedule:
-Wed Oct 25
Chicago v Red Bulls - 7:30pm CT on FS1
Vancouver v San Jose - 9:30pm CT on UniMas
-Thu Oct 26
Atlanta v Columbus - 6:00pm CT on ESPN2
Houston v Kansas City - 8:30pm CT on UniMas

AJ DeLaGarza, right fullback for Houston, is out of the playoffs due to a torn ACL.

SKC will be without goalkeeper Tim Melia who suffered a hamstring strain against MNUFC 3 weeks ago.

Ready or not, here comes the playoffs. Immediately. By Steve Davis for Four Four Two.

If there was a MLS award for general manager of the year it would be Nelson Rodriguez of Chicago. By Sam Stejskal for Four Four Two.

dN

MLS

Montreal owner Joey Saputo explains why its time for a new head coach. Again. By Herb Zurkowsky for the Montreal Gazette.

Son of Montreal, Patrice Bernier, bids a fond adieu. In his own words for the Players Tribune.

MLS Golden Boot:

• 24 Nemanja Nikolic
• 22 David Villa
• 21 Diego Valeria
• 19 Josef Martinez
• 18 Ola Kamara

MLS Top American Goal Scorers:

• 16 CJ Sapong
• 15 Jozy Altidore
• 14 Christian Ramirez
• 13 Chris Wondolowski
• 12 Clint Dempsey

dN

Chris Wondolowski of San Jose Earthquakes named MLS Player Of The Week

dN

U17 World Cup

Semifinals Schedule:
-Wed Oct 25
England v Brazil
Mali v Spain
-----------------
Final Schedule:
-Sun Oct 28
England/Brazil v Mali/Spain

dN

COPA LIBERTADORES

Semifinal Schedule:
(no TV in America)
1st Leg
-Tue Oct 24
River Plate v Lanus
-Wed Oct 25
Barcelona v Gremio

dN

FIFA

With no surprise this was named the FIFA Goal Of The Year:


dN

EUROPEAN NEWS

The Netherlands leaders post-Cruyff are not getting the job done. By Jonathan Wilson for the Guardian.

• People rarely ever ponder that the glorious bygone era was the anomaly, not the current trend. Maybe now is the norm.

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

Schedule:
-Tue Oct 24
Inter 3-2 Sampdoria
-Wed Oct 25
Chievo v Milan
Genoa v Napoli
Juventus v SPAL
Roma v Crotone



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 23, 2017

It's Day 296 of 2017.


I am going to give Minnesota United their top 5 priorities for starters for 2018 in order:

• Defense
• Defense
• Defense
• Goalkeeper
• Defensive midfielder

And as I have for many years I will keep repeating this until they fully address the issue. Trust me Minn will improve considerably this off-season if they focus on DEFENSE!

dN

14th Annual Dark Clouds End of Year Awards and Auction
Tue Oct 24
6:30pm (Auction runs 7:00 - 9:00 pm)
Lake Monster Brewing - St Paul

dN

MLS PLAYOFFS

Knock Out Round Schedule:
-Wed Oct 25
Chicago v Red Bulls - 7:30pm CT on FS1
Vancouver v San Jose - 9:30pm CT on UniMas
-Thu Oct 26
Atlanta v Columbus - 6:00pm CT on ESPN2
Houston v Kansas City - 8:30pm CT on UniMas

Knockout Round Preview. By Matt Doyle for MLS.

dN

MLS

That was one hell of a season ending day on Sunday. Wow. Drama everywhere:

• Toronto tied Atlanta and set a new record for most points in a season at 69.
• San Jose grabbed the 6th and final spot in the West with a game winner in 2nd half stoppage time.
• Dallas + RSL were also chasing SJE but their wins were not enough to jump over the Quakes.
• Portland beat Vancouver and leaped to the top of the West and a #1 seed.
• Vancouver's loss saw them fall from #1 to #3.
• Portland also claimed the Cascadia Cup, over Vancouver and Seattle.
• Minnesota set an ignominious record by allowing 70 goals, a new league record.
• Clint Dempsey got a red card against Colorado and I assume will miss the first playoff game.
• More people in the stands in Atlanta throwing cups of beer at a player on the field. Last time it hit a ref. This time it hit no one but Giovinco picked it up and had a taste. Another dumbass in the stands.
• Another MLS attendance record was set in Atlanta just weeks after they had set a new top number - 71,874 were in attendance on Sunday.

Toronto is the favorite for MLS Cup. By far. By Jeff Carlisle for ESPNFC.

• My other picks are: Seattle (defending champs), NYCFC (David Villa), Portland (champs in 2015 and #1 in West) and Atlanta (dark horse.)

Mike Petke was given a contract extension by Real Salt Lake.

Decision Day recap. By Avi Creditor for Sports Illustrated.

Week 33 Results:
-Sun Oct 22
Salt Lake 2-1 Kansas City
San Jose 3-2 Minnesota
Dallas 5-1 LA
Atlanta 2-2 Toronto
DC 1-2 New York Red Bulls
New York City 2-2 Columbus
Portland 2-1 Vancouver
Seattle 3-0 Colorado
Houston 3-0 Chicago
Montreal 2-3 New England
Philadelphia 6-1 Orlando

46 goals in 11 games = 4.2 goals per game. Wow.

Montreal head coach Mauro Biello fired today

• From Aug 27 to Oct 22 the Won 1 game (over Tor on Sep 20).
• They lost the other 9 (in streaks of 4 and 5 in a row).
• They had 0 ties in those 10 games.
• Thats why they are looking for a new head coach.

Is there any chance the Crew can stay in Columbus. The supporters are giving it their all. By Michael Arace for the Columbus Dispatch.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Results:
-Sun Oct 22
San Jose Earthquakes 3-2 Minnesota

The improvements that Minnesota made throughout the season. By Jeff Rueter for ESPNFC.

My MNUFC Notes:

• Game highlights [VIDEO]
• Loons fought hard but could not keep the Quakes from their destiny of making the playoffs for the 1st time in 6 years. San Jose had to win and they did what ever it took to make that happen.
• Calvo made a big mistake whiffing on a clearance allowing the 1st SJE goal.
• Calvo then made up for that error by clearing a sure goal off the line.
• Calvo further upped his day by scoring the tying goal at 2-2 on a looping header off a corner. Great job redeeming himself.
• Thiesson scored a sweeping long range left footer to tie the game at 1s.
• Thiesson later fell asleep at the back post allowing SJE to take a 2-1 lead. He has done this too many times in 2017. His weakness.
• Taylor got the start at left fullback over Burch and kept that side of the field quiet until he got hurt late. SJE swarmed Burch when he came on and then scored the game winner from that side of the field with Burch left out to dry by his teammates.
• When SJE used their last sub on Marco Urena I was having flashbacks to USA v Costa Rica when Urena killed the Yanks. He did the same to MNUFC.
• Chris Wondowlowski willed his team to the playoffs. Not just scoring their 2nd goal but showing tons of leadership and never say die spirit. He is also just 11 goals away from Landon Donovan's all time MLS record. Unless he has a career ending injury I don't see him missing out on being the new #1.
• Good game: Calvo
• OK game: Shuttleworth, Thiesson, Boxall, Taylor, Finlay, Ibson, Warner, Nicholson, JVenegas, Danladi
• Bad game: Molino, Ramirez, Burch

That's all folks. See you next year for game analysis.

dN

Jack Blake of Jacksonville Armada named NASL Player Of The Week

dN

USMNT - U17 World Cup

Heavy loss for the USA youth on Saturday. They were never in the game. England dominated from the start.

Quarterfinal results:
-Sat Oct 21
USA 1-4 England - USA goal by Josh Sargent.

USA Roster

• G: Alex Budnik - Sockers, Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos - SL Benfica, Justin Garces - Atlanta United
• D: Sergino Dest - Ajax, Christopher Gloster - New York Red Bulls, Jaylin Lindsey - Sporting Kansas City, James Sands - New York City, Tyler Shaver - New York City, Akil Watts - Portland Timbers
• M: George Acosta - North Carolina, Taylor Booth - Real Salt Lake, Christopher Durkin - DC United, Blaine Ferri - Solar, Chris Goslin - Atlanta United, Indiana Vassilev - Unattached
• F: Ayo Akinola - Toronto, Andrew Carleton - Atlanta United, Jacobo Reyes - Monterrey, Bryan Reynolds - Dallas, Joshua Sargent - St Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Tim Weah - Paris Saint-Germain
• C: John Hackworth

Quarterfinals Results:

USA 1-4 England (Oct 21)
Germany 1-2 Brazil (Oct 22)
-----------------
Mali 2-1 Ghana (Oct 21)
Spain 3-1 Iran (Oct 22)


Semifinals Schedule:
-Wed Oct 25
England v Brazil
Mali v Spain

Final Schedule:
-Sun Oct 28
England/Brazil v Mali/Spain

dN

USL PLAYOFFS

5 of the 8 favorites won their first playoff game, except for these upsets:

• #1West Monarchs got toppled by #8West Sacto in penalties.
• #2East Charleston got blown out by #7East NYRBII.
• #3West Reno were bleeped by #6East OKC.

Eastern Conference Round of 16 Results:
-Fri Oct 20
Louisville City (#1) 4-0 Bethlehem Steel (#8)
-Sat Oct 21
Rochester Rhinos (#4) 2-1 Charlotte Independence (#5)
Charleston Battery (#2) 0-4 New York Red Bulls II (#7)
Tampa Bay Rowdies (#3) 3-0 Cincinnati (#6)

Western Conference Round of 16 Results:
-Fri Oct 20
Real Monarchs (#1) 1-1 Sacramento Republic (#8) - SR advances 1-3 on Penalty Kicks
-Sat Oct 21
Swope Park Rangers (#4) 1-1 Phoenix Rising (#5) - SPR advances 4-2 on Penalty Kicks
San Antonio (#2) 2-1 Tulsa Roughnecks (#7)
Reno 1868 (#3) 0-1 OKC Energy (#6)

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Schedule:
-Sat Oct 28
Louisville v Rochester
Tampa Bay v Red Bulls II

Western Conference Quarterfinals Schedule:
-Sat Oct 28
Sacramento v Swope Park
OKC v San Antonio

dN

US SOCCER

The candidates for US Soccer president so far. By Grant Wahl for Sports Illustrated.

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Bill Hamid of DC United signs with Danish club Midtjylland:

Estoy súper feliz para nuestro cliente Bill Hamid de la Selección Estados Unidos por firmar su nuevo contrato con #FCMidtjylland de #Dinamarca #USMNT #GK1 #USA #Vamosquevamos #WIM #EuropaLeague #Denmark #nextup

A post shared by Michael Gorman (@gormanpdx) on Oct 22, 2017 at 9:00pm PDT

• I assume he will join them in January.

Fabian Johnson scored the games 1st goal for Gladbach, but they went on to lose 1-5 at home to Leverkusen.

dN

COPA LIBERTADORES

Semifinal Schedule:
(no TV in America)
1st Leg
-Tue Oct 24
River Plate v Lanus
-Wed Oct 25
Barcelona v Gremio

dN

FIFA

Lieke Martens named FIFA best Female Player Of The Year.
Cristiano Ronaldo named FIFA best Male Player Of The Year.

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

Results of interest:

• Man United was the only top team to suffer a loss this weekend.
• The big Napoli-Inter game ended scoreless.
• Similarly in France the heated Marseille-PSG derby finished tied.
• Dortmund was held to a tie, but still top the Bundesliga via goal difference.

Results:
-Fri Oct 20
Schalke 2-0 Mainz
-Sat Oct 21
Napoli 0-0 Internazionale
Hamburger 0-1 Bayern
Barcelona 2-0 Malaga
Chelsea 4-2 Watford
Huddersfield 2-1 Manchester United
Manchester City 3-0 Burnley
Eintract Frankfurt 2-2 Dortmund
Leipzig 1-0 Stuttgart
Monaco 2-0 Caen
-Sun Oct 22
Marseille 2-2 PSG - #4 v #1
Tottenham 4-1 Liverpool - #3 v #8
Real Madrid 3-0 Eibar
Everton 2-5 Arsenal
Udinese 2-6 Juventus
Milan 0-0 Genoa
Torino 0-1 Roma
Celta de Vigo 0-1 Atletico Madrid

Schedule:
-Tue Oct 24
Inter v Sampdoria
-Wed Oct 25
Chievo v Milan
Genoa v Napoli
Juventus v SPAL
Roma v Crotone



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 20, 2017

It's Day 293 of 2017.


"I really do feel for you Crew fans"
- Anthony Precourt (team owner) without 1 bit of irony on Twitter Thursday night.

In Austin TX working on a new stadium deal Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt stuck another shiv between the ribs of Crew fans. By Brian Hofmann for the Columbus Dispatch.

dN

Samantha Kerr of Sky Blue FC named NWSL Most Valuable Player of 2017.

dN

Looking at the mess in Columbus and the disaster of the USMNT and pushing those issues together into one giant mountain for American soccer to climb. By Charles Boehm for US National Soccer Team Players Assoc.

dN

14th Annual Dark Clouds End of Year Awards and Auction
Tue Oct 24
6:30pm (Auction runs 7:00 - 9:00 pm)
Lake Monster Brewing - St Paul

dN

IT'S ALIVE!

The 3 acre bog moving around North Long Lake in MN and crushing everything in its path.https://t.co/D9q6Jg3i2l pic.twitter.com/ILnZbFMdjV

— Bruce McGuire (@dunord) October 20, 2017

dN

MLS

Only 2 games this weekend have no effect on the post season.

Two big things could happen for Toronto this weekend:

• They are tied for most points in a season at 68, a win or tie sees them set a new record.
• They could also set a new record for wins. They are currently tied at 20.

All 22 teams have their seasons assessed. By Matt Doyle for MLS.

Week 33 Schedule:
-Sun Oct 22
(All games at 3:00pm CT)
PLAYOFFS + SEEDING Salt Lake v Kansas City
PLAYOFFS San Jose v Minnesota
PLAYOFFS Dallas v LA
SEEDING Atlanta v Toronto
SEEDING DC v New York Red Bulls
SEEDING New York City v Columbus
SEEDING Portland v Vancouver
SEEDING Seattle v Colorado
SEEDING Houston v Chicago
------
Games of no value:
Montreal v New England
Philadelphia v Orlando

Western Race - 3 teams for 1 spot:
43 San Jose (12W) (-22GD) (36 GF) (v MU)
43 Dallas (10W) (-4GD) (43 GF) (v LAG)
42 Salt Lake (12W) (-7GD) (47 GF) (v SKC)
-tiebreakers: W, GD, GF

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Schedule:
-Sun Oct 22
San Jose Earthquakes v Minnesota - 3:00pm CT on Ch. 29

Know Thy Opponent - San Jose:

• Fighting to hold the 6th and final playoff spot. Win and they are in.
• Only lost 1 home game since Jun 1.
• Last time these 2 teams met was on Apr 29 in Minneapolis and SJE won 0-1 on a 54th minute goal by Florian Jungwirth after a corner kick led to a scramble in the box.
• Local connection: Jackson Yueill is from the Minnesota Thunder Academy.
• Goals scored: 36 (3rd fewest)
• Goals allowed: 58 (4th most)
• Top goal scorers: Wondolowski(12), Qazaishvili(5), Urena(4), Hoesen(4)

How Minnesota United travels. By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.

dN

Majority: du Nord Music Mix Vol 143 (download + extract)

dN

USMNT - U17 World Cup

Big game for the USA youth on Saturday morning our time. And if they win the get the winner of Germany-Brazil in the Semifinal. What a bracket!

Quarterfinal schedule:
-Sat Oct 21
USA v England - 9:30am CT on FS2

USA Roster

• G: Alex Budnik - Sockers, Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos - SL Benfica, Justin Garces - Atlanta United
• D: Sergino Dest - Ajax, Christopher Gloster - New York Red Bulls, Jaylin Lindsey - Sporting Kansas City, James Sands - New York City, Tyler Shaver - New York City, Akil Watts - Portland Timbers
• M: George Acosta - North Carolina, Taylor Booth - Real Salt Lake, Christopher Durkin - DC United, Blaine Ferri - Solar, Chris Goslin - Atlanta United, Indiana Vassilev - Unattached
• F: Ayo Akinola - Toronto, Andrew Carleton - Atlanta United, Jacobo Reyes - Monterrey, Bryan Reynolds - Dallas, Joshua Sargent - St Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Tim Weah - Paris Saint-Germain
• C: John Hackworth

Quarterfinals Schedule:

USA v England (Oct 21)
Germany v Brazil (Oct 22)
-----------------
Mali v Ghana (Oct 21)
Spain v Iran (Oct 22)
-----------------
Semis (Oct 25)
USA/England v Germany/Brazil
Mali/Ghana v Spain/Iran
-----------------
Final (Oct 28)

dN

USL PLAYOFFS - QUARTERFINALS

Eastern Conference Schedule:
-Fri Oct 20
Louisville City (#1) v Bethlehem Steel (#8)
-Sat Oct 21
Rochester Rhinos (#4) v Charlotte Independence (#5)
Charleston Battery (#2) v New York Red Bulls II (#7)
Tampa Bay Rowdies (#3) v Cincinnati (#6)

Western Conference Schedule:
-Fri Oct 20
Real Monarchs (#1) v Sacramento Republic (#8)
-Sat Oct 21
Swope Park Rangers (#4) v Phoenix Rising (#5)
San Antonio (#2) v Tulsa Roughnecks (#7)
Reno 1868 (#3) v OKC Energy (#6)

dN

USMNT

Could an interim head coach be named soon? By Jeff Carlisle for ESPNFC.

dN

Copa Libertadores returns next week for the Semifinals.

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

-Fri Oct 20
Schalke v Mainz
-Sat Oct 21
Napoli v Internazionale - #1 v #2
Hamburger v Bayern
Barcelona v Malaga
Chelsea v Watford
Huddersfield v Manchester United
Manchester City v Burnley
Eintract Frankfurt v Dortmund
Monaco v Caen
-Sun Oct 22
Marseille v PSG - #4 v #1
Tottenham v Liverpool - #3 v #8
Real Madrid v Eibar
Everton v Arsenal
Udinese v Juventus
Milan v Genoa
Torino v Roma
Celta de Vigo v Atletico Madrid



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 19, 2017

It's Day 292 of 2017.


An ode to DC United's reign at RFK stadium. By Steve Goff for the Washington Post.

dN

How about a little Golden Gopher soccer Friday night?

• Fri Oct 20 at 6pm CT
• 75 degrees and sunny
• You interested?
• Lets do it!
• 5 bucks is all it takes.

dN

Crew owner Anthony Precourt seems hell bent on moving his team to Austin, but this argument says ethically the team isn't his to move. By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

• But honestly, in 2017 there isn't really much space left for ethics in sports is there?

Could the Crew leadership look any stupider this week? Yes they can:

JUST IN: Columbus Crew SC spokesman says the team will NOT be offering refunds to fans who purchased 2018 season tickets. pic.twitter.com/3lUIjoetYx

— Dan Pearlman (@danpearlman) October 19, 2017

Columbus Crew owners are in Austin talking up the move. But its not a done deal. They need a stadium location. By Kevin Lyttle for the Austin Statesman.

dN

A shredding new album, 2nd one this year, by the great Obnox! Murder Radio pulsing with distortion is available now.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Schedule:
-Sun Oct 22
San Jose Earthquakes v Minnesota

The Junior Loons (U13 + U14) are in Frisco TX this weekend for something called the Central Conference Boys Regional Showcase. (A Development Academy tournament.)

• Their next games in the Twin Cities will be Sun Nov 5 against Minnesota Thunder Academy - the first TC-DA derby!

dN

Majority: du Nord Music Mix Vol 143 (download + extract)

dN

MLS

All the indicators have DC goalkeeper Bill Hamid heading to Midtjylland in Denmark.

Brian Carroll has announced his retirement. He played for DC, Columbus and Philly. He is 36 years old and played in 370 games (4th all time.)

Speaking of "All-Time" stats: Chris Wondolowski is only 12 goals away from Landon Donovan's record of 145. It don't see LD's record lasting much longer than next season.

• The next 2 closest active players are Kei Kamara (98) and BWP (86.)

You think the quality of MLS is not improving? I think you are wrong. Check this out - new records were set in 3 very important categories:

• Passes per game: 856
• Passing accuracy: 79%
• Passing accuracy in final third: 65%
• Stats courtesy MLS

MLS teams with the most losses in 2017
19 DC United (-28)
18 Colorado Rapids (-17)
17 Minnesota United (-22)
17 LA Galaxy (-18)
16 Montreal Impact (-5)
15 New England Revolution (-9)
15 Real Salt Lake (-7)

New England is the only team in MLS that didn't win a single game away from home this season.

MLS Top Goal Scorers:
24 Nemanja Nikolic
21 Diego Valeri
20 David Villa
18 Josef Martinez
17 Ignaccio Piatti (27 GP)
17 Bradley Wright Phillips (32 GP)
17 Ola Kamara (33 GP)

dN

Abby Dahlkemper of North Carolina Courage named NWSL Defender Of The Year

dN

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP STAGE

Wednesday's Matchday 3 big results:

• Bayern roughed up Celtic.
• Chelsea + Roma went back and forth and ended tied. A good result for Roma.
• Juventus beat Sporting CP sticking to 2nd place behind perfect Barca.
• Matchday 5 is Oct 31 and Nov 1.

The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 18, 2017

It's Day 291 of 2017.


Front and center in Columbus:

Today's @DispatchAlerts front page. "A kick in the gut": #CrewSC pic.twitter.com/6bkeKYT8hJ

— Andrew Erickson (@AEricksonCD) October 18, 2017

• The latest from the Dispatch on a potential departure. By Andrew Erickson of the Columbus Dispatch.
• The latest from potential new home Austin. By Kevin Lyttle for the Austin Statesman.

dN

Anyone interested in a little Golden Gopher soccer Friday night?

• Fri Oct 20 at 6pm CT
• Supposed to be 75 degrees and sunny
• You interested?
• 5 bucks.
• Lets do it!

dN

A vision for the future of soccer in America, by an actual visionary. By Peter Wilt for Midfield Press.

dN

US Soccer files its legal response to the lawsuit filed against them by the NASL. By Paul Kennedy for Soccer America.

dN

The new NASL team in San Diego has a name - 1904 FC.

dN

The return of the 2 Milans. From mediocrity Inter and Milan strive for significance again. By Rory Smith for the New York Times.

dN

A brand new album, the 2nd this year, by the great Obnox! Murder Radio is available now.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Last game of the season coming up on Sunday in San Jose at Avaya stadium.

Minnesota United is dangerously close to breaking an ignominious record; Most goals allowed in a season.

• The current record is 69.
• MNUFC has allowed 67, with 1 game left to play.

The next opponent San Jose is in control of their playoff dreams. Win against Minn and advance. By Jeff Carlisle for ESPNFC.

MU is putting the push on for Abu Danladi to be named MLS Rookie Of The Year. He is a very good candidate.

• Its an outdated award because more and more young players are coming in as Homegrown or on loan and only draftees are eligible.
• Want to see this award scrapped in exchange for Young Player Of The Year.
• But since the award is what it is I would have to vote for Julian Gressel of Atlanta, who has been fantastic all season long. Danladi is #2 on my ballot.

Schedule:
Sun Oct 22
San Jose Earthquakes v Minnesota

dN

Majority: du Nord Music Mix Vol 143 (download + extract)

dN

MLS

Sebastian Giovinco on why he's in Toronto and what it means to him. In his own words, for the Players Tribune.

Dallas has been the league leader in youth development, and they want to further that cause. By Sam Stejskal for MLS.

This year though has been a story of great heights to new lows for Dallas - what is going wrong? by Arch Bell for ESPNFC.

Bill Hamid has announced that he will not sign a new contract with DC United for next season. What is next? By Steven Goff for the Washington Post.

• Hamid says we will all know where he is headed very soon.

dN

Adrianna Franch of Portland Thorns named NWSL Goalkeeper Of The Year

dN

David Letterman as he is today. By Geoff Edgers for the Washington Post.

dN

US SOCCER

@ussoccer would probably intentionally contract the flesh eating bacteria before it would hire a Sam Allardyce as USMNT coach.

— Bruce McGuire (@dunord) October 18, 2017

A bevy of US Soccer topics: Landon Donovan for USSF pres? Why not Kyle Martino? Tab Ramos for USMNT interim? And a big $ surplus. By Grant Wahl for Sports Illustrated.

Another run at a possible USMNT roster for the November friendly at Portugal. By Brian Sciaretta for American Soccer Now.

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Christian Pulisic: After 3 rounds of UEFA Champions League group stage games Dortmund only has 1 point. Their chances of advancing past Real Madrid or Tottenham are slim.

• Pulisic went 90 minutes yesterday but they could only manage a tie at APOEL.

dN

LIGA MX

Tonight: America v Guadalajara - its 2nd place hosting 2nd to last place. 9:00pm CT on Univision Deportes.

dN

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP STAGE

Yesterday's match 3 big results:

• Real Madrid and Tottenham tied 1-1 in Madrid. Huge for the London team.
• Liverpool stomped Maribor 0-7 in Slovenia.
• Manchester City won over Napoli to remain perfect and pull away at the top.

Today's important games:
Benfica v Man United
Bayern v Celtic
Chelsea v Roma
Juventus v Sporting CP

dN

Just checking: The Chelsea player Zappacosta is Frank Zappa riding on the shoulders of Gal Costa, right?



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 17, 2017

It's Day 290 of 2017.


Huge congrats to the Portland Thorns - NWSL Champions for 2017.

dN

du Nord MLS Hot Team Hot List Power Rankings

(Based solely on science using the 5 previous games, with no bias for prior standing or projections - just results. As of Tue Oct 17)

1 Columbus Crew
2 Toronto
3 Chicago Fire
4 Portland Timbers
5 Seattle Sounders
6 Colorado Rapids
7 New England Revolution
8 Houston Dynamo
9 San Jose Earthquakes
10 Vancouver Whitecaps
11 Atlanta United
12 Philadelphia Union
13 Real Salt Lake
14 Minnesota United
15 LA Galaxy
16 New York Red Bulls
17 Sporting Kansas City
18 New York City
19 Orlando City
20 Dallas
21 DC United
22 Montreal Impact

The irony of the #1 team is incredible.

dN

COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM ISSUE

A statement from Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt saying he will move the team to Austin TX unless he can get a new stadium built in Cow Town.

• A followup letter from Precourt to the team's fans.

Local Columbus government officials are baffled by the announcement. (To be fair, most politicians usually are baffled.) By Kimball Perry + Rick Rouan for the Columbus Dispatch.

An interview with Precourt. By Jeff Carlisle for ESPNFC.

• When Precourt bought the team from the Hunt family he had a clause written in that he could move the team to ONLY Austin TX.

I am sure the story will be closely covered the Columbus Dispatch newspaper.

• There are more articles already on the site.

And what is the view from the capital city of Texas. By Kevin Lyttle for the Austin Statesman.

dN

This kinda of data speaks loudly, and probably directly to owner investment:

Bottom four MLS teams in avg. attendance are all originals:
D.C. United 16,434
Columbus 15,439
Colorado 15,322
FC Dallas 15,106

— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) October 17, 2017

• Minn United = 20,538 (10th in the league)

dN

USMNT STARS SPEAK LOUDLY AND WITH FRUSTATION

Jermaine Jones sits on his couch, turns on the video camera and stirs up some USMNT shit, and he is not always wrong. [VIDEO]

In his own way Claudio Reyna concurs. By Christian Araos for Empire of Soccer.

dN

Kickstarter: Documentary film on New Zealand rock band The Chills

• Hurry - 2 days left!

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

My MNUFC Notes:

• I am not happy.
• I was in Los Angeles for the game on Sunday in which the Loons lost 3-0.
• With a few exceptions I would call the Minn players and coaches performance gutless.
• Yes it was 100 degrees at kickoff. Didn't seem to effect the Galaxy players one iota.
• And the Galaxy have been downright awful this season.
• You could say the same for Minn United in about half the games this year - they have been awful.
• I give the Loons full credit for being an expansion team, but at least an effort should be put forth even if you don't have the talent.
• They have up a goal in the early minutes again for the 14th time this season - that shows so much mental weakness. Not prepared to play at all in almost half the games.
• LA's best player was again Alessandrini. Everyone knows that. And everyone knows he goes left. How did Minn defend against him? They left him go left and he made them look like amateurs.
• Yeah, I am pissed off.
• Minn made two changes at half time and changed the formation and tactics - to me that means the coach completely whiffed on the starting lineup and got the formation and tactics wrong. Oof.
• Starting Molino was almost laughable. A week ago Friday he was suspended from the last T+T CONCACAF World Cup qualifying game so he could have been back in Minnesota on Saturday, Sunday at the latest. Instead he stayed in T+T enjoying the good life, just check his Instagram, and never even flew to Minn. Instead he met the team in LA on the following Friday. Then the coach started him.
• Again, there were no consequences for snubbing the team and teammates. Instead you get rewarded for it. Remember JVenegas walking out of training earlier this year? Its been selective punishment all season too. Which makes things doubly problematic. One guy gets punished, the next one doesn't. Favoritism at its worst. Destroys team chemistry.
• Good game: Ibson
• OK game: Boxall, Calvo, Martin, Finlay, Danladi, Warner, JVenegas, Ibarra
• Bad game: Shuttleworth, Thiesson, Burch, Molino, Ramirez
• Still angry.

Results:
-Sun Oct 15
LA Galaxy 3-0 Minnesota
Schedule:
-Sun Oct 22
San Jose Earthquakes v Minnesota

dN

USMNT - U17 World Cup

After faltering badly in their 3rd group stage game and falling all the way to 3rd place and a tough Round of 16 game against a group winner they came out on fire and proved that they are for real - winning 5-0 over Group B winning Paraguay. Onward and upward.

• Tim Weah smashed home a hat trick.

England is up next for the USA. England + Japan ended 0-0 and Eng won 5-3 in Penalty Kicks.

Round of 16 Results:
-Mon Oct 16
USA 5-0 Paraguay - USA goals by Tim Weah(3), Andrew Carleton + Josh Sargent.

Quarterfinal schedule:
-Sat Oct 21 USA v England - 9:30am CT on FS2

USA Roster

• G: Alex Budnik - Sockers, Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos - SL Benfica, Justin Garces - Atlanta United
• D: Sergino Dest - Ajax, Christopher Gloster - New York Red Bulls, Jaylin Lindsey - Sporting Kansas City, James Sands - New York City, Tyler Shaver - New York City, Akil Watts - Portland Timbers
• M: George Acosta - North Carolina, Taylor Booth - Real Salt Lake, Christopher Durkin - DC United, Blaine Ferri - Solar, Chris Goslin - Atlanta United, Indiana Vassilev - Unattached
• F: Ayo Akinola - Toronto, Andrew Carleton - Atlanta United, Jacobo Reyes - Monterrey, Bryan Reynolds - Dallas, Joshua Sargent - St Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Tim Weah - Paris Saint-Germain
• C: John Hackworth

Round of 16 Schedule/Results:

Colombia 0-4 Germany
Germany v ? (Oct 22)
Brazil v Honduras (Oct 18)
----
Paraguay 0-5 USA
USA v England (Oct 21)
England 0-0 (5-3) Japan
-----------------
-----------------
Mali v Iraq (Oct 17)
? v ? (Oct 21)
Ghana v Niger (Oct 18)
----
France 1-2 Spain
Spain v Iran (Oct 22)
Iran 2-1 Mexico
-----------------
Semis (Oct 25)
Final (Oct 28)

dN

WORLD CUP

UEFA Playoffs Schedule:
1st Leg
-Thu Nov 9
N Ireland v Switzerland - 1:45pm CT
Croatia v Greece - 1:45pm CT
-Fri Nov 10
Sweden v Italy - 1:45pm CT
-Sat Nov 11
Denmark v Ireland - 1:45pm CT
2nd Leg
-Sun Nov 12
Switzerland v N Ireland - 11:00am CT
Greece v Croatia - 1:45pm CT
-Mon Nov 13
Italy v Sweden - 1:45pm CT
-Tue Nov 14
Ireland v Denmark - 1:45pm CT

dN

MLS

You know it, you love it - Ale's Weekly MLS Awards. [VIDEO] By Alejandro Moreno for ESPNFC.

Sell baby, sell! One idea for fastest way for MLS to improve - start selling players more often. By Paul Tenorio for Four Four Two.

Week 33 Schedule:
-Sun Oct 22 (All games at 3:00pm CT)
PLAYOFFS + SEEDING Salt Lake v Kansas City
PLAYOFFS San Jose v Minnesota
PLAYOFFS Dallas v LA
SEEDING Atlanta v Toronto
SEEDING DC v New York Red Bulls
SEEDING New York City v Columbus
SEEDING Portland v Vancouver
SEEDING Seattle v Colorado
SEEDING Houston v Chicago
------
Games of no value:
Montreal v New England
Philadelphia v Orlando

Western Race - 3 teams for 1 spot:
43 San Jose (12W) (-22GD) (36 GF) (v MU)
43 Dallas (10W) (-4GD) (43 GF) (v LAG)
42 Salt Lake (12W) (-7GD) (47 GF) (v SKC)

• tiebreakers: W, GD, GF

dN

• Paul Riley of North Carolina Courage named NWSL Coach Of The Year
• Ashley Hatch of North Carolina Courage named NWSL Rookie Of The Year

dN

• Dane Kelly of Reno 1868 named USL Golden Boot winner (18 goals)
• Tomas Gomez of Rochester Rhinos named USL Golden Glove winner
• Chris Wehan of Reno 1868 named Assists Champion winner (12 assists)

dN

• Bryan Burke of San Francisco Deltas named NASL Player Of The Week
• Nemanja Nikolic of Chicago Fire named MLS Player Of The Week
• Ever Guzman of San Antonio named USL Player Of The Week

dN

USL PLAYOFFS

Eastern Conference Schedule:
-Fri Oct 20
Louisville City (#1) v Bethlehem Steel (#8)
-Sat Oct 21
Rochester Rhinos (#4) v Charlotte Independence (#5)
Charleston Battery (#2) v New York Red Bulls II (#7)
Tampa Bay Rowdies (#3) v Cincinnati (#6)

Western Conference Schedule:
-Fri Oct 20
Real Monarchs (#1) v Sacramento Republic (#8)
-Sat Oct 21
Swope Park Rangers (#4) v Phoenix Rising (#5)
San Antonio (#2) v Tulsa Roughnecks (#7)
Reno 1868 (#3) v OKC Energy (#6)

dN

US SOCCER

With no coach, and who knows what roster the USMNT have scheduled a game for next month:
-Tue Nov 14
Portugal v USA - 12:45pm CT - broadcast TBA
Estadio Algarve, Faro

Players that could be possible for this game. By Jeff Carlisle for ESPNFC.

One informed guy's short list for USMNT coaches. By Steve Davis for Four Four Two.

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Jonathan Gonzalez continues his incredible season at Monterrey. They beat Pachuca 2-0 and he was named Man Of The Match! He's 18.



The Bird Is The Word

Home Brewing Grog

Paintin' Fences

Some Soccer News for Oct 12, 2017

It's Day 285 of 2017.


The celebrations in Egypt were incredible looking when they qualified for the World Cup:

This is Cairo tonight after Egypt qualifying to World Cup after 28 years pic.twitter.com/G6gqep8NT8

— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) October 8, 2017

• We don't get nice things like this here.

dN

QATAR

Regional politics could be causing Qatar even more trouble than the accusations of horrible working and living conditions for stadium builders. By Dan Roan for BBC.

An interview with Qatar's world cup director. From the New York Times.

A Qatari who is President of both beIN Sports and Paris Saint-Germain FC is being accused of bribing FIFA officials for TV rights. From Swiss justice department. Thanks to Jonathan Tannenwald for the link.

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USMNT WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Sunil Gulati has to step down immediately. He cannot be the one leading the hiring of a new USMNT head coach.

This interview with Bruce Arena is not his finest hour. By Steven Goff for the Washington Post.

• "There’s no finger-pointing or excuses; it’s all on us." But then he offers up excuses galore. On the other hand he has this one hanging over his head, not ours.

Trying to sum up the USMNT failure. By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

Amidst all the criticism don't forget that US Soccer has helped bring forth some very exciting young prospects. By Mike Woitalla for Soccer America.

Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes has to be a candidate to coach the USMNT next. What did he think about the elimination of the senior men's team from the World Cup? By Sam McDowell for the KC Star.

More reasonable examinations of failure. By Gabriele Marcotti for ESPNFC.

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MINNESOTA UNITED

If you are at the Minnesota United game in LA this weekend I hope to see you there.

Loons trying to figure out ways to keep Ramirez and Danladi on the field at the same time. By Megan Ryan for Star Tribune.

Minn will train in California next week.

Joe Greenspan is back on loan to Pittsburgh for their last game of the season.

Schedule:
-Sun Oct 15
LA Galaxy v Minnesota - 6:30pm CT on Ch 29
-Sun Oct 22
San Jose Earthquakes v Minnesota

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USMNT - U17 World Cup

Yikes! USA plonked a hard one and the loss drops them all the way to 3rd on tie breakers. Oof.

• They must now play the winner of Group B or C, on only a couple days rest.

Group stage schedule:
-Fri Oct 6
USA 3-0 India - USA goals by Josh Sargent(PK), Chris Durkin and Andrew Carleton.
-Mon Oct 9
USA 1-0 Ghana - USA goal by Ayomide Akinola.
-Thu Oct 12
USA 1-3 Colombia - USA goal by George Acosta.
Dr. DY Patil Stadium - Navi Mumbai

USA Roster

• G: Alex Budnik - Sockers, Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos - SL Benfica, Justin Garces - Atlanta United
• D: Sergino Dest - Ajax, Christopher Gloster - New York Red Bulls, Jaylin Lindsey - Sporting Kansas City, James Sands - New York City, Tyler Shaver - New York City, Akil Watts - Portland Timbers
• M: George Acosta - North Carolina, Taylor Booth - Real Salt Lake, Christopher Durkin - DC United, Blaine Ferri - Solar, Chris Goslin - Atlanta United, Indiana Vassilev - Unattached
• F: Ayo Akinola - Toronto, Andrew Carleton - Atlanta United, Jacobo Reyes - Monterrey, Bryan Reynolds - Dallas, Joshua Sargent - St Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Tim Weah - Paris Saint-Germain
• C: John Hackworth

Group A Standings:
6 Ghana (+3)
6 Colombia (+2)
6 USA (+2)
0 India (-5)

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MLS

Kansas City stumbled with yet another chance to clinch playoff berth last night.
-Houston was the beneficiary. And now has a 4 point cushion.

Week 32 Schedule:
-Wed Oct 11
KEY Houston 2-1 Kansas City
-Sun Oct 15
Chicago v Philadelphia
New England v New York City
New York Red Bulls v Atlanta - 4pm CT on FS1
Orlando v Columbus
Toronto v Montreal
KEY Colorado v Salt Lake
KEY Kansas City v Houston
LA v Minnesota
KEY Seattle v Dallas - 6:30pm CT on FS1
KEY Vancouver v San Jose
Portland v DC

Western Playoff Race:
48 Kansas City (12W) (+12GD) (v HD, at RSL)
47 Portland (13W) (+5GD) (v DC, v VW)
47 Seattle (12W) (+6GD) (v D, v CR)
46 Houston (12W) (+9GD) (at SKC, v CF)
43 Dallas (10W) (0GD) (at SS, v LAG)
---
42 Salt Lake (12W) (-6GD) (at CR, v SKC)
42 San Jose (12W) (-22GD) (at VW, v MU)

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NWSL CHAMPIONSHIP

-Sat Oct 14
North Carolina v Portland - 2:30pm CT on Lifetime

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NWSL 2017 BEST XI

• G: Adrianna Franch - Portland Thorns FC
• D: Abby Dahlkemper - North Carolina Courage
• D: Ali Krieger - Orlando Pride
• D: Becky Sauerbrunn - FC Kansas City
• D: Casey Short - Chicago Red Stars
• M: Jess Fishlock - Seattle Reign FC
• M: Samantha Mewis - North Carolina Courage
• M: McCall Zerboni - North Carolina Courage
• F: Marta - Orlando Pride
• F: Samantha Kerr - Sky Blue FC
• F: Christen Press - Chicago Red Stars

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Josh Cohen of Phoenix Rising named USL Player Of The Month for September

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BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES:

-Fri Oct 13
Lyon v Monaco
-Sat Oct 14
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona
Liverpool v Manchester United
Manchester City v Stoke
Dortmund v Leipzig
Juventus v Lazio
Roma v Napoli
Crystal Palace v Chelsea
Dijon v PSG
Tottenham v Bournemouth
Watford v Arsenal
Bayern v Freiburg
Hertha v Schalke
Getafe v Real Madrid
-Sun Oct 15
Inter v Milan
Strasborg v Marseille



The Bird Is The Word

Some Soccer News for Oct 11, 2017

It's Day 284 of 2017.


Not surprisingly I don't have a whole lot to say. But here are some of the words that have gone through my head in the last 18 hours: Pain. Disaster. Ugly. Awful. Disgust. Embarrassed. Humiliated. Angry.

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Here my thoughts with @mbretosESPN about USMNT not qualifying for the World Cup. https://t.co/C2KC0Ft6Pu

— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) October 11, 2017

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Donna Shalala is a US Soccer board member:

This morning 2-1 unacceptable For us in USSoccer more than a wake up call. Time for a revolution. Need a long term plan that is smart

— Donna E. Shalala (@DonnaShalala) October 11, 2017

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Why? In 3 easy steps. By Jonathan Tannenwald for the Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News.

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USA joins Chile, Ghana and Netherlands on the outside of the next World Cup.

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USMNT WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Schedule:
-Tue Oct 10
Trinidad + Tobago 2-1 USA - USA goal by Pulisic
Ato Boldon Stadium - Couva

USA roster

• G: Brad Guzan - Atlanta United, Tim Howard - Colorado Rapids, Nick Rimando - Real Salt Lake
• D: DaMarcus Beasley - Houston Dynamo, Matt Besler - Sporting Kansas City, Geoff Cameron - Stoke City, Omar Gonzalez - Pachuca, Michael Orozco - Tijuana, Tim Ream - Fulham, Jorge Villafana - Santos Laguna, DeAndre Yedlin - Newcastle, Graham Zusi - Sporting Kansas City
• M: Kellyn Acosta - Dallas, Juan Agudelo - New England Revolution, Paul Arriola - DC United, Alejandro Bedoya - Philadelphia Union, Michael Bradley - Toronto, Benny Feilhaber - Sporting Kansas City, Dax McCarty - Chicago Fire, Darlington Nagbe - Portland Timbers, Christian Pulisic - Dortmund, Gyasi Zardes - LA Galaxy
• F: Jozy Altidore - Toronto, Clint Dempsey - Seattle Sounders, Chris Wondolowski - San Jose Earthquakes, Bobby Wood - Hamburger
• C: Bruce Arena

T+T Roster

• G: Adrian Foncette - Police, Greg Ranjitsingh - Louisville City, Glenroy Samuel - Morvant Caledonia United
• D: Daneil Cyrus - Juticalpa, Kevan George - Jacksonville Armada, Curtis Gonzales - Defence Force, Triston Hodge - DirecTV W Connection, Alvin Jones - DirecTV W Connection, Josiah Trimmingham - Club Sando, Kevon Villaroel - North East Stars, Mekeil Williams - Colorado Rapids
• M: Neil Benjamin Jr. - DirecTV W Connection), Levi Garcia - Alkmaar Zaanstreek, Khaleem Hyland - Al-Faisaly Harmah, Joevin Jones - Seattle Sounders, Jared London - Club Sando, Kevin Molino - Minnesota United, Nathan Lewis - San Juan Jabloteh, Leston Paul - Pasaquina, Kathon St. Hillaire - St. Ann's Rangers
• F: Trevin Caesar - Sacramento Republic, Akeem Roach - Vida, Shahdon Winchester - Murcielagos
• C: Dennis Lawrence

Hex Standings:
21 Mexico - CLINCHED
16 Costa Rica - CLINCHED
13 Panama (-1) - CLINCHED
---
13 Honduras (-6) - PLAYOFF
---
12 USA - OUT
6 Trinidad + Tobago - OUT

Hex Schedule:
-Tue Oct 10
T+T 2-1 USA
Honduras 3-2 Mexico
Panama 2-1 Costa Rica

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MINNESOTA UNITED

Last 8 games:

• 4 wins
• 2 losses
• 2 ties
• 14 points
• 15 goals scored
• 13 goals allowed

Goals by:

• 5 Danladi
• 3 Ramirez
• 2 Finlay
• 2 Molino
• Ibarra
• Nicholson
• Kallman

Assists by:

• 2 Finlay
• 2 Thiesson
• 2 Molino
• 2 Ramirez
• Ibson
• Calvo
• Nicholson
• Danladi

Schedule:
-Sun Oct 15
LA Galaxy v Minnesota - 6:30pm CT on Ch 29 in Twin Cities.

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USMNT - U17 World Cup

Will they help heal some wounds? Pretty please.

Group stage schedule:
-Fri Oct 6
USA 3-0 India - USA goals by Josh Sargent(PK), Chris Durkin and Andrew Carleton.
-Mon Oct 9
USA 1-0 Ghana - USA goal by Ayomide Akinola.
-Thu Oct 12
USA v Colombia - 9:30am CT on FS2 + Universo
Dr. DY Patil Stadium - Navi Mumbai

USA Roster

• G: Alex Budnik - Sockers, Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos - SL Benfica, Justin Garces - Atlanta United
• D: Sergino Dest - Ajax, Christopher Gloster - New York Red Bulls, Jaylin Lindsey - Sporting Kansas City, James Sands - New York City, Tyler Shaver - New York City, Akil Watts - Portland Timbers
• M: George Acosta - North Carolina, Taylor Booth - Real Salt Lake, Christopher Durkin - DC United, Blaine Ferri - Solar, Chris Goslin - Atlanta United, Indiana Vassilev - Unattached
• F: Ayo Akinola - Toronto, Andrew Carleton - Atlanta United, Jacobo Reyes - Monterrey, Bryan Reynolds - Dallas, Joshua Sargent - St Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri, Tim Weah - Paris Saint-Germain
• C: John Hackworth

Group A Standings:
6 USA (+4)
3 Colombia (0)
3 Ghana (0)
0 India (-4)

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MLS

Kaka has announced that he is leaving Orlando City at the end of this season.

Week 32 Schedule:
-Wed Oct 11
KEY Houston v Kansas City
-Sun Oct 15
Chicago v Philadelphia
New England v New York City
New York Red Bulls v Atlanta - 4pm CT on FS1
Orlando v Columbus
Toronto v Montreal
KEY Colorado v Salt Lake
KEY Kansas City v Houston
LA v Minnesota
KEY Seattle v Dallas - 6:30pm CT on FS1
KEY Vancouver v San Jose
Portland v DC

Western Playoff Race:
48 Kansas City (12W) (+13GD) (at HD, v HD, at RSL)
47 Portland (13W) (+5GD) (v DC, v VW)
47 Seattle (12W) (+6GD) (v D, v CR)
43 Houston (11W) (+8GD) (v SKC, at SKC, v CF)
43 Dallas (10W) (0GD) (at SS, v LAG)
---
42 Salt Lake (12W) (-6GD) (at CR, v SKC)
42 San Jose (12W) (-22GD) (at VW, v MU)



The Bird Is The Word