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
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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