Some Soccer News for Nov 27, 2017

It's Day 329 of 2017.


The Curse of Couva? Since Cristian Pulisic returned to Dortmund after the USMNT 2-1 loss to Trinidad + Tobago in Couva he has played 7 games in the Bundesliga and Champions League and not won any of them. By Paul Kennedy for Soccer America.

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MINNESOTA UNITED

This is roster decision day.

Released:

• Bernardo Anor
• Ismaila Jome
• Justin Davis
• Thomas de Villardi
• Joe Greenspan
• Jermaine Taylor
• Kevin Venegas
• Patrick McLain
• Brandon Allen (back to NYRB)

Current Roster:

• G: Alex Kapp, Bobby Shuttleworth
• D: Michael Boxall, Marc Burch, Francisco Calvo, Vadim Demidov, Brent Kallman, Jerome Thiesson
• M: Sam Cronin, Ethan Finlay, Miguel Ibarra, Ibson, Jose Leiton (on loan until mid-July), Collin Martin, Kevin Molino, Sam Nicholson, Rasmus Schuller, Collen Warner, Johan Venegas
• F: Abu Danladi, Christian Ramirez

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MLS

4 players suspended for 2nd Leg games:

• Artur – Columbus
• Alberth Elis + Jalil Anibaba – Houston
• Roman Torres – Seattle

The last time Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco played a game was Sun Nov 5 - that will make it 24 days between games.

Media:

• Toronto - Hard work will get them the desired results. By Kurt Larson for the Toronto Sun.
• Columbus - Being the road team in a scoreless 2nd Leg gives the Crew a true advantage. By Andrew Erickson for the Columbus Dispatch.
• Seattle - Sounders will put their roster depth on the line. By Geoff Baker for the Seattle Times.
• Houston - Will Bruin has no problem helping the Sounders beat his old team The Dynamo. By Corey Roepken for the Houston Chronicle.

Semifinal Schedule:
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 29
Toronto v Columbus (0-0) - 6:30pm CT on FS1
-Thu Nov 30
Seattle v Houston (2-0) - 9:30pm CT on ESPN

Greg Vanney of Toronto named MLS Coach Of The Year

Bob Bradley sets about building his 2nd MLS team from the ground floor up. By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

San Jose Earthquakes hired Mikael Stahre as their new head coach. He just coached Hacken to a 4th place finish in Sweden.

• Still no announcement from Colorado Rapids on their new coach.

Some people have loudly complained about the playoff games being on such irregular days of the week, but both stadiums last week were sold out and TV viewership was up 20%. Via Soccer America.

• By the way, you should subscribe to Soccer America now!

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USL

Dane Kelly of Reno 1868 named USL Most Valuable Player

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NASL

Both San Francisco and Edmonton have closed their doors. It was expected.

• The real question mark is on the future of Puerto Rico.
• North Carolina has left the league to join USL.
• That leaves just 5 teams (which I think could easily be 4) at this time for 2018.

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AMERICANS ABROAD

First, over the weekend, the Bad:

• Weston McKennie got a yellow card in the 3rd minute, then was replaced in the 33rd min (along with a teammate) as Schalke were already down 4-0 at Dortmund. Luckily for them the game ended tied 4-4. Bad game for McKennie, great save by his team.
• DeAndre Yedlin had the awful distinction of scoring an Own Goal for Newcastle in a 0-3 home loss v Watford.
• Cristian Pulisic played the whole game as Dortmund went up 4-0 in the 1st half but fell into a 4-4 tie v Schalke.

The Good:

• Matt Miazga scored the game winning goal with his head on a corner kick as Vitesse won 2-0 over ADO Den Haag.
• Terrance Boyd played 83 min and got the first 2 goals for Darmstadt as they tied 3-3 at Union.
• Fab Johnson came on at half time for Gladbach as they upset Bayern 2-1.
• Kenny Saief made his return from surgery (last summer), coming on as a sub for Gent in the 76th min as they won 3-1 v REM Mouscron.

In MX:

• Jonathan Gonzalez (Monterrey), Edgar Castillo (Monterrey) and Jose Torres (Tigres) advance to Apertura Liguilla Semifinals.

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LIGA MX

The seeds advanced in order 1-4. That sure doesn't happen very often.

Liguilla Semfinals Schedule:
1st Leg
-Wed Nov 29
America-3 v Tigres-2 - 9pm CT
-Thu Nov 30
Morelia-4 v Monterrey-1 - 7:30pm CT
2nd Leg
-Sat Dec 2
Tigres-2 v America-3 - 7pm CT
-Sun Dec 3
Monterrey-1 v Morelia-4 - 6pm CT

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MEXICO - COPA MX

Final
-Date TBA
Monterrey v Pachuca

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COPA LIBERTADORES

Lanus will have to overcome a 1 goal deficit at home to win it on Wed.

Sadly no American TV broadcast.

Final Schedule:
1st Leg
-Wed Nov 22
Gremio 1-0 Lanus
2nd Leg
-Wed Nov 29
Lanus v Gremio (0-1)

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EUROPEAN NEWS

Lionel Messi has signed a new 4 year contract with Barca.

Looks like human-pitbull Gennaro Gattuso is the new head coach of AC Milan.

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BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES

Bayern and Monaco were the only 2 big teams to lose this weekend, but Mon was to another big.

And France's 2nd place team Lyon has been added to the this schedule beginning with a midweek game.

Results: -Sat Nov 21
Levante 0-5 Atletico Madrid
Valencia 1-1 Barcelona
Monchengladbach 2-1 Bayern
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Dortmund 4-4 Schalke
Cagliari 1-3 Internazionale
Leipzig 2-0 Werder Bremen
Man United 1-0 Brighton + Hove
Real Madrid 3-2 Malaga
Tottenham 1-1 West Brom
-Sun Nov 22
Burnley 0-1 Arsenal
Juventus 3-0 Crotone
Huddersfield 1-2 Man City
Marsielle 1-0 Guingamp
Milan 0-0 Torino
Monaco 1-2 PSG
Udinese 0-1 Napoli
Genoa 1-1 Roma

Midweek Schedule:
-Tue Nov 28
Watford v Man United
Leicester v Tottenham
-Wed Nov 29
Arsenal v Huddersfield
Chelsea v Swansea
Stoke v Liverpool
Lyon v Lille
Man City v Southampton
Metz v Marseille
Nantes v Monaco
PSG v Troyes



The Bird Is The Word