Some Of It Was Exciting, Some Of It Was Bunk, It Was The News

-As I so ably predicted several days ago, Everton had a tough run in the first leg of the Third Qualifying Round in the UEFA Champions League. They lost 1-2 to Villareal at home, and now must overcome 2 away goals to advance. Not even close to an easy task. They could be done, before they even get started. Here are the rest of yesterdays scores:
Man United 3-0 Debrecen
Wisla 3-1 Panathinaikos
Anorthosis 1-2 Rangers
Valerenga 1-0 Club Brugge
Betis 1-0 Monaco
-And then there are todays Champions League matches:
Malma v Thun
Brondby v Ajax
Artmedia v Partizan
Anderlecht v Slavia
Basel v Bremen
Rapid v Lokomotiv Moskva
Shakhtar v Inter
Steaua v Rosenborg
Sporting v Udinese
Sofia v Liverpool
-Not to be out done, there are 4 MLS matches in the cards tonight too (including a double header with top Mexican teams):
DC United v Metrostars
New England v Real Salt Lake
Chicago v Kansas City
Chivas USA v Los Angeles (part of a double header at the LA Coliseum, with Guadalajara v America)
-Freddie Adu's knee sprain is going to keep him out of DC Uniteds lineup for 2-4 weeks. Its time for Alecko to step up (I really hope he is OK. Concussions are very serious.).
-For MLS week 19, Youri Djorkaeff has been named the Player of the Week.
-My Thunder take on hated rivals, and smugglers of the potent BC Bud, the Vancouver Wetnaps tonite, 7pm sharp at the fabled Jimmy Griffin Stadium. Roll Thunder.

Real Madrid v MLS

On Tuesday August 23 an MLS Select Team will go to Madrid to take on the legendary Real in an exhibition match for The Santiago Bernabeu Trophy, which is a game played every year right before the start of La Liga season. The match is also used to introduce the 05-06 Real squad to their fans. MLS is putting together a team of 18 for this event, and one of the rumors leaking out is that they will make up a team respresenting all 12 league teams, but taking no more than 2 players from each team. I went ahead and picked a squad of who I would have for the game (I chose 24, two from each team):
BY TEAM:
Chicago
Ivan Guerrero
Samuel Cabellero
Chivas USA
Ramon Ramirez
Douglas Segueira
Colorado
Joe Cannon
Jeff Cunningham
Columbus
Chad Marshall
Frankie Hejduk
FC Dallas
Carlos Ruiz
Greg Vanney
DC United
Christian Gomez
Jaime Moreno
Kansas City
Josh Wolf
Chris Klein
Los Angeles
Kevin Hartman
Landon Donovan
Metrostars
Youri Djorkieff
Amado Guevara
New England
Shalrie Joseph
Taylor Twellman
Real Salt Lake
Andy Williams
Eddie Pope
San Jose
Ricardo Clark
Eddie Robinson

BY POSITION:
G
Joe Cannon
Kevin Hartman
D
Samuel Cabellero
Ivan Guerrero
Frankie Hejduk
Chad Marshall
Eddie Pope
Eddie Robinson
Douglas Seguira
Greg Vanney
M
Ricardo Clark
Youri Djorkieff
Landon Donovan
Christian Gomez
Amado Guevara
Shalrie Joseph
Chris Klein
Ramon Ramierez
Andy Williams
F
Jeff Cunningham
Jaime Moreno
Carlos Ruiz
Taylor Twellman
Josh Wolf

How Do You Spell This Dudes Name? Look In The News

-I feel bad for anyone who follows the trials and tribulations of their favorite English team, or players thru the joke they call the press in England. 95% of the stuff they print is just tabloid fodder. They have been running Rio Ferdinand thru the wringer for 2 months now, saying he would not re-sign with Man United. But yesterday he did. Story over. And all that tension was for what??
-Before I do this, I just want to say that I think the "Rookie Of The Year" thing is not really appropriate for MLS anymore. The whole Rookie thing works in US sports that have every player come thru the draft etc. But too many exciting looking new players are coming into the league in other ways. Plus there is a plan underfoot for teams to bring players up through their own "academies" and keep control of their rights (and wouldn't be "drafted"). So I think the way to do this award would be to have an age cutoff (I don't know what age that might be), and call the award the "Young Player Of The Year". Sure someone could win it more than once, but they might deserve it. Who knows. I just like the idea. But seeing as we have a format already in place, I thought I might list the players who I think have been the outstanding rookies in MLS so far this season. Some guys have come and gone, and had ups and downs, but here is how I see it as of today. My top 5 (+ others):
1 Scott Sealy - KC
2 Bobby Boswell - DC
3 Michael Parkhurst - New England
4 Chris Rolfe - Chicago
5 Brad Guzan - Chivas USA
others: Ugo Ihemelu - Los Angeles, Gonzalo Segares - Chicago, Carlos Mendes - Metrostars
-UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round matches today:
Man United v Debrecen
Everton v Villarreal
Wisla v Panathinaikos
Anorthosis v Rangers
Valerenga v Club Brugge
Betis v Monaco
With 10 more games to follow on Wednesday.
-New Q & A's with Bobby Convey, Eddie Lewis & Oguchi Onyewu at the US Socccer site.
-Bruce Arena is expected to announce his squad tomorrow for the USA World Cup Qualifier against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday August 17 in Hartford.
-For some reason MSNBC has a story on San Antonio and a desire to still consider MLS in the town. Why? Why? Why? I ask you. They never had ANYTHING to start with beyond the dreams of a lameduck mayor. Read it for yourself.
-I saw this note on the Portland Timbers fans message board this morning: Portland Timbers defender Scot Thompson will leave the club for two weeks to become a trialist for Sunderland in England. That's kinda cool.
-Ives Galarcep in the North Jersey Herald rips Eddie Gaven a new one: Metros tired of waiting for Gaven to kick funk
-Rob Hughes from the International Herald Tribune on ZiZou: Zidane heeds his nation's dream
-Are you ready for the first ever FIFPro World XI Player Awards? Me neither. But they are coming. FIFPRO is the organziation that supposedly represents all professional football players around the world, and they have decided that they too need to give out awards. So here it comes, ready or not. The short list of finalists has been released. See the list at the bottom of this page (at least a half dozen names are on this list not because they had a good year, which they clearly didn't, but because they are popular - Sol Campbell? Lucio? Javier Zanetti? David Beckham? Luis Figo? Paul Scholes? Zinedine Zidane? Ronaldo? Ruud van Nistelrooy? Not one of them had a great year, and many had barely a good year. And this doesn't even address the list of great players NOT ON that list, which I am sure is an astounding number.). The XI will be announced on September 19.
-USL week in review

I Got This News By Mistake

-Steven Cohen from the World Soccer Daily radio show says "Carlos Bocanegra has been given permission to leave Fulham."
-The new stadium in Dallas is now open, but it didn't look like much on TV. I'm sure it's pretty great to be there in person. And it was nice to see a decent sized crowd down there as well. It was fun seeing El Pescadito light up the scoreboard with two AWESOME goals, but it was just as much fun watching Youri get 2 back for the Mets. Final score was 2-2.
Here are the other MLS scores from the weekend:
Real Salt Lake 2-1 Chivas - Cleetus gets the boot early, and his team thrives without his lame ass. What is his problem?
New England 1-2 Kansas City - New England is now doing the exact opposite of the past 3 seasons. They used to start slow and end fast, now they started great and are going right down the shoot into the manure pile.
Chicago 2-3 DC United - didnt see it, dont know much about it, but word on the street is that lil Freddie hurt his knee. Not good.
Colorado 2-0 Galaxy - in the first 7 minutes of the broadcast they mentioned that the Thunder beat Colorado in the Open Cup about 10 times. It was hilarious. Jeff Cunningham scored yet again in a really boring game. Too bad the Galaxy stink. See ya Steve (very soon I hope)! And Sigi really wants an MLS job bad.
San Jose 2-1 Columbus - again, didnt see it, but check out the fact that San Jose has leaped to the top of the Supporters Shield Table! I thought Dom Kinnear was gonna get fired during the season. I am a fool. A big fool.
Single Table:
37 San Jose
36 New England
36 Chicago
35 FC Dallas
32 DC United
32 Kansas City
29 Metrostars
29 Los Angeles
24 Colorado
21 Columbus
19 Real Salt Lake
12 Chivas USA
-Holy Moly - I just read that Colorado is trying to sign Diego Serna! Why? He is a cancer!
-Eddie Johnson started for Dallas on Saturday but said this after the game to the Dallas Morning News: "I couldn't make the runs I normally make," Johnson said. "My toe started getting sore." Not good to hear.
-Some stuff from overseas: Kasey Keller & Monchengladbach got smoked by Bayern 3-0. Oooooof! Bobby Convey started the season ON THE FIELD (!) for Reading, but they lost 2-1 to Preston. Marcus Hahnemann was in goal for Reading. Eddie Lewis made a big impact in his first game for Leeds, as he set up the first goal and his team won 2-1 over Millwall and their still heinous fans. Greg Berhalter scored on a PK (who woulda thought he'd be takin em?) and Cottbus beat Braunschweig 2-1.
-Who would have guess that by early August the best midfield in MLS would belong to San Jose. Dwayne DeRosario, Mark Chung, Brad Davis, and Ricardo Clark are tearing up opponents. Cool!
-This sounds pretty damn weird, but supposedly Real Madrid plans on opening a THEME PARK(??????????) in south Florida. I really don't get it. Jeff Rusnak, who writes a great Sunday soccer column for the Sun Sentinel, has the story: Real Madrid targets Miami
-Man U have sold another player, this time its Brazilian Kleberson who is off to Besiktas in Turkey.
-Mexico this weekend:
Pumas 1-0 Chivas
Cruz Azul 1-0 Atlas
Pachuca 0-0 America
Tecos 2-2 Veracruz
Toluca 2-1 San Luis
Chiapas 1-1 Necaxa
Atlante 0-0 Santos
Morelia 2-2 Monterrey
Tigres 3-1 Dorados
-Simon Kuper writes about the exciting player from Ghana, Michael Essien, in the London Financial Times: The mute monster in harmony with football's zeitgeist
-Rob Hughes from the International Herald Tribune writes about the incredible looking new stadium in Munich that Bayern & 1860 play at: New arena inspires Bayern from start

Twinkle Twinkle Little News

SOME NEWS ADDITIONS FROM A LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON:
-Midfielder Daniel Hernandez rejoins New England in MLS after 4 years in the Mexican First Division with Necaxa. I always thought he was a hard-nosed fiery bastard who could help many teams, but seemed to be trouble when things weren't going so well. Seeing as Steve Nicol coached him before, he obviously knows what he is getting in to. I would also think that Hernandez wants to get seen by Bruce Arena for a chance at the World Cup squad. He will become eligible to play once the August 15 transfer window opens up again. Good luck Danny.
-The very talented Charlie Davies smacked in a hat-trick as the USA U18's won the Milk Cup today against the host team Northern Ireland 4-2. Great showing from the team, drawing with Brazil and beating Serbia & Montenegro before tonites win.
-Check out this odd website with movie clips that must be some sort of guerilla marketing by Puma. A dude in a parking lot smashes a shot against Freddy Ljungberg's car and then runs away. A really genius one is a hidden camera deal showing the Italian's training, and the drill they are doing is "how to take a dive"! Awesomely funny.
-If yer loafin around at home tonight and yearning for some futbol then get yerself over to Fox Soccer Channel and check out my Boysss the Minnesota Thunder, the Mighty Mighty Thunder in Portland to take on the Dirty Stinky Hippies aka Portland DSH. Its live at 10pm central time. Or if yer in the Twin Cities then get yer sweet cheeks over to Champps Americana to watch the game with other fans & dufuses. Its in St Paul at 2401 W 7th St. See you there. We need 3 points badly!
-Looks like there is another new lunatic in the asylum. Tim gives us: In Limbo - Ten Rings Clear of the Deep End. (I have no idea what that means?!?!)
-Brand new interview with Run DMB via Yanks Abroad. Here comes the 05/06 Eredivise season!
-DaMarcus will not suit up for PSV tonite v Ajax for the Johan Cruijff Shield match in Amsterdam. He still has that hamstring problem.
-It only took Four years, Seven months, and 27 days (of negotiations). How cool is it that this Metrostars Stadium in Harrison is really going to happen!!! Damn its cool.
-Its a done deal: Luis Figo goes to Inter. He is not the answer, but it will help, so I am excited.
-The Bundesliga kicks off today with Kasey Keller trying to hold off FC Hollywood aka Bayern Munchen, with more games Saturday & Sunday. Here's the lineup:
Fri Aug 5
Bayern Munchen v Monchengladbach
Sat Aug 6
Cologne (newly promoted) v Mainz
Hamburg v Nurnberg
Hannover v Hertha Berlin
Duisburg (newly promoted) v Stuttgart - see this game live on Fox Soccer Channel with Allen Hopkins at 9am central time.
Werder Bremen v Arminia Bielefeld
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund
Sun Aug 7
Eintracht Frankfurt (newly promoted) v Bayer Leverkusen
Schalke v Kaiserslautern
Then catch the German Highlight show on Tue Aug 9 at 8pm central on FSC
-MLS this Weekend of course!
Colorado v LA at 8pm central live on Fox Soccer Channel
Regal Salt Lake v Goat Boys on ESPN2 with should-be-gitmo-prisoner Rob Stone at 5pm central.
Dallas v Mets - the grand opening of Pizza Hut Park aka The Slice (Special Note: this match will be shown via delay at Noon central time on Sunday via FSC via TV)
New Eng v KC
Chicago v DC
San Jose v 'lumbus
And lastly the Wrap show at 11 central Sat night on FSC.
-Here are your current MLS top goal scorers:
10 Jeff Cunningham
9 Taylor Twellman
8 Jaime Moreno
8 Christian Gomez
8 Pat Noonan
-A look at the MLS single table:
36 New England Revolution
36 Chicago Fire
34 FC Dallas
34 San Jose Earthquakes
29 DC United
29 Kansas City Wizards
29 Los Angeles Galaxy
28 Metrostars
21 Columbus Crew
21 Colorado Rapids
16 Real Salt Lake
12 Chivas USA
-I have no idea why, but San Jose midfielder Ricardo Clark was just named MLS Player Of The Month for July. Did everyone else do that bad? Maybe someone with a good San Jose knowledge can fill us in here.
-DC United's young defender Bobby Boswell answers some questions for Inside Soccer Radio.
-Or if you are really bored this weekend, you can get all Euro-snobby and watch the silly Community Shield match from England on Sunday morn, Aug 7 at 9am central on (where else) Fox Soccer Channel
-One of my favorite players, The Baby Faced Assasin, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer just might see action for Man U soon. Its been a long two years out with nasty knee stuff. You have to wonder if he still has it.

What A Pasting Our Boys Laid On The News Last Night

-How sweet it is! My Thunder absolutely destroyed Colorado last night in the US Open Cup 4-1. Melvin Tarley scored all 4 for the good guys in blue! Before the match there is no way you could have gotten me to predict this kind of game. Its so much fun to be in the crowd for a match like this too. We will be bringing a gang to Kansas City for the next round. How many people? I don't know yet. But we will make a lot of noise, cuz we always do. Big congrats to the other First Division team who pulled the upset last night, that's Rochester, who beat Metrostars. Chicago, Dallas, LA, KC, DC & San Jose were also winners.
-St Phil has come to the financial rescue and made the Metrostars new home happen. They will begin buidling a stadium in Harrison, New Jersey very very soon. What great news!
-And beyond the stadium stuff, Alexi Lalas is already earning his keep as Pres & GM of the Metrostars. This week there are indepth features on the team in both the New York Times (found in the New York Region section, not the Sports section), and the North Jersey Herald. Good job Red.
NYTIMES: Lofty Goals: The MetroStars Are Ready to Excel
NJERSEY: Lalas land
-UEFA Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round winners were settled last night. The biggest name to be ousted was Dynamo Kyiv. My recent love, Sheriff were also knocked out. The 3rd Qualifying Round matches will be played Aug 9/10 & 23/24.
-The less retarded of the 2 Neville boys, Phil, has left Manchester United, where he was born, to play for Everton.
-Attempting to qualify for the UEFA Cup competition, Newcastle were bumped out 4-2 (agg.) by Deportivo La Coruna.
-Chicago Fire is going to add Lubos Kubik to their version of the hall of fame, the Ring Of Fire. Others in the ring are Peter Nowak & Frank Klopas.
-Charlie Davies scored for the USA U18's as they beat Serbia & Montenegro in the Milk Cup 1-0. The host team, Northern Ireland, also won with a 2-0 upset over Brazil. USA & N Ireland will now face off for the Cup title on Friday night in Coleraine.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the fate of Luis Figo: The light fades for darkest galactico

My My, Aren't We Bitter With News

-It's US Open Cup day (4th Round) & I am very happy. I love the Open Cup. Especially when my Thunder are beating the crap out of MSL teams!
Here is tonights rundown of matches:
Minnesota v Colorado
Chivas USA v Los Angeles
Portland v San Jose
Columbus v Dallas
Richmond v DC
Kansas City v Des Moines
Rochester v Metrostars
New England v Chicago
-My man Demko interviewed Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo ahead of the Open Cup match v our Thunder. Read it via Blue Sky Soccer, the Thunder fans web site! And listen to the Colorado radio broadcast of the match via the web.
-2 big UEFA Champions League matches last night saw Liverpool win 2-0 (5-1 agg.) & Celtic nearly pull off a miracle winning 4-0, but with the 5-0 loss in the first leg they still came up short. Many matches will be played tonight in the 2nd qualifying round. Here's the list.
-Edgar Davids has FINALLY signed with Tottenham in England. His stay at Inter was short and useless.
-According to the PSV website, DaMarcus Beasley will be called into the USA squad for the Aug 17 qualifier against T & T if his hamstring is totally healed.
-Now this is the way to do things right!!!! (from the Dallas Morning News talking about fans who have supported FC Dallas since day 1, and how they plan to open the new stadium in grand fashion): The Inferno, the vocal supporters group that has followed the local club since 1996, plans to get all the mileage possible from Saturday's historic debut: Anyone up for a 24-hour tailgate party? Inferno leaders say they will set up camp – literally – in the stadium parking lot at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The group's arsenal includes a homemade satellite TV hookup and a portable margarita machine. The Inferno also is using the occasion to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
-Those two idiots who won't shut up about Chelsea and Liverpool return to Fox Soccer Channel with Fox Football Friday on Aug 12.

Whoa Whoa, You Got The Best Of My News

-The big news for me is that our beloved coach of the Minnesota Thunder, Buzz Lagos, has announced that he is stepping aside at the end of this season. Its going to be a huge loss to the team, but a real chance to make something exciting and new happen. The Buzzard has been the only coach the team has ever known in its 16 years of exsistence. His record with the team is 320 wins, 142 losses, & 42 draws. Outstanding by any measuring stick! We will miss you immensely Coach!
-Did you get your tickets for USA v Mexico??? Too Late! After a very popular pre-sale to members of US Soccer, the remaining tickets sold out in just 20 minutes this morning. I will be there! See you too!
-Peter Wilt Q & A in the Milwuakee Journal Sentinal about a new MLS team: Wilt leads push for soccer stadium, MLS team
-USA Today has a feature on an American who has been training with Boca Juniors: American takes hopes to Argentina
-Some crazy news from Man United has them signing a non-binding document with one of my favorites Michael Ballack of Bayern, that says Ballack will join Man U after this season on a free transfer. Lets see if this one holds. I think its a great pick up, but I really think they need him right now!
-US Soccer has a Q & A with Eddie Lewis
-The USA U18 team playing at the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland, drew 1-1 with Brazil yesterday in the opening match. Fabiano Oliveira scored for Brazil first, with Lee Nguyen scoring for the US. They play Serbia & Montenegro on Wednesday. Here's the roster for that team.
-DC United will participate in something called the South American Cup Tournament which is sanctioned by CONMEBOL. Other teams in the tourney include: Pumas UNAM, Club America & Boca Juniors. Qualifying for other teams starts mid August and the winner is crowned on December 14 of this year. No further info on format, schedule or teams were announced. UPDATE: You should read the comments section below, as both KJ & Joe have added vital details on this tournament, and a connection to a website. Thanks guys!
-France Football - Ligue 1 Opening weekend scores:
PSG 4-1 Metz
Marseille 0-2 Bordeaux
AS Nancy 0-1 Monaco
Lille 1-0 Rennes
Nantes 2-0 Lens
Nice 1-1 Troyes
Sochaux 0-1 Toulouse
St Etienne 0-0 AC Ajaccio
Strasbourg 0-0 Auxerre
Le Mans 1-2 Lyon

The Penultimate Moment Of The Match Between The MLS All-Stars & Fulham

(56th minute) Forward Tomas Radzinski of Fulham crosses into the All-Stars box from the right side, but it's easily cleared by Simo Valakari. His pass goes to Clint Dempsey at the top of the box. Dempsey turns and charges up field toward the center circle picking up speed along the way. Dempsey draws defenders toward himself then slips a pass forward with his left foot to a slashing Landon Donovan on the other side of the midfield stripe. Donovan quickly and precisely one-times a pass out to the left wing for a flying Ivan Guerrero who slices into the corner of the box and floats a crossing pass to the far post. While this is happening Ronnie O'Brien is making a run to the near post, and Taylor Twellman to the back post. The defender marking Twellman gets in a perfect spot to head away the cross, but he only does so to the top of the 18 yard box. Dempsey has continued his run from midfield and arrives at the 18 just in time to volley the clearance out of the air and straight back at goal, where O'Brien deftly sticks out his left foot and deflects the ball past the helpless keeper! MLS lead 2-1 on a nearly perfect execution of a counter attack! Simply gorgeous.

It's 2006 Isn't It? Ok Then. Here's A Bit Of News Fer Ya.

-I thought the game was a bit dull, but seeing the MLS All-Stars thoroughly dominate Fulham was nice. I think Fulham will be pretty bummed by their game. I think Taylor Twellman just made it clear that he deserves a real shot with the USA team soon. And so does Jeff Cunningham.
Here are my player ratings for the 4-1 victory (0=dud, 5=average, 10=brilliant):
Matt Reis - 7 (sub Scott Garlick - played 5 seconds so no rating)
Frankie Hejduk - 4
Jimmy Conrad - 6
Greg Vanney - 4
Chris Albright - 5 (sub Ivan Guerrero - 7)
Simo Valikari - 7
Shalrie Joseph - 7
Clint Dempsey - 7 (sub Jeff Cunningham - 9)
Ronnie O'Brien - 7 (sub Michael Parkhurst - 5)
Landon Donovan - 8 (sub Christian Gomez - 5)
Taylor Twellman - 9 (sub Brad Davis - 5)
One last note about the All-Star game: What was the deal with the field being all full of divots? Did they forget to tell the Columbus grounds keeper about the match. Or was there an MLS Player golf chipping contest on Friday? I thought the game was supposed to be the SHOWCASE fer chrissakes!
-Down a man, Pachuca somehow won in Monterrey 2-1 on a goal in injury time. That may not sound astounding, but the winning goal was. Juan Pablo Cacho hit it from inside his own half, over the keeper, for a 50+ yard goal! In added time! I guess the Mexican Apertura has kicked off in high fashion.
Other scores:
Cruz Azul 2-1 Morelia (newly returned midfielder Gerardo Torrado scored both for Cruz, who are still playing despite the fact that there coach was kidnapped just a week ago!)
America 3-1 Tigres
Santos 1-2 Pumas
Guadalajara 1-1 Chiapas
Veracruz 2-1 Atlas
Dorados 3-1 Atlante
Necaxa 0-0 Toluca
San Luis 2-1 Tecos
-A Jimmy Conrad profile in the Kansas City Star. (Of course!) Seriously, Conrad is among league’s best
-Some long rumored deals became final in Europe over the weekend: Baptista & Robinho signed with Real Madrid (opening the back door for Michael Owen to get kicked out of), and Inter signed Walter Samuel from Real.
-Inter won all 4 of its games in England over the past week.
-The Eredivise in Holland kicks off this coming weekend.
-Read the online chat with Don Garber from last Friday at MLSnet.
-Looks like my boy Carlos Ruiz is up to his old tricks again, and I don't mean pissing off defenders and scoring wicked goals. I mean he was a no-show at the All-Star. He later called to say he would not make it for personal reasons. I gotta try that at work one of these days.