I Missed A Ton, But Here's Some News

-I was down in Dallas at MLS Cup for the last 4 days with several of my Thunder Faithful friends. We had a very excellent time, even though we were driving around lost for most of those days. The game was great (except for the pinheads sitting behind us who bitched during the entire match), and Papa Donovan scored us amazing first row seats in one of the corners. The weather was gorgeous, the stadium rocked, and immense fun was had by all.
-Easily the biggest shock to every American soccer fan is the fact that Pando Ramirez was the hero for LA. All season long he elevated himself into the highest of rankings for the leagues all-time biggest goat. No doubt Lothar Matteus still holds the title and will be hard to dethrone, but over the past 8 months Pando had possibly bypassed Luis Hernandez into the number 2 spot, not because he was despised (cuz I get the feeling he is a very very nice fella), so much as he was just plain lousy. Him scoring that winning goal was a thing of pure soccer beauty. Good for him. See that goal again right here.
-The MLS First Decade Best XI was named at the championship match:
G:
Tony Meola
D:
Eddie Pope
Jeff Agoos
Marcelo Balboa
M:
Marco Etcheverry
Landon Donovan
Carlos Valderrama
Preki
Peter Nowak
F:
Jamie Moreno
Brian McBride
Their are three things I disagree with on this list. Carlos Ruiz should be on there before Brian McBride. He is the just that good. I love McBride, but the little fish is better. Also, I don't care what anyone says, Landon Donovan is a forward in my book. All his best success has come at that position in the league. I would move Landon to forward in this best 11 and call it a 3-4-3. I also question Peter Nowak's selection. I know he was amazing in helping Chicago make an immediate mark, and helped inspired quite a few of his young teammates, but I am not so sure he was best XI. Mauricio Cienfuego would have been on that list instead of Nowak for me.
-Things overheard this weekend, whether fact or fiction is still unknown, but I think most of this is actually fact:
*Barcelona are very interested in a team in NYC, but not Metrostars - it would be a new team.
*Chelsea will play LA at HDC, in a possible 3 team "tournament" also starring Club America.
*Chelsea will also play the MLS All-Stars.
*Toronto is the newest MLS team (lucky 13) and will begin play in 07. Their team nationality will be Canadian, (as opposed to all the other MLS teams who are obviously American), but they will have 3 extra International spots on their roster that can only be used on American players. (So they will have 7 in total, instead of the ususal 4.)
*"It is inconceivable that San Jose will not be in the league next year," said Don Garber to the supporters on Saturday afternoon. Then today (Wed) he releases this statement: "At the recent MLS Board of Governors meeting in Frisco, Texas, the Anschutz Entertainment Group was granted approval by the Board to move the San Jose Earthquakes to a number of potential cities, including Houston, Texas.
*Lamar Hunt is very close to finishing a deal to sell his Kansas City team to still unnamed local investors, who will then announce a stadium deal. Those new investors will probably run the team for the next couple seasons at their current home Arrowhead Stadium.
*There are serious ideas being kicked around to go to a split season like Mexico and Brazil play. 2 months off in summer, and 2 months off in winter.
*The playoff format will not change for next year.
*5 cities are lining up to battle for the potential 14th team in the league: Cleveland, Houston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, & Tulsa. Atlanta was not included in the list Garber rattled off to us, despite what other reports said.
*The league signed a long term high profile television deal with ABC/ESPN & Univision. This deal will pay the league money, and have the networks actively promoting the games, which are both new concepts for MLS.
*The game of the week may be moved to ESPN, from ESPN2, and maybe be played on Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon.
*This years Reserve Division was a huge success, and will be better organized, financed and promoted next year.
*The team salary cap will rise the largest amount ever for the league next year. But the cap number is still unknown. It currently sits around 2 million per team.
*All the teams are in the process of setting up official youth systems, and in the future all players who come up through that system will remain with that club and not enter the Superdraft, unless they are released.
*MLS and the Mexican Primero Division are in discussions to form an inter-league tournament pitting all teams against each other.
*MLS does not want to leave the US Open Cup.
-As part of their bonus for winning the double - MLS Cup & US Open Cup - the LA players received Lakers NBA season tickets in a suite of their own.
-Did anyone out there see the 1/2 hour special that Fox Soccer Channel was promoting called MLS Pictures? It looked like one of the those NFL films type things that are of very high quality.
-The four teams who did not make the playoffs - Chivas USA, KC, Columbus & Salt Lake - will each receive a special player allocation (in the form of salary cap budgetary exemptions) to sign new players, and KC received yet another one to try to replace the retiring Preki.
-Two different pubs in Dallas treated us royally. We watched Scotland v USA at Trinity Hall, and Trinidad & Tobago v Bahrain at the Londoner. We ate and drank a lot at both those places. If you find yourself in Dallas, go give them your money.
-VIP's I saw at MLS Cup:
Paul Caliguri
Craig Waibel
Freddy Adu
Eric Wynalda
Brian Hall
Brandi Chastain
JP Dellacamra
Frank Dell'apa
Phil Anschutz
Lamar Hunt
Bob Kraft
Dwayne DeRosario
-The Hut was nice, but during the match they ran out of pizza. It's called Pizza Hut Park! How do you possibly run out of pizza?!?!?!?!
-Down in Dallas we talked about where next years Cup Final might be played. Several people said they hope for Chicago's new home in Bridgeview. I figure it will be LA again, or maybe even Dallas. As for Chicago, I think the time of year and potentially bad weather may keep that from happening. Some of my fears of bad weather in that town were confirmed while watching some Sports Center last night. I saw the football highlights from Chicago, where the game was played at almost the exact same time as MLS Cup. The wind in the stadium was a constant 40+ mph! It looked insane as they tried to play. They could not throw a pass or kick a field goal because the wind would just take the ball anywhere it felt like. It was pretty hilarious to watch, but would make for a horrible final soccer match of the year. I know yesterday was only one weird-weather day, but it's also pretty damn typical to have crazy weather in Chicago in November.
-Another rumor going around last week was that the Rochester Rhinos are heading up an effort to place a USL First Division team in Cary, NC at SAS Stadium. The place holds about 7000 and is right in the area of Durham, Chapel Hill & Raleigh aka The Triangle. Rochester was responsible for setting up their match v DC United in Cary last summer. They hope to start play in the league in 2007.
-A hilarious article from Yanks Abroad shows what idiots the Scottish newspapers were about the USA match. They did little if any research on the USA team, know little of the current team players/history, and revert to tabloid bozo-isms to tell their stories.
-Steven Goff of the Washington Post reports that DC midfielder Brian Carroll will train with Blackburn starting this week.
-Quotes from USA players and coaches following the draw in Scotland.
-The Sunday Herald in Scotland had this article after the match.
-US Soccer has plenty of post-game audio and video from the Scotland match. And video interviews with Benny Feilhaber, Heath Pearce & Chris Rolfe, and Jonathan Spector.
-During the match TV had shots of USA players not in action sitting in the stands: Claudio Reyna, Brad Friedel & Brian McBride.
-Who did you think played well for USA? I thought the best were Brian Carroll, DaMarcus Beasley & Ben Olson.
-The Scots were at full strength and after reading several of their newspapers yesterday they seemed to think they did pretty well, and are getting back on solid footing. I would tell them not to get too excited seeing as that was not the best US team they met, with only 4 players being what I would consider starters on the field.
-The Daily Record in Glasgow called Jonathan Spector the best USA player in the match. Really?
-Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts is no longer negotiating to buy the St Louis Blues hockey team. And here I thought he had already bought them.
-Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Juve was voted Sweden's Player Of The Year.
-World Cup Qualifying Playoff - first leg - scores from Saturday:
Trinidad & Tobago 1-1 Bahrain
Norway 0-1 Czech Republic
Spain 5-1 Slovakia
Switzerland 2-0 Turkey
Uruguay 1-0 Australia
Return leg matches will be played Wednesday, and then we will know the full 32 team field for Germany 06.
-George Weah lost his bid to become the new President of Liberia.
-Clarence Seedorf was robbed in his own home. What a frickin drag.
-Rob Hughes of International Herald Tribune: Clubs want nations to pay for pain
-Simon Kuper on the disastrous attempt to blend races in France: Racism lives on in France as World Cup win fades
-A dude who writes for Sports Illustrated has called the LA v San Jose derby the 5th best rivalry in world club football. I love the games too, but the worlds 5th best? Hmmmmmmmmm. Read the whole dealio here.
-Rumor from today's edition of The Sun in London: DAVID MOYES is closing in on USA striker Josh Wolff. The American hitman scored against Scotland on Saturday before heading south for talks with Everton boss Moyes. It will be second time lucky for Wolff, 28, whose earlier dream of playing in the Premiership was scuppered by red tape. But he is now a fixture in the US side and the fact FIFA’s rankings have them in the world’s top 10 means he is now eligible for a work permit. Wolff, of the Kansas City Wizards, is one of the quickest players in the MLS and is available for around £500,000.
-In Copa Sudamericana last Thursday night, Boca Juniors whipped Internacional 4-1 and advanced to the Semifinals 5-1 on aggregate.
The Semifinal match-ups look like this:
Nov 24 - Boca Juniors v Universidad Católica in Buenos Aires. (2nd leg, Dec 1 in Santiago)
and
Nov 23 - Velez Sarsfield v Pumas UNAM also in Buenos Aires. (2nd leg, Nov 30 in Mexico City)
The Finals will be Dec 7 & 14

Another Road Trip

Dear Friends,
You might now hear much from me over the next few days, cuz myself and 8 other pals are heading to Dallas today for the MLS Cup final on Sunday!!!! I will attempt to check in at some point, but no guarantee. If you are gonna be there, I hope to meet you. Until next time then.....
Adios Amigos & Mutantes,
Bruce

What Is This That You Speak Of? This.....News?

-Brian McBride is OUT of the USA match v Scotland due to a groin strain. Shit!
-I will admit that Dwayne DeRosario scored a sweet goal in the last week of the season for San Jose, but it was NOT MLS Goal Of The Year! It was a free kick you peckerheads (directed at everyone who voted for it)!! I don't even think free kicks should be allowed in the voting. The Freddy Adu sombrero and drive to the goal on RSL was easily the best thing seen on an MLS field this season, and one of the best in the league ever. How many people in the world can actually do what he did. Not many my friends. There is a goal hit like DeRosario's every week somewhere in the world. Not to say it wasn't fab, it's just not that amazing.
-Now here is some real magic: I have been hearing about this Ronaldinho footage floating around the internet for about a week now, and I finally saw it today. Consensus seems to be that it's footage from a future Powerade commercial. Anyway you slice it (ie digital editing) it's amazing to watch. Thanks to ADSL for the link!
-There has been some rumblings about the fairly poor attendance so far at brand new Pizza Hut Park in Dallas, and discussions about whether or not anyone will show up for MLS Cup Sunday. Well, word is, that only standing room tickets are left and it will be a packed house. Excellent news!
-Just wanna say hi to yesterday's visitors from the Oregon Historical Society & the US Senate.
-Stern John talks to the FIFA website about his dream of qualifying Trinidad & Tobago for the World Cup.
-According to the Glasgow newspaper "The Daily Record", the USA will be without ...first-choice stars Eddie Pope, Bobby Convey, Eddie Lewis and Chris Albright. They might want to take a closer look at the USA squad before Saturdays match if they think those are the missing stars. Eddie Lewis is a starter on my team any day. The other three are not, and Albright wouldn't make my bench.
-2 more teams advanced to the semifinals of the Copa Sudamericana last night. In Santiago Chile, Universidad Catolica defeated Fluminense 2-0 to win 3-2 on aggregate. And in Mexico City, Pumas UNAM beat Corinthians 3-0 to advance 4-2 on agg. The only game left in the Sudamericana quarters will be played tonite in Salta as Boca Juniors takes on Internacional trailing 0-1. The winner joins Pumas, Catolica and Velez.
-The first of a 2 part interview/feature on Jonathan Spector from Yanks Abroad.
-USA Today previews MLS Cup with a feature on New England coach Steve Nicol.
-Quotes from USA coaches and players as they prepare for Scotland via US Soccer.
-US Soccer also has a video feature of a Scotland v USA match preview.
-Q & A with Jay Heaps by Snuggly Don Cuddy at Soccer365.
-More from Soccer 365 - Footnotes Before the Final by Andrea Canales
-Two great bits of info from Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune:
1. The deal by ABC/ESPN to show the next 2 World Cups that was reported last week, will also include rights to the next 2 Women's World Cups & the next 2 FIFA Confederations Cups.
2. This Uruguay v Australia World Cup Qualifying Playoff match has seen its share of back room scheduling shenanigans going down. Check this scenario out: Uruguay wanted to play the first leg (home for them) on Friday instead of Saturday so they had the extra travel day (to compensate for the 13 hour time shift) before the second leg in Aussieland. Australia declined. Uruguay got nasty then and countered by changing kick off on Saturday to 9pm from its original 4pm, so that Australia could not leave the country on a commercial flight after the match, forcing Aus to hire an expensive charter to take them home. Uruguay planned to do the same but now can't afford one, so they asked FIFA to reset the match at 4pm again. No word yet on if they are successful, but FIFA looks to be resisting a second time change. The difference between leaving Uruguay Sat night as opposed to Sun morning is a 23 hour later arrival in Australia.
-Costa Rica took at 2-0 half time lead over France in Martinique last night with goals by Alvaro Saborio & Danny Fonseca, but France stormed by with 3 goals by Djibril Cisse, Nicolas Anelka, and Thierry Henry for the win.
-Dallas gave coach Colin Clarke a 1 year extension on his current contract, which will carry him through next year.
-Ronaldo is now a citizen of Spain, as well as Brazil. This really just means that he will no longer count as a foreigner on the Real Madrid roster.
-People in Scotland are pretty excited that their boy Mo Johnston is the new coach of Metrostars!

And Now I Will Send You Over To The News

-Frank Giase of the Newark Star-Ledger is reporting that Mo Johnston has been officially named head coach of Metrostars!! All right Mo!
-The new stadium in Rochester looks just about set to go. PAETEC Park, as its known, had the playing surface laid the other day (picture), and all the lighting rigs hung (another picture). In other Rochester news, they announced the signing of Minnesota Thunder star forward Johnny Menyongar to their roster (booooooooooo!). And also, like the Thunder, Rochester will field a women's team next spring.
-Yuri Semin resigned as coach of Russia, before they gave him the boot.
-2 matches tonite in the Copa Sudamericana:
Universidad Catolica V Fluminense (Flum leads 2-1)
Pumas UNAM - Corinthians (Corin leads 2-1)
-The US National Team Players Association website is asking, "Why is MLS expanding to Canada?" (I have been asking the same exact question, and I really wish MLS would explain how rosters will work on a team outside the USA). They explore the good, the bad, and the Canadian. They get around to answering their own question with another article titled: Red Card - No Canada
-The featured guest on the next La Noche del 10 with Diego Maradona is none other than Mike Tyson. So let's get this straight....Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Mike Tyson. Those are three people you want to talk to. But you also don't really wanna talk to. Next season: The Pope. In the interview with Castro, this was reportedly said: "There was illiteracy, the workers were being expelled from the factories, and the best lands where in the hands of the rich," Castro said. "That's why the revolution triumphed."
OK. I can agree with those words, cuz they are all very noble ideals. But what about free elections? What about not putting your political enemies in jail? What about teaching only communism in your schools? What about no freedom of religion? I have a real problem with all of that. And I think Maradona looks like an idiot standing next to that loud mouth from Venezuala. Chavez, like Castro talks a good game. But his delivery is massively underwhelming, and doing as much damage to the people of his country as was done by the people who came before him, and he hurls so much hatred toward.
-Barca midfielder Mark Van Bommel tore up his ankle during practice for Holland's friendly with Italy. He will be out at least 2 months.
-Tonite in San Jose's Spartan Stadium you can see Cruz Azul v Morelia in a friendly.
-Master Grahame E. Jones of the LA Times has his MLS Mood swing back to grumpy, this time over the league's opacity and Alain Nkongs red card.
-The Kraft Family who own the New England Revolution (and the NFL's New England Patriots) are again talking to Liverpool about investing in the club, and especially in helping them get a new stadium built. Some rumors go so far as to say that the Krafts are trying to buy Liverpool outright.
-Hannover 96 has fired their coach Ewald Lienen after just 14 matches this season.
-Andrea Canales via ESPNSoccernet on the Hercules-Landycakes combo platter: The Odd Couple (editors note: They're not that odd. In fact both of them are quite cute lil fellas)
-Soccernet also has a story on Indiana's rise to the top AGAIN. And their wonderboy Lee Nguyen is proving to be the real thing too. In the last week, Indiana came from 3-0 down to draw at Maryland, then beat the #1 and unbeaten Zips de Akron.
-Ronaldo & Zidane will each captain a team in the annual Game Against Poverty on Dec 22 in Dusseldorf. The game is a benefit for The United Nations Development Programme. Teams will be announced later. And Pierluigi Collina will referee with match.
-I am going to make a prediction that prior to the English season would not have seemed very bold, but right now is chancy. Everton will finish the season above Wigan.
-Defender Robin Fraser who last played for Columbus, and previously Los Angeles & Colorado, has announced his retirement. Go Rockin' Robin!

My Name Is News

-There were more people then I expected named to the USA squad for Saturdays match in Glasgow:
Goalkeepers:
Tim Howard
Kasey Keller
Defenders:
Gregg Berhalter
Carlos Bocanegra
Steve Cherundolo
Jimmy Conrad
Oguchi Onyewu
Heath Pearce
Jonathan Spector
Midfielders:
DaMarcus Beasley
Brian Carroll
Benny Feilhaber
Eddie Gaven
Ben Olsen
Santino Quaranta
Kerry Zavagnin
Forwards:
Brian Ching
Brian McBride
Chris Rolfe
Josh Wolff
Some genuine surprises on that list!!! And most people will be asking, "Who the hell is Heath Pearce???" (More on him later) Fielhaber, Gaven & Rolfe all not expected by me. Zavagnin a bit of a surprise too. No Pablo Mastroeni or Eddie Lewis though? I find that odd. Kinda thought we would see more MLS defenders and midfielders too. We already knew Bobby Convey and Marcus Hahnemann weren't gonna get the call. Not to mention the players from Los Angeles and New England playing in the MLS Cup on Sunday.
Who will be the 18 on the game day roster is the real question though.
-So the deal with Clint Dempsey's goal celebration was this: He stopped, dropped, and rolled, to "put out the Fire"! Clever huh?
-The five nominees for the African Footballer of the Year award (the winner will be announced on January 9):
Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona & Cameroon
Didier Drogba - Chelsea & Cote d'Ivoire
Michael Essien - Chelsea & Ghana
Emmanuel Adebayor - Monaco & Togo
Marouane Chamakh - Bordeaux & Moroccan
-Former New Eng Rev keeper Adin Brown played the year in Norway for Aalesunds, but unfortunately there were relegated last weekend. He is now looking for a new club.
-Christian Gomez of DC United will miss the first game of next season as punishment for his red card (spitting on CJ Brown) in DC's humiliating 0-4 loss to Chicago in their last game of the season. He was also fined $1000.
-Here's a partial transcript of a radio interview with former Salt Lake player Brian Kamler, who is now in charge of player development for the club.
-Feature story on the regeneration of Fiorentina, led by Stefano Fiore & Luca Toni from the UEFA Magazine.
-Steve Davis of the Dallas Morning News has published his own 10 Most Powerful People In American Soccer. Good reading.
-An excellent quote from Juve forward Adrian Mutu on Italians who dive, which he sees as a big problem in Seria A: "...you have players who have great physical strength, like Totti and Alberto Gilardino, who go down in the first contact when they could remain on their feet."
-JEF United Chiba won the J-League Cup by beating Gamba Osaka 5-4 on penalties after finishing the match tied 0-0.
-See DaMarcus Beasley score (along with the other 2 goals)from last Saturday's 3-0 by PSV over Sparta Rotterdam.
-Romanian superstar Gheorghe Hagi was named coach of Hungarian club Poli Timisoara.
-Official Groups and Match Schedule for 2006 Interliga tournament - which qualifies 2 Mexican teams for Copa Libertadores:
Group A
Monterrey
Morelia
Pachuca
Veracruz
Group B
Guadalajara
Necaxa
UANL
Toluca
INTERLIGA 2006 SCHEDULE (All doubleheaders / all local times)
Wednesday, January 4, 2006 - Reliant Stadium (Houston)
Game 1 - Group B - Toluca v Necaxa - 7pm
Game 2 - Group B - Tigres v Guadalajara - 9:30pm
Thursday, January 5, 2006 - La Joya Stadium (La Joya, Texas)
Game 3 - Group A - Pachuca v Veracruz - 7pm
Game 4 - Group A - Monterrey v Morelia - 9:30pm
Saturday, January 7, 2006 - Pizza Hut Park
Game 5 - Group B - Necaxa v Tigres - 6pm
Game 6 - Group B - Guadalajara v Toluca - 8:30pm
Sunday, January 8, 2006 - Pizza Hut Park
Game 7 - Group A - Morelia v Pachuca - 4pm
Game 8 - Group A - Veracruz v Monterrey - 6:30pm
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - The Home Depot Center
Game 9 - Group B - Tigres v Toluca - 6:30pm
Game 10- Group B - Necaxa v Guadalajara - 9pm
Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - The Home Depot Center
Game 11 - Group A - Morelia v Veracruz - 6:30pm
Game 12 - Group A - Monterrey v Pachuca - 9pm
Sunday, January 15, 2006 - The Home Depot Center
Final 1 - 3pm
Final 2 - 5:30pm
-Pavel Nedved is definitely playing for his Czech Republic on Saturday and Wednesday in the World Cup Qualifying playoff v Norway
-Salt Lake's Eddie Pope in on-line chat. The 2 best questions were:
Karen from North Carolina Who is your favorite older sister?
Eddie Pope Stop clogging up the chat Sis.
George from North Carolina What role did your father play in your soccer development?
Eddie Pope Hey Dad, stop clogging up the chat
-Marc Connally on how the Rev are feeling going into Sundays MLS Cup final.
-My Minnesota Thunder have announced that next spring they will be fielding their first ever women's team, which will play in the W-League. My guess is that they will play in the Midwest Division of the 5 geographically divided Divisions. The team is looking for a nickname. Got any suggestions?
-Alexi Lalas says he still hopes to name a new Metrostars coach this week.
-Avery John will not be available to New England for the Cup final on Sunday. He has chosen to go play for his country Trinidad & Tobago in their World Cup Qualifying playoff with Bahrain.
-Houston Chronicle Week In Review
-Rob Hughes writes in the International Herald Tribune about the country that is burning: France's team flies far in pursuit of harmony
-Jonsey on Hercules. From the LA Times.
-Question of the day? Who is Heath Pearce?
Left Back
5' 10' - 175 lbs.
21 years old
Brandenton Academy grad
University of Portland - 3 years (left early)
USA U17 & U20 team member
Starts for Norjaelland in Denmark SAS Ligaen - currently 5th in 12 team league - other teams you may have heard of in that league: Brondby & Aarhus.

Paradise By The Dashboard News

-ADDITION: OK, so US Soccer pushed back the announcement of the names of players to face Scotland from today until tomorrow.
-The MLS Semifinals skinny: The games were pretty intense, and I think the two better teams won.
On Saturday night it was Colorado 0-2 Los Angeles - Our lil lovebird Landycakes got both goals to continue his incredible record of playoff goal scoring. He now has an MLS record 14 goals in hi short playoff career. That's simply amazing. His second goal was described by Dan G (who I watched the match with) as, "...like a Drunken Master goal"!!!! What a brilliant description. See it here to know what he meant. Actually no. Watch the full game highlights and see the build up to Donovan's clinching goal.
And On Sunday afternoon New England 1-0 Chicago - the man who was many peoples first half of the season MVP, Clint Dempsey scrambled in a goal off a free kick where Chicago was completely asleep after just 4 minutes. At the end of the match there appeared to be a fight or serious amount of pushing and yelling between the two sides. I don't really know what happened to trigger it, besides the fact that both teams delivered about 20 really hard tackles throughout the match. And catch the highlights here.
-Did any of you get a good view of Clint Dempsey's goal celebration? I didn't, but it looked quite elaborate and I really want to know what was going on. Clint is easily MLS Goal Celebration MVP!
-The other thing that this game will mean is that since the MLS Cup final is next Sunday in Dallas, then no players from either New England or Los Angeles will make the trip to Glasgow for USA v Scotland next Saturday.
-DaMarcus Beasley scored for PSV in their 3-0 win over Sparta Rotterdam. DMB also scored another goal that was disallowed for offside. Replays showed he was NOT offside. He's just that fast. Our boy has really been tearing it up lately! Can't wait to see what he does to Scotland.
-On Friday the last BASA for 2005 was handed out to the MLS Player Of The Year. Here are the top 5 I voted for:
1- Dwayne Derosario
2- Shalrie Joseph
3- Taylor Twellman
4- Christian Gomez
5- Jamie Moreno
-Yanks Abroad is reporting that neither Bobby Convey or Marcus Hahnemann of Reading will be on the USA squad in Scotland on Saturday. You can read the "why" right here. Their team beat QPR 2-1 on Saturday to remain in 2nd place.
-Also in England Jonathan Spector started for 3rd place Charlton, but they got demolished by Brad Friedels Blackburn 4-1! The loss dropped Charlton all the way down to 8th. Leeds 0-0 Preston - Lewis played as usual for the Sheepshaggers. McBride and Bocanegra both played the entire match as Fulham beat Man City 2-1.
-I sat at The Local in Downtown Minneapolis on Sunday morning watching Man U end Chelseas EPL unbeaten streak at 40, by the score of 1-0! The game was intense, and Man U fully deserved the win. I heckled fans of both teams. It's very fun to give them shit, and watch em get all worked up about it.
-An informal Q & A with Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo from the US National Team Players Assoc.
-Primera Division de Mexico Round 15 scores:
Saturday:
Toluca 2-2 Sinaloa
Chiapas 1-1 UANL
Monterrey 1-1 Veracruz
Morelia 3-4 Necaxa
Atlas 2-2 Guadalajara
Sunday:
UNAM 2-3 Atlante
Pachuca 0-0 San Luis
UAG 1-1 Santos
America 1-0 Cruz Azul
-In Jonathan Woodgate news: he injured his hamstring on Sunday. Its not known yet if its a re-injuring of the thigh muscle that kept him off the field for over a year. He also will not suit up for England next weekend as he had planned.
-3 big name Americans played in Germany this weekend. And all three got 1 point apiece. Cherundolo & Hannover tied 2-2 with Mainz, Berhalter & Cottbus tied 0-0 with Ahlen, and Keller & Gladback tied 0-0 with Hamburg. I guess that is better than 3 losses.
-Si Se Puede - Andrea Canales of Soccer365 reviews the new Chivas USA documentary film.
-Mark your calendars now! Real Madrid v Barcelona on Sat Nov 19!
-International Herald Tribune has a feature story on how Real Madrid are trying new methods to reach more and more new fans.
-And that papers Rob Hughes tells us about Osasuna & Wigan: The newly mighty roar rather quietly. (And in case you didn't know this, Osasuna are coached by former Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre!)
-More on Osasuna, this time from Spanish football expert Phil Ball: Rising and Shining
-Jeff Rusnack of the Florida Sun Sentinel gives us more info on the newest USL First Division team - Miami FC.
-As does Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald.
-Before Manchester United bitch-slapped Chelsea, Simon Kuper in the Financial Times lamented their demise: Man Utd start to look played-out. So let me ask you dear reader, after this big win, are they still finished? Or are they revived?
-John Carew of Lyon was named Player Of The Year in Norway.
-A feature on Michael Parkhurst, central defender for the New England Revolution & MLS Rookie Of The Year, in the Boston Globe.
-And from nowhere, England is slightly more interesting this morning. Chelsea only lead WIGAN(!!!!!!!!) by 6 points, and have played 1 more game! Can this be real? And Everton have removed their carcass from the relegation zone. Here is the table:
31 Chelsea (12 games played)
25 Wigan (11 games played)
21 Man U (11 games played)
20 Arse (11 games played)
20 Tottenham (11 games played)
20 Man City (12 games played)
20 Bolton (11 games played)
19 Charlton (11 games played)
18 West Ham (11 games played)
18 Newcastle (12 games played)
17 Blackburn (12 games played)
16 Liverpool (10 games played)
15 Middlesbrough (12 games played)
12 Fulham (12 games played)
10 Portsmouth (12 games played)
10 Everton (11 games played)
9 Aston Villa (12 games played)
8 West Brom (12 games played)
6 Birmingham (12 games played)
5 Sunderland (12 games played)

The Green River News

-Two massive MLS games this weekend - AKA The MLS Cup Semifinals:
Saturday
Colorado v Los Angeles 8pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Sunday
New England v Chicago 2pm central on ESPN2
-US Soccer last night announced a new friendly for Team USA. The details are as follows:
USA v Norway
Sunday, January 29, 2006 - 2pm Pacific Time
Home Depot Center in Carson, CA
If you happen to be a member of US Soccer, you can get tickets starting the morning of Monday Nov 7 using a special code provided to you by US Soccer. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Wed Nov 9.
-There is an article at a New England Revolution fan site about the possibility of a new stadium for the team.
-Feature story on my guy Dedi Ben-Dayan in todays Denver Post.
-RSL keeper DJ Countess had surgery yesterday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
-I am not convinced that this story is true yet, but reports say Pavel Nedved has agreed to play for his Czech Repulic v Norway in the World Cup Qualifying playoffs coming up. I had earlier read quotes from him saying he would consider un-retiring IF they won the playoff. We shall see. They could certainly use someone that good.
-Big Euro-centric matches this weekend
Getafe v Barcelona - The surprising #4 v the underachieving #2. (Can you be #2 and underachieve? Yes!)
Milan v Udinese - The once unbeatable defense v Serie A's biggest surprise in the Champions League.
Bayern Munchen v Werder Bremen - Top of the table warfare! Always excellent. Bayern leads the Bundesliga by 2 points over Bremen.
Borussia Monchengladbach v Hamburger SV - Two early season upstarts try to step on each others throats.
-Interliga news direct from the Dallas Morning News: Pizza Hut Park will host four matches in January's InterLiga, the eight-team tournament that determines Mexico's two automatic entrants into South America's prestigious Copa Libertadores. Doubleheaders Jan. 7 and 8 will feed into the Jan. 15 finals in Los Angeles.
-Unfortunately for regular reader KeeperKen, his top ranked Akron lost their last regular season match to perennial grandmasters Indiana 1-0 last night in Bloomington. Here is a recap of the match. Akron sits at 16-1-1 now.
-Primera Division de Mexico Round 15 matches upcoming:
Saturday:
Toluca v Sinaloa
Chiapas v UNAL
Monterrey v Veracruz
Morelia v Necaxa
Atlas v Guadalajara
Sunday:
UNAM v Atlante - live at Noon central on Univision
Pachuca v San Luis
UAG v Santos
America v Cruz Azul - live at 5pm central on TeleFutura
The last game there is THE BIGGIE!! If Cruz Azul can win it, they would be even at the top of the table with only 2 rounds left to play!
-Yesterday readers of du Nord came not only from the USA but also: England, Netherlands, France, Ireland, Germany, Turkey, India, Poland, Israel, Spain, Canada & Uruguay. Thanks everyone!
-A head nod in the direction of Wendy Parker's Off The Ball in the Atlanta Constitution Journal for her repeated mentions of du Nord.
-Breck won the Minnesota State High School Class A Soccer Tournament 1-0 over Saint Louis Park. Woodbury was buried 0-2 by Wayzata for the Class AA title.
-Scores from yesterdays UEFA Cup matches:
Hamburg 2-0 Viking
Slavia 4-2 CSKA Sofia
Brondby 2-0 Maccabi Petach-Tikva
Palermo 0-0 Lokomotiv Moskva
Lens 5-0 Halmstad
Sampdoria 0-0 Steaua
Litex 2-1 Grasshoppers
Middlesbrough 3-0 Dnipro
Crvena Zvezda 1-2 Basel
Strasbourg 2-0 Tromso
Levski 1-0 Dinamo Bucuresti
Heerenveen 0-0 CSKA Moskva
Rapid 2-0 Rennes
Stuttgart 0-2 Shakhtar
Bolton 1-0 Zenit
Sevilla 3-0 Besiktas

Focacta News

-Superheroish Defender and Man Of Extreme Wit, Jimmy Conrad is: In The Doldrums
-Personally I think this is some of the biggest soccer news ever in America: ABC & ESPN have bought the rights to the 2010 & 2014 World Cups for a massive amount of money. The real difference in this deal and previous world Cup TV rights deals, is that previously MLS and its partners have been buying the rights, then buying airtime on those networks to show the games. The draw back to that deal was that ABC/ESPN then had no real reason to support and promote these events because they would not make any money by doing so. They got their money from selling the airtime. This new deal is directly with the network, which means they will have to market the event themselves to get the viewership and ratings they desire. This is a huge win for soccer in America. ABC/ESPN have also said they are near a new deal with MLS for airing matches. Should be interesting to see how that shapes up.
-Univision also acquired USA Spanish Language TV rights to those 2 World Cups. MLS is negotiating with them as well.
-Yesterday and today over at the BASA awards headquarters, we saw winners announced for Forward Of The Year, and Best XI (I posted my list two weeks ago).
Here were my top three for Forward:
1- Taylor Twellman
2- Jamie Moreno
3- Landon Donovan
-Champions League Matchday 4 scores from Wednesday night:
Club Brugge 3-2 Rapid - Brugge beats Rapid for the 2nd time in two weeks, and eliminates Rapid from any chance of advancing.
Juventus 2-1 Bayern - Juve enact their revenge on Bayern for the loss two weeks ago. David Trezeguet gets both, but right at the very end Juve have their top striker Ibrahimavic tossed for idiocy supremo!
Thun 2-4 Ajax - DeJong and Boukhari both score in extra time to launch Ajax from a road draw to a huge road win.
Arsenal 3-0 Sparta - Henry wins it, then Van Persie skins em late with 2 more.
Barcelona 5-0 Panathinaikos - Eto'ooooooooo! Samuel E bags 3!
Bremen 4-3 Udinese - A wild one for sure, with 7 goals, including an own goal, and a sending off for Udi.
Benfica 0-1 Villarreal - Villa scores in the 81st to derail the hot Benfica and get 3 big points!
Lille 1-0 Man United - Man U continue down the tubes. Is Roy Keane trying to do to them what he did to Ireland in 02?
It looks like Arsenal & (maybe?) Barcelona join Lyon & Real Madrid in the knockout stages already. Anderlecht & Olympiakos join Rapid as the first 3 teams eliminated from advancing. Sparta is hanging on by the thinnest of threads.
You can see all the Champions League Group standings after 4 rounds.
-Bobby Convey feature story from Yanks Abroad.
-Copa Sudamericana score from last night in Buenos Aires: Velez Sarsfield 2-0 CF America. The aggregate 4-0 win puts Velez into the Semifinals that will begin later in the month. The other three second leg quarterfinal matches take place next week on the 9th and 10th.
-I noticed where DC's Christian Gomez apologized yesterday for spitting in the match last weekend and getting the red card. He apologized to his team, the fans and the league. But no mention was made of the player he spit ON. That would be CJ Brown of Chicago. I hope that he either did this privately or will do so publicly, otherwise I really don't see the point in this apology.
-US Soccer will announce the roster for the Nov 14 match v Scotland next Monday. And don't forget - you can now see the game live on Fox Soccer Channel at 10am central time.
-Scotland announced their roster today: Goalkeepers - Robert Douglas (Leicester), Ryan Esson (Aberdeen), Craig Gordon (Hearts). Defenders - Graham Alexander (Preston), Russell Anderson (Aberdeen), Gary Caldwell (Hibernian), Steven Caldwell (Sunderland), Christian Dailly (West Ham), Steven Pressley (Hearts), Andy Webster (Hearts), David Weir (Everton). Midfield - Scott Brown (Hibernian), Barry Ferguson (Rangers), Darren Fletcher (Man Utd), Paul Hartley (Hearts), Neil McCann (Southampton), Lee McCulloch (Wigan), Ian Murray (Rangers), Nigel Quashie (Southampton), Jamie Smith (Aberdeen). Forwards - James McFadden (Everton), Shaun Maloney (Celtic), Garry O'Connor (Hibernian), Derek Riordan (Hibernian).
-My guy Tobias Lopez from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says FC Dallas has 5 areas they need to address for success next season.
-This is no big surprise, but everyone from Colorado agrees that Alain Nkong should not have gotten a red card for his elbow to the face of Dallas' Simo Valikari last Saturday. Interestingly, Valikari also agrees that it was not intentional.
-Chivas USA has announced that they are building their own practice facility. It will be part of a youth sports complex in Bell Gardens, which is located equidistantly between Northeast of Carson, and Southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. There will be 2 grass fields and 2 turf fields.
-Frank Dell'apa writes for ESPNSoccernet that Fernando Clavijo is a talented individual when it comes to assessing talented soccer players.
-Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer makes the case for why Mo Johnston should be handed the Metrostars.
-UEFA Cup Matchday 2 games on slate today:
Hamburger v Viking
Slavia v CSKA Sofia
Brondby v Maccabi Petah-Tikva
Palermo v Lokomotiv Moskva
Lens v Halmstad
Sampdoria v Steaua
Litex v Grasshoppers
Middlesbrough v Dnipro
Crvena Zvezda v Basel
Strasbourg v Tromso
Levski v Dinamo Bucuresti
Heerenveen v CSKA Moskva
Rapid v Rennes
Stuttgart v Shakhtar
Bolton v Zenit
Sevilla v Besiktas

Creating New News

-The USA match v Scotland will be on TV. Live at 10am central via Fox Soccer Channel.
-OOOOOOOOOOOH! Did you see DaMarcus Beasley just abusing the AC Milan defenders, especially Jaap Stam yesterday? It was so fantastic to watch. After about 6 ugly fouls on DMB, Stam finally got his second yellow and consequently the red card! Adios baldy!
-Yesterdays Champions League Scoreboard:
PSV 1-0 Milan - YES! A great game by PSV for the full 3 and top of the group. They look as real as they did last year despite all the players who moved on.
Schalke 2-0 Fenerbahce - Fener finished with 9 men after playing like goons. Kuranyi and Ebbe Sand scored for the home side.
Rosenborg 0-2 Real Madrid - Real are just getting better and better. An own-goal and a Guti goal get the win on the road in Norway.
Olympiacos 1-4 Lyon - Lyon Lyon Lyon. Have you seen them play in the last 3 or 4 years? They are a lot of fun to watch!! 4 scored on the road, including another for Juninho. They say Juninho may not even see the field for Brazil at the World Cup next summer. What a drag. He is awesome!
Liverpool 3-0 Anderlecht - The champs are not dead after all, and the three guys who are supposed to score all did: Morientes, Luis Garcia & Cisse
Betis 1-0 Chelsea - What a huge day it must be in Sevilla!
Artmedia 2-2 Rangers - Rangers score the road point which is always huge, but the team with the best name, Artmedia, is still hanging around. Kozak from AM is my guy!
Inter 2-1 Porto - A late come back on two goals by 61st minute sub Cruz, who came on for Adriano.
By virtue of their wins, both Lyon & Real Madrid (corrected) have officially qualified for the final 16 and the knock out stages.
And 8 more Champions League Match games on the slate today:
Club Brugge v Rapid
Juventus v Bayern
Thun v Ajax
Arsenal v Sparta
Barcelona v Panathinaikos
Bremen v Udinese
Benfica v Villarreal
Lille v Man United
-I got my new red "Coiled Rattlesnake" USA Soccer t-shirt in the mail today. Its gorgeous.
-Reading won 2-0 over Sheff Wednesday, but Leeds lost 1-0 at Crewe. From all reports it was a complete Leeds choke-job.
-Have you seen this perm that Man U's Cristiano Ronaldo is sporting? Oh! Wow!! It's hideous. Please, someone, tell him!
-Michael Parkhurst was named MLS Rookie Of The Year, and Dominic Kinnear was named MLS Coach Of The Year. As it should be.
-So, we all read the rantings and ravings of Mexican Hero Hugo Sanchez as he rails on the supposed shortcomings of Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe, while praising himself as the best thing since purified bottled water. Sanchez has an impressive track record of leading Pumas to two Mexican League titles in a row as well. But guess what, with his team sitting third from bottom in the league right now, Hugo got himself fired yesterday. Yes, they fired Dear Hugo. Adios for now my large mouthed friend. Or does this set him up to take over from Lavolpe at the drop of a hat?
-Pretty cool story from the San Diego Union Tribune: A guy from Escondido, CA and his friends made the trek to Saprissa in Costa Rica for the USA World Cup Qualifier last month, and the paper had him write a story about the journey. (Also make sure you read Mark Zeigler's weekly columns, Sidelines and Red Cards & Trophies, which can be found on the same page as the above story, and are always top notch.)
-In Copa Sudamericana tonite its the second leg of Velez Sarsfield v America. This game is being played in Buenos Aires, and Velez has two away goals already on the scoreboard.
-According to Dylan Hernandez of the San Jose Mercury News, Mark Chung is seriously considering retirement.
-Rob Hughes and the International Herald Tribune on the huge force that Lyon has become: Lyon dominates as wealthier clubs falter
-Bulgaria plays Mexico in a friendly on Nov 16 in Houston. Is Hristo Stoichkov still their coach? Or did he get the boot for being an idiot?
-New England will be without their regular starting left midfielder, and the back up who had the great game last week, when they play Chicago on Sunday in the MLS semifinals. Marshall Leonard went down early in the match against Metros last Saturday with a hamstring thingy, and his replacement Khano Smith, who had a huge game and an even huger goal, sprained a ligament in his left knee late in the game when he collided with Jay Heaps and Youri Djorkaeff. Andy Dorman has also played a lot there this season, but has been injured the last few weeks. So what do they do if Dorman can't play? Probably move Steve Ralston from the right to the left, and give James Riley the start on the right.
-Big Apple Soccer gets some time with Mo Johnston and asks him what he would do with Metrostars if the team was handed over to him to coach full time.
-Eddie Lewis' old buddy Jean Tigana is the new head coach of Besiktas in Greece. He is the teams 3rd coach already this season. Heads Up Jean!!
-Phenomenal thread on Big Soccer with people posting pictures from "The Day After....." DC's disastrous season ending.

After I Sneezed I Looked Into My Hands And Saw News

-I cannot believe MLS did not have a brightly colored ball to use up in Boston with snow on the field. By the end of the game most of the snow was gone, but early in the match I lost track of the ball many times on that pitch. Inexcusable. What other league in the world would be caught without this?
-I got to watch 3 of the 4 MLS playoff games. The one I did not see was Dallas v Colorado. But I have now seen the highlights, and here is my game analysis:
The red card to Colorado's Alain Nkong in the 54th minute was idiotic! The elbow was not intentional – Nkong just went up for a header and Valikari clattered into the back of him and got Nkong's arm (that was already up) in the face. The sideline referee is the one who made the call for red card, but the referee was standing right in front of the play as it happened, was looking straight at the action, and initially made no call at all!! You can clearly see on the replay what a joke of a call this was.
Ruiz's goal in the 66th minute was pure Pescadito. The spin, the shot, the placement, wow! Bobby Rhine puts in a nice crisp low ball from just outside the right side of the penalty box, Roberta Mina makes a fantastic dummy over the ball and it rolls straight in to Ruiz who has Pablo Mastroeni draped all over him. Ruiz spins sharply to his right and fires the ball into the far corner. Classic fish!
And how about that save by Joe Cannon on Ruiz in the 86th minute! Cannon literally took the ball off Ruiz's foot twice.
In extra time Joe Cannon again was huge, stopping two blasts from Ramon Nunez. Then Chris Gbandi crosses the far post for Ruiz who jumps up between two defenders and heads all the way back across goal for the score in the 105th. A minute later Ruiz shows his Dr Jeckyll side as he foolishly sticks his foot out and commits a foul 40 yards from goal. It proved to be a total bonehead maneuver, cuz on the free kick Terry Cooke puts it to the far post and Ritchie Kotschau, of all people, pokes it home for a 2-2 tie! The Dallas defense on both Colorado goals was a joke. No one seemed to have an interest in marking anyone either time.
Dallas gets their chance to seal it though, with a 112th minute PK awarded when Gbandi is brought down by Kyle Beckerman as he races toward goal. Carlos "Killer" Ruiz steps up for the PK with his usual confidence, but puts it off the post! It was the first PK Dallas missed all year. (Sadly for them, it wouldn't be the last.) Cannon ended extra time by saving two point blank shots in the 119th.
At the end of the extra time and the score still at 2-2 we headed to penalty kicks to decide the winner. Scott Garlick in the net for Dallas, and the mighty Joe Cannon for Colorado. The great irony here is that Garlick was Colorado's keeper two years ago, until Cannon was signed and replaced him. The two exchanged heated words in the press, but in the end, Cannon was named MLS keeper of the year last year, not Garlick.
So, we're off the PK land:
Ruiz – Dallas – yes
Mastroeni - Colorado - yes
Nunez – Dallas – yes
Kirovski - Clorado - yes
Pareja – Dallas – yes
Cunningham - Colorado - yes
Vanney – Dallas – yes
Cooke - Colorado - yes
Mina – Dallas – no – Joe Cannon dives right and grabs the soft shot!
Peguero - Colorado – yes – leaving the stadium silent
4-5 winner to Colorado!
-Three Metrostars players combined to completely botch the 2nd goal they gave up to New England. The cross came in from a Jose Cancela corner kick, and keeper Tony Meola got lost in the middle of the box flailing for the ball, then defensive midfielder Michael Bradley let Pat Noonan jump right over him at the back post, and Noonan's header snuck between Eddie Gaven and the post he was supposed to be covering. Three unforgivable and yet simple errors combined on one corner to cost Metros a goal, and probably the series. And not to totally pick on Eddie Gaven, but Khano Smith torched him down the left wing to score the winner as well. Poor bad-haired Eddie Gaven! Note to Eddie: Listen dude, put on some muscle and get ready to fight next year.
-Read what The Royal Gazette of Bermuda had to say about hometown boy and former Dandy Town striker Khano Smith who was so big for New England in their playoff win on Saturday over Metrostars.
-Metrostars players want Mo Johnston back as their coach for next season according to and article by Frank Giase of the Newark Star-Ledger.
-8 Champions League Matchday 4 games today(!!!!!):
PSV v Milan
Schalke v Fenerbahce
Rosenborg v Real Madrid
Olympiacos v Lyon
Liverpool v Anderlecht
Betis v Chelsea
Artmedia v Rangers
Inter v Porto
With 8 more to follow tomorrow.
-Does it surprise any of you to know that Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe has a giant 'tache? Not me. I think his name screams "cookie duster".
-Ken The Keeper sends in a correction on the Fiorentina win over Cagliari last weekend (I said that Luca Toni scored 2 for Fior): Luca Toni scored the first goal for Fiorentina and assisted on the second, which was slammed home like a Nordic hammer by Jorgensen. Toni appeared to injure his foot after his goal but continued to play. The Fiorentina website states "Fiorentina suffers [in the win]" but makes no specific mention of the Toni's injury (yet). By the way - congrats to Kens team, for coming up from the depths of hell just two years ago.
-Two more BASA's given out by Climbing The Ladder:
Midfielder Of The Year (here are my three votes):
1- Shalrie Joseph
2- Christian Gomez
3- Dwayne Derosario
And Old Player Of The Year (here are my three votes):
1- Ezra Hendrickson
2- Mark Chung
3- Cobi Jones
How did I not vote for Youri Djorkaeff for this award?? He was outstanding!
-In England's Championship Division, Eddie Lewis and Leeds play at Crewe today, while Bobby Convey, Marcus Hahnemanna & Reading host Sheffield Wednesday.
-Steven Goff in the Washington Post today writes that: Season's Failures May Spur United to Change
-Also in the Post today, Mike Wilbon's identical twin brother Tony Kornheiser gets in on the act of talking out his ass. Hey Tony! Shut Up!
-Joe Cannon, Colorado Super Keeper, has a feature story on his own bad self at the US Players Assoc.
-Paul Gardner in Soccer America has: A lesson from the Rapids
-Andrea Canales blames Coach Dominic Kinnear for the Earthquakes playoff failure.
-Rob Hughes in the International Herald Tribune writes about the escape from the clutches of the reaper by Maradona & Best: 2 tarnished greats live on
-Houston Chronicle's Week In Review
-Vote for the MLS Goal Of The Year from the 4 finalists (there are 5 listed but that Jason Kries goal does not deserve to be there, at least 3 or 4 were better that did not make the top 5, and the Salt Lake fans obviously did their "storm the ballot box" best in getting this goal on the nominee list. Shame on you.)
-The brilliant Frank Lampard has scored in 16 of his last 20 Premiership games. Astounding!