UEFA Champions League Matchday 1

It's back - the second greatest football tournament on earth!!

The Groups Stages

-Tue Sep 18
Marseille v Besiktas
Porto v Liverpool - 1:30pm on ESPN2
Chelsea v Rosenborg - 1:30pm on Setanta
Schalke v Valencia
Real Madrid v Bremen - 1:30pm on ESPN Deportes
Olympiacos v Lazio
Milan v Benfica
Shakhtar v Celtic

-Wed Sep 19
Rangers v Stuttgart
Barcelona v Lyon - 4:00pm on ESPN Classic
Roma v Dynamo Kyiv
Sporting v Man United - 1:30pm on ESPN2
PSV v CSKA Moskva
Fenerbahce v Inter
Arsenal v Sevilla - 1:00pm on Setanta
Slavia v Steaua

(all times Central)

Drip Drip Drop News

American midfielder Benny Feilhaber made his debut for Derby County today, coming on as an 80th minute sub for game winning goal scorer Kenny Miller in Derby's 1-0 win over Newcastle for their first Premiership win of the season.

~and~

Ives Galaracep on his Soccer By Ives blog says DC United is very close to signing Argentinean midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron for next season. So what does this do to their current roster? Christian Gomez plays that same spot. So does Fred who has been playing out of position on the wing.

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The New York Times Goal blog has a new post from New York forward Jozy Altidore where he expresses his feelings about fans heaping pressure on young players. Interesting timing Jozy, what with all the freaks posting on boards saying you should be called into the national team for the match v Brazil, and that you will be the new hero/savior. I love it.

~and~

I have been hearing a lot about fights in the stands and parking lots after last Thursdays Chivas USA v LA Galaxy game, but little had been written in the press. Billy Witz of the LA Daily News has some of the story. I was also told that Chivas fans were allowed to enter the stadium without the usual security checks leading to the massive amounts of smoke bombs that got set off, and some thrown on the field. They also let the Chivas fans gather in the lot that has always been the home to Galaxy fan pre-match tailgating. How this stuff happens I will never know. I love fans getting wild, but I HATE it when anything is thrown on the field. And I also HATE it that Toronto fans are allowed to plaster opposing fans with streamers when they take corner kicks. Tossing them at the nets is one thing, but directly at specific players is out of line, for that you Toronto fans get an F in my book.


MLS
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 15
Toronto 0-0 Salt Lake
Match report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report from the Deseret Morning News.
Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report from the Daily Utah Chronicle.
New England 4-2 Dallas - NE goals by Pat Noonan(2), Steve Ralston & Khano Smith. Dal goals both by Carlos Ruiz.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Mike Biglin of the Metro West Daily News.
Match report from the Boston Herald.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Match report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Post-game notes from Dell'apa.
Kansas City 3-2 Columbus - KC goals by Scott Sealy(2) & Eddie Johnson. Colu goals by Ale Moreno & Andy Herron.
Match report by Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star. (I have to say that for a game with such an incredible ending, this is one lame match report. And then it ends up being the only report written for any newspaper. Ugh.)
Chicago 2-2 New York - Chic goals by Cuauhtemoc Blanco(PK) & Gonzalo Seagares. NY goals by Dave Van Den Bergh & Juan Pablo Angel(PK).
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report from the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report from the Daily Southtown.
Match report from Big Apple Soccer.
Post-game notes from Arroyave.
-Sun Sep 16
Colorado 1-1 Chivas - Colo goal by Colin Clark. Chiv goal by Sacha Kljestan(PK).
Match report by John Meyer of the Denver Post.
Match report from the Rocky Mountain News.
Los Angeles 1-3 Houston - LA goal by Alan Gordon. Hou goals by Ryan Cochran, Dwayne De Rosario(PK) & Rico Clark.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze.
Match report by Damian Calhoun of the Orange County Register.
Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
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Scott Sealy of Kansas City has been named MLS Player Of The Week.
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Steve Davis writes the best MLS weekly match recap for the leagues home page. For me it is must reading on Monday's.
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DC clinched their spot in the playoffs last Thursday, and after wins this weekend both New England and Houston has joined them in the post season. That leaves 5 more spots for fight for.
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Wow! Kansas City was trailing Columbus 1-2 after 90 minutes plus two minutes of stoppage time. But in the 3rd added minute the Crew was called for a PK that Eddie Johnson converted to tie the game, and then to put a dagger in their heart, just seconds later KC forward Scott Sealy added the game winner on a diving header. Holy smokes! Will Columbus recover from this one??? Not likely.
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Jeff Cunningham promised that he would score a goal within 5 minutes of coming on v his old team Real Salt Lake. He did not come through for his teammates.
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And that leaves Toronto goalless in a whopping 822 minutes. I think they have already topped the old futility record by more than 300 minutes. Not much more and it will be 10 games without scoring. Brutal.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star says TFC fans may have had the last straw this season with their awful team.
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Logan Pause wore the captain's armband for Chicago. Who saw that coming?
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Salt Lake acquired forward Yura Movsisyan from Kansas City on Friday before the seasons roster freeze.
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Colorado forward Herculez Gomez blew out the ligament and meniscus in the right knee last week and is done for the season.
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USA U20 midfielder Anthony Wallace made his debut for Dallas on Saturday in New England.
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Cobi Jones next appearance for Los Angeles will be #300 in MLS.
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Former Minnesota Thunder forward Francis Doe made his first start up top for New York on Saturday in Chicago. Don't forget, his nickname is Grandpa. Seriously.
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Ives Galarcep is reporting that two New York players suffered bad knee injuries in the teams Reserve League game on Sunday v Chicago - Kevin Goldthwaite & Mike Magee. No other details yet.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says Dynamo forward Paul Dalglish is finally healthy again too. He injured his ankle very early in the season and has seen little to no action on the field since. If he can get in game shape, and the team can keep Brian Ching healthy, then they are set up top. Now they just need their two effect left wingers to get healthy - Stuart Holden and Brad Davis. Get all those guys rolling together and you have one hell of a team coming up at the right time - PLAYOFFS.
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Andrea Canales at the US Soccer Players Assoc talks to new Chivas USA team President Shawn Hunter.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet looks at the success of 4 new coaches in MLS this season.
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Soccernet's latest MLS Power Rankings.
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Chicago resigned midfielder John Thorrington. JT had once been a very promising American youth player and went to Europe where he gained in stature with some big clubs. But injuries have all but ended his career. It's great to see him get another shot.
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Paul Demko at City Pages Ball's blog with an excellent MLS current-state-check-up, brilliantly entitled: Alexi Lalas is an incompetent ass (and other MLS notes)
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New England have given first year forward Adam Cristman a new contract, adding him to their senior roster.
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Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News on the return of the San Jose Earthquakes. She makes a good plug for the potential inclusion of some talented people - Frank Yallop, Billy Beane and Brandi Chastain - to be part of the new team management.
-Killion also believes the new team will play at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara next season, but the place holds less than 7000. Is that for real? Sounds awful to me. Oakland Coliseum is also rumored to host bigger matches.
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Which players have been the biggest surprises to you this season in MLS? Here are 7 from me:
-Arturo Alvarez - Dallas
-Mark Burch - DC
-Clarence Goodson - Dallas
-Stuart Holden - Houston
-Jeff Larentowitz - New England
-Jesse Marsch - Chivas
-Joseph Ngwenya - Houston
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From the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer (front page, not just sports section) is another article on the supporters group in Philly for a non-existent team. The Sons of Ben.
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USL First Division
First Round of Playoffs Schedule (all times central):
-Fri Sep 14 - 1st leg
Atlanta 2-1 Rochester
Carolina 0-2 Seattle
Montreal 3-2 Puerto Rico
Vancouver 1-0 Portland
-Sun Sep 16 - 2nd leg
Rochester 1-1 Atlanta - Atlanta advances 3-2 on aggregate.
Seattle 1-0 Carolina - Seattle adv 3-0 on agg.
Puerto Rico 3-0 Montreal - Puerto Rico adv 5-3 on agg.
Portland 3-0 Vancouver - Portland adv 3-1 on agg.
Semifinal schedule:
-Fri Sep 21
Atlanta v Portland
Puerto Rico v Seattle
-Sun Sep 23
Seattle v Puerto Rico
Portland v Atlanta
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My friend Demko also wrote up what little info we know so far about new owners for my Minnesota Thunder. It's all kind of vague, but its positive news, and that is huge after 3 losing seasons in a row.
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Women's World Cup
Matches & Scores:
Round 1 of Group Stage-
-Mon Sep 10
Germany 11-0 Argentina
-Tue Sep 11
Japan 2-2 England
USA 2-2 N Korea
Nigeria 1-1 Sweden
-Wed Sep 12
Ghana 1-4 Australia
Norway 2-1 Canada
New Zealand 0-5 Brazil
China 3-2 Denmark
Round 2 of Group Stage-
-Fri Sep 14
Argentina 0-1 Japan
England 0-0 Germany
Sweden 2-0 USA
N Korea 2-0 Nigeria
-Sat Sep 15
Canada 4-0 Ghana
Australia 1-1 Norway
Denmark 2-0 New Zealand
Brazil 4-0 China
Round 3 of Group Stage-
-Mon Sep 17
Germany 2-0 Japan
England 6-1 Argentina
-Tue Sep 18
Nigeria v USA
N Korea v Sweden
-Wed Sep 19
Norway v Ghana
Australia v Canada
China v New Zealand
Brazil v Denmark
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England & Portsmouth keeper David James writes for the Guardian about how much he digs the England Women's World Cup team.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and scored in the second half but lost 4-2 at Hearts.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the distance in the back of a 0-0 draw at Alemania Aachen.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played the full 90 of a 1-1 draw at Wigan.
-Nat Borchers - Odd Grenland - lost at home to Stabaek 1-5. Ouch.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started and went the distance, not to mention scored a goal in a 2-5 win at Excelsior.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - played all 90 of a 3-0 win over rivals Brondby.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance as usual as they drew 2-2 at Nurmburg.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - came on in the 78th minute of a 2-1 loss at Sunderland.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - came on in the 85th minute as they beat Gefle 4-3.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the distance in a 3-2 win over Southampton.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started, played the full match, and bagged another goal. But he also missed a sitter and his team drew 1-1 at Wigan.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - made his debut as an 80th minute sub and beat Newcastle 1-0 today for first EPL win.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - in goal as always and held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw on the road.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started as usual but suffered a 2-1 loss at Sunderland, of all teams.
-Tim Howard - Everton - did not dress due to the dislocated finger he suffered v Brazil. His team lost 0-1 to Manchester United.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - dressed but did not play in a 3-1 win over Kickers Offenbach.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - on the bench for a 1-1 draw at Wigan.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started and played 87 minutes as they beat Newcastle 1-0 today for first EPL win.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went the distance but drew 1-1 at Gent, dropping their first points of the season.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - played the whole match at left back in a 4-2 loss at Arminia Bielefeld.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - played 90 but lost 1-0 at Preston.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - did not dress for his teams 3-0 win over Middlesbrough.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - started and finished a 1-1 home draw with Freiburg.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - lost to Brann 0-4 at home. Oof.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - went the distance up top in a 0-0 draw at Alemania Aachen.
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In a stunning move Mexico is going to ditch their traditional green shirts. They will wear white from now on, and red as an alternate. The reason given was from coach Hugo Sanchez: "In my opinion, our green is confusing with the pitch - as grass is green. It looks like there are less players on the field."
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Italian forward Antonio Di Natale who scored twice for his country last week, scored the games only goal as his Udinese went to Juventus and came home with a big upset win. Not a bad week. The best week ever?
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All we have heard is bad news about Brazilian Adriano at Inter Milan. Well he started this weekend, went the full 90 and his team won 2-0 over Catania. All is not lost.
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So, uh, for my next lie I will...... This is nuts. Stephen Ireland lied to his country, Ireland (natch), about why he couldn't play for them last week. The real story itself is sad and the reason he left the team is very heavy, so why lie about it? From Soccernet. (thanks to BQ for this)
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Former Norway manager Egil Olsen has been hired to run the Iraqi national team.
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Ex Lyon & Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has been hired as the new Technical Director for the France Football Federation.
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Have you ever read Tim Park's book A Season With Verona? You want to know where Verona sit right now, just a few weeks into the new Italian season? Bottom of Serie C1A. That is ugly.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times writes about young Dutch striker Ryan Babel and his first season at Liverpool.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet calls Barcelona players prima-donna's. Ouch.
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Lastly, Tom Wille a Soccernet correspondent who covers English team Fulham talks to Rich Allen one of the authors about the re-publication of a book looking back Fulham's 2006-07 season - The Fulham Review. I am privileged to have contributed an essay to that book! (see link at top right to purchase)

US Women Shut Out Sweden

USA v Sweden - Women's World Cup report by du Nord reader Adam

Group Stage Match 2:
USA 2-0 Sweden

In their second group game of the Women’s World Cup, the United States recorded their first win of the competition, blanking Sweden 2-0. More importantly, the victory gave the US team three valuable points (four total after the tie against North Korea) and put them in a good position to qualify for the quarterfinals.

With another slow start, the Americans didn’t put on the dominating performance they’d hoped for after a lackluster showing in their first match. Team USA had to survive an early onslaught that saw Sweden earn four corner kicks in the first five minutes of the match. Hope Solo did well to punch two of those attempts out of her box, quickly putting to rest any doubt that she should be the starting keeper after her unfortunate blunder in the North Korea game.

The Swedes kept the US pinned into their defensive end for the first 20 minutes of the match, as the Americans struggled to clear the ball past midfield. So far, teams in this tournament seem to have adopted the same tactic to beat the United States: throw numbers forward and try to sneak in a goal as early in the game as possible. But, against Sweden, the US weathered the storm.

In the 20th minute, the United States began to calm down as defender Cat Whitehill floated a free kick into the Swedish penalty box that Sweden’s keeper, Hedvig Lindahl, had to tip wide at the last moment. Lindahl looked shaky each time the US players tested her in the first half and made a mistake that led to the USA’s first goal.

Lindahl misjudged a ball Kate Markgraf sent into the Swedish box in the 33rd minute. The ball looped over the keeper’s head toward goal, and Swedish defender Stina Segerstrom brought down Lori Chalupny in the box as the US midfielder tried to redirect the ball into the Swedish goal. Abby Wambach converted the ensuing penalty kick, giving the United States the lead before halftime.

To start the second half, US coach Greg Ryan subbed defensive midfielder Shannon Boxx in for Carli Lloyd, trying to protect his team’s one goal lead. Boxx’s presence calmed the United States and enabled them to maintain possession. In a passing sequence in the 58th minute, Kristine Lilly freed herself on the left flank and played a ball in the air behind the Swedish defenders. Wambach chested the ball down to her left foot and hit a beautiful half-volley into the Swedish goal.

After the second goal, Sweden couldn’t maintain the high energy they had throughout the first half and resorted to sending long balls at the US backline. The best chance of the second half for Sweden came in the 79th minute when Hope Solo had to punch an errant cross from Victoria Svensson over the US goal.

Coach Ryan’s decision to start Leslie Osborne paid off; Osborne won tackles and aerial duels all over the field. Lindsay Tarpley, getting her first start in this World Cup, sent her best chance of the match wide of the Swedish goal and was subbed off for Heather O’Reilly in the 67th minute.

The US did well to thwart the Swedes in the second half and keep the dangerous scoring duo, Victoria Svensson and Hanna Ljungberg, quiet for most of the match. But, the Americans looked vulnerable in the early going and had trouble winning 50-50 balls, much like they did against North Korea. With their first two group games finished, the US has relied too heavily on numerous long passes out of their defensive end. Bypassing the midfield is an atypical style for the Americans, who are at their best when they play a possession-based game. If they want to continue to progress in the tournament, the midfield needs to become more of a factor.

In the other game from group B, North Korea beat Nigeria, 2-0, and now sit tied with the US in first place with 4 points and an identical goal differential. The final two group games, to be played Tuesday, September 18, will determine which two teams reach the quarterfinals. The Sweden-North Korea match should be brutal since anything less than a win for the Scandinavians will send them packing. And while the US would still mathematically have a chance to advance with a tie against Nigeria, they’ll be gunning for a big win to overtake North Korea on goal differential.

FIFA match reports, video highlights and much more.

Post-game quotes from USA coach Greg Ryan & USA players.

And tons more great official USA Women's team stuff (blog, audio, video, photos, news & stories) from US Soccer.


See the third and final group stage match for the USA.
USA v Nigeria
Tuesday September 17 at 7:00am central time, live from Shanghai.

Developing Abundant Growth News

Alright, let's see a show of hands - who thought Chivas USA would be tops in the West at this time of the season?

~and~

Luis Bueno informs us that Morrissey is a Chivas USA fan, and was seen on the sideline last night at the Super Classico!!!!!!!


MLS
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 12
DC 2-1 Salt Lake - DC goals by Luciano Emilio & Christian Gomez. RSL goal by Kyle Beckerman.
-Thu Sep 13
Chivas v Los Angeles - goals by Ante Razov, Panchito Mendoza & Laurent Merlin.
Match report by Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times.
Match report by Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
-Sat Sep 15
Toronto v Salt Lake - 2:30pm central on Direct Kick & CBC
New England v Dallas - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Kansas City v Columbus - 7pm central on HDNet
Chicago v New York - 7:30pm central on FSC & FSE
-Sun Sep 16
Colorado v Chivas - 2pm central on TeleFurtura
Los Angeles v Houston - 7pm central on Direct Kick
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Bakary Soumare of Chicago will miss the game against NYRB due to a Red Card suspension. Frankie Hejduk & Guillermo Barros Schelotto of Columbus will both be out due to accumulation of Yellow Cards. And New England manager Steve Nicol will be in the stands after being sent off for arguing with the referee last weekend.
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Ivan Orozco of the Daily Breeze writes about the the few, the proud, the die hard Chivas USA fans. Good stuff.
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Ante Razov got goal #107 of his career last night v LA, keeping him only 3 back from all time MLS leader Jaime Moreno.
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Marc Connolly on Goal.com has a Q & A with Chivas USA defender Lawson Vaughn.
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People on all the big message boards are raving about the job commentator Glenn Davis did calling last nights ESPN2 game. I have always thought Glenn was great, and I was glad to see others feeling the same way.
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MLSnet with an article on Dallas's very young forward from Minneapolis - Abdusalam Ibrahim.
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Martin Rogers on Yahoo Sports writes about KC & USA forward Eddie Johnson. Should the Grown Ass Man go to Europe to play?
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Tino Palace's new Clean Sheet at MLSnet - Happy New Year.
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Chicago have announced a friendly on Oct 10 v Cruz Azul.
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The St Louis Dispatch with more on the potential MLS stadium in suburban Collinsville.
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USL First Division
First Round of Playoffs Schedule (all times central):
-Fri Sep 14 - 1st leg
Atlanta v Rochester
Carolina v Seattle
Montreal v Puerto Rico
Vancouver v Portland
-Sun Sep 16 - 2nd leg
Rochester v Atlanta
Seattle v Carolina
Puerto Rico v Montreal
Portland v Vancouver
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Women's World Cup
Matches & Scores:
Round 1 of Group Stage-
-Mon Sep 10
Germany 11-0 Argentina
-Tue Sep 11
Japan 2-2 England
USA 2-2 N Korea
Nigeria 1-1 Sweden
-Wed Sep 12
Ghana 1-4 Australia
Norway 2-1 Canada
New Zealand 0-5 Brazil
China 3-2 Denmark
Round 2 of Group Stage-
-Fri Sep 14
Argentina v Japan
England 0-0 Germany
Sweden 0-2 USA (Corrected)
N Korea 2-0 Nigeria
-Sat Sep 15
Canada v Ghana
Australia v Norway
Denmark v New Zealand
Brazil v China
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Andrew Dixon of Gol Noir writes an article for the US Soccer Players Assoc where he uses the USA v Brazil match to gage the current state of the American game.
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The Boston Globe with more reaction from the Brazil v Mexico game on Wednesday night.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail talks to Toronto & Canada captain Jim Brennan who says Canada has a good chance of qualifying for the next World Cup.
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Big League Matches From Around The World This Weekend:
-Sat Sep 15
Tottenham v Arsenal - the biggest London derby
Bayern Munich v Schalke - the perenial champs v last years runners up

Hong & Tammers News

It was brought to my attention that Pachuca goalkeeper Miguel Calero was here in Minneapolis this week having surgery on his thrombosis. He is no longer listed at the hospital where he had the surgery so I can only hope that he is doing well in recovery. We wish him all the best. If anyone else knows anything please let me know.


MLS
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 12
DC 2-1 Salt Lake - DC goals by Luciano Emilio & Christian Gomez. RSL goal by Kyle Beckerman.
Match report from the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report from the Deseret Morning News.
Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post-game notes and quotes from the Soccer Insider.
-Thu Sep 13
Chivas v Los Angeles - 10pm central on ESPN2
Match preview by Billy Witz of the LA Daily News.
Match preview from the Orange County Register.
Match preview from Beau Dure of USA Today.
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With last nights win, DC United have become the first MLS team this season to book a spot in the post season playoffs.
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DC star & MLS all time leading goal scorer Jaime Moreno did not play of this team last night because he was playing for his country Bolivia in a friendly in Peru.
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Andrea Canales with a feature story on Dc forward Luciano Emilio and his explosion into MLS.
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Toronto could get forward Jeff Cunningham back in the line up much sooner than expected. He flew to Germany last week and had hernia surgery, and has already begun running again. The team desperately needs him seeing as they haven't scored in over 730 minutes.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune writes about the Chicago Fires playoff chances.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun is finally getting his wish - more South American's in MLS. He must be wetting himself when seeing how well some of them are doing too.
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Paul Grathoff of the KC Star looks at the Kansas City Wizards influence on the Team USA squad in Chicago last weekend.
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Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News writes about FC Dallas forward Kenny Cooper who is nearly back from the broken leg he suffered back in early June.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle gives his thoughts on the problems Chivas USA are having attracting fans.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch says the Crew are trying to find another defender before the roster freeze on Friday.
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Columbus Alive with an article on the minimal offense coming from the Crew this season.
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Metrofanatic has a story from a member of the Empire Supporters Club who got to give New York's Clint Mathis a memento for scoring his 45th goal for the team, a new record, on the field before the last home game. Great story from a true fan.
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The Toronto Sun says that TFC owners need to get help for coach Mo Johnston in running the team. The paper says the coach is spread too thin.
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Someone on BigSoccer.com dug up this doozy of an article from the California Bar Journal. A judge has been disbarred after fixing traffic tickets for athletes, team owners and related people, including former San Jose Earthquakes and current Houston Dynamo midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. Wow.
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Women's World Cup
Matches & Scores:
Round 1 of Group Stage-
-Mon Sep 10
Germany 11-0 Argentina
-Tue Sep 11
Japan 2-2 England
USA 2-2 N Korea
Nigeria 1-1 Sweden
-Wed Sep 12
Ghana 1-4 Australia
Norway 2-1 Canada
New Zealand 0-5 Brazil
China 3-2 Denmark
Round 2 of Group Stage-
-Fri Sep 14
Argentina v Japan
England v Germany
Sweden v USA
N Korea v Nigeria
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I somehow missed this, but Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated has a some good post-game analysis from USA v Brazil last Sunday.
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Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog has some words from Clint Dempsey on his best position on the field, and some thoughts about Landon Donovan's best spot on the field too.
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Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to USA & Kansas City forward Eddie Johnson about playing against Brazil.
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Seltzer also give his USA v Brazil post-game analysis and USA player ratings.
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CONCACAF & CONMEBOL Friendly's
-Wed Sep 12
Mexico 1-3 Brazil
Canada 1-1 Costa Rica
Venezuela 1-1 Panama
Honduras 2-1 Ecuador
Peru 2-0 Bolivia
South Africa 0-0 Uruguay
Colombia 1-0 Paraguay
-Thu Sep 13
Guatemala v Trinidad & Tobago
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Brazil got goals from Kleber, Dracena Edu & Afonso, and Mexcio got one from Jaun Carlos Cacho in a 3-1 Brazil win at Fox Borough Stadium in front of over 67,000 fans. Brazil coach Dunga was sent off for arguing, and midfielder Elano was sent off for 2 yellow cards. Mexican keeper Guillermo Ochoa almost pulled a Kasey Keller after making 11 saves v Brazil, but conceded 3 in the end. It shows you that the difference between brilliant and nothing is very tiny.
Match report by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Post-game analysis by Luis Bueno for Sports Illustrated.
Story on the record setting attendance in the Boston Globe.
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Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario scored the goal for Canada as they tied 1-1 with Costa Rica in Toronto. Sadly only about 9000 people where in the stands for this one.
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Euro 2008 Qualifiers
-Wed Sep 12
Portugal 1-1 Serbia
Kazakhstan 2-2 Belgium
Finland 0-0 Poland
Ukraine 1-2 Italy
Lithuania 2-1 Faroe Islands
France 0-1 Scotland
Turkey 3-0 Hungary
Norway 2-2 Greece
Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-1 Moldova
Slovakia 2-5 Wales
Czech Republic 1-0 Ireland Republic
Cyprus 3-0 San Marino
Macedonia FYR 1-1 Estonia
Andorra 0-6 Croatia
Spain 2-0 Latvia
Iceland 2-1 Northern Ireland
Denmark 4-0 Liechtenstein
Slovenia 1-0 Belarus
Bulgaria 3-0 Luxembourg
Albania 0-1 Netherlands
Montenegro v Sweden
Azerbaijan v Georgia
England 3-0 Russia
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-European Friendly's
Montenegro 1-2 Sweden
Azerbainjan 1-1 Georgia
Malta 0-1 Armenia
Germany 3-1 Romania
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Asian Friendly
-Wed Sep 12
Singapore 1-1 United Arab Emirates
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

News from biggest teams in their Euro Qualifiers:
-England got 2 goals from Michael Owen & one from Rio Ferdinand to win in Russia 3-0.
-Xavi & Fernando Torres scored for Spain in a 2-0 home win over Latvia.
-Ruud van Nistelrooy got Holland's only goal to win 0-1 in Albania.
-France were beaten at home by Scotland 0-1 on a goal by James McFadden.
-Ukraine got a goal from Andriy Shevchenko, but Italy got 2 from Antonio Di Natale to win away from home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hijinx alert! The Boston Herald says a local girls high school soccer team has been punished for supposedly urinating on an opponents field and taking pictures of the action. Wow. Obviously these pictures would be internet gold, so please get busy and find these for the rest of us. (thanks to Dave for sending me this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the Women's World Cup two people were arrested at the hotel of the team from Denmark after the team found the two behind a two way mirror with a video camera. The arrested were thought to be Chinese, and the next day Denmark lost to China 3-2. Oh my! This could be a huge can of worms!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember all the fuss about transfer fees in England a year or so ago. The problem was with the accusation of under the table deals to third parties that precipitated these player moves getting done. The term used was "bung". It has been quite for a while now but this week it blew wide open again at the Telegraph of England says that Tottenham player Pascal Chimbonda has been arrested by police on "suspicion of conspiracy to defraud". This could get really wild if they arrest players for things their clubs and agents are supposed to have done. Chimbonda is out on bail.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the locations, the crowd size & make up, and sheer thrill of many of Wednesday nights international matches that took place around the globe. There were some truly impressive sights to behold.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on former England player Graeme Le Saux's new book in which he addresses homophobia in the Premiership. In particular he calls out Robbie Savage and Robbie Fowler for their distinct brand of moronic behavior. Now there is a real shocker that those two are idiots!! Hahahaha. Good job Le Saux.

All Caught Up News

US Soccer has finally officially announced the Nov 17 match in South Africa. It will be a tribute match for Nelson Mandela.

~and~

The Spanish Football Federation has upheld their opposition to the Catalonia v USA game on Oct 17. So the game is off, and US Soccer is out looking for a new opponent.


MLS
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 12
DC v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Match preview by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Match preview from the Daily Utah Chronicle.
Match preview by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Pre-match jibber jabber by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post on the Soccer Insider.
-Thu Sep 13
Chivas v Los Angeles - 10pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post writes about DC United forward Luciano Emilio who has lived up to his reputation for bagging the goals in large handfuls.
-Some quotes that got left out of this article by Steinberg on the Soccer Insider.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Haydon of the Washington Post writes about Emilio too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David Beckman will be one of the commentators in the booth for ESPN on Thursday night at the Super Classico.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews Chiv v LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was really surprised to see DC United midfielder Josh Gros back on the field last weekend. There had been talk that Gros was going to miss the rest of this season due to multiple concussions. But he is back out there. I just hope he is OK.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times talks to new Chivas USA honcho Shawn Hunter about his huge project - filling the stadium every game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz of the LA Daily News on Chivas's Hunter too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Wiebe of the Daily Kansan writes about the growing number of impressive South American players in MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC coach Mo Johnston will definitely be back with the team next season. And the team has more new faces training with them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Have you watched a game at Toronto's BMO Field and noticed the constant buzzing of seagulls in the air. I found it kinda funny, but ultimately annoying. Well, it turns out that TFC wasn't down with it either. The Toronto Globe and Mail with a story on how the team has brought in a Harris Hawk to patrol the grounds and scare away the winged sea loving rats. I smell a new team nickname coming.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Edwards of the Deseret with an update on the Real Salt Lake stadium construction. The projected completion date is one year from today! Wow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tom Timmermann of the St Louis Post Dispatch with more on the stadium & expansion progress in St Louis.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Women's World Cup
Round 1 of Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mon Sep 10
Germany 11-0 Argentina
-Tue Sep 11
Japan 2-2 England
USA 2-2 N Korea
Nigeria 1-1 Sweden
-Wed Sep 12
Ghana 1-4 Australia
Norway 2-1 Canada
New Zealand 0-5 Brazil
China 3-2 Denmark
-Fri Sep 14
Argentina v Japan
England v Germany
Sweden v USA
N Korea v Nigeria
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog talks to USA & Everton keeper Tim Howard about the criticism being given to USA centerbacks Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra. Tim-may is not down with it.
-Ives also gives us a link to an article by former England keeper Nigel Martyn on Howard's injury. From IC Liverpool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Clint Dempsey was named the Fulham Player of the Month!! (thanks to BQ for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer with another excellent interview. This time he talks to Danny Karbassiyoon a former American soccer prodigy who went to Arsenal but sadly had injuries that have taken him off the field. The good part is that he has a job with Arsenal now, scouting players in the USA for the London club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times writes about a young kid named Leo Krupni, who was born in Ukraine, raised in California and now plays for Bnei Sakhnin in Israel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next USA U17 residency class has settled in for the fall semester in Bradenton Florida. 48 players in all, including 14 year old Charles Renken from St Louis who is the youngest. Read all about em from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF & CONMEBOL Friendly's
-Wed Sep 12
Mexico v Brazil - in Boston
Venezuela v Panama
Honduras v Ecuador
Peru v Bolivia
South Africa v Uruguay
Colombia v Paraguay
Canada v Costa Rica
-Thu Sep 13
Guatemala v Trinidad & Tobago
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe previews Mexico v Brazil tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Guadalajara Chivas owner Jorge Vergara is said to be starting a Chivas team in China!!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Turns out that Sir Alex Ferguson was not "kicked in the shins", but rather he was cracked in the "nether regions". Oof. (thanks to BQ for the update)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London has a soccer podcast hosted by Gabriele Marcotti and Guillem Balague. Thanks to Vladimir for suggesting this one. I will be checking it out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speaking of Gabriele Marcotti, he has an article in the Times on the quickly descending career of Brazilian forward Adriano.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times reports on the state of the Northern Ireland football team, and of course the politics of the nation. Some of it will surprise you. Some won't.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pachuca keeper Miguel Calero has the same blood clot problem that American Brian McBride had several years back. It is very serious and could kill you if its not taken care of with surgery right away. Calero will be out for the rest of this season. I wish him the best. Too bad we won't get to see him at the World Club Championsips in December. Good luck to Pachuca in finding a replacement.

Own 2 I's News

This is a pretty special article. Colorado defender Mike Petke writes about his memories of Sept 11 2001. From the teams website.

~and~

US Soccer has appealed to the Spanish Football Federation to rescind their cancellation of the USA match v Catalonia in Barcelona on Oct 14. The USA is also looking for a replacement match if necessary.


As I think back on the first 8 months of the Bob Bradley Team USA era only one thing comes to mind that I do not like. The team has a propensity to be lined up with 2 defensive midfielders. Against Brazil, like several other games, it's been Benny Feilhaber & Michael Bradley. While I like both of these players immensely I just don't think they should be on the field together unless the team is trying to kill off a game. Otherwise we need more offensive firepower on the field, plain and simple. For instance again against Brazil when Bobby Convey & Eddie Johnson were brought on for Josh Wolff & Feilhaber I thought the attack burst to life. Suddenly we had an extra attacker on the field and really took it to them. This would have been a great thing again Sweden last month, not to mention against all those minnows in the Gold Cup. This team has the weapons, Bradley just has to stop being so conservative and go for the throat more often.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Sep 12
DC v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Thu Sep 13
Chivas v Los Angeles - 10pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alex Zotinca of Chivas will miss the game V LA due to a Red Card suspension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC United forward Luciano Emilio has been named MLS Player Of The Week. He scored 4 goals in 2 games last week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As we stand today Jaime Moreno has upped his all-time record MLS goals to 110. Jason Kreis retired earlier this year, so unless something surreal happens he will sit at 108 forever. That leaves Ante Razov in third at 106! Yes he is that close to catching and passing Moreno. So far this season JM has 5 goals, while AR has 8. And I think we all feel Razov has more seasons left in his tank then Moreno has in his.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Amazingly the kid who won the Chivas USA Reality TV Show contract, Jorge Flores, made his debut for the senior team on Sunday v New York. The guy can really play!!! Fantastic to for him and Chivas! (thanks to Matt L for the info)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Can I give you two good reasons why New England has been in an offensive slump lately? Andy Dorman & Steve Ralston. The two of them have not been effect in the past month or two. Dorman has gone especially quiet after starting the season so good. What is the fix for this?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When I was looking at the Houston box score from last weekends game I noticed that midfielder Cory Ashe assisted on all three Nate Jaqua goals. (And yes you read that right - Nate Jaqua with three goals!) But back to Cory Ashe, I have liked this kid since I first saw him when he was with the USA U17 team several years back. His speed is deadly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated answers viewer mail in his usual impressive style. Be warned though, you will have to skip ahead to page three if you want to avoid B****** talk.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic calls New York's Claudio Reyna a "Designated Disappointment". Sad, but I totally agree. CR still has a handful of games and hopefully the playoffs to prove it wrong. Here is a frightening stat from the article: "With Reyna on the field this year, Metro's goal difference is -7. Without him it's +9." Wow!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet rips the idiotic English press for all the bullshit stories they have been making up about Beckman. Don't the editors and publishers at these fishwrap's have any humility at all?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell at the New York Times Goal blog gives his opinions on some of the excellent newcomers to MLS this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jaime Cardenas of the Los Angeles Times writes about the real problem with attendance and exposure Chivas USA is experiencing despite playing some of the best soccer in the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley uses his First XI column this week to ask "What If?" Some really good ones.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

St Louis suburb Collinsville has taken the next step toward approving the rights to build a stadium for an MLS team. The St Louis Post Dispatch with an article on the proceedings.
-The hopeful owners of the team, St Louis Soccer United, have more details on their website.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Hampton Roads Pilot with a pretty wild story on what caused the Virginia Beach Mariners USL First Division team to suddenly fold just weeks before this season began. After reading the story, and then the readers comments that follow, you can tell this is a sad story, and there seems to be plenty more to it than what is written. (thanks to David A for this link)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Women's World Cup
Round 1 of Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mon Sep 10
Germany 11-0 Argentina - Yes you read that right 11 goals for Germany!
-Tue Sep 11
Japan 2-2 England
USA 2-2 N Korea
Nigeria 1-1 Sweden
-Wed Sep 12
Ghana v Australia
Norway v Canada
New Zealand v Brazil
China v Denmark
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise says the USA & Mexico need to use Brazil as their measuring stick on the world stage, and follow their lead to success.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News sees the positives in the USA's loss to Brazil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports called the USA performance v Brazil a "breakthrough".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF & CONMEBOL Friendly's
-Tue Sep 11
Australia 0-1 Argentina
Austria 0-2 Chile
-Wed Sep 12
Mexico v Brazil - in Boston
Venezuela v Panama
Honduras v Ecuador
Peru v Bolivia
South Africa v Uruguay
Colombia v Paraguay
Canada v Costa Rica
-Thu Sep 13
Guatemala v Trinidad & Tobago
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro 2008 Qualifiers
-Wed Sep 12
Portugal v Serbia
Kazakhstan v Belgium
Finland v Poland
Ukraine v Italy
Lithuania v Faroe Islands
France v Scotland
Turkey v Hungary
Norway v Greece
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Moldova
Slovakia v Wales
Czech Republic v Ireland Republic
Cyprus v San Marino
Macedonia FYR v Estonia
Andorra v Croatia
Spain v Latvia
Iceland v Northern Ireland
Denmark v Liechtenstein
Slovenia v Belarus
Bulgaria v Luxembourg
Albania v Netherlands
Montenegro v Sweden
Azerbaijan v Georgia
England v Russia
Malta v Armenia
Germany v Romania
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African Nations Cup Qualifiers
-Wed Sep 12
Nigeria v Togo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Serbian Vladimir Petrovic has been hired as the new coach of China's men's team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Someone at a London train station kicked Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson today. Ferguson was not really hurt, but the dude who did the kicking was arrested. Maybe he was just showing SAF his free kick form and accidentally caught the old red nosed bugger in the shin? Coulda happened that way?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on what Russia & manager Guus Hiddink have up their sleeves for England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA has gone after 5 teams for crowd trouble during recent Champions League games. Anderlecht, Fenerbache, Lazio, Dinamo Bucharesti & Red Star Belgrade. Pathetically though the largest fine handed out was less than $17,000 US and no one was punished for any of the reported racist behavior.

USA Ties North Korea In World Cup Opener

Post-game analysis from du Nord reader Adam on the USA v North Korea match.


Group Stage Match 1:
USA 2-2 North Korea

Right from the first whistle in today’s US-North Korea match, both teams played at a frenetic pace that made yesterday’s 11-0 snoozer between Germany and Argentina look like a high school game.

A confident North Korean side, who finally lived up to pre-tournament hype that they are a contender to take the crown, kept the United States under constant pressure with their penetrating passing sequences and dangerous long-range attempts on goal. Though the US edged the Koreans in shots, 21 to 18, it was Korea who held possession for much of the match and dictated the speed of play.

The US, playing in a 4-3-3 formation, clearly lacked strength in the middle of the park. Midfielders Lori Chaulpny, Carli Lloyd, and Shannon Boxx struggled to connect with the US forwards all game long. The American’s best chance to score in the first half came in the 40th minute when Abby Wambach headed a corner kick off the underside of the crossbar. North Korea quickly cleared the ball before Heather O’Reilly could poke it over the goal line.

Five minutes after half time, it appeared the tide was beginning to turn in the USA’s favor. Kristine Lilly found Wambach open at the top of the Korean box. Wambach took a touch and fired a shot that slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Jon Myong-hui.

But the US lead was short lived. After a head-to-head collision caused a bloodied Wambach to leave the field for treatment, North Korea took advantage of being a player up on the Americans. In the 58th minute, Kil Sun-hui found a bit of space at the top of the US box and fired a shot on goal. The ball, slick with rain, slipped through Solo’s hands and into the back of the net. And, 4 minutes later, North Korea’s Kim Yong-ae scored from close range to make it 2-1 after a scramble in front of the US goal.

Wambach finally returned to the field with the wound on the back of her stitched shut. At full strength again, each team continued to attack the other. In the 69th minute, Heather O’Reilly tied the game at 2 apiece, redirecting a poor clearance into the roof of the Korean goal.

In this end-to-end match, Solo was the USA’s best player. Even though she made a dreadful mistake, allowing the ball to slip through her fingers on Korea’s first goal, she still had other great saves, including one on a rocket in stoppage time that looked destined for goal. And credit the US backline: Christie Rampone, Kate Markgraf, Cat Whitehill, and Stephanie Lopez. For much of the game, they were able to absorb North Korea’s attack and keep them from getting opportunities inside the US penalty box.

To the Americans, anything other than a win is a loss. They’ll be itching to erase their performance in the North Korea game with a better effort against Sweden on Friday.

In the other group match, Nigeria pulled off a little upset of their own, pulling a late goal back to tie Sweden 1-1. With both games ending in draws, all four teams in group B are even with one point each.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is a match report and some post-game quotes from coach Greg Ryan and US players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer also has game photos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And the ever popular Studio 90 is in China with the USA team producing periodic video stories. Always worth watching.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Read the USA Women's team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has match reports, video highlights and much more.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The other two USA group stage matches are:
-Fri Sep 14 v Sweden - 4am central time on ESPN.
-Tue Sep 18 v Nigeria - 7am central time on ESPN.

Just Got Back From Reno Or Somewhere Like It News

I have been traveling all day, so I'll have more facts (scores etc) today than opinions and links. That will just force me to take more time to explore tomorrow. I spent an excellent weekend with friends in Chicago, and took in the exciting USA v Brazil match. If you were there or watched it, did you have fun? I sure did.


USA 2-4 Brazil - USA goals by Carlos Bocanegra & Clint Dempsey. Bra goals by Oguchi Onyewu (Own Goal), Lucio, Ronaldiho & Elano.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So here are the du Nord 3 Stars Of The Game:
3. Michael Bradley - played some fantastic hole filling defense. How many slide tackles did he execute to stuff attacks. How many times was he inside the shirt of Kaka & Ronaldiho taking away the ball and frustrating the hell out of them. He would have gotten a higher rating from me except for that mishap known as a terrible foul in the box that gave Brazil the PK & their 4th goal.
2. Clint Dempsey - Worked really hard all game, gave his teammates tons of deft passes in places they could do some thing with while they gave him little or nothing to work with, and his goal was a Dempsey special.
1. Ronaldinho - his passing to set up Kaka which turned into the own goal was amazing, and his free kick to score the winning goal was pure magic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News.
Match report by Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report from Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Post-game notes by Arroyave.
Post-game quotes by US coach & players from US Soccer.
Minute-by-minute reporting from Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog.
Running commentary during the match by Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog.
Player ratings by Galarcep at Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer photos and video from the match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My notes on the game:
-There was a long break in the second half while the USA medical staff examines goalkeeper Tim Howard. Obviously the fans in the stands have no idea what is going on. I later find out that Tim-may dislocated the ring finger on his left hand, but the medics popped it back in place and off he went.
-The USA has now lost 5 games in a row. What does this mean?
-I only saw one person I knew at the game. That bummed me out. Where was everyone?
-I was in the third row directly behind the southend goal. What a great place to watch any game. You could almost smell the action.
- Clint Dempsey scored his excellent goal right in front of me.
-Robinho was yellow carded for his awful dive right in front of me, although from my angle it looked like a foul. My brother was sitting a couple sections over and said it was a blatant dive!
-Unforutantely Oguchi Onyewu's own goal happened right in front of me too. On the other hand you really can't say that Brazil didn't deserve a goal at that point of the game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 8
Columbus 0-1 Chicago - goal by Paulo Wanchope.
Houston 4-3 Salt Lake - Hou goals by Nate Jaqua (3) & Eddie Robinson. RSL goals by Fabian Espindola, Carey Talley & Kyle Brown.
Dallas 2-0 Toronto - goals by Denilson (PK) & Abe Thompson (PK).
Los Angeles 3-1 Colorado - LA goals by Alan Gordon, Edson Buddle & Kyle Martino. Colo goal by Mehdi Balloucy.
-Sun Sep 9
DC 4-2 New England - DC goals by Fred, Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio (2). NE goals by Taylor Twellman & Jay Heaps.
Chivas 3-0 New York - goals by Maykel Galindo (2) & Ante Razov (PK).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lars Lifrak of Soccer365 does the Q & A with Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Allen Hopkins at Soccernet with his insiderish MLS notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division
Final weekend Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 6
Minnesota 5-0 Carolina
Seattle 4-0 California
-Fri Sep 7
Charleston 0-0 Puerto Rico
Vancouver 1-1 Atlanta
-Sat Sep 8
Rochester 2-0 Montreal
California 0-2 Carolina
-Sun Sep 9
Minnesota 0-1 Seattle
Vancouver 0-0 Portland
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Regular Season final standings:
54 Seattle
51 Portland
50 Montreal
43 Atlanta
42 Rochester
40 Puerto Rico
39 Vancouver
32 Carolina
-did not qualify for playoffs-
31 Miami
30 Charleston
26 Minnesota
19 California
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Division Playoff Schedule (all times central):
5-Rochester Rhinos v 4-Atlanta Silverbacks
Friday @ Atlanta 7:00
Sunday @ Rochester 6:00
8-Carolina RailHawks v 1-Seattle Sounders
Friday @ Carolina 6:30
Sunday @ Seattle 8:00
6-Puerto Rico Islanders v 3-Montreal Impact
Friday @ Montreal 6:30
Sunday @ Puerto Rico 5:00
7-Vancouver Whitecaps v 2-Portland Timbers
Friday @ Vancouver 9:00
Sunday @ Portland 7:00
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U17 World Cup Final
Sun Sep 9
Spain 0-0 Nigeria - Nigeria win it 3-0 on Penalty Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Doug McIntyre of Soccernet gives his post-tournament assessment of Team USA at the U17 World Cup. It's not pretty.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Women's World Cup
Round 1 of Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mon Sep 10
Germany 11-0 Argentina - Yes you read that right 11 goals for Germany!
-Tue Sep 11
Japan v England
USA v N Korea
Nigeria v Sweden
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF & CONMEBOL Friendly's
Mexico - Panama - game called with Mex winning 1-0 on a goal by Felipe Baloy due to a water logged pitch.
Venezuela 3-2 Paraguay
Ecuador 5-1 El Salvador
Peru 2-2 Colombia
Switzerland 2-1 Chile
Costa Rica 0-0 Honduras - CR wins 3-2 on PK's
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro 2008 Qualifiers
-Sat Sep 8
Serbia 0-0 Finland
Portugal 2-2 Poland
Scotland 3-1 Lithuania
Italy 0-0 France
Georgia 1-1 Ukraine
Moldova 0-1 Norway
Malta 2-2 Turkey
Hungary 1-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Wales 0-2 Germany
Slovakia 2-2 Ireland Republic
San Marino 0-3 Czech Republic
Russia 3-0 Macedonia FYR
Croatia 2-0 Estonia
Sweden 0-0 Denmark
Latvia 1-0 Northern Ireland
Iceland 1-1 Spain
Netherlands 3-0 Bulgaria
Luxembourg 0-3 Slovenia
Belarus 1-3 Romania
England 3-0 Israel
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African Nations Cup Qualifiers
-Sat Sep 8
Gabon 0-0 Cote d' Ivoire
Uganda 3-1 Niger
Nigeria 2-0 Lesotho
Sudan 3-2 Tunisia
Mauritius 1-1 Seychelles
Rwanda 4-0 Liberia
Equatorial Guinea 1-0 Cameroon
Swaziland 0-0 Eritrea
Kenya 2-1 Angola
Tanzania 0-1 Mozambique
Senegal 5-1 Burkina Faso
Guinea 4-0 Cape Verde Islands
Gambia 2-1 Algeria
Ethiopia 2-3 Namibia
Congo DR 1-1 Libya
South Africa 1-3 Zambia
Chad 1-1 Congo
Zimbabwe 3-1 Malawi
Burundi 0-0 Egypt

One, Maybe Two Or Three Day News

Special Saturday Edition

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog says he has been in contact with Peter Wilt and been told that the rumor of Wilt becoming GM of Chivas USA is false. OK then. Let's move on.

And to that end, Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times says Chivas USA is going to hire Shawn Hunter as their new CEO. Hunter is the former President of the Phoenix Coyotes NHL team, and most recently an executive at AEG in Los Angeles.


USA v Brazil
-Sunday at 3pm central time - see it on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official photos from Thursdays USA training session.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Video from US Soccer of Landon Donovan throwing out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs baseball game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Audio podcast from US Soccer of USA coach & players official press conference on Thursday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews the game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times talks to USA & Everton keeper Tim Howard about playing against Brazil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave at the Chicago Tribune with a few pre-game notes and stories from Team USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Weekend MLS match previews:
-see yesterdays du Nord for game schedule.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News talks about Salt Lakes motivations to beat Houston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle previews Dynamo v RSL.
-Fallas also reports that Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis has had a second surgery on his injured knee and will miss a little more time recovering.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune previews Hou v RSL, as Salt Lake begins a 3 game road trip.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune reports that the Fire's new defender Wilman Conde has gotten all his paperwork cleared and is ready to play this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago defender Gonazolo Segares has been called in to the Costa Rican national team for the first time this week when they take on Honduras in Hartford CT on Sunday and Canada in Toronto on Wednesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times reports that Fire captain Chris Armas is considering "not retiring" after this season, as he had previously announced he would. Missed this one on Sep 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown has an article on Fire keeper Matt Pickens.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Boston Herald previews DC v New England, and talks to NE forward Adam Cristman who got married last weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Washington Times previews DC v NE.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan Steinberg fills in for Steven Goff at the Soccer Insider from the Washington Post with some DC United info.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz of the LA Daily News previews LA v Colorado.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail previews Dallas v Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Toronto FC has signed team captain Jim Brennan to a two year contract extension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News previews Dallas v Toronto, and talks to FCD striker Carlos Ruiz who is beginning to get back to his goal scoring ways.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Rocky Mountain News talks to Colorado defender Ugo Ihemelu about facing his former team Los Angeles in LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I missed this one earlier in the week, Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet profiles Salt Lakes new engine Kyle Beckerman. (I stole this from FC Rocky, who stole it from Class VI - love the trickle down)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times asks some MLS stars (Claudio Reyna, Joe Cannon, Brian Ching, Cobi Jones & Alecko Eskandarian) if they will be watching some International soccer this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dylan Butler at Big Apple Soccer reports that astonishingly Amado Guevara is telling Spanish language newspapers that he wants to return to the New York Red Bulls next season. Wow. Would they have him back? Butler talks to NY coach Bruce Arena about Guevara.