I've been so busy with other things that a couple of these are a day or two old, so you may have seen them...
#1 - As we await the August 12th Attack on Azteca, I am again left wondering why the U.S. coaching staff is so secretive about things. Release the roster already!
Hrmph.
Anyway, here is Mexico's as broken down by SI's Luis Bueno (which does not include skipper Rafa Márquez, who was injured in training.
#2 - I've not actually even had the chance to read through this yet, but this looks like a terrific bit put together by ESPN scribe Wayne Drehs as he followed the USMNT this summer. I do agree with Du Nord's Brucio, though, that the title is whack.
Suddenly everyone gets to be a fly on the wall. I wanna be a fly on the wall, too.
#3 - The WPS First XI was announced the other day with three St. Louis stars in the team. Word. It's looking more and more like my hometown ladies are on a final collision course with the Los Angeles Sol. Word Part Deux.
Meanwhile, S365 colleague Lars Lifrak talks to Boston star Kelly Smith about the league's future and several other topics.
#4 - Here is Real Madrid's squad for weekend friendlies at Toronto FC and D.C. United. NSC correspondent Alex Abnos will be at FedEx Field for the latter, so we will have some nice content from that event next week.
For now, The National Post previews Real's 'massive' visit to Canada.
#5 - Columbus Dispatch ace Shawn Mitchell offers the Crew crazies a hearty post with A) bad Hejduk/Schelotto injury news, B) a "Hunts buy West Ham" debunking & C) a link to his newspaper feature on Jason Garey.
#6 - Not only have the Red Bulls had a nightmare season, but reminds Big Apple Soccer ace Michael Lewis, they also must worry over whether top gun Juan Pablo Angel will return next season.
#7 - Match Fit USA's Jason Davis takes a look at the ever-changing St. Louis efforts for an MLS team. Guess what now? A third possible stadium site. Urgh.
#8 - My new MLS Club Ladder is up at S365. I took last week off the ranking - mainly because I got ill on the day I was planning to do it. But it's back.
#9 - Caught this at The Offside Rules: a fly-on-the-wall peek at all the people who made the MLS All-Star Game happen at Rio Tinto. Again with the wallfly, again with the awesome...
#10 - I know we normally just display Americans Abroad goals, but since both Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson notched Europa League assists last night I figure we'd throw this clip up as well. Why not, eh?
By the way, the playoff round to the group stage will be drawn in about 2 hours (9.30 AM ET) and you can watch it unfold live here.
UPDATE: Urgh. Read the wrong time. It's happening right now (7.59 AM ET).
UPDATE UPDATE: Here is the playoff round draw involving Americans, and boy are there some tough ones! First leg hosts listed first, the matches will take place on August 20th & 27th.
Benfica (Freddy Adu?) v Vorskla
Everton (Tim Howard) v Sigma Olomouc
Fulham (Dempsey, Johnson) v Amkar Perm
Lech Poznań v Club Brugge (Jared Jeffrey)
NAC Breda (TD Earnie Stewart) v Villarreal
Rapid Vienna v Aston Villa (Friedel, Guzan, Lichaj)
Steaua Bucharest v St. Pat's (Ryan Guy)
Stabæk (Mix Diskerud) v Valencia
#11 - USMNT skipper Carlos Bocanegra took part in a fan chat at ESPN yesterday.
#12 - GELF magazine has a smart interview with SI's Grant Wahl.
- Greg Seltzer
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9 comments:
If Alex Abnos is at RFK for the DC/RealMadrid game that will really suck. Hopefully they have a live CC feed from FedEx field over there.;-)
Um, wow on the Dempsey effort on the latter two goals. He looks very, very confident. The hustle on the second goal and the move to create space to get a cross in on from his weaker foot was impressive. And then he comes back with that trap, cut-back, and perfectly weighted ball to EJ on the third goal.
Ok, so it was Vetra. But I love the confidence Dempsey is playing with. He is an exciting player and I am looking forward to seeing what he can do this year.
@ drew: Oof. Thanks.
@ KO: I also think Clint is primed for a big season.
I'm going to make a prediction. Clint Dempsey enjoys a fantastic year capped by a great world cup, and moves to a top four team in either spain or England.
I think it's fair to say that the US has 3 absolutely top quality world class players in the side. Clint Dempsey is world class, no doubt, and so are landon and Timmy.
I also think it is a shame that Eric Lichaj isn't going to get any premiership starts because it looks as if Villa are going to sign Beye
Greg, here's a question that I had based on the Adu situation: who determines what clubs will take a player on loan, in a situation like Freddy's? In other words, Benfica paid the transfer fee, and they own his "right" so to speak. Are they responsible for finding a home for Freddy? Or is that up to Freddy's agent, working in conjunction with Benfica reps?
From interviews and random snippets, it sounds like Freddy's agent is doing a lot of the work, but I assume Benfica has the final say to see if they can recoup their investment.
The agent always jumps in to help find suitors when the club tells a player they can go find a new club.
USA roster is out.
I'm a bit bemused at the inclusions of Marshall, Casey, Holden, and Bornstein.
Bradley's allegiances to MLS players like these will eventually hurt us.
Yeah, new post up now.
I have no problem with these inclusions, but I do shudder at the thought of Bornstein starting on Wednesday.
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