A few NSC programming notes: there will be no Who likes goals? today, there will be a U.S. v Denmark LIVE post on Wednesday and I will name my own MLS Best XI at S365 later in the week. And now, your Monday morning croissants, juice and papers...
#1 - The World Cup finals field for South Africa is now at 26, with Cameroon capping their glorious table comeback with a 2-0 closing day win (as previous leaders Gabon fell on the road to miss out). Unsurprisingly, the federation immediately got to work extending the tenure of coach Paul Le Guen.
#2 - A few MLS Cup related items:
- The official Galaxy blog has the quote sheet from Friday's victory.
- The RSL blog Keepin' It Real has both a list of reasons the team made it to the final and a small Seattle travel guide for fans from out of town.
- That guide may be even handier considering Qwest Field has released 6,000 new tickets for the game.
- Over in England, the UK press looks over to David Beckham's trip to MLS Cup as only they can: with plenty of remarks about his hairstyle/beard.
#3 - Okay, it's official. Soccer is now an actual part of the fabric of American life. It seems the Dynamo's new stadium has become a key issue in the Houston mayoral race. Gotta love it!
#4 - Soon-to-be-ex Chicago Fire forward Chris Rolfe explains why he's headed off to Aalborg BK in January. The money men in MLS really need to raise their game if they expect to keep American talent at home to grow the league.
#5 - Remember former Crew/United/Quakes/Mutiny defensive handyman Devin Barclay? You may have heard he'd gone back to school and joined the Ohio State football team. Well, on Saturday, he booted the Buckeyes to the Big 10 title and a Rose Bowl invite in overtime.
#6 - Formula ranking guru Nate Silver has turned his numbers on soccer now, and this even gets a write-up from the Wall Street Journal. See? What did I just tell you about the fabric?
#7 - Want a good laugh? I caught this (fake? real?) letter exchange between the French and Irish about Wednesday's Emerald Isle return in their World Cup playoff tie over at The Offside Rules.
#8 - Argentina boss Diego Maradona has been suspended two months for running his mouth in salty "Nana nana naaaa" fashion after they qualified for World Cup.
#9 - Yes, Arsenal and the Netherlands were hit with a Robin van Persie blow this weekend - but it is not nearly as bad as originally feared. He should be ready to resume training in January when some outlets were panicking he could miss the entire Prem season, if not also World Cup.
#10 - More UK press hijinx, no surprise. I've discussed their slanted ways when it comes to handling media connections before, and now they've just gone ahead and removed any possible conjecture from the entire issue.
Now, while they continue to wall out anyone not among the big rights holders, the FA is requiring managers such as Sir Alex to speak with all of the favored networks after each league match.
Frankly, I think that FIFA should reprimand the FA for bringing the game into disrepute over this continued media access favoritism.
#11 - Want another good laugh? Have you ever watched Top Gear? Well, Jeremy Clarkson brings his usual sense of humor to a Times column about the mystery of refs.
#12 - Good news from Scotland, as popular former Celtic strike ace John Hartson has responded very favorably to chemotherapy for his testicular cancer. It was quite good for me to read this medical success story as my aunt is dealing with those rough radiation treatments right now.
- Greg Seltzer
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2 comments:
Greg--great to hear about Hartson and all the best for your aunt. Another medical success story--my mother went through chemo/radiation for Hodgkin's a decade ago and beat it. 10 years later (1.5 years ago) she did chemo/radiation for breast cancer...and beat it again. Thank goodness (or thank whatever deity you believe in) that doctors and researchers continue progress with defeating all forms of cancer.
Greg, can you look into why JFT was excused from the Denmark game? Hope everything's okay with him and his family -- the USMNT has seen its fair share of bad luck in recent times.
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