By FRANCO PANIZO
Days after his head coach cited a lack of progress as a reason for his benching, Jozy Altidore
responded in a big way.
In his first start for AZ Alkmaar in 2012, Altidore bagged a brace in the club's 3-3 draw with
Heerenveen. Altidore scored the game's opener when he received the ball with his back to goal,
turned and fired a shot to the near post.
Chelsea lost the chance to consolidate their fourth place position in the league yesterday after
they were humbled 2-0 by Everton at Goodison Park. Goals from Steven Pienaar and Denis
Stracqualursi condemned Villas-Boas to his 6 loss of the season and saw Arsenal overtake them into
4th place after a 2-1 away over Sunderland.
I posed some statements to the other writers of Stumptown Footy and asked them to buy or sell
the statement with a brief explanation. Here are our answers:
Kris Boyd will score 10+ goals this season. Andrew:
Sell. I've held this opinion close to my chest. I want to believe that Boyd is going to be the
goalscorer the Timbers organization has cast their lot in, but to me there are still just a few too
many questions.
One thing I have noticed in recent weeks is the lack of real chances we are creating for ourselves.
The thing is, because of this happening, the likes of Danny Sturridge (as he demonstrated
yesterday) have taken a selfish approach to his game and is shooting whenever he gets the ball in
or around the box rather then lift his head up and look for a killer pass or to create a chance for
someone else.
The Dynamo continued their preseason undefeated with another convincing victory over a college
side. Several trialist played well as they try to convince Dominic Kinnear to offer them contracts
for the 2012 season.
Press Release
HOUSTON, TX (Saturday, February 04, 2012) -- The Houston Dynamo defeated Houston Baptist
University 4-0 on a wet Saturday morning at Houston Amateur Sports Park.
Why Fernando Frequently Fails to Fire - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Useless. Flop. Goddamn waste of money. Adjectives are not too hard to come by when Fernando
Torres is the topic of discussion. Few footballers have fallen as far and as fast as the former
Liverpool hit man has in the past 2 seasons.
Manchester United head into Sunday's fixture at Stamford Bridge off the back of three
consecutive victories in the Premier League and an opportunity to back on level points with
City.
Penalties from Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov either side of half time on transfer
deadline day lead Manchester United on their way to 3 points as Manchester City were being beat at
Everton thanks to a strike from former Red Devil Darron Gibson.
Co-hosts Gabon looked like it was going to be headed to their best showing in any ACN when Eric
Mouloungui shot them into the lead in the 55th minute. But Mali had other ideas as Cheick Diabate
equalized in the 84th minute. At the end of extra time, with the two teams deadlocked, the fate of
the match was decided on PK shootout.
Suarez v Evra. Talking point.
Essential information
Who: Manchester United v Liverpool
What: Premier League
Where: Old Trafford
Date: 11.02.2012
Kickoff: 12:45 GMT
Referee: Phil Dowd
Odds: Bet365 (Take advantage of their 100% Open Account offer.
Odds aren't in favor of Nate Jaqua appearing in a New England Revolution uniform in 2012,
according to his representative.
New England Soccer Today initially learned on Monday that Jaqua, a Revs Stage 2 2011
MLS Re-Entry Draft pick, isn't likely to sign with the team.
Nate Jaqua struggled in his final two seasons in Seattle, but the 6'3" striker could look to
revive his career in New England.
Alec Purdie and Shalrie Joseph scored as the New England Revolution defeated Boston College,
2-1, on Wednesday afternoon.
Purdie opened the scoring in the 28th minute, but the Eagles equalized just five minutes later
thanks to some sloppy defensive play by the Revs. Joseph would score the winner seven minutes into
the second half.
Fernando Torres has become the
subject of discussion for Chelsea fans, the press and
the
media because of his inability to hit the back of the net since his £50m move to Chelsea just
over a year ago.
Speaking of the year here so far, Torres has given an open and frank interview.
photo by ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
The Portland Timbers wrapped up their preseason camp in Carson, California on Wednesday with a
win that improved them to 3-0-1 during their time there.
Portland recorded a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Fire in the last preseason match of its
training camp at the Home Depot Center.
U.S. forward Jozy Altidore and his AZ Alkmaar side topped Sacha Kljestan and RSC Anderlecht 1-0 on
Thursday in Europa League play.
U.S. Men's National Team and AZ Alkmaar forward Jozy Altidore found the win column as AZ Alkmaar
defeated midfielder Sacha Kljestan's RSC Anderlecht 1-0 on Thursday in the knockout stage of the
Europa League.
By FRANCO PANIZO
Landon Donovan's second loan with Everton has gone just as well as anyone could have
imagined.
In his near two-month stay with the club, Donovan has helped the club string together a solid
run of results with his impressive performances while simultaneously silencing the critics that
constantly harp on him for playing in MLS.
Photo by Earl Gardner
Union
Amobi Okugo will join The Goaltender today for a live Q&A session. Make sure to tune in and ask
Amobi if Michael Essien can save Chelsea's season.
Speaking of Amobi Okugo, he's joining 22 other players including F'Adu and Mac Attack who have
been called up ahead of a February 29 friendly against Mexico.
She's on a different continent and playing at a different level, but one big thing remains the
same for Sarah Hagen (Appleton North/UW-Milwaukee): She scores goals.
Hagen found the back of the net twice in her professional debut to help carry host Bayern Munich
to a 3-0 victory over Freiburg in a Frauen Bundesliga match Sunday.
When Joe Mason slotted Cardiff's first goal of the night through Pepe Reina's legs, putting the
underdog Championship side up 1-0, it may have in fact been the worst goal conceded by Liverpool
this season. Past contenders for worst of the year have come when a series of individual mistakes
over a fairly short period of time have conspired to hand an opponent a goal, and as bad as the
markers given up against the likes of Stoke and Norwich may have seemed at the time, as with most
any side will concede they came from a series of minor mistakes that slowly added up to the ball
hitting the back of the net.
