Well, the home stretch of the 2012 season is upon us. With Seattle's victory on Saturday over
Chivas, San Jose is officially the first team to clinch a spot in the playoffs. The rest of the
teams have roughly seven matches to make their case.
The top five of the Western Conference has been very stable in its composition all year, with
four out of the five teams having solidified their place as early as April.
Another big weekend in Mexico, filled with great games, surprises, and some teams further
separating themselves from the rest. After 7 weeks, Toluca (17 points) sits atop the table,
followed by Club Tijuana (16), Leon (13), Cruz Azul (13), Morelia (12), Atlante (12), Santos (11),
and America (10).
We are six weeks into the Apertura 2012 in Liga MX, and we're finally starting to see a few
teams separate themselves in the league table. While some have risen, others have fallen and now
we're starting to see the normal carousel of managers Mexican fans are accustomed too. Three
managers are out of work and there are a few more that are walking thin lines.
Andrés Iniesta has been named the winner of the 2011/12 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award,
finishing ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in an extremely close vote.
Iniesta received 19 votes while Messi and Ronaldo both picked up 17 votes.
The Barcelona midfielder, who helped Spain defend their European Championship title this summer,
collected his prize following today's UEFA Champions League group stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum
in Monaco and said:
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Fox Soccer - 9 p.m. Univision Deportes Network - 9 p.m. La Ranchera
850 - 9 p.m. PREVIEW: The Houston Dynamo continue their 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League campaign with a
trip to Honduras on Thursday to face domestic champion C.D. Olimpia.
Andrés Iniesta has been named the winner of the 2011/12 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award,
finishing ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in an extremely close vote.
Iniesta received 19 votes while Messi and Ronaldo both picked up 17 votes.
The Barcelona midfielder, who helped Spain defend their European Championship title this summer,
collected his prize following today's UEFA Champions League group stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum
in Monaco and said:
By "The Other 87 Minutes" / Senior Unemployed English Major
Correspondents
Today we celebrate the return of the school year by thinking of the children. Not just any
children, but badass ones – the kids we all wanted to be when we grew up. Some of them might have
aged and become either a best-selling author/religious cult leader or a 41-year-old pinch runner or
Batman (briefly) or Robin Williams, but each of them did their best work in their childhood or
early teenage years.
The Fire's goal scoring drought has been no secret to anybody. And it's been a point of
contention all year for the club, but it was at no time more evident then in the month of July.
They were shut out four times in six games- including the Aston Villa friendly, and only scored two
goals the entire month.
The New England Revolution finally found their way onto the scoresheet on Saturday night, but
defensive mental lapses once again were their undoing in a 2-1 loss to Chicago. While the squad was
relatively healthier than in recent weeks, the Revs produced yet another stale performance in
running their losing streak to six games.
Settle in on your couches, crack open a frosty drink, grab the chips,
and get ready for what promises to be a really, really long night for the New England Revolution as
they take on the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park this evening. The Revs have never won in Bridgeview
during the regular season, and given the way the team has been playing - especially on the road -
they don't look to likely to turn that little streak around right now.
Should Diego Fagundez see more time on Saturday? (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)
The New England Revolution's (6-12-5, 23 points) playoff hopes are all but dead, even if the
team manages to win Saturday night against the Chicago Fire (11-7-5, 38 points) at Toyota Park in
Bridgeview, IL. The Revolution have scored just twice in their last six games and haven't won since
July 7.
The New England Revolution are headed into hostile territory on Saturday night as they travel to
Bridgeview, Illinois and Toyota Park to take on the Chicago Fire. The Revs are locked into their
worst stretch of the 2012 season, going six games without a win, including four consecutive losses.
Chicago, meanwhile, just trounced Philadelphia 3-1 at PPL Park last week, and sit in fourth place
in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand on all three clubs ahead of them.
Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen sparked a few chances in Sunday's 1-0 loss against the Impact.
(Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
It's time to can the "one mistake killed us" excuse.
For the last six games, it's been become the go-to phrase when a bad bounce, an unsettling
sequence of unwatchable defending, a concentration lapse, or a moment of indifference has cost the
Revolution points.
Last night's loss made it six games in a row without a win, and four defeats running. The New
England Revolution are having some serious trouble right now, and honestly should have put away a
Montreal Impact side that's not particularly bad, but not as good as the Revs should be, either.
Here are the postgame quotes, with a little extra that didn't show up on the Revolution
website.
So much for all those goals Jose Moreno was supposed to score.
In a move that shocked no one, the Revolution cut ties with well-traveled and oft-injured
striker on Monday, thus closing the book on the most curious offseason signing in recent
memory.
It's easy to see why the Revolution cut the embattled striker.
Every week the New England Soccer Today crew will look beyond the standings to rank each of
the 19 Major League Soccer (MLS) teams. This week Brian O'Connell and Sean Donahue contributed
rankings. Comments are followed by the ranker's name and the rank they gave that team.
Shutting down service to Toronto's dangerous attack will be the key for A.J. Soares and the Revs
defense. (Photo: Kari Heistad)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. The New England Revolution will try to extend their overall unbeaten streak to
six games when they host Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.
The Carolina RailHawks were down a goal with not much time left in their match against FC
Edmonton, but two late strikes, including one in stoppage time, helped them come-from-behind to
pick up a win that further distanced them from the Eddies for the final playoff spot.
Yesterday afternoon the Timbers managed to not lose for the first time in six games as they tied
FC Dallas 1-1. After looking outclassed at times in the first half, the Timbers gave up a goal
early on after half-time but struggled back and, thanks to a red card to Dallas's Zack Loyd and
some persistence from captain Jack Jewsbury in keeping pressure on the shorthanded Dallas
back-line, the team managed to pull even.
The five players on the U.S. strikeforce know a thing or two about scoring.
The MLS trio of Chris Wondolowski, Landon Donovan and Alan Gordon have tallied a combined total of
35 goals in the 2012 campaign. Wondo leads the league with 17 goals in 21 games, while Donovan and
Gordon have struck nine times each.
Alan Gordon's penchant for late-game heroics have saved the San Jose Earthquakes a number of
times this season, and they have now also helped earn the forward a call-up to the U.S. men's
national team.
U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann added Gordon to the roster that will take on Mexico in a rare
friendly at Estadio Azteca on Wednesday, U.
The Portland Timbers play their last match of the season against the LA Galaxy, finally getting
the chance to face the defending champions at home. The Timbers have been awfully generous to the
Galaxy this year, as two of LA's seven wins have come against Portland. Saturday's match will be
the Timbers' last chance this season to take points away from them.
Red Bull Arena may be a little hot tomorrow. (Getty Images)
Normally I hold off my weekly "What To Watch For" post until Thursday for the weekend games but
this is a special case. MLS has a full slate of games on Wednesday and when I say full I mean it
seven league games total with one friendly up in Seattle.
The media in Spain are presently claiming that Spurs are looking at Atletico Madrid striker
Adrian with a view to meeting his buy out clause which stands at 18 million euros.
The centre forward has been briefly looked at in the past and looking at bare stats, he isn't
necessarily the prolific striker that the club needs.
OTP revisits some of the transfers that the country's largest clubs would rather forget... 10. Stig
Johansen Bought by Southampton for £600,000, the striker was intended to partner Matthew Le
Tissier in the Saints side, but after just six games (plus a lot of time in the reserves) he was
loaned out to Bristol City, [.
Arsenal's South Korean star Park Chu-Young has sure made a lot of headlines around the world
recently, especially for a guy who only played a handful of minutes in the Premier League last
season. Much of the recent fuss has to do with Chu-Young's military service in his homeland and his
exclusion from the national team, but inclusion on the nation's Olympic squad.
It's here again already! Newcastle United's series of pre season fixtures starts this evening in
Chemnitz, as the Magpies kick off their European tour, playing six games (if you count one against
the Dutch Den Haag which is yet to be officially confirmed). Two of the games will be played in
Germany, one in Hungary [.
Newcastle have finally announced their pre-season schedule of games, which sees them playing six
games, before the season starts against Tottenham at St. James' Park on 18th August. Here is the
official list of pre-season games that Newcastle have just announced. There is definitely a
game also scheduled at the International Stadium against Gateshead on Wednesday, 1st August, but
Newcastle will send a Development eleven to that game.
The managerial merry-go-round has gone in to overdrive recently with no fewer than 11 managers across all four English divisions leaving their positions in the past five weeks. Nine of those were sacked whilst two resigned to fill vacancies elsewhere, making it a total of 13 clubs who have been searching for a new manager [.
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Sep 8, 2012) US Soccer Players – World Cup Qualifying resumed
Friday night with six games that were supposed to help dramatically reduce the number of teams that
could clinch a spot to the six-team Hexagonal. They didn't. As a result of several shocking
results, all 12 teams remain in contention for a spot in the final round.
The U.S. U-20 WNT had Tuesday off after defeating Ghana 4-0 on a boiling late Monday afternoon in
Hiroshima. The team returned to the pitch on Wednesday and had a short training as the squad has
settled into a tournament rhrythm that is more focused on rest and regeneration in hopes of being
able to play six games in 20 days.
Brantingham Road in pictures
Ground Statistics (marks out of ten, maximum 40)
Character 5, Structures/Terracing 5, Hospitality 7, Backdrop/Scenery or aesthetics for larger
stadiums 5 Total 22
Norton United are my nearest club; within walking distance - so I usually catch a few of their
games each season at their Community Drive ground.
Columbus Crew midfielder Kirk Urso died in the early hours of Sunday morning, following a night
out at a downtown Columbus bar.
In a 911 call released to the local news outlet The Columbia Dispatch, an unidentified female
describes "a very drunk person" who fell down and became unconscious.
Having come out of retirement half way through the season, Paul Scholes claims his decision to
play on in 2012-2013 was entirely dependant on what Sir Alex Ferguson wanted.
"The manager didn't have to twist my arm to play this season," said Scholes. "He
just said: 'You're going to play next year, aren't you?
It has been a while since FC Dallas fans last saw George John on the pitch, nearly two months to be
exact. The Washington state native last played for FCD on May 26 at Real Salt Lake but Big George
was then beset by concussion symptoms, which forced him to miss the last six games.
The post John Being Cleared a Step in Right Direction appeared first on 3rd Degree.
Federico Macheda has returned to Manchester United following yet another disappointing spell
away on loan. The season before last he went to Sampdoria where he got just 16 games and scored
only 1 goal in a season which saw the Italian club relegated.
Last season Neil Warnock brought him to QPR in the January, only to be sacked last than a week
later, leaving Kiko to play in six games in all competitions.
