There have been stories of Marco Pappa joining Dutch side SC Heerenveen. There have been stories
of Marco Pappa joining EPL club Wigan in the winter. It turns out the full story is a mix of the
two. Pappa will join SC Heerenveen at the conclusion of the 2012 MLS Regular Season.
The Dutch league should suit Pappa better than the EPL so this is a very good move.
Fanposting this because I was unable to get my answers to Steve in
time for him to post them on site. Hope you enjoy them.
The Bent Musket: This has been quite a rollercoaster season, especially in the beginning
of the year when Peter Nowak appeared driven to coach himself out of ever getting another job in
soccer again.
Garcia could be the piece that gets Houston back to a MLS Cup. (Getty Images)
The Houston Dynamo have been looking for a long time to land that one guy that ignites their
attack. They feel today that they finally have that guy. The club announced this morning
the signing of new Designated Player, Honduran international Oscar Boniek Garcia.
Happy Monday to you. Here are a few things floating around my head as Week 9 of MLS action comes to
a close.
The Montreal Impact are showing the signs of life. The Impact have recorded their first road
win and for the first time ever, back to back MLS wins for the club. That they did so against
Sporting Kansas City is all the more impressive.
It may be seven months before the MLS Cup is awarded, but at this point in 2012, there is little
doubt Sporting Kansas City is the top team the league has to offer.
Entering the weekend as the league's only unbeaten club, Kansas City separated itself from the
pack in the SBI MLS Power Rankings with a 1-0 win over the previous No.
Wednesday's 6PM US Open Cup Final is just another lineup challenge for Sigi Schmid in a year
that has seen the Seattle Sounders play on short rest several times already. But this is the first
time in 2012 when those choices literally have a Cup on the line. The Sunday night lineup was not
weakened in order to rest anyone.
As has been widely speculated for the past few weeks, the Fire have officially announced the
signing of Sherjill MacDonald. Sherjill will begin training with the team today, but can't
officially be added to the roster until an International Slot becomes available. The Fire currently
have all 8 slots filled.
The MLS Players Union has made the 2012 MLS players' salaries available, so it's time to take a
look at the current state of the Red Bulls Roster. Below is the current roster, with the following
caveat. There is no information released regarding which players are Off-Budget. We know that
Generation Adidas players are.
Although all eyes are on the Olympics, there is some interesting Women's World Cup news to
report.
As the Women's World Cup is moving from 16 to 24 teams for the first time for the 2015 tournament
in Canada, that of course means eight more teams will make the Women's World Cup.
FIFA has determined who gets the new berths and here it is:
The United States dropped two places to 29th in the April 2012 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. The
USA didn't play during the rankings period. Mexicomoved up two places to 20th, remaining first
overall in CONCACAF. Spain remains the World #1, with Germany, Uruguay, Holland, and Portugal
rounding out the top five.
With two roster slots still wide open and at least one (possibly two) open international spots,
the New England Revolution have a lot of options to play around with in their search for mid-season
reinforcements. It can be agreed all around that defensive help and striker depth are the areas of
greatest concern for the Revs, and if rumors on twitter and in the Italian media are to be
believed, they may be about to address the former.
Kevin Alston and the Revolution defense bottled the Rapids attack from the run of play in
Wednesday's 2-1 win. (Photo: Walter Silva).
Sure, Wednesday's 2-1 win over the Rapids may be best remembered most for the night that Matt
Reis collected his 100th career win. But the rest of the Revolution 11 certainly did their parts
to carve out three points.
The London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe has confirmed that David Beckham will have "two very
clear roles" at the Olympic Games. Becks was a key figure in the bid team that secured the Games in
2005 and has been one of the most visible celebrity supporters of it in the years since.
Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy has revealed he will be in the Great Britain squad for the
Olympics, according to reports.
There are three overage slots available in Stuart Pearce's Team GB squad for the London Olympics
later this summer.
And Bellamy claims to have been told he is in line to fill one of those places.
The take-over of an English football club by the owner of an Italian club passed somewhat
quietly on account of the European Championships but, as Paul Grech, writes Watfords tie-in with
Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo might just end up having a significance that reaches some way beyond
Vicarage Road.
Two seasons ago, the English Premier League declared war on UEFA both over financial fair play and
the programming of EPL matches to coincide with ones from the Champions League.
The bookmakers, as ever, were most grateful for such impact as the success of the English teams
over the previous four seasons had been immensely poor for the bottom line.
Over the weekend, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp insisted that Spurs will spend big in the summer
in a bid to take the club to the next level and hopefully cement a regular place in the Champions
League slots at the very least.
"Everything is in place for the club to keep progressing now, we've got a new training ground
coming, but when it comes down to it, you can have all the facilities in the world, but you have to
keep investing in players," Redknapp said.
In our Untold Awards we have looked at which Arsenal players will break through next season and
hold down regular first team slots.
So let us start trying to get the list down in size... We are talking of players who will really
make some sort of impact next season who were not central this [.
Statistics after the QPR game suggested that Spurs had dominated the match in terms of
possession and in shots at goal. It's a familiar story that stretches back several matches now but
after having been in the top four since September, we are now out of the Champions League slots at
the time when it really matters.
Remember when you were small (or in Chary's case, smaller)? Â Morning break out came the
football, lunch break, out came the football, after school out came the football. At weekends, a
game Saturday morning and another in the afternoon, often playing until dark in summer.
Remember when you were small (or in Chary's case, smaller)? Â Morning break out came the
football, lunch break, out came the football, after school out came the football. At weekends, a
game Saturday morning and another in the afternoon, often playing until dark in summer.
Last time out against Bolton was a tough game. Ben Arfa slots home his wonder goal against Bolton
last time out And it looked like Newcastle would onl;y draw that game until the 72nd minute,
when Ben Arfa produced some of  that magic of his, and scored that first goal. That's after heÂ
had collected the ball inside his own half, and [.
Papiss Cisse is well aware of what the Newcastle number 9 shirt means. Papiss Cisse slots one
home against Bolton on Monday There have been some excellent strikers down the years wear the
famous number 9 shirt, including Hughie Gallagher, Malcolm MacDonald, Les Ferdinand and of course
Alan Shearer.
Papiss Cisse is well aware of what the Newcastle number 9 shirt means. Papiss Cisse slots one
home against Bolton on Monday There have been some excellent strikers down the years wear the
famous number 9 shirt, including Hughie Gallagher, Malcolm MacDonald, Les Ferdinand and of course
Alan Shearer.
Just after Ben Arfa had scored his first goal for Newcastle yesterday with that mazy run,  he
did it again. Ben Arfa slots the ball home yesterday 1-0 But this time rather than cutting inside
and shooting for goal, he laid it off to Papiss Cisse on his right, but the Senegal man was
offside.
Just after Ben Arfa had scored his first goal for Newcastle yesterday with that mazy run,  he
did it again. Ben Arfa slots the ball home yesterday 1-0 But this time rather than cutting inside
and shooting for goal, he laid it off to Papiss Cisse on his right, but the Senegal man was
offside.
It looked like Newcastle would do no better than a 0-0 draw yesterday at home to Bolton. Ben Arfa
slots in Newcatsle's first goal -Â brilliant! And indeed with just 20 minutes to go it was Bolton
who had missed the better chances, as Chris Eagles after 48 minutes and Mark Davies after 63
minutes had [.
Wednesday night will be a bittersweet send off for Roger Levesque. The Sounder's own version of
a SeaFair Pirate is retiring after the Chelsea match. Roger epitomizes the heart of this team and
he will be missed. But as we reflect on his departure, it is also true that his retirement is an
adjustment to the Sounders roster.
Goodnight, sweet prince.Let's cut the crap Toronto FC. We know what you're up to and
yes, we're taking it personally. You aren't making personnel moves based on talent, roster size,
salary cap or international slots. No... you wily devils are trying to destroy the TFC blog
industry one pun at a time!
I feel like we've been in this situation before. 270 minutes away from a championship for Sporting
KC and facing a team from a lower division, sound familiar? It should, last year, KC was 270
minutes away when they met up with the Richmond Kickers at the quarterfinals. KC controlled the
game, but couldn't find the net and after a weather delay, Sporting KC fell 2-0 ending their Open
Cup run short.
