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Evening Ticker: Kreis suspended, Swansea set for Whitbread bid, and more

Jason Kreis (ISIphotos.com) 

                                                                   Photo by ISIphotos.com

Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis is facing yet another suspension following his latest ejection from a match.

The fiery coach was handed an additional game to his one-game suspension for being ejected from Real Salt Lake's July 24th match vs. FC Dallas. His actions leading up to the ejection, as well as his track record of being ejected from matches, led MLS to issue Kreis an additional $3000 fine.

The suspension means Kreis will miss Real Salt Lake's upcoming matches vs. the Chicago Fire and the Seattle Sounders.

In other MLS disciplinary news, Seattle Sounders midfielder Freddie Ljungberg was fined $500 for failing to leave the field in a timely manner following his ejection during Seattle's 0-0 tie last Sunday. Ljungberg was issued a yellow card for a dive, and a second yellow card for dissent.

Here are some other stories to round out your Friday:

Swansea bids for Whitbread

Welsh club Swansea is lining up a team-record bid for American defender Zak Whitbread, who is up for sale by current club Millwall.

Millwall had accepted a £700,000 bid for Whitbread from Peterborough United, but the deal fell through after Whitbread and Peterborough couldn't agree on Whitbread's salary.

Whitbread is coming off a strong season that saw Millwall come very close to promotion to the English First Division. West Brom, Nottingham Forest and Doncaster Rovers, all First Division clubs, are reportedly in the running for the former U.S. Under-23 defender.

Villa, Juventus win Peace Cup semis

Goals from Emile Heskey and Steve Sidwell helped Aston Villa top FC Porto, 2-1, in the Peace Cup semifinals. U.S. national team goalkeeper Brad Guzan started in goal for Villa, and American defender Eric Lichaj got the start at right back for the Villans.

Aston Villa will now face Juventus in the Peace Cup final. Juve defeated Real Madrid, 2-1, in the other semifinal. Fabio Cannavaro scored the opener against his former club while Hasan Salihamidzic scored the game-winner for the Italian club. Cristiano Ronaldo scored Real Madrid's goal via penalty kick.

Ticket sales surpass 80,000 for LA Galaxy/Barcelona friendly

With more than 80,000 tickets already sold, organizers are expecting a crowd of more than 85,000 for the Los Angeles Galaxy's friendly vs. FC Barcelona at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California (11pm, Fox Soccer Channel). Additional tickets have gone on sale, meaning you can still get seats to watch the world's best club team face the Galaxy.

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That's all for now. What do you think of these stories? Is Kreis officially the Rasheed Wallace of MLS coaches? Think Swansea is a good club for Whitbread? Happy to see two Americans starting for Aston Villa?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. @ ThaDeuce you also forgot about Freddy Adu “playing” @ Benfica. Another kid wasting his youth pulling splinters out of his bum.

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  2. @ ThaDeuce….Altidore may have a contract with Villareal, but he isn’t playing. I almost wish the rumor of him going to Greece were true. The kid needs playing time.

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  3. Also, Villa’s game against Juventus will be shown on GolTV tomorrow at 4:00 (eastern, I think). Good chance to see Lichaj and Guzan play.

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  4. Lichaj has started all three of Villa’s games in the Peace Cup because Luke Young is injured. Lichaj has looked decent enough, but he has gotten turned inside out more than once. I reckon that he’ll make the squad but don’t expect him to play much this season. One for the future.

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  5. Don’t bad on Kreis. While he isn’t the most tactical coach in MLS, he does appears to be the most passionate. He is spot on A-ok in my book.

    I think he likes skilled players that is why his team is a possession oriented passing team. Except Olave and he is just a brute! Oh, and Findley, but he has mad speed. Oh, and Yura can’t keep his shots on frame, but he keeps shooting.

    Id say Mathis, Espindola, Morales, Beckerman make up one of the most pass-possession oriented teams in MLS. Ever see RSL counterattack? Nope, not much.

    It is funny that Kreis is getting bit by the rule he supported, even when he was one of the most banned coaches the last 2 years. He must have felt like his punishment wasn’t enough and needed more of a spanking making him a BDSM coach bc he new he was going to get suspended this season.. again.. and again.!

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  6. According to Wikipedia: Whitbread was born in Houston (1984) but spent most of his life living in Liverpool where he began playing for the youth teams at age 8. He also lived in Singapore for five years where his Dad was the coach of the National Team there.

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  7. If we had more of Kreis in the league, the league would fold! He’s a very boring coach who seems to dislike skilled players.

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  8. FYI,

    Brad Guzan had a nice performance for Villa yesterday vs Porto. Porto banged in a PK in extra time, but BG had a few highlight saves.

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  9. Lichaz, Jemal Johnson, and Anton Peterlin (Sp?) would have been nice additions to the Gold Cup side. Better than Jay heaps and Logan Pause at least.

    Hopefully there is a friendly or WC qualifier they can get into after we qualify

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  10. lol, thaDuece………..”poumpous d-bag” you relize every person on this board is a poumpous d-bag since we critize players all the time……Duece your getting bent out of shape over nothing!

    As for whitBread,yes he should be called in…..im sorry but after watching players like Jay heaps and our MLS players on this Gold Cup team..im starting to think we over-hype MLS way too much. How does anybody know if Zak whitbread and Jemal Johnson arent better than What we saw vs Mexico? we dont and i think it sucks we have this cut-off line that anybody below the CCC in England aint USMNT worthy..but sorry to break the news…….MLS is about high League 1 Level. Jemal Johnson scored 3 30+yard bombs with his oppisite foot, racked about what 7 goals and 15 assists this season and yet no US call for the “C” team.

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  11. @ThaDeuce

    No,no,no! You can’t take it back!

    You are no longer a cool kid.

    I know there are definitely a few pompous a*ses that post here. Now we know two of them by name. I sometimes forget my own phone number. I hate to think what you guys would say about me.

    I was beginning to think we would never see Whitbread anywhere near big time soccer. He started at the top and just went down hill until he was almost out of sight. Remember when he was with Liverpool, Cooper was with Man. UTD, and another young American player was with Arsenal at the same time? I forget the Arsenal player even though I did know who it was. (Everyone can pile on now!)

    Isn’t Whitbread the guy who is really like 99% English? I thought I remembered reading that he was born in Texas(?) as a baby and then was in England the rest of his life and didn’t even visit the U.S. until he played on the youth squad for the first time?

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  12. Good to see lichajgetting mins. Having only read bout him will be good to hopefully see him play. Plus until now I had feared him a washout candidate. I don’t recall any youth NT callups? If he gets mins this year he has to go to SA ahead of Heyduk..no?

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  13. @MC,
    Of course I know which team Spector plays for, I watched him play last year and have cheered for him ever since he started getting called into the national team. As evidence, I posted this earlier today:
    “Wow, I just thought of something. We probably have the most first team USMNT players playing in the first division of Europe ever:
    Clint Dempsey, Fulham, Premier League
    Jonathon Spector, West Ham, Premier League
    Tim Howard, Everton, Premier League
    Oguchi Onyewu,,A.C., Serie A
    Ricardo Clark, Livorno, Serie A
    Carlos Bocanegra, Stade Rennais, Ligue 1
    Charlie Davies, Sochaux, Ligue 1
    Michael Bradley, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bundesliga
    Jozy Altidore, Villareal, La Liga

    That is 9 USMNT starters playing in the first division in Europe. Wow.

    All that is missing from our Starting XI is Landon Donovan, who is sure to go to the first division very, very soon, and Jay Demerit, Watford, Championship.”

    check under the “Cooper sold to 1860″ and you’ll see it right there.
    They are similar squads in the fact that they are in 5th and 6th place in the premier league (the buffer between fulham and the top 4) and we are talking about right backs here. I had no idea we Americans have 2 right backs in the EPL. That is great news.

    And as far as Brian Ching is concerned I think Joamiq said it best (under the Mexico tag)
    ” I’m glad the people who hate Ching identify themselves so easily. It lets me quickly figure out which comments I should ignore.”

    Posted by: Joamiq | July 29, 2009 at 07:44 PM

    However I should have taken his advice and ignored!

    @Harry
    Now, it is true I hadn’t heard of Lichaj. Does that make me a “bad fan?” I think not? I’m excited to hear about another US player to be in a first division Europe side. THAT MAKES 3 RIGHT BACKS FOR TOP DIVISIONS IN EUROPE! That is extremely sick. Does it make you a “pompous d-bag” for insulting a fellow passionate fan of the USMNT because he hadn’t heard of a player on the fringes of Europe and the USMNT (didn’t make the recent gold cup squad)? I’d like to think so~
    ~Thanks GunneRR and Brett.
    Ha, I guess so Pete…..apparently I had people waiting to pounce on me when I said something stupid.

    & @froboy, if he is good enough maybe he could be a 2nd choice right wing. We have tried using left backs as left wings and vice versa, maybe it could work out for him. Lord knows we have right back and center mid covered.

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  14. I’m amazed by the hype that Americans playing in second and third divisions get here-if you’re playing in the second division, you’re not the real deal, sorry. I don’t see why these players ever deserve a call-up when they can’t even get on a squad in the top league, let alone get playing time…

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  15. Since I’ve only seen his name in print…

    How in hell does Eric *pronounce* ‘Lichaj’?

    And, boy, ThaDeuce, I guess people thought you needed a smackdown, huh?

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  16. Give TheDeuce a break… anyone could have made that mistake. Villa and West Ham have similar looking uniforms.

    I also have no problem mentioning that I missed the boat on Lichaj. If he is getting regular minutes for Villa that is huge. Mostly because it means Frankie Hejduk and Marvel Wynne out. After Spector, Lichaj, and Cherundolo we don’t need any other right backs.

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  17. Why doesn’t Whitbread get a call up? The guy can play. I saw him twice at Milwall last year – rough joint- and he was as good or better then anyone we have as a 2nd choice back 3. (he’s right footed sadly)

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  18. Swansea sounds like a good fit for Whitbread. The club is thriving and has seen a lot of success with players from CONCACAF before. Trinidadian Jason Scotland was on the PFA Team of the year in both league 1 and the Championship with Swansea and scored 20+ goals each year. He just moved to Premiership side Wigan.

    Also Gio Savaresse was a popular player there after leaving the Metrostars.

    If the move goes through don’t be surprised to see Whitbread playing in the Premiership in the next couple years.

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  19. MC/Harry — a little full of yourselves, eh?

    Not everyone who reads/posts to SBI is as brilliant as you two.

    I’d rather make a mistake or two like ThaDeuce than be a pompous d-bag.

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  20. lol, oh man i agree MC, Thaduece dosent know where Spector plays and never even heard of Lichaj…. I thought people on these boards were top-form US fans and know everything………i guess not…….it looks like whatever IVes says/or does is the only truth!

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  21. Lichaj always plays right back for Villa. It’s definitely going to be fun to my villans play Juve and Fiorentina in the same month.

    UP THE VILLA

    P.S. MON, sign some players!!!

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  22. any word what position Lichaj played today, know he can play in the middle or on the right, as far as the national team goes we could certainly use more guys that can play outside

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  23. Lichaj is a versatile 20-year-old fullback who signed with Villa in 2007 after one season at North Carolina. He was a fixture in the reserves in 2008-2009 and is expected to be a squad player this season. Can also play in midfield.

    Trained with the U.S. ahead of the qualifiers this summer and the Confederations Cup as a non-roster player (Bradley needed a player to fill out the squad for training sessions).

    And, because this is asked a lot, no, he isn’t eligible for the U-20 World Cup team as he turns 21 this November.

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  24. I can’t believe I’m arguing the merits of Brian Ching with you when you don’t even know what team Spector plays on. A real authority on US Soccer there.

    Yikes

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  25. do appearances with u-23 or any non-senior teams count for the eligibility to change which national team you play for?

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  26. sounds like Guzan had a great game and people are asking MON to let Guzan start a couple games over Friedel this season.

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