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Morning Ticker: Blanco leads Fire to SuperLiga final, Estudiantes wins Copa and more

BlancoFreeKick (Reuters)  

The Chicago Fire moved one step closer to silverware on Wednesday night, riding a Cuauhtemoc Blanco free kick to knock off the New England Revolution, 2-1, in the SuperLiga semifinals.

The victory means the Fire will now face Mexican side Tigres in the SuperLiga final. Tigres defeated Santos Laguna, 3-2, in the second semifinal at Gillette Stadium. The SuperLiga final is set for Aug. 5 at Toyota Park.

Here is Blanco's free kick, which may have fooled Matt Reis just a bit (as you can tell by the above photo):

Here are some other stories to get your day going:

Estudiantes wins Libertadores

Juan Sebastian Veron and Estudiantes won the Copa Libertadores final, defeating Cruzeiro, 2-1, on Wednesday night. The title is the club's first Libertadores championship since Veron's father helped Estudiantes win three Libertadores trophies almost 40 years ago. I think it's safe to say he doesn't regret his decision to snub D.C. United and stay with Estudiantes.

Lucio heading to Inter

Brazilian central defender Lucio is leaving Bayern Munich after five years and will join Jose Mourinho and Inter Milan on a transfer. The Brazilian national team captain, and the man who broke American hearts with his game-winning header in the Confederations Cup final vs. the USA, will join Inter on its tour of the United States.

Transfer tidbits

Here are some other transfers that may have missed your radar:

Maxwell to Barcelona

Jason Scotland to Wigan

Barry Ferguson to Birmingham

Bobby Zamora to Hull City

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These are just some of the stories circulating today. Please feel free to share your own thoughts on these stories in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. @Posted by: revsfanindc | July 16, 2009 at 05:27 PM

    If your team ‘completely outplays’ a team for 88/90 minutes and goes down 2-1 in the 63rd and can’t find an equalizer, it’s time to pack up and go home.
    Sorry. A team can outplay another team and get nipped at the end for a draw but you don’t ‘COMPLETELY outplay’ someone and lose the game midway through the second half.

    Anyway, Blanco’s goal was pretty pretty. From the side it looked like Reis just f’ed up but from the angle behind the goal you get a sense of how nasty the spin on that was. Can’t blame Reis at all for that really. Looked like a golfer hitting a vicious draw shot.

    Reply
  2. “revsfanindc”

    Doesn’t that mean you should actually spontaneously combust?

    And no, the Fire weren’t outplayed for 88 minutes, it’s just that your team and your green concrete don’t scare our team anymore.

    Here’s looking (down the standings) at you kid.

    Reply
  3. Like there was ever any doubt the Fire would win

    Posted by: martha c | July 16, 2009 at 01:19 PM

    Well, at least until the Revs completely outplayed them for about 88 mins.

    Reply
  4. The most exciting thing about last night is that I found that I am able to listen to english audio on Fox Sports Espanol. The game was good, too, but I’m seriously giddy about being able to listen to at least some games in English.

    Reply
  5. And it looks like Maurice Edu is the man to beat in the central midfield at Ibrox. They obviously have a ton of confidence in him by selling Ferguson to Birmingham, for a measly $2 million by the way.

    Also, if Jozy stays at Villareal, it will be the first time the U.S. has a professional soccer player on the first team in each major European league (italy, germany, spain, france, and england).

    Posted by: DC Josh | July 16, 2009 at 11:05 AM

    DC Josh I wouldn’t flatter Edu too much. He had a great ending to the season but the whole reason they sold him was because of the whole “v” sign thing. Remember? Although I’m sure Walter Smith isn’t breaking a sweat over this knowing he’s got Mo.

    Reply
  6. I’m Brazilian but have to commend Estudiantes’ performance in front of 65,000 Cruzeiro fans.

    They stuck to their game plan and executed it very well. Even when they fell behind by a goal…

    Congratulations!

    Reply
  7. Hello guys did anyone saw the Superliga Tigres Vs. Santos. Well Edgar Castillo was playing with Tigres and he payed a good game plus he did had an assist and few other plays that turn to be Goals plus the last assist was a wonderful pass I hope to see that with Altidore, Davis, Donovan or even Freaking Ching. Anyways for those who haven’t seen Castillo played check the game coming up Chicago Fire vs. Tigres even tho I want an MLS team to win.

    Reply
  8. Sounds like Bristol City is interested in Kenny Cooper to replace Dele Adebola.

    That would be a pretty good move for Cooper, as Bristol have a decent team and need a goal-scorer to play alongside Maynard…

    Posted by: Satellite

    Bristol City?

    Puhlease!!! He’s better off staying put. Cooper going to Bristol City would be a lousy ass move.

    Reply
  9. YA is reporting that Sal Zizzo has a heart condition that nearly nixed his loan to Fortuna from Hannover… Dusseldorf doctors said he shouldn’t play football, Hannover docs said he could.

    Does this check out Ives? Anything more?

    Reply
  10. Aj and Dononvan are the same kind of player, in that they are of the same stature. Both have lots of pace and have a high workrate on offense and defence. Johnson rarely takes the penalty shots for Fulham, Murphy is money from the penalty spot. And yes it seems a lot of Donovans LA and Nats goals come from penaltys. I hope the Nats give someone else a shot at free kicks and corners because Donovans service is poor a lot of the time, though he is money as well from the penalty spot.

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  11. That was probably one of the easiest goals of Blanco’s career. I don’t know if it was New England’s fault or just ball placement. But the ball was far enough away from the goal to make the wall a non-issue, he could have closed his eyes and put that in the back of the net.

    I know Reis is very good (for MLS, anyway) but I kind of want to blame him. He’s hugging the far post on a ball where the wall was completely meaningless, he comes off looking awful.

    Reply
  12. Fewer potential midfield starters at Rangers makes more room for Beasley and Edu. Would love to see one or both with a starting role.

    Same idea at Fulham I guess. Fewer options means longer looks at US players like Johnson. Can Jozy go on loan to Fulham? Hes too much fun to watch for me to have to tune in to the greek super league.

    Reply
  13. Sounds like Hodgson is not keen on the Zamora sale but it is too good of a fee to pass up. 5mil for a striker who only scored 2 league goals a season after you bought him and your starting right back for less than 5mil. No brainer!

    Looks like EJ will get some time this year to prove he is Prem worthy. He has had a good pre-season so far. Lets see if he continues to get time once all the first teamers come back. Dempsey, Hangeland, Kamara, Davies, and Konchesky all didn’t go on tour for varying reasons.

    I think, depsite his poor goal tally, they will need to bring in a target man if they sell Bobby. None of the other strikers can hold up the ball like Bobby and create space for AJ who has no vertical ability to speak of.

    Also the idea of Donovan to Fulham, I think personally, is laughable. They would never pay the MLS fee and on top of that AJ is practicially the same kind of player.

    Reply
  14. And it looks like Maurice Edu is the man to beat in the central midfield at Ibrox. They obviously have a ton of confidence in him by selling Ferguson to Birmingham, for a measly $2 million by the way.

    Also, if Jozy stays at Villareal, it will be the first time the U.S. has a professional soccer player on the first team in each major European league (italy, germany, spain, france, and england).

    Reply
  15. Watched the final match of the Uraguayan Championship won by Nacional over Defensor Sporting last night on GolTV. I was just happy there was a live soccer match on. It was really cool, though, to see the fans celebrating the championship in a country where soccer truly means a lot to most people. They were going crazy, jumpimg up and down, setting off flares in the stands, waving flags and singing! It gave me goosebumps. If only we could witness that kind of enthusiasm for the game here……

    Reply
  16. Good to see Edgar Castillo put away Dirty Sanchez. Will the Superliga final be televised on Telefutura? It will be the first chance for myself to see Castillo play.

    Hopefully Eddie can setp into that role to help Fulham. Him and Andy Johnson could work well together, with lots of speed. Unfortunately, Eddie isn’t a possession striker.

    I hope he continues to progress nonetheless.

    Reply
  17. Zamora leaving opens the door for a Donovan to Fulham winter transfer…
    …not that he’s committed to LAG or anything.

    OR…Altidore on Loan? Hmm.

    But Hodgson won’t pull those triggers. It looks like Al-Fayed’s purse strings are a little tight this transfer season.

    Reply
  18. Two moments of quality beat the Revs. Blanco’s ball into the box, past ball-watching defenders, and McBride’s one timer, then Blanco’s free kick. I really liked how Jankauskas plays – besides the obvious target forward qualities, he has some pretty nifty footwork for someone that big. Nyassi frustrates me – he has great speed and some good moves but isn’t good at crossing the ball nor can he seem to get his shots on frame. Tierney does well and is very good at crossing. Alston defended well but gave the ball away too soon too often after winning it. I thought Videira had some good moments too. While a win would’ve been nice, creating that many scoring chances (compared to lately) is a step in the right direction.

    Reply
  19. Hoping maybe Zamora to Hull will increase the chances of Eddie Johnson staying and playing with Fulham this year.

    Though many, myself included, have gone off EJ… he’s still young(ish) and could yet prove us all wrong. I would be glad if he did. We need all the forwards we can get!

    Reply
  20. My thoughts on Zamora leaving would increase EJs chances to climb up the pecking order. He had 3 assists in yesterday’s friendly. You have to admit, having a great pre season so far

    Reply
  21. Sounds like Bristol City is interested in Kenny Cooper to replace Dele Adebola.

    That would be a pretty good move for Cooper, as Bristol have a decent team and need a goal-scorer to play alongside Maynard.

    Stern John is also currently with Bristol, though it appears he doesn’t play much anymore.

    Reply

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