Good morning everybody. There should be plenty to discuss today as we head into a second straight day of CONCACAF Champions League and as we move a day closer to a busy weekend. I will be looking to post another portion of the most recent Q&A, as well as a detailed interview with Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio where he offers up his thorough take on why the Red Bulls (or any other MLS club for that matter) haven’t graduated any academy players to the first team.
For now, let’s get started with the morning ticker, which is heavy on the CONCACAF Champions League action:
Dynamo draw in Panama
The Houston Dynamo played a short-handed squad in advance of a seriously loaded schedule and came away with a road point after tying San Francisco FC, 0-0, in its first CONCACAF Champions League match.
The Dynamo played without regular starters Dwayne DeRosario and Brian Ching in the lineup (both came on as late subs) and saw few quality chances. Houston, which had its first CONCACAF Champions League match postponed due to Hurricane Ike, takes on UNAM Pumas next week in its next group match.
Puerto Rico wins again, upsets Santos Laguna
The Puerto Rico Islanders just keep on winning. The underdog Islanders knocked off Mexican powerhouse Santos Laguna, 3-1, in a CONCACAF Champions League game marred by heavy rain that waterlogged the field. The win comes a week after Puerto Rico upset Guatemalan power CD Municipal. Now the USL club sits on six points, good for first place in its CONCACAF Champions League group.
UEFA to discuss Poland/Ukraine hosting Euro 2012
UEFA, Europe’s governing soccer body, is set to discuss Poland and Ukraine’s status as co-hosts for the 2012 European Championships as well as consider the possibility of expanding the field to 24 teams.
Could the countries lose the tournament? It sounds as though UEFA will stand by Poland and Ukraine, but with countries such as Germany and Spain eager to host a major tournament, don’t be surprised if UEFA pulls the plug if progress on stadium construction isn’t satisfactory.
Some light reading
- Yahoo’s Martin Rogers with a profile of the most wanted man in MLS, Kansas City’s Peter Vermes.
- Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune with a great piece on Sven-Goran Erikkson’s transition as Mexico’s national team manager.
- The Washington Post with the latest on a potential D.C. United stadium in Prince George’s County, Maryland (or as the folks on The Wire call it, PG County).
That’s all for now. What do you think of the above stories? Disappointed to see the Dynamo tie (and MLS remain winless in the competition)? Shocked to see Puerto Rico keep on rolling? Think UEFA will pull Euro 2012 out of Poland and Ukraine?
Share your thoughts below.
Dynamo draw at Panama without their top players starting is a good result. Vale, vale, vale Dynamo.
What’s the damn excuse this time for MLS failure outside of the $uperliga? Is Xenu plotting against MLS this time? *_*
It was really raining hard here in PR, which must of been a factor, but Lets go Islanders. I completely agree with groovester.
New Carrolton would not be the best choice for a stadium in PG… it’d be Greenbelt. Take a ride up the green line and you’ll already see a ton of construction right off the metro line. You have U or Md, I-495/95, a large Hispanic population. Granted, the study does not pick a location, but if Greenbelt is not the #1 choice, I’d be shocked. Expect Metro to extend the yellow line from NoVa up to Greenbelt on game days. Perfecto.
Frank:
That chip was ridiculous and I had to watch it a few times because I couldn’t believe it.
As a Mexican I know it’s going to be hard for Vela to produce for the national team the way he is doing it for Arsenal because our midfield is nowhere near as dominating and won’t get him as many balls as the young midfield players for the Gunners can.
Still, Vela was awesome yesterday and I’m happy for him, he’s the most humble guy I’ve ever seen. It’ll be hard for US fans to hate him.
🙂
@groovester: Your relegation/promotion table looks great. Fat chance we’ll ever see it though. Which MLS owner wants their hard-earned investment dropping to an “inferior league”…?
BTW, Dynamo drawing in Panama with their “B” team is not a bad result….
The PR Islanders / Santos match was unbelievable — the ball didn’t hardly roll for the entire first half and both sides were punting it trying to keep it on the other side of the field while players were falling all over the place.
On the bright side, the huge puddles seemed to keep Santos’ players from diving…
I wouldn’t have chosen Altidore over Vela, but as a gunner and a USMNT supporter, I have to say the goal keeper was definitely at fault on at least one of those goals.
The chip was class, but one of the goals scored went right underneath the keeper’s arm when he went down to block/grab the ball! That is shocking!!
In a better world
MLS
Columbus 47
New England 42
Houston 39
Chicago 38
New York 35
D.C. United 33
Chivas USA 33
Kansas City 32
Colorado 31
Real Salt Lake 31
FC Dallas 30
—————————
Los Angeles 29
San Jose 29
Toronto FC 27
________________________________
USL
Puerto Rico 54
Vancouver 53
Montreal 42
—————————-
Rochester 41
Charleston 40
Seattle 40
Minnesota 39
Carolina 37
Miami 34
Atlanta 34
Portland 31
There would be some interesting relegation/promotion battles going on in the next few weeks.
PR never Played Municipal Ives….
Thanks for the “light reading” section Ives. I’m always looking for good articles. Please keep it up.
Christian, have you seen Vela’s actual goals yesterday? Unreal talent!
PR Islanders beat Alajuelense of Costa Rica in the first round, the Municipal.
If Montreal beats Atlante tonight I might have to concede that the USL is the top league in North America. O.k. not really………but this is getting ridiculous.
New Carrollton is five stops past RFK on the Orange line. Five whole stops. Added metro trip time of 14 minutes. It’s inside the beltway, and near the BW Parkway. It’s not exactly like putting a stadium out by Nissan Pavilion. I mean, it’s not ideal, but it looks like the fiasco that is the Washington Nationals Experience is going to make a DC stadium an impossibility, and in that case, a stadium that’s on the metro and inside the beltway is about as good as it’s going to get.
That PR-Santos game was a joke. Players trying to dribble up the field only for the ball to just sit still in a pool of muddy water.
Unreal.
hey Ives, would you still take Altidore over Vela?
LOL
Seems like pulling the tourney away from Poland and The Ukraine with 4 years to go is premature. If this were 2010, I’d understand that better as Spain and Germany wouldn’t need much notice to be able to handle a tourney of this scale.
And Germany just had WC 2006, so I’d like to see some of these other countries a fair shake.
And good for Puerto Rico. Nice to see an underdog knocking off some big teams.
As a former resident of the DC Area and former United season-ticket holder, I can say that the absolute worst place to put a new stadium is out in New Carrolton. The fan base for the team is centered in the huge hispanic communities of Northern Virgina. Most of the area’s soccer watching public of any ethnicity is there. New Carrolton is at the very end of the Metro and is a longish trip from the city and from Arlington. It is a nightmare to get there by car….it’s just a bad idea.
If DC keeps the team in the city, Southeast is not a great place but it is preferable to Maryland.
how many more times can MLS teams suck in the CCL? Whats the over-under for # of games before an MLS team gets a win? I’d go with 4 more.