Manchester United's roster will include Wayne Rooney for today's UEFA Champions League clash with Rangers, and Sir Alex Ferguson believes Rooney will respond well in his first club match since the public revelations about his infidelity.
Ferguson excluded Rooney from United's weekend fixture against Everton for fear of the striker taking abuse after his personal life became tabloid fodder.
Manchester United should be at full strength to face a Rangers squad that will feature U.S. national team midfielder Maurice Edu.
Here are some other stories from Monday and today to keep your day going:
BC Place to open in June
BC Place, the future home of the MLS expansion Vancouver Whitecaps, is tentatively scheduled to open on June 1, 2011, according to the Vancouver Sun.
The June opening would mean the Whitecaps will have to play the first two months at Empire Field in Vancouver. The date was announced via a hand-written sign outside the construction site in Vancouver.
Russian League switches to Autumn-Spring schedule
The Russian Football Federation has decided to switch to an autumn-spring schedule in order to fall more in line with the other leagues in Europe.
The current Russian schedule is more similar to Major League Soccer, running from March to November. The switch will begin to take place beginning next spring and should be completed for the start of the 2012 season.
FA fines Wolves for yellow cards
The FA has slapped Wolverhampton Wanderers with a 75,000 pound fine after the squad accumulated 14 yellow cards over the course of two matches.
Under the current guidelines, clubs are fined 25,000 pounds for recieving six yellow cards in a match. The penalty is upped to 50,000 for a second offense. Wolves recieved seven a piece in their matches against Newcastle United and Fulham. It was during the Fulham match that a Karl Henry tackle sidelined Fulham striker Bobby Zamora for four months with a broken ankle.
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What do you think of these developments? See Rooney having a big game today? Hoping Russia's decision makes MLS think about changing its calendar?
Share your thoughts below.
Yeah. 5 year deal with BC Place
It’s still gonna be f*ckin turf though
The ironic thing is that Kenwyne Jones from Stoke was tackled from behind by Henry and had to leave the game beacuse of ligament damage. There was no foul or card on the play. In how many games this year with Wolves has the best player of the opposing team gotten a nice tackle from behind? All of them?
He got a red card in his most recent reserve game for what was supposedly a “bizarre” call. I read that in an article about his little brother in Soccer America.
Exactly this. The “International Calendar” would not work in Salt Lake, Colorado, New England, Chicago, Kansas City, and Columbus, at the very least.
The rich teams do, yes. The poorer ones– read, most– still use grass, and they need a summer schedule to make that work.
Brazil plays in summer. Lots of South American leagues do. The “International Calendar” really isn’t as big a deal as people make of it.
GM Place will be called Rogers Arena from now on. So, someone is listening to you.
Someone else asked about the Waterfront Stadium. The two barriers are a land use agreement with the Federal government regarding the Port, and the City approving development and zoning plans for the project. The Whitecaps claim to be committed to the project for the long run (per their web site.)
Don’t they also have a 5-year deal with BC Place?
Only thing I can see holding Vancouver back from having the crowds Seattle does is if BC Place has the flexibility with seating configurations that Qwest does. Based on the illustrations I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem so (it looks like either 24k or 55k with no in-between…someone correct me if I’m wrong).
Soccer in the US would not be a good idea to have run Autumn to Spring. It would be doable in SEA, Port, and Vancouver, although ti would likely be wet. Conditions would be like England. There is no way it would fly in the midwest or east coast.
+1
LOL!
My suprise is at the fact that I had never heard of a fine like this one previously and there have defenitely been teams before that fouled and received cards regularily.
I think it is deserved and a good thing. I am just suprised I have never heard of it before.
are you surprised because you didn’t know the rule, or didn’t think they deserved it? They drew 2 consecutive games of more than 6 cards which requires a punishment. I don’t think this has anything to do with internationals and everything to do with thuggery
they’re going to take a long, long winter break, and it will basically make MLS the last standing league not on the international calendar. Many Russian teams already have artificial fields anyway
Waterfront Stadium is still in red tape hell and hasn’t been approved.
Max capacity for MLS games will be 24k I believe.
“Pre-madonna”? So you mean that Wayne Rooney’s real name is Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone?
honestly, i don’t believe that crap from Fergie about keeping Rooney out to save him from abuse. he’s a professional footballer, and he has taken ridicule from somebody at some point in his career. i think he has the strength of character to keep his composure from some rowdy Toffees, even if he is a scumbag pre-madonna
The stadium is scheduled to REopen — “In April 2010 the stadium was closed for renovations for the installation of a new retractable roof, to be completed by mid- to late-2011.”
Suprised by the fine to Wolves. As I said in another thread yesterday they had a clear strategy of fouling attacking players in the Fulham match but you would think then if this was the norm that Stoke would be bankrupt by now. I wonder if the FA is more or less saying don’t hurt potential england international (Zamora) anymore.
Almost every team there will have to switch to artificial surfaces.
I’ve been through a Russian winter, and this decision boggles the mind. The expense incurred to smaller teams in order to make the switch will be prohibitive.
so is Vancouver playing in Empire Stadium for a few games, then BC Place, then Waterfront Stadium? when is that expected? Any reason they won’t be able to draw like Seattle has?
Is it just me or has there been a lot of hacking fouls in the EPL so far this season? Reminds me of some MLS players.
No one complaining about MLS’ schedule and how it needs to mimic Europe’s?! Quite happy about that!
The MLS schedule is perfect for North America. Playing in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, DC, Toronto, NY, Chicago in the Fall would be terrible and attendance would suck.
That said, I think one of the main reasons MLS has failed in the South is because of the heat and humidity in the Summer.
They do draw a lot of fans but 55K week in and out is very unlikely. Wouldn’t mind it though from an MLS stand point!
Looks like Wayne may have had some Captain Morgan prior to that photo…
Who cares what they call it? Have you seen the website for the stadium? It looks pretty incredible. The website says it can seat 55,000. I wonder how many spectators they’ll draw for MLS games.
problem is that Galaxy management can’t get the three supporters groups to agree to sit in the same part of the stadium and sing the same songs together…-hence the atmosphere sucks…
Last I heard, in doing a quick Google search, is that he is playing, but not close the level he was at before, in terms of explosiveness, etc. Apparently, there is still time for improvement, but alas, he may never be the same as pre-accident CD9 :/. I hope this is not the case though…!
Wow. It is going to be quite a cold season for Russian footballers and supporters… I would hate to be them…!
As a random sidenote, has anyone noticed that when watching games or highlights of LA Galaxy, there seems to be a WHOLE LOT of women and/or children in the crowd??? The atmosphere is a lot different than, say, Seattle. At least that’s the feeling I get when I watch LA Galaxy play. I think I’d personally prefer to play in front of a crowd like Seattle. It just sounds better. Thoughts? Hope that’s not sexist, lol.
Thanks for all the updates Ives and co. Great stuff.
Does anyone know the latest on Charlie Davies?
What is it with Vancouver teams playing in “______ Place”? Canucks play in GM Place, now BC Place . . . how about “Arena” or “Stadium” or “Field”?