3-18-11

Seattle Sounders signed a true #10 today, the MLS reserve league is back and starts this weekend, here is Seattle's reserve schedule.

He wasn't cut, he didn't leave, it was a mutual agreement to go their separate ways (Kind of like a bad first date, you never call back!)

Now that the MLS has kicked off it's new season here is "Ten Things to Look For"

One current US national team player has a link to Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2009 Spain was on a 35 game unbeaten streak, then they played the USA.

This weekends Soccer on TV and the "Top 10 Matches to Watch" (all times eastern)


Goals of the Week



As anyone who has ever experienced one will know, a soccer match in England is not for the fainthearted. Even in these safer, more sanitary days, you'll still hear things shouted from the anonymity of the crowd that you might not hear over the dinner table. And that's a wonderful thing.


Total Skills Vol. 31



American Soccer has struggled at the national team level, Rongen (U20 coach) and Bradley (National team coach) subscribe to completely different systems and instruct players in distinctive ways. While the youth coach does sufficiently prepare players for the next level, there is a gap in ideology between the two tacticians that epitomizes the difficulty taking each step higher in the U.S. national team setup creates for players


Liverpool 0 – Braga 0 (Europa League, March 17, 2011)



Sometimes Refs like to exert their authority on the game and sometimes it is a good thing, in one case it was not. A Ref forced teams in Brazil to play a game on a field that was flooded by an overran sewer pipe, needless to say it was a "Shitty game"


Manchester City 1 – Dynamo Kiev 0 (Agg. 1-2) (Europa League last 16 second-leg, March 17, 2011)



"The Little Pea" is causing a big stir in Manchester, his play in the FA Cup and Champions League has been strong and full of quality. For $6million dollars Sir Alex has found another gem. Speaking of Sir Alex, he will be watching with the fans for the next 5 games!


Villarreal 2 – Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Agg. 5-3) (Europa League last 16 second-leg, March 17, 2011



Growing up I played it and the game was called Muff (not what your thinking but I played that one too!) it was a juggling game and you passed the ball around and if you had the last touch before it hit the ground you got a letter and when you had MUFF you had the ball kicked from 12 yards at your ass as you bent over on the goal line.


Rangers 0 – PSV 1 (Agg. 0-1) (Europa League last 16 second-leg, March 17, 2011)



The team that won the 1995 Champions League Final had Seedorf, Riijkaard, Davids, Kluivert, De Boer Twins, Van Der Sar, Danny Blind, Bogarde, and Reizinger. 10 out of the 18 players played for Dutch national team. Clarence Seedorf was part of that 1995 team and went on to win 3 more Champions League Finals with 2 different teams, you can say he has seen the changes in European Football.


FC Porto 2 – CSKA Moscow 1 (Agg. 3-1) (Europa League last 16 second-leg, March 17, 2011)



The "Silly Season" in soccer is when the transfer window opens and closes, those 45-60 days can get silly because teams splash cash on players it hopes of creating a winning team, and as we all know that doesn't always seem to work! But sometimes it does, lets look at the "Top Signings so far"


PSG 1 – Benfica 1 (Agg. 2-3) (Europa League last 16 second-leg, March 17, 2011)



Rio could be out as England Captain, now it looks as if he will be out for the remainder of the season with Manchester United and possibly soccer all together!


Spartak Moscow 3 – Ajax 0 (Agg. 4-0) (Europa League last 16 second-leg, March 17, 2011)



In Russia recently a soccer player came out with a story about being beaten because he wouldn't tear up his contract, there seems to be some legitimacy to his story but I have a feeling we will never get the whole truth and nothing but the truth!!


Zenit St. Petersburg 2 – FC Twente 0 (Agg. 2-3) (Europa League last 16 second-leg, March 17, 2011)




The Champions League quarter-final draw is:

Real Madrid v Tottenham

Inter Milan v Schalke 04

Chelsea v Man United

Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk

***

Knee-jerk reactions

Real Madrid v Spurs: Real Madrid will be grinning from ear to ear, and there is little reason to think that Jose Mourinho’s men won’t progress past Tottenham. Spurs, having faced Inter Milan, AC Milan and now Los Blancos, have arguably been glued to the short straw in this season’s Champions League. The Lilywhites may have triumphed up until this point, but facing the Special One’s charges is a massive, daunting task.

As always, though, Spurs fans will believe that Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon will have the beating of their respective full-backs Sergio Ramos and Marcelo. Rafael van der Vaart will also have plenty to prove against his former employers. On the other hand, with Ronaldo, Carvalho, Alonso and Mourinho in their ranks, it’s unlikely that Real will be under-prepared for the Londoners.

Inter Milan v Schalke 04: Inter have been rewarded for beating Bayern Munich with yet another tie against German opponents. Schalke are the team that everyone wanted to face.

Struggling in the Bundesliga, Schalke are generally considered to have overreached in this competition and few will be backing Raul and his cohorts to progress much further. Particularly against a team that has the likes of Lucio, Sneijder and Eto’o to choose from.

How Leonardo has managed to revive the fortunes of the Nerazzurri remains somewhat of a mystery. But once again Inter appear to have had Lady Luck shine down on them.

Chelsea v Manchester United: In a repeat of the 2008 Champions League final, both Premier League outfits will believe they can advance into the semi-finals. This, arguably, leaves this as the tightest tie of the final eight.

Perhaps Chelsea will be the happier of the two sides. The Blues have struggled for large swaths of the season, and if they had faced a Real or a Barca, one would suspect that the Pensioners may have folded. But Manchester United hold no hoodoo over the Blues, as Chelsea proved when they beat them in the league only recently.

At the same time, Sir Alex will be left in little doubt that his team can advance into the final four.

Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk: The real question here is who did better, as Shaktar actually have a good record against the Catalans.

A simple flick through the history books reveals that back in the 2008 competition the Ukrainians won 3-2 in the Nou Camp, while back in 2004 Donetsk chalked up yet another win over Barca with a comfortable 2-nil home triumph. Times may have changed, but that is equally true for both teams.

Since their last face-off Shakthar have won the Uefa Cup and strengthened their side with the likes of Jadson, Douglas Costa, Luiz Adriano, Alex Teixeira and Willian in their starting eleven. This gaggle of Brazilians are more then just a group of highly paid football mercenaries. The have gelled into a hugely impressive unit who, after dumping out Roma, need to be taken very very seriously.

That said, Barcelona are widely regarded as the best football team on the planet. Few will believe that Barcelona will be beaten in this quarter-final