Monthly Archives: June 2010

Missouri State Cup Interrupted By Rain

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While we sweated in the heat and humidity here in Springfield, the State Cup event was interrupted by storms on Saturday. I’ve updated the calendar (to the right) to reflect the new schedule.

U13B: Springfield SC 96/97 lost 0-1 to United SC Cissell early Saturday before the rains arrived. Their afternoon game has been moved to Sunday so they’ll double up on Sunday and hope to move through to the semifinals on Monday.

U14B: Springfield SC 95/96 faces STLSG Premier on Sunday. A point behind KC Futura, the boys need a win to advance since they lost to KC Futura on Friday. Futura needs to tie or lose in their game against Avalon.

U15B: Springfield SC 94/95, who sit atop their group with 6 points from 2 games, go head-to-head with Lou Fusz Red/Williams. The game has been moved to 12:30 pm Sunday. SSC finished first in their First Division Midwest Premier League group this year, going 6-0 while Lou Fusz finished 6th in a different group.

U16B: Springfield SC 93/94 have been eliminated as Lou Fusz Popovic won their third straight game today before the rain. The boys are currently in 2nd and will play against United SC Patton (KC) at 10 am Sunday.

U17B: Springfield SC 92/93 have been eliminated but face Lou Fusz Cooper (former MSU Bear Andy Cooper) who need a big win to advance against STLSG Gold who hold a 4 goal advantage as well as the head-to-head advantage.

U18B: SpringHigh Select finished third in their group, finishing their year with a 0-4 loss to STLSG Blue who finished second.

U19B: Total Demize SC lost 0-4 to STLSG which includes Ryan Moses (SLU/Kickapoo) and Devon Newport (SLU/Glendale). TDSC has one game remaining, against KC Eagles, which has been moved to Tuesday.

These photos are of the Springfield SC 94/95 Boys from the first two days. They are contributed by Duane Moses, whose son Dallas (Catholic) is on the team.

I Know Who Shakira Is Now – Waka Waka, This Time For Africa

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Watch Every Game Of The World Cup At Farmers GastropubAs if I needed another reminder that I’m not 20 anymore… I watched the first two games of the World Cup at Farmer’s Gastropub on Friday in the company of Chris DeRosier. For those not paying attention, Chris is part of a four man team that created TAGsgf.com, a web magazine that targets the same demographic as the departed Springfield Go magazine. Chris came out to offer his readership a slice of World Cup fever by live blogging the games (South Africa vs Mexico and France vs Uruguay). It’s a lively report that once you read it, I’m certain will draw you to Farmer’s Gastropub as well so that you can be immortalized in the same way.

Yeah, I’ve heard of Shakira, I’m not that out of it. Could I pick her out of a lineup? I can now!

The topic came up as I teased Chris for his use of a picture of a very lovely woman, Shakira as I have discovered, for his initial World Cup story. That led me to mention a Tweet I saw Thursday night regarding the World Cup concert – Shakira is the reason for HD. So, courtesy of Chris’ pointer, is more proof. Enjoy!

KC Wizards Capture 3rd Win

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KC Wizards logoThe Wizards broke their 8 game winless streak Thursday evening with a 2-0 win over expansion squad Philadelphia Union at home.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The relief, the absolute jubilation after Thursday night’s 2-0 win over the Philadelpha Union, couldn’t have been any clearer. That feeling is what the Wizards had worked and fought hard for during a fruitless, brutal two-month stretch.

More importantly, Kansas City finally got some of its swagger back after their Thursday night, an event that signified the Wizards taking back control of a season marred by an eight-game winless streak in league play. “We needed this big time,” captain Davy Arnaud said. “It felt like this was a game that can maybe define what direction the season might head.”

Another loss at home would have been a devastating blow to a team that hadn’t tasted victory for exactly two months, when they beat Colorado on April 10, and the lack of results had clearly weighed on the team as bad breaks and silly mistakes stretched the streak longer and longer.

The team now goes on a two week break mandated by Major League Soccer in order to not compete with Group play in the World Cup. The next game will be Saturday June 26th at home against the New York Red Bull.

Springfield SC U15 Boys Win 2nd Game At Missouri State Cup

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Springfield SC 94/95, April 2009

Springfield SC 94/95, April 2009

U15B: Springfield SC defeated STLSG Green by a 3-0 score. They sit atop their group with 6 points and face the second place team, Lou Fusz Red/Williams Saturday for the opportunity to advance to the semifinals. A win or a tie will be sufficient as Lou Fusz has 4 points and a 1-0-1 record.

U14B: Springfield SC lost 1-3 to KCFC Futura who move to the top of the bracket with 4 points and a 1-0-1 record. SSC is in 2nd place with 3 points and a 1-1-0 record. A win over STLSG Premier combined with a KCFC Futura loss or tie will allow them to advance to the semifinals on Sunday.

U16B: Springfield SC beat the Columbia Pride Blue squad 4-2 today to move into second place in the group with 3 points and a 1-1 record. Lou Fusz Gold/Popvic sits atop the group with 6 points and a 2-0 record, including their win over SSC yesterday. With a goal differential of 9, they would need to lose by 9 points for SSC to advance tomorrow.

U17B: Springfield SC lost to group leader STLSG Gold by a 0-1 score today. They are 0-2 after their loss to STLSG Premier yesterday. They play Lou Fusz Cooper (former MSU Bear player Andy Cooper) on Saturday who need a win and a loss by Gold to Premier to advance.

U17B: Total Demize SC lost to Metro Strikers Premier (STL) by a 2-4 score. The loss eliminates them from the tournament with an 0-2 record.

U18B: SpringHigh Select beat the KC Legends 2-1 today to move to 1-1. They are tied with STLSG Blue, who they face tomorrow, with 3 points. SpringHigh will need a win and STLSG Green loss by 10 goals to the Legends to advance to the semifinals on goal differential.

U19B: Demize Scorpions lost to Lou Fusz 0-5 today. Fusz is tied with STLSG with 4 points (matching 1-0-1 records) midway through the round robin play (4 games) that will determine the champion based upon points. Demize face STLSG in their third game.

U19B: STLSG beat the KC Eagles today by a 4-0 score and will play the Demize tomorrow. STLSG includes Springfield natives Devon Newport (SLU/Glendale) and Ryan Moses (SLU/Kickapoo) on their roster.

Watch USA vs England at Farmers Gastropub Springfield

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Bill Griffiths, Farmers Gastropub owner

Bill Griffiths, Farmers Gastropub owner

Enjoyed a great game at Farmers Gastropub this morning and my breakfast. Mmmm good.

Saturday’s game kicks off at 1:30 pm with pre-game at 12:30 pm. Come early and take advantage of the quality locally grown food used in all of the recipes.

The photo at left shows owner Bill Griffiths in front of the ESPN poster noting that you can see every game of the World Cup this year at his British style-pub and restaurant. He’s also got a pair of soccer balls with flags of many of this years World Cup participants that he’s going to give away. You need to visit and leave a business card or fill out a contact card.

Join A Springfield MO World Cup Bracket Predictor

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OK, I broke down and did it. If you want bragging rights, hop over to the ESPN website and sign up for their Bracket Predictor and create your bracket. Then join the group I created – SGFsoccer.com It’s as simple as that, unless you’re the type to agonize over your picks. If that’s the case, create multiple brackets. ESPN has a $5000 grand prize for the overall winner of their contest.

Tracking Your Favorite World Cup Team In Springfield MO

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Drummers play in front of the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg

Drummers play in front of the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg

I’ve already posted about the best place to watch World Cup soccer in Springfield. How about those days when you can’t get to a TV but you want to be able to keep up-to-date live? Especially since I think it’s going to be very difficult to avoid hearing scores before you get home hoping for a delayed screening without knowing the result. There are too many douchebags out there chasing web traffic thinking they are offering a great ‘live’ service by sharing scores on Facebook, Twitter and their websites. So, here are ways to track the games the way you’d like:

Live streaming via the internet: Check out ESPN3.com for high quality video

Mobile live streaming: Haven’t tried this one yet and don’t anticipate it due to lack of service for my iPhone locally but ESPN has mobile TV and you can determine your options based upon wireless provider (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T) AT&T customers have exclusive rights to all of ESPN’s English language mobile World Cup broadcasts. You need to download MobiTV or AT&T mobile TV, and pay the $10 monthly service charge. This will give you access to ESPN Mobile TV. The only problem is that as I noted, AT&T doesn’t offer the service in our region. So it’s a better option for the road warrior than someone locally.

Mobile/Internet via Twitter: This is the best and the worst option sometimes. I live blog High School games because I’m usually the only one there and there is no delayed viewing option. However, I’ve discovered I needed to unsubscribe to most of the soccer feeds I follow because for US games and MLS games, there are several folks all offering the same info and it overwhelms my feed. So if you are using Twitter, I suggest you set up a LIST or better yet, follow the list I set up for World Soccer. You can do this from your client or over the internet. If work has blocked ESPN, you can use this option on your PC or your phone. If you use Twitter, what other folks/feeds are you following related to World Cup 2010?

By the way, there is another advantage to using Twitter – anytime I write an article, it is automatically sent to Twitter providing the title and a link to the story. What a great way to stay up-to-date on the world’s game as its played in Southwest Missouri!

Mobile/Internet vs Match Tracker – the US will provide live reporting via their Match Tracker link

For delayed viewing, ESPN Classic will re-air all 64 matches. Each matchday, between 5 – 11 p.m. the network will present all the matches played earlier that day. Doesn’t do customers of Mediacom much since we don’t get that channel but ESPN and ESPN2 will air the best match of the day on select nights. With only three matches a day maximum, that could work out OK.

Missouri State Cup Results For Thursday

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Springfield SC 94/95, April 2009

Springfield SC 94/95, April 2009

U15 Boys : Springfield SC wins 8-0 over Futura Juventus.

U14 Boys: Springfield SC 95/96 won 2-1 over the Avalon FC Red Devils

U16 Boys: Springfield SC lost to Lou Fusz Gold by a 2-0 score while the Columbia Pride tied United SC 1-1. That probably means SSC will need wins against the Pride and United in order to advance, if Lou Fusz doesn’t win again.

U17 Boys: Springfield SC 92/93 lost to Scott Gallagher SC Premier 1-3

U17 Boys: TOTAL DEMIZE 92-93 BOYS (MO) SMSC UNITED (MO)

U18 Boys: SpringHigh Select lost to Scott Gallagher Green by a 0-6 score this morning.

U19 Boys: Total Demize Scorpions lost to the ST. Louis Cougars Premier by a 0-6 score. The St Louis Scott Gallagher team that includes Devon Newport (SLU/Glendale) and Ryan Moses (SLU/Kickapoo) tied 1-1 with Lou Fusz.

Enjoy World Cup 2010 With Friends At Springfield’s World Cup HQ

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The greatest way to enjoy the World Cup? With a group of fans! I’ve partnered with Farmers Gastropub this year to promote his British-style pub and restaurant for one reason – the pub is open daily (except Monday’s) at 9am AND Bill Griffiths, the owner, is committed to showing every game with audio for the entire month.

That mean’s you can come and enjoy a simple breakfast and catch the 9:00 am games or a great lunch for the 1:30 pm matches. You’ll be part of an international community of fans of the beautiful game and you won’t have to worry about a baseball game or other event interfering with your enjoyment of the game at hand. Earlier games will be shown later courtesy of DVR’s and it’s in High Definition.

USA vs England kicks off at 1:30 pm on Saturday with pre-game starting at 12:30 pm. It will be a great game and the weather is going to keep us inside this weekend anyway it appears. Come join us!

Farmer’s Gastropub is located downtown, in the Wilhoit Building. That is directly South of the YMCA. Ample parking in the lot on Elm at Jefferson Avenue. You’ll see the umbrella’s of the outdoor patio directly ahead of you when you drive in, the walkway entrance is on either side of the patio area.