Category Archives: Int’l

USA Under 17 Boys Open With Win, Face Uzbekistan Wednesday

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Alejandro GuidoTORREON, Mexico (June 19, 2011) – The U.S. opened the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup with an emphatic 3-0 win against the Czech Republic on Sunday in Torreon, Mexico. Goals from midfielders Alejandro Guido and Esteban Rodriguez, as well as a late strike from substitute forward Alfred Koroma gave the USA a deserved three points in scorching three digit temperatures.

The U.S. currently sits in second place in Group D behind New Zealand on goals scored. The Young All Whites powered to a 4-1 win against Uzbekistan earlier in the evening. The U.S. can secure a berth to the second round with a win against Uzbekistan on Wednesday, June 22. That match, also from Estadio Torreon, kicks off at 3 p.m. local time (4 p.m. CT) live on Galavision and ESPN3, and on tape delay on ESPNU.

Guardian Announces Their European Goal of the Year

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Fredy Guarin, Porto

Fredy Guarin, Porto

From the Guardian – Despite the brilliance of Mattie Burrows’s back heel volley for Glentoran and Wayne Rooney’s Twitter campaign, the winner of the 2010-11 European Goal of the Season was this effort by Fredy Guarin for Porto v Maritimo, which came in with 47.2% of the vote (79,903 votes in total). Rooney’s goal was second with 28.9% (48,997 votes). The full results can be seen here.

Euro 2012 Games This Weekend

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Zlatan Ibrahimović, Sweden

Zlatan Ibrahimović, Sweden

The UEFA European Championship continues this weekend with a full slate of games, many of which can be seen on ESPN3.com. The tournament continues the second half of the Group stage, made up of 9 groups with 5 to 6 teams each who play a home-and-away series.

The defending World Champion Spanish squad leads Group I but will not play since they are in the US to play the US Men’s National team in a Friendly. The Netherlands, runners-up at World Cup 2010, lead Group E where one of my favorite teams – Sweden – is currently second. Their game against Finland on Tuesday is on my calendar. What teams are you rooting for?

EURO QUALIFIER: AUSTRIA vs GERMANY Friday, Jun 3 2:30 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: BELGIUM vs TURKEY Friday, Jun 3 2:45 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: BELARUS vs FRANCE Friday, Jun 3 2:45 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: ARMENIA vs RUSSIA Saturday, Jun 4 11:00 AM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: GREECE vs MALTA Saturday, Jun 4 2:30 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: ICELAND vs DENMARK Saturday, Jun 4 2:45 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: MACEDONIA vs IRELAND Saturday, Jun 4 3:30 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: PORTUGAL vs NORWAY Saturday, Jun 4 4:00 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: AZERBAIJAN vs GERMANY Tuesday, Jun 7 1:00 PM/ET
EURO QUALIFIER: SWEDEN vs FINLAND Tuesday, Jun 7 2:00 PM/ET

Farmers Gastropub Watch Party Saturday – Two Choices For Champions League Final!

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Bill Griffiths, Farmer's Gastropub (on right)

Bill Griffiths, Farmer's Gastropub (on right)

The Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United kicks off at 1:00 pm Saturday on Fox Sports Midwest (same channel as Cardinal’s games, right?) which conflicts with the Springfield Catholic Quarterfinal game. So…

For local Soccer fans Bill Griffiths will have two screenings of the game at Farmer’s Gastropub. You can catch it live at 1:00 pm OR following the Catholic match at approximately 4:00 pm. I’ll be in attendance at the delayed broadcast time, enjoying an early dinner. I invite you to join me before you head off in other directions for the holiday weekend!

Farmers Gastropub noted on their Facebook Page earlier this week – Join us Saturday, May 28…we will be taking donations and donating our proceeds for the day to Ozarks Food Harvest to help our neighbors in Joplin. If you plan on eating out, make your dollars go further.

I’ll reiterate an earlier note – please refrain from using Facebook or Twitter to post spoilers on the game result. I use both tools to keep you informed of local events so I can’t avoid them the way others do in this situation. PLEASE don’t tweet scores if we follow each other!

Barcelona’s mesmerising cruelty is a fine blend of art and science

How to stop Barcelona’s Lionel Messi by six defenders who have tried

ManU vs Chelsea For EPL Title Sunday

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manu munich 1999I get annoyed with all of the Fan Boys that Manchester United and Chelsea have attracted the past few years, so I’m rooting for a Spanish side to win the Champions League this season. Despite that, I am reminded by how the youngsters were attracted to one of these sides when a 20-something starts reminiscing about the ‘old days’ of the late 90′s. Matthew Mueller is a CBC grad and is establishing his career in soccer working as a Youth Coach and assisting with the US Development Academy programs at Scott Gallagher. Check out his story on ManU – Going Back to 1999

The thing that strikes me most about this Manchester United team is the fact that they have the right balance. You look at every position in the United team and they have the right mix of players to get the job done. I look back to 1999 which was the year that they won the Treble and that team reminds me a lot of this United team. The team this year might even be better?! But we will not know that until they can show that they can get the final results.

Sunday May 8th – 10am ManU vs Chelsea (Fox Soccer Channel)

How about you? When did you begin rooting for one of these teams? Who’s the EPL Champion this year?

The Joy of Six: Manchester United v Chelsea matches

Five factors that will shape Chelsea’s visit to Manchester United

Mikel John Obi central to Chelsea’s hopes of beating Manchester United

Darren Fletcher can be final piece in Manchester United midfield jigsaw

Barcelona and Real Madrid, One More Time!

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Xavi Hernández, FC Barcelona

Xavi Hernández, FC Barcelona

It’s the second leg of the semifinals between these two Spanish juggernauts. Game time is 1:45 pm Tuesday, I’m at Farmers Gastropub for this one, feel free to come join me. Here are some stories to get you caught up!

Xavi keeping focused on Wembley goal
FC Barcelona playmaker Xavi Hernández wants to make up for a missed trip to Wembley in 1992 as he seeks to return the focus to football in the second leg against Real Madrid CF.

And how about this one – Mention of Messi alongside Pelé, Maradona and Cruyff is starting to feel obligatory rather than merely tempting

Speaking of Messi, his double at the Santiago Bernabéu moved him on to 11 in the competition this term and left the striker in sight of a mark only previously reached by Gerd Müller and Jean-Pierre Papin

Heinekens StarPlayer Champions League Game

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StarPlayer by HeinekinWant another way to interact with the game? Here’s a new option as reported by The Offsides:

Heineken has launched their groundbreaking StarPlayer app which lets you play along live with Champions League games. Heineken – official Champions League sponsors – rolled out StarPlayer at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium at the semi-final clash between Schalke and Manchester United.

StarPlayer isn’t just a game connected to the match; you play the game live while the match is in progress, predicting what will happen at key moments and trying to beat your friends to prove who really knows the beautiful game.

You can play the game by downloading the free application on Facebook by getting it free through the App Store if you have an iPhone or iPod touch.

I found it on Apple’s iTunes Store Note that on downloading it, you must agree that you are over 17. Doesn’t seem to be available on Facebook here in the US however.

Messi

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Lionel Messi, Barcelona

Lionel Messi, Barcelona

From Wednesday’s win against Real Madrid

From the Guardian’s post-game report, The Key Clashes:Pepe and Diarra v Messi

Mourinho had asked the energetic Pepe and Lassana Diarra to loiter and snap at Lionel Messi whenever the Argentinian was on the ball. That served to clog up the middle, draining the contest of rhythm and sapping the visitors’ impetus, with the Real pair constantly pressurising the ball whenever it fell within his zone of influence. Yet Messi is a force of nature. When he could wriggle into space, he was the game’s only real entertainer-in-waiting. He dropped deep willingly, hoping to spring from the clutter, and conjured staggering passes in inter-plays with Xavi and David Villa to unnerve Real. He drew a foul from Sergio Ramos that ruled him out of the second leg with one trademark dart, with his task potentially made easier by Pepe’s harsh dismissal. That offered more space in which to prompt panic, and his dart across Ramos to convert Ibrahim Afellay’s cross, then jinking run through Real’s backline, took the breath: brief eruptions of football amid the maelstrom.

Champions League Semifinals Tuesday – Wednesday

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manuel neuer, schalke by Getty Images

manuel neuer, schalke by Getty Images

It’s down to four teams and we begin the first leg of the semifinals on Tuesday with Schalke (Germany) hosting Manchester United while Real plays Barcelona for the 3rd time in what, a week?

TUESDAY, April 26 – FOX SOCCER CHANNEL
1:30 pm SCHALKE-MANCHESTER UNITED (live)

Here are Five reasons why Schalke may shock Manchester United as United faces a team that has scored 21 times in the Champions League, to their dozen.

WEDNESDAY, April 27 – FX
1:30 pm REAL MADRID-BARCELONA (live)

Goal.com looks at what might happen when the talk ends and play begins. And when evaluating a team, I always start with the central midfielders. Sid Lowe does the same in Duel of the X-men at heart of Real Madrid passion play with Barcelona.

FOX SOCCER CHANNEL will broadcast the REAL MADRID-BARCELONA game on a delayed basis at 4 pm.

The 2nd leg of the Semi-finals will be played next week, May 3-4 with the Final on Saturday May 28th.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona Today

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Lionel Messi, Barcelona

Lionel Messi, Barcelona

It begins today, 3 pm CDT 4pm on ESPN3.com. Where will you be watching?

Four battles, one war: Winner takes all for Barcelona and Real Madrid

White Hart Lane’s final whistle became the clásico series’ starting pistol, but both participants had already been up and running for some time. This was confirmation of what has long been coming: Barcelona versus Real Madrid. Over and over and over again. Losing track is understandable, so grab a pen and take it down: Madrid and Barcelona play each other on 16 April in the league, on 20 April in the Copa del Rey final, and on 27 April and 3 May in the Champions League semi-final.

All four games are on the Calendar link under the Resources Page.

José Mourinho’s intensity steels Real Madrid for Barcelona battle

This weekend Barça motor to the Bernabéu for the first of four Catalan-Castillian barnburners inside 18 days. Even without such provocations Mourinho always turns snake-serious around this time. On these spring nights you see him demand intense dedication from his players: a mania to win. Under this psychological pressure his teams form an indivisible fighting force and take one hell of a lot of shifting.