Some Soccer News for Apr 18, 2017

It's Day 108 of 2017.


Tigres UANL v Pachuca Tuzos

• TONIGHT - Are you ready???
• CONCACAF Champions League Final 1st Leg
• (see more below)

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NEWS: The Loons Aug 13 road game in Atlanta will need to be rescheduled. New Atl stadium was supposed to open the week before that, but it will not be ready. And AU's temporary home at Georgia Tech University is already booked for college football.

• Delays are pushing back and back and back the opening of Atl's new home. By Jeff Schultz for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

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Most glaring needs for MNUFC: The Spine (in priority order)

1. Starting goalkeeper
2. High quality Backup/Starting centerback
3. Box to box midfielder
4. A true #10 playmaker

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CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Tigres can secure their crown as the best team in recent CONCACAF history, by a mile, if they win this title. By Tom Marshall for ESPNFC.

Tigres is chewing through the competition in all competitions. By Cesar Hernandez for Four Four Two.

No one appears to be giving Pachuca any chance of winning this series.
-I know who I am cheering for now!

1st Leg
-Tue Apr 18
Tigres v Pachuca - 9pm CT on UnivDeportes
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2nd Leg
-Wed Apr 26
Pachuca v Tigres

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MINNESOTA UNITED

This interesting stat crossed my screen this morning - in Houston the Loons BLOCKED 7 shots. That is effort!

Rapids lineup this weekend will have a very depleted defense and give a lot of non-regulars their chance to make a mark. They will be missing: Tim Howard - G (suspension), Jared Watts - CB (suspension), Axel Sjoberg - CB (injury), and Nana Adjei-Boateng - D-Mid (injury).

NEXT:
-Sun Apr 23
Minnesota v Colorado - 5:00pm CT on My29 + Altitude

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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Leg 2
-Tue Apr 18
Real Madrid v Bayern (2-1)
Leicester v Atletico (0-1)
-Wed Apr 19
Barcelona v Juventus (0-3) - 1:45pm CT on FS1
Monaco v Dortmund (3-2) - 1:45pm CT on FS2

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MLS

Since this is always a hot topic - Top 5 fullbacks in MLS right now. By Scott French for Four Four Two.

• In my 2016 Best 11 I had Harrison Afful of Columbus at RFB and Justin Morrow of Toronto at LFB.
• In my 2015 Best 11 I had Tony Beltran of Salt Lake at RFB and Kemar Lawrence of RBNY at LFB.

A tale of one game and the destiny of two teams:

• Toronto Down. By Kurt Larson for the Toronto Sun.
• Columbus Up. By Andrew Erickson for the Columbus Dispatch.

Week 8 Schedule/Results:
-Wed Apr 19
New England v San Jose
-Fri Apr 21
Toronto V Chicago
-Sat Apr 22
Philadelphia v Montreal
Houston v San Jose - 3:00 CT on UniMas
Portland v Vancouver
New England v DC
NYRB v Columbus
Dallas v Kansas City
Salt Lake v Atlanta
-Sun Apr 23
NYC v Orlando - 12:30 CT on FS1
LA v Seattle - 3:00 CT on ESPN
Minnesota v Colorado

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Haley Kopmeyer of Seattle Reign Named NWSL Player Of The Week

Nemanja Nikolic of Chicago Fire Named MLS Player Of The Week

Djiby Fall of Cincinnati Named USL Player Of The Week

Matt Fondy of North Carolina Named NASL Player Of The Week

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AMERICANS ABROAD

Several American's involved in the English Championship division promotion race:

• (3 games left in the regular season)
• (1 + 2 automatically promoted)
• (3, 4, 5 + 6 in playoffs for 1 promotion spot)

92 Brighton + Hove Albion
85 Newcastle United - DeAndre Yedlin
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79 Reading - Danny Williams
78 Huddersfield Town - David Wagner (head coach)
75 Sheffield Wednesday
73 Fulham - Tim Ream
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73 Leeds United

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Carlos Hermosilla, one of the biggest stars in the history of Cruz Azul, has been blocked by the team on Twitter because he has been publicly criticizing them:

Yo ni les escribo y estoy bloqueado jajajajajaja pobres ridículos que no saben lo que es Cruz Azul, sigan destruyendo su prestigio pic.twitter.com/nFU1ZNvzQK

— Carlos Hermosillo (@CHermosillo27) April 18, 2017

The Bird Is The Word