Monday, December 11, 2017

Some Soccer News for Dec 11, 2017

It's Day 345 of 2017.


Toronto are the new MLS Champions!

Tigres are the new Liga MX Champions!

A big weekend for North American soccer.

dN

It's crazy to think that I joined Twitter 10 years ago today. It has changed my soccer world like nothing else ever has.

dN

MLS CUP FINAL

-Sat Dec 9
Toronto FC 2-0 Seattle Sounders FC - Tor goals by Jozy Altidore and Victor Valdez

My MLS Cup Final Notes:
  • TFC earned it all. Three titles in one season: Canadian Championship - Supporters Shield - MLS Cup. No MLS team has ever done it before.
  • After losing at home to Seattle last year this was the only acceptable outcome for TFC and the fans.
  • Why didn't Seattle show up? At all.
  • If you were supporting Seattle you had to be completely baffled as to why your team was so bad. Actually probably more angry than baffled. Irate maybe. Two years in a row your team didn't play soccer in the final. Last year they got by with it.
  • Toronto never let up from the first minute to the last. They wanted this win so badly.
  • Stefan Frei is the only reason Seattle didn't get blown out. He had a great game in the Sounders goal.
  • The TFC midfielders seemed to stuff Nicolas Lodiero into a small sock and not let him out for 90 minutes. He was no factor what so ever.
  • Neither was Clint Dempsey or Will Bruin. Where was Christian Roldan in the attack? Where were the fullbacks?
  • Bradley, Delgado, Vasquez, Morrow, Osorio, Giovinco and Altidore seemed to have the ball for 75% of the game.
  • Hooray to the long suffering fans of Toronto. You have been insufferable and self-righteous at times, but you have also mellowed out and become more humble and more enjoyable. Congrats to you.

Media:

dN

LIGA MX

There is a new champion in Mexico:
  • Tigres UANL wins it 3-2 on aggregate in a derby match up. Fantastic stuff.
  • Tigres went on the road for the 2nd Leg and pulled off an upset over a big favorite! Huge congrats to them.
  • Monterrey scored just 2 minutes into the game and it felt like, uh oh, this is going to be a rout.
  • Hell no! Tigres was having none of that. They fought hard, tied the game, then got the lead, and watched Monterrey completely miss on a penalty kick late in the game that would have tied the series and changed the momentum.

American Jonathan Gonzalez started for Monterrey but came out in the 80th when Mont was desperate to get more attackers on the field.

Tigres head coach Tuca Ferreti lead his team to grand victory. By Tom Marshall for ESPNFC.

Liguilla Final Schedule:
1st Leg
-Thu Dec 7
Tigres 1-1 Monterrey
2nd Leg
-Sun Dec 10
Monterrey 1-2 Tigures

dN

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Round of 16 Draw:
1st Leg
-Tue Feb 13
Juventus v Tottenham
Basel v Man City
-Wed Feb 14
Porto v Liverpool
Real Madrid v PSG
-Tue Feb 20
Chelsea v Barcelona
Bayern v Besiktas
-Wed Feb 21
Sevilla v Man United
Shakhtar v Roma
---
2nd Leg
-Tue Mar 6
Liverpool v Porto
PSG v Real Madrid
-Wed Mar 7
Tottenham v Juventus
Man City v Basel
-Tue Mar 13
Man United v Sevilla
Roma v Shakhtar
-Wed Mar 14
Barcelona v Chelsea
Besiktas v Bayern

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Made one move before the roster freeze for the expansion draft on Tuesday: signed the coaches son Harrison from Atlanta in exchange for a future late round draft pick.
  • The spot on the roster and what they gave up to sign the player is basically inconsequential.
  • I hope there is already a plan in place for him to go out on loan.
  • The message it sends is pure nepotism. Not something this team needs to show its die hard fans.

Here is how the team divided up their roster in advance of the LAFC expansion draft:


dN

MLS

Three teams made moves over the weekend to acquire strong roster pieces:
  • Vancouver bought Kei Kamara from New England.
  • LAFC bought Walker Zimmerman from Dallas.
  • DC United bought Frederic Brillant from NYC.

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

Cristian Pulisic has a new head coach at Dortmund as Peter Bosz was fired. They have not won in 9 straight games. Peter Stoger who last managed Koln is now in charge.

dN

EUROPEAN NEWS

Leo Messi has 14 goals from open play in La Liga this season. Cristiano Ronaldo has 3. And Barcelona has an 8 point lead over Real Madrid. Interesting.

Four Teams Unbeaten in the Big 5 Leagues:
  • Manchester City 15-1-0
  • Barcelona 12-3-0
  • Internazionale 12-4-0
  • Atletico Madrid 9-6-0

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPE'S TOP LEAGUES

Weekend Fallout:
  • Chelsea, Man United and Dortmund were the 3 big teams to lose. And it cost them all a lot; Chelsea is now 14 pts behind, Man United is 11 pts behind, and Dortmund have not won in 9 games in all competitions and it cost their coach Peter Bosz his job.
  • Manchester City already has an 11 pt lead in the Premier League and the season isn't even half over. Money wins.
  • Bayern won and everyone else chasing them either tied or lost. They have an 8 point lead.
  • The top 4 teams in Italy all played in scoreless games. Fuck.

Weekend Results:
-Sat Dec 9
Eintracht Franfurt 0-1 Bayern
West Ham 1-0 Chelsea
Dortmund 1-2 Werder Bremen
Juventus 0-0 Internazionale
Leipzig 2-2 Mainz
Monaco 3-2 Troyes
PSG 3-1 Lille
Real Madrid 5-0 Sevilla
Monchengladbach 1-1 Schalke
Tottenham 5-1 Stoke
Valencia 2-1 Celta de Vigo
-Sun Dec 10
Southampton 1-1 Arsenal
Real Betis 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Villarreal 0-2 Barcelona
Liverpool 1-1 Everton
Amiens 1-2 Lyon
Man United 1-2 Man City
Marsielle 3-0 Saint-Etienne
Milan 2-1 Bologna
Napoli 0-0 Fiorentina
Chievo 0-0 Roma
---
Midweek Schedule:
-Tue Dec 12
Huddersfield v Chelsea
Mainz v Dortmund
Wolfsburg v Leipzig
-Wed Dec 13
West Ham v Arsenal
Bayern v Koln
Liverpool v West Bromwich
Swansea v Man City
Man United v Bournemouth
Schalke v Augsburg
Tottenham v Brighton & Hove



The Bird Is The Word

posted by brucio at 14:35

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