Thursday, June 7, 2007

Angel Berroa? Angel Dumott Schunard? Nope. Juan Pablo and the Busy Transfer Market.

Red Bull New York 2, Toronto FC 1
BMO Field

The Bulls didn't even play well enough to win, but the truth is, neither did the Reds. Their best play was early in the game right before they were scored on. Jeff Cunningham ended his drought and welcomed himself into Toronto where, believe it or not, Alecko Eskandarian is still sorely missed (which by the way, the Armenian national team had a great 1-0 win midweek against Poland). Though the flow never reached 'extremably watchable' proportions - Juan Pablo Angel made his mark in the 69th and 71st minute respectively. His free kick equalized and froze the young Serbo-Canadian keeper Djekanovic.
Because I Think...'s MVP: Angel, it's already been said - but this guy has 6 goals in 5 appearances (7 in 6 if you count the USOC matchup vs. the Galaxy). He really doesn't look like he plans to slow his goalscoring pace anytime soon either...

RBNY: J. Angel 2 (6)
TFC: Cunningham (2)

MLS Primetime Thursday

Colorado vs. Houston

Roberto Brown will be missing, but his absence is peanuts compared to the absence of Clark, De Rosario, Onstad and Ching. At the least the Canadians opened with the win and made Houston's loss worthwhile. It will be interesting to see young'un standout Corey Ashe get some extra time. Chris Wondolowski will try and convert his success in the reserve league into MLS goals. On the other side of the pitch, Conor Casey will most likely get the start and should prosper from the added playing time. This guy can score, he just has to remember or watch some Danny Dichio tapes on how to use his body. It will be a good night of flipping from FSC to ESPN2 to GOLTV.
Prediction: HOU 1-0, the reserves step up. Particularly Ashe whose speed frustrates the bulky Colorado back.

Quick MLS news:

The Galaxy's Nate Jaqua, who was clearly out of favor with me, but not Frank Yallop has busted his wrist and due to surgery needed, he will be out On top of international absences and other injuries, this is a blow to an already thin team. Though I think he should have been benched soon anyways...

CONCACAF Gold Cup News:

Canada 2, Costa Rica 1

The Ticos struck first but Julian De Guzman (Deportivo de la Coruna star and older brother of Eredivise standout Jonathan De Guzman) made his presence known by supplying the Canadians with 2 late goals (in Angel-esque fashion) to grab three vital points in Group A.

Haiti 1, Guadeloupe 1

Congrats to Guadeloupe for the point. I'm sure it helped having David Sommeil (once looked at by Rangers, on your backline. By the way, if you wanted to find a team like 'Catalonia' out there (which is the team in October which the USA will face), Guadeloupe is it. Hence, Sommeil can come and go as he pleases with playing for the national team.

World Soccer news:

David Beckham has the "word" of Steve McClaren that his move to the Los Angeles Galaxy will not hurt his chances of playing for his country. He also has the backing of John Terry, Frank Lampard, and Steve Gerrard. What more do you want Becks? So what if Alan Shearer thinks you're making a mistake...

Franck Ribery, the talented and brilliantly snaggle-toothed wing midfielder, has completed a 27 million Euro move to join Luca Toni at Bayern Munich. As you can tell, Bayern is pissed that they missed out on European competition this year. Why weren't they spending this cash to avoid a season like 2006-07. Ribery there is bad news to several Premiership teams who had their eyes on him.

To add to that, Munich has just confirmed the signing of Miroslav Klose, Germany's leading scorer of World Cup 2006. I would pit Munich as potential championship contenders for Bundesliga 2007-08. Transfer figures to come.

Newcastle is counting on aging Aussie Mark Viduka who has joined on free transfer from Middlesbrough for two years. Viduka will join a formidable strike force of Shola Ameobi, Obafemi Martins, and Michael Owen (provided they all stay healthy of course). Could this be the alliance that breaks the Tyneside team's tide of inconsistency?

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