Starting Line-ups: RBNY vs. Toronto FC

I'm back from vacation - but conveniently I forgot the power cord. I will try and conserve power to finish the game but if I go away without explanation, you'll understand why.

Couple notes: Dema Kovalenko's injuries sustained in the car crash have kept him out of the 18, but Sinisa seems to be healthy enough to play. Mike Magee's name has found his way in to the 18 for the first time in a long time as he has spent the last year or so recovering from a ACL injury. For Toronto, Mo Johnston is missing Danny Dichio, Marvell Wynne, Ronnie O'Brien, Andrew Boyens, Jeff Cunningham and Greg Sutton. Wow.

Hopefully, 16 days will have cured the Red Bulls illnesses.

New York Red Bulls

GK: Jon Conway ()

Defenders: Hunter Freeman (), Jeff Parke (), Seth Stammler (), Chris Leitch ()

Midfielders: Dane Richards (), Claudio Reyna (), Dave van den Bergh (), Joe Vide ()

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (), Juan Pablo Angel ()

Unused Subs: Danny Cepero, Kevin Goldthwaite, Carlos Mendes, Clint Mathis, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Mike Magee, John Wolyniec

Toronto FC

GK: Kenny Stamatopoulos ()

Defenders: Adam Braz (), Tyrone Marshall (), Marco Reda ()

Midfielders: Andy Welsh (), Jim Brennan (), Chris Pozniak (), Todd Dunivant ()

Forwards: Collin Samuel (), Andrea Lombardo ()

Unused Subs: Sam Reynolds, Nana Attakora-Gyan, Andrew Boyens, Gabe Gala, Joey Melo

A Couple Morning Tidbits: Spector scores, West Ham scores a partnership, Beckham on-air, Man City keeps bringing in recruits

We saw Jonathan Spector's potential this summer and now he's bringing that well-reinforced confidence back to West Ham United. The fullback unleashed a long range shot that found net in a 2-1 friendly win over Norwich City.

Speaking of West Ham United - anyone catch this partnership between the Hammers and the whole of the United Soccer Leagues? Read up on it. One of the highlights is taking 20 or so handpicked Super-Y and Super-20 Leaguers and taking them to West Ham Academy to be trained, assessed, criticized, and then shipped back home better soccer players.

David Beckham's possible MLS debut against Toronto FC - as first seen on the blogosphere at MLSUnderground - will be aired by ESPN2 on Sunday, August 5th, at 7:30pm. Hopefully he plays and hopefully this starts a trend of kicking re-run poker shows off-the-air or at least ESPN Ocho.

Manchester City have raided former Fulham skipper Chris Coleman's new club, Real Sociedad for defender Javi Garrido for a rumoured $4 million or so. At the other end of the pitch, Bulgarian forward and former Fiorentina favorite Valeri Bojinov could be on his way to Manchester as well. Fiorentina made the crappy move of sending the still young striker to Juventus on loan last season and, despite their Serie B status, Bojinov didn't play too much. The deal could be worth as much as $11.5 million. Former Thai Prime Minister and bad boy on the run Shinawatra seems to be giving Manchester City the financial flexibility they always needed.

UEFA Champions League Final and other important scores

Due to my lack of posting on the aforementioned topic, you can probably guess who won.

AC Milan 2, Liverpool 1
Athens, Greece

'Pippo' Inzaghi hit for a brace as Liverpool couldn't convert the chances they did have. Inzaghi's first was a deflection off his torso after a scorching shot from Andreas Pirlo. In good news for Liverpool, though, Stevie Gerrard should be finalizing a new 5 year deal TODAY! Kaka was the difference in this game, but Gerrard had his chances and moments too. He just couldn't convert.

Other news:

US Open Cup Qualifier

Colorado 2, Real Salt Lake 1

Jacob Petersen had 2 goals to kick RSL and Jason Kreis out of Open Cup contention. Conor Casey had a decent showing as he was given significant time for the first time since signing with the MLS.

Friendlies

Rangers 1, Los Angeles 0
Home Depot Center

Kris Boyd, the Rangers hitman and leading goalscorer, put the Glasgow Rangers on top and they never looked back really. The game was relatively even as far as skill and statistics go, but it never seemed as if the Galaxy could threaten enough to win. A good showing for LA overall.
This exhibition drew over 15,000 fans.

Toronto FC 0, Benfica 0
BMO Field

18,000 saw Andrea Lombardo and Toronto struggle to a 0-0 tie against Benfica, Portuguese powerhouses. It was somewhat lopsided as Benfica controlled the play and rhythm, but as no goals were put in the back of the net - a tie was in order. The fans showed up yet again and created an amazing atmosphere for Benfica to come play in. A nice consolation prize for not beating FC Porto in the Portuguese SuperLiga.

I knew Facebook would come in handy...

Alecko Eskandarian had this to say about being traded to Real Salt Lake where he'll meet up with former United mates Freddy Adu and Nick Rimando...

"Alecko Eskandarian is in shock.... just found out i got traded from TFC to Real Salt Lake.... definitely did NOT ask for this so im pretty devastated right now"

That's the business of the game. Esky had a following already in Toronto and his blog, Esky's World, is evidence of it. I would love to see Alecko score more goals than Cunningham in RSL, but let's be honest, Cunningham will hit 100 goals this year and has been a consistent goalscoring force for whatever team he has played for. Esky is injury prone but has one of the toughest hearts and work rates in the league.

What do you think? Who got the right end of this trade?

***In Premiership news, young'un and former Arsenal target Steve Sidwell will be leaving Reading on a free transfer in favor of Chelsea. Sidwell is great, don't get me wrong, but does he fit into the same category of Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Claude Makelele, or even Jon Obi Mikel for that matter? The only answer is: we will see.

Richetti and Toja.

- Transfer speculation is now confirmed regarding FC Dallas and the signing of Pablo Richetti. Here's the link.


Here's some info from BigSoccer:

Player Name: Pablo Richetti
Full name: Pablo Javier Richetti
Nationality: Argentinian and Italian
Place of birth: Buenos Aires ,Argentina
Date of birth: January 2, 1977
Height: 181 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Positions: Defensive Midfielder, Right Back, Central Defender, Defender
Previous Jersey #: 21

Quilmes (Argentina) 2006 GP 3(2) Goals 0 YC: 1 RC: 0
(Italy) 2004/5 GP 0(0) Goals 0 YC: 0 RC: 0
Valladolid (Spain) 2003/4 GP 24 (6) Goals 1 (vs Athl. Madrid) YC: 7 RC: 1
Valladolid (Spain) 2002/3 GP 7 (2) Goals 0 YC: 3 RC: 0
Valladolid (Spain) 2001/2 GP 4 (0) Goals 0 YC: 2 RC: 0

- UPenn and Red Bull New York goalkeeper Danny Cepero earned himself a developmental contract. He will be RBNY's number three. Congrats - a 4th round MLS Supplemental Draftee to RBNY Reserve Team GK.

- Check out the new pictures of Toronto FC's BMO Field.

- Real Madrid is scoutin' out the stars. Now, apparently, they are shopping for not only Cristiano Ronaldo but also AC Milan star Kaka. Imagine that starting line-up.

- Eurosport.com is reporting possible suitors for French and Olympique Lyonnais left winger Florent Malouda. Malouda says it would take a club like Juventus or Arsenal to pry him away from Stade de Gerland. Take a look here.

- Chelsea and Arsenal were fined $200,000 each for their FA Cup Final brawl. Fitting. Check out the article here on Skysports.

A Decent Start...

CONCACAF Champions Cup


D.C. United 1, CD Guadalajara (Chivas) 0
First Leg, Washington D.C.

A last minute thriller by the man of the month, Luciano Emilio, saved D.C. United from having a defecit heading into Guadalajara for the second leg. Both goals came in the last 25 minutes making this one a nailbiter in front of the 27,000 or so on hand. Omar Bravo looked Andres Guardado-like for Chivas but D.C. kept fighting. I'm just wondering where Yinka Casal and Fred are going to fit in as I had absolutely no problems with De Roux on the left side today. That's what the last few preseason games will tell us. It is still a tough route to get through to the final as nothing comes easy in Guadalajara.


DCU: Emilio (90+)
CHV: O. Bravo (63)

Houston Dynamo 2, Pachuca 0
First Leg, Houston, TX

I think yesterday's Robertson Stadium power outrage helped Houston out. Calm and collected was NOT Houston's game, but they got the job done. The shakiest aspect of the game was Houston's defense in the early moments of the game. The Dynamo also started without DeRo who came on in the 76th still smarting from a tight hammy. The amount of defensive miscues Houston had were equaled by the amount of crap marking jobs Pachuca had. Ching's header was golden. Wondolowski, MLS reserve scoring champ, connected wide-open as well. The marking was atrocious. Just like D.C., however, we have to remember that heading to Mexico will be interesting. I think the Dynamo will pull through.

HOU: Ching (57), Wondolowski (84)
PAC: NONE

UEFA Cup


AZ 2, Newcastle 0
AZ wins 4-4 on away goals.

How sad is that. Onyewu, cup-tied, had to sit and watch the mess that was the boys from Tyneside. Sadness. They even had a goal called back in injury time. Shota Arveladze and Danny Koevermans dispatched the Magpies with their respective goals. Now all Newcastle can do is fight really hard for a European spot next year. Looks real unlikely.

Other Scores:
Espanyol 4, Maccabi Haifa 0 (Espanyol wins 4-0 on aggregate)
Benfica 3, Paris Saint-Germain 1 (Benfica wins 4-3 on aggregate)
FC Sevilla 3, Shakhtar Donetsk 2 (Sevilla wins 5-4 on aggregate)

- Benny Feilhaber, Frankie Simek, and Jay Demerit all got call-ups to the US National team for their friendlies against Ecuador and Guatemala. I single these three out because they have never played for the national team before. Other than that, it is rather European-based heavy. The statistics, however, tell us otherwise as 11 of the 24 are MLS-based. I'm looking forward to seeing Benny in the middle the most. Benny plays his ball with Hamburg of the German Bundesliga, Frankie Simek plays with Sheffield Wednesday, and Jay Demerit plays for Watford of the English Premiership.

- Toronto FC has sold out their 14,000 season tickets. That's amazing. Go to Jesses' Toronto FC blog for more info.

Some interesting stuff...

* The tragedy is averted apparently as David Beckham's injury is serious by not "oh-my-lordy-MLS is going down the drain" serious. He will be out about a month with what seems to be an MCL partial tear/heavy strain. No confirmation yet as to what it is. It looks like it won't hurt his LA Galaxy debut but will certain close the door for him right now to pick up a recall to McClaren's England squad. If you remember Beckham getting hurt before like I do, four weeks for him meets two and a half. The guy is a fighter and for all we know, he could find himself on the pitch against Isreal at the end of March. Read here.


* Barcelona Phoenix? Barca Miami? Who knows...but Barcelona is planning on expanding their brand into the US sometime soon. They would like to form a partnership with an MLS team or simply go the Red Bull New York, Crystal Palace Baltimore route. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. I'm all for partnerships, but lets lay off the feeder club route. That's a hole that is really tough to get out of. Read about it here.


* Conor Casey is finally a TFC boy. Good for Toronto. Mo Johnston finally had to part ways with his number one allocation spot to secure him, but in all honesty it should be a pretty damn good pick-up. That's assuming of course he can stay healthy and not jump on the MCL injury bandwagon. Also picked up by Toronto in this afternoon's waiver draft was recent former Columbus GK Jon Busch. Toronto looks to be pretty scary this year. Is this a Chicago Fire in the making?


* Giovanni Savarese, the Youth Director at RBNY, has left and/or been fired by the New York Red Bulls. As of right now, there is no news as to why. I will certainly keep you updated and, in my mind, this kind of weird. If somebody knows something I don't, please fill me in. Check out the news here.

Red Bulls and the Myth of the Second DP

There is one article here that I came across dated as February 23rd that puts Robbie Fowler as RBNY's second DP. Now, if you've been hearing what I've been hearing for the past week, their DP choice, Agustin 'Tin' Delgado was suspended worldwide for his role in an Ecuadorian league game. Therefore, no DP for RBNY til the summer. Goal.com seems to think otherwise however. Fowler would be a great addition to the MLS - at 31, he should be able to produce for some years to come.



Currently playing his second stint with Liverpool in the English Premiership, he has hit for 162 goals in his club career, playing with Liverpool, Leeds United, and with Claudio Reyna at Manchester City. A Liverpool man through and through, Fowler also scored 7 goals in 26 appearances for the English national team.

In 1999, Fowler was accused of drug use, particularly cocaine, by Premiership fans and even some officials. In a funny turn events, Fowler scored a goal against Everton and proceeded to mime "snorting" the touchline chalk dust (or whatever that stuff is). In another event, Fowler taunted former England international and Southampton defensive stalwart Graeme Le Saux by wiggling his ass at him. There were rumors going around about Graeme's sexual orientation. So for those who wanted the controversy of Agustin Delgado, why not get a better player who has the same amount of controversy? He's no Paul Gascoigne or Vinnie Jones, but he will certainly get the job done. Oh yea, Fowler was fined a total $180,000 and missed 6 games for the two incidents.

Other rumors floating around is that the KC Wizards are looking at 28 year-old Argentinian Luciano De Bruno from Hapoel Tel-Aviv and that the Colorado Rapids are closing in on someone as well. As we all know, however, Conor Casey should be in Toronto very shortly apparently still awaiting league approval. All this injection of talent is making me dizzy. We shall see - I have a feeling that this week will be rather busy.