European Table Update

This past weekend European leagues took a break as World Cup qualifying resumed. Normally at the start of each week I take a look back at the past week's match results and how the current tables stand. This week I am taking a look at how the five big European leagues stand - England, Italy, Spain, France, Germany.

England:
2008 Final Standings - Top Four: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal - Relegated Teams: Newcastle United, Middlesbrough & West Bromwich Albion - Promoted Teams: Burnley, Birmingham, Wolverhampton
Current EPL Table - After 12 match days (only 11 for 6 teams) the EPL sits where most would expect, however there are a few surprise teams.
Top 3: Chelsea, Arsenal & Manchester United
Biggest Challengers: Tottenham, Manchester City & Aston Villa
Best Record: Chelsea 10-0-2
Most Goal Scored: Arsenal 36 goals
Worst Record: Portsmouth 2-1-9
Most Goals Conceded: Burnley, Blackburn, Hull City 25 goals
Predicted Champions League Teams: Chelsea - Arsenal - Manchester City - Manchester United

Italy:

2008 Final Standings - Top Four: Inter, Juventus, Milan & Fiorentina - Relegated Teams: Torino, Reggina, & Lecce - Promoted Teams: Bari, Parma, Livorno

Current Serie A Table -  After 12 rounds the top 4 remain the same, however 2nd place to 10th place is separated by only 6 points.

Top 3: Inter, Juventus, Milan

Biggest Challengers: Sampdoria & Genoa

Best Record: Inter 9-2-1

Most Goal Scored: Inter 29 Goals

Worst Record: Siena 1-3-8

Most Goals Conceded: Genoa 22 goals

Predicted Champions League Teams: Milan, Inter, Juventus, Sampdoria

I'll be back later this week with updates for Spain, Germany & France.

World Cup Update - November 15th

The next to last World Cup 2010 qualifying match day was held yesterday (Saturday November 14th, 2009) and three new teams secured their bid to South Africa next summer. Here is a recap of all the action yesterday as well as the qualifying teams for each region:

UEFA:
Already Qualified: Netherlands, England Spain, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia.
The top 8 second place teams in group play were placed into four home-and-away series to decide UEFA's final four spots. There was a lot of controversy surround the playoff matches since UEFA decided to group an 'A' level team against a 'B' tier team in each match-up instead of using a random drawing. Leaving many to criticize that UEFA was only concerned about getting the 'big' nations in the World Cup. The results from the first leg were:

• Russia 2-1 Slovenia
• Greece 0-0 Ukraine 
• Ireland 0-1 France
• Portugal 1-0 Bosnia Herzegovina 

The second leg of matches will be played this Wednesday (18th).

CONCACAF:

Already Qualified: United States, Mexico, Honduras.

The fourth place team, Costa Rica, entered into a playoff spot with the 5th place team from South America, Uruguay. The first leg took place on Saturday in Costa Rica and saw the hosts fall 1-0.

CAF:

Already Qualified: South Africa (Automatic bid for the host), Ghana, The Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon.

One spot remains open for Africa since Group C ended in a tie between Egypt and Algeria - tied on points, goal differential and direct match-ups. The two sides will one additional, winner-takes-all games on the 18th in Sudan. The November issue of World Soccer magazine has a great article on this rivalry. 

CONMEBOL:

Already Qualified: Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina.

The fifth place team, Uruguay, entered into a playoff spot with the 5th place team from North America, Costa Rica. The first leg took place on Saturday in Costa Rica and saw the South American country take the early lead 1-0.

AFC:

Already Qualified: Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea.

Qualifying ended for the AFC region in October with Bahrain winning a chance at a final spot against the OFC group winner.

OFC:

Already Qualified: New Zealand.

New Zealand won the OFC group then entered into a home-and-away series against Bahrain. The two teams tied 0-0 in the first leg in Bahrain on October 10th. Saturday, in the second leg New Zealand secured a spot as the only OFC team by winning 1-0 at home. 

The draw for the finals will take place on December 4th in Cape Town, South Africa.

TV Schedule for the Week of 11/14

An extremely light week in matches this weekend. However, there are still some important contests on each side of the pond tomorrow. The action starts tonight with the MLS Western Conference final between the LA Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo at 11:30pm (ET). Here is a breakdown of the live matches coming your way this week:

Saturday (14th):
AFC WC: New Zealand vs. Bahrian - 2am - FSC
Friendly: USA vs. Slovakia - 10am - FSC
Friendly: Brazil vs. England - 12pm - FSC
MLS Playoffs: Eastern Conference Final - Chicago Fire vs. Real Salt Lake - 8pm - FSC

Sunday (15th):
 - U-17 WC: Teams TBD - 12:30pm - ESPN2

With the low number of matches this week take some time to catch-up on the NCAA conference tournaments, read the latest World Soccer magazine, and of course play through another season of FIFA 2010.

2009 MLS Playoff Predictions - Revisited

Tomorrow night the MLS semi-final match-ups kick off. But before I get to my conference championship predictions lets take a look back at the first round:

Seattle Sounders vs. Houston Dynamo
- Prediction: Seattle 3-2 on aggregate.
- Actual: Houston 1-0 on aggregate.
- Thoughts: While this match-up didn't turn into the goal fest I was expecting they were entertain match-ups. Even the 0-0 draw in Seattle. True the crowd and stadium make most Seattle games better than they are, but the action on the pitch was right on par. 


LA Galaxy vs. Chivas USA
- Prediction: Galaxy 3-0 on aggregate

- Actual: Galaxy 3-2 on aggregate

- Thoughts: So I got the result and LA's goals right, but I did undervalue Chivas. This is probably due to the fact that they had struggled heading into the playoffs. But mostly because the LA defense completely disappeared for 10 mins in the first leg to give up two cheap goals.

Columbus Crew vs. Real Salt Lake
- Prediction: Columbus 4-2 on aggregate. 

- Actual: Real Salt Lake 4-2 on aggregate

- Thoughts: Got the score right, but not the team. Columbus made a grave error in sitting out their biggest star - Schletto - in the first leg. Then in the return match every time they looked to get back in the series RSL continued to pile on the goals. Big surprise. 

Chicago Fire vs. New England Revolution
- Prediction: Chicago 2-0 on aggregate.

- Actual: Chicago 2-1 on aggregate.

- Thoughts: Although they fell behind in the first leg, Chicago dominated the 2nd leg at home. The injuries for New England combined with the strikers for the Fire proved to be too much. 

So overall I was 2-2 in the first round, enough to get me through to the next round...I think. Here are my predictions and thoughts on the Conference Championships:

Western Conference Final: LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo

- Game: Friday 11pm (ET) - ESPN2 @ LA

- Key Players: Donovan (LA) & Ching (HOU)

- Thoughts: Should be an exciting match-up at the Home Depot Center Friday night when the MLS Mega-Stars take on the playoff experienced Dynamo. I think Houston's inability to score in the first round will hurt them here. If Donovan and Beckham are in form then the Galaxy will be back in the title match. 

- Prediction: LA Galaxy 2-1

Western Conference Final: Chicago Fire vs. Real Salt Lake

- Game: Saturday 8pm (ET) - FSC @ Chicago

- Key Players: Marco Pappa (CHI) & Robbie Findley (RSL)

- Thoughts: It is hard to go against the home team, who is also the favorite. However, RSL are hot right now and will be full of confidence after knocking off the 2008 champs. 

- Prediction: Real Salt Lake 2-1

TOA announces the formation of a new US soccer league

Ever since the USL playoffs kicked off this past September the future of the USL-1 has been a hot topic of discussion. This past fall Nike decided to sell their majority ownership of the USL organization. Several bidders expressed their interest and it looked like the St. Louis based group led by Jeff Cooper would be gaining ownership over USL-1. This was a move welcomed by all, since several of the team owners wanted to see the USL-1 move toward an owner-controlled league. However, at the last minute Nike announced the sell of the league to an Atlanta based company. This switch pushed several of the TOA members to distance themselves from the USL-1 front office. The USL-1 responded by terminating the team contracts for the Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC and the Minnesota Thunder. The 2009 Playoffs ended with Vancouver and Montreal meeting in the final. Going into that final game both teams already knew there contracts would also not be renewed with the USL and thus the 09 Champion would not return for the 2010 season. All of that headache led to a few weeks of uncertainty, rumors and secret meetings between the USL, TOA and USSF. 

Until today that is, when we finally got official word that a new soccer league would be formed in 2010. A new Division II US Soccer League will feature at least 7 franchises - Carolina, Miami, Minnesota, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta & St. Louis. The league is set to begin play this coming April. The press release features a short bio on each of the 7 organizations. 

This split officially takes away 5 USL-1 clubs and creates a competition between the new league and USL-1 as the 2nd league in US Soccer (behind the MLS). While the USL obviously has a major head start (TV contract, decades of experience and a solid framework), I think in the long run we could see this new league over take the USL-1. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Larger Markets - If you look at the prospective clubs the TV ratings for the new league would be higher. New League - Raleigh, Atlanta, St. Louis, Miami, Montreal, etc. The USL's current line-up is headlined by Cleveland and Portland (Portland will be leaving for the MLS after next year). 

2) Better Potential for Growth - The TOA is interested in developing the marketing brand of the league across the nation to better support each club. This was a major negative against the USL and the way Nike had been running the league. A strong push for national branding, in major US markets, relationships with international clubs.

3) A future with the MLS - Every soccer fan in America wants to see a promotion / relegation system, but until now its looked impossible. The USL has several tiers and even they don't use the system loved world round. Additionally, the USL would never be willing to join up with the MLS and take on a role as the '2nd league', even though fans of the MLS and USL both know where the two rank. With the creation of this new league we have the possibility of creating an MLS-2 or MLS-B once a sustaining foundation has been built. I believe the MLS would be interested in buying a fully developed second league in order to widen its brand and create develop for MLS-1 teams. 

So there you have it. A brief recap of how we got here, the big news today, and a few of my thoughts on the new league formed by the TOA. Any comments?

Table Update as of 11/9

Big matches on each side of the Atlantic this weekend as the MLS Playoffs continued and in the EPL a big four match-up headlined action. Here is a look and this past week's results, a MLS playoff update, and the current tables for Serie A and the EPL.

MLS:
- Past week's results - Thursday night on ESPN2 the 2008 MLS champions Columbus Crew were knocked out of the playoffs by the 8th overall seed, Real Salt Lake - Chicago overcame a 2-1 deficit to New England to advance into the Semi-finals with a 3-2 aggregate - Brian Ching's one strike was enough to see Houston shut down Seattle's great inaugural season - And finally, in the first ever playoff Super Clasico the LA Galaxy advanced past Chivas USA 3-2 behind a Landon Donovan PK.
- MLS Semi-Final Schedule - The Western Conference final will pit the LA Galaxy against the Houston Dynamo in the Home Depot Center (LA). The game will air on ESPN2 Friday night at 11pm (ET) - The Eastern Conference final match-up features the Chicago Fire against this year's New York Red Bulls (surprise playoff team), Real Salt Lake. The match will air on Fox Soccer Channel Saturday night at 8pm (ET).

EPL:
- Past week's results - West Ham topped Aston Villa in a mid-week match-up 2-1, However Aston Villa responded with a 5-1 drumming of Bolton on the weekend - Burnley continued their surprising run with a 3-3 draw against Manchester City - Two of the EPL's strongest squads this year (Tottenham  Arsenal) won with a combined score of 6-1 - The weekend headliner saw Chelsea get the 1-0 win over rivals Manchester United.
- Current EPL Table - Chelsea's win over ManU saw the Blues move 5 points ahead of 2nd place, Arsenal - ManU, Tottenham and Aston Villa round out the top 5 (European spots) - The relegation zone got much tighter following West Ham and Hull City victories - 14th through 19th sit only 3 points apart.

Serie A:
- Past week's results - Juventus rebounded from last week's loss with a 5-2 win over Atalanta - AC Milan stretched their unbeaten streak to 7 after a 2-1 result against Lazio - Inter Milan and Roma tied 1-1 - Sampdoria dropped to Cagliari 2-1.
- Current Serie A Table - Inter Milan and Juventus remained the top two at 29 and 24 points, respectively - AC Milan's hot streak has taken them into 3rd place, more along the lines of pre-season expectations - After just 1 point in the past three matches Sampdoria fell to 5th place.

News & Rumors Update 11/8

Here are a few of the big stories and rumors going across the wires this weekend:

• The Court of Arbitration for Sport has suspended the transfer ban it placed on Chelsea a few weeks ago. Chelsea will be free to purchase and sell players in the January transfer window until the CAS finalizes their decision.....
• .....And if you give a big club the chance to spend the rumors will begin. Soon after the news of the CAS ban being lifted reports came out that the Blues were interested in Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero. Aguero is one of the brightest young strikers in the world, but with a quoted asking price of 40  million pounds, any move happening during this season looks very unlikely. With Chelsea's current depth and striking duo of Drogba and Anelka in form, they will not be forced overspend for the young 21 year old attacker. 
• David Beckham has confirmed that if the LA Galaxy win tonight vs. Chivas, he will stay in LA for the semi-final match-up next weekend, instead of traveling to Qatar for the international friendly between England and Brazil. While this is good news for the Galaxy fans, I wonder was there really a chance Beckham would leave the Galaxy during his first time in the playoffs for a friendly?
• Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton won the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award. He led the league in shutouts and goals allowed.
• Tottenham are trying to convince investors that they will get more return by purchasing the naming rights to their future stadium instead of Chelsea's Stamford Bridge. Chelsea recently announced their would sell the rights to the stadium name, but keep 'Stamford Bridge' in the title. Tottenham are building a new 56,000 capacity stadium which is scheduled to open for the 2012-23 season.
• International Sports Media company MP & Silva purchases the TV rights for the 2010-11 & 2011-12 Serie A seasons. MP & Silva currently have deals with ESPN and the BBC. No word yet on how this could impact Fox Soccer Channel's coverage of Serie A. 
• U-20 international mid-fielder Dilly Duku recently elected to leave college at Rutgers University to 'explore professional options'. Rumors indicates that he has already signed a 4-year deal with the MLS and enter the draft for next season.
• Soccer not as big in the United States? Don't tell that to David Beckham's bank account. After moving from Real Madrid to the LA Galaxy in 2007 Beckham has seen a rise in endorsement contracts. Reports now indicate that the England international earned $16.5 million during his full season with the Galaxy (2008). He can expect his global appeal to stay at high levels over the next year with another loan to AC Milan in the cards, as well as appearing for England in the 2010 World Cup next summer.

TV Schedule for the Week of 11/7

Full line-up of weekend action across the EPL and Serie A while the MLS playoffs quarter-final match-ups wrap up after Real Salt Lake knocked off the defending MLS Champions, the Columbus Crew, 4-2 on aggregate. Also EPSN2 will feature an EPL game Monday afternoon and one of the MLS semi-final match-ups Thursday night.


Saturday (7th):
- EPL: Tottenham vs. Sunderland - 9:55am - ESPN2HD
- EPL: Aston Villa vs. Bolton - 10am - FSC
- EPL: Wolverhampton vs. Arsenal - 12:30pm - FSC
- Serie A: Atalanta vs. Juventus - 2:30pm - FSC
- MLS: Playoff Quarter-final #2 - New England vs. Chicago - 8:30pm - FSC


Sunday (8th):
- Serie A: AC Milan vs. Lazio - 9am - FSC
- EPL: Manchester United vs. Chelsea - 11am - FSC
- La Liga: Valencia vs. Zaragoza - 12:55pm - ESPN2HD
- Serie A: Inter Milan vs. Roma - 2:30pm - FSC
- MLS: Playoff Quarter-final #2 - LA Galaxy vs. Chivas USA - 7:30pm - ESPN2HD


Monday (9th):
- EPL: Liverpool vs. Birmingham City - 2:55pm - ESPN2HD


Thursday (12th):
- MLS: Semi-final - Teams TBD - 10:00pm - ESPN2HD

UEFA Champions League Update 11/4

UEFA Champions League Round 4 of group play concluded this evening after two action packed days. The top 32 teams in European leagues faced off Tuesday and Wednesday and we witnessed some historically top teams continue to falter, while a few surprise teams are making a push for the knock out rounds. There are 8 groups, consisting of 4 teams a piece. Each team plays a home-and-away series with the other 3 group members and after the 6 matches the top two teams from each group advance. Here is a recap of this week's matches and the current tables.

Group A:

• Bordeaux (FRA) 2-0 Bayern Munich (GER) - Last year's French champions took the full 3 points from Germany's most popular team, behind an early goal from surging international star Yoaan Gourcuff. 
• Juventus (ITA) 1-0 Maccabi Haifa (ISR) - Play was even throughout this match, but the Italian club got the better of the result right before half time. 
• Current Table: Bordeaux (10 pts), Juventus (8 pts), Bayern Munich (4 pts), Maccabi Haifa (0 pts) - Bordeaux have already clinched a spot in the final 16. 

Group B:

• Wolfsburg (GER) 3-0 Besiktas (TUR) - The German champions showed their quality in this match behind striker Dzeko. 
• Manchester United (ENG) 3-3 CSKA Moscow (RUS) - ManU barely managed the point in this match, with their final two goals coming in the 84th and 90th minutes. 
• Current Table: ManU (10 pts), Wolfsburg (7 pts), CSKA Moscow (4 pts), & Besiktas (1 pt) - Manchester United have already clinched a spot in the final 16. 

Group C:

• Real Madrid (ESP) 1-1 AC Milan (ITA) - Following a surprising upset last week in Madrid, AC Milan welcomed back their former star, Kaka, with a draw. 
• FC Zurich (SWI) 1-6 Marseille (FRA) - The French squad had 6 different goal scorers on the night, while Zurich only managed 2 shots on goal all night. 
• Current Table: AC Milan (7 pts), Real Madrid (7 pts), Marseille (6 pts), & FC Zurich (3 pts) - Both knockout round spots remain open.

Group D:

• FC Porto (POR) 1-0 APOEL(CYP) - The underdog from Cyprus held their own against former European champions Porto, until the 84th minute.
• Chelsea (ENG) 2-2 Atletico Madrid (ESP) - Two of the games best strikers in the world put on a clinic against each other Tuesday night as both Drogba and Aguero scored two goals a piece. Three of the four goals came within the last 10 minutes.
• Current Table: Chelsea (10 pts), Porto (9 pts), Atletico Madrid (2 pts), APOEL (1 pt) - Chelsea and Porto have won Group D's spots in the final 16.

Group E: 

• Debrecen (HUN) 2-5 Fiorentina (ITA) - Mutu started the route which saw 5 different goal scorers. 
• Liverpool (ENG) 1-1 Lyon (FRA) - The marque match-up of Wednesday saw two goals in the final minutes of the match. A match in which Liverpool needed to win. 
• Current Table: Lyon (10 pts), Fiorentina (9 pts), Liverpool (4 pts), Debrecen (0 pts) - Lyon have advanced to the knock out rounds. 

Group F:

• Barcelona (ESP) 0-0 Rubin Kazan (RUS) - After shocking the soccer world last week, Rubin faced off against the 08-09 European Champions again, earning a draw and winning the series. Seriously?
• Inter Milan (ITA) 2-1 Dynamo Kiev (UKR) - The newly acquired Sneijder knocked in the winner at the 89th minute.
• Current Table: Inter Milan (6 pts), Rubin Kazan (5 pts), Barcelona (4 pts), Dynamo Kiev (4 pts) - The top two spots remain open. If group play were to end today Barcelona would be eliminated and in the Europa League. 

Group G:

• Stuttgart (GER) 1-1 Sevilla (ESP) - Stuttgart should enjoy this moment, because if they keep playing along their current league form (14th) they won't be here next year.
• Rangers (SCO) 1-1 Unirea Urziceni (ROM) - The Romanian clubs first appearance in the group stage is proving to be quite eventful as they match pace with traditional UEFA CL clubs.
• Current Table: Sevilla (10 pts), Unirea Urziceni (5 pts), Stuttgart (3 pts), Rangers (2 pts) - Sevilla has won the top spot in Group G. 

Group H:

• AZ Alkmaar (NET) 1-4 Arsenal (ENG) - Country and Continent, the gunners can score with the best of them.
• Olympiakos (GRE) 0-2 Standard Liege (BEL) - Upset win for Standard Liege, who are in the group stage for the first time.
• Current Table: Arsenal (10 pts), Olympiakos (6 pts), Standard Liege (4 pts), AZ (2 pts) - Mathematically both spots are open, but Arsenal is a given. 

Round 5 of group play takes place on November 24th and 25th. 

Table Update as of 11/3

A day late on the table update, but better late than never. It was another great week of action in the EPL, Serie A and the start of the MLS Playoffs. Here how the current standings look:

MLS:

 - Past week's results - The MLS playoffs started with the first leg in the quarterfinal home-and-away series. The action started with a 0-0 draw between Houston and Seattle in front of over 35,000. Saturday night Real Salt Lake continue their lucky run (after squeaky into the playoffs last week) with a 1-0 win over the 2008 champions Columbus. New England topped Chicago 2-1, while the Galaxy and Chivas ended in a 2-2 draw in the first ever playoff Super Clasico. 

- Here is the schedule for the second leg of the quarterfinals:

• Real Salt Lake at Columbus - Thursday - 8pm - ESPN2HD
• New England at Chicago - Saturday - 8:30pm - FSC
• Seattle at Houston - Sunday - 3:00pm - Telefutura
• Chivas USA at LA Galaxy - Sunday - 7:30pm - ESPN2HD

EPL:

- Past week's results - Arsenal reminded Tottenham why they've been in the top 4 for the past decade with a 3-0 win on ESPN2 - Bolton was crushed by Chelsea 4-0 - Fulham got a 3-1 victory over Liverpool, who continues to struggle this season - Portsmouth had they best match of the season with a 4-0 result against Wigan

- Current EPL Table - The top 3 stayed the same with Chelsea, ManU and Arsenal keeping their usual place in the table - Man City jumped Tottenham and Liverpool into the 4th spot, and with a game in hand - Fulham climbed into 11th with their victory over Liverpool - Portsmouth win couldn't get them out of the bottom of the table, but it did move them within 3 points of getting out of the relegation zone. 

Serie A:

- Past weekend's results - Saturday saw AC Milan continue their great form with a 2-0 win over Parma, while they saw rival Juventus drop 3 points to Napoli 3-2 - The rest of the league fell into historical patterns with Inter, Sampdoria and Roma all earning victories.

- Current Serie A Table - The four now more closely resemble what many would have expected at the start of the season with Inter, Juventus, Sampdoria, and AC Milan holding the UEFA Champions League spots - Fiorentina and Napoli sit 5th and 6th respectively - Catania and Seina remain at the bottom of the table, each still with only 1 win on the season (out of 11 matches).

Also, look for a Champions League update later on this week.