In what is a shocking turn-of-events, the USA U-20 team bounced back from a lopsided 0-3 loss to Germany, to destroy a highly regarded Cameroon U-20 team by the score of 4-1 in their 2nd game of U-20 Youth World Cup.

Our youngsters came out and played with nothing to lose and were able to impose their will in the midfield. If you follow the the US Men’s National team at both youth and adult stages, you will see that the US Teams generally play their best soccer and get the best results when they are regarded as the underdog and when they play with a sense of pride and intensity. Yesterdays game was no different as the young guys in Red, White, and Blue came out an intensity that the Cameroonian youths were unable to match. Congrats to our youngsters for defying the odds and keeping their world cup dreams alive.

Read the full match report HERE at ussoccer.com

The third/final game of the round robin stage against S. Korea on Friday will decide whether the US team will qualify for the quarterfinal stage of the tournament. The Game will be televised at 12:45 p.m. EST on  ESPN2 and ESPN360.com

Several good games were played in Week #3 of the Fall 2009 Season. Here’s how our teams fared:

FC Denver Premier won 5-3 against America. It feels great to get the W! The Premier team had too much skill and endurance and outlasted the undermanned America Team.  Lets hope our guys are coming together at the right to rattle off several more wins in a row. Record is 1-2 on the season. Goals by Tom Marks (3), Ben Jackson (1), and Chris Honeker (1).

FC Denver United lost 1-2 to Colorado Sporting Select. The United team wasn’t able to play with the cohesion needed to get a result on Sunday. The team is packed with Talented layers that haven’t quite found their form yet. It’s only a matter of time before the guys start clicking.  Record is now 1-1 on the season. Goal by Marco DelPiccolo.

FC Denver Select lost 0-1 against Sefton FC. Second Week in a row that the guys left everything on the field but couldn’t muster a result. Game was largely played in midfield in a fairly even match.  Our guys weren’t able to create many chances on the tough Sefton FC Defense. Record is 0-2-1.

FC Denver Premier Group MVP of the Week: Tom Marks, Premier Team. 2nd week in a row as MVP as he topped his 2 goal effort last week with a hat-trick this week. I’m sure he’ll tell you he should have gotten atleast one more, but a 3 goal performance is superb. Ben Jackson from the Premier team comes in with a strong 2nd place performance with a goal and an outstanding chip on the goalline that Tom finished. Keep up the great work guys.

FC Denver Green lost to TASC. Tough game for our guys in Green. They played very shorthanded and still gave it their all. Unfortunate game and result from this terrifically skilled team. They’ll work to bounce back next week in what should be an outstanding interclub game against our own FC Denver United team.

No result in yet from this weekend’s FC Denver Masters match.

The status quo was maintained this weekend with the only teams doing themselves any favors were New England and Columbus.  This how the weekend’s games turned out.

Colorado v. San Jose

The week of games started early with a Wednesday night match between San Jose and Colorado at Dick’s.  San Jose looked destined for 3 points when they went ahead through a Wondolowski penalty kick in the 67th minute, but  a stoppage time penalty kick by Conor Casey earned the Rapids a 1-1 tie.  The Rapids earned 2 points out a possible 6 from one of the worst team in the league.

Colorado v. KC

Rapids played Kansas City on Saturday in a 0-0 snoozer.  The Rapids are now without Jacob Peterson, Jaime Smith, and Colin Clark for the rest of the season through injury.  The lack of pace and creativity on the wings showed.

New England v. Seattle

New England at home took 3 points from Seattle this weekend thanks to a Shalrie Joseph brace.  Fredy Montero opened the scoring with a 30 yard goal of the year candidate in just the 8th minute.  Joseph answered with a penalty kick and an 87th minute game winner. The win allowed the Revs to leap frog into one of the playoff positions bumping DC out of the picture.

Toronto v. Chicago

Toronto fought hard but their inability to win games is troubling as they tied 2-2 to Chicago.  Toronto was up 2-1 at Toyota Park until a Brian McBride goal in the 78th minute tied things up.  Chicago’s other goal was an own goal by Nick Garcia.  Chicago hasn’t been convincing at home this season but the tie was enough to keep them second in the East.

Columbus v. LA

Columbus became the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Their 2-0 victory over an anemic Galaxy side combined with DC United’s loss to San Jose earned them a playoff spot. Goals were scored by Eddie Gaven and Steven Lenhart.

DC v. SJ

DC United shot themselves in the foot by losing 2-1 to San Jose.  The home loss dropped them from the playoff picture.

Chivas v. NY

Chivas USA could have jumped up 3rd in the standings with a victory over New York.  Chivas had to settle for a 1-1 tie at home which must have felt like a loss after Kljestan missed a stoppage time penalty kick to win the game.

Dallas v. RSL

Dallas added to Real Salt Lake’s woes through a 3-0 thrashing. Dallas picked the last month and a half to start playing some good soccer but its too little too late for their chances at making the post season.  Jeff Cunningham is still on fire as he scored a brace, but the real revelation has been the play of Colombian Feriera and Dutch playmaker Van den Bergh. Technically Salt Lake is still in the race but their fate is no longer in their hands.

Here are the goal of the week nominees:

Kyle Davies - U-20 Team Captain

The US Team lost its first round robin game of the 2009 U-20 WorldCup to the Germany.

The US Team fell behind by 2 goals in the first half before regrouping at the half, and creating some opportunities in the 2nd half. We looked likely to score a goal in the 2nd half , but weren’t able to produce. The Germans found the 3rd goal in the 72nd minute to finish the game.  It looks like it may be a difficult few games in Eygpt for our youngsters, especially if Coach Thomas Rongen can’t find a way to get our best players on the pitch. A few players that seemed to be lock starters (Duka and Arguez), were on the bench at the start of the game. Their inclusion as substitutes lead to an improved 2nd half performance for the US Team.

Read all about the game and see the ESPN Player Ratings HERE.

Go to GOUSABID.COM and sign the petition to bring the World Cup back to the USA!

I dont know about you, but I wasn’t old enough to enjoy the World Cup last time it was in the USA (1994). The growth of the game in America has been noticable over the past two decades and hosting the World Cup would only enhance this.

A tough weekend for most of the Green Army. The FC Denver United Team had the weekend off and 3 of our other 4 teams lost in tough games. Here’s the update:

FC Denver Premier lost 2-6 to a skillful and efficient Colorado Sporting Premier Team. Our top team hasn’t found their stride yet and the next couple of weeks will be critical to see how the team fares for the rest of the season.  They could easily rattle off a few wins in a row and the 0-2 start could be a distant memory. Lets get out there and work at practice and stay confident and the wins will come. Goals by Tom Marks (2).

FC Denver United - Off - Bye Week

FC Denver Select lost 3-4 to Mile High Arsenal. Tough game to lose against what seemed to be a team we should beat. Take nothing away from the pride and energy that the MH Arsenal team showed in their winning effort, but our guys know that we are a better team than what we displayed on Sunday. We look ahead to next Sunday. Goals by Trent Burton (2) and Kevin Agular.

FC Denver Premier Group MVP of the Week: Tom Marks, Premier Team. Tom’s 2 goal display was one of the highlights of a tough day for our guys. Both goals were well-taken and his energy off the ball created problems for the Sporting defense.

FC Denver Green beat the Colorado Storm Team 2-0 with goals from Spike and Jon to win the game. We could have won by more but the hot conditions made it tough going on our guys. We found a way to get the win anyway.

FC Denver Masters lost a tough and heated game 3-4 against one of the better teams in the division. They fought back the entire game from behind and were unlucky not to get a tie out of the game.

The MLS season is quickly coming to a close with around 4-6 games left per team.  No one has clinched a playoff spot yet but it looks pretty clear that Houston and Columbus will make the post season.  The rest is still a toss up.  Historically, the magic number “40″ was the bench mark for making the playoffs.  I don’t know if that holds true anymore.

Around mid season I mapped what the Rapids needed to do to get the 40 points necessary to earn a playoff spot. Now it looks like they will need to do a little more since it seems likely that at least 2 40+ teams might miss the playoffs.  Here is the playoff picture right now.

Current playoff standings:

Columbus         43

Houston             43

LA                            41

Chicago               40

Seattle                   38

Colorado             37

Chivas                  37

DC                           36

Salt Lake                34

Toronto                  34

New England       34

Kansas                   30

Dallas                     27

San Jose               21

NY                          17

Right now their are four teams that have already reached the number 40.  Just below them are 9 teams that could reach the number 40,  considering that there are anywhere from 18 to 12 points left to be won by these teams.

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Manchester Derby

Manchester United and Manchester City played an exciting and controversial match on Sunday afternoon.  Both teams had their scoring boots on as this one ended 4-3 for United after a late and controversial game winner by Michael Owen in the 5th injury time minute.  Man City coach, Hughes, was angered that the ref allowed the game to go on for 6 injury time minutes after the 4th official has signaled only 4 minutes.

Craig Bellamy and Darren Fletcher each got a brace for their respective side. Wayne Rooney, Gareth Barry, and Michael Owen also found the back of the net.  Man City was without leading goal scorer Adebayor and Brazilian superstar Robinho.  Man City likely feel robbed and that should only make their next meeting this spring more exciting.

Here are the highlights of the match:

La Liga Goal Fest

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona won big this weekend in La Liga play.  On Saturday Barcelona thoroughly dismantled Alteltico Madrid 5-2.  On Sunday Madrid destroyed Xerex 5-0 to stay top of the table tied with Barcelona but with a better goal differential.  Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace for Madrid leaving him top of the goal scoring table tied with David Villa of Valencia with 4 goals.  Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both have 3 goals.

Barcelona completely out classed Atletico Madrid and were up 4-0 by the half.  Ibrahimovic, Messi, Dani Alves, and Keita scored in the first half.  Barcelona let the foot off the gas in the second half allowing Diego Forlan and Aguero to pull two goals back for the visiting side.  But Messi made sure the match ended in a drubbing by scoring Barcelona’s 5th goal in the 90th minute.

Things looked like they would go smoothly for Real Madrid after Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in just the 1st minute for Madrid.  Xerex proved to be resilient and held off the Madrid giants for 74 minutes.  Ronaldo scored his second goal of the night and the floodgates opened. Guti, Benzema, and Van Nistelrooy each found a goal in the final 15 minutes to complete the rout.

Before anyone gets too excited about Madrid consider that Xerex is pointless in 3 matches and has yet to score a goal.

Here are the highlights of those matches:

The USA U20’s won 2-0 over Trinidad & Tobago in their first warm up match before the World Cup kicks off.  Goals were scored by Brek Shea and Bryan Arguez.

Check out how the U20’s are integrating in the time they have before the tournament kicks off.

Here is the TV schedule for US’s group matches:

Sept 26th - US vs Germany 10am EST, ESPN Classic, ESPN360, Galavision

Sept 29th - US vs Cameroon 12:45 EST, ESPN2, Galavision

Oct 2nd - US vs Republic of Korea 12:45, EST, ESPN2, Galavision

Here are a few notes for your Friday afternoon.

Expansion Draft Set

The 2009 Expansion Draft will be on Nov 25th, just 3 days after the MLS Cup.  Philadelphia Union, led by coach Piotr Nowak, will have the opportunity to select a group of players that will make up the core of his team. Last year the Seattle Sounders made the most of their expansion draft opportunity and picked up guys like James Riley, Brad Evans, Nate Jaqua, and Peter Vagenas.  The core of Seattle clearly revolves around guys like Montero, Ljunberg, and Alonso but no one can doubt the impact of a strong expansion draft and being a playoff caliber team.  The big question now is “which players will be protected and which won’t?’  There is a lot of talent in the league that is likely to go unprotected and I wouldn’t be surprised if some big names make their way to Philadelphia.

Bryan Leyva signed by FC Dallas

Most people have probably heard that US international defender Heath Pearce has recently signed with Dallas . . . a story I couldn’t care less about.  What is exciting in Dallas, is that they have just signed FC Dallas junior’s player Bryan Leyva.  Leyva is a 17 year old midfielder from Chihuahua, Mexico but has lived in Irving, Texas since 2000.  He is a small but skillful midfielder who first jumped onto the scene when he was called up to train with the Mexican National team at the age of 14.  He is currently with the U17 Mexican National team preparing for the U17 World Cup.

This story is interesting to me for two reasons. First, because of this signing I found out that as of July 2009 teams get two extra roster spots for players signed from their developmental academy.  That is a major incentive to sign home grown talent and a tip of my hat goes to the individuals who pushed that initiative through.  Second, the kid is really good.  He is considered a very special talent and MLS is very lucky to have him on the books.  These types of signings are going to make the league grow in quality and notoriety.

Free Setanta

If you are a DirecTV subscriber take advantage of the free Setanta Sports preview  this weekend.  You lucky bastards will get to watch the Manchester United v. Manchester City derby for free.

Real Madrid on ESPN 2

Real Madrid will be playing Xerez this weekend on ESPN 2 at 11am. This will be a great opportunity to see some of the best soccer players in the world whoop on the team that didn’t give Jozy Altidore a second of playing time during his loan spell.

Lee Nguyen with Arsenal

Young American winger Lee Nguyen is training/trialing with Arsenal for the next few weeks.  Nguyen was a standout with our youth national team system and left college early, after a very successful freshman year at Indiana, to play for PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch league.  Things didn’t go as planned in the Netharlands and Nguyen was soon on his way to Denmark to play for Randers FC.  His time with Randers only lasted one season before he signed a deal with Vietnamese side Hoang Anh Gia Lai.  Part of the of the deal with Hoang Anh was that Nguyen would get a chance to trial or at least train with Arsenal when the season was over.

Nguyen trained with FC Dallas to keep his fitness up before his trip to London.  Most commentators mentioned that Nguyen looked a step above the FC Dallas players in ball skill but a touch slow on pace.  If anything the experience with Arsenal will open other doors for the young winger and it never hurts to get a recommendation from Arsene Wenger. So far only positive things have come out of London regarding Nguyen.

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