August 22, 2007
Johnny Menyongar's game winning goal on Saturday night versus Minnesota landed the Rhinos midfielder on the USL 1st Division Team of the Week.
Former Rhino Connally Edozien was the Player of the Week thanks to his hat trick in Carolina's 3-0 midweek win at the Charleston Battery.
Montreal defender Gabe Gervais was another former Rhino on this week's Team of the Week.
Jozy Altidore named MLS Player of the Week
NY Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore was named the MLS Player of the Week thanks to his two goal performance in the epic 5-4 Red Bulls win over the LA Galaxy on Saturday night.
I was a little surprised that Altidore got the nod over Juan Pablo Angel (he had the Red Bulls opening goal, the game winning goal, and was named Man of the Match), as well as David Beckham (assisted on LA's first two goals and had a part in a third LA goal).
But, it's nice to see the young American striker getting some run coming off such a huge game.
I hope you set your TiVo
Soccer by Ives - Who starts for the US?
I know I forgot to set up my VCR to tape the US-Sweden friendly that kicks off at 2:30pm local time today. Thankfully, I have the best wife in the world!
It's going to be very interesting to see what the US gets out of a match like this. Especially given how so many people have said that the disappointing US performance at last year's World Cup in Germany was due to the US not playing high level competition away from home, especially in Europe.
If Sweden plays their A-Squad as they try and keep in form for Euro 2008 qualifying, then this should be a good measuring stick type match for a US squad that is a lot closer to the A-Squad than say the team Bob Bradley took to Copa America.
Abby Wambach in the Washington Post
Not like anyone needed it, but local soccer fans have another reason to hate Michael Vick. He bumped a profile of local US Women's National Team star Abby Wambach by Steven Goff that was set to run in today's Washington Post.
The good news is that they ran an on-line Q&A with Abby and the article will get published in the near future.
The US plays Finland on Sunday night in the team's final match before the Women's World Cup.
News & Notes:
- If you want to know what David Beckham's day planner looks like for this week, then check this out. The NY Times also takes a look at all the different media outlets that will cover Beckham in his whirlwind tour. And if people want to freak out, check out this story about Beckham chatting with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger .
- The deal to try and get an MLS stadium built in St. Louis is being brokered behind closed doors. Somehow, I'm not sure this is going to be a good thing. Voters tend to freak out when stuff like this isn't done out in the open.
- Fulham has officially announced that Brian McBride suffered a dislocated knee cap and the injury will require surgery. There was no timeline for McBride's return and that will likely not be set until after the surgery takes place.
- Jack Bell of the NY Times talks about Benny Feilhaber's move to Derby County. The funny part to me was how even the Derby County officials were stunned that Benny was able to secure a work permit.
- According to Steven Goff , US U-17 Israel Sesay, a forward from Gaithersberg, Maryland, has signed with MLS and will be the latest player to be granted to a team via a weighted lottery. I hope he lands with DC United, but if I had to guess, I'm going to say that Real Salt Lake will win this one.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
