Turkcell Super League – Week 8 schedule

Here’s the schedule for Turkcell Super League action for week 8.  All times listed are local times (GMT +2 time zone), referee assigned to officiate is in parenthesis.

Friday October 2
8:00 p.m. Trabzonspor – Gaziantepspor (Tolga Özkalfa)

Saturday October 3
3:00 p.m. Diyarbakırspor – İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor (Bülent Yıldırım)
5:00 p.m. Manisaspor – Bursaspor (Aytekin Durmaz)
8:00 p.m. Beşiktaş – Denizlispor (Fırat Aydınus)

Sunday October 4
3:00 p.m. Eskişehirspor – Kayserispor (Selçuk Dereli)
3:00 p.m. Sivasspor – Antalyaspor (Bünyamin Gezer)
4:00 p.m. Ankaragücü – Galatasaray (Koray Gençerler)
8:00 p.m. Fenerbahçe – Gençlerbirliği (Kuddusi Müftüoğlu)

Beşiktaş’ wings clipped again.

Beşiktaş would travel up to the cold confines of Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Looking to rebound from a disappointing loss to Manchester United in match day 1 of the UEFA Champions League, the Black Eagles needed some sort of spark to rejuvenate their Champions League campaign. The question was which Beşiktaş would show up, the league version, or the team that gave Manchester United a run for their money before losing?

Important Reads on Player Development

Player Development is a much discussed subject in the United States. This week two very important articles  on Player Development in North America appeared. The first, by Soccerlens L.E. Eisenmenger, discusses the potential for youth transfer fees as a means to incentive and support youth soccer programs that produce good players.

The second piece, from Yanks Abroad.com talks about the recent work of Traffic Sports, the parent company of Miami FC to fill the gap in US player development. Fernando Clavijo, Director of Soccer for Miami FC, has taken a lead role in identifying and signing US youth talent. Clavijo, is a former US star having won 61 caps for the national team, himself.

US 4 -Cameroon 1: Live Match Analysis

Beginning at 12:45 ET, we’ll be providing live match analysis for the U-20 World Cup match up between the  US-Cameroon. The game can be seen on ESPN 2 beginning at 12:45 ET/9:45am PT in the USA.

LINEUP: (4-3-3) Perk (captain); Williams, Gale, Opara, Flores; Duka, Jeffrey, Arguez; Cruz, Taylor, Shea

For Florida interests, both Miami FC/Traffic Sports properties, Gale and Taylor start again today. Also South Florida native Bryan Arguez gets the start after a good 45 minutes off the bench Saturday.

Ligue 1 so far, seven games in

Loic Remy - the most underrated player in France?

While it is only seven games into the Ligue 1 season, we are starting to see how things about starting to pan out. As predicted Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille are the top three and Grenoble is struggling. Yet there are a number of teams that are playing over and under their potential. The same thing can be said about some players as well.

The under achievers?

There is one team of note that is playing way under their potential. Lille entered this season with a lot of promise, and a lot of talent as well. Players that might not be known outside the Ligue 1 world, like Pierre-Alain Frau, Robert Vittek, Florent Balmont, Ludovic Obraniak and Eden Hazard (though that is changing) are stars within France. And, with these players, Lille had a great chance to make it to the top five this year.

But playing from behind and a lack of goal scoring has lead to a team that is currently lying in 17th place, only two goals away from relegation. If the Northern France side plans on getting back to their winning ways, they have to continue to work the ball to Beglian international Eden Hazard. Hazard, who many link to a move elsewhere soon, has proved in his short time in Ligue 1 play that he is amongst the best offensive midfielders in the game. He also plays striker as well, and can really move around the pitch. Yet, much of their play seems to be coming from Vittek, who is a great player in his own right.

This week Lille will play against a struggling Boulogne, who are starting to slide down the league table.

Manchester City 3-1 West Ham: Tevez Brace, Brilliant Petrov

Martin Petrov and Carlos Tevez were both brilliant today for City at Eastlands/Sky Sports Photo

Carlos Tevez feels differently about West Ham than he does Manchester United. After scoring his Premiership goal for City against one of his former clubs, the Argentine apologized openly to the West Ham fans, something he was unlikely to do had he scored last week at Old Trafford. Tevez, it is recalled almost single handily saved then manager Alan Curbishley’s Hammers side from relegation in the 2006-07 season with an amazing final month of the season.

Continue Reading at Man City Blog

Diyarbakirspor may withdraw from the Turkish league

A report from the English-language Hurriyet Daily News cites that Diyarbakirspor is considering withdrawing from the Turkish league. This decision may come to pass if the club continues to receive verbal and physical abuse. Diyarbakırspor chairman Çetin Sümer discussed this with the chairman of the TFF, Mahmut Özgener, and Sümer said Monday that his team had been insulted by political slogans during the games. This would come to a head in Bursa, where Bursaspor fans would throw the stadium’s plastic seats and hurl verbal insults to Diyarbakirspor supporters. For ultra-nationalists in the country, Diyarbakirspor is considered representing the Kurds, and by extension the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey. Should Bursaspor not be punished, Sümer said, he will withdraw Diyarbakirspor from the league. He went on to say that Diyarbakirspor does not represent an extension of any political ideology or party.

Turkcell Super League – Week 7 (Sunday recap)

Sunday would see the attempt of Galatasaray to keep pace with Fenerbahçe with a perfect record.  This week Eskişehirspor would come into the Ali Sami Yen stadium, perhaps to be another notch on the belt of a perfect season.  Frank Rijkaard would make a shock benching, as he would bench both Elano and Milan Baros. 

USL-1 Semifinals Set

Well, what do you know. Leaning on my “expertise” as a color analyst for Miami FC telecasts this season led me to pick all three Quarterfinals matchups incorrectly. So I am out of the prediction business.

The semifinals are set:

Montreal vs Puerto Rico

Portland vs Vancouver

U-20 World Cup Storylines

The first set of group games is in the books from Egypt and here are the emerging storylines.

• Argentina, the two time defending champion did not quality for this event. As we have seen thus far, COMNEBOL’s depth at the youth level is so strong, Argentina’s failure can be properly explained by the regions amazing quality at the youth level more than the failure of this class of Argentine youth players