Confederation Confrontations
The big news this week will be the second legs of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals Tuesday and Wednesday. It kicks off with the Seattle Sounders at home Tuesday evening against Tigres. Joshua Mayers of the Seattle Times reports that the Sounders are dealing with a few injury issues, but the visitors have already arrived with a 16-player squad minus many of their starters from the first leg and their Liga MX match Saturday.
Also on Tuesday, Monterrey plays host to Xelaju (Guatemala). On Wednesday, Los Angeles plays host to Herediano (Costa Rica) and Houston travels to Santos Laguna. All three games featuring MLS clubs will air on Fox Soccer.
Speaking of Santos Laguna
US international striker Herculez Gomez scored once again for the Mexican giants, nailing a wonderful 33-yard free kick against Atlante (video at this link).
More Video…
Here are a few interesting clips worth checking out. It's not a first, but DC United provides a time lapse of them lining the field for their home opener. Chris Pontius, however, represents DC United as the first participant, though, in this local television news program's challenge of trying to do the weather - it is good for a few chuckles. And the final video linked is right out of Benny Hill… well, the music anyway. It's a sped of clip of a European soccer match interrupted by a small animal that bites a player before it's all said and done.
Biting Criticism
Apparently no players received enough votes on the initial National Soccer Hall of Fame ballot. Instead going without an inductee via the regular voting process, the Hall chose to take the top five nominees and issue a second ballot back out to the voters. Charlie Cuttone of Sports Vue Interactive, which runs sites like the popular BigAppleSoccer.com, wrote a commentary in opposition to the decision for a second ballot, claiming he was going to submit a blank one - though he voted for two of them previously - and voiced disappointment the organizers are overlooking the other Hall induction categories such as the veteran's committee and media award.
Soccer Supporter Loyalties
This is an excellent piece from ESPN.com that examines the loyalties of soccer supporters and whether or not those in the United States have a right to claim themselves as such if they don't follow the domestic top flight - MLS.
'Soccer with Breakfast' is a quick recap of interesting, underreported, or top soccer news items - sometimes accompanied by some commentary - to give readers in the Inland Northwest area (or beyond) a brief look around the North American news scene.
#INWsoccernews
