Soccer Players From Argentina in MLS

This is a list of the players from Argentina currently in MLS. I've done lists similar to this in the past, but I received an email requesting that I do a list with only the Argentine players. I've listed each player's hometown and the club that they were at before making the move to Major League Soccer.

Facundo Erpen COL
Hometown: Gualeguaychu, Argentina
Club: Talleres de Cordoba (Argentina)

Christian Gomez COL
Hometown: Ramos Mejia, Argentina
Club: Arsenal de Sarandi (Argentina)

Guillermo Barros Schelotto CLB
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Boca Juniors (Argentina)

Nicolas Hernandez CLB
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Cobreloa (Chile)

Gino Padula CLB
Hometown: Lanus, Argentina
Club: Montpelier HSC (France)

Marcelo Gallardo DC
Hometown: Martinez, Argentina
Club: Paris-Saint Germain (France)

Franco Niell DC
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Argentinos Junior (Argentina)

Gonzalo Peralta DC
Hometown: Munro, Argentina
Club: Almirante Brown (Argentina)

Pablo Ricchetti DAL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Quilmes (Argentina)

Dario Sala DAL
Hometown: Cordoba, Argentina
Club: Arsenal de Sarandi (Argentina)

Franco Caraccio HOU
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Arsenal de Sarandi (Argentina)

Eloy Colombano KC
Hometown: Pehuajo, Argentina
Club: Defensa y Justicia (Argentina)

Claudio Lopez KC
Hometown: Rio Tercera, Argentina
Club: Racing Club (Argentina)

Carlos Marinelli KC
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Sporting Braga (Portugal)

Matias Cordoba RSL
Hometown: Lanus, Argentina
Club: Club Atletico Tigre (Argentina)

Fabian Espindola RSL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Sociedad Deportivo Quite (Ecuador)

Matias Mantilla RSL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Defensores de Belgrano (Argentina)

Javier Morales RSL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Salamanca (Spain)

Who will be in the Premiership next year?

These are the remaining fixtures for the clubs fighting relegation in the Premiership and the teams looking for promotion from the Championship.

Can Fulham make a miracle escape?

In the Championship, It looks like West Brom has sewn up an automatic promotion with a large lead in goal differential and only one game left. Hull and Stoke are battling it out for the other automatic promotion spot while Bristol City has earned one of the playoff spots. The other five clubs on the list are shooting for the two remaining playoff spots.

-- Premiership --

Wigan Athletic 37 pts -17 GD
Away to Aston Villa (6) LWWWD
Home to Man United (1) WDWDL

Middlesbrough 36 pts -19 GD
Home Portsmouth (7) WWDLL
Home Manchester City (9) LLWWL

Bolton 33 pts -20 GD
Home Sunderland (13) WWLLW
Away Chelsea (2) WWDWW

Reading 33 pts -28 GD
Home Tottenham (11) LDDDD
Away Derby (20) LDLLL

Birmingham City 32 pts -17 GD
Away Fulham (19) DLWLW
Home Blackburn (8) DDLDW

Fulham 30 pts -25 GD
Home Birmingham (18) WLDLD
Away Portsmouth (7) WWDLL

Derby County Relegated




-- Championship --
1 and 2 Automatic Promotion
3 through 6 enter Playoffs

West Brom 78 pts 31 GD
Away QPR (14) DDDWL

Stoke 78 pts 14 GD
Home Leicester (21) WLDWL

Hull 75 pts 19 GD
Away Ipswich (8) LDWDD

Bristol City 71 pts -2 GD
Home Preston (15) WDLDD

Watford 69 pts 6 GD
Away Blackpool (18) DLLWL

Crystal Palace 68 pts 11 GD
Home Burnley (11) WLLWD

Wolverhampton 67 pts 4 GD
Home Plymouth (10) LLDDW

Ipswich 66 pts 8 GD
Home Hull (3) WDWLW

Sheffield United 66 pts 6 GD
Away Southampton (22) LWDLD


Predictions?

Top Five Soccer Commercials

If you've watched a lot of the past World Cups on TV, you probably also catch the soccer related commercials that they play over and over again between the games. I'm not sure how much airtime these got outside of the USA (especially the second one), but these are some of the best soccer commercials I can remember dating back to USA '94. The commercials start and end with a couple of classic Brazil team commercials. Ah, the memories.












As long as I'm on the topic of commercials, I was reading the entertaining soccer (and news, music, clothing, etc.) blog "The Original Winger" and saw this new Nike commercial. Pretty cool.

World Cup Brothers

This is a list of brothers that have been included on their nation's World Cup rosters in the same year. (since Italia '90)

Egypt - 1990
Ibrahim Hassan
Hossam Hassan

Netherlands - 1990
Erwin Koeman
Ronald Koeman

United Arab Emirates - 1990
Eissa Meir Abdulrahman
Ibrahim Meir Abdulrahman

Khalil Ghanim Mubarak
Mubarak Ghanim Mubarak

Netherlands - 1994/1998
Frank de Boer
Ronald de Boer

Belgium - 1998
Emile Mpenza
Mbo Mpenza

Denmark - 1998
Michael Laudrup
Brian Laudrup

Norway - 1998
Jostein Flo
Tore Andre Flo

Scotland - 1998
Billy McKinlay
Tosh McKinlay

Poland - 2002
Marcin Zewlakow
Michal Zewlakow

Sweden - 2002
Patrick Andersson
Daniel Andersson

Cote d'Ivoire - 2006
Arouna Koné
Bakari Koné

Kolo Touré
Yaya Touré

Croatia - 2002/2006
Niko Kovac
Robert Kovac

Switzerland - 2006
Philipp Degen
David Degen

Soccer Players of Nigerian Descent

This is a list of current players that could have played internationally for Nigeria, but have chosen to play for other nations around the world. This list includes both players who can trace their origins to Nigeria and those who have attained foreign nationality during their career after being born in Nigeria.





AUSTRIA - Rubin Okotie (U21)

CANADA - Stephen Ademolu (2 caps)

ENGLAND - Gabriel Agbonlahor (U21), Shola Ameobi (U21), Carlton Cole (U21), Ugo Ehiogu (4 caps), Nedum Onuoha (U21)

GERMANY - Patrick Owomoyela (11 caps)

HONG KONG - Barnes Colly Ezeh (1 cap), Akandu Lawrence (7 caps)

ITALY - Stefano Okaka Chuka (U19)

POLAND - Emmanuel Olisadebe (25 caps)

SINGAPORE - Agu Casmir (21 caps), Itimi Dickson (19 caps)

SPAIN - Stephen Obayan Sunday (U20)

TOGO - Emmanuel Adebayor (37 caps), Emmanuel Mathias (4 caps)

USA - Oguchi Onyewu (28 caps), Amobi Okugo (U20), Amaechi Igwe (U20)



If you know of more current players of Nigerian descent that could have played for Nigeria but instead played elsewhere, leave a comment and I'll add them to the list.

Key Players on 2008 Olympic Soccer Teams - Group C and D

This post is part 2 (part 1) of a compilation of key players listed at the FIFA Mens Olympic Soccer website from each qualified Olympic nation. I've filtered through all of the seperate team pages and have provided links to each FIFA key player's wikipedia page along with listing their current club and position.


Group C

China
Dong Fangzhuo - FW, Manchester United
Zheng Zhi - MF, Charlton Athletic
Feng Xiaoting - DF, Dalian Shide

New Zealand
Steven Old - DF, Wellington Phoenix
Jeremy Brockie - FW, Hawke's Bay United
Costa Barbarouses - FW, Wellington Phoenix

Brazil
Lucas - MF, Liverpool FC
Alexandre Pato - FW, AC Milan
Marcelo - LB, Real Madrid

Belgium
Steven Defour - MF, Standard Liege
Vincent Kompany - DF, Hamburger SV
Moussa Dembele - FW, AZ Alkmaar


Group D

Korea Republic
Park Chu-Young - FW/MF, FC Seoul
Lee Keun-Ho - MF, Daegu FC
Kim Jin-Kyu - DF, FC Seoul

Cameroon
Andre Bikey - RB, Reading FC
Stephane Mbia - MF, Stade Rennais
Alexander Song - MF/DF, Arsenal FC

Honduras
Hendry Thomas - MF, Olimpia
Jefferson Bernardez - FW, Motagua
Georgie Welcome - FW, No Club

Italy
Giuseppe Rossi - FW, Villareal
Marco Motta - DF, Torino
Claudio Marchisio - MF, Empoli

Key Players on 2008 Olympic Soccer Teams - Group A and B

This post is a compilation of the key players listed at the FIFA Mens Olympic Soccer website from each qualified Olympic nation. I've filtered through all of the seperate team pages and have provided links to each FIFA key player's wikipedia page along with listing their current club and position. This post is for Group A and B, I'll be posting group C and D in a seperate post.


Group A

Cote d'Ivoire
Salomon Kalou - WF, Chelsea FC
Gervinho - FW, Le Mans
Sekou Cisse - FW, Roda JC

Argentina
Federico Fazio - DF, Sevilla
Ever Banega - MF, Valencia
Lautaro Acosta - MF/FW, Lanus

Australia
Mark Milligan - MF/DF, Sydney FC
Nathan Burns - FW, Adelaide United
Bruce Djite - FW, Adelaide United

Serbia
Aleksandar Kolarov - DF, Lazio
Stefan Babovic - MF, FC Nantes
Zoran Tosic - MF, FK Partizan


Group B

Netherlands
Ryan Babel - LW/RW, Liverpool FC
Royston Drenthe - LW/LB, Real Madrid
Hedwiges Maduro - MF, Valencia

Nigeria
Victor Anichebe - FW, Everton FC
John Obi Mikel - MF, Chelsea FC
Taye Taiwo - LB, Marseille

Japan
Sota Hirayama - FW, FC Tokyo
Takuya Honda - MF, Shimizu S-Pulse
Atsuto Uchida - DF, Kashima Antlers

USA
Freddy Adu - MF, Benfica
Jozy Altidore - FW, Red Bull New York
Jonathan Spector - DF, West Ham United

World Soccer League Schedule Chart

A chart showing the times of the year that various world soccer leagues take place.


Click to Enlarge

I'm glad MLS takes place through the summer, although from reading message forums many MLS fans seem to disagree. It allows for a year round club soccer fix, and in the US it doesn't compete with as many sports as it would in the Fall and Winter. I just wish they'd take a couple of weeks off during the big international tournaments in mid-summer.


I had to throw in the old school video game reference when I saw what the chart looked like. What was the name of that game again?

Primera División de México - Top Scorers

To me, the gap seems to be slowly narrowing between the top MLS teams and clubs in Mexico. With all of the recent and upcoming "important" (depending on who you ask) matches between them, I've been making an effort to familiarize myself with the Premier Division in Mexico. Outside of occasionally catching a Chivas-America 'Clásico de Clásicos', I can say I never really paid much attention to the league south of the border in the past.

I kind of wish I could watch some games with English commentary to get to know the teams better. Maybe I should try to improve my Español beyond counting to ten and the words copa, partido, gol, and liga. (I actually know a bit more than that, but you get the point)



Here are the top 4 scorers from the past few tournaments in Mexico.


Clausura 2008 (Through 15 games played)
Humberto Suazo - Chile 11 Monterrey
Claudio Graf - Argentina 9 Veracruz
Vicente Matías Vuoso - Argentina 9 Santos
Omar Bravo - Mexico 8 Chivas

Apertura 2007
Alfredo Moreno - Argentina 18 San Luis
Giancarlo Maldonado - Venezuela 15 Atlante
Esteban Solari - Argentina 14 UNAM
Daniel Luduena - Argentina 13 Santos

Clausura 2007
Omar Bravo - Mexico 11 Chivas
Juan Carlos Cacho - Mexico 11 Pachuca
Javier Campora - Argentina 10 Chiapas
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Mexico 9 America

Apertura 2006
Bruno Marioni - Argentina 15 Toluca
Omar Bravo - Mexico 11 Chivas
Miguel Sabah - Mexico 10 Cruz Azul
Kleber Boas - Brazil 9 Necaxa

Clausura 2006
Salvador Cabanas - Paraguay 14 Chiapas
Sebastian Abreu - Uruguay 11 Dorados
Oscar Gonzalez - Arg/Mex 10 San Luis
Emmanuel Villa - Argentina 10 Atlas

Apertura 2005
Walter Gaitán - Argentina 14 Tigres
Guillermo Franco - Mexico 13 Monterrey
Kléber Boas - Brazil 13 America
Sebastian Abreu - Uruguay 11 Monterrey

Clausura 2005
Vicente Matías Vuoso - Argentina 16 Santos
Claudio López - Argentina 14 America
Kléber Boas - Brazil 14 America
Walter Gaitán - Argentina 13 Tigres


It's interesting to see that Mexican players are not regularly leading the league in goals and are not even in the top 4 goal scorers in great numbers.


Where are they now?
Sebastian Abreu - River Plate (Argentina)
Kleber Boas - Santos (Brazil)
Claudio Lopez - KC Wizards (USA)
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Chicago Fire (USA)
Guillermo Franco - Villareal (Spain)
Emmanuel Villa - Derby County (England)

US National Team Losses since 2002

These are all of the US national team losses since 2002, not including World Cup Finals games.




2-4 Brazil Chicago, IL, USA Sep 07
0-1 Sweden Goteborg, Sweden Aug 07
0-1 Colombia Barquisimeto, Venezuela (CA’07) Jul 07
1-3 Paraguay Barinas, Venezuela (CA’07) Jul 07
1-4 Argentina Maracaibo, Venezuela (CA’07) Jun 07
0-1 Morocco Nashville, TN, USA May 06
1-4 Germany Dortmund, Germany Mar 06
0-3 Costa Rica San Juan, Costa Rica (WCQ) Oct 05
1-2 England Chicago, IL, USA May 05
1-2 Mexico Mexico City, Mexico (WCQ) Mar 05
0-1 Netherlands Amsterdam, Netherlands Feb 04
1-2 Brazil Foxboro, MA, USA (GC 03) Jul 03
0-1 Brazil Lyon, France (Confed Cup) Jun 03
1-2 Turkey St. Etienne, France (Confed Cup) Jun 03
0-1 Argentina Miami, FL, USA Feb 03
0-2 Netherlands Foxboro, MA, USA May 02
1-2 Ireland Dublin, Ireland Apr 02
2-4 Germany Rostock, Germany Mar 02
0-1 Italy Catania, Italy Feb 02


Losses on US Soil: Morocco, England, Brazil, Argentina, and Netherlands.

If I'm remembering correctly, that bad Morocco game was lost in the 90th minute. Steve Cherundolo lost the ball and the Morocco player crossed to a wide open teammate who knocked it in. I also remember Eddie Johnson shanking a wide open shot in that one. Remember when Maradona said EJ could be the next Eusebio?


Just so I don't have to feel too bad about those Copa America losses, here is a reminder of the roster the US sent to that tournament. HaHa, Eddie Gaven.

2007 Copa America Roster By Position (2007 clubs listed)

Goalkeepers – Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Kasey Keller (Borussia Moenchengladbach)
Defenders – Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Bobby Boswell (D.C. United), Dan Califf (Aalborg BK), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjælland), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
Midfielders – Kyle Beckerman (Colorado Rapids), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburger SV), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Lee Nguyen (PSV Eindhoven), Ben Olsen (D.C.United)
Forwards – Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Herculez Gomez (Colorado Rapids), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)


Well, the US has England at Wembley, Spain in Santander, and Argentina at Giants stadium coming up in the next couple of months. Will I have to update this list? I'm going to hope for a 1-1-1 record as a minimum out of those games. Unless EJ really is the next Eusebio. (For some reason, I think Eusebio at 24 would be able to make the current bench at Fulham, seeing as he was 23 when he won European Footballer of the Year while playing at European Cup runners up Benfica)

Soccer Shirt Collecting

Click to Enlarge

Anyone know what year that Wizards shirt is from? I know it's from the early years of MLS but I didn't have much time and couldn't find the exact year on my quick look.

In the small town where I live there are approximately zero people that would have any interest in my jersey collection or soccer in general, so I thought I'd post some of the favorite shirts from my collection here at the blog. I know, not very exciting to anyone but me, but look you must :)

Any gotta-have shirt suggestions for the collection? Anyone else out there collect shirts?

Just to make the post more useful, here are my favorite places to look for shirts:


Classic Football Shirts
Subside Sports
eBay

Largest Stadiums in the World with Regular Club Soccer

These are the highest capacity stadiums in the world that host regular club soccer matches. Minimum 80,000 capacity.

King Fahd Stadium - Saudi Arabia

[Edit: Added Estádio do Maracanã]

Salt Lake Stadium - Kolkata, India
Mohun Bagan Athletic Club
East Bengal Club
Mohammedan Sporting
120,000

Estadio Azteca - Mexico City, Mexico
Club America
114,465

Camp Nou - Barcelona, Spain
FC Barcelona
98,772

Azadi Stadium - Tehran Iran
Esteghlal FC
Persepolis
90,000

Estádio do Maracanã - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Flamengo
Fluminense
88,992

Luzhniki Stadium - Moscow Russia
Torpedo Moscow
Spartak Moscow
84,745

San Siro - Milan, Italy
AC Milan
Inter Milan
82,955

Stadio Olimpico - Rome, Italy
AS Roma
Lazio
82,000

Atatürk Olympic Stadium - Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor
81,283

Westfalenstadion (Signal Iduna Park) - Dortmund, Germany
Borussia Dortmund
81,264

Santiago Bernabeu - Madrid, Spain
Real Madrid
80,354

Giants Stadium - East Rutherford, New Jersey
Red Bull New York
80,242

King Fahd International Stadium - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Al Nasr
Al Hilal
Al Shibab
80,000

Morumbi - São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo FC
80,000

June 11 Stadium - Tripoli, Libya
Al-Ahly
Al-Ittihad
Al Madina Tripoli
80,000

2008 MLS "Mini" Designated Players

These are the 2008 MLS players that have the highest annual salary outside of the league's Designated Players. (Not Including "Grandfathered" players, Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz.)


$430,000 - Christian Gomez (COL)
$400,000 - Duilio Davino (DAL)
$375,000 - Guillermo Barros Schelotto (CLB)
$350,008 - Taylor Twellman (NE)
$337,300 - Laurent Robert (TOR)
$330,000 - Carl Robinson (TOR)
$325,000 - Shalrie Joseph (NE)
$324,999 - Dwayne DeRosario (HOU)
$318,000 - Pablo Mastroeni (COL)
$313,125 - Luciano Emilio (DC)


These are the "Guaranteed Compensation" numbers.

For me, Carl Robinson is the most out of place player on that list. Many of these players have been league MVP's or are at least MVP caliber players. It remains to be seen if Laurent Robert and Duilio Davino will be worth their high salaries.

I thought Amado Guevara might make this list. He isn't listed in the salaries yet but this Soccer America article mentions he'll make about $250,000. If John Carver and Mo can keep him on track, Toronto seems to have made a great deal signing the former league MVP.

Just for the sake of comparison
Minimum salary in:
NHL $475,000
NBA $427,163
MLB $390,000
NFL $285,000


MLS Salaries taken from the MLS Players Union Website

Asian Soccer Players in Europe - Interactive Map

This is an interactive map showing all of the Asian players, not including Australians, in the top European Leagues.

Click on the Flag icons for the club and player names. Zoom in to see each player's home stadium. Click on View larger map for more navigation options.



View Larger Map

MLS Player Map: Mexico, Central America, and The Caribbean

A map and list of MLS players from Mexico, Central America, and The Caribbean.


Click to Enlarge

Listed by Team:

Chicago Fire
Andy Herron
Gonzalo Segares

Chivas USA
Atiba Harris
Francisco Mendoza
Claudio Suarez
Shavar Thomas

Columbus Crew
Ezra Hendrickson

Colorado Rapids
Omar Cummings

FC Dallas
Duilio Davino

Kansas City Wizards
Scott Sealy
Roger Espinoza

Los Angeles Galaxy
Carlos Ruiz

New England Revolution
Mauricio Castro
Argenis Fernandez
Shalrie Joseph
Khano Smith

New York Red Bulls
Dane Richards

San Jose Earthquakes
Gavin Glinton
Ivan Guerrero
Ryan Johnson

Toronto FC
Amado Guevara
Julius James
Tyrone Marshall
Marco Velez


Houston Dynamo, DC United, and Real Salt Lake currently have zero players from this region.

MLS South American Player Map