Congrats to the San Jose Earthquakes: 2012 Supporters Shield Winners

Chris Wondolowski and the Earthquakes have clinched the Supporters Shield

The Puddle would like to pass on congratulations to the San Jose Earthquakes, who are now officially the 2012 Major League Soccer Supporters' Shield Winner.  The Shield is the honor given to the MLS team that finishes the regular season with the most points.  Earlier this evening, Sporting Kansas City played to a scoreless draw with the New York Red Bulls, leaving them at least four points back of the Quakes going into next week's final matches.  The Quakes host the LA Galaxy tomorrow night, looking to add to their current total of 64 points.

There are a couple of added benefits to winning the Shield.  First and foremost, they will get to host MLS Cup if they make it that far as the top seed in the playoffs.  If they accomplish this, they won't host at Buck Shaw Stadium though.  They'll play the winner of the Western Conference wild card game in the first round of the Playoffs proper.

Finally, the honor secures the Quakes a spot in next year's CONCACAF Champions League.  They join Sporting Kansas City, who have already qualified as US Open Cup Champions.  Their final regular season game will be at Portland next weekend.

Canada Manager Hart Resigns

The Canadian national team leaves the pitch after falling to Honduras

Soccer is a results oriented business, and it's even getting to be that way in countries where soccer isn't even the main sport.  Expectations are rising in places like the USA and Canada, and when those expectations aren't met, somebody pays the price.

In the end the result that Canada wanted, at least the next step, was so close yet so far away.  Coming into Tuesday's World Cup Qualifier in Honduras, all team Canada needed was a draw to advance to the Hexagonal stage next year.  They didn't get close, as the Hondurans blew them off the pitch by an 8-1 scoreline.

The process of paying the price for the disappointment began today as manager Stephan Hart resigned. In a conference call earlier today, the Canadian Soccer Association said that Hart's resignation had indeed been offered and accepted.

CSA president Victor Montagliani had this to say about the newly departed manager: “Stephen’s always been an exemplary model for the game at both the national and international levels. He’s been asked to do a lot of things and he’s done it with the ultimate class and the gentleman that he is. He has earned the respect of the entire soccer community.”

Of course that was tempered by this quote about the result: "I’m not sure if words can describe the feelings when I was down there or words that I can’t even say on this call.  I think at the end of the day, whether we’re working in the game [or not], we’re obviously all fans of our national team. We’re all proud to be Canadians and I had a feeling I never want to experience again.”

Canada now has a long time to wait.  Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup doesn't begin for three years.  Certainly some of the guys that are around now aren't going to be around then, and the program now faces a massive rebuilding project.

Canada has qualified for the FIFA World Cup just once, in 1986.  That year they were grouped with France, Hungary, and the USSR.  They lost all three group stage matches with a -5 goal difference.  They also won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2000 and the Olympic Championship in 1904.

Senegal Disqualified From African Cup of Nations.

Senegalese police evacuate the Ivory Coast national team as debris rains on the pitch.

This weekend I covered the fan riots that forced the abandonment of the Senegal vs. Ivory Coast African Cup of Nations qualifier last Saturday.  With the Ivorians leading 0-2 late in the second half (and 2-6 on aggregate) Senegalese fans erupted to into violence, invading the pitch, lighting fires in the stands, and tossing projectiles at match officials and players.

Today the Confederation of African Football (CAF) formally disqualified Senegal from the tournament, awarding the Ivory Coast the 0-2 match result that confirms their trip into the tournament finals next year.

CAF said in a statement: "CAF decided to officially confirm the result of the match as 2-0 in favour of Ivory Coast … and to consider Senegal the loser of the said match and eliminated from the competition without prejudice to any other sanctions that may be imposed by CAF disciplinary board."

While Senegal will undoubtedly be unhappy about missing the final, there is an odd silver lining for Newcastle United, as strikers Demba Ba and Papis Cisse will not have to travel home to compete in the tournament come January.

No word yet as to if CAF will impose further sanctions on Senegal in the future.

France Equalizes Spain On Last Minute Goal

France celebrates Olivier Giroud's last minute equalizer. (Getty Images)

France came into today's World Cup Qualifier looking for some revenge for Euro 2012, and to prove to everyone that Spain isn't invincible.  Did they accomplish either of those aims?  Maybe.  They took advantage of a late Spanish mistake to score a goal on virtually the last kick of the match.  I for one came away thinking the wounds that led to Spain dropping points were more self inflicted than the result of anything France did.

France came out in a fairly conservative formation, but kind of clogged up the midfield blocking any direct route at goal for the Spanish possession offense.  However Spain did find some joy on the wings, especially coming up the left side.  This resulted in a corner kick in the 26th minute.  It was sent in to the area and Sergio Ramos saw his first shot go off the post and seemingly away from danger.  However, France couldn't clear, and the ball came back into the area.  While Ramos was still standing there, literally with his head in his hands, the ball fell kindly to him and he smashed it into the top of the net to give Spain the 1-0 lead.

France struggled to create quality chances, but appeared to have equalized the match just prior to halftime.  Jeremy Menez managed to poke home a ball from Karim Benzema at close range, but the goal was ruled out for offside.  Replays seemed to suggest that while Menez was ahead of the last defender when the ball came across, he looked to actually be behind the ball.  At any rate, the decision stood.

Spain had a golden chance to to go up 2-0 at the death of the first half.  Laurent Koscielny cynically brought down Pedro in the area to concede a penalty kick.  Cesc Fabregas stepped up to take it, but Hugo Lloris guessed correctly, diving to his right to save the kick and keeping it 1-0 going into the break.

France came out much more lively in the second half, but scrappy play from both sides dominated the match.  Karim Benzema had a chance to even things up, but somehow missed the target after a great cross from Frank Ribery.

However in the 94th minute the French would take advantage of their literal last chance.  Spain sub Juanfran turned the ball over in midfield and France came storming up the pitch.  Ribery was on hand again to drop yet another pinpoint cross into the box, and this time France got it on target.  Arsenal man Olivier Giroud rose and headed the ball past Iker Casillas into the back of the net to salvage a a point for France at full time.

Senegal vs Ivory Coast Abandoned Due to Fan Violence

Police in Senegal take cover from rocks being hurled from the stands (Reuters)

Unfortunately, this type of violence still scars our beautiful game.  An African Cup of Nations Qualifier between Senegal and the Ivory Coast had to be abandoned earlier Saturday after police in Dakar, Senegal, were forced to fire tear gas into the stands as Senegal fans lit fires and threw rocks and other objects onto the pitch, ostensibly in protest over their side's poor performance.

The chaos erupted after Didier Drogba scored a penalty kick in the 70th minute.  That made the match 0-2 in favor of the Ivory Coast, and put the score to 2-6 to Ivorians over the two legs.  A pitch invader had gone after Drogba a few minutes earlier, but he was stopped before he could reach the former Chelsea man.  After the PK, the fans began to light the stands on fire and hurl projectiles onto the pitch.  According to the local press, at least one match official was struck with an object as the officials and players took refuge in the center circle. 

Ivory Coast supporters were driven onto the pitch where they joined the players.  The police were then able to escort the group out of the stadium.  The match was officially abandoned after it had been stopped for about 40 minutes.  It is expected the the African Confederation will order the result to stand and the Ivory Coast will qualify for the tournament proper.

Several big name players were involved besides Drogba.  Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse joined West Ham's Mohamed Diame in the lineup for Senegal, while the Ivory Coast featured Drogba, Newcastle MF Cheick Tiote, Arsenal man Gervinho, and brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure of Manchester City.

It is thought that no players were injured.  Manchester City confirmed that Yaya and Kolo Toure were involved in the match, but suggests they were unharmed.

Hopefully anyone who was injured will recover quickly.  Even more important, hopefully there will come a day when this kind of thing really is finally stamped out.

Ivory Coast fans form a ring around fans and players at midfield.  (Reuters)

Sounders Eddie Johnson Rescues USA...and Klinsmann

Seattle forward Eddie Johnson scored both goals for the USA (AP Photo)

One pundit on my timeline called this the worst game the US Men's National Team have played since the early 90s.  Well, in the early 90s I was a snot nosed teen more concerned with playing soccer (and playing badly) than I was with watching it, so I can't really disagree.  I think I can honestly say it was the worst I've ever seen them play. 

Does it say something that they can play that badly and still come away with three points?  Sure it does.  It says sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, but I doubt luck will get us through the Hex, and we're not even there yet.  Still, you gotta hand it to Eddie Johnson.  He was good, not just lucky.  To say this was a statement game from him probably doesn't do him justice.

Surely the conditions in Antigua and Barbuda didn't help, but as is often said about pitch condition, both sides have to play on it.  No knocking A and B, but a World Cup caliber team at the top of the group should have been able to overpower them, and that was not the case at all.

The Americans looked to be in control early on, and pushed their noses in front in the 20th minute.  Sporting Kansas City's Graham Zusi sent a left footed cross into the area to Johnson, who headed the first goal of the night down past the Antigua 'keeper to make it 0-1 to the USA.

The advantage didn't last long though, and this time it wasn't even Kyle Beckerman's fault.  In the 25th minute Peter Byers stripped Carlos Bocanegra and dished to Dexter Blackstock, who torched by Clarence Goodson and the rest of the flower picking USA defense to slot an easy goal past Tim Howard to make it 1-1, which was the score at halftime.

The USA attacked into a heavy wind in the second half, and chances continued to be at a premium.  Herculez Gomez got a couple of nice looks in the area, but always seemed to be looking for the extra, killer pass instead of going for goal, which got the USA nothing.  Klinsmann brought in Jermaine Jones, who I like to call Super Yellow Card man.  Apparently this was supposed to help, but ten minutes and a few horridly bad passes later, Jones picked up his customary yellow card, which will keep him out of the last match against Guatemala. 

Antigua and Barbuda about caught the USA flat footed a couple of times as well.  It didn't matter if it was Michael Bradley, Danny Williams, or the aforementioned Jones, all of the midfield had a hard time with the speed of the home side.  The defense left Tim Howard dangerously exposed a few times, and the home side sent a couple of shots just agonizingly wide of the Everton man's post.

It was EJ and the USA that would get the last word though.  In second half stoppage time, San Jose forward Alan Gordon hit Johnson with a cross at the back post.  Johnson effortlessly floated a header into the net to seal the 1-2 win for the USA.

Did they deserve the three points?  Probably not, but in the end they'll take a sigh of relief and take them.  The result puts them up three on Jamaica and Guatemala, who play later this evening.  A draw in Kansas City on Wednesday SHOULD be enough to put them into the Hex, but that's not a sure thing yet.

Glory Edge Roar in Heated Rematch.

Brisbane's Besart Berisha attacks the Perth goal (3news.co.nz)

The Hyundai A-League concluded it's first week of fixtures with a rematch of the last Grand Final: Perth Glory vs Brisbane Roar.  If you took in that match about six months back, you remember it being a fairly heated affair.  Folks that were wanting more of the same from this match pretty much got their way, as it appears that a heightened rivalry between these two clubs really is on the way.

The match started very wide open and it didn't take long for a certain amount of controversy to brew.  In the 3rd minute Perth forward Shane Smeltz went down in the area and both he and the Perth crowd appealed for a penalty.  The referee was unmoved and the teams played on.  Replay showed that while the defender did come in from behind, there wasn't much if any contact, and it looked like a good non-call.

The Roar would have the first prime chances of the match though, both of them coming off of set pieces.  In the 5th minute Erik Paartalu got his head to a Brisbane corner, but couldn't get it on target.  Then in the 11th Paartalu got another chance on a free kick and got his header closer, but it still flashed inches wide of the near post.

Perth had their best chance of the first half early on as well.  In the 14th minute Smeltz picked up on Brisbane blunder and charged head long into a 1v1 situation with Brisbane 'keeper Michael Theo (as he's known now).  Theo came charging out and hit the deck in front of Smeltz, who managed to get some kind of a shot away, but it ended up having little power and rolled wide of the mark.  It was great stuff from the Roar shot stopper.

Both teams got their tempers up late in the half as well.  In the 35th minute Brisbane's Besart Berisha was fouled near the edge of the penalty area.  Berisha went down and the Glory's Liam Miller came in rather late, bascially tripping into the prone Brisbane man, and not really trying to avoid falling on top of him.  The Roar's Mitch Nichols took obvious exception to this and charged into the fray, pushing Miller and getting in his face.  The referee managed to clear the madness, and gave both Miller and Nichols yellow cards for their trouble.  Then, right before the half, Berisha was given a yellow after causing a bit of a ruckus on a Brisbane corner kick.  The first half ended with no goals, but a decent few yellow cards.

The fact that it was only week one really began to show itself in the second half, as both teams began to look a little leggy.  Chances were few and far between.  The yellows kept coming though as both Jacob Burns and Travis Dodd would earn cautions for Perth in the stanza.

The Glory would ultimately have the last laugh this day though.  In the 88th minute Scott Jamieson sent a cross into the Roar eighteen, where it found the head of newly subbed in Glory attacker Billy Mehmet.  Mehmet executed a brilliant header to the back post, and the ball slotted into the net to give the Glory the 1-0 win.  It was pretty much a perfect shot and there wasn't much Theo could do about it.

On the day, the Roar probably felt a little hard done by, as they certainly gave as good as they got on opposing turf.  Though they dominated possession, a lot of their play was really sloppy, and they gave the ball up more than a few times.  One could also tell that the defense was bending more than it probably should have, though to be fair, in the end they were just beaten by a fantastic football play.

The Glory showed that they're more than ready to stand and go toe to toe with anyone in the A League this year, and they put forth a really great effort, in the end a winning effort.  It won't make the fans forget the last Grand Final, but knowing they've started the new season off on 3 points isn't a bad way to begin moving on.