Futbol Notebook: All Three Istanbul Powerhouses Win in Weekend Domestic Play

Greetings to our blog-readers in Austria, Azerbaijan and Colombia.

Tonight, as Galatasaray prepares to head to Spain for a UEFA battle with Real Madrid, we reflect back on weekend domestic play in the SuperLiga which had some interesting headlines, especially in the Galatasary-Sivasspor match, but no major surprises as all three Istanbul powerhouses and perennial contender Trabzonspor all won their respective games.

We start with Fenerbahce, one of the three Istanbul power teams, had a fairly competitive 2-1 win over Antalyaspor on the road in Antalya, Turkey's largest resort city. For the Yellow Canaries, goals from Pierre Webo (Cameroon) and Moussa Sow (Senegal). The lone goal for the home team also came from an African player as Lamine Diarra (Senegal) scored.

The lone goal in Trabzonspor's 1-0 home win over Eskisehirpsor came from Paulo Henrique (pictured bottom, Brazil) in the 74th minute of play.

One of our favorite teams Bursaspor tied 1-1 at home in Bursa with Kasimpasha, the fourth team from Istanbul in the Superliga, with the home field Crocs' getting a goal from Sebastian Pinto (Chile) while another South American player Ezequiel Scarionne (Argentina) scored for the visitors.

Georges Mandjeek (Cameroon) scored the lone goal  in Kayseri Ericyesspor's 1-0 home win over Ankara G.B.

There were four red cards issued in Galatasaray's home win in Istanbul over Sivasspor, including three from the visitors from Sivas, a city in northeast Turkey. But, the game did see Turkish star Burak Yilmaz (pictured top) kick in his 100th career in the 13th minute of play. We have to thank our good friend Ahmet Bob Turgut for filling us in on that.

The third Istanbul powerhouse Besiktas had a relatively easy home win over Konyaspor 3-1.

Here are the scores:

Besiktas 3 Konyaspor 1

Anatlyaspor 1 Fenerbahce 2

Trabzonspor 1 Eskisehirspor 0

Akhisar 0 Karabuk 1

Gazinantepspor 3 Elazigspor 1

Kayseri Erciyesspor 1 Ankara G.B. 0

Bursaspor 1 Kasimpasha 1 (tie)

Rizespor 0 Kayserispor 2

Galatasaray 2 Sivasspor 1

http://www.turkish-football.com/

http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/

http://www.turkishsoccer.com

Soccer Night_ MLS Run-Down

Yes, yes, yes.....we aware that a new week of soccer is underway both here in America and around the globe, but we do have scores and standings as of LAST week in Major League Soccer.

The Montreal Impact are standing strong in the Eastern Conference, which includes teams from Houston and Kansas City (?!), but at least the San Jose Earthquakes play in the West. They won a home game over the Chicago Fire by a 2-0 score in the NBC Sports Network Game of the Week. We actually watched a tape of the game, but we can't recall who kicked the goals.

But, the Imapct feautre the likes of Matteo Ferrai (pictured top), and Italian player who also played for the Turkish team Besiktash, Dany Arnaud, an American national who is the captain, and Sanna Nyassi from Gambia.

All the way over in Portland, Ore., the Portland Timbers, a team that is in third place in the West, featured another Gambian player Mamadou Danso and a roster of players from over 15 countries, including Diego Chara (pictured botton) who is one of four Timbers players from Colombia.

Amazingly enough, DC United, one of our favorite teams and the winner of four MLS championships, is in dead last in the east with a mere 4 points, and a 3-0 loss to the Columbus Crew didn't help matters.

Here are the standings:

East

1. Montreal Impact 16

2. New York Red Bull 14

3. Houston Dynamo 14

4. Sporting Kansas City 14

West

1. FC Dallas 20

2. L.A. Galaxy (pictured) 14

3. Portland Timbers 14

4. Chivas USA (Los Angeles) 11

5. Real Salt Lake 11


Scores:

Montreal 2 Chicago 0

Vancouver 2 Dallas 2, tie

Houston 1 Colorado 1, tie

LA Galaxy 2 Real Salt Lake 0

New England 2 Philadelphia 0

Chivas 2 San Jose 2, tie

Portland 3 Sporting Kansas City 2

Columbus 3 DC United 0

http://www.impactmontreal.com.en

http://www.portlandtimbers.com

http://www.lagalaxy.com

Mexican Soccer Results (from weekend of March 15-17)

We continue our look at soccer/futbol results around the globe with a look at Mexican Premiere League games that were played during the weekend of March 15-17.

This week, virtually all super leagues were on hiatus for the week as the national teams played either friendlies or World Cup qualifiers.

Team USA tied Mexico 0-0 in a World Cup qualifier played this week in Mexico.

Most of the Mexican league games for the week we are profiling ended in ties.

But, there were some exceptions.

These games included Pachua's 2-1 win over Puebla. For most of the match, Puebla, based in Mexico's fourth largest city of the same name, was winning thanks to a goal from Mexican national Diego De Buen (27th minute). But, two literal last minute goals from both Angel Reyna (90th min.; pic. here) and Dario Carreno (90th min.) for Pachua changed that.


Santos Laguna, which will face the Seattle Sounders from the MLS (American soccer league) in the CONACAF Cup, beat out Atlas 2-1. Santos Laguna trailer much of the second half due to a goal from Omar Bravo for Atlas (64th min). But, Santos Laguna won with goals from Mexican national Rodolfo Salinas (79th min.) and Colombian futboler Darwin Quintero (89th min).


Monterrey which tied Tijuana 2-2 will also face an MLS in the Los Angeles Galaxy in the next round of the CONACAF Cup; that particular game will be on April 2nd and televised in the United States on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Here are the scores:


Chiapas 1 Moreila 1, tie

UANL Tigres 1 Guadalajar 1, tie

America 1 San Luis Potosi 1, tie

Pachua 2 Puebla 1

Queretoro 1 Toluca 0

Santos Laguna 2 Atlas 1

Cruz Azul 3 Atlante 0

Tijuana 2 Monterrey 2

Pumas 0 Club Leon 0

(The other image in this entry is of the Mexican wrestling legend Santos)

Monday Night Post-Debate Tweets: Triumph the Comic Insult Dog Wins Debate

Tomorrow morning, we are hoping to post an entry dedicated to the 24 countries mentioned in the foregin policy debate from Boca Raton, Fla., tonight (12 countries on each of our two blogs). But, for right now, we have lots and lots of tweets to get to.

Before we do that, the first image is of far right political figure Sarah Palin; the former Alaskan governor was John McCain's running mate in 2008. The Second figure is a game of chess. And, the third is of Conan O'Brien's Triumph the Comic Insult Blog. The BBC says some 10 million tweets have been tweeted. They further report that folks in Colombia were disappointed that Latin America wasn't discussed more. Of course, how this debate will impact voters in swing towns like Akron (Ohio), High Point (North Carolina) and Reno (Nevada) remains to be seen.

Here are the tweets:

1) @JoshuaGreen (Joshua Green is a columnist for "The Boston Globe"): "Haha, Palin's trashing both candidates on Fox News in hapless, tongue-tied signature style."

2) @CrowleyTime (Michael Crowley, a reporter for "Time" who has also written for "The New Republic and "Rolling Stone"): "The Iraq exchange was confusing but I think Obama got away with pretending he's glad we're fully out when that really wasn't actually his policy."

3) @GregMitch (Greg Mitchell is a blogger for "The Nation," a liberal journal): "Disgusting how so many pundits ignore national security and only care how worker in Ohio reacts on economy."

4) @Chris_Moody (Chris Moody is a reporter for Yahoo News): "Not joking; both Pauly Shore and Triumph the Insult Dog are in debate spin room tonight."

5) @AlexMacGillis (Alex MacGillis a contributor to "The New Republic"): "Actually think it's a bit unfair to judge challenger against POTUS on foreign policy stuff. But, Romney was more anxious than previously."

6) @LailaLalami (Laila Lalami is a contributor to "The Nation"): "If Romney loses the election, he can always become a 'Hair for Men' model! Wait no. He'll buy the company and ship the jobs overseas."

7) @ariannahuff (Arianna Huffington, the founder of The Huffington Post): "Wouldn't have predicted that North Mall would get more mentions than Europe."

8) @citizencohn (Jonathan Cohn is a columnist for "The New Republic"): "GOP post-debate spin: Sure Obama won on points. But his aggressive posture proves that he was losing."

Quotes from Famous World Writers, contd._ Gabriel Garcia Marquez

We continue our series our quotes of world-renown writers with a quip from the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 85, who was the subject of an excellent article by Enrique Krauze in an October 2009 article in "The New Republic" about his friendship with the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who turned 86 this week.

We imagine many of this writer's works, including "Love in the Time of Cholera" (1988) can be found at Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe in Washington, DC.

Here is the quote:

"A famous writer who wants to continue writing has to be constantly defending himself against fame."

http://www.themodernword.com/gabo

http://www.kramers.com

http://www.tnr.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Pablo Escobar

We continue our series of quotes from famous Latin Americans, with a quip from the drug lord Pablo Escobar (1949-1993) who was gunned down by authorities in his native Colombia at age 44. We are pretty certain that Escobar is the most notorious person we've ever quoted here, but we are not 100-percent certain of that.

Escobar made a bundle selling cocaine (yes, the Coke can is a joke). He was also heavily involved in the Colombian soccer scene, and in 1986, he actually entered domestic politics?!

The kingpin extraordinaire was also known for assasinations, bombings and political corruption. Amazingly enough, his mansion in Medellin is now a museum and a top tourist destination (No, we are not making this up!).

Here is his quote, which definitely seems ironic now:

"I prefer to be in the grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the United States."