Top Five Smolderings for Friday, June 24th, 2011
1. C.J. Brown returns to Toyota Park
2. Chicago Fire will host potential U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal game
3. Seattle Sounders top New York Red Bulls 4-2 in front of 46,065 at CenturyLink Field
4. Section 8 Chicago announces U.S. Open Cup Watch Party at Ginger's Ale House
5. Chicago Red Stars add two new players to their roster and defeat Madison 56ers 3-1
Links, Sounders/RedBulls highlight video, and commentary for the day after the break.
1. C.J. Brown's return to Chicago is one he won't easily forget | MLSsoccer.com
First a hat tip to Sam Stejskal on his story on C.J. Brown. How painful it is to see C.J. wear the Real Salt Lake colors. How great it is to see him back in Toyota Park.
The 2011 U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal hosting scenarios came out yesterday and the Chicago Fire came out on top. The Fire will host the winner of the FC New York vs. New York Red Bulls game this Tuesday, June 28th if Chicago wins their own USOC matchup this Tuesday in Rochester. It's important to note that if Rochester wins, they would even host the New York Red Bulls. In fact, they are the only lower league team that would host a MLS team in a potential Quarterfinal match-up. Perhaps that shows New York Red Bulls just don't care about the USOC (and everything in their history suggests they don't care about winning trophies) but it does demonstrate again that Rochester has a big commitment to hosting their own USOC games.
3. Sounders | Sounders FC tops New York Red Bulls, 4-2 | Seattle Times Newspaper
Speaking of New York, they played last night in Seattle against the Sounders. After falling behind 2-0, the Red Bulls managed to tie it all up in the 58th minute. Seattle manager Sigi Schmid put Roger Levesque into the game and the forward became the unlikely hero picking up a brace. The two goals in the 67th and 78th minutes were all she wrote and the final score was Seattle 4 - New York 2. NYRB coach Hans Backe only used one substitute in the first 90 minutes of play despite the fact that a starting 11 of Roy Miller, Joel Lindpere, Jan Gunnar Solli, Teemu Tainio, Dwayne De Rosario, Dane Richards, Mehdi Ballouchy, Greg Sutton, Carlos Mendes, Stephen Keel, and Austin Da Luz represented the 11 players that lead the team in minutes played and were eligible for selection (minus backup goalie Bouna Coundoul). Thierry Henry was out due to a red card suspension so he'll be fresh for Sunday's game against our own Chicago Fire. Other than that, New York is looking at fielding a shallow and road-weary team coming off an embarrassing loss. Did I mention they have a USOC game on Tuesday and they are a potential opponent in the USOC Quarterfinals? The Fire should look to seize these opportunities with reckless abandon. Highlights of last night's goal fest are below.
4. Fire vs. Rhinos, US Open Cup Watch Party Tue 6/28, 6.35pm - Section 8 Chicago
Ginger's Ale House at 3801 N. Ashland Avenue in Chicago will host the Section 8 Chicago watch party for this Tuesday's USOC game against the Rochester Rhinos. Kick-off is at 6:35 PM CST.
5. Chicago Red Stars Bring in Nasenbenny & Oyster; defeat Madison 56ers 3-1
The Chicago Red Stars of the Women's Premier Soccer League have added midfielder Katie Nasenbenny (LaGrange, Ill.) and defender Megan Oyster (Naperville, Ill.) to the team's roster.
Nasenbenny and Oyster joined the Red Stars on Wednesday and both saw playing time as Chicago posted a 3-1 victory over the Madison 56ers in WPSL Midwest-North Division play at Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wis. That's right, two Chicago soccer teams played against the Madison 56ers on Wednesday and both won. Oyster assisted the second of Michele Weissenhofer's goals en route to the road win as Chicago improved to 2-1-0 on the WPSL season.