Cruz Azul have reached the final of the MFL after a 2-1 win at home against Morelia.
The Blue Machine could be deemed fortunate on this night at the Estadio Azul after Miguel Sabah scored in the 49th minute.
Cruz Azul only had two shots on goal on the night and both went in…….Javier Antonio Orozco Penuelas tied things in the 58th and then a bizarre free kick from Emanuel Villa that went under a poorly constructed Morelia wall proved to be the game winner.
Cruz Azul will face the winner of the Toluca/Monterrey match Sunday on Telemundo at 12:00 pm. Monterrey hold a 2-0 advantage.
Don’t miss this one…….PREDICTION: 2-1 Toluca with Monterrey advancing on aggregate

Local youth player FERNANDO PINA who played with Texas Premier and the Dynamo Academy started and played in goal for the U.S. under 17 national team out in Phoenix, Arizona at the Nike Friendlies event the past two nights. Pina made saves against Portugal in a 2-1 loss and then last night played in goal in a 1-1 draw against Brazil. Pina is gathering amazing experience and it is great to highlight a young player that has come up through the ranks locally. He has praised his time at Texas Premier and the Dynamo Academy and currently resides in Florida at the Bradenton Academy. Another great local story!!

AC Milan put on a clinic Saturday in a 3-0 win over Sampdoria scoring 3 goals in the first 23 minutes to cruise to victory.
Marco Borriello , Clarence Seedorf and Pato all scored in front of 42,824 fans at the San Siro. Milan is keeping pressure on Inter Milan now as manager Leonardo has righted the ship. Inter Milan lost today to Juventus 2-1 in an emotion filled contest.
Now back to AC Milan, it will be interesting to see how David Beckham fits in to this team who have not lost in their last nine games and now sit only 4 pts behind leaders Inter. Circle the date of January 24th on your calendar which is the day AC Milan and Inter Milan will tangle.

Manchester City got a huge 2-1 win over Chelsea with goals from Emmanuel Adebayor(37) and Carlos Tevez(56) while Frank Lampard was saved at the penalty spot by Shay Given of City in the 83rd minute which would have tied things. Chelsea received a gift in the form of an own goal from Adebayor in the 8th minute.

Neither Roma or Lazio are having the best of season’s in the Italian Serie A so the anticipation of their “Rome Derby” tomorrow (1:30 Pm on FSC) does not have the normal intrigue. One would bet it will still have emotion as both teams share the Olympic Stadium as home.
Roma and Francesco Totti are in 9th place in the Serie A while hapless Lazio are 15th and trying to stay out of the drop zone.
PREDICTION: Roma over Lazio who have only scored 9 goals.

Stanford is undefeated heading into tomorrow’s NCAA Women College Cup at Texas AM against UNC. Stanford plays a possession game and will be interesting to see if they can establish it tomorrow against a pressing UNC. Head up to college station and catch this one in person……aggiesoccer.com

FIESTA PRESENTS THE KICK CANCER SOCCER CAMP ORGANIZED BY SOCCER MATTERS WITH GLENN DAVIS December 11,12,13th…all proceeds go back to Texas Childrens Cancer Center ..for information go to Nicksteam.org or Fiesta.com
College and youth coaches donating their time with appearances by professional players like Craig Waibel of the Dynamo and Davey Arnaud of the Kansas City Wizards…….gdavis98@swbell.net for information

Of course I am not privy to what is actually taking place with MLS and it’s negotiation with the players association but one thing I am clearly sure of is that come January 31 when the collective bargaining agreement comes to end this league can not afford any form of a work stoppage or strike.
The hope here is that both sides are looking long term to the growth of the sport and are reminded that it wasn’t a short time ago that the league was in trouble of failing .
Greed and ego can come into these types of negotiations and that is what clearly happened a few years ago with the NHL who ultimately took a hard hit and ended up on a third tier network with the reputation of the league and sport damaged.
MLS players in nearly every case are not spoiled and are playing the sport for competition and the challenge and are fortunate to be involved in an amazing time period.
A labor war at this juncture would be the kiss of death and a hinderance to the growth of the game in this country. Just think of how something like this could be divisive to the World Cup bid in 2018 and 2022 not to mention the preparation for the United States in South Africa.
No labor war please and you can remind yourself of the NHL if you would like.

Mexican league playoffs continue this weekend with 2nd leg matches in the semi-finals.
Tonight we go to the Estadio Azul with Cruz Azul the real favorites to get past Morelia after a 0-0 first leg match that had chances and hit posts from both sides.
For me Cruz Azul advances here to the Mexican League final…….Meanwhile Toluca will have to reverse a 2 goal deficit against Monterrey tomorrow afternoon at Toluca.
It won’t happen unless the ghost of Jose Cardozo shows up…..Jonathan Orozco has been solid in goal for Monterrey who are poised to get to the final with Duilo Davino at the back and South American World Cup qualifying leading goalscorer Humberto Suazo of Chile…….don’t miss these matches.

NCAA Womens College Cup should get a weather break tomorrow as the final will be contested at the Aggie Soccer Complex. Undefeated Stanford got past UCLA on a ‘golden goal’ from yesterday while UNC got by Notre Dame 1-0 …..tickets are available at aggiesoccer.com and 12thmanfoundation.com If you go let me in on your NCAA experience. One hopes that alot of youth players will be at this event. Keep an eye on UNC Casey Nogueira of UNC who seek out a 20th NCAA Championship. Stanford will try to win this national title and become only the second team after UNC to do it undefeated.
Can Stanford truly play a possession game in their 2nd game in three days. Watch Kelly O’Hara of Stanford who is a good player off the dribble going at defenders.

FIESTA presents the KICK CANCER Soccer Camp December 11,12,13th with all proceeds going to cancer. I hope to see you there!!1 go to Soccer 4 All and Soccer Time to get brochures …online at nicksteam.org