Is There A Supervisor That I Can Talk To Regarding This News?

-The Washington Post has really good coverage of last nights Chelsea 2-1 win over DC United. The first half was great fun to watch, much like the Chicago v Milan match the night before. Awesome to see the MLS teams playing so well against the best.
United took a storming lead on a corner kick that was powered home off the head of Bobby Boswell. Of course this just woke Chelsea up, and if I may say, pissed them off. Eventually Damien Duff smashed home a fantastic goal from the left side on a cross that he never even let hit the ground. He is one hell of a player. Later in the match Arjen Robben & Hernan Crespo (both subs!!!!) hooked up after a terrible DC defensive giveaway and it was quickly 2-1 for Crespo & Chelsea. Game over. There is a good match report (written in that casual style I like so much) from the Chelsea website.
-On the day they faced Chelsea, DC United actually had a bigger announcement to make: AEG has sold the team to current team president Kevin Payne and an investor group. They say the price paid was the highest ever for an MLS team.
-Something that I have been meaning to mention for a while and keep forgetting about: Two weeks ago MLS commish Don "I'm A Clash Fan" Garber was in Columbus for an All-Star Game press conference. During his speech he mentioned something that few people have really picked up on. He said that MSL has officially given the teams the go ahead to create their own youth academies, and full reserve systems. This goes way beyond the idea of an expanded roster so that guys can get on the pitch in Reserve League games. We are talking kids and education and stuff like that. One line that was very interesting to me was when he said something to the effect of "....and we want teams who bring players up through their own system to be able to retain those players...." Which really explodes the whole idea of a "draft" and crap like that. I love this stuff. Keep it coming.
-Real Salt Lake have made two new defensive signings. Both are international players who are waiting on work visas. They are Guatamalen Gustavo Cabrera from CSD Comunicaciones and Robert Scarlett from Jamaica and Harbour View FC. Both guys have been playing regularly for their respective national teams.
-This morning in Switzerland they held the drawing for the Champions League Third Qualifying Round. The first-leg matches will be played on Aug 9 or 10, with second-leg matches on Aug 23 or 24.
Here is the draw (looks to me like Everton got the bad end of the stick):
Basel v Werder Bremen
Artmedia/Celtic v Partizan/Sheriff
Shakhtar Donetsk v Inter
Shelbourne/Steaua Bucuresti v Rosenborg
Man United v Debreceni/Hajduk Split
Malmo/Maccabi Haifa v Dynamo Kyiv/Thun
Everton v Villarreal
Kaunas/Liverpool v Tirana/CSKA Sofia
Sporting Portugal v Udinese
Valerenga/Haka v Brugge
Dudelange/Rapid Wien v Rabotnicki/Lokomotiv Moskva
Anderlecht/Neftchi v Slavia Praha
Anorthosis Famagusta/Trabzonspor v Rangers
Dinamo Tbilisi/Brondby v Ajax
Real Betis v Monaco
Wisla Krakow v Panathinaikos
The 16 winners from this round will join the 16 automatic qualifying teams in the group stage, which starts in September.
-The USA U18 team will take part again in the annual Milk Cup in Northern Ireland August 1st-5th. Check out the schedule and team roster.
-Sports Illustrated writer Jonah Freedman slams MLS for the shit job they did of promoting the three matches the leagues teams just played against some of the worlds finest teams. I could not agree with him more. Sure all us retards knew about it, cuz we have no other life. But if MLS really wants to grow they are going to have to spend money to promote the game as well as spend money on better players (you can't have one with out the other - you need them in tandem).
-If yer in the Twin Cities, then join me and other like minded souls at the Nomad in Minneapolis to watch the MLS All-Stars take on Fulham - Sat at 230pm!
-The Clean Sheet: He Don't Know Much
-Is the Dallas centerback Clarence Goodson for real? Could he become a USAer? Someone please let me know.
-An oddly interesting story about MLS potential in Philadelphia from an obscure paper called Phillyburbs.
-The Press Enterprise newspaper from the Inland Empire area of LA has a story on the LA Riot Squad.

All I Got Today Is The News, So Don't Expect Anything More From Me

-Chicago did not deserve to lose to AC Milan last night. The final was 3-1 to Milan, but the Firemen took it to them from start to finish. I was very excited watching the match. At least two shots went off posts, and Andy Herron had 2 one-on-ones with the keeper (the second one he got off two shots) but could only shoot straight at the keeper every time. Damn damn damn. It sure was fun to watch. (Did I say that already?) The second and third Milan goals came late on counter attacks. In some ways it was classic Milan, get an early goal, sit back, absorb and counter. I don't care what you read in wire reports (one headline read: "Milan Hammer Fire"), this game was a great one to watch, and Chicago gave Milan everything they could handle.
-Jimmy Conrad strikes again: What's My Name?
-Young American Frank Simek has signed a deal with Sheffield Wednesday after being released by Arsenal.
-Steve Goff of the Washington Post says the new ownership of DC United will be announced today!! Its a great time to be an MLS fan.
-So Pat Noonan is definitely out of the All-Star game, and Tyrone Marshall of LA was named as his replacement, but in last nights New England v LA match, Marshall got hurt. Will he be replaced too?
-Last nights Champions League Second Qualifying Round first leg scores (including Celtic getting destroyed by Slovak champs Artmedia in Gordon Strachan's debut):
Dudelange 1-6 Rapid
Partizan 1-0 Sheriff
Shelbourne 0-0 Steaua
Malmö 3-2 M. Haifa
Artmedia 5-0 Celtic
Rabotnicki 1-1 Lokomotiv Moskva
Tirana 0-2 CSKA Sofia
Debrecen 3-0 Hajduk
All 2nd leg matches take place August 2 and 3.
-Rob Hughes from the International Herald Tribune tries to figure out if big European clubs are getting ready for the new season by coming to America & Asia for matches, or are they just filling their pockets while burning out their players. Clubs drain stars but fill coffers
-Fat Tony (Meola) got his 90th career win last night in MLS. His new team, Metrostars, beat FC Dallas 3-2 (Mets goals by Ante Razov, Mike Magee and Sergio Galvan Rey, Dallas goals both by center back Clarence Goodson of all people), while New England & LA were drawing each other 1-1 (LA got another goal from new hero Hercules Gomez, and Shalrie Joseph scored on a PK for NE). For some MLS players its now time for a weekend off as the All-Star team plays Fulham on Saturday, then next Wednesday its US Open Cup action for all the teams (except Salt Lake who got ousted by my Thunder in the last round!)!

Excuse Me, News Coming Through

-Justice is served as Jeff Cunningham, the leading scorer in MLS, was added to the All-Star Team to replace the injured Eddie Johnson.
-Looks like Pat Noonan probably will not play in the All-Star game either. Expect a replacement to be named today or tomorrow. My guess is that they will add Jaime Moreno.
-Two other replacements have already been named for other injured stars: Eddie Pope & Amado Guevara are both out, and have been replaced by Ivan Guererro of Chicago, and Brad Davis of San Jose.
-MLSnet has a note that says Greg Vanney will be the All-Stars captain. Gee, I know I'm inspired now, aren't you?!?!?! It should also strike some intense fear in the Fulham players.
-Colorado also signed Isreali midfielder Dedi Ben-Davan from Maccabi Tel Aviv. He will not be available until the International Transfer window opens on Aug 15.
-Yesterday I mentioned that Scotland was ready to kick off the 05-06 season this Saturday, well it turns out that so is France. Many more Euro leagues follow suit over the next 2 to 3 weeks.
-I keep seeing stories about Michael Essien being sold by Lyon to Chelsea for tons and tons of money. But if he goes to Chelsea where does he play? He is a great holding, destroying, and ball-winning midfielder. So who does he supplant in the lineup? Frank Lampard or Claude Makelele? Are you kidding me? What is the point of this purchase? Maybe it's just so no one else can have him. That sounds like Mourhino and Abramowicz to me.
-Claudio Reyna has said he is ready to play for the USA in the upcoming qualifiers v Trinidad & Tobago on August 17.
-You wanna know what that giant zipper head Troy Dayak is up to since he retired, well today there is an article in the....... Naaaaaaaaaaah, forget it, he's a putz.
-Another classic MLS zipper head is Joey Franchino of New England. He got only a two game suspension for the double fisted punch to the back of the head he layed on Hector Cuadros of Chivas USA last Friday night. Cuadros ended up unconscious, and went to the hospital with a concussion. Brilliant job Joey, yer a genius.
-KC defender Nick Garcia also got a two game suspension for his nasty elbow shot he gave Knox Cameron of Columbus.
-Tottenham have a big message on their website welcoming new signing Edgar Davids from Inter. I love it. There is a hitch though, he hasn't agreed to a contract, and hasn't taken a physical yet. We shall see.
-Michael Ballack was named German Player Of The Year. Which is great, cuz he's great, but why is this done in July right before a new season starts?
-The Beas returns to PSV
-Ives has stories on the injuries of Amado Guevara and Youri Djorkaeff.
-Last nights Champions League Second Qualifying Round-first leg scores:
Dinamo Tbilisi 0-2 Brondby
Dynamo Kyiv 2-2 Thun
Anorthosis 3-1 Trabzonspor
Anderlecht 5-0 Neftchi
Valerenga 1-0 Haka
Kaunas 1-3 Liverpool
8 more games will be played tonite.
-The draw for the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League takes place on Friday. Those matches will be played August 9 or 10, & 23 or 24. 18 new teams will enter the tournament in this round.
-Two MLS matches on the hook this evening:
Metrostars v FC Dallas
New England v Los Angeles
-Plus don't forget about Chicago v AC Milan, live from Soldier Field at 8pm central on GolTV.
-I guess my little tirade about Inter bringing a soft team to England was heard loud and clear. Last night Adriano, Esteban Cambiasso, Obafemi Martins and Javier Zanetti all flew to England to join in the dance v Crystal Palace tonight.

What Is That Smell? My God, I Think It's Coming From The News!

-It looks as though Mexican keeper Oswaldo Sanchez is about to become the second player from MFL to sign with a foreign team this week. He is going to go play in Brazil for Santos. This is a rarity in Mexican soccer, but it looks like the floodgates are opening.
-Inter beat Leicester last night 2-0 in their first game in England, but the following Inter players did not even make the trip: Adriano, Andy van der Meyde, Esteban Cambiasso, Francesco Coco, Ivan Cordoba, Julio Cruz, Alvaro Recoba, Francesco Toldo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Kily Gonzales, Obafemi Martins, and the two Zanettis, Javier and Christian. So who the hell went? Marco Materazzi, the new boys, and the reserves? What a joke. The guys who stayed home and some others from the Inter Primavera and Juniores Berretti squads will scrimmage this week during training with Italian teams Cagliari, Bolzano, & Treviso.
-DC United have released English midfielder Steve Guppy. Guppy started the season pretty well, but got injured and has never really returned to action.
-Because of the massive violence that happened before the last Kenyan home World Cup Qualifier (one dead - many injured), FIFA have ordered Kenya to play their next home qualifier in an empty stadium. The game will be Sept 2 v Tunisia. Don't you think Kenya is getting off a little light for this mess. Shouldn't these teams get some serious punishment so that people take it seriously next time. Who knows.
-Ridge Mahoney in USA Today on Ronaldo: Persistent pressure just a part of being Ronaldo
-As I watched the USA v Panama match on Sunday, I kept asking "why are they not using Pat Noonan for some more offense?" Turns out he had a bad ankle and did not dress for the match. Neither did Steve Ralston who had a concussion. After the match Coach Arena said that Noonan, Ralston, Pablo Mastroeni, Steve Cherundolo, Conor Casey & Eddie Pope (not to forget the loss of Eddie Johnson) were all probably out for the August 17th qualifier v Trinidad & Tobago. Not good to hear.
-Mark Chung was named MLS Player Of The Week.
-Sunday is the last day to acquire players for teams Champions League rosters in the qualifying stages.
-PSV will take on Monchengladbach in Eindhoven in a friendly this Friday. It will be interesting to find out if Beasley or Keller see any action.
-The Scottish league kicks off Saturday.
-My Minnesota Thunder had what might be their worst week in 15 years as a team. They played 3 games and lost them all! Here is this weeks USL First & Second Division wrap ups

Simon Kuper Is Back To Football

Kuper has spent most of the summer blabbing about tennis and bicycling. It's now kinda back to football for my favorite sports writer with an article over the past weekend
When sports people don’t like sport

You Have Two Choices: Pick Your Nose, Or Read The News

-The Gold Cup final was way too close yesterday with USA beating Panama on PKs after the match finished 0-0. I must say though, that Panama sure has gotten good. They are no '98 Reggae Boyz (Hooray Beer), but they do have some flair and skill. The biggest thing I noticed about the match was the 2 hour pre-game show that Univision put on. Yes that's right, 2 hours! Take that ESPN. Suck on that Fox Soccer Channel! I know very little Spanish, but the thing was good looking (beyond all the hoochies wearing those skin tight jump suits!). Interviews with Keller, Donovan, Asst Coach Curt Onalfo, & Amada Guevara, all done in Spanish. That's not to mention the live, on the field interviews with Keller and Donovan within moments of the final pk.
Gold Cup All-Tournament Team:
G: Jaime Penedo - Panama
D: Oguchi Onyewu - USA
D: Felipe Baloy - Panama
D: Jorge Samuel Caballeros - Honduras
M: DaMarcus Beasley - USA
M: Landon Donovan - USA
M: Jairo Patino - Colombia
M: Luis Ernest Perez - Mexico
F: Luis Tejada - Panama
F: Tressor Moreno - Colombia
F: Wilmer Velasquez - Honduras
with Honorable Mentions to:
G: Kasey Keller - USA
D: Tyrone Marshall -Jamaica
D: Michael Umana - Costa Rica
M: Philip Eveans - South Africa
M: John O’Brien - USA
F: Jorge Dely Valdes - Panama
F: Jafet Soto - Costa Rica
If you go to the Gold Cup section of the US Soccer website, they have a nice video of the end of the Panama match shot from Bruce Arena's vantage point in the sky box where he watched the match (cuz he was suspended), some on the field antics post game, and of course shirtless men in the locker room post game. Very fun to watch.
-The 3 best teams in MLS all lost this weekend. And they lost to the 3 worst teams in MLS. So what should have been a weekend to widen the gap at the top, turned into a weekend to bring the whole thing closer together into one big glop. Colorado killed Chicago 4-1 with two goals from Alain Nkong and the 10th of the year for Jeff Cunningham (who sure as shit better be on that MLS All-Star team replacing the still injured Eddie Johnson). Interim Coach Robert Warczyka is now 2 wins and 1 draw in his first 3 matches. And Chivas has won 2 of the last 3. Not to mention Salt Lake putting 3 on Dallas in the first 30 minutes! What is going on? Here are those scores:
Chivas 1-0 NE
LA 0-1 DC
Columbus 2-0 KC
Colorado 4-1 Chicago
RSL 3-0 FCD
SJ 2-1 Metro
So now the full table looks like this (* indicates teams who would miss the playoffs if they started today):
36 Chicago
35 New England
34 FC Dallas
34 San Jose
29 DC United
29 Kansas City
28 Los Angeles
25 Metrostars*
21 Columbus*
21 Colorado
16 Real Salt Lake*
12 Chivas USA*
-The USA's only consistently dominating player at the recent U20 World Championship was Benny Feilhaber from UCLA. Over the weekend he signed a deal to play for HSV Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Fantastic for him!
-Now the word is that Guus Hiddink is going to coach both PSV and Australia. If I were PSV I would be pissed off. But maybe this is the only way they could pretend to keep him. They should fire his ass.
-The speech Big Sam gave about my fave Mexican Jared Borgetti to the Bolton faithful:
"We are just waiting for the all clear on the medical. I am glad to say everything else is in place and by the time we get back home everything should be sorted out. The fee has been agreed with his Club and personal terms are all sorted."
-FC Dallas insiders are saying that Eddie Johnson will be out until October. In case you didn't know, he has a stress fracture in his foot (which foot, I don't know).
-14 Second Qualifying Round (first leg) matches in the UEFA Champions League take place this Tues & Wed. Dynamo Kyiv, Liverpool & Celtic all have games. My personal dark horse, Sheriff are in Belgrade to take on Partizan. Here are all the matchups.
-Chelsea beat Milan 1-0 in Boston. Arjen Robben scored the goal. Milan plays Chicago at Soldier Field on Wednesday, and Chelsea play DC United at Fed Ex Field on Thurs. The DC v Chelsea match will be live on ESPN2 at 7pm central. Wednesdays Chicago v Milan match is live on GolTV at 8pm central.
-Manc City are in the process of signing Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell.
-Inter have flown to England to take on Leicester, Norwich, Crystal Palace & Portsmouth in preseason matches. Late last week Inter tried to pull out of these matches due to "security concerns", but were persuaded to go ahead with the matches.
-Balitmore Sun has a feature on Santino Quaranta: Quaranta is making healthy gains

I Have Been Looking At So Many Pictures Today That My Eyes Are Blurry With News

-Honduras played a damn decent game last night against the good old USA, but not decent enough. The constant USA pounding paid off late and the victory tasted sweet (at least from where I was sitting). Attack Attack Attack. Thats what both teams did most of the night, but for some reason late in the match Honduras sat back to absorb the pressure. It didn't work. It hardly ever works against a superior opponent. I was watching with a housefull of people, one of them kept yelling something about "...if we can't beat Honduras...." I have never been able to figure out that attitude. For the most part, the Central American countries are damn good. Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and now Panama all play at a good and sometimes great standard. Honduras is no exception. Final score USA 2-1 Honduras. USA goals by John O'Brien (Den Haag) in the 86th minute, and Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege) in the 90th. Hondu goal by Ivan Guerrero (Chicago Fire) in the 30th.
-Panama won the other Gold Cup semifinal in a shocker over Colombia 3-2.
-Gold Cup Final is USA v Panama on Sunday July 24 at 2pm central, live on Univision from the Meadowlands Giants Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey.
-MLS Points Per Game Rankings:
(Since many MLS teams have played a differing amount of matches so far, it seems only fair to line the teams up by how many points they take per game on average. Cuz Chicago has played 20 games, and New England only 17, its not very equal to just settle it by total points.)
2.06 New England
2.00 FC Dallas
1.80 Chicago
1.63 San Jose
1.56 Los Angeles
1.53 Kansas City
1.44 DC United
1.39 Metrostars
1.00 Columbus
0.95 Colorado
0.72 Real Salt Lake
0.47 Chivas USA
-Eddie Johnsons new contract with FC Dallas was finally officially announced today. He is the second highest paid player in the league, behind Landy Cakes.
-A potentially great looking game on ESPN2 Saturday with Los Angeles hosting DC United. Live at 3pm central time. Later on that night its Real Salt Lake v FC Dallas on FSC at 830pm central time.

Hi There, I Just Wanted To Say That I Always See You All Over Campus But I Never Knew Your News

-Word from Madrid is that on August 23 a MLS All-Star team will be playing Real at the Bernabeu. Wow. Kinda cool. They might get their asses whipped, but it could be fun though.
-Tonight its the Gold Cup Semifinals from the New Jersey Meadowlands: USA v Honduras at the ungodly hour of 5pm central time. Who watches football at 5pm? Following that match its Colombia v Panama in the other semi. Ben Olsen is out for the USA because of the stupid red card he took against Jamaica. Conor Casey & Steve Cherundolo are both out with their injuries. Eddie Pope is back to practice after his latest boo-boo. Tony Sanneh is said to have some sort of tweak, but is practicing, so who knows.
-If you jump over to the US Soccer site there is page full of video clips, including scenes from yesterdays team practice, and a compilation of goals the USA has scored against Honduras over the last 4 years (including some vintage Clint Mathis bombs).
-Two Sundays back there was a match between Mexico & Jamaica. It was shown in the US on Univision and it got the highest ratings of any sporting event for Hispanic males ever! More than the Super Bowl. Imagine the ratings if USA & Mexico had met in the Gold Cup final like they were supposed to.
-US Open Cup update: With Richmonds ridiculous 8-4 win over Ocean City last night, we have all the pairings set for the 4th Round of the Cup. All games will be played Aug 3 or 4.
Chivas USA v Los Angeles
Portland v San Jose
Columbus v FC Dallas
Richmond v DC United
Kansas City v Des Moines
Minnesota v Colorado
Rochester v Metrostars
Chicago v New England
-Wed night MLS match scores:
Columbus 1-0 Metrostars
Kansas City 1-1 DC United
Colorado 1-2 San Jose
-USA Today continues it run of USMNT player features. Today we get Chris Armas.
-FIFA is reporting that the last USA World Cup Qualifying match is going to be held in Boston on Oct 21 v Panama.
-Yesterday I wrote way too much about the stupid Tim Trophy in Italy. Mainly cuz I love Inter and they were challenging for the trophy. Anyhow, I did not know that Juventus were also fighting Inter and Milan for the award. Well, let's get to the point here - Inter won! Yeah! And here are the scores:
AC Milan 2-1 Juventus
Inter 1-0 Juventus
Inter 0-0 AC Milan (Inter wins 5-4 on pks)
-You can see a trailer of the new Real Madrid movie (it's not a documentary, but it's not fiction either): Real, the movie
-More on the kidnapping of the Cruz Azul coach from the New York Times
-John O'Brien feature in the New York Times too
-Lots more Champions League first round qualifying scores. Winners include my favorite new team - Sheriff! From Moldova.
-I realize that I have never mentioned The Clean Sheet by Tino Palace via the MLS website. It's a regular column that I used to HATE. But I have really gotten into it over the past 12 months. And Tino is a really good guy who always replys to my emails. Check it out now.
-The Mexican Futbol Federation is going to punish new Chivas USA signing Juan Pablo Garcia by holding his official transfer papers until the Aug 15 International Transfer date (instead of letting him play now). The punishment is for not signing with another team in Mexico and instead chosing to play in MLS. Nice federation you got there boys.
-ADDITION: Looks like Robinho has his deal to go play for Real Madrid all sewn up. Santos must have gotten their money.

A Little Excitement. What?!?!?! It's News Dammit!

-The biggest news in these parts is the rumor of Jared Borgetti signing a deal with Bolton in England. BUT THE DEAL IS NOT DONE. Has a Mexican ever played in England? The fans at Bolton would love him. He is one hell of a player. I really wish MLS would fork out some pesos for him. But Europe surely seems his destiny for now. Big Sam at Bolton says a deal is far from done however, so don't hold yer breath just yet. In the article Alardyce says: "We have found with the South American regime that it is very difficult to strike a deal." Hey dumbass, maybe that's because they are not in South America! Try whipping out the old atlas and searching NORTH AMERICA, it might make deals a little easier for ya.
-Three MLS matches happening tonite:
Columbus v Metrostars
Kansas City v DC United
Colorado v San Jose
-MLS Single Table as of today:
36 Chicago
35 New England
34 FC Dallas
28 San Jose
28 Kansas City
28 Los Angeles
25 Metrostars
25 DC United
18 Colorado
15 Columbus
13 Real Salt Lake
09 Chivas USA
-Reminder: Chelsea v DC United Thur July 28 & AC Milan v Chicago Wed July 27.
-Ailton has left Schalke for Besitkas.
-Five freaks with guns kidnapped Cruz Azul's coach yesterday. What the f%#$?
-Ridge Mahoney (for years I have wondered what kind of name Ridge is anyway. A family name perhaps?) has a story on everyone's favorite MLS court jester Jimmy Conrad in USA Today: Conrad works way into position to help USA
-How is the USA possibly ranked #6 in the new FIFA standings? 1. Brazil, 2. Argentina, 3. Netherlands, 4. Czech Republic, 5. Mexico, 6. USA, 7. France, 8. England, 9. Spain, 10. Portugal. OK. Whatever!?!
-Scores from the second leg of first qualifying round matches in the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool moves on. Several games on the schedule for today as well. Kaunas (Lithuania - get Liverpool in 2nd qualifying round) & Dinamo Tblisi (Georgia - play Brondby next) have also gone through to the next round.
-In other Liverpool news, they signed the big geek Peter Crouch from Southampton
-Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe interviews DMB: Beasley is a big-time performer
-Andy Cole signed with Man City
-Tonite in Italy its Milan v Inter for the Tim Trophy. "Huh?" you ask. Its the annual game between the winner of the Italian Cup and something else that I can't remember right now. Its like the Community Shield match in England. Its a friendly, but tonite, also a derby. Expect fights. Milan lines up this team - G: Eleftheropoulos (how about that name); D: Cafu, Stam, Nesta, Kaladze; M: Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Rui Costa, Serginho; F: Vieri. The line up for Inter shows that they do not take this match seriously at all. They have split their squad in half, and will play another preseason exhibition in another city at the same time as this match. Here is their team - G: Julio Cesar, Carini; D: Ze Maria , Arrieta, Cordoba, Materazzi, Giani; M: Wome, Stankovic, Karagounis, Pizarro, C.Zanetti, Solari; F: Cruz, Momente, Martins, Belaid. Regulars Adriano, Recoba, and Van Der Mayde were not named to either squad (resting I guess).
-Kevin Hartman Q & A at Soccer 365.
-Chivas de Guadalajara announced on their official web site that striker Francisco Palencia is now finally headed to Chivas USA. He was supposed to sign with Chivas USA last spring, but it didn't happen. There was a time when I thoroughly enjoyed watching Palencia play, but I think he is getting a little long in the tooth. I have no idea if he will help. I did just see a new picture of him, and he was wearing a lot of rings and bracelets.
-The LA Times has a big feature story on Thiago Martins.
-Another LA Times story has columnist Mike Penner showing how far behind America is when it comes to soccer broadcasting. No real soccer fan in this country will disagree that we have some weak-ass coverage on TV.

I Want My Friends To Read The News

-And just like that, AC Milan fills a hole at forward with a very promising player as they acquired Italian Alberto Gilardino from Parma. Gilardino scored 23 goals last season and the season before. He is the real thing. Like Coke.
-In today's New York Times, Jack Bell says that Guus Hiddink has been made coach of Australia. That is news to me. I had heard that they would like him to be their coach. But he is still firmly in charge of PSV today. The PSV website makes no mention of any of this stuff.
-Real Madrid totally dominated LA last night. Big surprise there (ha ha). Final score was 2-0. It was fun to watch though, & interesting seeing how one of OUR squads matches up in the real world. LA even had their moments. I can't wait to see more of this in the future. My pal Joe in West Hollywood sent along this comments on the match:
no, i didn't go. nick mann didn't return my call. heh.
i was actually on the edge of my seat expecting the galaxy to net one.
but real's just too cool. mad skills - every pass perfect and always well timed - i think with the starting group only one ball was lost out of bounds. they, indeed, play the beautiful game. zidane is the shit. he was great in wc 1998... oh, and they don't really foul - which is a hallmark of those terrible south american squads and most mls too. though salgado? and gravesen seemed to be the thugs for madrid.
but the galaxy were scrappy and tried their best. however, they tried to get too cute at times. Herculez's quick shot from outside the box that just went wide was more what they needed. jovan's shot was good, but too low, that needs to be faster or in the upper corner. la needed more first touch shots, less 'let's watch me dribble around real' - but then, well, real's defense dropped back nicely every time, and they were always ready to counter.
i am very sore at arena that landy cakes wasn't there. even for 30 min. isn't copa oro considered a bunk tournament anyway? honduras?
also, hartman complained just a touch about the adidas ball. said it reacted different from a nike or puma ball. then again, with knuckle balls with no movement off of roberto carlos' feet, i think he could stop the spin on any ball he wanted...
-From MLSnet: 5 keepers starting in MLS right now are from UCLA. Brad Friedel was from UCLA too. That is very impressive.
-Minnesota Thunder got bulldozed by a mean, tough, talented Rochester squad. The 3-1 score did not tell the complete story. Rochester put tons of pressure on the ball no matter where it was on the field, & it looks like they are really rounding into a good form. Sadly our team is not. They are maddeningly inconsistent and appear to lack any real leadership on the field. Someone is going to have to step up for the Thunder and take charge out there. On a good note: Tighe Dumbrowski has come in on loan from San Jose and it looks like he has a great touch. I hope he adds some more spark.
-MLS leading Goal Scorers:
9 - Jeff Cunningham COL, & Taylor Twellman NE
8 - Christian Gomez DC, Jaime Moreno DC, & Pat Noonan NE
7 - Nate Jaqua CHI, & Carlos Ruiz DAL
-Rob Hughes, International Herald Tribune: Summer of sales and regrets
-A translated story from yesterdays edition of El Pais about Real Madrids two stops in the USA: Real marvels at US welcome
-Inter keeper Francesco Toldo cut all his hair off. I didn't recognize him. He looks like a POW with a big grin.
-In thinking more about this whole Sean Wright Phillips signing with Chelsea, I guess the one guy who should be looking over his shoulder is Damien Duff.
-Did you see where Sunderland got punched right in the nose (hard, 3-0) by Vancouver of the USL First Division on Sunday night in a friendly as part of Sunderlands preseason. Sunderland is going to have a very very long year in the Premiership if this is garbage they have to offer.
-A Galaxy fan got his ass kicked by a hoard of Chivas USA punk ass bitches following last Saturday nights derby. Welcome to futbol dude.

Did Ya See Us On TV, It Was News-worthy

-Gold Cup: As I watched the USA easily beat Jamaica 3-1 on Saturday I made the mistake of calling the Jamaicans a clean team that never plays vicious. Wrong 'em boyo! Two nasty ass tackles should have resulted in two red cards. Instead the first one sent Steve Cherundolo to the hospital to have his knee checked out after Damion Stewart put the flat of his boot straight into the side of Dolo's knee on a slide tackle. It was ugly. Stewart saw a yellow. The second awful tackle came late in the match when Jermaine Taylor tried to destroy DaMarcus Beasley with a slide tackle from the side, taking out both of DMB's legs and flipping him upside down landing on his back. The USA bench exploded with that one, as it happened right in front of them. The ref did not hesitate this time with the red card. After the match Bruce Arena said he thinks Cherundolo will not play again in this Gold Cup. But stranger things have happened. Ben Olsen had subbed on for Cherundolo, and also claimed red for his own grab from behind as the last defender in front of Keller. The game was fairly dull, cuz Jamaica just looked really bad after they gave up an early goal and then failed to convert a PK minutes later. The penalty was awarded after Greg Vanney mildly fouled Ricardo Fuller in the box (a very doubtful penalty if you ask me). But Keller came up with a huge save on Andy Williams. Beasely scored 2 by the way. He looked pretty good. So did O'Brien & Onyewu. Josh Wolff scored the other goal, tipping Beasley's shot past the JA keeper Ricketts. I should also mention that Chris Armas looked pretty damn good when he came on as a sub.
Next USA match is Thursday July 21 against Honduras live at 5pm central time on Telefutura from Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey.
Other Gold Cup quarterfinal scores:
Mexico brought an inferior team and lost earlier to South Africa. It paid the price again yesterday when they lost 2-1 to Columbia and are now out of the tournament. Aaaaaaaaaaah, LaVolpe. When will you learn.
(note: Kenny Arena dropped by to let me know that I have been (like an idiot) spelling Colombia wrong. Yer right, and I thank you Kenny. Who you playing for now anyway?)
Honduras upset Costa Rica 3-2
Panama shocked South Africa 5-3 on penalties after regular and extra time ended 1-1.
The other Semifinal is set with Columbia v Panama also on Thur night right after USA v Hondu on the same field. That game will be shown live on Univision at 8pm central time.
The final is next Sunday at 2pm central on Univision.
-USA U17 national team is in the field for the 2005 World Championship. The tournament will be held in Peru. The draw was made late last week and here is who they will face in the group stages:
North Korea on Sept 17
Italy on Sept 20
Ivory Coast on Sept 23
-Despite earlier reports to the contrary Andriy Shevchenko will not be with AC Milan this week during their US matches due to a broken jaw. Pippo Inzhagi did not travel with the team, Jon Dahl Thomassen was transferred to Stutgart last week, and Hernan Crespo is back with Chelsea, so I have no idea who is gonna be lining up at forward alongside new signing Christain Veiri. The young unknowns will get their chance to shine I guess.
-Real Madrid plays Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center tonite. Its live at 930pm central on Fox Soccer Channel. Madrid beat the Original Chivas on Saturday 3-1 in Chicago.
-Posted on Friday at the Sports Illustrated website, Grant Wahl interviews AEG's Tim Leiweke
-I think this is sad news: Chelsea have bought Sean-Wright Phillips from Man City. When is the dude gonna play? He was better off playing for about 20 other teams. I am sure the money was ridiculous, and how do you turn that down, but what a wrong team to sign with, especially a young guy learning his game.
-Over the weekend Paul reminded me of this story about Damani Ralph in the Houston Chronicle. It's a pretty direct tale of football in Russia as a Jamaican.
-I found it quite interesting to read a quote from Real Salt Lake veteran Jason Kries that after losing to my beloved Minnesota Thunder in the US Open Cup that he felt that, "...this is the lowest point of my MLS career." Funny he said virtually the same thing two years ago (almost to the day) when his then team Dallas Burn was brutalized 4-1 by Willmington Hammerheads. The day after that debacle, Dallas coach Mike Jefferies was fired. I think that was worse than this one, because Willmington is a Second Division team, a level below the Thunder, and Minnesota has beaten or heavily challenged MLS teams in the past. Sorry Jason, but I gotta say that you have been lower. Besides that, you hit 3 against Minnesota. Maybe he just feels sorry for himself. I probably would too.
-MLS Scores:
DC United 3-0 San Jose
Chicago 1-1 Columbus
New England 3-2 FC Dallas
Metrostars 1-1 Colorado
Kansas City 3-2 Real Salt Lake
Los Angeles 2-0 Chivas USA

Special Viewing Opportunity

Tonight Tonight Tonight
Live on Fox Soccer Channel at 7pm central time
It's the USL First Division Game Of The Week
My Beloved Minnesota Thunder v Defending Champs Montreal Impact
You must see it to believe it.

They Keep Calling Me About The News

-Q & A with USA Coach Bruce Arena via US Soccer.
-Have you been wondering what the next Milan squad is going to look like? Their top three strikers: Christian Vieri, Andriy Shevchenko & Super-Pippo Inzaghi have combined to score only 750 goals! Holy Shit! And they are out looking for more.
-The 7 bench players for the MLS All-Star game were announced yesterday:
G: Scott Garlick
D: Chris Albright, Frankie Hejduk
M: Simo Valakari, Christian Gomez
F: Pat Noonan, Taylor Twellman
-Sao Paulo wins the Copa Libertadores 4-0 last night at their home stadium Morumbi. Paranaense is the runner up.
-Soccer 365 Q & A with KC defender Jimmy Conrad.
-Soccer America reports that Costa Rican Paulo Wanchope has left Spanish club Malaga to sign with big money club Al-Gharafa, reigning champ of the Qatar league.
-This weekends MLS match ups:
Friday
DC United v San Jose
Saturday
Chicago v Columbus live on ESPN2 at 3pm central time
Metrostars v Colorado live on Fox Soccer Channel at 630pm central time
New England v FC Dallas
Kansas City v Real Salt Lake
Los Angeles v Chivas USA
-The Gold Cup quarterfinals take place this weekend too:
Saturday in Boston at Gillette Stadium
Honduras v Costa Rica live on Univision at 12 Noon central time
USA v Jamaica live on Telefutura at 3pm central time
Sunday in Houston at Reliant Stadium
Mexico v Colombia live on Univision at 2pm central time
South Africa v Panama live on Telefutura at 5pm central time
-Of course in their brilliant wisdom USA and MLS must go head to head on Saturday afternoon viewing time. Good job of scheduling folks. Yer all a bunch of thoroughbred genius'.
-ADDITION: On Monday night you can catch Los Angeles v Real Madrid on Fox Soccer Channel at 9:30pm central time!

I Have No Voice Today Cuz I Spent Hours Screaming The News At Cleetus Last Night

-US Open Cup mania struck last night. We had one ridiculously retarded match up here in St Paul as our Minnesota Thunder sucker punched the defenseless Real Salt Lake 6-4 in extra time. Yes that's right. 6-4. Insanity. Chant of the match: "Chivas Scored 5. We Scored 6!" The Open Cup website has excellent recaps of all the matches from the 3rd round and also links to the local newspaper stories. Read on brothers and sisters. Our boys next scalp will be that of Colorado on Aug 3 back in St Paul at our lovely little home affectionately known as The Jimmy. If you missed last nights game due to some lame excuse then you are a first class boob!
-Here's your MLS All-Star starting squad:
G-Matt Reis - New England
D-Greg Vanney - FC Dallas
D-Eddie Pope - Real Salt Lake
D-Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City
M-Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
M-Clint Dempsey - New England
M-Ronnie O'Brien - FC Dallas
M-Amado Guevara - Metrostars
M-Shalrie Joseph - New England
F-Carlos Ruiz - FC Dallas
F-Eddie Johnson - FC Dallas
The reserves will be announced some time today.
-Cuban striker Maikel Galindo defected over the weekend and turned himself in to US Immigration officials Monday. He is seeking asylum. And is a decent player too. Welcome to your new home Maikel.
-Scores and coverage from the first leg of the first round of this seasons UEFA Champions League. Liverpool was a 3-0 winner over Total Network Solutions, with Stevie G scoring all three. Good thing they resigned him last week or it would have been a 0-0 draw. Ronnie O'Briens former club Shelbourne was a 2-1 winner on the road.
-Gold Cup: In last nights final two matches of group play, Mexico beat Jamaica 1-0 on a goal by Alberto Medina & the other match had Guatemala and South Africa tieing 1-1. Gonzalo Antonio Romero scored for Guate, but Bongani Nkosi tied it for the Africans. The Quarterfinals are then set for this weekend:
Saturday July 16 in Boston at Gillette Stadium
Honduras v Costa Rica
USA v Jamaica
Sunday July 17 in Houston at Reliant Stadium
Mexico v Colombia
South Africa v Panama
-Copa Libertadores Grand Finale: Tonight on Fox Soccer Channel is Sao Paulo at home to Paranaense for all the marbles. The first leg ended 1-1, so Sao Paulo has that away goal advantage to start the match, and they never lose at home. Game time is 730pm central.
-Juve are making a lot of noise claiming that Arsenals Patrick Viera is about to sign with them any moment now. I usually don't write about rumors but this one seems pretty strong and I have read that Viera & Arsenal are interested in making the change.
-Inter let two more players walk away this week, but Sorondo signing with Charlton and Emre with Newcastle.

The Besteses

At the end of last season I put together my MLS Best XI of 2004. And since we are approximately half way thru the 2005 season I thought I would put together a midseason squad. (It is tempting to just leave last years team as the best of the first half this year! But I won't, even though it's a hell of a squad.)
Here is this seasons team, followed by last seasons:
- - -
2005 Mid-Season Best XI
Goalkeeper
Matt Reis - New England
Defenders
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City
Tyrone Marshall - Los Angeles
Eddie Robinson - San Jose
Midfielders
Shalrie Joseph - New England
Ronnie O'Brien - FC Dallas
Clint Dempsey - New England
Christian Gomez - DC United
Amado Guevara - Metrostars
Forwards
Jeff Cunningham - Colorado
Pat Noonan - New England
- - -
2004 Best XI
Goalkeeper
Joe Cannon - Colorado
Defenders
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City
Bryan Namoff - DC United
Ryan Nelson - DC United
Midfielders
Landon Donovan - San Jose
Diego Gutierrez - Kansas City
Ronnie O'Brien - Dallas
Steve Ralston - New England
Simo Valakari - Dallas
Forwards
Jaime Moreno - DC United
Josh Wolff - Kansas City

Here Are The Top Candidates For Todays News

-US Open Cup: 3rd Round matches tonite: (go Thunder!)
Seattle v Portland
Western Mass v Chicago
Rochester v Virginia Beach
Richmond v Ocean City
Charlotte v Chivas USA
Atlanta v Des Moines
FC Dallas v Wilmington
Minnesota v Real Salt Lake
-Gold Cup: I guess we got about what we should have expected last night. USA 0-0 Costa Rica. Pretty lifeless stuff most of the time. Oh well. John O'Brien was about the only American I can pick out for praise. I can't wait for him to be healthy and at full ramming speed. Tony Sanneh on the other hand looked really old and tired. No one was great or terrible. And the team didn't give up a goal.
Quarterfinal round on Saturday for USA again at Gillette in Boston. Opponent will be determined via tonites winners and losers.
In last nights other matches:
Columbia 2-0 T&T - goals scored by Abel Aguilar & Hector Hurtado.
Canada 2-1 Cuba - Atiba Hutchinson & Ali Gerba scored Canada's goals. Cuba's goal was scored by Alain Cervantes.
Honduras 1-0 Panama - Chicago Fire defender Samuel Caballeros scored for Honduras.
Tonite they play the last two group matches which will determine the last spots in the quarters:
Guatemala v South Africa
Mexico v Jamaica
-In other Gold Cup news, Frankie Hejduk will miss the USA quarterfinal match because he is an idiot and took a dive in the box against Costa Rica and picked up his second yellow of the first round. Hence a one game suspension. Everyone else is cool.
-Marvell Wynne is going to stay in school (UCLA) for now and work on his game.
-One of my favorite players from the 98 World Cup was Marcelo Salas of Chile. Yesterday he parted company with his club of the last two years River Plate. He has no new deal lined up.
-Ives Galarcep who covers Metrostars for the North Jersey Herald hands out his mid-season grades on the team.
-Joe L sent me the link that the New York Times posted containing all MLS player salaries. Some get paid a lot. Others nearly nothing. Its rough reading on some of these boys.
-There will be a press conference at 4pm central time today announcing that Peter Wilt will head up the group trying to land an MLS squad in Old Milwaukee.
-Houston Chronicle has a profile on Mexico coach Ricardo LaVolpe: Lavolpe far from likeable but has formula for success
-So did you hear that the opening game at the brand new stadium in Dallas will only have 12,000 fans in attendance. Why you ask? Cuz the parking lots are not done so they are going to limit seating to avoid madness in the surrounding areas. What a bunch of fools. They had a whole year to build parking lots. How tough can that be. Let's hope this is not a sign of things to come at "Pizza Hut Park" aka "Greasy Gutbomb Field".
-Hernan Crespo has officially returned to Chelsea after his one year one deal to AC Milan.
-The MLS All-Star Game starting 11 will be announced sometime later today.
-ADDITION: I missed this one from last night, cuz I thought all the US Open Cup matches were played tonight, but it turns out Portland beat Seattle 2-0 at PGE Park. Not only do the Timbers advance to the 4th round and host San Jose, but they avenge a 4-2 loss to Seattle last Friday night! Sounds excellent to me.

I Need Some Lunch, And All I Got Is This News.......Wanna Trade?

-Tonite in the Copa Oro its USA v Costa Rica from Gillette Stadium in suburban Boston. Both teams are thru to the knock out stages, but this will determine seeding, so there is some value at hand. Coach Arena says he will use a combination of players from the first two matches in tonites lineup (remember, he used two separate starting 11's against Cuba and Canada). USA leads Costa Rica on goal differential if they draw. Personally I would like to see Santino Quaranta get another shot.
-At least 3 European clubs are trying to sign Mexican marvel Jared Borgetti. Good move. He is a guy I always thought MLS should have gone after in a big way. He would look good at the Super-Club in New Jersey.
-MLS Standings for the mid-point of the season!
(team - games played - points)
Chicago - 19 - 35
FC Dallas - 16 - 34
New England - 16 - 32
San Jose - 17 - 28
Kansas City - 17 - 25
Los Angeles - 17 - 25
Metrostars - 16 - 24
DC United - 16 - 22
Colorado - 17 - 17
Columbus - 16 - 14
Real Salt Lake - 17 - 13
Chivas USA - 18 - 9
-An email was sent out to Galaxy fans about getting tickets for upcoming games. It made mention of the fact that there are only a few "grass area" seats left for the match vs Real Madrid, and then it goes on to mention other upcoming events. At the very end we get this special little gem:
We have also released a limited number of Field Side seats for the Real
Madrid Game for $1,000 per seat
For tickets to any of the above events call Nick at 310-630-2229
Nick Mann
Account Executive
Los Angeles Galaxy
Office-(310)-630-2229
Cell-(413)-374-7733
I suggest we all call him on his cell during peak hours and ask to purchase 10 to 12 of those special 1000 dollar seats! One Thousand dollars a seat! You better get more than a match for that kinda money, and he or she better be damn cute.
-DC United are finally getting their much talked about mystery defender from Argentina. He is 22 year old Facundo Erpen of Talleres de Cordoba (a 2nd Division team). He came up thru the Boca Juniors system.
-One of the worst players I have ever seen in MLS, playing for one of the worst teams in the history of the league, Matt Taylor of Chivas USA, has turned it around, for at least one magnificent game, to be named MLS Player Of The Week. Not bad for a guy with a rat-tail. The team beat Fake Salt Lake 5-1, with Taylor scoring one and setting up the other four. What a night.
-Juve is going to play a game in New York on Aug 6. No other details yet.
-Real Madrid released their pre-season roster for the two games in the USA later this month:
G: Iker Casillas, Diego Lopez, Carlos Sanchez
D: Michel Salgado, Alvaro Mejia, Ivan Helguera, Carlos Pavon, Carlos Diogo, Roberto Carlos, Raul Bravo, Ruben De la Red
M: Pablo Garcia, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Guti, Luis Figo, Thomas Gravesen, Jose Manuel Jurado, Alvaro Arbeloa
F: Raul, Ronaldo, Michael Owen, Juanfran, Roberto Soldado
-Frankie Hejduk Q & A from Soccer 365.
-It looks like San Jose defender Eddie Robinson is finally getting back to that quality spot he was hitting before his nasty injuries over the last two years. Back then he was invited to a couple USA training camps and got a cap or two. Maybe it'll happen again. Team USA can always use more defenders.
-Our main man Jonesy, aka Grahame L. Jones, esteemed soccer writing aficionado with the Los Angeles Times, has crept on to the USA bandwagon over the last 12 months. Have you noticed this? Today he gives us a big feature story on a big dude: Oguchi Onyewu. Jonesy insists on calling him Gooch.
-Did you see this? I hadn't, but the Kansas City Star says that MLS has gotten rid of one of my pet peeves. They are no longer combining goals and assists into a point system. The stupid two points for a goal, one point for an assist thing is gone! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (Thanks Lil John) I hated it. Who handed out the assists? No one knew. It might be an assist. It might not be. Now we don't have to care. Thank you MLS. And Thank You Kansas City Star for noticing and bringing it to our cumulative attention.
-A second great story in today's KC Star (they cover the team a lot better then the fans attend the games that's for sure!). Some smartass fan went and put the team up for sale on E-Bay for a cool $15 million. Good job kid. I mean, why not sell the team this way, seeing as Old Lamar can't seem to sell it any other way.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune: Vantage Point: For soccer's stars, check is reality
-Somehow I missed this a couple weeks ago: New England released two players from the team, Brazilian midfielder Cassio and Canadian midfielder Felix Brillant. I thought Cassio was supposed to be a big deal?

Well Its About Fucking Time!!

The Columbus Crew have FINALLY fired their crappy assed coach Greg Andrulis. Note to Crew Management: You could have done this two years ago and saved yourselves a lot of time. Now you better go out and get someone with a personality and some gonads.

Michel Houellebeq Is A Punk, But Then That's Not Really News, This Is

-FROM US SOCCER: SEATTLE (July 9, 2005) - U.S. forward Conor Casey has been diagnosed with a torn ACL and a Grade 2 sprain of the MCL in his right knee after an MRI examination confirmed the injury. Casey suffered the injury in the second half of the USA's 4-1 win against Cuba on July 7 in the opening match of the 2005 Gold Cup. He was replaced by Landon Donovan in the 66th minute. Casey will remain in the United States to await surgery, which is expected to be scheduled for next week.
-Jonathan Spector is gonna play for Charlton this year on a loan deal from Man U. I am sure that if he does great he will return to his home side as a full time starter, and if he flounders he will be cut loose. Go Jonny Go!
-USA 2-0 over Canada. They played decent, for most of the game. John O'Brien didnt show much in his return to the starting XI. I can't remember too much else about the match except that Donovan and Beasley go together like Magic and Kareem. The most interesting aspect of the game was that a completely different squad took the field from last Thursdays match against Cuba, and there's yet another 8-10 guys out there that were not even included on the Gold Cup roster that could easily be there. What a great thing to think about. The depth of USA soccer is now for real.
-Next up for Team USA is Costa Rica on Tuesday evening from Boston. Both teams have 6 points from the first two matches.
-In other Gold Cup happenings: Mexico found a way to lose to South Africa 2-1 last Friday night, then returned Sunday to demolish Guatemala 4-0. Guatemala may have some excellent offensive players like Carlos Ruiz and Pando Ramirez, but they have absolutely no defense at all. Sad. Jamaica beat Guatemala 4-3 last Friday night and then drew with South Africa 3-3 on Sunday. Panama and Trinidad drew 2-2, and Honduras knocked Columbia down another peg 2-1 (Columbia has lost both matches now).
The game schedule for the next two days looks like this:
July 12
USA v Costa Rica
Canada v Cuba
Colombia v Trinidad
Honduras v Panama
July 13
Guatemala v South Africa
Mexico v Jamaica
-Corinthians ran past rival Palmeiras 3-1 in the Brazilian championship on Sunday in Sao Paolo at Morumbi! Palm actually scored first on a goal by Leonardo Silva early in the second half, but then Gustavo Nery tied it up and sub Rosinei scored two for the big Corin win!
-The first leg of qualifying rounds for the next UEFA Champions League kickoff tomorrow and Wednesday. Here's the matches:
12th
Lev. Tallinn v Dinamo Tbilisi
Neftchi v Hafnarfjördur
Dinamo Minsk v Anorthosis
Kairat Almaty v Artmedia
Rabotnicki v Skonto
Sliema v Sheriff
13th
Haka v Pyunik
HB v Kaunas
Glentoran v Shelbourne
Dudelange v Zrinjski
Liverpool v TNS
Gorica v Tirana

Like Marlon Brando In Last Tango In Paris I Have A Stick Of Butter And I Want To Put It Up Your News

-Gold Cup actions: USA 4-1 Cuba - it was not pretty, but at least lively, and as the real talent subbed on to the field late in the game everything changed in a quick hurry. And, Canada 0-1 Costa Rica, Jafet Soto (who seems to be pretty damn good - and he was a great actor in Homicide) scored on a pk for the win.
Tonite its Mexico v South Africa on Univision at 9pm central, and Guatemala v Jamaica.
Saturday at 330pm central time its the next USA match, this time versus the road cones of Canada.
-Also on TV tonite its the North Pacific derby - Seattle v Portland live on Fox Soccer Channel at 10pm central time.
-MLS games on TV Saturday too (all time central): at 5pm its DC vs KC on ESPN2, at 730pm its Chicago vs New England on FSC, & at 11pm see the review show MLS Wrap on FSC.
-This story from the Denver newspaper - Rocky Mountain News - has potential to be totally sappy, but it turns out to be a decent story with some cold hard reality behind it all. Colorado Rapids teenage high school goal scoring phenomenon Noel Fabrice tells his story.
-Benny Olson's brother tells stories about young Ben's soccer beginnings at the US National Team Players Association site (which is always quite good).
-Problem child Craig Bellamy is gonna play for Blackburn next. His former coach from Wales Mark Hughes runs Blackburn so maybe he can tame the idiot.
-So I finally got to see that Copa Libertadores first leg final match last night (a day late for us English speakers) and it was worth it. Paranaense scored 1st, but Sao Paulo outplayed them and gained a 1-1 draw. This was supposed to be the home leg for Para but because their stadium "ONLY" holds 27,000 it was deemed too small for such an important match, and it ended up being played in Porto Alegre which is over 300 miles from Para. What a joke! 2nd and final leg next Thurs in Sao Paulo at the fabled and totally intimidating Morumbi. This neutral site business is about as dumb as the year New England agreed to play both of their legs of the Champions Cup in Costa Rica.
-Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, the man with the best name in world football today (especially when zzzzzzung out by the public address announcer at PSV Stadium after a goal), signed a two year extension to his deal with PSV.
-New England has snapped up the Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Flores who was recently booted by Metrostars.
-Jaime Moreno of DC United chatted online with fans via ESPN yesterday.
-ADDED NEWS: Every year at the MLS All-Star game they get some shitty "musical act" to perform. This year they have hired someone called Bowling For Soup. I am not shitting you. What is that? A band? A TV sketch comedy show on WB? Cable Access? 80's humor? If they are musical are they ska or something? Maybe swing? You gotta be kidding me. As if the game itself is not already distasteful enough. The year I saw the game in LA they had a band, but I have no recollection of who it was. I was "busy" at half time. But it was time when Drew Carey "discovered" socccer. He was the MC that day. And no one gave a hoot. Rightly so.
-MORE JUST ADDED NEWS: The tickets for LA Galaxy v Real Madrid went on sale this morning at 10am local time and are all but gone already. Just proves that if the game looks interesting that people really will want to be there. So now MLS needs to step and spend some real money on real players if they want fans! On the other hand, I was just at Ticketmaster and I can get amazing seats for the FC Dallas stadium opener on Aug 6. Dead-center mid-field 9th row! For LA all that is left is the last couple rows behind the goal and then up the grassy knoll aka Lalas Hill.

Come On US, News

-USA v Cuba tonite in the Gold Cup.
-Joe Cannon was named MLS Player Of The Week. He is a great keeper. The best in the league as a matter of fact. He is not related to Joe Bazooka, or Joe Rifle.
-The always brilliant Columbus Crew have converted just 1 of their last 5 penalty kicks at home. They shoot pk's just like they are coached. Dumb, Pathetic, & Boring, but with a nicely groomed beard.
-I am still trying to figure out why Metrostars signed not one by two known MLS hobos/malcontents: Home Mortgage Magnate Tony Meola, and retired amateur boxer (still wearing his in-ring headgear) Ryan Suarez. Does anyone know why?? Do you think its a Lalas thing, or a Bradley thing?
-The back and forth between Alexi Lalas of the Mets and Kevin Payne of DC over the future of Freddy Adu is quality stuff. I even read where someone else cracked the joke that this was actually a New York Times vs Washington Post battle. Let's see some damn blood then! Here is the Lalas stuff by Jack Bell, and here is the Payne stuff by Steven Goff.
-31 MLS players are on Gold Cup rosters as the tourney kicked off last night. Here are scores from the matches at the Orange Bowl in Miami (and we start off with a fairly large upset!!!!)
Columbia 0-1 Panama - fantastic result for the Canaleros - goal by Luis Tejada, with Panama's Jaime Penedo being named Man Of The Match.
and
Honduras 1-1 Trinidad & Tobago - goals scored by Christopher Birchall for T&T, and Maynor Figueroa for Hondu.
-Some one on the Guadalajara staff says that Francisco Palencia is on his way to signing with Chivas USA. A couple of defenders are rumored to be following.
-The first leg of the Copa Libertadores in not being shown in my area until tonite, so I will not be reading about it, or reporting on it until tomorrow.
-Steve Goff at the Washington Post got his hands on the "secret" list of salaries of MLS players. Freddy is not the highest paid player after all. He is THIRD, behind Landycakes and the Grown Ass Man.
-Netherlander Boudewijn Zenden has signed with Liverpool.
-Pat Noonan interview from US Soccer
-Chris Armas interview from US Soccer as well
-Pablo Mastroeni story at USA Today
-Bobby Convey interview with Yanks Abroad
-Thiago of the Chicago Fire had knee surgery last week to fix some torn cartilage. They hope he will be back around August 1.

Just A Lil Snatch Of News

-Stevie G sends all the tabloids into full melt down with his head spinning decisions of staying or going at Liverpool. I think its funny, but I really don't understand why people take the stories in the tabloid papers to be built on any facts at all. Just wait until the story is finished and then you will have a nice clear picture.
-ESPN has its list of the top ten MLS teams from the first 10 years of the league. Its written by Ives Galarcep from the North Jersey Herald.
-Last weekends First & Second Division wrap ups, including my boys horrifying 3-1 loss at home to Seattle. Not noted in the wrap up of that match is that fact that it was a tight game until the Thunder goal keeper Joe Warren was kicked in the face going for a ball and Seattle scored its third goal after a scramble with Warren lying out near the top of box in agony. No call by the ref on that one. The refs needed an escort off the field post game. It was kinda wild.
-Did you see those creepy amber colored contact lenses the USA was wearing at practice the other day. Weird as hell. Supposedly they are great for seeing better on the field. Designed by Nike. Made John O'Brien look like he was back in Amsterdam enjoying the hierba buena. NOTE: OK, so a couple people asked me for a link to this video, sorry I didn't include it originally. There is no direct link to it, but if you go to this page and then scan down just a little to a paragraph titled ALL ACCESS VIDEO - Seeing Is Believing you will find the link at the end of the paragraph!

Hey Bitches, I'm Back With A Taste Of News For Ya

-Inter let Christian Vieri go last week, and this week he was snapped up by their city rivals AC Milan. He will probably score 3 against Inter when they meet next year. That bastard.
-Sports Illustrated has a capsule preview of all 12 teams in the Gold Cup that kicks off this week.
-The Copa Libertadores championship series starts Wednesday with Paranese hosting fellow Brazilian team Sao Paulo. Two teams from the same country have never met in the finals before.
-Chivas USA is making some attempt to improve. They made a fairly big signing this weekend by snagging striker Juan Pablo Garcia from Mexico's Atlas. He was all set to sign with Club America before Chivas stepped in and stole him away to MLS. I think this is a very interesting turn of events, and I really wonder if this is not just the beginning of younger Mexicans choosing MLS over MFL. Garcia will not join Chivas until early August however, because he is on the Mexican roster for the Gold Cup.
-See Mexico's group stage matches in the Gold Cup On Univision:
Fri July 08 v South Africa LA Home Depot Center 9pm central
Sun July 10 v Guatemala LA Coliseum 2pm central
Wed July 13 v Jamaica Houston Reliant time tba