Celebration

Hello dear friends.
I am off celebrating the New Year, so you won't be seeing anything from Team Du Nord for a few days. Take care and good luck.
Bruce Migwire aka The Wolf

A Couple Things To Sing About, But Very Little News

-As I was watching Wigan v Man City on Monday I wondered to myself why Claudio Reyna was subbed off in the 65th minute. I know they brought in Andy Cole for more offense, but Reyna is a guy who can do great things at both ends of the pitch. The only thing I figured out was that with 4 games in 6 days the coach wanted to rest him with the team trailing 4-1. Then yesterday I saw Man City again, this time v Chelsea and Reyna is not on the pitch at all. I think to myself, this is not good. Something is wrong. Sure enough, I go to Yanks Abroad and what do I see: Reyna diagnosed with ankle fracture. Oh, damn it all anyway. The injury occurred nearly 2 months ago v The Arse, when he went off with that knee & ankle injury and missed a month. They thought he was healed, but obviously not. He will have surgery on it, and could be out 2 months or more. Good luck Claudio. By the way, Chelsea won 1-0.
-Liverpool has won 9 in a row in the EPL. Chelsea has won 7 straight.
-Lil Q & A with Hercules Gomez, striker for the Galaxy, via US Players Assoc.
-Brian McBride had another huge day for Fulham, scoring 2, but they could only manage a 3-3 tie at home v Aston Villa. Carlos Bocanegra started in the back as well for Fulham. The defense had a lot of trouble though, and Bocanegra will have to step up his game. One of the players who caused him a lot of trouble was Milan Baros who is the main striker for the Czech Republic, so Bocanegra better get up for stopping him next summer at the World Cup. Fulham are in 15th place with 20 points from 19 games (the exact midpoint of the season which is 38 games long), but are only 6 points ahead of the last relegation spot, which belongs to Portsmouth (who they travel to to play on Saturday) and their 14 points. That makes Saturday's game is big for both.
-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on as a late game sub for Man U in their 2-2 draw with crappy Birmingham. The BFA (baby faced assasin) has not played a game since the Fall of '03 due to some awful knee trouble. Hooray Ole. Hooray Beer.
-Not too surprising is the fact that Samuel Eto'o leads all Euro goal scores with 17 in league play. Here are all the other top strikers via Soccerway.
-Eddie Lewis scored the winner for Leeds in a 0-1 win at Stoke. They are in 3rd place by 2 points over Watford.
-Q & A with the main man behind the building of Colorado's new stadium in suburban Denver.
-Marcus Hahnemann recorded shut out #16 this season for Reading, who won their 10th in a row, beating Leicester 2-0! Reading have 65 points from 26 matches and lead 2nd place Sheffield United by 6 points. The real note of interest though is that they lead 3rd place Leeds by 20 points, and the top two teams get automatically promoted.
-I need to give a tip of the hat greeting to our regular reader in Sharjah, Ash Shariqah, UAE. Howdy!
-I really hate Joe Cole of Chelsea. Yes he is very good. And currently playing great. But he needs to have some humility slapped into his attitude packed, foul mouthed, punk assed bitch of a head. He is also a whiner and a cheap shot. Get it together Joey.
-Today's picture of Bridgeview Stadium.

Wig Wam News

-Andrew Dixon from the GolNoir always writes good soccer stuff. This week he does a little A-Z for 2005.
-Do you have any interest in seeing some Ronaldinho goals? Well here are a ton of 'em.
-Liverpool and Everton play today for the 202nd time! Holy shit that's a lot of opportunities to build up some hatred!
-West Ham v Wigan also looks good today. The way they've been playing lately it could end 10-10, which of course means it will be 0-0, and dull as dull can be.
-Maradona has been offered a deal to play for Excursionistas who are in Argentina's fourth division - Primera C. What a great name for a team. I wanna play for them. My instincts tell me that this deal will not happen for the formerly bloated one - I mean Maradona, not me. Well actually I'm kinda bloated too, but at least have the height to balance it off a little.
-Speaking of playing when yer old... I ran into my friend Chris on the bus the other day, and he retold a great John Peel story. When Peel turned 50 he said on his radio show something like: "Well, I guess I am finally too old now to ever fulfill my dream of suiting up for Liverpool, but I bet I could still see some playing time for one of the London clubs." Brilliant as always from Peel. Rest In Peace amigo.
-Buzz Carrick of FC Dallas fan site 3rd Degree has an interview with the teams new General Manager Michael Hitchcock.
-About a month or so ago Monchengladbach told Giovane Elber that he was free to leave the club. Today the former Bayern Munchen star signed with Cruzeiro in Brazil, and will begin with them when the transfer window opens next month.
-Chris Klein of KC & Zach Wells of Metrostars have been added to the USA training camp roster for next week. They are replacing Justin Mapp of Chicago & Jonny Walker of Columbus who are both injured. Zach Wells?????? What the......?
-Manchester United are again going to loan out Texas striker Kenny Cooper. The new team has not been set yet.
-The excellent Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with his 2005 year end wrap up.
-Regular reader and contributor Ken will be devastated to learn that his Akron Zips are losing head coach Ken Lolla to in-state rivals Louisville. Akron just had their best season ever, and now the coach splits. Happy New Year in Bummersville.
-The latest news from the folks trying to start a new club in Milwaukee for MLS.
-Steve Davis of the Dallas Morning News with a profile story on LA's Ugo Ihemelu. Ihemelu was a former star player for SMU in Dallas.
-Davis also writes that: "Former Dallas Burn coach Mike Jeffries has been named associate coach at Duke."

Slight Of Hand News

-Here it is everyone! The hoax of the year! The entire Houston Republic Football Club thing was a joke! WOW! I totally fell for it. An amazing trick to play on all us gullible fools who really want quality and tradition in our soccer teams. The person who did this, Taco Jones, gets my vote for Human Of The Year!
-US Soccer has awarded Kasey Keller with its Male Player Of The Year award, and Benny Feilhaber with its Young Player Of The Year award. On the Women's side, Kristine Lilly and Lori Chalupny were the winners.
-BQ sent us a feature story (from a week or two back) from the Fulham FC website on Super Mac. Brian McBride is having a great season which continued yesterday with another typically powerful match against Chelsea even though they lost 2-3. McBride scored Fulhams first, and drew the penalty for the second. Here is a match report on that game. Did you know that McBride is Fulhams leading scorer?
-In other English boxing day matches: Claudio Reyna & Man City lost a wild one 4-3 at Wigan. Eddie Lewis played his usual game as Leeds pummeled Coventry 3-1. Brad Freidel pitched his 8th shutout of the season for Blackburn, 0-2 over Middlesbrough, and Jonny Spector came on late to try to help out Charlton who lost again, this time 0-1 to the Arse. Charlton have fallen all the way down to 12th.
-Reading is starting to pull away in the English Championship Division with another win 0-2 over Wolves, & their nearest competitor Sheff Utd losing 1-3 to Norwich. The lead is now 9 points for Bobby Convey, Marcus Hahnemann and Co. Convey scored the 2nd goal, his 4th of the season. His team, like all the English FA teams play 3 more games in the next week - Wed Dec 28 v Leicester, Sat Dec 31 at Derby, & Mon Jan 2 v Cardiff.
-DaMarcus Beasley scored too! His PSV Eindhoven team won 0-2 over Nijmegen, vaulting them back into 1st Place by 3 points as Alkmaar lost 2-0 to Feyenoord. PSV play next on Thursday at home v Twente, and then are off until Jan 15.
-Serie A & La Liga both resume games on Jan 8, Ligue Un on Jan 4, and die Bundesliga at the end of next month on January the 28th.
-In case you missed this exciting Christmas time message - Paolo Di'Canio has stated for the record that "I am not a racist. I am a facist." Yes, yes. Quite different then. Sorry to have bothered you. Carry on old chap.
-Universidad Catolica have won Chile's Clausura Championship. It was the teams 9th title, but first since 2002.
-Freddy Adu started and played very well for Team Ronaldo at the United Nations Match Against Poverty last Thursday in Dusseldorf. Team Zidane won the match 4-2.
-The US Soccer Players Assoc checks in with Earnie Stewart.
-Our man Simon Kuper writes in the Financial Times: Arsenal slide from present to the past
-The Mexican Interliga Tournament kicks into action next week. More later.
-Sports Illustrated is sporting 2 new columns. Luis Bueno: Mexican players are making inroads in the Old World, and Gabriele Marcotti: Three aging players are competing on their own terms.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune gives us: The good, the bad and the beautiful (game). Hughes also writes about the ailing Argentinian legend Alfredo Di Stefano: Di Stefano of Real Madrid hospitalized by heart attack, and Michael Owen's return to England from Spain: For Owen in '05, a holiday at home.
-The International Herald Tribune also ran their sports pictures of the year. Here is mine.
-The Guardian's Fiver gives out their 2005 Super Deluxe Bumper Christmas Awards!
-See some awesome Zinedine Zidane video footage compiled by the Flatlander from the False 45th!
-An interview with Metrostars youngster Michael Bradley at Soccernet.
-Also at Soccernet, Ives Galarcep tries to boil down what might be learned at the upcoming USA domestic-players-only training camp.

Holiday News

Hey Hey
I am gone for a few days.
So Merry Christmas everyone.
See ya next week,
Bruce

Back In Stock News

-So the name will be Houston Republic Football Club! Excellent choice in my book! Taco Jones from BigSoccer got the scoop from a friend who is a bike messenger. The messenger walked into MLS HQ, saw the proofs of the shield on the wall and snapped some pics of it with his camera phone! Team colors are Gold & Light Blue, or is that Orange & Light Blue? My thanks goes out to the Turkish Zath for laying this on me.
-Former Utah head coach, and Salt Lake assistant coach Chris Angello has been named as new head coach for Portland.
-A goofball Q & A with Heath Pearce via US Soccer.
-A BBC video interview with Carlos Bocanegra of Fulham
-The voting for the FIFA World Player Of The Year is on line in an Excel spread sheet. Voting is done by the coach and captain of every country, so there are actually two files to open, one for the coaches and one for the captains votes. I think they make for fascinating reading. For example, a guy like Cafu, Brazils captain, would seem like a fairly smart in-tune guy. So let's see who he voted for: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Zinedine Zidane 3. Paolo Maldini. Huh? What kinda list is that? Two voters actually got the voting exactly correct: Coach Pawel Janas of Poland & Coach Richard Paez of Venezuela. I think they won the door prize of a donkey for guessing the right players in order, but there was only one donkey, so they had it butchered and then split it. Like I said, fun reading.
-Soccer 365 is sporting a Q & A with Quavas Kirk of LA.
-The San Jose Mercury News has two more stories today about the future of soccer in their town. One - and - Two.
-In the English Carling Cup last night:
Doncaster 2-2 Arsenal - The Arse win 1-3 on PK's
Middlesbrough 0-1 Blackburn
And now the Semifinals will line up like this:
First Leg - Week of Jan 9
Wigan v Arsenal
Blackburn v Man Utd
Second Leg - Week of Jan 23
Arsenal v Wigan
Man Utd v Blackburn
-US Soccer has announced their "Best Of 2005" awards. Player awards will be announced later today.
-Real Madrid lost again last night in La Liga 1-2 to Racing Santander. They now sit in 5th place, 11 pts behind #1 Barca.
-Sporting Cristal has won the Peru championship.
-El Nacional has won the Ecuador championship.
-Metrostars coach Mo Johnston told Big Apple Soccer that forward ".... Sergio Galvan Rey won't be back."
-My pal Matthew hooked me up with this: Steven Wells of the Guardian lists his annual Swells Awardz 2005, including a win for a master-stroke chant done toward the England players by us USA fans in Chicago last spring. Fantastically funny.

Runny Nose Rudolph News

-US Soccer put out that list of players invited to train during January in prep for the World Cup. All but one player are from Major League Soccer. The list (alpha by position):
G:
Brad Guzan - Chivas USA
Kevin Hartman - Los Angeles
Matt Reis - New England
Jonny Walker - Columbus
D:
Chris Albright - Los Angeles
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City
Todd Dunivant - Los Angeles
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus
Ugo Ihemelu - Los Angeles
Chad Marshall - Columbus
Heath Pearce - Nordsjaelland
Eddie Pope - Salt Lake
M:
Freddy Adu - DC United
Brian Carroll - DC United
Ricardo Clark - Houston
Clint Dempsey - New England
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
Justin Mapp - Chicago
Kyle Martino - Columbus
Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado
Pat Noonan - New England
Ben Olsen - DC United
Santino Quaranta - DC United
Steve Ralston - New England
F:
Brian Ching - Houston
Nate Jaqua - Chicago
Eddie Johnson - Dallas
Chris Rolfe - Chicago
Taylor Twellman - New England
Josh Wolff - Kansas City
-Three questions for you, the reader, about the list above:
1 Any surprises on this list?
2 Who was left out?
3 And if you coached this team and had to play a game tomorrow, who would your starting 11 be? (see mine at the bottom of today's news)
-Word out of Warsaw says the USA will play Poland in Kaiserslautern Germany on March 1. This is the same stadium where the USA will play Italy in Match 25 of the group stage at the World Cup on June 17.
-Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune writes today about the Belgian Jean-Marc Bosman, who filed the lawsuit 10 years ago that eventually led to free agency for players in Europe. Sadly Bosman is penniless and living with his parents.
-Two from Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune today: Blatter sours Ronaldinho's gala (that dude Blatter could ruin anything) - and - Fans bewildered as agents run club (about London's Queens Park Rangers)
-Here's a rerun courtesy of my pal Nealinho. David Arvizu of the USA U-19 team scored a hammering scintillating mesmerizing bicycle kick goal against Dallas at the Nike Friendlies last month in Florida. Go to this page. Then click on the second photo, which is of Arvizu in midair, and a window will pop open for you to choose your video viewing choice. (It's at the very end of a 2 or 3 minute clip.) Take a look, marvel at the skill, and get a napkin to clean up the drool. The rumor is that Nike are offering him a bigger deal then they gave Adu.
-Enyimba won the Nigerian league championship.
-The Madbrit from the Soccer Times raves about, what else, the English Premier League. I like this writer and usually find him fun and entertaining, but this one is a little stale.
-Speaking of the EPL. Man Oh Man do they have a lot of games coming up: Full slate of matches on Dec 26, Dec 28, Dec 31 and Jan 2. Wow! Hope yer ready for some football!
-FIFA has a feature story on young Mexican goalkeeping sensation Guillermo Ochoa.
-Our mustachioed friend Frank Dell'apa writes about the new USA players contract for Soccernet.
-I missed previewing this yesterday but the Quarterfinals of Englands Carling Cup are yesterday and today. Scores from last night:
Wigan 2-0 Bolton
Birmingham 1-3 Man United
Todays matches:
Doncaster v Arsenal
Middlesbrough v Blackburn
I would assume there will be a Semifinal draw after today's games. (I'm thinking tomorrow most likely.) Does anyone care?
-Jarrett from TriSoccerFan left a comment yesterday saying he figures the MLS All-Star opponent to be Barcelona instead of my guess Chelsea. He and I have bet $1000 (chump change to rich dudes like us) to see who is right. My charity is the Mens Recovery Project, and his is the United Auto Workers Union. If we are both wrong then we each donate the $1000 to George W Bush's reelection campaign.
-At midday tomorrow US Soccer will announce their winners of the annual Soccer Athletes of the Year awards. 4 awards are given out: top Male & Female, and top Young Male & Young Female.
-Feature story on KC's Kerry Zavagnin at the US National Soccer Players Assoc site.
-PSV won easily last night to advance into the Quarterfinals of the Netherlands national cup race, the Gatorade Cup, beating Twente 3-0. DaMarcus Beasley started and was singled out for his great performance on the PSV website.
-Of the 18 teams in the German Bundesliga, 8 have fired their manager during this season already. Isn't that a bit extreme?
-There sure hasn't been much publicity about the Match Against Poverty, to be played Thursday night in Dusseldorf Germany, and run by the United Nations. The team captains are Zidane and Ronaldo. There is a huge list of star players on hand, and if you can believe this: Freddy Adu!
-Big Apple Soccer is reporting that former Metrostars midfielder Chris Corcoran has signed with Limavady United in the Northern Irish Premier League.
-A note from US Soccer called Soccer Shocker: German interior designer, Matthias Blume, is trying to turn FIFA's trash into his treasure by selling the 32 scraps of paper with the names of the World Cup finalists. Blume found a bag with the scraps of paper in the trash as he was helping to dismantle the stage used by FIFA for the Final Draw. As of Monday, bidding for Brazil was at 162 Euros, while Italy was at 103 Euros and USA was at 102 Euros.
- - - - - - - -
If I was USA coach, my team would line up in the 4-4-2 Brazilian style formation (4 backs with outside backs pushing all the way up and down, two d-mids, two a-mids, and two forwards. The a-mids and forwards would be almost interchangeable) like this:
Matt Reis
Chris Albright - Chad Marshall - Eddie Pope - Todd Dunivant
Clint Dempsey - Pablo Mastroeni
Landon Donovan - Freddy Adu
Eddie Johnson - Taylor Twellman

The Smell Of Wood Roasted News

-Brazil & Barcelona superstar Ronaldinho was named FIFA World Player of the Year yesterday for the 2nd year in a row. Second place (and way way back in the voting) was Frank Lampard of Chelsea. Third was Ronaldinho's Barca teammate Samuel Eto'o.
-The Copa Sudamericana Final was Sunday, and was won by Boca Juniors who beat UNAM Pumas 4-3 on PK's after the match finished 1-1. I watched it last night on Fox Soccer Channel, and the match lived up to the hype of a Gran Finale. Here are some of my astute observations: Boca, being the home team, totally dominated the match at a packed and very loud Bombonera Stadium in Buenos Aires. Maradona spent most of the match leaping up and down like a little kid on too much sugar. Boca had a player named Palacio who was sporting a nasty "rat-tail" in the back of his hair. Pumas had a defender, Botero, who looked like the young Mexican cousin of Joey Ramone. He was also sporting a very large black head band decorated with a skull and crossbones! I kid you not! Boca got their goal in the first half by Palermo who beautifully volleyed home a free kick. Pumas scored early in the second half on a penalty kick by Marioni. For me the craziest part of the game featured the Boca keeper Abbondanzieri aka Pato. Midway thru the second half as Pumas came flying down the field on a counter attack, he came charging about 10 yards out of his box, went to ground, and grabbed the ball from the attackers feet, then his momentum took him into the player who got wiped out in the action. To my shock Pato only got a yellow for his very blatant move. I thought he deserved red, but not today I guess. On the other hand, I am no referee, luckily, and this very well may be yellow. Probably is yellow, seeing as the ref made that call and the Pumas players did not have a melt down over it. The game went to PK's where once again I thought Pato clearly violated the rules as twice he came a yard of two off his line before the opponent had struck the ball. I think the rule says the keeper can move up and down the goal line, but not out toward the taker. The Pumas keeper also made a great save, but did it legally. Both teams then made a couple, Boca hit a cross bar, and Pumas hit a post to set up the 6th and final penalty kick of the match, which naturally was taken by Pato, who slammed it home to become the hero!!
-Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated makes the argument that Copa Sudamericana is better than Copa Libertadores: Southern exposure - The Sudamericana is becoming the better tournament
-And Ricardo Seyton (also from SI) looks at the two teams in the final of the Club World Championship won by Sao Paulo on Sunday: For the love of the game
-Milan has announced their long rumored plan to build their own stadium, and discontinue the tradition of sharing the Guisseppe Miazza Stadium, aka San Siro, with city rivals Inter.
-From Soccer America: Bakersfield Brigade of the PDL's Southwest Division has hired Eric Wynalda as technical director of player development.
-Yanks Abroad is reporting that Kasey Keller has signed a new 1 year contract (for next season) with Monchengladbach.
-I watched the Lazio v Juve match Saturday and did not see Paolo Di Canio give his Hitler Power Salute, but I guess he did it again, and has now been given a 1 game suspension. Wow, what a punishment. Maybe next they’ll take away his front row parking privileges, or deny him his travel per diem. Oh right, I almost forgot, it’s a Roman salute. And what was sweet sweet Paolo's reaction to being suspended: "I am appalled." Sorry dude, didn't mean to hurt your feelings.
-Simon Elliot of Columbus is all set to join Fulham on a free transfer when the window opens in January. A New Zealand paper that first reported this story feels that Elliot will be a replacement for the team’s star midfielder Papa Boupa Diop who will be sold for big bucks in the transfer window. And in my opinion, if they think Elliot is an even replacement for Diop then they are taking some of the finest drugs on the planet.
-More news on Fulham from Sky Sports: Carlos Bocanegra is rumored to be on the cusp of pledging his future to Fulham. The American full back has proved a consistent figure since arriving from Chicago Fire and reports suggest he will soon sign a new deal.
-US Soccer Federation and the US National Team Players Association have finalized their new labor contract. A statement is found here.
-This site, South Texas Soccer, has some images of Robertson Stadium where Houston will be playing. Good lookin place. Unfortunately there is a rumor that they are going to replace the grass with fake turf. Boooooooooooooooo! Who is the moron who thinks this is a good idea?
-Chicago's new stadium in Bridgeview will be chosen as the site of next summers annual MLS All-Star Game. It has been reported that the league All-Stars will again play a big English team, with the name being suggested as Chelsea. Would be huge!
-Spanish daily newspaper ABC says Ronaldo wants out of Real Madrid. Ah, tabloids.
-Deportivo Cali won the Colombian championship for the eighth time on Sunday.
-Tonight, Wednesday and Thursday the Spanish La Liga teams will play their last games of the year. The next round will take place on Sunday Jan 8. Happy New Year to all the players and their teams, from the entire staff here at Du Nord.
-Fox Sports says Tim Howard wants his job back at Man Utd.
-Something I forgot to mention yesterday.....On Friday night Lyon lost their first Ligue Un match of the season, at home no less, to Lille 1-3. They got smoked. Hmmmm.
-We should be seeing the list of players being called in to the January 06 USA training camp sometime this afternoon.
-Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe talks to MLS Rookie Of The Year, New England defender, Michael Parkhurst about his offseason.

Grad School Or Law School News

-The Mexican Apertura Campeon 2005 was named last night. And shockingly it was Toluca. After a 3-3 draw in the first leg on Thursday, Monterrey seemed to have the upper hand with the second leg being at home. Only 14 minutes in, Monterrey lost a player to a straight red card. Half time saw 0-0. But Toluca scored early in the 2nd half to crank up the pressure. Monterrey clawed for another 30 minutes, but lost a 2nd player to 2 yellows in the 82nd minute. Toluca cruised at that point and put two away in stoppage time for the huge victory. To me it seemed a bit like Monterrey thought the title was theirs. Several players showed up with dyed blond hair, and even the stupid coach had blue streaks on one side of his head and orange on the other. Fools. Hooray Beer for Toluca.
-Big Euro matches this weekend:
Lazio 1-1 Juventus - The Old Lady could not get past the Hitler Youth, and with Inter winning 4-0 over Reginna, the lead dropped to 8 points for Juve. Are Juve still the best team in the World? Or is it Barca?
Werder Bremen 1-1 Hamburg - meaning the #2 & #3 teams fell another 2 points behind #1 Bayern who beat Dortmund 1-2.
Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea - Chelsea goes to Highbury and wins fairly easily. Their defense is amazing.
Real Madrid 1-1 Osasuna - Going to Madrid and drawing was a great boost for Osasuna who stay at #2 and gain some more confidence.
Rangers 1-0 Hearts - The Protestants are not done yet, but hardly have a real chance of catching Celtic.
-Let's see how the top Americans did in Europe this weekend:
McBride & Bocanegra at Fulham: Beat Blackburn 2-1 with McBride going all the way, but Boca out injured - don't know anything more about that, but I will find out.
Friedel at Blackburn: Lost to McBride and Fulham 1-2.
Keller at Monchengladbach: Beat Eintracht 4-3. I hope they sign some defenders in the January window cuz Keller is getting pummeled.
Reyna at Man City: Stomped a mud hole in Birmingham 4-0, with Reyna playing his usual steady positive role.
Convey & Hahnemann at Reading: Won 0-2 at Millwall to extend their Championship Division lead to 6 points. Both guys played the match start to finish.
Lewis at Leeds: Lost 0-1 to Wolverhampton. Eddie played the whole match as usual.
Beasley at PSV: Run DMB returned in the 76th minute after his hamstring injury. PSV won 4-1.
Onyewu at Standard: Won 0-2 at Lierse. Lead the Belgian league at the mid-season break.
Cherundolo at Hannover: His team played to 0-0 draw with Leverkusen, but Stevie did not play due to a calf injury suffered last week.
Berhalter at Cottbus: Beat 1860 3-2, but he did not play due to personal reasons for which he flew back to the USA to attend to.
Spector: Came on in the 69th minute of a 0-3 Charlton loss to Wigan.
Others: Gibbs, Casey and O'Brien still out long term with injuries.
-I am not going to print the score of the Copa Sudamericana second leg Final between Boca Juniors & UNAM Pumas from yesterday cuz you can see it a day late on Fox Soccer Channel - Mon Dec 19 7PM Central. More tomorrow.
-The Club World Championship was settled on Sunday with Sao Paulo doing exactly what they said they would and beat Liverpool 1-0. Liverpool dominated every aspect of the game except "ball in net". Nothing else matters. Check this out - Cornerkicks: Liverpool 17, Sao Paulo 0! Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune covers the match.
-Houston is going to start their life playing games are Robertson Stadium.
-Houston has named Oliver Luck as the president of the team. He has been one of the driving forces from Houston in attracting the team.
-Andrea Canales at Soccernet says that many San Jose players are none to pleased with the move to Houston.
-Lewis Wolff and his billionaire buddies who bought the Oakland A's baseball team back in April as said to be interested in a Bay Area MLS team. Stay tuned.
-Somehow AEG keeps sticking its leg further and further into its own mouth concerning San Jose.
-According to Not-Doug Logan there is already a name and logo ready to go for the New Houston team: "While there is going to be voting for the name, MLS/AEG has the artwork and logo all ready to go..."
-Meanwhile in Kansas City, the big push has to be on building a stadium. Pronto!
-Phil Ball examines La Liga at the winter break: Winter kings and jesters
-Simon Kuper writes about 3 German players who are going to come out of the closet: Gay players set to break team taboo
-Got an email from an MLS insider regarding Doug Hamilton. The person asked that I not use their name, so I guess I can honor that: I was at the L.A. Galaxy victory party at MLS Cup weekend and when they were handing out the medals to the Galaxy players, Tim Leiweke announced that Doug Hamilton had been promoted to CEO of AEG Soccer. It's my understanding that he will still remain as President and G.M. of Los Angeles and his new duties will include the oversight of all of the AEG teams.
-Youri Djorkaeff has signed another 1 year deal to play for Metrostars again next season. I think that's great.
-A feature on Liverpool's American defender Zak Whitbread (currently on load to Millwall) from Yanks Abroad.
-US Nation Soccer Players Assoc website has a Q & A with Pat Noonan of New England.
-And a short Q & A with LA's Todd Dunivent from the same site.
-On Friday we had our first visitor to the site from the nation of Brunei. Welcome.
-A note from BQ: I know I don't have to convince you but there seems to be a lot of numpty's out there who think we are going to sweep right by Ghana. I saw this article in Soccernet and thought I would pass it on. I have listed here some of the club teams represented by Ghana players. It's actually quite impressive and probably more impressive than the teams that the U.S. players represent. I am not saying we cannot beat them because if we play our game we probably should beat them. But these are very good players and a pretty good team.
Borussia Dortmund, Germany
Modena, Italy
Udinese, Italy
Chelsea, England
Red Star Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Fenerbache, Turkey
Cremonese, Italy
Roma, Italy

Giant Fat News

-ADDITION: Is this a scoop? While listening to the press conference in Houston announcing the new team I heard the MC introduce various dignitaries. The one that caught my attention was the introduction of Doug Hamilton as an AEG Executive, and former President of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Did we hear a bit of unannounced news here????? At :33 seconds of the conference you will hear: "Doug Hamilton - Chief Operating Officer of AEG Sports, & also last year was the President & General Manager of the LA Galaxy who won the MLS Cup...."
-Houston it is! The San Jose Earthquakes soccer team has officially moved to Houston TX. This is great for one city that really deserves a top flight team, but a complete disaster for another city that had and still deserves a top flight team. Something is just completely wrong with this whole deal. I hope none of the people involved believes in karma, cuz if they do, they better duck.
-The San Jose Mercury News has in-depth coverage of the wreckage from their end of the shaft.
-I think part of this situation is big drag on many levels. First being that San Jose, while not drawing the biggest crowds, has been pretty damn enthusiastic during the matches. Secondly, the rivalry that developed between them and LA was fantastic! Those games were so much fun to watch. And lastly, the fact that a new ownership group could not be found during all this time in SJ shows that MLS still does not have the cache to be a real major league sports enterprise yet.
-But it's about business too. And nothing could be done with the situation as it was to not continue losing millions of dollars every year in SJ.
-The good part is that people in Houston always go to see matches! Lots of people! Period. They also have some of the best daily newspaper soccer coverage already with 3 excellent writers: Glenn Davis, Bernardo Fallas, John Lopez & John Conway. Now they get a quality team to cover.
-One San Jose fan sent a fiery email to MLS Commissioner Don Garber, and actually got a reply. Read it here.
-The 2006 USL First Division schedule has been released. (Including my Minnesota Thunder.) Read it and shout for joy. Thanks to Primuscomics for the heads up.
-The draw was held this morning for the Champions League round of 16 (to be played Feb 21 & Mar 8). There are some fantastic mash-ups here:
Chelsea FC v FC Barcelona
Real Madrid CF v Arsenal FC
Werder Bremen v Juventus
FC Bayern Munchen v AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven v Olympique Lyonnais
AFC Ajax v FC Internazionale Milano
SL Benfica v Liverpool FC
Rangers FC v Villarreal CF
-Last night was the first leg of the Laguilla Final. And what an insane match it was. Toluca 3-3 Monterrey, which is great to see in a big match like that, but the score itself doesn't tell it all. Monterrey tore out to a 2-0 lead before the game was even 8 minutes old. But right on the stroke of half time Toluca rallied for a 2-2 tie. In the 63 minute Toluca scored an own goal to fall back behind. In the 88th minute though they had a the chance to even the score on a PK, but missed it. Only to score a minute later to tie the match at 3 apiece! Talk about drama. Which naturally takes us to the Grand Finale on Sunday with Monterrey holding the magical 3 away goals in their hand. The only way Monterrey can lose now is if they get beat or draw 4-4. See the match Sunday at 5pm on Univision.
-Big Euro matches this weekend:
Lazio v Juventus - The kings of (f or r)acist salutes v the best team in the world - see it at 1:30pm Saturday on Fox Soccer Channel
Werder Bremen v Hamburg - #3 v #2 & trying to keep up with #1 Bayern - see it Sunday at 10:30am central time on Fox Soccer Channel
Arsenal v Chelsea - who is tougher mentally, and will Man U get a chance to chase Chelsea?
Real Madrid v Osasuna - #3 v #2 with 6 points separating them
Rangers v Hearts - Hearts are trying to stay with Celtic at the top, while Rangers are gaining some momentum but are still 14 points back - can they pull off something amazing?
-The Copa Sudamericana second leg Final between Boca Juniors & UNAM Pumas is also set for Sunday from Buenos Aires. Leg one ended in a 1-1 draw. The game is only available live in the US on Fox Sports En Espanyol. But will be shown a day late on Fox Soccer Channel - Mon Dec 19 7PM Central
-Ricardo Seyton of Sports Illustrated previews Sunday's Club World Championship between Liverpool and Sao Paulo.
-Is it funny, cute, nice or weird: DC United keeper lil Nicki Rimando married his longtime sweetie lil Jacqui Little - who used to play pro soccer herself (for the defunct Washington Freedom). And who was it that conducted the ceremony for the lovely twosome? Of course DC United teammate, and professional Caveman impersonator Ben Olsen! Now that is the way to do it up right!
-UEFA Cup final day of group play. Here are the scores from last night:
Hamburg 2-0 Slavia
Monaco 2-1 CSKA Sofia
Palermo 3-0 Brondby
Espanyol 1-0 Maccabi Petach-Tikva
Lens 2-1 Sampdoria
Hertha 0-0 Steaua
Middlesbrough 2-0 Litex
AZ Alkmaar 1-0 Grasshoppers
At this point the top 3 teams from each group go thru to join the 8 3rd place teams from the Champions League in the 2-leg knock out stage matches.
So here are those 16 matches (to be played Feb 15-16 & 23):
1 PFC Litex Lovech v RC Strasbourg
2 VfB Stuttgart v Middlesbrough FC
3 SK Slavia Praha v US Citta di Palermo
4 SC Heerenveen v FC Steaua Bucuresti
5 FC Lokomotiv Moskva v Sevilla FC
6 Bolton Wanderers FC v Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
7 Hertha BSC Berlin v AFC Rapid Bucuresti
8 FC Basel 1893 v AS Monaco FC
9 Udinese Calcio v RC Lens
10 Rosenborg BK v FC Zenit St. Petersburg
11 Club Brugge KV v AS Roma
12 FC Schalke 04 v RCD Espanyol
13 LOSC Lille Metropole v FC Shakhtar Donetsk
14 FC Thun v Hamburger SV
15 Real Betis Balompie v AZ Alkmaar
16 FC Artmedia v PFC Levski Sofia
The round of 16 will then face off like this:
Winners of Match 7 v Winners of Match 14
Winners of Match 8 v Winners of Match 1
Winners of Match 2 v Winners of Match 11
Winners of Match 4 v Winners of Match 15
Winners of Match 3 v Winners of Match 12
Winners of Match 6 v Winners of Match 10
Winners of Match 9 v Winners of Match 16
Winners of Match 13 v Winners of Match 5

Don't Sign Up Here To Not Receive No News

-ADDITION: The San Jose Mercury News is now running a story which says the Earthquakes owners, AEG, have told team employees that the team is definitely moving to Houston, and it will be announced tomorrow in the new city.
-Matchnight is running with a breaking news story saying AEG will hold a press conference tomorrow and announce that San Jose is moving to Houston. (Let's hope something happens between now and then to stop this from taking place. San Jose deserves this team.)
-The local crew who have been working behind the scenes to find investors for the club, Soccer Silicon Valley, post this sad note on Big Soccer late last night.
-And Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says his town is ready to pounce.
-More on the San Jose saga from the Mercury News.
-The US Soccer Federation has officially announced the long-known-about match on Wednesday March 22 v Germany in Dortmund at the Westfalen Stadion.
-Soccer America shows (as of today) which players are in, and which are out from all 12 MLS team rosters.
-Mexico beat Hungary 2-0 last night in Phoenix. Francisco Fonseca & Joel Huiqui scored the two goals.
-More word on Mexico's pre-World Cup matches:
Norway - San Francisco - ? - Sun Jan 15
S Korea - Los Angeles - Home Depot Center - Wed Feb 15
Ghana - Dallas - Pizza Hut Park - Wed Mar 1
Paraguay - Chicago - Soldier Field - Wed Mar 29
TBA - Pasadena - Rose Bowl - Fri May 12
-Andrea Canales has a feature story at Soccernet on our hero, heavy metal fan, and USA Player Of The Year Kasey Keller.
-This bit of info caught me off guard: Salt Lake is ready to break ground on their stadium within 8 weeks.
-Last week I linked to a great story from Sports Illustrated about how the little team Gimnasia, that was leading the Argentinian league with only two games left to play, could win their first Championship since 1918 (or something absurd like that). Well, they didn't get it done. They drew their last two games while Boca Juniors won both of theirs and walked away as champs once again. Big surprise. Congrats to Boca!
-Our man Oguchi Onyewu returned to the starting 11 for his team Standard Liege after serving a 3 game suspension (reduced on appeal from 4) for receiving red cards in consecutive matches. Liege beat Anderlecht 2-0, which moves them back into first place in the Belgian top division.
-Our pal DJ Walker at 3rd Degree writes his letter to Santa Claus.
-In a couple of rare Wednesday night Premier League matches, Everton lost to West Ham 1-2, and Man Utd crushed Wigan 4-0.
-I think that this would be an ideal time to check back in on my Everton-Wigan Prediction. (At one time Wig were #2 in the table, while Ev were #19 - I made the prediction that Ev would finish the season above Wig.) After 16 rounds, Wigan are in 8th place with 25 points, while Everton are in 15th place with 17 points.
-Here's a crazy one for ya: The Tide newspaper of Port Harcourt, Nigeria is saying that 2 Nigerian Super Eagle star players are headed to DC United.
-A feature on Ezra Hendrickson of Chivas USA via the US National Players Assoc site. (I don't understand why this site is running this story though. He's not American! And this is the US National Team Players Association website.)
-Yesterday saw the first chunk of UEFA Cup Matchday 5 games (today seeing the rest of the games). This is the final round of the group stage games.
Wednesdays scores:
Roma 3-1 Basel
Strasbourg 2-2 Crvena Zvezda
Marseille 2-1 Dinamo Bucuresti
Heerenveen 2-1 Levski
Stuttgart 2-1 Rapid
PAOK 5-1 Rennes
Bolton 1-1 Sevilla
Guimaraes 1-3 Besiktas
Thursdays matches:
Hamburg v Slavia
Monaco v CSKA Sofia
Palermo v Brondby
Espanyol v M. Petach-Tikva
Lens v Sampdoria
Hertha v Steaua
Middlesbrough v Litex
AZ v Grasshoppers
Here are the group stage standings.
-News from PSV: DaMarcus Beasley MIGHT play this weekend. He has been out over a month now with a hamstring injury, but has been practicing again this week. Also, Lee Nyguen is in Eidehoven training with the team.
-Liverpool whipped Saprissa 3-0 at the Club World Championship in Japan. They will now face Sao Paulo on Sunday in the final. You can see the final live at 4am central time on Fox Soccer Channel, and reshown at 4pm.
-Tonite is the first leg of Laguilla. Toluca v Monterrey at 3pm central on TeleFutura, with the second leg to be played Sunday at 5pm on Univision.
-Roy Keane has signed with Celtic.
-Newspaper writer Steven Goff hosted another of his always informative on-line chats with soccer fans via the Washington Post for whom he follows DC United.
-Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America Mag talks to Clint Mathis about going to Colorado for USA Today.
-Soccer Times is reporting that Danny Califf will move directly into the starting line up for his new Danish team Aalborg.
-Gotta send a thumbs up to Wendy Parker at the Atlanta Constitution Journal. She has a really good web log called Off The Ball.

We've Never Had A Problem, Until Now, With The News

-An absolutely classic conspiracy story from the Italianos.
-Some great stuff on BigSoccer about Team USA from a Czech perspective. Excellent quotes by Petr Cech, their keeper, and Czech coach Werner Licka. Here is a gem from Cech: "Team USA plays pretty decent football. Last summer with Chelsea we toured the USA and played an exhibition match with DC United and it wasn't fun at all." Licka adds: "This is a disaster for us. They are very ambitious, very self-confident and what's more, they've actually learned how to play football."
-Kevin Payne, President of DC United, rolls up his sleeves and goes right to the neighborhoods to tell them why a new stadium would be good for them.
-Why did MLS use this ridiculous picture of Jeff Cunningham on their website when they announced that he was leaving Colorado to play for Salt Lake next year? Why? Why? Cuz we all needed a good laugh. And Jeff is today's punch line! Thanks to Zath for the heads up on that one.
-It didn't take Wanderlei Luxemburgo long to find a new job, or rather an old job again. Since being fired from Real Madrid last week he has returned to Brazil and will resume the helm at Santos who he led to the Brazilian championship last year before heading to Spain. Ok.
-DC United declined to pick up options on the contract of both Dema Kovalenko and Lucio Filomeno. The team will instead attempt to re-sign them to new contracts at lower salaries. The team did re-sign keeper Nicky Rimando and Ben Olsen, the teams resident caveman lawyer.
-A feature story on Kyle Martino from the US National Players Assoc site.
-Rumor has it that Mexico will play Ghana on March at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas.
-Today is UEFA Cup Matchday 5 - the final round of the group stage games:
Roma v Basel
Strasbourg v Crvena Zvezda
Marseille v Dinamo Bucuresti
Heerenveen v Levski
Stuttgart v Rapid
PAOK v Rennes
Bolton v Sevilla
Guimaraes v Besiktas
Thu Dec 15
Hamburg v Slavia
Monaco v CSKA Sofia
Palermo v Brondby
Espanyol v M. Petach-Tikva
Lens v Sampdoria
Hertha v Steaua
Middlesbrough v Litex
AZ v Grasshoppers
Here are the current group standings.
-Sports Illustrated has a feature story on Maryland's Jason Garey, who is up for the Hermann Award as NCAA Player of the Year.
-Sunil Gulati is one of the secret-behind-the-scenes major players in American soccer. His current job is President of the New England Revolution, but the rumor going round has him in line to become the new President of the US Soccer Federation (he is currently executive vice president). Soccer America magazine has an interview with him.
-The third annual Carolina Challenge Cup is all set for March 18 – 25, at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston South Carolina featuring host team Charleston from the First Division. The other 3 teams will all be from MLS: DC United, San Jose (the current Cup holders) & Metrostars.
-Long time soccer writer Robert Wagman, who currently writes for Soccer Times, has just returned from the World Cup draw in Leipzig Germany and asks the question that we all think about: Can FIFA afford to put 2010 finals in South Africa?
-The San Jose Mercury News continues to cover the San Jose Earthquakes Soccer Team yo-yo.
-Two stories from the Kansas City Star on the future of the local team. One - and - Two.
-Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon will be out 2-4 more weeks after injuring a toe at practice. He has already missed this entire season suffering from shoulder ligament damage.
-There are also rumors that Real Madrid is looking to snap him up, which I don't understand at all when they have someone as good as Iker Casillas in the net already.
-Sao Paulo beat Al Ittihad 3-2 today to reach the final of the Club World Championship in Japan. Liverpool plays Saprissa tomorrow in the other semi-final. The final will be played on Sunday in Yokohama.
-Dallas is still struggling to hold on to forward Carlos Ruiz, and it's not looking like that process is going to get any easier.

The Jesus Christ Superstar Of News

-ADDITION: As Maradawga predicted in the Comments section, the major announcement that needed a press conference in Kansas City was a big of a boon doggle. The real announcement was that the team is still for sale, with mulitple offers pending, but will not be sold in the very near future. So tickets will go on sale immediately for another season under the Hunt Sports Group ownership, and they will play at Arrowhead again. In other words: SOS. That's about it. Sadly.
-Rob Hughes writes about the founder of PSV Eindhoven, Frits Philips who passed away last week: A light goes out in heart of game (That's a pun, see, cuz the Philips company makes light bulbs among other things.)
-From the Houston Chronicle's Bernardo Fallas comes a preview of this weeks Mexican Laguilla Finals between Monterrey & Toluca.
-Also from the Chron is Glenn Davis's version of the story of the fall of Man U, and the papers Week In Review.
-Paulo Di'Canio plays for one of the most racist clubs in the world, Lazio. As he walks off the field he gives the supporters a Nazi salute. They give it back. They also bring large swastikas to the matches. What is wrong with these idiots? Now FIFA is going to go after Di'Canio, and this is his response: "I saluted my people with what for me is a sign of belonging to a group that holds true values, values of civility against the standardisation that this society imposes upon us. I'm proud to be able to count on such people and I will continue to salute them in this way. I expect a robust defence from my club and this time I'm not going to settle for anything less. I expect my president to defend me, just like presidents do in other clubs, otherwise I'm going to be really pissed off."
-Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald reports on all kinds of potential crazy wheelings and dealings rumored to be going around MLS.
-College soccer's adaptation of the Player of the Year Award, the Hermann Trophy, will be handed out Jan 6 in St Louis by the Missouri Athletic Club. The 3 finalists for the award are Maryland's Jason Garey, Indiana's Brian Plotkin and New Mexico's Jeff Rowland. My guess says it goes to Garey.
-Phil Ball of Soccernet teaches us about a team that most of the world has forgotten, Real Betis: Death of a President?
-Les Ferdinand was awarded as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in London today. During his career he played for Queens Park Rangers, Brentford, Besiktas, Newcastle, Tottenham, West Ham, Leicester, Bolton and finishing last spring with Reading. But now he is back as player-coach with Watford.
-The guy who started the most prestigious youth soccer tournament in America, the Dallas Cup, finds himself in a nasty situation these days all stemming from a 1981 conviction for sexually molesting a 14 year old. Seeing as he is a British citizen, the USA is now trying to deport him. The Dallas Morning News has an indepth look at the story.
-Portmore United of Jamaica became the 7th team (of 8) to qualify for next years CONCACAF Champions Cup. They drew Club America in the first round. Portmore beat the excellently named SV Robinhood of Surinam 5-2 on aggregate to win the Caribbean Football Union and qualification. The last of the 8 spots will be filled by the winner of the current Mexican Laguilla, Monterrey or Toluca. Here's a full bracket for the tournament.
-Here are the leaders of the top leagues around Europe:
La Liga
Barcelona 34
Osasuna 34
Real Madrid 28
Villareal 26
Bundesliga
Bayern 41
Hamburg 37
Werder 35
Schalke 31
Premier League
Chelsea 43
Liverpool 31
Manchester United 31
Tottenham 30
Serie A
Juventus 42
Inter 32
Fiorentina 32
Milan 31
Eredivisie
AZ Alkmaar 35
Feyenoord 35
PSV 35
Nijmegen 27
Ligue Un
Lyon 44
Auxerre 32
Bordeaux 31
PSG 30

I Spent Way Too Much Time Today Faxing To Try And Get World Cup Tickets & News

-Well well, Clint Mathis is a gone from Salt Lake. Just like that. So much for coming back to the US to play for John Ellinger. And he goes to Colorado of all places, who then ship their problem child Jeff Cunningham north to Salt Lake City. Very interesting!
-People sure are hung up on the whole "USA In The Group Of Death" thing aren't they. I disagree, and over the next six months will explain why I think that. The USA can (and must) win this group.
-USA coach Mr Bruce Arena had comments after the draw. And so did some USA players.
-With PSV losing 0-1 to Feyenoord this weekend, the Dutch Eredivisie is jammed in a 3 way tie at the top, with PSV, Feye and AZ Alkmaar all with 35 points. Neither American, DaMarcus Beasley or Cory Gibbs played in the big match due to injuries.
-The finals of the Mexican Laguilla are all set after this weekends second leg matches. Scores & upcoming schedule:
Monterrey 2-1 UANL Tigres (3-1 aggregate)
Toluca 2-1 Pachuca (2-1 aggregate)
So the final series will be
Thursday in Toluca at Nemesio Diez Stadium - see the match at 3pm on TeleFutura
Sunday in Monterrey at Tecnologico Stadium - see the match at 5pm on Univision
-Simon Kuper writes on the Brazilian luck: Beauty and the best for Brazil
-The NCAA national championship was Sunday afternoon down in North Carolina, and Maryland won 1-0 over New Mexico making them champs! Congrats to the Terps. Their forward Marc Burch played a great game and scored the only goal.
-In the biggest Euro game this weekend, Inter beat Milan 3-2 in the derby della Madonnina, moving Inter to 2nd place in Serie A, but still 10 points behind leader Juventus.
-The eight 3rd place Group Stage finishers from the Champions League did not advance to the knock out stages, but they will be put into the knock out stages of the lesser UEFA Cup. Those eight are:
Club Brugge
Udinese
Schalke
Betis
Thun
Lille
Rosenbourg
Artmedia
-Reading opened their lead in the Championship Division to 4 points over Sheffield United with a 5-1 polishing of Brighton. Convey & Hahnemann played the full 90 for Reading, but Hahnemann gave up a goal! What is this world coming to?
-Things are not looking good in San Jose for fans of their great team. City and team officials are not getting it done. Here are two stories on the disaster. One - and - two.
-On the other hand, there looks to be some great news coming in from Kansas City, with a press conference scheduled for mid-day Tuesday. The part that makes everyone think it's good news is the fact that they have invited season ticket holders to the event. They did not do that last year when the team was put up for sale. So expect to hear about a new owner for the team, and plans to build a stadium.

USA Gets Brutal Draw

Here is the full World Cup draw. Our boys from Team USA have got a rough path ahead in the group stage, they are in Group E, but I believe they can win all 3. They play:

Czech Republic - June 12 in Gelsenkirchen
Italy - June 17 in Kaiserslautern
Ghana - June 22 in Nuremberg

There is one other group that I think is even stronger, and that's group C, with Argentina, Netherlands, Serbia & Montenegro and Cote d'Voire.

It Leaked Out Of My Eye Like News

-The Jerusalem Post, yes, from Israel, has a feature story on my guy, Dedi Ben-Dayan! Go Dedi Go!
-During a panel discussion with other sports league commissioners on young players, MLS Head Honcho Don Garber made this statement: There's a young player now that's 16 years old that's in our training program in Bradenton that's being offered more money than Freddy Adu is being paid by Nike to sign with them.
I wonder who this is. Should be interesting to find out. Others have speculated that it is David Arvizu that Garber is talking about. (We had the link on him the other day executing a spectacular bicycle kick. You will have to search for that one.)
-Laguilla score last night, from the second semifinal first leg: Pachuca 0-0 Toluca, leaving it still even and everything up for grabs on Sunday.
And those second leg matches are this weekend
Sat
Monterrey v UANL Tigres
Sun
Toluca v Pachuca
-A video tribute to George Best. RIP my man. Thanks to Jimmy B for the hot tip on this one.
-NCAA national championship semis & finals are today and Sunday. Soccer America has a small preview of the 4 teams. Here are the matches:
Semifinals:
Friday
Maryland vs SMU
3PM Central - ESPN2
and
Saturday
New Mexico vs Clemson
10PM Central - ESPN2
Final:
Sunday
1PM Central - ESPN2
-3 Big Games In Europe This Weekend:
Hamburg v Hertha Berlin
Inter v Milan
Feyenoord v PSV
St-Etienne v Lyon
Lens v Lille
-USA Coach Arena with more thoughts on todays World Cup draw via USA Today.
-Sports Illustrated brings us the story of Gimnasia La Plata who are one win away from the Argentinian League title. They have not won a title in 118 years!!! Can they do it?
-Michael Lewis scores an interview with former Metrostar flop Lothar Mattheus for MLSnet.
-Olympic soccer recently has been comprised of national U-23 teams, with 3 exemptions given per team for players over that age. But (thankfully) FIFA has decided this is stupid and will now go with U-23 only! Excellent.
-Soccernet has a report on Eddie Johnson's injury recovery process.
-Dave Sarachan signed a new contract yesterday to continue on as coach of the Chicago Fire.
-I want to state for the record that I think Claudio Reyna is the best soccer player ever from the USA.
-Wanderlei Luxemburgo makes his first statement since being fired by Real Madrid via Eurosport.
-A hearty hola to all our foreign visitors over the past 24 hours from:
Mont-Royal, Canada
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Adana, Turkey
Mardid, Spain
Smithfield, Australia
Vienna, Austria
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Antrim, Northern Ireland
and
Garza Garca, Mexico
-ADDITION: Danny Califf has left San Jose and will sign with Aalborg of Denmark when the transfer window opens in January. The report is from Yanks Abroad. You can read some more details here.

My Teeth Are Grinding For News

-OUT! There is really only one shocking team knocked out of the Champions League in the group stage, and it just so happens to be Manchester United. Three others who had potential are out, but no one is surprised about Schalke, Lille or Porto not going through. But Man U. The old Red Nosed Devils. Out I Say! Get out! And take your Tampa Bay Combover with you! The Portugueses of Benfica are the Benefactors of Man U's disgrace.
The scores from Wednesday:
Club Brugge 1-1 Bayern
Rapid 1-3 Juventus
Arsenal 0-0 Ajax
Sparta 0-0 Thun
Bremen 5-1 Panathinaikos
Udinese 0-2 Barcelona
Benfica 2-1 Man Utd
Villarreal 1-0 Lille
And here now are the 16 who have progressed on to the home and away knock out stages:
Juventus
Bayern Munchen
Arsenal
Ajax
Barcelona
Bremen
Villareal
Benfica
Milan
PSV
Lyon
Real Madrid
Liverpool
Chelsea
Internazionale
Rangers
The draw for those 8 matches will be held on Fri Dec 16. Here are the rules for that draw.
-BDS sent in a fantastic photo of Man U's Cristiano Ronaldo flipping the bird to the Benfica fans when he was subbed out during his teams loss. It's funny when a guy with hair that bad is angry with fans who give him schtick. He should be mad at the hairdresser who gets all his money, and makes him look like such an idiot.
-Yanks Abroad have a feature on Eddie Lewis.
-Laguilla semifinal first leg last night saw UANL Tigres beat Monterrey 1-0 on a goal by Peralta. This is a mild upset, but seeing as Monterrey have the final leg at home, you would expect them to take care of business then. Tonight is the other first leg semi with Pachuca taking on Toluca.
-Another veteran is gone from MLS - Jeff Agoos has retired after 10 years in the league. For a guy who most fans picked on insistently he had one hell of a career: 9 All-Star appearances, 5 MLS Cups, a member of the MLS All Time Best XI, & an astounding 134 USA caps. Adios you crabby bastard. We will miss you. So now who do we kick? Lord Zathras sent me this link to an Agoos story from Metrofanatic.
-Steven Goff of the Washington Post chatted on line Tuesday with soccer fans. Here is the transcript.
-Jurgen Klinsman feature story by Kelly Whiteside in the USA Today.
-Marcus Hahnemann answers some question at the US Nation Soccer Players Assoc site.
-Cobi Jones will represent CONCACAF players at the World Cup draw on Friday in Germany. Other players include Pele, Johan Cruyff, Lothar Matthaeus, Roger Milla, Lukas Radebe, Masashi Nakayama & Christian Karembeu.
-Rochester's leading scorer and team MVP last year, Kirk Wilson, has left the team to sign with Montreal.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune ponders about the future of Manchester United: United's fall hints at shake-up for Europe's elite
-Some more MLS home season opening matches have been announced:
Chivas USA v Real Salt Lake Sun Apr 2
MetroStars v New England Sat Apr 8
DC United v MetroStars Sun Apr 2
Columbus v Chicago Sat Apr 15
Los Angeles v New England Sat Apr 1
-Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer checks in from Leipzig Germany and the World Cup draw.
-Now that Harry Wobbles Redknapp is officially back at Portsmouth, I thought it might be appropriate to have a comment from a chap who grew up half way between Southampton and Portsmouth for a look at the hostility between the two. Take it away Churchly:
I feel you need to underline the treachery and weirdness of this redknapp thing.
Let me list some examples of this weird and strange business of Pompey vs. Southampton that happy 'arry has got into
I went to see QPR vs. Pompey a few years ago at QPR's ground in west London.
about five minutes into the game half of the Pompey stand stood up and sang to the tune of Pet Shop Boys song Go West:
stand up if you hate the scum
stand up if you hate the scum
stand up if you hate the scum
stand up
sung w/ hand on heart..
scum or scummers is what Pompey fans call Southampton fans.
they followed that song w/ the following
one man went to kill
one man went to kill a scummer
one man and his dog
went to kill the scum
I was on a train once that travelled from Pompey to Southampton a distance of only 20 to 30 miles and in the toilets on all trains is the sign do not flush when stationary or in a station and someone had written next to it 'unless in Scumhampton'
So what Harry is up to is very stupid and quite dangerous - when they play each other again it is gonna be ugly. these people are insane - whenever they play each other ALL police leave in the whole Hampshire is cancelled.
I knew the guy from Pompey and he told me how he picked up a beautiful girl at a club but then terminated the relationship because she had a Southampton post code and he said she was wonderful and so good looking but she lived the scum side of Hampshire so she got dumped....

Hedwig & The Angry News

-Here is some great reading material from Australia, regarding their World Cup team. The boys are OUTRAGED that USA coach Bruce Arena has labeled them as one of the two weakest teams in the World Cup. All Arena said (a few days ago) was that this World Cup would be even tougher than the last one, because the last one had really weak teams (China & Saudi Arabia), where in this one, the weakest teams are quite good (Australia & Trinidad and Tobago). (That's his opinion,not mine, but that's for another day.) So, being the idjits that they are, they took it as a slap in the face. All I can muster up is: Go Aussies Go. Go Nuts Go. Hooray Beer.
-Here are Arena's comments made yesterday after the first 8 seeds were announced. (You can listen to his comments on that page as well.)
-The Copa Sudamericana Final first leg was played last night in Mexico City, and the teams drew. Pumas UNAM 1-1 Boca Juniors. This obviously gives a huge advantage to Boca, having the away goal, and then the home crowd for the next game. The second leg is Dec 18 in Buenos Aries.
-Steven Goff of the Washington Post reports that DC United and Freddy Adu have worked out their differences and are ready for spring 06.
-12 months ago Mr Harry Redknapp (the King of Shakey Jowls) left his team Portsmouth in the lurch to take over Southampton. He did so with a lot of controversy and poor timing (it was mid-season). Alas he did not save Southampton from the gallows of relegation, and they currently reside in the Championship Division, one level below the top. His old team made the cut last year with out him, but now find themselves battling to keep their heads above water near the bottom of the table. So not too surprisingly Portsmouth are looking to make a drastic change, and who do you think they turn to. The Jiggly One of course. Yes Dirty Harry is at it again, this time reversing field 180 degrees and heading straight back to Portsmouth. What a weird dude. Good luck to him and his, but wouldn't it be funny to see him take both teams down!!
-Champions League match scores from last night:
PSV 2-0 Fenerbahce
Milan 3-2 Schalke
Olympiacos 2-1 Real Madrid
Lyon 2-1 Rosenborg
Betis 0-1 Anderlecht
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
Artmedia 0-0 Porto
Rangers 1-1 Internazionale
Which means Milan, PSV, Liverpool, Chelsea, Lyon, Real Madrid, Inter & Rangers are thru to the knockouts! The last 3 will be known later today!
And those games are:
Club Brugge - Bayern
Rapid - Juventus
Arsenal - Ajax
Sparta - Thun
Bremen - Panathinaikos
Udinese - Barcelona
Benfica - Man United
Villarreal - Lille
-Tigres and Monterrey face off tonite in the first leg semifinal of the Mexican Laguilla. Leg 2 is Saturday in Monterrey. In the other semi tomorrow it's Pachuca v Toluca, with the reverse on Sunday to see who goes to the finale.
-Two from Rob Hughes. One on Rangers coach Alex McLeish and the other on the sadly pathetic Gazza story: Gascoigne totters in Best's footsteps - and - In Glasgow, victory may be coach's last
-Houston Chronicle's Week In Review

Johnny Winter Is To Blues Guitar What This Web Log Is To News

-The all new Jimmy Conrad column. Brilliant as you would expect.
-The FIFA Top 8 World Cup 2006 Seeds:
1 Brazil
2 England
3 Spain
4 Germany
5 Mexico
6 France
7 Argentina
8 Italy
USA was seeded 9th, and now knows it will face one of these teams in the opening group stage.
-Soccer web log It's Up For Grabs Now conducted a poll of fellow soccer web log writers to determine our own World Player of the Year. See the not so surprising results here. (I'm pretty sure the winner was a unanimous decision.)
-An extensive look at Clint Dempsey via Yanks Abroad.
-Also from Yanks Abroad we get word that lil Stevie Cherundolo has a torn calf muscle and will be out for an indefinite amount of time. Damn.
-You really need to go to this page at US Soccer, and watch the video clip entitled "Thursday's Action and David Arvizu's Bicycle Kick" (hell, watch all the clips on that page, it's great stuff). You must watch all the way until the end of this clip to see an amazing goal from young USA player David Arvizu.
-MetroStars have signed goalkeeper Jon Conway from San Jose.
-Here it is - UEFA Champions League Matchday 6 - the final round of the group stage:
I=In
O=Out
Tuesday
Group E - 2 needed - 3 still in
Milan v Schalke
PSV v OFenerbahce
Group F - set
ILyon v ORosenborg
OOlympiacos v IReal Madrid
Group G - set
IChelsea v ILiverpool
OBetis v OAnderlecht
Group H - 1 needed - 3 still in
Rangers v IInter
Artmedia v Porto
Wednesday
Group A - set
OClub Brugge v IBayern
ORapid v IJuventus
Group B - set
IArsenal v IAjax
OSparta v OThun
Group C - 1 needed - 2 still in
Bremen v OPanathinaikos
Udinese v IBarcelona
Group D - 2 needed - 4 still in
Benfica v Man United
Villarreal v Lille
-In Grant Wahl's interview with USA coach Bruce Arena last week ( read it here in case you missed it), this approx sched was laid out for the World Cup build up:
Jan 22 Canada in San Diego
Jan 29 Norway in Carson CA
Feb 10 Japan in San Francisco
Feb 19 TBA CONCACAF team in Frisco, TX
Mar 1 TBA European team in Europe
Mar 22 v Germany in Dortmund
Mid-April TBA in USA
May TBA three games in USA
-John O'Brien is back in LA at the specialized training facility run out of the Home Depot Center (where he spent all of last spring) to try and revive is oft injured body. It seemed to work for a short time last year, but by summers end he was right back to the whirlpool.
-39 year old Romario has won another Brazilian League scoring title. Pretty amazing at that age. He scored 22 on the season for Vasco Da Gama.
-The top 3 New York Metropolitan Area newspaper soccer writers all had columns today on the Beautiful Game. Jack Bell from New York Times, Ives Galarcep from North Jersery Herald, and Frank Giase from Newark Star Ledger. Read em & learn punk.
-The 2006 MLS season is set to open on Saturday April 1 with a match at the Home Depot Center featuring a rematch from MLS Cup 05, LA v New England.
-Did you catch the interview with Paul Gascoigne on Sky Sport News last night. It was quite sad. He had just been fired as coach at lower division team Kettering, and was clearly nuts. He called himself a genius and tried to act like his drinking is no big deal. He said he is sober, only to admit having a "double brandy" right before the last game, and then vehemently insist that this was no problem for him. I grew up around some alcoholics who all died before the age of 40 and he looks like he is clearly on his way to that same success. The man is so far gone he can barely speak, constantly repeating himself, and emphasizing his points to extreme proportions. Not good. The reason given for his firing (he didn't last 6 weeks as coach) was that he had been "under the influence of alcohol before, during and after several first-team games and training sessions". The owners also sited 37 incidents of misconduct by Gascoigne. To top it all off, on Monday night Gascoigne was arrested for punching a photographer outside a Liverpool hotel. Even sadder was the fact that he was appearing at the hotel to speak at a drug and alcohol rehab fundraiser.
-Christian Vieri who switched sides from Inter to Milan this past summer has been voted the worst player in Serie A for 05 (the Golden Flop). Voting is done every year by listeners to an Italian radio show called Catersport. He was the runaway winner of the award.
-Yesterday Real Madrid fired their coach Wanderlei Luxemburgo, and today there director, Arrigo Sacchi, has resigned. Coincidence? I think not.
-ADDITION: The Copa Sudamericana Final is launched tonite in Mexico City. Pumas UNAM v Boca Juniors, with the return leg in Buenos Aires on Dec 18. Good luck to both. The games are only available in the US on Fox Sports En Espanyol.

Helping Hands News

-The stupid ball with a chip in it that's supposed to magically know when the ball is in the net will NOT be used at the World Cup. I hate the thing. Hooray Beer!
-Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated heard me grumbling that all of his recent on-line stories have been for "subscribers" only, so his newest is available to us plebes. In it he talks to Bruce Almighty. Thank you Grant.
-One of the USA stars from last summers U-20 World Championship was young Lee Ngyuen, just out of high school at the time. He followed up that performance by leading his college team Indiana, as a freshman. That takes a lot at such a long standing powerhouse. Now the pro's are after him and he is all set to go. He just has to decide whether it will be to MLS, or head to Holland and PSV. If I were him and PSV was calling my name, I would be gone in a flash. He also happens to play a position the USA is very short on, and frankly so is the whole world. The Attacking Central Midfielder. The old fashioned #10! Go Lee Go! And come back to lead Team USA! Two other Indiana standouts, Jacob Peterson and Jed Zayner, are said to be turning pro before their senior year of college as well. Read the whole thingy at the Indiana Daily Student.
-USA Captain, Claudio Reyna made a triumphant return to Manchester City, coming off the injury gurney & leading his side to a 5-2 beating of Charlton. Good job amigo.
-Let's check in on my Everton-Wigan Challenge. After week 11 Wigan sat in 2nd place and Everton in 19th. I made the bold prediction that Everton would finish above Wigan by seasons end. So where are we today: Liverpool smoked Wigan 3-0, and Everton beat Blackburn 0-2. Not bad for me, but Everton remain in 16th place, while Wigan fall to 7th! Stay tuned.
-Carlos Tevez has led his team Corinthians to its fourth Brazilian league title! Hola Losito!
-Laguilla quarterfinal 2nd leg scores, including a shocker(!):
Monterray 4-0 UAG Tecos (7-0 agg.)
Necaxa 0-2 Pachuca (0-4 agg.)
Cruz Azul 0-0 Toluca (0-1 agg.)
Club America 1-4 UANL Tigres (4-5 agg.)
What was running true to form turned into a wild one, with Club America being ousted by Tigres who got in on a technicality (see last Monday). Holy Moly!
So Monterry v Pachuca & Toluca v Tigres in the semis. Sched to follow.
-A whimsical Q&A with Eddie Gaven of Metrostars via US National Players Assoc.
-Convey and Hahnemann again teamed up to destroy another Championship Division opponent. This time 3-0 over Luton. Convey sent in a cross for the first goal, and Hahnemann got his 15th clean sheet of the season.
-Simon Kuper writes in the Financial Times about the humble workers on the 1974 World Cup teams. (I originally wrote the year 1074 - which would be one hell of an interview even for a writer such as Kuper to score.) Last of the World Cup milkmen
-It's looking more and more like opening day in Chicago's new Bridgeview Stadium will be June 23.
-Neither DaMarcus Beasley, Cory Gibbs or Johnny O'Brien played in Holland over the weekend. They are all still hurt. PSV won. Feyenoord drew. ADO won. Their teams sit First, Third and Sixteenth respectively.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the World Cup draw, which is going to happen Friday at 2pm central time live on ESPN2: Facing the moment of truth, to each nation its own mind game
-FIFA will seed all 32 teams for the World Cup Tuesday.
-Even though the deal is supposedly all done, the never ending string of BS surrounding the Metrostars stadium in Harrison New Jersey continues unabated. Why? Cuz Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says so.
-The NCAA Cup aka the semifinals are now all set. Quarterfinal scores looked like this:
Clemson 1-0 Creighton
New Mexico 1-0 California
Maryland 1-1 Akron - Maryland advances 4-1 on PK's (how in the world do you only make one penalty kick??)
North Carolina 2-3 SMU
The 4 team Cup will look like this (semi's Friday, and final on Sunday):
Maryland v SMU - see it on ESPN2 at 3pm central Friday.
New Mexico v Clemson - see it on ESPN2 at 10pm central Saturday.
Maryland was the #1 seed going in, and New Mexico was #2. While both SMU & Clemson came in not even seeded (the top 16 got seeds)! So either we are going to see the final that everyone wants to have or we will have a major upset.
You can watch the final on Sunday at 1pm from Cary, NC, live on ESPN2!
-Steve Cherundolo scored the winner as Hannover beat Dortmund 0-2 on the road.
-Kasey Keller's Monchengladbach lost 0-1 to terrible Nurnberg. In other Gladbach news, Giovane Elber has walked out on the team, and the team reciprocated by tearing up his contract. He wasn't playing, cuz the coach didn't think he was good enough, so Gio bitched to the press, and that was about it.
-Real Madrid did as expected and blew coach Wanderlei Luxemburgo out the door! But the team did win 1-0 over Getafe on Saturday as Ronaldo returned with a goal, and Becks got the red card. So who gets the job? Post a comment with your prediction. The winner gets a lollipop.
Of course Phil Ball saw it coming from way way out. Chronicle of a death foretold
-Speaking of red cards. It's always nice to see Mexican moron Rafa Marquez loose his mind and get tossed from the match like he did on Sunday as his Barca beat Villareal 2-0. He is an idiot. And should never be Mexican captain, but he is.
-Portland beat UCLA 4-0 to win the NCAA women's national championship Sunday.
-Paul Gascoigne didn't last 6 weeks as coach of English lower division team Kettering Town. Anyone surprised by this raise their hand! I didn't think so.
-I watched Juve do what the Old Lady does best, take down the close competitors. They won at Fiorentina 2-1, with a late winner from Cameronesi. The first half was back and forth at a magnificent pace with both teams having several chances and each getting a goal. But that amazing Juventus defense played perfectly for the second 45 and then got the deserved winner late. It was honestly a near perfect performance from them in the second half. Juventus now has an 8 point lead on 2nd place Milan who lost to Chievo 2-1, and a 10 point lead over 3rd place Inter who beat Ascoli 1-0.
-Juventus are also set to get even tougher in defense as they have almost finalized the deal to sign Bayern defender Willy Sagnol for next year.
-They drew the names out of the hat for the Third Round FA Cup matches today. Here we go:
Blackburn v Queens Park Rangers
Burton/Burscough v Manchester United
Derby County v Burnley
Fulham v Leyton Orient
Manchester City v Scunthorpe United
Millwall v Everton
Sheffield Wednesday v Charlton Athletic
Watford v Bolton
West Bromwich Albion v Reading
Wigan Athletic v Leeds United
Games will be played Jan 7 & 8, with any ties being replayed Jan 13.

American Woman News

-Laguilla scores:
Thursday:
Toluca 1-0 Cruz Azul - a mild upset, but Toluca was at home and Azul has been floundering
UANL Tigres 1-3 America - a decisive win by the favorites
Wednesday:
UAG 0-3 Monterray - a good old fashioned ass kicking, but expected
Pachuca 2-0 Necaxa - the #5 seed beating #4 is not an upset, but Necaxa will have to turn it up at home this weekend
Games (2nd leg) coming up this weekend:
Saturday:
Monterray v UAG Tecos (5pm on Galavision - live)
Necaxa v Pachuca (8:30pm on TeleFutura - live)
Sunday:
Cruz Azul v Toluca (tv - ?)
Club America v UANL Tigres (5pm on Univision - live)
-There are 2 big Euro matches this weekend:
Sat Dec 3
Lyon v PSG - on Fox Soccer Channel at 4pm central (same day tape delay & repeated Sun Dec 4 at 2pm)
Sun Dec 4
Fiorentina v Juventus - on GolTV live at 8am central
-Now I am planning on seeing this Fior-Juve match with a bunch of like minded idiots at the Local (you should come down and say hi and join the lunacy), but Ken the Keeper sent me this note: Let's hope the game is actually played. Fiorentina hosted Juve in a Coppa Italia match today and, per a post on BigSoccer.com, this is what happened:
"During the first half, a bunch of Juve supporters left their section of the stadium and tried to get into the Tribuna Maratona. The police responded with tear gas. This gas came inside the stadium just as the second half had started, forcing people to leave their seats. Players began to feel the effects of the gas too, so the referee stopped play. After waiting for several minutes, the referee told players to return to the locker room. As of now, the match has been suspended until further notice."
Eventually though, the game was restarted and finished 2-2. The return leg is scheduled for January in Turin. Let's hope for better times between these two when they meet again in Serie A this weekend.
-Q&A with Brazilian Milanese Kaka via UEFA.com
-I like this idea: For the second year, the top four clubs from Denmark, Norway and Sweden will join forces in a winter league called the Royal League! I love this idea. The team that wins it get about a million Euro's. The first game kicked off Nov 10, and the title will be decided on April 6. Last years games drew nearly 10,000 to each. That sounds amazing for winter. Kobenhavn are the title holders. Wikipedia has the page with the best info (format, groups, sched etc). Natch.
Here are the 12 that will face off:
Denmark:
Brondby IF
FC Kobenhavn
FC Midtjylland
Aalborg BK
Norway:
Valerenga IF
IK Start
FC Lyn Oslo
Lillestrom SK
Sweden:
Djurgardens
IFK Goteborg
Kalmar FF
Hammarby IF
-A guy who goes by the name Martin Fischer (I assume it's his actual name) on BigSoccer.com has posted this intensive list of USA World Cup roster hopefuls. He breaks them down by position, mentioning how many of each the team will select. Its impressive to say the least.
-The Thursday scores from Matchday 4 of the UEFA Cup:
Slavia 0-2 Monaco
CSKA Sofia 2-0 Viking
Brondby 1-1 Espanyol
Maccabi Petach-Tikva 0-4 Lokomotiv Moskva
Sampdoria 0-0 Hertha Berlin
Steaua 3-0 Halmstad
Grasshoppers 2-3 Dnipro
Litex 0-2 AZ Alkmaar
So here is who has made the next round so far: Strasbourg, Rapid, Shaktar, Stuttgart, Middlesbrough, AZ Alkmaar, Zenit & Sevilla.
The final group stage Matchday (5) is Dec 14 & 15.
And finally, the updated standings.
-Kasey Keller interview via Yanks Abroad.
-In the second Copa Sudamericana semifinal it was Boca Juniors advancing 1-0 over Universidad Catolica. The first leg had ended 2-2. Boca will face Mexican team Pumas in the 2 legged final.
-The NCAA semi finals go tonite and tomorrow afternoon. Here are the 4 match ups:
Clemson v Creighton
New Mexico v California
Maryland v Akron
North Carolina v SMU
-An interview with Dallas coach Colin Clarke via 3rd Degree.
-ADDITION: A whole bunch of small teams launch into the English FA Cup today, tomorrow and Sunday. Check the schedule here.