Chunky Cedar Cheddar Cheese News

First Division Scores
Miami 3-2 Portland
Toronto 0-2 Rochester
Charleston 3-1 Montreal
Seattle 1-1 Minnesota
Puerto Rico 3-1 Portland
Miami 1-0 Atlanta
Virginia Beach - Montreal - Postponed Due To Heavy Rains & Lightning
Vancouver 3-0 Minnesota
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First Div Post-Week 4 Standings
9 Rochester
8 Miami
7 Charleston
7 Vancouver
7 Puerto Rico
6 Virginia Beach
4 Minnesota
4 Montreal
5 Portland
1 Atlanta
1 Seattle
0 Toronto
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MLS Weekend Scores
DC 2-1 Kansas City - Eskie scores with another bomb, and the DC defense comes as close to insanity as you can get without going nuts. But the KC strikers can't get the job done when the opportunities are right at their feet. Is Matt Taylor somehow back in a KC uniform? No, but you coulda fooled me.
New England 3-1 Chivas USA - New E showing more and more power each week. And Chivas shows that nothing has changed for them yet. After last season du Nord selected New Eng's Shalrie Joseph as MLS's Player of the Year, and he is certainly showing that he is just that good, and will be a valid candidate for that award again this year.
Los Angeles 0-3 Salt Lake - John Ellinger goes with youth for Salt Lake and saves his coaching ass. But Steve Sampson still seems completely confused as LA's coach and hangs his ass even further out to dry. When will the wind blow him over is the only question left. His team is pathetic.
Houston 1-1 Dallas - It was over 100 degrees on the field and it showed in a slow plodding game. Why did Dallas go cheap on their stadium and not put a roof over the place. No fans showed up to get burned to a crisp, and its May. Houston played decent without Brian Ching, but lost their best player DDR with an ankle injury in the second half. I don't know why Dallas did not win this game. Carlos Ruiz tormented Houston all day long with this "antics", and then got the goal against defenders who quite obviously hate his guts!
New York 1-1 Chicago - NY keeper Fat Tony tweaked a calf muscle during warm ups so John Conway got the start. Amado Guevara played like a joke and got pulled, so what does he do(?), he walks past the coach and bench, showers, dresses and joins his wife in the stands. What an infant that dude is. Chicago plays hard and gets a deserved draw. How much longer does NY let Mo Johnston run the ship?
Columbus 1-0 Colorado – Didn't see the game, but good for Sigi winning on the road at a decent Colorado team who I fully expect to be very good by years end. Sigi is the man (with child).
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MLS Post-Week 7 Standings
15 Dallas
14 Dc
13 Kansas City
13 Houston
10 New England
10 Columbus
7 Chicago
7 Colorado
7 Los Angeles
5 New York
4 Chivas USA
4 Salt Lake
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So Los Angeles gave old coach Sigi Schmid a couple of his old players back by sending Ned Grabavoy & Joseph Ngwenya to Columbus in exchange for Kyle Martino & John Wolyniec. And of course old Ned instantly delivers the winning goal for his new team, while Martino and Radar Dish Ears had several excellent chances but totally failed for their new club LA.
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer tries to figure out (again) just what the hell is wrong with New Yorks Amado Guevara.
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Maybe the biggest news from the Dallas game Saturday was the return of midfielder Richard Mulrooney to the field. He has not played in exactly 1 year after blowing out his knee. He went the full 90, and while he did not play great, he was not awful either.
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Steve Goff of the Washington Post with a feature story on USA & LA star Lando Primadonovan.
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Of course with Team USA together preparing to conquer the world there is news galore from Camp in Cary NC. US Soccer has new audio, video, words and pictures every single day. Newest stuff are interviews with Eddie Lewis, Coach Arena, practice player Michael Bradley, plus video of 6 v 6 games and the heavy fitness sessions. All excellent. This site is set to explode when the team gets to Germany and the games begin.
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Get a load of these superstars! DAMN!
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Backup USA keeper Marcus Hahnemann writes for the US Players Assoc about team unity.
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ABC/ESPN have released the names of their announcers both in the booth, on the field & in the studio. And yes we are stuck with the worlds most undynamic duo - Dave "my daughters play soccer" O'Brien & Marcello "Oh My God do I have gorgeous locks of hair" Balboa for the USA matches. Thankfully I will not have to hear this shite, cuz I will be in the stands screaming!
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Steve Davis of Soccernet writes that watching Steve Sampson coach is like watching a drunk buddy hit on babes very poorly.
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Crew Stadium in Columbus Ohio is 7 years old today! 7! 7! Can you believe that? Thanks to Lamar Hunt for getting the ball rolling on soccer stadiums in America.
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Columbus also has the first ever Croatian in MLS. Leonard Bisaku. Matchnight has a Q & A with the smiling man.
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It has been confirmed that Red Bull New York will play a friendly against German club champs Bayern Munich on May 27. Obviously Bayern's star players will not be at the game as they will be in their home countries preparing for the World Cup.
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Ken the Keeper is a big fan of Fiorentina in Italy, and one of the Czech Republic's best & least known players is on Fiore, so I asked Ken to fill us in on Czech defender Tomas Ujfalusi. Here is what he gives us:
If you live in Italy no doubt Tomas Ujfalusi is one of the best known Czechs in the country after Pavel Nedved. The tall 28 year old came to Fiorentina from Hamburg in January of '04 as La Viola were making their ascent back to Serie A prominence, and he has started nearly every game since. Typically a center back, Ujfalusi has often been filling in at defensive wing as Fiore have been weak in those positions. With 28 caps and 2 goals for the Czech Republic, Ujfalusi has played a key role in the international rise of his country. Ujfalusi played every game of Euro 2004 when they beat the likes of Denmark, Germany and Holland, before going down to the Greeks in the semifinals.
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And Pavel Nedved IS going to be part of the Czech World Cup team. Here is the entire squad:
Goalkeepers: Jaromir Blazek (Sparta Prague), Petr Cech (Chelsea), Antonin Kinsky (Saturn Ramenskoye)
Defenders: Zdenek Grygera (Ajax), Marek Jankulovski (AC Milan), Martin Jiranek (Spartak Moscow), Radoslav Kovac (Spartak Moscow), Pavel Mares (Zenit St. Petersburg), David Rozehnal (Paris St.-Germain), Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina)
Midfielders: Tomás Galasek (Ajax), David Jarolim (Hamburger SV), Pavel Nedved (Juventus), Jaroslav Plasil (AS Monaco), Karel Poborsky (Ceske Budejovice), Jan Polak (Nurnberg), Tomas Rosicky (Borussia Dortmund), Vladimir Smicer (Girondins Bordeaux)
Forwards: Milan Baros (Aston Villa), Marek Heinz (Galatasaray), Jan Koller (Borussia Dortmund), Vratislav Lokvenc (Red Bull Salzburg), Jiri Stajner (Hannover 96)
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Jere Longman of the New York Times previews USA World Cup opponent Italy.
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Italy's official World Cup squad:
Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), Peruzzi (Lazio), Amelia (Livorno)
Defenders: Zambrotta (Juventus), Nesta (Milan), Cannavaro (Juventus), Grosso (Palermo), Zaccardo (Palermo), Barzagli (Palermo), Materazzi (Inter), Oddo (Lazio)
Midfielders: Camoranesi (Juventus), Pirlo (Milan), Gattuso (Milan), De Rossi (Roma), Perrotta (Roma), Barone (Palermo)
Attackers: Totti (Roma), Toni (Fiorentina), Gilardino (Milan), Del Piero (Juventus), Inzaghi (Milan), Iaquinta (Udinese)
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Our man Fred makes the Brazil 23!!!!!
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Mike Woitalla of Soccer America talks to German manager Jurgen Klinsman.
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The Champions League Grand Finale is this Wednesday, May 17, at le Stade de France in Paris
It's The Royal Arsenal FC of London England v FC Barcelona of Spain
See it live in the USA at 1:30pm central time on ESPN2
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So what do the citizens of Toronto think of their new teams name?
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The US Open Cup kicked into high gear last weekend with lots of matches for USASA, PDL, & Second Division teams. Check out the scores, and next round pairings.
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Yanks Abroad are reporting that former USA great Earnie Stewart has become the General Manager at his former club NAC Breda in Hollands Eredivisie.
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The incomparable Simon Kuper on the incomparable Thierry: Henry studies his way to perfection
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Phil Ball with Spains end of season Hero & Villans, plus a dude from Australia: Death in the afternoon
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Italy's Serie A race for the scudetto is over and Juventus have captured #29, as both they and Milan won leaving Juve with a 3 point lead.
-Fiorentina's win and Roma's loss gives Fiore the 4th and final Italian Champions League spot behind Juve, Milan, and Inter.
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But things could get very ugly for Juventus, and it's not on the field that they need to worry about. Serious allegations have been made about match fixing (which the whole world knows goes on in Italy). Grahame Jones of the LA Times takes a gander.
-So does Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune: An air of uneasiness in Italy
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English FA Cup Final Saturday
Liverpool 3-3 West Ham - with Liverpool hoisting the trophy 3-1 on penalty kicks. You can see the match on Fox Soccer Channel Tuesday evening.
-Rob Hughes writes about this one too: Gerrard inspires Liverpool again
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The Mexican Primera Division Clausura semifinals 2nd leg scores (with first leg scores included):
San Luis 2-1 Toluca - (2-1) - San Luis upsets the reigning champs 4-2 on Aggregate!
Pachuca 2-3 Guadalajara - (2-1) - ends 4-4 on agg, but Mexico does not use away goals to break ties (which would have given the win to Chivas), they use regular season standings and Pachuca finished higher so they move on to the final!
-It will be San Luis v Pachuca for the crown! Game date and time TBA.
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FC Porto won their 13th Portuguese Cup!
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Maccabi Haifa won there 3rd consecutive Israeli championship.
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Fenerbahce had the Turkish lead going into the last weekend, but was held to a draw by Denislispor, so Galatasary swept in with a 3-0 win over Kayserispor to steal the league title on the last day!
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The old man Claudio Suarez has made the cut for Mexico's World Cup team:
Goalkeepers: Oswaldo Sánchez (Chivas), Jesús Corona (Tecos), Guillermo Ochoa (América)
Defenders: Rafael Márquez (FC Barcelona), Claudio Suárez (Chivas USA), Francisco Rodríguez (Chivas), José Antonio Castro (América), Mario Méndez (Monterrey), Ricardo Osorio (Cruz Azul), Carlos Salcido (Chivas), Andrés Guardado (Atlas), Gonzalo Pineda (Chivas)
Midfielders: Antonio Naelson (Toluca), Luis Pérez (Monterrey), Pavel Pardo (América), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), José García (Atlas), Ramón Morales (Chivas)
Forwards: Guillermo Franco (Villarreal), Jared Borgetti (Bolton Wanderers), Francisco Fonseca (Cruz Azul), José Arellano (Monterrey), Omar Bravo (Chivas)
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American Gregg Berhalter, who did not make the World Cup team has captained and guided his club Energie Cottbus in promotion back to the German Bundesliga for next season.
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And lastly, Michael Ballack has finally stopped his wandering in the dark and signed a 3 year contract with Chelsea. So now who from Chelsea hits the streets looking for a new gig?