A Lil Sumthin Sumthin

World Cup!
Friday June 30
10am Germany v Argentina ESPN
2pm Italy v Ukraine ESPN2
Saturday July 1
10am England v Portugal ABC
2pm Brazil v France ESPN
Tuesday July 4
2pm Germ/Arg v Ita/Ukr ESPN
Wednesday July 5
2pm Eng/Port v Braz/Fra ESPN
Sunday July 9
1pm Championship ABC
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MLS scores from Wednesday June 28
NYRB 0-0 Crew
NE Rev 1-0 FC Dallas
KC Wiz 2-3 DC Utd
Chic 2-1 RSL
Civas 1-1 Dynamo
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Games on Saturday July 1
New England v New York at 6pm on ESPN2
Kansas City v Los Angeles at 730pm on Direct Kick & HDNet
Chivas v Dallas at 9pm on Direct Kick
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And more games on Tuesday July 4
Dallas v DC at 5pm on Direct Kick
Chicago v Kansas City at 7pm on Direct Kick
Houston v Columbus at 730pm on Direct Kick
Colorado v New England at 830pm on Direct Kick
Los Angeles v New York at 9pm on Direct Kick
Real Salt Lake Chivas at 9pm - No TV
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League Standings:
35 DC United
27 FC Dallas
23 Houston
20 Kansas City
19 Chivas USA
18 New England
18 Colorado
17 Chicago
17 Columbus
14 New York
12 Real Salt Lake
9 Los Angeles
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Tino Palace actually says it quite nicely about the USA and World Cup 2006. And he's from Minnesota too.
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Can I interest anyone in a hot buttered rum?

The Punks

We visited the grounds of FC St Pauli in Hamburg yesterday. What a trip that is. They play in an old worn out stadium under the watchful eye of a massive 10 story WWII concrete bunker. Skull and Crossbones adorn the outside of the stadium. Their fan shop stocks 100´s of things for sale, from official shirts and scarves to little kids shoes to a full array of skull covered items, and their own brand of cigarettes. They also have a "club" called Casa St Pauli which is a bar and lounge. We stopped in for a drink. They were really cool to us, and one guy offered to take us out into the stadium. The team and fans have a loose affiliation with the Tibetan national team and Glasgow Celtic. I think the Dark Clouds need to get in on that action! Last week I visited the grounds of Sparta in Prague, and today will drop by the fan shop of Hamburg SV.
Until next time, adios from me. Bruce

Home Of The Hamburger

Sitting on some side street near the train station in Hamburg on a very hot Sunday morning.
We watched the Argentina v Mexico game last night in the old fish auction house. It is a massive 3 story building with table chairs and a big screen for all the action. Poor Mexico.
The city was trulz insane last night with Germany having won. We watched that match in a little Italian place where they made sure we were not German before letting us in. They were in for a surprise after we left though, cuz we put a "Diving Italians" button on our table, hidden amongst the bottles, when we left. I nice little gift from us!
In every city you see tons of people where shirts from their favorite teams that you could easily forget how it might look like when the World Cup is not going on.
Adios, Bruce

Die Yorma In Erlangen

hi all
i am sitting in some little convenience store in a small town called erlangen
we went up to a town that sounds like herzegovina which happens to be the birthplace of adidas
how was it? you ask
two words: not much

we all have usa defeat hangover and it sucks
badly
what a disappointment
the only analysis i have of the games right now is that no one from the usa team stepped up and made a different
a few guys played the way we all know they can
and a few others underachieved
but not one player went above and beyond
hence they are going home with one goal scored, one gifted own goal, and six goals allowed
i gotta run now and catch a train
talk to yall soon
bruce

Michael Davies Sings Very High Praise

Thanks to Lance for sending me an email with a connection to Michael Davies ESPN World Cup diary. Davies is a British guy who produces TV shows. He wrote about the last WC for ESPN and did an incredible job. Any real fan of the game will love his enthusiasm. His latest column has him RAVING about the USA fans and team after the Italy match. Thank you Lance, and thank you Michael.

Sung To TheTune Of Oscar Meyer Weiner Song

Oh I wish I was a fucking diving wanker
That is what I truly want to be-e-e
Cuz if I was a fucking diving wanker
Then I could make my home in Italy

Bruce in Cologne Internet Cafe

Hi all!
Day 4 for me.

I read where Claudio Reyna said the US team had a strong lack of World Cup experience on the field in that miserable 3-0 loss to the Czech#s yesterday. He must be on some fancy type drugs, cuz by my count 9 of the starting 11 had WC experience, and 2 of the 3 subs did as well. Where as the Czech team had 0 WC caps between them all.

I have already named the match Der Schtink Bomb. It just sucked in every way. As the match ended I sat in my seat thinking, I traveled all this way to watch this crap? I should probably drop an email to US Soccer and demand they refund my money.

Don't get me wrong, there was a very high quality team on the field last night, it just was not ours. The Czech Republic was excellent, and I told a lot of their fans that after the game.

The trains to and from the match were an ugly, hot sweatz, way overcrowded cattle call. Every time an empty train would show up on the platform the massive crowds would just push and shove, while yelling. I hated every second of it.

I didn't think the stadium was much better either. It was pretty warm in there, although the site lines were great. Their biggest mistake was selling the food and drinks seperately which left the drink line with 200 people in it for every 10 in the food line. Yet both lines had the same number of workers. So much for the myth of German efficiency.

The cities I have traveled to so far have all been great. Frankfurt, Cologne & Gelsenkirchen. Today I am off to London and then Banbury.

The people we have met are excellent, and the sausages you buy on the street are tremendous.

Bye for now!

Game 1

It's on.

Keller G
Cherundolo D
Lewis D
Mastroeni D
Onyewu D (yellow)
Pope D
Beasley M
Convey M
Donovan M
Reyna M
McBride F

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(5') Brutal. Koller with a header. Czech Rep. 1-0 US
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Landy-cakes draws a yellow on Rozenhal, shows a little spark.
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The size advantage the Czech Republic has over the US is visually aparent.
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Post! Reyna shoots from 25 yards and is inches from drawing the US even!
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(35') Goal for the Czech Rep. by Rosicky. A beautiful shot.
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Our crosses have no chance, our defense has no energy. We can still turn it around, but it may not be enough.
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(43') The big man, Koller just went out with a knee injury. He looks pretty hurt.
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Half.
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Johnson and O'Brian in.

Cherundolo and Mastroeni out.

Bruce goes to a 5-3-2.
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Lokvenc and Reyna get yellows, 58' and 59' respectivey.
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Rosicky gets his second (77') to take the Czech Rep to three goal lead.

Wolff in for McBride
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Grygera gets a yellow.
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Polac in for Rosicky.
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90'
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Czech Republic 3-0 US

hum a little hasselhoff tune for our boys news

The Minnesota Thunder was victorious last night, winning 4-1 in a chippy match against Miami FC.
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A good pregame read is yesterday's Quote Sheet: Bruce Arena and Claudio Reyna Address the Media in Gelsenkirchen
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Take your pick of the 2,351 features on the US team today. Here are a few of note:

A Waking Giant: US Soccer Comes of Age - Der Spiegel
Out of the Shadows, Group E profile - Der Spiegel
US Enters the Great Unknown - SI.com
US Seeks to End Losing Streak

And some profiles of the competition:

A Revolution on the Pitch - Der Spiegel
Cech, The Man To Beat - SI.com

And a few match previews:
Match preview - NY Times
Match Preview - Washington Post

Stuck at work? Live updates from Du Nord will ensue!
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A look at Sam's Army from the Houston Chronicle
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How will Bruce line-up our boys? Some have suggested a 1-5-3.
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Brian Ching reports of taking 13 stitches in the head after a collision in practice. That's a lot of stitches, and a lot blood.
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From the False 45th, its Kasey Keller, Marcus Hahnemann and Ryan Maxfield hanging out with the band Tool, of Tool videos fame. Here's a fun game, guess which ones are rock stars, which ones are in Tool, and which one is Kasey Keller!
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World Cup trends: Quality rises when the sun goes down.
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Over half-way through the Australia-Japan match, and this article, about the pressure put on officials to call out Australia, has taken on a lot more weight after Japan's foul-smelling goal.

Update: Justice prevails as Australia take 2-1 3-1 lead.
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Even in defeat, Iran can't shake its politics like Germany can't shake its past and England can't shake its more provocative fans.
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The Poles are catching some deserved heat.
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Maradona's silent and confusing protest, or not.
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On a lark, I was looking for Hasselhoff news from the World Cup and learned that German star athlete Dirk Nowitzki hums a Hasselhoff tune when he shoots free-throws, with 90% accuracy!
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Profile of Italy's Totti
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MLS Roundup

The Chicago Fire opened their new stadium with a 3-3 draw against the Revolution

FC Dallas 2, Chivas USA 1

Galaxy 1, United 1
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Roy Keane has announced his retirement from football because of injury.
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Too many transactions from Europe to recount on this sheet of white paper.
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Look for Wolf in stands by finding the Dark Cloud flag or the 1st Minnesota Volunteers banner. He is en beard.

Zis Is Zee German Coast Guard!

Hallo!
Wolf Druce here checking in from Cologne. I am hot and sweaty and tired, but alive and well. Last night in Frankfurt was absolute insanity! England were playing there and about 30,000 drunken stupid sunburned Englishmen partied all night on the river in front of our hostel! There was a big TV anchored in the middle of Main River right across the street from us and by Noon the banks were packed for a 3pm kickoff. They then parited all night long after the pathetic 1-0 win. My brain is dead so I am gonna sign off and watch Mexico v Iran.
Love and Kisses,
Bruce

ps. Portugal is staying in the hotel right next to us so the whole street is blocked off by the coppers.

Put a Piece of Rock Salt In My Kristalweizen News

Poland flops, Germany romps, und the goals are pouring in.
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Du Nord guest poster und Wolf Druce impersonator "Tom" here. I only got half-way through the eigth grade, so feel free to send tips and rips to tom.elko@gmail.com.
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Ecuador 2, Poland nil!
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Germany tops Costa Rica 4-2. Game recaps here und here. What's more important, Germany's victory or Costa Rica's two goals?
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It appears as if Oswaldo Sanchez will be in the net for Mexico's first game against Iran, while Iranian midfielder Ferydoon Zandi has been ruled out for the match.
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In other injury news, Trinidad und Tobago defenseman Marvin Andrews has been scratched from their first match against Sweden with a bum knee.
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Quote of the day comes via Big Soccer News:

"So, what is it?" Brazil's president wanted to know. "Is he fat or not?"

- Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to his country's soccer coach on the fitness of Ronaldo.

Full story here.
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Also from Big Soccer News, it looks like the English and the Germans are having a little trouble letting bygones be bygones.

When hundreds of German fans arrived after watching their team beat Costa Rica 4-2 in a match shown on a giant screen floating on the nearby River Main, England fans chanted "10 German bombers" and other songs referring to World War Two while German supporters waved their national flags.

Around 100 police wearing white helmets with visors moved into the square at around 8:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) to keep the two sides apart.

If the English and the Germans want to relive the war, I guess that bodes well for the American squad.
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Grant Wahl answers his own question, "how should the U.S. define success at the World Cup?" in his latest from SI.com.
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Has Bruce Arena adopted a Brazillian attitude towards *ahem* family time during the World Cup?
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Be sure to check out Hawaiian Superman Brian Ching's blog at the Houston Chronicle.
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More on Chivas' 2-1 upset over the Galaxy last night from the LA Times and ESPN. Not a good way for Frank Yallop to start out his new job as coach of the Galaxy.
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The first of a two-part story on Freddy Adu? Sure, why the hell not.
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Q&A with U-18 MNT coach Bob Jenkins in the run-up to the big tournament in Lisbon.

And the Cup is on!

Guest du Nord blogger Bill here. I am brother to "King du Nord", Wolf. I guess that make me "Duke du Nord". My usual home is over at kingwho.com/geargab, where I discuss everything from my self inflicted childhood repression to comic books to finding restaurants that serve meals for under $5.

I will no doubt be raiding Wolf's diet Mr. Pibb supply while he is gone. For those who don't knowWolf personally, he won a walleye fishing contest when he was 13 and the grand prize was a lifetime supply of Mr. Pibb. Had he been an adult he would have won $10,000. That's life.

Now on with the show.

The CBC, in its explanation of World Cup and team Canada's history and future, brag about their ability to dominate.

“It's easy to forget that in 1986, Canada made it through the CONCACAF group to qualify for the World Cup; the U.S. didn't."

Yes, that and a ranking of #86 will earn you a stool in a sports bar.

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Team England’s Theme song. They picked Embrace's - World at your Feet or should they have picked The Colonel's - Cup My Balls? Listen to both and decide for yourself if the team made the right choice.


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Germany's win over Costa Rica may have been by big numbers but their lazy defense didn't earn them points at home. Paulo Wanchope's speed and aggressiveness almost made up the difference. The few times he was offsides were so close and Germany was playing him much too loosely. The Germans were so lackadaisical on defense that we will wait anxiously to see if Poland tries to exploit this obvious weakness’.

Off!

So in couple hours now I hit the sky-ways to Alemania!
My fellow macee Tom is gonna lend a hand with du Nord, and as you can see by the previous post he is already hot on the job pretending he is me.
My incredible brother Bill might stop by too!
Not to worry though as I will attempt to drop by and give amazing insite from Germany on our progress at WC06.
Who knows when you will see me here next, or what I will write about, but you know it will only be the finest quality, run through the strickest of filters (similar to how Germans make beer).
If you are in Germany, then I hope to see your gloriously smiling face.
And if you are somewhere else, then I hope to get the chance to see you another day.
Oh yeah, I will also be spending a few awesome days in Banbury England, and Prague Czech Republic before returning home.
Adios Amigos!
The Wolf

Goethe Speed Wolf Druce News!

Reuters reports that the World Cup opening ceremony will feature "170 World Cup-winning players including Pele and Diego Maradona." Most interesting, however, is the reported attendance of "Juan Schiaffino, 80, who scored for Uruguay in the 1950 final." Schiaffino's attendace would be truly spectacular considering his death on the 13th of November of 2002.

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A great round-up of World Cup injuries is available at the World Cup Blog, but I've done my Googling too.

Germany's Michael Ballack out with a calf, and the lower half of his leg hurts too. What do you expect when you're out all night at the discotheque with a cow?

The Czech's claim to be hobbled, but Bruce ain't buying it.
Let's go to the list:
Midfielder Pavel Nedved - knee
Vladimir Smicer - Knee
Milan Baros fighting - foot
Tomas Rosicky und Tomas Galasek both dinged up

While Rooney may be back for England, Steven Gerrard is 50-50.

A two-fer for Italy as Gianluca Zambrotta is out und Nesta is doubtful. Both were seen rolling on the ground, holding their shins all day long.

French forward Djibril Cisse will miss the World Cup after his right leg buckled during Wednesday night's 3-1 win over China. Won't return until November.

Australia's Kewell says he's good to go

For the Netherlands, Philip Cocu, Wesley Sneijder und Giovanni van Bronckhorst all sustained injuries of unknown consequence.

Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson has a concussion.

Und the Croats aren't feeling so hot either.

Of course, the one scratch the must warrent genuine sympathy is that of Mexico goaltender Oswaldo Sanchez who has returned to Mexico after his father suffered a heart attack.

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From the US Soccer web log: "Guess who just dropped by the Studio 90 set again - Bruce Arena! He's made a habit of stopping in every afternoon to see how the group is holding up (fine, thank you very much). Plus, a Frankie Hejduk sighting in Hamburg.

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Der Spiegel takes a critical look at German coach Jay Goppingen, nea, Jurgen Klinsmann

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While in Germany, why not catch a humerous German play about Hitler and the World Cup? I can think of a few reasons, but taboos were meant to be broken.


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I can't help but notice that advertisers, broadcasters, and a/v techs world-wide seem intent on playing U2 during every prelude, interlude, and postlude possible.

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Club America vs Barca in Houston on Aug. 9, und Real vs. Real in Salt Lake on Aug. 12.


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Chivas takes its first out of six from the Galaxy, 2-1

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If you're longing for a little local action off the world stage, there is plenty to go around:

6/9 Colorado Rapids vs Real Salt Lake
6/10 New York Red Bulls vs. Houston Dynamo und Columbus Crew vs. Kansas City Wizards
6/11 FC Dallas vs. Chivas USA und Chicago Fire vs. New England Revolution und Los Angeles Galaxy vs. D.C. United

Flaming Feet Burning Up The Street News

Remember dipsticks, US Soccer has photos, video and audio of our fella's in action in Germany.
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My hometown paper, the Minneapolis Red Star Tribune, has a Q & A with former USAer & WC02 star and current Chicago Fire defender Tony Sanneh, who just happens to be a St Paul native!
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Today Steven Goff of the Washington Post has a feature on USA goalkeeper Kasey Keller!
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Another from Goff on the recent evolution of the game in America.
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And a third one today from him, on Hamburg's glorious anarchist & punk rock football team St Pauli!
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Reading FC's US-based representative Rob Barberi gives his low down on Team USA via his intimate knowledge of the teams Bobby Convey and Marcus Hahneman. (You might have to register with this site to read the article, but it only takes a minute, and you can make it all up like I did.)
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Micheal Lewis profiles Mr. Landon Donovan for MLSnet.
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French & Liverpudlian forward Djibril Cisse is out of the World Cup with a broken right leg. He suffered the injury during a training session match v China on Wednesday. Two years ago he missed a large part of the season after breaking his left leg.
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The Boston Globe looks at the resurrection of Berlin.
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On a very sad note, Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez has lost his father very unexpectedly to a heart attack. RIP Senor Sanchez! Oswaldo has returned to Guadalajara. There is no word on if or when he will return to his team in Germany.
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The International Herald Tribune is packed full of World Cup preview stories. All are excellent!
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I keep meaning to link to a photo of this amazing advertisement in Germany, but I always forget to. Ken The Keeper (of course) sent me this link! Simply. Incredible.
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And yes, Michael Ballack is OUT of Germany's World Cup opener v Costa Rica tomorrow. (I love that there is a new reason for us to post about Ballack every single day!)
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Soccernet tells the whole Clint Dempsey story. Very good.
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Do you know anyone who is a football novice - USA Today has a decent beginners guide.
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Tonight in MLS action:
Los Angeles Galaxy v Chivas USA - The LA derby at 9pm central time on ESPN2! LA's new coach Frank Yallop will be at the helm!

The USA Group Stage Matches at World Cup Germany 2006!

-Monday June 12th v Czech at 10:55am on ESPN2 from Gelsenkirchen's World Cup Stadium
-Saturday June 17th v Italy at 1:30pm on ABC from Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter-Stadion
-Thursday June 22th v Ghana at 8:55am on ESPN from Nurnberg's Franken-Stadion
(all central time)
So print this out and hang it on your fridge, and in your cube, and at your mom's house.

Quickly Churned Butter News

Like I said yesterday, the sheer amount of stories on the web concerning the USA and all of the World Cup is frankly overwhelming. It is glorious to see, but impossible to keep up with. I suggest you take a little time to do some websurfing on your own, and have some fun. If you stumble on something worth sharing please let me know.
-Related to this are all the stories I read that keep saying the USA isn't really "into soccer and the World Cup". Well let me state that if that is the case, then the internet will explode, crumble and die if the USA ever decides to "get into" the beautiful game in a big way.
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The obviously brilliant Justin Fox of Fortune magazine has a new piece online today for CNN Money looking at the World Cup and Team USA's rise to their current level, from an economic point of view. We can tell the author is a genius by the time we get to the second paragraph as he makes proud reference to this very blog, du Nord. Thanks Justin. If we can return the favor (hahahahahaha), just let us know!
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Well, boys and girls, it finally happened! Steve Sampson is no longer the coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Gone daddy gone. So much for the Vote Of Confidence he received the other day. In all honesty though I do feel bad for Steve. It is always a brutal experience to get fired (I have been there myself and it hurts). Good luck to Mr Sampson on his next endeavor, and good luck to the Galaxy on finding the right man for the job. Hooray Beer indeed.
-And directly on the heels of that comes word that Frank Yallop is the new man in charge! He starts immediately! YES YES YES YES!!!! I love this!
-I am curious as to how he got out of his job as Canada's coach.
-One Big Soccer member called DoctorD had this great post of eve's dropping on a "fictitious meeting" to discuss hiring LA's new coach. It goes like this:
Alexi Lalas: Landon, who do you want?
Landon Donovan: Simple 'lexi, Frank Yallop.
Alexi Lalas: (to nearby subordinate) Make it so!
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald predicted this news on his blog last night from Germany. (Let's hope that he will be filling us in with stuff like this during the entire World Cup with daily updates and general blabbing.)
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He also has an update in the Herald on the relative health of Team USA.
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Team USA visited Hamburg Town Hall today in a fine How-ya doin' kinda way. I have not heard why, but defender Oguchi Onyewu is not in any of the pictures.
-Turns out our massive defender is in England today negotiating his deal with Middlesbrough. What a see-saw story this has been.
-And former player Gareth Southgate has been picked as the new manager of Middlesbrough.
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Czech striker Milan Baros is listed as doubtful for the match v USA on Monday after his injured foot has failed to improve. He said, "I feel pain whenever I move fast."
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Big Italiano news via Reuters: Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso has been ruled out of the Azzurri's opening World Cup game against Ghana with a thigh injury and faces a race to be fit for the second match. "Gattuso will miss one or two games," said Italy team doctor Enrico Castellacci.
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It's about time the secret Italian training video surfaces again. (Thanks Zach!)
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One of my favorite futbol haunts here in Minneapolis is called The Local. And they just got a new 95" Hi-def TV for the World Cup. Yes you read that right, 95"! Insane!!! So head down to the corner of 10th & Nicollet to see all the game action and count the gray hairs on Claudio Reyna's head!
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USA Today with a feature story on USA keeper, metal head, and castle dweller Kasey Keller.
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Steve Goff of the Washington Post on the health of Captain America - Claudio Reyna.
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The Philly Daily News with a great story on one of the USA's 1950 World Cup hero's Walter Bahr.
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Soccernet has a Q & A with USA & Hannover right back Steve Cherundolo.
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cdin sent me this link to the despicable Frank Deford speaking on NPR about the beautiful game, and unbelievably he is saying something good. Or as cdin says "So when does the apocalypse start?"
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Don't forget - Thursday on ESPN Classic you can watch the USA beat Portugal and Mexico again from the 2002 World Cup. USA v Port at 1pm & USA v Mex at 3pm, both central time. This is some glorious viewing.
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US Soccer has by far the most indepth & insider photos, video and audio from our boys while in Germany.
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US Soccer is still auctioning off the game worn red shirts from the Latvia match for charity. It's looking pretty sad though. The opening bids start at $1000 ferchrisakes, and most shirts still have no bids at all. A couple have some action, but the most bids on any single shirt is 5 for Donovan's. Like I said before, if they had started the bidding at a reasonable level this could have been really really cool. ($200 would have been perfect. Just enough to keep away the flies, but plenty to raise a good amount of cash.)
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The New York Times looks at one of world soccer's next golden boys, Barcelona & Argentina's Lionel Messi.
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Der Speigel in Germany with a story on the name of the game: It's Called Soccer
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Germany captain (and du Nord's version of Where's Waldo) Michael Ballack is highly doubtful for his teams tournament opener v Costa Rica on Friday. He pulled out of training again today trying to recover from a strained right calf muscle.
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USA U-20 coach Thomas Rongen is laying some of his wisdom out for Sports Illustrated and their World Cup coverage.
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Thursday night MLS action:
Round 2 of this years LA derby - LA v Chivas at 9pm central time on ESPN2!
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This weekend FC Dallas will wear the teams 3rd kit in the match v Chivas USA. The reason? The third kit is a show of appreciation to their sister team in Mexico, UANL Tigres. They are not very exciting shirts, but I like the idea.
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Washington Post soccer writer Steven Goff was answering readers questions live on line this morning from Hamburg Germany.
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So what do readers of the Philadelphia Daily News think about having a potential MLS team in their city?
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Real Madrid will play their inbred cousins Real Salt Lake sometime in August at RSL's home field Rice-Eccles Stadium. There will be real (not real) grass placed over that nasty fake turf they have.

Properly Pickled News

Frankly right now there is so much pouring out about the World Cup and our blessed USA that I simply cannot keep up. I never dreamed that I would type that sentence. So this is what I got, and anything else you will have to find on your own. It's an avalanche of love!
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Our old buddy Steven Wells is up to it again with another article in the Guardian about US soccer. He lays it on very thick, and always has a lot of fun making a lot of fun of other people. This is an awesome article.
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Bridgeview Stadium All Lit Up!
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In a complete reversal, Yanks Abroad are now reporting that Oguchi Onyewu is NOT close to signing with Middlesbrough in England.
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Steve Goff of the Washington Post with a feature story on Run DMB, The Jitterbug, Beaz, DaMarcus Beasley.
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There was a crazy thread started last night on Big Soccer about Kasey Keller being injured. Well I am here to tell you that he is 100%. And so is everyone else on the team outside John O'Brien who is not injured at all, but still not quite 100% 90 minute game ready.
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Thursday on ESPN Classic you can watch the USA beat Portugal and Mexico again from the 2002 World Cup. USA v Port at 1pm & USA v Mex at 3pm, both central time. This is some glorious viewing.
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From CONCACAF.com: Former USA national team player Jeff Agoos will shortly be joining the staff of CONCACAF at its New York headquarters. Agoos will play a key role in two areas of Confederation activity; first, he will work in the Events & Competitions Division where his experiences as a former player will provide a unique perspective on the organization of CONCACAF tournaments. Additionally, as an experienced broadcaster, Agoos will contribute to the development of CONCACAF’s own state-of-the-art studio facility and the range of programming that will be produced.
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And the top US representative at CONCACAF, Chuck Blazer, has his own World Cup blog. This guy is the prime picture of a "fat cat". And I refuse to believe that he actually writes this thing, but if he does then he refers to himself in the third person most of the time (note to Chuck: that one's usually a dead giveaway that you are not writing it yourself).
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US Soccer has incredibly cool video, audio, and photos of all the action updated every single day from the team while in Germany.
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The old walrus himself, Graham Jones of the LA Times with a feature on our king, USA manager Bruce Arena.
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And even more, the LA Times World Cup coverage exploded over the weekend with tons of really great articles. I am not going to link to all of them, just send you to the pages with all the headlines and let you sort them out.
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The quality writer from the New York Daily News, Filip Bondy, has his own weblog while covering the World Cup.
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The word from Germany is that Italian right back Gianluca Zambrotta will miss his teams first match v Ghana, and that center back Alessandro Nesta MIGHT be out too.
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"He's big, he's red, his feet stick out of bed." Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about England's gangly geek, Peter Crouch: Unlikely dancer at the World Cup ball
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John Henderson of the Denver Post checks in on Mexico at their World Cup HQ.
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Long time Argentine midfield star (don't tell that to Man U fans) Juan Sebastian Veron has left Inter Milan to return to his first ever professional team Estudiantes, in his native land.
~ ~ ~ ~
Thursday night MLS action: Just in time before I leave, it's Round 2 of this years LA derby - LA v Chivas at 9pm central time on ESPN2! Will the goats get their first ever win over their older cousins?
-Luis Bueno previews the match for the Press-Enterprise of So Cal.
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For some odd reason the Cincinnati Enquirer has a story on Colorado's Clint Mathis where he talks about his team, his past, the USA team, and his future with the national team. (To which he replies: "No way.")
~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Cunningham has been on a huge tear for Salt Lake and now has been rewarded by being named MLS Player of the Week.
~ ~ ~ ~
Chicago's Daily Southtown newspaper had a breakdown of the Fire's new Bridgeview Stadium with multiple articles in their Sunday edition.
-And today they check in with the team's former guiding light and one of our hero's in soccer Peter Wilt.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Salt Lake Tribune asks the question about a great big problem - What is the future of MLS's summer schedule (not to mention playing during the World Cup) that they insist on? And is there a way to make it better for everyone?
~ ~ ~ ~
LA coach Steve Sampson get's the dreaded "Vote of Confidence" from upper management.
-Then the LA Daily News goes one step further and openly speculates on who will replace him.
~ ~ ~ ~
The US Players Assoc has part 1 of 2 on the progress of Freddy Adu.

Frere Jacques

When my Minnesota Thunder play matches I like to write little ditties for my fellow fans to sing to the tune of the French childrens song Frere Jacques. Here are my attempts for the USA's three World Cup opponents:


Czech Republic
Czech Republic
What's That Smell?
What's That Smell?
It Must Be The Goulash
It Must Be The Goulash
On Your Breath
On Your Breath


Italy
Italy
Why So Glum?
Why So Glum?
It Must Be The Diving
It Must Be The Diving
Wears You Out
Wears You Out


Hello Ghana
Hello Ghana
Who Are You?
Who Are You?
We Can't Even Find You
We Can't Even Find You
On The Map
On The Map

(try 'em out for yourself)

Don't You Just Love Those Little Insider Jokes They Tell On Local News

Our USA boys took on Angola in Hamburg today. It was a scrimmage more than a match, with unlimited substitutions and no scoreboard or tally supposedly being kept track of. The Associated Press says the USA won 1-0. But there are virtually no details available. Even Angola didn't know who played or scored for the US cuz the team didn't wear any numbers or names on their shirts. Crafty bastards.
~ ~ ~ ~
Thursday on ESPN Classic you can watch the USA beat Portugal and Mexico all over again from the 2002 World Cup. USA v Port at 1pm & USA v Mex at 3pm, both central time. This is some glorious viewing.
~ ~ ~ ~
US Soccer has photos, video and audio of all the team action in Germany
~ ~ ~ ~
The New York Times Sunday paper had an insert magazine yesterday called Play which features "Little Ronaldo" on the cover, and several more good stories on the World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~
This whole thing with people being upset that the Team USA bus is the only official team bus without its countries flag on it for security reasons is a little weird to me. As you can see in this picture, there is a giant slogan on the bus which says, "United we play, United we win." So I guess it's not much of a mystery whose bus it is.
-On the other hand, look at the frickin escort they get on the roadway.
-And here is the street in front of the team hotel in Hamburg.
-Cherundolo and Reyna sure look happy to be in Germany again.
~ ~ ~ ~
John Powers of the Boston Globe with a feature on our savior, Landycakes O'Donovan.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales writes about the new young Americans who will "make the scene" at this World Cup, for Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~
LA Daily News feature on oft-injured Johnny O'Brien.
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New York Times feature by Jere Longman on USA & Reading superwinger Bobby Convey.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Goff of the Washington Post with a feature story on Deuce Dempsey.
~ ~ ~ ~
And Deuce's home town paper, the Nacogdoches Daily Nacho (or something like that), has a feature on their favorite son too.
~ ~ ~ ~
USA Today with an Eddie Pope feature by Andy Gardiner.
~ ~ ~ ~
And another by Gardiner on Convey and Dempsey, aka The Backstreet Boys & Dem Franchise Boyz.
~ ~ ~ ~
Steve Davis of the Dallas Morning News talks about the infamous attitude of US "manager" Bruce Arena.
~ ~ ~ ~
Like injured fellow USA defender Cory Gibbs signing to English team Charlton, the rumors around England have Oguchi Onyewu all set to sign with Middlesbrough. And like Gibbs and Charlton, Middlesbrough have no manager yet, so signing Onyewu makes no sense at all to me. -And now that Gibbs has injured his knee, will he get his work permit to play in England at all?
~ ~ ~ ~
And American Soccer News is reporting that American defender Jonathan Spector is going to leave Manchester United and sign with West Ham in England.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Arizona Republic has a feature story on their home-state boy and USA & Colorado midfielder Pablo Mastroeni.
~ ~ ~ ~
Business Week looks at America's "Stars".
~ ~ ~ ~
This dude in Salt Lake is a convert. He was once one of those crabby ass sports writers. Now, he gets it. Hooray Beer. Hooray crabby guy.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrew Winner of Soccernet writes about one the next generation of great Americans, Lee Nguyen, who plays most excellently for PSV. Lee rules!
~ ~ ~ ~
Ghana beat South Korea 3-1 in Edinburgh Scotland on Saturday.
~ ~ ~ ~
Things are getting messier for Italian keeper Buffon with the Italian investigations into corruption and gambling.
~ ~ ~ ~
And two Italian defenders Zambrotta and Nesta are hurting physically.
~ ~ ~ ~
Giant freakish Czech Republic striker Jan Koller has left his German club team Borussia Dortmund and signed a deal to play next season for Monaco in the French top division.
~ ~ ~ ~
LA Times writer Graham Jones on Mexican coach Smokes LaVolpe.
-And that's just the tip of the old iceberg for the LA Times World Cup coverage - they exploded over the weekend with tons of really great articles. I am not going to link to all of them, I'm just sending you to the site with all the headlines and let you sort them out.
~ ~ ~ ~
If you go to this page at the French Open Tennis Tournament site and click on "Video Interview" (near the top) you can see American tennis player James Blake sporting his US Soccer jacket. He wore it everywhere he went at Roland Garros.
~ ~ ~ ~
Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger of Soccernet welcomes his fairly unaware American friend to Germany. The poor sap is in for a shock.
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS matches last Saturday:
DC 1-0 New England - Moreno bags #101 in a fantastic opening 30 minutes, then DC settles in to take the 3 points from a team that was supposed to be the best this season, and is instead floundering badly. Pat Noonan also got hurt about 10 minutes into the match (looked like the same hamstring he has had tons of trouble with this spring) and really seemed to kill New England's spirit (he had looked ready to rock in his first 2 or 3 touches).
Dallas 1-2 Columbus - A snoozer til the last 15 minutes. I almost stopped watching it, but Demko told me not to and he was right. Sigi's boyz did what they had to do and made up for that horrible loss to DC last Wednesday. The Little Fish scored Dallas's goal, which was his 6th game in a row on the score sheet. Amazing.
Houston 2-1 Los Angeles - Hey, at least LA scored! Not much consolation though when you lose again. And like most other teams, LA has no idea who to stop the second best player in the league, DDR, (Shalrie is #1), who just takes the LA defenders to school and scores a beauty. When John Wolnyiec scores for LA to end their scoreless streak at around 525 minutes announcers Max Bretos blurts out this odd call: "It's over! All creatures great and small, it's over!" But of course Houston finds a way to sink the ship again as my favorite defender in the league Eddie Robinson heads home for victory.
Kansas City 1-1 New York - For the second week in a row a referee called a PK for a foul that happened outside the box, and this time KC gets the goal to tie the score. You really outta see the shot Chris Henderson makes for the Red Bulls goal, cuz KC keeper Osoniyi initially makes a great save with his hands only to have it go off his own foot and kick back into the net for a score.
Salt Lake 3-1 Chicago - Holy shit did Brian Plotkin unleash a bomb of a goal for Chicago, but Jeff Cunningham had two really nice goals of his own, and forced an own goal with a third attempt, to wipe that out. Cunningham also was cool enough to climb into the stands and celebrate with the fans. Nice to see Salt Lake getting it together. John Ellinger saved his bacon for a few more weeks with this decent home stand.
Chivas 4-1 Colorado - Some really nice team work leads to all 4 goals for Chivas even though one of them had Razov a good 2 to 3 yards offside right in front of the side judge (so who knows what that was all about). My guy Dedi Ben Dayan scored the lone goal for the lame Colorado. (Why they are lame I don't know cuz I think they have the players to be decent.)
~ ~ ~ ~
The MLS single table standings:
24 DC United
21 FC Dallas
17 Houston Dynamo
14 Kansas City Wizards
14 Columbus Crew
14 Colorado Rapids
11 New England Revolution
11 Real Salt Lake
10 Chicago Fire
10 Chivas USA
9 New York Red Bulls
7 Los Angeles Galaxy
~ ~ ~ ~
And the leagues top 5 goal scorers:
7 Carlos Ruiz
7 Brian Ching
7 Jeff Cunningham
7 Jaime Moreno
6 Ante Razov
~ ~ ~ ~
Carlos Ruiz of Dallas was named MLS Player of the Month for May. Not surprising as the man scored 5 goals, one in each of the teams games during May.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Chicago Daily Southtown talks to Fire defender Jim Curtain about his teams brand new home stadium that opens this weekend! What does the string bean think of the new place: "Amazing!"
~ ~ ~ ~
Dylan Hernandez of the San Jose Mercury News quotes MLS #2 Ivan Gazidis on the plans for all MLS teams to have youth teams set up ASAP.
~ ~ ~ ~
The ugly story of trying to build a stadium in New Jersey for the Metrostars/Red Bulls will not die. The Jersey Journal reports that a mayoral candidate in the town of Harrison has made it his platform to stop the building of a new stadium in that town if he wins the election. The run off is tomorrow. He needs 20% of the vote to continue toward the general election in November.
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division last weekend:
Seattle 0-0 Portland
Minnesota 1-1 Vancouver
Atlanta 3-2 Charleston - Atlanta's new home stadium opened with capacity limited to around 3000 plus a few extras who bought standing-room-only tickets, then rauceously cheered their team to victory. (Some people were even apparently turned away at the gate. I know its not a big place, but at least the enthusiasm was there.)
Rochester 2-2 Virginia Beach - It poured down rain and they still packed the place with nearly 14,000, which was also a sellout. But Rochester got burned at the buzzer by VB after trailing 1-0 late, then taking a miraculous 2-1 lead, yet settling for a draw in the final moments.
Portland 3-1 Seattle
Montreal 1-0 Puerto Rico
Toronto 0-0 Virginia Beach
~ ~ ~ ~
He's no oil painting, but damn is he a handsome devil - A Wayne Rooney homage from the heavily deluded English. (Thanks Sean!)

Brand New And Official

I was totally surprised this morning when I visited US Soccer's web site and discovered that they have launched an official Team USA weblog from Germany. They gave us no prior warning that this was coming. Sooo...uuuuuh...cool, I guess!

The Smart Koolaid News

ABC is showing two World Cup previews this weekend: American Soccer's 10 Greatest Moments on Saturday at 2pm central time, hosted by Alexi Lalas - and - The Drive to Germany on Sunday at 1:30pm central hosted by Eric Wynalda & Lalas (again). I wonder if those two will exchange nasty verbal cheap shots? I hope so.
~ ~ ~ ~
It's now more real than it's ever been. The USA team has landed in Germany and set up home in Hamburg. US Soccer has photos and audio of the landing party. They also have video of the team schooling some morning-show TV dude who dons the gloves and takes to the goal.
~ ~ ~ ~
Jere Longman of the New York Times examines the Czech's.
~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Dell'apa writes for Soccernet that US Soccer - the team and fans - are becoming more sophisticated.
~ ~ ~ ~
Introducing ClintDempsey.com
~ ~ ~ ~
Simon Kuper joins the bandwagon of poking fun at the English. I like that game very much. As a matter of fact I will be in England when they lose to Trinidad & Tobago and I might have to rub it in a bit! Kuper: World Cup game England always plays well
~ ~ ~ ~
The Goalkeeper scores!
~ ~ ~ ~
Speaking of goalkeepers.... How awesome is Kasey Keller?! Michael sent me a link to the Flatlanders great web site which has a video clip of Kasey Keller leading the Gladbach fans in singing anti-Cologne songs! The Germans even chant U-S-A for him! It's hilarious! Thanks Michael and thanks Flatlander!
~ ~ ~ ~
Kevin O'D sent this great video clip of the real Ronaldinho trickery and a parody video - they are both marked "Guarda" - the first one is real, the second hilarious.
~ ~ ~ ~
JogaTV from Nike - tons and tons of great video clips
~ ~ ~ ~
You can read the official FIFA 2006 World Cup Regulations handbook. 60 pages long.
~ ~ ~ ~
Marc Connolly says it all really started in '94.
~ ~ ~ ~
A couple of dorks who suffer from multiple generations of inbreeding.
~ ~ ~ ~
Luis Bueno for MLSnet on young Michael Bradley, his new Dutch team Heerenveen and his time recently spent training with Team USA.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Guardian speaks with the star of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in the 90's, Roger Milla!
~ ~ ~ ~
Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated talks to the great Ronaldinho.
~ ~ ~ ~
The whole idea of Iran and it's leadership confuse me greatly. There is a movie being released called Offside which shows the government denying women of that country from enjoying football, and in particular their national team. (Much thanks to BQ for sending this to me.)
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS matches this weekend (all Saturday, all times central):
DC v New England - 6:30pm on Direct Kick
Dallas v Columbus - 7:30pm on Direct Kick
Houston v Loa Angeles - 7:30pm on Direct Kick & HDNet
Kansas City v New York - 7:30pm on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chicago - 8pm on Direct Kick
Chivas v Colorado - 9pm on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~
MLS has signed a new 4 year contract with league commissioner Don Garber.
~ ~ ~ ~
In today's Columbus Dispatch, Crew coach Sigi Schmid really goes after the teams supposed star central defender Chad Marshall for his performance on Wednesday night against DC: "I don't think Chad Marshall got close to an attacker all night. He's the biggest defender on the field and he had no impact."
~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Carlisle looks at the MLS class of 06 for Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~
According to NYNJSoccer, New York coach Mo Johnston is on a serious mission to find real players.
~ ~ ~ ~
Houston's tough center back Adrian Serioux has been out for two weeks with a toe injury, and is now going to miss about 6 more after having surgery to repair it.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kansas City has signed long rumored veteran Dutch midfielder Dave van den Bergh from Utrecht in the Eredivisie. He will be available to them in mid July when the transfer window opens.
~ ~ ~ ~
The same website talks to KC first year defender Matt Groenwald about his early season success.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Fire Alarm has an update on the opening of Chicago's new home stadium. Some good little things for you Fire fiends.
~ ~ ~ ~
First Division matches this weekend:
Friday
Seattle v Portland
Saturday
Minnesota v Vancouver
Atlanta v Charleston
Rochester v Virginia Beach
Portland v Seattle
Sunday
Montreal v Puerto Rico
Toronto v Virginia Beach
~ ~ ~ ~
Atlanta's new stadium, Remax Greater Atlanta Stadium (in it's initial smaller version), opens this Saturday too!

Sunn0))) & Boris Rule The Metal World And If You Didn't Know That Then You Are Horribly Out Of Touch News

A giant plasma screen beamed with the broad smile of Ace! The story from South Africa on the funeral of Ace Nstoelengoe. (Thanks Lance!)
~ ~ ~ ~
2 MLS games last night:
DC 5-1 Columbus - Jaime Moreno got goal # 100 early in the match for DC. He and Jason Kreis (103 and counting) are the only two players in league history to surpass the century mark. What a great player. The first half was really well played and 1-1 at the break. Columbus got their goal with great side to side passing that ended with Rotund Rozental chipping to the back post for Joseph Ngwenya to one time back across the goal and into the far side. It was gorgeous and should be up for goal of the week. Half number 2 was all DC though. They just avalanched Lumbus. 4 goals by 4 different people including an own goal put in by EZ Hendrickson under tons of DC pressure. A very deserved win. I thought Eddie Gaven played pretty well for the Crew but got very little help. And Ngwenya is a major defensive liability for his team. Joshua Gros was goal line to goal line amazing for DC! My old taunting buddy, Dan Popik, is the one who took the severe beating in the goal for Columbus. At least he got rid of the day-glo-orange keeper outfit that he stole from the highway construction crew.
Colorado 1-0 Los Angeles - Wow, no goals in the month of May for LA! Honestly, how does Sampson have a job? It's Pathetic! And how about Colorado.... have you ever seen so much hair on one team since the 70's? They did a great job of keeping it cool, moving the ball quickly & simply, and playing some great defense. My man Dedi got the game winner by out smarting Todd Dunivant on a corner and toe-poking home a sneaky one. LA has no chance to win if they change their line up and formation (not to mention keeper) every single game. I have said this a million times about everything, but consistency is so massively important and this is obviously something that S.(O)S. knows nothing about.
~ ~ ~ ~
Marc Connolly on Moreno's milestone, for MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~
DC and New England are both going to play friendlies against Celtic in mid July now. DC on July 12 and NE on the 19th.
~ ~ ~ ~
Soccer 365's Lars Lifrak does a Q & A session with DC midfielder Brian Carroll.
~ ~ ~ ~
In this weeks First XI Jeff Bradley talks to USA & Houston forward Brian Ching. Did you know he was Hawaiian?
~ ~ ~ ~
In last Saturdays game, New England defender James Riley tore a muscle in his FOOT. You ever heard of that? Me neither. He will be out a month or so. Damn. He is a favorite of mine.
~ ~ ~ ~
Seahawkdad over at Big Soccer links us to a radio interview that USA & DC midfielder Benny Olsen, aka Captain Caveman, did yesterday before heading to Germany. (ADDITION: I listened to this interview over my lunch break today and must say it great. I love Capt Caveman!)
~ ~ ~ ~
Go to US Soccer and see video of defender Oguchi Onyewu talking to Brian Kenney on ESPN News yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~
Our friend Jack Bell with an excellent remembrance of the 1970 World Cup final!
~ ~ ~ ~
Would you like to know EXACTLY which American television announcers will be calling each game of the World Cup? Here is their detailed schedule.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kelly Whiteside of USA Today says the USA has to have Claudio Reyna on the field to succeed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Attention all Manga freaks! Check out the new one from Viz and US Soccer - Next Stop Germany - our story begins in Columbus with USA v Mexico....
~ ~ ~ ~
Readers of the Guardian target="new" onclick="out=false"mock Team USA using Photoshop.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Guardian also talks to German General Herr Klinsy.
~ ~ ~ ~
Czech midfielder Vladimir Smicer is OUT of the World Cup squad due to a blood clot in this thigh caused by an earlier injury to that leg.
~ ~ ~ ~
Mark Zeigler has a very interesting little tidbit from his Sidelines column yesterday about that infamous 1966 World Cup winning goal scored by England. "It was NOT a goal." Read all about it under the heading: Only In Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~
Lance also sent a South African story about the "musical" instrument so popular at soccer matches known as the vuvuzelas, better known to you and me as "those fucking annoying plastic horns"! They love 'em in Johannesburg.
~ ~ ~ ~
Der Spiegel in Germany with a story on football and politics in Cote d'Ivoire: War of the Elephants
~ ~ ~ ~
There's Brazil, And 31 Other Teams. By Larry Rohter, in today's New York Times.
~ ~ ~ ~
Yes Shevchenko signed with Chelsea last night. Booooooooooring.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rochester's PAETEC Park opens Saturday night when they take on Virginia Beach. This brand new stadium looks great.
~ ~ ~ ~
Andrea Canales looks at the real chances of MLS returning to San Jose, for Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~
And lastly, I got a note from Todd, one of the owners of the Nomad pub located on the West Bank in Minneapolis about World Cup viewing, and the info is so good I had to pass it along to all of you: Here in Minneapolis we’re opening at 11am and showing all the matches everyday, (if it’s a game people really want to see at 8am we’ll do it/ we’re just not promoting that so hard. We’ll tape all the early games and run em later in the day if they rock). We’ve teamed up with CityPages, 89.3 The Current, and Soccer Express for the promotion. Decking out the bar as a german beer hall, serving Hacker, Paulaner, Becks, Spaten et al. We’ve got a futbol club that’s $25 and it gets you 20oz Imperial pint glass (all different countries) filled w/ delicious bier , a Cupa 2006 Nomad World Pub Futbol Club Tee, and a passport/ punchcard that you earn points in to win prizes. Points are gotten (sounds germaine eh) in a variety of easy ways: drinking, picking winner of match, participating in contests in the outdoor field area/ winning contests, drinking again. If you’re in the club the imperial pints are $4. Contests are things like, dribble and drink, juggling, progressive mini ball, 3v3 etc. Giving away cool merch from vendors daily, i-pods weekly, and big grand prize at end (Best Buy gift cert for plasma I think). Also having 3v3 championship after the finals that we’ll give away something that needs to be discovered soon. Bar 612.338.6424, 501 Cedar Ave S.