Sandwich Board News

New York coach Bruce Arena will be joining the ESPN2 broadcast team for the DC v New England match on Sunday. (But to counterbalance this brilliant move with some rampant heinousity, the network will have Dave O'Brien calling the match.) To top it all off, they will keep Eric Wynalda around so maybe he and Arena can get in a fist fight! Excellent.

For the second year running, the great weblog Climbing The Ladder, has compiled votes from other blog writers and awarded the MLS Blogosphere American Soccer Awards! The results have been slowly unveiled, for many categories, over the past week, and will continue for another week, ending with the MLS Player Of The Year. du Nord participated in the voting again. Go check out the winners so far.
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I just noticed today that Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald and Soccernet has his own weblog - Soccer By Ives. Awesome!
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Brian Straus at the US Players Assoc profiles DC United's very underrated right back Brian Namoff. And to show you how much I appreciate Namoff's skills, for the 2nd time in 3 years he has made the du Nord MLS Best 11 (to be unveiled soon)!
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with his regular monthly webchat with readers. Always, and I do mean always, excellent.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at the slowly reducing role of Jose Cancela at New England.
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All sources still indicate that Clint Dempsey will be doubtful to play against DC on Sunday.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle praises the Dynamo fans for last weekend's game.
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Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree ventures out to the FC Dallas practice facility in the days after the wreckage. Interesting stuff.
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Still no word on whether or not Dallas will retain coach Colin Clarke. Team general manager Michael Hitchcock told the Dallas Morning News that it might take another week to decide.
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The Chicago Daily Southtown with a Chicago Fire post season review and look ahead.
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Word on the street says Red Bull is relaunching itself in NASCAR with a soccer themed design for their car. See it run this weekend.
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Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Globe and Mail joins the chorus of those saying David Beckham should come play in MLS next season.
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The Kansas City weekly paper The Pitch is comparing the Kansas City Wizards want of a soccer stadium to a pervert in a trench coat who uses candy to lure in children. Whoa! I understand if you don't like it, but the analogy is a bit much dude.
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A small update on the stadium issue in Salt Lake City, from the Deseret Morning News.
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If any of you are fascinated by insider corporate real estate stuff here is some info on the Red Bull Park deal from PR Newswire.
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Soccernet with MLS Semifinal previews: Jeff Carlisle on Houston v Colorado - AND - Frank Dell'apa on DC v New England.
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MLS Cup Semifinals - Sun Nov 5:
DC United v New England Revolution - at 3pm central on ESPN2
Houston Dynamo v Colorado Rapids - at 6pm central on FSC & HDNet
-Wanna join up with others to watch these games in the Twin Cities?
Our friend Joe talked to the Sweetwater (click for map) and we are all set to watch the two games there.
Sweetwater Grille and Bar
at the Kelly Inn in St Paul
161 St Anthony Ave
just off I-94, between Marion & Rice
651-224-6373
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Yanks Abroad talks to American & Troyes keeper Quentin Westberg about his debut for his clubs senior team.
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UEFA Champions League Matchday 4 scores from yesterday:
Arsenal 0-0 CSKA - The Arse had offense, offense, offense, but CSKA had defense, defense, defense, luck. Luck got the draw!
Kobenhaven 1-0 Man United - Marcus Allback used to play in the EPL and got the goal for his new team. Big big win.
Real Madrid 1-0 Steaua - The galacticos got bailed out by one of the worst own goals I have ever seen. (Seek it out.) Banel Nicolita put the ball into his own net while his keeper lay on the ground hurt. Unreal.
Hamburg 1-3 Porto - Porto stuck it to Hamburg on the road with goals by Lucho Gonalez, Lisandro Lopez & Bruno Moraes. Rafeal Van der Vart got the Hamburg goal.
-American midfielder Benny Feilhaber made his Champions League debut for Hamburg and played fairly well to no avail. He went the full 90. Good for him.
Milan 4-1 Anderlecht - Did Milan get the wagon moving finally? Rikki Kaka bagged 3 goals before the hour mark, with Alberto Gilardino also scored for Milan. Roland Juhasz scored for Anderlecht.
Lyon 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv - 18 year old Karim Benzema with the games only goal. Seems like DK found a way to at least slow down Lyon like no one else has.
Benfica 3-0 Celtic - Gary Caldwell gave up an own goal, then Nuno Gomes & Andrei Karyaka piled on with the other 2 goals.
AEK - Lille - Nikolaos Liberopoulos with the home winner! Efstathios Tavlaridis was red carded for Lille.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews all of yesterday's action.
-Lyon & Real Madrid became the 5th & 6th teams to advance out of group play with 2 rounds left. They join Bayern, Liverpool, PSV & Valencia who qualified after Tuesday's matches. 16 teams will move on. 6 down, 10 to go.
-Matchday 5 will take place on November 21 & 22, with Matchday 6 (the last day round of group play) on December 5 & 6.
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Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated with the new World Soccer Power Rankings.