Cash On The Barrelhead News

US Soccer makes it official - Bob Bradley takes the wheel of the company truck.
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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated with his thoughts on the USA-Klinsi-Bradley affair.
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Here is some really juicy scuttlebutt stolen from BigSoccer.com.
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Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America says Bradley is definitely out at Chivas USA, and even if he is replaced as top dog at US Soccer he will continue to work for them at some level.
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At Soccernet Jeff Carlisle says US Soccer is taking a step backward, while Ives Gallarcep is saying Bradley may seem second string to some, but he has the tools to make it work.
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Andrea Canales at Soccer365 examines the Bradley prospectus.
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So who does Chivas USA hire as their coach? How about Steve Sampson? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! I had to do that. Oh, that is funny. Oh, holy shit that is scary. Stop, make me stop. Please.

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OK! Enough of the Bob Bradley show for now. There is actually some other really interesting news out there today…
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The Colorado Rapids recently showed off proto-types of their new kit at a private reception. I don't know what to think of them. I guess I liked the old dark green they first had. But these are not bad, just kinda dull.
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Bob from The Offside sent me a link from Persian Football saying the LA Galaxy have invited the Iranian national team to LA for games next May. Very interesting. I like it. Thanks Bob.
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MLSnet gives us the latest from Jeff Bradley - First XI: Unsolved mysteries
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch looks at the possibility of an MLS team in the Cleveland area, and how that would affect the Columbus Crew.
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Ian Plenderleith unearths some great looking new soccer books with an American bent. Excellent info here.
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As the USA U20 team gets ready for World Cup qualifying, several potential players will gather in Florida next week for a 10 day camp. Coach Thomas Rongen has called in the following roster:
G
Brian Perk - UCLA
Steve Sandbo - SMU
Chris Seitz - Maryland
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Tony Beltran - UCLA
Matt Besler - Notre Dame
Kyle Davies - Ballistic United
Amaechi Igwe - Santa Clara
Ofori Sarkodi - Indiana
Nathan Sturgis - Los Angeles Galaxy
Julian Valentin - Wake Forest
Blake Wagner - FC Dallas
Anthony Wallace - South Florida
Tim Ward - Columbus Crew
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Freddy Adu - DC United
Bryan Arguez - West Kendal Optimists
Alejandro Bedoya - Fairleigh Dickinson
Quavas Kirk - Los Angeles Galaxy
Dax McCarty - FC Dallas
Danny Szetela - Columbus Crew
Jonathan Villanueva - Virginia
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Andre Akpan - Harvard
Jozy Altidore - New York Red Bulls
Mike Grella - Duke
Jeremy Hall - Maryland
Rodrigo Hidalgo - South Florida
Sal Zizzo - UCLA
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Mexican Apertura Finals kicked off last night (2nd & final leg on Sunday):
1st Leg score-
Guadalajara 1-1 Toluca - a very choppy, rough & tumble game from start to finish. Chivas was robbed of a penalty early, then took the lead on a great header by Omar Bravo. But Toluca controlled a lot of the second half and got a deserved goal from Bruno Marioni in the 76th minute. This gives the definite advantage to the Red Devils for the 2nd leg.
-Match Report from Reuters
2nd Leg Sunday Dec 10th-
Toluca v Guadalajara - live at 12noon central on Univision.
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Some very interesting news from SoccerTV.com concerning last Sunday night's America v Chivas semifinal game: The 2nd Leg of the Mexican First Division Torneo Apertura semifinal series between Club America of Mexico City and Chivas Guadalajara recorded the highest U.S. television viewership for a professional club soccer match (a soccer match NOT involving national teams) in the past 12 years, according to data collected by Nielsen Media Research as part of the Nielsen Television Index (NTI) national general market television rating system. The Club America-Chivas Guadalajara match, dubbed the superclasico because the match pits the two biggest professional soccer clubs in Mexico, drew 2.048 million U.S. TV households a 1.8 rating.
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Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated says the Mexican league is looking very strong & deep in talent these days.
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Big Euro matches this weekend:
Saturday-
Manchester United v Manchester City - the old trusty Manchester derby pits the red side of town v the blue side of town, the prawn sandwich eaters v the Oasis fans.
Sevilla v Real Madrid - #3 v #2 in Spain, and they are only 2 and 1 point off Barca's lead. This should be a doozy.
Sunday-
Chelsea v Arsenal - the newest big London derby
Lazio v Roma - the Roman derby. One of the biggest and oldest and sometimes ugliest.
Ajax v AZ Alkmaar - #3 v #2, and with PSV now opening up a 5 point lead ahead of them both, they both need to win this one to stay close.
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South Africa's two biggest clubs Kaizer Chiefs & Orlando Pirates with face off on Saturday at Johannesburg's 80,000 seat Soccer City stadium and then the stadium will close to be rebuilt for the World Cup. This stadium is said to be the key to South Africa's World Cup plans. Local officials hope the match goes off without a hitch.
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One of the least anticipated soccer events of the year kicks off this weekend. Yes, its the second annual FIFA World Club Championship from Japan. You can see the games on Fox Soccer Channel. Here is the schedule (check listings for broadcast times):
Sun Dec 10
Auckland City (Oceania) v Al Ahly (Africa)
Mon Dec 11
Jeonbuk (Asia) v America (CONCACAF)
Wed Dec 13
game 1 winner v Internacional (CONMEBOL)
Thur Dec 14
game 2 winner v Barcelona (UEFA)
Fri Dec 15
game 1 loser v game 2 loser - 5th place game
Sat Dec 16
semifinal 1 loser v semifinal 2 loser - 3rd place game
Sun Dec 17
semifinal 1 winner v semifinal 2 winner - championship game
-See all the matches on Fox Soccer Channel
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The AP is reporting that ESPN has bought the rights to show Euro 2008 in the USA. Included in the deal is 2 games to be shown on ABC. WOWZER!!!
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UEFA.com talks to Henrik Larsson about his upcoming short-term loan deal with Manchester United.
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UEFA also has an article written by Kaka himself, talking about the first 4 months of this season.
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Nikola Zigic who has been tearing it up recently for Racing Santander has been named Serbian Footballer Of The Year.
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The Telegraph of England has a very long Q & A session with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. You will enjoy this. And that's not an order, it's a promise.