Prime Of Your Life News

"I have a good understanding with Jaime. It seems like we've been playing together for three years." Brazilian forward Luciano Emilio talks to Steven Goff about playing with Jaime Moreno after his first day of training with DC United. From the Soccer Insider.

There was a bunch of talk this past weekend about American defender Oguchi Onyewu transferring from Standard Liege in Belgium to Olyimpique Marseille in France. Hell, CNN even had it on their ticker! But there was never any confirmation and the bidding appears to still be continuing with Newcastle now in hot pursuit. The story going on right now has Gooch in Newcastle doing a medical exam and lining up a loan deal. I will try to let you if and when its finalized.
Metrofanatic talks to Alfonso Mondelo, the MLS Director of Player Programs about young player Gabriel Ferrari and how MLS let him get away to Sampdoria even though he was in the Red Bulls youth system.
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Looks like Dallas has lost out on the chance to sign Edgar Davids from Tottenham as he is near a deal with Ajax. Next.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet writes about the ever increasing number of young Americans going directly to Europe and bypassing MLS. Until MLS pays a real wage this will just happen more and more and more. I say good for the players. It's good news for the MLS players union too, cuz this will give them lots of leverage to up the minimum wage, which are a joke by any standard.
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The New York Red Bulls made it official with Dutch keeper Ronald Waterreus. He joins them after a short spell at Alkmaar.
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In the weirdest transfer news of the day MLS Underground says RSL striker Jeff Cunningham is trying to sign a deal with Dedi Ben Dayan's club Netanya in Israel. What is the deal with that? Does he really feel that disrespected by MLS?
-Another weblog - Are You Loyal? - that covers RSL closely says the offer for Cunningham is way too low, and he is going nowhere, ending any negotiations before they got too serious. (Although, his team might be history. See below for all that gore.)
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Andrea Canales at Soccer 365 has a great interview with Mr Eddie Johnson. She says he is way to young to be washed up.
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So what is going on with Team USA? The US based players are training at the Home Depot Center all week getting ready to meet Mexico, and awaiting their European counterparts who will arrive after next weekend's games to fill out the game day roster.
-Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News reports on a scrimmage the team had v UCLA. (Winning 3-2.)
-US Soccer talks briefly to New England forward Taylor Twellman who has just returned from double hernia surgery. Via podcast. Twellman cracks jokes too .... who knew?
-US Soccer has a video look at Jonathan Bornstein as he got his first cap.
-New training camp photos.
-The team weblog.
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Metrofanatic talks to Alfonso Mondelo, the MLS Director of Player Programs about young player Gabriel Ferrari and how MLS let him get away to Sampdoria even though he was in the Red Bulls youth system.
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DC United started training camp today. Steve Goff of the Washington Post looks at their roster.
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Big Houston news, as the Dynamo have begun looking for a place to build their own stadium. From the Houston Chronicle.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle looks at what the Houston Dynamo will have to do to repeat as league champs.
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And Glenn Davis, also in the Chronicle, gives his views on what youth development should look like.
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With both DC & Houston starting their preseason camps today, Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America gives us a season preview, preview.
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The US Players Assoc site talks to now retired goalkeeper Jonny Walker. Sadly his career ends at age 32 due to back injuries.
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Andrea Canales looks at the logistical changes in store for the LA Galaxy team when Golden Balls arrives on their scene. From the LA Soccer News.
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Tino Palace's latest edition of The Clean Sheet. From MLSnet.
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Frankie Hejduk says NO to Germany and re-signs with Columbus. From the Dispatch.
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Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston does an interview with Toronto Sports Radio where he says he is not interested in players from Europe in their 30's (ie. Neil Lennon). I would assume he is not referring to Canadians currently playing in Europe. You can hear the interview in a link from the excellent Toronto MLS FC blog!!
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Add Aston Villa's often injured midfielder Patrik Berger to the list of Euro players rumored to be heading to MLS.
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In some awesome news, James of the Giant Blog informs me that the LA Riot Squad have purchased a season ticket in their section (138) for Mrs Beckham aka Posh Spice. Her seat will be well protected with a velvet rope. Of course. This is the highest of quality fandom!
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Up in Salt Lake City, things are going very badly for the Real Salt Lake stadium building quest. From the Salt Lake Tribune.
-RSL owner Dave Checketts releases a statement to the press on the subject.
-A local radio station is even reporting (without any direct quotes) that the potential for ANY stadium is dead and Checketts will now look to sell the team. Drama!
-The Deseret Morning News has quotes from the Mayor saying the funding has been rejected. The story also says the team is serious about selling, and will be sold by FRIDAY! Oh please! Enough with the desperate hi-jinx already. You rich bastards should sit down, cool off, and get a deal done.
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The San Jose Mercury News with the latest on Lew Wolff's stadium bid, and Earthquakes rebirth plan.
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This isn't hideous enough to be funny - Chivas USA & Univision will host a reality show where a youngster will try to make the team. Ugh. 200 full on idiots have signed up to make their dreams come true.
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The US Open Cup has clarified the participation of the 12 MLS in this years competition. Word had been spreading that only 8 MLS teams would be in the tournament this year, leading many like me to assume that the 4 teams enter in the SuperLiga would NOT be in the Open Cup. This has proved to be false information. All 12 teams will be entered, but only the top 6 get in automatically. The other 6 will play off for 2 spots. Dates and matchs have not been set. Here is how they break down:
-Teams automatically qualified: Chicago (Defending champs), Chivas USA, DC United, Dallas, Houston & New England
-Teams that need to qualifying: Columbus, Kansas City, Salt Lake, Colorado, Los Angeles & New York
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Remember Troy Dayak - the beastly lookin fella that roamed the back line for the San Jose Earthquakes who retired a couple of years ago? He had taken over the California Cougars indoor team, but this weekend he got the boot. It all sounds a bit crazy to me. From the Stockton Record.
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Let's check in with our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - flew past the keeper and got his teams last tally of a 3-1 win over Southampton in the FA Cup. DMB played the whole game on the left wing.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played the whole match in a 2-1 loss to Offenbach.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - went the full 90 in their 3-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - came on as a sub in the 70th minute of a 5-1 win over Heracles.
-Conor Casey - Mainz - he is basically without a club at this point.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - did not play due to red card suspension.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - got the start in the FA Cup. It was his first start in many months s ince the knee injury. He got an assist as his team won 3-2 over Birmingham. Great news!
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the entire match in defense as his team beat West Ham on the road 0-1 in the FA Cup.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 60th minute of his teams 3-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup.
-Benny Feilhaber - Hamburg - came on as a sub in his teams 1-1 draw at Bielefeld.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - yet another shut out by Friedel for red hot Blackburn as they beat Luton Town 4-0 in the FA Cup.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - got the day off as his team won 3-2 over Birmingham in the FA Cup.
-Tim Howard - Everton - team had the weekend off.
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - lost yet again, this time 3-1 to Cottbus. Things are not looking good for Gladbach. Is MLS inching closer to Kasey with every loss.
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - team had the weekend off.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went the distance, scoring the second goal in his teams 3-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - looks like he will leave the team finally. Was not with them this weekend.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - went the full match but his team lost 0-1 to Watford in the FA Cup.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - got his first goal in Germany, but it came very late in a 2-1 loss to Offenbach. He started the match and went the full 90.
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Jay DeMerit also has a new diary entry on his Soccernet page. He says his Watford team intend to avoid relegation despite the insane odds: Mission Impossible (Thanks to BQ for this one.)
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Another American, Kamani Hill, made his German Bundesliga debut with Wolfsburg. The forward came on late and almost scored a goal to tie it up. They lost 2-1 at Hertha. Hill left UCLA last fall and joined Wolfsburg in December. Great for him!
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Denmark finished their tour of the Americas with a 1-1 draw in Honduras. Chris Sorensen scored first for the Danes in the 80th, but Honduras tied it up just 3 minutes later on a goal by Saul Martinez. I did not recognize the names of any of the Hondurans.
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The 4th round of the English FA Cup was played over the past weekend. Here are the results. And the draw for the 5th round was held this morning, so here are those matchups.
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Luis Bueno with his excellent weekly Mexican league review: Jornada 2 Rewind.
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Former Rangers manager Alex McLeish has been named the new manager of Scotland.
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Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian says Bayern Munich are having a horrible season. And by horrible season he means 3rd place in the Bundesliga and in the last 16 of the Champions League. I guess thats horrible.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet imagines the worst for any team - Relegation: The Grim Reaper
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Simon Kuper at the Financial Times on why English Premiership football is the world's most popular version.
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FIFA.com has an interview with Spain & Valencia forward Fernando Morientes. He says he is very happy to be back playing in La Liga, after a not-so-hot run with the Liverpeople.
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Werder Bremen's Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic had a kidney transplant last Thursday. Unfortunately his body has rejected the new kidney and he will have to undergo another surgery when a new donor is found. Sad.
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Michel Platini has unseated Lennart Johansson to become the new president of UEFA. Does this puts a crack in the old boy network that runs soccer's governing bodies? Platini has said he wants to completely overhaul the Champions League and give smaller clubs a better chance to win. This story from Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune.
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Hughes also extols the virtues of 3 glorious goals he saw scored over the weekend in various competitions.
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Our pal Jonah Freedman at the Sports Illustrated writes about the Three R's of recent Brazilian fame: Romario, Ronaldo & Rivaldo.
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Inter Milan won their 14th Serie A match in a row, beating Samp 2-0. Yawn. Marco Materazzi goads some idiot into head butting him again. Yawn.
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Not to sound really freakin corny or anything, but here is a great story about a very sick Canadian girl getting a phone call from David Beckham who tries to make her feel just a little bit better.