The Return Of Kurtis Blow's Semi-Annual Sale News

Ives Galarcep from Soccer By Ives blows the lid off the Colorado Arsenal non-name change story: Nike claims it owns rights to Arsenal's name and logo and will not let a team from MLS, which is sponsored by Adidas, have them.

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Greek legend Alkis Panagoulias to Soccer Insider's Steve Goff on the potential for soccer in America: "This is the future. Youth is the force. There's no country in Europe that has such big potential with their youth. Not England, not France, not Germany. It's right here. Big things are coming."

The next EPL-MLS partnership being rumored is DC United and Chelsea. Do these things really mean anything. Remember Manchester United and the New York Yankees. That was huge.
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Frank Dell'apa at the Boston Globe tells us that New England striker extraordinaire Taylor Twellman has signed a new contract which will pay him more than $300,000 a year. Great for Taylor!
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The Denver Post business section with a story about 3 of the states wealthiest people, and how they are all deeply involved financially in soccer. Phil Anschutz, Stan Kroenke, and now George Gillet. Interesting.
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An article from Forbes on the Colorado-Arsenal partnership.
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Ian Plenderleith, writing for the US Players Assoc, with his thoughts on the "Colorado Arsenal" story.
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Doesn't new Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman look like a 65 year old man in this picture? The KC Star with a feature on their teams new stopper.
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James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News on the upcoming season for Salt Lake: 6 Things To Expect From RSL
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Edwards also looks at RSL's surprising and little known right back Kevin Novak, plus other news updates.
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An editorial from the Deseret Morning News on the Salt Lake City stadium funding that was pushed through the government last week.
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The Salt Lake Tribune says RSL defender Nelson Akwari has signed "with a second-division club in Russia." Maybe someone out there knows the name of the club.
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George Gross of the Toronto Sun reports on the widely differing nationalities on TFC.
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Toronto now heads to Florida to really kick-into their preseason regimen. From the Toronto Star.
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I forgot to mention this last week... the anonymous people who run the soccer blog MLS Underground have removed their superhero masks and revealed themselves to us the curious public. That site is already one of the most popular soccer blogs around, and it was only started in December. Of all the other soccer sites that direct people to du Nord, MLSU is probably the second most popular, behind Soccer By Ives. Well, last week the people at MLS Underground decided to tell us who they were. Most of us thought it was one person, but they claim to be three. And they are all well known. Is this a ruse? Are we supposed to laugh? Or is it serious? Their names are Andrew Shue, Ethan Zahn & Ted Chronopoulous. How about that.
-Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't say that Andrew Shue's sister Elisabeth is one of the hottest women I have ever laid eyes on.
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Speaking of Ives & his blog, he checks in from his vacation - DUDE YER ON VACATION! LOG OFF NOW! IT CAN WAIT! - with some great stuff on the "Colorado Arsenal" story (juicy) and more thoughts from USA v Mexico (dos a cero!).
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I got an email from Kelly Presnell who took pictures at the USA v Mexico match for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. There is a slide show of them here. Thanks Kelly. These are great!
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Steven Goff at the Washington Post with a feature story on DC United's new forward Luciano Emilio. The guy already speaks 3 languages and is wasting no time learning a 4th - English of course. Coach Tommy Soehn claims he already speaks it better than most native speakers on the team.
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The University of Kentucky Athletics website talks to second year Columbus goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum about being a professional etc.
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After all the bluster and anger from Real Madrid management leveled at David Beckham, there he was on Sunday, back in the teams starting lineup, and scoring a goal on a free kick. His teammates were very happy to have him on the field with them, and mobbed him when he scored. I love bluster, and its back wash. I've never tasted crow. I wonder if it's as bitter as the myth leads us to believe? Mr. Capello would you care to chime in?
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The Newark Star-Ledger with a feature story on the Bradley brothers - Bob, Scott & Jeff. All involved in sports in one way or another. Bob obviously coaches Team USA, Scott was a baseball catcher for the Yankees for 9 years, and Jeff writes for ESPN Magazine, Soccernet & MLSnet, and is frequently linked here. I think we have read this story before, but I don't remember who wrote it.
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Yanks Abroad with the story of Peter Philipakos, an American who tried to catch on in Greece but now has ending up suing his team over unpaid wages. What an ordeal. He now wants to sign with an MLS team.
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The LA Daily news with the story of rookie Robbie Findley and his quest to make the LA Galaxy roster.
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The Daily Breeze with notes from the opening of both the Chivas USA & LA Galaxy preseason training camps.
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TeamTalk with the story of Englishman John Cunliffe trying to make the Chivas USA side this season.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet with the Good and the Bad from this MLS offseason, leading up to the start of the 12th year of our league.
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Jose Garcia of the Arizona Republic says investors in the Phoenix area are trying to cash in on the success of the huge crowd for last weeks USA v Mexico match and bring MLS to the area.
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MLS is gaga about the hispanic TV viewership ratings for the USA v Mexico game last week, but they don't report anything on caucasian viewership. My cynical self says those numbers were miniscule as usual.
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A story from the Montclair State University student paper, The Montclairian, on the New York Red Bulls making the schools athletic facilities their full time home for practice sessions.
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US Soccer's U23 team, aka the Olympic team, launch their first training camp with new coach Bob Bradley as they prepare to qualify for the 08 Olympics in Beijing. On Friday this team will fly to Japan for a pair of games. Here's the camp roster:
G:
Tally Hall - Esjberg FB
Chris Seitz - Real Salt Lake
D:
Adam Cristman - New England Revolution
Hunter Freeman - Colorado Rapids
Patrick Ianni - Houston Dynamo
Nathan Sturgis - Los Angeles Galaxy
Julian Valentin - Wake Forest U
Rob Valentino - U San Francisco
Tim Ward - Columbus Crew
M:
Arturo Alvarez - FC Dallas
Nico Colaluca - Colorado Rapids
Stuart Holden - Houston Dynamo
Will John - Kansas City Wizards
Quavas Kirk - Los Angeles Galaxy
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Ryan Solle - New England Revolution
F:
Chad Barrett - Chicago Fire
Michael Harrington - Kansas City Wizards
Jacob Peterson - Colorado Rapids
Jamie Watson - Real Salt Lake
-Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News talked to a few of the players in this camp.
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Canales also writes about the excellent move it was on US Soccer's part to play that USA v Mexico game in a fairly hostile environment so early in the new year. I agree. While I was certainly nervous about the outcome before the match started, I still knew the value of such a matchfor young players regardless of the outcome.
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Luis Bueno also from LASN talks to Mexican legend & Chivas USA defender Claudio Suarez after the USA v Mexico match. Suarez is very disappointed in his countrymen's lack of respect for their opponent.
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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 - came on in the 61st minute of his teams 2-1 loss to Portsmouth.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played the whole game in the center of the defense but got smoked 3-0 by Freiberg. Picked up another yellow card and will now miss the next game.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - was suspended due to yellow card accumulation, as his team lost 2-1 at Bolton. They really could have used him. He has been playing great lately.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - dressed but did not play in a 0-0 draw with Vitesse.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - started at right back as usual in his teams disappointing 2-2 home draw with Wolfsburg.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not dress for his teams 2-0 win over Aston Villa. I can only guess that he did not suit up because he went to Arizona for the USA game in midweek.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played all 90 minutes in a dramatic 0-1 road victory over fellow relegation candidates West Ham. Huge win for Jay and his team. But they are still 7 points from safety and in last place.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - did not dress for Fulham in their 2-1 loss to Bolton. Again I would assume he, like Convey at Reading, was not included because he went to Arizona for the USA game in midweek.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the distance but his team lost 1-0 to Everton.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started as usual and grabbed another shut out as his team beat Aston Villa 2-0. 6th place!
-Tim Howard - Everton - played another full 90, made several good saves and kept yet another clean sheet in a 1-0 win over Blackburn.
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - played the entire match in goal in a scoreless draw with Alemannia Aachen. Another clean sheet for the master though. But I bet he would trade it for a win.
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - returned to start after his recent hamstring injury, but was subbed off in the 64th minute with a reoccurrence of the muscle tweak. Not good. Luckily his team won 2-1 over Crystal Palace.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 90 in a losing effort, 2-1 at Bolton.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Newcastle - went the full 90 in a big 2-1 win over Liverpool. Gooch played really well after his team had a horrible start to the game. They almost let Craig Bellamy score 3 on them early (luckily he only got 1).
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on in the 32nd minute for an injured teammate, but lost 0-1 at home to Watford. Relegation is staring them straight in the eye.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started and went the distance but could not get the job done as they lost 3-0 at Freiberg.
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Oguchi Onyewu will not be able to play in the UEFA Cup with his new team Newcastle because he already played in the tournament this season with his old club Standard.
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Onyewu with some hilarious quotes about Craig Bellamy's height after his team beat the Liverpeople this past weekend. From Goal.com.
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American defender Heath Pearce who plays for Danish club Nordsjaelland writes about his experience at the Team USA January training camp for the US Players Assoc site.
-Pearce also talks to Yanks Abroad about his next career move. His contract expires at the end of this season, and his dream team would be Ajax.
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Sean O'Connor at Yanks Abroad talks about the American explosion at Fulham. Not just on the field, but also in the stands and, then goes back in English history to another American invasion in Fulham about 400 years ago. Don't forget that Eddie Lewis and Marcus Hahnemann also played at Craven Cottage before the current bunch. Very cool story. I love history & soccer stories. Helps make me feel smarter when I am done reading.
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More great stuff from Yanks Abroad as they talk to young American midfielder Benny Feilhaber at Hamburg, who has been demoted to the second team by the clubs new Dutch boss. Ah yes, the return of the prejudiced European manager.
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Former San Jose left midfielder Romiro Corrales has been deported from Norway for playing without a work permit. He is currently back in the US while his club Brann try to work out the problems with immigration authorities. From YA.
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Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated was in Verona this weekend for the Chievo v Inter match, played in an empty stadium, and gives his feelings on the oddity. I have seen this before in Italy, most recently a couple of summers ago at the Olympic Stadium in Rome after a referee had been hit in the head and split open by a Zippo lighter thrown from the stands. Roma was forced to play several Champions League games in an empty stadium. It's quite weird to watch in that you can everything the players on the field say, and then at times you can hear fans outside the stadium singing!
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated tries to figure out why all these rich Americans are spending so much money on soccer.
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Steve Goff with a cool story on Greek legend Alkis Panagoulias, from his Soccer Insider blog.
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Luis Bueno at LA Soccer News with his excellent weekly Mexican roundup - Jornada 4 Rewind
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Inter Milan have tied a European club record with their 15th consecutive victory. They beat Chievo 0-2 on Sunday. Real Madrid (1960-61) & Bayern Munich (end of 2004-05 to beginning of 2005-06) have both won the same number in a row. Inter go for the record next weekend v Cagliari who sit in 13th place, 27 points back. Inter lead Serie A by 11 points over 2nd place Roma.
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Milan saw the debut of two players yesterday - my hero Ronaldo come on in the second half wearing #99 and had a couple pretty decent shots on goal. Goalkeeper Marco Storari got the start and bigger yet, he cut his hair off. He also elected not to wear his pink keepers shirt in favor of forest green.
-Kaka got his Italian citizenship.
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Did you see the shirt that Brazilian coach Dunga was wearing on the sidelines of his teams match with Portugal last week? Wow. I think he may have lost a bet.
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Phil Ball looks at what the hell happened to Valencia this weekend. They were cruising along ready to test the top of the table very soon and then got popped by Getafe 3-0. And of course all the rest of La Liga's hoopla in Ball's regular excellent Soccernet column.
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In other Spain news, Barcelona were winning easily over Racing in the 80th minute and coach Frank Rijkaard went to send in sub Samuel Etoo, coming back from knee surgery, but Etoo "declined" to enter the game. Yes you read that right. He said "No" to the coach. Now what happens? No word yet from Barcelona. Lionel Messi did make his return to action, playing 30 minutes after missing 3 months with a broken bone in his foot.
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The giant egos who run Real Betis and Sevilla went at it off the pitch while their teams battled on the pitch. Don't you love infantile rich dudes. I do. I love to laugh at them any way. Sid Lowe from the Guardian writes about the war of the small/big men.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the sad story of Newcastle defender Celestine Babayaro who's younger brother died from Tuberculosis late last Friday night. Babayaro, then decided he needed to play anyway, as a tribute, on Saturday v Liverpool.
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The IHT's Peter Kiefer writes about the silence in some of Italy's grand stadiums.
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And finally today, legendary Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson was the pilot who flew Rangers to Israel for their UEFA Cup match v Hapoel Tel Aviv this week!!!!!