Whomp News

My friend Andy sent me this email yesterday: I just asked Miguel, my Mexican friend, if Cuauhtemoc Blanco has a nickname, and hid reply was - "The joke is that Blanco does not have a neck and it looks like he has a little backpack ("mochilita") under his shirt. Something like a hunchback." So he is called "la Mochilita" for "the little backpack." That is glorious fun!


CONCACAF Champions Cup - Scores from the 2nd leg matches:
Houston 2-0 Punterenas - Houston wins 2-1 on aggregate. Goals by Paul Dalglish & Kelly Gray.
-It was great to see Brian Ching come on the field and have an immediate impact for Houston. He got a head to a free kick that went off the post and then teammate Kelly Gray smacked it home for the aggregate winner.
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his match report.
-Fallas also has some games note and word on injuries.
-Let me say that Puntarenas are a really good team and only a couple players, like a bitchin striker, away from being a great team.
-Marc Connolly at the US National Players Assoc with his post game thoughts on Houston.
-Match report from the Bryan-College Station Eagle.
DC 3-2 Olimpia - DC wins 7-3 on aggregate. Goals by Luciano Emilio (2) & Christian Gomez for DC, and Hendry Thomas via PK & Jose Pacini for the visitors.
-Gomez & Elimio were again both magnificent for DCU in a win that was easier than the scoreline indicates. Emilio's 2 goals and Gomez's 1 gives them 3 apiece in the two game series!
-Match report from Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
-The big question from the game last night is, "How badly is goalkeeper Troy Perkins injured?" The word on the injury is a strained quadriceps, whatever that is.
-Ian Plenderleith of the US National Players Assoc with his post game thoughts on DCU.
-Post game quotes from DC players and coaches. From the teams website.
Previous nights scores-
Marquense 0-1 Pachuca - Pachuca wins 3-0 on aggregate.
Guadalajara 3-0 W Connection - Chivas wins 4-2 on aggregate.
-So in the Semifinals we will see are:
Houston v Pachuca - first leg will be played March 14 with the return on April 5
DC v Guadalajara - first leg will be played March 15 with the return on April 3
-Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet reviews both the DC & Houston CCC victories.
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Goalkeeper Jon Busch is not happy about being released from the Columbus Crew. Busch won't be out of work long though, because despite two bad injuries he is still a proven MLS keeper. Plenty of teams will take a chance on him. From the Columbus Dispatch.
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And Shawn Mitchell at the Columbus Dispatch says Crew rookie Aaron Chandler has been a very pleasant training camp surprise.
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Columbus midfielder Danny O'Rourke writes his own pre-season story for MLSnet. This article is over a week old now, but I figured someone would enjoy it.
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The LA Soccer News section On The Spot has a Q & A with Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein about his knee injury and other important topics.
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Andrea Canales at LASN talks to Galaxy coach Frank Yallop & GM Alexi Lalas about their recent trip to Madrid to meet with David Beckham.
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Dan Steinberg at the DC Sports Bog gets serious with members of DC United about their... Hair! Yes! Finally others are tackling this very important topic!
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with the story of DC United youngster Guy-Roland Kpene from the Ivory Coast, via the UN.
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DC United has hired their former star player Marco "The Devil's Mullet" Etcheverry. His role within the organization is multifaceted and includes: consultant to team President Kevin Payne, scouting, liaison to Latin American countries, club ambassador domestically & internationally, and youth development. Here is the official press release from the team.
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Looks like it's now official, Chicago keeper Zach Thornton has been shipped to the Colorado Rapids. Good for him and Colorado.
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FC Dallas has announced the signing of Colombian midfielder Juan Carlos Toja. This is a loan deal with this native club Independiente de Santa Fe. He played last year on loan at River Plate in Argentina. He plays in the center of midfield and is 21 years old.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at the serious lack of forwards that NYRB is suffering from.
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Not good news for Minnesota Thunder fans as New York coach Bruce Arena said the following to Lewis of BAS about forward Ansu Toure who is trying out for the Red Bulls: "...promising. I wouldn't have thought he would last this long, but he has gotten better each week."
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Apparently the Utah Governors wife played a large role in getting funding passed through the state legislature for RSL's new stadium. From the Deseret Morning News.
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Real Salt Lake are in Spain this week training at Real Madrid facility. RSL got second half goals from Freddy Adu & Duke Hashimoto to tie Rayo Vallecano 2-2 yesterday.
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Toronto is out searching for another goalkeeper. Words has it they are looking in Europe. How about Jon Busch?
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The Toronto Sun is now reporting that the Conor Casey signing hold-up is not with the league but rather with the team itself. It seems that they don't want to use big allocation money to do the deal (they want to save that for something special). Well, folks that's how this whacky league works. Get used to it.
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Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo is giving no ground to Canada's newest team from Toronto. He says that if TFC wants to be Canada's best team, then they will have to earn it. From the CBC.
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Bob Luder of the KC Star talks to Kansas City & USA defender Jimmy Conrad after he signed his new 4 year deal with the team.
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Colorado has signed 20 year old Costa Rican midfielder Yherland McDonald from Fredrikstad of Norway.
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New Colorado defender Stephen Keel has been keeping a diary during the team's Mexican training trip. The picture of Keel that the team has chosen to put on their site makes him look completely insane.
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And here is an "official" update on the Rapids training in Mexico, along with scores from friendly's.
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Chivas USA has hired Serbian Zoran Savic as another of Preki's assistant coaches. Savic is a former coach and executive with Kansas City Comets indoor team.
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The Goats USA also announced that they signed 25 year old Mexican midfielder Jorge Barrera from their mothership team in Guadalajara.
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This weeks edition of Jeff Bradley's First XI is about major player movement in the offseason: New digs ... new fortunes?
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MLSnet also gives us Tino Palace's new The Clean Sheet: I'd Like To Dedicate This to.... . This week Tino will be paid for his work in chocolates wrapped up to look like gold coins.
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The groupings and game schedule for next summers Gold Cup will be announced next Tuesday March 6.
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Before the USA v Ecuador match on March 25 the two country's U17 teams will face off. And we will be able to watch it online at the US Soccer site.
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Sporting Life with new coments from Clint Dempsey about life at Fulham.
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Yanks Abroad talks to American midfielder Benny Feilhaber about his demotion to Hamburg's second team, and the first teams efforts to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga.
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Half a million tickets have been sold so far for next summers U20 World Cup in Canada.
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The East Bay Business Journal says possible San Jose Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff might become the sixth team owner in the next American pro women's league.
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Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
-Wed Feb 28
Necaxa 2-0 Audax Italiano
Sao Paulo 4-0 Alianza Lima
Internacional 3-0 Emelec
Velez Sarsfield 1-1 Nacional
-A recap of the matches from Sports Illustrated.
-Thur Mar 01
America 1-4 Libertad - WOW! America let 4 big players go suit up for Mexico and this is what happens.
Boca Juniors 1-0 Cienciano
Santos 1-0 Defensor Sporting
-Match reports from Yahoo Sports.
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English FA Cup Wednesday:
Blackburn 1-0 Arsenal - a spectacular late winner from Benni McCarthy knocks the Londoners out. Hooray South Africans.
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Spains Copa Del Rey quarterfinal second leg matches:
-Osasuna 1-0 Getafe - Getafe win 3-1 on agg.
-Real Betis 0-1 Sevilla - the match was abandon after crowd trouble (see story below). Sevilla win 1-0 on agg.
-Valladolid 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna - Depor wins 5-2 on agg.
-Zaragoza 1-2 Barcelona - teams tied 2-2 on agg, but Barca win on away goals rule.
-Some imbecile threw a bottle out of the stands and knocked the Sevilla coach unconscious! From Soccernet.
-Sid Lowe of the Guardian says it was a really bad scene in Seville, much worse then when the 2 teams owners played silly ego games a few weeks ago.
-Several important people in Spain are saying the club big wigs were the root cause of this latest violence, brought on by their constant petty bickering.
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Mexico 3-1 Venezuela in San Diego on Wednesday.
-Goals by Andres Guardado, Fernando Arce and Cuauhtemoc Blanco (PK) for Mex, & Daniel Arimendi for Venez.
-Luis Bueno with a match report for Sports Illustrated.
-Andrea Canales gets post game reactions for LA Soccer News.
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And Canales gets a few words from Paco Palencia comparing MLS and the Mexican league. For LASN.
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There is talk in England of testing out the Hawk-Eye system for determining the ball crossing the goal line. This is the system that is used very effectively in professional tennis, and I guess cricket too. Interesting.
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That squabble and shoving match between Chelsea and Arsenal during the League Cup final last weekend was nothing compared to the "good old days" of cup finals. From the Guardian.
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And the Guardian also with a story on the nearly unthinkable yet very probable relegation of Leeds to League One.
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The Sun tabloid in England have an exclusive interview with David Beckham. Note: this article was obviously arranged by Adidas.
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American investment firm Chestnut Hill Ventures of Boston has invested a nice chunk of money in the small but notorious London club Millwall. From Football 365.
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Canadian pharmaceutical tycoon Jack Kachkar has bought French team Olympique Marseille.
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Didier Drogba of Cote D'Ivoire & Chelsea was named African Football Player Of The Year! Congrats amigo. He beat out Samuel Eto'o and Michael Essien for the award. I would have voted for Drogba too, but could have just as easily seen the other two win it.
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UEFA.com with a feature story on another Ivory Coast player - Lille's excellent winger Kader Keita.
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Inter were held to a 1-1 draw v Udinese Wednesday night ending their 17 game winning streak! The streak is dead, long live the streak. They still haven't lost a game in Serie A this season though.
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What a week it's going to be for Barcelona. They play at Sevilla on Sat Mar 3, at Liverpool on Tue Mar 6, and at home v Real Madrid on Sun Mar 11!
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2 very big Euro games this Saturday:
-Liverpool v Manchester United - an old fashioned to-the-death inter-city derby
-Sevilla v Barcelona - #2 v #1 in Spain
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune previews the Sevilla v Barca match after the violence in midweek where Sevilla coach Juande Ramos was hit on the head with a bottle, knocked out cold, and almost seriously injured in his own stadium.
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Dominic Fifield of the Guardian checks out Liverpool's game plan for a huge week ahead featuring Man U, obviously, and then Barcelona.