We Deftly Handled The Problem News

Error error on the ball, who's the worst defender of them all? Erpen, Boswell, Namoff or Perkins?
Wow, oh wow, oh wow! They had em! DC United went to Guadalajara and had Chivas by the short and curlies last night. But two horrendous defensive lapses later and it was all over.
Chivas of Guadalajara wins the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal series over DC United 3-2 on aggregate.
DC played a well oiled tight game in the first half, stringing pass after pass together from one corner of the pitch to the furthest. They kept the game in near total control for the first 40 minutes. And got a just reward with a soft Chilena goal from Jaime Moreno - the king of the 6th sense on the pitch.
But shortly after that, Chivas turned it on.
Right back Facundo Erpen, who made about 10 horrible passes that luckily did not cost his team, got beat long to the end line by Alberto Medina who slid a perfect pass into the box for Bozo Bautista who was left alone by Bobby Boswell 5 yards in front of the goal. Bozo tied the game with a nice flick shot.
Ugh!
Tied 1-1 at half time was not the best, but not terrible either.
Half #2 started like the first ended. Badly for DC that is. In the rain Brian Namoff committed a really stupid foul on an unneeded slide tackle near the left touch line. The conceded free kick led to a long powerhouse shot by Pineda that went straight at keeper Troy Perkins, but then popped right through his hands!
Hooooooooooooooooooooooooowl.
Oh it was just awful to watch.
After that both teams alternated good possession and a couple of chances, and in the very last moments DC tried desperately to tie it up.
But it's over now, and DC has only themselves to blame.
You mark my words, this back line is going to cost them more before the year is over, unless there are changes made.
The other thing I noticed is that Chivas did a great job of plugging up the middle of the field, aka Christian Gomez country. So that left the two wings fairly open for DC to exploit. But they don't have the wingers to do it.
How many times was Clyde Simms wide open down the right side but unable to put in a decent cross. Gros couldn't do it from the left either, but then left the game due to a concussion (I have no idea how he suffered the injury). The replacement left winger DeRoux did his best and almost created a gem with a poke into the box that Gomez turned on goal and forced a great save from the Chivas keeper. Other than that? Nothing from the open sides.
Disappointing boys.
It was very disappointing that you did not see and exploit that chance on the wings. DCU were close, really close, but not too close.
See game highlights here via MLSnet.

CONCACAF Champions Cup Semifinal second leg matches are this week!
Tuesday-
Guadalajara 2-1 DC United - Chivas win 3-2 on aggregate. Guada goals by Buatista & Pineda. DC goal by Moreno.
-Match reports:
Steven Goff of the Washington Post
Goff has more tidbits on his Soccer Insider blog
Andrea Canales translates quotes for us by DC United players from the Mexican press - forward Jaime Moreno - and - defender Facunco Erpen about their loss.
CONCACAF
Thursday-
Pachuca v Houston - live at 8:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
-The referee for this match will be that awful Mauricio Navarro from Canada.
-Previews:
Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo head to Mexico with caution foremost on their minds.
Luis Bueno of LA Soccer News talks to Panchito Mendoza of Chivas USA about the two CCC matchups.
Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet has previews of both CCC matches.
Preview of both matches from FIFA.com
-The Dynamo have a mascot now too - named Diesel. I think its supposed to be a fox. What is up with the eye's though?
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC has lost midfielder Ronnie O'Brien for at least a month with partially torn knee ligaments. Not a good way to start.
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Kevin McGeehan at the US Soccer Players Assoc has a really good interpretation of what the new MLS "Game First" initiatives can achieve.
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Suburban Houston is interested in hosting a stadium & surrounding grounds for the Houston Dynamo. There are some really unintentionally funny comments written by readers, after the article.
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The Sacramento Bee talks to potential San Jose owner Lew Wolff and new DC co-owner Will Chang, both baseball men with the Oakland A's & San Francisco Giants respectively, about MLS.
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Reading's Ecuadorian defender Ulises de la Cruz wants to go play for LA too! They are lining up, but there is no money for it. So what happens?
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And Los Angeles has actually signed former San Jose Earthquake midfielder Ian Russell who played for current LA coach Frank Yallop several years ago in SJ. Russell sat out last year after the team moved to Houston.
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Andrew Hush of Soccer New England says Rev's striker Taylor Twellman is ready for 07 in a big way.
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Hush also has various team notes from the Rev's annual media day.
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Mike Biglin of the Boston Herald previews the season of the New England Revolution.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says several New England starters are injured and questionable for Saturday: Revolution starters Pat Noonan (groin) and Michael Parkhurst (separated shoulder) could be available for the opener at Chicago Saturday. Noonan trained at nearly full speed and Parkhurst worked out on his own yesterday. Daniel Hernandez (groin) and Shalrie Joseph (calf) didn't practice but Joseph could be available Saturday. Khano Smith (hamstring) trained on his own and is questionable.
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The Kansas City Wizards have gone out and found an Argentine of their own - Carlos Marinelli. He has been with Boca Juniors, Middlesbrough, Braga and a few others. He is a central midfielder, which is their biggest hole in the roster. He has been praised many times, but seldom seen it through.
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Chicago held their big press conference yesterday to introduce their new hunchbacked midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Here is what the locals had to say:
-Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune - includes a short Q & A
-Arroyave chronicles his month chasing the Blanco story, via his Red Card blog.
-Len Zeihm of the Chicago Sun Times
-Chicago Daily Southtown
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And Andrea Canales of Soccernet chimes in on Temo too.
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Alecko Eskandarian has his own blog too now. It's hosted by his team Toronto FC and its called Esky's World. He's got a lot to say, which is very cool. Let's see how long he keeps it going at this pace.
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Allen Hopkins of ESPN has reported on TV that Toronto's new midfield acquisition Richard Mulrooney does not want to play north of the border. He did not want to leave Dallas in the first place, and now has to find a new home. They sure could use him in Houston right now with Ricardo Clark out.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger writes about the Bruce Arena & Clint Mathis reunion at the Red Bulls.
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Sports Illustrated with a feature story on El Pescadito, Carlos Ruiz, and a season preview of his team FC Dallas.
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MLSnet with a story on Dallas's very expensive back up goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, who will get a chance to prove himself worthy of the big bucks as the season opens with him in goal and regular starter Dario Sala suspended for 6 games due to a fight last season.
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Columbus has shipped forward Marc Burch to DC for a future draft pick something or other.
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The Pittsburgh Post Gazette with an article on the investment made by Dick's Sporting Goods in the game of soccer, especially their buying the naming rights to the new stadium in Denver.
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The Denver Post looks at the new stadium in suburbs a magnet for future flourishments of commerce and living.
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Brain Forbes the regular soccer writer for the D Post checks out the growth of MLS this offseason. I would say it has been substantial.
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Jack Bell at the New York Times with a look at the state of MLS on the eve of season 12.
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James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News with a MLS Western Conference preview.
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Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union Tribune with his MLS season preview.
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For all you WWE fans, Monday Night Raw "Interviewer" Todd Grisham will be the host of Fox Soccer Channels MLS Pre & Post game shows every Saturday.
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Yanks Abroad talks to Michael Bradley about his two recent games with the senior Team USA.
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YA also reports today that American Lee Nguyen of PSV has successfully undergone shoulder surgery and has started on rehab here in the USA. He will be ready for his clubs preseason training this summer.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet says we may have seen the last of Bob Bradley as USA coach. Or have we? Quotes from US Soccer Pres Sunil Gulati.
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Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Apr 03
Nacional 3-1 Emelec
Colo Colo 4-0 LDU Quito
El Nacional 0-1 Banfield
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
Apr 04
Cienciano - Boca Juniors
Sao Paulo - Necaxa
Maracaibo - Flamengo
Apr 05
Caracas - River Plate
Defensor Sporting - Santos
Deportivo Pasto - Gimnasia
-With 2 rounds of the group stage still to be played both Santos & Flamengo have already qualified for the knock out stages.
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Champions League quarterfinals - Matchday 9
Tuesday:
-Milan 2-2 Bayern Munich - goals by Pirlo & Kaka for Milan, and 2 by Van Buyten for Bayern. What a comeback, and it should have been a win as Milan got a really dodgy PK call.
-PSV 0-3 Liverpool - goals by Gerard, Riise & Crouch. It was a rout! PSV missed a couple of starters, but they were terrible and got punished for it. I really dislike their coach Koeman. As a matter of fact, I think he is lousy.
Wednesday:
-Roma v Manchester United - Live at 1:30 central on ESPN2
-Chelsea v Valencia - Live at 1:30 central on Setanta & delayed at 4:00 central on ESPN Classic
-Matchday 10 on April 10 & 11.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews yesterday's two CL games with an emphasis on Bayern's hero Daniel Van Buyten.
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Liverpool left back Fabio Aurelio will be out of action for about 4 months after rupturing his Achilles in the CL yesterday. Oh, damn that has got to hurt badly.
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Bayern defender Willy Sagnol will also miss the rest of the season with meniscus tear in his knee.
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Paul Doyle at the Guardian thinks Man U & Chelsea can destroy their opponents today in the CL just like Liverpool did yesterday.
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Gregory Sica at Sport Illustrated does a Q & A with du Nord fave Argentina & Manchester United left back Gabriel Heinze, prior to the Roma CL matchup.
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International rumors yesterday said that Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello is going to coach Iran! Of course he denies it. I don't believe that story. Do you?
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Steven Wells of the Guardian continues his love/hate with America - he says all American sports want to be soccer. What is he talking about?
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Due to continued violence at sporting events in Greece and the death of a fan at a volleyball match last week, the government has outlawed all "fan clubs" of sports teams. How this will change anything I don't know. I guess they won't get preferential treatment by the teams? Huh? We all know the fan groups themselves are not the problem.
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To no real surprise a court in Italy has lifted the ban on Catania fans from attending the teams games. The team will still have to play all their remaining home games this season on neutral fields (how long before that is overturned as well), but the fans will be back this weekend.
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The Times of London with a story on another of Fulham's "characters" Jimmy Bullard. Since blowing out his knee last fall he has taken up fishing. Professionally! Seriously!
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Lastly, someone named Dan left a message in the comments section the other day talking about soccer movies, and he said that Shaolin Soccer is a masterpiece. Completely agreed! See it today!