I Was Searched News

Tino Palace of The Clean Sheet raving about watching games from Toronto: "I don't care if they were playing on green artificial turf, green concrete or green beans - the game looked great on that field."

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Sweet fancy Moses! BMO Field is falling apart. From the Toronto Globe & Mail!


MLS schedule this week (all times central):
-Wed May 16
Toronto 1-0 Houston
-Thur May 17
Chicago v Dallas - Dal goals by Kenny Cooper & Juan Toja. Chic goal by Calen Carr.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Times.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report from Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Post-game notes from Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog.
Post-game analysis by Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc.
-Sat May 19
Toronto v DC - 2:30pm - Direct Kick
New York v Columbus - 6:30pm - Direct Kick
Houston v New England - 7:30pm - FSC
Colorado v Kansas City - 8pm - HDNet
-Sun May 18
Chivas v LA - 4pm - Telefutura
Dallas v Salt Lake - 6pm - Direct Kick
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My game notes from Chic v Dal:
-Rob Stone started off the broadcast by comparing Dal forward Carlos Ruiz to Pig Pen from the Peanuts comic strip. He said, "There's always a cloud around him."
-Ruiz did not play due to a hamstring strain.
-USA coach Bob Bradley was at the game and talked to Stone on camera at half time. The only news update was that USA players will gather on Sunday May 27 to prepare for China and the Gold Cup. I would assume in LA.
-Pascal Bedrosian & Calen Carr got the start at forwards for Chicago in place of the injured Chris Rolfe, and Chad Barrett who was sitting for unknown reasons.
-Frankencooper! He was fouled in the box by Pickens and coverted his own PK for a 0-1 Dallas lead.
-Chicago had about a million corner kicks. Few were dangerous.
-Late in the first half Chic's Dasan Robinson went for the chileno and put it off the cross bar. Audacious!
-Several more shots from both teams went off the cross bar and goal posts. It was close to being a 5-5 game.
-Dallas midfielder Juan Toja got his second goal in 2 games, after Abe Thompson held off defenders and laid out a perfect pass. It looked like the ball tipped off Chic defender Gonzalo Seagares.
-Stone kept calling Dal's Toja, "Roja".
-Right after the goal, ESPN did a split screen comparison of photos of Toja & Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap. THEY STOLE THIS FROM DU NORD!!! I called this one weeks ago!
-Chicago had 14 corner kicks
-Beyond all the corner kicks Chicago wasted, they also put at least 5 nice crosses through the box that teammates could not connect on.
-Chic subbed in Plotkin, Barrett & Tiago to great effect. They poured on the offense.
-A reward finally came in the 73rd when Barrett drilled in a cross that Carr bumped home.
-Dallas did a good job counter attacking after that to hold Chic at bay.
-Chic coach Dave Sarachan moves on to the hot seat. Ouch.
-Dallas now has 13 wins, 0 losses & 2 ties when Frankencooper scores!
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du Nord's MLS Coaching Hot Seat:
1. Sigi Schmid - Columbus
2. Dave Sarachan - Chicago
3. Preki - Chivas USA
4. Frank Yallop - LA
5. Tom Soehn - DC
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with a MLS weekend game preview.
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The incredibly well named blog Ben Olsen's Beard has an interview with D of the ultra-tight DC United blog DCenters. In it they discuss yours truly! And of course, they nailed it. I am humbled & scared.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says more than just revenge is on New England's collective mind when they go to Houston Saturday night.
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Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News looks at which New England players are most likely to play for Team USA this summer in the Gold Cup and Copa Amercia.
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Shawn Mitchell at the Columbus Dispatch checks out at the Crew's new venture into youth development.
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John Meyer of the Denver Post with an article on Colorado forward Herculez Gomez.
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Houston forward Brian Ching talks about his frustrating night in Toronto, on his weblog.
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I missed this one earlier in the week - Steve Davis at Soccernet looks at the best newcomers of the early MLS season.
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Oh my goddess, Tino Palace is back with a new episode of The Clean Sheet: Got Your Passport? He raves about Toronto. Good call man. For this column he was paid with one Phyllis Diller wig, two bottles of the Liz Taylor perfume "Forever" (for the missus), and the complete DVD collection of the Lucile Ball Show. Nice haul.
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USL First Division games:
-Fri May 18
Miami v Minnesota - see it live on FSC at 7pm central time
Puerto Rico v Atlanta
Seattle v Rochester
-Sat May 19
Carolina v Charleston
California v Vancouver
-Sun May 20
Montreal v Seattle
Puerto Rico v Minnesota
Miami v Atlanta
Vancouver v Rochester
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FIFA.com talks to Freddy Adu about the USA U20 team that will be in the World Cup this summer.
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England's Daily Star is reporting that American midfielder Eddie Lewis could be headed back to his old club Preston North End, from newly demoted Leeds.
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Mexican Clausura Semifinals:
Thur May 17 - first leg
-Cruz Azul 1-3 Pachuca - Cruz goal by Jared Borgetti. Pachu goals by Gabriel Caballero & 2 by Christian Gimenez (who else!).
-America 1-0 Guadalajara - Amer goal by Salvador Cabanas.
Sun May 20 - second leg
-Guadalajara v America - 6pm (0-1)
-Pachuca v Cruz Azul - 8pm (3-1)
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Mexican defender Salvador Carmona who was banned in 2005 for one year after he tested positive for steroids, has tested positive again and has now been banned for life. He was on the roster of Cruz Azul.
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Copa Libertadores - Quarterfinals scores and matches - first leg matches:
-Thur May 17
Boca Juniors 1-1 Libertad
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
-Second leg matches:
-Tue May 22
Nacional v Cucucat Deportivo (0-2)
-Wed May 23
Gremio v Defensor Sporting (0-2)
Santos v America (0-0)
-Thur May 24
Libertad v Boca Juniors (1-1)
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The Italian Cup Final
-Inter 2-1 Roma - Roma wins 7-4 on aggregate.
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Two of the big Euro league races are still really tight, while a third features an epic relegation battle. Here are the weekend's matches and standings:
-La Liga-
(4 left to play in Spain)
Matches:
Real Madrid at Recreativo Huelva
Barcelona at Athletico Madrid
Sevilla at Deportivo La Coruna
Valenica at Mallorca
Zaragoza v Athletic Bilbao
Standings:
66 Real Madrid
66 Barcelona
64 Sevilla
62 Valencia
55 Zaragoza
-Bundesliga-
(1 left to play in Germany)
Matches:
Stuttgart v Energie Cottbus
Schalke v Arminia Bielefeld
Standings:
67 Stuttgart - last game v Energie Cottbus
65 Schalke - last game v Arminia Bielefeld
-Serie A-
(2 left to play in Italy)
-8 teams fighting over 1 relegation spot
39 Livorno -15 goal differential, at Torino, v Atalanta
39 Torino -17 gd, v Livorno, at Inter
38 Parma -17 gd, at Lazio, v Empoli
38 Catania -23 gd, at Sampdoria, v Chievo
37 Siena -10 gd, at Palermo, v Lazio
37 Cagliari -11 v Roma, at Ascoli
36 Reginna 0 gd, at Empoli, v Milan
36 Chievo -9 gd, v Ascoli, at Catania
-Already relegated: Messina & Ascoli
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The English FA Cup Final
-Saturday May 19 at the new Wembley
Manchester United v Chelsea
-Chelsea left back Ashley Cole will miss the match due to an ankle injury.
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Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated has a Q & A with Chelsea & Ukraine striker Andriy Schevchenko.
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Danubio have won the Uruguay championship.
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Sheffield United's new coach Stuart McCall has a nice mullet.
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Star Italian defender Alessandro Nesta has signed a 3 year contract extension with AC Milan.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with a report on Wednesday nights UEFA Cup final: Sevilla Edges Espanyol In The Cruelest Fashion
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Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian with a story on a big du Nord favorite Carlos Tevez. What was this past season like for him?