Whacky Blooper News

MLS weekend schedule & scores (all times central):
-Thurs May 10
Colorado 1-1 Salt Lake - both tally's were own goals!
Match report by Pat Rooney of the Rocky Montain News.
Match report by John Meyer of the Denver Post.
Match report by James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report by Brian Forbes for the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post-game analysis by George Tanner of RMN's FC Rocky. He talks about the blown offside call that denied Colorado a goal! George and I then disagree on yet another offside call that denied a second Colorado goal. George says it was offside this time, but my freeze frame on the DVR shows that it was not offside and should have been a legit goal! So, as far as I'm concerned, Herculez was robbed of two, just like DDR didn't deserve two last weekend.
-Sat May 12
Toronto v Chicago - 2:30 on FSC
Columbus v Chivas USA - 6:30 Direct Kick
Kansas City v Dallas - 7:00 Direct Kick
Los Angeles v New England - 9:30 Direct Kick & HDNet
-Sun May 13
New York v Colorado - 2:00 Telefutura
-DC & Houston do not have games.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews this weekends MLS games.
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Alecko Eskandarian suffered a calf injury and will not play for Toronto this weekend. But it looks as though Ronnie O'Brien may be ready for his club debut. Will he start?
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The Columbus Crew will play a friendly v Aston Villa on July 28 at Crew Stadium. Villa are owned by Clevelander Randy Lerner.
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There is a rumor that Amado Guevara may not be done in MLS after all, even though his stint at Chivas USA is over. Dallas are showing interest.
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Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated talks to the 3 Americans who helped keep Fulham afloat in the EPL: Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey & Brian McBride.
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Sadly, Paul Kennedy at Soccer America has an obituary for the recently deceased Gino Pariani, who played for the USA 1950 World Cup squad. You know, the legendary team! RIP Gino. My best wishes to his family.
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Word on the street is that GolTV has secured the rights to broadcast the Copa America in English in the USA. Watch for an announcement soon.
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My Minnesota Thunder are off this weekend, but here are the other USL First Division games on tap:
-Fri May 11
Portland v Seattle - live on FSC at 10pm.
Puerto Rico v Montreal
-Sat May 12
Charleston v Miami
Atlanta v Carolina
California v Rochester
Seattle v Vancouver
-Sun May 13
Portland v Rochester
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Jesse Erdmann at Blue Sky Soccer has the new USL First Division Power Rankings.

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In a couple of friendly's for USL 1st-D teams this week, Carolina beat Chivas USA 2-0, and Portland beat Necaxa of Mexico 1-0!
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Copa Libertadores - Round of 16 second leg matches:
-Tue May 8
Colo Colo 2-1 America - America wins 4-2 on aggregate.
Toluca 2-0 Cucuta Deportivo - Cucuta wins 5-3 on aggregate.
-Wed May 9
Velez Sarsfield 3-1 Boca Juniors - Boca advance 4-3 on aggregate.
Flamengo 2-0 Defensor Sporting - Defensor adv 3-2 on agg.
Gremio 2-0 Sao Paulo - Gremio adv 2-1 on agg.
-Thu May 10
Santos 3-2 Caracas - Santos advance 5-4 on agg.
Libertad 1-1 Parana - Libertad advance 3-2 on agg.
Necaxa 0-1 Nacional - National advance 4-2 on agg.
-Who advanced to the next round: America, Cucuta, Boca Juniors, Defensor Sporting, Gremio, Santos, Libertad & National.
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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-
Matches:
Barcelona v Real Betis
Real Madrid v Espanyol
Sevilla v Recreativo Huelva
Valenica v Zaragoza
Standings:
65 Barcelona
63 Real Madrid
61 Sevilla
59 Valencia
55 Zaragoza
(5 left to play in Spain)
-Bundesliga-
Matches:
Schalke
Stuttgart
Werder Bremen
Standings:
65 Schalke at Borussia Dortmund
64 Stuttgart at Bochum
63 Werder Bremen v Eintracht Frankfurt
(2 left to play in Germany)
-Serie A-
(3 left to play in Italy - 8 teams fighting over 1 relegation spot)
37 Cagliari -10 goal differential, at Fiorentina, v Roma, at Ascoli
37 Catania -23 gd, v Milan, at Sampdoria, v Chievo
36 Livorno -16 gd, v Sampdoria, at Torino, v Atalanta
36 Torino -18 gd, at Roma, v Livorno, at Inter
35 Reginna 0 gd, v Chievo, at Empoli, v Milan
35 Chievo -9 gd, at Reggina, v Ascoli, at Catania
35 Parma -20 gd, v Messina, at Lazio, v Empoli
34 Siena -12 gd, v Empoli, at Palermo, v Lazio
-Already out: Messina & Ascoli
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Fulham has hired coach Lawrie Sanchez on a permanent basis. He was brought in last month to try and save the team from relegation. He did what he was hired to do in the interim, so they have rewarded him with the full time spot. (thanks to BQ for sending me this)
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Barcelona led Getafe 5-2 after the first leg of the semifnals in the Copa del Ray, aka The Kings Cup, aka the Spanish league cup competition, but last night they got blown out 4-0 and Getafe now advance to the final v Sevilla, 6-5 on aggregate! Sevilla cruised past Deportivo la Coruna 5-0 on agg.
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One of three teams in England fighting to survive the Premiership drop is West Ham. And Yanks Abroad talks to their American defender Jonathan Spector about his teams huge game against his former team Manchester United. You can see the game live at 9am central time Sunday on Fox Soccer Channel. Wigan & Sheffield United are the other two hoping to survive.
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Lastly, The excellent folks at EPL Talk are rolling out their newest feature this weekend:
We'll be debuting a new interactive soccer show on the Internet this Saturday.
The live show is available from Talkshoe.com at Noon ET and will feature special guests Steven Cohen (World Soccer Daily), John Nicholson (Football 365), Phil McThomas (Soccer Shout), Brian Koski (Championship Talk) and myself.
We'll be discussing several soccer-related topics with an American twist. For example, has the English Premier League reached its peak of popularity in the United States or will it continue to grow? etc, etc.
The audience will be able to listen to the show via streaming audio, participate in an online chat, and pose questions to the special guests via phone.
More info here.