Together With The Weather News

The excellent Steven Wells at the Guardian with a great article on the Philadelphia supporters known as Sons of Ben, as in Franklin, and all the other organic supporters sections that have sprouted up over the last decade across the American soccer landscape! Top notch story.

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Andrea Canales on her Sideline Views blog with a quote from Kasey Keller pertaining to his chances of signing to play for Real Salt Lake: "We’re on a different place on the financial situation. I wasn’t talking crazy money from the money that’s out there right now, but they seem to have an idea of what they’re going to pay goalkeepers in this league and it’s different than what I was turning down in Europe."


Gold Cup action:
(all times central)
Wed Jun 6
-Costa Rica v Canada - 6pm on Galavision
-Guadaloupe v Haiti - 8pm on Galavision
Thu Jun 7
-USA v Guatemala - 8pm on FSC
-El Salvador v Trinidad & Tobago - 10pm on TeleFutura
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Steven Goff at the Washington Post with a story on USA coach Bob Bradley.
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The Oregonian with an article on their old college boy, USA goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
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Pete Gratoff of the Kansas City star with an article on red hot KC striker Eddie Johnson who hopes to ignite Team USA in the Gold Cup.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet with an article on the return to glory for USA & KC striker Eddie Johnson.
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Luis Bueno at LS Soccer News says the USA has to win the Gold Cup. Nothing less.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews USA v Guatemala.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram with a good Gold Cup preview.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe calls the Gold Cup a "glittering event", in his preview. I wouldn't go that far Frank.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with a Gold Cup preview and his predictions.
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Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with a look at the meaning of the Gold & America Cup's this summer for Team USA.
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The New York Times actually has a Gold Cup preview. I am surprised.
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Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America previews Team USA for the Gold Cup.
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Soccer America also previews some of the other teams in the Gold Cup:
-Canada
-Haiti
-Costa Rica
-Guadeloupe
(I would assume SA will have previews of the other 8 teams over the next 2 days)
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The Trinidad & Tobago Express with a story on the drawn out trip the T&T team had to take to get into the USA. Visa trouble! What a mess this team is.
-Two more stories on the mess that is T&T football. One - and - Two.
-It must be asked, where is powerful FIFA executive Jack Warner of Trinidad in all this mess?
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The Cuban newspaper Granma's with a preview of the Cuban team.
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Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald with a story on the Haitian team.
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Jeff Rusnack of the South Florida Sun Sentinel previews the teams that will start the Gold Cup in Miami - Guadeloupe, Haiti, Canada & Costa Rica.
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Rusnack also previews Guadaloupe in more depth.
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The LA Times with a look at the Haitian peoples love of football, as well.
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The Toronto Globe & Mail with a preview of the Canadian team.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with a Gold Cup preview. Mostly about the tournament, not so much the teams.
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Read the official USA team blog.
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du Nord MLS Player Of The Week - Ricardo Clark - Midfielder - Houston Dynamo
Of course it would have been very easy and completely understandable to name Eddie Johnson of KC the winner 2 weeks in a row. After all, the striker did just record a MLS first, 2 games in a row scoring 3 goals! What an amazing feat by Mr Johnson. And his timing is perfect, right as the Gold Cup starts! But his team was cruising and every one of them was playing well. On the other hand, the most unlucky team in the whole league has been Houston. And they needed someone on their team to step up big and take the team on his back. Sunday afternoon midfielder Ricardo Clark did just that. It wasn't all wine & roses for Rico. He made a terrible mistake in first half to give away a ball that led directly to a goal and put his team behind 0-1 yet again. But after halftime he came out composed with the attitude to win this game, even if he had to do it himself. Sometimes guys do this and get carried away trying to do it all. But he is smarter than most and played his role. He was also freed from his normal role of playing behind attacking midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. Rico had Richard Mulrooney watching his back this game, so he went for broke. And not long into the second half he powered his way into the box and scored a truly great goal to the upper 90. Then a short time later he took a pass from hard charging teammate Cory Fl-Ashe, then linked to flying striker Joseph Ngwenya who beat the offside trap and scored the winner. It was Ricardo Clark's game and he took his team to needed victory.
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MLS games this week(end) - all times central:
Wed Jun 6
-Toronto v New York - 6:00 on Direct Kick
Thu Jun 7
-Houston v Colorado - 8:00 on ESPN2
Sat Jun 9
-Chicago v Chivas - 7:30 on HDNet & Direct Kick
-Dallas v Los Angeles - 7:30 on FSC & FSE
Sun Jun 10
-DC v New York - 12 Noon on TeleFutura
-Columbus v Houston - 4:00 on Direct Kick
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The Toronto Sun with a preview of tonight's TFC v NYRB game.
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The Toronto Star with a look at the paltry wages of some TFC players.
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The Star also previews tonight's game v New York.
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The Toronto Globe & Mail with a preview of tonight's game.
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Metro News Canada was a story on Toronto rookie defender Andrew Boyens, who scored his first pro goal last weekend. It was the game winner too.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times talks to Red Bulls striker Juan Pablo Angel. And other notes from around the soccer world.
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Dylan Butler at Big Apple Soccer with an article on Marvell Wynne, now of Toronto, and his first game against his former team New York.
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Butler also has an article on how the Red Bulls get past last weekends stumble in KC.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger talks to Red Bulls new forward Juan Pablo Angel about his transition from the EPL to MLS.
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The Seattle Times has an article on Chivas USA's Cuban forward Maykel Galindo, a former Seattle Sounders players.
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Ian Plenderleith, writing for the Guardian, on the stinking start for the LA Galaxy this season. (thanks to Mike for this one)
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DJ Walker's latest road memoir - Stream of Consciousness: FC Dallas at Houston Dynamo
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Rumor central - 3rd Degree is reporting that 19 year old Brazilian striker Ricardinho from Atletico Paraneaense will be coming to play in Dallas on loan.
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You rarely see a soccer story from the Hartford Courant anymore (basically, since the excellent Jerry Trecker retired a couple years back). But today there's one on the struggles of the New England Revolution over the past couple of weeks.
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The Houston Chronicle with a story on the loud & proud orange clad Dynamo fans of El Batallon & the Texian Army. Truly great fans.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his newest First XI: Melting Pot
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Pete Gratoff of the KC Star looks at the referee situation with MLS games in Canada. US Soccer is not assigning them like they do for all the other MLS games, Canada's soccer federation has their own guys. Is this a problem?
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Mike Biglin of the Metro West Daily News in a special feature, asks always humble New England midfielder Steve Ralston about his best high school sports memory.
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Hey the Minnesota Thunder went to Montreal last night and stole a point. Yes they did. A 90th minute goal from midfielder Jeremiah Bass tied the game at 1's. Thank you. But all 6 of the teams measly points have come on the road, with 0 from 3 home games. Two more road games ahead this weekend.
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Good story from the Independent Weekly on the Carolina RailHawks. The brand new USL First Division team are off to a good start, and representing a good area of the country for soccer.
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Yesterday in suburban LA at the Home Depot Center, Drew Carey helped raise money for the Mooch Myernick fund. Read the story here from US Soccer.
-Lots of pictures & little anecdotes from the event by Andrea Canales on her Sideline Views blog.
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USA U20 friendly v Canada - Wed June 6 in Kingston Ontario.
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A rumor from England connects American defender Oguchi Onyewu with EPL team Middlesbrough.
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Copa Libertadores - Semifinals second leg matches (with first leg scores included):
Wed June 6
-Santos v Gremio (0-2)
Thur June 7
-Boca Juniors v Cucuta (1-3)
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Euro 08 qualifiers on Wed Jun 6:
Faroe Islands v Scotland
Andorra v Israel
Kazakhstan v Azerbaijan
Norway v Hungary
Bulgaria v Belarus
Finland v Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Malta
Sweden v Iceland
Luxembourg v Albania
Armenia v Poland
Germany v Slovakia
Croatia v Russia
Liechtenstein v Spain
France v Georgia
Romania v Slovenia
Greece v Moldova
Estonia v England
Latvia v Denmark
Lithuania v Italy
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International Friendly scores from last night & a couple more matches today:
Mexico 0-1 Paraguay
Brazil 0-0 Turkey in Dortmund
Jamaica 0-1 Chile
Algeria 3-4 Argentina in Barcelona
Kuwait 1-1 Portugal
Wed-
Thailand v Netherlands
Ecuador v Peru in Barcelona
Jordan v Iraq
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Wow! Wow! Wow! Mexico lost at Azteca to Paraguay!!!! 0-1! Can you believe that! Wow! If memory serves me right, that is only the second time they have been beaten on that sacred turf since the early 80's! Oscar Cardoza scored for Para in the 89th minute on a counter attack. After the game Mexico's Cuauhtemoc Blanco got into a shoving match with a Paraguay players. Shocking news, hahahahahaha! Mexico has a melt down after they lose? Who ever heard of such a thing happening? This was also coach Hugo Sanchez's first game in charge at Azteca. If they don't win the Gold Cup is he done?
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Did you know that Bora Milutinovic's real first name is Velibor?
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The Jamaica Gleaner with a match report from Jamaica's loss to Chile.
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And how about those mighty Portuguese led by Big Phil himself, going to the Gulf and only managing a draw against (cough) Kuwait. Who even knew Kuwait had a team?
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Brazilian demi-legend Roberto Carlos will be leaving Real Madrid at seasons end and has signed with Fenerbahce in Istanbul Turkey! I wonder if the guys at the Fenerbahce Mart in St Paul have heard the news. Someone tell 'em, they will be stoked.
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Holy smokes, Hernan Crespo cut ALL his hair off - crew cut! You can see him in the background of this picture. This is how he has looked for many years. Drastic change.
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Both Frederic Kanoute, the leading goal scorer in La Liga, and Daniel Alves, possibly the player of the year in La Liga, will miss the last two games of the season for their club Sevilla to go play for their national teams, Mali & Brazil. Sevilla sit in 3rd place in Spain, but only 2 points in back of league co-leaders Real Madrid & Barcelona. This is a real shame that those 2 are leaving, and kind of a joke for the league.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times answers your soccer questions.
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The Guardian with the Top 10 Moments of the 06-07 Premiership Season. Mostly off the field. All quality. My fave of this batch is easily - "Joey Barton, literary critic".