Not Real Down With It News

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! From the Puget Sound Business Journal: A group of Los Angeles-based investors that includes a French soccer star, a real estate developer and a business appraiser wants to bring a Major League Soccer team to Seattle to start play in 2010. The group -- Atletico Seattle Management Co. LLC -- also wants to build a 25,000-seat soccer stadium somewhere in a suburban city near Seattle. The stadium, which Atletico Seattle estimates would cost about $135 million, would be privately financed.

~and~

Celtic defender Mark Wilson talks about the teams recent preseason training in America: "Going to America definitely helped us because, against Parma on Sunday, I felt I could have run all day. When we were in Denver and Chicago, I couldn't run the length of the pitch. I was thinking at the time, it's crazy playing in these conditions. But now you can certainly see the benefits of working in that heat and at altitude. Training the night before the first game (at high altitude) against the MLS All-Stars left us all saying, 'Oh my God' . Then, when we played in Chicago on the Sunday, it was difficult because I hate playing in the heat. But, now we are back home, I feel great for it."

~and~

I have a new YouTube hero - Shogun! Here is his take on "Beckman's" debut from a couple weeks ago. Paparazzi FC indeed!


SuperLiga - MLS v FMF - Round 3 begins tonight.
-See all the matches En Vivo on TeleFutura.
You can also see all the matches live online at the website linked above. (thanks to everyone who gave me the heads up on that one)
-Round 1 matches & scores:
FC Dallas 1-1 Chivas Guadalajara - Dal goal by Arturo Alvarez. Guad goal by Antonio Olvera.
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Pachuca - LA goals by Alan Gordon & Landon Donovan. Pach goal by Rafael Marquez.
DC United 1-1 Morelia Monarchas - DC goal by Christian Gomez. Mor goal by Diego Martinez.
Houston 1-0 Club America - Hou goal by Nate Jaqua.
-Round 2 matches:
FC Dallas 1-1 Pachuca - Dal goal by Carlos Ruiz. Pach goal by Christian Gimenez(PK).
Los Angeles Galaxy 1-2 Chivas Guadalajara - LA goal by Landon Donovan. Guad goals by Francisco Rodriguez & Omar Bravo.
DC United 1-0 Club America - Goal by Rod Dyachenko.
Houston Dynamo 1-1 Monarcas Morelia - Hou goal by Joseph Ngwenya. Mor goal by Marcio Batista.
-Round 3 matches
Tue Jul 31
FC Dallas v Los Angeles Galaxy - Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX - 7:00 central
Match preview from Gabrial Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News. Beckman is not coming to this game, and some people are not happy.
Match preview & Beckman no-show notice by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Chivas Guadalajara v Pachuca - Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO - 9:00 central
Match preview of Pachuca by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Wed Aug 1
DC United v Houston Dynamo - Robertson Stadium - Houston TX - 7:00 central
Club America v Monarcas Morelia - Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL - 9:00 central
-Semifinals Tue Aug 14 & Wed Aug 15.
-Final Wed Aug 29.
Standings:
Group A
4-Chivas Guadalajara
3-Los Angeles Galaxy
2-FC Dallas
1-Pachuca
Group B
4-Houston Dynamo
4-DC United
2-Morelia Monarcas
0-Club America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner of the New York Sun writes about SuperLiga, and by George I think he likes it.
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The Colorado Rapids will soon announce an official business partnership with Mexican clug Pachuca. This could lead to an exchange of marketing ideas, players and matches. Great move.
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MLS
Matches & scores this week:
-Thu Aug 3
New England v Kansas City - 6pm central on ESPN2
Sat Aug 4
Chicago v Columbus - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Dallas v Colorado - 7:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Salt Lake v Houston - 8pm central on Direct Kick
Sun Aug 5
New England v DC - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Toronto v LA - 6:30pm central on ESPN2 & CBC - Note: The Sunday night Toronto v LA game has been moved from Direct Kick to ESPN2. How funny would it be if Beckman can't play?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun is reporting that TFC may have found a new keeper. He is 25 year old Canadian Josh Wagenaar who is currently with ADO Den Haag in Holland.
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Nick Green at the Daily Breeze feels that the Beckman hype could come back to bite MLS in the keister. I agree. I think the Freddy Adu hype cost them credibility. What if Beckman's ankle doesn't get better over the next couple of week? What if he needs surgery and misses most of the rest of the season?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ante Razov of Chivas USA was named MLS Player Of The Week.
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MLS last night announced a 2 game suspension for Colorado midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy (video included) He was punished for a wicked elbow he threw at KC's Sasha Victorine. It was pretty nasty, and I think Ballouchy was lucky not to get a longer suspension. He probably deserved more. KC manager Curt Onalfo & defender Nick Garcia were both given fines for their critical post game remarks about the referee in that game.
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Soccer New England has 5 reasons why Beckham is bad for MLS.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet looks back at what I would say was an excellent July for MLS.
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Allen Hopkins also at Soccernet with his latest MLS rumors and oddities.
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Today's rumored Euro to MLS import player is Dutchman Patrick Kluivert.
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Goal.com with more on the Boca Juniors-MLS team proposal. With quotes from executives and former Boca & current Columbus player Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
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An interesting story that I have taken from a poster named eRulz2 on BigSoccer - Colorado have given midfielder Daniel Wasson his release and Wasson is now in Germany lining up try outs. But after initially saying they would release him, MLS has now turned around and says he can't go. I would assume they want money to buy out his contract.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Mayor of a Philadelphia suburb writes about his approval of building a home for an MLS team in his town.
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Another Philadelphia vicinity newspaper gets on the MLS bandwagon too. Chant it with me: "MLS! MLS! MLS! MLS!"
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USL First Division
Matches & scores this week:
Tue Jul 31
Charleston v Miami
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Roberto Brown who was recently cut loose by the Colorado Rapids has been signed by the Montreal Impact of the First Division.
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Freddy Adu got mobbed at the airport in Lisbon! (video stolen directly from Steven Goff's Soccer Insider)
-Adu's first game with Benfica will be Aug 14 in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the Champions League.
-And the teams first league match is at Leixoes on Aug 18.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American midfielder DaMarcus Beasley is back in the Champions League tonight, as his new team Rangers takes on Zeta from Montenegro at home.
-The Rangers website has a good article on DMB as he talks about that CL qualifier tonight. (thanks to Scott for sending this my way)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer at American Soccer Daily has a conversation with USA & new Hansa Rostock left back Heath Pearce.
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FIFA.com talks to USA U17 coach John Hackworth about the upcoming U17 World Cup, where his team is one of the favorites. Really?
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UEFA Champions League - The 2nd Qualifying Round
-First leg Jul 31 & the return on Aug 8
-Here are those match ups:
Pyunick v Shakhtar Donetsk
Crvena Zvezda v Levadia Tallinn
Rangers v Zeta
Debrecini v Elfsborg
Zaglebie Lubin v Steau Bucuresti
Genk v Sarajevo
Ventspils v Salzburg
Astana v Rosenborg
Hafnarfjordur v BATE Borisov
Kobenhavn v Beitar Jerusalem
Zilina v Slavia Praha
Tampere United v Levski Sofia
Domzale v Dinamo Zagreb
Besiktas v Sheriff
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American traitor Giuseppe Rossi has been sold to Villareal by Manchester United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arsenal midfielder Antonio Reyes who played on loan to Real Madrid last season has now signed to play for Atletico Madrid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Brazilian legend Romario.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here are the official start dates of the 5 big leagues in Europe:
Ligue 1 - Aug 4
Bundesliga - Aug 10
Premiership - Aug 11
Eredivisie - Aug 17
La Liga - Aug 26
Serie A - Aug 26

Category F News

Freddy Adu is all but gone. To Portugal. The deal is nearly done and he is already at Benfica, and I would assume he will start training with his new team right away. Benfica finished third in the league last year, but only 3 points away from winners Porto. The club is best known for legendary 60's & 70's striker Eusebio. This is exactly the type of club Freddy needed to go to, not some giant club where he would be lost in the shuffle.

~and~

Can someone explain something to me? How come Houston has almost no Latino players and tons of Latino fans, while Dallas has tons of (great) Latino players and almost no Latino fans?

~and~

It still looks as though that USA v Mexico match in Mexico City on Sept 9 is going to happen. We should be getting an announcement soon.


SuperLiga - MLS v FMF - The action continues to roll strong.
-See all the matches En Vivo on TeleFutura.
You can also see all the matches live online at the website linked above. (thanks to everyone who gave me the heads up on that one)
-Round 1 matches & scores:
FC Dallas 1-1 Chivas Guadalajara - Dal goal by Arturo Alvarez. Guad goal by Antonio Olvera.
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Pachuca - LA goals by Alan Gordon & Landon Donovan. Pach goal by Rafael Marquez.
DC United 1-1 Morelia Monarchas - DC goal by Christian Gomez. Mor goal by Diego Martinez.
Houston 1-0 Club America - Hou goal by Nate Jaqua.
-Round 2 matches:
FC Dallas 1-1 Pachuca - Dal goal by Carlos Ruiz. Pach goal by Christian Gimenez(PK).
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Stream Of Consciousness - Match report(?) by DJ Walker at 3rd Degree.
Los Angeles Galaxy 1-2 Chivas Guadalajara - LA goal by Landon Donovan. Guad goals by Francisco Rodriguez & Omar Bravo.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze.
DC United 1-0 Club America - Goal by Rod Dyachenko.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post-game notes and player ratings by Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Houston Dynamo 1-1 Monarcas Morelia - Hou goal by Joseph Ngwenya. Mor goal by Marcio Batista.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Post-game notes from Fallas on his Soccer y Futbol blog.
-Round 3 matches
Tue Jul 31
FC Dallas v Los Angeles Galaxy - Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX - 7:00 central
Chivas Guadalajara v Pachuca - Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City CO - 9:00 central
Wed Aug 1
DC United v Houston Dynamo - Robertson Stadium - Houston TX - 7:00 central
Club America v Monarcas Morelia - Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL - 9:00 central
-Semifinals Tue Aug 14 & Wed Aug 15.
-Final Wed Aug 29.
Standings:
Group A
4-Chivas Guadalajara
3-Los Angeles Galaxy
2-FC Dallas
1-Pachuca
Group B
4-Houston Dynamo
4-DC United
2-Morelia Monarcas
0-Club America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club America become the first team eliminated. No team has secured a spot in the Semifinals yet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccernet draws some conclusions from the first 2 rounds of SuperLiga matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores this week:
-Thu Jul 26
New York 0-2 Chivas USA - Goals by Ante Razov & Sacha Kljestan.
-Sat Jul 28
Salt Lake 1-2 New England - Goal by Pat Noonan & Jeff Larentowicz. RSL goal by Carey Talley(PK).
Match Report from MLSnet.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report from the Deseret Morning News.
Post-game notes from the Deseret.
-Sun Jul 29
Toronto 0-3 Chicago - Goals by Ivan Guerrero, Calen Carr & Floyd Franks.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Kansas City 3-2 Chivas USA - KC goals by Kerry Zavagnin, Davy Arnaud & Yura Movsisyan. Chiv goals by Jonathan Bornstein & John Cunliffe.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Bob Luder of the KC Star.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC United defender Bobby Boswell speaks his mind - in the middle of the night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Kansas City Star with a big profile of Wizards striker Eddie Johnson. (story ran before Sunday's game.)
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The KC Star also says that Colorado midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy received a 2 game suspension from the league for the elbow he threw at KC's Sasha Victorine 2 weekend ago. I can find no corroboration of this anywhere else on the internets though.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with an article on the signing of Paulo Wanchope by the Fire.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago has lost defender Jim Curtain for the rest of the season due to an injury of unknown proportion.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Boca Juniors forward Martin Palermo has again expressed interest in playing in MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looks like Jim Brennan may be the next Toronto FC patient in the medical ward. They think he has a broken rib.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean McNulty of the Toronto Star writes about an odd situation for TFC, and how their roster of nation and foreign players is sorted differently from every other MLS team. I knew this would come up at some point this year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on the New England free kicks this season. Warning: Don't get scared when the big picture of Jeff Larentowicz pops up at the top of the article. And ya know what else - I have to admit that Larentowicz is turning into a pretty fine players. I seriously doubted his skills a couple years ago, but Steve Nicol is right about this guy. Good for him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram with his thoughts on Beckhamania.
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Ivan Orozco of the Daily Breeze with an article on the growing respect Mexican players say they have for MLS and American soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with an article on the low low salaries of MLS compared to the big leagues.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pete Gratoff of the KC Star has the latest news on a new Stadium for the Wizards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Business Journal with the first news on MLS in Milwaukee in a good long time. It involves teaming up with the local race track. That location is not bad. Interesting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

icLiverpool with an article critical of the Home Depot Center, in particular, for renting out their facility to things like the X-Games. Do they know how much money the HDC makes on this stuff. They are trying to run a business at a profit so they can build their teams and league after-all. One good way to do that is my MAKING MONEY. This is how MLS is going to do in 20 years what other leagues took 50-100 years to do. Phil Neville of Everton has a few quotes at the end of the article on the state of the game in America too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New Jersey Ironmen of the MISL have contacted Tony Meola about playing for them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A small newspaper called the Eastern Arizona Courier has an article on a young man playing for the local Real Salt Lake affiliated youth team. This is what its all about.
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Sounds to me like Drew Carey and Michael Davies could be teaming up to get into the soccer business. I like this a lot.
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MLS International Friendly's
Matches& Scores this week:
Sat Jul 28
Columbus 1-3 Aston Villa Colu goal by Jason Garey. AV goals by Ashley Young, Gareth Barry & Luke Moore.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Match report from the Aston Villa website.
Post-game comments from Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill from the team website.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Verdi of the Chicago Tribune says we are target="new" ONCLICK="out=false""Still Waiting For The Soccer Revolution". I hate to break it to old Bob but that happened a long time ago, it just didn't happen the way he expected it too. Subtlety.
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USL First Division
Matches & scores this week:
Thu Jul 26
Minnesota 1-2 California
Portland 0-0 Atlanta
Fri Jul 27
Vancouver 2-2 Seattle
Sat Jul 28
Carolina 1-4 Miami
Rochester 4-2 Minnesota
California 0-1 Puerto Rico
Tue Jul 31
Charleston v Miami
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Unbeknownst to us hardcore Minnesota Thunder fans (and hardcore Red Bull fans as well) the Thunder took NYRB midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic to Rochester with them on loan Saturday. He scored our first goal. But our boys went on to lose 4-2. There is no word on whether or not he will continue on loan with the team or it was a one off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL 1D Standings:
37 Portland
32 Seattle
30 Rochester
29 Puerto Rico
28 Vancouver
28 Montreal
27 Miami
26 Atlanta
23 Charleston
19 Carolina
19 California
15 Minnesota
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog talks to former Argentina coach Jose Pekerman about why he was not interested in the USA managers position last fall when it was open. Good stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has a U20 World Cup recap written by star forward Jozy Altidore.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although he has been working for Bob Bradley for some time now, Mike Sorber has just been officially named an assistant coach for the USA men's national team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aston Villa has signed 18 year old American defender Eric Lichaj from Downers Grove IL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Chicago Trophy
Scores:
-Fri Jul 27
Reggina 1-1 Wisla - Reg goal by Cleber Delima(OG). Wis goal by Dariusz Dudka.
Sevilla 1-0 Toluca - Goal by Christian Poulsen.
-Sun Jul 29
Reggina 0-2 Toluca - Goals both by Vicente Sanchez.
Sevilla 0-1 Wisla - Goal by Andrzej Niedzielan.
-Wisla win the trophy with 4 points. Toluca 2nd with 3 & better goal difference, Sevilla with 3 in third, and Reggina last with 1 point.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German preseason Liga Pokal
-Final:
Schalke 0-1 Bayern Munich - Goal by Miroslav Klose.
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Asian Cup
Final:
Iraq 1-0 Saudi Arabia - Goal by Younes Mahmoud.
Post-game story from the New York Times.
Several more great stories & some video from Iraq, the Middle East and Jakarta on the Times soccer blog, Goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sylvain Wiltord transfer to Rennes has fallen apart, and now he is staying at Lyon. Go figure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexican forward Nery Castillo will not be signing with Manchester City after all. He has signed instead with Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.
-While at the same time. Man City has turned around and signed Shakhtar's best player - Brazilian midfielder Elano.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arsenal beat Inter Milan 2-1 in the Emirates Cup match at their Emirates Stadium in North London. The Arse got their goals from Alexander Hleb & Robin Van Persie. David Suazo scored for Inter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blackburn has signed Paraguayan forward Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich.
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Lyon, who have won the last 6 French league titles in a row, have followed each of those up by winning the preseason Trophy Of Champions. This year they did it again beating Sochaux 2-1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe at the Guardian writes about new Real Madrid manager Bernd Schuster.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It looks like Villareal have changed their mind and now want castoff midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme back from the loan to Boca Juniors.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But top goal scorer Diego Forlan will not be at Villareal if Riquelme returns, because he has signed with Atletico Madrid.
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The Observer with a story on how Walter Smith is attempting to rebuild Rangers.
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This weeks episode of the podcast from EPLTalk has an interview with Phil Lines, the Head of International Broadcasting & Media Operations at the Premier League. He talks about many things involving the English game and the future of it in America.
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Finally Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on a 113 year old unsettled match in Germany, and Freddy Adu.

Childlike News

USA & LA star Landon Donovan to Sky Sports News: "The older I get and the more I play, the more I'm yearning for that highest level I can play at and I think the Premiership would be the best place the play. At the moment I'm happy here, at least for the next few years with Dave here. I want to be a part of this too. Not many people get to be a part of this, so I want to live it." I LOVE that he calls David Beckham "Dave". (link to story below)

~and~

The folks who run Lambeau Field in Green Bay are looking to meet with US Soccer about hosting a USA match at the hallowed home of the Packers! From the Green Bay Press Gazette.


SuperLiga - MLS v FMF - Let's hope these next 4 games are as good as the first batch were.
-See all the matches En Vivo on TeleFutura.
You can also see all the matches live online at the website linked above. (thanks to everyone who gave me the heads up on that one)
Round 1 matches & scores:
FC Dallas 1-1 Chivas Guadalajara - Dal goal by Arturo Alvarez. Guad goal by Antonio Olvera.
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Pachuca - LA goals by Alan Gordon & Landon Donovan. Pach goal by Rafael Marquez.
DC United 1-1 Morelia Monarchas - DC goal by Christian Gomez. Mor goal by Diego Martinez.
Houston 1-0 Club America - Hou goal by Nate Jaqua.
Round 2 matches:
-Sat Jul 28
FC Dallas v Pachuca - Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas, 7:00 central
Los Angeles Galaxy v Chivas Guadalajara - The Coliseum, Los Angeles CA - 9:00 central
Sun Jul 29
DC United v Club America - RFK Stadium - Washington DC - 7:00 central
Houston Dynamo v Monarcas Morelia - Robertson Stadium - Houston TX - 9:00 central
-Round 3 matches are Tue Jul 31 & Wed Aug 1.
-Semifinals Tue Aug 14 & Wed Aug 15.
-Final Wed Aug 29.
Standings:
Group A
3-Los Angeles Galaxy
1-Chivas Guadalajara
1-FC Dallas
0-Pachuca
Group B
3-Houston Dynamo
1-DC United
1-Morelia Monarcas
0-Club America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Don't expect to see David Beckham on the field for LA on Saturday v Guadalajara. I am not giving out a definite NO, but it does not look good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This fall DC United will get a shot in another South American cup tournament - Sud Americana. In the first round they were drawn against Mexican team Guadalajara Chivas. The home leg is September 26 at RFK & the second leg on October 2 at Estadio Jalisco.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores this week:
-Thu Jul 26
New York 0-2 Chivas USA - Goals by Ante Razov & Sacha Kljestan.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald.
Match report by Jane Havsy of the Bergin Daily Record.
-Sat Jul 28
Salt Lake v New England - 8:30pm central on FSC & FSE
-Sun Jul 29
Toronto v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura & CBC
Kansas City v Chivas USA - 6pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My match notes from NYRB v CUSA:
-Chivas USA's Ante Razov scored his 104th MLS goal last night. That puts him third on the list and only 4 behind the two all time leaders, Jason Kreis (retired earlier this year from Real Salt Lake to coach the team) & Jaime Moreno of DC United.
-That was also the first time Chivas USA has ever beaten New York!
-Claudio Reyna is still yet to add anything concrete to his new team on the field. That makes him vastly overpaid right now.
-During the team introductions on ESPN two Chivas players gave themselves nicknames - Sacha Kljestan called himself "Hollywood", and Lawson Vaughn called himself "The Law". It was pretty funny.
-The kid who won the reality show contest to get a contract with Chivas actually traveled with the team to New York and was on the game day roster. I think that is kind of amazing.
-New York's best defender Carlos Mendes did not play cuz he had the flu.
-NY keeper John Conway totally botched the second goal. Kljestan hit it hard but right at Conway's feet, but the ball smacked off his hands and into the net. Terrible goal keeping.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune is reporting on his Red Card blog that the Chicago Fire deal to sign Costa Rican forward Paulo Wanchope is now a DONE DEAL. He will not play this weekend, but expect it to be the following weekend, Aug 4 at home v Columbus.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KC's big time goals scorer Eddie Johnson is now being pursued by English club Blackburn. Will he be able to resist this one?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another Zinedine Zidane to LA rumor popped up again today. No way to know how real it is.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Italian website Calciomercato says MLS teams have made new overtures to Milan about the availability of Ronaldo. They also say Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder Edmilson is in the same spot. Interesting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sky sports News says LA's Landon Donovan is interested in a move to the EPL. Seriously.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccer 365 talks to LA forward Alan Gordon about his return to the field after a long injury layoff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet writes more about the ongoing Freddy Adu transfer possibilities.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Sun with a story on the ugly injury pileup at TFC. Added Ronnie O'Brien and Marvell Wynne to the heap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How long will it be before Columbus midfielder Danny Szetela joins U20 teammate Sal Zizzo in Europe? Not long I think. Like Zizzo, Szetela has a "Z" in his last name, and has a EU Passport - Zizzo from Italy & Szetela from Poland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

icScotland with an article about Houston midfielder Stuart Holden, who if he continues to play the way he has will soon be deciding if he wants to play for Scotland or the USA. He is a citizen of both countries.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Biglin of MetroWest Daily News on the New England Rev's search for a big name big buck player.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dellapa of the Boston Globe checks in on New England's mid-season progress as the league rolls on, and basically the same story about big names coming to the Rev's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Meyer of the Denver Post gets more quotes from Kyle Beckerman who is not pleased with being traded to Salt Lake, although he accepts it and will do his best for his new team. Plus, Colorado manager Fernando Clavijo makes some really stupid comments about Beckerman being the heart and soul of the team etc. Then why did you trade him????
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the KC Star with an article on Kansas City defender Jack Jewsbury who has been converted from a midfielder. So how's that going?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer 365 has a Q & A with former MLS keeper Mike Ammann.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Inside Bay Area with a story on the return of the San Jose Earthquakes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sacramento Bee says that Lew Wolff should bring his new Earthquakes team a little further north to the state capital instead of the Bay Area.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Las Vegas Sun says Paul Caligiuri & Co. are still pushing forward with ideas to make an MLS team in the Atomic City a reality.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Post says that stadium talk in DC is starting to make some people hot under the collar.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sports Illustrated talks to a lesser known English player who was in the old NASL for several years. His name is Tony Whelan and is now a youth coach for Manchester United. What does he think of soccer in America today? He also talks about the rough road England faces with developing great new talents right now.
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Major League Soccer Magazine
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some dude named Will Leitch hates David Beckham and the New York Times gave him space on their opinion page to say as much. What load of crap that is.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord's MLS Rookie Of The Year Watch:
1. Maurice Edu - Tor
2. Dane Richards - NY
3. Adam Cristman - NE
4. Michael Harrington - KC
5. Ty Harden - LA
-As of right now this one is a no-brainer. It's clearly Edu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS International Friendly's
Matches& Scores this week:
Sat Jul 28
Columbus v Aston Villa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division
Matches & scores this week:
Thu Jul 26
Minnesota 1-2 California
Portland 0-0 Atlanta
Fri Jul 27
Vancouver v Seattle - live at 10pm central on FSC
Sat Jul 28
Carolina v Miami
Rochester v Minnesota
California v Puerto Rico
Tue Jul 31
Charleston v Miami
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL 1D Standings:
37 Portland
31 Seattle
28 Montreal
27 Vancouver
27 Rochester
26 Atlanta
26 Puerto Rico
24 Miami
23 Charleston
19 Carolina
19 California
15 Minnesota
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There is still no new word on where USA defender Oguchi Onyewu may land for this season. Odds get stronger everyday that he will be back in Belgium at Standard Liege. Sheffield United were the latest to show interest, but apparently made quite a low offer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Independent of London talks to American forward Brian McBride about the upcoming season at Fulham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Independent of Ireland with a story on young forward American Ryan Guy, who passed up a chance to play for Dallas to try his luck overseas. Not exactly a top notch league, but he thinks that if he plays well, he will move up the food chain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters have a story from Chivas owner Jorge Vergara saying he believes there is a strong disagreement between some players on the Mexican national team and coach Hugo Sanchez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Chicago Trophy
-The game will be played at Soldier Field, and feature 4 international club teams who are in their pre-season.
(both days are double header games):
-Fri Jul 27
Reggina v Wisla
Sevilla v Toluca
-Sun Jul 29
Reggina v Toluca
Sevilla v Wisla
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German preseason Liga Pokal
-Final:
Sat Jul 28
Schalke v Bayern Munich - 11am central on GolTV.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian Cup
Final:
-Sun Jul 29
Iraq v Saudi Arabia - 7:30am central time on Setanta.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune wonders what will happen in Iraq on Sunday after their countries big match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Klein at the New York Times blog Goal with another good story on the Iraqi team. Includes a very interesting editorial cartoon from a Baghdad newspaper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Terry has signed a 5 year contract extension with Chelsea.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looks like Roque Santa Cruz may be leaving Bayern Munich.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Moritz Volz, the great writer/footballer from Fulham has the latest entry to his "diary". Excellent as always.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally today, the Columbus Dispatch has a Q & A with Randy Lerner who owns the Cleveland Browns NFL team and Aston Villa of the English Premiership.

Nobody's Home For Supper News

Here is the full transcript of the interview USA manager Bob Bradley did with Jack Bell of the New York Times.

~and~

Our good friend Demko spoke with former US International player Tony Sanneh about his joining up with the Minnesota Thunder, and where he hopes it will lead to. From the Balls blog at City Pages.


SuperLiga - MLS v FMF - More absolutely phenomenal play in the 3rd & 4th matches! WOW!
-See all the matches En Vivo on TeleFutura.
Round 1 matches & scores:
FC Dallas 1-1 Chivas Guadalajara - Dal goal by Arturo Alvarez. Guad goal by Antonio Olvera.
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Pachuca - LA goals by Alan Gordon & Landon Donovan. Pach goal by Rafael Marquez.
-Wed Jul 25
DC United 1-1 Monarcas Morelia - DC goal by Christian Gomez. Mor goal by Diego Martinez.
My match notes:
-Both Emilio & Fred missed perfect chances to score into an open net for DC.
-DC's Gomez hit one hell of a curling free kick to open the scoring. The best camera angle was from behind the goal. Beautiful.
-Luis Landin of Morelia played great last spring for Pachuca in the Champions Cup v Houston. He was sold to Morelia this summer.
-But Landin's only real mark on the game was getting red carded in the second half. Like Drew Moor of Dallas the night before, he was ejected for retaliating to an ugly foul - Bobby Boswell kicked him really really hard and got a yellow card, but Landin came up with both guns blazing and the ref standing right there. Adios Muchacho.
-You just knew watching this one that even with 10 men Morelia were going to get the tying goal. And they did with a powerful blast from the right side of the box by Diego Martinez who shot a laser beam to the back post.
-Throughout most of the game DC's Josh Gros had the touch of a hoofed animal.
Match report from SuperLiga.com.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report from the Washington Times.
Post-game notes from Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Houston 1-0 Club America - Hou goal by Nate Jaqua.
My match notes:
-A roughly played game by both teams, but mostly fair.
-For such a powerful looking guy, America's Salvidor Cabanas gets knocked down by a stiff breeze.
-Houston's Stuart Holden had a tremendous cross in to the box for Nate Jaqua to tap in for the games only goal.
-Throughout most of the game Jaqua had the heading ability of a horned animal.
-DDR's touch was off too.
-America's #7, Castroman, wore the tightest, nastiest shorts I have ever seen on a soccer field. They looked like he was wet down and they were pasted on. Oof.
-America's Davino played the same role as Reynoso of Chivas the night before - Cheap Shot Extraordinaire. The whacks he put on Joseph Ngwenya only got him yellow carded in second half stoppage time. What a goon.
-The referee didn't make either team stand more than 7 or 8 yards back on any free kicks. It was kinda weird.
-The last 20 minutes Houston put on a defensive clinic. They defended with all 10 field players covering every inch of the pitch. It was impressive and stifled America completely when you would have thought they would be pouring on the offensive pressure at that point.
Match report from SuperLiga.com.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Post-game notes by Fallas.
Even more post-game notes by Fallas at the Soccer y Futbal blog.
-Round 2 matches:
Sat Jul 28
FC Dallas v Pachuca - Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas, 7:00 central
Los Angeles Galaxy v Chivas Guadalajara - The Coliseum, Los Angeles CA - 9:00 central
Sun Jul 29
DC United v Club America - RFK Stadium - Washington DC - 7:00 central
Houston Dynamo v Monarcas Morelia - Roberston Stadium - Houston TX - 9:00 central
-Round 3 matches are Tue Jul 31 & Wed Aug 1.
-Semifinals Tue Aug 14 & Wed Aug 15.
-Final Wed Aug 29.
Standings:
Group A
3-Los Angeles Galaxy
1-Chivas Guadalajara
1-FC Dallas
0-Pachuca
Group B
3-Houston Dynamo
1-DC United
1-Morelia Monarcas
0-Club America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today with his take on SuperLiga.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America likes what he has seen so far in the SuperLiga action.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle loves SuperLiga.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores this week:
-Thu Jul 26
New York v Chivas USA - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Jul 28
Salt Lake v New England - 8:30pm central on FSC & FSE
-Sun Jul 29
Toronto v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura & CBC
Kansas City v Chivas USA - 6pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews tonight's Chivas USA v New York Red Bulls match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The man with only the very best insider scoop Grant Wahl is back with more on that miracle Iraqi squad, Freddy Adu's transfer and more more more.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ivan Orozco of the Daily Breeze reports that Chivas USA is NOT chasing Juan Sebastian Veron down in Argentina. So does this mean CUSA and DC United were never pursuing him? I suspect they were and probably still are, but he has a high price tag which will make it difficult. I don't think this story is over. Chivas could really use this kind of injection though.
-Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider has a transcript of a very guarded conversation with DC United Pres Kevin Payne.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There is a rumor hopping around that says Toronto midfielder Carl Robinson may want to go back to Wolverhampton when this MLS season is over.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Toronto coach Mo Johnston has said that goalkeeper Greg Sutton may not return this season after suffering a serious concussion during the Gold Cup. I really hate to hear about head injuries. Let's hope it gets well soon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at the New York forward situation. They have 3 healthy and capable players for two spots - Angel, Wolyniec & Altidore. So who sits out? I would bet on it being Altidore.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald with a story similar to Lewis's, about the Red Bulls choices to start tonight's game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Columbus Alive chats with Crew forward Alejadro Moreno.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Online magazine MetroActive with an article from San Jose on the return of the Earthquakes. This is a really good man on the street type story. None of the boring journalism that gets in the way of fandom! Hahahaha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin McGeehan at the US Soccer Players Assoc tells DC United to stop dicking around and get hardcore about a stadium deal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer New England tries to figure out why the Revolution are one of only 2 MLS teams without a Youth Development program yet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord's MLS Coaching Hot Seat - it is burning hot warm!
1. Fernando Clavijo - Colorado
2. Frank Yallop - LA
3. Jason Kries - Salt Lake
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord's MLS Team Of The Moment - Who has been tearing it up in the past few days or week.
F:
Eddie Johnson
Joseph Ngwenya
M:
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Andy Dorman
Cuauhtemoc Blanco
Shalrie Joseph
D:
Abel Xavier
Chad Marshall
Wade Barrett
Craig Waibel
G:
Ray Burse
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS International Friendly's
Matches& Scores this week:
Wed Jul 25
Chicago v Santos Laguna - Canceled
-According to the local newspaper, The Monitor: a torrential downpour that lasted several hours and turned the Coyote Stadium field into a small deserted island.
Toronto 2-4 Aston Villa
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report from Aston Villa's website.
Sat Jul 28
Columbus v Aston Villa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the Chicago Fire v Celtic match on Sunday the Section 8 supporters paid tribute to one of their comrades who was killed last winter by a hit and run driver. His name is Dan Parry. Not only was he a huge Chicago fan, but also a Celtic supporter. So this game made perfect sense to pay tribute to him. Another fan named Joel sent me a note with a sampling of how they honored Dan last Sunday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview:
-We were able to get Dan's family out to the match from Erie PA.
-We got a beautiful banner made to hang above the supporters section.
-S8C made a Fire/Celtic Dan Parry Commemorative Scarf a portion of the proceeds of which went to Fire Works For Kids. These scarves sold out completely on match day. A raving success.
-A Memorial Stadium Brick was made in his name. The cost of which went straight to FWFK. His family and friends held a gathering after the match to visit the brick, it was very touching.
-We were able to get the Fire front office to agree to playing You'll Never Walk Alone in place of the MLS anthem at the start of the match. Section 8 sang it and raised their commemorative scarves in Dan's honor.
-There was a memorial message on the electronic sideboards at the 55th minute.
-Section 8 observed a one minute Moment of Silence during said electronic message at the 55th minute. This was huge. It was all done by the fans, there was no PA announcement, just word of mouth in the lead up to the game. I was so impressed and proud of Section 8 for doing something so far from the normal routine and with such honest and good intentions. When the minute was up the section spontaneously went into another rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone. It was truly awesome.
All these things together made for a fine tribute to a helluva guy. The day meant so much to his family and friends and really served as an excellent opportunity to publicly honor him and to celebrate the bonds in our Fire fan and Section 8 community. Dan's family traveled from Erie and was able to see that their son had left a legacy in Chicago and in our Fire supporter family. That was just excellent. I think it gives everybody a very healthy way to move forward knowing that we did right by our bhoy.
What an awesome remembrance. Thanks to Dan G for telling me about his, and Joel for the details.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA defender Frank Simek has signed a new 3 year contract extension with Sheffield Wednesday in the English Championship Division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division
Matches & scores this week:
Thu Jul 26
Minnesota v California
Portland v Atlanta
Fri Jul 27
Vancouver v Seattle - live at 10pm central on FSC
Sat Jul 28
Carolina v Miami
Rochester v Minnesota
California v Puerto Rico
Tue Jul 31
Charleston v Miami
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jesse Erdmann of Blue Sky Soccer with this weeks USL First Division Power Rankings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Oregonian with the story of how the Portland Timber front office and their main supporters section Timbers Army have kissed and made up after a year plus of agitation from both sides. Portland take on English Championship Division team Preston North End on Saturday night. (thanks to Brian for sending me this.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL 1D Standings:
36 Portland
31 Seattle
28 Montreal
27 Vancouver
27 Rochester
26 Puerto Rico
25 Atlanta
24 Miami
23 Charleston
19 Carolina
16 California
15 Minnesota
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

icLiverpool talk with Alexi Lalas about USA & Everton keeper Tim Howard. I guess Lalas will now talk to anyone about anything.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A new summer exhibition tournament kicks off this weekend in Chicago. It's called the Chicago Trophy. The game will be played at Soldier Field, and feature 4 international club teams who are in their pre-season. The teams are Sevilla from Spain, Toluca from Mexico, Wilsa Krakow from Poland and Reggina from Italy. I think it's pretty cool. But why are they not playing this thing in Bridgeview (stupid people in charge probably).
Schedule (both days are double header games):
-Fri Jul 27
Reggina v Wisla
Sevilla v Toluca
-Sun Jul 29
Reggina v Toluca
Sevilla v Wisla
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune talks to Sevilla coach Juande Ramos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German preseason Liga Pokal
-Semifinals:
Nurmberg 2-4 Schalke
Bayern Munich 2-0 Stuttgart
-Final:
Sat Jul 28
Schalke v Bayern Munich - in Leipzig
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian Cup
Final:
-Sun Jul 29
Iraq v Saudi Arabia - 7:30am central time on Setanta.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with a story on the joy of the people of Iraq as their team goes to the Asian Cup Final. Then the assholes bent on destroying everything set off car bombs amongst the celebrators. Cowards. Some fantastic pictures too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Russian Premier League
-Standings after round 17 (of 30):
32 Spartak Moscow
30 FC Moscow
30 Zenit St Petersburg
26 Dinamo Moscow
25 CSKA Moscow
23 FK Rubin Kazan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League - 1st Qualifying Round, aggregate scores, winners in bold:
Khazar Lenkoran 2-4 Dinamo Zagreb
APOEL 2-3 BATE Borisov
Olimpi Rustavi 0-3 Astana
Zeta 5-4 Kaunas
Murata 1-4 Tampere United
Linfield 0-1 Elfsborg
TNS 4-4 Ventspils - Vents advance on away goals tie breaker
Marsaxlokk 1-9 Sarajevo
Sheriff 5-0 Ranger's
Hafnarfjordur 4-1 Torshavn
Domzale 3-1 Tirana
Pobeda 0-1 Levadia Tallinn
Derry 0-2 Pyunik
Dudelange 5-7 Zilina
-The 2nd Qaulifying Round takes place on Jul 1 & Aug 8. Here are those match ups:
Pyunick v Shakhtar Donetsk
Crvena Zvezda v Levadia Tallinn
Rangers v Zeta
Debrecini v Elfsborg
Zaglebie Lubin v Steau Bucuresti
Genk v Sarajevo
Ventspils v Salzburg
Astana v Rosenborg
Hafnarfjordur v BATE Borisov
Kobenhavn v Beitar Jerusalem
Zilina v Slavia Praha
Tampere United v Levski Sofia
Domzale v Dinamo Zagreb
Besiktas v Sheriff
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Benfica & Portugal star winger Simao has transfered to Atletico Madrid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Getafe has signed excellent Boca Juniors defender Daniel Diaz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Inter Milan has signed Roma defender Cristian "The Masked Man" Chivu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com with a story on long time Argentine defender Roberto Ayala who has announced his retirement from the international game. His new club team, Zaragoza, is happy to hear that I'm sure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just a heads up that the U17 World Cup is headed our way in late August from South Korea. The USA will play their first match on Aug 20 v Tajikistan. Belgium & Tunisia are also in their Group E.

A Call For More Coolness

Hey
I wanted to put up a special post for a cool project.
Adam Spangler at This Is American Soccer is starting what he calls The Diary Project.
He is looking for your stories and photos of the beautiful game.
Small stories, one liners, big stories. Wild pics, sane pics, gorgeous pics, odd pics.
From anywhere in the world.
Read more about it at the link above and start sending the goods.
This could be really cool.
My brain is starting to turn with ideas.

Slim Ankles News

American U20 star Sal Zizzo has signed with Hannover in Germany. American Steve Cherundolo is the team's right back.

~and~

Word from the West Coast says it's Chivas USA that is chasing after Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron.

~and~

It's gonna be Iraq v Saudi Arabia for the Asian Cup! (see details below)

~and~

I am in search of place in the Twin Cities to watch the Asian Cup final on Sunday Morning - 7:30am central time on Setanta!

~and~

USA coach Bob Bradley speaks with Jack Bell of the New York Times about Copa America. And a few more words on the Times soccer blog Goal.


SuperLiga - MLS v FMF - The first nights action was fantastic!!!
-As I watched the LA v Pachuca game I noticed a very odd thing happen - LA put in a FOURTH substitute. Wha??? So I looked it up. Yes folks, in the SuperLiga you get to use 4 subs, and you can sub your goalkeeper for the backup keeper listed on your game day roster. This stinks!
-I also looked, and they will play the 30 minutes of Extra Time if knock out round games are tied after the 90. PK's will follow Extra Time if the game is still tied.
Round 1 matches & scores:
FC Dallas 1-1 Chivas Guadalajara - Dal goal by Arturo Alvarez. Guad goal by Antonio Olvera.
My match notes:
-Ray Burse started in goal for Dallas. It was his first ever start for the senior team. Regular keeper Dario Sala was out with a leg injury.
-Dallas right back Drew Moor was red carded in the 72nd minute for retaliating with a shove to the chest/neck on Guada defender Hector Reynoso. Reynoso had thrown an intentianal elbow into Moor's face which the referee did not see.
-Chivas's goal was controversial in that Olvera hit the ball down with his left hand before shooting.
-Is it a requirement that all Mexican coaches must have a goatee and must wear a dress shirt, sport coat and blue jeans when on the sideline?
-The goal scored by Alvarez was a thing of true beauty. Juan Toja got the ball in his own end, charged down the middle of the field, hurdling a Chiva along the route, dropped a nice pass over to El Pescadito who had his back to goal. Ruiz dished the ball sideways to a running Alvarez, who looked up, saw the keeper off his line, and chipped him from 25 yards out! Golaso! Aso! Aso! Aso!
-And how about those bones crunching tackles Juan Toja was laying on the Chiv's. Holy Spicoli! He had three balls to the wall sliding tackles to take possession, then get up and charge straight in the other direction. Incredible. What a monster this guy is.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Stream Of Consciousness by DJ Walker from 3rd Degree.
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Pachuca - LA goals by Alan Gordon & Landon Donovan. Pach goal by Rafael Marquez.
My match notes:
-Landon Dononvan set up LA's first goal with a long cross field pass to the chest of Gordon who settled the ball and scored.
-Pachuca keeper Calero wore a pirate skull & cross bones scarf on his head.
-I think you gotta love the way Pachuca play the game. Attack attack attack, then bring on some substitutes and attack some more. What team wouldn't love to bring Damian Alvarez in off the bench?
-LA defender Abel Xavier is playing out of his mind right now. No he is not on drugs again. He is playing some brilliant and breathtaking defense. which is saving his team from being pummeled.
-Donovan said after the game that the Galaxy were lucky to win. I would agree with him. But I also believe that you have to put yourself in a position to take advantage of luck.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune.
Match report by Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze.
Match report from the Orange County Register.
-Wed Jul 25
DC United v Monarcas Morelia - RFK Stadium - Washington DC - 7pm central
Match preview by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match preview from the Washington Times.
Houston Dynamo v Club America - Roberston Stadium - Houston TX- 9pm central
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
-Round 2 matches are Sat Jul 28 & Sun Jul 29.
-Round 3 matches are Tue Jul 31 & Wed Aug 1.
-Semifinals Tue Aug 14 & Wed Aug 15.
-Final Wed Aug 29.
Standings:
-Group A
3-Los Angeles Galaxy
1-Chivas Guadalajara
1-FC Dallas
0-Pachuca
-Group B
0-Club America
0-DC United
0-Houston Dynamo
0-Morelia Monarcas
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales on her Sideline Views blog points us in the direction of some good photos from last nights LA v Pachuca match courtesy of Medio Tiempo. Including a great Beckham celebration shot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canales also has a SuperLiga story at Soccer 365. Her angle is that this is just the start of much bigger possibilities down the road a few years.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores this week:
-Thu Jul 26
New York v Chivas USA - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Jul 28
Salt Lake v New England - 8:30pm central on FSC & FSE
-Sun Jul 29
Toronto v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura & CBC
Kansas City v Chivas USA - 6pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas midfielder Ramon Nunez has asked to be moved to another team. He did not dress for the SuperLiga match last night and has not started any games lately. He had the same problems with the last coach too, so it makes you wonder if its the team that has a problem, or the player.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Costa Rican striker Paulo Wanchope is in Chicago and has met with the Fire, and the team is said to be planning a press conference for Thursday. But nothing more is known.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Word is out in England that KC striker Eddie Johnson turned down a chance to play for Derby, newly promoted to the English Premiership.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Meyer of the Denver Post says former Colorado player Kyle Beckerman was shocked when he was sent packing, especially to Real Salt Lake.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lars Lifrak at Soccer 365 has a Q & A with Chivas USA wise veteran Jesse Marsch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with New York forward John Wolyniec.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com has a Q & A with Kansas City midfielder Kerry Zavagnin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The rumor floating around says that if Colorado can coach Clavijo (yes, 4 C's in a row) they will replace him with their former player and current Houston assistant coach John Spencer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Edson Buddle has not been playing for LA cuz he has a bum achilles tendon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Salt Lake has 4 international players in training with them for possible contracts. Edgar Espinola & Javier Morales of Argentina, Nigerian Uche Chinyere & Tony Versailles from France.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here's a transcript of today's semi-regular online Q & A with Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ryan Hunt at Sports Illustrated with his weekly MLS Free Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Former Chivas USA forward Matt Taylor has signed with Portland of the First Division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Boulder's New West loved the MLS All-Star but hated the Beckham-this Beckham-that Beckham-blah-di-frickin-dah production from ESPN. Hooray New West. Hooray Beer. Boo Creepy Foot Doctor.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Golden Boot Chase:
12 Eddie Johnson
10 Luciano Emilio
9 Juan Pablo Angel
8 Taylor Twellman
7 Maykel Galindo
7 Andy Dorman
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS International Friendly's
Matches & Scores this week:
Tue Jul 24
Real Salt Lake 1-1 Boca Juniors RSL goal by Freddy Adu(PK). Boca goal by Mauro Boselli.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report (actually mostly an Adu report) by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Wed Jul 25
Chicago v Santos Laguna in La Joya TX
Match preview from The Monitor of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
Toronto v Aston Villa
Match preview by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star talks to Aston Villa players prior to the friendly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun talks to Aston Villa's Swedish defender Olof Mellburg who says he and many other European players are intrigued by the growing popularity of MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Vancouver Sun talks to Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neil who says that he really hopes big time soccer is here to stay and will grow strong in North America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Deseret Morning News on the buzz created by a team like Boca Juniors.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago's opponent tonight, Santos Laguna, features Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Dirty Sanchez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Victoria British Columbia Canada is seeking a USL First Division team for next season. Here is a story from the Victoria Times Colonist on the subject. This would make for a tremendous rivalry with Vancouver which is right across the Bay.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad with a story on young American striker Gabriel Ferrari who has reported to his club Sampdoria's preseason training.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian Cup
Semifinals
-Wed Jul 25
Iraq 0-0 South Korea Iraq(!) wins 4-3 on PK's. Can you believe that?
Japan 2-3 Saudi Arabia
Final
-Sun Jul 29
Iraq v Saudi Arabia - 7:30am central time on Setanta.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German preseason Liga Pokal
See the games on GolTV.
Semifinals:
-Tue Jul 24
Nurmberg 2-4 Schalke
-Wed Jul 25
Bayern Munich v Stuttgart
-The Final will be played Sat Jul 28 in Leipzig.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada's Durham Region News with a story on how soccer has hit a wave of genuine excitement in Canada this summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England's The Independent with the latest on Stan Kroenke's pursuit of Arsenal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Liverpool has released the plans for their new stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manchester United have made an announcement that their strike Giuseppe Rossi is going nowhere. He was on loan to Parma for the second half of last season and several Italian teams wanted to sign him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Mirror in London with a story on what English TV production of football might steal from American productions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Edmonton Sun with a story on what in the end was a triumph of sorts for Chile at the U20 World Cup. It also takes a stand that myself and others who criticized the players for their throwdown with Toronto police were wrong. I stand by my opinion.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Peru has hired Jose del Solar as their new national team manager. He had been the manager at Chilean club team Universidad Catolica.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian has an excerpt from a soon to be published book by a guy completely obsessed with West Bromwich Albion. Excellent stuff. (thanks to Our Donovan for sending me this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brazilian club Corinthians has cut their ties with investor Kia Joorabchian, who is the man in the middle of the Carlos Tevez contract mess. I would bet good money that Joorabchian sues them for damages over this situation with Corinthians.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first round of UEFA Champions League qualifying is today. I will have scores tomorrow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lastly, this is one weird ass picture of two stars.

Farm Fresh Ibogaine News

The Chicago Fire are chasing hard after another aging Latino player, as Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune says Paulo Wanchope of Costa Rica is the latest target. Wanchope is expected in Chicago today.

~and~

Toronto FC's English striker Danny Dichio on his impression of MLS so far: “It’s a very quick league, quite physical and it’s surprised me how good it is technically. I think there’s a misconception back home. Because football isn’t a top sport over here people assume it’s not taken as a serious game, but the majority of the guys in the league take the game really seriously.”


SuperLiga - MLS v FMF
Round 1 matches & scores:
FC Dallas v Chivas Guadalajara - Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX - 8pm central
Match preview focusing on FCD keeper Dario Sala by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Los Angeles Galaxy v Pachuca - Home Depot Center - Carson CA - 10pm central
Match & SuperLiga preview with Beckham update by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match preview by Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze.
-FYI: There has been people wondering if LA forward Carlos Pavon was badly injured in the game v Chelsea, but manager Frank Yallop says he is ready to go tonight.
-Wed Jul 25
DC United v Monarcas Morelia - RFK Stadium - Washington DC - 7pm central
Houston Dynamo v Club America - Roberston Stadium - Houston TX- 9pm central
-Round 2 matches are Sat Jul 28 & Sun Jul 29.
-Round 3 matches are Tue Jul 31 & Wed Aug 1.
-Semifinals Tue Aug 14 & Wed Aug 15.
-Final Wed Aug 29.
Group A:
-Chivas Guadalajara
-Los Angeles Galaxy
-FC Dallas
-Pachuca
Group B:
-Club America
-DC United
-Houston Dynamo
-Morelia Monarcas
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze with an article on what MLS hopes SuperLiga can do to garner more fans for the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews the SuperLiga.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram previews SuperLiga.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle previews SuperLiga too.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise with his SuperLiga preview.
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MLS
Matches & scores this week:
-Thu Jul 26
New York v Chivas USA - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Jul 28
Salt Lake v New England - 8:30pm central on FSC & FSE
-Sun Jul 29
Toronto v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura & CBC
Kansas City v Chivas USA - 6pm central on Direct Kick
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Guillermo Barros Schelotto of the Columbus Crew has been named MLS Player Of The Week.
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The excellent Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune does an online Q & A session with readers. Good stuff here.
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Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News is not pleased with MLS's massive promotion this past weekend of Beckham while almost completely ignoring other big events like the New England v Houston match, not to mention the Blanco debut.
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In another article Biglin says the Revolution are not pleased with their home record so far this season.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated sings a similar tune to that of Biglin, but does it with less bitterness.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says Temoc Blanco is the guy who put on the real show this past weekend. I agree. (article contains several other world soccer notes too)
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Chicago is looking for forward Chris Rolfe to make his return from a long layoff due to an ankle injury on August 4 at home v Columbus.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald likes the arrival of Blanco.
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George Tanner at FC Rocky with his increasingly excellent Colorado Rapids notes.
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Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News says she thinks the LA Galaxy are on the right track, and their real fans "get it".
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Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock writes to FCD fans on the teams blog to review the first half the season and fill them in on the coming months ahead, including this weeks SuperLiga launch.
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I missed this one last week - The US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with Dallas midfielder Arturo Alvarez.
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Big Soccer poster "guamster" links to a video clip of Drew Carey on the David Letterman show last night pimping soccer.
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Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer talks to Drew Carey about his soccer passion. Carey would love to be an owner in a Cleveland MLS team.
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Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated chimes in with his thoughts on the Beckham debut.
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Richard Deitsch of SI focuses on ESPN's way over the top coverage of Beckham. Which I found almost unbearable, but I made it.
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ESPN's Page 2 with a look at the Beckhamania in LA.
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Sage Paul Gardner of the New York Sun with his take on the Beckham debut.
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John Lopez of the Houston Chronicle wonders if the growing popularity of the Dynamo and MLS with Beckham will have a negative effect on his cities struggling Astros baseball team.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his weekly soccer notes starting with the end of the Dynamo's 700+ minute defensive goalless streak.
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Yesterday I said that Dynamo midfielder Brian Mullan was out because of a concussion, but it is actually a broken facial bone that is keeping him out. No word on how long he will be out.
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Reports say that DC United President Kevin Payne was in Argentina yesterday to meet with long time midfield great Juan Sebastian Veron about coming to MLS.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on the suddenly hot property named Danny Szetela who lit up the U20 World Cup and is finally starting to have an impact on the field for his club in Columbus too. The list of European clubs chasing Szetela is impressively long, but he wants to stay in MLS if he can reach a new deal.
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Metrofanatic is reporting that New York Red Bulls midfielder Dave Van Den Bergh got his green card, meaning his is no longer listed on the team roster as an International player and does not count against their limit of 4.
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Pete Gratoff of the KC Star with an article on Kansas City's plans to find a jersey sponsor.
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The San Francisco Chronicle with an article from Sunday that makes sure we all know the new San Jose Earthquakes are not the old SJE returned home, but rather a crappy expansion team. OK.
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In 2 stadium notes:
-First, DC has hit a wall in the proposed stadium along the river and might have to look to the suburbs for a home.
-And secondly, Red Bull is negotiating to buy out AEG's share of Red Bull Park, which is what has caused the building delays, not industrial waste as previously reported.
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The Arizona Republic looks at the poor fan turnout for a series of friendly's last weekend in the Phoenix area, and what that means to a possible bid for a MLS team in the city.
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MLS International Friendly's
Scores this week:
Tue Jul 24
Real Salt Lake v Boca Juniors
Wed Jul 25
Chicago v Santos Laguna in La Joya TX
Toronto v Aston Villa
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The Birmingham Express & Star talks to Toronto's Danny Dichio prior to the TFC friendly with Aston Villa.
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The Celtic website has several stories and a lot of good pictures from their trip to the USA last week. Coverage from both matches they played too (MLS All Star game and Chicago Fire game.)
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Everton are training all this week in LA at the Home Depot Center.
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The St Paul Pioneer Press with more on the Tony Sanneh loan to the Minnesota Thunder.
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John Haydon of the Washington Times checks in on USA & Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann who is recovering from offseason surgery on a badly broken hand.
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Haydon also talks to Reading manager Steve Coppell about the quality of American players.
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And a rumor in England today says defender Oguchi Onyewu could be joining his 2 fellow American's at Reading.
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American Soccer Daily talks to American Ian Joy about life in Germany at his club St Pauli!
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Asian Cup
-Semifinals - Wed Jul 25:
Iraq v South Korea
Japan v Saudi Arabia
-Final match Sun Jul 29:
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the stunning run to the Asian Cup semifinals by Iraq.
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The New York Times with a story on what the success of the soccer team is having on the people of Iraq.
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German preseason Liga Pokal
See the games on GolTV.
Semifinals:
-Tue Jul 24
Nurmberg v Schalke
-Wed Jul 25
Bayern Munich v Stuttgart
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The word from England has Man City signing young Mexican star Nery Castillo from Olympiakos.
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The Guardian with an article on the resignation of Newcastle chairman Freddy Sheppard. I think a lot of die hard fans might be pretty excited by this event.
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The Guardian also talk to Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and claim that he is mellowing out.
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Norman Hubbard at Soccernet is not impressed with the way Fulham's new management spent money in the offseason.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at race & football & the World Cup in South Africa today.