Zipper's Stuck News

There is so much news it's just insane. Here is what you get for now. Sorry it's not more, but I am swamped.

During the LA Galaxy v Chelsea match on ESPN announcers Tommy Smyth & Eric Wynalda were talking about Chelsea's Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko. The following is a transcript of the hilarious conversation:
TS: You have to think that one of these days he's (Sheva) going to be in MLS. He's married to an American. Her Dad was a pitcher (baseball) for the (Minnesota) Twins. Mr. Pazik (Mike Pazik pitched a few innings in 1975, 76 & 77).
EW: We don't have a team in Minnesota.
TS: They do have a team in Minnesota!
EW: Do "We" (meaning MLS) have a team in Minnesota?
TS: Not yet, but Shevchenko might start a team there.
EW: (Sarcastically) Now we're gonna have a team in Minnesota cuz Shevchenko's Wife is...
TS: Manny Lagos is gonna start it up there! Remember Manny Lagos?
EW: Sure.
TS: Isn't he from Minnesota?

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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald on his Soccer By Ives blog says a transfer deal for Freddy Adu to Benfica is nearly done.

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David Beckham on the week that just passed: "I don't think I've ever had a more extraordinary year in my life than this one in football terms. I've had ups and downs all the way through this season and this year but this last week has been truly the most remarkable week, I think, of my life."


Being gone last week I missed MLS commissioner Don Garber's annual online chat with fans. He always answers some great questions, and this year was no different. Here it is a week late.
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It's SuperLiga Kickoff Week!
The first ever 8 team MLS V FMF tournament kicks off Tuesday! You can see all the games live on TeleFutura.
-There are two groups of 4 teams. They will each play the other 3 and the top two from each group will advance to the semifinals.
Group A:
-Chivas Guadalajara
-Los Angeles Galaxy
-FC Dallas
-Pachuca
Group B:
-Club America
-DC United
-Houston Dynamo
-Morelia Monarcas
Round 1 matches & scores:
FC Dallas v Chivas Guadalajara - Pizza Hut Park - Frisco TX - 8pm central
Los Angeles Galaxy v Pachuca - Home Depot Center - Carson CA - 10pm central
-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.
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6 months ago Bill Plascke of the LA Times could not kick the LA Galaxy & David Beckham hard enough. But yesterday in the Sunday paper he admitted that he has seen the light! Yeeeeeees!
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New England manager Steve Nicol pumps up MLS after the All Star win v Celtic, and then dishes out a little somethin' to soccer critics in America. From Soccer 365.
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MLS
Scores from this weekend:
-Sun Jul 22
New England 3-3 Houston NE goals by Pat Noonan, Taylor Twellman & Shalrie Joseph(PK). Hou goals by Dwayne DeRosario, & 2 from Brian Ching.
Columbus 2-0 Toronto Goals both scored by Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
New York 1-0 DC Goal by John Wolyniec.
Kansas City 2-2 Colorado KC goals both by Eddie Johnson. Colo goals by Jovan Kirovski(PK) & Facundo Erpen.
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MLS International Friendly's
Scores this weekend:
LA 0-1 Chelsea Goal by John Terry.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Chicago 1-1 Celtic Chic goal by Temoc Blanco. Cel goal by Derek Riordan.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
RSL 2-0 Everton Goals by Carey Talley & Robbie Findley.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Post-game reaction by USA & Everton keeper Tim Howard from Everton's website.
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Real Salt Lake takes on Boca Juniors tonight.
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And word from Salt Lake is that a deal for Jay Jay Okocha may now be OFF.
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The Houston defensive scoreless streak ended at a new MLS record 727 minutes. New England proceeded to knock in three!
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Fred2 of DC United was red carded late in the game for a bad tackle from behind on Dane Richards of New York.
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Forward and captain Jaime Moreno missed the game for DC due to a tweaked hamstring muscle he suffered the weekend prior.
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Ben Olsen missed the game for DC due to yellow card accumulation suspension.
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Juan Pablo Angel was out for NYRB due to a red card received the weekend before after throwing an elbow.
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Jose Burciaga of KC also saw red for attacking Colo keeper Bouna Coundoul after a scramble for a ball in the box. JB reacted to what he thought was a kick by Coundoul, which looked harmless and unintended to me. Burciaga probably cost his team 2 points too. They were cruising with a 2-1 lead when he was sent off. After that Colo poured it on and got the tying goal, then went for the winner but could not get it.
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Mehdi Ballouchy of Colorado decked KC's Sasha Victorine right before halftime but got away with it. Victorine had to be subbed out with an injured collar bone. I think you can expect a nice suspension and fine for Ballouchy from the league office.
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Ricardo Clark of Houston injured his ankle at the All Star game and did not play for Houston. They were also missing Brian Mullan who is still suffering from the effects of a concussion the previous weekend. He was fouled hard and foolishly by Toronto's Maurice Edu who was red carded for a hip check to Mullan's face.
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Michael Parkhurst, the great centerback for New England, has committed only 4(!!!) fouls all season. A centerback!
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Colorado sent Panamanian striker Roberto Brown packing.
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Dallas has now officially signed young Brazilian striker Ricardinho from Atletico Paranaense.
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The Deseret Morning News with a review of Kyle Beckerman's debut in a Real Salt Lake shirt.
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree took in the FCD practice session yesterday evening as the team prepares for SuperLiga action.
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Chicago traded away their rights to defender Tony Sanneh to Colorado. He is still rehabing his injury, and would prefer to play for the New York Red Bulls. Can Colo & NYRB do a deal.
-Dylan Butler at Big Apple Soccer says Sanneh is headed to my team, the Minnesota Thunder to try and get some match fitness.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune has an interview with Cuauhtemoc Blanco. (This ran before his debut yesterday.)
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Chicago will play a friendly this Wednesday against Mexican club Santos Laguna in the border town of La Joya TX, which is right at the bottom of Texas near Brownsville.
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The official San Jose Earthquakes website.
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With Lew Wolfe officially relaunching the Earthquakes, his Oakland A's GM Billy Beane is taking interest in the soccer side of the business. From the LA Times.
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Why did the TeleFutura announcers keep talking about Boca Juniors and MLS in Miami yesterday? I had to dig around, and this is all I could find - from Sport YA. Boca want a team in the USA, in MLS. The city's they prefer are New York, Miami, LA & Phoenix. Interesting.
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MLS has announced that they formed a Latin American Advisory Board. The list of names is quite impressive.
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USL First Division
Matches & scores this week:
Thu Jul 19
Portland 2-1 Vancouver
Fri Jul 20
Puerto Rico 1-1 California
Miami 2-1 Carolina
Sat Jul 21
Rochester 2-3 Seattle
Atlanta 0-1 Portland
Sun Jul 22
Charleston 2-0 Portland
Puerto Rico 3-1 Carolina
Miami 1-1 California
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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
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Yanks Abroad talks to American midfielder Bobby Convey about his return from injury for Reading.
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The Salt Lake Tribune talks to USA & Everton keeper Tim Howard.
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USA defender Dan Califf and his Danish team Aalbourg went on the road to Gent in the first leg of a UEFA Cup qualifying match and scored a 1-1 draw. The return leg is next Sunday.
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Another USA defender Heath Pearce has left his team Nordsjaelland in Denmark to sign with Hansa Rostock in the German Bundesliga.
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Supposedly we are going to find out about CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying on November 23.
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U20 World Cup
Final:
Argentina 2-1 Czech Republic
-The Czechs scored first, but could not hold off the Argies for the title.
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Sergio "El Kun" Aguero of Argentina & Atletico Madrid won both the Golden Ball (best player) & Golden Shoe (top goal scorer with 6) of the U20 World Cup.
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Asian Cup
-Quarterfinal scores:
Sat Jul 21
Japan 1-1 Australia - Jap advance 4-3 on PK's.
Iraq 2-0 Vietnam
Sun Jul 22
Iran 0-0 South Korea - SK advance 4-2 on PK's.
Saudi Arabia 2-1 Uzbekistan
-Semifinal matches Wed Jul 25:
Iraq v South Korea
Japan v Saudi Arabia
-Final match Sun Jul 29:
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In the German preseason Liga Pokal, or League Cup, we are down to the Semifinals. The Quarterfinals went like this:
Bayern Munich 4-1 Werder Bremen
Schalke 1-0 Karlrusher
-Semifinals:
-Wed Jul 25
Bayern Munich v Stuttgart
-Tue Jul 31
Nurmberg v Schalke
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Tigres won the (obviously very prestigious) World Series of Football - do you care? They beat Suwon & LA 3-0 each, while Chelsea only beat the same two teams 1-0 each. Now why didn't they just play one more round and make it all even Steven. No one will ever know.
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Paul Scholes of Manchester United has damaged a knee in a preseason friendly that will require surgery. The real extent of the damage is not known yet.
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Birmingham have signed troubled Egyptian star striker Mido from Tottenham.
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Ivan Helguera has left Spanish Champions Real Madrid to sign with Valencia.
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Frenchman Sylvain Wiltord has left Lyon for the club where his career started - Rennes.
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Sadly, another very talented players continued inconsistency has been caused by alcohol abuse. This time it's Adriano from Inter Milan. I hate to see this, but really hope he gets the help he needs and can get his life back on track.
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One time Italian great Christian Vieri has signed a deal with Fiorentina, after getting back into playing form last season with Atalanta.
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Another Italian, Francesco Totti has announced his retirement from the International game. How long do you think this will last? You know he will want to play in the next World Cup.
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More money may be in the mix to try and buy Arsenal as the man behind Formula 1 car racing Bernie Ecclestone (who has as unique a look as the teams other bidder Stan Kroenke) gets into the act of bidding. Maybe he and Kroenke can team up.
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Will Chang, part owner of DC United, is again rumored to be looking to invest in the English Premiership. The past time it was rumored it came to nothing, so don't get too excited just yet.
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Let's finish today with this - A video clip of Brazilian Robinho doing some ball tricks, but then Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho show him how its really done. (Click on "Assista ao vídeo")