Old Milky News

I found Beckman's debut to be interesting last night. As I have said in the past, but don't make a big deal out of, I am a Los Angeles Galaxy supporter, so I watch almost all of their games on TV. For several years I thought their biggest deficiency was in the attacking portion of the midfield. Three years ago they brought in Guatemalan Pando Ramierez to run the ship. Then for some reason coach Steve Sampson thought he should play on the left. Pando did little to nothing all season until he hit the game winner in the MLS Cup final. This season has seen Pete Vagenas, Nate Sturgis (now gone to Salt Lake), Kevin Harmse & Kelly Gray (recently arrived from Houston) play in the center of the field. Needless to say, these guys are all defensive midfielders. Not one is a natural attacker. And it has showed. Gravely. This team has been deathly boring, and mainly embarrassing. But in those few minutes last night after Beckman came on you could see the difference that an offense-first minded center midfielder can do for this team. Everyone in the attack suddenly looked dangerous. Let's hope there is a lot more to come on this front.

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Beckman on the rain in DC during the game last night: "It was the biggest raindrops I've ever seen."

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I am still more than a little steamed at the UEFA official who gave such a wishy-washy interview to the New York Times regarding racists fans in European football. I don't understand how that organization can have any other stance then: "This racism is unacceptable at any level. We expect all clubs and countries in our Federation to do any & every thing possible to stamp it out immediately. We will not tolerate this in an on going fashion. When a report is made, we will investigate, and if we find even a slightest bit of racism we will put the offenders on notice that there will not be a second warning. They will be punished to the fullest extent the next time there is a report of any racism. And by severely we don't mean a fine of a couple hundred Euro's etc. They will be exempted from competitions, have stadiums closed and traveling fans banned. We will continue to do this until we have people's attention that this kind of behavior is beneath every single one of us, and will not be tolerated." Is that so difficult to do? Really?

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Uncouth


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Aug 9
DC 1-0 LA - Goal by Luciano Emilio
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Steve Davis at Soccernet.
Match report by Beau Dure of USA Today.
Match report by Shogun Ill Emperor via video.
Post-game notes & players ratings by Goff at his Soccer Insider blog.
-Sat Aug 11
Dallas v Columbus - 7:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Colorado v Houston - 8pm central on HDNet
-Sun Aug 12
New York v Toronto - 4pm central on Direct Kick
New England v LA - 6pm central on Galavision
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Michael Wilbon at the Washington Post has his take on Beckman's entry into MLS last night in Washington DC.
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Both the Washington Post and Times had stories on the fans who attended the match.
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Some good stuff here from Ian Plenderleith at the US Soccer Players Assoc on Beckman's debut, the Galaxy schedule and Kyle Martino's thoughts on his red card - extra good stuff here.
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Jen Chang at Soccernet with a minute-by-minute report of P.A. (Precious Ankle) Beckman's debut.
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Jeffrey Marcus at the New York Times Goal blog says ESPN is beating us to death with Beckman hype. Agreed. I love the attention for MLS, but let's give the game itself a little respect and some room to breathe.
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Did I say this already? Dallas midfielder Juan Toja is going to miss at least 2 weeks (maybe more) with his ankle sprain. Damn it all.
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The Denver Post talks to Rapids midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy who says he didn't crack KC's Sasha Victorine on purpose two weeks ago. Which will cause me to say that he is a liar!
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Andrea Canales at the US Soccer Players Assoc says the #1 team on the field in Los Angeles is definitely Chivas USA.
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Canales with another article, this time for Soccer 365 on new Chivas defender Raphael Wicky.
-Canales also got in a few questions for Wicky on Benny Feilhaber, his old teammate at the Hamburger house. From her Sideline Views blog.
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Bob Luder of the KC Star looks at what Kansas City is doing during a 17 day stretch with no games.
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MLSnet has an article on Kansas City's new Argentine Eloy Colombano. Picture included. He kinda looks like Philipe Mexes.
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The Boston Globe talks to New England assistant coach Steve Mariner who was at Preston when Beckman came there on loan in 94.
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3rd Degree has an interesting story - a soccer fan and a baseball fan spend a Saturday in Chicago going to see one of each game. What did they think afterwards?
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Several more MLS teams are getting in on the act of Radio shows and Podcasts. Here are three more for you to check out (honestly, I haven't made up my mind what I think about these shows yet):
-In The Net - a weekly podcast by Brad Feldman, the voice of the New England Revolution.
-Chicago Fire Weekly. I don't know who the guys are doing the show, but they have Fire players on and take calls from fans.
-From The Pitch With Marcelo Balboa, focusing on the Colorado Radids.
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MLS Golden Boot Chase:
13 Luciano Emilio
12 Eddie Johnson
9 Juan Pablo Angel
8 Taylor Twellman
7 Maykel Galindo
7 Andy Dorman
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The St Louis Post Dispatch with the latest on a possible new MLS team in that city.
-This is the first time I has seen renderings of a possible soccer facility in St Louis. It's impressive.
-Here is a map of the proposed location, I-255 & Horseshoe Lake Rd, East of St Louis proper, and actually in Illinois not Missouri.
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The New York Times has more on the story of Steve Nash and his buddies trying to play a little pickup game v some Red Bulls in Central Park.
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USL First Division
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 9
Portland 0-0 Minnesota
-Fri Aug 10
Montreal v Miami
Rochester v Carolina
Atlanta v Puerto Rico - 7pm central on FSC
-Sat Aug 11
Charleston v California
Portland v Vancouver
Seattle v Minnesota
-Sun Aug 12
Rochester v Puerto Rico
Miami v Atlanta
Vancouver v Minnesota
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Several of my pals are headed west today for 3 Minnesota Thunder matches in the great northwest. If you see them at the games in Portland, Seattle & Vancouver please say hi and buy them a beverage to thank them for the strong loyalty to their team!
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First Division Standings:
39 Portland
38 Seattle
34 Montreal
30 Puerto Rico
30 Rochester
29 Atlanta
29 Vancouver
27 Miami
26 Charleston
22 Carolina
19 California
17 Minnesota
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The PDL Final is this Saturday. That is the 4th division in America. It is a rematch of last years championship game too.
Michigan v Laredo - 10pm central on FSC
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One of du Nord's favorite American players Cory Gibbs is finally back to full time training at Charlton and plans to play with the teams reserves for a short while, then join the first team and fight for starting spot. It would be great to see Cory back in action.
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The US Soccer Players Assoc gives us a preview of all the American's playing in England's various divisions this season.
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Andrew Rogers at Soccer365 also previews many of the American's in the UK.
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Sulaiman Folarin of Soccernet has a Q & A with Freddy Adu about MLS and Benfica.
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FMF Primera
-Jornadas 2
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 10
Veracruz v Atlas
-Sat Aug 11
San Luis v Necaxa - 5pm central on Galavision
Monterrey v Puebla - 11pm central on Galavision
Cruz Azul v UANL
Guadalajara v UAG - 7pm central on TeleFutura
Pachuca v Morelia
Atlante v UNAM - 9pm central on Galavision
-Sun Aug 12
Toluca v Santos - 12noon central on Univision
America v Jaguares - - 4pm central on TeleFutura
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Bundesliga - Opening week in Germany!
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 10
Stuttgart v Schalke - 1:25pm central on GolTV
-Sat Aug 11
Bayern Munich v Hansa Rostock - 8:25am central on GolTV
Bochum v Werder Bremen - 10:30am central on GolTV
Bayer Leverkusen v Engergie Cottbus
Eintracht Frankfurt v Hertha Berlin
Hannover v Hamburg
Wolfsburg v Arminia Bielefeld
-Sun Aug 12
Nurnberg v Karlsruhe - 9:55am central on GolTV
Borussia Dortmund v Duisburg
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Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian previews Die Bundesliga, and says Bayern Munich will finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th, cuz they are that much better than everyone else.
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UEFA.com has a Q & A with Stuttgart coach Armin Veh.
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Premiership - Opening week in England! (9 of the 10 games are on American TV)
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 11
Sunderland v Tottenham - 6:40am central on Setanta
Bolton v Newcastle - 8:55am central on Setanta
West Ham v Manchester City - 8:55am central on FSC
Aston Villa v Liverpool - 11am central on FSC
Derby v Portsmouth - 1:15pm central on FSC
Everton v Wigan - 1:30pm central on Setanta
Middlesbrough v Blackburn
-Sun Aug 12
Arsenal v Fulham - 6am central on FSC
Chelsea v Birmingham - 7:25am central on Setanta
Manchester United v Reading - 10am central on FSC
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The Guardian's world famous podcast - Football Weekly - is back, bigger & badder than ever! And this season they will be doing it TWICE A WEEK! Monday & Thursday. Most. Excellent.
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It looks as though Queens Park Rangers in London has become the new buyout target for Formula 1 boss Bernie Eccleston. And his business partner is said to be Renault F1 team chief Flavio Briatore. Two dudes with white hair, leathery skin and expensive sun glasses. Eccleston had been rumored to be after Arsenal.
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Carlito Tevez is FINALLY an official player with Manchester United. It's doubtful he will play this weekend, but it's only a matter of time until he is added to Man U's impressive list of attacking players.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times tells us all about new Liverpool striker Fernando Torres.
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Kuper also previews the Premiership season by telling us what we won't see.
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The crass words out of England today say new Manchester City genius Sven Goren Erickson has never actually seen any of his new big money signings in person. Who gives this guy the reigns?
On Saturday it's Ajax v PSV for the Dutch Super Cup.
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And also on Saturday in Portugal, we get Porto v Sporting for their Super Cup.
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Chile have hired former Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa to run their ship.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the GIANT sized money game the top clubs in the top leagues are playing, and leaving the rest in their dust.