Why Are You Calling Me News

On Brad Feldman's podcast, In The Net, yesterday we were talking about the best American Soccer writers. And I have to apologize for not mentioning the best of them all - Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated. That was a real bonehead move on my part because Grant has been really good to me and this blog, and I think he is simply the best.


Copa Sudamericana Tonight: (more scores and schedule below)
DC United v Chivas Guadalajara - 10:30 central time delayed on Fox Soccer Channel.
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Dan Steinberg at the Soccer Insider blog with a Copa Sudamericana primer. And then he has more quotes from Mexican newspapers about the Chivas v DC game and a DC United update.
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Steinberg also previews the match for the Washington Post.
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John Haydon of the Washington Times previews the game too.
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MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Sep 27
Kansas City v Los Angeles - 7pm central on ESPN2
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The Deseret Morning News has a Q & A with Real Salt Lake owner (and du Nord whipping boy) Dave Checketts. (At least he's not James Dolan.)
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Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England with a weekly column on the New England Revolution, this week looking at the Rev's road draw in New York and now that impacts the playoff to the run.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports had a nice article the other day on Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. (from a couple of days ago)
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Luis Bueno writes for MLSNet about Chivas USA midfielder Francesco Mendoza's chances of getting called in to the Mexican national team.
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Paul Oberjuerge of the LA Daily News with a story looking at the LA Galaxies completely crap season.
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Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze talks to LA midfielder Cobi Jones who says that he may not retire at the end of this season after-all. Does that mean he has to give back all the farewell gifts that other teams in the league have been giving him?
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Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog ponders on who should be in the New York Red Bulls lineup in the final weeks of the regular season.
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Soccernet with a nice story on Chicago midfielder Diego Gutierrez who has a nonprofit organization that fights malaria in Africa.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with his notes this week on the Fire. And even more notes in two articles on his Red Card blog - One and Two.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC players are fighting for next years roster now.
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Beau Dure at USA Today looks at the Kansas City attack - the exact opposite of several previous years of defend defend defend.
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KC weekly paper The Pitch has an article on the Kansas City Wizards newest stadium building plans.
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FC Dallas Updates lets us know that Dallas is heading to Trinidad & Tobago to play a couple of exhibitions against local teams after the MLS season ends.
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Ryan Hunt at Sports Illustrated with his latest MLS column, Free Kicks. He is on board with Grandpa!
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Goal.com says there is a rumor going around that MLS is going to allow all teams to add a 2nd Designated Player for next year, and that is a bad idea. They also call it Los Angeles pandering.
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MLSNet has relaunched their post-season award preview and speculation page. They gives us the favorites and trends for things like MVP & Rookie of the Year etc.
-There are a couple more players who I think should be strongly considered for some of these awards that are either not on the lists at all or just in the "also" category:
Defender of the Year candidate: Wade Barrett - Houston
Defender of the Year candidate: Clarence Goodson - Houston
Rookie of the Year candidate: Ty Harden - LA
MVP candidate: Jesse Marsch - Chivas USA
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The US Open Cup final is a week from today down in Frisco TX. It will be Dallas v New England.
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The Cary News in North Carolina has a Q & A with Carolina Railhawks team president Chris Economides.
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Lars Lifrak of Soccer365 has a Q & A with Seattle goalkeeper Chris Eylander as his team goes for another USL First Division championship on Saturday v Atlanta.
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Copa Sudamericana
First Leg:
-Sep 19
Lanus 2-0 Vasco da Gama
Boca Juniors 2-1 Sao Paulo
Botafogo 1-0 River Plate
Goias 2-3 Arsenal
-Sep 20
Defensor Sporting 3-0 El Nacional
-Sep 25
Millonarios 1-1 Colo Colo
Pachuca 1-4 America
-Sep 26
DC United v Guadalajara Chivas - shown delayed at 10:30pm central on FSC. And live at 7:30pm central on FSE.
Second Leg (with first leg scores included):
-Sep 26
Vasco da Gama v Lanus (0-2)
Sao Paulo v Boca Juniors (1-2)
Arsenal v Goias (3-2)
-Sep 27
River Plate v Botafogo (0-1)
-Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas v DC United
-Oct 3
America v Pachuca (4-1)
-Oct 4
El Nacional v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Colo Colo v Millonarios (1-1)
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Midweek Euro matches today:
-Wed Sep 26
Barcelona v Real Zaragoza - could end 4-3, both have big offensive power.
Fiorentina v Roma - a classic without Totti for Roma who is injured, and rested for this weekend when they play Inter.
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English League Cup
Third Round matches:
-Tue Sep 25
Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle
Blackpool 2-1 Southend
Burnley 0-1 Portsmouth
Luton 3-1 Charlton
Manchester City 1-0 Norwich
Reading 2-4 Liverpool
Sheffield United 5-0 Morecambe
West Brom 2-4 Cardiff
-Wed Sep 26
Blackburn v Birmingham
Manchester United v Coventry
Tottenham v Middlesbrough
Hull v Chelsea
West Ham v Plymouth
Sheffield Wednesday v Everton
Fulham v Bolton
Aston Villa v Leicester
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How did our Americans fare in the English League Cup Third Round matches:
-Bobby Convey - Reading - got his first start in about a year and played 80 minutes scoring his first goal in 18 months, but it was not enough as they lost 2-4 at home to Liverpeople.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - dress but was rested for this game - big mistake by the coach.
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Other Americans in Europe in action this mid-week:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - on the subs bench for a League Cup match v Amadora.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - 0-2 winners at Arminia Bielefeld
-Heath Pearce – Hansa Rostock - 1-3 winners at Hertha
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - 0-3 losers to Monchengladbach
-Gregg Berhalter – Munich 1860 - play at Mainz on Thursday
-Josh Wolff – Munich 1860 - play at Mainz on Thursday
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - at home to 1860 on Thursday
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The Reading website talks to coach Steve Coppell about American Bobby Convey's return from a long term injury.
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The Independent of England with an article on Fulham coach Lawrie Sanchez and his clubs fairly poor and unlucky start to the season.
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Sideline Views has a translation of a tirade by the UNAM Pumas coach on the Mexican national team plays so many whimpy friendlies in the USA against the lesser CONCACAF teams just for the money. He wants to know why they aren’t in Europe playing the big boys.
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The German Women are through to the World Cup final, having beaten Norway 3-0 today. They will face the winner of USA v Brazil who play tomorrow.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times with a few words on Roma's early season lead in Italy, and some more words on MLS and Europe.
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The Times of London with a story on young French prodigy Adel Taarabt who plays for Tottenham in England. He has been called the new Zidane.
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The excellent Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian talks to an old former Argentine coach & player about his return to Old Trafford in Manchester since his playing days in 1968 - he is not pleased with what he sees.