Contact & Conflict News

Brad Guzan of Chivas USA was named MLS Goalkeeper Of The Year today.


MLS Playoffs
Quarterfinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu Nov 1
DC v Chicago (0-1) - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
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John Haydon of the Washington Times writes about DC United's need to get on the scoreboard against their playoff nemesis Chicago, or its all over.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post says DC forward Jaime Moreno is ready to go for Thursday, but will his strike partner Luci Emilio be recovered from his ankle injury?
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Andrew Rogers of Soccer365 has a Q & A with MLS commissioner Don Garber.
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Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times says its not looking good for Chivas USA striker Maykel Galindo. MG has a sports hernia and will most likely not play on Saturday. This leaves the team, also without Ante Razov, little chance of advancing to the next round.
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With this playoff poster, stolen from the Korner Pocket, Chivas USA look to be channeling Narnia or something equally troubling.
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Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star writes about former KC Wiz star player Predrag Radosavljevic aka Preki who is now the successful coach of rivals Chivas USA.
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US Soccer has an audio interview with KC coach Kurt Onalfo, who is a former assistant with the USA senior team. Download or listen here.
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Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree visits the FD Dallas practice field this week as the team prepares for Friday nights second leg playoff match in Houston.
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Dallas midfielder Pablo Richetti's groin injury has re-appeared, he could miss the game Friday.
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Ryan Hunt of Sports Illustrated with his Free Kicks column & the playoffs.
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Michael Lewis for MLSnet previews the 2 Eastern Conf 2nd leg matches.
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Andrew Wiebe of the Daily Kansan with a follow up to his story last week on soccer fans in Kansas City.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun jumps on the "Bruce Arena has not made New York better" bandwagon. Gardner says Arena looks simply unhappy these days.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc wonders how guys like Fernando Clavijo, Sigi Schmid & Mo Johnston get to keep their jobs as MLS head coaches (or get news one after failing somewhere else) while leading their teams to such shitty seasons.
-The Guardian with a story on the same topic, where the same situation is debated in England, and everywhere else for that matter.
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Andrea Canales also at the USSPA grades the career of LA's Cobi Jones.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his weekly soccer notes column: Corner Kicks.
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The LA Galaxy will play a match for charity on Sunday at the Home Depot center against the celebrity and former soccer star team from LA called Hollywood United. The game will played be to raise money for the Southern California wildfire victims. (thanks to Christine for this one)
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A smaller Portland-area newspaper, the Willamette Weekly, has an article on the potential owner of a MLS team in Portland. He is Merritt Paulson and he currently owns the First Division Portland Timbers.
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Copa Sudamericana
Quarterfinal Second Leg Matches & Scores with first leg scores included:
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate 0-0 Defensor Sporting - the series ends tied 2-2, and River advance on the away goals tie breaker.
-Semifinals (dated TBD)
America v Arsenal
Millonarios v River Plate
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The USA U18 team lost their first game of the Limoges tournament to host France 3-1. Billy Schuler got the USA goal. Sheanon Williams was ejected in second half stoppage time for a second Yellow Card.
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Robert Ziegler of Top Drawer Soccer talks to the director of Brad Friedel's Premier Soccer Academy in Cleveland.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune says the hiring of Wilmer Cabrera to run the USA U17 team is a great move.
-And his Sidelines column with soccer notes from around the globe.
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The Reading Evening Post says American keeper Marcus Hahnemann's contract with Reading runs out at the end of this season, and the team is not offering him a new deal at this time. They are taking a wait and see approach, which is pissing off Hahnemann who wants an extension now.
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Yanks Abroad with a column on Freddy Adu facing down his critics.
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English League Cup
Fourth Round Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 30
Coventry 1-2 West Ham
-Wed Oct 31
Bolton v Manchester City
Chelsea v Leicester
Liverpool v Cardiff
Luton v Everton
Portsmouth v Blackburn
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Tottenham v Blackpool
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American defender Jonathan Spector came on at half time for West Ham in their League Cup win.
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German DFB Cup
2nd Round Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 30
Werder Bremen II 0-0 St Pauli - WBII adv on PK's 6-4
Wuppertaler 2-0 Hertha Berlin
Alemannia Aachen 3-2 Bochum
Hansa Rostock 6-0- Kickers Offenbach
1860 Munich 2-1 Mainz
Karlsruher 0-1 Wolfsburg
Hoffenheim 2-1 Greuther Furth
Schalke 2-0 Hannover
-Wed Oct 31
Rot-Weiss Essen v Kaiserslautern
Stuttgart v Paderborn
Hamburg v Freiburg
Werder Bremen v Duisburg
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt
Koblenz v Arminia Bielefeld
Carl Zeiss Jena v Nurnberg
Bayern Munich v Monchengladbach
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Americans in DFBC action:
-Greg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played all 90 in a 2-1 win over Mainz.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the full 120 minutes losing on the road to Schalke, 2-0 in extra time after a scoreless 90.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - played the entire scoreless match that went to extra time, but lost 6-4 on Penalty Kicks in the end.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - went the full 90 in his teams big 6-0 win.
-Neven Subotic - did not dress for his teams 2-1 loss at 1860.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - played all 90 in a 2-1 win over Mainz.
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French Coupe De La Ligue
1st Knock-out Round Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 30
Nancy 1-0 Amiens
Auxerre 6-2 Nice
Marseille 2-2 Metz - Marseille advance 5-4 on Penalty Kicks after extra time ended tied.
-Wed Oct 31
Monaco v Lens
Rennes v Valenciennes
Paris St Germaine v Montpellier
Caen v Lyon
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Europe sees some league games today too, and a few very big ones at that:
Fiorentina v Napoli - two teams trying and succeeding in staying close to the league leaders in Italy.
Roma v Lazio - the Rome derby
Valencia v Real Madrid - Valencia will have a new coach and want to stay in the race.
Atletico Madrid v Sevilla - I would love to see some Halloween futbol with two big goal scoring teams like this.
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World Soccer has a Q & A with Chelsea Exec Peter Kenyon. Via Sports Illustrated.
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The younger brother of Birmingham & Honduran international Wilson Palacios has been kidnapped.
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Its now safe for American players to go back to PSV as coach Ronald Koeman has left the team to take over at Valencia. Koeman ran DaMarcus Beasley out of town, and never gave Lee Nguyen a chance.
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The diving player from Napoli, Marcelo Zalayeta, who got a 2 game suspension has had the ruling reversed after video replay show he was fouled after all. But the referee is still being punished for supposedly awarding a penalty on the dive. Juve still have the power to hurt people in the game, maybe not on the field right now, but they wield a big sword.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the new man in charge at Sevilla.
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The Guardian with a story on an Iranian-American who now coaches the biggest football club in Tehran, Persepolis. Did any of you know about this? We need more of this.

Snifflin' The Night Away News

FIFA has officially named Brazil as hosts of the 2014 World Cup. See ya there.

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In 7 previous playoff matches, Chicago has beaten DC United 6 times and tied 1, while not allowing a single goal. The score in the all times series is 11-0. Does the streak continue, or is it time to be broken?

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Jose Mourinho to coach Valencia? That is the rumor.


According to the MLS discipline page, anyone who gets booked in both legs of the first round playoff series will be suspended from the semifinals. Ouch.
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Pete Grathoff of the KC Star with MLS playoff notes etc.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe advocates for the "away goals" rule in MLS playoffs. And a few other soccer notes.
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Nick Green at the Daily Breeze feels that Chivas USA could be in big trouble this weekend. And an update on Frank Yallop's status with the Galaxy.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated wants to know if Chicago are the trendy pick to win it all?
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Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog with the latest from DC coach Tom Soehn.
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Goff says that over 30,000 tickets have already been sold for MLS Cup. Excellent news. I bought 13. How many did you buy?
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with the latest Dynamo notes as they prepare for a Friday night showdown with Dallas.
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The mayor of Houston declared today Houston Dynamo Day in the city. Why not Friday, when the game is?
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Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England wants to know where the "home field advantage" is in the first round of the MLS playoffs.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger thinks New York can still do it in New England on Saturday.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his First XI looking at what we learned from the first leg playoff matches.
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DJ Walker at 3rd Degree gives us his Stream of Consciousness game report on Dallas v Houston from last Saturday.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise thinks the MLS playoffs need more tinkering.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News feels that the New York Red Bulls are in desperate need of a play making midfielder. Hey, I got an idea. How about Amado Guevara?
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Pat Walsh of Goal.com thinks NY coach Bruce Arena has lost his shine.
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The Chicago Sun Times with a story on Chicago Fire owner Andrew Hauptman and his Hollywood connection.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times on recent FIFA rulings and other local & world soccer notes.
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MLS has released their list of 2007 season awards nominees, and the dates those awards will be handed out.
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Copa Sudamericana
Quarterfinals
Second Leg Matches & Scores with first leg scores included:
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate v Defensor Sporting (2-2)
-Semifinals: America v Arsenal and Millonarios v winner of Defensor/River.
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FIFA with a nice update on Central American club qualifiers for next springs CONCACAF Championship Cup.
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Here are the 8 teams that will play in the Interliga tournament next January:
Group A - America, Atlas, Toluca & Morelia
Group B - Cruz Azul, Pumas, Monterrey & San Luis
-The top 2 finishers qualify for next years Copa Libertadores.
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Fulhamfc.com with an update on Brian McBride's injury recovery. (thanks to BQ for sending this one)
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Greg Seltzer at American Soccer Daily talks to Gregg Berhalter about life at 1860, and the teams attempt to get back into the top league.
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American Soccer Daily also talks to young American defender Neven Subotic at Mainz. Subotic also confirms that he has options to play of at least one other country rather than the USA. That is not to say he has ruled out the USA. He just has options.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - started, played all 90 minutes and his team won 2-0 at home over Esbjerg yesterday.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the distance and got himself a yellow card in a 0-2 road win at Crystal Palace on Monday.
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Thomas Rongen has a USA U18 team in France this week for the Limoges tournament where they will face the hosts, Turkey & Scotland. Most of the players on the team will be fighting for spots on the 2009 U20 World Cup team.
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The Fourth round of the English League Cup is this mid-week.
-Tue Oct 30
Coventry v West Ham
-Wed Oct 31
Bolton v Manchester City
Chelsea v Leicester
Liverpool v Cardiff
Luton v Everton
Portsmouth v Blackburn
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Tottenham v Blackpool
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Russian Premier League
-Standings after 28 rounds (of 30):
55 Zenit St Petersburg
53 Spartak Moscow
49 FC Moscow
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In a New York Times story on Phoenix Suns NBA star (and noted soccer fan) Steve Nash he says he was going to London to meet with Tottenham officials about his desire to become an owner.
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Its a fact that hate will never end, but the Observer says Tottenham & others still get the Jewish hate all too often.
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4 good ones from the Guardian today:
-How Lyon beat down their former coaches new team.
-Queens Park Rangers are the latest club in England about to get the big foreign money makeover.
-The second chance at stardom for Adrian Mutu at Fiorentina.
-Is new Tottenham boss Juande Ramos the next Jose Mourinho.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the latest edicts from FIFA.
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Another player on a small team in Italy has been given a 2 game suspension for diving. This is fantastic to see, but the big question still remains, Will the league do the same if a big name player on a big name team is caught diving?
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Egypt's Al Ahli looks to have the edge for the African Champions League crown after a 0-0 tie game at Etoile Sahel of Tunisia. The second and deciding leg is at Al Ahli on Nov 9.
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IFK Goteborg have won the Swedish championship. Congrats boyos.

The 2007 du Nord MLS Best 11

Here is the best of the best, listed alphabetically, as adjudged by me here at du Nord:

Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls

Wade Barrett - Houston Dynamo

Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy

Luciano Emilio - DC United

Jesse Marsch - Chivas USA

Ben Olsen - DC United

Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo

Michael Parkhurst - New England Revolution

Steve Ralston - New England Revolution

Eddie Robinson - Houston Dynamo

Juan Toja - FC Dallas


This list is always incredibly hard to create. Some names are completely obvious, but as you get to number 9 or 10 the names start to pile up and differences are miniscule. But in the end I think this list is pretty unstoppable.

Obviously there are at least a half dozen other fantastic players that almost got on this list, but for whatever reason they fell inches short at the finish line. Better luck next year.

Run Around It News

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree says the FC Dallas players are working on playoff beards. Nice.


MLS Playoffs
First Round First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Chicago 1-0 DC - goal by Chris Rolfe.
-Sat Oct 27
New York 0-0 New England
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy at the Boston Herald.
Post-game notes from Dell'apa.
Post-game notes from Big Apple Soccer.
Dallas 1-0 Houston - goal by Clarence Goodson.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Kansas City 1-0 Chivas - goal by Davy Arnaud.
Match report by Bob Luder of the KC Star.
Match report by Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times.
Match report from the LA Daily News.
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Forward Maykel Galindo did not play for Chivas USA due to a strained abdominal muscle.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet reviews the first leg of games.
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Kyle McCarthy at the Boston Herald says New England's questionable defense stepped up Saturday night when they had to.
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McCarthy also writing for Goal.com wraps up the weekends first leg playoff series'.
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Dylan Butler at Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore about leg 2 at New England.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks to next weeks second leg between the Dynamo and Dallas.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated on Blanco-amour in MLS.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports reports that New York coach Bruce Arena was hard on his forward Juan Pablo Angel after their 0-0 home playoff game with New England. Angel is their go to guy. Arena has a right to get on him. Its do or die.
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The Toronto Globe & Mail on the amazing debut season for Toronto FC, even though they stunk on the field.
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Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog pointed me to a story by Jim Alexander who along with Bueno writes for the Southern California newspaper the Press Enterprise, and has a Q & A with new Chivas USA exec Shawn Hunter.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with a review of the Crew season.
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Ivan Orozco of the LA Daily News with a story on the daily life of Chivas USA Mexican midfielder Francisco Mendoza.
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Allen Hopkins of ESPN with his MLS Best 11.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet looks at the future of the 5 MLS coaches whose teams did not make the playoffs.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet rewinds Daniel Beckman's first MLS season and sees how it went.
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The Manchester Evening News talks to a Texas Rangers baseball player (CJ Wilson) about soccer in America. Interesting. He knows his stuff.
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North American Friendlies
Portland Timbers 4-1 Toronto FC - Por goals by Bryan Jordan(2), Miguel Guante & Lawrence Olum. Tor goal by Chris Pozniak.
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The Oregonian with a story on the Portland v Toronto exhibition and how it fits in with possible MLS expansion.
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Copa Sudamericana
Quarterfinals
Second Leg Matches & Scores with first leg scores included:
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate v Defensor Sporting (2-2)
-America, Millonarios & Arsenal have advance to the semifinals. America will take on the Arsenal, and Millonarios will play the Defensor v River winner.
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Clemente Lisi at the US Soccer Players Assoc says the hiring of Wilmer Cabrera by US Soccer to run the U17 school and team is a brilliant move.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on as a sub in the 80th minute and 7 minutes later scored the game winner in a 2-1 victory over Maritimo!
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and went the distance by lost 2-1 at Dundee.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the distance in a 3-0 win over Kickers Offenbach.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played all 90 of a miserable 1-1 draw at Sunderland. They gave up the equalizer in the last minutes of the game.
-Nat Borchers - Odd Grenland - dressed but did not play in his teams 0-2 win at Sandefjord.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started and came off in the 65th minute of an overpowering 0-4 win at Venlo.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - play at home to Esbjerg today.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played all 90 minutes as usual in a 0-0 road tie with Eintracht.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - was on the bench but did not play in his teams 2-1 home win over Newcastle.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - started and went 90 scoring 3, yes 3 goals to end his fruitless streak in high style, as the team beat Goteborg AIS 4-0 at home in the final game of the fall season.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - go to Crystal Palace today.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 of a miserable 1-1 draw at Sunderland.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 0-2 loss at home to Everton.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - started as always and got a 2-1 win at Tottenham.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the full 90 and got a 2-1 home win over Newcastle.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started and grabbed another clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Derby County.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - dressed but did not play in his teams 1-1 home draw with Wehen.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - out injured.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started and played the first 57 minutes of a 0-2 home loss to Everton.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the whole match but could only draw 2-2 at home v Mechelen.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - dressed but did not play in his teams 0-0 match with Karlsruhe.
-Steve Purdy - 1860 - was on the bench (for the first time every) but did not play in his teams 3-0 win over Offenbach.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - back from injury and playing the entirety of a 2-1 win over Blackpool.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on in the 78th minute to help preserve a 0-0 draw at Portsmouth.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - went the distance in a 1-1 tie home game with Augsburg.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - did not dress for his teams 1-1 tied at home with Stromsgodset.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started and played the first half of his teams 3-0 win over Offenbach Kickers.
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Former San Jose midfielder Ramiro Corrales plays in Norway these days with Brann, and after a bought last spring with a visa problem, things are now amazing for him as the team clinched the league title yesterday beating Viking 5-2 to win it all. Congrats to him. He played the first 84 minutes of the match.
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Big Euro games played this past weekend:
Napoli 3-1 Juventus - a real whooping for the Old Lady who are pretending to chase the title this season. They have no chance to win it.
Milan 0-1 Roma - another pretender falls at home again to a real contender Roma.
Zaragoza 4-1 Villareal - it was only a goalfest for one team. The other continued their yo-yo.
Sevilla 3-0 Valencia - have Sev put their personal sorrow behind them? Val fired coach Quique Sanchez Flores after the game!
Paris St Germaine 2-3 Lyon - Lyon, having taken the league lead a couple weeks back, now open a 4 point gap at the top.
Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal - Liv scored very early but you could just feel the Arse were gonna get at least a draw.
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Mexico
-Sun Oct 28 - El Superclasico
America 2-1 Chivas Amer goals both by Juan Carlos Silva. Chiv goal by Omar Bravo.
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Soccernet's The Insider watched Chelsea destroy 3rd place Manchester City 6-0 on Saturday. Jose who?
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Long time Dutch defender Jaap Stam, who always frightened me with his prisoner-of-war camp guard look, retired from the game. Sir Alex Ferguson will not miss him.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Chinese midfielder Jiayi Shao of Energie Cottbus in Germany.
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Phil Ball at Soccernet ponders the now former Sevilla coach Juande Ramos' chance of success at Tottenham.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian rounds up a weekend in La Liga.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the high stakes Russian poker that is Chelsea football club.
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Singapore was set to play Palestine in a World Cup qualifier this weekend in Asia but the Palestinians were a no show. And they didn't even call to say they were not coming. Palestine later said that 18 of their players and coaches were stuck in Gaza under a strict Israeli no travel policy. What a mess this world can be. Treating each other like animals. Great problem solvers.

From The Depths Of The Unknown News

I was very upset last night when ESPN2 insisted on calling the month of October, "Soctober". That is so frickin pea brained and lame. Everyone with half a sense knows it's "Rocktober!"

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MLS Boss Don Garber told Sports Illustrated that the league has not discussed expanding the Designated Player rule to include more per team. (see full interview below)

~and~

I have heard nothing about a little film opening today called Bella. It is a love story built around a guy who played professional soccer, got into trouble, and is now trying to make his life work again, and be with a beautiful woman. OK, sounds pretty formula. But the team he plays for in the movie is Metrostars. Yes, Metrostars. What the hell is this? Here is the website and a trailer. (thanks to Doug for the links)


MLS Playoffs
First Round First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Chicago 1-0 DC - goal by Chris Rolfe.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match report from Chicago's Daily Herald.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report from the Washington Times.
Match report from the Washington Examiner.
Post-game quotes by Blanco about the ref's from Arroyave's Red Card blog.
Post-game notes, DC player & coach quotes and DC player ratings by Goff at the Soccer Insider.
-Sat Oct 27
New York v New England - 6:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Dallas v Houston - 7pm on HDNet & Direct Kick
Kansas City v Chivas - 7:30pm on Direct Kick
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Lawson Vaughn of Chivas USA will miss his teams first playoff game due to a Red Card suspension.
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My notes from last nights game:
-I watched the game with a great crew over at Dan G's place. They are Fire fans. We had a very good time.
-How about that camera work where you could actually see the contact lens fly out of Chris Rolfe's eye. Cool.
-The smoke and shit in Section 8 was very good. While it was not Italy, Turkey or Poland good, it was top notch for USA.
-Chris Rolfe showed us all why he should be starting up top instead of either Barrett or Wanchope. Last night it was Wanchope's turn to sit. And Rolfe nailed that goal.
-DC has absolutely no back up in the forward line.
-What happened to last years MLS Defender of the Year Bobby Boswell?
-Which player on these two teams will be the first to have a melt down in the second leg?
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Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on TV commentator Eric Wynalda's comments about Blanco.
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And Arroyave on his Red Card blog has some scary news for Fire fans. Coach Osorio is leaving the gate open to offers from other clubs.
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Pat Walsh at Goal.com previews Saturdays three playoff matches.
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John Connolly of the Boston Herald looks ahead to the New England v New York playoff series.
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Ivan Orozco of the LA Daily News on the Chivas USA playoff prep.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram looks at Dallas's chances v Houston. Does not look good.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports on the Art of being Blanco.
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My pal Paul Demko at City Pages with his playoff preview. I blew it and missed this one yesterday, sorry amigo.
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Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated does the Q & A session with MLS Head Honcho Don Garber.
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Chicago's Daily Southtown looks back that the first 10 years of the Fire.
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Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News with an article on NYRB forward Juan Pablo Angel.
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The New York Times Goal blog is guest writing again today by New York forward Jozy Altidore. He is ready for some playoff football.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with a great story on the reign of coach Steve Nicol at New England.
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The Republican of Springfield MA has a story on New England defender Jay Heaps.
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The above story is a perfect example of the new level MLS has grown to. Smaller city newspapers doing original stories. I love it.
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Dave Lifton at the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with New England defender Michael Parkhurst.
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Goal.com conducts a fairly light hearted Q & A with New York defender Jeff Park.
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Not surprisingly New York named Juan Pablo Angel has their teams Most Valuable Player this season.
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Eddie Johnson claimed this years MVP for the Kansas City Wizards.
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Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times with a story on Chivas USA first year head coach Preki.
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Greg Lalas at Goal.com with his weekly column: 3-5-2.
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Toronto FC has picked up the next year of coach Mo Johnston's deal with the team.
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Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch with some very interesting Columbus Crews news about Argentine players. (Scroll down a little for the section)
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Bill Urban at the US Soccer Players Assoc gets his playoff preview posted a day late. I hope he at least got last nights game right.
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It became official today that San Jose will play next season in Buck Shaw Stadium at Santa Clara University. Here is the press release.
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FC Dallas gives us video of all 51 goals of their season. Cool.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle gives us an update on a possible stadium for the Dynamo.
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Copa Sudamericana - Quarterfinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Defensor Sporting 2-2 River Plate
Second Leg Matches & Scores with first leg scores included:
-Wed Oct 24
Vasco da Gama 1-0 America - America advance 2-1 on aggregate.
Millonarios 2-0 Sao Paulo - Millonarios adv 3-0 on agg.
-Thu Oct 25
Chivas Guadalajara 1-3 Arsenal - Arsenal adv 3-1 on agg.
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate v Defensor Sporting (2-2)
-America, Millonarios & Arsenal have advanced to the semifinals. Just waiting for the last one now. (America will take on the Arsenal, and Millonarios will play the Defensor v River winner.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with a story on Wilmer Cabrera, the new USA U17 coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer with his take on the Cabrera hiring.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro games to be enjoyed this weekend:
-Sat Oct 27
Napoli v Juventus - the South v the North, and you can expect more snarky banners aimed toward the Neopolitans.
-Sun Oct 28
Milan v Roma - an old old fierce rivalry, and the visitors have the upper hand.
Zaragoza v Villareal - offense v offense, flair v flair, fun v fun, so lets hope for lots of goals.
Sevilla v Valencia - the two teams with the best chance to beat out Real & Barca for the Spanish crown.
Paris St Germaine v Lyon - sounds like it should be a good old fashioned grudge match doesn't it?
Liverpool v Arsenal - two teams that say they want to contend for the English title.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Mexican Superclasico
-Sun Oct 28
Club America v Guadalajara Chivas - 9:30pm central on Univision
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The BBC with a story saying some owners of English Premiership teams are interested in playing some regular season games in the USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian checks in on the English 2nd division (Championship) race.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I stole this video clip from Luis Arroyave and his Red Card blog. A dude messes with Dutch fans. Awesome.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If Sao Paulo win & the 2nd place team loses this weekend they will clinch the Brazilian crown with 5 matches still to be played.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated looks at the race for the Argentine Apertura title.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sevilla coach Juande Ramos is officially the new man in charge of Tottenham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times compares/contrasts Football & Football. The American kind to the International kind.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on what the club Barcelona means to many African kids.

Feel Around Inside News

I am going on the record before the playoffs start with my prediction to win MLS Cup: Houston Dynamo.

~and~

Chicago Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco to Chicago Tribune reporter John "the Janitor" Kass: "It's difficult. Before I came, I thought the MLS was easy. It's not." (see full story below)

~and~

Vote here for the MLS Goal Of The Year.

~and~

Tottenham have fired coach Martin Jol and brought in Sevilla coach Juande Ramos.


MLS Playoffs
First Round First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Chicago v DC - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
Match preview by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match preview by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match preview by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match preview from the Washington Examiner.
Match preview by Pat Walsh at Goal.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog says that Fire midfielder Ivan Guerrero is most likely done for the season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Chicago Tribune column on what Cuauhtemoc Blanco has done for Chicago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago's Daily Herald says the Fire Captain Chris Armas is ready for the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe talks to New England forward Taylor Twellman about how important these post-season playoffs are to him and the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News ponders the meeting between Carlos Ruiz and the Houston Dynamo. It has all the makings of a huge gunpowder explosion.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog took in New York practice today, and gives us some notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena about the format of the MLS playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze says the LA Galaxy's next order of business is to decide the fate of coach Frank Yallop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the KC Star says Kansas City coach Curt Onalfo has a very positive attitude heading into the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

George Tanner of FC Rocky looks at the Colorado Rapids sad-sack goal scoring prowess this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley with his First XI from MLSnet: Best Opening Matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis previews the first round of the Eastern Conf for MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis previews the first round of the Western Conf for MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated previews the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post previews the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times gives us his MLS playoff preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle gives us 5 players and 5 things to watch for in the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports predicts 2 first round upsets in his preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic looks back at the last 4 playoff appearances by their beloved New York team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald Tribune says the playoffs don't need B******. I disagree, cuz he would bring 10 times more media coverage than anyone else. On the other hand you and I certainly don't need Golden Balls to know how great these games are gonna be.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today looks at the great job Preki has done in his first season as a head coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marc Connolly at Goal.com does a Q & A with Kansas City midfielder Davy Arnaud.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick hands out the 3rd Degree awards - to FC Dallas players, and league players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The staff at American Soccer Daily pick there All-MLS Team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com with their MLS awards. Some serious, and some tell us not to take it all so damn serious.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The cast and crew of Soccer New England make playoff predictions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Columbus Crew named Guillermo Barros Schelotto the teams Most Valuable Player for this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Houston Dynamo named Pat Onstad & Brian Mullan co-MVPs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Stanford Daily with an article on the growth and potential of MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Vancouver Province with a story on the USL First Division Vancouver Whitecaps adventures in building a new stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Quarterfinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Defensor Sporting v River Plate
Second Leg Matches & Scores with first leg scores included:
-Wed Oct 24
Vasco da Gama 1-0 America - America advance 2-1 on aggregate.
Millonarios 2-0 Sao Paulo - Millonarios adv 3-0 on agg.
-Thu Oct 25
Chivas Guadalajara v Arsenal (0-0)
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate v Defensor Sporting
-America & Millonarios are the first two teams to advance to the semifinals. Amer will take on the Arsenal v Chivas winner, and Mill will play the Defensor v River winner.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Romario takes a loss in his first game in charge of Vasco de Gama. Better luck next time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA U17 team has a new head coach. He is Colombian Wilmer Cabrera. This job over see’s the US Soccer Residency program in south Florida.
-US Soccer has also renewed the contract of U20 coach Thomas Rongen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Californian talks to young American (cue Bowie) Steve Purdy who just spent time training with the US national team in Switzerland. His club team is the same one as fellow Americans (cue Nixon) Gregg Berhalter & Josh Wolff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League Matchday 3
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 23
Stuttgart 0-2 Lyon - goals by Fabio Santos & Karim Benzema.
Rangers 0-0 Barcelona
Dynamo Kyiv 2-4 Man United - Kyiv goals by Diogo Rincon & Ismael Bangoura. Man U goals by Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney & 2 from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Roma 2-1 Sporting - Roma goals by Juan & Mirko Vucinic. Spor goal by Liedson.
CSKA 1-2 Inter - CSKA goal by Jo. Inter goals by Hernan Crespo & Walter Samuel.
PSV 0-0 Fenerbahce
Sevilla 2-1 Steau - Sev goals by Fredric Kanoute & Luis Fabiano. Stea goal by Ovidiu Petre.
Arsenal 7-0 Slavia - goals by Cesc Farbregas(2), David Hubacek(OG), Theo Walcott(2), Aleksandr Hleb & Niklas Bendtner.
-Wed Oct 24
Besiktas 2-1 Liverpool - Bes goals by Sami Hyypia(OG) & Bobo. Liver goal by Steven Gerrard.
Marseille 1-1 Porto - Mars goal by Mamadou Niang. Por goal by Lucho Gonzalez(PK).
Rosenborg 2-0 Valencia - goals by Yssouf Kone & Vidar Riseth.
Chelsea 2-0 Schalke - goals by Florent Malouda & Didier Drogba.
Bremen 2-1 Lazio - Brem goals by Boubacar Sanogo & Hugo Almeida. Laz goal by Christian Manfredini.
Real Madrid 4-2 Olympiakos - Real goals by Raul, Robinho(2) & Javier Angel Balboa. Oly goals by Luciano Galletti & Julio Cesar.
Benfica 1-0 Celtic - goal by Oscar Cardozo.
Milan 4-1 Shakhtar - Mil goals by Alberto Gilardino(2) & Clarence Seedorf(2). Shak goal by Cristiano Lucarelli.
-Here are the current group standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Freddy Adu took the field in the 62nd minute yesterday for Benfica in the Champions League, and he was part of the passing sequence that gave the game its only goal. Fantastic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune wraps up Wednesdays Champions League matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even though Rosenborg beat Valencia handily yesterday, the team still fired their coach Knut Toerum today, because they sit in 6th place in their own league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London says Lionel Messi of Barcelona called Rangers tactics Tuesday night in the Champions League "anti-football". I would not disagree, but it was not dull, it was more like Ali Rope-a-dope. But he is to young to know about that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first round of the group stage for the UEFA Cup is today.
Matches & Scores:
Zenit St Petersburg 1-1 AZ Alkmaar
Everton 3-1 Larissa
Panathanikos 3-0 Aberdeen
Lokomotiv Moscow - 3-3 Atletico Madrid
Elfsborg 1-1 AEK Athens
Villareal 0-1 Fiorentina
Brann 0-1 Hamburg
Basel 1-0 Rennes
Sparta Praha 1-2 Zurich
Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Toulousse
Bolton 0-0 Braga
Red Star Belgrade 1-1 Bayern Munich
Tottenham 1-1 Getafe
Anderlecht 2-0 Haifa Tel Aviv
Helsingborg 1-1 Panionios
Bordeaux 2-1 Galatasaray
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American's in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - his team had a bye this round.
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - was on the bench but not used in a 0-1 home loss to Hamburg.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started and went the distance in his teams 3-1 win over Larissa of Greece.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks at the history between Bayern Munich and their UEFA Cup opponent Red Star Belgrade aka Crvena Zvezda.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com with an article on Pachuca coach Enrique Meza and his teams participation in the World Cup Championship coming up in December.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Kraft family who own the New England Revolution are once again rumored to be looking to buy an English team.

Mr Jones News

I should have caught this one sooner, but Dave Lifton of the famous Screaming Eagles podcast has his own blog, Booked For Dissent - Dave Lifton's thoughts and rants about soccer. Excellent stuff.

~and~

A small newspaper in Philadelphia called The Bulletin says that the suburb of Chester where a stadium could be built for an MLS team is "...the poorest, most crime-riddled and poverty-stricken city in the state." Does this sounds like a good place for a stadium to you?


MLS Playoffs
First Round First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Chicago v DC - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kansas City forward Scott Sealy has been named MLS Player Of The Week. This is the second time this season he has won the award.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ivan Orozco of the LA Daily News says Chivas USA striker Ante Razov may yet recover from his knee injury in time to help his team in the post season. That would be huge for the American Goats.
-Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise covers this story too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times looks at the Juan Carlos Osorio/Cuauhtemoc Blanco combination and how they got Chicago up off the matt and into the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog says the Fire's Chris Rolfe could be back at forward this week. Do they ever need him up top.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post looks back the DC's past failures against Chicago in the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goff (the Master) also goes online every couple of weeks to answer all our burning questions. Here is the transcript from earlier today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews the Eastern Conference playoff matchups.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England looks ahead to the Revolutions first play off game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The US Soccer Players Assoc previews New England v New York.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com previews the MLS playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com also has a Q & A with New England head man Steve Nicol.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree observed the FC Dallas practice yesterday, and liked the intensity.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with the latest news and notes from the Dynamo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc with Part Two of his MLS post-season statistical analysis.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet vouches for New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph as a candidate for league MVP. I disagree. He has not cut it this season like he has in the past.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Wiebe of the Daily Kansan gives us the full scoop on the Kansas City Wizards most ardent fans (LINK FIXED).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports got together his own panel of experts to decide on who deserves the MLS post-season awards. (no, I was not included in that panel)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his weekly world soccer roundup: Corner Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blogcritics Magazine with a positive summary of David B******'s first season in MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Seattle Post Intelligencer with the latest on MLS expansion in their city.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Quarterfinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Defensor Sporting v River Plate
Second Leg Matches & Scores with first leg scores included:
-Wed Oct 24
Vasco da Gama v America (0-2)
Millonarios v Sao Paulo (1-0)
-Thu Oct 25
Chivas Guadalajara v Arsenal (0-0)
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate v Defensor Sporting
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few American's in Europe saw action yesterday:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - came on as a second half sub and helped his team defend like wild hungry dogs in a home Champions League match v Barcelona that ended 0-0.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the distance in a league match were they went to Coventry and won 0-3. They are in first place in the Championship Division, and lead by 9 points.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still out injured.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has given former U17 coach John Hackworth a spot on Bob Bradley's senior national team staff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Hush at Soccer New England examines USA coach Bob Bradley's use of the youngsters.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League Matchday 3
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 23
Stuttgart 0-2 Lyon - goals by Fabio Santos & Karim Benzema.
Rangers 0-0 Barcelona
Dynamo Kyiv 2-4 Man United - Kyiv goals by Diogo Rincon & Ismael Bangoura. Man U goals by Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney & 2 from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Roma 2-1 Sporting - Roma goals by Juan & Mirko Vucinic. Spor goal by Liedson.
CSKA 1-2 Inter - CSKA goal by Jo. Inter goals by Hernan Crespo & Walter Samuel.
PSV 0-0 Fenerbahce
Sevilla 2-1 Steau - Sev goals by Fredric Kanoute & Luis Fabiano. Stea goal by Ovidiu Petre.
Arsenal 7-0 Slavia - goals by Cesc Farbregas(2), David Hubacek(OG), Theo Walcott(2), Aleksandr Hleb & Niklas Bendtner.
-Wed Oct 24
Besiktas v Liverpool
Marseille v Porto
Rosenborg v Valencia
Chelsea v Schalke
Bremen v Lazio
Real Madrid v Olympiakos
Benfica v Celtic
Milan v Shakhtar
-Here are the current standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Figo made his 100th Champions League appearance last night, playing for Inter Milan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune rounds up Tuesday Matchday 3 results.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The top 5 teams in each of the worlds top 4 leagues:
-Premiership
25 Arsenal
23 Manchester United
22 Manchester City
19 Liverpool
18 Portsmouth, Blackburn & Chelsea
-La Liga
19 Real Madrid
18 Villareal
18 Valencia
17 Barcelona
16 Espanyol
-Serie A
20 Inter Milan
17 Juventus
16 Fiorentina
15 Roma
12 Palermo, Genoa & Udinese
-Bundesliga
26 Bayern Munich
20 Werder Bremen
20 Hamburg
19 Karlsruhe
17 Schalke & Hannover
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nike has come to an agreement to purchase long time English soccer gear maker Umbro. The price is half a billion dollars. Details from Reuters.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Star with words from the new acting head of the Canadian Soccer Assoc on what lies ahead for this severely dysfunctional organization.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Staunton is out as the head coach for Ireland. Cuz his team stinks, and they are blaming him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian checks in on die Bundesliga.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Doyle also at the Guardian says Chelsea striker Didier Drogba's honesty will get him nowhere with the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog talks to author Dougie Brimson about his new book March of the Hooligans: Soccer’s Bloody Fraternity.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sheffield Football Club (CORRECTED) is the official "oldest football club in the world". It turns 150 today. Happy Birthday you old duffer. Story from Reuters.

Love You More News

Last night I had the pleasure of joining host Kartik Krishnaiyer and 2 other fine fellow freaks for a roundtable discussion of the MLS playoffs and beyond, for Major League Soccer Talk. Listen or download here.

~and~

Thanks to Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated for giving us a link to what might be the best new blog I have seen in ages: Hudsonia, The Wisdom of Ray Hudson. Awesome!

~and~

On Wednesday (tomorrow) I will be announcing the 2007 du Nord MLS Best 11.


MLS Playoffs
First Round First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Chicago v DC - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Peter Welpton of 3rd Degree gives us his end of the regular season analysis of FC Dallas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at the first round playoff matchups.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated answers all your viewer mail on the current state of the game in our country.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Goff of the Washington Post looks at DC United's injuries and question marks as the playoffs arrive.
-Notes from Goff's Soccer Insider blog on DC post-season awards, and some team injury updates & player quotes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews the Western Conference playoff match-ups.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle unveils who got his votes for MLS awards, plus Dynamo notes including a Wade Barrett injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fallas also grades the Dynamo on their regular season, position by position.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pete Grathoff of the KC Star with his weekly MLS notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News looks back at past New York bumblings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times previews the MLS playoffs, with a focus on New York's Juan Pablo Angel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune tells us that Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco is getting his own radio show. It's gonna be called "Directo Al Blanco" aka Blanco Direct. The one hour weekly show starts this Tuesday on WRTO (1200AM). The first show will feature a guest appearance by Chicago Bears lineman Roberto Garza & Club America coach Daniel Brailovsky. (thanks to Paul for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave also writes about what drives Fire keeper Matt Pickens.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chris Rolfe of the Fire has a Nike spot airing for Dicks Sporting Goods. Check it out. (thanks to Bryan for this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Not surprisingly Blanco was named the Chicago Fire Most Valuable Player.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here's a great picture, from the Chi Trib, of the fans and John Thorrington celebrating his game winning goal for the Fire on Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc with Part One of his MLS post-season statistical reviews.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Plenderleith also uses last weeks snubbing of MLS Goomba Don Garber by a Portland radio host, to address the real question of public subsidizing of professional sports facilities.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Colorado Rapids have announced their team awards for 07:
-Rookie of the Year - Omar Cummings
-Defender of the Year - Bouna Coundoul
-Most Valuable Player - Pablo Mastroeni
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News have different artists renderings of the proposed new stadium in suburban Chester, accompanying articles about public funding. (thanks to CD for this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Are you from San Jose and been long suffering from a lack of your own soccer team? You could have Futbolitis. What was the fake disease that Adidas used in their commercials for the 2002 World Cup? (thanks to Guy for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I didn't see this link at the end of last week, so from US Soccer here is some Behind The Scenes video from the USA win in Switzerland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Standard defender Oguchi Onyewu about the young players that were on the USA roster for the Switzerland game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com talks to USA coach Bob Bradley about his team and his son Michael.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Soccer Insider blog confirms that John Hackworth has been released as USA U17 coach. Notes on his staff too, and a possible surprise replacement. Stay tuned.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Quarterfinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 25
Defensor Sporting v River Plate
Second Leg Matches & Scores with first leg scores inlcuded:
-Wed Oct 24
Vasco da Gama v America (0-2)
Millonarios v Sao Paulo (1-0)
-Thu Oct 25
Chivas Guadalajara v Arsenal (0-0)
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate v Defensor Sporting
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League Match Day 3
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 23
Stuttgart v Lyon
Rangers v Barcelona
Dynamo Kyiv v Man United
Roma v Sporting
CSKA v Inter
PSV v Fenerbahce
Sevilla v Steau
Arsenal v Slavia
-Wed Oct 24
Besiktas v Liverpool
Marseille v Porto
Rosenborg v Valencia
Chelsea v Schalke
Bremen v Lazio
Real Madrid v Olympiakos
Benfica v Celtic
Milan v Shakhtar
-Here are the current standings going into this round.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Part 3 of Nike's world travels with the idiotic Sanchez brothers. This time they visit Italian Rino Gattuso. (thanks to Ethan F for this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More corruption allegations have been made toward CONCACAF Pres & FIFA Vice-Pres Jack Warner. This time a former Scottish official says Warner asked that the fee for Trinidad & Tobago to play in a friendly in Scotland in 2004 be put directly into his personal bank account. A shocker.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Romario has been appointed interim coach at Vasco de Gama after the current coach resigned.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about this seeming improbability.