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.