Dullard's Delite News

MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 11
Dallas 0-0 Chivas
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Gabriel Cabborrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
-Sat Oct 13
DC v Chicago - 6:30pm central on HDNet & Direct Kick
New England v Columbus - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
New York v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Los Angeles v Toronto - 9:30pm central on FSC, FSE & CBC
-Sun Oct 14
Chivas v Colorado - 2pm central on TeleFutura
-Mon Oct 15
Salt Lake v Houston - 8pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Breeze says Chivas striker Ante Razov hurt his knee last night and could miss a month or more. This could be a disaster for a club that has had such a good season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My take on last nights Dallas v Chivas game:
"Peacock, Peacock on the wall, who likes TV time more than Brian Hall? No one!" The referee last night, Brian Hall, decided that he would be the star of the show on ESPN2. Gee thanks Bri. He strutted around puffing his chest, screaming at players and handing out cards with the arrogance of an infantry man saluting Hitler in the feverish building up to the war. Pathetic display by the referee. Late in the game he even gave Dallas captain Bobby Rhine for basically calling the ref on his bullshit act. Sad to watch. But I guess it gives me something to talk about, cuz the rest of the match was nearly lifeless. Oh yeah, and the game didn't even draw 10,000. Also quite pathetic. On Juan Toja Wig Night even.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The following players will miss games this weekend due to suspension: Mehdi Ballouchy & Pablo Mastroeni of Colorado and Joe Vide of New York due to Red Cards, Bobby Boswell of DC and Carl Robinson of Toronto due to Yellow Card accumulation, and Ricardo Clark of Houston serving the first of a 9 game suspension for kicking Carlos Ruiz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com with a preview of this weekend's MLS games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on another great season from New England's Steve Ralston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep on his Soccer by Ives blog says New York coach Bruce Arena is still not done messing with his defense even though there are only 2 games left before the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily is not impressed with the quality of the New York Red Bulls heading toward the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Frichau of Chicago's Daily Southtown says the Fire's game v DC this weekend is a huge one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC coach Mo Johnston is going to emphasize roster depth for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Millson also said "the shoes Danny Dichio wore when he scored Toronto's first goal on May 12 sold at (charity) auction for $13,000 (Canadian I presume.)" Very cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet feels the Ricardo Clark suspension for kicking Carlos Ruiz was too much.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From Steven Goff's Soccer Insider blog at the Washington Post: D.C. United bossman Victor MacFarlane and Prez Kevin Payne stopped by The Post this afternoon for an on-the-record chat with reporters, editors and a Metro section columnist. The meeting was arranged weeks ago, but in the wake of their letter to the city about the club's plans to look elsewhere in pursuit of a stadium project, the timing could not have been better.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News talks to new Earthquakes general manager Johnny Doyle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Word out of San Jose today is that the Earthquakes will make Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara their home next season. Here's a pic. It homes a little over 8000. And according to Wikipedia it's where Brazil trained during the 94 World Cup. I guess this photo also shows how KC can play at a minor league baseball park next year too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My friend Paul Demko and I conducted a long interview with Minnesota Thunder coach Amos Magee, post-season 2007, for Blue Sky Soccer. We talk about many many things like, staff, new ownership, the roster, the season etc etc. You can read the transcript or listen to audio files. It is broken down in to 3 parts. 1 and 2 are on line right now, with 3 on the way any moment.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily says young American striker Johann Smith of Bolton has been loaned out to English League Two team Darlington.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Sheffield Wednesday defender Frank Simek who was not called into the USA game next Wed v Switzerland because of an ankle injury that has kept him out of the Sheff Wed lineup too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News with the story of Peruvian immigrant Nelson Becerra who is playing great for St Johns.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scott French at Top Drawer Soccer gives us the low down on the first tournament from US Soccer’s new Development Academy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An amazing amount of Internationals starting this weekend-
Matches & Scores:
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
Uruguay v Bolivia
Argentina v Chile
Ecuador v Venezuela
Peru v Paraguay
-Sun Oct 14
Colombia v Brazil
-Tue Oct 16
Venezuela v Argentina
-Wed Oct 17
Bolivia v Colombia
Paraguay v Uruguay
Brazil v Ecuador
Chile v Peru
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African Nations Cup Qualifier
-Fri Oct 12
Togo 0-2 Mali
Sierra Leone 0-2 Benin
-Sat Oct 13
Mauritania v Burundi
Egypt v Botswana
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both Mali & Benin have now qualified for next winters African Nations Cup tournament. They join Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia, Cameroon, Angola, Guinea, Zambia, South Africa, Morocco and host Ghana who are already in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oceania World Cup Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
New Zealand v Fiji
-Wed Oct 17
Fiji v New Zealand
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has postponed the first leg of this series because New Zealand would not give the Fiji goalkeeper a passport due to certain politics in his family. No details have been figured out yet on how or when this match will take place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro 2008 Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
Poland v Kazakhstan
Belgium v Finland
Azerbaijan v Portugal
Armenia v Serbia
Italy v Georgia
Faroe Islands v France
Moldova v Turkey
Hungary v Malta
Slovakia v San Marino
Croatia v Israel
Iceland v Latvia
Slovenia v Albania
Romania v Netherlands
Scotland v Ukraine
England v Estonia
Belarus v Luxembourg
Liechtenstein v Sweden
Cyprus v Wales
Ireland Republic v Germany
Denmark v Spain
Greece v Bosnia-Herzegovina
-Wed Oct 17
Kazakhstan v Portugal
Belgium v Armenia
Azerbaijan v Serbia
Ukraine v Faroe Islands
Georgia v Scotland
Turkey v Greece
Malta v Moldova
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Norway
Macedonia FYR v Andorra
Russia v England
Ireland Republic v Cyprus
Liechtenstein v Iceland
Denmark v Latvia
San Marino v Wales
Luxembourg v Romania
Sweden v Northern Ireland
Netherlands v Slovenia
Germany v Czech Republic
Albania v Bulgaria
France v Lithuania
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The foot injury that has kept Edwin Van Der Sar out of the Manchester United goal recently will also keep him on the sidelines for the Netherlands two matches against Romania & Slovenia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres will not play for Spain this weekend due to an ankle injury sustained at practice on Friday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFC World Cup Qualifier
-Thu Oct 11
Cambodia 0-1 Turkmenistan
-Sat Oct 13
Uzbekistan v Chinese Taipei
-Sun Oct 14
Madagascar v Comoros
Macau v Thailand
-Wed Oct 17
Kyrgyzstan v Jordan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

International Friendlies
-Sat Oct 13
El Salvador v Costa Rica
Switzerland v Austria
-Sun Oct 14
Mexico v Nigeria
Honduras v Panama
Senegal v Guinea
-Tue Oct 16
Qatar v Iraq
-Wed Oct 17
Mexico v Guatemala
Finland v Spain
El Salvador v Trinidad & Tobago
Estonia v Montenegro
Morocco v Namibia
Poland v Hungary
Japan v Egypt
Costa Rica v Haiti
Austria v Cote d'Ivoire
Switzerland v USA
Italy v South Africa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times blog Goal talks to French striker Thierry Henry about their path to qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on the revival of Scottish football. Can they continue their hotstreak and make it to Euro 2008?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet has a good long Q & A with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times writes about the latest xenophobic rage in world football - the anti-Muslim trend.