Exploding Towards News

Fulham coach Lawrie Sanchez on American Clint Dempsey: “Clint has been a revelation.”

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The fine soccer clothing company Bumpy Pitch is about to launch their Spring 08 line of wears. And when you go through this link you can get a special discount on your order. Some really cool old school stuff here. Check it out now.

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Every time I write Liverpool off as the most boring team on earth, they step forward with something great. But I don't anyone saw coming the beatdown they handed out to Besiktas. Holy crap. 8-0. Just wow!

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Toronto midfielder Maurice Edu was named the MLS Rookie Of The Year. No surprise here, his only real competition came from Dane Richards of New York. Congrats to Edu. You deserve it.

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Chivas USA's Preki was named MLS Coach Of The Year. Fully earned. Congrats to you Predrag.

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Happy belated 18th Birthday to Jozy Altidore. His big day was yesterday. He is now Euro eligible.


MLS Semifinals
-Thu Nov 8
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Nov 10
Houston v Kansas City - 7:30pm central on FSC, FSE & HDNet
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Did you know?.... This is New England's 6th straight year in the semifinals. Do ya think Steve Nicol is a good coach?
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on New England's long time great midfielder & du Nord 2007 Best 11 player Steve Ralston. And some notes on Chicago.
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Dell'apa also writes about the Cuauhtemoc Blanco impact.
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The Boston Herald on the New England defense and goalkeeping.
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Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News with a story on the talents of New England engine Shalrie Joseph.
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The Sun Chronicle in Massachusetts also with a story on Ralston.
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Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England looks back at the Revolutions matches with New York, and ahead to the Chicago match.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on what Blanco and fellow new addition Wilman Conde have done for Chicago this season.
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Arroyave on his Red Card blog with more on the Chicago v New England rivalry.
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The US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with Chicago forward Chad Barrett.
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Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times on the Fire as semifinal day approaches.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports calls the Shalrie v Blanco battle at "marquee midfield matchup." I concur.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with a New England v Chicago preview.
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Michael Lewis at MLSnet previews the Eastern conf matchup.
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Beau Dure of USA Today looks at Houston's skills as the comeback kings.
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Bob Luder of the KC Star writes about the qualities of Kansas City midfielder Kurt Morsink.
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And Pete Grathoff also of the Star with his weekly MLS notes.
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Mark Zielger of the San Diego Union Tribune on MLS coaches.
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Yanks Abroad takes a view of the quality of MLS in the playoffs.
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Now here is some real MLS news - Wine Spectator Magazine has a Q & A with commish Don Garber. What's next, Horse & Hound?
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with another of his infamous online chats. Always something good comes out of this.
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Jaime Cardenas writes that despite a really quality year Chivas USA may still face a large player turnover for next season.
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Chivas USA midfielder Ramon Nunez was named to the Honduran Olympic Central American qualifying team. Those games start on Friday.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald gets reaction from NYRB players on the firing of Bruce Arena.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger does the same.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog too.
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And Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with more of the same.
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Lewis also has a complete transcript of the press conference by NYRB honcho Marc de Grandpre to announce Arena's firing. Some very interesting stuff in here.
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Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News on the arrival "back home" for new Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop.
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And the Merc News with the latest on San Jose stadium plans.
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The Sacramento Bee on the return of the Yallop.
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Here is a short and fairly pedestrian video of the Yallop press conference.
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KC Star with a good article today on Kansas City stadium plans too.
Here is a link to a map of the spot they are talking about. Its straight south of central KC.
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree was on hand for a FC Dallas post-season practice session this week. The worst news: Carlos Ruiz was a NO SHOW at practice. The other big news is that midfielder broke his wrist in the 2nd leg v Houston.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star writes about TFC's Rookie Award winner Maurice Edu.
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Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Players Assoc writes about the growth of MLS in relation to off-season and off-field news to hold us until next spring.
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Andrea Canales also writing for the USPA on Chivas USA's climb to the near the top of the MLS heap.
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A diagram of the field where Kansas City will play next season.
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North American Club Friendlies
-Nov 7
Vancouver Whitecaps v Los Angeles Galaxy
-Sun Nov 11
Minnesota Thunder v Los Angeles Galaxy
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There is a whole swath of David Beckham stories in the Vancouver Province & the Vancouver Sun newspapers today. I am not going to link to them individually.
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US Soccer has Part 1 of a special video feature on Glasgow Rangers #20, our own DaMarcus Beasley.
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Andrew Rogers at Soccer365 on USA & Watford defender Jay DeMerit.
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Copa Sudamericana - Semifinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 7
Millonarios v America
Arsenal v River Plate
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Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated previews the Sudamericana semifinals.
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Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Derby County midfielder Benny Feilhaber who is being patient and working hard while waiting for his chance to play regularly.
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Southern Africa soccer news website Kick Off with an update on the squad South Africa is preparing to face the USA next week.
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Here is that South African squad to face the USA on the 17th. Make no mistake, this is a full strength SA.
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UEFA Champions League - Matchday 4
-Tue Nov 6
Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas - goals by Peter Crouch(2), Yossi Benayoun(3), Ryan Babel(2) & Steven Gerrard(only 1).
Porto 2-1 Marseille Por - goals by Tarik Sektioui & Lisandro Lopez. Mars goal by Mamadou Niang.
Valencia 0-2 Rosenborg - goals both by Steffen Iversen.
Schalke 0-0 Chelsea
Lazio 2-1 Bremen - Laz goals both by Tommaso Rocchi. Brem goal by Diego(PK).
Olympiakos 0-0 Real Madrid
Celtic 1-0 Benfica - goal by Aiden McGeady.
Shakhtar 0-3 Milan - goals by Pippo Inzaghi(2) & Rikki Kaka.
-Wed Nov 7
Lyon v Stuttgart
Barcelona v Rangers
Manchester United v Dynamo Kyiv
Sporting v Roma
Internazionale v CSKA Moskva
Fenerbahce v PSV
Steaua v Sevilla
Slavia v Arsenal
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Freddy Adu was on the Benfica bench for the last nights Champions League game but did not play.
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Petr Cech of Chelsea tore a calf muscle in the Champions League match yesterday v Schalke.
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At around the 2;50 mark of this video clip from the Celtic v Benfica game you will see one brutally bad tackle by Benfica's Augustin Binya. Holy smokes.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews yesterdays Champions League matches, and checks out those goal bonanza's.
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The dirt digger himself Andrew Jennings of Transparency In Sport gave a presentation at a conference called Play The Game. He laid out his story about FIFA corruption. Here is a recap of his talk. Shaka Hislop also spoke about FIFA's Jack Warner.
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The New York Times with an article on the current state of Bayern Munich and die Bundesliga in general. (There are good lessons in this article for MLS too.)
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his weekly world soccer news roundup.
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Sports Illustrated on coach Bora Milutinovic and his latest team, the Reggae Boys.
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Another Dempsey at Fulham? BQ sent me this article from the Fulham team website about a player named John Dempsey who played for the club in the 70's, and even came to America to play in the NASL. And an action pic. (thanks for this one BQ)
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The latest diary entry from Fulham's witty defender Moritz Volz.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian says talented forward Dimitar Berbatov has burned a lot of bridges at Tottenham this season.
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And this Guardian story mimics my feelings about Liverpool. Why do they only play great when they are desperate?
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Chelsea has hired a Nigerian who lives in Tucson Arizona to become their new chief scout. Amazing story from the Arizona Daily Star. (thanks to Bryan for sending me this one)
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Chelsea are also launching an official American website as a counterpoint to their main website. It is launching tomorrow. I will have a link for you then.
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Napoli fans will not be allowed into the stadium to see their team play at Palermo this weekend due to their continued bouts of stupidity.
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The Trinidad & Tobago Express has news that our old pal Jack Warner has won a seat in the T&T Parliament as a member of the People’s National Movement, and will bring his special personal financial success to an even dirtier world than FIFA could ever be - politics. Big Jack's partner in the party is a woman named Mekela Panday who is the daughter of the country's former prime minister Basdeo Panday who lost his position and was sent to prison in a financial scandal. Jack runs with such an interesting crowd.