Holy Stromboli News

US Soccer with a selection of their favorite video clips from throughout the year 2007. Some excellent stuff here. I love these insider-backstage looks at our teams.


MLS Playoffs
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu Nov 1
DC 2-2 Chicago - the Fire advance 3-2 on aggregate. DC goals by Clyde Simms & Christian Gomez. Chic goals by Chad Barrett & Chris Rolfe.
Match report by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by Beau Dure of USA Today.
Match report by Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc.
Post-game notes & DC player ratings by Goff on the Soccer Insider blog.
Post-game notes & match analysis by Jen Chang at Soccernet.
-Fri Nov 2
Houston v Dallas (0-1) - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Match preview by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match preview by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
If any of these four get booked tonight and their team advances they will miss the semifinal game due to yellow card accumulation: Dominic Oduro, Pablo Ricchetti & Carlos Ruiz from Dallas. And Ryan Cochrane of Houston.
-Sat Nov 3
New England v New York (0-0) - 6:30pm central on FSC & FSE
If any of these three get booked in the match and their team advances they will miss the semifinal game due to yellow card accumulation: Avery John & Michael Parkhurst of New England. And Jeff Parke of New York.
Chivas v Kansas City (0-1) - 9:30pm central on HDNet & Direct Kick
If any of these four get booked in the match and their team advances they will miss the semifinal game due to yellow card accumulation: Alex Zotinca of Chivas USA. And Nick Garcia, Michael Harrington & Kerry Zavagnin of Kansas City.
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My notes from last nights DC-Chic game:
-What a game, what a game, what a game.
-Chicago's different looking lineup really worked in this game. Although the move to the defensive shell nearly cost them again. They tried this several times down the stretch during the regular season and were caught almost every time. I don't know if they do it on purpose or if its just a team mentality that they need to find a way to break.
-DC keeper Troy Perkins was really lucky not to give up a Penalty and get himself a Red Card for a trip on a Calen Carr breakaway. He got a free kick outside the box, and a yellow. TV replays clearly showed the trip was inside the box. It could have been 3-0 and probably game over at that point.
-Bobby Boswell? Did the success and fame go to his head? Or was his award winning season last year a fluke. He did not look good last night, and both Chicago goals came from guys moving into his space.
-I thought Rod Dyachenko had his best game as a DC player. He made several good passes inside the attacking 1/3. He did have one total bonehead play though were he slowed it all down and tried to dribble a defender only to be completely stuffed. Then he ruined it all with a very late ankle biting tackle from behind on Gonzalo Seagares that earned him a straight Red Card.
-What can you say about the two goals Chris Rolfe scored in this series. Both were fantastic smashes.
-Clyde Simms had a terrific goal too. He kept it low and had some nice swerve to the far post. Great shot.
-Both coaches looked like they were losing there minds at times during the game. Hilarious to watch.
-That sideline interview by Allen Hopkins with DC team pres Kevin Payne could not have been worse timed. The two were talking as if DC would roll and set themselves up to host the Cup Final. Minutes after the interview the team gave up 2 goals in 2 minutes.
-Glenn Davis does a great job calling the games. Can they just hire him full time and we can all forget Dave O'Brien ever happened.
-If you went strictly by what you saw on the TV screen last night, you could easily conclude that there are many angry people counted in the DC United fans. Several times the cameras showed someone cursing, flippin the bird, throwing projectiles at the Chicago players & with very angry scowls etc. I know most of them appear to be having a great time, but boy do some of them looked pissed at the world.
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Chicago goalkeeper Matt Pickens was named MLS Player Of The Month for October.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews this weekends two Western Conf playoff games.
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You can expect the game in New England on Saturday night to be very wet and windy, cuz there will be a hurricane off the coast of Massachusetts.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says New England midfielder Andy Dorman is not too fond of his current role off the bench after starting for most of the last 2 or 3 years.
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John Connolly with an article on another New England midfielder, Jeff Larentowicz, who has been one of the biggest surprises in MLS this season.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports likes what Blanco does for Chicago.
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Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog has some notes from yesterdays New York practice.
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Clemente Lisi at the US Soccer Players Assoc wonders if coach Bruce Arena is in trouble in New York if they get knocked out of the playoffs this weekend.
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Frank Dell'apa writing for Soccernet checks in on the playoff games for this weekend.
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Here's an oddly interesting one - US Soccer follows referee Baldomero Toledo around all day on the day he is working the middle of Chicago Fire v DC United first leg playoff match.
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Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Players Assoc examines the 5 Bums (the teams who did not make the MLS playoffs) and instructs them on how to avoid embarrassment next year.
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Soccernet with an article quoting AEG (owners of LA & Houston) Pres Tim Leiweke on the current business growth of MLS and the bright future he sees.
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The Houston Dynamo and Mexican team Rayados are talking about forming a partnership.
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You wanna play for San Jose? The club is holding tryouts in 8 Bay Area cities over the next month. Check it out now. Then git yer shin guards on.
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The Minnesota Thunder have added forward Melvin Tarley to their roster for the Copa Minnesota match v the Los Angeles Galaxy on Nov 11.

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup has kicked off in Brazil (Where else would it be held? Germany?). Our USA team is there but not one of the favorites. (thanks to Ethan for sending us this link and being excited about the event.
USA Group B Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 2 v Spain
-Sun Nov 4 v Iran
-Tue Nov 6 v Portugal
The team is coached by Roberto Ceciliano
And here is the team roster:
Jevin Albuquerque
Benyam Astorga
Mario Chimienti
Bayard Elfvin
Francis Farberoff
Zak Ibsen
Luis Montanez
Yuri Morales
Joshua Nolz
Ronnie Silva
Brendon Taguinod
Raphael Xexeo
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FIFA has a Q & A with former French star & current Beach Soccer coach Eric Cantona about the Beach World Cup.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog previews the tournament a little.
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Saprissa of Costa Rica & Montagua of Honduras (led by Amado Guervara) are the latest two teams (out of 8) to qualify for next springs CONCACAF Champions Cup.
-DC United (MLS Supporters Shield winners) & Pachuca (FMF Clausura winners) were the first two teams to qualify.
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Sports Illustrated checks in on USA & Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard. Things are good with Tim-may.
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Big Euro club matches this weekend:
-Sat Nov 3
Arsenal v Manchester United - #1 v #2 in England, tied on points at 26.
Real Madrid v Sevilla - who wants to be #1, well we all Real does, but do Sevilla?
Fenerbahce v Besiktas - can you imagine what Turkish derby days are like? Wow, I get its good.
Zenit St Petersburg v FC Moscow - #1 v #3 with only 2 rounds left to play.
-Sun Nov 4
Juventus v Inter - The Derby d’Italia will be Inter's chance to put a huge dent in Juve's psyche and season.
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Ben Hooper at Even Is On with more on Afshin Ghotbi, the Iranian-American who is set to coach the big Iranian club team Persepolis.
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A great great great story from the Rootless Cosmopolitan on one of my boyhood heroes Ace Ntsoelengoe. He played for the Minnesota Kicks in the NASL and was one of South Africa's all time great. He passed away last year. (thanks to Kieran for this one)
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Werder Bremen & Germany midfielder Torsten Frings (the guy who used his hand to keep a USA shot out of goal at Korea-Japan 02 but was not called for it by crappy referee Hugh Dallas) has re-blownout his right knee and is done for the season. He had surgery on that knee only about 6 months ago. Not good. (It was a clear penalty!)
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian says Barcelona are seriously considering dumping Ronaldinho.
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Players from Brazilian league teams Gremio & Paranaense fought in their game on Thursday night, then encountered each other the next morning in the airport and went at it AGAIN!
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Lyon forward Milan Baros set a dubious record, he got busted by the cops going 271kph in his Ferrari. The old record in that area was 248. The speed was 168 mph. He obviously a genius.