Special Saturday Semifinal Edition - Eggnog Dishes News

"I can confirm that commissioner Don Garber is going to travel to Seattle for an announcement Tuesday of the expansion of Major League Soccer for the future into the Seattle market." - Dan Courtemanche, MLS senior vice president for marketing and communications.


MLS Semifinals
-Thu Nov 8
New England 1-0 Chicago - goal by Taylor Twellman.
-Sat Nov 10
Houston v Kansas City - 7:30pm central on FSC, FSE & HDNet
Match preview by Bob Luder of the KC Star.
Match preview by Bill Urban of the US Soccer Players Assoc.
Match preview by Pat Walsh of Goal.com
Pre-match notes by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Position-by-position team match-ups by Fallas.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with a story on Dynamo forward Brian Ching's playoff prowess.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports says that this is it for Eddie Johnson in MLS. EJ, the Grown Ass Man, has either 1 or 2 games left in the league depending on how his team does tonight, then he is off to England.
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If Thursday nights semifinal loss by the Chicago Fire was Chris Armas' last ever game, then he will be missed by all us fans. He was a great MLS player. But lets hope that there is still a chance for one more season out of him.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune hands out post-season grades to the Chicago fire players, coaches and management.
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Amid all the speculation that Landon Donovan may leave Los Angeles, Max Bretos of Fox Soccer Channel directly asked Lando the question, to which LD replied: "I'm not going anywhere." He has a no-trade clause in his contract too.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times on the Gullit hiring.
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Greg Lalas at Goal.com with his always "interesting" weekly column - The 3-5-2: No Ruud Awakenings
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Andrea Canales on her Sideline Views blog has some good quotes from former French star Frank Leboeuf about his interest in MLS.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram says "supporting FC Dallas is like watching Charlie Brown try to kick that football." And other post-season FCD revelations.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer with the latest on franchise and stadium news in Philly.
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Chivas USA will be playing a friendly on Nov 17 in Guadalajara v their parents, the real Chivas at Estadio Jalisco as a benefit match for the victims of the horrible flooding in Tabasco Mexico. (Won't the real Chivas have a playoff game that night? Or is that their bye-week perhaps?)
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I don't know if any of you collect sports cards, I don't, but this guy says the new Upper Deck MLS cards are excellent. Ok then.
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North American Club Friendlies
-Sun Nov 11
Minnesota Thunder v Los Angeles Galaxy
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The St Paul Pioneer Press has a Q & A with Minnesota Thunder President Manuel Lagos.
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The SPPP also has a brief story on LA's Cobi Jones.
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(Come on Minneapolis Star Tribune - where the hell is your coverage? LaVelle?)
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Brian Quarstad & Paul Demko at Blue Sky Soccer have some audio of interviews with Thunder players, and a game preview.
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Copa Sudamericana - Semifinals
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Nov 13
America v Millonarios (3-2)
-Wed Nov 14
River Plate v Arsenal (0-0)
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Big Euro club matches to see this weekend:
-Sat Nov 10
Schalke v Hamburg - the seemingly only 2 contenders to Bayern for the crown.
Stuttgart v Bayern Munich - last years champs, who look like this years chumps, try to reign in the perennial power.
Werder Bremen v Karlsruhe - #3 v #4.
Sunderland v Newcastle - the old fashioned Tyne-Wear derby.
-Sun Nov 11
Villarreal v Sevilla - two pretenders to the Spanish thrown trying to prove their worthiness.
Feyenoord v Ajax - old old rivals always play good matches against each other.
PSV v AZ Alkmaar - the top dogs v a challenger for the past few years.
Panathinaikos v AEK - a big match every year in Greece.
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Brazil & surprising Mexico will face off in the Beach World Cup.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Holland & Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf.
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The Daily Mail of England with an article on Fulham's late game ineptitude. Including some classic quotes from Clint Dempsey. (thanks to BQ for this one)