Happy New Year

Just want to wish you all Happy New Year.

Bruce!

Yes, Russell Crow In Gladiator 2 News

Only a couple things for ya today, and no links involved.


50 players have been called into two Team USA camps this month. One is for the senior team and the other the U23 aka Olympic Qualifying team.
-Many of the biggest Euro based players were not called in due to their club commitments. But you can expect many of those players to be on the senior roster form the Feb 6 game v Mexico in Houston. It's a FIFA international date.
-The senior squad will also play Sweden on Sat Jan 19 at Home Depot Center. You can expect the Swedish team to be made up of their domestic league players as well, seeing as they are also currently not in their regular season.

USA - camp starts on Fri Jan 3 at The Home Depot Center in Carson CA
G:
Brad Guzan - Chivas USA
Will Hesmer - Columbus
Matt Pickens - Chicago
Zach Wells - DC
D:
Dan Califf - Aalborg
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City
Ramiro Corrales - Brann
Todd Dunivant - Toronto
Clarence Goodson - San Jose
Drew Moor - Dallas
Michael Parkhurst - New England
Eddie Robinson - Houston
Marvell Wynne - Toronto
M:
Kyle Beckerman - Salt Lake
Ricardo Clark - Houston
Brad Davis - Houston
Maurice Edu - Toronto
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Justin Mapp - Chicago
Pat Noonan - New England
F:
Josmer Altidore - New York
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
Eddie Johnson - Kansas City
Chris Rolfe - Chicago
Taylor Twellman - New England
Jeremiah White - Aarhus

USA U23 - camp begins on Mon Jan 6 at IMG Academies in Bradenton FL
G:
Chris Seitz - Salt Lake
Chris Brown - Boston College
Billy Chiles - Towson
D:
Sean Franklin - Cal State Northridge
Steve Purdy - 1860 Munich
Patrick Ianni - Houston
Greg Dalby - Charleroi
Julian Valentin - Wake Forest
Pat Phelan - Wake Forest
Mike Randolph - Los Angeles
Chance Myers - UCLA
M:
Stuart Holden - Houston
Johann Smith - Bolton
Dax McCarty - Dallas
Stephen King - Maryland
Alejandro Bedoya - Boston College
Eric Avila - UC Santa Barbara
Arturo Alvarez - Dallas
Robbie Rogers - Columbus
F:
Robbie Findley - Salt Lake
Charlie Davies - Hammarby
Preston Zimmerman - Hamburg
Chad Barrett - Chicago
Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg

So, any surprises for ya on those two rosters? Who should have been included? Who should have been left off?

Here are my notes on the 2 teams::
USA
-I did not expect to see Hesmer, Pickens & Wells as USA keepers. Looks like Kevin Hartman, Matt Reis and Joe Cannon are done with the national team. I say good move.
-Todd Dunivant gets another shot at the senior team, interesting, just not sure about it though. Clarence Goodson gets his shot too. He was a big surprise to me in 07.
-Great to see Eddie Robinson getting his chance again with the national team.
-And Ramiro Corrales. Is this foreshadowing of his return to MLS this spring?
-I am almost shocked to see Pat Noonan's name on this team. He is very talented, but nearly 2 straight years of injuries took him off my list.
-Did Rico Clark deserve a shot even though he is suspended from MLS for kicking Carlos Ruiz? I remember when Clint Dempsey had that altercation with teammate Joe Franchino at New England, was suspended, and then not included in the USA squad. I would have left Clark off.
-I am sorry to say this, but Kyle Beckerman is just too slow for the international game, and the USA is loaded at D-mid.
-Jeremiah White! Wow! Great for him!
-The word is that Brian Ching & Jonathan Bornstein are injured.
-Interesting to see Jozy Altidore, Kljestan & Marvell Wynne to the senior squad instead of U23 team. But then again, maybe their spots on that roster are secure already.
-I am happy to see Drew Moor, Michael Parkhurst & Chris Rolfe on the team. I like them all quite a bit.
-But what about these guys: Chris Albright, Davy Arnaud, Wade Barrett, Nat Borchers, Marc Burch, Conor Casey, Ryan Cocharane, Kenny Cooper, Ty Harden, Nate Jaqua, Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Devon McTavish, Carlos Mendes, Brian Mullan, Richard Mulrooney, Brain Namoff, Ben Olsen, Dasan Robinson, Clyde Simms, Wells Thompson, Lawson Vaughn & Brian West. Why aren't they included?
U23
-Johann Smith listed as midfielder on U23 team? I thought he was a forward.
-Surprising how many college players are on U23's when the MLS combine & draft are going on.
-No Adam Cristman, Yura Movsisyan, Ray Burse, Corey Ashe, Colin Clark, Jacob Peterson, Gabriel Ferrari or Eddie Gaven? How about Jason Garey - long shot I know. Or Kurt Morsink?
-What about Hunter Freeman, Aaron Hohlbein, Michael Harrington & Tim Ward who were all just in China with the team 3 weeks ago?
-I think Sal Zizzo, Eddie Gaven & Nathan Sturgis are injured. Right? If not, where are they?
-Good to see a horror author make the squad.
-Kinda thought we would see Lee Nguyen since he is not playing for the first team at PSV.
-Is Kamani Hill auditioning for a new team?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe last weekends games (almost exclusively England) & Tue/Wed schedules:
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started & went 90 as they drew 1-1 at Birmingham. He scored their goal on a header from a corner kick. Game v Chelsea on Tue Jan 1.
-Michael Bradely - Heerenveen - was suspended due to Yellow Cards, while the team drew 1-1 with first place Feyenoord. League now off until Jan 12
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started & played 84 minute but lost 6-4 at Tottenham. Game v Portsmouth on Tue Jan 1.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the full 90, but lost 2-4 to Queens Park Rangers. Game at Southampton on Tue Jan 1.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started & went 90 as they drew 1-1 at Birmingham. Game v Chelsea on Tue Jan 1.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby - continues to play under new coach Paul Jewel. Came on at half time, but they lost 1-2 to Blackburn. Game at Bolton on Wed Jan 2.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - played the whole match and won 1-2 at Derby. Game v Sunderland on Wed Jan 2.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the whole game and lost 6-4 at Tottenham. Saved a PK - but the rebound went in. Game v Portsmouth on Tue Jan 1.
-Tim Howard - Eveton - went the full 90, but lost brutally 1-4 to Arsenal. Game at Middlesbrough on Tue Jan 1.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started and played the whole game as they lost 1-2 to Blackburn. Got himself a Yellow Card. Game at Bolton on Wed Jan 2.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - started, went 90 and won 2-1 over Manchester United. He gave up a PK on handball - but Cristiano Ronaldo missed it! Game at Arsenal on Tue Jan 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See ya next year!

Till It Happens Next Time News

Our 4 Americans at Fulham have a new manager in Roy Hodgson. He has quite the international pedigree for an Englishman. See his details via Wikipedia.

~and~

I don't know how many of you listen to The Guardian's twice weekly football podcast, but if you are not then you should. Seriously. It's the best out there. By a country mile. This week they had a fine year end wrap up. Including a fantastic story about Real Madrid giving a Christmas gift to all the journalists who regularly cover them. Download or listen now.


The Glasgow Herald reports that Scottish Premier League club St Mirren of Paisley is very close to signing Andy Dorman from the New England Revolution. Too bad the Rev's couldn't have gotten something for him. Best of luck to Dorman though. Deep in my heart I hope he realizes how much he misses MLS and comes back soon, we need more players like him. St Mirren currently sit 11th in the 12 team league. (thanks to Bart for this
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The North County Times (of Escondido CA, north of San Diego) with an article on hometown boy Jovan Kirovski of the Colorado Rapids.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Norwich (England) Eastern Daily Press says midfielder Darren Huckerby of Norwich City is on the rumor list of players headed to the LA Galaxy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccer365 writes about the return of Cleetus (Clint Mathis) to LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune is wondering if Matt Pickens will be back next season as the Chicago Fire goalkeeper, and will he get paid a starters salary?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas Updates with a behind the scenes video recap of 07.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet with a review of the Houston Dynamo 2007 season. And 5 Big Questions for next year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports with his 2008 New Year's soccer resolutions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise hands out Christmas gifts to the football world.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am not sure what The Bleacher Report is. And I am not sure who Dhaval Patel is. But he lists the top 5 foreign players he thinks MLS should go after. I agree with 1. 1! Brutal list dude.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The folks at the Melbourne Herald Sun in Australia are still obsessed with losing Fred2 to DC United last season. Give it up dudes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Deseret Morning New with the latest on the sale of naming rights for Salt Lakes new stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Philadelphia Daily News has an editorial column that says the state, county, city etc should NOT be the ones paying for a soccer stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Kansas City Star with a small article on a group who hope to stop the redevelopment of land for a soccer stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The KC Star business section also tells us how Wizards & USA defender Jimmy Conrad invests his money. Really.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick (of the 3rd Degree) writing for Soccernet, reviews the top defenders available for the 2008 MLS Superdraft.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You wanna play for the Minnesota Thunder? Player combine info here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Interliga returns next Wednesday. It's the Mexican tournament to send teams to the Copa Libertadores. All the games are played in the USA, as always. Pizza Hut Park in Frisco TX, Robertson Stadium in Houston TX & Home Depot Center in Carson CA. The matches are set etc etc etc. All games will be shown on Fox Sports En Espanyol, unfortunately (cuz that is one of the few channels I don't get). The format is 2 groups of 4 teams who play round robin. The 2 best from each group meet up in the semifinals with the 2 winners advancing to the Libertadores.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played all 90 minutes of a 1-0 road loss at Roda JC, (the goal came in the first minute) and then got himself booked in the 90th.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the full 90 as always (167 games in a row now!) and drew 2-2 at Man City. Former DC United defender Ryan Nelson did not help the Blackburn cause with an own goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the way, we read all the time about Michael Bradley being a midfielder. But in reality he is playing as one of three forwards for his club. Seriously.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ravi Ubha at Soccernet with an article on USA & Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann. It's not been the easiest 2nd season for Reading in the top flight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet has started running a video series about 4 of the leagues players trying to make the USA Olympic team: Arturo Alvarez, Maurice Edu, Stuart Holden & Sacha Kljestan. 3 parts available so far: Part One - Part Two - Part Three.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday says that their pro league is headed in the right direction.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Not much for big Euro games coming up this weekend:
-Sun Dec 30
Manchester City V Liverpool - If the Liverpeople want any chance of staying in the title race, then they MUST win this game over the team 2 points behind them in 5th place.
Most leagues are on a break of varying lengths:
-Spanish Primera aka La Liga takes 1 week off.
-Portuguese Liga with 1 week off.
-Italy's Serie A has a 2 week break.
-French Ligue Un has a 2 week break.
-German Bundesliga is off until February.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2 Americans have fairly big games in Europe this weekend too:
-Tim Howard & Everton host Arsenal on Saturday.
-Michael Bradley & Heerenveen play at home Sunday versus first place Feyenoord, in Holland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The genius of Joey Barton strikes again. Let's see - he put a cigar out in a guys eye at a Christmas party. He beat up a kid that was taunting him in a hotel bar. He savagely beat a teammate at practice one day. And now he has been arrested in Liverpool for fighting, again. What a peckerhead. Am I missing anything? From the Guardian.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Inter's first half of the season domination in Italy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Ronaldinho's struggles at Barcelona.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune on the brilliance of Brazil & Milan midfielder Kaka.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on Italian club Palmero's potential connections to organized crime. The club is denying it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the Not-So-Merry-Go-Round of top managers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This article from the Observer proves that American athletes are not the biggest idiots in the world. Example: there is an English football player who thinks the word "zoo" is high scoring in scrabble. (On the other hand, how many American athletes even play scrabble? Maybe they are the bigger idiots.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph of England checks in to see what Milan & Italy pitbull Gennaro Gattuso is doing the Serie A winter break - why, he's up in Glasgow training with Rangers naturally.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph also has an article (with video) of the worlds best of the current crop of free kick takers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And finally from the Telegraph, an article on the Premiership that must be geared toward American football fans - the first half of the season in stats.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated with the year end World Club Power Rankings. Including a special feature - Players to watch in '08.

Still Have To Sign Every One News

Congrats go out to Colo Colo for winning their 4th Chilean league title in a row!! (Maybe our resident mamacita can give us some details.)


Mexican forward Jared Borgetti again said NO to MLS and has signed with Monterrey. Good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet says MLS needs to maintain their growth in quality.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Frank Dell'apa writing for Soccernet says some of that quality will come from Argentina.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The word on the street says Norwegian club Valerenga paid 750K DC United keeper Troy Perkins.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I saw one of those classic Big Soccer rumors today - Landon Donovan will go on loan to Everton. I love it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the LA Daily News with the LA Galaxy wish list.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily with the latest on Dallas midfielder Arturo Alvarez and his potential move to........
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Former KC Wiz forward Onandi Lowe of Jamaica has had another brush with the law over drugs. He was arrested once before, in England, but charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. This time he was busted in Kingston Jamaica with 42 joints in his car. Oh, Lanadi, you bad boy you!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Philadelphia Inquirer with the story of MLS team #16 - It's Philly v St Louis for one spot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave writing for Soccernet does a Q & A with Chicago Bulls' Sudanese basketball player Luol Deng who is a huge soccer fan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of the New York Daily News recaps the 2007 year in local soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle gives us his tops of 07.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with his 2007 highlights.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated tells us what he wants for Christmas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS In Seattle has a Q & A with one of the teams managing partners - Tod Leiweke. Do you trust a guy named Tod with only one "d"? (Warning: the article is from the team website, so it's lacking substance.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yahoo Finance is reporting that MLS is negotiating with Turner Sports to run its web site. Major League Baseball has been running the MLS site up until now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What about MLS in Cleveland & a stadium? Is the issue dead? Is there anything new?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speaking of stadiums.... Kerasotes has bought land next to Toyota Park in Chicago and is going to build a 14 screen movie theater.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily talks to USA U20 & Wake Forest defender Jules Valentin about winning the NCAA title 2 weeks ago, and what the future holds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Someone sent me this link to videos of all the USA goals from 2007 - and - "Jay DeMerit, US Soccer Intern"! But, there seems to be a "scandalous" part in the DeMerit video, so US Soccer has removed the link from their site. You can see it here for now, so watch it while you can, cuz it might not last long. And thanks a ton to ALG who sent them to us. Great stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe
-How'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on as a 83rd minute sub in a 3-0 home win over Estrela Amadora last Thursday.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - both 2 full matches, a 1-1 home draw with Wigan on Saturday and a 5-1 drubbing at Tottenham on Sunday.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played the whole game but lost 1-2 at home to Twente Enschede, with Bradley drawing a penalty that a teammate promptly missed. The team plays again tonight at Roda.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started on Saturday going 84 minutes in a 2-1 home win over Sunderland, then playing 66 minutes in a 1-1 draw at West Ham on Wednesday.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - 2 games, 180 minutes played, 2 goals scored (the only 2 by his team), but only 1 point. The drew 1-1 v Wigan on Saturday, and lost 5-1 at Tottenham on Tuesday.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went 90 minutes in a 0-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, and followed it up with a goal and 90 more minutes in a 2-2 home draw with Cardiff on Boxing Day.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - came on as a sub in both games over the weekend, in a 2-2 draw at Newcastle, and in the 46th minute of a 1-2 home loss to Liverpool.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the full 90 last Sunday but lost 0-1 at home to Chelsea. Play at Man City today (Thurs).
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the whole match as always in a 2-1 home win over Sunderland, then doing it again in a 1-1 draw at West Ham on Wednesday.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance as usual in 2 games, a 2-1 loss at Man United, and a 2-0 win over Bolton.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started 2 games and went all 90 in each, but the team gave up 4 points late, in a 2-2 draw at Newcastle and a 1-2 loss v Liverpool.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played all 90 as usual and beat Genk 3-1 at home. They are in first place, tied with Brugge.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - back into the starting lineup and going the distance in a 1-2 road win at Middleborough on Saturday, and 90 again in a 1-1 home draw v Reading on Boxing Day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My friend Joe in Los Angeles sent me a very interesting fact - Brad Friedel has now played in 166 consecutive matches for Blackburn!!! Amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad lets their readers ask American & Charleroi midfielder Greg Dalby 11 Questions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Watford team site has an interview with American defender Jay DeMerit. In the interview he talks about the bar he owns in Chicago, and talks about buying another in St Paul!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Post with an article on USA midfielder Freddy Adu, and his first half season in Portugal at Benfica.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail recaps 2007 Canadian style.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big big big Euro games last weekend:
Nancy Lorraine 1-1 Lyon - #2 had a great chance to pull within one point of #1 in Ligue Un, but could only manage to keep pace.
Zaragoza 2-2 Valencia - still no mercy for this seasons biggest flounderers who now sit in 9th & 7th place respectively.
Lens v Lille - le Derby du Nord did not take place due to a frozen pitch. A make up date has not been set yet.
Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid - Julio Baptista & Ruud van Nistelrooy worked a gorgeous give and go for the only goal they needed. RM's league lead is now 7 points.
Internazionale Milan 2-1 AC Milan - Inter had to come from behind, but looked pretty impressive in victory. They now have a stunning 25 point gap between themselves and their inter-stadium rivals, and 7 points ahead of 2nd place Roma.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Top 5 Teams in each of Europe's Top 5 Leagues:
-Premiership-
45 Manchester United
44 Arsenal
38 Chelsea
36 Liverpool
34 Manchester City
-La Liga-
41 Real Madrid
34 Barcelona
33 Espanyol
32 Villareal
31 Atletico Madrid
-Serie A-
43 Inter Milan
36 Roma
35 Juventus
29 Udinese
28 Fiorentina
-Ligue Un-
39 Lyon
35 Nancy Lorraine
33 Bordeaux
31 Caen
30 Le Mans
-Eredivisie-
35 Feyenoord
33 PSV
31 Ajax
30 Gronigen
29 Heerenveen
-The Bundesliga is on winter break.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Feyenoord has shockingly risen to the top of the Dutch league after several years struggling to keep pace with the top teams. Great for them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A referee in Kuala Lumpur was hassled by an entire team after giving one of their players a Red Card, so he went to his car and got a gun. He fired warning shots into the air to get them to back off. He is also a cop! (thanks to CL for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with another sad story on Brazil & Inter forward Adriano. He was loaned out to Brazilian club Sao Paulo [CORRECTED] last week, and the team was hoping he could straighten out his personal life which has been dogged by alcohol abuse problems. But only a few days after returning home he was photographed at a concert drinking beer. Damn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball of Soccernet calls Real Madrid's win over Barcelona a White Christmas. And other La Liga news.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Insider at Soccernet reviews Reading v Sunderland and gives a not so pleasant verdict on Reading's season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Robert Gotta of Soccernet on Inter's domination of Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ron Blum of the AP with a story on the first year of Tom Hicks ownership of Liverpool FC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chelsea's Frank Lampard has torn a thigh muscle and will be out for at least a couple of weeks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Boca Juniors has hired former assistant coach Carlos Ischia as their new top man. Oddly, he was previously the coach of last place Rosario Central. Since when does the biggest team in a country hire the coach from the worst team?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times on African players who will have to choose between club and country late next month when the Africa Nations Cup starts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maradona took his buffoonery to a whole new level this week by saying he wants to meet Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who he called a great man. Come on Diego, wake up. These idiots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez & Castro are just using you. You say you love them cuz they hate Bush, but they are no better than Bush, and probably worse.

Coasting

Hey all,
I have my feet up, traveling the midwest in style, enjoying the holiday vacation. 5 days off at least, so don't expect any du Nord until at least Thursday. Besides - nothing is going on anyway! Enjoy the season.
Bruce

PS. I went to the Highbury in Milwaukee - it was fabulous! A big hello to Joe, Craig, Charles & everyone else I met.

du Nord Is Coming To Milwaukee & The Highbury

Hello dear readers,

I will be making my way to Milwaukee this weekend (Dec 22 & 23) for some more holiday cheer.

Of course that means I need a place to watch the 2 huge matches on Sunday.

-8am central - Inter v Milan - on Fox Soccer Channel
-12noon central - Real Madrid v Barcelona - on GolTV

And it looks like I will be watching both games at The Highbury.

Please please please join me for some excellent viewing, and taunting of the TV screen. I love meeting new people.

Just look for the guy with the big red beard.

Lemme hear from ya!

Unbelievably Strange Luck News

Fulham and the teams 4 Americans have lost another coach. Lawrie Sanchez who helped the team avoid relegation late last year was shown the door after a much less than stellar run so far in the 07-08 season. The team sits at 2 wins, 7 draws & 8 losses for 13 points and 18th place in the standings. The clubs former player John Collins is the man most people expect to get the job - he resigned from his job as Hibernian manager on Tuesday.

~and~

Liverpool v Inter & Arsenal v Milan are probably the 2 biggest show downs in the First Knockout stage of the Champions League when it returns in mid February. See the entire draw below.

~and~

Pantone Color Institute has named Blue Iris, # 18-3943, as the color of the year for 2008. You may notice that this is the color of du Nord. We are ahead of the curve, naturally. It is also the main coloring in the new floor I recently put in my kitchen. I know you are impressed.


Columbus Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto is not heading back to Boca Juniors as has been speculated. Instead he wants to end his Crew contract now to join a team he played with even before Boca, Gimnasia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An excellent moment yesterday over at the fabulous DCenters - Ben Olsen of DC United drops by to give us his thoughts on the "holiday season". And a Merry Olsen to you as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Glenn Davis's radio show this week, one of his guests was new DC United keeper Zach Wells, and Wells let it be known that he had been invited to the USA training camp in early January. I would expect we will see who else is invited very soon. I hope its a lot of guys. The U23 team will have a separate camp in January as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now-former DC United goalkeeper Troy Perkins has officially signed with Norwegian team Valerenga. Here's a chance for all of us to brush up on our Norwegian. Troy looks happy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer gives his version of a warning shot to new NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio - Many people have stepped forward to fix the Metro curse. Many of them were pretty great coaches. All of them have failed. Be careful what you wish for (my favorite cliche).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

BAS also has words about Osorio from an old acquaintance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet looks at the challenges ahead for Osorio in NY.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his 100 Percent Soccer blog reports that former LA Galaxy brilliant midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos has been named the coach of Nejapa in his native El Salvador.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet talks to Dallas fullback Drew Moor about next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The San Jose Mercury News talks to Earthquakes defender Ryan Cochran about his new team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales over at the tremendous Sideline Views blog is rumorizing about Lyon coming to the USA next summer. Aaaaaah, the French in the summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Got an email from Ethan tipping me off the RSLFM rumor on American defender Ian Joy returning home from St Pauli in Germany to play for Real Salt Lake. Joy was all set to leave St Pauli at the end of last season, but they convinced him to stay. He did so, but then has been yo-yoed all season from field to bench. Can't be what he was hoping for.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MSNBC has a story on the reasons why the NFL is still not in Los Angeles after all these years away. What is the deal? Does soccer play a role in this? (thanks to Nic for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jamaican-Canadian forward O'Brian White of UConn has been named Soccer America's 2007 College Men's Player of the Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying
If the USA gets past the winner of Barbados & Domenica then will join 3 other teams in a home & away round robin tournament with 2 of them advancing to the mighty Hexagon! Here is the potential USA schedule (if all 3 other teams advance from the first round as expected):
-First Round:
home June 11-14
away June 18-21
-First Group Stage:
Aug 20 at Guatemala
Sep 6 at Cuba
Sep 10 v Trinidad & Tobago
Oct 11 v Cuba
Oct 15 at Trinidad & Tobago
Nov 19 v Guatemala
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sheffield Wednesday are reporting that their American defender Frank Simek is going to miss up to 2 months of action after suffering a ruptured ankle ligament.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup - Matchday 5 - Final round of Group play today and tomorrow.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 19
Zurich 0-5 Bayer Leverkusen
Toulouse 2-1 Spartak Moskva
Braga 2-0 Crvena Zvezda
Bayern Munich 6-0 Aris
Getafe 2-1 Anderlecht
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1-3 Aalborg
Panionios 2-3 Bordeaux
Galatasaray 0-0 Austria Wien
-Thu Dec 20
AZ Alkmaar 2-3 Everton
Larissa 1-3 Nurnberg
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Panathinaikos
Aberdeen 4-0 Kobenhavn
AEK Athens 1-2 Villarreal
Fiorentina 2-1 Mlada Boleslav
Hamburger 1-1 Basel
Rennes 1-1 Dinamo Zagreb
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup final Group round standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - went the distance and won 1-3 at Hapoel Tel-Aviv, but have been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stages.
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - had a bye for this matchday and they were already been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stage.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and won 2-3 at AZ Alkmaar to finish a perfect 4 for 4 in the group stage.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in action in Europe last night:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 83rd minute, and was show a Yellow Card in the 90th for "simulation" aka he took a dive! Ben won 3-0 at home over Estrela Amadora.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Italian TIM Cup
-Thu Dec 20
Milan 1-2 Catania
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro games this weekend - and one of the biggest weekends of the year!:
-Sat Dec 22
Arsenal v Tottenham - the classic old London derby.
Nancy Lorraine v Lyon - #2 v #1 in Ligue Un.
Zaragoza v Valencia - the 2 biggest underachievers in Spain this season. Will one of them kickstart a resurgence?
-Sun Dec 23
Lens v Lille - le Derby du Nord!
Barcelona v Real Madrid - El Clasico!
Internazionale Milan v AC Milan - the Milan derby!! AKA Derby della Madonnina.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia with a Milan Derby preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with an article on Samuel Eto'o's timely return to the Barcelona lineup from injury right before El Clasico. They will need him to be sublime.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The German Bundesliga has gone on winter break. Games will resume on Feb 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just drawn this morning:
Champions League - First Knockout Round
First Leg
-Tue Feb 19
Schalke v Porto
Roma v Real Madrid
Olympiacos v Chelsea
Liverpool v Inter
-Wed Feb 20
Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Man United
Fenerbahce v Sevilla
Arsenal v Milan
Second leg
-Tue Mar 4
Barcelona v Celtic
Man United v Lyon
Sevilla v Fenerbahce
Milan v Arsenal
-Wed Mar 5
Porto v Schalke
Real Madrid v Roma
Chelsea v Olympiacos
-Tue Mar 11
Inter v Liverpool
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com with their Starting XI - Christmas wishes granted.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Business Day in South Africa with an article on 3 local companies who have already been accused of illegally using the 2010 World Cup to sell their products.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From the Public Agenda in Ghana: Harnessing Football for Peace and Development
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After one year in charge of Boca Juniors, Miguel Angel Russo has been booted out, with Carlos Bianchi slated to take over. I bet you didn't know that Bianchi was in the original cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, playing the role of Riff Raff (thats him on the far right. Or is that Larry David in charge of Boca? Or was it Larry David who starred as Riff Raff?
-Of course there is another rumor that Argentine goal scoring legend Gabriel Batistuta could be the next boss at Boca.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on Lebanon, where despite on going politically motivated violence, the football goes on.

Can You Read Me That Card News

US Soccer has named their 4 Player of the Year Awards:
-Clint Dempsey - Men's Player Of The Year
-Michael Bradley - Young Men's Player Of The Year
-Abby Waumbach - Women's Player Of The Year
-Lauren Cheney - Young Women's Player Of The Year


FC Dallas Updates has a Q & A with their own forward Kenny Cooper who is England training with his old club Manchester United (you may have heard of them).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A rumor that has appeared two days in a row says Dallas may be chasing after Mexico's world class cheap-shot Duilio Davino from Club America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Delco Times of the Philadelphia area with an editorial on the importance of securing a MLS team and stadium in their city.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph of England has an interview with new LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit. They mostly just talk about England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet has a season review of the New England Revolution. And then they ask 5 Big Questions for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic is reporting that Red Bulls midfielder Markus Schopp has retired. This is coming from an Austrian newspaper. After showing he still had something left in the tank during 2006, Schopp was 100% useless to the Red Bulls last season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Metro is also spreading the rumor that recently retired Chris Armas just might, maybe, who knows, could possibly be, looking for a chance to become a NYRB assistant coach. "Very Interesting" said Colonel Klink!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New York forward target="new" ONCLICK="out=false"Jozy Altidore checks in with a little Holiday Cheer for all of us via the New York Times Goal blog. He also writes about going to China and the new Red Bulls coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Clemente Lisi at the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at some American players who might be a shot with Team USA in 08.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There's a new LA supporters group - The Angel City Brigade.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Beaumont Enterprise of Texas talks to Houston Dynamo Pres Oliver Luck. Fills in some good background on Luck.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Star feels that MLS's foreign player rules are useless and need to go. The author, Cathal Kelly, again proves his ignorance of the history of soccer in North America. Maybe someday this quota can be dropped, but for now its great and has been one of several levy's put in place to keep MLS from becoming the NASL. History is good to know. (actually I am not sure why I linked to this at all - the who wrote it is a moron)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada's National Post with a story on the chances of Maurice Edu leaving Toronto for the Premiership.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Salt Lake has sent midfielder Attiba Harris to Chivas USA in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick. Good deal for RSL!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Valencia's Spanish goalkeeper Santiago Canizares is rumored to be interested in coming to MLS in January. Is he willing to play for about $75,000? Cuz that is the most he could probably get. Too many foreign keepers have shown up, got paid waaaaaaay to much and ended up being worse than what we already have. Walter Zenga, Ronald Wattereus, Shaka Hislop, etc etc etc (too many to list really).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet has begun their annual pre-Superdraft scouting reports. Buzz Carrick (of 3rd Degree fame) on the goalkeepers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pat Walsh at Goal.com wants to know who has the easier job - Bob Bradley or Fabio Capello?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few words from the new Minnesota Thunder owner Dean Johnston, from the St Paul City Hall Scoop blog. Download or listen here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

12 teams will play off for the final 6 spots in next years Copa Libertadores. These matches will be played beginning Jan 30. Get ready cuz here it comes:
Lanus v Olmedo
Cruzeiro v Cerro Porteno
Arsenal v Mineros de Guayana
Mexico Qualifier v Bolivia Qualifier
Montevideo Wanderers v Cienciano
Chico v Audax Italiano
-Here are the details.
-The Group Stage will then begin Feb 13.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup - Matchday 5 - Final round of Group play today and tomorrow.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 19
Zurich 0-5 Bayer Leverkusen
Toulouse 2-1 Spartak Moskva
Braga 2-0 Crvena Zvezda
Bayern Munich 6-0 Aris
Getafe 2-1 Anderlecht
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1-3 Aalborg
Panionios 2-3 Bordeaux
Galatasaray 0-0 Austria Wien
-Thu Dec 20
AZ Alkmaar 2-3 Everton
Larissa 1-3 Nurnberg
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Panathinaikos
Aberdeen 4-0 Kobenhavn
AEK Athens 1-2 Villarreal
Fiorentina 2-1 Mlada Boleslav
Hamburger 1-1 Basel
Rennes 1-1 Dinamo Zagreb
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup Group Standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - went the distance and won 1-3 at Hapoel Tel-Aviv, but have been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stages.
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - had a bye for this matchday and they were already been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stage.
-Tim Howard - Everton - at AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.

English League Cup
Quarterfinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 12
West Ham 1-2 Everton
-Tue Dec 18
Blackburn 2-3 Arsenal
Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham
-Wed Dec 19
Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool

Spanish Copa del Rey - Fifth Round
-Wed Dec 19
Alicante 1-1 Real Madrid
Real Union 1-2 Valencia
Espanyol 1-1 Deportivo La Caruna

Italian TIM Cup
-Wed Dec 19
Lazio 2-1 Napoli
Reggina 1-4 Inter
Torino 3-1 Roma
Udinese 0-0 Palermo
-Thu Dec 20
Milan v Catania

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated looks at the move of Mexican Nery Castillo heading to Manchester City.

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated on his Throw-Ins blog is using his San Jose Earthquakes insider connections to learn that the teams part owner John Fisher has bought a stake in Celtic. Yes, Celtic. Good stuff Johan.

Inter have completed a deal with Sao Paulo for their deeply troubled forward Adriano to go home and play on a loan deal. Let's hope he gets it together.

The Guardian bring in 3 "experts" to discuss the problems with the England national team and other topics in today’s English game. The 3 are: David Pleat, Leon Angel & Nigel Worthington. (thanks to George H & BQ for this one)

Tony Francis at the Telegraph in England with an article about the strong and steady Basque heritage of Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks at the embodiment of problems in Russian football.

Finally, the draw for the Champions League Knockout stages is tomorrow - Fri Dec 21.

The Entertainment Capital Of Parts Unknown News

Here is the bracket for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. DC United (v Harbour View) & Houston Dynamo (Municipal) represent MLS. The first leg matches take place the week of March 10. And the tournament ends around May 1.

~and~

The USA will play in Group A for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying. The other teams in their group are: Panama, Honduras & Cuba. Group B consists of: Mexico, Guatemala, Canada & Haiti. The top two teams from each group face off in the semifinals and those two winners go to the Olympics next summer in China. The games start March 11 in Tampa and end March 23 in Nashville. All the details are here.

~and~

Here is the direct link to download or listen to yesterdays debut of The US Soccer Show episode 1! Hosted by "14 Karat" Kartik Krishnaiyer & "Diamond" Dave Denholm and featuring me as a guest!


The final batch of 2007 "Best Of" awards were handed out this afternoon, and Steven Goff's Soccer Insider was named "Best Blog". No surprise there, cuz it is top notch. All along I said I didn't care if du Nord won or not (and I honestly didn't care - the nomination was nice but I didn't feel anything from it), but I have to admit that when the name Soccer Insider came up on the screen I was bummed. Weird huh. It never phased me until that minute. Watch the full awards announcements here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So fittingly we start here - Steven Goff on the Soccer Insider blog talks to MLS Deputy Dawg Ivan Gazidis about the leagues new competition rules changes. Some great stuff here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep on the Soccer By Ives blog with his views on the Red Bulls Juan Carlos Osorio press conference yesterday, and other new NYRB info.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Galarcep also reports: "Houston Dynamo assistant John Spencer and New England assistant Paul Mariner have interviewed for the Chicago Fire's vacant head coaching position."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many stories covering the introduction of Juan Carlos Osorio as the new Red Bulls coach:
-Jack Bell of the New York Times
-Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News
-Jane Havsy of the Daily Record
-The Newark Star Ledger
-Big Apple Soccer
-Pat Walsh of Goal.com
-Luis Arroyave of Chicago Tribune on The Red Card.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal has named MLS commisioner Don Garber as the 27th more influential person in American sports business.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last week Eric Salsbery of AYL Soccer in Salt Lake wrote a very interesting story about RSL coach Jason Kreis causing some fisures between the team, their fans & other teams around the world. Then this week he follows up with more on that same story after talking to the subject himself, and then gets some words directly from Kreis on the subject (without really saying much at all). Great stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet tells us what those new league roster rules really mean.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at the increase in the MLS foreign player allotment.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet with an article on young Dallas forward Dominic Oduro. He has promise, but can he deliver.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Empire Supporters Club from New York has issued their latest fanzine - Issue #5. Just in time for the year end.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember Juan Toja Wig Night? FC Dallas Updates gives us more video highlights and outtakes from that fabled night!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Sun ran a profile today of the general managers of all the major sports teams in their city. Here is their look at TFC boss Mo Johnston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Evening Times of Glasgow with an article on Poland & Celtic forward Maciej Zurawski who has been rumored to be signing with Los Angeles.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports says that there will be no mass invasion of imports to MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has a podcast of an interview with USA U20 & Wake Forest defender Julian Valentin. His college team just won the national title. Download or listen now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer also hands out 4 more 2007 "Best Of" awards - Best Assist, Fan Atmosphere, Goal (Woman) & Photo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Rogers of Soccer365 with part 2 of a Q & A with USA & Derby County midfielder Benny Feilhaber.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog looks at the beauty of old NASL shirts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer writes about the plight of the good old fashioned magazine covering soccer in the USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup - Matchday 5 - Final round of Group play today and tomorrow.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 19
Zurich v Leverkusen
Toulouse v Spartak Moskva
Braga v Crvena Zvezda
Bayern v Aris
Getafe v Anderlecht
Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Aalborg
Panionios v Bordeaux
Galatasaray v Austria Wien
-Thu Dec 20
AZ Alkmaar v Everton
Larissa v Nurnberg
Atletico Madrid v Panathinaikos
Aberdeen v Kobenhavn
AEK Athens v Villarreal
Fiorentina v Mlada Boleslav
Hamburger v Basel
Rennes v Dinamo Zagreb
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup Group Standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - at Hapoel Tel-Aviv Wednesday
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - bye week
-Tim Howard - Everton - at AZ Alkmaar
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League Cup
Quarterfinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 12
West Ham 1-2 Everton
-Tue Dec 18
Blackburn 2-3 Arsenal
Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham
-Wed Dec 19
Chelsea v Liverpool
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American goalkeeper Brad Friedel and his Blackburn team lost 2-3 in extra time to Arsenal in the English League Cup last night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spanish Copa del Rey
Fifth Round Matches & Scores
-Wed Dec 19
Alicante v Real Madrid
Real Union v Valencia
Espanyol v Deportivo La Caruna
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Italian TIM Cup
-Wed Dec 19
Lazio v Napoli
Reggina v Inter
Torino v Roma
Udinese v Palermo
-Thu Dec 20
Milan v Catania
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam at This Is American Soccer sent me a report that says Mexican forward Nery Castillo paid most of his own transfer fee to leave Shakhatar Donetsk to play for Manchester City. That's one way to do it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on language translation gaff's in Europe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia's blog with this tasty article: Everybody Hates Inter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on the massive drain of native players leaving Brazil. 1085 in foreign leagues this year!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A nice Q & A with a good blog friend of du Nord, The Gaffer aka Chris from EPL Talk. The web blogging info site Performancing does the interview. Cheers to Chris, one of the best in the business by far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speaking of EPL Talk, I completely forgot to link to this really good interview from last weeks EPL Talk Podcast: Guillem Balague of the Time of London. This guy is an amazing fountain of knowledge. Listen or download now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Israel's biggest club Maccabi Tel Aviv has been sold to a Canadian.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Benjie Goodhart of the Guardian responds to the lawsuit filed against Inter Milan for their uniform with a red cross on the front, which is supposedly offensive.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World Soccer Magazine has a Q & A with Holland & Arsenal injury prone forward Robin van Persie. Via Sports Illustrated.

The US Soccer Show

Big Big News!!!
Today is the debut of a brand new radio show, The US Soccer Show!!
Brought to us by the fine folks at Champions Soccer Radio Network.
This show is hosted by my pals Dave Denholm & Kartik Krishnaiyer.
And to make it even better, I am one of the guests on Episode 1.
You can listen to it here for now, and soon will be available via I-Tunes and RSS feed.

Put Your Hands Up For Nazareth, A Lovely City, News

MLS has announced their 2008 competition guidelines and calendar.

~and~

A Fulham fan has put manager Laurie Sanchez up for sale on E-bay. Yes! Sad, but very funny. (thanks to BQ for this one)

~and~

New York Red Bulls introduced Juan Carlos Osorio as their new coach today.

~and~

US Soccer has begun their annual parade of year-end awards - today they announce Best "All Access" Video, Best Performance (Team), and Best Soccer Store.


Business Wire with the story on Univision who has won the bidding for the brand new CONCACAF Champions League Spanish language TV broadcasting rights in America. From the article we can glean a few facts that were previously unknown:
-Will start next August, and conclude in April.
-24 teams from the region will participate
-There will be Qualifying Rounds
-Followed by a Group Stage
-And finally Knockout Rounds
-Univision will show 52 games on their main channel and on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune writes about Juan Carlos Osorio leaving Chicago for family reasons. What are those reasons? Does this story answer it?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave also has more names and rumors for the open Chicago coaches spot, on his Red Card blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger writes about new Red Bulls coach Osorio.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Richard Snowden at Soccer365 with his thoughts on Osorio leaving Chicago, and Osorio taking over in New York.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his First XI: The Magic Number? - 11 New York coaches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at MLSnet talks to Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira who once coached the Metrostars/Red Bulls and currently runs the South Africa national team. Good stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ronnie Turner of the Houston Chronicle on the new contract for Dynamo head coach Dom Kinnear.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on the slew of players from Wake Forest in MLS. New England coach Steve Nicol has been particularly fond of Demon Deacons.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze in Southern California with an article on Rosetti, the architecture firm that designed Home Depot Center, Toyota Park, Real Salt Lake's new home in Sandy Utah and Red Bull Park in Harrison New Jersey (along with many others).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Philadelphia Daily News says that a look at the big picture is what's needed in stadium development. And when you look at it that way, you can't go wrong with building one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at what MLS must do better if they try Miami again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to American Ramiro Corrales, currently playing for Brann in Norway (and in the UEFA Cup right now) about returning to play for a MLS team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad also says that contrary to his own words 1 month ago, American Nat Borchers wants to leave his Norwegian club Odd Grenland and come back to play in MLS too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Salt Lake forward Alecko Eskandarian has had his one week try-out with Standard in Belgium extended.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Courier News with an article on New Jersey youth star Matt Kassel has to decide between Maryland & college, or going pro now. He is already with the Red Bull youth teams and could be brought straight in to the senior squad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet looks at possible pitfalls for the USA in World Cup Qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic is reporting that NY defender Hunter Freeman injured his knee while playing for the USA U23 team last weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Final entries on the China trip from the U23 official team blog. Including a trip re-cap from team captain Sacha Kljestan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America talks to USA U23 coach Petr Nowak as he returns from taking his team to China last week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexican forward Nery Castillo has been loaned out by his club Shakhtar Donetsk to Manchester City.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise gives his thoughts on the just completed Club World Cup. It's in need of some serious changes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chelsea captain John Terry could miss as much as 3 months with several broken bones in his foot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times on new England boss Fabio Capello, plus other world soccer notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner of the New York Sun on Capello's hiring by England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London has a big story on Arsenal & Spain young-star Cesc Fabregas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters has an interview with young France & Lyon striker Karim Benzema. A nearly great one already at age 20.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters also has a story on struggling Valencia coach Ronald Koeman who today called out some of his "underperforming" players by name. Ouch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Reuters Soccer Blog with an article asking the question - Can Eto'o make up for the loss of Messi? This weekend its Real Madrid v Barcelona, but Lionel Messi is out hurt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian with a story on weird, whining, complaining, bull headed & talented Antonio Cassano. He went nuts last weekend while playing for Sampdoria.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on another great player from this past year, Iran captain Younis Mahmoud.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the Brazilian sweep of FIFA Men's & Women's Player Of The Year awards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Vitor Baia who retired from Porto after last season. He was the Portuguese keeper who was tortured by the USA in World Cup 2002.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Virginia Quarterly Review with an in-depth article on football in the South American nation of Suriname. Suriname is one of three countries in South America that are not part of the CONMEBOL federation - Guyana & Guyane being the other two. (Not to mention Trinidad & Tobago which is only 10 miles off the coast of Venezuela) Why? I don't know.

Everyday Type Shirt News

Wake Forest, who have sent several great players to MLS in recent years, won the NCAA College Cup yesterday. Congrats Wake.

~and~

Super Pippo The Poacher scored 2 goals and Kaka set them both up plus scored the game winner himself to lead Milan to the Club World Cup title in Japan.

~and~

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will most likely miss next Sundays big derby v Real Madrid with a thigh injury. Damn it!

~and~

Tickets go on sale Wednesday for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying.

~and~

Out tomorrow on DVD - MLS Cup 2007: The Championship Match from A&E DVD.


Bernardo Fallas at the Houston Chronicle reports that the Dynamo has given head coach Dominic Kinnear a 3 year contract extension. I hope he got a lot of money to stay put!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times talks to former Chicago Fire coach Dave Sarachan who rips recently departed coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Ah, sour grapes... few things taste worse.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So far the two front runners to take over the Chicago helm are asst coach Dennis Hamlet, and former player Frank Klopas. Expect more names to be added to this list.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports says DC United is better off WITHOUT Juan Sebastian Veron.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A report from England says Liverpool will be the opponent for the MLS All Star game next summer in Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jim Dow at Rev's Net has an interview with New England assistant coach Paul Mariner.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com looks at MLS salaries for 07 and tells us who was the most deserving of much more cash then they were paid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The CBC talks to Canada & Houston keeper Pat Onstad about his excellent 2007.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Aberdeen (Scotland) Evening Express has articles on two Houston teammates who both have Aberdeen roots: Stuart Holden - and - Paul Dalglish.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet with a season review of DC United. And asks 5 Big Questions for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet also says Dallas coach Steve Morrow is over in England on a player scouting trip.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Salt Lake forward Alecko Eskandarian is in Belgium for a trial run with fellow American Oguchi Onyewu's club Standard Liege.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Miami Herald with the latest update on stadium plans in Miami (its in there, just dig a bit).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U23 Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 13
China U23 0-0 USA U23 in Changsha
-The most interesting thing about this game is that Maurice Edu started in the center of defense. Yes, defense.
-Sun Dec 16
China U23 3-3 USA U23 in Guangzhou - USA goals by Robbie Rogers, Patrick Ianni & Charlie Davies. The USA lead 3-0 at half time, but in classic AC Milan style gave up 3 second half goals to the red clad Liverpool, I mean China. Damn. Not the way you wanna do it.
Match report from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with game 2 photos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer did a Q & A with U23 coach Petr Nowak before the 2nd game in China.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U23 official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sal Zizzo did not play in China due to a bum ankle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about Toronto FC's two young players on the U23 team in China - Maurice Edu & Marvell Wynne.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Pocono Record (in Pennsylvania) has an article on current USA U17 goalkeeper Earl Edwards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NCAA College Cup - Final
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 16
Wake Forest 2-1 Ohio State.
Match report by Doug McIntyre of Soccernet.
Match Report from Wake Forest's Old Gold & Black.
Match report from Ohio State's The Lantern.
Match report from the Greensboro News Record.
Match report from the Winston Salem Journal.
Match report from the Columbus Dispatch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wake's best known player, defender Julian Valentin, who played for the USA U20's in last summers World Cup took a boot to the face in the title game and had to get 30 stitches to close the wound! Ouch. He was still on the field at the end to collect the championship trophy though!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 79th minute of a 1-0 loss at Belenenses.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - started as always, went the distance and even scored on a PK as they won 5-0 at home over Erzgebirge Aue.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started and went 90 but lost yet again, 0-1 on a 90th minute PK at home to Newcastle.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played all 90, yet didn't score this week, but his team sure did winning 1-5 at NAC Breda.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance in a terrible effort losing 5-1 at Energie Cottbus.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and went 84 minutes of a 1-1 tie game at Birmingham.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes of a brutal 0-1 home loss to Newcastle who scored in the 90th minute.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played 90 minutes but lost 0-1 at home to Plymouth Argyle and dropped down to 2nd place in the Championship division.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for a 0-1 loss at Middleborough.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the distance but got smoked at Wigan 5-3.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the entire match in a 1-1 draw at Birmingham.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the full game as usual and won 0-2 at West Ham.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - did not dress for his teams 1-0 home win over Mainz.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - on the bench but didn't play in a 0-1 loss at Middleborough.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the full match but could only draw 0-0 at Dender.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 84th minute of a 2-0 home win over Bochum.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - started as always but suffered a bad ankle injury in the 28th minute and was taken off. The team went on to lose 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - did not see the field in a 0-2 home loss to Everton.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played all 90 minutes but lost 1-0 at St Pauli.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - did not make the bench for his teams 2-1 loss at Murcia.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - started in defense and scored his teams 2nd goal, but they lost 2-3 at home to Oldham Athletic.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - came on in the 72nd minute of their 5-0 home win over Erzgebirge.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The damage to Frank Simek's ankle seemed serious. I will let you know when I see more news.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zak Whitbread has been added to the list above. He is finally back in the good graces of his team Millwall, seeing regular action and contributing well. He has scored 3 goals in the last 7 games. Kind of amazing for a defender!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Watford has lost 4 of their last 6 games, and are no longer on top of the Championship division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I would think that Fulham manager Laurie Sanchez is very near to getting the boot with only 2 wins all season, the team sitting in the relegation zone, and generally all around looking pretty miserable.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily talks to USA & West Ham defender Jonathan Spector.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer of ASD talks to American Preston Zimmerman about his new contract at Hamburg in Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club World Cup - Championship Match
-Sun Dec 16
Boca Juniors 2-4 Milan - Boca goals by Rodrigo Palacio & Pablo Ledesma. Milan goals by Pippo Inzaghi(2), Alessandro Nesta & Ricardo Kaka.
Match report featuring video, stats etc. from FIFA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The game was refereed by Mexican Marco Rodriguez, aka El Vampiro.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dorados of Culiacan has won the Mexican Division A crown (2nd division).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Matches in Europe this weekend:
Valencia 0-3 Barcelona
Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United
Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
Ajax v PSV - game postponed due to police strike.
Karlsruhe 1-1 Hamburg
Olympiacos 1-0 AEK Athens
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In England the top 2 separated themselves from #'s 3 & 4!
-Sean Ingle of the Guardian on the top 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London has an article on Blackburn manager Mark Hughes who says the biggest teams in England get treated less harshly than the rest - his proof - Arsenal v Chelsea, and no one saw red.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The loss dropped Liverpool to 5th and tied on points with Everton & Portsmouth (meaning they could easily be sitting in 7th).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Valencia coach Ronald Koeman could already be on the way out the door as he has done absolutely nothing to turn that talented team around.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich has been named the 2007 French Player Of The Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian reports from around Europe & the globe:
-Sid Lowe - Spain - Valencia take another beating.
-Raphael Honigstein - Germany - Bayern Munich's "General", Omar Hitzfeld, is not getting the job done.
-Marcela Mora y Araujo - Argentina - Boca lose the Club World Cup title game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia's weekend roundup of Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters previews next weekends Milan derby - Inter v Milan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer has an interview with Czech & Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times on the appointment of Fabio Capello to the England job.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet on next weekends El Clasico (Real Madrid v Barcelona on Sunday) and this past weekends La Liga action.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on Croatia & Werder Bremen forward Ivan Klasnic who returned to the field with 2 goals for his club this weekend, one for each kidney transplant he had earlier this year!! Amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has named their 2007 Players Of The Year today:
-Men - Ricardo Kaka
-Women - Marta