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.

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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.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal has named MLS commisioner Don Garber as the 27th more influential person in American sports business.
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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.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet tells us what those new league roster rules really mean.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at the increase in the MLS foreign player allotment.
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MLSnet with an article on young Dallas forward Dominic Oduro. He has promise, but can he deliver.
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The Empire Supporters Club from New York has issued their latest fanzine - Issue #5. Just in time for the year end.
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Remember Juan Toja Wig Night? FC Dallas Updates gives us more video highlights and outtakes from that fabled night!
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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.
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The Evening Times of Glasgow with an article on Poland & Celtic forward Maciej Zurawski who has been rumored to be signing with Los Angeles.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports says that there will be no mass invasion of imports to MLS.
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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.
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US Soccer also hands out 4 more 2007 "Best Of" awards - Best Assist, Fan Atmosphere, Goal (Woman) & Photo.
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Andrew Rogers of Soccer365 with part 2 of a Q & A with USA & Derby County midfielder Benny Feilhaber.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog looks at the beauty of old NASL shirts.
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Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer writes about the plight of the good old fashioned magazine covering soccer in the USA.
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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
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UEFA Cup Group Standings.
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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
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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
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American goalkeeper Brad Friedel and his Blackburn team lost 2-3 in extra time to Arsenal in the English League Cup last night.
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Spanish Copa del Rey
Fifth Round Matches & Scores
-Wed Dec 19
Alicante v Real Madrid
Real Union v Valencia
Espanyol v Deportivo La Caruna
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Italian TIM Cup
-Wed Dec 19
Lazio v Napoli
Reggina v Inter
Torino v Roma
Udinese v Palermo
-Thu Dec 20
Milan v Catania
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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.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian on language translation gaff's in Europe.
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Football Italia's blog with this tasty article: Everybody Hates Inter.
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Reuters with a story on the massive drain of native players leaving Brazil. 1085 in foreign leagues this year!
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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.
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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.
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Israel's biggest club Maccabi Tel Aviv has been sold to a Canadian.
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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.
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World Soccer Magazine has a Q & A with Holland & Arsenal injury prone forward Robin van Persie. Via Sports Illustrated.