Powerfully Uplifting News

The LA Times with a story on the massive change going on today in sports for kids in Los Angeles -it's soccer, soccer and more soccer, where it used to be football.

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Former USA & Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena told Soccer America that the story of him being interested in coaching Scotland were "pretty inaccurate." So much for that. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, now we get today's rumor which has Arena replacing “Scotland” with “Ireland”. Probably more hot wind.

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Steven Goff at the Soccer Insider is hearing a rumor of LA goalkeeper Joe Cannon heading to DC United.


Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with an article on the frustration over the quick departure of Fire coach Juan Carlos Osorio, and another article on the search to replace him.
-Arroyave with a few more insights on Osorio's departure & any possible fallout, on his Red Card blog.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News on the signing of Osorio by New York.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to former Chicago player Chris Armas about his old coach, Juan Carlos Osorio, becoming the new man in charge of the Red Bulls.
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FC Dallas made two big player moves yesterday. First, not picking up the option on Denilson's contract, but they will try to sign him to a lower salary. And second, and probably way more important, they did renew the options on Juan Toja's & Pablo Richetti's contracts, while at the same time buying out Toja's contract from Sante Fe (he was on loan to them last year).
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A fascinating post on Big Soccer, from a Dutch television show talking about soccer in America. The guests were Red Bulls keeper Ronald Wattereus and LA coach Ruud Gullit. I am not so sure I believe all of this. We are not THAT backwoods, are we?
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe talks to New England coach Steve Nicol about his recent scouting trip in Argentina.
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Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England says the Rev's need to start the offseason by refilling the defense.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo front office is busy trying to figure out how to keep their team together under the salary cap.
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MLSnet with a 2007 season review of the Kansas City Wizards. Then asks 5 Big Questions for next year.
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The LA Galaxy matches against Sydney & Wellington from last week are being shown on Fox Soccer Channel:
-Tue Dec 11
Sydney v Los Angeles - 10pm central time
-Wed Dec 12
Wellington v Los Angeles - 7pm central time
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Here are the 8 teams that will play in the CONCACAF Champions Cup next spring:
Atlante - Mexico
DC United - USA
Harbour View - Jamaica
Houston Dynamo - USA
Motagua - Honduras
Municipal - Guatemala
Pachuca - Mexico
Saprissa - Costa Rica
-I don't know when the draw will be held.
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The USA U23 team is in China to play two matches later this week.
-Here is their official team blog.
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US Soccer with photos of the team practicing in China.
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Andrea Canales at Soccer365 talks to some of the USA U23 players about the China trip.
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Club World Cup
-About the teams:
Sepahan - Iran - Asian Runners Up (in tournament due to host team winning Asia)
Waitakere United - New Zealand - Oceania Champions
Urawa Red Diamonds - Japan - Host team & Asian Champions
Etoile Sportive du Sahal - Tunisia - African Champions
Pachuca - Mexico - CONCACAF Champions
Boca Juniors - Argentina - CONMEBOL Champions
AC Milan - Italy - European Champions
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 6
Sepahan 3-1 Waitakere United
-Fri Dec 7
Etoile Sportive du Sahel 1-0 Pachuca
-Mon Dec 10
Sepahan 1-3 Urawa Red Diamonds
Match report from FIFA.com
-Wed Dec 12 - Semifinals
Etoile v Boca Juniors
-Thu Dec 13 - Semifinals
Urawa v Milan
-Sun Dec 16 - Championship Match
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Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday talks to Shaka Hislop about "what's next".
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise on the new Mexican champs - Atlante.
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Champions League - Matchday 6 - The final round of the Group Stage.
-Tue Dec 11
Marseille v Liverpool - live at 1:30pm central time on ESPN2.
Porto v Besiktas - delayed at 3:45pm central time on Setanta.
Chelsea v Valencia - live at 1:30pm central time on Setanta.
Schalke v Rosenborg - delayed at 5:30pm central time on Setanta.
Real Madrid v Lazio - delayed at 4pm central time on ESPN Classic.
Olympiakos v Bremen
-Wed Dec 12
Rangers v Lyon - live at 1:30pm central time on ESPN2.
Barcelona v Stuttgart - delayed at 4pm central time on ESPN Classic.
Roma v Man U - live at 1pm central time on Setanta.
Sporting v Dynamo Kyiv
PSV v Inter
Fenerbahce v CSKA Moskva - delayed at 5:30pm central time on Setanta.
Arsenal v Steaua - delayed at 3:45pm central time on Setanta.
Slavia v Sevilla
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Here are the Group standings.
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The Top 5 Teams in each of Europe's Top 5 Leagues:
-Premiership
37 Arsenal
36 Manchester United
34 Chelsea
30 Liverpool
30 Portsmouth
-La Liga
35 Real Madrid
31 Barcelona
30 Atletico Madrid
28 Villareal
27 Espanyol
-Serie A
37 Inter Milan
32 Roma
29 Juventus
25 Udinese
24 Fiorentina
-Bundesliga
35 Bayern Munich
33 Werder Bremen
31 Hamburg
30 Bayer Leverkusen
27 Hannover
-Ligue Un
37 Lyon
33 Nancy Lorraine
29 Bordeaux
29 Le Mans
26 Valenciennes
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This sounds like the kind of crap that the USA government would pull - Watford player Al Bangura is being deported to his native Sierra Leone, for no apparent reason. Although a case can be made that he does not meet the requirements of a work permit, so why has he been with the team since he was 15? From Soccernet. (thanks to BQ for this one)
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Greg Lalas of Sports Illustrated on the dilemma of cheering for your hated rival.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun writes about the art of the pure breed goal machine. Are they going the way of the dinosaur?
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Jean Pierre Papin, the coach of Lens.
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Bayern Munich has suspended long time team leader Oliver Kahn for one game and given him a big fine for reasons unknown. It must have been something serious though. I bet we find out soon enough.
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And Football Italia with some quotes from Kahn showing how little he likes foreigners. Such a special guy he is.
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Reuters Soccer Blog with some good insight on the German goalkeeping depth.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times writes about new Argentine champs Arsenal de Sarandi, plus other soccer news.
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Simon Kuper at the Financial Times takes a look inside Olympique Lyonnais aka Lyon.
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The Insider at Soccernet takes in Chelsea v Sunderland. Always a fun report to read.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet raves about the entertainment value provided by Atletico Madrid. And other La Liga news.
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The Independent of England with an in-depth story on the Thai owner of Manchester City.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian tells us all about the pin-head in charge of the Ukraine national team. A real piece of work.
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And Kevin McCarra of the Guardian ponders the reasons Jose Mourinho decided he didn't not want to coach England.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at England’s next top target for manager - Fabio Capello.